S8E1 - Jessica Berg
In this episode of 'More Than Work', a podcast on personal and professional fulfillment, host Rabiah engages in an insightful discussion with Jessica Berg. Berg is the founder of 'Moon Rock Wellness', a digital platform designed to help busy individuals, particularly working mothers, cultivate everyday habits of wellness. Jessica shares her personal journey leading to the creation of Moon Rock Wellness, including a life-altering encounter with burnout that led her to prioritize her well-being and set boundaries in her corporate job. She also discusses the importance of maintaining balance, practicing daily mindfulness, and investing time and energy into activities that genuinely fulfill us.
00:00 Introduction to the Podcast
00:36 Guest Introduction: Jessica Berg
00:55 Getting to Know Jessica: Personal Life and Location
01:46 Introduction to Moon Rock Wellness
01:56 The Importance of Consistent Wellness Practices
02:56 Personal Wellness Journeys and Challenges
03:44 The Impact of Motherhood on Wellness
07:28 The Role of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
10:59 Exploring Moon Rock Wellness: Services and Impact
14:32 The Journey to Founding Moon Rock Wellness
18:53 Balancing Corporate Life and Passion Projects
24:06 Addressing Burnout: A Personal Experience
25:40 The Impact of Burnout on Personal Life
26:34 Taking Action: Setting Boundaries at Work
26:56 The Importance of Communication in Setting Boundaries
27:30 The Struggle of Balancing Work and Personal Life
30:20 The Power of Doing Nothing: Embracing Breaks
32:40 The Influence of Passion Projects on Work
33:34 The Power of Scheduling and Time Management
42:08 The Joy and Inspiration from Children
43:34 Connecting with Moon Rock Wellness
45:01 Conclusion: The Importance of Kindness to Self
Note from Rabiah (Host):
It has been a while. For personal reasons and comedy reasons I had to put a pause on the pod until I was ready to commit the time and effort again but now, More Than Work is back! Thank you for checking out this episode. Jessica was easy to talk to and may inspire you to take 5 minutes for yourself. She has done that for me. I’ll leave you to it, listener. Be sure to check out other episodes too. I’m happy to have you here!
Host Rabiah (London) connects with the founder of Moon Rock Wellness, Jessica Berg (Carlsbad, CA) .
Transcript
Rabiah Coon: [00:00:00] This is More Than Work, the podcast reminding you that your self-worth is made up of more than your job title. Each week I'll talk to a guest about how they discovered that for themselves. You'll hear about what they did, what they're doing, and who they are. I'm your host, Rabiah. I work in IT, perform stand-up comedy, write, volunteer, and of course, podcast.
Thank you for listening. Here we go.
Hey everyone. Welcome back to More Than Work. Today I'm talking to Jessica Berg. She is the founder of Moon Rock Wellness. It's a wellness platform for busy and working moms and, uh, we've already found we have a lot in common just based on where she lives now and where I used to live.
So, thanks for being here.
Jessica Berg: Thank you. It's a pleasure and an honor.
Rabiah Coon: For me too, I'm excited to chat with you more. First of all, where am I talking to you from?
Jessica Berg: So I am in Southern California, [00:01:00] Carlsbad, California, to be specific. It's the northern most part of San Diego
County.
Rabiah Coon: and it's great there. It's, um, it's,
Jessica Berg: Ugh,
Rabiah Coon: it's really
Jessica Berg: I love it.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah, it's good. I was living over the, near there, right before I came to London and it was great 'cause I used to live in like the more downtown kind of area of San Diego and it was nice to be in North County for a little bit and checking that out.
Jessica Berg: Yeah, the beaches each have their own different theme, but just the, like the mountains cascading into the ocean. It's just a beautiful landscape.
Rabiah Coon: Exactly. Yeah. You kind of wake up and depending on where you live, you can either see maybe just barely a line of blue that's the ocean or you can
Jessica Berg: yeah.
I've got a peekaboo, like very, very small, but I savor that little like thumbnail
Rabiah Coon: I think we'll just start with what is Moonwalk Wellness and kind of work back to how you got to it. So I stated what it is from the tagline perspective, but what, what is Moon Rock Wellness?
Jessica Berg: Yeah, so I started Moon Rock with the belief and the drive [00:02:00] that, time is scarce, right? I mean, especially for people who have multiple roles, which is the majority of people, whether it's a career caregiver, parent, um, volunteer, you name it. There's a lot that we're juggling day in and day out, and I truly believe that our wellness isn't something that should have to be sacrificed. And a lot of people kind of have this notion that you have to go and work out for an hour to feel like you are giving your, your body the exercise it needs. But really it's just, it's the consistency of wellness that matters more than anything else. So if it's like two minutes of meditation, five minutes of yoga, if you're doing something each day, that's the, the impact that you're gonna see at the individual level and then also at the collective. So Moon Rock really is about kind of like that transformation for the person on the inside. Um, by just doing a little bit each day,
whether it's yoga, meditation, the food we eat, the products we consume.
Rabiah Coon: great. Yeah. And did you have a time where you weren't [00:03:00] practicing these things and now you are consistently, or how did you get into that?
Jessica Berg: Yes. Ugh.
Rabiah Coon: It's inspirational to me even like I was so during the, I'll just tell you like during the pandemic, I meaning, and I know we're, look, I know there's still COVID , but I think there was a time when we were stuck in our houses.
