Unraveling the Emotional Ties of Clutter: A Journey to Letting Go with Lauren Pearl

 Have you ever felt the tug of emotions when trying to part with a precious heirloom, or the guilt of keeping clutter you no longer need? Lauren Pearl, the organizational guru behind Pearl Concierge Services, joins me to unravel the ties that bind us to our belongings. We share stories  revealing the surprising emotional journey that accompanies the art of decluttering.

Lauren doesn't just help sort through the stuff; she guides us through the internal chaos that can mirror our external environments. Her expertise and thoughtful approach provide not only practical solutions but also the compassionate understanding necessary to let go gracefully. 

We discuss the unique challenges couples face when their decluttering styles clash and how neutral professionals can offer a salve to the process. I round off our chat by reflecting on the importance of fostering creativity and personal growth – from starting a podcast to writing a book. Join us for a heartfelt exploration that promises more than just a tidy space; it's about crafting a life filled with adventure, balance, and the courage to let go. 

Check out what Lauren's up to below. Watch for her book that will be coming out in 
2024!

https://www.pearlconciergeservices.com/

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-unpack-it-with-lauren-pearl/id1707202423

https://open.spotify.com/show/30Axx0eQ7nwxhaEKlt4prM
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Wherever you get your podcasts.

 **The information provided on this podcast does not, and is not intended to, constitute  legal advice;  instead, all information, content and materials available on this site are for general informational purposes only. Information on this podcast  may not constitute the most up-to-date legal or other information. This podcast contains links to other third party websites. Such links are only for the convenience of the reader, user or browser.  

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

So are you looking for more inspiration and possibility in midlife and beyond? Join me, leslie Maloney, proud wife, mom, author, teacher and podcast host, as I talk with people finding meaning in Moxie in their life after 50. Interviews that will energize you and give you some ideas to implement in your own life. I so appreciate you being here Now. Let's get started. All right, everybody, welcome back to another meeting in Moxie after 50. And I've got Lauren Pearl here with us, welcome.

Speaker 2: 0:38

Lauren, thank you for coming. Thank you so much. I'm so honored. Yes.

Speaker 1: 0:44

And we've been chatting. We've actually had a. You interviewed me. I was actually on your podcast maybe a month ago, six weeks ago.

Speaker 2: 0:52

I had so much fun. I know we had a great conversation.

Speaker 1: 0:56

Yeah, and we've just kind of gotten to know each other in a lot of different ways, but for the, for the workshop that we were taking, and so on. So tell us a little bit. You are the founder and CEO of Pearl Concierge Services. Yes, tell us a little bit about that, what you do there, because I find it really fascinating.

Speaker 2: 1:23

Oh, thank you. Well, so I became a professional organizer about 15, 16 years ago, but I will say that I really have been organizing since I was about six years old. It's kind of in my blood, in my nature it was. I didn't realize it was a coping mechanism for me when I was six. I just knew that it was calming, so I would be in my bedroom and I would organize my books and descending height order. It just made me feel, I know, made me feel in control of my life and my growing up was it was chaotic in my home. There was, it was, yeah, you know, there was tension and there was issues and so I just I found peacefulness and I felt like I was had some semblance of control over things, over my books. So, yeah, it's just been. When I find that I'm stressed, I organize. It's just I still do so anyway, I and I like it, I enjoy it. I love the feeling of bringing calm in order to things.

Speaker 2: 2:39

So I started Pro Concierge and I began by organizing people's closets and kitchens and garages and such. And then over the years it grew because my clients would ask me they'd be getting ready to move and feeling very overwhelmed, because moving is very overwhelming. And then they knew me and they would ask me to help with decluttering and donating things and helping them to decide what they were going to take or not take. Especially when people are downsizing, you know, they really have to let go of objects. And then we would bring all the packing supplies and get them all packed up, supervise the move and then unpack them and organize their new house, make it all pretty and nice. So that's Pro Concierge.

