As a working mom and business owner who often bites off more than I can chew, there are a few go-to rituals and new habits I'm prioritizing. We’re talking never wanting to book a dentist appointment, trusting the shoes on the floor will get put away, and celebrating the tabs you’re closing on the daily.

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Links mentioned

schedule a 1:1 session → book An Hour of Answers
get on the AYOY waitlist → next enrollment: summer 2026
say hiiii on Instagram → DM me @kaileenelise
five-year journal → Canvas One Line a Day: A Five-Year Memory Book
inner voice journal → Wilde House Paper: Open Journal in Espresso
8 minute journaling practice → free journal with intuition workshop
my favorite pen → Pilot G2, specifically in the 0.38 tip

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Listen to Episode 231 of Celebrate Cultivate

Hello. You are listening to Celebrate Cultivate. I am your host, intuition coach, and voice in your earbuds, Kaileen Elise Sues. This is my fourth time recording that intro and getting this episode started, and I promise you, no matter what happens next, I'm not gonna press stop. I'm not going to redo this.
I'm just going to get into it and get with the flow. When I make that promise, it's to me as much as it is to you. But as you're listening to this, the day is maybe Thursday or Friday or Saturday. Whenever it finds your ears, I hope that it finds you in a pocket of peace, that you are listening maybe on a walk or on a drive or in the bath.
I sometimes listen to podcasts in the shower or while I'm putting on my makeup. Maybe you're cooking dinner. Whatever you're doing, I hope that this conversation is just a soft place for you to land in the chaos or tranquility of your everyday life. Maybe you have a mix of chaos and tranquility. I am really excited about life right now, but I would be lying if I said that I have it all figured out, super dialed in, and am, you know, beyond organized right now, because that is so far from the truth.
I feel like I am just catching up on things from March and April. I literally just finished my personal visioning practice reflecting on April and setting intentions and goals for May, and goodness, the month is almost halfway over. So, you know, this is just kind of like a nudge of encouragement that if you wake up and you're like, "Oh my goodness, I just like cannot get it together.
I cannot catch my breath. There are things hitting the inbox and the to-do list constantly, and no matter what I do, I cannot keep up. And really, all I wanna do is catch up on Real Housewives of Rhode Island." You know? Like, that's a very real feeling. That's a very valid feeling. And I personally go through those like ebbs and flows of being super dialed in and focused and locked in and ready to focus, but then other times where I just cannot be bothered.
And I know that in my signature program, A Year of You, which you can get- on the wait list for if you're interested in working with me on an ongoing capacity, starting to learn how to listen to your inner voice in daily life, in work, in your relationships, in your health, in your all the places. Or if you have been in the practice of listening to your inner voice, trusting your gut, and you just need a space and a reminder to keep doing it, because, you know, by the time you've listened to enough of these podcast episodes, and maybe you've worked with me before, you know how to do the thing.
It's just a matter of actually making or giving the time and space to do it, and I'm right there with you. But in, in the program, we have been having a lot of conversations around energy and desire to, to do things, and sometimes not feeling like doing much, or knowing that we want to or should do something, and then just, like, not really being able to get it together to do it.
And oftentimes, I mean, you have to be super honest with yourself, but oftentimes there are moments of discomfort or stagnation that we need to push through. But the pushing through is a lot easier when you are doing things from a place of alignment and, like, energy foundation, right? Like, you're not super depleted, then it's a lot easier to push through.
And if you are facing feelings of burnout, or you're, like, in full-on burnout, or you're just, like, have been managing so much in your house and in your family and in your f- you know, work and relationships and all these places. If you've been managing a lot, then it stands to reason that maybe you don't have the reserves and the energy to get going on a new project or get going on a project you've been avoiding.
I have not been to the dentist in a year because a year ago when my appointment came up, I like just knew I wanted to go to a different dentist. Like, our dentist we've been going to for a really long time, Adam still goes to them, but it's far away from where we live now. I just don't like the parking situation.
I don't love the office. It's not a vibe. Like, I just don't wanna go, and I don't love going to the dentist anyway. I don't hate it, but it's definitely not my favorite experience and so why, why put myself through that? Like, I can just go to a different dentist that's closer and a nicer office and, you know, try it out.
But it has... I still have not booked another appointment 'cause the hurdle of admin to like call that's not at lunch hour, you know? And when I finally have a moment where I, it's quiet, like right this exact moment would be a great time to call. There's no one else in my house. I'm... But I'm sitting here talking to you.
So there are these things that like we know we need to do and that we haven't done yet, and what level of mental stress and space are you carrying with these things? It... Some of it's totally unconscious, but when you become conscious of it, then there's something that you can do about it. And I am just gonna keep talking about the fact that I haven't booked a dentist appointment until I get so sick of talking about it, and then eventually I book it.
You know, I have done the legwork. I have the n- phone number. I have my dental insurance card ready to go. Like, I have everything needed, and when the circumstance arises or when I really actually do it, I'll be so happy. I'll be so thankful. But between now and then, I'm really not trying to beat myself up over not doing this thing and having, you know, questionable dental hygiene at the moment.
It's gonna, it's gonna get resolved. I know it's going to. And this is something that I've been thinking about a lot when it comes to patience and trust and having to almost endure s- times when you're not doing something that you feel like you should or need to do. It's a really uncomfortable feeling, especially if you're somebody who is like mentally carrying a lot and has many, many things on your mind and on your to-do list.
It can be really gross, like sticky and scratchy and just, like, ugh, when you can't possibly get it all done, and then maybe you are procrastinating about booking the dentist because you don't wanna deal with that, and there's like 57 other things that you can put on the to-do list ahead of that, and so then it never gets done, right?
How do you endure that? How do you Navigate that. One of the ways is just to trust that it's going to get done, and to know that you do get things done when they need to get done, that you are a responsible human being, you are getting things done on time, and that if you can believe that when the right time arises, you will get it done.
If you really can trust and allow that to come, then there's less anxiety, tension, frustration in the middle part. Same thing goes for, like, the area in our laundry room or your drop zone, wherever you have it, where shoes accumulate, and maybe it's an intentional place for shoes to accumulate or maybe it's just a random place where shoes have started to pile up, right?
By the front door or wherever they land. It can be very irksome to not have the things put away in the right place, especially if there's enough other humans in your house who know how to put things away. But can you wait and trust and allow either for those to find their own homes by other people, or that when you have the time, maybe while you're listening to a podcast, that you can do a sweep, put things away, and that it's gonna get done, but that it's also going to need to get done again in the future.
So many of the things that we do in daily life, in work, in relationships, in all of these different rooms and places and seasons that we're in, they're so repetitive. And that is a beautiful thing because then there's always new opportunities to complete the task, but then there's also a lot of opportunities to have to complete the task.
You know? Like, this isn't the last time I'm gonna have to book myself for a dentist appointment. And it's just ridiculous. But, you know, I came here today with a very relatively small pocket of time, and one of the things that I wanted to just talk about are some of the rituals and habits that I'm prioritizing now in my life as a 41-year-old mother who has three children and a small business that I run as an intuition coach who has a podcast, who has desires to show up on social media in an authentic and enjoyable way, who has creative interests, but not a lot of creative deliverables at the moment.
You know, somebody... I am, I'm, like, talking about myself in the third person right now, which is kind of weird, but, you know, I am somebody who had a very strong relationship with my body as an athlete growing up and into college. And along the way, through different injuries and through pregnancy and that sort of thing, like, I've just kind of fallen off of that wagon.
