Transcript

Lisa Virtue:

Welcome to her career studio. I'm your host and career coach, Lisa Virtue. Here we live by the mantra thrive at work so you can thrive in life because we know you are more.

Than your day job.

Each episode includes actionable tips and often mentor stories to not only boost your professional success, but also enhance your personal well being.

Join me as we explore ways to.

Ensure your career uplifts your life as you strive to achieve work life harmony. Head to hercareerstudio.com for free resources and coaching services to help support you during career transitions and challenges, such as when you are looking to find and land that next ideal job or promotion or are leading a new team. We're here to support you. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button and please hit the thumbs up or leave a five star review if you are finding the content useful. This helps us keep going in our mission to help women in their careers. Thank you so much for your support.

Welcome to another inspiring episode of the her career studio podcast. In today's show, I'm thrilled to introduce Kelly Heard, a former teacher from New Hampshire who has transformed her life through resilience and a journey into wellness. Kelly opens up about her personal struggles from dealing with a challenging childhood and financial stress as a dedicated educator to overcome any overcoming burnout and weight gain fueled by a lack of work life balance. Kelly Heard is a life coach, health coach, educator, yoga meditation teacher and Reiki practitioner. Her first career was teaching elementary school for over 20 years and she now teaches and coaches adults on science informed tools and strategies for happiness and stress. She specializes in helping people who are feeling overwhelmed, anxious and stuck in survival mode transform to feeling energetic, healthier and living a life full of joy. Our conversation delves into how Kelly took control of her life by making small, impactful changes leading to a snowball of positive transformations, eventually propelling her to a career as a full time coach. We'll explore the adventurous leap she took selling her possessions to live on the road, and how, at 48, she's embracing her passion for wellness, coaching and living life to the fullest in places like Thailand while maintaining close ties with her college age daughter back in the US, Kelly shares actionable tips with us on how to start your day right, emphasizing the importance of a good night's sleep, morning routines and the power of positive affirmations.

Whether you're a teacher looking to make a transformation in your career or anyone who would like to feel better throughout your day, I hope you enjoy this heartfelt conversation.

Kelly, welcome and thank you so much for coming to chat with me on her career studio. I'm really excited because I've been talking in the last few years to a lot of transitioning teachers or teachers who want to transition out of classroom and trying to figure out how to do that. What kind of transferable skills do they have, et cetera. I know that's part of your journey and story, so I'm excited for you to share that with the listeners and also dig into how can we have good days at work, especially when we're struggling or we're not getting a very big paycheck like our wonderful teachers often do not get? Earned their worth, really, quite frankly. So why don't you tell us a little bit first just about your story and when it comes to career and how you've transitioned.

Kelly Hurd:

Sure. And thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here. So I'm Kelly heard. I am a life and health coach, and I'm really on a mission to help others with stress and happiness. And so to do my story justice, I need to take you back to my childhood, but I promise I won't be there long. But I grew up in a small town and with a loving family, but also a family with huge dysfunction and alcohol abuse and no coping strategies that were healthy. So growing up was hard.

It was abuse. It was tricky, but also, there was love, too. And so what that meant is, for me, growing up, I became a people pleaser.

Lisa Virtue:

First.

Kelly Hurd:

It starts sometimes by trying to please your parents and make your life easier. And money was really tight. So when I was in high school, I babysat. And so I was the first one in my family to go to college, and I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I knew I was good with kids from babysitting, right? So that set me up for teaching. And I'm so glad I did that, because, truly, it helped me stop these cycles of abuse. So when I had my daughter, I had skills to work with kids, and I loved kids. And so that was amazing. And in all, I taught for 22 years.

But what happened is I got married kind of young. I think I was 28. Those skills that I didn't learn when I was younger and not always feeling safe, not being able to talk about problems, I would. I didn't want any confrontation, so I'd sweep things under the rug. So I found myself going through a divorce when my daughter was only one, dealing with a lot of problems, a lot of sadness, infidelity, some really tricky things. And I was a young teacher, and I had seen what kids who were going through divorce, their parents were going through divorce. I saw what it did to them. So, you know, the good thing about it is I said to myself then, husband, as we're going through the process, we need to put our daughter first, and we need to get along and co parent well, right? Because, you know, I go home with stories of, this is happening.

And so we did that. We co parented well. And so that was pretty good situation. But my growth wasn't done yet. I got married again, and I. And all I ended up. I've now been married three times and three divorces. And so I didn't have those relationship skills.

