288: Build an Intentional Life and Business through Unplugged Hours with Hannah Brencher

Bree: This episode is for anyone who feels like you are constantly connected, never have downtime, never have the ability to take a moment to just think and breathe and do things for yourself without constantly feeling like you're connected on social media or need to be connected on social media. It's something that we all struggle with, especially.

Owning a business in this creative space. This episode is for you. My conversations today with Hannah Brencher was absolutely incredible. And I think it's going to be a huge game changer for every single one of you that listen. Um, but not only listen, like actually take the time to do. A few of the things that she says, which includes just like pausing for a second.

So pause for a second, listen to this episode. And I challenge you to really take the time at the end to consider what was said in the podcast and how you can apply it to yourself. All right. Let's get started.

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Hello, Hannah. Thank you so much for being here. It is officially launch week for you. How are you friend? I am good. I'm so

Hannah: excited to be here and to get to share my heart. And yeah, we are on a bit of a roller coaster, but it has been so much fun. Oh,

Bree: good. So for anybody that doesn't know, can you just share What are you releasing?

Everybody's like, what is it? What's launching? Anybody that doesn't know you, can you introduce yourself? Tell us about, yeah, what you do and what's coming up this week.

Hannah: Yeah. So my name is Hannah Brencher and I am a writer and an author. I am a fierce mental health advocate and I teach people how to establish disciplines, rhythms, routines in their lives.

Because honestly, I think my heart and everything that I create is inspiring people to be present and to be intentional with their daily lives. And so the book that is launching in a few short days is called The Unplugged Hours, and it is all about cultivating a life of profound and deep presence in a digitally connected era.

Bree: I love it. As soon as I read like the title of your book, I was like, you must come on the show and talk about this because I mean, you know, we were just complaining about Instagram before we hit record guys. And so like in a world of Instagram, all the things we are connected 24 seven. And so I think this is such an important conversation specifically for our audience of content creators.

Who are connected and just how, how do we have that balance? So we'll dive into that in a second, but I kind of want to go back because you started out like this career that you now have as an author started with a blog, right?

Hannah: Yes. Yep. That was the Beginning of everything. And I am like, so adamant about that, especially for people that are like, I want to be a writer in the current digital space.

I'm like, start a blog. Like, and I think people consistently are like, Oh my gosh, no blogging is dead. People don't read any, people don't read blogs anymore. And I'm like, that's actually just, it's not true. Google is doing great. Pinterest is doing great. Blogs are actually doing great. And I think that.

Bigger than that is like, if you want to be a writer, you have to be showing up to your writing practice. And a blog is a space that you can consistently share those words and build a readership. So yeah, for me, it all started with a blog. I started at my senior year of college, and I have, That is still my number one, like, I love my blog.

I love updating my blog and I've noticed all of my books, all of my ideas, everything that I've created has originally stemmed from like a blog post. That's

Bree: amazing. Oh my gosh. So, okay, take us through like, what did that look like? You know, Starting that blog that senior year of college, you're now, this is your fourth book, right?

That you're publishing. So like, take us like a small little journey, like point A to point where we are now. How did you prepare?

Hannah: Gosh, I'm like, that's 15 years of blogging. Marks 15 years, like, which is crazy. I'd always knew that I wanted to Be a writer. And at the time I remember that was like the blogging boom, you know, like that was the Julia and Julia time.

Like the blog was the thing to create, like what a time to be alive. I miss the good old days. Um, but yeah, I mean, I just, I had, I was the editor of my college newspaper, like the assistant editor in chief. Um, and I had a column that I called as simple as that. And every. Months, I would put out my column of like advice, things that I learned from wisdom.

And it was my friend Carly that was like, you have so much of this, like you should start a blog. And I knew that I wanted to, but I also think when you're at like a small college, the fear is like, people are going to think it's weird. People are not going to understand why I'm creating a blog, but I chose to do it anyway.