So And I was by myself and I, I had the best schedule for meditation, you know?
Jessica Berg: Mm-Hmm.
Rabiah Coon: it every day for over a hundred days. 'cause I know, 'cause I had an app that I was tracking it in,
Jessica Berg: amazing.
Rabiah Coon: I just stopped, you know?
And now I have these like , maybe a moment every once in a while when I'm on the train and just trying not to sweat. So like, you know, and, and so even like two minutes a day is aspirational to me right now. But then for some people that's like, no 20 minutes is, but how did you get to that, that point?
Jessica Berg: I honestly, no, I did not have a daily practice my entire adulthood, I would say, and especially, I mean, it was after I became a mother, and my daughter was born, so my second child, and I realized I needed to start to create [00:04:00] some space for myself and I didn't have a lot of time. I had a full-time job and digital tech, two humans I was keeping alive, and a fur dog. So I guess multiple forms of life in my house. But I, I just realized that I needed to start to prioritize a little bit more myself on the totem pole in a, on a daily level just for my own wellbeing and for my ability to show up as a better version of myself and the areas that matter most.
And so I started to just carve out a little time and like, I actually started with two minute meditations and then it moved into five minute meditations. And what I have found is that, you know, you, you kind of put this wall in front of you because you think I don't have enough time, but what, when you start to just take baby steps and do little by little you start to see the time actually expand and maybe it's less time scrolling on your phone.
I'm not saying you're doing that. I'm saying for me, that was my experience. I actually, I actually, I don't know [00:05:00] if you've ever done this, where you look at the, the app in your iPhone and it tells you how much time you spent on social. I actually looked at that one time. I was like, well, holy crap, I, I spent 30 minutes on Instagram.
That's 30 minutes I could be spending for myself.
Rabiah Coon: know. Like when I say I don't have time for something and then my phone tells me how long I spent on my phone, it's like, oh, really?
Jessica Berg: Exactly. A hundred percent. And also I feel, I mean, for me, I, I did have this mindset where I, I had this set duration in my mind that if I didn't achieve that certain timeframe, then I wasn't really doing it. Like if I didn't meditate for 20 minutes, was I really meditating? And the truth is, yes, you are. But there's this, um, pedestal that we, we put on ourselves from a, a time expectancy perspective.
Uh, and I was actually during the pandemic, after my daughter was born and I wanted to start making more time for myself, I started doing, um, online yoga and there was this one instructor that she said, I just needed someone to tell me that you don't need to [00:06:00] spend an hour a day. That just 10 minutes a day is better than two days of an hour of exercise.
Um, and then from there, I just kind of took that and ran with it.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah. Yeah. And so that's Well, yeah, and it's true. And I think there's something about understanding that. 'cause I definitely do that in my head where I go, even with writing, like I, I need to
Jessica Berg: Yeah.
Rabiah Coon: I'll be like, oh, I'm, I can't write for two hours right now. This is like, well, yeah, but like, write for five minutes, you know,
Jessica Berg: Yeah. And it adds up over time.
it
Rabiah Coon: does, it totally adds up over time, and at least you did it every day or whatever to build that muscle and get in that habit.
So is that the first time you had started practicing yoga or had you done it before?
Jessica Berg: Oh no. I've been doing yoga since for, it's about 13 years now. It has been a consistent part of my life. When I've had big life transitions like becoming a mom, um, or moving,
right? Because I moved across the country a couple times, back and forth, and now I'm, I'm landing permanently in Southern California, [00:07:00] I've always found my way back to my mat. Uh, and I think it was especially in the most, in the last five years where. I needed to change my mindset on what that practice looks like. And I think that's the biggest thing is like we have, our lives are constantly shifting. The roles that we're playing are shifting what our day-to-day looks like, changes. And we need to adapt our wellness to, to fit into the current you.
And maybe, if that takes different forms, like maybe meditation isn't sitting down cross-legged with your eyes closed for five minutes. Maybe it's gardening, you know,. Like there's different forms and accepting, being open-minded to what that could and could look like for you.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah, I'm present, you know?
Jessica Berg: God. Present
Rabiah Coon: Yeah, yeah. Even with like cooking, sometimes I'll cook. Michael Pollan, I was listening to him on one of Oprah's shows in like Super Soul Sunday or something, and he [00:08:00] just
Jessica Berg: I love that podcast.
Rabiah Coon: I I, know, me too. It's
Jessica Berg: It's good It's good.
Rabiah Coon: hearing from different people you wouldn't expect and, well, and I didn't know Michael Pollen was related to Tracy Pollan.
Who's Michael j Fox's wife. Like I had, no, I, yeah,
Jessica Berg: I didn't know that either.
Rabiah Coon: And I, so I think that's interesting just because of like seeing, I saw that, documentary "Still" with Michael J. Fox and just how strong she is and what a presence she is. But anyway, like with Michael Pollan, he had mentioned about enjoying food and enjoying cooking and that being a meditative thing.
And I.
Jessica Berg: A hundred percent.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah, and I didn't think of it that way, but the times when I've really taken it that way, rather than making sure I was either on the phone the whole time or trying to surf the internet, but also trying to make sure I don't burn things, it's been such a more rewarding thing. And I think you're, you're right, that people can just find the thing that they're doing and, and incorporate that in a more like self-care kind of way than even, like cooking, for example, is a chore or task or something, you know?
