Life Happens & Then You Die

In this episode of Life Happens and Then You Die , we talk about dreams, recurring dreams, nightmares, and the strange ways our subconscious processes emotions while we sleep. We explore dream symbolism, common dream interpretations, REM sleep, and the science behind why our brains may revisit stressful, emotional, or unresolved experiences at night. We also get into visitation dreams, grief dream...

My sister is back for Part 2 of Life Happens and Then You Die: The Company We Keep. We attempt rapid-fire questions, which immediately become less rapid and more “accidentally wandered into an emotional cave with snacks.” This episode takes us through avoidance, death, memory, personal growth, and the strange places a conversation can go when you stop trying to control it.

After spending most of her life in the LDS Church, Melissa began asking questions she could no longer ignore. In this episode, she shares her deconstruction journey, the research that challenged her beliefs, the emotional impact of questioning her faith, and how her relationships, identity, and worldview changed along the way. We discuss confirmation bias, information control, church history, LGBT...

What was it like growing up in the LDS Church? In this episode, Melissa shares her personal experience growing up Mormon, including church culture, expectations around marriage and family, missions, modesty, temple practices, and the impact faith had on her identity and worldview. This isn't a debate about religion. It's an open conversation about lived experience, belief, community, and what it w...

My sister joins me for a special two-part episode of Life Happens and Then You Die: The Company We Keep. In Part 1, we talk about life, growing up, shared memories, and the stories we somehow remember both together and completely differently. It’s funny, personal, reflective, and occasionally proof that memory is less of a filing cabinet and more of a junk drawer with opinions.

Are hobbies just a way to pass the time, or are they something more? In this episode of Life Happens and Then You Die , Jes and Melissa explore everything from millennial midlife crises and hobby hopping to Dungeons & Dragons, rock polishing, fishing, creative writing, and the endless pursuit of knowledge. Along the way, they discuss how hobbies can help us reconnect with ourselves, build conf...

In our last episode, we challenged ourselves to spend a day being more intentional with our time and attention. What started as a one-day experiment turned into a week-long reality check. In this episode, we share what happened when we tried to be more aware of our distractions, reduce screen time, and focus on the things that matter most. Along the way, we discovered that focus isn't always a...

Are you actually busy, or are you just distracted? In this episode, we challenge ourselves to reduce digital distractions and pay closer attention to how we spend our time. What started as an experiment in cutting back on social media quickly turned into a deeper conversation about habits, emotional distractions, intentional living, and why so many of us struggle to sit still. We discuss doom scro...

Welcome to the first Unscheduled Thoughts episode of Life Happens and Then You Die. Jesica tackles three questions that led to some surprisingly honest conversations: • Why do we keep falling back into the same patterns even when we know better? • How do we survive major life changes, grief, and uncertainty? • What are we still trying to prove, and why do we keep looking to other people for valida...

How much can a personality test actually tell you about yourself? In this episode, we explore personality assessments, self-discovery, career changes, and the sometimes messy process of figuring out who you are when life doesn't go according to plan. We talk about our own personality results, how they show up in our relationships and work lives, and what happened when we stepped away from fami...

Welcome to the first episode of Life Happens and Then You Die! Before diving into bigger topics, we thought it would be fun to introduce ourselves through a series of random questions. What started as a simple get-to-know-you exercise quickly turned into stories, laughs, unexpected answers, and a glimpse into how differently we see the world. In this episode, you'll learn a little about who we...