Life Happens with Barb & Michelle

What do you do when you know you need to let someone go but your heart isn’t ready yet? From realizing enough is enough to actually choosing your wellbeing over your comfort and feelings, today we’re breaking down how to let go of toxic relationships. In this week’s episode of Life Happens with Barb & Michelle , we explore the difficulties of ending an unhealthy relationship and a powerful pra...

Join Michelle and Barb and revisit this special re-released episode. Your Gut-Feelings Are Guardian Angels—Learn to Trust Them. In this episode we unlock the power of your intuition and build unshakable self-trust, so your gut-feelings become your inner compass, guiding you to a more confident and aligned life. ⬇️ ✨ Available now - Dear Friend to receive daily doses of clarity, hope, and heartfel...

Grief doesn't disappear, it changes form. After losing her beloved cat Charlotte at nearly 20 years old, Michelle was surprised by just how deeply the loss affected her. While it didn't mirror the grief she experienced after losing her father, it brought its own unique heartbreak and reminded her that pet grief is real, profound, and often misunderstood. In this deeply personal episode, Barb and M...

Should you try to fix your parents? Most people spend years trying. Here's what actually works — and what's just making it worse. In this candid Q&A episode, Barb and Michelle get into three questions that don't have easy answers: — Should you try to fix your parents (or your adult kids)? — Does emotional connection get harder the bigger your family gets? — How do you apologize to your kids wi...

If you've ever felt lighter in your life after removing someone from it — this episode explains why. Barb & Michelle get real about the 5 signals that it might be time to cut someone out of your life — and why knowing the signals is only half the battle. This episode covers the guilt, the fantasy that people will change, the sunk cost of long relationships, and how to actually do it in a way t...

There are conversations every parent knows they should have — and most of them never do. In this episode of Life Happens with Barb & Michelle, mother and daughter go deep on the exact things they wish someone had said to them before life had to teach them the hard way. From family alcoholism surfacing after a 15-year-old's first drunken night, to growing up with two alcoholic parents and never...

Comedian Jessi Cruickshank joins Barb and Michelle backstage at Lynn University for a raw, funny, and unexpectedly emotional conversation about motherhood, performance, anxiety, and becoming the women their mothers raised them to be. From professional perfectionism to internet criticism, the conversation moves from hilarious behind-the-scenes moments into deeper reflections on identity, mindfulnes...

Healthy relationships require honesty, reciprocity, and the courage to stop self-silencing. In this episode of Life Happens , Barb and Michelle sit down with Alex Elle to unpack what it really means to outgrow people, rebuild trust, and tell the truth in your relationships before resentment takes over.  They discuss her new book, “The Company We Keep” which just launched today and can be foun...

What happens after the book tour ends, the championship is won, and the calendar goes blank? Michelle opens up about the unexpected emptiness she felt after her biggest accomplishment, and Barb reveals something she has never experienced: a void. This mother-daughter conversation uncovers why success can feel like getting fired, what it means to live like you are running out of time, and why the q...

Mean people are everywhere right now and the data confirms it. In this episode, Barb and Michelle unpack why cruelty seems to be escalating, breaking down the different types of mean people we all encounter and what actually drives their behavior. Barb shares a raw, personal story about being screamed at in a parking lot while her mother was dying in hospice, and what that moment taught her about...

Comparison is the one emotion everybody feels and nobody admits to — and Barb Schmidt and Michelle Maros of Life Happens with Barb & Michelle were scared to record this episode for a reason. In this raw, unfiltered conversation, they unpack the jealousy, resentment, and quiet self-destruction that comparison leaves behind — and make a case that might surprise you by the end. From Michelle comp...

You've read the books. You've tried the meditation. You've done the journaling, the breathwork, the therapy. So why do you still feel stuck? In this episode of Life Happens with Barb & Michelle, master well-being educator Devi Brown joins the conversation for one of the most honest discussions about healing we've ever had. Devi spent years teaching wellness to athletes, executives, and thousan...

