406. I'm so tired of PLANNING! (And other exciting updates) | My Relocation Diaries

Hey, everyone. Welcome to my Relocation Diaries, where I share with you the behind the scenes of my life and what it's like to move to a different country with your family. We recently, not so recently, five months ago, moved to Barcelona, and I'm just sharing with you my experience here every single week. I'm recording this on a Friday, and the episode is going to be released today. I usually don't do it. I usually record it ahead of time. But this week has been really, really busy and insane. And I'll tell you why. And this is why I'm recording it last minute. But also, if you're listening to this on the day this podcast has been released, then you'll know that it's like a real life update. So the reason why I'm recording this so late is because tomorrow is my meetup, my Barcelona Student meetup, where students from New Sound and beyond come from all around the world to meet together. We did this meetup over a year ago, a year and a half ago in New York. It was in October 2022. And now we have the privilege of hosting it again, this time in Barcelona, where I live. Can't believe I'm saying that. So, obviously there is so much that is going on currently because of that. There is. All these people are coming, and I'm going to tell you about the meetup. I'm probably going to record an entire episode about it next week. But today's topic is about planning. So it's not just going to be an update about the meetup. It's about the concept of planning and how incredibly energy consuming that is. And that is particularly relevant, I think, for women who tend to be more in charge of the planning of the household and schedule and kids and their schedule and, like, making sure that everything is, like, moving together. Now. That's not always the case. I know of a lot of dads who are in charge of the domestic schedule, but from my experience, looking at the people around me, my friends, my family, then women usually take the role of planning. So in our family, I'm the one who's coordinating the play dates and events and trips and vacations. And of course, I do a lot of planning in my business. And I feel like since we moved here, I am constantly planning for things to happen because it feels like I can't be as spontaneous as I used to be, not with travel, because people want to come and visit us. So I have to coordinate all of that. I literally have a Google Calendar called Barcelona bnb and. And this is where I write the dates when people come and visit us so we don't lose track. And we know we kind of, like, organize our lives accordingly. So we need to plan around when other people come to visit us. There are holidays and vacations, so we need to make sure that we have plans for holidays and vacations ahead of time if we want to travel. And of course, this meetup was a big, big project to plan because it wasn't just the meetup itself. It's everything around it. And also, my team is coming here, so I had to plan their activities. And even though it's like, it's something that happens in your head, you don't physically go and do things when you plan. Sometimes I feel like it takes up so much time, and even sometimes more time than actually seeing sitting down and doing things. And earlier this week, like, Gil and I were talking about something, and I was like, I need you to understand where I'm at so that you know what's going on. Right? And I'm going to read to you from my WhatsApp, because I texted him. I'm like, I'm just going to give you context on what's happening in my head right now. I'm organizing a million things at the same time. I'm organizing the meetup, and also I'm planning all the things around it, like getting my nails done and a haircut and finding the right dress and planning, you know, like, when I should go where and meeting with people that are responsible for managing the event. And there is also work, and there is also the summer. So we need to plan for the summer, and we need to rent a car, and we need to plan with my sister because we want to meet them in the summer and other friends. And there are all these things, like, moving, and there is a wedding, and there is another wedding in the summer. And, like, there are all these moving pieces that, like, you just need to sit down and. And plan them. You know, scheduling things, making sure that everything gets done. And it's just there was a point this week where I was like, oh, my God, this is so much. And I feel like I've been constantly planning since the moment I got here. Now, I'm not complaining, even though I know it sounds like it. I just want to acknowledge that it's a huge part of our lives, and we don't give it enough importance or space in terms of the fact that it consumes a lot of energy. And it's also something that we need to create time for. So I'm Gonna. I'm just gonna share with you what I do when I plan. First of all, I communicate like I did, you know, like when I realized that I'm juggling too many balls at the same time. This is when I texted Gillen. I said, listen, this is what's happening. I need to delegate. I need help. I need, you know, just for us to be on the same page. So I think communication around that is really important, especially if your partner is not aware of all the things that you are thinking about in your head, because it's not something visible. They don't see you do those things. And I think it's important to communicate that because it is something that takes up your time and energy. And I do work a lot with lists. So every day I make a new list, even though I need to, you know, it's. It might be the same list with the same things from yesterday, but every day I need to make a list. So it's not just in my head. And I try to organize it. So I schedule times for me to do it on the calendar. Like, literally make sure that it's on your calendar. Otherwise it doesn't get done because you're like. You keep thinking about it, but you don't do it. And then usually when I have a lot of things to plan at the beginning of the day, I just take care of. I make sure that I