The Squeeze - Tanya & Raquelle: The Sunshine Mind (set)

Episode Date: March 15, 2023

Life’s not all sunshine and roses, but if you work really hard at it, you can tackle any obstacle with a sunshine mindset. Best friends and co-authors Tanya Rad and Raquelle Stevens join the Lautners today to discuss their book, The Sunshine Mind. They share the incredible story of how they met, what sparked the idea for the book, and discuss collaborating on the project. Tanya and Taylor bond over the notion that rejection is sometimes God’s redirection, and Raquelle opens up about finding direction in life, which sometimes simply looks like doing the next right thing. Her favorite word says it best: YOLO—so it’s important to live it to the fullest. We hope today’s conversation inspires you to do just that.  Check out Raquelle’s video series and podcast, Giving back generation, and Tanya’s pod, Scrubbing In with Becca Tilley & Tanya Rad. Plus, be sure to get your copy of The Sunshine Mind today. You can follow them both on Instagram @raquellestevens and @tanyarad.  Thanks to our awesome sponsors for making this episode possible:   Athletic Greens — Go to athleticgreens.com/SQUEEZE for a FREE 1-year supply of Vitamin D AND 5 free travel packs with your first purchase  BetterHelp — This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/thesqueeze for 10% off your first month and get on your way to being your best self  To email us your questions or share your story, you can reach out to [e-mail].  Be sure to rate, review, and follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode! Plus, follow us on Instagram, @thesqueeze and personally @taylautner and @taylorlautner. To learn more from The Lemons Foundation, follow @lemonsbytay on Instagram and visit lemonsbytay.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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What do you do with them? Over here at the squeeze We talk about it. Welcome to the squeeze. I am boy, Taylor Lautner. And I am girl, Taylor Lautner. Let's go. Were you giving us like some musical intro there?

I don't know. You should just make a little beatbox and mix and that should be our like soundtrack, our little intro sounds. I think one of my goals in life is to become a member of Panatonics. if I can one day perform with them, I think my life will be made. Okay. Well, we'll add that one to the bucket list. Okay.

It's like the bottom of the bucket. Oh. So like you can't pull it out. Unsupportive wires. Oh, stop. Okay. Let's get into actual things happening. We have the lovely, beautiful, Tanya, and Raquel on our episode today.

and I love them. I know you do. They're so fun. I knew you would. So context for everyone. I have known both Tanya and Raquel for coming up. I mean, Raquel coming up on 10 years. And Tanya, just a little less than that.

But yeah, I've known both of them for a while. And I just think they both are tremendous, humans, boss, women. Yeah. And I just respect the crap out of both of them. So I was super excited for... It was your first time meeting Raquel. You've met Tanya, like once maybe quickly.

Yeah. At an eye heart event. But I knew TAY was going to hit it off with both of them. Yeah. And she sure did. Yeah. We have some great combo. It's so fun to have two best friends.

on and see how they help each other and also how they are as individuals, how they're different. And we also talk about their new book, The Sunshine Mind, that they did together. Yeah. It's an awesome book. We're going to leave the link for you guys to check it out. It was so fun just to talk with them and hear their inspiration behind the book, some personal stories that I read that I loved from the book that they kind of dove a little deeper into. Yeah. They have some great insight.

And yeah, I learned I learned some good stuff from both of them. So highly recommend their book and highly recommend you not turning off this podcast right now and listening to what Tanya and Raquel have to say. Yeah, that's good to do it. Tanya, Raquel, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for you for having both. Thank you. It's so good to be here. We're excited to have you.

And we were just talking about how long it's been since I've seen you both. So just four viewers, I've known both of you for a long time. Yeah. We were saying almost, it's you and I are coming up to 10 years, which is wild. Yes. Yeah. But haven't seen either one of you for at least like four years. I know.

No, like three. Yeah. Three years. But I was saying to Tate, I'm like, because of social media, it never feels like. as long as it's been because I still know what you guys are up to and we're in communication. But yeah, we haven't been in person in, yeah, like three, four years, which is sad. I know. I know.

Yeah. It's not let it happen again. We changed it. We changed it. Changed in the course. So each episode, we start off with a little game we call Citrus got real. I'm like, shit just. Okay.

I love that. I love that you're still clarifying. Hey, I do it every couple episodes. Shush. I like it. You never know with a new listener. tuning in and they're like citrus what? Citrus.

I got it. Shush. There's this jar that has a beautiful book in front of it that we will dive in to later. This jar has a bunch of questions that are very difficult, deep questions to answer. Not really. They're not. They're fun. There we go.

Feel free. One of you, do want to pull out a question? Yeah, you would love to. Yeah. You got it. Get one each. Yeah, do one each. These are my favorite questions in the entire interview.

This is very exciting. What is your favorite smell? Favorite smell? Interesting. This is going to be so gross, but my dog's mouth. Yeah, it's so in love. She is that parent. It's sickening.

I love her breath. Stop. I got the dog part. I know. The dogs have a smell. There's a favorite smell. I don't think I would say the mouth. Wow.

You know what I'm saying? Like the area, like whenever I kiss her, it's just like that scent right there. Dang, she's got good breath. Yeah, I brush her teeth. Thank you very much. I keep her hygienic. How old is she?

She's one. Okay. Yeah. That breath is going to get worse. Yeah, I bet. But you don't talk about that like cornflake smell of a dog. No. I can't wait.

I know like the Frito smell that's on the paws. Yeah, like that. Yeah. Yeah. It's my favorite. I mean, that is true love, Tanya, because, I mean, that's the last thing I would think of. Oh, that was the first thing I thought of. Shout out. What's your dog's name?

Sonny, I love you. Sunny's breath. Oh, my gosh. Has I never said that before? No. That's probably your favorite spell. Remy's breath? Well, Remy.

Remy. In general, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I thought you were going to say this is going to be weird. to gross. I thought you were saying like gasoline. Like, I do still. I don't mind the smell of gasoline. I'm with you. Sometimes I'm at the gas station and I'm like,

but I know it's bad for me. So I'm like, don't do it. Okay, one sniff and then you're done. Sick. If you're still listening, please don't tune away. Sorry. They're like, what's this is a mental health show? Oh my gosh. I think my smell would be our, I'm going to pick a normal answer and go with our candle from our wedding.

Yeah. Oh. The candle company sniff. They have a scent called sweet ash. Oh, I love an ashy smell. That's my favorite to die for. It's so good. We love it so much.

We got like 20 jumbo candles and put them around our whole wedding because we wanted to like attach a scent to our wedding. So people were like, their wedding smelled so good. Yeah, that's so smart. It was a cool idea. Very cool. Okay. That's your ears.