Living with someone you love is supposed to be easy — until it isn't. In this episode of Life Happens with Barb & Michelle, hosts Barb Schmidt and Michelle Maros pull back the curtain on the two years they spent living together after a sudden condo flood turned a two-week crash pad into an unplanned life arrangement. What started as a temporary inconvenience became one of the most challenging...

What if the thing you've been told will set you free is actually keeping you stuck? What if forgiveness isn't even the goal? In this episode of Life Happens with Barb & Michelle , our hosts challenge everything we've been taught about forgiveness. Not the textbook version we learned as kids, but the real, messy, evolving kind that shows up after serious trauma, toxic relationships, and years o...

Have you ever found out someone you love wasn't telling you the whole truth, and even though it wasn't malicious, something inside you shifted? That quiet crack in trust can change a relationship more than any dramatic betrayal ever could. In this episode of Life Happens with Barb & Michelle, this mother-daughter duo gets deeply personal about dishonesty. Not the headline-grabbing kind, but th...

What happens when the person you trusted completely becomes the source of your deepest wound? And what does it mean when you're the one who caused that kind of pain for someone else? In this episode of Life Happens with Barb & Michelle , our hosts go deep on one of the most universally painful human experiences: betrayal. This is a raw, honest conversation about what betrayal actually does to...

Have you ever been knocked down so hard you weren’t sure you could get back up? Have you ever felt the weight of the world and wondered how to keep moving forward—with strength, dignity, and hope? In this week’s episode of Life Happens with Barb & Michelle , we explore why resilience can feel so hard, especially when you're exhausted from carrying so much. Inspired by Maya Angelou’s powerful p...

Have you ever cared about someone so much that you slowly disappeared? Have you ever been the strong one, the helper, the fixer — only to wake up exhausted, resentful, or unsure where you went? In this week’s episode of Life Happens with Barb & Michelle , we explore the hidden cost of overgiving in relationships and how codependency, people-pleasing, and emotional overfunctioning quietly lead...

What if when things fall apart… that’s actually where healing begins? In this week’s episode of Life Happens with Barb & Michelle , we’re diving into the wisdom of Pema Chödrön and her transformational book When Things Fall Apart — a powerful guide for navigating hardship, fear, failure, and suffering. When life feels overwhelming, our instinct is often to escape the discomfort. But what if le...

What if being “selfish” is actually the key to healthier relationships? In this week’s episode of Life Happens with Barb & Michelle , we’re answering your questions about navigating difficult relationship dynamics — without guilt, overexplaining, or abandoning yourself in the process. From unrealistic expectations and gossip to setting boundaries for the first time, we’re diving into the messy...

Confrontation isn’t easy — but it’s one of the clearest ways we honor ourselves and the people we care about. If we’re not honest about our feelings and needs, how can our relationships truly grow? In this week’s episode of Life Happens with Barb & Michelle , we’re diving into loyalty and betrayal — including our own experience of being unexpectedly ghosted by a friend. From healthy communicat...

Have we become so independent—and so focused on self-care—that we’ve forgotten how much we actually need one another? With relationship deficits at an all-time high, this episode is a powerful guide to rebuilding connection and creating healthy dependency—without losing yourself. In this week’s episode of Life Happens with Barb & Michelle, we’re joined by New York Times bestselling author, the...

Hard truth: Staying because it’s comfortable might be the loneliest choice you make. Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is stop ignoring the red flags and choose to end a toxic or misaligned relationship. In this week’s episode of Life Happens with Barb & Michelle , we’re unpacking the pressure around relationships, singleness, and breakups — and what it really means to choose yourself. Fr...

Divorce breaks a million hearts — including your own. But sometimes, choosing yourself is the bravest and most healing decision you can make. What if all it took to change your life was the courage to trust yourself again? In this week’s episode of Life Happens with Barb & Michelle , we’re joined by NYT bestselling author Jen Hatmaker for an honest, compassionate, and deeply moving conversatio...

You don’t need to reinvent yourself this year 💫 With all the pressure to “fix” your life overnight and become a brand-new version of yourself, we’re taking a different approach to the new year—one that feels grounded, compassionate, and sustainable. In this week’s episode of Life Happens with Barb & Michelle , we’re answering your questions on how to start the year with clarity and confidence...