Speaker 1: 3:39

So that's so cool, and I think that you have a special touch that allows you, because that's a very personal thing you're doing there. Somebody is bringing you in to their home, you're amongst all their stuff which tells a story about them, and so you have to be comfortable with that person, very much so in order to be open to something like that, and so I imagine that there's such an emotional layer for all of us in our stuff, and I know, for me I got to the point because I was not always somebody who liked to you know, let's pitch it out, let's go, let's minimize. I learned to be that way over time and just because, as a young mother, I always tell this to my family and I tell the story of it as a young mother mom, where's this? Mom, where's that? Mom is always the one who gets asked where things are, absolutely, and so I that's also not just the kids, right, it's honey.

Speaker 2: 4:54

Where's that Honey? Yes, right.

Speaker 1: 4:57

Yes and so yeah, so I got to. That was really where I shifted to things I got to get organized here and then I kind of it's survival, it becomes survival.

Speaker 1: 5:10

Yeah, but there's, and it carried over into my teaching career too, where I was, I had no problem pitching things. If I can't use it, it's out. And because I got to be able to put my hand on that very quickly, that piece of paper or whatever that thing is, and so I find it now as an adult further along in my life, that it's so freeing to just you know, it correlates sort of to your mind as well, and I know when things start to pile up, I can sort of feel in my own psyche just sort of like an anxiety that rises when you know, okay, because it's usually an indication that I, if I don't have time to do things, and then they're piling, I'm getting piles here and there, that's usually an indication that I'm probably moving too much too fast on my plate.

Speaker 2: 6:05

Yes.

Speaker 1: 6:06

Absolutely yeah. So what do you see with some of that when you're working with the clients?

Speaker 2: 6:13

Well, I actually I'm writing a book because I've seen so much and I see so so many similarities, especially with my female clients. So I work with families I, you know, work with kids and men, but I see such similarities with women in terms of our internal clutter, that things the emotions and loss and disappointments and things didn't turn out the way I thought they would, and all kinds of things, traumas and guilt, and everything that we hold on to in our bodies and don't even realize. Don't even realize. But yet women see all the clutter around them, the physical clutter around them, and it bothers them. Women tend to be much more bothered by physical clutter than men, so it affects us really deeply.

Speaker 2: 7:17

So I decided, you know, I read, have read a lot of the organizing books that are out there and there's some great ones, but what I found was missing was really the emotional elements, like even even if you, for instance, like when for losing weight, we lose weight and then we gain it back, you know, it's just like a vicious cycle, right? Because in our heads we don't, we're not, we're not cleared out of whatever it is that's in our heads that's having us continue to gain the weight back. So really the same thing with with clutter and with letting go. It's we we really need to address the internal clutter in order to really address the external clutter. There it's, they go together very much and I didn't see that really slightly touched on but really not gone into in terms of how significant it is. So I decided I'm going to write a book called Unpack it.

Speaker 1: 8:30

Love it. I know, I love it.

Speaker 2: 8:31

I love it too.

Speaker 1: 8:32

I think it's great.

Speaker 2: 8:33

Yeah, I'm just thinking about that and making huge progress, really getting close to having the manuscript done and working with an editor. It's a fascinating process, but anyway. And then that led me to start my podcast called let's Unpack it, and and talking about the fact that we really need to address what's going on inside of us in order to be able to let go of things and then find a home for it and be able to then put it back in its home and we're done using it. I think it's a skill, but once the emotional internal stuff is unpacked, it's much easier to get your home in order.

Speaker 1: 9:35

That correlation between the internal clutter and the external clutter is. I think more and more of us are getting that at a deeper level because it really does, like you're saying, it does go together. I certainly can see that in my own life and how I feel internally or externally, depending on what I'm looking at around me. In my home, do you find that you have conversations as you're in there and you're working with a client? Do you find that you have those conversations?

