Your Next, Best Step

The four stages anger becomes when we will not deal with it ---- and what Ephesians 4 actually invites us to do instead. Join us for a full episode where we'll walk you through what your body is doing while you keep the peace, two common disguises resentment hides behind, the question that may tell you everything you need to know, and a three-step practice you can use tonight. "The Resen...

Have you ever finished a conversation, smiled, said something gracious, and then forty minutes later replayed every word and realized you had been keeping a very detailed mental ledger? You may be calling that patience. It might be something else. This episode is for the woman who prides herself on being "the patient one" — and is starting to wonder what it is actually costing her. We ar...

If you are over forty-five and a question keeps surfacing — What if this is all there is? — researchers have a name for what you are experiencing & what the data says about the women who keep walking through it. Join us for the full conversation in EPISODE 100 of Your Next, Best Step! Ready for your next step? FREE 5-Minute Daily Reset (instant download): YourNextBestStep.com  Weekly encourage...

That question that wakes you up at two in the morning. The one you have never said out loud: What if this is all there is? It is the secret weight underneath every other midlife question. Underneath the wondering about your body, your purpose, your marriage, your faith. And on the one hundredth episode of Your Next, Best Step, we are going to sit with it together — and walk you through the answer...

Forgetting a word mid-sentence can feel terrifying, but the National Institute on Aging confirms that occasional brain glitches are a completely normal part of aging. Don't panic over a single forgotten word - instead, focus on long-term patterns and talk to your doctor only if it starts disrupting your daily life.  Join for the full episode (099) “When You Google “Early Signs of Dementia” at...

Have you ever Googled early signs of dementia at 2 AM after forgetting a word, walking into a room with no idea why, or losing your keys while holding your keys? You are not alone, and what is happening may not be what you fear most. June is Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month, and this fear is in the air for a lot of women right now - especially the woman noticing her own memory slipping in way...

Your goals from January were just a sincere guess based on a version of you who hadn’t lived the last six months yet. Cut yourself some slack, thank the past version of you for trying, and give yourself permission to update the plan for who you are today.  Join us for Your Next, Best Step’s episode “The Six-Month Check-In You Actually Need” where you can learn what goal-adjustment research says ab...

Six months in. Half the year is behind you, and the goals you wrote down in January are looking different from where you are sitting now. Some still fit. Some have shifted. And some, when you look at them today, might feel like they belong to a different woman entirely. This episode is your compassionate mid-year check-in. Most women set intentions in January and reach June with a low-grade guilt...

Ever notice how a quiet weekend can feel peaceful one week, but incredibly lonely the next?  From the outside, solitude and loneliness look identical. What separates them is a single concept from psychology research: agency . Join us for the full conversation on the latest episode of Your Next, Best Step: "What to Do When Summer Feels Lonely" (Ep 097) Ready for your next step? FREE 5-Min...

Summer is supposed to be the easy season. Long days. Cookouts. Vacation photos. And here you are, on a Monday in June, and the house feels emptier than it does in February. I f you are a solo woman, a widow, an empty nester, or simply someone whose friends are traveling with their families this summer, you already know that the thinner calendar stings in a way other seasons do not. Culture says Ju...

Your body is in bed. Your brain is at a desk. The Greek word for "sound mind" in 2 Timothy 1:7 literally means a mind made whole - integrated, present.  A 2 a.m. mind running calculations God did not assign is a fragmented mind. Join us for the full episode: "The Anxiety You Manage So Well That Nobody Notices" (Ep 096) Ready for your next step? FREE 5-Minute Daily Reset (instan...

You are the one with the backup plan, the extra charger, and every appointment memorized. Everyone calls you organized. Reliable. The one who holds it all together. What if the thing driving all of that preparation is not personality - it is anxiety? High-functioning anxiety is invisible because it looks like competence. In this episode, I walk you through what this pattern actually is, what it co...