Jessica Berg: Hundred percent. And I mean, my husband's like a really [00:09:00] good example of that. He is not someone who's gonna sit down and meditate to music and incense and stuff by any means. I mean, he's from Chicago, meat and potatoes kind of guy, but, but he plays the guitar and he likes to run. So I, I've told him, I was like, that's your meditation.
Like for him, the music, he just goes into a kind of a trance. And even if it's just a couple minutes a day where he plays, it's just a place where he can just shut off his brain and, and just be, to your point, present.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah. Yeah. 'cause you can't do certain things and, and not be present or you're just gonna either fall off your bike or maybe play the wrong note, which I guess the former is worse, but still ,
Jessica Berg: Yeah. Or even walking your dog. I've noticed for me, um, 'cause I have a dog, right? And so, you know, when we go on walks, I would find myself at times on my phone, like, multitasking, right? And then I decided to just leave my phone at home. And that also turned into a form of meditation because you become a lot more present.
You [00:10:00] take note of what's around you. Like, oh wow, wind rustling through the palm tree sounds really pretty. Or like, you see a hummingbird fly by. You know, just certain things in nature that you wouldn't, you wouldn't see 'cause your eyeballs were in a screen or your earbuds were in, you know. So it's just, it's simple everyday things that, again, going back to your point of presence, it's, it's just being more mindful of it.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah. And that's, that is interesting 'cause it's almost like, I don't know, this might be a little silly as a metaphor, but you're experiencing the walk kind of as the dog is, where they're actually always aware, right? They're looking around, they're noticing things. You're not doing everything a dog does.
You'd get arrested probably, but you're doing a lot of the things
Jessica Berg: Yeah.
Don't defecate in the streets, people.
Rabiah Coon: Exactly. That is not the title of the podcast, but it could be. Uh, we'll see. Maybe it will become, I just don't think that's gonna be the whole message we have here. Uh, [00:11:00] but so just really quick thing, going back to Moon Rock Wellness , when someone goes to that, that platform, first of all, is there any real life, component to it or is it just online?
And secondly, what do people do when they go there then, like what, what things are they experiencing?
Jessica Berg: I mean, it's, it's a mix. Predominantly it is going to be digital focused. I do have livestream interactions that are starting this month.
Um, so each month there's a livestream gathering as far as like a, just a short yoga flow that we can all do together from around the world. And then I also am gonna be kicking off, uh, in person events in the next few months.
Rabiah Coon: Nice.
Jessica Berg: It'll be starting in Southern California.
As far as like when. People come to the site, there's, there's a lot of different avenues that you can kind of explore as far as what you wanna incorporate into your life for wellness. So we have a membership that you can get access to online yoga and meditation videos.
And then we also have recipes [00:12:00] that are all plant-based and. I mean, going to the point of time is scarce. It takes less than 30 minutes to do each of them, and I'll highlight three each month.
And then there's, uh, sustainable products too.
So they're just everyday products that you may not think about, but that actually if you swap out, you know, trash bags that maybe are recycled or, instead of having a shaving cream can you actually have just the bar of shaving cream soap, so to reduce the plastic footprint on the, on the planet. Just little things like that. Again, going back to like bites. Size, digestible ways that you can incorporate wellness into your life.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah, that's great. And especially about the sustainability part, but it sounds like
Jessica Berg: Mm-Hmm
Rabiah Coon: that is just a place where people can make what they want to make of it. But there's like an encourage encouragement to do it, With the, with this sustainability it's interesting because I just was reading, my friend mom just passed away, and it's a guest Sean Arkless, so if people hear this, they can listen to [00:13:00] that episode if they haven't. But he was, um, with his mom. She died of cancer. And one thing he posted about was her wishes. And it was just, if people wanna celebrate her life, they can just take one day or even an hour and just do nothing that's damaging the environment just to make a difference.
So
Jessica Berg: Oh, that's beautiful.
Rabiah Coon: that day, eating, plant-based for a day, that kind of thing. And I, I read that and I thought, what a wonderful way to ask people to honor you.
Jessica Berg: That's beautiful.
Rabiah Coon: is just to, to take care of everyone. Yeah. So it's really cool. So I just think, yeah, it's good that you are doing that as a product thing thing, but also putting that idea on people's heads that, hey, these are easy ways to do it.
'cause it's overwhelming for a lot of people. Even if they wanna make an impact, they still don't know how they can somehow, still don't know, and, and we all can by changing the products we use.
Jessica Berg: And it's just a little bit, and that's the, I've had conversations with people where they're like, oh, you know, climate crisis and how is [00:14:00] just doing this gonna make a difference? And I'm just very much in the mindset that if, if everyone as a collective started to be mindful in any bit away, um, day by day like that, that absolutely does contribute to the surrounding areas in the planet.
So I'm all for that. And also, 10% of every membership subscription goes to the Coral Reef Alliance, which is a nonprofit organization to restore the coral reefs in our planet. So, um, I'm super excited to be partnering with them. They're an amazing foundation,
so.
