July 10, 2024
Listen to our new podcast episode with Haley Bond on the Best Day Podcast!
In this latest podcast episode of The Best Day podcast, host Haley Bond sits down with Emily Montgomery, founder of the HiLU app, to discuss the impact of voice messages in expressing love, gratitude, and encouragement amidst the decline in real connection due to technology.
Join us as we explore:
Tune in to discover how you can use your voice to make a meaningful difference in the lives of others and combat the growing loneliness epidemic.
Link to Episodes:
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"Note: This transcript has been provided to improve accessibility for the hearing impaired. It has been edited for clarity and readability."
Haley Bond [00:00:00]:
One of the most powerful tools you have. Something you use every single day without fully realizing and recognizing the potential of it. Yes, I am talking about your voice. The words you speak and the tone in which they carry truly have the potential to not just impact your own life, but the very people around you. Talking through the importance of using your voice to speak powerful and affirming words to the people who mean the most.
Are you tired of feeling overwhelmed, burnt out? Feeling stressed, pulled in every direction, constantly comparing yourself to other people, lacking in confidence, all while driving in the express lanes to make it to the next part of your day as you chug your second or third cup of coffee? Not to mention you are the queen of a long winded to do list with an ambitious dream. If only you had more time in your day. Welcome to the best day podcast.
Haley Bond [00:01:01]:
The podcast to encourage your heart and speak life to your dreams. I'm your host, Hailey, wife, mama, high school teacher and encouragement blogger at graceful and free. For the last several years, I struggled to find a healthy work life balance. I was over committed, refused to say no, and worked a lot, sacrificing my sleep and my joy just to hustle harder, all while feeling extremely stressed and overwhelmed. Then I became a mom and I knew something had to get through. Embracing a positive mindset, I have found balance, establish boundaries to protect my peace so that I can live every day as the best version of myself. Here to embrace an intentional life, believing that the ordinary can be the extraordinary, and to make sure your heart knows that every day is truly capable of being the best day. Ready to have your best day as the best version of yourself? Well friend, grab your iced coffee and let's get encouraged.
Haley Bond [00:02:08]:
You are listening to episode 150 of the best day podcast. Hey friend, welcome to another episode of the best day podcast. It's Hailey. And can you believe that this is the 150th episode of the podcast? That is insane to me. I want to just take a quick moment to say thank you so much for being here. Thank you for tuning in. Thank you for listening in each week to the podcast. It truly blesses my heart and I am just so glad that you are here to just spend the time listening and receiving motivation, receiving encouragement to hopefully activate your best day every single day.
Haley Bond [00:02:47]:
And so I'm excited for you to hear today's episode. You are in for a real special treat. It's no secret that I love words and using words to encourage empowerment and speak life over the things that we hold deep. And today I am so excited to share with you a conversation I had with special guest Emily Montgomery. Emily Montgomery is the founder of Hilu, a pro social app dedicated to spreading words of affirmation to others in our lives. Emily shares her personal journey of transformation from being a lawyer and prosecutor to really following her passion for gratitude and kindness. The idea for HiLU came to Emily during her pilgrimage on the Camino del Santiago, where she received voice recordings of affirmations from her mentors. She realized the importance of what her mentors had done for her throughout the years and created HiLU to spread the practice of lifting up others as an antidote to the loneliness epidemic.
Haley Bond [00:03:47]:
This was such a genuine conversation as Emily and I talked about the power of words, the importance of using our voice to speak to those around us, and an easy way to make this happen in our everyday lives without feeling like we are adding something else to our never ending to do list. I hope you feel encouraged and are left inspired as you tune into this beautiful conversation. Welcome to the best day podcast, Emily. I'm so excited to have you here.
Emily Montgomery [00:04:16]:
Me too. Thanks so much for having me. I'm excited to have this conversation.
Haley Bond [00:04:22]:
You popped up into my inbox and I just felt life and joy just through the words that you shared with me. And I knew instantly how great this would be to have this conversation on the podcast to share with the listeners. Because I think when we talk about gratitude and we talk about words of affirmation, that's something that so many of us love to hear. But I really like your approach because I think it takes it to a whole new level that our hearts desperately want more of. And so I'm so excited for this conversation.
Emily Montgomery [00:05:00]:
Thank you so much. We often have so many beautiful intentions of kindness and gratitude, but we don't have a lot of specific language about how do I get better at it, how do I practice at it, how do I come back to it if I go into a period of time where I'm just in survival mode? Right?
