Being Different with Liz Durham

In this episode of Being Different , I’m revisiting the infamous summer packet. Last year, I got a lot of people fired up when I said I threw Mac’s kindergarten summer packet in the trash. So today, I’m talking through what I meant, what I still stand by, what I probably could have said better, and how I’m thinking about it now that he’s heading into first grade. This isn’t about doing nothing all...

This week, I sat down with two of my very good friends and two longtime Knoxville real estate agents, Debaran Hughes and Lucas Haun, to talk about how much the real estate business has changed—and what has not changed at all. We talk about the old days of magazine ads, postcards, and cold calls, the rise of social media, the Selling Sunset-ification of real estate, and whether AI is going to chang...

This week I sit down with my friend Taylor Brasel for an honest conversation about dating, marriage, motherhood, careers, and the pressure our generation feels trying to “have it all.” Taylor is getting married in just a couple months, and hearing her talk about planning for the future with intention honestly gave me hope. We talk about the conversations nobody really prepares women for, what happ...

It’s just me this week, and after a complete disaster of a Mother’s Day morning, I had a lot to think about. Between Cooper dumping red dye all over the house, Charlie secretly cutting hair, missing church, and me and Luke ending up in a screaming match over a mattress and some rugs….I realized how much of our stress as parents comes from caring way too much about stuff that doesn’t actually matte...

I’ll be honest. I never paid much attention to school board races until I had kids. Then suddenly it hit me that these decisions actually matter, and I probably needed to stop pretending I had no reason to care. In this episode, I sit down with Ashley Sartelle, who is running for Knox County School Board, to ask the questions I actually wanted answered. What does the school board really do? Why ar...

I’ve never paid much attention to a sheriff’s race before…until now. So I sat down with Brent Gibson, who’s running for sheriff here in Knox County, and asked him everything I actually wanted to know, not the polished campaign answers, the real ones. What does a sheriff even do day to day? What’s actually happening with homelessness? Are we safe? And how much of what we see online about policing i...

Angie Lawless and I go way back. She was my co-host on a previous podcast before life got busy and we both went in completely different directions. But we made time to catch up again to talk about how she’s running for office in Nashville! So we sat down and talked through everything. How she got here, what finally pushed her to jump in, and what she’s actually seeing behind the scenes. We get int...

It’s just me today, and yes… we’re talking about homework again. But this time, I’m not just venting, I’m actually getting to the root of why it bothers me so much. Because I don’t think this is about worksheets or math pages. I think it’s about how we’re trying to force every kid into the same mold, and what happens when they don’t fit it.  In this episode, I break down the difference between kid...

It’s just me today, and I’m saying something I know not everyone is going to agree with… kindergarteners should NOT have homework.  I’ve been thinking a lot about how much structure, pressure, and constant direction kids are under now, starting earlier and earlier, and how little space is left for them to just be kids. To play, to be outside, to figure things out on their own without someone telli...

Chris Woodruff is back, and this is where the conversation gets deeper. In Part 2, we pick up after his comeback from injury and get into what actually made him walk away from pro tennis, what it feels like when your identity is no longer tied to performance, and why the hardest part isn’t always the grind… it’s what comes after. We talk about burnout, regret, and the question a lot of high perfor...

I sat down with my friend Chris Woodruff (“Woody” if you know my husband), Tennessee’s men’s tennis coach, former top U.S. junior, and a guy who went pro, lived out of dark hotel rooms in places you can’t pronounce, and clawed his way up the rankings the hard way. We talk about what childhood looked like before screens and everything being scheduled out for kids. Chris breaks down why playing one...

This week I’m sitting down with one of my oldest friends, Zach Ivey, and we’re talking about hunting. Not as a hobby, but as a way of raising boys who can face real life without flinching. I didn’t grow up around hunters and honestly, I didn’t “get it.” For a long time I resented what hunting took away from families, but now that I have sons, my perspective has shifted. A lot. We talk about what e...

