SHOW NOTES: Dr. Stephanie Maj begins the podcast episode by greeting her listeners and expressing her excitement for the new year. She reflects on her attempts to reboot her podcast over the past year and acknowledges that she lost steam during the pandemic. However, she is determined to try again and reveals that she has found a production team to help her with the technical aspects of the podcast, allowing her to focus on having fun and talking, which she loves. Dr. Maj mentions that she has some exciting interviews planned and shares that the reason she started the podcast was to introduce her listeners to the amazing people in her life and to have their conversations recorded for all of history. She then reflects on how the new year has made her feel hopeful and how she is not one to poo-poo New Year's resolutions. She mentions that it was around the holidays when she realized that she had been in a bit of a rut, likely due to the loss of her father last year. However, she is now determined to take more positive actions and has started working on her morning routine again, which she had previously let slip. Dr Maj also shares that she has been guilty of mindlessly scrolling through social media in the morning but is now trying to change that habit. She also mentions that she is looking back at what has worked for her in the past and is trying to lean into those things, such as a morning routine, to get back on track. TRANSCRIPT: [00:00:00] Good morning everybody. It's morning here in Chicago. Welcome to Women Seeking Wellness. Happy 2023, and I just wanna say hello. Hello. I missed you all. I've been thinking and I'm just laughing at my attempts at reboot. Over the course of the last year or so, I lost my steam during the pandemic and then decided to try again and then try again. And here I am trying again. I'm doing more than trying. I'm doing it, I believe I cracked the code in that. I am hiring it out. I'm just hiring out the production. I don't know if you guys all know this. I have been the one that does the recording. Obviously, this is my voice. I'm recording. I am the one that edits, I was the one that, audio [00:01:00] edits, tags publishes artwork, social media website. It, was a bit. It was, it was a bit, so it was always daunting for me to, think about doing more episodes. So I have found somebody that's gonna help me with that process, so that all I need to do is have fun and talk, which, you know, I love to talk. And, also, I, have some interviews in store, which is very exciting. You know, me and my interviews. I love that. It's really one of the reasons why I started the podcast is that I. I think some amazing people are in my life and I want you guys to meet them and I want our conversations recorded for all of history. So, okay, what is going on with me? Let me think. So 2023. Whoop, whoop. I am feeling [00:02:00] very hopeful for the year now. If you've listened to my podcast at all, you know,, I'm actually not one that poo poo's a good New Year's resolution. I mean, I'm all for anything that gives us a little energy towards goals, and yet for me, it was around the holidays, around when I was away for Christmas. I realized that I had been in a bit of a rud. I haven't really talked about this. My dad passed away last year in the spring and that pretty much dried up my creative juices, and God love him. He was very sick and you know, it wasn't a tragedy, it was just age and, and. You know, he was free of his body. I know that. I also know that grief is a funny thing and it took me a while to kind of come out of it. I think being home and seeing that, you know, life goes on and everybody's doing well and thriving and. You [00:03:00] know, and I needed to take some more positive actions. So I started, I'm gonna talk about a couple things that that have been going on for me. One of the things is that I started with my morning routine again, so I've always been somebody that gets up early. My problem is, is th