The Nick Bare Podcast - 166: Life Updates, Parenting, and Social Media Detox with Stef Bare

Episode Date: March 23, 2026

In this episode, Stef and I sit down for a real conversation about our family, faith, routine, and the season we’re currently in right now. We reflect on the chaos and gift of parenting, why we’ve chosen to disconnect from social media on weekends, and how that decision is reshaping our presence, priorities, and creativity. It’s as honest of a look that we can give at what we’re building behind the scenes and the values guiding where we go next.CHAPTERS:00:00 Intro01:00 The Catch Up02:06 Weekend Social Media Fast07:42 Creativity and AI Fears15:20 Homeschooling and Time Back22:54 Morning Routine Overview25:03 Night Before Prep30:32 Early Wake and Workouts37:24 Baby Three?45:36 Fitness Reset54:11 Our Current Faith/Life Direction01:03:42 Vision for Stef's Studio01:16:36 Parenting Season ReflectionsORDER MY BOOK HERE: ⁠https://www.amazon.com/Go-One-More-Intentional-Life-Changing/dp/1637746210FOLLOW:Become a BPN member FOR FREE - Unlock 25% off FOR LIFE ⁠https://www.bareperformancenutrition.com/collections/performance-nutritionIG: ⁠instagram.com/nickbarefitness/⁠YT: ⁠youtube.com/@nickbarefitnessThis podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal [health or profession] advice. Bare Performance Nutrition (BPN) is not responsible for any losses, damages, or liabilities that may arise from the use of this podcast. This podcast is not intended to replace professional medical advice.This podcast may not be republished without the written consent of Bare Performance Nutrition (BPN)

We're not sharing this stuff to say that we haven't figured out. Yeah. And that life is all like rainbows and butterflies and peaceful and calm. No, our house is chaos. Oh, there was tears at 652 this morning. And like this past weekend, we had the most epic meltdown ever trying to go into Home Depot. Like, we didn't even make it through the parking lot into Home Depot. We had to turn around.

Go home. There's a meltdown over which. shopping cart we were taking. So Charlie was losing it and then Nico was losing it. He was scared of his sister. So we threw everyone in their car seats and we drove home. Yeah. So by no means. But we make it, I think the important thing is that we make the effort to try to get it as peaceful and fulfilling as possible. But is that always the case? I would say it's 50-50. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of the podcast. Today we have my wife, Steph Bear.

I'm back. Welcome back. I checked the last one. It was November. So. Yeah. A while. It was probably during Iron Man Prep.

It wasn't after Iron Man Prep. You are right. Yep. Yeah. Lots has happened. It's crazy. I mean, I was just thinking about this in my run this morning. That was, the Iron Man was four months ago.

Feels like it's been longer, honestly. But when you're in it, it went out. When I was in the prep, those 18 weeks felt like a long time. Yeah. And then it's over. And then life just happened so quickly. Yeah. I mean, I was thinking about it.

The school year for Charlie's done in a month and a half. That's weird. This is year one of her going to school? Yeah. I almost would have said it was year two. Yeah. All right. So lots of things we want to discuss and cover today.

The first thing, I put up a poll on my Instagram a few days ago. We had a rough outline of what we wanted to talk about in this conversation today, but I was just curious with other people wanted to hear about. And there was a lot of the same questions and responses. People have been really interested in this social media weekend fast that we've been doing probably for a month now. Yeah, about a month. I think I would say over a month.

Maybe six weeks. I think I would have been doing it a little bit longer than you because I'm the one that crashed out about it and then you joined me about a month ago. So people are really curious. Yeah. I would say that this has been one of the greatest things. Well, let's talk about what is it? What do we do?

That at least I, maybe we have done. Yeah. So essentially the way my phone is set up and you take a different approach to it. I do. I take the adding to approach. I have an app on my phone called app block. I have that too for weekday stuff. And you can set schedules of when certain apps are able to be accessed and certain apps aren't able to be accessed. And there's also a strict mode on it, which is another layer of security. Never tapped into that. I use the strict mode. I have to use a strict mode. Okay. So I can't get into these apps. So mine turns.

on every Friday night. So my strict mode turns on. So my strict mode turns on Friday night and then it turns off Monday morning. So I can't access any of my social media apps. YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, which I really never get on or use, Facebook, my podcast, analytics, any social media platforms I can't access. I will say, not having. access to YouTube. Oh, I was going to say recipes is hard sometimes. It is hard. Yeah. But not having access to YouTube on the weekends is tough if I'm trying to fix something. Okay. Yeah. Like this weekend, I was trying to fix the blinds, the art outdoor shades. And I could not watch these tutorial videos.

So I was reading articles. But with that being said, can't access my social media from Friday night until Monday morning. No access. Nothing. And I love it. What's your approach? Well, I really only, I'm only on Instagram. I don't have Facebook anymore that I operate. I've never had TikTok. I don't know if anyone uses Facebook. That's under the age of 45. Yeah, but you have one and it's still just annoying. Whatever. And YouTube, I feel like I don't really use that much. So I only block Instagram, but I delete the app off my phone because I didn't know about the strict mode though. That probably would be enough for me. But, I mean, that's how, I mean, we've been using Instagram for work and for life for over a decade.

So it just becomes a part of your life. And we just had a lot of conversations lately how we don't like that it's such a part of our life. So I have to delete it off my phone. So out of sight, out of mind. And it has been so great. It's been great. Yeah. I feel like I've learned a lot.

and you really get a look at how much you reach for it naturally for things that you don't need to. The first like two weekends that we started incorporating this, I was still going towards my phone out of just habit. Yeah. Picking it up, trying to open the app. Your fingers know where it is. Yeah, it's scary. It's sad. Yeah. First two weekends, I was still trying to break these old habits now.

I don't even think about it on the weekends. I look forward to Friday night when all those apps get shut off. Yeah. And I don't think about it until Monday morning. Yeah. And really the only reason I'm going into these apps is for work. It's a big part of my job. Yeah.

If it wasn't a big part of my job, I would delete these apps and platforms forever, for eternity. Yeah. Yeah. Like we've said, I think you, I don't know if you even need the fast because I feel like you just do that. naturally. You don't want to be on it. I, and we'll admit this, it's not a pretty thing. Like, I want to be on it. Like, I like being connected to people. I like checking in on, you know, the few influencers that I'm inspired by and stuff like that. I like it, but I have realized that it can be a poison to your life. So I feel like you don't have really an unhealthy

relationship with consuming, especially. You have to create. That's a huge part of your job. For me, I've been in and out of seasons where creating is my job, so to speak. But, I do enjoy it, but I have found myself because I don't block interest. And I'm like, okay, I need a fun activity for Charlie, garden inspiration. Like, I'll still go for inspiration. And I know you and I have talked, we've had a lot. I had a crash out a couple weeks ago about social media. And we could talk more about that later. Just a lot of conviction has been placed on my heart about social media in the lane of my creativity and authenticity to who I am. So the weekend break has been very refreshing.

And yeah, by Sunday you kind of forget about it. I was actually to talk about that now. Okay. Because I think with social media and especially the developments in AI, we as a population, as people, are becoming less creative. Yeah. And we're constantly needing inspiration to do things. We're not as resourceful as we used to be.

