Difference Makers Discussion with Eléa, Adam, and Bunny

I don't know what you guys are drinking this morning. I have some honey lemon in my Think Positive cup. So we have. Elliot, what are you drinking?

Just water with lemon water with lemon.

Alkali water out of our overly priced fancy machine.

That we won't receive any affiliate dollars from. So we won't name.

Right, exactly.

I think honey lemon is like my new favorite thing. It's so simple. It's like water with honey and lemon, but for some reason it's like my new favorite thing. I could drink it all day.

Yeah, I love that. Yeah. I've actually gotten really into adding apple cider vinegar to my water and I've really enjoyed that too. It's been great. Yeah. Sometimes a little turmeric. If I heat it up, it's good.

Yeah, yeah. So I do. Here's a little recipe. I guess we could put this in the comments is It's a like 4 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, some cinnamon, and then a little bit of stevia. And it tastes like apple cider. If you. If you add hot water to it, it tastes like apple cider. So nice.

Yeah. Yeah, Perfect.

We need the alcohol.

That might work for your kombucha, Elias.

Yeah, yeah. My very inconsistent kombucha. But I try.

It's okay. You can give me all of that judgment and I will just go put it over here because we don't.

Okay, perfect.

Ella, you have another special guest with us, don't you?

I do. Where did he go? Where is he? Oh, hold on.

He just turned two months old.

Everybody's like, what's it gonna be? Is it gonna be a lizard? Is it gonna be a bird?

Right.

Oh, it's a movie.

Oh, my God. He's like, yeah.

And how old is he?

Two months.

He's two months and he has a big, big, little, big belly.

And he's a foster.

Yeah. Every time I break out my phone to take pictures of him, he like runs away. He's very camera shy.

So for anybody watching, you can comment and see about adopting little Moochie.

Moofi. Moofie. Yeah. He is gourmand of food. He loves food a little too much.

I mean, I have that issue and somebody adopted me, so, you know, there's hope. Well, yeah, we affectionately call guinea pig because he definitely is a food lover there. You don't get 160 something pounds because you don't love food.

Yeah. That's amazing. That's amazing.

And Adam, you have a foster too, don't you?

We did till about 10 minutes ago.

Okay.

She's in the coop.

She's all grown up now. She's going out in the world on her own.

Yeah.

Leaving the nest.

Yeah.

We had a.

We had a.

We had a human foster that actually rolled in from South Africa the day or about two hours before the country went to a national state of emergency.

Yeah. Yeah.

Wow.

So she was with us for over a month, and. Yeah. So she's headed out into the big. The big world now.

And, like, what was that? Okay, so you're fostering a cat and you're fostering a human during this time of, like, global pandemic. I just have to know, like, how that feels and perspective, because on one hand, there's, like, all of these hoard your resources for your own family. And you guys are almost doing the exact opposite of being like, no, we're going to share and create, like, this little tribe during this time and just open our homes and our resources to everybody who needs it. Mm.

Yeah. I love that. I love that. Because again, too, you know, we were actually. We were actually talking with our foster yesterday just about the interesting vibe that we've noticed at our local grocery store, because we have a grocery store literally just, like, two blocks away of how we've watched that vibe, like, dramatically shift each week. And walking in there and how bizarre it's been to kind of see people starting to make less eye contact, you know, the skirting around the masks. And we were just kind of talking about how that made us feel and how we know other people were probably feeling, like, the same way. Right. And just like, we. We live in South Carolina, which is known for Southern hospitality, and people are so nice and always chatty. And so to go into the grocery store and kind of feel like everyone's like, don't. You know, don't get near. It's very strange feeling.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. It's actually like, when I lived in Chicago, like, that's what the stores feel like now. Like, nobody smiles. Nobody, nobody. It's like nobody wants to acknowledge you exist. They know that there's something over there, but they don't know what it is, so they just kind of really walk away from you and. But there are other people. I will say there are other people who have no idea that this is even happening. And that's the scary part.