Rabiah Coon: great. That's awesome. So, alright, so I think we got a clear view of what, what you're doing now. So what got you there? And I read your bio, so don't think I didn't read about it, but I don't wanna, I don't wanna tell your story for you, just have you validate it. So
Jessica Berg: Yeah, I have a corporate career I'm very, very grateful for my, my digital experience, especially for the company that I, I do work for. But I want, [00:15:00] I, I've been feeling a pull to do something different, um, or in addition to, and it really kind of, my mom passed away, April of last year. And so around that timeframe, it all just started kind of flooding in. I had all the pieces, but I hadn't put the puzzle together, I guess you could say. So I've just kind of had some time to just sit with myself in my bereavement and, um. In that time, obviously processing what I was processing, but also kind of taking a pause and what, what was it that I wanted to do and what's the impact that I wanted to make in, in, in my lifetime? And it, it really kind of started coming to the. Wellness for people like
me, you know, um, and bringing yoga and meditation, mindfulness to the masses. And I, I originally wanted to do brick and mortar.
That was my first vision. My husband started having heart palpitations because he was seeing [00:16:00] what the monthly rent would be, in Southern, in Southern California.
So I did eventually pivot and I'm glad I did because the, the digital platform just makes it mo so much more accessible to more people. And it just, it, it also provides a lot more flexibility for myself as well, in my own life, but also just in the actual outcome of the, the site.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah. Well, yeah, and I think it's interesting that like death, I think of a, of a loved one and having experienced
Jessica Berg: Mm-Hmm.
Rabiah Coon: too, and knowing that there are things you do with it and things that does to you. You know, I think one of them being, taking action around a cause or around something is something.
I mean, that's what it's done for me. That's when, I mean, I would say it's one of the drivers of me having a podcast that's meant to put a positive energy out there. This is not a direct relation to that. Some nonprofit work I do is. But for you too, I mean, [00:17:00] do you find that part of this work is honoring your mom in a way?
Jessica Berg: A hundred percent. Yes, a hundred percent. And in fact, um, when I was thinking of the name, I knew I wanted it to reference Moon because my mom was just obsessed with the moon.
Um, but I absolutely, 'cause I remember when I was sitting there and I when you lose a loved one, it really opens up your eyes to how fleeting life can be and how unexpected it can be. And I, I've always kind of had the mindset of not wanting to live a life with, with
regrets. And, and often when I do that, I think of myself like on my deathbed, and I know that sounds really
morbid, but it, it is actually a good practice because then you think about what are the things if I were on my death. I would look back at my lifetime and, and regret, and usually it's almost always how am I spending my time and how am I contributing? So, I, I think that the loss of a loved one kind of magnifies that reflection on our own lives
Rabiah Coon: oh totally. And then the things [00:18:00] that you didn't do or get to do with them. And so
I always regret the things I didn't do. I mean, that's the, you know, I do, I'm not proud of everything I do,
Jessica Berg: Yes,
Rabiah Coon: I try not to regret those things 'cause they're just, they are, I mean, that's it. But like I do regret the things I don't do sometimes, you know?
So I think, yeah, like in that, that definitely is a time of reflection among other things that the time of loss.
Jessica Berg: a hundred percent. I mean, usually, and I thousand percent agree with you, and usually it's when you, you, don't do the things. Uh, not, I, I don't wanna put words in your mouth, but from my experience, it's usually based because of
fear.
Rabiah Coon: A hundred percent.
Jessica Berg: And, and when you, that's, that's where the regret comes in, and that's why you can't regret things that you do because you took a try
and you went after it.
So if it failed, it failed, but at least you know, and you don't have a regret on the what ifs.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah. And you know, either not to do it again or you know, you can go try again.
How has founding your own business outside of, of your job, [00:19:00] but then one that's related to things you're passionate about in, impacted how you do your, your work.?
Jessica Berg: I love this question. So it's, it's interesting because I would say, when I first started kind of putting all of this together as far as like, okay, I know I wanna build this, this is what I'm gonna do. This is aligned to like everything like. What you just said that I'm passionate about. Um, I, I was beginning getting, finding myself, becoming more and more bitter towards my corporate job.
I was feeling like I was, I was stressed out. I was, not feeling super excited about where my time was being spent. It was dealing with like, you know, a lot of client drama, internal politics, et cetera. All the fun stuff that does come with corporate at times. And then I started to, probably eight months ago, had a little bit of an internal shift and it kind of hit me like a lightning rod, where I realized that [00:20:00] instead of looking at, my corporate job with resentment because it wasn't fulfilling the, the, the same level of passion that I was in this other world. I started to see the things that it was allowing me to do and one, it was allowing me to be able to fund my dream and make that a reality. But I've also found that, um. As I'm, I've gotten the business off the ground, it's actually made me more grateful and, um, present in my current job
because I have to be a lot more mindful of where I'm spending my time in corporate. So I can delegate more, I can make sure that I'm in, you know, whatever meetings I'm in, I'm in the meetings that I need to be. But it's just, it's given me a lot more appreciation for what I, what I do have in my corporate job, because it's not my my everything. It is a job.
And I think before that I was trying to make it more than that and that's where I was failing and feeling [00:21:00] discouraged, and feeling unfulfilled. But now that I have this other area where I am getting fulfilled, I'm actually looking at my corporate job as what it is, is the job. And I take the emotion out of it.
Rabiah Coon: If I could sum up why I'm doing this, that's it. I mean, I have a corporate job that I work in, uh, and have, you know, for over 20 years. That's just what I did. But then I do comedy and that was the big shift for me was changing out, was doing standup comedy. 'cause I didn't have time to, I couldn't work until eight or nine at night every night, 'cause I needed to be somewhere else. And that's kind of, for you, you had kids, you have this and other responsibilities probably when you were facing things with your mom. You start to realize you can't spend all your time there. Right.