I didn't have healthy coping mechanisms. And so coupled with that, the world of teaching, you know, so well, it is the most amazing career in terms of rewarding and love, but I think the most stressful. So I was dealing with stress. I was trying to be everything to everyone. So I was a Girl scout leader. I coached girls on the run. I volunteered. I didn't say no a lot.

And I took on things and tried to just be everything I could, try to be the best. And so that voice in my head was, I had to be better than my parents and do better. And it led to burnout, weight gain, huge problems with my health from stress. So I would go to the doctor, and they'd be like, you know what? You're fine. Your labs and everything are totally fine. You've got to get a handle on your stress. And so that was migraines. It was gut issues.

It was, um, chronic pain that I couldn't figure out. And so I went through some really tricky times and then miscarriages. It was just, wow, toxic work situation. It's just like, I couldn't handle things. And because of that, it snowballed. And so the good part out of that is I. The pain got so bad, I had to figure out a way. And so I ended up, because in my world, my boss knew I was struggling, my coworkers, my family.

But I didn't know where you went to get a handle on stress and how to be happier. I just didn't have those skills, and I didn't know. And so finally, I ended up getting a health coach and a life coach. And really, that made all the difference. So it started with small things, and they snowballed, and I got better, and it was such a profound difference for me that, and I really loved kids, but I started being more drawn to the world of wellness. So, like, I really would, like, look up phonics things when I was a younger teacher, like, how can I make this more gamification and exciting? And then I was like, okay, what about this new research on happiness? Or that's what started really calling to me. And I ended up teaching kindergarten through the pandemic. It wasn't my choice, but that's just where they put me.

I ended up loving kindergarten, but I'll tell you where I was teaching. We were in person. And when you're wearing a mask and we had all the fear, we did. And you're told that you're not allowed to have your kids play with each other, but we know that's what's developmentally important for them to be. It was so stressful and so hard. It was just so. Again, I had to. That threw me for a loop.

I was then going through my last divorce, and I had to figure out a way to be happier and again, figure out the stress. So I doubled down on that. I did more research. Um, I. So I ended up getting my. Now, it was five years ago, but, um, it was right before the pandemic. Uh, I became a health coach and a life coach, a yoga teacher and a meditation teacher on the side to deal with my own things, um, and because I was so fascinated by that. And so then it's like, okay, I made it so that.

And I'm really, like, I feel like it's one of my superpowers. I was able to wake up happy, mostly. Like, we're all dealing with stuff through the pandemic, but I was really able to get to a place where I wasn't dreading my day. And even though my job was really difficult, I did such inner work and put in things around my life that it made it better. I loved my kids, I did the best I could, but I had balanced. And so then I kept coaching on the side and dreaming of, like, okay, I love kids, and I. But what's going on in London right now? Or I kept dreaming of more and could I coach full time? Was the question I kept asking myself. And so then finally, I did a lot of work, and I met with my financial advisor, and I did a million vision boards, and I took action, which made me happy.

And then finally, at the end of last June, I took an early vested retirement. So I'm 48. I'm not old enough to retire, but I had 22 years in the system. And so I sold my condo, my car, everything I own, and my boyfriend did the same, and I now do my coaching full time. So it's health and life coaching on stress and happiness. My favorite things to work on. And so it's really. And now we travel.

We live from Airbnb to Airbnb, which is. It's a whole new world.

Lisa Virtue:

It's really exciting and amazing. So you basically retired from your first career, like, even technically, and you moved on. We have so many similarities. It's fascinating. Oh, God. One is that my daughter was entering kindergarten during the pandemic. So you were one of those sweetheart teachers who was trying to figure it out. And we were in at that time, we.

In Portland proper. Portland, Oregon. And so we didn't go back in person until April 2021. And that was only for, like, an hour or two a day. So it was all virtual through that fall and winter. And let me tell you, these poor children not having that social time. She ended up having a bestie next door, thank goodness. At least we had something like that.

But, yeah, that is very isolating. So I know every state was different, how it worked out. These teachers had a combined, I think they had 70 years of combined teaching experience. Like, there were three kindergarten teachers. The most tenured was 30 years. And so imagine, like, they never used computers. Never used computers with the kids.

Kelly Hurd:

Right.

Lisa Virtue:

You're doing kindergarten, so they are their learning curve along with the kids. And then we were working from home. I mean, it was just.

Kelly Hurd:

I'm so sorry. Yeah.