Speaker 2: 10:11

they just sort of come up Very much so, yeah, I studied psychology in school and I thought for a long time that I would be a psychologist, because I think I'm a natural born listener and very empathetic. But I didn't do that because then I got a job one summer in the entertainment industry and I was like that's it, I'm hooked. But, yeah, in my work with my clients, we have a lot of conversations and it really is interesting because so much of the time we don't know each other beforehand and then, like you were saying, I come in to their home, into somebody's, into their life, and then now we're going through their belongings and it becomes again, especially with downsizing, but even not only downsizing, but it becomes a this is your life, really having conversations about what's happened in their life and where they got this particular item and who gave it to them. And also, it's huge when people are clearing out their parents' homes Work a lot of times when a parent has passed away and maybe the other parent is downsizing or both parents have passed away, and then they're really going through. This is your life, this is your parents' life. So it's very emotional stuff.

Speaker 2: 11:43

And, yeah, we do have a lot of conversations about their things and where they got them and did they buy it? Did somebody gift it to them? Why are they holding onto it when they don't use it? For instance, a lot of women are holding onto things that belong to their moms, their grandmas, especially China I find especially China is a huge one and China, you know a setting for 10, with all the plates and the serving pieces and everything. It takes up a lot of space. It does so. It ends up being a lot of boxes in the garage, which often leads to family conflict.

Speaker 2: 12:32

The husband wants to park his car in the garage and he can't anymore because she's holding onto her moms and her grandmas China and she doesn't even like the patterns, right, he's not going to use them. They're too delicate, they can't be washed in the dishwasher. She would have to hand wash them. They're never getting used, but there is such an attachment, there is such guilt, there's such a feeling of obligation that they would hurt their mom or grandma's feelings, and their mom and their grandma have passed away at this point.

Speaker 1: 13:08

It doesn't matter to them anymore. He really doesn't.

Speaker 2: 13:12

And you know I am one of my podcasts I just I had opened a kitchen cabinet and I saw these dishes and I thought I really want to talk about Lil's dishes. So I had this most adorable, beautiful, just precious. Did I say Aunt Lil? She felt like Aunt, my cousin, my cousin. She was my dad's first cousin and much older than my dad. Okay so, but all of my growing up, all the family events were at her house and we have a big family on the Pearl side. So Hanukkah and Passover and breaking the fast for Yom Kippur these were all like 50 plus people at Lil's house and she did everything she was. We say balabusta, she was like makes me want to cry. So I'm deeply attached to her. And and what did you call her balabusta? Balabusta is like a homemaker, somebody who does everything for the family and the home with.

Speaker 2: 14:19

She held that role in the family For a very, very long time. She was adorable and finally, I think honestly, like in her 80s, she finally like she couldn't do it anymore. I mean she was unbelievable. But I she kept kosher. I was the only other person in the family at that time that kept kosher. So she gave me everything.

Speaker 2: 14:41

So I had then these beloved dishes and pots and pans and silverware for 50 plus people that I loved and I kept it going for a while. I mean, I'm you know nowhere as long as she did, but I kept it going for a while. And then I had kids and my kids got married and then the kids started, you know, doing the different holidays. So I just I had all these things. I had pots and pans, you know, like this for to cook for 50 plus people, huge boxes and boxes and boxes in my garage and finally, at some point I thought I just can't Like from, I must, I must let go. And it was really.

Speaker 2: 15:30

I really had to work through it because I felt what my clients feel like. I felt like I'm disrespecting Lil Like, like, like she would, I would be hurting her feelings or somehow I'm letting go of her. Yeah, I'm letting go of the dishes. But I had to talk myself through it. I had to really, you know, honor myself and understand what I was thinking and feeling. And then finally I did, I let go of really the vast majority of it and I kept like a couple of the place settings for like four because I just couldn't. I just couldn't let go of everything, but I use them.

Speaker 2: 16:29

Oh, that's, wonderful, and that is a key, key element. I feel like if you're going to keep things, you need to use it. What is, what is the point?

Speaker 1: 16:42

Right, yeah, I went through a kind of a similar thing with my mom's China and you know it's that generation was really the China was a big deal to them.

Speaker 2: 16:56

Yes.

Speaker 1: 16:57

And the China cabinet and the whole bit. I mean, you know we've moved away from that. And I don't think like, yeah, like nobody, you have one's. Last time you saw a China cabinet in somebody's house but she the same way. I kept her. I kept it for maybe a year or two and it was taken up a lot of space and she had the silver. You know the silver, the silver silverware that you had all the cleaning of all that.

Speaker 2: 17:24

And.

Speaker 1: 17:25

I'm just like you know. I think I we did a couple of holidays with it and I just it was creating so much more work for me in addition to the cooking and everything and I finally same thing I had to I had kept other things attached to her, obviously.

Speaker 2: 17:43

And that was one.

Speaker 1: 17:44

I was just like you know. I didn't particularly care for it, I just was not a China girl.

Speaker 2: 17:49

Right. And so I had to yeah, I had to do the same thing and let that go, and I think that it's very emotional and I know because I've been doing this for so long and I know the relief and the lightness that people feel when they do let go.

Speaker 1: 18:12

But they don't know it.

Speaker 2: 18:14

They don't know it yet, until they do it. So it is a leap of faith, you know, to be able to let go. But then countless times I hear oh my gosh, I can breathe again. Oh my gosh, I feel such a weight off my shoulders. And they come to actually feel and understand that they didn't let go of their love for that person because they let go of their China. But we still have the memories.

Speaker 2: 18:53

Yeah, and that's exactly what the burden of these stuff that we're not using, and I really believe I mean, when it came down to it, I really believe that that will would be happy. She loved me, you know, like our moms loved us, our grandmas loved us they don't want us burdened. They never intended for us to be burdened by any of these things, so I feel like they would support us in that yeah she was probably sitting on your shoulder coaching you through the process there.

Speaker 1: 19:34

I know so adorable, and don't you feel like I mean I certainly have felt this when I've done, because right now, what I do now is I'm kind of a maintainer now of right, you're constantly got to be moving things through our house and evaluating that, but then there's the big clean outs when you move and things like that. But I always feel like and I've heard people, other people talk about this that when we get rid of the physical clutter, it's allowing space, you know, because we lift that and we change, because we've been weighted down by it for, say, that allows new things to come into our life, and I really believe that 100%.

Speaker 2: 20:20

It gives us physical and emotional space. When there's so much clutter in our in our minds and in our physical environment, we are blocking our energy. There is no room for energy to circulate, like the whole. One of the big things about Feng Shui that whole thing is like you have to keep your passageways open to allow energy, and energy is how we create everything. And we're bogged down by all this stuff, internal and external. We are blocking our energy, which is blocking our potential, it's blocking our creativity, it's just blocking us and it causes physical ailments.

Speaker 2: 21:07

I see it all the time and it causes us to isolate, to self isolate, like my house looks like this. I don't, I'm not having people over anymore. I see this all the time. They're shame, it's just, it's such a burden and yeah, it's it we and again it's like we don't realize how heavy a load we're carrying until we start to let go and then we feel can actually feel some energy circulating and feel some inspiration. I love to talk to clients about what's their big picture for their life. So much the time they don't. They don't even know, or they it's very hard to acknowledge it, but it's also very hard to have even the energy to take a step forward when we're so bogged down by clutter, so really can't. It's really life changing? It's not. It's not just a little thing, it's actually changing.

Speaker 1: 22:09

Yeah, I think it's a real big thing, especially if you really help somebody in that process. See it at the deep level how long do you typically when you go in to help somebody move? Let's say, is it a couple weeks that you're working with them? I mean, what's the typical time frame?

Speaker 2: 22:29

Well, couple weeks, it really really depends. I mean, especially when somebody's downsizing, like I'm working with a client who is living in her childhood home. So she's lived in that house for 65 years. Her parents built the house. I know I mean it's not typically like that, but it's going to take quite a while because she's extremely, extremely attached to everything right now. But you know, if I'm going in and we're just basically doing the packing, then it can be a few days. But when there's going through belongings it takes a little bit longer.