Jessica Berg: No,
Rabiah Coon: Yeah. And it just, it does change your relationship with it.
Jessica Berg: I'm the type of person that I'm gonna give a hundred plus percent into anything I'm doing. And, and I was doing that for my corporate job. And I mean, the reality is, is, as you know. [00:22:00] I don't want to put down corporations because I do think that it's, it provides a beautiful, like consistent paycheck to families so that they can have a functioning life and maybe live in Southern California.
But when you put the, the emphasis of I'm pouring my heart and soul into this job and the reality, it's just a job. That's all it is. And the more you try to make it more than that, then you're gonna find that resentment and, the burnout
Rabiah Coon: Yeah.
Because it's not capable of, reciprocation,
Jessica Berg: a hundred percent.
Rabiah Coon: Other than a paycheck. And so if you're doing more than you think you should for that paycheck, and it's not the whole, like I, well I don't know how you feel about it, so I'm gonna say something 'cause this could be a bad opinion, but I am not a fan of this quiet quitting culture thing at all because to me then what that, what it sounds like to me is that you're choosing not to do work you're being paid for. And you're gonna now put the burden on your [00:23:00] colleagues instead of just quitting your job when you should.
Jessica Berg: Yes.
Rabiah Coon: I don't know. Yeah. So
Jessica Berg: No, I completely agree with you.
Rabiah Coon: either do your work and do what you're supposed to be doing, and if there are asking too much of you or too extra and stuff, then have the conversations or go.
like also maybe to me, find the thing in your life that's gonna mean enough to you that you don't need the fulfillment out of your job that you're seeking. That's, yeah, how I feel about it.
Jessica Berg: Spot on. And honestly, I mean, the sad part is, is. This is gonna sound really depressing, but at the end of the day, if something, God forbid, happened to you, like your job is gonna replace you, but the areas of your life that actually truly do matter the most, you're irreplaceable.
So it just kind of keeps it in perspective
Rabiah Coon: I agree and I never thought of it that way, but it's true. I mean, there are parts of our life where we're the unique thing there and we're not a number, you know.[00:24:00]
Jessica Berg: Mm-Hmm.
Rabiah Coon: So, yeah. Well that's good. See, I think we've solved something. I don't know what
Jessica Berg: There we go.
Rabiah Coon: Now that we've solved that problem, I guess the other one is burnout. I mean, I've definitely faced it. I've gone through the thing where I can't possibly do anymore, and then you just have to anyway. But like burnout is such a real thing. And you mentioned that you faced it so, can you talk a little bit about your experience with that? I know I'm making you relive a lot of things that aren't great, but
Jessica Berg: No, it's fine. It's fine. It's, it's, they're actually like, I believe out of every dark moment comes light.
Absolutely. I have experienced burnout and I think a lot of us tend to, going back to what we were saying about putting our emotions and tying those in into our corporate jobs
and wanting the fulfillment that it ultimately can't give. Uh, there was a point in time that would really kind of hit me over the head like a fricking, I don't know, large object. Uh, it was a couple years ago. [00:25:00] I was working around the clock in my digital job. And it was just, it was super intense. I wasn't really controlling or having any type of ownership of boundaries within my work. I was just trying to do everything. And as a result, I was working weekends, I was working long nights, I was missing out on moments with my two young children, which was just killing me inside. And I was very emotional. I was not met the best version of myself. I was stressed, so I was very reactive and short-tempered and um, I just, I just was kind of hitting a breaking point.
And my son had drawn a picture and brought it to me and he said, oh God, this is just, it really, um, really opened up my eyes.
It was a picture of me and him and we were standing in the rain, and the rain was, was symbolic of like how I was feeling and [00:26:00] he was holding an umbrella over me to protect me,
and I literally took that picture and looked at him.
He must have been five years old at the time, and I walked upstairs and I just collapsed on the floor and just started bawling my eyes out because it was just so apparent to me on how mismanaged I was with my time and where I was putting my energy in. At the end of the day, none of it mattered. And I knew that in the back of my head, but to see that my own children was starting to pick up on that, it just. It was a big eye-opening moment for me. Um, and from literally from there, I knew I needed to take action.
So I started putting a plan in place on where I can start mapping out those boundaries and sticking to them, and communicating that to my management too, to hold me accountable.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of you're raising this kid who's got this heart right, that's able to
communicate that, which is amazing,
Jessica Berg: Mm-Hmm.
Rabiah Coon: and that he did, but also like that you recognize [00:27:00] too, you could communicate to your work because that's one thing I think too is like some managers or workplaces or whatever won't be open to listening to someone about what's going on with 'em. But some will and, and it's communicating, Hey, this is the boundary I need, I can't work the I I can work these hours. And then basically you don't have to say what you can't do. 'cause you just say what you can, this is what I can do. Like I can, I can work. And it still ends up being more than 40 hours a week anyway, in general, but it's like, I can do this and that's it. But then you have to do it. 'cause I know, like even people at my work, a guy this week is on vacation. And then he's like emailing us all the time and it's like, okay, well what I mean, you're the one on vacation so you can't be fully engaged.
So it's like you're not sitting in these meetings, but you wanna chime in, plus you're not on vacation now you're just kind of burdening us and burdening your family and burdening everyone. It's like, can you just stop, you know, set the boundary. You took time off, you put that of office on, be gone. You know?