Okay. What song lyric best describes your life motto? Wow. Yolo. And I'm going to make that a little deeper than it sounds. Okay. So Yolo, you only live once. Drake, thank you.

I try to live my life that way every single day. And I think so often we can get caught up in our fears. So we won't really go for things in our life. We won't go for that job. We won't go for that relationship because it's something like fear is holding us back. And I think anytime I feel that, I remind myself of truly you only live once. And I think that it takes work to push past. It's part of why we wrote our book, Sunshine Mind, is because you do only live once.

And so it is so important to live life to the fullest. And so to do things like forgive, to go for what you want, to accept yourself, to love yourself the way that you bar. And so I made that a little deeper maybe than it sounds, but that is truly my life motto. Yola. Oh, my God. Shout out Drake. It's Drake. I don't know if I could think of something to top that. Yeah, that was pretty quick on the top of the head. Yeah. I'm going to leave that. Well, I thought while you were answering, to be honest, I kind of checked out of the dog breath and I was like, I went to a different place. There's just someone listening to this that can relate. I'm sure. I'm sure. I'm sure. I don't mind.

the smell of Remy's breath. Yeah, Remy doesn't have Lily's kind of sucks. Lily is also seven and probably can use her teeth brush

a little more often than they are. Yeah. Brushed. Great answers. Oh, my word. Sunny's breath and drink.

You get the young and the yang here, you know? You do. I love it. Oh my gosh. I want to know, how did you guys meet? Like,

how long have you guys been friends? Funny enough. Honestly, we could thank Jason Kennedy for that. You're a good friend, Jason Kennedy. Yeah, our friend. Tell him this story. So Jason was working at E at the time when I was, our radio studio was in the E building. So like we weren't part of it, but because Ryan did E and the radio show, they built this radio studio in there.

And so I would see Jason all the time in the hallways. You know, you just say hi, friendly people at the office. And I was going through like a horrible breakup. And I was crying every day at work, but I would walk out the hallway because I didn't want people to see me like in the studio crying. So I was always in the hallway crying. And he would like see me. And one day he came up to me and said, I don't know why you're crying. He didn't know what was going on my life.

You just thought I was like crying all the time. And he said, I'm having a Bible study tonight. If you want to come, it's here. I'll text you the information. Oh my gosh. So I was like, okay. I tried everything for this breakup. Like I did the going out every night.

I was drinking all the time. the partying, that whole thing, none of it worked. The Bible study was the last resort. The Bible study was an interesting. I just had never even thought of it. You know, I didn't really grow up in a church that felt like me. Yeah. And so I was like, okay, I'm just going to, I'm going to try it.

It was that night. And so I went to the Bible study and that's when I met Rick. Yeah. Great times. Holy crap. Yeah. And I met Tanya. And I had kind of been praying.

I was like, God, if L.A. is where I meant to be and stay, I pray that I would make the best friends I've made in my life and that you would make it clear. And I met Tanya and we kind of instantly connected and we really have been friends ever since. Wow. We wrote a chapter, I wrote a chapter about it in the book about Jason. And also it's in the intro because it's literally how we met. But shows also the importance of reaching out to someone. So if he didn't see her crying, it's one thing to, it's actually kind of uncomfortable, right, to see someone crying and and to go out of your way to say, hey, approach them. Are you okay? I want to invite. you to this Bible study, but if he hadn't have done that, we wouldn't have had this, but this book

wouldn't be out. Yeah. Your entire life could have looked different. It's totally. It's totally. It's totally. It's the power of one decision. Yeah.

Yeah. That was so crazy. Where was Bible study at that point? Montage. It was that montage? Yeah. Was it? Wow.

Or was it at the house? It wasn't at the house. Beverly Wilson? Maybe it was the montage then. It was at the montage. Okay. Yeah. Wow.

I missed out on the, when it was still at the house. I was there at the house, the very beginning. That is crazy. Yep. Wow. Crazy. So something as you guys know that has been a huge part of my mental health journey, Taylor's mental health journey journeys as individuals. And as a couple has been therapy.

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I love that cerebral is 100% online because that means you have no excuse. You have to go. There's no, oh, I don't have time to go drive. It's too long of a drive. No, you can do it on your lunch break. You can do it before work, after work. And it's honestly just, it's convenient.

Yeah. It's convenient and they have great therapists. Yeah. And it'll just keep you accountable too. So we highly, highly encourage that you guys check out cerebral because therapy is just unwinders for us. And we know it'll do the same for you. To get started on your path towards better mental health, cerebral is giving our

listeners 15% off their first month of online therapy, medication, or both. Get started at Cerebral.com slash podcasts and use code the squeeze to make 2024 your best year yet. That's Cerebral C-E-R-E-B-R-A-L.com slash podcasts and use code the squeeze. Offer is only valid on monthly plans. Other exclusions may apply. See site for details. Get going on that therapy. So we'll just jump into the book.

Congrats on the book. It's awesome. I love it so much. It's so good and so sweet. And just like I feel like I'm like having a conversation with like a friend. That was our hope. That was our hope. Very relatable.

Yeah. Yeah. Can you go back to like what sparked the idea of the book? Was there anything specifically and how did that process look? It's funny because I had written a different book proposal before this one. And it was a dating book. And it was like, so to be like this fun, like dating book. And it just did not go anywhere.

Like, nobody wanted it. And it was like a lot of work. I don't know if you've ever written a book. No. It's a lot. Yeah. I can only imagine. So it was really, really like a huge heartbreak when that didn't go because it was just like,

that's literally me, you know. And so I talked about it on my podcast. I opened up about that was kind of like my, we do this thing where we do like the Pete, what is it, peak, pit and peak at the year. And that was my pit and I was just like going, talking about it. And I got a message from one of our scrub sisters. And she basically

said, I really believe in you in your message. I have an aunt that works in publishing. I want to connect you to her. I really, you know, believe in what you're doing. And so I knew right then and there, I wanted to do something different. I wanted to do devotional. And I wanted to do something that's really going to help people.

And I immediately came to Raquel because what I wanted to do essentially was that I wanted to, the book, to be like the friend that you want to reach out to. And any time I would reach out to her, Raquel would come back with like a scripture or something that would always make me feel at ease in like the situation that I was in, whether it was like career or love or family,

she always had something for me. And so I was like, Raquel's the perfect person to partner up with. Wow. And that's kind of how that was born essentially. Wow. Yeah. And when she came to me, it was an easy answer.

You know, obviously it was a yes. And it was during the pandemic, a time when so many people were struggling. And I was having a lot of conversations with friends and family members that were just feeling really discouraged and opposite of the sunshine mind. It was like the world's really dark and I feel really down. And so I thought, okay, the timing feels right to put something out that is uplifting,

that is hopeful in spite of maybe the circumstances that the world is currently in. And so it was a very easy yes for me. And Tanya's the best partner. Yeah, it was actually a really fun process too, just because we have different strengths and we have different weaknesses that kind of complement each other. That's perfect. What was that process like of like putting it together and like, because it's not just you, it's someone else. Yeah. I'm such a procrastinator.

