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Kevin Lowe: Have you ever found yourself fantasizing about quitting your job,
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Kevin Lowe: throwing the phone in the ocean, and just running away?
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Kevin Lowe: Yes, I'm talking about escaping life, work, the stresses, the anxieties,
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Kevin Lowe: all the crap that has you thinking to yourself, man, I would really love to run away.
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Kevin Lowe: Well, my friend, if you felt like I just took a glance inside of your own personal
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Kevin Lowe: journal, I read exactly what's on your mind to my friend, you might need a sabbatical.
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Kevin Lowe: Yes, my friend, today we are talking about the idea of taking a sabbatical,
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Kevin Lowe: what it is, what it means.
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Kevin Lowe: And when you think, uh, not for me, well, maybe you're wrong because maybe a sabbatical is for you.
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Kevin Lowe: If you adapt it to what you need, to who you are, to your own situation,
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Kevin Lowe: it's a sabbatical. It's an opportunity for you to get back to being you.
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Kevin Lowe: So my friend, if you could use a reset, a recharge, then my friend,
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Kevin Lowe: it all starts with today's episode.
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Kevin Lowe: Welcome to episode 396.
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Kevin Lowe: I got grit, grace.
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Kevin Lowe: And inspiration on my mind. No matter the storms that rise, I won't be left behind.
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<v Music>
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Kevin Lowe: I'm stepping out in faith, cause I'm perfectly designed. I got grit,
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Kevin Lowe: grace, and inspiration on my mind.
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Kevin Lowe: Hey, it's your host, Kevin Lowe, and my friend, welcome back to Grit,
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Kevin Lowe: Grace, and Inspiration.
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Kevin Lowe: Today's inspiration came by Ray Martin, our guest inside of episode 395,
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Kevin Lowe: a guy who did what I'm talking about.
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Kevin Lowe: He took a sabbatical. He took a break because when everything was falling apart
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Kevin Lowe: in his life, he broke free.
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Kevin Lowe: Now, of course, his story is pretty radical. It's pretty crazy because a six-month
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Kevin Lowe: sabbatical turned into a 14-year journey traveling around the world.
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Kevin Lowe: Whether or not that's what happens to you, well, I guess that chapter is yet
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Kevin Lowe: to be written, so we will have to see.
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Kevin Lowe: But most of all, today is just speaking to you, to the person who feels tired.
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Kevin Lowe: And I'm not just talking about sleepy. I'm talking about soul tired.
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Kevin Lowe: I'm talking about the part of you who's showing up.
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Kevin Lowe: You're going through the motions. You're running constantly.
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Kevin Lowe: The alarm clock. It's the errands, the never-ending to-do list.
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Kevin Lowe: Showing up for everyone, putting it all out there. And yet inside,
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Kevin Lowe: you're running on empty. You feel like you're breaking.
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Kevin Lowe: And you feel like there's got to be something that has to change in my life.
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Kevin Lowe: Or something's going to happen.
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Kevin Lowe: Because I can't keep going at this same pace. I can't keep it up.
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Kevin Lowe: And yet, even in this situation, when I mentioned the idea of taking a break,
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Kevin Lowe: of pausing from life, of taking a sabbatical, you think, Kevin, that is absurd.
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Kevin Lowe: I don't have time. I don't have the money.
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Kevin Lowe: And besides, I'm not that person. I'm not a person who can just take a sabbatical.
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Kevin Lowe: But what if I told you to reframe the idea that taking a sabbatical,
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Kevin Lowe: it's not an escape from life. But rather, it's a way for you to come home to life.
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Kevin Lowe: It's a way for you to find who you are again, what you love,
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Kevin Lowe: what you enjoy, who you truly are.
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Kevin Lowe: We live in a world full of titles.
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Kevin Lowe: We all have some type of title in front of our name.
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Kevin Lowe: Maybe it's mom, dad, executive, CEO, whatever it is, it's a title.
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Kevin Lowe: And in that, a lot of times, we lose our own identity of who we really and truly
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Kevin Lowe: are without that title in front of our name.
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Kevin Lowe: A sabbatical, this idea of a purposeful rest, it's going to help you to come
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Kevin Lowe: back to understanding who you are.
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Kevin Lowe: So if we're going to talk about a sabbatical, yeah, let's face it.
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Kevin Lowe: Setting off on a whirlwind adventure, that sounds awesome. And maybe you're
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Kevin Lowe: in a point in your life where, you know what, you can do that.
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Kevin Lowe: So, you know what, if sipping on coconut water while on a beach in Bali sounds
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Kevin Lowe: like your destination for a sabbatical, well, my friend, more power to you.
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Kevin Lowe: But maybe we have to ground things a little bit.
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Kevin Lowe: Maybe we have to keep it a little bit more, quote, realistic for you and your situation.
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Kevin Lowe: In essence, what I'm talking about is as simple as you choosing to pause so that you can rest.