I did get a lot of backlash for it. Um, I did get a lot of. hate from people that I was not expecting to get hate from. A lot of critics from people that were like, formerly friends of mine, um, for just, I guess, deciding to stand outside the box, I'm not really sure. But I kept pressing and I kept showing up and I think now I'm like, Gosh, if you're afraid of the haters, do it anyway.

Because like literally every opportunity has come through that blog. That was where, you know, I started my company, more love letters that came through a blog post. I started doing creative coaching that came through blogging, every book idea. Like it just has been that one hub on the internet that I've just continued to build faithfully over time.

And to me, I consider it to be like my writing practice. So it doesn't have to be. Perfect. It doesn't have to be always polished. I've definitely gotten better with that over the years. But, like, it is my dedication to my writing practice for me to figure out what I think, what I believe, what I want to share more about, and then also, like, what resonates with my audience.

I can often turn to my blog to figure that out.

Bree: Mm. Oh, I love that. No, and I love what you said, too, of like, you know, you can't be afraid of what other people are going to think. And one of my favorite quotes, and I don't know why the movie is escaping me, but that you have to be the leading lady of your own life.

Oh, it's from The Holiday. I freaking love that movie. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I was gonna say. Yeah. You know, if you kind of step into that role, and like you said, like, you just are like, no, I'm gonna do it, and haters, like, whatever, like, yeah, it sucks, and it's hard, but man, if we just let those people dictate what we do as creatives, we're not living our life to the fullest like we should.

Hannah: Absolutely. And the more you grow, the more you will get hate. It's inevitable. Um, and so I always take it as an indicator of like, Oh, you're doing something right. People are enraged by you or whatever it may be. Um, I don't write things that could like naturally enrage people, but I have definitely had some haters and criticism over the years.

And I think it's way more of a reflection of that person and something untapped within them than it has to do with you because like, I don't know, I just think that's the number one reason that a lot of people don't start and they never press publish or they think, Oh, I do want to like get on tick tock and like make videos.

But like, I don't want what. I don't want other people to think it's weird. I'm like, then go ahead and just like hide all your people block all your people and like, yeah, do it yourself. I was just like out there sharing with like my mom and my friends on Facebook, you know, because I was like, And I, it's, it was really cool.

It's like, I don't think I've ever felt anything like quite to that extent as like starting that blog, like the magic that I felt in creating that and like putting that out there. Cause I think it was the first time that I was like, wow, like I'm going after a dream. I'm chasing a dream of mine. And, um, it was a really magical, cool period of time.

Bree: Yeah, and like if people say it's weird or, I don't know, even just like, you know, you have to choose who you're going to listen to. And if you're going to listen to people being like, Oh, that's cute or, Oh, that's okay. That's kind of whatever, you know, you're not going to be successful with that. Right. Like if we listen to those people.

We won't start anything. We wouldn't. No. And like, I, I don't know, I just think like when you think about that, like, it's like, oh, imagine just like all the creative energy that is out there in the world that people aren't sharing because of that. And it's like, oh, you're hiding your art, your magic, like from the world because of what somebody is saying.

Hannah: Yeah, oh gosh, the amount of, like, novels that haven't been written and poems that haven't been written and Novels, art, like,

Bree: so many, movies, who knows, like, so many things, right? Oh my gosh, it's so true. Okay. Well, let's move over to your book. So I went on your website and I took a screenshot of this because I'm like, I want to kind of start here.

So on your website you have check all that apply. You feel overloaded by apps and notifications and you're looking to cut out some of the noise. You want to be more present to the people and plans that matter most to you. You want to create a rhythm of unplugging that revitalizes your soul, or you're tired of doing yet another social media fast and you're ready to figure out how to cultivate a lifestyle of presence for the long haul.

And I think everyone listening can say that they can check off at least multiple of those boxes. So my question to you is like, when did you realize that technology was like becoming all consuming in your life and you needed to like, like you had that awakening of like, Oh, this is, this is a lot and this is taking over.

