Ep 44: Self-care and Sabbath with Katie Pozzuoli

Rachel: [00:00:00]

Rest doesn’t have to be a four-letter word. If you feel like you’re about to break from exhaustion. Let me invite you to Simply Sabbath, a podcast for the burnt-out Christian mom, who longs to get back to the core of who she is and to reclaim the deep joy and stabilizing peace Jesus has for her in her every day– without the mom guilt that often accompanies self-care practices.

Hi, my name is Rachel Fahrenbach and I help busy moms just like you add a simple restful family Sabbath to their week. So they can experience a refueling that gives them exactly what they need to live the life that God has called them to. I’m so glad you’ve joined me today. Let’s get to it

Hey, there we’re back today with another friend of mine, Katie Pozzuoli thanks for joining us, Katie.

Katie: [00:01:00] Thanks for having me, Rachel.

Rachel: Katie is here today to talk to us about her Sabbath practice in particular and selfcare in general. But before we get into that conversation, let me tell you a little bit about her.

Katie is a writer helping women adopt sustainable practices of selfcare to thrive, no fluff, no guilt fests, no self obsession, just real self care for real life. Katie has spent most of her adult life, figuring out with a lot of trial and error, how to be healthy in every area of her life. And as a constant work in progress, she’s still figuring it out.

Katie finds inspiration in the women around her who work hard and love well, and she especially loves discovering how they build habits of self care that help them to show up fully alive to the places where they’ve been called. Katie makes her home in Southeastern Ohio with her husband three children and their rescue pub.

Now, Katie, I wanted to start with this idea of self [00:02:00] care. Can you share your definition of what it is and why it is so important?

Katie: Absolutely. Self-care is caring for ourselves. In fact, I like to think of it almost as parenting or mothering ourselves doing the things that we know we need to do to be healthy in every area of our life. And so I reject the idea that self-care is something that needs to be expensive, that it is pedicures or shopping sprees. I think that self-care is much more the building blocks of what it takes to be a healthy human getting good rest, um, taking care of our bodies with movement and with food that feeds us well, turning off our screens from time to time and connecting with other human beings.

Rachel: I love that definition. It’s parenting or mothering ourselves. That’s really beautiful. How did you come to that? [00:03:00] That, uh, definition?

Katie: Well, it’s something that’s evolved as I’ve been writing about self care. And so I was first and I still do write about practices that I have found helpful or that other women I know have found helpful. Things like silence and rest and getting outside solitude. And the more I wrote about these practices, the more I thought these are really the common sense things that your mom would tell you to do. Turn off your phone, go to bed. Eat some protein. Um, and so, so I have just started to think about it like that.

What would, what would my mom say? Or, you know, if you didn’t have a great relationship with your own mother, what would your best friend say? What would a, a nurturing female figure in your life tell you to do right now?

Rachel: That’s so good. So. As far as self [00:04:00] care goes, are there certain, like when you’re thinking about self care, do you have certain categories?

Like, do you think of it in terms of like physical, emotional, spiritual? Like, how do you categorize self-care

Katie: yeah, there’s actually a framework that talks about the different aspects of our lives. And so those are social, emotional, um, physical. Vocational or some people might say financial, so there are different ar there are, it depends on who you talk to, but there are six or seven different areas of life where we need we can’t ever find perfect balance, but we can work to bring those areas into better balance. And if any, one of those areas is drastically out of balance, that’s when we start to feel off in our lives. And so you can think about self care in those [00:05:00] different ways.

Rachel: So would you, would you encourage somebody to focus on one area at a time, or would you say pick a couple areas? Like how would you approach self care?

Katie: I think. In, in anything that we want to change in our lives, or if we’re trying to create a new habit. And I think most of self care is building sustainable habits. I think it’s best to start with small steps.

And so I have, I tend to have an all or nothing personality. And so me too, I , so I want to do a big overhaul. You know, when, when my kids go back to school in the fall, I want burn everything down and build it from the ground up. But yep. changing things in that way never lasts more than about a week. Um, and so I think that it would be best if you were, if you are in a place where you’re thinking [00:06:00] maybe self-care is what I need, then I think it would be good to think.

What one area of my life, if I could find some improvement, what one area would I focus on? And so I think that’s a great idea. Um, you know, maybe it’s that you are eating leftover macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets off your kids’ plate after every meal. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But if you find yourself feeling icky about it later, then maybe.