We're not learning on our own. We're going to chat GPT. Or we're going to social media, Instagram for all the answers. Let's see what this person did. And then I'll do it to solve this one problem. And my fear is that younger generations, our children, are not going to be resourceful, adaptable, they're going to lose that learning ability and edge

because all the answers are at our fingertips. Yeah. So what was your conviction? It's been this dull conviction for years, really, since we've had kids. That's when it really started. I had no conviction about social media or really bad thoughts about it until we had kids, which I think is a very natural thing. your life is completely different. Your priorities, your focus is totally different when you have kids.

So social media just really becomes this thing that you're like, I can't believe I'm spending actual time on this. I can be spending with my kids. And I've just had this dull conviction. And then I don't know, about a month ago, I've just been thinking a lot. And maybe it's the Lord just trying to redirect me. But it's a mix of being a mother and do. giving social media any time at all. It just feels wrong right now to me. I feel like every opportunity I get to be with my kids when they're this little, I told you I saw something or read something I can't remember. They called these years the 2%. This is only 2% of your life and your kid's life when they're this little and they constantly need you and want to snuggle you. And it goes by so quick. I don't want to waste the 2% on social media. But more so with creativity,

I really had a lot of deep thought and reflection. I feel like growing up, if you ask my parents or a lot of my friends, like how to describe me, one of the same words everybody used was creative. I was just a very creative mind. I loved to write. I was a writer. I loved to create. I was always in like leadership positions in school and in my sorority. And back then, you know, I graduated college in 2014. I think Instagram just came. out right around like my senior year or something. So there was Facebook yet, but we didn't use it the way people use it now. But thank God. I know. But I was looking back at those years, I was so sharp and creative and I would put on events and just in these roles that I was in. I feel like I was just so idea driven. And looking back, I didn't have social media to give me any ideas or any inspiration. Like it's cool because back then I looked. And I'm like, that was just the way I was made. That was coming from me, the depths of my soul or what God gave me.

Authentic, real, genuine. Couldn't be duplicated, original. And I feel like as the years have gone by and I've been, you know, feeling my mind and my heart with podcasts and books and people's Instagram stories, I don't even really know who they are. I feel like, I think I described it to you as I feel like my creativity muscle. has been paralyzed and what's been replaced by that muscle is social media. And I just had this moment a few weeks ago where I was like, it was very, very deep. I was like, when I talk, are these even my own thoughts? Or is this just a curation of everything I listen to and read? And that scared me a little bit. Because I'm like, well, who am I? Like, what do I think? What do I believe? What do I want to create? What ideas are mine?

and that's when I was just like, okay, I have to change some things because I don't want to be like everybody else. And I've had my ups and downs with social in my career. You know, I've been in so many lanes of influencer and social. And I sometimes just feel like I'm contributing to the noise. Like, am I just doing what everybody else is doing because I think it's working? And I don't know. I've just had some really deep thoughts about it. And I remember the week after I kind of of really dug into this. It was my garden week where I just got to be outside and I like took a trip to Michaels with Charlie and I'm like, okay, no outside ideas or inspiration. I just want to like be and try to tap into that part of me that used to be so strong. So I'm still on a journey with that.

But again, like it's deep that all of that can come from just thinking about social media, but that's where my head's been out with it lately. There's definitely pros. and benefits of being on social media. Yeah. But I think it's really easy to glance over all the negatives and justify being on these platforms for the small amount of pros and benefits. Yeah.

I just, sorry to interrupt, but I just fear, like, what you said about AI, and I feel like I'm not even really in that world because I don't really have a use to use AI other than, like, looking up an illness. think I have. Oh, that's real. That's real.

Or, like, how to arrange my garden. Like, that necessarily isn't creative, right? It's like, it's a resource for me. But I do fear that, like, we aren't going to have brilliant people anymore in the world because everyone's just using this crutch that social media and AI is. And that scares me. It's like, I want our kids to be original and have that. I just feel like it's changing our brain chemistry.

We have to rage against the machine. I've been thinking about this a lot lately. The band? No, but like the whole concept of there's this machine in this system. Oh, I've never thought about the band name that way. Yep. Pioneers. There's this machine, there's this system that is building.

Yeah. Do not conform to the patterns of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your. Yeah, put that on the home page of chat, GBT. Amen. So I was listening to a podcast this week. Which one? So when I come back from my run in the morning, if I'm listening to a podcast,

like this morning in my run, I just listened to worship music, the whole run. It was great. Yeah. But if I'm listening to a podcast, I'll typically come back from my run. You're getting up, coming into the kitchen, and I'm brain dumping how I'm going to save

the world. When I've been awake for four minutes. And change our life based off this one episode. Yeah, I love it. But the episode I was listening to this past week, I've been really interested in Sean Ryan's podcast the last couple weeks. Which do you remember when we saw him? That was who we saw, right? Yeah. Yeah, we did see him in Franklin, Tennessee. Yeah, we did. Yeah. I didn't know who that was, but now, yeah, small world. So it was episode 188 titled Why Parents Are Ditching. public schools for homeschooling. Now, this is kind of a small pivot off of the social media fast that we're talking about, but similar to.

This is all about this business and education system platform called Classical Conversations, which is a global homeschooling program rooted in classical Christian education. It was a great episode. But one of the things that the founders, the co-founders, the co-founding, of classical conversation said. Two interesting facts. One, homeschooling gives you 16,000 hours back with your kids. K through 12, I'm assuming. Yes, 16,000 hours. If you homeschool your kids, you get 16,000 hours back with your kids because they're not in school. Crazy. Now, we go back and forth, at least I go back and forth. Do we send our kids to private school or do we homeschool?

I'm like still on the fence. I'm still trying to figure it out. Yeah, I don't want to homeschool. I know. I know how you feel about it. But this was a quote from this episode. But the 16,000 hours, that's eye opening. Yeah, it is.

This was a quote from that episode. You're never going to look back on your life, on your deathbed, and be like, God, I wish I could just check Instagram one more time. But a lot of people are going to be on their deathbed, looking back on their life saying, man, I wish that I would have spent a little bit more time with my kids and a little bit less time at the office on social media, on distractions. Social media, if used incorrectly and unresponsibly, is a distraction. A distraction rooted and created by the enemy to pull us away from the most meaningful relationships and experiences and memories of life. Yeah.

Yeah, I think it's created by the enemy. For sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so I'm still navigating it. I definitely am changing the way I use it. And for me, I have developed a lot of anxiousness around being consistent on that platform in a career sense, you know, or creator sense.

I feel this like guilt and not shame, but no one's putting pressure on me. Like no one probably knows that I haven't even been on it and I'm not posting or creating anything. You know, that's the thing. But when you were doing it for so long, and this is the grip that it has on our lives, like, I've heard you say this too. Like you feel like you have to pop in every now and then to just like show up and be like, hey, still here, still relevant, still creating. I'm still good at this. All the things. I have no need to do that.

I have no need to do that. I'm a mom and a wife first. That's what I'm really trying to focus on right now in this season. And it's just giving me this anxiousness about you're not being consistent enough. Like you go hard for a year and then you disappear. You go hard for two months with recipes and then you disappear. That makes you just a flake. And that really gets in my head. So I think I'm just better off without it, honestly. I've talked with you and a mentor I have and we've talked about doing just to start like a full 30-day. totally off fast, which I still want to do. I do. I don't know what it looks like for me in the future, but right now it just doesn't feel important to me. One of the biggest realizations I have come

Monday morning after we haven't been on social media the last couple days is that we haven't missed anything. Yeah. You don't miss. Although I did miss someone that I really, really love their baby's birth. But she did text me. But still. But guess what? I know. You can text her Monday. I know, you're right. You're right. It's like we have this fear that we're missing out.