So Tanya would be like, Brickle's not going to make the dead. Oh, she's like always like always like so on edge. So I was like, we need to do this by tonight. And she hasn't even started. And like I would get so. Yeah. And she would do it. She would always get in on time.

It was cool because even in our examples, we're very different. But our, I would say, I shouldn't say we're different because I think our core values are the same. But our stories and our strengths are different. We're fundamentally, morally the same. But characteristics are very different. The way that I handle situations is very different from the way she does. And the way that we live our lives are also very different. So it felt like we kind of could, anybody reading it can find themselves in some way, shape, or form.

Yeah, yeah. Cover a lot of ground. lack of a better term. Yeah. Make a good team. Just quickly, I have two little quotes from each of you from the book that I read that I loved, that I feel like people listening and watching would love to like hear you expand upon. And I just think they're great little things.

Tanya, something you wrote was rejection is sometimes God's redirection. Love that. I'm obsessed with that. Can you elaborate a little bit on that? She loves this one. I do. I feel the excited about it because I think that, you know, oftentimes when we don't get what we want, whether it's, and it's, it's happened to me in my professional career and it's also happened to me in my personal life. Like, I dated so much and I was, you know, sometimes I was the one rejecting, but more so than not, I was getting rejected.

And it was always like, God protecting me because I'm like, and it's always in hindsight, right? Like you can look back and say, oh, that's why that didn't work. out and you know, this is why this was meant to be. This is what God had in store for me. But in those moments, it's really defeating and deflating. And you feel rejection can make you feel a certain type of way. It makes you feel inadequate, not enough, lacking in a certain thing. And I think it's quite the opposite. You know, it's just like we're kind of all, we're just kind of going. You know, we don't know what we're doing, but God's always moving us in the direction that we're supposed to be going. And I think that, you know, when you go for jobs, you don't get that, you know, that gig that you

want it or you don't get that, whatever it is, or something fails, you know, like my book, my first book proposal failed. Yeah. And that was rejection, like, massive rejection. And it was hard to deal with. But it's like, this book I feel so much better about and it felt so much more intentional and focused and for the greater good. So it was like, I needed that rejection because God had a bigger, bigger plan for me. And so it's like I've just seen it happen so much in my professional and my personal life that I feel like it's something that whenever somebody's going through something in life where they feel rejected, just knowing that it's not the rejection. They're just getting redirected to something that's meant for them. Yeah. I couldn't love that more. And it's tough

because in the moment it's impossible to see that. When you're in the thick of it and going through it, it's impossible to be like, it's not impossible. But it's very difficult. It's very difficult to, you know, see forward. But like, I look at, like, some of the biggest rejections in my life. And I don't know if I can think of one off the top of my head that I'm like, yeah, you know what? If I would have got that, my life would be so much better. Like, if that would have happened to me 10 years ago, I would be so much happier right now. Like, it always, always works itself out. When I was a sophomore in high school, so I was six, I might have been 15 at the time, I had two screen tests in one day.

Were you living in California? Yeah. Okay. Yep. I was going to high school and it was just a great day. I had like a screen test for those listening. He's like, it's down to, you know, very few people for a role. And you go in and you read for the director and producers, sometimes like, you know,

the other co-stars who are, you know, down to the final few. And it's like, it's the last step before they hire you. It's the last step. And I had a screen test for two different movies in the same day. And it was awesome. But one of them, I wanted really, really bad. And the other one, I knew nothing about and I could have cared less if I got it or not. So really, I just was putting all my attention towards getting this one that I just thought was going to change my life. And that was a movie called Journey to the Center of the Earth, starring Dwayne Johnson. And I think Josh Hutcherson ended up getting it. Me and him used to audition against each other all the time.

So I was like, I was a big Disney film. I'd be starring opposite The Rock. Like literally, I'm like, this will change my career forever. The other one, which I was like, was this vampire book Oh my gosh. Called Twilight.

And they both went well, but I called my agent afterwards. I was like, they went well, but man, I just really, really hope I get journey to the center of the earth. And my agent was like,

you know, I mean, don't be so sure. There's a little bit of steam behind this. Twilight thing. I was like, I've never heard of it.

Vampire and werewolves? I don't know. I want to be opposite the rock. And anyways, a couple days later, they call me and they're like, we got good news and bad news for you. I was like,

I don't know what. You didn't get journey to the center of the earth. And I was like, oh. But you did get Twilight. And I was like, okay. You're like, whatever.

Now looking back at it. I know. It's so wild. Thank goodness. I got the little. vampire book. I think that's so important for people to hear because you can apply it to anything in life. I was devastated at the time. I thought I missed the opportunity of a lifetime and in reality, you got the opportunity of the time. Yes. Is that? I know. That's so wild. You must have to,

I feel like you probably have to deal with rejection a lot because I feel like there's certain professions where you don't have to just deal with it on a daily basis and there's somewhere you do. And I feel like in those, like you really have to have a really good. strong inner life because that can really rock you. I think all that rejection, I feel like it can really kind of make you feel a certain type of way. For sure. Yeah.

Even the most successful people. Totally. You know, still get rejected probably more than not. So true. It would be comfortable with it. Yeah. It's tough.

Great story. I love that story. Thanks for sharing. Thanks for sharing. That came to mind when I read that little quote. I love it. Raquel. you talk about in one of the passages

just kind of like not knowing for sure what career you were going to do what life looked like and I feel like that is such a common thing for people in their 20s and their 30s I even feel like some days I wake up and like am I doing this right? What am I doing?

Can you speak to that a little about your experience and any advice that you do? I think that everybody I don't want to say it's not your problem but I think everybody's like your 20s or your prime. I'm like, 20s are actually really confusing. Yeah. Right?

I turned 30 this past year and I feel more me. I feel more comfortable in my skin. I feel so in my purpose. And my 20s were a lot of trying this, trying that and getting to where I am now. So if we would have sat down and had this conversation 10 years ago, my heart would have been the same. I would have told you I want to work on stuff that's making a difference,

helping people, but how was I going to get there, right? So I was a journalism major in school during a time where the entire news business was changing, right? It used to be, and it's still this way, right? You start in a small market in Kansas or Iowa or whatever after you graduate and then you eventually work your way up to the big networks. Yeah. But now you can be a journalist online. You can be on YouTube. There's all these different outlets.