Making sure that there’s some fruit and vegetable alongside the macaroni and cheese and chicken nugget leftovers. Yeah. Um, but if you’re feeling really lonely and, and disconnected, maybe it’s joining a mom’s group or finding one friend or trying to connect with a woman from church and building into that social aspect of your lives and your life.

And. I think that, that, yeah, you can kind of troubleshoot and start small with again, baby steps, one small [00:07:00] thing at a time.

Rachel: I think that’s such wise advice. Um, I know when I’m talking to women about implementing Sabbath into their weeks, they can sometimes get overwhelmed by the idea of taking a full 24 hours off.

And so I say, Hey, just take an hour. Like just put it on your calendar, block out the time and just do it. And I think the same thing could be true of these self care practices that we’re talking about. And I do believe. And we’ll talk a little bit more about that in a second, but I do believe self-care is part of Sabbath.

I think it’s, they’re very interwoven. Um, but Starting small taking small action items so that you can, um, make those steps of progress. I think that’s so important. And so wise, do you view self-care as different from Sabbath? Do you see them as being intertwined like I do?

Or what are your thoughts on that?

Katie: Yes. I think that they are strongly connected. I think that rest in general [00:08:00] is a huge component of self-care and I think that Sabbath. Exactly. God’s gift to us to say, this is one way to take care of yourselves by taking a Sabbath rest. And so I do think that they’re intertwined and I think that we can implement certain specific practices in our Sabbath to make it even more of a day where we are taking care of ourselves.

Rachel: when you were saying that rest is a part of self care. It made me think back to that whole parenting aspect of it. I think about like my kids, I, most of the time when I am telling them things are giving them directive most of the time it’s because I’m trying to, um, mitigate a possible melt. From exhaustion , you know, it’s like, don’t eat so much candy cuz we don’t wanna have a sugar crash, you know, like make sure you go to bed in time because we don’t eat too cranky in the morning.

Um, maybe less step away from the TV because too much stimulation can cause you guys to have [00:09:00] nervous breakdowns um, you know, so all the things. And so I think that’s really interesting. I’ve never really made that connection that, um, I know that we need rest as just a physical, um, our bodies. You know, in, in that like machine type mentality, you know, like you need to recharge the batteries type thing, but when you think about it with that parenting lens that you put on it, that we’re parenting ourselves.

And I think about all the ways in which I try to get my children to rest and how I try to slow them down a little bit, because they would just run themselves ragged if they could. I think it really kind of reframes it for us and it really puts it back into perspective. It’s not only good for us, it’s really necessary for us.

I mean, it’s really, like you said, it’s not selfish. I think that it just, it reframes it and it, and it puts it back into perspective for us that it’s not only good for us, but it’s also very necessary.

 How did you start [00:10:00] practicing Sabbath? What was the impetus for that?

Katie: Well, you know, I think that I first heard about Sabbath as an idea, not just an old Testament idea, but something that. That God maybe still wanted us to consider as Christians probably about nine years ago. Oh, wow. Okay. My, my oldest daughter is 10.

She just turned 10 and she was a baby still. So nine somewhere between nine and 10 years ago, my pastor did a sermon series on Sabbath and he defined Sabbath specifically as a break from our regular work, an intentional that’s good break from our regular work. And. At the time I thought I was newly a stay at home mom, and I thought there is no break from my regular work mm-hmm

Um, I could only see that, you know, all of my work was laundry and dishes and food and, and a baby that needed me all the time. [00:11:00] And it never ends. exactly. And so I basically discarded the idea of Sabbath because I could not see an application to my actual life at that time, but I just have continued to hear about Sabbaths and I, I couldn’t even tell you what those.

You know what those sources were now. Right. But it has continued to crop up throughout my adult life. And I’ve had a couple of friends who have intentionally practiced Sabbath and shared their practices of it. And it made me think, you know, maybe there is a way what part of my regular work could I take a break from mm-hmm

And so that was where I started. And I started very simply by saying on Sundays, I don’t do laundry. Mm-hmm . And I don’t get on social media. And so laundry was something I thought I can do laundry five or six days a week, but not on Sundays. That’s something that can really wait. And [00:12:00] I think I will benefit from taking 24 hours off of social media.

