Her Next Chapters

60. The Magic of Now: Finding Luxury in Daily Life

• Christina Kohl

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Did you ever think that a missing crystal glass could lead to a revelation about finding joy in everyday moments? This week, we reflect on how something as simple as using our best glassware for daily routines can add a touch of magic to our lives. Inspired by setting the Thanksgiving and being short 1 crystal glass, (because the glass has been assigned to everyday use in my bathroom), I explore ways to find joy and enjoy luxury without waiting for special occassions. From savoring wine before it turns sour to wearing a special outfit just for dinner at home, we discuss how little acts can make every day feel like a celebration.

Join the conversation as we delve into creative ways to infuse your daily life with joy and spontaneity. This episode isn't just about glasses and wine; it's about transforming your routine into something extraordinary.

I’m also thrilled to announce the launch of the Career Comeback Accelerator, an innovative group coaching program geared towards empowering those on the brink of a career transformation. Enrollment is now open, and I'm inviting you to reach out for more info. Whether you’re looking to enhance your daily life or navigate a monumental career shift, there’s something here for you.

Enrollment for the Career Comeback Accelerator is OPEN!

  • We begin January 16, 2025
  • Contact me for promotional pricing in December.

Grab a Free Resume Template for Career Returners
Want to chat about your career goals? Schedule a free call HERE.
Send me an email ---> christina@hernextchapters.com
Connect with me on LinkedIn ---> www.linkedin.com/in/kohlchristina





Christina Kohl:

Hi and welcome to Her Next Chapter's podcast. I'm your host, hristina Cole. I'm a mom of three and soon to be an empty nester. I'm also a certified HR pro who restarted my career after being a stay-at-home mom for over a decade. I created this podcast to connect with moms who have an empty nest on the horizon and are wanting to redefine their identity outside of motherhood, which might include a job search. On this show, we'll have raw conversations about our ever-changing roles as moms. We'll hear from women who restarted their careers and share tips for a job search after a career break. So if that's you, you're in the right place. Friend, let's get started. Hi, everyone, and welcome to this week's episode of Her Next Chapters. As always, I'm so glad to have you join me. I'm so glad to have you join me today and, if you're new to the community, welcome. So glad to have you here. This week.

Christina Kohl:

I want to talk about something that I got inspired by at Thanksgiving, which is a week ago, if you're listening in real time, and it's kind of silly, but let me just kind of share or set it up as to why I'm talking about this today. The topic is finding joy in the everyday, and let me kind of set up how. What prompted me to think about this. So at Thanksgiving just last week, we hosted a total of 12. And I just happened to have a set of 12 crystal glasses that we had gotten for our wedding years ago. The tables were all set, everything but the crystal, and so my sister-in-law had offered to help me as I was pulling down the crystal glasses out of the cabinet to get them out to the tables. I was pulling down the crystal glasses out of the cabinet to get them out to the tables, and as I was pulling them down to hand them to her, I realized I'm missing one. We have 12 glasses, but there's only 11. We've got 12 people, 12 glasses, it's perfect, but there's only 11. And I'm like where? I'm like oh, and I had to tell her. I was kind of embarrassed. I had to tell her I'm like that crystal glass is actually upstairs in my bathroom where I brush my teeth every morning and night and I use it for that. And it just felt so silly. I was embarrassed to acknowledge or to admit that I'm using a crystal glass for that purpose. But then after I thought about it, I'm like no, I shouldn't be embarrassed.

Christina Kohl:

The reason I started doing that was one of my mentors had suggested, and what I'm suggesting to you as well is like what can you do to elevate your everyday, to elevate your mindset? And she offered a few different ideas. I don't remember what her ideas were, but for me it was like I can use my crystal why not? It's just sitting there and it's not like we're using crystal every day for everybody where it could get broken, it's just me, one person. And, you know, it just kind of elevated my every day. But I'd forgotten about it because it just became so average, because I'd been doing it for a few years now, using a crystal glass for my upstairs water glass and having to, you know, tell someone else that that's what I was doing. It just brought it back to the front of my mind and then it just made me appreciate that glass so much the next day when I, you know, had cleaned it and brought it back up to my bathroom, and it made me think, like you know, the china and all the other crystal and everything, we only bring that out, and I don't know if you have China or not, but, like you know, we, there's so many things that we just save for special occasions, right? So for us, I bring out the China and the crystal for Easter, thanksgiving and Christmas that's the only time they ever get used. And and using that crystal glass on the on the regular, every day is like it kind of makes things more special, like you know. Again, elevating day is like it kind of makes things more special, like you know, again, elevating elevating your day, elevating your outlook, your mindset. And why wait for those special occasions when we know what? We don't know how much time we're given, right, how long are we going to be on this earth? We don't know. Our days are numbered and we don't know. We don't know the days. So, rather than waiting for that special dream to vacation in two years from now, plan it now, do it now and use the crystal now.

