Simple Techniques Toward Change and JOY With Linda Rossi

This weekś episode is a conversation with Linda Rossi.  Linda was born in Greensburg PA and now resides in Pittsburgh. She acquired her Associate Degree in Human Service which led to her 16 year career with helping to offer her support,encouragement and resources to families in need. She’s a writer of various artistic styles including the self-help genre, poems, and personalized quotes. She has a passion for helping people to improve their lives and empower them with simple techniques toward change.She is the Author of Zest for Life Simple Adjustments to the “New You”.

Linda shares how her career as a hair stylist opened the doors to more.  She realized that clients would come to her and confide in her. She realized how much she loved this and decided to do more with this and went back for more degrees.

She has some great tips on how to bring more JOY into your life.  The importance of writing a list to find your JOY creators and than how to take action.  There are simple things such as nature, dancing, and many more. 

She also discusses the importance of being ¨you¨ and not comparing yourself to others. 

Unfortunately the last 10 minutes of our conversation did not record.   Her book Zest for Life Simple Adjustments to the ¨New You¨ is a guide on creating a ¨new you¨.

Where to find Linda:

Her linktree link takes you to Lindaś TikTok, IG, FB and Amazon where her book can be purchased.

https://linktr.ee/lindasbooks67

Drive-A-Logue link: https://drivealogue.com/?sca_ref=4141865.xLTkWKLvJW Put NJT in the coupon box for a 20% discount!

Lauren's Book, My Dad Died From ALS and How I Found Joy 30 Years Later
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B2J15M3Z

CONNECT WITH LAUREN AND HER FAMILY

Email: lauren@dailyjoy.us
IG: https://www.instagram.com/laurensdailyjoy/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/lauren.g.raymond

Transcript

*AI Transcribed*

00:08
Hello and welcome to Navigating Joy Together. My name is Lauren and I'm here with my family. Mark. Addison. Hunter and our dog Onyx. Each episode you will hear about our experiences with navigating joy together in our family, as well as tips you can bring back to your family. Thanks for spending time with us. Now let's get to it.

00:45
to Navigating Joy Together. I am so excited to share with you our guest, but before I do that, I just wanna remind you about Drive-A-Log. Drive-A-Log is a phenomenal car game that you can use in your car when you are driving and chauffeuring your kids all over the place. There are three different age levels. They have amazing questions. Some are fun and some are serious questions, but it provides the opportunity for communication between you and your child.

01:14
It was created by Adam Brooks and it is a wonderful tool to have. We use it in our car, great questions, sometimes the kids ask the parents questions and it just creates some really fun communication. Plus you're asking your children some questions that you might not think to ask or that you want to ask but you're not sure how to bring it up. So I really highly suggest you grab it. You can get 20% discount if you go to the link in the show notes and put in the code

01:43
NJT for Navigating Joy Together. Go get it, it's super fun and look forward to hearing what you think about it. Now on to our guest. Hello everyone and welcome back to this week's episode of Navigating Joy Together. I'm so excited for this conversation. I will be chatting with Linda Rossi. She was born in Greensburg, Pennsylvania and now resides in Pittsburgh.

02:10
She acquired her associate degree in human service, which led her to her 16 year career with helping to offer her support, encouragement, and resources to families in need. She's a writer of various artistic styles, including the self-help genre, poems and personalized quotes. She has a passion for helping people to improve their lives and empower them with simple techniques toward change. She is the author of Zest for Life.

02:37
simple adjustments to the new you. This conversation is so fantastic. I learned so much from her. She has such great tips. And again, there's a couple of common themes that every single person I interview talks about on how to bring joy into their life. I'm not going to share them right now. I'm sure you'll hear them in this episode. So let's go ahead and get going. Enjoy this conversation with Linda.

03:03
Well, Linda, thank you so much for joining me today on this episode of Navigating Joy Together. I'm really, really excited to chat with you. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here. Well, these conversations are always so uplifting and invigorating. I always get such a high after having conversations with people about joy and how they bring joy into their life. So I'm so excited just to hear about what you do and have you share with others.

03:32
what you do to help, you know, give them some ideas of bringing more joy to their life. So why don't we just start off with you telling us a little bit about yourself. I live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, near my two grown children. And I have a degree in cosmetology, believe it or not. I've been doing that ever since I was out of high school. So I'm a people person working one on one all my life. And I also went back to school and got an associate in human service.

04:02
And I worked, that led me to my 16 year degree and my career in human service with a nonprofit agency. So what I did was I went into the homes and worked with the families that needed all kinds of things. And that really started where my joy started from. And I had a passion for helping people.