Yeah. But the reality is like when we're spending all this time on social media. Yeah. We're missing out on what actually matters. It's like living our life. When I'm on social media, it is because I'm creating. And I have a responsibility and obligation to keep a pulse on certain things. Yeah.

in the industry and my business within the community. If I wasn't a crater, I would delete all my social media tomorrow. Yeah, I believe, yeah, I believe you. It would be so freeing. And I would go back to a dumb phone and I'd move us somewhere where we could buy a farm and live on the land. And I would teach our kids how to be like all these life skills. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a real thing. I'll get there one day. Yeah. For sure.

I think I feel like, and then we can wrap the subject up because, you know, it is what it is. But I do feel like in the last couple months, I don't know if God's giving me this new lens of how to look at it. But this is nothing. I know that here's the thing. Social media has given so many families and people lives that they could never imagine or achieve otherwise, right? just with being a creator and being in that space. I think it's amazing. It's changed people's lives. And some people are just so good at it and being authentic. But I feel like I have a hard time being authentic on it.

But I feel authentic because I just, I know how curated it is. And I feel like God is giving me this lens where everyone listening here, like you scroll through your phone. Let's say you're a 33-year-old mom like me. I follow a lot of other moms just for inspiration to feel not alone. all the things just in camaraderie with other moms. And I'll see, you know, certain influencers and I'll see these videos. And it's like, I used to see it. I was like, oh, this is so sweet. She's filming her morning. You know, like, stay at home mom with timestamps, 5 a.m. to 10 a.m.

And it's like, I watch it. And I'm like, this is amazing. Like, how sweet. How real. But over the last couple months, and this is not to dog anybody, but now what I see, because I've been on that side of it is, okay, so this mom woke up. She had to get out of bed, set up a tripod, get back into bed to fake waking up, then get back, take the phone off the tripod, move the tripod, get the lighting right, fix her hair so she looks acceptable for social media, wake up her kids, set up a tripod. Like, that's what I see now, but I watch those. And I don't think people realize that's what goes into it. And again, that's given some people some amazing lives in financial situations, but it's just not a life that I feel drawn. too. I don't want my kids to think of their mom and think of their mom with a tripod or, you know,

asking them to repeat something cute they did because it would be good for the video because I've been there and it feels icky to me. And I think it feels icky to me personally because that's not what God has for me. I think a lot of people can handle it a lot better than I could, but I can't. I mean, it's a great self-awareness and realization. Yeah, I'm trying. Yeah. I mean, it's like super powerful. and the conviction is probably put in your heart for a reason. For a reason.

Yeah. And not everybody will feel that, but I do. So I'm just leaning into that. Yeah, I think that's awesome. That's great. Next thing I want to talk about our morning routine. Yeah. Again, a lot of the questions that came in through this Instagram question box

was how we balance our own personal fitness and health and raising children. and work and just like all these things in life. Like right now we have a pretty dialed morning routine. Yeah. So I think we should we should share that because our goal with our morning your teen is that we both get our workouts in. Most days for me. Yeah. Most days we, you know, get a good meal in.

Yeah. We spend time with our kids. Bible time. Bible time. It's not rushed. Ideally. It's still chaotic. Yeah.

The mornings are still absolute chaos. And I want to preface the rest of this conversation and episode with, like, we're not sharing this stuff to say that we haven't figured out. Yeah. And that life is all like rainbows and butterflies and peaceful and calm. No, our house is chaos. Oh, there was tears at 652 this morning. And like this past weekend, we had the most epic meltdown ever

trying to go into Home Depot. Like, we didn't even make it through the parking lot into Home Depot. We had to turn around. Go home. There's a meltdown over which shopping cart we were taking. So, like, Charlie was losing it, and then Nico was losing it. He was scared of his sister.

So we threw everyone in their car seats, and we drove home. Yeah, so by no means. But we make it, I think the important thing is that we make the effort to try to get it as peaceful and fulfilling as possible. But is that always the case? I would say it's 50-50.

Yeah, there's a lot of meltdowns. Yeah, but when it goes right, it's a great morning. So you start because you wake up before us. All right, so my alarm goes off between 4.30 and 5 a.m. There's really not much rhyme or rhythm. It's like how rest do I feel the day before? Yeah. If I feel rested.

Well, let's start the night before, though, truly. I think that's kind of really important about the morning because we've been going bed earlier. Yeah? and cut out a lot of stuff. I mean, I would love to go to bed even earlier. But when I come in that room at 8.45 and you already have your sleep mask on, I'm like, you slap that thing back on your face. And I'm like, we are talking.

Yeah. So evening routine, after we get both kids down, which is anywhere from 745 to 8.30, getting both kids down asleep, we rotate. We do, yeah. So like Monday, for example, which was yesterday, I put Charlie down, you put Niko down. You switch every other night. Yeah. And then tonight you'll put Charlie down. I'll put Niko down. Because it's more, it's long-winded putting our toddler down, or I guess they're both toddlers now. But our three and a half year old, that's a longer process.

So we give each other breaks every other night. Yeah, Nico gets thrown in his crib and it's like, dude, you do that. You're going to put yourself down. I do not do that, but you do. But whatever, he's resilient. Yeah, making the boy resilient. So once we get the kids down, we preheat the sauna after dinner. So after the kids go down,

we both go out in the backyard and we sauna for 15 to 20 minutes. And then come in the house, shower, make lunches for the next day. I prep my food. We prep Charlie's lunch if she's going to school the next day. And then we both typically have a snack. Like my go-to snack right now before bed is I do one of those 2% Faye Greek yogurts, the individual cups. Oh, I know.

I go through it. It was like crazy. Then I add cacao nibs, organic cacao nibs on top, maple syrup, honey. Sometimes if my fat was low for the day, I'll add some peanut butter on there. And then sometimes on top of it, I'll either have an avocado with everything but the Sea salt or everything but the bagel seasoning. Yeah. I've been transitioning away from everything but the bagel seasoning because of what it does to my breath before going to bed.

Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for that. Or if I, you know, ran more that day or I had bigger on the next day, all the pieces of sourdough. Yeah. With some butter and flaky sea salt on top. Mike, I look forward to that meal, that snack every night. What's your good to?

I don't always have a snack. You should share the cookie dough. Oh, yeah, that's this gal that I love. Her name's Alec Treffers. It's her recipe. Protein cookie dough. It's just oat flour. It's equal ratios.

It's very easy to remember. Two tablespoons oat flour. Two tablespoons. P.B2. Two tablespoons monk fruit sweetener, which is like a powdery, like stevia type thing. Skip a protein powder, sea salt. And then you just add water until it gets to like a thick cookie dough. you know, consistency, and then you add some chocolate chips, put it in the fridge or freezer

for like 30 minutes, and that is like, I mean, you've tried it. It's good. It is so good. And it's got like 30 grams of protein. So I always, if I am having a snack, it's like a high protein sweet treat. I don't crave, you know, the savory stuff you do at night. But alacado and Greek yogurt. It's my go too. So then after that snack, I make my way into bed. which is typically, I'm typically in bed before you. And we have an eighth sleep on our bed, which cools our mattress down to a certain temperature. And then I'll read until I get tired, typically read my Bible. And then I'll throw my eye mask on.