Lisa Virtue:

And I just. So I feel for you on that end of it as a teacher, too. And then once they did go back in person, it was. We actually were like, I feel like it'd be better if they're still online because they could see faces and expressions, even though physically. But, yeah, everyone was distancing each other. So then it became this very strange world of, can I hug my friends? Can I talk to my friends? Like, I know. What's my teacher saying? I can't hear them. Like, it was so fascinating.

Kelly Hurd:

Yeah. Trying to teach, like, the vowel sounds. Yeah. I'm so glad that. I mean, I know it's our new normal, but thank goodness that things are different now.

Lisa Virtue:

Yes. And I think we learned a lot, and hopefully we'll continue to learn, but nobody had the answers, it's for sure.

Kelly Hurd:

Yeah.

Lisa Virtue:

And then a couple other things, like, same here. There was love in my family, a lot of dysfunction and also the coping mechanisms. And I think people like us tend to, especially for lifelong learners, and we become educators. I worked with children, but in a different field. It was the recreation. So I was, you know, building swim lesson programs and helping with fitness classes for families and things like that. So it was on the recreational side. But yeah, I also worked with children for the first part of my career and then moved into executive roles and things like that within that space and athletics and athletic coaching.

So interesting. We're both educators at heart and soul and found coaching. So I think that's fascinating and just makes sense why we connected. So, like I mentioned at the beginning, a lot of teachers transitioning. Now, your story is a little bit different than someone that maybe just entered into the workforce or they're maybe mid career, not getting closer to that tenure area. But have you been seeing that with your colleagues? Was there a lot of transition that you saw with teachers leaving teaching for.

Kelly Hurd:

Some, yes, and certainly much more talk about leaving and making plans. So I think that there is this growing. Yeah, I mean, there's. There's so many tricky things with our pay. We start with that I had a master's degree and everybody that I knew that, you know, sounds like a little resentful, but it would have less education but would make twice as much that I did. Right. So we're not, teachers are not respected and we're not paid well. But then the stress of the pandemic and then what my school system, it's like we kind of double down on not exactly kill and drill, but this overall feeling was kids are missing out.

So now we've got to catch them up. And now it's pressure on the kids and pressure on the teachers. And it's just we do not do well when we are stressed, kids or adults. Right. We're not going to do our best. We're not going to do our best learning our best thinking. So, yeah, I agree with you. I am hearing more and more about if people haven't left it, they are thinking of it.

And what we need now more than ever are those amazing teachers to stay.

Lisa Virtue:

Yeah. And that could be a whole nother episode. We could talk about solutions. I know we're not going to solve the world's problems today, but I do want anyone listening that maybe is in the education field or something similar where they're just feeling under, like their worth is not being matched with their pay or their stress level is so high and they want to transition. How do you go about doing that? What are the beginnings? And I heard you say in your story, part of it was you were just curious and you were curious and you did it for your own self. And then you were able to find a business and a passion, and I call it your ikigai too. Right. Your calling.

Very similar to what I had done in mines on the career side, because that was a lot of my experience was helping people with resumes and job search and all that while I was a manager. And then it became different progressive leadership roles, and those are my favorite parts of the day. And so I realized that about myself. So, yeah, finding those pieces of, like, what lights you up? What do you do? And the time just flies by, right?

Kelly Hurd:

Absolutely. Yeah. So I would say a couple things. One, like, I mean, there are some stories, I know, that, where things are so toxic, I think that people do need to get out and you will figure out a way. Right. But also, I'm so grateful that I felt called to something rather than running from something. I'm really proud of my career, and I left on a really good note with my school system and my administration. And so, I mean, and I'm just maybe very lucky in that.

And I made plans. Like, I had been working on it for a while.

Lisa Virtue:

Yeah.

Kelly Hurd:

So. But I think there's a different energy about that if you can make that switch and kind of be called to something and find what lights you up. Um, the other thing I would say is, I would dream. I would allow yourself to not get bogged down by, well, I couldn't do that because of x or just so you know, like, the brainstorming we do about kids, how can we. We fix the situation, let your mind go. And what would feel good, what energizes you, what is exciting and have, like, I really did have vision boards, and I really would dream it and feel it as if it had already occurred. I mean, it's manifestation. A lot of people talk about that, but I had to envision that it was possible.