And so that was the beginning of it for me. No laundry and no social media on Sunday.

Rachel: But when you said no social media, did you take any like drastic steps to stay off of it? Like I’ve heard people say like their phones are in another room, locked away for their Sabbath time. Did you do anything like that or did you just, did you have. Self discipline, self control.

Katie: well, you know, it there’s some ebbs and flows to the self discipline and self control factor. Mm-hmm um, I don’t lock my phone away or turn it off because I’m still open to phone calls and text messages and communication. So I think. That I, I think I did it quietly. I don’t think that I told anyone except maybe my husband, that I was stepping back from social media, but what I found, what I have found, because I, I do try to implement social media breaks really pretty regularly.

In addition to a Sabbath, I try to take a break a couple times a year for an extended [00:13:00] period of time. And so

Rachel: from social media or just in.

Katie: From social media specifically. Okay. So I, I took about 10 days off earlier this summer. Mm-hmm from social media and from my online work. Okay. Um, and so what I have found from those seasons of taking a step back from social media is that I actually love it so much that.

it’s not too hard for me to maintain. There are, there have been seasons where I, I find, you know, five o’clock on Sunday, I’m logging into Instagram. Um, but for the most part, it really has been, I have felt that it has been a gift. And so it’s been relatively easy to maintain that practice. Did

Rachel: you, have you added any other things to your Sabbath in addition to the laundry and

Katie: social media?

Yeah, I have. And so on Sunday mornings, I typically, I don’t sleep in necessarily. Okay. I think, I think having children may have ruined that for [00:14:00] me. um,

Rachel: my husband and I were just talking about this the other day. Cause, um, my, I have a few younger siblings that are like in their twenties and their like.

Unmarried and they sleep until like noon on Saturday and we’re like, oh my goodness. That’s like been so long ago since we’ve been able to do that. Like, will it ever come back?

Katie: I don’t know. Yeah. It might be a physical impossibility at this point. Um, so I still get up pretty early, but I stay in bed and I read in bed and part of the reason I can.

It’s it’s wonderful. It it’s one of my favorite times of the week. Part of the reason that I can do that is because my husband does get up. Okay. And he is with the kids and he is, he typically makes breakfast and gets them dressed and ready for Sunday mornings. But we, you know, then we let them watch cartoons and mm-hmm and chill out for, for part of the morning, usually as.

So that is one practice. Um, my family and I attend church on Sundays and that’s part of my [00:15:00] Sabbath practice. Um, we keep meals usually pretty simple. Um, Something that either is kind of mindless that I don’t have to think about, or we have leftovers or we might eat out and it’s not hard for me. I, I still stick with no laundry and no cleaning that that’s definitely a gift.

And I’m not much of, not much of a housekeeper so that one’s not too hard for me to stick with. Um, and in the last year, I, my husband and I have launched an online business and I have started writing regularly online. And so both of those things, I. Put the breaks on, on Sundays as well. No, no writing for the public.

Yeah. And no online work. That’s

Rachel: actually a really good distinction that you just made no writing for the public. Um, especially with. Having on like being in the online business space. Mm-hmm , it can become very blurred, but even more. So I think when you are a writer, [00:16:00] because I’m guessing, and I would love for you to speak a little bit more to this.

I’m guessing that you’re, you’re probably like me that I need to write to process my thoughts. Mm-hmm and in order, like there’s something restful in that there’s something that reconnects me back to God in doing that. Um, But that’s a different kind of writing for me than the stuff I put out on Instagram, the stuff I put on my blog, the stuff I put into materials, I’m creating, um, to be, you know, used by other people.

Do you find that’s the same for you?

Katie: Yeah. And I will say in this season of my life, I’m not a big journaler. I have done that more in past seasons. And so most of the writing that I do is for public consumption, but I would make an exception if I were journaling or reflecting in some way. Mm-hmm . Yeah.

Rachel: Does your husband do anything in particular?

Like you have your reading in the morning? Does he have anything like. [00:17:00]

Katie: Um, you know, right now Sabbath is a practice that is pretty much mine alone. Okay. It’s not something that our family is implementing together. Um, we’re kind of in slightly different places with that right now.

Rachel: So that’s actually, if you don’t mind sharing.

How did you have that conversation with your husband then if you’re not Sabbath thing together as a family, I know some of our listeners today might find themselves in a similar situation where maybe their spouse isn’t ready to implement that practice for themselves right now. Mm-hmm how did you guys approach that?

Maybe what, with some of the conversations that you had that allowed you to say, this is something I need right now in my life. Um, and how can we make that work? um, within our situation, right.

Katie: Yeah, that’s a great question. So my husband has, you know, a pretty traditional nine to five job that he sometimes works from home and sometimes [00:18:00] travels.

And so he does have a pretty strict boundary around that and he generally does not work. Do that work, his typical work on the weekends mm-hmm but we are working on a side business online, as I mentioned. And so for him, He will devote a good bit of the weekend to focusing on that. Okay. And building that business for our family.

And so for him, that’s kind of what, what Sabbath is. He’s doing something that, that fuels him, but in a, a different way, um, He’s great about helping out and giving me a break and, you know, feeding the kids breakfast and getting them ready so that I can have some Sabbath time. And when we started building our business in earnest, I said, I, I really need a break on mm-hmm on Sundays.

And so he is respectful of that boundary and, you know, we, we might have a couple conversations here and there, but we even, I really do try to limit even business related [00:19:00] conversations on Sundays. Um, and so he’s, he’s supportive of that and I recognize that we are in slightly different places there, but for him, the biggest thing that he wants to take a break from is his nine to five job.

And so he is able to do that on the weekends.

Rachel: And I think that’s the freedom in the way that you kind of define Sabbath as being a break from our regular lives. Mm-hmm that it kind of opens up the door to even defining what is work and what is rest. And, um, I think too, it’s a little bit different for my husband’s in a traditional nine to five job too.

And, um, you know, he has time to process his week on his commute, but I don’t have as a work from home mom. I don’t get that time away from the kids and away from anybody else. I mean, he’s in the car. In the quiet sometimes I tell him, I’m like, I’m jealous of you. You have, he has an hour long commute. Um, [00:20:00] and so like you have two hours a day where nobody’s bothering you.

That’s um, but he, so he doesn’t necessarily have the same needs. For that quiet, reflective time be on the weekend as I do mm-hmm cause I don’t have that quiet spot typically. So I love how, the way that you define sabbath opens up the door to implement it differently and have it look differently in your lives.

Uh, I think that’s really, really good. How has practicing Sabbath changed your life?

Katie: Well, you know, I, I mentioned earlier that I felt like it was impossible to Sabbath when I had an infant, but what I have realized is that life does not get any less busy as our kids get older.

Rachel: it just, in fact, the needs change that, you know, when they’re, when their babies they’re like physically needing you all the time, and then [00:21:00] as they get older, now they need you emotionally and, you know, right.

Just

Katie: different ways. Exactly. And so, yeah, the, the needs change, but there are more demands on my time now than there were 10 years ago when I had one infant. Um, and so nobody in my life is probably gonna look at me and say, Katie, you, you should really take a break except the Lord mm-hmm . And so I want to honor both the commandment and a gift that he’s given us with Sabbath mm-hmm

And for me, Sabbath is not just rest for my body, but for my soul mm-hmm . And so the practices that I have chosen to incorporate in my Sabbath allow me to feel like that day is like a long inhale and a, a long, deep exhale. And so that is what Sabbath is for me. And that is what I need as I, you know, on Sunday as I get ready to go into the week to [00:22:00] come.

Rachel: So, do you incorporate any other specifically like soul care practices into your sabbath?

Katie: You know, at this time I don’t, I, um, there is an app that I like to listen to Lectio 365, which is a prayer app. Yeah. Um, and so I will sometimes do that on Sunday and sometimes not because I do it pretty typically through the rest of the week mm-hmm

Um, and so sometimes I’m, I’ll open my Bible or pray a little bit, but sometimes I don’t on Sundays. Um, but. I’m not saying that’s necessarily a best practice, but that’s where I am right now. Mm-hmm

Rachel: and it sounds like you’re giving yourself, you’re, you’re being kind with yourself in acknowledging where you’re at right now.

Yeah. And saying, this is taking the break is just as important as what you do during the

Katie: break. Yeah, absolutely.

Rachel: Katie, do you find any that you come up against any kind of challenges [00:23:00] when you try to Sabbath? Like, is there anything that keeps you from svaha anything that you find difficult during Sabbath?

Katie: Hmm.

I think for me, the most difficult thing is. There are two things. One is resisting the siren call of social media because it, it is so easy just to think I’ll just pop in and check really quick. Yeah. And then you look down 30 or 60 minutes later and, and, you know, it feels like such a waste of time. If you haven’t been intentional about that, at least that’s how I feel.

Mm-hmm um, so I think that is one challenge. The other challenge for me, Is balancing the type of rest that I’m taking, um, because I’m setting this day aside intentionally to rest. Sometimes I think I just wanna lay in bed all [00:24:00] afternoon. Mm-hmm I, I wanna take a long nap and there are, there are times and seasons for that, certainly, but I also find that I might feel a lot better if I take a walk instead.

I actually might feel better instead of checking out all day. Um, if I actually connect with my family and sit down and play a game with my kids. And so for me, it’s not swinging too far in the direction of rest in and doing nothing. Um, so I think that prioritizing connection with the people who are right in front of me is kind of the best antidote, both. The full of social media and for the, you know, the kind of the slide down towards apathy almost.

Rachel: Hmm. So do you have any suggestions on how to navigate that on how to know when you need to just take the nap and when maybe you need to [00:25:00] take the walk?

Katie: I think it’s probably a matter of, of practice. Um, and knowing that you just won’t always get it, right.

Sometimes you wake up from an app and you think I might feel worse than I did before, but maybe your body still really needed the rest mm-hmm . Um, and so I do think it’s just a lot of practice and, and. Noticing where you are emotionally. If you find that you’re trying to play a game with your kids, but you’re just feeling irritated and you’re snapping, then maybe, maybe it is the day for the walk or the nap.

Mm-hmm . Um, and so I think that that. that is something that just comes from practice. And another thing that we don’t necessarily plan to do, but when it happens, I find that it, it really is life giving to me is if we have another family over for dinner or we’re invited somewhere to, you know, to eat with someone.

Yeah. I do find that that is just a really refreshing way to spend Sabbath, but [00:26:00] that’s not something that we really intentionally try to make happen now, but sometimes it, it does.

Rachel: So it sounds to me that we need to pay attention to how we’re responding. Mm-hmm in our sabbath practice paying attention to those. What is, how is my body physically responding right now to this way that I rested? How is my spirit responding to the way that I just rested? Mm-hmm do you know, how is my soul? How, how do I feel on emotionally?

I think that’s a really insightful point about how to navigate your sabbath practice. And I think you just brought up a really important point. Why it’s weekly. Mm-hmm I think that sometimes that weekly component of Sabbath can be overwhelming, but I think that there’s so much of a, there’s such a gift in it because.

Allows for those moments of, Hey, maybe this week we [00:27:00] didn’t get it right. But next week we might, we might do better. And we always have next week to try again. Right. And so I think that’s, I think that’s really valuable. Mm-hmm that weekly-ness of it all.

Katie: yeah, it really is. And that, that’s the whole point of calling it a practice too.

Yeah. That we, we get to try again. Um, I also, a lot of Sundays I will find, I say Sundays because that’s when we mm-hmm I typically practice the Sabbath, but a lot of times by about five o’clock on Sunday, I can just feel. Where my energy is, you know? Yeah. Is my energy high. Have I done the things that I needed to fill my, yeah, my bucket or am I feeling like, Ugh, tomorrow’s Monday and I don’t feel ready for that at all.

You’re

Rachel: like, Ugh, man. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. You know

Katie: it, and if you recognize that by five o’clock, it might not be too late to course. Correct. You know, you might be able. Take a quick walk after dinner or play [00:28:00] that game with your kids or just put yourself to bed early. Um, I like that

Rachel: option yeah. Yeah.

Sometimes I need that, but no, I think that’s a really good point too. Like, Hey, by five o’clock check in with yourself and say, am I do I feel like I’ve gotten the rest I need mm-hmm is there some other form of it that I might need to do between now and nine O’? When I go to sleep or 10 o’clock I say nine o’clock cuz I’m supposed to be going to bed between like nine 30 and 10 and that’s not happening lately.

So , I need to parent myself and implement some self-care and get myself to bed earlier so I can actually get up when I’m supposed to get up. That’s hard. It is so hard. uh, yeah, no, I, I like what you just said. That’s that’s so, so good. Do you have any other suggestions or tips in how to approach Sabbath or what you could do during Sabbath?

Katie: Yeah, I think, you know, I just think about moms that are feeling [00:29:00] overwhelmed. Mm-hmm by the idea. And I, I would say the same thing we talked about earlier, which is start small. And like you said, it, it doesn’t have to be a whole day mm-hmm . Um, I think that if I were, if I could talk to. You know, nine years ago, I would say, you know, have your husband put the kids to bed one night and take, take that hour or two hours, put your phone away.

Mm-hmm and, you know, take a bath, read a book, take a walk, meet a friend for coffee and just start with a really small piece of time. Mm-hmm um, It can be, or, you know, if you’re a stay at home, mom, it might be while your kids are napping. And so maybe instead of having a practice once a week, maybe you say, instead of doing the laundry, washing the dishes, picking up the toys during nap time, I’m gonna do.

I’m gonna sit and read a book instead mm-hmm [00:30:00] or some something that, you know, will fill you up, call a friend, or, you know, or even just watch a TV show, something like that. Um, and, and make that an intentional practice at least a couple days a week during nap time. So start small is one thing I would say, um, enlist help, wherever you can.

So. Yep. If you have a spouse and you can trade off, I think that’s great. You know, for single moms, I know that’s a lot harder. Um, but if you have parents around, if you have neighbors or friends who can help, even if you can afford to pay for childcare, mm-hmm , I think that it would be worth it to give yourself a break and to choose activities during that time, really intentionally that will fill you up for when you return to your family.

Rachel: Yeah. I’m even thinking like, if you could swap a day with another single mom yeah. That you might know, be like, Hey, I’m gonna, I would love to Sabbath for. Four [00:31:00] hours on Saturday, you know, could we swap that? Like maybe this, you could swap weeks or you could even swap days, like you have your, her kids come over to your house on Friday from five to nine, and then your kids go to her.

Did I say that right? I think I said that, right? Yeah. You know what I’m saying? Like, you know, you would swap the time and I, I think that’s a, I that’s a possibility, but I totally agree with you. Really press in to utilizing the community around you. You’re not meant to do this thing alone, right? You’re not even meant to rest alone.

And so the more you can tap into the community around you, um, to allow them to shoulder some of the responsibility that you have for a short amount of time. Mm-hmm, , it’ll be good for you. It’ll be good for your kids. It’ll be good for your family as

Katie: a. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think the other thing too is just to recognize your season and not be frustrated if you can’t [00:32:00] reach what you think is kind of the ideal for Sabbath right now, mm-hmm, , you know, just give yourself a lot of grace there, give your kids and your family grace, and, and do what you can now because you have the rest of your life to practice Sabbath.

And these are practices that you can build on each other over time. So true.

Rachel: Do you have any favorite self care practices that you

Katie: do? So, one thing I have been talking a lot about, I talked a lot about over the summer was that social media break that I mentioned mm-hmm . And so I do take a regular. One day off from social media on the weekends.

And I use an app called app detox. And so that does help me a little bit. I’ve never heard of that one app detox. Yeah. Yeah. It’s a free app and you can set, you can tell it like every Sunday I don’t want to be on. And so if you try to open your app, it’ll. Open and then [00:33:00] close really quickly. Really? Yes. So it’s cool.

Yeah, it’s, it’s a little too easy to go in and override, but it gives you that reminder, like, you know what, sometimes all you need is a pause to think. Yeah, I don’t think Instagram is gonna fill my soul right now. um, so, so anyway, I do that weekly and then when I have had work, I haven’t always worked as a stay at home mom, but in seasons that I have worked mm-hmm then I have, I often have worked in social media and so I have, yeah, worked hard in.

So that I can take off one to two weeks, usually a couple weeks in the summer and a couple weeks around Christmas, um, to be really present with my family. And just to, it really does feel like a, a mental and emotional detox to get off of social media for that long mm-hmm . Um, the last time that I did it in June, I.

I was embarrassed that I continued to feel antsy for a couple of days. [00:34:00] And yeah, I kept finding myself, reaching for my phone and wanting to click the app and then thinking, Nope, I’m not doing that now. And for me, what helped was having a book on my Kindle. So when I reached for my phone, I could open the Kindle app instead.

I got a lot of reading.

Rachel: Good. That’s a, that’s a good. Yeah. And so that’s a really, so yeah, I might have to try that one.

