I am so excited right now that it is. There's so many animals in my yard. It's spring.

I know.

The birds are just like that whole bird community going on.

It's the best.

It's my favorite.

I always forget what birds sound like. And then spring comes, you're like, I.

Think I can hear a couple at your house. I had to close my window because my neighbors were chitchatting in the backyard. Chit chatting in the backyard yard doesn't get disturbing. That got to close my windows because the neighbors are so allowed.

They are teeter tatter.

What? Did you say you saw a fox in your yard?

Yes. And I live in a neighborhood.

I mean, there is a little creek that goes through the neighborhood and like, a big field park area. Sometimes there's even deer around. But I was just closing the door in neary woods in my French sidewalk.

I really enjoy them.

It was really cool.

Foxes are very sweet. I saw a video on Instagram of a guy playing a banjo in his backyard and a fox just walked over and sat down and was, like, tilting his head and listening.

Yeah.

My life dream is like a bird to land on my finger and for a crow to bring me, like, a shiny penny or something.

They're the best. There's so many fun things happening right now. I sat in the yard almost all weekend and just watched all the things and I know all the things that live near me, and I can recognize them and they come and I've bird seed out. So the birds and squirrels and everybody gets in on that little bath. Yeah. So fun. Makes me very happy.

All my breaks are like just little strolls through the yard. I love every morning to go out there and just see how much have things grown. What's opening? Is there a caterpillar?

They could just look at things all day. You and I are very much the same that way, where we have more fun. Just wandering around being like, oh, there's a dandelion. Like, that's fulfilling.

I found a weed at the lamb's ear. Like the fuzzy?

Yes.

And I was, like, looking it up.

Cowboy toilet paper. That's what someone told me once.

Apparently you can smoke it. Oh, I maybe won't try that.

That was a trend in the 90s.

Smoking the lamb's ear.

I don't know which one, but the fuzzies it's not clear which one, and I don't know if I'd I don't.

Think I'd I'd do it.

There was a really funny thing that I shared on my Instagram. It wasn't about experimenting with smoking things. It was, see if I can find it really quick. But it was about mushrooms. Oh, here it is. Can't stop thinking about the people who first ate mushrooms through trial and error. You know? Like, this one tastes like beef. And this one killed Kevin instantly. And this one made me see God for three weeks.

I think I've seen that one. And it's so funny.

It's like, yeah, what a ride.

Well, they say I mean, did you watch that fantastic fungi?

Oh, yeah, a few times.

That's how, like, neanderthals, like, expanded their minds as magic mushrooms.

Oh, yeah. That's a great theory. What is it, the stoned ape theory or something like that.

Fantastic.

Oh, man, this one killed Kevin instantly. Yeah. Kevin, I know.

I love that.

That's the name.

Oh, dear.

One of the things that I want for everyone, only because it's brought me so much joy, is, as you know, I have Jennings Photo and photo biz help on Instagram. But when I started all of my capricorn born stuff, I was very discerning about who I followed. And so my I Am capricorn born account has, of course, tarot and astrology stuff and spiritual stuff that interests me. And then it has plant stuff, gardening stuff, some cooking and food stuff, lots of bird stuff, lots of African animal trusts, lots of animal stuff, cute pets, people that have just hilarious animals in their life and, like, some art, some people that make tea, some people that sit in their porch and smoke weed and play cool music. I mean, it is the best feed. And it doesn't ever make me angry. It doesn't ever make me feel, like, impostory or sad about my life because someone else's life is I mean, I do really want my own little hobby farm, but I'm not, like, jealous. I'm, like, inspired. I'm like, oh, when I get my next place, I'm going to do that and I'm going to have chickens and run. And if you have just one account, I mean, I'm not advocating for more social media, but I'm just there's a distinct self I step into when I'm in one of my accounts versus the other. And the other accounts make me anxious because it's a lot of business stuff. I followed a lot of follow a lot of news organizations, a lot of journalists I like and things like that. But it's, like, heavy all the time, right? And I'm not saying don't be like, stick your head in the sand and not be aware of the world, but like, oh, my gosh, I'm a happier person because of this curation. So try it, is all I'm saying.

Yeah, that's definitely a question that's been on my mind. It's like, how much is too much? I think I know how fucked up the world is. Enough. I think I know enough.

Yeah.

To have it in front of you every single day.

It really does.