And then
come back and come back and work and we'll take vacation. It's [00:28:00] fine.
Jessica Berg: I am taking vacation tomorrow. There you go.
Rabiah Coon: Exactly. Bye.
Jessica Berg: No, I And, and even for us to realize that there are things that you have within your control. I think that was the other thing that I stopped, I stopped playing the victim,
and I realized that if I wanted to have change, there's absolutely things that I can do and implement in my life that only I can do.
Because if I, if I kept trying to do everything, no one, no one at my job is gonna stop me and say, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa hold on. You, You, really want all that on your plate? I mean, no one's gonna do that. I'm, I'm the one who's gonna dictate what goes on my plate versus doesn't.
So, and, and by creating those boundaries, it just gives myself more self-respect and also More authority within my own life, which I think we're all kind of striving
for in some way, shape or form.
Rabiah Coon: For sure. I mean, have you seen yourself able to apply boundaries [00:29:00] outside of work that you didn't before or any changes in other parts of your life?
Jessica Berg: Yes. I actually had to revisit the boundary conversation with myself when I launched Moon Rock because again, it's a passion piece of my life, right?
So for me, when I'm working on Moon Rock, I don't feel like I'm working. Like I get really excited I light up like a Christmas tree. But what I was finding was if I ended up having downtime, then I was, I was thinking, oh, the kids are watching some tv.
I'm gonna go work on Moon Rock a little bit, but, and, and that might be on a Saturday morning. When in reality, instead of filling up any free time I had with working on Moon Rock, I needed to take a pause and sit and just not do anything and, and, and remind myself that even though it's making me excited, it's not, driving towards my wellbeing, I guess you could say.
It's not those wellbeing components. So [00:30:00] just kind of slowing down a little bit is what I needed to remind myself to do.
Rabiah Coon: yeah, yeah. And that's true because I think you're right. When people are doing something that's either another business or a hobby or something if it's not serving the ultimate goal. And, and if you can't answer the question yeah, that's serving it, then don't. That makes sense? Yeah.
Jessica Berg: Yeah. I've tried to start instituting these moments of nothing. I am horrible at doing nothing absolutely horrible. It's really hard for me not to, if, if I have five minutes where someone doesn't need something, where there's not something I'm thinking I need to do in my head or like a checkbox. So I've started to incorporate even for just a couple minutes going outside and just sitting and doing nothing.
Rabiah Coon: Nice.
Jessica Berg: not looking at my phone, not meditating, like literally nothing.
And it's actually been. pretty powerful and just for, for a moment of nothing, it actually comes with a big impact.
So I highly recommend just [00:31:00] a couple minutes.
Rabiah Coon: I am, I am thinking, 'cause you've said a few things where I'm like, does she know me? no. So I have this friend and I'm just revealing too much on this, this episode, but that's fine. So I have this friend, and he may, or he'll probably hear this at some point, but he'll ask me like, oh, what are you up to today, just chilling? And I get, so that triggers me and I go, no, no, I'm not chilling. Like, no, I'm doing, and then I'll start, even if I was doing nothing watching tv, I'll start doing something. Because I'm like, how dare you tell me that I'm doing nothing and how can I have the audacity to sit here and do nothing when there's so much to be done?
But I'm just, I do need a break. And then I'll, I'll push myself to the point where I don't get a choice about the break. I just have to take it. , you know,
Jessica Berg: Yes, because doing nothing is something.
Rabiah Coon: yeah. So I kind of like that you just do nothing, but maybe if I made it a task, I'd be comfortable doing. It.
Jessica Berg: That's what, that's what sadly, I, I actually have like calendar blocks on my [00:32:00] calendar that says like, go for a walk. Do nothing. And because I have to, like, if it's blocked on my calendar, then it's something that I, in my mind, I'm like, okay, this is something I need to do.
Rabiah Coon: Can you imagine someone sees it, they're trying to book a meeting and then, then it says, well, I know you're not doing anything. You go, no, that's not correct. I'm doing nothing. That's very different than not doing
anything, you know?
Jessica Berg: yeah, You have no idea how powerful that word, nothing is in this, in this time block.
Rabiah Coon: Oh my gosh. That's wild.
Jessica Berg: Oh, man.
Rabiah Coon: Well, with work too, I mean, one thing I found just in doing other, other things outside, like comedy for example, made me better at certain aspects of my job, just even thinking quicker and stuff.
Have you seen any positive impacts like that from doing. Moon Rock Wellness to your job?
Jessica Berg: I would say that it's actually made me a better employee.
Not only have I increased in my gratitude, but I feel that I feel more confident in how I'm showing up to a meeting to presentations. Like it's, it's interesting because when you start [00:33:00] doing and putting time aside to something that you believe in, that you're passionate in, that that truly does fulfill you, it allows you to show up so much more confidently and authentically in your, in all of your interactions, but especially in your corporate job. So it, I was very surprised at that, that crossover and how interwoven they really can be.
Rabiah Coon: All right, so Jessica, one thing too that I like to do is just ask everybody, even though a lot of our chat has been filled with things that people can take, is like a tip or advice or something. Do you have anything that, like a mantra advice that you like to share that just kind of something that maybe centers you or just something that you think people listening to this might might be good for them to hear?