Hannah: Yeah, I think it was happening slowly over time. It was like slowly draining me. But at the same time, I think like we've talked about it for a while without any real solutions to it, right? Like there was that Netflix documentary that came out a few years ago. I think it's called like social experiment.

Yes.

Bree: Um,

Hannah: And I remember it sparked a lot of great conversations, but no one really knew necessarily what to do with it. And I think that's the space that we're still in. It's like, well, do I, like, throw out my phone and get a dumb phone or get off social media? And I'm like, I don't know, for me, I love technology.

I'm appreciative of things that technology can give me. I also need to be on social media for my business, for my work, to sell books. And so I really was like, I need to find a balance with all of this. I need to know if a balance can exist, especially for someone who is a content creator, you know, because when I, when I started blogging, when I got on these apps, it was because I genuinely Loved it.

Like, I loved it. I thought this is the coolest thing ever that we get to, like, share and have these platforms. And pretty soon into unplugging was when I started to realize, like, oh, I'm so drained by all of this and I need to figure out a solution to this. Like, especially showing up in these online spaces because if I'm not having fun with it anymore, It's not worth it.

I'm giving far too much of my time to it for it to not be fun or like life giving. Um, and so I know that's like a roundabout way of like answering the question, but I think like, it was an exhaustion that grew over time. And then I would say in COVID, especially like year two of COVID when we were like, Oh, this actually is a pandemic that may never end.

That was when I was like, I am tired of coping with my phone. I need to. Come up with a way to get out. Of these portals and back into my life.

Bree: It's, it's such a hard, yeah, I, I completely agree. Like we never figured out like, okay, cool. What's the solution if we're all addicted to these phones and everything and then add on to that talking to content creators who are literally making a living by posting on these apps.

So that's what where I would love to like hear from you and like, what is your advice, like. For them that we have to be on these apps, right? That's how we're making a full time income. That's how we're, you know, growing our own businesses. Um, getting off them is not an option. So how do we figure out? The balance when that is the case,

Hannah: and I think that's like, I'm not going to say like the ultimate solution is the unplugged hours, but I also, I mean, if you

Bree: had like a solid, like, Oh, we'll just do this and you're fine.

Like, well, podcast done. Let's go,

Hannah: but so like, here's what I, here's what I have noticed because like, when I set out to unplug, I set a goal for myself. It was a thousand hours in one year. That was the initial goal. I think I thought at the time, if I did a thousand hours, I'd be like, yeah, I'm like an expert at this.

And then I did it and was like, Oh, this is like foundational. This is like baseline. And then I really started to see some consistent change in my life as I continued to power down past a thousand hour mark. But like I set that initial goal because I knew, especially as like a discipline coach, like you can't manage what you don't measure.

And so I had to find a way to measure. The way in which I was choosing to be present. And so I have this sheet with a thousand little bubbles on it and each bubble symbolized an unplugged hour and the trackers are available online at my website. Um, and they're completely free. But what I noticed was the more that I unplugged intentionally for things in my life that I wanted to be unplugged for, be it like the end of the day when work was over or in the morning when I was having like my morning meeting or like.

time to like sit on the floor and like play with my baby girl and like Have no phone accessible to me The more I added the unplugged hours into my life, the less the phone was draining me, the less social media was draining me. And so, that was a mindset shift for me of like, no, it's not necessarily about taking away these things.

things, I added something in, I added in unplugged hours and as a result, I started to feel some of that exhaustion fade and that fatigue fade. And then I was able to go into different areas and determine, okay, What's not working? Like, say, for instance, like in the space of content creation, like looking at my content creation process, how I'm showing up online and asking myself, okay, what's not working about this right now?

And that's going to be different for me than it is for you than it is for anybody. And you have to be able to face the reality. What is it working? And then come up with those solutions of like, what would it look like to shift towards a better or different direction? Whether that is, oh, I'm going on to Instagram to try to be inspired to figure out what to post, which, spoiler alert, Never really works, um, or it's like, Oh, well, I'm waking up in the morning and I'm immediately checking all the things that happened overnight.