I was chatting with Corey, one of the associates for Jennings photo. This was a little while back, but we were chatting about that overwhelming feeling that you get and when you're just in the news and you're aware of every catastrophe on every continent all at once, right? And when I feel overwhelmed by that kind of stuff and when I feel helpless, because, yes, one person or a small group of people can change the world. No doubt about that. But day to day, realistically speaking, we can't clean up the river in Russia that is now running Red or whatever. The voice that is. We can make moves towards supporting people that can do that. But I don't have time to I don't know what that would be a whole other life job. My point is bringing it in as small as you can when you feel overwhelmed, because that is how the bigger changes made. Like, when you're good, you are able to be good to your immediate people, the people you probably live with, and then your friends and your family and concentric circles. We all know how that works. But if you're feeling good in that, then maybe see what you can do just in your neighborhood, then see what you can do, like, in your town. Because every neighborhood, every town, every household, every person has areas where they need some healing and some help. So it's not like we need to overlook those things that are accessible to us in order to fix the huge, huge stuff. I'm not saying don't become involved in the big, big stuff, but to be day in and day out, overwhelmed by stuff all over the world that you would have to be ten people to really do something about that would make you feel better.

Right?

Bring it in, bring it in. Small, small, small to self, then to household, then to neighborhood, then to town, then to state or whatever, and you'll definitely find something you can do to help heal a pain or support a person or be of service, blah, blah, blah, and you'll feel better, and you'll be building a stronger community. Ultimately, that's kind of where it starts, right?

Right.

I know that sounds maybe idealistic or whatever, but I feel like it helps me to manage the overwhelm.

You have to ask yourself, too, are you you're seeing all this horrible stuff. And I know the feeling of, like, oh, my God, we have to help these people. This is horrible. How can I just go live my life and drink coffee and this is happening at the same time?

But what are you doing then to.

Make it any better for yourself or for them? And it's probably nothing because what can you do? And then you just get overwhelmed, and you don't do anything, and then you're overwhelmed all day, and then you're crabby to your kids, and it's like, Casey, you're not even taking care of your home environment.

So it's good to just yeah.

That guilt is such a big one because so many of us were raised with classic Catholic guilt or whatever. I mean, like, there's a lot of guilt in our culture, and I say that jokingly and not jokingly, but feeling guilty about, oh, I'm having an organic lunch with my good friend today while XYZ is happening elsewhere or even just down the road. And then there's that guilt that seeps in and there's that really, for me at least, that really helpful. Abraham quote. If you're not familiar with Abraham, it's a whole other topic, but always a positive message, I think, and always feels really truthfully aligned that you can't be sick enough or sad enough or poor enough or angry enough to help the people or creatures or whatever who are. So by depriving yourself of things that you have access to that make you healthier and happier and more whole, that's not helping the groups that you want to help or feel guilty about. That's not how you help.

Because who's going to pull them up the ladder? Who's going to be strong enough to pull them up?

Yeah, it's that self care piece, like, in the sense of if you have privilege and access to care for yourself, that's awesome. That's what everyone wants. So instead of feeling bad about it, turn that into, how can I serve? How can I help? Maybe you can buy a meal for someone in addition to the lunch you're having. Like, maybe the little organic cafe has some kind of program or something that sounds small, but it's not small. It makes a really big difference, in my belief at least. So that always really helps me because I have more energy and more money and more time because of what I've created in my life to do the things I want to do to help, whether whatever that is, stuff I donate to, stuff I volunteer, blah, blah, blah, blah. I don't know. Does that make sense?

Yeah, totally.

You can't pour from an empty cup.

I know there's so many we could go down that road, but I do think we're in a weird time where people are overwhelmed, and I am included in that. And I think the concentric circle vibe, starting with self and moving outward is helpful because if everyone does that, there's a lot of power in that.

Yeah, totally agree.

And again, asking where you can be of service in each rung of that, not just ignoring everybody until you feel better, that's not what I'm saying. But I'm just saying, like, oh, that doesn't work. Don't try and heal the whole world when your best friend really needs your support or something. I don't know. Yeah, maybe we should just leave it there and do the thing I wanted to do in the next episode, because yeah, that was a lot of I think we just needed to chat, to.

Share that chit chat in the backyard.

And to share that tip, really, truly. If you're feeling overwhelmed and bad, maybe curate your feed. If you feel like you're not the sort of person that can take a break from social media, maybe clean it up, do a little spring cleaning in your feed and see how it feels, or start a brand new account that nobody knows about, and just only follow stuff that makes you happy and be very discerning about that.