04:27
So for the most part, I went into the homes and helped them with any kind of support that they needed. Like from the smallest thing, from food, shelter, housing, jobs. And the thing that I liked about it was, I love to empower them and give them the confidence that they needed and get them to start on life. And my job was to get them to become self-sufficient eventually. So that's kind of where I started my heart into helping people.

04:54
And of course I always did the hair too, so that was another thing. You know, listening to people and reflecting on, I heard all kinds of problems over the years and, you know, why was I in a better mood than everyone? Like I just always felt like I was uplifting people. So that's kind of where I started, you know, researching within myself. I've been writing poems and short stories and that kind of things all my life.

05:23
And more about that topic or is that just something that you would do to just kind of maybe soothe yourself or just to release or when it comes to the writing? I just, I just think that it's a way of pondering life. Wondering what more is out there. I love that. That's why I used them.

05:44
Yes. Yeah, that's awesome. You briefly talked about what started this journey for you, which is empowering others and helping others because you're a people person and you love helping people. Was there anything in your life that led you to that? Or was it more of just kind of like this drive of this is really what I want to do for other people. And it gave you so much internal joy because I think that's what happens is when we do things for other people, the joy it brings ourselves even is incredible.

06:14
Yes, absolutely. I think because of the career that I was in, that that helped me to see how I want to make other people feel joyful and just by empowering them and giving them the self-confidence that they needed.

06:31
That's what really started my journey. Being a hairstylist and a cosmetologist, right? Yeah, starting there, because what I noticed was happening was I was doing hair and these people were coming. I'm like, didn't I just cut your hair last week? You know, I'm just kidding. They kept coming back and I started realizing, I'm like, wait a minute, there's more to this than their haircut. They're coming back because I'm listening to them and they felt a connection to me. And I was like,

06:58
I love that and I think I need to like, you know, go more on, find more things to do to help people like that. And that's what made me go back to school and get my associate degree in the social service. Still while doing here, you know, and that was an interesting thing to me. That is really interesting. And actually people say that they feel like their, their hairstylist is like their therapist in a way. Like you've heard that.

07:23
If you, I know, I know I've experienced this when I've moved, when I lived south of Denver and I moved up to the mountains, I actually would still travel down to my hairstylist because it was like this breakup, right? I'd gone to him for years and I couldn't imagine going to somebody else. And eventually I was like, I kids, I'm like, I can't drive two hours to get my hair like this is ridiculous, but it was very, very hard because you do make this connection and there's something about that. So

07:50
I love hearing that. It kind of gives me chills, but just from that perspective with you and that, that does happen and that's why people really connect with their hairstylist. You know, Oh, that is so neat. And it just gave you the drive to do something more, which is really cool. How it just opened the door. I love it. Um, okay. So.

08:13
When we initially connected, you mentioned that you've tapped into your own uniqueness, self-love, self-care, and that you never spend time comparing yourself to others for the simple fact that we're all unique. So before we get to that part, I would just love to hear a little bit about how you just tap into your own uniqueness and how you focus on self-care and self-love, because that's very hard to do. It is. And I think you have to...

08:43
you know, spend time researching yourself, trying to find out what do you like to do? You know, what kind of skills do you have? What are your talents? And just start out with hobbies, experimenting with different ones, you know, there's so many things out there that you can do with yourself perhaps. And I mean, think about sports and, you know, there's just so much to life. And I just want people to tap into that.

09:09
and really try to look deep down. What do you like? Cause I feel like we all have skills that we were just God given. And maybe you're just not tapping into that. I spend time researching it. Tapping into those skills. Like how did you know? Cause some people I don't think know what it is for them or how to actually find it. And what did you do or what did you notice? Well, that's why I'm saying like make a list of, you know, things that you might be interested in and try them out.

09:39
I mean, if you don't try, how are you going to know? You know what I mean? How are you going to know what you're interested in? I mean, you might say, oh, dancing, you like that, but sometimes they have the fear that, oh, I'm not going to be good at it. You can't feel that way. You're not going to be like the best star dancer. You're just going because you're trying to find a hobby to use that's going to be an outlet for you. Hobbies are outlets from the world that we live in.

10:08
and every day we're doing our things, you gotta tap into that. And even if it's just small things that might not be, nobody else even has to know. Maybe you're just going out, taking a walk or tapping, and you don't have to be good at it. That's the thing too. None of these items or lists of things that you sit down with yourself and make, which I recommend, don't just sit there and ponder it. Get a piece of paper and a pen out and actually write a list.