Haley Bond [00:05:21]:
That's so good. I think so often in life we are trying to improve the areas that we feel like we're weak at, or I need to get better at this area. But oftentimes when we think about being kind, it's like, oh, I'll just be kind. Like, I'll just say something nice or I'll just go out of my way to, when I think about it, right? We say we're going to do something, I'm going to go reach out and just affirm them and give life to them. But when we actually sit down to do it, it's like, wait, did I actually do that or did I just say, I'm going to do it? And so I really love the platform. You are passionate about what you have created, and I am so excited for us to just jump into this because this is something that I know my listeners are going to absolutely love to implement in their life. And so before we get really into all of the cool details, can you do a quick little intro and introduce yourself to my wonderful listeners?
Emily Montgomery [00:06:16]:
So my name is Emily Montgomery. I am the founder of Hilu, which is a platform. Hilu is short for Hi, I love you. And it helps people give more words of affirmation and positive feedback to others in their life. And I do always draw a distinction. We think of affirmations and we think of those things that we say in the mirror.
Emily Montgomery [00:06:39]:
What is an other-centered affirmation? And we're doing those all the time, and they just sort of float away. So Hilu is designed to capture those, to create a practice of sending other centered kindness voice memos and audio recordings and keeping them in an album for people to go back to when they need it on those dark and cloudy days.
Haley Bond [00:07:07]:
I love that. The capturing kindness and putting it somewhere with purpose so that way it can be saved and it can be looked upon and reused and really kind of activated whenever it's needed the most. And so how in your journey, in your story, how did you get to this point where you're like, this is something that the world needs, and this is something that I want to do because that's so cool to come up with something so powerful.
Emily Montgomery [00:07:33]:
Well, it's multifaceted. I had been in therapy for about ten years, and when I started therapy, I was a lawyer and a prosecutor. And then, ten years later, I'm working in private equity as a chief of staff. And I was in that place, and a lot of people will call it maybe a midlife crisis and midlife unraveling, and midlife renaissance is my current favorite word, where you just really start questioning in your bones and knowing that you only get one chance.
Emily Montgomery [00:08:15]:
So I actually took a sabbatical, and I walked across Spain, and it was amazing. And if anybody is called to the Camino del Santiago, I would highly recommend it. It is a life changing event that is just seared into my memory. So I walked about 660 miles.
Haley Bond [00:08:41]:
Amazing.
Emily Montgomery [00:08:44]:
And in that time, I was coming up with the idea for the app, and there are a whole bunch of circumstances as to how this kind of came to be, but a lot of the app was, I'm walking alone, but I was part of a community, and I had friends and family that had sent me off on my journey with all of these voice notes. So I wasn't alone. And I gathered them together, I cobbled them together, and I had the words from my mentors and from my friends and family telling me that I was on the right path. And even if I broke my leg and needed to come home, they would still love me, you know, those sorts of things. So I was alone physically in a lot of ways, but I was not alone because I was fully supported by the people in my life.
Haley Bond [00:09:43]:
That's so cool. And just a big kudos to you for taking that leap and to just go for it and to say, I want more, and I can only do this once, and so I want to make sure I'm doing it the right way. That feels good within me. And so that's incredible, because so often, so many people just get stuck and they don't want to take that chance and they don't want to step into the unknown. And you did that, so I'm proud of you for doing that. And what an amazing opportunity to take something that was so powerful to you in that process of having voice memos and voice notes and unlocking this whole next chapter for your life.
Emily Montgomery [00:10:27]:
Thank you. There's so much in our voices that, you know, as I was walking along, just being able to hear the fabric of the voice of people that loved me. It becomes easier, but it's not an easy thing to get up at six in the morning and put back on your socks and rub your feet with Vaseline and put on your backpack over and over. And the wonderful thing about the Camino is that it's such a parable for life.
Emily Montgomery [00:11:04]:
Right? We are walking in many ways, we can be walking alone, but if we can be intentional and listen for the voices that are supporting us, we'll often find that there's more support there than we might initially think.