And so at the time, I was single and what I imagined for myself is that I was going to, this is my plan. I was going to live in a van and travel the US. And I was like, because I could afford to do that. If I sell my condo, I could live with my dog, my cat. And now I don't do that because I'm traveling with my boyfriend and we're sometimes overseas or, I mean, he didn't love the van idea so much, but I needed to feel that it was possible. And so if I could believe it could happen. And so I think that that's a really, it's absolutely, you are capable of changing and going after what you want, but if you can go for the approach of something you're drawn to and taking care of yourself so the other thing is, I was really glad that I took care of myself. I up leveled my habits even during the pandemic, and I was making sure that I was, you know, fueling my energy and taking care of that.

You know, in a sense, it's the old thing, but filling my cup before the day started. And we can talk about things like that, more nitty gritty, like a morning routine. But I was taking care of myself and felt full and okay. So then I had the energy to, after work, work on my coaching business, right. So I wasn't so depleted or on the weekends. And so then, it's in all honesty, I met with my financial advisor a lot. I. There were times I was so overwhelmed, like, oh, my God, could I? Because I grew up with all that fear and my parents went through bankruptcy.

So it was really, really, very scary for me to leave a guaranteed paycheck and healthcare that was huge. And also, my parents couldn't help me out with my college debt, so I had been every summer working on paying that off and doing extra. So it's really scary, and fear is a real thing. But I would say if you could keep taking little baby steps, you know, that 1% working on change for your health, but also 1% of your dreams, that every week, every day, if you can do a little bit something. It lit me up when I was working on my coaching or trying to help someone else, so it was doable, and it took me a long time. That's the other honest thing. It wasn't a magic fix, but I absolutely think that people can. Can do that.

Yeah.

Lisa Virtue:

And you had the support network, I'm hearing, too, where you were reaching out for help, you were creating a strategy, not just a plan. It was more about, okay, does this align with my long term goals? And. Yeah, that's so important because I do. I hear a lot of teachers that just, oh, well, they think about the cycles, the seasonal cycles of school. Right. It's like, okay, well, I've got to quit, even if I don't have a job, because I don't want to commit to going back. I'm going to find a job. And then they get in the stress mode of, uh oh, I didn't find a job yet because they hadn't done that clarity work prior to the exit.

Right. And that's so huge. So, yeah, reaching out to someone like you, someone like me also can help unblock a lot of that of work with someone that can really be unbiased and help you navigate all that world in your head. And then maybe you've been head down in education for so long, through school, apprenticeship, now you're teaching, you might not know what's out there. Right, right.

Kelly Hurd:

That's true. And it's probably following what energizes you a little bit, what's interesting. Right. And going. And if you're not feeling it anymore, then pivoting and finding something else, but, yeah.

Lisa Virtue:

Yeah, for sure. So the clarity. I love that you have. Yeah. Again, so many similarities. Just with my family, too, going through bankruptcy. The money mindset is huge, and that.

Kelly Hurd:

Is huge, and it's very real. I feel like it's the fear that often holds us back the most.

Lisa Virtue:

Mm hmm.

Absolutely.

Especially from a career leap, because that's our livelihood. Yeah.

Kelly Hurd:

Yeah, for sure.

Lisa Virtue:

I'd like to switch gears a little bit and talk, too, about. Okay, maybe people are still on the fence. Well, I don't know if I want to leave. Like, I do like my job. Maybe I don't like the politics or I don't like the lack of support. Um, or it's not the right time, or I want to do that long term work. So, Kelly, what kind of tips do you have for us to create those daily habits for fostering personal well being, having a productive work day, and just feeling a little more energized.

Kelly Hurd:

Yeah. Okay, so let me take you back to, um, before I figure this out. So I would wake up, I would hit snooze a million times, and I would look at, you know, open my phone and look at Facebook and Instagram, and I would compare. I would be like, you know, their life looks amazing. And I would kind of start off with negative thinking in a downward spiral. Spiral. Or even looking at email. Like, I forgot to send that out.

So that was. And then I'm. I'm grabbing coffee. I'm rushing out the door. I'm trying to get to work on time. I'm doing my best through my day, but I am. I got to where I was feeling. Like if I just work harder and hustle more, it'll get better.

Right? So I wasn't taking breaks. Sometimes I was working through lunch, and it's like.

Lisa Virtue:

And I wasn't doing anything about, like.