10:37
Well, and I love how you said we don't have to be good at it because I think sometimes people won't do something because of that. And it's really just about does it bring you joy? Like, it doesn't matter if you're good at it. Like, does it bring you joy? That's the purpose of it, right? Is doing something that fulfills you and just fills your soul with joy. It doesn't matter how great you are, you know, or one person is at it or not. So what are some things that I know you mentioned writing and I'm sure helping others in doing what you do?

11:07
with your work, but like just personally, what are some things that you tap into to just keep that joy flowing for yourself? I like to go out in nature and do a lot. And I feel like that's where a lot of pieces and people need to get out there more or to walk into our houses. I go on walks, I examine flowers. I bring them into my home every day. I do some things daily.

11:36
I mean, some people, how many people walk outside and look up to the sky and like look at the stars? I mean, they don't take the time out daily to do, you're just so into the human world. I call it the human world. And which we do, I mean, we all have to do it. You know, you have jobs and things that you have to do, but you have to take the time to realize that when you think about it back, when we were like created, you know, what was here, try to get back into nature because God put this all here for us to enjoy.

12:06
You know, too many people are seeing the negative things out there. Why don't you try to tap into the positive? I mean, I'll literally like take pictures of birds. Like I have these beautiful birds in my backyard and I'm out there taking pictures. And I told my neighbor, I was like, don't mind me, you know, you'll find me out there. If there's a rainbow, I'm going to have my camera and I'm going to be taking pictures.

12:29
You know, cause and it's like so funny. I had, you'll see like on my site, on my website or not my website, I'm sorry, Facebook or different things like that. I have all these pictures and I love to take photography. So I tapped into that as a way to outlet, you know, I love to do that. I love to write and I do so many things. I ice skate. I mean, do what you can. If you're not physically able to do things,

12:56
You still have to find something you love. I don't care if you go out and like look for four leaf clovers in the grass. I mean, just relax, you know, and it, and you can't, who cares if anybody knows, you don't have to tell anyone, but tell everyone who cares. You know what I mean? Just tell them anyways, because it's so cool. They might think, oh, she's crazy. She doing sitting in her yard, picking up looking for four leaf clovers, but it's, it's relaxing and it's fun, you know, and that's.

13:25
Don't let people, you know, worry. Don't worry about what people think about you. Yeah, absolutely. It's your world. You can create your own world. That's why I want people to know, like, you know, you can create the world that you want to live in. Right. For most part. I mean, outside of work and other things, like obviously you have to have adult responsibilities. Right. But when you're off, try to find a way to create the world you want.

13:51
Well, exactly. And you can create your own. I mean, you're the one in charge of your happiness. And, you know, whether you're living in a negative space or a very joyful, happy space. And absolutely. Like, of course, there's some things that are out of our control, but it's just how we handle those things. You know, nature is I swear, I've preached for years that nature is seriously the easiest joy creator out there. I mean, and people, I mean.

14:18
The amount of people that just are looking down at their phones and they're not taking in anything anymore just makes me really sad. I really try to make it a point just to keep my phone away and pay attention to what I see. I go on a, I'm a teacher and so I always take like a 15 minute walk every day. And I probably take the same picture of the same, I take a picture of a river like all the time and it's in the same spot.

14:43
It's the same thing, but like every day it looks different. Cause I'm like, look at that ice patch or look at this or like, there's always something different, but I'm like, God, I've taken this picture a gazillion times. Or we have a mountain called Mount Sopras just out, you know, down the street is like this lonesome it's, you know, we have, I'm in the mountains. So we have mountains everywhere, but Mount Sopras is, it's, it's like this, it, to me it's power and strength because it's this lone 13,000 foot mountain.

15:11
where it kind of stands by itself. And I swear I've taken millions of pictures of that mountain. But again, every day it looks a little different. And it's just the, it's such a joy creator. I mean, there's so much in the birds. Like I'm starting to notice birds too. Like especially the spring, these beautiful bright blue birds. I mean, they're incredible. And there's so much that if we just look up, that's all people need to do is.

15:39
just look up and take in what they see. It is the most, you could just feel like, you feel everything just relax off your body and I don't feel like people do it enough. And I wish they would, you know? I mean, I think it'd make a huge difference for people just mentally, you know, their mental space. Oh, it would. Like for instance, I have in my backyard these, they're called turkey vultures, okay? And they have this wingspan. My favorite bird is the eagle. So they have a wingspan like very big, like an eagle.

