Finding the Throughline with Kate Hanley

In addition to upping the cozy factor in your home and in your body–as I covered in the previous two episodes–seeking coziness and comfort is also worthy goals when it comes to making life decisions, like what you do for work and where, who you’re in a relationship with, and where you live. Which flies in the face of most conventional advice, which says that you have to leave your comfort zone if you want to have a fulfilling life. So let’s break this down a bit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You don't always have control over your environment, but you do have say over what goes on your body. Today I'm sharing my top 5 ways to keep yourself cozy as a baby lamb snuggled up to its mama, no matter where you are. As my favorite pin says, "Cozy does it." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Environment is such a big piece of your wellbeing. It’s definitely worth taking a little time to set up your space for a little extra coziness. I promise these ideas are inexpensive and you likely already have things on hand that will help you execute them.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on the podcast is all about finding comfort and coziness. It’s just the time of year–and that time in the world at large as we round the corner on 2 years of a pandemic with a spike in cases. Let’s use this s-h-i-t show as an opportunity to embrace feeling cozy, whaddya say?Today’s big idea is that seeking coziness is more than just a comfort measure–it’s a survival mechanism that boosts all aspects of health. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One area of life that is in need of recovery for a lot of people right now, in this first week after the holidays, is your primary relationships. I wrote a blog post called How I Stopped Hating My Husband and You Can Too in 2013, about how I learned how to stop keeping score regarding who did what around the house and how to communicate about how I was feeling about the division of labor. That blog post has consistently been the biggest source of traffic to my blog, but let me tell you, while that traffic remains steady through the year, it spikes around the holidays. Why? Because there’s typically one partnerwho is taking on the bulk of the work that the holidays require, and in heterosexual relationships, that partner is typically the woman.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The problem with recovery is that we tend to think it’s only for certain situations–an addict who has hit rock bottom, for example, or someone who has experienced a major illness or surgery. And then, even in those situations, we expect recovery to happen on a certain schedule and to progress linearly, like an arrow that’s pointing upward and forward. Today’s big idea is that not only is recovery appropriate in a whole range of situations, including after times of widespread uncertainty, like the one you and I and everyone else on Earth is living through now, but also that it doesn’t happen on a timetable, and it doesn’t follow a straight line. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s big idea is that we have a cultural bias against recovery–because if you’re recovering from something, then something must have been kicking your butt. And we’re not great at tolerating quote-unquote weakness. When the truth is, there are so many good things about being in recovery. To share some of those good things with us, I’m talking today with Billy Manas, a recovering addict, and author of the book Kickass Recovery. Billy is also a top contributor on Elephant Journal where he writes a lot about addiction, relationships, and mindset. He's also a singer-songwriter who's got a treat for you at the end of the episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s big idea is that, once you recognize that you are in a recovery phase–and honestly, who among us hasn’t experienced loss and challenge in these last few years–you will naturally want to do something about that awareness. This episode lays out what that something is--and it's probably not what you'd expect, or that some part of you is going to hear. It's still true! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on the podcast I’m talking about recovery. Because after the two years we’ve just had, plus the holidays–which are typically enough on their own to make you feel like you’ve lost touch with the things that make you feel your best–I think a lot of people are ready for some of that action. What I love about the idea of recovery is the re- part–it’s not creating something new that you’re never had before. It’s getting back into the groove, not digging a new trench. And it’s acknowledging that you’re not at 100 percent, so it requires you to cut yourself–and everyone else who’s in recovery–some slack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s anti-resolution is probably the most important of them all. I should have maybe run it on Monday, but for whatever reason, my episodes that drop on Fridays tend to get the most downloads, so here it is: Un-Fix Yourself. That might seem like a mixed message, coming from a podcast called How to Be a Better Person. Just to be clear, I don’t want you to be a different person. Just to help you be that version of yourself that you know is in there, and that can get overlooked when we’re busy, or stressed, or distracted. It’s not fixing we’re after here. It’s remembering. And growing. And neither of those things are possible when you're focusing on the flaws you want to make go away. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices