Unplug, Move, Thrive: Breaking Free from the Screens - A Conversation with Amy Swan

Welcome to the joyful journey podcast. If you're looking for more clarity in your life, clarity of purpose or how to activate that purpose, and you are someone who wants to operate from your highest self to be a force for good, you know this world craves, then this is the show for you. I'm Anita Adams, your host and guide to finding clarity and creating a life you love. Let's tap into our inner wisdom, access our highest self and unleash joy. As we do this, we raise our vibration and heighten the collective consciousness. And that, my friend, is the joyful journey. Let's dive in. Hey, joyful journey Anita Adams here your host and today I'm thrilled to introduce you to Amy Swan. Amy is a transformational coach, motivational speaker and author. Her book becoming an athlete from gamer to real life adventurer provides an inspiring story on how Amy personally broke away from living a sedentary life on her digital devices, and getting outside to explore movement and the outdoors. She has managed to hold a career in software development while fostering her adventurous lifestyle in a way that is possible for all welcome, Amy, thank you so much for being here with us today.

I need It's a pleasure. I'm so excited to talk with you and your listeners. Yeah,

and I love that, you know, there's there's so many people, myself included, I move a lot. And yet I know I need to I need to get up and move my body more. So I'm really excited to hear about your story and and dive into this this topic and how to be how to get out of that sedentary lifestyle. So why don't we start with you explaining what happened to awaken you to, to change your habits and to get you off the off the couch and outside? Yeah,

oh, gosh, isn't there a moment when we say oh, I've had so many moments, but this one in particular. Yeah, I so I I got a bachelor's in education and a Master's at the University of Oregon, Eugene Go Ducks for people who follow that. And all the while I I didn't, I wasn't athletic. I wasn't athletic. In school. I didn't like physical education. I didn't like traditional sports like running, I just like hurt my lungs and hurt my body just didn't feel good. And I was always, often always last to be picked on a team for team sports. And, and so I just didn't gravitate to movement when I was younger. But I got into education while I was in my master's program, I got addicted to World of Warcraft, back when it first got introduced. And if a Legend of Zelda game came out, I basically told my entire friend base. expect not to hear from me for the next two weeks, because this is all I'm going to do. And I would just get sucked in. So I don't know how I graduated with my master's program to be completely honest. Because I was just completely cut off from the world. If I would talk to somebody in real life. That's what we would call it in the World World of Warcraft. We just say RL real life. Um, yeah, I I couldn't make eye contact. I couldn't form words, my brain just wouldn't process. And during that time, I was in my 20s and and I knew I didn't have great health, but I was so young and I figured that I I would get there eventually. And, and I was a musician. I was a professional musician. So one day at a gig. We were taking a break and I picked up my French horn. I played French horn. I turned around to put it on my chair to go and take a break and my back threw up. It just gave up. Wow. And I was in my 20s I

was gonna ask how old you are. Okay, that's pretty young for your back to be going.

Yeah, exactly. And I know that my mom had a problem with it. My brother had a problem with his back. And it it scared me. So especially when I turned 30 I looked back at my life. And I said oh my gosh, I need to do something about this. That's really what happened is I turned 30. I

see. Okay, a little bit of a wake up call.

It was a wake up. Well, there was more than just throwing my back out. I felt arthritic. I had depression, I had a hard time feeding myself, because when I get so sucked into video games, I would lose time. You know how screens, they sort of put us in an alpha state. It's a hypnotic state, and we lose ourselves. We're so immersed in that character. It's like we're experiencing it ourselves. Right?

I'm not I'm not a gamer, myself, but my husband has had episodes, if you will, or he gets so engrossed in the in the game. And I remember, I should tell the story. I remember once, this is early, earlier on in our relationship, and he was playing this game, it's like the Red Baron or something like that is like, I can't remember exactly what it was called. But he was just so into it. And I would, I would go to bed and he would be up all night. This is he's a high school teacher. So he had the summer offices in the summer. He'd be up all night, I get up the next morning, he's still be playing this game. I go to work, I come back, and he's still sitting there playing this game. And I'm like, Oh, my God. And so I went. I put on like, the sexiest lingerie I had. And I went, I literally and I straddled the computer. And he's trying to push my leg away. I just like, I'm just about God, God. Oh, my God. I had to have a good serious talking with him.

I need it that is so relatable.

It's amazing. We're still together. Yeah,

I'm glad you mentioned that story. Honestly, it's relatable. Yeah, I was. I was one of those people that would stay up all night. And the next morning, not peed myself. Yeah, right. Right. Wow. So but I mean, the problem is, I don't know if your husband experienced this as well. As soon as the game was, you know, turned off, I would be left with myself. And it, it just felt empty. So I was living vicariously through these characters. And through this experience that software engineers created. I can say that because I'm a software engineer. Which I mean, the the video games out there, they're brilliant. They're completely brilliant. They're very immersive. They're very fun. But yeah, I'd be left with myself and not feeling like I really accomplished anything. And that felt, I felt a real pit in my stomach as a result. I wanted a life. That was better for me. Like, as a child, I wanted to travel I wanted, I was an extrovert. I wanted to meet people and discover things and experience things. And I wasn't doing any of that. So I got I, well, I got myself out the couch. What did I do? Because I didn't like exercising, right? Well, I thought back on what I enjoyed as a child, and my sister was into gymnastics, so I remember really enjoying that. I also remember enjoying playing on the playground. I was pretty good at the monkey bars. Yeah. So I did a little Google research to see what was available in Portland, Oregon, which is where I'm from. And turns out they had circus classes. Oh, how fun. So yeah, it's fun. Fun was going to get me off the couch.

Fun was gonna get you off the couch. That's key. Yeah,

so that's where I started.

Awesome. I really liked that you took some time to reflect on what used to bring you joy, you know, how Where did you have fun as a child and I think that's such a an easy thing that we can all do that we can reflect on and find those those little things those moments and then incorporate them into your into your day somehow, you know, and go exactly from there. So did you did you quit gaming cold turkey? Or was that sort of a an? Did you find a way off of the addiction that helped you leave it behind? Or is there a path

is there a patch? Well, I can speak to what I did. And I know it's going to be different for everybody. But for me I know if I'm really into something I need to really not be around it.

Okay, so like you just cut yourself right off.

I did not mean that

you got rid of your stuff like did you did you like get rid of the games from remove them from the house? That's what my husband had to do. He had them from the house to playing. Well, I

mean, if if we're if we're going To be completely open and honest with each other, I got a divorce. Okay. And I just said, Here you go, you get all the stuff you get this stuff.

All right. That's that's one way to rewrite your your, your life. Yeah,

it well it I mean, it's not to say that the video game addiction caused the divorce, like my wake up call caused the divorce. I'm not saying that at all. Okay, and I'm not suggesting anybody that was part of your marital council or marital counseling counseling first place.

All right, got it. So it was it was cold turkey was no longer having the stuff in your in your vicinity, keeping it away from you. Did you? Did you feel like you were going through withdrawal? Was there any of that? Or were you able to just divert your attention to something else that that fulfilled that? That same kind of craving,

there was definitely feelings of withdrawal. I would replace it with television if it was around. And so I just knew that I needed to get myself out of the house. So I needed to get away from screens. And remember what it's like to just not absentmindedly pick it up, it's a little like, I've got a very similar thing with food. If food is around, and it's delicious. I'm just going to unconsciously grab it and put it in my mouth, huh? Yeah. Yeah. So recognizing it, and then choosing something else.

Okay. Okay, so well, that kind of leads into the question, I wanted to ask you about tips that you might have to help somebody break away from their sedentary, sedentary routines and create better habits and getting outside. So one not having, I guess not having the old habit right in front of you that tie, you know, close it away, if you if you can, so you don't see it, so you're not going to reach for it. Are there any other any other tips around around how to shift those habits?