Speaker 2: 23:21

And there's the human factor in for some people. When they get started they feel how good it feels, and then they're on a roll. Then they're doing it when I'm not there, which is great because I got them going, and then maybe a few days later I come back and we keep going. I mean, it's always a little bit different, but it just depends on the person really and how ready they are. Sometimes people are just not ready at all. They're moving because they have to In the case of divorce. Divorce is another hugely emotional situation. They are not ready to move. They are letting go of their life as they knew it. It's very hard, they're angry, there's so many emotions, so that can really take a while also.

Speaker 1: 24:28

Do you find that you ever have to? I know for me and my husband we have different styles because we've been married many, many years now. So we kind of have met in the middle. But originally I was more the much quicker to let things go and he was kind of more like, oh, I might not, not so much the sentimentality of things a little bit there, but more.

Speaker 1: 24:54

I might need that, I need that, and so we butted heads on that several times in our early marriage and just once again because it's like, especially in the garage, you know things, you just start piling up and you're like, all right, so do you ever have to get into the middle of those style differences and be the negotiator?

Speaker 2: 25:19

Yes, I've actually been literally standing in the middle and a lot of times in the garage with the husband on one side and the wife on the other and she's saying tell him. And he's saying tell her. It's actually pretty funny. I mean it's not funny but it's. I mean it's. It is a little bit, but I'm not laughing at them. Like, I get it and there needs to be a coming together and compromise. But you know, sometimes it makes sense. But I might need that, I could use that, but other times yeah.

Speaker 2: 26:02

Yeah, like you're really not or you're not going to need 10 of those or you're not going to need, you know, 15 of those.

Speaker 2: 26:10

So it takes it just sometimes can really, you know, take time. But most of the time I find that, especially when there's somebody neutral, professional and neutral and caring at the same time, that can help people to find some balance. And then, once we go through items in the garage because a lot of times it's not just women that are sentimental, I mean, the men can be very sentimental, you know, and as well and practical let's say practical in terms of I think I'm going to use that, so why should I get rid of it when I'm going to need it? And then I'm going to have to go buy it again. But so once there's oh sorry, I was just going once there's some letting go, then we can really organize the garage so that you can actually see what you have, because a lot of times people are buying duplicates of things, yeah, and spending money they didn't need to spend because they didn't like, ah, you know, I mean I find it.

Speaker 2: 27:23

I've done that myself with spices. Yeah, you know. I mean, just that's the first thing that comes to my mind and like, oh, I didn't realize because I used to have spices on the lazy Susan thing. The best, after much trial and error, the very best thing for spices is to put them in a drawer. You pull out your drawer and you alphabetize them. Okay, there you go. You're in your heaven, oh my God heaven, pure heaven, and you open a drawer and you see everything that you have.

Speaker 2: 28:02

And then I could see I have four cinemas.

Speaker 1: 28:06

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 28:07

I really don't have to buy cinnamon for a really long time. Right, but that's a, that's a tip that is a tip from Proclamierge. If it is possible and there's always a way to make this work Put your spices lying down flat, alphabetize them it's worth it In a drawer so you open it up and you see everything and you're never going to buy duplicates again.

Speaker 1: 28:35

Mm, hmm, seen what you have, it's a key thing, it's really key and it's calming also, like, oh, what do I need?

Speaker 2: 28:44

What do I need? It's like, oh, all I have to do is open this drawer, mm, hmm, and I see exactly what I have. I've been watching this cooking show with Selena Gomez.

Speaker 2: 28:56

Oh really, oh my God, she's adorable. I just I just started watching it. I think it's from, I think it's like from a year ago or something. It's during COVID. Most of it was filmed, but anyway, she's darling, and so she's working from her home and she's doing, you know, like Zoom calls with all these amazing chefs, and she's now in season three or four. She's really got a lot of skills, but she didn't in the beginning. But anyway, one of the things that they're that they really all talk about is I forget the word, I wrote it down. It's in French, but it's like shoot, I can't think of it anyway, but it's to prepare yourself, have everything organized that you need. I'm like, oh, I love this.