And again, to talk about trust, like if I know with my whole heart that I am going to be fit and strong and vibrant again if I know that with certainty then me not being on the wagon as much as I want to be right now is less of a problem that has to be solved, and again, something that's- that requires just a bit of patience to endure, to wait through, to gently let myself be in this middle space of, like, not that fit, not that strong, knowing that I'm working towards a consistent place where eventually someday I will be like, you know, I work out, I go for walks, I feel fit and strong, and my body's healthy and resilient, and all of these things that I desire right now that, you know, when I look in the mirror, when I'm PMS-ing, on my worst days I can have just really not kind thoughts about this beautiful, healthy body that has carried me through so much of life.
You know, if I can just trust that, like, it's going to get to where I want to be and that I'm gonna be a active participant in getting there, then the tension right now is less. And so one of the things that these habits and rituals act as is, like, soft places to land when life is chaotic, life is busy, when there's a lot going on.
These are rituals and practices that I can lean on, but they're also things I can drop and come back to when there's time and space. So when you are in a season that's really full- Don't think that you're a bad, neglectful person for not doing all of the rituals and all of the practices and there's a, a great book by BJ Fogg called Tiny Habits.
My friend works with him and worked on that book, so I have the inside scoop on, like whenever I'm talking to her on Marco Polo, she will tell me, like, "Okay, well, the tab- Tiny Habits', you know, focus for this is to do this." And one of the key things about that book and about their work is to break down what you want to accomplish into the smallest task possible.
And you've probably heard me talk about this before if you've done one of my programs or maybe just I've said it on the podcast, I don't know. But in the example of flossing your teeth, to get it back to dental hygiene again, it's if you wanna floss your teeth every day and some days you just can't bring yourself to want to floss, then just floss one tooth because you're still in the habit, you're still in that frequency, you're still in the momentum of flossing, and the next day, maybe you floss two and then the next day, maybe you go for the whole bottom mouth.
You know, like, there are ways to... And then when you're sick and you have a fever and you just cannot be bothered, you go back to just one. So there's, there's these things that we can do to maintain a foothold, and so I'll talk through kind of what the, the key rituals and habits that I'm prioritizing right now, but I'm also gonna talk about, like, how to dial them back because if you're anything like me, y- you don't have a hard time dialing it back.
Up. You know, like, it's getting started that can feel really tricky. It's maintaining something that is difficult. But, like, imagining the max of it is not hard. You know? Like, whenever you take a long break from working out, I don't know if you do this, but I definitely am guilty of it in the past, which is like, "Okay, I haven't worked out in a million years, so now I'm just gonna go for a five-mile run."
And then I'm so exhausted and just dead that now I can't run for a week because my body doesn't work anymore. I used to do that all the time. I cannot run anymore. I have a doctor's note, and after a few herniated discs and whatever, three children, pelvic floor situations later, running is not in the cards for me.
But the, the example stands, 'cause I have definitely done that before. And so when you are trying to, like, get back into something or start something new, really consciously choosing a smaller step can set you up for success in a way that I don't think that we often look at as valid. Because the mind always wants to just do things the best, the right, the most.
And it's a trick to teach your mind that doing the best, the most, the max is not necessarily what is going to set you up for success long-term. So the first one on my list is this thing I'm calling my first thing routine. You may have heard me talk about this before, but I really like to wake up early in the mornings.
That is not, like, a toxic positivity, must get up at 4:00 AM type thing. It's just that I've spent so much of my life waking up really early, going to swim practice when I was a kid. We would have 5:00 AM or 5:30 AM swim practices, so I was up really early for a long part of my life. And then we just have, like, an early family.
My husband's up early. We go to bed early. And I like... My preference is to, like, have a cup of coffee before my children are awake. It's just better for everybody. So when I wake up in the morning, I have a cup of coffee. I use my Ember mug, which keeps my coffee temperature at exactly 133 degrees Fahrenheit, and I love that so much.
And then I write in my five-year journal, which is just, like, a little tiny synopsis of the day before. And then I write in my Inner voice journal, which is like an eight-minute journaling from my inner voice. In the show notes, I'll link to both of those so you can look at like the actual physical journals that I'm using, and I'll put my favorite pen in there too because I have a very specific desire when it comes to pens.