And so I started to realize pretty quickly that my life was not going to go that direction. I started building a life in L.A. and realized I wanted to stay here. And so I worked so many different jobs. I worked freelance for different magazines. I did red carpet interviews. I did this and I worked as an assistant. I did so many different things.

And then worked for Selena in 2018 and then ended up working project-based with her and through doing the cooking show and being a producer on her documentary kind of got me into the space of working on content that even with a cooking show It's like you're making people laugh. You're putting out joy and you get to experience the knock on effect of that. And working on a documentary on mental health and helping people. And I have a video online series as well that's also available in podcast form called Giving Back Generation, where I share people's stories on how they use their life to give back.

And so essentially, and then we have the book. So it's like my heart when I was 20 was the same. but I wouldn't have had the inner strength to be able to do what I'm doing now at that age because you have to go through things. You have to try jobs. You have to know what's right for you and what's not. And also to kind of learn your worth

and what you're meant to be doing. So my advice would be take the next right step. And sometimes there's peace in just knowing that you're getting a paycheck. So I was an assistant, but I'm not administrative at all. But it led me to what I'm doing now, got me experience in the industry and helped me to build relationships and understand how things work. Had I not taken that job, which wasn't my dream, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing now.

So my advice would be just keep your eye on what's in front of you and surrender to God, the higher power. And I'm telling you, life just kind of unfolds the way that it's meant to. There's something about trusting the process that is really beautiful. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. I love that. They made me think of personally, and I know if there's nurses listening to this, they can relate.

There's so much pressure as a nurse to, like, go work at a hospital when you graduate. But nurses, everyone's different. And if the hospital job, like, isn't good for your body or for your mental health, then you shouldn't be working that job. and a lot of nurses get a bad rap for going to the hospital and working and leaving. It's just like, oh, you're weak. You couldn't do it. Like you want to work at a med spa or at an outpatient surgery center. And you're like, well, those are also needed.

But also, like, that's just not, that actually took me a while to come to terms with leaving the hospital. Like so many senior nurses would be like, I'm the only one left from my new grad class. Or like, would just be like, are you going to stay? day and make like the new grads feel. But you know what that is? That's total projection. Yeah. Because I think maybe deep down, they wish they would have left sooner than they did.

Yeah. Yeah. And I'm obviously, I'm so thankful that I did because I wouldn't be sitting on this couch with all of us. But yeah, it's just so wild that you just have to take your next. And I love that you said that too because the truth is there is value in all of it. So if you're in the hospital, that's amazing. If you're working at an outpatient center, it's amazing.

If you're working in a med spa. Yeah. It's amazing. And so I think that that's so cool that that's your perspective. And it's important, I think, to hear. Hey, we need those med spa nurses. They do. But it's important because I feel like there's people like that in every career. For sure. There's those people that kind of give you those little soft digs and things. And I think people can really let that get to them. And I think at the end of the day, that's literally somebody projecting onto you. And so I think like not listening to other people is. So important. Yeah. It's so hard to feel judgment from other people. Yeah, totally.

And be able to put that behind you and just, you know, truly do what you feel, what your gut says, what you're, you're passionate about. Not what, you know, all the judgment from the outside world is trying to make you feel. Yeah. There's a phrase behind the sunshine mind. What's the story behind? like naming it that title. So the sunshine mind, the sunshine mindset, we say it's not a formula or a quick fix. It's rather the way that we go about our life day to day. So for example, it's choosing to forgive instead of retaliating. It's choosing to take disappointments as lessons

learned. It's choosing to take the high road. And I think we're all faced with opportunities each day to be able to do those things. Sometimes it's a little harder. It's something more extreme. And sometimes it's just in the little things like you're sitting in traffic or the lines really long. You're getting coffee and you have a moment to be frustrated. Maybe it's like, okay, I'm going to practice patience right now. Or I'm in traffic. I'm going to pick up the phone and call a friend, check in how they're doing. So I think that when people say like, well, how do I develop a sunshine mindset? You know, when someone says it can take 30 days to create or break a habit, I think that it's one of those things that is a lifelong practice. But the more you do it. it, the more it gets stronger. Yeah. I feel like I've heard Jay, Shetty, and also maybe Dr. Aiman, just talk a lot about things being a choice. Like, you know, when you wake up in the morning, like, your mind, you need to make

the decision that it's going to be a good day. It's so, so powerful. Yeah. And look, like, life is wild, you know? Like, we're all, everybody gets slapped with illness. And, you know, there is a lot in life that's really hard to, it's not like, it's not saying like everything's good and everything's amazing and life's just, you know, there's no bad. There's no, you know, there's a lot that is hard to deal with. But it's like choosing to be proactive and to deal with things with a, like a hopeful mindset versus like a negative.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, honestly, if anything, I feel like the days where we text each other, today's going to be a great day or we say it. It ends up like being a harder day than we. Yeah, we, yeah, than normal. But I think that's just like having to just keep practicing to keep a positive mindset. Yeah. Like just pushing through. Or maybe we needed that mindset to get us through the tough day. Yeah. If we didn't have that mindset going into it, it would be a really tough day.

Yeah. What do you guys most proud of? Well, that's a big question. Whoa, no one's asked that. I'm, that's a great question. I'm going to say I'm most proud of the fact that I have worked on myself a lot. And I know that I don't have all the answers. And I know that my way isn't necessarily the right way.

And I think you would have asked me this like 10 years ago. I would have been like, I have the exact formula in my way. It's my way or the highway. And like I used to think I knew everything. And I feel like I'm proud of the fact that I've done a lot of work on myself. And I think I'm just like a much better partner in my relationship and in my friendships because I'm able to just know that like I don't know. everything.

Yeah. Therapy. It's amazing. There you go. What about with the book? I think I'm just like proud of the book in general, you know? Like I think it's been a long road. Like I've been working on a book for five years at this point.

So it's a long journey, but it's like so rewarding. And it really pushed me in ways that I had never been pushed before. So I'm just really proud of it in general. And not like we did it together. I think there's a lot of beauty in doing something with someone because I think we're in a society where everything is self, self, self. And I think it's cool that we show that it's good to do things with people and partner with people. And how sweet you get to like celebrate together too. Like that's something that I feel like is so fun for us with this. It's really like,

oh, wow. Like obviously, like we celebrate the other, but this is something that like we do together. Like it just makes it a little more like sweeter when you get to celebrate with the person you work on with. Yeah. What am I proud of? I, it's a good question. I don't know. It's like stumped me a little bit. I think it's maybe it's not something we think about enough and it's important. I think that I, too, have worked on myself a lot the last few years and I think that I've gotten a lot more comfortable within myself. And again, what I was saying earlier about maybe my heart's always been the same, but then your heart can be one way and then you've got to do the work for that everything to kind of line up. And so I've worked on to be big people please. They're saying yes to

everything. I've been better about my yes is being yes and my nose being no, being comfortable with who I am, overcoming maybe certain, you know, just issues or self-esteem things that were hard. Like, I've kind of worked through those things. And I think being most proud of living a life of integrity, I'm not perfect. But I think that when you live life, that way, you do sleep peacefully at night and spending the last move to L.A. when I was 18, it's been 12 years. years. And it really has been a journey. There were a lot of, you know, there are a lot of opportunities where I maybe could have taken a different route or not, you know, not stayed on the path. And I always chose integrity and character above everything. And I'm proud of that. And the book I'm very proud of

because it's it's vulnerable, it's real, and it's helping people. Helping people. Yeah. Okay. Perfection. This is a fun segment we have called the Lemon 11. And it is 11 fun questions. All right. So I'll kick it off. Yeah. Number one. What movie or song title best describes your mental health today?