Christina Kohl:

And the best example that I have, aside from the crystal, is wine. My husband and I both enjoy wine and we, years ago, had invested in some really good wine. And it's the kind of wine that needs to be cellared for a while. Right, it needs to age. It gets better with age. You don't want to drink it too young is the term, I think. And you don't want to drink it too old because it's called being turned, and I'm not a wine expert at all, so that's why I'm struggling with grabbing for the words.

Christina Kohl:

But we had invested in some wine that needed to age for a while for a special occasion. But here's the thing we forgot about them. We didn't put it on the calendar for like three years in the future or whatever it needed. We forgot about them. And then when we remembered them, it's like, oh, let's have this wine. I hope it hasn't turned, I hope it's not gone bad. And you know where the story is going. The wine went bad. The wine that we invested in that was a really great quality that we're looking forward to for a special occasion. By the time we had it it had gone bad, as in it tasted bad. So we wound up dumping it down the drain, which makes no sense at all, right.

Christina Kohl:

So the lesson here is to not wait for special occasions, right. Create special occasions. By that I mean every day. Bring the joy into your every day. Don't wait for the special occasions. Where in our lives can we bring joy in? And so the wine is one example.

Christina Kohl:

And to continue on with that theme, just a couple of months, actually, it was about a year ago. My husband and I, for our wedding anniversary, we went to Sonoma County, which is just outside of Napa in California, which is wine country, and we brought home some really good bottles. But I told them, like this time we're going to drink them and we're not going to wait for a special occasion, we're going to drink it because it's Tuesday and you know what? I'm recording this on a Tuesday, so we're going to open one of those bottles tonight with hamburgers. I'm serving hamburgers, so we're going to have a nice bottle of red wine to go with our hamburgers. Because, why not? Let's enjoy the things that we have now in real time and not wait and waste them for something that may not ever come. That's the right time and yeah, so that's the part about joy.

Christina Kohl:

And for you, I'm just wondering what it might be for you. For me it's using the crystal glass, it's drinking the wine because it's Tuesday. And I'm wondering what else there might be Like. If I want to challenge you to be thinking in your life how you can bring in joy and not wait for special occasions, but just look for those moments and opportunities.

Christina Kohl:

Maybe it's flowers. Maybe you love having fresh flowers. If you're at the grocery store and you see a bouquet of flowers, go ahead and buy them. If your budget allows, buy the flowers, buy a small bunch if that, if your budget allows, buy the flowers, buy a small bunch if that's what your budget allows for. Or there are ways that you can tweak your budget so that you can afford the bouquet of flowers on occasion for just because, not because it's Valentine's Day or your birthday, but just because Because they make you smile and they make you happy. Or maybe go clip some flowers from outside.

Christina Kohl:

Where I live here in Colorado, there aren't any more flowers outside. They're all gone. It's winter time, but you know what it is out there. I've got evergreen trees and bushes. I can take some snippings of those and bring those in my house and have the scent of pine, which I miss because I have artificial trees these days. So I might just do that and bring in the fresh scent of pine, because I love that part about this season. So that's a very simple, no cost thing to do, and I just want to encourage you to be thinking about that for yourself.

Christina Kohl:

What can you do to bring in the joy and that feels even luxurious into your life on the regular and, again, don't wait for those special occasions, because now is the present right. The present is all that we really have. The present is what's special, okay, so what can you do to tap into that? Another example might be I don't know why this is on my mind, so bath bombs. A bath bomb I think it's B-O-M-B, like a bath bomb, like that ball that like fizzes and like releases, like good smells and stuff for a luxurious bath. That might be a gift you've received or gotten for yourself for a special occasion, you know what. Use it up, go ahead and use it. Schedule your bath with candlelight, some soft music, put in the bath bomb and enjoy it, because you might be getting. If someone gifted those to you last year, you might be getting a new one this year. So go ahead and use it up. So, anyway, I hope that that kind of gets you thinking around.