And I'm wondering why I can't get ahold of my day. Like you build the routines and the rhythms based off of what is not working and what you want to gain more freedom from in your life.

Bree: Yeah. And I think you can kind of tell, right? Like I can definitely, I like feel it like, Oh, I'm like really addicted to this right now.

And it's like, Oh, it's become like a, almost like a bad habit again. Um, yeah. And like, sometimes like I've, I've talked with my therapist about this about social media. Cause why not? Right. And she was like, you know, if, if that's how you like, Relax at night and you want to just like chill and watch TV or you're chilling and like playing on social media.

Like don't beat yourself up. Yeah, for that. But just recognize like, okay, is this because like, like, why are you doing it? Like, is it to relax? And that's how you want to relax. Awesome. I think the problem becomes like when it's like the default thing. And we're like, you know, it's like, I don't even have the energy to think of like, wait, what would I do if I wasn't doing this?

That's when I know I'm like, Oh, okay, I need to put the phone down and I need to remember all the other things that I like to do.

Hannah: Yes, it's so critical. And I think I agree because like, I think it's very much like an 80 20 mindset, like a lot of things in life have to be an 80 20 mindset. It's why when we do like a whole 30, like we hit day 30, and then we, Reintroduce everything back into our diet like we're like the pizza and the wine and everything that I've missed out on for 30 days like let's be honest, no one really does the reintroduction period, but I feel like you don't actually get to the root of it that you don't actually solve the problem and I think it's the same thing.

Yeah, we just swung to the other side. And I think a lot of times you see people do that with the apps, like they will go 30 days without social media or like Lent will come around and they'll be like, I'm giving up social media or whatever, but then they come back and you haven't dealt with the root of it.

And I think that's the most important part because like I can absolutely get to the end of the day and I haven't been on my phone for much of the day. And I'm like, I'm going to scroll for like 15 minutes and enjoy some tick tock videos. There is nothing wrong with that. It is the constant reaching the constant grabbing and the unwillingness to face what is really there that I think, yeah, if there are some nights where like, that's what you want to do, or you want to binge a show and eat some Jenny's ice cream, life is hard.

Do what you have to do. But at some point I had to have an honesty hour with myself that was like. You are checking out, Hannah, like you're not checking in with yourself and like, if you love and respect yourself, you're gonna create some different boundaries just in the way that like, I think I learned this more now having, having a child of like, oh, well, in her perfect world, she would watch a show all hours of the day and eat chocolate and that would be it.

And like, I'm the one that has to steer her in the direction of like, no, this is how we grow. This is how we make better choices. Why am I so willing to do that for her but not for me?

Bree: Oh my gosh, yes, I'm thinking like, okay, we need to turn off Bluey, we can't have all the M& M's.

Hannah: Right? It's like, I know what's good for you, and so it's like, yeah, like, she comes home from school, she like, wants to watch a show to unwind, and I'm like, Yes, girl, you just were so social for the last four and a half hours, but then also, I know you feel a resistance to quiet time, but we're going to do it anyway, because it's going to spark your creativity.

You're going to recharge your batteries, like, so it's like, we have to do the same things for ourselves. It's like, You want to recharge your batteries with Gilmore Girls, but like, what if you made a cup of tea and like, journaled, or like, read that book that you've said forever, I just want to read this book and I'd feel so much better if I did, you know?

Um, and so that's where I'm like, break it up into little bite sizes. You don't even have to start with an hour. Could you do it for 15 minutes and see how you feel?

Bree: Yes. Uh, it feels so much less overwhelming the more and more that you explain it to. And now a quick word from our sponsor. What would happen if you knew where to focus for growth, had a plan to reach your goals, and started to get paid for the content you're creating?

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I haven't read the book yet and I, so I wasn't really sure like what you were going to tell us. Like, you guys got to completely unplug. You got to do this, but just, it's so realistic. I feel like it's like, Oh, just start small. Like just build it like some better habits of maybe like, don't grab your phone and open Instagram first thing in the morning while you're still in bed.