I just did that. I just started a brand new account, and I'm not telling nobody. If they find me, they find me.

But that's the way to do it. Don't find me and don't message me, please. That's it.

Don't send me reels.

Just let me do my thing. Leave me be. Yeah, it's fun to have that and.

Not have the pressure, because there's so much pressure on social media for me.

Of, like, with businessy stuff.

Yes, got to show up and should I say that? And blah, blah, blah, blah.

It's very freeing to be in a space where you can be yourself and I just want to be to a degree. We've talked about this. You should be able to do that. But there's a certain business pressure and duty to your clients and duty to maintain and grow your business that keeps you from being fully like, I can't share foxes listening to banjos all day. If I want to get photo clients, I have to some of my photography, too.

I definitely the pendulum will swing one way very far for me, and it'll just be all content of my cats. And I'm like, oh, yeah, I'm a photographer.

Yeah, here's a picture I know. Yeah, check out how I've propagated my fiddle leaf fig, everyone. Anyway, okay, thanks for the world changing chat.

Yes.

I think it's a really I don't.

Know, the idea of community has been on my mind so much lately this last year, and I think what we just talked about now ties into that a lot, largely due to social media and just the access we have to the whole world. We're so split. Our mind is in so many places and so consumed and overwhelmed by it that we're forgetting about our own little community right around us.

And then we feel like crap and.

We don't have support and we're overwhelmed, but it's like we're not spending our.

Energy on what we can do because.

We'Re so exhausted and overwhelmed and horrified by things that are going on in.

The world, which totally, if you're a.

Good, decent human, normal human, you should be horrified by it all.

But this is the first time in.

Humanity that we know of that we've had access to every single horrible thing that happens all day long in every.

Place of the world, and we weren't built for this.

It's a lot. And if you don't have means and if you're really struggling, I mean, it can be something as simple as, like, smiling to the person you live with instead of grumbling and walking down the hall or whatever. How can I serve? How can I help? How can I better? The world can be so small. Sometimes buying a cup of coffee for the person behind you in line or whatever it is, that's a way to do it. And when things start to feel good in your world, and if you are fortunate enough to have access to what you need, then you can move that out bigger and bigger and bigger and start really tackling bigger problems if you want to.

Right.

But we burn out, and we literally don't have what we need to make big change if we are totally all over the place ourselves. And I think that goes for building your business, too. This Is The Photo Business. Help Podcast. I mean, if you're trying to make, like, okay, this year I'm going to do this and this and this, and I'm going to redo this, and I'm going to offer this, and I'm going to finally, if your head is rolling like that and you haven't slept and you're fighting with everyone in your house and you just lost a big job, there's just so many things you have, like a stomachache. I don't know. That's not the time to try and do this and then getting frustrated with yourself because you're rolling it around in your head and you're procrastinating and you're stressed and you're not getting anything done. Rein it in. Like, take care of what you need to take care of first and then come back to it, because it's just never productive to try and save the world or build a business or do anything big when you have overlooked the most important part of the circle, which is the center of it, which is you.

Well, and it's another Abraham concept or saying of, like, you can't go from here. You can't take these huge leaps. Usually you can't go from this to.

Saving the world, like depressed to joyful. You have to climb the ladder of.

Emotion, little steps, and that's the way you get there. And it's just the consistency is key.

Yeah.

One little thing, and that's how you get to the bigger thing.

It is a practice. You start spending more and more time in the step that you've climbed up to, and then you can access the next one. And it's a process, but it works and it makes sense. And I think we want to jump from depressed to joyful, and that's why we drink and do things that are temporary leaps into that universe. But to really, truly organically grow into those spaces of existing, it takes a little practice and awareness, but it's a pretty cool process. I love Abraham.

I know.

I was just thinking about them last night. I haven't listened to Abraham in quite a while. Used to be every day I'd listen to an Abraham clip.

I know. That's one thing. We were like, that we go way back on, if I recall. Okay.

I know. I'm now thinking like, oh, Abraham.

Okay. All right.

Everyone's like, who are they talking about?

We'll put a link in the show notes to some I don't know. It might not be for you. But don't worry, you'll find what's for you. Okay. Thanks. Idrie.

Yes, thank you.

Talk to you soon.

Bye.