It is not the cutest or most aesthetic, but it is my favorite pen to write with and has been for a long time. It's the Pilot G2, specifically in the .38 pen tip. It cannot be the .5 or the .75. It's just too big, thick. I don't like it. So the .38 Pilot G2 is my pen obsession and I have not been able to get a cuter pen to feel better in my hand.
So that's just where we landed on the pen front. And when I... I will also link to my free journal workshop so that you can learn how to journal with your inner voice if you haven't ever done it before or if you want to, you know, just practice with me, you can do the workshop over and over again, 'cause I lead you through my eight-minute journal practice.
With the dialing it back to like the, the minimum, I will often like skip days if we're traveling or whatnot, and then do a batch update on my five-year journal. And then with the inner voice journal, if I just don't feel like writing from my inner voice today, I don't force it. Sometimes I'll flip through it, sometimes I'll just look at my journal, sometimes I'll just touch my journal, and I let that count.
So if you are somebody who wants to journal every day but for some reason you just don't, you're not into it and then you think that you suck because you can't stay consistent, just look at your journal. Touch it or look back at a previous entry and let that count. It's okay. You don't have to write, you know, five pages or m- you know, really s- hold yourself to it.
You can flow with it a little bit more and see how that feels and, and see if that is nice for you. Okay, so next on my list is working out. I'm doing my best to make this more of a ritual, more of a vibe so that it can become more of a habit. And I made this whole page in my Notion, which if you're not familiar with Notion, it is like a whole thing.
So what I would recommend is starting with a Google search of like what is Notion, Notion for, and then in the XYZ I would put like if you're a creative entrepreneur or a mom of three or, you know, C-level executive like whatever it is, however you define yourself, I would put Notion for this person.
Intuition coaches I probably wouldn't put that. I'd put... If I was searching it, I would say like- In Notion for creative entrepreneur is probably what I would put in if I was searching. But I started using it a few years ago. It's how I organize and keep track of all of the content for my business, all of my weekly to-dos, my goals, my intentions, programs that I'm in now, my meal plan, my workout plan.
Like, everything lives in Notion. I don't think I would be lost without it, but I'd be sad for sure. I would not know exactly what to do with my day. I would have to go back to all pen and paper if I, if I didn't have access to my Notion. So with working out, I made this whole dash in Notion with the days that I wanna work out, what workouts I'm doing, the links to them, and then when I'm making it a vibe, that means, like, burning some incense, playing a playlist, like really just leaning into the things that I enjoy when I'm working out.
And then the other thing I've been doing, because I am trying to lower my stress levels- In easy, accessible ways, and so I'm trying when I work out to really, again, like dial back the intensity while still showing up in a strong way. So for example, like if I'm doing a plank, planks are hard, planks make your body feel things, but trying to access an energy of ease while in a plank.
And this is something that when I was an athlete I would do all the time, because you just cannot go, like, full out for extended periods of time without finding, like, a way to tolerate it and a way to find ease inside of it. So that is something that I've been playing with as well. And then the next one on the list is visualization and dreaming, and this is much more, like- Amorphous.
It's not like there's no concrete instructions here. But I have just been really looking at ways to allow myself to visualize the way I want things to happen, the way I would desire them to unfold daydreaming, and not just visioning and daydreaming about, like, today, but further out into the future.
Because as I have shared many a times now, the idea of, like, what's on the horizon long-term for me is really fuzzy right now. And so I've been dabbling in dreaming and visualizing for the future, and just seeing how far I can draw that out from today to, you know, further down the road. I, again, don't have, like, any solid how is that a ritual or how is that a habit?
Maybe it isn't yet. But it is something that's on my mind, it's on my heart. And so when there's an opportunity to just kinda zone out instead of thinking about all the things that I need to do, I've been really trying to guide my mind into more of that, like, fun future big blue sky thinking. So that's a, a work in progress for sure.