Like, how many of us can raise our hand and say, yeah. Buy an

Hannah: alarm clock. It's crazy, you know? And I think what will surprise some people is, cause like, I know it naturally falls into the category of self help, though I wouldn't call it self help. I didn't want to write a how to book. I didn't want to fill it with like, all of these rules and legal things you had to do.

Because I honestly think that's one of the things in the age of the internet that like, lately has worn me down, is that it feels like you step onto these. platforms and everybody is an expert in everything. And you're like, like, you know, soon enough, you're buying the latest trend. You've got the walking pad.

Now you've got the vibration plate. You're buying supplements. You don't even know if your body needs, because that expert said. These are the things that you need. Meanwhile, they're getting a kickback. So like, that's its own thing, but I think it's like, what would it mean to like, step back and ask yourself, well, what do I need and what has worked for me in the past and who's to say that wouldn't work for me again?

And so like, it's a very like. A shame free guide and more so I share stories and revelations and benefits that I've experienced from the unplugged hours, um, in a story format rather than here's all the things you need to do because I'm personally exhausted by everybody telling me what I need to do.

Bree: Yes, constant. Oh my gosh. I made a, I made a reel, um, like a week or two ago where I was like, I had been scrolling and I saw somebody pop up and it was like, stop what you're doing. You know, we've all seen those ones, right? Like stop what you're doing. If you're doing this on Instagram, you're growing wrong.

And I'm like, I am so sick of that. Like, stop fear mongering me about being on this

Hannah: app. Oh my goodness. But it's like you said, you're doing the reps. That's literally the only thing that you can do, not even in Instagram. All of them. The email list, the Pinterest, the whatever is the next thing to come. You gotta show up and you gotta do the reps.

And it's the same thing with like Going to the gym. It's like, it's not the 12 330. It's showing up consistently and

Bree: doing what works for you. It's not that that exercise is the magic tool, the magic pill. It's that, yes, exactly. You keep showing up and you keep doing it. Well, and I think too, with saying all this, it's like, okay, if you don't unplug from, Social media from whatever it is work, right?

Like that's if to say like, okay, if you were to wake up and immediately, like, even when you're in bed, you grab your laptop and you're like, I have to write, I have to write my next novel. I have to write my next blog post, whatever it may be. And then you do it all day long for work. And then you're with your daughter for a little bit.

She goes to bed and you pick it up and do it again. Your brain would be fried. Yeah. There's no way you could push that hard for that long. And it's the same thing for content creators. No matter if it's a blog, if it's Instagram, if it's YouTube, whatever it may be, if you were to do it morning, noon, and night.

Yeah. It's unsustainable. And you're not living your best life because you're not out like enjoying other things in life. You're just, you're working 24 7. That's what it comes down to. Even if you don't think like, Oh, I'm just scrolling. It's not work. It is work because that's where your job is.

Hannah: And your brain won't shut off, it's like, oh, well that's an idea, I could save that for later.

Bree: Because it's literally like somebody being in, going to a physical office space

Hannah: and

Bree: being there from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep. Yeah, totally true. Unsustainable. We would riot against that, right? And yet, we're doing it to ourselves.

Hannah: It's so true. It's so true. It's not fun when you put it in that perspective.

No, I know, and it's interesting you say that, because I think like when I first started unplugging, I was like, Oh, like I'm gonna, I'm gonna claim some time back, and I'm gonna get more focus, and I'm gonna ultimately get more done. Yeah. And that was something that surprised me when I started to release the noise and not have the noise in every area of my life and do things unplugged.

I started to realize like, Oh, that whole get more done mentality came from the constant connectivity. And in actuality, this is not who I want to be. Like, it doesn't mean that I'm not ambitious. It doesn't mean that I don't have career goals. Like I do, but like. When I look back on my life, I don't just want to be like, that's the girl that like got so much done.