Haley Bond [00:11:23]:
Oh, absolutely. And just listening to that voice is so important. And I know with voice memos, and I don't often communicate a whole lot with voice memos, there's a few people in my life that will voice chat and anytime I do get a voice chat, it is so life giving. It's just like a burst of energy and joy and encouragement, and it fills me up. And so it's so cool to recognize that and be like, man, this is something that we all can really take advantage of and not have to do it in this overly ambitious way, but to just be more conscientious of what we're doing and saying, hey, let me take a few seconds to just send words of encouragement with my voice to somebody else, because that's something that they can hold on to at any point of the day. They can hit play over again. And we never know what people are walking through. We never know what day each person is having.
Haley Bond [00:12:23]:
We don't know what kind of trial they're in the midst of. And sometimes just hearing that voice can really make a difference.
Emily Montgomery [00:12:32]:
Yeah, it's so true. You touched on something there about being conscientious, and there's this wonderful treasure trove of research that I found about how we need to really think about the methodologies that we use to communicate. And by doing that, it's not that any form of communication is “bad.” It's just that some forms are less optimal for the goals that we want to achieve. I would never want to discourage someone from sending words of affirmation, encouraging text messages.
Emily Montgomery [00:13:11]:
If that's what you have time and bandwidth for, please, continue to do that. Don't be dissuaded. But if you really want to optimize your well being and the well being of the person that you're sending it to, getting the voice in there is just so important. It tells us who the person is, where they are. The fact that they really love us, that warmth and sincerity, that's what we need.
Haley Bond [00:13:35]:
I love that. I think there's so much goodness there, and I think we can go back in our own lives and, you know, with different love languages. Of course, I receive love with words of affirmation. So anything spoken, words of affirmation, I'm like, you have me. This is amazing. Like, you have just filled me up and poured into my heart in ways that I can't express. And so I think that's part of why I love this and your app so much, because I'm like, this is screaming at me.
Haley Bond [00:14:09]:
And so this is kind of switching a little bit of how we usually think, right? Because we want to be kind and we want to go out of our way to just send that message. But how does HiLU make this possible? So tell me a little bit more about this really cool app that you've created.
Emily Montgomery [00:14:28]:
Yeah. So you would just navigate to teamhilu.com. It's a web based app. It is not available on any of the traditional App Stores. And you eventually can download the icon directly. You can use it from your computer or from your phone. You can download the icon onto your phone. So it's just like a regular app.
Emily Montgomery [00:14:52]:
And you'll just hit record. It's a big button in the center. You hit record and you speak for however long that you want to. And I would emphasize, just get it out there. It does not have to be perfect. The research shows over and over and over again, it just doesn't have to be perfect. I get a lot of these sorts of HiLUs and a lot of people, they'll kind of, they want to try their first one with me, right? So they'll tell me, oh, this is like my fourth or fifth one.
Emily Montgomery [00:15:23]:
I’m like no, no, just send. You know, just capture the energy of it and just hit send. It's, you will surprise and delight the person that you want to talk to no matter what you say.
Haley Bond [00:15:37]:
Amazing.
Emily Montgomery [00:15:38]:
Assuming you have the warmth and sincerity. Right. So you just hit record and then you hit stop when you're done speaking, and then you hit share and you'll end up text messaging it to the person. And as soon as they can listen to it as many times as they want without creating an account so you can send it to anyone. It doesn't matter if they're already on our platform or not, which is really important to me.
Haley Bond [00:16:12]:
That's awesome. So super accessible and goes directly to a person's phone so they can have it right there when they need it the most.
Emily Montgomery [00:16:20]:
Yeah, then when they want to log in and see all of the ones that they've received, they log in and then they'll see sort of like a photo grid with a bunch of different people's little faces and then they can listen to all the different audio notes that they've collected.
Haley Bond [00:16:39]:
That is so cool. And I feel like this is making me think of so many different things because I know if you're just in your basic text messages sending a voice memo that can, you know, it goes away after a few, after you listen to it. Right. It doesn't stay there. You have to actively save it, and then you have all these different voice threads, and they're all over the place. And then you get a new phone, and you lose everything, or storage goes away every six months. And so what a cool place to have an actual platform to hold all of that. And I feel like for people going through big life changes, if you're going on a big trip, if you're going off to college, whatever.
Haley Bond [00:17:15]:
When you get to these big moments, maybe you're dealing with an upcoming loss where there's someone going through a really heavy, hard season. What a cool place to store voices and to store messages and to have that. So that's really cool.