Kelly Hurd:

Going to the gym or, um. And I'd get home, and it's like I would open the cat cabinets. Surprised. Every day. Like, what are we having today? Oh, there's nothing here. But had I done the food shopping or anything, like, prepping? No. Um, and so then I would, you know, like, take out something fast, something easy. Take care of my daughter, get her to bed.

And then out of kind of rebellion, I would stay up late, like, binge watching tv. And just because I was like, this is the only happiness I'm getting. And so, like, screw it, I'm going to keep watching. And so then it's late, right? And now I'm going to bed, and then I'm waking up tired, and that happens all over again. So it was kind of ironing out all of those little things that were not contributing to my happiness and were adding to my stress. So truly, I think a good day starts the night before. And I now have, I know it is a little bit dorky, but I have an alarm on my phone to get ready to go to bed. It's crickets.

So it's not as. I hate the alarms, alarming, but having that time to, like, because you can get busy doing stuff and forget about it, and pretty soon it's too, you know, it's later than you wanted to, but then I'm like, okay, now I'm kind of like, oh, I love this time. This is time for me to wind down, get away from the technology so that you don't, you're not watching the blue lights because that tells our brain, like, oh, it's daytime, stay awake. And then it's like doing something calming. And, you know, my favorite thing is reading, thinking about the morning. Like, do I lay out workout clothes or is there something I could do for my lunch or something to make my morning easier and trying to go to bed at a consistent time for your circadian rhythm. And then when your alarm goes off in the morning, don't keep hitting snooze because that keeps you groggier because you're starting to get back into the sleep cycle. And that's when it wakes you up.

So you're stuck. You haven't gotten all the way through a sleep cycle. So when the alarm goes off, you're up. And then even if it's truly, even if you can spare five minutes. But I really believe that you want to conserve your energy for you. And once you look at your phone or your email, it just, it hijacks everything and you're kind of at the mercy of the planet. Did something not so great happen in the news last night? Is there a nasty email from a parent? Is there somebody on Facebook that you're going to compare yourself with? It's zapping your energy, so even five minutes will make a difference. And so it's never the same for me, especially traveling.

But it's the thing that I'm typically really consistent about, and it really helps me take care of me. So when I wake up, I'm thinking of three things that I'm grateful for, and I'm getting detailed. It's not like, oh, my family. And I'm trying to be like, no, I saw a really beautiful sunset last night, or, the weather's a little bit warmer. And I love that the air was crisp, my coffee was amazing. Something simple and little, because that makes us all day long look for good things so that we're noticing more of the good things. Maybe a couple minutes of breathing, some affirmations. I used to, and I really do think that how our parents talk to us becomes our inner voice.

So my inner voice was pretty negative and criticizing. And for me, that came from a place of wanting to do better. But my voice was like, kelly, that was stupid. How could you do that? Very critical. And so I'm very clear now about, I want to put better thoughts in my head. And so part of it for me is affirmations. And so it's thinking things like, life always works out for me. I love and approve of myself.

I'm a magnet for magic and miracles, things that I want in my brain, and I want that to be where my brain goes during the day. I still think of I, Carrie, I have it here. It's just so important to me. But it's a vision board. I love it on a folder so that I can take it traveling. I look at that. What's important to me, what do I want to bring in? What am I working towards that my brain is on those good things, anything that's going to make you feel better and more peaceful in the morning before you pick up your phone, before you look at anything else. So that was huge.

Kind of starting my day, other habits, other things. I would say that inner voice that we talked about, I would say taking mini reset breaks. I felt a lot of, and especially, oh, my God. With teaching, you have to prepare. If there's a school shooting and have an exit plan and where our brain has to go to be safe and do all the things and take care of kids, that's really rough and hard. And so I feel like our nervous system needs a reset often. Like, if we have a child melting down or things aren't going well, we've got to kind of come back to ourselves. So it could be going in the bathroom and kind of your hand on your heart, like, I'm okay, I'm safe.

Just a couple minutes of breathing, and there's so many out there, like box breathing or 478 breathing, something even. Like, there are things where you can take your fingers and just rub them together and take 10 seconds. Right. But you're connecting with your senses. And we can teach our students to do this, too. And, like, almost trying to feel our fingerprints, but it's getting you out of your head, and it's getting into you, into your senses, and that's grounding. Feeling your feet on the floor, you feel safe, and you feel. Okay.

It's like a reset. So then you can kind of approach things in a better way. And I don't believe in. Sorry, go ahead.