Yeah. And I rack out. Yep. What about you? Oh, I shower. Sometimes I don't shower after the sauna. I'll jump in the pool. I'll rinse off and get in the bed.

I did not know that. So now I will be a stickler on that with you. It's disgusting. I just shower and then I do my skincare routine. And then I come in and have your sleep mask on. That's when I'll still try to talk to you through the sleep mask. That's my biggest betty. That's what I'm trying to sleep.

I don't even take my sleep mask off. I know. It's quite annoying. There's been a couple times where I'm like, give me your eyes. And then I, do I do I keep my phone in the bathroom overnight which is great. I love that. So I don't scroll at night in bed. I've been doing

that for a while. And then I have these, I've been doing this since Charlie's been born. It was a gift that was given to me and I got it for myself again with Nico. I have these two little books. They're called one line a day books. We're really getting into the details here. It's okay. I have these two little books for each kid, one for each kid

that I write just one line a day about that kid. Just like a funny thing they did and it's really fun too because I'll read to you like, oh three years ago, Charlie did this and brings you right back to the moment. And I've done it every single day for each kid, which is really cool. So I do that. And then I sometimes put on my red light mask and then I go to bed. All right. So we set the conditions. We try to be asleep. Ideally by 930. Yeah. The other night I was absolutely tanked. I was in bed by like 845. Well, we've had some rough sleep nights with the kids.

But yeah. Yeah, it's past week. We didn't, past weekend, we didn't sleep much with the kids. So ideally in bed by 930. next morning my alarm goes off between 4.30, 5 a.m. I got in the kitchen. I slug a scoop of GUNM Sport, a scoop of GUNM Sport Plus, and then I go and sit in front of the red light in our closet for 15 minutes, but naked. I'm just standing there naked in front of the red light. Unnecessary detail. Got I get that red light all over me. And then from there, I go out in the garage, throw my running shoes on,

go for my run. And then as I'm coming back, it's typically between 615 and 630, you're waking up. Yeah. Yep. So I would say it's changed a little bit since I've changed my workouts. It's a little bit there a little bit longer than they used to be. So I would say like three days a week, I try to work out first thing in the morning in our garage. And I try to make those days days Charlie does not have school because getting in a workout on a school morning can be.

rushed and no one does well with a rushed morning. So if I'm working out in the morning, my lung goes off at six and then I'll get up, get ready, go get, not get ready, but I'll get electric lights in, all of that good stuff, a cup of decaf coffee. I've been holding caffeine until the afternoons for the last four months. It's been great. Sit in front of the red light, read my Bible. That's when you are either chilling or most days the kids are getting up and you get the kids up and then I'll come out. And that's when I, if I'm working out, I'll work out from like 7.15 to 8 and then come in and then it's off to the races with getting truly ready for school, breakfast, all the things. But like today, I'm, you know, working out later today. So I slept in

a little bit and just had a slow morning with the kids. But I think for me, yeah, I like working out first thing in the morning, but I know it's not what's best for our family all the time. So that's when I'll hold it. You know, like today I'm holding it. It was just a better morning because of that. But the only way I can do that, though, is we have a nanny that comes in at, she comes in at different times. But she helps us and she watches the go while, like, I'm working out here.

So, and I pick up Charlie from school. So that's a blessing to have. And we have help. We don't have family around to help us off the cuff. So we, you know, realize we were going to be out of state with kids. We got to hire some good help. we have awesome help that's given us a lot of free time. But I feel like that's very important to be transparent about that. I'm able to sometimes push my workouts because I have help.

Yeah. So when I come back from my run and you are, you know, you've made your coffee, you're going back in the closet, the bedroom to red light, read your Bible. I'm making my breakfast, which I'm a creature of habit. So it's the same thing every day. Right now it's, four dried figs, 150 grams of blueberries, two duck eggs, three chicken eggs. There's some flaky sea salt on top of there

with some freshly shaved parmesan cheese. I take my supplements, which is creatine, strong multi, strong omega, strong joints, endurance essentials,

a probiotic. And then typically I mean, this is like 90% of the time, the kids are then waking up at that point. So I get Charlie up, get Nico up, as they're getting up and kind of just like running all over the house, you go out and hit your workout, come back, and then we're all together.

It's like a high five, switch. Yep, for like the next part of the morning. I'm getting ready to go to work and then you take over with the kids. Yeah. So our morning routine right now is pretty dialed. there's definitely the rare occasion like this past weekend when Charlie

woke up at like midnight Yeah that's when you know it's bad woke up at midnight I ended up going into her room sleeping in her bed the whole night I tried sneaking out Because I went

You were out of town and I had a rough night the night before Yeah so I tried sneaking out of the room of the room earlier on Yeah And like she is just light sleeper that I just cannot get out of the room. So that morning, like, what you're doing?

Went to crap. So it happens, but, like, pretty consistently, that is our morning routine. Yeah. Monday through almost, like, Saturday or Sunday. Yeah. And I think it's really important to note too, because I will, I'll get DMs or, I don't know if, you know,

people ask you, how do you guys both work out? Like, we can't fit it both in. A lot of new mom has been like, how am I ever going to work out? And a huge part of what works for us, and I'm super grateful for you in this sense, is you sacrifice sleep. And it's like, we had to kind of like take a look at who you and I are. And you operate a lot better, or at least you just, you know, put on that way with little or sleep than I do. I'm willing to consume more caffeine. Yeah, exactly. So you wake up at 430, which sucks. Like, I wouldn't want to do that. And that is a huge sacrifice that you make to make our mornings peaceful.

And I'm really grateful for that. So that's like my biggest piece of advice is someone has to sacrifice something. Or you can switch, you know. But it's that's why our mornings are, we're able to do those things because you wake up so early. If we were both waking up at six, we couldn't get our workouts in. No. You're waking up an hour and a half before me. I mean, I see that as a responsibility of the man of a household, though.

Something about this on my run this past week, what it means to be a man and certain characteristics and traits, leader, warrior, and servant. And it is my job as the man of the house to serve our family. Yeah. And a sacrifice. I don't say I have to get like a pat on the back, but that's a man's job. Yeah. It's to be a servant to his wife and family and children. So it's part of the responsibility.

Yeah. Yeah, you waking up at 430 is absolutely serving me. Thanks, honey. You're welcome. I look forward to the day, though, that I get some sleep. It's a season, you know. It's a season. Yeah, it's a season.

Yeah, but like that routine sets us up for success. Yeah. And I think it's great that you did mention, like, we do have help. Yeah. We have a nanny who is extremely helpful. The dream is that one day your mom and dad are living close to us. The dream, yeah. And we have more support from family. Yeah. We both grew up really close to grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. We just don't have that. Yeah. Yeah. And we have so many friends here locally that have that, and I forget sometimes how big of a blessing and convenience that can be. You can go on a last-minute date night. You can say yes to the last-minute concert tickets because you have somebody that you can just be like, hey, grandma. And while we have an awesome

relationship with our nanny and we could do that, I don't like to do that to her because, you know, it's her job and there's boundaries and, you know, all that. So we knew that we needed somebody to help us out with no hands here at all. Because besides her, there's no hands other than us, truly. No one's ever watched our kids besides my mom or her. So I think that's really important to not hide that or give anybody false expectations. Like, we have help and it is used and appreciated. Yeah, we're very fortunate and grateful to be able to hire help.

because I know that a lot of people don't have that ability. Yeah. Yeah. And it's great too. Like it's flexible help too. Like all of weeks where I'm like, I just want to spend every morning with the kids. Like, you know, and sometimes weeks are busier. Sometimes there's more projects or stuff going on.