Jessica Berg: The one that jumps out at me is a quote that I heard, on a real estate podcast, which I, it has no correlation to this, but, um, but it actually, it, it just, it hit me and it, the guy said, "show me your calendar and I'll show you your future". And I loved it because [00:34:00] it was so simple and powerful at the same time. And, and basically it's just saying like, you know, we, we, a lot of times as people, we have these, oh, I want to, I wanna do this,
I wanna do that. I wanna have a more, um, balanced life. I want to like .like what you were saying, you know, it's the things that you don't do that you regret and the things that you do.
I, I wanna start this, this business, I wanna chase my dream. I wanna have a more healthy lifestyle. But then if you just take a look at your calendar, like what time out of your every day are you dedicating towards that? And it's as simple and black and white as that. And if you just, again, going to making sure you carve out time on what you really want outta your life, then that you can kind of see your future based on what your day-to-day activity looks like.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah. Oh, cool. I like it. Yeah. I'm gonna start adding things to my calendar to manifest them. Just
Jessica Berg: you should,
you should.
[00:35:00]
Rabiah Coon: Alright, now we're gonna get into the Fun Five. These are five questions I ask every guest just 'cause I, they're things I think are fun to know. So what is the oldest t-shirt you have and still wear?
Jessica Berg: So the oldest T-shirt I have and still wear; it is from when I was 12 years old and it's a Bob Marley t-shirt.
Uh, my family used to go to Jamaica when we were younger and I was first introduced to Bob Marley at a super young age, and I just fell in love with reggae. And it's tattered. It is, got holes in it, but I still remember the shop, um, that we got it from when we were there. So, uh, that's gotta be the oldest one that I have that I still love.
Rabiah Coon: Nice. That's that's really cool. So, the next one is if every day was really Groundhog's Day, where people just kind of did the same thing every day, every morning, which isn't always a bad thing, like if you're getting up and meditating, for example, so to say. What song would you have your alarm clock set to play every morning?
Jessica Berg: So this is gonna sound a little cliche, because I was thinking about this [00:36:00] and I honestly it would have to be meditation music.
And only because, not, not 'cause I'm, I'm being an annoying like, wellness person, but 'cause I truly like, I feel it's so important to ease into the mornings and I mean even like, I'm trying to not look at my phone right when I wake up and instead like, let my brain like slowly process the whole like wake up system. But just waking up to meditation music, I feel would just start my day off in a little bit more of a zen mode. And I think any other song, if I had to hear it every single day, the lyrics, I would probably get very annoyed with it, even if it was my favorite. I would have to say, what was yours?
What's yours?
Rabiah Coon: Oh, I'm trying to think of what I said 'cause I did answer this question and . I think I put . Oh, this is weird. I don't remember what I said. I don't know. I, it was something with Elton John though for sure, because that's my
Jessica Berg: Oh, that's a good
one.
Rabiah Coon: but
I just don't know what I did [00:37:00] and that's kind of annoying me. I don't think it would've been Skyline Pigeon or something. .
\ It was Honky Cat. So my song that I picked, uh, I, I love Elton John. So it was Elton John, but it was Honky Cat by Elton John. So that was the one I went with and I even have had that play me on stage before, like at a, at a gig.
Jessica Berg: I love it.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah.
Jessica Berg: Elton
Rabiah Coon: it's
Jessica Berg: John's a legend. He's So, good.
Rabiah Coon: So,
Jessica Berg: God, my kids, my kids have gotten into his music. I love it.
Rabiah Coon: Oh, did they watch Sing? And then like, from there, get it? Yeah.
Jessica Berg: Yes, But they also, I've noticed that the, the teachers will play music and it's interesting, like, Rocket Man is one of 'em that they were coming home and singing
Rabiah Coon: Oh, really?
Jessica Berg: yeah. yeah.
Rabiah Coon: It's such a good song. And like All right, so as far as your beverage preference, uh, coffee or tea, or neither?
Jessica Berg: Both.
Can I say both?
So I'll always start with two shots of espresso. I would have more. I know that that's not healthy. So then I switch to tea [00:38:00] in the afternoon.
Rabiah Coon: It's smart. I know. I mean, a lot of people do say this and I'm like, I'm hearing it, but I'm not listening
Jessica Berg: and that's okay.
Rabiah Coon: Yeah, it is Until you, until you have high blood pressure, it's okay. But yeah, . Um, alright. Can you think of a time that you like laughed so hard you cried, or just something that just really makes you crack up when you think about it?
Jessica Berg: So this is gonna sound bad, and I'm trying to think of a way to say it where I don't sound like a horrible human being, but it's something about like my, my super close,
intimate loved ones when they are in a, not in a, like a, a bad situation, like painful emotionally or physically, but when they, something has happened to them, like they've I don't know. I, I'm thinking of like my, my brother at vacation when he's just so stressed to the max with his kids and, and just miserable. It makes me laugh so hard. I, I [00:39:00] like have tears coming outta my eyes. So I guess like when a loved one is in like a miserable state or like in a, an unfortunate state, that's not horrible.
Like, I know that sounds really bad, but it's just, I find comedy in that
Rabiah Coon: no. I mean, I actually, I totally relate because my sister has three kids. I don't have kids. My sister has three kids and they're great. They're just wonderful kids. Uh, and she, I just remember this one time and I see this is why she should listen to the podcast and I wouldn't talk about her, she was so mad at them, like yelling at them, and I just started laughing.