Speaker 2: 29:47

It's so before you start before you start, you get every all of your ingredients out and ready. It's like, oh, that's fantastic.

Speaker 1: 29:58

Yeah, yeah. I love that whole process go a lot yeah, a lot easier. If you're not looking, your hands are all gooey and now you got, your hands are all gooey.

Speaker 2: 30:07

And then you're like, oh my God, I have no sugar.

Speaker 1: 30:12

Okay, yeah.

Speaker 2: 30:13

I either just throw it all away, which obviously we're not going to do, or now I have to wash my hands and get in my car and go to the market like, oh yeah, so annoying, so it's so. It saves so much time and frustration and energy to be prepared, and then being organized helps a person to be prepared.

Speaker 1: 30:40

I will. I this is such an interesting topic I mean it really is it just it has so many layers to it. So I really admire you for being in this field and that, like I said, I think that you're very special in that the way you can come in like and help people get organized and help them move their stuff. It takes a special person to do that. Thank you so I think it's so great that you're writing a book. And when can we?

Speaker 2: 31:09

expect the book to be too. So my editor says, lauren, you work diligently on this book every day. She thinks I will have it ready to go to her publishers. She's got publishers by early next year, so I'm set that by the first week in January you hear me sighing by the first week in January that I will have it ready for her to go through and edit and tell me and then hopefully by like February it'll go to publishers.

Speaker 1: 31:55

You're pretty close Dan.

Speaker 2: 31:57

I'm pretty close. I've been working on it for a while. I, you know. This is something also that I think that especially women struggle with is just allowing ourselves to do things messy. Right yeah, just start, just take action, just it's okay. It's not going to be perfect, like, I've written screenplays, but I learned how to write a screenplay, but I've never, written a book. I love words. I've always a couple of things from the very beginning of my life. I always wanted to be a mommy always, which I'm very blessed.

Speaker 2: 32:36

I've got four beautiful kids who are married to four beautiful kids, and now they are having kids of their own. So it's a blessing and I always love to write. It was just in me, so yeah. But I didn't know. I wasn't born knowing how to write a book and it's it's hard. I mean, it's definitely a whole thing to learn. So I've had to just be really patient with myself and it's hard. I'm very patient when I'm with my clients. I don't I don't always extend the same patients and empathy with myself, but I'm I'm just, I'm working on it. It's a fascinating process and I can see in the process that I'm getting better, like the book is getting. It's getting better and better, if I, you know, if I do say so myself.

Speaker 1: 33:35

Yeah, no, absolutely, you say. So what is there? Is there a favorite chapter as things are developing in the book, or maybe? Or do you have a favorite line that you find yourself saying to? I think of that one gal.

Speaker 2: 33:55

I forget her name who Marie Marie condo Her book. Yeah, her book's really good. I mean, obviously it has been tremendously successful and it really hit a chord in people. She said talked about if something sparks joy, right. So I really liked her book and again, obviously she she, you know has a very successful with that book and that message. But having said that, I'm going to very respectfully disagree, because a lot of things spark joy for people, a lot of things. That's why they're holding on to a lot of things. What they don't realize is the is the greater joy that awaits them when they let go of some of it. So I think in a way that you know, it's too easy to just say keep it if it sparks joy.

Speaker 1: 35:01

Yeah, yeah, with all due respect, because I really yeah, well, no, I mean, and that's what you're bringing to the table. You're bringing, I mean, you know, I mean that's that's your perspective and what you're bringing to the table, that's what you're seeing. And, yeah, I think it. I think we different people are going to define joy different ways, right, right, and so it could, it could be a cop out, I mean, if I really want to, hold I really like that.

Speaker 2: 35:30

I mean, I've worked with clients because her book already came out years ago, right? So I've gone into homes and they're like I'm keeping this, it sparks joy.

Speaker 1: 35:40

You probably hate that line now.