Emily Montgomery [00:17:31]:
It can also be a good practice to think of somebody that's had an impact in your life that maybe you don't have a current relationship with. And you can just send them a little note like this, and you can actually email it to them, too. It uses your phone's native share tray, so any way that you can share in there,you can get them that message. And it doesn't necessarily open up a big dialogue. It gets you the health benefits, the longevity benefits, the connectivity benefits of expressing gratitude. And also the research really shows that these receivers of the messages are disproportionately surprised and delighted to hear from you. And people always underestimate how good we can make other people feel.
Haley Bond [00:18:26]:
Oh, absolutely. That's one of my favorite things to focus on, is that you have no idea just how much you can touch somebody's life. And for every interaction with somebody, right, you have a chance to make somebody's day worse. But hopefully, you can have that opportunity to make somebody's day better and make that be a good thing with a good, positive ripple effect. And I so strongly believe in the power of the voice and being able to speak and speak life and encouragement, that's something I could talk all day on, something that means a lot to me, deeply. And I think what's so cool about this is being very intentional with using your voice to affirm other people. And it can be overwhelming sometimes.
Haley Bond [00:19:13]:
I'm somebody who, as a teacher, I'm constantly talking. I have a podcast. I can talk. I have no problem talking. And for some people, right, it can be hard. It can be, you know, how. What if I don't know what to say or what if it doesn't sound great? But I think the most important thing is just putting the words together and speaking from the heart, because that's what people need is from what is within you, deep within the heart.
Haley Bond [00:19:40]:
And so what a cool way to be able to cultivate a place for that.
Emily Montgomery [00:19:45]:
Yeah. And I think I would also say there's ways that you can get better at it, you know, like, there's so many people on, like, social media or even podcasts that you look at them and you're like, oh, my God. I could never kind of live up to the warmth and the overflowing emotion and just, you know, all that free flowing energy that they have, which is awesome but in my view, it can be learned by anybody. The skill of giving back. You can improve.
Emily Montgomery [00:20:24]:
You know, I am a lawyer by trade and I was a litigator. We're not known for our warm and fuzzy. But by seeing other people and seeing almost like, the structure of the way that they would affirm others, I was able to learn and adopt that for myself. And because I love it, because I learned it, and it's just so magical. I just want to share it with everybody.
Haley Bond [00:20:55]:
That's so cool. I love that, too, because, again, we think, oh, I can't do that, or I don't sound like that, or I don't have that. I'm not that warm and fuzzy or optimistic or that, you know, I can't do that. But it's, we can learn anything. We can surround ourselves with the right people, with just even just channeling the thought of, like, I can be positive. I can use my voice to affirm and just kind of transitioning our thoughts into, hey, this is something I can do is really powerful as well.
Emily Montgomery [00:21:29]:
Well, in, your voice is sort of uniquely needed and encoded for the people in your life. Right. It doesn't matter that you think you're not good at it. The people around you need to hear from you. And you can start with a simple formula like, hey, I see you being really insert an adjective like a brave or kind or warm. Here's how it makes me feel. It inspires me here. It brings me substance.
Emily Montgomery [00:22:05]:
And thank you for being in my life in some way. A lot of the kind of messages like that follow that format of, here's what I see in you, here's what it brings me. Thank you for being in my life.
Haley Bond [00:22:21]:
Yeah, that's such an easy, simple thing to do. Then I like how it's also focusing on, like, this is something that I'm seeing you do. This is something I'm proud of or I respect this, or this is really admirable. And then this is the effect it's having on me, because that's what everybody wants. We, deep down, want to be noticed.
Emily Montgomery [00:22:41]:
Right
Haley Bond [00:22:41]:
We want somebody to affirm what it is that we're doing just to give us that little. Okay, like, I'm doing the right thing. I'm on the right path. And so, yeah, that's so great. And I love that little guy that you just shared of how to formulate that into words and how cool that that is.
Emily Montgomery [00:23:04]:
Yeah. A lot of us just need some people in our lives that choose to only see the positive in us, I think. And we see that echoed through positive parenting. And I'm sure, in the classroom, encouraging kids and encouraging the best in them, it's such important, transformative work to take in everything from a person. We all have our hang ups, our weaknesses, but that ability to see through that and speak only to the positive, and that's the work that I know teachers do every day, I know social workers do every day, therapists and coaches.
Emily Montgomery [00:23:53]:
And this really offers a way for them and everybody else to capture that work that they do.