So, Adam, I'm gonna share with you two words that will help you in Chicago make immediate friends. Are you ready? All right, Mike Ditka, just. That's your golden. In Chicago, you will have a Completely different experience with chicagians. If you just drop Mike Ditka, you will immediately, like, have one warm family. Because I almost. I describe Chicago as the nice New York City where people will make eye contact, they will be friendly, they'll give you directions, they have the time of day for you. And that's no knock on New York City, because being semi introverted, I love New York City and the aspect that everybody avoids eye contact. They don't talk to you, they don't have time for you. Like, you just get from point A to point B with zero human connection. So, you know, it has its ups and downs. But that's so interesting that you have that experience with Chicago because, like, Chicago is where I go to, you know, have fun and connect with friends there. But I also think that's probably because I have friends there. And I say Mike Ditka a lot in Chicago. That's just. It's totally. That's your home.

Something else I was kind of. Yeah, yeah. Something else I was kind of. We were laughing about with this shelter in place is Adam's mom was telling us that she's having a lot of cocktail parties online now. So it's like, you know, everybody gets on, you know, zoom or whatever platform, and they're. They're having their cocktails. And I was like, wow. I mean, yeah, in person would be better, but, hey, nobody has to worry about driving. They're home. They're. They're new form. That's pretty interesting. And so then I was thinking, well, what if you had, you know, okay, so how many people would you actually want to have online to have a cocktail party with? And how difficult would that start to be with too many conversations going on and how many rooms would you need to split up into? And. Yeah, yeah, it got kind of interesting fast.

You're good friends.

I'm so good at. Yeah, we saw her yesterday, and she's like, yeah, I just did my fourth cocktail party night in a row. I'm like, well, it is spring break, technically for most people.

Yeah. Yeah. I had a discussion yesterday with an author who's openly introverted, and her and I were talking about the fact that it's like this whisper of everybody's wanting to get back to, you know, being social and having everything open. And there's parts of her that are really enjoying this, staying at home and, you know, only going out for the bare necessities. And. Yeah. So it's just interesting on that shift in perspective. And, like, one of the things that I was Thinking about, you know, with Move, Think Smile is when you talk about shelter in place. I don't know if it's like, maybe from the 60s, but when you think about, like, shelter, you're thinking about. For me, I'm only going to speak for me. I'm not going to speak for the collective we. I'm thinking of, like, canned goods, water. Oh, Elliot. To tell you the shift, as far as the grocery stores, my husband came home from Costco, and his view on the shift was that there was a giant thing of Charming that he was able to bring home. And he's like, and this wasn't the only one. I didn't have to fight anybody. I'm like, right. Where humanity has gone is that we're doing okay or we're not doing okay, depending on the supply of toilet paper.

Toilet paper, Yep.

Yeah. So. So I'm thinking of, you know, like the. The actual, like a generator and all of these kinds of things. And you guys have a completely different perspective when. When you're thinking about the mindset of where you're at, and it's just where my brain was going. But when I was thinking last night around this Move Think Smile, I was like, yeah, you know, like, what does that mindset sound like? Look like experience when you wake up and it's a mandatory shelter in place order.

Yeah.

For us, I mean, we have kind of sheltered in place for so long now that it's not really any different. This is just like, oh, wow. The rest of the world now experiences what our life is like.

Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, I think from the Move Think Smile perspective, it's really, you know, for us, it's. How can we. How can we make bold moves during this time? You know, whether that's. It's like changing the way we move our body, getting outside maybe, you know, setting up, finding different ways that we can still stay connected with people. Right. It's like just, okay, what kind of move do I need to make today to stay sane? Right. And to stay, like, I. To really feel connected. And we've had a switch, too, because, you know, our beaches are now closed, and we're huge beachgoers. We live very close to the beach. And, you know, it's like, we can't go to the beach. We can't go to our parks. So how can we move differently in our house or in our backyard, you know, trying to come up with things. And the other thing, too, is with the think different is really figuring out. Yeah. How can we keep ourselves optimistic during this Time. Or at least keep ourselves, like. Like I keep saying, you know, sane, which is like, hey, how can we. All right. Yeah. For me, I started realizing. And part of me did actually go where you did, Bonnie. Which I was kind of thinking. It's almost like when I was a kid and we had snow days, it was like, ooh, like, what are some fun things? Like, I want to break out the crafts. I want to do, like, my jewelry making, water painting. And it's like, oh, I'm going to cook and I'm going to garden. And so I kind of started getting excited about that. And, you know, with the end result really being, you know, how can I. What can I do to have myself smile today? Right? Because again, it's like there's so many. Yeah. There's so many sad stories and stressful stories coming out of this. But again, really remembering that importance of, okay, we still have to stay healthy and strong. Right. We still have to have some smile in there. I think about, you know, laughter being the best medicine. Right. And some of those old adages where it's like, okay, yeah, I gotta have some of that in my day.

Yeah. And I think one of the things that came out of my mouth, and I'm not saying that this was my original concept, but it came out of my mouth, was this concept. I was telling a team of people. I said, just because the parks and the beaches and the movie theaters are closed, your minds are still open. So that's still an option, you know? And that's, like, to your point. So here's one of the things that makes me smile.

Come here.

You're not gonna be a guest. What Sissy's not putting on Mickey. Okay, well, go ask her nicely. All right. Okay, I. I will. Can you say hello?

Hi.

Hello.

Ask her nicely. Tell her mommy said see to play. That's an interesting perspective that you guys may appreciate, is if I switch languages when I'm speaking to my kids, like, all of a sudden, she had to slam the door three times for you. She's kind of like Sheldon from Big Bang Theory. It's like, gotta make sure it's closed. But if I switch languages, it, like, changes the attention span really quickly of my kids. And so that's kind of one of those things that's like, I've noticed is, you know what happens if we just change that perspective?

Whoa.

Shelter in place.

Wow.

Like, that energy just change really quickly. So she's just gonna climb and play with the twinkle lights behind us. But is there something that you found that like, switching languages can just kind of snap us back into, hey, we're one big human race, we still need to, we still need to smile.

Yeah, absolutely. I'm switching questions. Okay, tell me more about switching questions. So if you. A very simple one a lot of people ask themselves is how come things aren't working right? Or what if this doesn't work? And one way to just switch that on its head is to say, well, what if it does work? You know, every, every, every thought has an equal and opposite thought. And as human beings, we've got this big thing called a frontal lobe that we're the only creatures that we know of on the planet that really have this. And we have the ability to free will, choose what thought we want to have. And sometimes it's not that easy, right, because the thoughts all produce chemicals from the brain that go down into the body. And so it's when you thinking about the whole move, think, smile thing, you know, LA is absolutely right. It's about making bold moves, it's about thinking differently, it's about smiling more. But it's also kind of like, do you guys know what zero based budgeting is? Have you heard about that before?

Yeah.

Okay. Yeah, yeah. So for those, you know, basically, if you're gonna have an app, let's say you got a company and you want to go and advertise. You say, I've got $10,000 and that's all I'm gonna spend. I'm gonna try and max it. Well, zero based budgeting is saying don't start with the budget, start with the goal. Right. So what is it you want? I want to have 100 customers buy my stuff this month. It's like, okay, well, how much do you need to invest in order to get there? So if you look at it and reverse engineer it, so where do you want to smile? Like, what is it you want to do? And then what do you need to change in your brain in order to get there? And how are you going to change your brain effectively? Because most people, what they do is they end up skipping the very primal step that helps rewire the brain in that whole plasticity kind of thing. And that is getting blood flow and nutrients to the brain. So if you start with the end in mind and then you come back, you're like, okay, well, in order, if I don't like the thoughts and I'm having and I'm feeling anxious or fear, I don't like what's going on, what do I need to do to change that and it's not as simple as just powering through. Right. And just seeing positivity and forcing happiness. It's like, I can be happy. I'm going to choose to be happy. It's not that easy for most people.