So we needed that trustworthy person. So I want to get into your new current fitness routine. Yeah. But before we do, I think this will tee up that. approach, baby number three. What's the plan for baby number three? We got two right now. We got a three and a half year old daughter,

one and a half year old son. Yeah. Which the dynamic between or the contrasting difference between a boy and a girl, it's wild. I know. Our son is crazy. I was thinking about this last night

as I was changing him after the back. When you were looking at his chip tooth? Boys, little boys. That tells you anything? It's raising an animal. It is a feral animal. But here's the thing. I think we have it like double.

We feel it double because I talk to people with firstborn sons and some are wild. But they're not that wild. We have a second born which tends to be more wild. Sun, which tends to be more wild. So we're just double dipping. the chaos of a little boy. Like Nico is currently trying to burn our house down. He's playing with the stove gas burners constantly.

The other day we found him in the back of a cabinet in the laundry room. Yep. He's sprinting everywhere. Yep. He wants to go everywhere. He can't go. He's he's pure boy He gets jacked up over

lawnmowers trucks tractors Yeah It's so cute Dogs I was putting him down Or getting him

Like dressed last night As you were getting Charlie dressed post bath And after the bath He gets all jacked up with energy So I'm like Putting his diaper on Putting his jammies on

And I lift him up And he's all jacked up with energy and he just takes a bite out of my neck. Like gripping my knee. Like Mike Tyson do you? He is so strong and aggressive at times. Yeah. Yeah, he's wild.

He's just like constantly like, bah! So that being said, baby number three, I'm indifferent if we have a boy or girl. I've been like that with every kid so far. I'd be fine with all girls. I'd be fine with all boys. Yeah. I really don't care what gender we have. Yeah.

But the plan is that we're going to start trying for baby number three this spring. Yeah. Because you're trying to time it up with the time of year. The time of year of giving birth. Yeah, but it also feels naive to say because it's like we've had two totally different journeys. We had a year-long situation trying for Charlie that ended in an IUI and then we got pregnant with Nico on the first try. So I have no idea what we're getting ourselves into as far as the journey goes. I've been trying to, you know, blood work, get all the things, make sure I'm healthy and ready.

But, yeah, I wanted a little bit bigger of an age gap this time because our kids are exactly two years apart. And that's been a lot for sure. But, yeah, we know we want a third, God willing. We have no idea what that's going to look like at all. But we're ready for it to be a possibility soon. I'm excited. Although I keep telling you Whenever I pray about our family

The Lord gives me the number four So I don't know what that means But I'm done with pregnancies after this one I will tell you that because I don't enjoy it We've been told It's hard By many people That we're going to have twins

Don't say it With this next birth Yeah we've had some weird Weird Like I don't want to call out of prophecy But like lots of different people tell us Oh, this next will be twins. I mean, hey, that would be four.

That would, I can't even think about that. I was initially not necessarily against having a third, but I wasn't like super excited about having a third. I don't think anybody is when you're in the trenches of a newborn. It's hard. Even I, right? Remember? I think in the delivery room, I was like, we're done. Family of four.

Bear, party, four. Yeah. And then it just shifts. But then I got home and I immediately looking at Nika was like, we're not complete. But I needed you to come to that term on your own. I didn't want to push it on you or force it on you. Yeah. And now I want a huge family.

I just want a chaotic, busy, messy, loud home. Yeah. And I think initially what held me back from that was that I thought, because everyone described to me, when you have two, it's man on man. When you go beyond two, now you're playing zone. trying to manage all of these kids around the house. But in reflection, I think what was holding me back from wanting a third selfishly is that I thought it would take away from my own personal and professional wants, desires, ambitions. Yeah. And that was such a selfish way to think about it.

Yeah. You know, I just went an abundance of blessings of children. I think I'm done with pregnancies after this one. I'm getting old. We'll see. We'll see. But yeah, we're on the same page. I'm excited.

Tarley's been very vocal about it having to be a girl. And I think we will have one of those like viral video situations at a gender reveal. If it is a boy, she will melt down. Yeah, you're probably right. She wants to be. She's telling it. I mean, yesterday, a dance, your dance teacher is like, she's talking about her baby sister. I'm like, I'm not pregnant.

But she's just out there telling everybody. Charlie lives the most imaginary life, which I love. Yeah, she doesn't exist in reality much, but it's really sweet and cute to watch. So baby three, baby number three, potentially coming. Okay, this is like so weird. Like you're like announcing it and it hasn't happened. We're going to start trying. Just so everybody knows.

And the spring of 2026. Oh my gosh. Which leads into your current fitness routine. Yeah. You've made some big changes to your training, your diet, you're tracking macros the first time in forever. Yeah. So what sparked this change?

What have you been seeing? What do you hope into achieve through all of this? Yeah. Before you get pregnant again? Yep. Before you have pregnant me again and make me large. Yeah, I don't know. I spent the last year, it was after.

is it after Nico? Yeah, after Nico I kind of just once I was feeling stronger and ready to jump back into workouts I just fell back into all my old type of workouts you know a mix of strength

hit some like Metconi Hiroxy stuff and it just did not feel good on my body this was like a year a year and a half ago so I spent all last year like all of 2025

I totally shifted how I worked out and I incorporated a lot more Pilates lower weight, tire reps, kind of like a 3-2-1 method, three-strength days, two Pilates, one cardio. And I really liked it. It was quicker workout. It was just, it was very mom doable. But then, so I did that for about a year. And then, so that year was up pretty much at the beginning of this year, you know, a few months ago. And it kind of was like, you know, I just feel like I don't feel as strong as I used to. And, I don't know. I just, I felt like, I felt like I lost some muscle. And I got a dexascan.

It turns out I really didn't. But I don't know. I just, I was ready for something new. And I really hadn't taken fitness and nutrition. I always take it seriously. Because it's just part of who we are. But I never really. It's a foundation of our life. Yeah. But I don't think I would say I was like dialed in gold chasing. in such a long time. Like really, I've never really been like a goal chaser with fitness and health. I've just always wanted to feel good, look good, be healthy.

So I thought, okay, well, we're going to get pregnant, you know, later this year, God willing. Why don't I just try to really get in like the best shape of my life before this next pregnancy, you know, head into it strong? So who I mentioned earlier, Alec Treffers, she's this like amazing, just. fierce, strong mom. She's out in California. And we just have kids the same age. I saw she hired a coach. And I was like super inspired by her. So I literally stole her coach. And I'm like, hey, I think I've never hired her coach. I've never hired a coach for anything. And I know that whenever you were in a serious goal setting season of your life, you most of the time, like you hire a coach or you have someone helping you, or at least in your earlier years, like, you know, in endurance. So I hired a coach to help me with macros and perfect. my workouts. So it's just back to strictly strength. And while all the workouts feel very familiar because it's all movements and exercises I've done, it's very different. Like he has me, they're a lot longer and they're very repetitive and it's progressive overload. And I definitely

see changes when I apply that to my workouts. And it's really exciting. And then as far as macros go, I haven't counted macros in probably eight years. I honestly have had a bad relationship with it. So I've totally gotten past that and just had a great relationship with food for the past decade. But I was like, okay, this might be a good tool to see where I'm at. And it taught me a lot. Like I remember the first couple days I was doing it, I was like, dang, I was probably way overeating fat. And under-eating protein. Protein was always a priority.