Speaker 2: 35:43

I've actually come to hate that line because I have to explain to people you, I get it, but you don't understand the joy that will be sparked when you say goodbye to this. And and sometimes you know, and I have to be careful because it really, I mean, ultimately it's the client's decision what they keep or they don't keep. But usually after we, you know, go through things and talk things out there, they are willing, even if it starts with one item, even if it starts with one small box, that they say, okay, I, this, this did spark joy for me, right Like me, with little dishes and pots and pans. I mean, these pots and pans, they are so retro, I, I love them, they were gigantic, there was just something so cool about them. They sparked joy. But when I let go of it I felt such a even bigger, deeper joy because I sort of regained physical space, emotional space and you know and all that.

Speaker 1: 36:55

So yeah, sparks joy is it doesn't go deep enough for some people. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 37:03

You just take it on the surface.

Speaker 2: 37:05

Yeah, but I don't know if I have. I don't really have necessarily. Like I'm just yeah, I'm trying to think about my chapters and stuff. I like I really I love the chapter where I talk about organizing with kids, and I'm planning the next book after this is going to be about organizing with kids and teaching organizing because that's so needed. It's so needed. Some kids are naturally organized right, like I have four granddaughters and so I have three grandsons also, but they're you know, they're younger, so you don't see some of it.

Speaker 1: 37:46

Yeah, quite yet.

Speaker 2: 37:48

But I see, with my granddaughters, and there's one of them in particular and she's very organized and she just, it's just her, it's her nature and she loves putting things in order, and some of the other ones who shall remain nameless are not are not, so they don't care. Yeah, sorry for my cough.

Speaker 1: 38:10

They don't care.

Speaker 2: 38:12

So they probably will care when they get married and have their own home that they need to keep. But anyway, so yeah, but I really, because I'm a mom and a grandma, a softa I'm softa, which is grandma in Hebrew Softa, softa. Yeah, s-a-f-t-a Okay.

Speaker 2: 38:34

So, yeah, it's sweet, I like it, uh-huh Anyway, but yeah, so I have a lot of experience with kids and when I work with my clients, I often I work with families too. So I really I like that chapter because there's a lot that we can do to set kids up for success and I think that's really, really important. So that chapter comes to mind. But I really love the whole thing, to tell you the truth, because it's very fascinating. It's very fascinating to me and I'm I know certain truths from my experience with working with human beings, and then there's all this research that supports it.

Speaker 2: 39:21

So, I'm really learning a lot. It's very fascinating.

Speaker 1: 39:26

It really is yeah, you are a busy lady. You've got a lot of projects going on.

Speaker 2: 39:32

I do. I do it's fun, I do really like it until I get until I feel like overwhelmed, and then you kind of get a step back yeah.

Speaker 2: 39:44

Yeah, take a step back, and that's also. That's also something in my book that I talk about is like, what can we do to? What do we need to do to balance our nervous systems? I mean, that is part of it too. It really is. It's not just like, oh, you know, it's meditate or go on a walk or blah, blah, blah, you know. No, it's, it's actually very important. It's it's all so connected.

Speaker 1: 40:14

Yes, yes. Well, I always like to wrap things up in my podcast with this question oh no, okay. So what does a meaningful, moxie filled life look like to you, and what does it feel like to you as well?

Speaker 2: 40:38

I think I'm living it.

Speaker 1: 40:41

That's what. I was thinking too. Makes you want to cry again.

Speaker 2: 40:48

I'm feeling emotional, but I you know why it makes me feel emotional Because I feel proud of myself. I'm stretching, I'm growing, I am being creative, I'm letting myself be scared, but still do it anyway. And so, yeah, I mean I'm. I feel like I don't know if I would have said that maybe a year ago I was very proud of myself for my business, which I, you know, just created out of nothing. But I think, especially in this last year, even six months, of writing a book and starting a podcast and you know being brave to come and be a guest on other people's podcasts that I think that's moxie.

Speaker 2: 41:52

It is, Absolutely is, and you know when we do it as women, when we do it, it it matters to you know, to other people. It's so touching to me when people say I'm so proud of you for what you're doing or you know the example to my own, to my kids and to my grandkids yeah, my 15 year old grand. I have a 15 year old granddaughter. I don't even know how that happened.