Yeah.

Adam, I really want to focus on you, but I think Elliot and Victoria were having a tongue sticking out contests, like, in the middle.

Yeah, they were.

I saw that.

It's like, but what? I mean, she answered the question without even being asked the question. Like, oh, what's to change your perspective? Ask me a silly question, Adam, and I'm just gonna go and see what happens.

Yeah. And I think, you know, when you asked that question, the first thing that came to mind. And this is going to be really simple music. Music shifts me really quickly, so.

It does. And it's, you know, that's really something that my husband's not super romantic, but one way he's found to communicate with me is music. And so I think for people that are struggling to, like, label how they're feeling right now, I think that music is a really good way to just, like, listen to music. I found my vinyls, I found my LPs during, like, four weeks ago. And just listening to the scratches, like, listening to that, like, that sensation, it brought me to a really great place. And I'm like, these helped me during this time in my life, so they can help me now. So, yeah, that's so simple. So we've covered grocery stores, we've covered fostering in place and fostering all over the world, sticking our tongues out as adults. Is there anything we're missing? Well, I. Go ahead, Adam.

I was gonna say. Well, one other thing, too, is that I just kind of think is funny is that we built an axe throw as another thing that we did in sheltering in place. And we would have never done that before. We would have never taken the time, but it was like, oh, we're gonna build this really cool axe throw. So I think, too, it's giving yourself permission to do something you would probably never give yourself the time to do before this moment. Yeah, it's random, but it was great.

That's awesome. So I need to see pictures of those. You're gonna have to tag me in some pictures of those. And have you gotten good at it, or should I be worried for your neighbor?

Well, we had one slight flaw when we finished it, which was we realized the wood was really green and the axe was not sticking into the wood. So that was kind of like a big, like, wah, wah, wah. But we've noticed that over the last couple days, it's gotten a little bit easier, so there's hope. We have actually stuck it a few times, so we're excited. Yeah, A little bit of time is going to make it even better.

The one thing, the last thing that I'll share with you guys for this discussion is that I had this moment yesterday. So I showed you kind of this window that's giving me this natural light looks out on our property, and.

I.

Was like, wow, there's so many more birds. And so we went and got, like, bird seed, and we were feeding the birds, and I just had this thought in my head, Adam, to your point of, like, there's so many birds. There's so many more birds right now. Like, is this just what's going on? And then I stopped and was like, well, where would I be right now during this time? What would I be focused on right now if there wasn't this shelter in place, if there wasn't a quarantine, if I didn't have a heart condition and had to be concerned, you know, with staying inside and all of these kinds of things? And I was like, are there more birds, or am I just more present? And, like, these birds have always been here, and I've just been missing out on these birds. That was a huge shift for me or realization. And so now I'm noticing, like, what else is there? That we've just been going from, you know, point A to point B and what else is there? So I don't know if you've had any of those kinds of moments, but that definitely was one that is from, like, 24 hours ago, and that's. I'm wearing my bird earrings this morning because it was one of those things, like, I opened my jewelry box to, like, figure out what I was gonna wear, and I was like, oh, birds.

Like, yeah, that's awesome.

Definitely sitting in the backyard or being. Spending a lot more time in the backyard. We've got springtime coming through. It's been kind of warm. Nights are a little on the nice and cool side. And so we've got a fire pit out there. So, yeah, I would definitely agree. Noticing more stuff that, you know, even though we've been here for, I don't know, 18 years or so, it's like, wow, I didn't never notice that before. Where did that come from? Or is this. Yeah, for us, it's like, I've just noticed that we have bald eagles. I've known they've always been around here. But I've never really noticed them before, and so it's really cool to see them flying over the house.

That's awesome.