I have all these other things that I want to be. I want to be a present mom. I want to remember birthdays. I think like, a big thing for me pre unplugging was like, it's gonna seem so silly, but like, I always felt like if something was coming up, like a dinner or a party or a birthday party or whatever it was, I was always, I was always the one, last minute, scrambling together to get out the door to get to that thing, you know, like last minute grabbing the toy, throwing it in the bag I bought at Target, getting to the birthday party or whatever it was, and like, it seems so simple and silly, but it was one of those things where I was like, I don't want to be that person, like, I want to intentionally buy the gift, write out the card, do the beautiful wrapping, show up, show up at a dinner without, like, without being empty handed, little things like that, that there was no margin in my life to do those things because I was busy, busy, busy.

And it's like one of the things that now I look at my life and I'm like, oh my gosh, like, This is wild that like now, when like my daughter gets invited to a birthday party, I go ahead and order the gift right there. I wrap it in advance. It's ready to go. And it's something that I had to get my priorities straight.

That was a big thing for me. And I couldn't get my priorities straight until I eliminated all the noise that was telling me who I needed to be and what I needed to do. Like if all we're doing is listening to the noise of other people and how it worked for them. That's not your story. It's not to say those things couldn't work for you.

But like, I, I always get passionate about it because like, I help people create habits and rhythms and routines. And I always tell people like, sit down and make a list of the person that you want to become. And then from there, think about the habits that that person would have. Because a lot of times we go on social media, we see this person.

Lost 50 pounds doing these five habits. And then we're like, those are our habits. And it works for about five days until we get back online and we find somebody else to follow. And it's like, well, when's the last time you stepped back and actually asked yourself, what do you want? And then what are the things you have to do to get to that place?

Cause like, that's a better guide than whoever is on social media telling you these are the three steps to grow. These are the three steps to get everything that you want. It's like, no, you have your own story and you need to be in it and you just have to like, You have to build your path. You can't just follow in the path of somebody else or you're gonna end up in a, in a destination that isn't for you.

That was big. I feel like I should write that down.

Bree: I was gonna say, like, can you please make that a carousel post? And like, like, holy moly. I

Hannah: was like, wow, that hits. It

Bree: did. I think it's you guys tuning back in or you're still tuning in. Um, Hannah and I just had to like pause for a moment because that was like, we were both like, Oh my God, that was insane.

Yeah, like everything you were saying there. I was just like, why don't we pause and do that? Why don't we just stop for a second and write that down? And it's I loved what you're saying cuz like as I you were saying that I'm like, oh I do that a bit with And I, I think in some ways I coach and I run our programs a little bit unconventionally because other than like, we have like an SEO course and it's like, okay, that's very like step by step kind of like you have a process right to follow.

But everything else that I teach, I'm like, okay, well, here's different things that you can do and you can try, but I'm never like you have to do X, Y, Z. And I've always said that I'm like, you look at a hundred different content creators on the internet and everybody has their own way. Like, yeah, there's similarities, but they've all got like certain different things that are different and unique to them and that you have to grow.

in ways that make sense. If you hate Instagram, I'm not going to make you do Instagram. If you hate, you know, reels, like we were talking earlier, you're like, I really don't like reels. I'm like, then don't do them. Do carousels. That's totally fine. But you're saying the exact same thing, just with like our life in general.

And it's like, everything was hitting home. I'm like, yeah, like I, I have seen a lot of different things that makes you think, Oh, I need to like, I need to doing this more for my body to Feel healthier. And then, oh, I need to do these adrenal cocktails. I need to try that. And it's like you ping pong from thing one thing to the next.

Hannah: Yeah. And it's so

Bree: true. Like, why don't we stop and write that down for ourselves of what it actually looks like for me. What do I really want? I even wrote an email about that this morning. And I'm like, why are, I talked in there about like, why are we so, I don't know if it's fear, I don't know if it's a block or what it is, but sometimes when I ask people, I'm like, okay, what do you want your business to look like in five years or even in a year?

Sometimes people have the hardest time telling And they're like, Oh, I don't really know. And I'm like, do you not know? Or is there a fear there or this like thing that's stopping you from saying it out loud?