But I think I kind of just thought, oh, if I hit 30 grams of protein every meal, it's good. Not really. That's 90 grams of protein, you know, on a good day. And probably always watching carbs a little bit, but he kind of had me in this like reverse diet. So we started low, which sucked. But now I'm eating over 2,000 calories a day. I'm not gaining weight. I feel great in the gym. I have energy. I can tell I'm gaining muscle, lean mass. So it's been really fun to see. Now I'm counting, you know, looser. And I still, you know, when we're out to eat, I still enjoy a cocktail and indulge, you know, once a week or so. But I think it's been good for me to have a goal and take it a little bit more seriously. It's definitely not sustainable at all.

But it's made me feel good. I think it can be sustainable with, because you are pretty flexible with it. I mean, not the, yeah, I think I don't want to be tracking. That part's not sustainable for me. And like a slave to my fitness pal. Like, I don't, it was just a really good tool in the beginning. Yeah. It builds a level of awareness.

Like even me, every once in a. while, I still go back and track my current diet, my fitness pal, just to know, I know how much protein I'm consuming a day. That was the shocker for me. But sometimes, I'm like, am I consuming enough carbs? Am I consuming enough or too much fat? Yeah. So I'll go back every once in a while as I change my diet up. Yeah. Just to track to have that level of awareness. But it's not more than once every couple of months. It's taught me that it just takes so much intention and you have to be so detail-oriented if you want to see true change in your body. Because I've been happy with the way I've looked since we've had kids. I've worked hard.

You could look at me and say, oh, she's fit. But if I really want to see muscle gain and composition changes, that's in the details. Like that's from, like, a devian example. Like I would for breakfast to have Oates with a scoop of protein powder in it, right? 25 grams of protein. Call it. But now I'm like, okay, well, I realized at the end of the day

when I was short protein, now I'm adding 100 grams of egg whites to my oatmeal. And like those little changes, like I just, it's just those little things that those things will stick with me for sure. 100 grams of egg whites on top of the protein. I put it in my oatmeal.

Yeah, with the protein, yeah. So then it turns into like, So now for breakfast, if I'm under 50 grams for breakfast, I feel like I'm behind. Right. But I never, like, I'm having double the amount and I'm seeing change. So that is, it's just an eye opener. And that's when I feel like macro tracking can be a really resourceful tool. If you want to take it seriously, and see change.

What changes are you seeing, like, body composition and workouts wise? I just, more muscle. And I just feel better, honestly. I feel a lot better. My muscles feel better. my joints feel better. We talk about it all the time. Like muscle gain and protein intake is the key to longevity and health. Absolutely. I think especially if you are a female over the age of 30, Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, right? She's like the protein gal. She's great, a great resource. I love

listening to her, but she's really stressed the importance to me of like how important it is to strength train and be mindful with your protein as you get older. Even my mom. My mom's consuming over 100 grams now a day. And she's like, I feel great. She's like, my hair, my skin, everything. Everything's better because I'm having, I'm being conscious of how much protein I'm getting. It's really cool to see your mom adopt some of these.

Oh my gosh. Yeah. Practices and principles that we incorporate into our life. All of them. Like creatine. Yes. Mom's saying creatine now. She's consuming more protein.

She's working out. She's like living her best life. Yeah. It's cool to see, especially like post-retirement. Yeah. The changes she's making to her life. Yeah. It's awesome.

People might ask the question, well, why doesn't Nick just program your work out and see your macros? What's your response to that? I don't know. I think it's just sometimes better if you just don't hire your husband. The guy I'm working with his name is Andrew Taylor. He's awesome. It's all virtual.

He specializes in females. You could absolutely do it. But I just think, I don't know. I think that separation is, like, based off our relationship, it's healthier that I don't program your nutrition and your training. Yeah. Like, that is your thing on your own. I just think for us, knowing each other in our relationship, it's a healthy boundary that we in place. Yeah.

That's exactly it. All right. So moving on to some different things. we've kind of touched on this a little bit, but how is God leading us individually and collectively in this current season of life? Where you want to start?

I'll kind of start from my end. You're briefly discussing this last night before I put my eye mask on to go to sleep. Before you shut me out. Collectively, I think God, is leading us to be servants. Yeah.

To steward our bodies, our minds, our money to serve others. Yeah. And it's extremely rewarding and fulfilling. You know, we spend a lot of time in prayer and asking and listening to God and and really trying to be obedient to where he is calling us to and not try to white knuckle and control and manipulate our lives to where we want to go. Yeah. But to listen to him, to serve him, to serve others. And we've talked about this before, but that puts you on a very adventurous path of life.

Yeah. So I feel like we are both being called collectively to serve one another. serve our family, but then serve others as well. For me individually, I really feel like, I'm still praying and listening to God about this. One of the things I'm learning and I've learned these past couple months is it's really easy to think you hear from God and there are signs that pop up, direct you in one way or the other.

But oftentimes you're you're creating those signs yourself. You're looking for things outside of God's will to direct you to where you want to go. Yeah. Not where God wants you to go. Yeah. So I'm trying to be really patient in my prayer and listening and talking and building a relationship with God for him to lead me to where he wants me to go next. Yeah. But what keeps coming to me time and time again in prayer.

and just like other aspects of my life is leading men. Yeah. I think the world is trying to deconstruct men. Yeah. The enemy is trying to deconstruct the man. And I feel like I'm being called to build men back up physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. So I'm just, I'm sitting in that in my prayer time recently. But I feel like that's where I'm being called to.

And God is leading me to. but I'm not making any attempt or action on it right now. I'm waiting for the right time. And I'll know when it's the right time. Yeah. But I feel like God is just, he's working on me and building me right now in preparation for this next chapter of my life. Yeah. Yeah.

And I see the obedience through you all so much lately in servanthood, whether it's being a servant and being a husband, to your employees, to our kids. That's a huge change I've seen with you. Absolutely. But I think you're doing it right. That's awesome. Where do you think God is leading you individually right now?

Kind of just what I talked about earlier, just with all the conviction placed in my heart with social media and how I've been living my life and how I've viewed the balance of motherhood and wanting to still have your own identity and work and do that. I feel like right now God is just kind of, he's given me a lot over the past few months. But he's giving me a lot for the future, I feel like. But I think in him doing that right now,

he's giving me rest. Disciple your children. Spend your energy on your children and the people you love, serve. be still, be slow. You don't need to be grinding right now in these years. That's what I feel. And while that sounds like a piece of cake, it sounds great. It's difficult when you have a personality type like mine because I tend to like to achieve and strive and perform. So I'm really trying to lean into that and just live a quieter, simpler life. And I feel like he's brought me a lot of questions for myself during this time on that whole subject.

Like when I really had like some deep dive in prayer with social media and creating and working and all the things, I heard him, you know, kind of, one question that came to me was, um, but if you poured everything that you've poured into social media into your kids. And that was like, oh, and not even just like the time I spent curating recipes and filming. It's like consuming and watching other people of their lives. Like, what if all that time I spent? Kind of like the homeschool thing. Like, what hours would you get back? That question was laid on my heart. And then another one was, what if every time, because one thing that I find over the weekends when we fast is I actually, since we've been fasting, I take less photos, which I don't like because I do like taking photos because I love to have them for our family out of town for us. Photos are beautiful. But I've been taking less photos because we've been so much more present, which is a beautiful thing.