Yeah. Yeah. I think for me, it's noticing the awesome food we've been making that is the coolest part. Yeah, we've been making some really good food, and it's like, oh, yeah. Again, once again, just. I feel like we really make it an effort not to be too stuck in a lot of busyness, but we have definitely given ourselves more leeway, more time on cooking, and that's been really great.

That's awesome.

Although it was pretty awesome yesterday. Mom brought by. She's like, I'm coming over. I'm going to bring you guys lunch. Where do you want it from? I'm like, the restaurants are open. She's like, yeah, they're all open. They're all, you know, just have takeout now. I'm like, oh, my gosh. Like, we haven't had food. Don't get me wrong. Elia and our foster cook, amazing stuff. Like, I, like, I just walk in and there's, like, stuff. Just amazing, amazing, delicious stuff to eat. And I kind of feel guilty because I'm like, I should do something or cook something. So I made some hummus the other day just to add in my contribution. Mom rolls up with this really amazing Vietnamese food, and it's just like, wow. Like, it was so refreshing to just kind of, like, have something. But then it's like, did I do I really miss going out to the restaurants? And I started to have to ask myself, you know, I don't know if I. This was cool to have a little bit of break and a little bit of different. And it meant so much more because we weren't doing it a couple times a week.

Yeah.

So it'd been, what, four or five weeks since we've had food prepared other than what we'd done for ourselves.

Yeah.

And I think we all overate because we're like, oh, this is so good. It's just we didn't have to make it.

Yeah.

I think I've noticed the difference in the energy between the food that we make and the food that's been made for us, too.

Oh, for sure.

I don't think I ever really thought about it before. You know, living in a Western culture and first world country, you just. We have plenty of access. But I remember when I was living in Ecuador, my mother of Ecuador would make me breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and I didn't really appreciate it or even think about it in that Kind of sense. Until one night I was out until like 2am and in Ecuadorian culture, the parents don't go to bed until all of their kids are fed. And so like I rolled in at 2am from a soccer game, a football game. And like she's making me fresh dinner. Not like she made dinner and saved me some, like she's making me fresh dinner. And I was just thinking like what. I mean, that takes caring to like a whole new level. It's not like the clock strikes six and it's dinner time, but it's like making sure that your kids have nutrition in their bellies before they go to bed. I don't know if that was the yummiest meal I've ever had, but it definitely had the most like love and caring. It from a woman who was a complete stranger just a couple weeks before, you know, I had come into her home through. I was down there volunteering. And so it's just like. And I didn't ask her, she didn't ask me, I didn't speak Spanish when I got there. And so this bond, she just recently passed away. But this bond that we created was on a human level, not irrespective of language and all of this. And she, she was like barely five feet tall, I'm six foot three. And like, it was just amazing. So yeah, she really taught me like the potential of humanity just because of what she's probably seen and lived through and how much she just openly gave without really having any reason to do so. You know, it's not like she had no skin in the game, I guess, other than she just was taking care of me as one of her own. I was her foster.

Awesome thing.

And look at me now right back. So. And then I know you guys, for the listeners and watchers that are watching this, you guys are going to pick a difference maker to do your own interview that we're going to put up on the difference makers page. So I'm looking forward to seeing who you pick and about that discussion and we're just going to stay tuned for that. And then if you haven't already seen Elliot and Adams teaser video that they recorded, I think from your backyard and I think Elliot, you were right where you are. Were you in your backyard too?

I'm not sure.

I'm not.

We've done so many videos. I'm not sure which one she's talking about.

The one where you were by the cat tree and you're talking about making a difference.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, that was in our. Kind of like our kitchen area. Yeah.

We made that cat tree out of a tree that fell down during a hurricane last fall.

Yeah.

See, what? That's just. The silver linings are endless. But if you haven't already seen those teasers, go back and catch those teasers, because these guys are awesome. And then you can find their contact information on the page as well. So thank you, guys, first off and foremost, for making a difference. And secondly, for sharing some time with me this morning. And go. Continue making the world a better place.

Awesome. Thank you, Bunny.