do all the small things really quickly, so I get them done. So I feel like I have less on my plate as long as I know that I can get them done in, like, 30 minutes. Scheduling appointments, writing an email, doing the laundry. Right? Like, so I make sure that I do all the little things that I know I need to do. I do that within, like, the first 30 minutes of the day. And then I go into managing the big things. Now again, like, I still have work to do on a regular basis, so I also coordinate the things that I have to do for my home or for the event or whatnot, with everything that I need to do for work. So, yeah, I just make sure that I cross it out. I love crossing out things. I love it. This is why I love to rewrite things, even though I know it's going to get done in, like, two minutes. But I like to write it so I can cross it out. And I really don't just keep it in my head because that makes it impossible for me to succeed or not to stress over it. So I think I did really well with managing everything up until this point. And again, like, I think Just like the personal maintenance, because I don't usually get my hair done and my nails done and. And, you know, I don't usually shop for clothes. I like shopping for clothes only when I see a store by coincidence, and I'm like, oh, it's like they have really cool clothes. And then I go in, and then I find something. But to actively go and look for a dress or an outfit for an event, I hate it. And then I really couldn't find anything. So I spent so much time looking for something to wear for my event. Anyway, I found something. Don't worry. I'm gonna be fine. But also, that is something that takes up a lot of time and energy. God. Okay, so that is what's happening, and that is my advice to you on how to plan better. Now just, you know, a quick update about what happened this week. So this week, a few members of my team were able to come here to Barcelona, and that was amazing. We met. We've met before several times, but I've met with two team members that I haven't met before for the first time, which was amazing. And last night, we had dinner at my place. I brought a friend of mine who's also a chef, and he cooked this incredible dinner for us. We had wine. We laughed. It was so nice to have everyone together in one room all. Also, before our dinner yesterday, a few of our local volunteers came to my house. I invited them for coffee and cake and wine and cheese. These are students of mine who live in Barcelona, and they organize a bunch of activities for our community. So just so you know, tomorrow for my community event, there are 80 people who are coming from all around the world to just spend one day together and just connect in real life, which is amazing. They've already started connecting because they, you know, like, I'm already getting pictures of people meeting for the first time, and it's pretty incredible. So the local volunteers are organizing a lot of additional activities. They're phenomenal. So we wanted to just show our gratitude, and I invite them, invited them over, and it was so nice. We just laughed and talked, and it was great. And tonight we have a special event, a smaller event for our community leaders, like our hosts and ambassadors inside our programs. So these are people who host conversation groups, and they support our students. So they are both students, and they support our students. And we wanted to also show them our gratitude by inviting them to a special private event. And tomorrow is the big event for everyone. Also, I forgot to say that my parents are here. They came here for the event they got here two days ago, it's been so incredible to have them here. It feels like the moment they arrived, the tension level has dropped significantly. It's just like that's how it is when you're around, you know, people you love and also specifically your parents. I'm so privileged to have healthy and present parents, and my daughters get to have these incredible grandparents. Just such a privilege. And I'm so grateful for that. And I'm so grateful that they were able to come for, for this really meaningful event that is happening. And, you know, like, I always connect it to the main topic of this series, which is my relocation or bringing myself to this new place. You know, these. This event at that scale would not have been possible had I not lived here, because it was so much easier to organize it and to just understand that living here makes it more accessible for people to come and to meet rather than, you know, back in Israel. So I'm. I'm really happy that we have this opportunity and I can see how more of that is going to happen. I just need to make it more systematic and to create a good process for it because I was, like, all over the place planning this until we kind of, like, brought everything together, but that's it. Like, I'm super excited, super grateful. I feel like even though it was challenging to plan it all, it was worthwhile. And, yeah, I mean, this weekend just makes me realize how important a community is. Like, I know it. That's my life. That's like, my business is established on the idea that community comes first, but still, like, every time I see these connections online and in real life, I'm like, this is what life is about. And I'm so grateful. So thank you all for listening and for being a part of this journey. It's so funny. By the way, I. I recorded. I made a few reels. You can follow me on Instagram on my stories because I share the behind the scenes of the meetup and our planning and all of that. But I shared a few photos from my kitchen, and I got so many messages on Instagram. Here is the refrigerator. This is the refrigerator. And I like that. That's kind of like probably the most famous refrigerator in Barcelona. So I'm going to take a few more photos of the refrigerator, of me hugging the refrigerator. If you want to follow me on Instagram, go to Hadar Accentsway and you'll see the behind the scenes of me, my team, and my students. All right, that's it. Thank you for being a part of this journey. I love you. Take care and talk to you soon. It.