Haley Bond [00:24:03]:
That's amazing. Yes, completely speaking to the positive. And it's just, there's so much that can be unlocked, you know, when you speak positively with yourself, but also pouring that into somebody else, there's so much. I feel like oftentimes people individually might be at a roadblock, and they're just waiting to go to that next step without even realizing that they just need that outside affirmation to unlock that door, to give them that belief that they can do this, that this is something that is possible. And so voice messaging all the way, sending voice affirmations, it does not have to be hard. It can be super, super simple.
Haley Bond [00:24:48]:
It can be from the heart. And for those that feel completely overwhelmed by this, right. Because I get it. Words can be hard, especially when you are trying to say something encouraging. It can also be easy to feel like, well, how do I make sure I say the right thing? Or how do I not, you know, say something that might accidentally offend somebody. Trying to be kind hearted. But for someone that's completely new to the whole concept of using words to affirm people, what is a good starting place? Because we've talked about everything can be learned, right? We can grow and evolve.
Haley Bond [00:25:26]:
So what is a good starting place for somebody who this is all brand new, but they want to get into it. Where should they begin?
Emily Montgomery [00:25:34]:
You know, I would spend two minutes a day, I would kind of sit with yourself for a minute and think, who needs to hear from me today? Who's the first person that pops into your head? Somebody will pop into your head and then just bring them to mind and just, you know, kind of sit with, what is it? What is this person maybe missing that I could speak to that I see that is so great about them that I don't, you know, I don't think they really see it yet. Or you can do something so simple, which is just picking up your phone and with your voice say, hey, I was just thinking of you this morning. I just wanted to say thank you for being in my life. I just love you so much. And, you just bring me so much. Period, end of sentence.
Emily Montgomery [00:26:26]:
That's it. It really is. Thank you. I love you. Thanks for all of the things that you bring me and what I've noticed.
Emily Montgomery [00:26:41]:
I think a lot of beginners get hung up on what they might say in 20 messages as opposed to what they just need to say today. And I think the interesting thing about these other-centered affirmations and self affirmations, actually, they can actually be really repetitive. And it's fine. Right. There's so much. We have so much internal negativity or a bad mood or bad circumstances come our way that are challenging. There's so many forces of negativity, I think, in the world that we need the repetition. I would not be afraid to say, oh, I told this person x, y, and z last week, it doesn't matter.
Emily Montgomery [00:27:31]:
Your energy will be different. Then you can kind of put a different spin on it, and it still is so important and it means so much.
Haley Bond [00:27:43]:
I love that especially, too. Like, just as you said, there's so many negative thoughts and negative things going around that we instantly look at something or read something and then internalize it and not even realize how many times we're putting that on replay in our heads yet we're worried about, oh, I'm gonna say this nice thing twice. What? They're going to be upset, right? No, of course. You gotta keep saying these things. I mean, anytime we're trying to do something with good change, you have to put your muscle into it. You have to focus on that repetition, build that routine, make it to where it comes naturally.
Haley Bond [00:28:27]:
And I love the thinking, like, taking the time again to be intentional with the thoughts and not just jumping into it, but just being conscientious and aware and being present with, okay, what is something that I want to reach? You know, who do I want to reach to? Who's on my heart, who comes to my mind? Because there's a reason they come to your mind. There's a reason they're placed on your heart in that moment. And that's really cool. And I feel like when this happens, when you take the time, this doesn't require a lot of time. It's just, you know, you can do this in less than a minute, and that's even a longer period of time. Right. But when you spend that time to cultivate moments in your day, to pour into other people and to spend those active words of affirmation, it also is a really cool connection with gratitude and being able to really center you with a thankful heart and being more aware of just what's going on in your life and not being so occupied by all of the stressors, but really being present with what really matters. And so how do you see that fit into it?
Haley Bond [00:29:37]:
I'm always big on words of affirmation and gratitude, and I definitely believe there's a super strong connection there.
Emily Montgomery [00:29:44]:
Yeah, there is. And this is why expressing our gratitude to others really is so important for our own health and well being. We often think about being kind to others because you should be kind to them. Right. And it's kind of about them, as opposed to, here's something that I am doing for someone else, but I am actually doing for myself as well. It helps me feel more connected, more positive. There is research, of course, about loneliness and disconnection and its impact on our longevity.