Movie or song title. This is a great question. Can you think of one? Yeah, I'm going to go with, because I've just been listening to it a lot lately, special Lizzo and Siza. Uh-huh. I love it. Yeah. Okay.

The lyrics too. You know, the song's all about like just knowing that you're special. Yeah. And I feel like I'm kind of like getting my mojo back a little bit. Yeah. Feeling special. I'm going to blast that, right? Okay, I love that.

I love that. That's a good one. Yeah. Wow, guys, I'm stumped on this. Wow. I mean, you're, you're yolo for earlier. Can we do yolo? Can we do repeat?

I think I'm still in, I think I'm in yolo for life. Maybe God's plan. Let's stay in the dream theme. Let's go with God's plan. That's why she's my partner. Wow. That was good. Oh my gosh. That was quick. Thank you so much. Music I know.

Yeah. She does work in radio. Yeah. She dabbles. She doubles amazing. Oh, my gosh. Okay. Number two. How open are you with the people in your life when struggling? I'm so open. Oh, wow. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. One of my best friends, Ashley Cook. I think you know Ashley, right, Taylor? Do you meet Ashley? I don't. Maybe. Maybe you didn't.

Is she a singer? No, no, no. I've known her for Ashley. Actually, I think there is a singer named Ashley. I do think that there is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Shout out to the singer Ashley, whoever you are. But that's not who we're talking about. So my friend Ashley, who's not a singer, she, I call her and I'm like, it's all out there. I mean, there is like nothing. Yeah, it's out there. And we're open with each other. Yeah, like, we're open. We put it all out there. Yeah. If I'm struggling, I'll little to be like, Raquel, can you meet me for coffee? How quickly can you get there? Nice. Yeah. That's so great to have. Yeah. I already, I already know when it's about to happen. Just text me. Hi. It's like a pan. It's like a different than like, hey, what's up? It starts with like, hi. Where are you? And I'm like, okay. I'm actually gotten really good at being that way in my relationship too. Like if I need something or if I'm like expecting something, I don't expect him to read my mind. Like I very much, I'm just like, this is what I would like. And this is what I would like and this is what I would like it by. And like, let's talk about it. You know what I mean? Let's talk about your expectations. Let's talk about my expectations and how. we can like meet in the middle. Yeah. Yeah. The reading the mind thing,

I feel like is one of the greatest things that I've learned and tried to work through because I'm like a acts of service person and I'll like, I'll clean the dishes. I'll do all these things and I'll like wait for Taylor to like take the trash out because like that. Yeah. And that's like, but that he won't unless I tell him it's full. Not that that's a bad thing.

But that's also just me and I'm a psycho with cleaning. But I've learned that I can't expect him to do. a chore, do whatever that he may not even see is a chore or like that is even there. He may not even know there's clothes in the dryer. So true. The clothes need to go into the dryer. So I need, that's something I've worked on is just like being honest to be like, hey, can you do this? Not like,

not in an alleyway. Because then when you do that and you think that they're going to read your mind, they don't. Then you start to build resentment. And then you start to get angry. And like, it's something that I'm so, I'm so adamant about it. And I like make my boyfriend take the love languages test all the time because I'm like, Wait all the time. So he repeat takes it. Yes, because I think it changes.

I think your love language changes over time. And I think like we give love the way that we like to receive love. When in reality, you need to give love the way your partner wants to receive love. And it could be two totally different things. So like I'm always so aware of that. So like when his birthday comes around, I'm like, I would want to do this. But what do you want to do for your birthday? Like let's do what you want to do.

Like I'm very aware of that stuff. I love that. I'll take the trash out of. after this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You did. I did. You did. You did this morning. I did this morning. Honestly. Today was a great day. Today was a great day. It was a big, huge day. We're learning that taking the trash out is a two, as a part A and part B. Wow. Yeah, because the trash has to go out and the bag has to go back in. Yeah. We skip, we skip step B a lot. But hey, I didn't ask him to do step A. So I still actually pick the bag back in. Yeah.

Okay. Number three. Um, what is? is your favorite part of your morning or night routine? My favorite part of my morning routine is coffee. Yeah. I love coffee. Yeah. I'm starting trying to get off coffee. So it's literally me.

This is my first week off of it and I'm slightly struggling. But it just hikes my anxiety through the roof, especially like just because we've been so busy. But I like need to get decaf now. And everyone doesn't have decaf coffee that I can make. She recently got a half-caffeinated. I learned from talking with Cassie, half-caf is a thing you can order at coffee shop. Yeah, I think, yeah, it's like they'll use some decaps on regular.

Yeah, it's like to like wean you off. Yeah, I need to start doing half-calf. Yeah, half-calf. I feel like for me it's more nighttime, though, because my mornings are so hectic usually. So I don't really have like a not a peaceful morning routine. Like it's more of like a frantic morning routine. Although I have like my things, you know, like I make my bed every day. I listen to my worship music.

I try and light a candle while I'm getting ready. Like I have my things. Yeah. But it's very quick. Like I'm like, you know, lighten the candle and then blowing it out within five minutes. Yeah. Mornings are. You're up.

Yeah. She's up and out the door. Yeah. But nighttime, I'd say my favorite thing is back to my dog. Cuddling with my dog in bed. Smelling that breath. Smelling that breath. Oh, smelling that breath.

There's nothing better. Because for me, like nighttime is where I can like, it's just. slower pace. Yeah. Yeah. I'm with you there. Yeah. Yeah. I love the night. I'm way more of a night person. Yeah. Yeah. Mornings are never fun to me. Yeah. Just try and get through the morning. I know. I try to do my routine stuff. Like my sit down devotional time in the morning though because I wake up before him. And so I like have actual like this nice me time. So I try to do it then because at night we unwind differently. It's similar. You also like wake up literally like, like wanting to like check things off your box.

