Prita Grealy speaks about fun, boundaries & staying true to yourself

Prita is a good friend of mine and I’m so happy to have this talk with her. She is a professional singer/songwriter from Australia and how she creates her everyday life is simply awesome. Prita is such a wonderful person and we had a great time talking about baking macarons in the middle of the night, building playgrounds for adults, going on adventure walks… We’re contemplating the meaning of joy and fun and discuss the fun side and the challenges of creating it with ease and flow.

When I met Prita she toured around the world as a singer/songwriter with her home base in Berlin, but last year Prita moved back to Australia, where she bought a house. «I‘ve been thrust into another job which is managing a café full time», she says and adds that she‘s about to leave this job to «go back to music and do more things that I love».

I ask Prita how she creates joy and she has a great answer: «I go on adventure walks. Because we can‘t travel the world, which I miss a lot, I go on my own little travel thing here»

An adventure walk means walking from your house or apartment in a new direction, or driving somewhere and starting from there. «I walk for about an hour and whatever happens, happens», Prita says smiling. She strolls along lovely side streets, finds nice cafés or meets someone.

«Having this little adventure brings me so much joy», Prita

Prita sometimes posts little videos on her instagram channel, make sure to follow her there. : ) Use #adventurewalks if you do the same wherever you live!

«Going wherever it takes you is like an adventure», Prita

The awesome thing is that you see so many details when you‘re on the road on foot. Flowers, little signs, cute shops…

The key to a happy life and to joy is that you can have an adventure everywhere. Weather you‘re stuck at an airport or have to wait in a long queue. You can talk to people, you can discover the airport, you can turn left instead of right…

«When you switch to adventure mode, you can have an adventure wherever you are», Ronja

Prita says that she sometimes gets into a conversation with strangers from which the other person walks away with her business card and not seldom did that end in a music gig! That is so great.

Alec Penney from episode no.15 (check it out, it is BOMBASTIC!) talks about «taking all in». Whereever you are, whatever you do, take it all in. The chair you‘re sitting on, the air you‘re breathing, the smells you‘re smelling, the wind on your skin, the mood you‘re in…

Prita says that she tries to catch herself, when she‘s dwelling on something or thinking about something too much. She tells herself: «You don‘t have to spend your time thinking about that right now, let it go» or «why are you putting energy into that, when you could be putting that energy into feeling positive and feeling good about something.»

«I see it like a bank account. What am I investing in? Am I investing in positivity or am I investing in negativity?», Prita

Prita adds that it‘s also important to recognize all feelings. That for example anger comes, when her boundaries aren‘t clear. «It‘s important for me to recognize that as a valid feeling».

We sum-up some insights: 

• Ackknowledge feelings like sadness and anger and find out what you need in these moments to change it around

• The key is to know yourself and to know what you want

Prita tells how she sometimes gets up at night when she can‘t sleep and starts baking. «I love macarons, I love color, I love flavour, I just love creating things. Things like that bring me joy in the middle of the night, when I‘m actually thinking „oh my god, I can‘t sleep, how annoying“! I‘m lying there being frustrated, but that frustration leads me to just getting up and be doing stuff and being creative, which I love».

«Sometimes a negative feeling pushes you forwards to create joy or pushes you into being in another state of mind or being», Prita

I ask Prita, what fun means to her. The answer comes quick: Rollerblading! «I just have so much fun doing it», Prita says laughing. She likes to put some music on, dance and move around on her blades, being outside in nature.



«When is it, that people stop using playground equipment?», Prita asks and we start dreaming about a big outside playground for adults. With slides and swings and see-saws, trampolines and all the good stuff. : )

«It‘s amazing that something so simple could be so fun and create so much joy for no money, it‘s just there, it‘s a park. We‘ve been entertained for ages», Prita recalls when we were talking about a fun day at a playground in Zurich with Mika and another kid, we met.

«Let‘s build playgrounds for adults», Ronja

«If you can create fun and joy and happiness, then you win», Ronja  

We talk about resting when you actually wanted to do something else but feel so tired. Prita says: «Sometimes for me it‘s very important to tend to my actual needs first, like physically if I‘m tired or exhausted, I should sleep. Sometimes I forget that and I try to push push push push…», Prita adds that sometimes it can be good to push through and go to that pilates class, because you‘ll feel so much better afterwards, but sometimes you just have to let it go and get some sleep instead.

«Sleep first and then joy», Prita

We also tackle the topic of obligations and saying no when you‘re already commited. Prita shares a story about a job interview that she‘s recently done or better said, that she hasn‘t done and I share my story about a team mate that I once had. Make sure to listen to the episode and get the whole story. Tough decisions can be so difficult but I find it soothing to know that other people have done (and survived : )) it too.  

«Sometimes hard decisions make your life so much better», Ronja

«Is this something that I can compromise on or is this something that I really value and that is really important to me?». Prita says that in her previous relationsships she had to really think about these questions and come to terms, that it‘s okay to have these values. «Things that might seem silly to other people, but for me it‘s such a dealbreaker». Those values, that might seem small to others but led to stress and chaos in Prita‘s life were decisive, that she ended that relationship. «I just needed to feel peace and now I have my peace back».

«I love my own company», Prita

By enjoying your own company more and more, you‘re freeing up everything. In any circumstance you are you and you can decide with whom you want to spend time, how you want to react and what kind of compromises you want to make.

Prita recalls a quote from Danielle LaPorte that goes like this: «Open your heart. Then put up a big fence». We both prefer talking of boundaries instead of fences, because boundaries are expansive where fences are protective, but nonetheless: Yes. Be kind, be open, but do know your boundaries. When you don‘t know your boundaries, you won‘t be your authentic and happy self which makes it harder to be kind and have a open heart. Do you see it? : )  

«Kindness is free», Ronja

«It‘s really interesting to play with recognizing what my boundaries are and creating some where there weren‘t any before, because then it creates a safe space where you can be yourself and be comfortable being laughing at things and playing on swings and slides and not caring what other people think or feel about you, because you‘ve got your own space». Take these words from Prita in and – if you aren‘t living like this yet – imagine what it‘d be like. Yes. It would be sooooo good!

If you‘ve been in my Joy Universe for some time, you‘ve certainly heard me gush about the «Golden Bubble Meditation». This meditation is all about creating that safe space around you. You can have it close to you or huge and wide, when you want to include everyone around you. You can paint it in whatever color you like, have it glittery and sparkly or even transparent. It‘s my favourite tool because it gives you so much and it‘s so simple. If you want to try it out too, you‘ll find the link at the bottom of these shownotes.

«Knowing your boundaries feels expansive», Prita

Mmhh… another amazing, joyful, heartwarming conversation with my dear friend Prita. Just listening to Prita brings me joy. I hope you‘ve enjoyed this insight into Prita‘s world full of fun and bliss!

This is where you can find Prita:

Website: www.prita.com.au 
Youtube: www.youtube.com/pritagrealy 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/prita.grealy 

Twitter: www.twitter.com/pritagrealy 

Instagram: www.instagram.com/prita_grealy
 
Things that we mentioned in this episode:

Free Webinar "You are bigger than your self-doubts!"
Prita‘s Playlist on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5LIG1nFNAcSqxwmJCpWz39?si=cHS66j8TSnyDkn81o_NsWA&dl_branch=1&nd=1
Podcast Episode with Alec Penney
Golden Bubble Meditation
Movie «Honey I shrank the kids»
Desire Map, Danielle LaPorte