Because it was so dumb. 'cause I'm like, it's not her being dumb, it's them. But it's like, why aren't you guys just doing what your mom said?
Jessica Berg: Yeah.
Rabiah Coon: there's no reason for her to be yelling and there's no reason for you not to be doing anything. You're just both like being wild. And it made me laugh. I started laughing at all of them and then my sister got kind of mad and I was like, well, you know, but I'm like looking at the kids and they're just kind of like, unfazed.
And I'm like, clearly this is not [00:40:00] effective anymore. They're so unfazed by this. And I'm like, guys, what are you doing? And they're just kind of smiling and I'm like, what? Like I don't understand. And I was just sitting there because I thought if we would've done this and my mom was there too, and if we would've done this, like we would've, well we wouldn't have, we would've gone upstairs.
That's the thing. I don't know how your kids are, but I think a lot of kids just like sit there and just kind of think like, well, I'm sitting
Jessica Berg: no, you have to, yeah, you have to say something to like 10 times and then, and your octave gets louder each time. A hundred percent.
And i, there was one time, the hardest I've ever laughed in my life was, um, I went on a trip with my best friend. We did a girl's trip. We've been best friends since we were literally born. Um, 'cause our moms were best friends and we were in Hawaii and she had gotten sunscreen in her eye and her eye was, which is right?
It's like a horrible
Rabiah Coon: It hurts.
Jessica Berg: But. her whole eye was like so swollen and it was such a, it was [00:41:00] such a sight. And we both just started laughing at the misery of the whole experience that she was having.
And I was just laughing so hard. I was, I was crying and it's, it sounds, I sound like a.
Rabiah Coon: No. No. It's just funny because things are funny and it's better than you screaming when you saw her face and not looking at her.
Jessica Berg: Yeah. Yeah. like oh my God, what is going on?
with your eyeball,
Rabiah Coon: it is. I mean it is bad, but I know like you have to be able to laugh at these things, you know?
Jessica Berg: you absolutely do. And that's, that's what I think it is, is just taking some of the more intense moments and turning them into like lightness.
And I do the same thing for me too. Yes, a hundred percent.
It is. Add that to the wellness list to just try to laugh a little bit each day. It changes everything.
Rabiah Coon: add laughing to Moon Rock, I'll just come laugh with you and then we'll just put it on
Jessica Berg: Okay. It does. It changes everything. And look, you're doing that as a living, so that's amazing.
Rabiah Coon: yeah, eventually. See you got that on my calendar now, so I'll do it. Um,
Jessica Berg: I'm manifesting it for you.
Rabiah Coon: you. Thank you. Someone needs to certainly not [00:42:00] bookers in London. Um, . Okay. And the last one is, who inspires you right now?
Jessica Berg: It would have to be my children. They're actually starting to really school me as far as facts. I, I've lost a couple of betts recently, in a matter of like, how many bones do you have in your body? And I was way off. Um, but I, I think that they just inspire me day in and day out on just the. the magic that life really is. I mean, if, if we could all kind of take a moment and look at the world through children's eyes, it's so freaking amazing and we're constantly, as adults, like going, going, going. And we're kind of tone deaf to how incredible some of the most simplest things are and that are happening all around us.
Like we, I was taking my kids to school and they were running late and then they like paused 'cause there was a snail that was like slowly sliding on this like, uh, electric box. And I mean, just like something as simple [00:43:00] as that, Nature and, and taking a pause and looking at it and or just getting exciting over some like simple like really cool milestones.
My daughter lost her tooth last night
and I mean the, the excitement that was oozing out of every pore of her body, but she was just so lit up. They're just truly, truly present beings and I feel that if we could all just channel that inner inner child more and be present and be playful and just stop taking things so seriously, our day-to-day lives as adults would be much better.
Rabiah Coon: Oh, for sure, for sure. So Jessica, if people wanna find you or Moon Rock Wellness, where, where do you want them to go to find you? Is there anything, any action you wanna give people?
Jessica Berg: Yeah. If you go to, you can find, moon Rock online at www. dot moon rock wellness dot com (www.moonrockwellness.com), and that's where you can find all the information as far as the yoga, meditation products and, uh, recipes. And then you can also, um, [00:44:00] connect on Instagram. The handle is moon underscore rock underscore wellness (moon_rock_wellness).
So I'd be, I'd love to connect and, and just continue on the journey with whoever wants to be a part
Rabiah Coon: Awesome. Yeah, so check it out guys. And I've, I've gone on there and I definitely wanna see the recipes, so that'll be great. Well thank you so much Jessica. This was fun. Like I, I don't know if it's just 'cause you're in my old hometown or what, but this has just been a lot of fun to chat with you, so thank you.
Jessica Berg: Yeah. Ditto, thank you so much. It was a pleasure.
Rabiah Coon: Thanks for listening. You can learn more about the guest and what was talked about in the show notes. Joe Maffia created the music you're listening to. You can find him on Spotify at Joe M-A-F-F-I-A. Rob Metke does all the design for which I'm so grateful. You can find him online by searching. Rob M-E-T-K-E.
Please leave a review if you like the show and get in touch if you have feedback or guest ideas. The pod is on all the social channels at At More Than Work Pod (@MoreThanWorkPod) or at Rabiah Comedy (@RabiahComedy) TikTok, and the website is [00:45:00] MoreThanWorkPod.com. While being kind to others, don't forget to be kind to yourself,.