Ever notice how 9 compliments disappear the second you get 1 piece of criticism? 🤯 Tonight, your brain is going to want to replay the one comment that stung today. Don't beat yourself up for it - that is just your "negativity bias" at work. In fact, researchers have found that our brains process negative information with three times the weight of positive information. It’s an ancie...

You could get nine compliments and one piece of criticism today, and tonight, your brain will replay the criticism. Your brain was built to do exactly that — and it is costing you more than you realize. If you are a Christian woman in midlife who feels like the hard stuff sticks while the good stuff blurs into the background, this episode names why — and what changes it. Researchers have measured...

Ever went to make a quick phone call, only to wake up 20 minutes later three videos deep into a social media rabbit hole? Your brain did that on purpose. But I do have a question you can ask yourself the next time you catch yourself avoiding something. Tune in for the full episode (094) where Coach Janet J busts the myth that procrastination is a discipline problem: "The Procrastination Loop...

That task you have been avoiding for three weeks? You have been calling yourself lazy. The research says you are reading the situation wrong. Procrastination is not a discipline problem. It is an emotion regulation problem. The thing you are avoiding is not the task itself. It is the feeling the task brings up. Boredom. Inadequacy. Resentment. Fear that you will get it wrong. Your brain steers you...

That wave of sadness at the barbecue? Researchers have a name for it. And it means your brain is doing exactly what it is supposed to do.  If Memorial Day means more to you than the unofficial start of summer, the latest full episode (093) is for you: "The Grief That Shows Up at Barbecues: Memorial Day and the Losses No One Sees" Ready for your next step? FREE 5-Minute Daily Reset (insta...

Memorial Day weekend is coming. And for some women, the hardest part of the long weekend is carrying the name of someone who will not be at the barbecue, the parade, or the family reunion. If Memorial Day means more to you than the unofficial start of summer, this episode is yours. In this episode, we walk through what modern grief research calls "continuing bonds" - and why the healthie...

Have you noticed your bedtime creeping later? The extended daylight is delaying your melatonin - and a 2024 study found that irregular sleep timing is linked to significantly higher mortality risk. One small correction can make a real difference.  Join us for the latest full episode exploring why "Sleep Is Not a Luxury: Why Your Body Needs a Bedtime (Yes, Even Yours)" (Ep 092) Ready for...

You are getting seven or eight hours of sleep. So why do you still feel exhausted? New research points to something most of us have never considered: when you sleep matters as much - or more - than how long you sleep. A 2024 study from Monash University found that people with the most irregular sleep timing had up to 48 percent higher risk of dying from any cause — regardless of total sleep hours....

Your brain responds to imagined financial shortfall with the same stress response it uses for real danger. The worry is costing you before the spending even starts. Join us for the full episode exploring why anticipatory financial anxiety hits so hard in May and June, what is actually happening in your brain when comparison kicks in, and one simple question that can quiet the spiral before it pick...

You have not spent a dollar on summer yet, and your body is already bracing for it. The camp brochures, the vacation pressure, the casual "So what are you doing this summer?" conversations that make your stomach tighten. Sound familiar? Neuroscience research shows that your brain responds to imagined financial shortfall with the same stress response it uses for actual danger. The worry i...

Ambiguity activates two drives at once - the urge to move forward and the instinct to protect yourself. The result? You freeze. One small action that lines up with something you value can break that holding pattern. You do not need certainty. You need movement. Join us for the full episode (090) where we dive deeper into what neuroscience reveals about why uncertainty is more stressful than a know...

Your brain would rather hear bad news than be left to wonder.  And if you are in a season of waiting right now, doing your best to trust God even when you have no idea what is next, that might explain why it feels so hard in your body. In this episode, we walk through what was really happening in the upper room between the Ascension and Pentecost, what neuroscience reveals about why uncertainty is...

What can you do today about that conversation you keep replaying in your head?  Join us for the full episode where we explore how the research shows your brain treats it like unresolved business, circling back to it over and over, pulling at your focus even when you are doing something else entirely in the full episode (089) : The Conversation You Keep Having in Your Head (But Never Out Loud) Read...