Emily Montgomery [00:30:24]:
It's important, I think, to do those practices that impact our well being. I do think another thing we should touch on that you had mentioned is that feeling of overwhelm, we're adding another practice. Right. Like, because that's the theme of your podcast, is the, how do we not be overwhelmed? And I think I would speak to that methodology, the choice that we have. There are certain ways that we spend our time that are just not feeding us, and we think we're getting connection for instance, when we scroll on social media for hours at a time, but we're not. So if we can cut out some of that and instead actively participate in human relationship, that's where the money's at.
Haley Bond [00:31:30]:
Absolutely. And I was thinking of that, too, as you were just talking as well, how we think we're connected, we think we're involved, we think we're playing this active role in people's lives because we can instantly see so much, which is really just little snippets, very few seconds of whole days on our end by looking at any sort of social media feed, and we feel like, I get it. I understand. I know what's going on, or I'm connected. I have community and it's like what are you internalizing here? Because oftentimes that just creates even more feelings of loneliness and why not get ahead of it and take a step further and say no, like, I'm going to use this time, scroll if you want, but I'm going to use also a few minutes to reach out to somebody that means a lot to me and to express how I feel, why I'm thankful for them. Something that I think that they are doing that is super admirable, that I'm just proud to know you and love you and to send that message because we all need it. And some people are better at expressing that need than others. But a lot of times we just keep that buried down within us of just like, oh, it's fine, it's okay, I'll just keep going through the motions.
Haley Bond [00:32:48]:
But all humans need to know that they are appreciated and supported and cared for. And this is just such a really simple, easy way to do it. And you feel so good when you can pour your words into other people. It's like the most affirming thing.
Emily Montgomery [00:33:05]:
It really is. It's such a great practice to have found and to have tapped into. And I'm really excited about a future where every child knows how much they are really loved and their best attributes and they have them to refer to. And I'm so excited about a future where everyone just knows their best qualities and can live from them and feels truly connected to other people.
Haley Bond [00:33:44]:
That's amazing. And I'm excited for that future, too. And I just have so many ideas for this. Like, I'm even thinking how many times during my day where I'm hanging out with my son who I just, of course, think is amazing. And he's not even three. And I'll try to talk to him about, like, this means so much to me when you do this and he's understanding it, but to be able for him at some point I thought of this recently. I was like, man, I just need to start writing down some of these things that he's doing right now so I can share it with him when he's older so he can realize this is how you touched my heart at this age. And what a cool way for me to be able to record those and put those in voice memos so he can hear my voice and have that saved for him to look back on at some point when he's older is what I'm thinking of right now.
Emily Montgomery [00:34:36]:
That's what I needed as a kid. That would have been awesome. I love watching the millennial parents doing it in such a different way. It's just really heartwarming.
Haley Bond [00:34:54]:
Yeah, it's great. I feel like every generation, every new wave, we all learn something. We're challenged by something. We kind of take things and we're like, okay, this works. And then you take things, you're like, nope, we don't need that. We can find something else. But that's definitely something that I love as a teacher.
Haley Bond [00:35:17]:
Getting to be constantly working with the next generations and watching them as they grow and they learn and they evolve. And that's always what I'm blown away with is just the constant growth and just the ability to just see the world differently and to have appreciation and respect and love. And I always feel good surrounded by all the generations that I have taught. Which, again, words, positive words, words of affirmation, can go a long ways here.
Emily Montgomery [00:35:50]:
You know, it's sort of ironic. Ten years ago, if you called me on the phone, I would generally send you to voicemail and I might text you, like, “What do you need?” I was notorious for having a full voicemail box and not listening to voicemail, but I really have seen the error of my ways. I have practically turned into a Boomer. I am the friend that will pick up the phone and call, and I'll send you all these studies for the show notes. But there's this great study on adolescent girls who either texted with their mom during a stressful event or talked to their mom on the telephone during a stressful event. And the ones that talked to them on the phone were the ones that felt calmer, supported, reassured. And it's just like speaking of the different generations, the Boomers really had it right when it came to voice.
Emily Montgomery [00:36:53]:
Because of the way technology has evolved, we've really kind of thrown that out. And I think we've done that unintentionally in a way that we might not have meant to. We just didn't think about it, right? So it's definitely something I would love people to reconsider a bit.
