Welcome to the Black Girl Burnout podcast, Kelly here.

And today I want to talk about how to opt into nostalgia.

Now, nostalgia is defined as this sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past.

But let's keep it simple for today and say that it's all about how to channel being a kid,

the things about our past that make us happy, the things that we enjoyed as a

kid. And I want to honor the fact that not all of us may have had happy childhoods, but I'm sure

all of us have a moment or two in our childhood that made us excited. And I want to talk about how to capture that excitement that

we feel is only reserved for kids and how to bring it forward into our adult lives with

some level of daily practice. Here's the thing. It's really funny that this is the topic I'm

choosing to speak about because people who know me

traditionally know me a certain way. And that is that I'm a very practical person. I'm very

straightforward. I've been successful in my professional life because I'm the person that you

bring in in crisis or in any kind of problem. And I will be like, this is what we do and this is

how we do it. We don't got time for no nonsense. And I will be like, this is what we do and this is how we do it.

We don't got time for no nonsense. And yet there's another side of me that is very silly. And I love

laughter and I love silliness. But I, if I'm being absolutely honest, those two sides of myself,

I didn't always fully bring together or integrate.

I kept them separate. I kept my silly, fun, nostalgic side in a corner, in a closet, buried deep down.

And a lot of times I led with my serious self. And I will tell you that that's just a

trauma response. That is a cultural trauma response. You know, that no, we don't got no time for

nonsense. That living that we have been taught as black women is absolutely rooted in cultural myths and

absolutely rooted in struggle. That we were not meant to be all work and no play. We were meant

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