Lisa Virtue:

I was just going to say I use those techniques all the time, too, and with my clients, I geek out on the neuroscience of it. So talking about our amygdala can't live in the present moment. And how do we get fully present is bring yourself into your senses. Like you're saying, like, around yourself. Yeah. So the fingertips, you can even do it with your vision where you focus on something, but really focus on it. Like, I'm looking at my green light now. Like, oh, how do I describe the color of green? All of a sudden, your body just melts away.

Like, there's no stress because it can't function. Stress can't function. Yeah. And by the way, when you said school shooting, which is a huge, I think, you know, very huge challenge for everyone, parents and teachers alike, I felt my nervous system go. Oh, I was very aware of it. So I can't imagine as teachers that. Yeah, exactly what you said. You have to get into that mindset, and it's a very important work.

But you're right. Being able to balance that and get yourself back into that safe zone, that's so powerful.

Kelly Hurd:

Yeah, yeah. And taking breaks, like when I didn't take a lunch before, if you have co workers or, like. Or go out to your car, you know, so that you're kind of just calm and taking and. I know. I mean, we had less than 20 minutes to eat, but it's still 20 minutes that can help reset your nervous system, right?

Lisa Virtue:

Yeah. And stop jumping on social media.

Kelly Hurd:

Yes, I know, I know.

Lisa Virtue:

It's don't go. Don't do the rabbit hole. I'm at fault, too. The mornings that I accidentally do that. Wow, what a difference. And then I like, oh, that's why my phone don't need to look at my phone for a good hour. No, they.

Kelly Hurd:

And you know this. We all know this. They make it so it's addictive. So I think we almost feel bored. Like, say you did that. You take your lunch and you're like, I'm just going to sit in my car for ten minutes.

Lisa Virtue:

Yep.

Kelly Hurd:

We've got to work through that. The uncomfiness of. We're not used to that, but constantly scrolling and looking through other things. If you watch your brain, you're comparing or, you know, you're kind of getting caught up in that.

Lisa Virtue:

I'm getting frazzled. Yeah. Yesterday I couldn't find my phone before. We have a dentist just down the street and I had an appointment and I thought, you know, scrambling to find my phone. So silly. I'm thinking I have to have my phone. Like, why? I'm going five minutes down there. Like, my husband knows where I'm going.

It's not a big deal. I don't need my phone. So I just said, I'm going without my phone. And when I got there, I had to wait a few minutes in the lounge lobby area, and I just looked outside and I watched the street traffic and I was looking at the plants and I thought, what a beautiful meditation I'm having right now. Fascinating, right? Because I don't have my phone.

Kelly Hurd:

That's great. That's amazing. And I love that you embraced that.

Lisa Virtue:

And, yeah, at that point I thought it was be good for me. But most of the time it's like, oh, I wish I had my phone because then I could do this or I could send that email. Like, you know, you were saying earlier, you just go into like, hyperflight. Yeah, I have to do all these things right now. But no, you don't.

Kelly Hurd:

Right? You know, that's the other thing. Exactly what you just said. Our brain, we can't always believe what our brain says, but our brain is going to be like, you have to do this right now or you're going to be a terrible teacher and parents are going to hate you if you don't get this all done. Right. So that voice, that's the saboteur voice. That's not helping us. We don't have to believe it and we can question it. Oh, is that really true? Okay.

You know what I mean? And then pivot from there. But noticing that and not believing that, I think that's another empowering thing that we can do to take care of ourselves during the day because I think especially teachers, we want to do so well. We want to help other people. So it comes from good intention, but it breaks us down and that leads straight to burnout.

Lisa Virtue:

That kind of thing. Absolutely. And you think, too, some people will change jobs a bunch or maybe they move schools a lot. What's the commonality with your frustration? It could be the system. But what, you know, turning it back on, is there anything I could change or do differently? Is what we're talking about today. Right. What are the little things that we can do that will just help through those challenging moments? But also, maybe there's a common theme that's actually back to us.

Kelly Hurd:

Yeah.

Lisa Virtue:

It's really hard to realize that about ourselves.

Kelly Hurd:

That's true. Yeah. The last thing I'd say, kind of, I'm thinking, I'm taking you through the day is I used to have so much resentment and anger thinking I should be able to get home earlier. I shouldn't have to do anything on Sunday to prep for the week. I shouldn't have to do report cards that take me an entire weekend and the whole week, the nights leading up to that weekend. So one, it's acceptance. Like, okay, this job teaching kindergarten requires. And even you wouldn't think report cards would take that.