Hannah: Hmm. That's so good. I think, yeah, because it's interesting you say that because like, through the unplugging, I do think I got very good at like, Like enjoying the ordinary and the mundane and the day to day tasks.

But like, I think the thing that I've been like reckoning with lately, it's like, I'm like, but when is the last time that I really dreamed, you know? Like, I feel like I stopped dreaming somewhere in the midst of this, but like, if you had gone back to like me, like 13 years ago or whatever, like coming onto the internet, like I was such a dreamer.

I was like, Making vision boards all the time. I was like, sky's the limit. Like, you know, like. And I miss that part of me, like, and it's so funny you said that though, because like, I literally was just in my quiet time the other day and I felt like I was like, I kept writing about how, like, I need to enlarge my vision, enlarge my expectations, and I realized that one of the things that I do, like, in order to keep myself from, like, dreaming, it's like, I'm like, Oh, well, if I want to map things out, like on a wall, it's got to be a wall in my closet where no one can see it, because like, I don't want anybody to walk into my office and see it and be like, Oh, you're dreaming too big or that's wild and like I felt in my spirit.

I was like, no, no, no like you need to do this on a wall where you can see it every single day and not be ashamed of it because That's the biggest thing it's like We're ashamed to put out there that this is what we want or this is what we hope for But I also think too like to the point of like being so plugged in You We just don't clear the space to, like, get alone with ourselves and say, like, okay, what would it look like for the next two hours to sit with a bunch of magazines and make a vision board?

I find it funny because I tell people all the time to make vision boards, And so many people make them digitally off of Pinterest. And I'm like, that's great. Beautiful. Sure. But like the whole like, Oh, gee, vision boarding is like, you get the magazines and you go through and those magazines tell you what you want.

They're like, Oh, that strikes me. Oh, that strikes a chord. You know what I mean? And it's like, there's something to releasing. All of the noise around you getting offline and just being with yourself long enough to be like, Oh, that hits. Oh, I think I want that. Oh, like I saw that social media post from that person and I immediately felt jealous.

Well, what was it about that person or about that thing that they got that made me think like, Oh, that's not a navigator or like a way for me to see like maybe that's something that I want to and maybe by seeing it. It's possible, you know, but like we're not spending time alone with ourselves long enough to actually figure out like, hey, this is the map of where we want to go.

Bree: Yes. Oh, it's so true. I think it's like 100 percent twofold. It's that we're not stopping to do it. And then when we do sit down to do it, what are we blocking ourselves from actually acknowledging and actually saying? And like, Oh no, I, I do want this and it's okay. And I think it's probably, I mean, who knows, like, right.

Like for every single person, it could be differently, you know, we all have different backgrounds and how we grew up. And so it could be that, like somebody told, you know, you couldn't do that or you couldn't do it this way, or you tried something before and it didn't work for some reason or another. So you have it in your head that like, I, it's not going to work in the future, you know, because this didn't work.

Um, and so it's like pushing through, cool. All of that to dream again, and then to allow yourself to give yourself permission to say, this is what I want, and this is what I'm going to go for.

Hannah: Mm hmm. So it's limiting beliefs that I feel like, I don't think that, we talk a lot about limiting beliefs and changing our mindsets, but I don't think that we realize sometimes that like, These tools that we're holding in our hands are like working against that end goal, you know, because you could be adding on a ton of limiting beliefs that you didn't even know that you subscribed to just because you were there scrolling in that moment, you know?

And like, I've, I've done a lot of mindset work lately, like, and that was something that did not come immediately when I started unplugging. It's not like I started unplugging and was like, I want to Tackle all my past trauma, you know, but like now thousands of hours into it. I'm like, yeah, I want to face some of this stuff and I want to dig in and I want to ask questions and I feel comfortable to sit with myself.

But like, there's a quote in the book, um, from Anne Lamott. And it's like a quote that I've referenced a ton where she had, she said like, My mind is a bad neighborhood that I don't like to walk alone in at night. And I say in the book, like, but I would like to add an addendum to that. I would like to say, yeah, my mind is a bad neighborhood.