Yeah, well, I think, goodness, it's, it's interesting, because there are people who recognize that it's a problem for themselves. And then there are people and I would say, you know, a lot of children are so into screens right now. And especially with a pandemic, that's become more so because education moved online. Right. So, right, like I said, you know, there are people who recognize that, that this is a problem, but then there are people who they don't really understand. And they don't know that there's another way and they might not even think it's a problem.

Let's let's talk about those who want to change their their habits, and then maybe we can address the other sounds good. Yeah. Okay.

So something that really works for me because I have reintroduced video games into my life. Ah, because it's about finding balance. They're fun. Okay. Okay. I love that. Okay. The thing that has really worked for me is time boxing. So setting a timer. And then when the timer goes off, I've got one more task to complete and then I'm done. Like, if I'm in the middle of something, I'm just going to wrap it up, and then I'm done. And then also our reward system.

like that too. Okay. Right. Good. And any kind of reward I guess whatever, whatever appeals to you, like, Are they big rewards, little rewards, does it matter?

Well, okay, say say there's something that I need to do. Like I need to rake the leaves because it's fall and the leaves need to be raked. I will do that. And then I will give myself the gift of video game time. Oh,

I see. So you'll you'll you'll make the video game time. A bit of the reward itself. Yes. Okay, got it. I like that. Okay, good. Time time boxing is that what you call the time boxing and and rewarding yourself are the two main tips and then of course also not having it in your in line of sight all the time. So out of out of sight out of mind. Okay, awesome. Now let's talk about those who are not necessarily aware of the the challenge and maybe maybe it's maybe the question should be with children. And you know what, what advice can you give parents to help them with their with their children to prevent children from being on digital vise devices so much having so much screen time? I know this was an issue with with my kids, when they were growing up that some of love to hear What your recommendations would be to help parents?

Yeah, I give parents so much compassion for this, it is so hard. And I want to celebrate the parents who really engage with their children, when their children are into video games. And I think that's, that's a really good way to be with their children is to understand, what are they getting out of the game? What what is their child getting out of the game? And why are they drawn to it? And so asking them questions to understand that and, and then also, it's, it's a way to connect. So I have a brother, and he's got a child. And this is my nephew. And he, my nephew is so into Minecraft. There are lots of kids are super into Minecraft. So into it. My brother will time box with him. So set a timer, he's got an hour and then and then he's he's got to do somebody something else. But even when he's not on Minecraft, he's talking about Minecraft. He's thinking about Minecraft, he's plot plotting his next thing that he is going to do. And he's telling everybody who will listen. Right? So my brother engages with him and asked him questions, and it's way for them to connect. And, and they do other things, other activities there. They go outside. And, and I think that's really good. Something that I had mentioned is that my brother is also into tech. And he spends his day at work in front of the screen. And after work, he's on his phone. Yeah,

that's relatable.

And yet, he's saying to his, his son, hey, we got to limit your screen time. So I think there's a lot that parents can learn about their own behavior and how they're role modeling. So that's one thing. Another thing is that I didn't know that I was into solo sports. And what I mean by solo sports is like cycling, and gymnastics and backpacking, and kite. I mean, more recently, kiteboarding and paragliding, I mean,

things that don't require a team to do, right.

You're not going to learn these at school. Yeah, unless you're in Europe, and they have those programs, which they do, and I'm very jealous. But how are how are the children going to get exposure to those things that they might not know that they could like, they're going to get it from their role models, they're going to get it from their parents, from their siblings, if they have them or cousins, they're going to get that from their community. And so I would encourage parents to either, you know, be that kind of role model, or find inspiring role models for their children so that they can experience more things that aren't related to the screen, and they might find out that they're really excited about it and interested in it.

Yeah, that's really interesting. And there are so many different things out there that are available to us, you know, and I love that you just did a research and found a circus class. Tell us what else what other kinds of adventures that have? Have you gone on that you've discovered that has helped you stay away from from the screens?

