Welcome to Elevate Daily, the podcast for those ready to elevate their life one intentional day at a time. I'm your host, Alexia Usgaard, here to give you a permission slip to unapologetically savor the beauty and richness of life. Join me as we explore modern rituals, self leadership, the gene keys, and the art of elevating your health, wealth, love, and leadership. It's time to elevate. Let's dive in.

Hello, hello, and welcome back to Elevate Daily. I'm Alexia Usgaard, and I'm so enthused, as always, to have you here, especially as we are going to be diving into today about what do you do when you have things in your life that are really important to you that you highly value that, in all honesty, feel heavy to carry?

There are things that make you feel depleted just even thinking about it. Maybe not full burnout, maybe not full collapse every time or full overwhelm, but in all honesty, while it is something that you know matters, it doesn't feel like it naturally just flows in your life.

There feels like there's effort, there feels like there's a lot of willpower that has to go into showing up for it. Or it might just feel empty and numb in a way that you don't love because your presence isn't fully there. I've seen this so much in the accomplished entrepreneurs, the high capacity, world-class women I work with, is just, there's so much conversation on how do we get things off of our plate? What are the things that don't matter to us that we need to automate, we need to delegate? This is different.

These are the things that actually are the juice and the beauty of our life, yet because of so many of the dynamics of navigating a full life can really easily get caught up becoming things that we actually find feel heavy to show up for, feel heavy to carry, feel heavy every time we think about it. And so in today's conversation, I'm gonna share with you why this happens, how you can shift into a new way of relating to these important things in your life, and how you can create a very simple and joyful ritual experience so that way when you do show up for this thing that matters to you, you feel like your full presence is there, like you're giving it your best energy, that there's more joy in the journey and that you feel like you're just fueled by motivation to show up for it rather than feeling again, like you have to discipline yourself in order to do the thing.

And so I want to name how this can actually show up and like the different ways I've seen it show up with my clients. So for example, it could be creatively that you are writing a book, you're creating a body of work, you're working on an offer suite.

You're channeling a podcast or a long form piece of content that really matters to you. Something that you know you're here to bring forward. Yet in all honesty, every time you think about it or you have to show up for it, feels like there's just naturally a lot of resistance, procrastination and depletion you feel in that experience. It could be relationally that there are relationships in your life that matter deeply to you. You desire to cultivate more intimacy. You want to spend more quality time yet.

Oftentimes it can feel like just another thing you have to put on your calendar. And then even if you do show up, it can feel as though you are there, your body is there, but your full presence isn't there. I've seen this with clients around parenting. There's that desire to really savor connection time with their kids. And maybe every time you think about bedtime, you get so drained and you get a feeling of dread just thinking about it. Cause you're going, how am I going to have the energy to show up for whatever my kid or children need tonight. It can also be in your health. This is a huge one, right? It's like, know that you know that you know that showing up for certain fitness rituals, health rituals makes such a world of difference for you in terms of supporting you with your energy, your vitality, your radiance, getting yourself to the gym, all these different things. Yet in all honesty, it feels like either you're not showing up for it the way you know you're meant to.

Or even if you are showing up for it, it feels like the level and amount of willpower and quote, discipline that's required to do so is heavy and requires so much of you. And this is where I wanna support you with lightning the load. I want you to receive that. This is where I desire to support you with lightning the load. Feel like there's less that you're carrying so you can feel like when you're showing up for things, it's happening with so much more ease and that you ultimately are moving in the world from an energy of devotion rather than depletion. And so I want to take a moment to name why do these things that matter so much to us end up feeling heavy? And what I find is it's simply put a signal that this thing in your life has been put into default mode.

And so what I think about with default mode is it's when we're operating on autopilot, we're just doing the thing. We're just getting through the things. We're just going through our life instead of experiencing our life. And the dynamic is why this starts to feel heavy is if you keep operating on autopilot, you lose connection with why any of it actually matters. You lose connection with really feeling present in the experience.

And therefore that ends up compounding into making everything feel heavy. It makes everything feel like pressure and obligation rather than something that you consciously choose with intention to want to desire and find pleasure in showing up for. Can you feel that difference? Like I want you to feel the pleasure. I want you to experience that feeling of just, this moment is so magical, even if it is so seemingly mundane. And so what I want to name is when you have something in default mode, the tendency in our culture is to turn it into a habit. And here's my philosophy on this. This is my unique perspective here, which is to me default mode is when you are straight up just completely operating on autopilot, usually lacking a sense of conscious awareness and intention.

Then habits I find go into the space, especially if you've been doing, you know, creating habits consciously can go more into that space of intentionally taking important action, focusing on certain behavior's that matter to you. But again, even in the habit conversation, I find there's still a natural focus on putting it into autopilot. So you don't have to think about it, that you just show up for the thing without having to think about it. Whereas ritual to me, which is everything I stand for, is ensuring that you create the sacred container, the sacred structure.

So that way you are fully present in the experience of what you're showing up for. When you're writing that book, that the experience of writing it shapes who you become in such a powerful way. That you get to experience all of these sacred moments with your kids in a way that just nourishes you, not diminishing where there's difficulties and creative blocks and relational challenges and you know health edges we have to meet in ourselves, but it's like you get to remember consistently that the real joy in the experience of life isn't the end result. It's who you become in the process. It's actually celebrating your life instead of waiting for some external validation, some external experience before you finally give yourself the permission slip to relax, to enjoy, to savor your journey.

