I texted my producer and I said,

what am I doing today?

And she said, we actually have no meetings.

And that was really weird because it felt like I literally had a job one day and overnight, I was fired. I've never felt the feeling of a void. Now I live my life like I'm running out of time. How will you know if you've done what you've came here to do? When I didn't allow other people to distract me. After my book tour ended, I looked at my calendar on a Monday and there was almost nothing on it.

I texted my producer and I said what am I doing today and she said we actually have no meetings and that was really weird because it felt like I literally had a job one day and overnight I was fired. Other authors had warned me about this that feeling that you would be totally depressed when it was all over and I didn't believe in them at the time, but I certainly felt it. There is that feeling when you have a very loud season and the quiet that comes after it. It's actually something my mom has literally never experienced, and today we're going to talk about why that might be a problem. Welcome to Life Happens with Barb and Michelle, the mother-daughter podcast where we talk about all of the stuff that no one warns you about. And today we're talking about just that. We're diving into the space that comes after you achieve something really big. This all started because of my book, but it's not really about writing a book. It's about any time that you've built towards something huge and then it's just over. A graduation, a wedding, a pregnancy, a project at work, even a sports season ending, that in between space. Actually, let me go change real quick. Okay. Okay. That's much better. I love it. I thought it was only appropriate to represent my Hoosiers after a winning season because it also applies to this concept that we're talking about of the space after something big, you know, if anyone knows anything about Indiana football or in general, we were never good. I'm a hussure born and raised or born and bred. We were never good and now we are and never in a million years that I think we would win a national championship, but it was like, okay, the next game, the next game. And us as fans were like,

okay, where are we going? Where are we watching? And then one day it's just over.

And I think even though we had a happy outcome, there was this like, well, now what?

And I was thinking about this too for the players and the coaches and everyone involved with the team.

Like, that's gotta be a, of course, you're feeling the joy of winning, but also you're so used to being in that routine. And then it's just done. And especially with sports these days, it's like you're done. And then people go off and on different paths and it's got to feel weird. Yeah. What do you think about that? I think it's fun. I mean, I think that particular part of our lives in that moment in time was so fun. It's, I don't know, there's an exhilaration that happens when something is happening that you never expected. Yeah. And I think that's really a good part of this episode as well. Like, the unexpected, where you're putting in all the work, you're always having the hope and you're always representing

and you're always showing up

and you're always cheering for anything in life.

Even your book tour and you're booking everything. So I relate to that with my book. Yeah, it's like you're always showing up and there's always that hope in doing the work. Indiana certainly is put in the work, But then what it actually happens, it's like, wow.

And I think you and I immediately thought of your dad.

Of course, he passed away long before Indiana.

B. But then what had actually happened, it's like, wow. And I think you and I immediately thought of your dad.

Yeah. Of course, he passed away. Yeah. Long before Indiana became national champions for football. He was one of the originals that had football seats before football was even a thing. Oh, yeah. We would go sit there and no one was there. Game and rain, the snow on those awful metal bleachers. And it was empty empty. So, yeah, it's exhilarating and it's really fun,

but you're right, you know, what now, you know, what next, you know, in life, what, you know, what is life. And I definitely felt that way with my book because for my whole life, I always had this idea of writing a book. And even after writing my first draft, getting my publishing deal, going through my edits,

talking to marketing, planning the tour.

It felt real, but it... after writing my first draft, getting my publishing deal, going through my edits, talking to marketing,

planning the tour. It felt real, but for me, it wasn't real until it happened. And even still, I was like, I have a book, is this real? So like you're saying, even with a sport or anything, like you can plan for something, but you don't always know if it's going to go on without a hitch or that it's actually going to happen. And I think when we do finally reach that place or get to that goal or have that milestone, of course, you want to feel the feelings and be present to it. But then it is going to pass. Like the one thing that's constant about life is time goes on. Things change. Time passes. So you're going to come to a time where that's constant about life is time goes on, things change, time passes and so you're gonna come to a time where that's over and it's gonna feel like a drop off almost like I spent so much time pouring my life, my energy into something and then it's just over and I think you know it doesn't have to be a book or even it might not be super relatable for like a national championship team, but like a graduation. Yeah. Or even just, you're in school one day and the next minute you're done. And I know we're in graduation season. So it might be relatable for a lot of people. Or getting married, you plan a wedding, you put so much of your time and effort and energy and resources. And that's's like it's one day. And so no matter what is happening for you in your life, chances are you've experienced something where you were really putting your all into something and it meant a lot to you and maybe you got to that point and then it was over. And how did you fill that space afterwards? And what's interesting because you and I were talking about this and you didn't really relate to this so much. So I'm excited to dive into that. But I think it can be really easy for us to feel depressed or down or that we didn't do a good enough job because of this space or this boy that comes from something big, even if it was successful, because it's up to us to figure out what we're going to do with it. And it's kind of fun because that's where we're given a choice and a chance to start something new and to like dream again, not to sound cheesy. Yeah, it's fair. It is an interesting topic because when you brought this to me and said, mom, I want

to talk about how you were feeling about after the book tour and then the national championship. You know, we were going to game. It was back back to the game. It was back to back. The book tour and the championship were back to back. And then calling your publisher and I'm saying to you, I have nothing on the calendar. It was interesting for me to hear you say that you felt like you were fired.

Because I, when you say that I've never felt that, I've never felt the feeling of a void.

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