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Kevin Lowe: You can rest your soul, can re-nurture your soul, and come back to what really matters in life.
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Kevin Lowe: Basically, my friend, it's you choosing to take a pause so that you can start living again.
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Kevin Lowe: Life is long, and I get it.
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Kevin Lowe: Time, older we get, faster goes by. I get it. so you may think that you don't
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Kevin Lowe: have time to pour into yourself.
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Kevin Lowe: But my friend, if you just take a pause, at the end of the day, if you take a week,
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Kevin Lowe: A month, six months to focus on you.
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Kevin Lowe: Imagine what that would do in the long term, in the big picture.
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Kevin Lowe: We're thinking big. We're looking at it from a big picture view.
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Kevin Lowe: So when speaking of this idea of a sabbatical, what could it look like for you?
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Kevin Lowe: It may look like you taking a month off to travel with purpose,
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Kevin Lowe: to do the things that you've been wanting to do, that are going to reset,
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Kevin Lowe: recharge, revitalize your love for life again.
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Kevin Lowe: Maybe it's you taking three months off to finally write the book that you've been talking about.
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Kevin Lowe: You've kept it shoved in a drawer, only thinking about it, dreaming about it, only if I had the time.
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Kevin Lowe: Well, maybe this is your opportunity to take the break,
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Kevin Lowe: to take this intentional pause to write the book, or maybe it's you simply taking
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Kevin Lowe: a weekend every week for the next couple of months to get focused back on you
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Kevin Lowe: and what you really want out of life.
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Kevin Lowe: Because maybe you're in a chapter of life right now where you don't even know what you want.
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Kevin Lowe: Even if somebody said you could have it all, you just make the wish and it is yours.
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Kevin Lowe: You don't even know what that wish would be.
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Kevin Lowe: Well, my friend, perfect opportunity for you to get clear on who you are,
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Kevin Lowe: what you want out of life, what your purpose is in this life.
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Kevin Lowe: Now, at this point, I want to reinforce the idea that this idea of feeling like
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Kevin Lowe: you need a pause, like you need to take a break.
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Kevin Lowe: It doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with you. It doesn't mean that you're less than.
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Kevin Lowe: It doesn't mean that you're not living up, that you're not the amazing person that you are.
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Kevin Lowe: It means that you're human. It means that you actually care about yourself enough
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Kevin Lowe: to take a break, to take a pause, to do a reset.
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Kevin Lowe: This idea of taking a pause, my friend, if you're ready for it,
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Kevin Lowe: realize it goes deeper than you think.
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Kevin Lowe: This is biology. This is spiritual. This is human nature.
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Kevin Lowe: It's your need to discover more, to be more. And it all starts by taking a break.
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Kevin Lowe: Now, I hear you. You've got responsibilities.
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Kevin Lowe: You've probably got children at home that are counting on you.
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Kevin Lowe: You've got a job to tend to.
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Kevin Lowe: You don't have the ability to just take off for three months and forget about
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Kevin Lowe: everything. I get it. I understand.
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Kevin Lowe: So let's figure out how this could work for you.
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Kevin Lowe: If you had the opportunity to design your own sabbatical to match your lifestyle,
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Kevin Lowe: what would it look like? Could it literally be a mini-sabbatical?
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Kevin Lowe: You simply unplugging every Friday just to focus on you.
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Kevin Lowe: Maybe you cut out of work early on Fridays.
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Kevin Lowe: Well, maybe now, instead of just going home, laying on the couch,
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Kevin Lowe: binging Netflix, you actually do the intentional stuff to work on you.
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Kevin Lowe: If you're lucky enough to live somewhere on the coast, maybe it's you grabbing
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Kevin Lowe: the beach chair and just going and sitting down at the beach just to sit,
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Kevin Lowe: to enjoy life, to reflect.
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Kevin Lowe: To get back to being you. Maybe you're the person who has been wanting to write the book.
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Kevin Lowe: You've been wanting to maybe start a side gig.
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Kevin Lowe: You've been wanting to tap into that creative side, but you just never find the time.
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Kevin Lowe: So maybe what this looks like for you is you marking down on the calendar.
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Kevin Lowe: For the next 30 days, I'm going to focus on this.
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Kevin Lowe: I'm going to focus on learning how to paint, on drawing.
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Kevin Lowe: I'm going to take a class. I'm going to devote my time, my effort,
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Kevin Lowe: my energy into something that I truly want, that lights me up, that gets me excited.
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Kevin Lowe: Because if it's not something that gets you excited, well, then my friend,
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Kevin Lowe: what the heck is it even for?
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Kevin Lowe: I want you to bring excitement back into your life. And this is the opportunity.
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Kevin Lowe: Maybe for you, this is spiritual, a spiritual sabbatical.
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Kevin Lowe: It's you wanting to get back in touch with nature, with yourself.
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Kevin Lowe: Well, put yourself in that situation. Take off every weekend,
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Kevin Lowe: somewhere new, outside of the city limit sign.