So now that I've shared with you why this matters, I actually want to support you with integrating this, implementing this in your life. And we're going to keep it simple and we're going to bring the joy back. So I'm going share with you a few steps on how you can make that important thing in your life feel lighter, feel more joyful and like something you really get excited to show up for. first thing I want you to think about is what is one important thing in your life, something you know right now in this season of your life really matters, that you desire to feel more presence around, you desire for it to feel lighter, you desire to feel like you get very excited to show up for it. And you might have multiple areas that immediately rock up, but I want to invite you to really think about one in particular, the one that matters most to you right now.

Then the next step, step two is I want us to get really honest about why does this matter to you? Why does this matter to you? And to really invite yourself, whether you need to pause this for a moment and write it down, whether it's an immediate feeling in your body, I really want you to invite yourself to feel why it matters. Not just think about it, not just think about what that's gonna create in your KPIs or your metrics or your outside goals. Why does this thing matter to you.

As an example, right, if you're writing a book, think about all of the people and the ripple effect you see this book having on the lives of others. Think about the identity and the craft you're cultivating as a writer that gets created day in day out by showing up for that creative project. Like I really want you to tune in and get radically honest with yourself about why this deeply matters to you.

Then the next step, the third step is we're now gonna ritualize it. So we're gonna tune into what is one small, very simple way that we can make this experience, make this activity, make this task into a ritual. So I like to think of the simplest ways to incorporate rituals that I have found into these experiences is to think of three ways you can do it. One is to think about the beginning of the task or activity task or activity at the end, so when you're closing or finishing something to add a bit of a ritual element there, or in transition between experiences.

And so as an example, to start writing, since we're using now writing as a main example, lighting a candle, going to the gym, you could be like, I love to play a song that just activates me as I put my gym clothes on and get really excited about going there. Right. It's something that supports you in how you start something for me before I click record on this podcast. have rituals that I do before I start that always support me with getting into the feeling of deep connection, deep joy, and also just a level of relaxation for channeling and sharing this content with you.

Then when we think about the closure rituals I was naming, like the ending dynamic, you can think about something that you do at the end of, say, a client session, where every time you finish a client session, a client meeting, you have a particular ritual you love to do, to close it out. It can be that when you finish and you complete your work day or you complete a creative project, you have a way of maybe closing your laptop, taking a few deep breaths, and just taking a moment to feel gratitude for what you've just created. It's something that supports you with knowing this experience, this activity that I've just focused on is complete.

And the third way to incorporate a ritual I find is usually in transitions, in the in-between moments. So it might be that like as you're transitioning between client sessions, I see it with some of my clients where energetic hygiene is really powerful. They love to wash their hands between clients because they do a lot of hands-on work and they find that just supports them with transitioning, calling their energy back to themselves before they go into the next one. It can also be changing your clothes. If you're going from work energy to parenting, you might be like, want to have this moment where I take a shower and I change my clothes and I really get to feel that shift into, now I'm out of work mode and now I'm in mom mode, as an example, right? But it's thinking about something that would spark joy for you. That's what I like to think of it as. So another thing I'll give as a fun little piece here is some of the things that can support you with making this feel joyful is to really think about your senses, to really think about how you can activate your senses. So it can be something along the lines of, maybe you're someone that really loves to connect with the fire element, which is why candles, lighting a candle really resonates with you. You love that feeling of lighting a candle. You could be someone who's really connected to water, which is why washing your hands could feel deeply supportive. You could be someone who is really connected to earth and loves that feeling of taking her shoes off and going and putting her feet in grass.

Going and putting her feet on the sand, finding a way to really ground and earth that way. Or you could be someone who loves air, and that's why breath work, breathing, having ways you incorporate breath work into your rituals makes a big difference. So I'm giving you lots of different little ways you can tune into for yourself, but this is all very unique to you. What would be a very simple ritual that you could incorporate to this important thing that matters to you that would make it feel so much more joyful. Can you notice I've said this question many times because I really deeply desire for it to land. And then the last piece I like to give as my pro tip is whatever you chose, let's make it 50 % simpler. Cause I know you all are high performers, naturally those who like to do things at the highest level. And I want to give you this invitation to make it as simple and easeful as possible to let the momentum build over time, to let it compound. So if you had, let's say, if you had a time element to your ritual, cut it in half. If you said you were gonna show up and do this thing daily, can you do it every other day? Just notice anywhere where you might've made it more elaborate and just make it simpler, or start with one tiny piece. Maybe you were like, I'm gonna light a candle, I'm gonna say a prayer, and I'm gonna do something else. Okay, just light the candle.

I want to just give you this invitation to make it simpler.

And then I invite you in whatever you chose to do to commit to a timeframe of let's say two weeks where you're just going to prioritize incorporating this ritual into your life and to just really notice after the two weeks, what comes to life for you, what is impacted and the ways in which it ripple effects also naturally into other areas. Cause the interesting thing is we're focusing on one area of your life, but what I've seen over and over again, is if you elevate one important area of your life, you can watch how that starts to naturally ripple effect into other areas and how you show up to your life in other areas. So that's my invitation for you. And if you would love support with refining your life, ensuring you're actually putting your energy and focus into what matters most, I'd love to invite you to do an illuminate experience with me. This is my signature experience where we really honor your unique blueprint, your unique lifestyle design. And we create bespoke rituals that actually elevate you, your energy, the version of you that shows up to space, and of course your ability to fully savor the experience. So if that resonates and you'd be curious to learn more, I recommend checking out the link in my show notes. And as always, I just really want to invite you to take a moment to honor yourself, honor all that's led you to this very moment. And so with that, as always, I'd love to just say thank you for being you. Thank you for being here. And I hope you continue to elevate your lives one intentional day at a time.

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