But the first few weekends we did this, if one of our kids was doing something cute, or I made something really good to eat, or I got something from Amazon that the kids love. It's like I have this knee-jerk reaction to take out my phone and capture it and share it. And I don't like that. So another question that was laid on my heart was, but if every time you felt the urge to share, you just sat in gratitude and like thanked me. And I was like, oh, man, okay. So lots of really deep convicting hard questions laid on my heart,

but they're leading to good places. That's great. Yeah. You know, I was in Georgia this past week, visiting Chatteright, and I was on Chad's podcast, which I love Chad. Chad's one of my favorite people. He goes.

Every when I spend time with Chad, he truly fills my cup. Yeah, that's why this trip was like, you needed to go. I needed it for sure. I don't travel much at all for work or podcasts or anything. I think that's probably very surprising to a lot of people too. You were home 99% of your life. I love it. I don't travel much at all.

But I knew when Chad asked me to come on the, podcast. I know this I'll fill my cup and I'll just all learn a lot. Yeah. From Chad. And one of the things I was sharing on the podcast with him was a few months ago, you know, after I was radically saved, being a follower of Christ took over every part of me, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. And I couldn't talk about anything without sharing the gospel. Yeah. And how the Lord transformed me. But in my prayer, over these last couple months, I mean, I heard God tell me, you know, for your entire life, or at least the last decade plus of your life, you've shared every part of your life with the world. Building a business, these fitness

preps, getting married, being a dad, children, being a leader, all these things. You shared everything with everyone, I want you to focus on our relationship right now, me and, me and gods. And that's why, like, I haven't been, I haven't been sharing as much of anything on social recently. I would say nothing. But even, you know, my relationship with Christ, I'm focused now on building that intimate personal relationship with him. as opposed to feeling like I have to share what I'm experiencing online on these platforms that I've built. That was like a really powerful realization in these last couple months. Yeah.

It was very clear in my prior time. Yeah. Similar. It seems like he's kind of working on us both in similar ways, but definitely cater to each person because we have different challenges and obligations. and all about. Share less, just be present, be grateful. Yeah.

Be as present as possible. All right, let's talk about this is, you know, coming off of what God has put on your heart. Yeah. But your spin studio. Now, don't say the name of it. I won't. Because we haven't.

I won't. I won't. I won't. I won't. I won't. So don't say that. the name of it, but what's going on with the Spin Studio? Crazy.

How crazy has this all been? It's been wild. Yeah. I think the craziest part for me has been the fact that you have these notes in your phone and you had a name of an instructor and you can get to that eventually. But that's been, for me, it was like, oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. So background on Spin and I, I, I, after college before I met you right as I was meeting you, I was a spin instructor in Nashville. Spin was never my first love in fitness. I wanted to be like a boot camp instructor. Kind of got thrown into spin because the studio that I was teaching at needed an instructor. But the way I was trained, it was not the spin that I love now. It was totally different. But when I moved here to be with you, I went to a soul cycle class. And this is when I was like, I'm done teaching. I just want to be a rider.

And that was my first experience of that type of spin. So I was used to like RPMs, watts. If you're a Peloton rider or a cycle bar rider, it's more like that. Numbers based, performance based. Soul cycle is this, I don't even know how to describe it. It is a immersive experience, a musical experience. You ride to the beat. There are no numbers.

It is just about you and the music and the people writing with you. when you ride in sync with each other. I was a previous dancer. I feel like a lot of previous dancers and people with musical backgrounds really get it because it's like you either get this type of writing or you don't because you have to really

be in sync with the rhythm. It's a beautiful thing. Like if you love music, chances are you love Soul Cycle. I've been to a Soul Cycle class with you before. Chris Chandler's. Yeah, it was amazing. Kick my butt.

Yeah, I love it. So I've been writing that way for 10 years. I haven't taught. There was a little, blip in Nashville when we lived there. Remember? When I was like, is God calling me to be an instructor again? And then I got pregnant with Nico and I'm like, guess not. Okay. So it's been on and off my heart, but never, my shoes are hung up. I don't, I don't want to teach and I don't feel the Lord calling me to do that. But I've just, like, something, Spin has always done something to me and that musical

experience has just given me a feeling. I feel close to God. I feel the most like myself. It is just like, probably how you feel when you're running. Yeah. That's how I would probably try to describe it. But no plans of studio. Like, we haven't talked about spin at all. It's just like a part. I'd write on Saturdays in her garage. That's it.

But if I'm in New York, we'll take a class. So this was in October. And it was, I don't know, almost a little over a year postpartum. I was just in one of those motherhood ruts where I was like, what am I doing? I don't feel like myself. Should I be working? What should I be doing? And that morning in prayer, I have never.

I never prayed this prayer before. I don't know why I did. I prayed that morning on this random day in October. Lord, can you just give me something creative? I don't, I don't know even know what I'm asking for, but I want to feel creative. I want to work towards something. I want you to use me. And that was my specific prayer. A few hours later, I was on a walk with both kids. And walks are usually and ironically, very peaceful. Like they both like walks. If they have snacks. If they have snacks. And I'm walking both. of them. I remember the street that I was on. This has never happened to me before. I've heard from God. I feel like I can be in tune with his voice, but I've never gotten a vision before. And I was not in prayer. I was not asking for this. I was just walking the kids. And it's like a, it was like a eight minute movie that played in my head. And I literally feel like I was walking. I'm like, I don't even know what I was, if I was, the kids were asking me something. Like, I don't even know where I was. It was just this vision in my head. It was a spin studio. He told me where it was. He told me

the name of it. He gave me the logo. He gave me what it looked like. He said, he told me that this is a worship based spin studio. And there was this vision of these, it's just like this beautiful studio. And I had this vision of these two girls sitting on a bench outside of the studio and this girl was getting saved on the bench. Like it was just this, it was beautiful. So detailed. Like God was, that's how cool God is. It was so detailed. It was so detailed. And what I struggle with, and you know this when I have an idea, I can never name anything. It takes me eight years to come up with a children's book name. I can't name anything for the life of me. And the fact that he, like, the first thing he did was give me the name. So I got home and I remember I pulled into our driveway and I called you and I told you about it. And you're like, wow, cool, okay? And I came in and I just like put everything down in the notes up in my phone because I didn't want to forget anything. And yeah, he, he, gave me this life, he gave me the name, a female name. I don't know what that meant. And long story short, whatever, that name like did tap into this whole process, which is through a person, which is crazy. As like a potential instructor. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so, but that was it though. I'm like,

okay, cool. And I'm like, what do I do with this? Like, I am not in a season right now, like, and I don't know how to start a business. Like, this is, this is hard. I don't know anything about this. So we talked and I'm like, okay, this, maybe this is when our kids are in school and I'm in my 40s and whatever. This isn't seem like the right time. So we kind of just tabled it. And then it's just been on my heart so much. And as I've had this conviction with this like virtual life that we've, you know, lived on social media, I've just felt God being like giving me like a local, like in person ministry. And that to me sounds like heaven.