16:08
And you're going to laugh. So I'll literally look up there and I'll be like, can I take a ride on with you? Like, just strap me to the back of you. I just want to go up there and fly around with you, you know, because they look so peaceful, just soaring around. And I just, that's what I want people to do on a daily basis. Yeah. And I, I, I wish people would do that. And I think it does, even if you live in the city, there's just so much that you can take note of, you know, and.

16:35
I love that. Thank you for sharing that because nature really is so powerful. Oh yeah, I love the city. Look at the buildings. I take picture of architecture and, you know, churches, old buildings and stone. My sisters are like, where'd you get these pictures from stones? I went to England back when I was in high school and I brought back all these pictures of stone. They're like, what is that? I love it. Yeah, it's a stone building. Yeah, totally.

17:02
Look at that architecture, yeah. Yeah, it's beautiful. OK, and so you also mentioned that you never spend time comparing to others just because we're all unique. And that's so incredible. You know, I really try to, I mean, as teachers, I think we really try to, in elementary, well, at any level, but I'm at the elementary level, we really try to teach kids that we're all different and it's OK. And there's nothing wrong with that. But how it's hard to do, especially

17:31
if we're not, if we haven't had that, if we're not used to being able to do that. So how do you keep yourself from comparing yourself to others? I literally live by the belief that we were all created, created differently. I mean, I think we all know that, you know, and I think that every single one of us possesses special talents. So you have to remember that. But then on the flip side, whenever I'm talking to people, you have to respect.

17:59
You know, I mean, parents hopefully taught their children to respect people. And respect starts with yourself. Number one, you have to respect yourself. So you're different and you know what your differences are. And then I respect other people when I'm talking with them. It's about like, even like I said, okay, so I have a lot of conversations with people all the time. And when they tell me something that's different than me, I think that that's cool. I'm like, wow, that's really cool. And when they're telling me their differences, I'm learning something.

18:27
So I teach people things and they teach me. And that's what I wish people would try to adapt that more of an attitude. And I feel like it's more, it boils down to attitude. What is your attitude about yourself? And what is your attitude about other people? How do you view them? We're not gonna be all the same. And that's what everybody needs to embrace more of. Yes, absolutely. I love that.

18:57
Okay, so you've been putting this into place for yourself for a while. And how has it just created more joy for you? Like what have you noticed just about your life in general as far as joy being more present and how you feel and how life is? It definitely gives me a more

19:24
appreciation for life and to know that life is short. You know the older you get and I'm getting there at that point where time is just going so fast. And so, you know, you it brings me more to the moment, you know, try to be in the moment and that's part of the other problem that I think people have is we're always trying to think of what's what's going on next women just stop right now where we're at. Because this is the moment that we're in.

19:51
I mean, sure, you have to plan things, you know, but you can't be missing out on moments because life is not meant to be like this big athletic marathon, you know? Hurrying up and trying to get somewhere fast, you know? The only time I might go a little speeding is if I'm a little late for work. But I mean, I'm usually not. I try to get there early so I don't have to experience that. That's another tip. Like, you know what I mean? Plan out your day that way so you know you're not gonna rush around. Yeah.

20:21
But you know, but even traffic, think about that. Like people are in traffic. And it's like, why are you getting all worked up? If you're not trying to punch a clock, you know what I mean? I know it gets tense or frustrating, but let's just say you're going down the, you know, you have plenty of time and everyone's getting all, you know, mad and upset. Just look around the trees while you're waiting. There's something there to look at. Yeah. You don't have to be that way. Yeah. Yes. And I,

20:50
love that you brought up the rushing part because I think as adults people are rushing, that's all we do is rush and we don't take in the moment and we don't just once that minute goes by that's gone for the rest of your life. So I again I've kind of preached that too as being in the moment and it's not easy by any means but now it is something that I think is imperative and my husband and I have worked really hard to try to do with our children because someday they're going to be gone.

21:18
Well, you know, I'm really like, screw the laundry, you know, like, yes, I'm going to take the time. My kids are here with me right now. Like, do I want to get it done? Yeah. But I'd rather be in the moment and have this time because they are going to be gone in the near future. And I'll have all the time in the world to do laundry if I could choose to, you know, and I mean, exactly. And I think, I mean, I think it's about prioritizing to the thing that I think.

21:46
brings happiness to people. I will tell you two things that I think are very important. Number one is prioritizing. So you know what is the most important thing in your life. Number one, let's just say our children, we know that, okay? So if you're not putting that first, you're not gonna feel good. Like you're not gonna be happy daily because you know you're not putting them first or whatever. You know what I mean? Whatever the first thing is on your list of prioritization, whatever means the most to you.