Today, I’m sharing my response to an email I received from a mom named Rachel who is working from home with little kids, about to have another baby, and quietly drowning. Her message took me straight back to a season I don’t love remembering, when I was constantly exhausted, burnt out, feeling like I was failing as a mom, a wife, and a human. We talk about the story our culture and universities se...

What if the biggest lie women are sold isn’t “have it all”…but “you can have it all at the same time”? This week on Being Different, I sit down with Kate Zepernick — Georgia Tech grad, former consultant, high-achiever, and now mom — to talk about the stuff ambitious women are usually too polite (or too scared) to say out loud. Kate’s lived the whole arc: the full-time grind, the “part-time” job th...

This week's solo episode is sort of a follow-up to what I talked about last week about the show Landman . I wanted to spend more time on the character Rebecca, because she represents the version of woman I spent years trying to become. High-powered, serious, competitive, in control. The kind of woman we’re told to admire if we want to be respected. What I didn’t see at the time was how much o...

This week on Being Different , it’s just me and a TV show I didn’t expect to mess with my head the way it did. My husband and I started watching Landman , and I found myself annoyed, intrigued, defensive, and—eventually—forced to look at myself. The way women are portrayed. The roles men and women fall into. The things we’re allowed to say out loud… and the things we’re definitely not. I talk thro...

Something about the way we do school for children just isn’t working, so it's time to talk about it. This week, I sit down with Dr. Jack Talmadge, Head of School at Episcopal School of Knoxville, to talk candidly about education, play, and why so many kids struggle in environments that demand stillness, compliance, and constant performance. We talk about play-based and place-based learning, w...

Lately, I’ve been thinking about peace and realizing how terrible I am at it. Christmas is supposed to be joyful, but I’m stressed out, overwhelmed, and turning into a version of myself I don’t even like. We’re obsessed with being busy and perfect, and it’s messing everything up. I caught myself being completely un-peaceful more times than I want to admit and had to call my own bullshit on it. So...

If you haven't heard the first three conversations I recorded with Major General Terry “Max” Haston, go listen to those now! In Part 4 of my conversation with Major General Terry “Max” Haston, we pick up right where we left off: Pushing past the polite version of leadership and getting into the messy, uncomfortable truth. We talk about what really happens behind the scenes when someone climbs...

It’s just me this week and I am here to admit a couple hard truths I’d rather not, but here we are. After skipping out on Career Day at Mac's school I realized I’ve somehow started to think that being “just a mom” isn’t enough, even though I get on this podcast all the time talking about how motherhood is literally the most important job out there.  I’m also diving into the hilarious (and sli...

If you haven't heard the first two conversations I recorded with Major General Terry “Max” Haston, go listen to those now! In this third part of my conversation with Major General Terry “Max” Haston, we are not pulling punches. I’m done with surface-level takes and polite conversations. This episode gets into the real, uncomfortable truths about the U.S. military, global power, and what’s act...

This one’s probably going to ruffle some feathers, but when do they not? I want to revisit my earlier episode about why we chose not to do my son’s summer packet and clarify what I actually meant. It’s not about being anti-school. It’s about kids being kids, following their interests, and parents having a real voice in their child’s education. I’m sharing what happened after that episode aired, in...

If you haven’t listened to part one of this conversation, do that now! In this second part of my conversation with Major General Terry “Max” Haston, I sit down ready to ask the questions most people tiptoe around. I’ve always believed you can support the troops and still challenge the story we’ve been told about military service, and Max meets me there with honesty, grit, and zero sugarcoating. We...

In part one of my conversation with Major General Terry “Max” Haston, we go back to where it all began. Max grew up in small-town Middle Tennessee, surrounded by family, faith, and a deep sense of duty. He opens up about what life was like in the 1970s, how the Vietnam War shaped his generation, and what drew him to ROTC and a lifetime of service. What struck me most was how clear his purpose was,...

This week I sit down with Michelle Compton, one of the most impactful teachers in my kids’ lives, for a conversation every parent needs to hear. Michelle opens up about her journey from public schools to private education, the mentors who shaped her, and why she believes childhood should be full of curiosity, play, and joy. We talk about what’s broken in our schools, from standardized testing to o...