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Kevin Lowe: Don't go where everybody else goes. No.
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Kevin Lowe: Get out where you don't hear traffic. You don't hear all the noise of modern world.
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Kevin Lowe: Instead, you're just out in nature. All you hear are the birds chirping.
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Kevin Lowe: You feel the wind. You hear the wind rustling through the trees, through the leaves.
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Kevin Lowe: You're back in nature, in the world that God designed.
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Kevin Lowe: My friend, there is no quicker way to get in touch with yourself, to be grounded,
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Kevin Lowe: than to get out of the city, to get away from all the people,
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Kevin Lowe: from all the hustle and bustle, and to get where you don't hear any of it,
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Kevin Lowe: where you're just out in the middle of nowhere.
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Kevin Lowe: My friend, that is where the magic happens. And remember, it doesn't have to
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Kevin Lowe: be long. It just has to be intentional.
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Kevin Lowe: When you're willing to step away from what you do, you're able to discover who you are.
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Kevin Lowe: That's what the point of this is. It's the point of the sabbatical.
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Kevin Lowe: It's to take a break for you.
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Kevin Lowe: To step away from all the responsibilities, for all the worries and anxieties,
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Kevin Lowe: the stresses of life, and to reconnect with you and you alone.
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Kevin Lowe: Because, my friend, you may think that this sounds really selfish.
00:10:46.552 --> 00:10:50.332
Kevin Lowe: Selfish that there's no way that you could do this to focus on you.
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Kevin Lowe: Well, I guess I would love to ask you this.
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Kevin Lowe: Are you showing up for your family as your best or is your best being used up while you're at work?
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Kevin Lowe: And by the time you get home at five o'clock in the evening,
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Kevin Lowe: your best is all used up. You're tired.
00:11:08.592 --> 00:11:12.292
Kevin Lowe: And so now the people who mean the most to you, your family,
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Kevin Lowe: you're not giving them your best.
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Kevin Lowe: Well, my friend, that's no way to live.
00:11:17.852 --> 00:11:21.012
Kevin Lowe: It's not good for you. It's not good for your family.
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Kevin Lowe: We all need to focus on showing up for the people who mean the most as our best selves.
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Kevin Lowe: And I believe the only way we can do that is if we're willing to pour into ourselves first.
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Kevin Lowe: Kind of like when you take a flight and they always give you the safety warning before you take off.
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Kevin Lowe: You put on your oxygen mask first, then you help the person next to you.
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Kevin Lowe: That's the same situation here.
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Kevin Lowe: You have to be willing to pour into yourself for you to have anything left to pour into others.
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Kevin Lowe: So my friend, today, I hope that something I said inspired you.
00:12:01.156 --> 00:12:03.916
Kevin Lowe: Maybe it has you thinking about things a little bit differently.
00:12:04.536 --> 00:12:07.996
Kevin Lowe: That's the focus, that's the hope with every episode I record.
00:12:08.336 --> 00:12:12.316
Kevin Lowe: It's just to give you that little bit of spark, that little bit of insight,
00:12:12.636 --> 00:12:15.436
Kevin Lowe: that little bit of inspiration, that you know what?
00:12:15.836 --> 00:12:19.156
Kevin Lowe: Huh, maybe a sabbatical is for me.
00:12:19.496 --> 00:12:25.296
Kevin Lowe: And if you want to learn from somebody who figured it out, who realized it the
00:12:25.296 --> 00:12:31.236
Kevin Lowe: best, well, as I said, go check out my interview with Ray Martin inside of episode 395.
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Kevin Lowe: An amazing story of a guy who took a six-month sabbatical, turned it into 14
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Kevin Lowe: years, and completely transformed his life and the world in the process.
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Kevin Lowe: A link to that episode is inside of the show notes, but easy enough,
00:12:46.636 --> 00:12:52.736
Kevin Lowe: just wherever you're listening to today's podcast, just go back to the previous episode and click play.
00:12:52.736 --> 00:12:56.716
Kevin Lowe: And with that, my friend, be sure that you are following the podcast,
00:12:56.716 --> 00:13:01.736
Kevin Lowe: whether you are listening on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or one of the many other
00:13:01.736 --> 00:13:04.056
Kevin Lowe: podcasting apps there are.
00:13:04.256 --> 00:13:08.136
Kevin Lowe: Please be sure that you hit that follow button so that you are notified each
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Kevin Lowe: week when a new episode is released.
00:13:10.956 --> 00:13:17.156
Kevin Lowe: I'm your host, Kevin Lowe. It is my pleasure to bring you today's episode, as always.
00:13:17.456 --> 00:13:20.796
Kevin Lowe: So, my friend, get out there and enjoy this beautiful day. This,
00:13:20.976 --> 00:13:23.576
Kevin Lowe: of course, is grit, grace, and inspiration.
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K-Lowe Music: I will not fear the storm. My hope's well defined. Because I've got Grit, Grace, & Inspiration on my mind!