Speaker 2: 42:22

But she doesn't come over all that much anymore to my house because you know she's 15. She's very, very busy, very busy person. But she, the last time she came over, just a couple of weeks ago, she walked into my, to my office, which I've turned really into a studio, looks like a studio, and she's a double take. And then her younger sister, who's 10, because because Ariela, my oldest granddaughter, she goes what is this? And then, and then she wrote his 10, she goes, it's her studio, and and Ariela was like, she sat down at my desk with the, you know, with the microphone and the computer and everything. She said I want to do one, okay. So I set her up, you know, and then I just left her alone so that she could, so that she could do her own, her own episode. But it was, it was, I know. Just, I'll never forget that, yeah.

Speaker 2: 43:32

And she was like up to play. It's her studio.

Speaker 1: 43:38

Of course, yeah, planting seeds. You never know where the seeds get planted.

Speaker 2: 43:44

You never know, and it's really it's nice. I heard her on her on her phone talking to her, one of her friends or who knows she. Always she's like got you know her phone attached to her. Her face constantly. But she said my soft to has a podcast and it was like it's so cute, like who knew right, who knew it's just it's. I think moxie is like allowing ourselves to go on an adventure in our lives.

Speaker 1: 44:17

So what you're doing what you're doing. Yeah, we're, yeah, we're all doing it one way or the other, aren't we? Yeah, but you know what we're not.

Speaker 2: 44:25

but the thing is like a lot of women are not doing it and I want to encourage a lot more women to do it.

Speaker 1: 44:36

Or live, or live a bigger adventure. They're kind of here, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 44:43

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 44:45

Yeah, so tell us now for the listeners where they can find you. And you've got this amazing podcast that's out already. Let's unpack it, which we talked about earlier on. Yeah, this book coming out, you've got coming out business. So tell us where they can find you, and it'll all be in the show notes as well.

Speaker 2: 45:05

Oh, wonderful, thank you.

Speaker 1: 45:08

So my podcast.

Speaker 2: 45:09

Okay, shout out by Lauren for Lauren. My company is called Pearl concierge servicescom and I'm on Instagram is Pearl concierge services is the one of things that I'm trying to figure out is because now I've got all this, let's unpack it stuff on that. So you try to figure out like they very much all go together, but I, you know, like do I do a separate page, whatever, anyway, but I'm on Instagram is Pearl concierge services and on Apple podcast, let's unpack it with Lauren Pearl. There was something else that was kind of let's unpack that. So I thought, okay, I'm going to put my name to make it just me. So it's, let's unpack it with Lauren Pearl on Apple podcast. And I'm now in season number two.

Speaker 1: 46:01

Yeah, season two already.

Speaker 2: 46:03

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 46:05

The episode.

Speaker 2: 46:06

You and I did an episode which just went live, so you are season two, episode two on let's unpack it with Lauren Pearl. So I invite everybody to listen and leave a comment and follow and and you know, share, because I I know what we're talking about is really important to so many women out there.

Speaker 1: 46:38

It's, you know, just sharing our stories, sharing our stories and our past, what we learned along the way. Absolutely great conversation.

Speaker 2: 46:47

Thank you.

Speaker 1: 46:49

Very inspiring and I know a lot of listeners and give them food for thought about their stuff too, but it's bigger than that. It's bigger than that.

Speaker 2: 46:57

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 46:59

Right, Well, I just yeah, I'm just thrilled to have another chat with you and I hope you like maybe we can have another one.

Speaker 2: 47:08

I would love that. Thank you, I'm really honored to have been your guest today. This was fun.

Speaker 1: 47:13

All right, everybody. Thank you for listening and we will talk to you soon. Take care now. If this podcast was valuable to you, it would mean so much if you could take 30 seconds to do one or all of these three things Follow or subscribe to the podcast and, while they're, leave a review and then maybe share this with a friend if you think they'd like it In a world full of lots of distractions. I so appreciate you taking the time to listen in. Until next time, be well and take care, yeah.