Like that's all I want. Like I don't want to be on my phone talking to people. I want to be like hugging people and touching people and in person. So we kind of just like left it. But one thing you did recommend and you connect me with Michael. Yeah, Michael Malay, Rudy, creative. And he's like, hey, why don't you, since you have all these details, this is you telling me this.

Why don't you just like hire a agency to kind of like lay out your branding kit and just get it all visually down? So even if we don't do this for years, you have it. So it's fresh. Great idea. So did that, the best experience working with them. They're also Christian-based. And they just, it's almost like God put it on their hearts too.

Like, it was crazy. Like seeing the logo in my head and then now seeing it like on a computer and I have this whole branding kit and the values and the mission statement and what Marsh could look like and the colors. And it's just so, it's exactly what it was. It's exactly what it was. So now I have this burning kit and I'm like, well, what do I do with it? Like it feels weird to have this thing you sit on. But like I just am not feeling called to do it right now. You'll know when the time is right.

Yeah. And when the time is right, then you can put into action. Yeah. But I think there's a, so many people get like this calling and this vision, they just sit on it. You still have to take action to bring it to life. And like, well, let's start. Langeley Foundation. Let's get the branding kit done.

Let's get logos. Let's start looking into like what is all going to cost. Yeah. Let's build out a budget and a business plan. Yeah. You know, that's where I can lean in and support and help. Yeah. And then when the time is right, you press go.

Yeah. Yeah. I felt these little like mini, no, just from God. Like a couple weeks ago I put on my Instagram story. like for me like the hardest part is like I need to find like I am I'm trying to run a worship base bin studio it's not going to be start to finish playlist of only Christian music like but we just want a place where whether you're Christian or not like everybody's welcomed it's a safe space it's it's clean music like the whole one of the gosh I can't say it because of the name

but I just want it to give you the feeling that you know maybe church gives you like I just wanted to be this place of worship and community and just a place where people can feel really, really close to God. And honestly, like, music can do that. And it does it for me. I know it does it for you too. Like, music is so powerful and it's such a gift from God. So, yeah, I put on my story a couple weeks ago because I'm like, I need to find an instructor. Like, how niche is this? Like, I can't, how am I going to find an instructor? And I just put it out there and I've been connected with this amazing girl. It's just like the people that he's put in my life just to even like bounce ideas off of and just be truly like it sounds crazy. But people that are like, this isn't

crazy. This is amazing. So that's my prayer right now because like, again, like it's not happening anytime soon. But I do feel like these little nudges sometimes to make little moves to keep it, you know, top of mind. And my prayer is just that the right people come into this that can help me and help me build this because I don't want to teach. I feel like I have the vision and I want to be the person that gives people the space because God gave it to me. But it's so crazy because of all the ideas I've had and we've had so many conversations and like you are a protective husband. And you're like, do you know how hard this is going to be? Is this the right phase of life for this? And I'm like, I don't know. I know how hard it is. Like I'm not being naive. This is crazy.

But there's been this peace around it. There's been no doubt because it doesn't feel like it's mine. If that makes sense. Makes sense. Like, I feel like I didn't come up with it. I'm just executing it. So there's a certain piece around it. Yeah, you're definitely the visionary. And I'm coming in as the integrator to make sure.

Only if it's on your heart. Because we've talked about that. Like, I don't want you involved in this if God's not placing it on your heart too. Yeah, I'm going to come in and be the, hey, this makes sense. This doesn't make sense. Which I think you need that person in this type of pursuit of if, when it launches their comes of life. But I think it's needed in the world right now because so many businesses and brands and

companies and fitness gyms and studios and clubs start with great values and beliefs. And then they conform to the patterns of the world and it becomes a toxic, negative thing to be something for everyone. Yeah. And if you are trying to be something for everyone, you are nothing for anyone. And that's what makes this vision, this idea, and this concept,

and this studio different, is that it stands for something. It has values, it has beliefs, it's a house built on a rock as opposed to sand. Yeah, I love that. It's powerful.

Yeah. Yeah, it just feels really special. And like I kind of mentioned earlier, I feel like God gave me this in this season, because he's not like build the studio now, right? But I feel like he's given me this to be like, hey, I have this mission for you, and when the time is right, I will tell you,

and I will give you the resources, and I'll give you the people, and I'll give you the building. But right now, I gave that to you. So take that as a gift and enjoy the season you're in right now. Yeah. And it's probably also testing your patience. Yeah.

Because historically, you know, you've had these ideas and you, you jump on it right away. We're both very impulsive people. Naturally, we're both, I'm very impulsive. And that's something I'm learning in the season two is to be patient. Yeah. Where I used to have ideas. And then tomorrow it was started.

Yeah. And we're learning now, like you can have these visions and you can be guided in ways, but it's not necessarily meaning that you have to start right now. Yeah. Sit in it, sit with it and be patient. Yeah. Feels a good gift that was given to me for sure. So thank you for giving me the space to talk about it.

Hey, you never know who's listening. You want to be a part of this. Hit me up. It's going to be awesome. Send Steph a DM and say, you want to spin for God. All right, well, we shared some really good stuff today. Yeah. There's a lot of amazing things happening in our life right now.

we're learning a lot in the season. We're growing. We're being challenged. But of all the seasons of life that we've experienced so far, I'd say this is probably the most challenging, but the most fulfilling and rewarding. It probably sounds cliche because most parents probably say that. But it's so true.

Yeah. Every day is really, really hard and exhausting. Yeah. When our heads hit the pillow at night, we are done. Done. but we're doing so much. It's so much fun. Yeah. Did you see what I sent you, that little like snippet I found?

I thought that like wrapped up like our season of life right now. Like so, well, maybe mine or so. I did see it. Yeah, it was like maybe the greatest thing that you can contribute to the kingdom is not what you can do, but who you can raise. Yeah. You texted me that last night as I was falling asleep. I know. Because my phone vibrated.

Oh. And I had to take my mask off. But how amazing is that? though. It's not what you do. It's who you raise. And I feel like that, if you're a young parent right now, cling on to that. Because you can still do great things. Right? Yeah. Like you're doing amazing stuff. But to just have that perspective, because we are in those like raising years right now. I was actually talking to chat about this as well on the podcast. Because him and his wife broke her about to have their first child. And I was sharing with him, you know, like,

Like when you become parents, your own personal ambitions and goals and passions don't have to die. But they're going to look different. The way that you pursue them is going to have to look different. And you can't be selfish with your time and your energy. That's something I'm learning in the season right now is there's a difference between time and energy. I can make the time to do all these things that I want to do and still show up for the family. but am I showing up with the energy that I want or am I a zombie? Yeah.

Like that's why I'm not doing, I'm not committed to any fitness preps or races in 2006. It's because even when I was in Iron Man prep last year, yeah, I got my runs done before the family woke up. I did all my other workouts throughout the day. And I was home by 4.30 p.m. every for the family. But I was a zombie. but I'll still there.

Yeah, there's a big difference. There's a big difference between time and energy. And I want to show up for our family with as much energy as possible. Yeah, that's part of my prayer every morning. Lord gave me abundant energy. Because we have a shortage of it. Then why are you drinking the decaf? Because my nervous system can't take it.

Man, I'm like, I'm throwing back 150 milligrams of caffeine at 430 a. I'm about to have a cup of coffee. I'm about to have a coffee. All right. Well, thank you. for coming back on the podcast. Thanks for having me. Thank you.