Yeah. It's a lot of the same way. It's a character thing. It's like, yeah. Yeah. I'm with you, Taylor. Yeah. I'm like, I need to.

I have to wait like 40 minutes for him to like sit on the couch, like, which I get. Because my dad, my dad, I used to not be able to like speak to him in the morning until he had his coffee and be like, hey, can you? And he's like, no, I need a minute. And you're very much like that. You're like, I need to wake up. I need to like adjust to. being awake. I'll literally walk. She's, she's getting better now. You trashed on my, you know, chores. So I'm going to give it back to you here. She'll literally, she's getting better. But I will walk out of the bedroom door.

Like, just open my eyes. And she's like, hey, I have these like five thoughts. Wanted to run this by you because she's been up for, you know. I've been up and have like all these emails. I'm totally the same to say. She's got her notes. And she wants to like go over things right when I roll out of bed. And I'm like, bro, you got to slow down. I'm the same way. Like, truly. But it is funny. I will say the one thing I do every morning because I wake up and I'm out the house before my boyfriend even like, is he's still like in REM cycle. I leave him a no every day.

Like when I leave a no every morning before I leave. Can you believe that? Amazing. When we have the kids, I'll like leave it for him and the kids like it just, it's like a good morning. Whatever they're doing that day. Like hope this goes well. Hope your meeting goes well. blah, blah, blah,

can't wait to see you tonight and, like, just slide out the door. It's really nice. It's like a tradition that I've started that I really hope I can do forever. He used to do that to me all the time with. I used to. No, when I was gone working,

I don't leave the house anymore. I work from here now, but when I was at the hospital and I'd come home in the morning from night shift, and it'd be like, the morning and there'd be like a granola bar and a note. That's sweet.

I think there's something like, I get sad that we don't get to wake up together. You know, like there's something kind of like, Like, I don't like that. So it's kind of my way of like waking up with him. The notes definitely put a huge smile on your heart for sure. Number four.

How has your career impacted your well-being? I was wide in. You want to take that? Do you want to start with that? Yeah. We struck a chord. My career has affected my well-being in a good way. I think, so I work project-based, so I think that sometimes that can be difficult, right?

Because you have times where you're, you get this, right? With creative work, you're extremely busy. And then there's times where you have more downtime. But I've learned now to be able to fill the downtime with stuff that's productive and is filling my soul or is doing things for others, being involved with organizations or helping my friends. So I feel like now I've been able to balance it. And my career affects my well-being in a positive way. also working in the entertainment industry can be, any industry can be difficult, but especially in entertainment, you're dealing with a lot of personalities. And so I think I've just learned better how to

tune out of certain things that are not healthy or not good. And I just give it very little energy, focus on the good. So it's affected it in a positive way now. That's great. I think what's so funny is like, I don't think I was equipped to be in this industry when I started out because I did not have a thick skin. I let everything impact me. And I also didn't have a relationship with God at that point. So I didn't really have like a true sense of self. And so and also at that time it was very not the way it is now with women like wanting to help each other. It was very cutthroat. It was, you know, I'm going after that. Like we're both going after the same thing. So like she sucks. And like it was just like the culture was just so different. Yeah. But I think that it did really help

me, you know, and I wrote a lot about that stuff in the book because it wasn't, you know, like, it was not rainbows and butterflies for me. And I was not greeted with open arms by everybody, you know, but it's so beautiful because some of those relationships now have really blossomed and we turn the corner. And like, I wrote about one of them specifically in the book because it just goes to show you that you really can, if you take your ego, put your ego aside, Like you really can, like being vulnerable and open with people, we have a lot more in common than I think we give ourselves credit for. And sometimes if you don't start out on the right, but with somebody doesn't mean that it has to always be that way. You know, if somebody extends to olive branch, it can really turn into a beautiful relationship.

And Patty Rodriguez is actually, she wrote an endorsement for the book and she's one of those people where when we first started out, on air with Ryan Seacrest, like, we did not see eye to eye. We, like, were really buttheads and it was really hard for me, you know, for the first few months. And then it was when I was going through my breakup, she kind of extended this olive branch. She gave me this necklace that said hope on it. And it was like the turning point. Then we just started talking about our heartbreaks and like really related in that. And now we're like each other's biggest cheerleaders. And so it's like, yeah, it's a really cool story.

But I think the entertainment industry, it can, it goes in waves, you know, like. And I think having a true sense of self, I think if you don't have that, you can really get swallowed up in things. I remember when I was like, I was going for this gig. And I remember the producer at the time was like, when you go out on assignments, you have to ask this one. I'm always going to give you one question that you have to ask the person. And it would always be the salacious headline, whatever it is. And I was like, that's just not me. You know, like I don't, yes, I want this job, but I don't want this job if it means I have to be something that I'm not.

And so I had no regret about that decision because it was just, it just did not make me feel at peace. but that was like later, you know, that was when I was already doing it for a couple of years. But I think it's really shown me, it's been a roller coaster for sure. It was hard for a while and then it would get better and then it would get hard again and different seasons, different situations. It's like a lot to navigate. It's a lot of personalities that you have been through that. And like now you're like senior and like new freshmen, like newbies come to work and you get to like be kind to them. and you get to like give them a different experience than yeah you had to I think that's

I think that's really cool yeah it is fun yeah that's awesome okay number five this is a fun one what is the most misunderstood thing about you they think I'm happy all the time they're like how are you always happy and I'm like I'm not yeah not always happy I'm always at peace yeah but like and I think I try to it's funny because if you listen to the podcast I've even cried on the morning show. You know what I mean? Like I'm very open about when I'm going through things. But I think that's like a big misconception that I'm just like always happy. I'm human. I would say maybe similar for me too. I think that people don't when you do kind of what we're talking about in the beginning, making that choice to take the high road and to see the good in things.

I think that people think, well, all your life must be really easy then or you must not have struggles. And it's not true. It's like there have been a lot of struggles, but I really have done the work to overcome and to be that person and continue to do the work. So I think that that would be a misconception for me would be similar to you as well. People just thinking, oh, life must be great. You're always happy. And it's not true. It's, it is a choice and it's work. Yeah, it takes work to get there. And it's not always like that. Yeah. Number six, what is the greatest advice you've ever received? This one's very easy for me because it was like my first week on the job. It was from Chelsea handler and she said there's room for everyone. Wow. And it was like so profound, especially in that

time because again, it was like that time where women weren't so supportive of each other. And it felt like we were all going for the same one gig or, you know, things like that. And so that was like very profound. It was like, there's room for everyone. If I don't get that, I'll just get something different, you know? Yeah. That's cool. Yeah, that's awesome. To not judge, my mom really instilled that in me. It's just to never judge anybody. If you were to walk in another person's shoes, you know, maybe you would understand them a little bit more. And so just to never judge people. Yeah.