Oh, my gosh, so many. It give us some ideas. Um, goodness. Well, I mean, if if you if you want to get into circus, there are so many different kinds of trapeze is out there. There's dance trapeze, or static trapeze, there's flying trapeze. I mean, did you did you know? Yeah. I think Parkour is a really fun thing to do. I haven't tried it. But that's like the urban

like bouncing off of walls. Isn't it? Like kind of climbing up walls with the with nothing but yeah,

it's like Ninja Warrior. Warrior stuff. Exactly. I mean, you could do this. You could do that in a video game. Yeah. Or you could do this in real life. Yeah, right. Yeah. Yeah, let's say so there's there's that I got into cycling my, my now husband, my forever husband, he's the best. He was really into biking. And so I ended up getting into biking into biking, all kinds of biking as a result. There's road there's mountain there's gravel

Your bike can't convert. I have we have so many bikes in this family. The one for everything like we've got like a wall of bikes with a wall is ridiculous. It's ridiculous how many bikes we have.

That's my thing is too many bikes. Yeah, yeah, climbing. I've gotten into climbing. And well, it talks about adventures last year, I went to Nepal and I hiked the Annapurna Circuit.

Ah, awesome.

Let me tell you, I mean, have you been to the Himalayas?

I was supposed to go in 2020. But then the pandemic hit and we were supposed to do that circuit. We haven't gone yet. So that's on the agenda. It will happen.

Okay, well, I know the perfect tour guide. Okay. I'll let you know. Yeah. Goodness, when we flew into Nepal. I, I looked out the window, and I saw these little white shapes. And I thought they were clouds. And I looked closer. And they were mountains. Yeah, it's, it's unbelievable, huh? They were so big and so grand that when we flew back to Seattle, we've got Seattle has this mountain, Mount Rainier. It looked so quaint, that I just wanted to pat it on this little top and say, Aren't you cute?

Yeah, I owe variances.

Yeah. Hey, cool. I love

I love what you're talking about it to me, what I'm hearing is just be open to explore and see what lights you up, try different things. And there are so many different opportunities that are out there and you can literally Google you know anything and find how you can get involved so you can learn a skill by going on to YouTube, you can literally learn how to be a ninja warrior by looking on YouTube. So the the opportunities are there to break away from from the that sedentary life.

Yeah. No, go ahead, please. Oh, yeah. So another thing that I was going to say, as a paraglider, especially right now because it's so front and center for me, what I really appreciate and I didn't realize how cerebral paragliding is, you gotta be thinking all the time. But when I'm up in the air, I'm feeling the wind on my face. I'm smelling the surrounding. So if there are evergreen trees, I smell that in the air. If there's the ocean, I'm smelling that in the air I and, and because it requires such focus such a focus state, I can't help but be present. I can't help but appreciate the world around me. I could be flying wingtip to wingtip with a hawk. It could be just the most amazing spiritual experience. You just can't You can't get that in a video game.

No, that's I'm so glad you brought that up. And I believe that's that's what we are here to experience. That sense of all that sense of love. And in that space of all and love is expansion in the in the heart and use you started something at the beginning of the of this episode and said that after playing the video game, you would feel empty inside. Yeah, and this is the opposite of empty, this is filling up your cup, filling up your cup with with love and gratitude and all and wonder all of that. And that stays with you. And you can pull back the memories. Right? You can you can right now like I feel it. Yeah, I can see that in your face. And I'm living it with you as you're describing it. And that's, that's beautiful. So it's beautiful. I find my my time in nature. I don't I've never been paragliding or anything like that. I'm not sure if that's my jam or not. It's not everyone's jumping out of high places, I don't know. But I get that, that connection with nature and that that presence that you get from being in nature. And I you know, on this show, I talk a lot about just getting outside, you know, going for a walk and connecting with your environment because it does create that sense of presence. It creates that sense of awe and wonder and and love, again that you can't find from a screen. So Exactly. Awesome. So tell us tell us now quickly, what the work that you're doing now. Are you still a software engineer, and you meant we mentioned in the beginning that you've gotten into life coaching is that The work you're doing now and guiding people in this with this transformation.