I don't like to walk alone in at night, but I volunteer to be the cleanup committee, like, because I think that like, especially for me as somebody who has dealt with mental illness, I'm like, I don't want to go. My whole life being afraid of being with myself. And so that means little by little, sitting with yourself and starting to pick up the trash and starting to pick up the litter and starting to probe deeper about like, okay, this thing that I've always felt, why do I believe that?

And is it true and can I let it go? And like, I think that that's something that like, it feels like inner work because it is inner work. But I think that especially as business owners, we don't realize that that's a lot of the stuff that's blocking us up. That's blocking up why we're not making money, why we're not seeing results.

It's because we have these huge blockades that are like standing in the way. Like you can only go as far as what you actually believe.

Bree: Hmm. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. Our, our mind, you know, you know, everybody says, right, you're, you're, you're biggest enemy. And it's all that mindset work of like, what are you inputting without even thinking about it?

What are you allowing yourself to believe? And what are you saying to yourself? And like by, I think by constantly inputting and not giving yourself time to have silence. and have space even if you, like you said, if you start with 15 minutes, what is gonna come from that?

Hannah: It's so true. It's so true and it's like, on the other side of it, having done a lot and lot of it, like, I can tell you it is so worth it, like, worth Anything that I was doing beforehand.

I mean, I don't even know what I was doing with my time beforehand, but like I can't tell you the last time I scrolled on social media and saw something that was so deeply impactful that it like changed my whole entire life, you know, like I can't tell you from my last scroll session what I saw or what I digested.

But I was there and I gave, you know, 20 minutes, 30 minutes to it. And it's like, imagine if we gave that energy to our own lives, to the things around us, to the things we wanted to see grow. Like we're all here and being like, man, I want to grow. And I'm not growing. It's like, well, stop looking at everybody else's garden.

Get in your own. Do the reps. Cause like you cultivate your space, there's no way it can't grow, you know, like there's no way. And I think that's another thing that I've had to learn in the unplugging is like, growth does not just mean followers. It does not mean metrics. It does not mean all of these tangible numbers.

Like impact is something that you cannot measure in quantifiable terms. But like, if you start looking for the impact and investing in that way, like it's gonna be there. It's absolutely going to be there.

Bree: Yeah, absolutely. So, when somebody picks up your book, and they read it, what is? one thing that you hope that they walk away with?

Hannah: I mean, I just hope that they power down, even if it's just for like 15 minutes or an hour. I just hope that it spurs on a revelation to be like, you know what? Like I want to be in my life more. You don't even need to read the whole book. Like, but like, if you just use a tracker in the book, like that would be great.

And it's not because I need you to do that. It's because I want you to see that it's going to be a gift that you give to yourself. Like that's what the unplugged hours are. They don't take away from you. They give something to you.

Bree: I love it. Okay. You guys, I'm going to leave all the links and all the show notes.

You guys go pre order this book. So that way you get your hands on it immediately. Right away, as soon as it comes out, Amazon was like, do you want one day or two day shipping? When it releases, I'm like, one day, give it to me immediately. I'm so excited for this. And just, I, I know that. When people pause and read it and reflect on this that is going to be impactful and you are impacting people by putting this out there.

So thank you for that. Thank you. Oh, this was such a good conversation. Oh my word. Thank you so much for being here. Absolutely. I'm gonna go like process

Hannah: this conversation.

Bree: I am too. There's a lot there to unpack. Exactly. I'm like, all right, I've got my pen and paper right here and we're just gonna take a minute.

Can you tell everybody before we sign off where they should go find and follow you on the internet?

Hannah: Yeah. So it's Hannah Bruncher. com and Hannah Bruncher on all social media platforms. And the book, it's the Unplugged Hours available, Amazon, all book retailers, wherever books are sold.

Bree: Amazing. Thank you so much.

All right, you guys, we'll see you back here in just a few days with a new episode.

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