22:14
because you might not have children or whatever, everybody's situation is different. So putting your prioritization into place is very important. And the other thing is being in the moment and living life to the fullest. How can you live your life to the fullest? And it might be small things for some people, it might be big dreams for others. Because I think, like we said before about comparing

22:41
Whenever people are looking at all that social media and they're looking at other people's lives and they're like, oh, I don't have that. And then they fall into like a little depression thing. That's not you though. Right. You know, stay with your own self and what you like. Yeah, that's so true, man. That social media.

23:05
There's some good things about it, but woo, talk about comparing, right? Like that's probably the hardest place not to compare when you're seeing what other people are doing or what their life is like and you know, it's. Right. Well, here's the thing. If you're happy within yourself. Okay. When you start tapping into these own uniqueness, you'll be more happy for people that are happy. Like when people get things, amazing things happen.

23:35
them. I'm so happy for them. Yep. You know, that's going to bring that should bring you more joy instead of being like, say, jealous or upset with your own life. And so that's why everybody needs to spend time researching and looking within themselves so that they can actually when they feel content, then they're going to be really happy with everyone no matter what they get.

23:57
you know, in life, I'm always happy for other people. Oh my gosh, I get so excited. You're doing what? I'm so happy for you, you got a house, oh my God. Yeah, you're absolutely right. But you're right, and I don't think that comes if you're not happy and content with yourself and what you have going on. So that should be the first step, right? That should be the first step for sure. Okay, I'm taking a pause out from the interview because the last 10 minutes of the interview did not upload and I'm really upset about it because there were some real amazing gems in there. However,

24:27
Linda did leave us with some incredible takeaways and wonderful things to think about. What I do want to share that we are missing in that last part is where you can find Linda. She has a Linktree link, which is linktree.com. Linda's books 6-7 and you can find that in the show notes, but Linda's a writer and she has recently published a book. It's on Amazon.

24:54
and I'm going to talk about that in a second, but you can also follow her on TikTok, Instagram, and on Facebook. And so when you go to that link tree link, it'll have all those links of where you can follow her and her book. And her book is called Zest for Life, Simple Adjustments to the New You. And I just love this very beginning part. It says, do you dream about having more joy and laughter in your life? What if I told you it's possible? What if I told you it's easy?

25:24
If you truly want to learn how you can change your life, then this book is for you. This is a small but mighty book packed with a blend of some common ideas along with a new spin on your way of thinking. My goal is to help as many people as I can to wake up every morning with a new perspective on their life. The best thing about this book is you will have this little handbook to refer back to as often as you want, which in return will aid to your success. What an incredible book.

25:50
Incredible book. I highly recommend everybody to get it. I definitely want to get it as well It looks absolutely phenomenal. You can buy it on Kindle or you can also I think this is just the Kindle edition actually okay, so sorry that we missed the last part, but I'm gonna go ahead and Go back to the ending of the interview so you can just hear the ending of that and thank you so much for listening Wow, wow, wow

26:16
I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Linda. She said so many tremendous and inspiring things. Number one, what she does to support other people in living joyfully, I absolutely love. It just warms my heart so much. She has such a passion for helping others live their best life. And she says some really important key things. And one thing that I haven't heard from other people I've interviewed is just...

26:44
Tapping into the uniqueness of you and not comparing, that is huge. We so often compare ourselves to other people, other families, other lives, especially with social media. It's so hard not to, when you see everybody sharing all their awesome things on social media and people don't share their lows, right? Most of the time. And so it makes it very easy to compare and then we don't feel great about ourselves.

27:10
Linda really focuses on the uniqueness of oneself and talks about how important that is and I think that is huge. Such a good lesson for us all to learn because it's very easy to get into that comparison mode and just not be happy and content with ourselves. So go out there and focus on yourself. Get content with yourself first and then you will be happy for whatever you see.

27:39
that other people are doing in their lives and you won't compare as much. Just like she said. I hope you enjoyed it. Please reach out and let us know what you took away from this. I know Linda and I both would love to hear how this episode impacted you or what nugget you took away. You can reach me at lauren at dailyjoy.us on Instagram, Lauren's Daily Joy or on my Facebook, Lauren Goldman Raymond.

28:05
And I will also have Linda's links and contact information in the show notes. I hope you have a wonderful, joyful day and I am out of here. Did you enjoy your time with us today? If you did, please give us a review on Apple podcasts. Your review will make navigating joy together much more fun. And we would be truly grateful if you would share this with others who, you know, would gain value from our podcast. Thank you again. And we look forward to sharing our next episode with you in two weeks.