Okay. Number seven, what does wellness mean to you? Wellness means everything to me because I see wellness as our mind, body, spirit being well. And I think it starts with the spirit. So for me, what that looks like is if I'm having a hard time, I will, or lucky to live in California, I'll go drive down to the beach and I'll go and take a really long walk and I'll listen to my worship music or meditation music and I'll take time just to really be still. And every single time I do that, peace comes in. So then when my spirit's well, my mind as well. So if I'm having negative self-thoughts, they turn into positive ones. If my body is well, which that also has to do with the spirit, but it also has to do with what we're eating, you know, what we're putting into. to our body. So, yeah, wellness is everything to me. If I'm not well in my spirit, if I'm not prioritizing that, then I'm not going to be well in any other area of my life. So it's everything.

It's kind of the same for me, but I think wellness is also, I'm really big on routine. And like, it's funny because people like, my best friend, Becca, we are like totally opposite. And in our podcast, people are always like, live a little Tanya, you know, because I'll pack cucumbers with lemon. my snack and I'll bring nuts. And the thing is, it's not even, it's not about living. Like, it's not, like, to me, I'm living my best life when I'm taking care of myself, when I'm eating the things that I know make me feel good, when I'm sleeping, when I'm prioritizing my sleep, you know, like, I was going, I would go through phases of life where

I wasn't prioritizing my sleep and like, I need that to function. And so it's like really just being in tune with my body, my spirit, uh, being at peace. That's all wellness to me. It's not about. looking a certain way. It's about like feeling a certain way. Yeah, that's awesome. You and Tanya are a little bit similar. Yeah, I'm getting that vibe. I thrive in my routine. Like I'm always like, okay, let's set up on Sundays. I'm like, let's talk about what we want to eat for the week so we can like set it up. Oh, wow. I'm like, winging it all day every meal. He's like,

I don't know what I want to have her breakfast tomorrow. And I'm like, I already have my overnight oats pack for the next three days. We were literally just talking about that. We, we post, we've in post-mitting too much. And we need, I'm like, we need to go to the grocery store because Taylor, well, he's, he's the cook. He's an amazing cook. Oh, wow. Guys, we've got to do a dinner. Oh, my gosh.

Yeah. He's such a good cook. I'm spoiled. That makes up for my trash comment earlier. But we'll go, he doesn't want to go to the grocery store like for multiple days. He wants to go to the grocery store when he wants to cook this one meal. This is literally my, me and my boyfriend are you out this all the time. No way.

And I can't predict. He goes, what I'm. I'm going to want to eat for Tuesday. And I'm like, eat what's in the fridge. You just eat what they're so funny. But I'm like, we need to start buying some more food because we've been hosting so much. We don't have food to the fridge. We always have nothing in our fridge.

We don't want to go to the grocery store. It's going to be way too late if you make dinner. Like, we need to just like stock up on like on food. He's like, no. We can stock up on snacks. So how is it going? Where are you out with it? Not, well, we've stocked up on snacks.

Everyone has all the good. Love everyone. carrots and the cucumbers and all the things. I'm falling stocking up on snacks. I just can't meal prep or like I'm buying what I'm going to make three days from now. I don't know what I'm going to feel like that. So if I don't feel like it, then when I was single, let me tell you. Oh, no.

Thriving. Sundays, the whole day was dedicated to setting up my entire week. I would look at my calendar. See, like, when I had my long days at work, I would pack. I would literally know what I was eating from breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. I'd go to the store. I'd get it all done. I'd pack my bag.

I'd have my little satchel, keep my ice in it. And I would be like, so good. And then it like totally tanked when I started dating my boyfriend. I feel Tay is longingly looking at Tanya. Like, wow. Yeah. But we have met in the middle. Like now like, I just still, I still do it for myself.

Yeah. The stuff that I need to for work, it's the dinner that I'm really like trying to like get us on the same page. Yeah. Yeah. But my boyfriend's the same. He's like, but what if we want a barbecue tomorrow? What if I want steak or what if I want this? And I'm like, you just decide.

You just decide. Just pick and then you'll eat what's in the food. Oh my gosh. Great. I'm glad to know. I'm not alone. Number eight. What is your relationship with social media and do you think it affects your well-being?

I have to say now my relationship with social media is great. I've always had a really beautiful community on there. Like, obviously there's a couple trolls here and there, few and far between. I'm very grateful and lucky that I have had that experience. But what's interesting is I actually wrote a chapter in the book about it because I was using this like supermodel filter on Instagram. I was like, damn, I look good. And I would just use it.

And I would look in the mirror and like I started to kind of lose my sense of confidence. And I would look in the mirror and be like, oh, like, you know, like I didn't like what I saw. And then I realized how much damage that was having on my confidence. So I literally was like, I even went to the point where I saw. sent a picture of my face with the filter and without it to my friend that's a plastic surgeon said like, what do I need to do to look like this? Yeah. And it was like a laundry list of things. And I was like, this is problem. I am an adult, a like fully developed woman who's confident in who she is. And I'm having this text conversation right now. Like,

this is a problem. So I really like made a point right then and there to like never use filters anymore. Wow. It's just not worth it. Yeah. It's not worth it for myself. And I also don't want, like, have you ever followed somebody on Instagram and then met them in person and been like, whoa, you look. It's jarring. And I was like, I never want somebody to meet me and be like, that's not who I see. Yeah. Just want to be me. I love that. Yeah, that's really great. You're really good at it. My relationship with social media is good. I mean, I only have Instagram. So maybe if I was on TikTok, Twitter or whatever, maybe it would feel like too much time. But I think it's healthy. I try not to go on too much. I do think it's a natural habit. Like,

probably when I pick up my phone after this, I'm going to go check Instagram. But it's good. And I, again, And it comes back to the inner work. I know the truth. And I know that you're really seeing people's highlights or a small glimpse into their life on socials. And so I don't really let, you know, anything get to me. And I know everyone's doing their thing. And anything that's negative or bad that I receive, I don't take it in. Focus on the good.

And yeah. Yeah. All about that perspective. Mm-hmm. Yeah, all perspective. Okay. Number nine, what is your favorite form of self-care? I think what I just said of going to the beach doing my walks, to name something outside of that, maybe getting a massage.

You found that. Yeah. Find that really relaxing. Yeah. It's worship music for me. Yeah. Like it really just puts me in a totally different headspace. Yeah.

And then the second thing doesn't sound so weird, but cleaning my makeup brushes. Nothing. I need to say that's about. Yeah. Organization is my love language. and it makes me feel better to like organize, even if it's just like a junk drawer and I organize a junk drawer,

like I feel better. Yeah. That is so funny. I feel heard. I feel seen. I just saw a little bit of drool from her mouth. The excitement. It's not, literally, I've said to so many times to Taylor.