But, oh, my God, they do. They 100% do. So it's an acceptance because I used to have a lot of anger about that, but that was bad feelings on me, right? Because I was kind of swimming in this resentment. So once I accepted it, and then I prepare better. And so the other thing, the really big switch that I did is I started batch cooking on Sundays, and I did it when I could with my friend Jen. So I was with a friend, which made it more fun. But, like, we would try to do, you know, a lot of veggies. So I would have veggies, like, done, like, um, put them in the oven at 400 with olive oil.

You know, they're just kind of. They get crispy and they're really good. You can throw them on salads or eat them like that. Um, or something like a chili that we could do. But that made my life so much easier because you're just so tired when you get home. And then maybe I felt like going for a walk or maybe to the gym for a little bit, but those things kind of saved me. And so it was trying to be more present, enjoy my Sundays more, but also accepting. It's like, when I took time to cook, then I didn't.

My life was better, so it wasn't about, like, teaching isn't fair. This job is so overwhelming. But it was okay. How can I take care of me, really?

Lisa Virtue:

That helps control. Yeah.

Kelly Hurd:

Yeah, right.

Lisa Virtue:

You control what you could. Yeah. You took where you could.

Kelly Hurd:

Yeah, yeah.

Lisa Virtue:

Beautiful.

Kelly Hurd:

Yeah. I hope those are helpful.

Lisa Virtue:

I think so. It's funny that you took us through the morning during the day and after work weekends. Excuse me. And how to best set yourself up. It's funny. It's good for me to think about the morning routine. I don't use an alarm clock anymore because we have a dog that just turned one. She would use my alarm clock.

Kelly Hurd:

Yeah, nature's alarm clock.

Lisa Virtue:

Yeah. But it's interesting because I just realized as we were talking, I'm using her as snooze button because she wakes up too early and so I'm trying to train her. No, you're not going to get out until I come down, which is about 30 minutes, right? Excuse me. Yeah, but I don't want. I don't want her. But then I started falling back to sleep. It's so funny that I didn't realize I was using her as my snooze. Now I need to stop that, at least get myself up, and then I don't have to go to her right away, but I need to get back into my own time for you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kelly Hurd:

But you might find that you feel better rather than if you get that. Yeah, yeah. Take time to meditate, you know.

Lisa Virtue:

Oh, when I first got married, I was like, why do you use a snooze button? So. And then, you know, you revert your partner and you. Then I was using the snooze and I'm like, I can't keep doing that. Good for you. See the difference? For sure.

Kelly Hurd:

Yeah, yeah. It's true.

Lisa Virtue:

Yeah. Those are great tips, Kelly, and thank you so much for sharing your story and. Oh, you're welcome. With us, it's powerful to hear other people's stories and know we're not alone.

Kelly Hurd:

Right? Definitely. Teachers are not alone and. Yeah. The most amazing people on the planet.

Lisa Virtue:

Yes.

Kelly Hurd:

Yeah.

Lisa Virtue:

So how can people get ahold of you?

Kelly Hurd:

Yeah, so I have, I'm on instagram, I have a website, LinkedIn. Everything is uplevel. For more, uplevelformore.com. and I do one on one coaching and group coaching, and I do presentations in schools. I have a Facebook group. So, yeah, I would love to connect with people and I so would love, if anyone wants one on one, help kind of having a reset to feeling better before they make a change. There are definitely things that you can do to feel better and it lights me up, helping people do that.

Lisa Virtue:

Beautiful.

Kelly Hurd:

Incredible. Yeah.

Lisa Virtue:

Love it. Thank you for that. Yeah. Any teachers that are listening, bring Kelly into your school. Share that. Share the knowledge. That'd be great. Yeah.

Awesome. Well, thank you again. I really appreciate your time.

Kelly Hurd:

You're welcome.

Lisa Virtue:

Can't wait to see where you go next with your travels.

Kelly Hurd:

We are, we just got back from Thailand, Vietnam. We're in Boston for about another week because my daughter is local and I just want to make sure I'm keep connecting with her when she's in college. And then we're going out west. We're going to do some hiking at the Grand Canyon, California coast, and then we're going to Mexico.

Lisa Virtue:

Oh, fun. Amazing.

Kelly Hurd:

Yeah.

Lisa Virtue:

All right. Can't wait to see the pictures.

Kelly Hurd:

Thank you.

Lisa Virtue:

Okay. Bye, Kelly. Bye.