Good morning and
welcome to Morning Serial.
Okay, good morning
and welcome to Thursday.
Hey, two week warning
people, two weeks until 2026.
So if you're not up and going yet, grab
your coffee and here is
someone who is packing
some serious energy to
get us moving along today.
Our quote today is from powerhouse
vocalist Christina
Aguilera who said, "You have to
be strong and know that you can do
anything you put your mind to."
Sounds simple, doesn't it?
The world may have a lot of opinions
about you, but the most
important voice is the one
in your own head.
Make sure that voice is
your biggest cheerleader.
Alright, here are your four moments that
matter for December 18th.
Okay, our historic moment is a little bit
of a scary one today.
It happened on this date back in 1975.
Do you know the name
George and Kathy Lutz?
Well, on this date, they moved into a
house in Amityville, New York.
It was the site of a 1974 mass murder and
within 28 days, they fled their new house
claiming terrifying paranormal events.
Their story inspired the book and the
film, The Amityville Horror.
Crazy scary stuff.
My daughter and I and my family, we watch
some of these documentaries.
Scary stuff.
Well, today's special day
is going to lighten the mood.
It's answer the
telephone like Buddy the Elf Day.
Buddy the Elf, what's
your favorite color?
I know it's a little silly, but it's also
a reminder that your
energy is contagious.
Alright, the number one song on this date
back in 1998 was I'm
Your Angel by R. Kelly
and Celine Dion.
Now, one of my favorite Christmas songs,
but don't expect
anything new out of this duo
until at least 2045.
That's when R. Kelly is
scheduled to be released from jail.
Still a great song.
Well, happy birthday to you.
Today's your birthday.
You sure birthed it with a lot of people.
Grammy sweeping singer, songwriter and
whisper pop power, Billie Eilish.
She's just 24 today.
Vocal powerhouse and pop
icon, Christina Aguilera.
She's 45 today.
Wrestler, Stone Cold
Steve Austin, 61 today.
Oscar winning actor and producer, you
might know him, Brad Pitt, 62 today.
Legendary director, Steven Spielberg.
He's 79 today.
The energizer bunny
guitarist, Keith Richards.
He's a young 82 today.
And rapper, the late DMX was
born on this day back in 1970.
Well, today's chapter for Mel Robbins,
the Let Them Theory is
Creating Community Anywhere,
which is basically Mel Robbins guide for
building a sense of
belonging, no matter where life
drops you.
Okay.
Robbins starts with a hard truth here.
As adults, we often fantasize that
community will just
happen the way it did in school
when proximity and shared schedules did
all the heavy lifting for us.
Whereas in reality, adulthood is the era
of what she calls the great scattering.
Friends moving away, job shifting, kids
entering the chat, kids
entering the chat and calendars
pulling everyone in different directions.
Instead of mourning the loss of automatic
community, this
chapter teaches you how to
build it on purpose.
It leans again on those three pillars,
proximity, timing, and energy.
And invites you to look at your current
life through that lens.
Where are you already
crossing paths with potential people?
At the gym, at work, at your kid's
school, at the dog park,
your apartment lobby, that
coffee shop you treat
like an office, right?
Creating community anywhere is practical.
And Mel suggests tiny doable moves.
Sit in the same spot regularly.
Talk to the same barista.
Join a recurring class.
Say hello to the same neighbors.
Over time, those micro interactions stack
into familiarity, then into comfort, then
into connection.
Mel emphasizes,
"Friendship is not a group sport.
It's an individual one."
You don't need a giant
squad to feel less alone.
You need a handful of repeated
intentional connections.
And Mel also connects this to the let
them, let me mindset.
Let people be who they are, busy,
distracted, not super talkative at first.
Let them respond however they respond.
Your power sits in the let me.
Let me show up again next week.
Let me smile first.
Let me ask one follow-up question.
Let me invite, even if
it's a little awkward.
Crucially, Robbins doesn't pretend this
is easy for everyone.
If you're introverted, like me, or if
you're anxious or coming
off a season of hurt, creating
community can feel like climbing a
mountain in flip-flops.
She normalizes that fear while insisting
that staying isolated
actually hurts you more in
the long run.
You don't have to
become the life of the party.
You just have to be
willing to be consistent.
And by the end of the chapter, community
stops looking like
something you either magically
have or don't.
And it starts looking like something you
can co-create one small step at a time.
Okay, here's your Thursday takeaway.
You can feel at home almost anywhere if
you're willing to show up regularly.
Go first in small ways and let community
grow slowly instead of instantly.
So as you head into your Friday Eve,
maybe answer one call
with the Buddy of the Elf
enthusiasm and one conversation with
Christina-level confidence.
Now, remember, the place you live or work
today could turn into
your community if you
keep showing up as yourself.
Hey, thanks for spending part of your
morning with Morning Cereal.
I will see you back
here tomorrow on a Friday.
And until then, have a fantastic day.
Don't forget to follow and subscribe to
the Morning Cereal
podcast on the One Life Live
It channel.
You can find more episodes and videos by
visiting our YouTube
channel and the website at Shawn
English and at ShawnEnglish.com, where
you can also follow our
other podcasts, the Mr.
and Mrs. English podcast
and the Life Happens podcast.
And these other podcasts will dive deeper
into everyday issues,
self-improvement, well-being,
business and finance, and we
welcome special guests too.
So join us.
It will be a good time, I promise.
Thanks again for listening.
Have a fantastic day and
we'll see you tomorrow.