Haley Bond [00:37:13]:
I love that, too, because I'm thinking of that. I'm like, man, my mom is the queen of phone conversations. And, you know, I'll be on the phone with her and she's like, hold on. Somebody's beeping in, hold on. And it's like, I gotta call so and so back. But I've always have respected that about her, of just how connected she is with her people and how she won't even think twice about having, like, an hour long conversation just to check through her list of everyone that needs to get checked on. And we have lost that.
Haley Bond [00:37:43]:
And we've lost that because of convenience. And who calls anyone these days? If you get a phone call, you're like, what's wrong? If you get a call it’s like, oh, no, something's wrong. Why are you calling me? You could have texted me, but I think that's something really cool to start thinking about is just little switches of just a great starting place is just with the voice messages and sending those messages and sharing your love and your gratitude and knowing that that absolutely can make a huge difference for people. And being excited to be part of that process is really awesome.
Emily Montgomery [00:38:18]:
Yeah absolutely. We're preaching from the same hymn book here.
Haley Bond [00:38:24]:
Love it. Oh, my goodness. Well, I'm excited for you. I'm excited for this journey. I'm excited for all of the lives that you are going to change as you continue to really just encourage affirming people through voice, because that is so important. And I'm so thankful that you were able to be here and using your voice here on the best day podcast to also encourage. And before we go, I have one question that I must ask you and Emily. It is, what does your best day look like?
Emily Montgomery [00:38:59]:
My best day involves waking up around 06:00 a.m. Love it. Early riser. Getting in a workout before I've gotten lost in any kind of to-dos. It involves a 30-minute walk in nature, and it involves connecting with my friends and loved ones. And that's a perfect day.
Haley Bond [00:39:27]:
I love that. Spending time for you, spending time outside and spending time with the people that mean the most. That makes the best day.
Emily Montgomery [00:39:37]:
Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me.
Haley Bond [00:39:41]:
Thank you so much for being here, Emily. It was such a joy to have you and to talk to you and hear your heart. And I just, I'm so excited for you and I'm going to be cheering you on because there's so many big things in store for you.
Emily Montgomery [00:39:53]:
Thank you so much.
Haley Bond [00:39:55]:
Have the best day. Isn't Emily a gem? I had such a great conversation with her. The best time chatting with her, hearing her passion for words and using voice to really encourage those that mean the most to us and really giving life to our thoughts and our feelings and how other people really impact our lives. And so I have a challenge for you this week. First off, I would love for you to check out Hilu. You can go to teamhilu.com, teamhilu.com to very easily send your very first audio note to someone in your life that means a lot to you. And that's my challenge for you this week, is to take some time to really think through who has been placed on your heart and to take the two minutes to send a voice message. I would love for you to do this through team Hilu.
Haley Bond [00:40:51]:
That way it can be a place that is stored for them forever. Or if that's too much for you to work through right now, save that for your later list and instead just pop open your phone and send a little voice memo to somebody who means a lot to you to say, hey, you are special. You impact my life in a positive way. And I am so incredibly thankful for you. I want you to do that this week. I'm going to do that this week. And we are really going to be thinking forward as to how can we use our voice for positive change, how can we use our voice to impact others? And that's what I want you to know.
Haley Bond [00:41:26]:
Your voice matters. Your voice is so incredibly important and there's so many things that you have the ability to say and to speak and to change your trajectory of your life when you use your voice. So use your voice this week. Be excited, be hopeful, and go live out your best day every single day this week. I am so happy for you to just go crush this week. And I truly hope that you felt encouraged and inspired as you listened into today's podcast. As always, thank you so much for being here. I have a little bonus episode coming for you later this week, so keep a lookout for that in your podcast player.
Haley Bond [00:42:08]:
A little yearly podcast that I always, always give this time of the year as we are in the season of all things graduation and all big changes for so many people as they move through this next chapter of their life. And so something special for you coming that way later this week. Until then, friend, have the best day. Thanks for listening to another episode of the best day podcast. Looking for more? Be sure to subscribe to never miss an episode and have guaranteed inspiration delivered to you weekly. Looking for an accountability group focused on encouragement, positive mindset and intentional living? Come join the best day Facebook group or connect with us over on Instagram at the bestday podcast. And remember, your voice matters, your presence matters, you are valued and your life is a treasure. You are absolutely capable of living your best life every single day in grace and freedom.
Haley Bond [00:43:09]:
Until next time, have the best day, friends.
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