Katie: yeah. When social media is part of your job. Yeah. It’s really hard to draw those lines. It is. I do. I schedule a lot of posts and I schedule posts for time off as well. Um, so that, that helps me to feel maybe a little more at ease.

And if that’s what you need to do, then you can do it. But I, I do think the next time I take a break, I might just go dark. and think the, the social media world will keep spinning without me.

Rachel: But you’re right. The social media world is not going to fall apart. If you choose to step away from it for a little bit and neither will the laundry or the dishes [00:35:00] or all the things that we think is just gonna fall apart. If we take a break. So I think that’s a really important reminder to us of that the world will keep on spinning.

We will be able to catch up if we need to, but we also can prepare to be off and take a break. well, Katie, I have really enjoyed our conversation. I think it has been very insightful. I’ve learned a few things and I think I’m like I wrote down that app detox thing. like, I’m gonna check that out.

And I love the idea of having an AUD or not an audio book, but having a book on my Kindle that if I catch myself trying to open social media during my Sabbath that I. Open mic, cuz I love to read. I love to read mm-hmm and yet I always feel like I don’t have enough time, but you know what if I read for the 10 minutes I scroll on Instagram I could actually get a book read on book, read mm-hmm so I really appreciate this conversation.

I think it’s been so good and so [00:36:00] encouraging, but before we wrap up, I want you to tell us about a resource. I know you have for us, that could be really helpful.

Katie: Yes, I have a free resource. That’s called five minute self care practices to cultivate. And so these, this resource looks at the seven, um, areas of health that we talked about earlier, social, mental, emotional.

Um, and so it, it breaks down those with really simple, actionable practices that you could look through and think, you know what? I think I need to work on the physical. And so it’ll say, you know, there’s a, there’s a practice that you could select in there that would take you five minutes or less, and you could start building a habit with that.

So that’s available on my website, Katiepozzuoli.com.

Rachel: That sounds fabulous. I’m gonna have to check that out. That’s kinda like a menu of options. Yeah, exactly. That’s so cool. I’m gonna definitely look into that. Well, Katie, do you mind if [00:37:00] we close our time together in prayer?

Katie: That would be great. Thanks Rachel..

Rachel: Father God, thank you so much for today. Thank you for, um, Katie coming on and being so generous with giving us a look into her practice of Sabbath and letting us, um, know the parts that she is, uh, that she feels really confident in right now. And the parts that maybe she doesn’t feel so confident in.

Thank you for her vulnerability and her honesty with that, to remind us that it’s a practice. It’s not perfection right off the bat. And Lord, we practice each week to draw closer to you to. Reflect your image in resting to, um, learn what it means to depend on you and to remind ourselves that you are ultimately our provider.

And to thank you for the ways in which you provided for us Lord, as we go about our weeks, Lord, maybe remember that you [00:38:00] care about us, that you have given us permission to rest, that we need to take it as a way to. Care for our souls and our physical wellbeing. Lord, I ask that you would bless Katie in the work that she’s doing in the way that she’s, um, helping women implement these self care practices so that they can live lives that are just lived out for you.

Lord, I ask that you would just continue to bless her work and Lord just bless each and every one of our listeners today, as they go about their weeks. Remind them that you care about them and that you love them and that you desire to reconnect with them once a week during their Sabbath practice in your precious and holy name and pray.

Amen.

Katie: Amen.

Rachel: Katie. Thanks again for joining me today. I really, really appreciated it. And thank you for listening in to today’s episode. We’ll [00:39:00] meet you back here next week. As we continue the conversation about how we can choose to rest with Jesus week after week. Bye.

 Hey, I just want to say thank you for joining me for today’s conversation. I know many things demand your attention. I don’t take lightly the privilege it is to share your time. I want to make things as easy and simple for you. So I’ve linked to all the resources mentioned in the episode in the show notes, and you can always find the link and more helpful information on my website, www.rachelfahrenbach.com.

As we say our goodbyes, let me remind you that what we’re talking about in this podcast is not just another thing to add to your to-do list. This is not another expectation for you to live up to. It is a gift out stretched from the hand of your creator. An invitation to press pause on walking alongside Jesus in all the things He’s called you to do. And instead the down, across from Him and just be with Him.

It is an [00:40:00] invitation to Simply Sabbath.