He's like, what? I'm like, just like, I'm just going to feel so much better once this is like put away. And then it'll get put away. And I'm like, oh my gosh. And Taylor's like, I feel no different. It's so interesting. You know, I've never lived with a man before, before my boyfriend. We basically live together.

And it's such an interesting thing when you're intersecting your life like that because you're so used to, I am like, my, my home looks like a museum. Like it doesn't even look like anybody lives in there because that's how like I am. And then I move into, you know, I haven't officially, but like I'm living with my boyfriend and his two kids. And it's not a museum, you know? And so it's actually been really good for me because I don't. care as much. I obviously like, and I've, we just had to meet in the middle, you know,

it was like, okay, keep the common areas clean and tidy, you know, and everything else I can like work with. But it's, it's such a weird thing. I feel like nobody talks about. You move in with somebody. Like, it's very, yeah. That's a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's why I am thankful. We've lived together for a little bit now. Yeah, we had some, some practice. Yeah. And throw. The first year of marriage, is so hard. I'm like, okay, I think, I think us living together before. For sure. Yeah. You really get to know someone. Yeah, you would be pissed at me. Or vice versa, honestly.

Oh, no. Oh. Compromise is a beautiful thing. Yes. Yeah. For sure. It really is. We've learned to crush that. In a good way. Like, we crush it. Like, we crush it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, number 10. Who has had the most positive impact on your mental health? I honestly say you, Raquel.

Panya! Wow! No, come here. Oh my goodness. Hug it out. That's so nice. Are you serious? Well, I mean, yeah.

Yeah, I think so. Because I feel like she's the type of friend where you can kind of go to her and there's no judgment. There's no. And it's a very interesting skill that you have because I think whenever a friend comes to me and like, let's say they like, broke up with somebody. I'm like, that guy sucks. He never did this. You know, like you insert your opinion. You kind of, you know, you, you go down that path. Yeah. Raquel never inserts her opinion. She just listens. Good listener. She's a good listener. And she's just there. Yeah. She'll give you a scripture to encourage you. Yeah. But it's very, um, it's not abrasive. It's not judgmental.

And that's, that's hard to find. I think. Yeah. And a lot of the time, that's all you need to. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, you don't. It's like, you don't. in that moment, you don't need advice. You don't need like, you know, you just need somebody to listen to and somebody to be there. Unless I ask you up, I'm like, what would you do in this situation? I don't want to know what you would do in this situation. Yeah. Yeah.

Just want to be heard and loved. Yeah. That was very sweet. That was really sweet. That was really sweet. I would, Tanya's had a huge. Like, I got to give it back to her about. No, no, no, no.

And I guess Here's what I'll say Like any person that I keep close to me Has a positive impact on My mental I mean I'm I won't be close to somebody If that's not the case And I think that again comes from

We keep going back to doing the inner work Because when you're healthy inside You're going to attract healthy around you Yeah And so yeah Tanya's been in an amazing, amazing support to me. You're always there.

Thank you. Wow. Glorious. Okay, we have come to our last question, number 11. Wow. Here we go. If you could go back to one moment in your life, what would that moment be and what would you say to yourself?

I think I experienced like massive rejection when I was graduating from college. I was working for a radio station at my college. and I thought I was just going to live in Tucson for the rest of my life because I was like, I had a job and I loved it. This was when it was like the recession and nobody was getting, you know, people were just getting laid off. And I would have stayed in Tucson and I remember I got laid off

because I was a part-timer. And that was the first time I'd ever had rejection like that. You know, it was my first real, like, adult job. And it was really deflating. And it happened when I was graduating. And I felt so, that was one of like my lowest lows because I just felt like, so confused and I wish I could go back and just like tell her like it's going to be okay.

I think I have that mentality now. Like I'm like with my career. If something goes awry and I end up, you know, I love what I do now, but let's just say something happens. I know I'm going to be okay. Like I just have that faith now and I didn't have it then. And so I wish I could go back and say, you're going to be good girl. Yeah. Well, it makes me, that question makes me feel a little bit emotional. I just had one specific flashback to when I first moved to L.A. and I was sitting with my mom on this street called Larchmont, or having pizza. And I was crying because I couldn't make any friends. And I'm very social. And it's a tough city to get integrated into, especially if you're not, you know, in high school or like, you know, at that age, it's really hard. And I remember saying there was like a group of my friends in Chicago where I'm from what they were.

all out together. And I said, see, look, like, they're all together and they're all, I, like, I want to go back. And I think I remember I, like, ran off. Like, so I was just crying. I'm 18. And, and I wish I could tell myself then, just stick it out, trust God, and things really will work out. And I think it's a good reminder for people to hear because sometimes when you push through discomfort, sometimes that comes in the form of a move, what's on the other side of that is moving here changed my whole life. To preface a little bit, I moved here with my family. So it wasn't my choice to move.

I was 18. But I wouldn't have necessarily maybe moved to L.A. on my own. And it got me out of my comfort zone. And I'm living a life that is so full and amazing because of that decision. And so I think it goes back to what you were saying in the beginning, your story that you gave about the two movies of that it felt disappointing. It felt like, oh, I just, this film that was going to change my life didn't happen. So for me, I was like missing my life in Chicago and it's like that, you know, I was happy there and whatever.

But pushing through the discomfort, taking that different road, that new opportunity led me to the most full amazing life that I'm living now. And so I think I would go back to myself in multiple moments going through breakup when I was younger and feeling. like it was the end of the world, going through a move, just saying, hey, it's going to be okay. Because when you look back in hindsight, everything ends up exactly the way that it's meant to be. Even the hard stuff, it grows you internally and makes you a more well-rounded, beautiful person. So that's what I would say. Beautiful. It's always going to be okay. Yeah. Amen to that. Oh, this is a great. Thank you so much. Thank you. coming and join us.

Thank you guys for having us. So much fun and we will link your lovely book for everyone to go. Bye. Check it out. I'm obsessed with it and congrats again, guys. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you so much for squeezing us into your day. Please be sure to rate, review, and follow our pod and check out full episodes on YouTube. You can follow me at Taylor Lautner, my lovely wife, at Taylaughtner. Check out the squeeze on on Instagram at The Squeeze.

And also give a little glance and a follow to Lemons by Tay. That's at Lemonsbytee on Instagram and lemonsbytea.com. And also be sure to email us, lapner.com. Dot the Squeeze podcast at gmail.com. If you guys have any questions, any guests you'd like to see, we've gotten some interesting email so far, which has been awesome. But most importantly, please continue to talk about your journey with those around you and sent our show to a friend that you think could use a little extra squeeze in their life.

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