Yes, very good question. I am not currently doing any software engineering work. I might, it's it's still fun. But to be completely honest, when my favorite part of my job was being with people, it was collaborating, it was mentoring and managing, and, and, frankly, coaching, I was coaching as a software engineer. And coaching is something that I'm very passionate about. I want everyone to leave the most extraordinary life they possibly can have. And so I'm very happy to have pivoted into coaching.

Nice. I love that. And of course, you've got your book that you've released not too long ago becoming an athlete from gamer to real life adventure. I guess we've, we've spoken about that journey. Is there anything else you want to add about about that about your book that you want our listeners to know about? Oh, goodness,

um, I hope that people are inspired by my story. That was absolutely the intention for me writing the book, is is to understand that I know what it's like to be stuck. And, and to just give those people who can identify with that, a way to step out of that. So that's absolutely why I wrote the book.

Awesome. gives them the tools, I suppose to help them move forward and create a more, more non sedentary life and adventurous life. Yeah, whatever. I might look for you. Yeah,

exactly. Exactly. Well, and I think it's really important to say that i i made this, I will be quite open. I'm 44. I don't look at it, probably because I have so much fun. But I had my wake up when I was 30. Yeah. And now I'm living a life that I completely. This version of me. It's completely unrecognizable from who I was back then interested in. And how I got here was through small, incremental steps done over time.

Tell us what those steps are. Can you is that is that all throughout the book? Like? Are there a few are there baby steps, a nugget that you can give our listeners right now about what's

the best one buddy? is the best one is that, that exercising is just one foot in front of the other and eventually you'll get there. Right.

Okay. And that's that's a good ties in well with the one step at a time.

Right? Well, I mean, you know, if you're hiking the Annapurna Circuit, that's a good long hike. Yeah, it's just one foot in front of the other. And then you you make it to the finish line. Yeah, yeah.

And doesn't matter how long it takes, that's awesome. Exactly. Show joyful journey, or Amy has offered as a gift to you, if you want to learn a little more about her, she's got her book, and she's offering a section of her book as a free download. And so we'll include the link to how you can access that gift, and it'll give you a good sense a little more of her of her story. And you might be inspired to take some more action on your journey to be more to move more to move your body more and to really live life to its fullest is it's a big part of that journey, isn't it? You know, like just taking those steps and creating the life you really want involves getting off off the couch. And exactly, yeah, exactly. So thank you so much for afford the offer of that gift. And we'll make that link available to our listeners in the show notes. And Amy, thank you so much for your time. This has been a delight to learn a little bit more about your story. Thank you. Yeah, and to inspire the audience to start shaking their booty a little bit more one.

Yeah, exactly. No, thank you. This has been an honor. Awesome. All right. And

um, oh, and one more question for you. If people wanted to connect with you, do you have a website that we can drive them to?

Oh, yes. Yeah, my website is flow in all things.com Awesome.

Oh, I love that flow. All things.com That's great. That's it. That's because you'll

find me in the air. You'll find me on land. You'll find me and water.

Awesome. Going. Oh, love. Exactly.

Okay, well

of course we'll put that link in the in the show notes as well. So awesome. Thanks. Thank you again, Amy and joyful journey or thanks so much for tuning in. If you haven't already, please subscribe and hit the like button. share this episode with with your friends, and we'll catch you next time. Bye for now. Thank you for joining me on the joyful journey podcast. If anything resonated for you from today's show, or if you are looking for more clarity in your life, clarity of purpose or how to activate that purpose, then head over to joyful journey.ca and become a member of our community. We'll start by sending you a free download of our three guiding principles to inner wisdom, which will give you a great foundation for finding the clarity you're seeking. And you'll become part of a growing community of people who are raising the collective consciousness. So head over to joyful journey.ca And I look forward to connecting with you directly