And then kind of on the opposite end of that spectrum, and kind of in relation to the dentist talk, is closing out loops. One of the reasons why I have a hard time closing loops, closing tabs, like really finishing things, is because it just feels like no matter what I finish, more stuff is going to come, right?
Like, I could do laundry today or I could do it next Tuesday, and it's still gonna have to get done again n- the following Tuesday or Thursday, or however long I can delay it. So in an effort to trick myself into, to closing loops, I've been... Again, this is part of in the Tiny Habits book, but they talk about celebrating.
Like, when you close a loop, when you complete a task, when you finish something that you wanted to get done, when you do the habit of, like, maybe just flossing one tooth, really celebrating the closing of that loop is how our brains get the dopamine and the excitement and the happiness, and the proof that, like, we can finish things.
We can close loops. So I suppose in the, the list of, like, okay, closing loops, maybe it's more accurate to say, like, acknowledging and celebrating when I have closed a loop because I'm closing loops all day long just like you are. I mean, they open. There's other loops that open. But Instead of really focusing on all of the open tabs like r- acknowledging and closing tabs with a flourish, with excitement, with enthusiasm is something that I'm prioritizing, and it's something that is, is becoming a habit.
So if there is like a dramatic closure that you can bring to something, even if it's like at the end of the day, like dramatically shutting your laptop, it can be very satisfying to the mind, but also encouraging of like, "Okay, I'm getting stuff done. I'm closing loops." And in fact, that visioning practice that we do, like we did last week on the podcast, that is a closing of the loop.
Like, we very rarely in everyday society finish a month by like finishing it and then starting the new month. It's like one month begi- as one month ends, another month begins. Like, there's almost never any closure. And so that's something that, again, we do inside A Year of You is we have season-ending rituals and calls because it's important to close out the season.
And then finally, the last one, and I'm gonna wrap it up here, is letting myself plan. I don't know if you would consider that a ritual, but it certainly is something that I have learned over the last year or so that I really enjoy and that it's important to me. And so when I was in my spiritual journey of like really learning how to listen to my inner voice and trust in alignment and flow and all of these things, I made a conscious effort to not plan, but just to like let the, let the world unfold in front of me.
And if you've listened to or read the book Surrender Experiment by Michael Singer, like in that book, he just lets everything just unfold. And he says yes to everything in the universe and da, da, da, da, da. And that's super compelling. That book is fascinating, and I was obsessed with it when I listened to it.
And I still think a lot of that is valid and true and useful and powerful, but I'm also running a business. I have three children . I have a very type A, perfectionistic, active mind with Aries energy. You know, there's, like, so much about me that likes a plan. And so letting myself plan without excuse or guilt or anything has almost taken these natural tendencies I have and turned them into valid, useful things instead of, like, something yucky that I have to get rid of inside of me.
So that's an invitation for you to look at the stuff of you that maybe you resist or you don't love, but look at it and find a way to make it a benefit, make it a practice that you enjoy. Turn it into a ritual. Like example, my, using my Notion is a huge ritual. I make vision boards and mood boards, and I make the colors match, and it's like a whole thing that I really enjoy playing with, and that's definitely a ritual, but it's also letting myself plan.
So I'm gonna wrap it up here. I hope that you are taking something inspiring or encouraging away from this conversation. If you want to get support one-on-one in listening to your intuition, trusting those nudges, releasing those emotions and thought patterns that are kind of holding you back from fully leaning into what you know is true for you, then that is what a one-on-one session with me will help you achieve.
You can book those on my website. I have a few openings now for this month and next month, and I would love to work with you. So if you have any questions, get in touch. I'm on Instagram, @kaileenelise. And if you are, you know, somebody who's worked with me before and it's been a while, just get in touch.
Let's chat. Let's see if it's a good time for us to work together again. Again, I'll be opening the doors to A Year of You soon, so get on the wait list if you are interested in learning more about that. Thank you as always for listening. I hope you have a beautiful week, and I will be back to talk with you again soon.