Christina Kohl:

What can bring you joy, what can add joy? And even I do want to acknowledge the holiday season can be difficult If you are missing loved ones, whether they've passed away or they live far away. Or maybe you're just in a funk and you're supposed to be happy, right, everyone's happy Christmas, music's playing everywhere and you're supposed to be happy. It's a joyful season and you're just not feeling it. That can make it really hard. So these little acts of kindness for yourself and even it doesn't have to just be for yourself Maybe you gift the flowers to someone else and that's bringing you joy, right? So there's so many different ways to do it, but being intentional about it is what makes the difference, and so that's what I would encourage you to do it, but being intentional about it is what makes the difference, and so that's what I would encourage you to do.

Christina Kohl:

Find two or three things that will feel luxurious. Maybe it's wearing a special outfit that you've been saving for a special occasion, and you're going to wear it to dinner tonight. You're going to dress up, even if you don't even leave the house. You're going to dress up and wear that for dinner tonight and make you feel like a million bucks, right. Why not Enjoy it? And there's probably countless other things, but those are the things that are coming to mind for me.

Christina Kohl:

So I hope that this has prompted you to be thinking of what you can add into your life little moments of joy in your present right, and let that be a present to yourself. Okay, we're not going to wait for the future because it's not promised. We're not going to dwell on the past. We're going to focus on the present and what we can do to bring more joy into our present. So, if you have crystal crystal water glasses and in fact I was thinking I might, I've got crystal wine glasses as well. These are all wedding gifts, something I probably wouldn't have bought for myself, but we do have them from 27 years ago, and I might actually swap out my crystal water glass for the crystal wine glass Still just drinking water, mind you, upstairs, but just to keep it novel, to keep it fresh, because I kind of forgot that I was using my fancy crystal for brushing my teeth. So I think I might mix it up a little bit and bring up a crystal wine glass instead, just to, like, again, keep it fresh. So I hope those have given you some ideas.

Christina Kohl:

And then one thing that too, I wanted to share before I forget the thing that is giving me the most joy right now, beyond crystal wine glasses and beyond drinking wine or anything like that. Giving me the most joy is when I have a coaching session with one of my clients slash friends because they become friends very quickly and it is just. I can't even describe the energy and the I'm even. I just right now, I'm even beaming. I know you can't see me because I don't have my camera on and this is an audio podcast but it just brings me so much joy and that is my work and it's it's what I've been searching for in my work and to find something that energizes me so much and brings me so much joy.

Christina Kohl:

And I found that in coaching and I wanted to share with you that I am broadening my one-on-one coaching to a group coaching program. It's the Career Comeback Accelerator, it's my group program. All the things that I do with my one-on-one clients I'm going to be offering to a group and it's going to have the added value of community, to be going through the programming with like-minded people that are in similar situations and have that community support in addition to my support. And because it's a group program, it's more accessible, more affordable and that is something that is bringing me great joy. We're going to be starting in the middle of January, but the enrollment is open now. So if it is something you are interested in, it's going to be a small group I'm only looking for like five to six people because I want to keep it small and intimate so that I can provide the best value to everyone and individualized attention.

Christina Kohl:

So if that's something of interest to you in making a career change, coming back to work, if something like that is on your 2025 resolutions, goals, whatever you want to call them this might be the program that is right up your alley. If you're interested, check out the link in the show notes and I am offering some special promotional pricing in December, so reach out to me Again that's in the show notes to find out more about that Again. This is what is bringing me immense joy, and just learning to share that with you all, and I hope that you have a career whether it's one you're in right now or one that you're going to be, you know, maybe moving towards in 2025 that brings you as much joy as the coaching brings me. All right, well, my friends, I'm excited for the month coming up and I would love to hear from you. What is something that you are adding into your life that you're like?

Christina Kohl:

I'm not going to wait for those special occasions anymore. I'm going to create Tuesday maybe it's Thursday as a special occasion and use the china or wear the fancy dress. Yeah, let me know what you come up with, because I think of us as a community and I think of us as friends, so I would love to hear from you. So, please, you know, I would give me that feedback. Let me know what resonated with you the most. All right, well, with that, happy December to you all, and I will talk to you next week. Thank you so much for listening today. I hope this episode hit home for you and, if you haven't already, be sure to connect with me on LinkedIn and say hello so I can personally thank you for listening. Until next time, remember, your story is uniquely your own and your next chapters are ready to begin.