We Can Do Hard Things

1. With everything going on in the world, and in our lives, is “Burnout” the reason we all feel like zombies?  2. Why stress is like trash: You have to get rid of it often or your life starts to stink.   3. Emily and Amelia Nagoski – the authors of Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle – answer our Pod Squad’s burning questions about how to bounce back from burnout.  About Emily:  EMIL...

1. Thinking of depression as a way of seeing the world … through toilet paper roll binoculars.  2. Why healing might actually just be permission to go.  3. Chanel’s definition of success: refusing to succumb to perfection or exhaustion–and showing up as herself in every moment. 4. The healing moment when Chanel returned to Stanford and was held in sound–which set her free.   About Chanel:  Chanel...

1. How to get your orgasm back. 2. Dr. Jen Gunter’s advice–and personal mantra–for surviving hot flushes. 3. How to differentiate between mental health challenges and menopause. 4. The one easy thing you can do at the doctor’s office to ensure better care. 5. Is menopause a reboot of the brain and an opportunity to reallocate mental resources? Resource: North American Menopause Society (NAMS)    A...

1. Hot flushes, night sweats, sleep disturbances, vaginal dryness, and the less common, frequently-missed symptoms of menopause.  2. A strategy and script for how to talk to your doctor without being dismissed. 3. The lies and truth about menopause hormone therapy. 4. Why our culture is fixated on investing to ensure men never lose their erection, but is fine with women losing their quality of lif...

1. What is your Enneagram number–and how does this ancient wisdom explain WHY you do what you do?  2. Why Glennon *really* didn’t want to accept her Enneagram number, and how she finally saw herself clearly in it.  3. How the Enneagram helps Amanda have much more compassion for herself–and how she uses it to understand common patterns in her marriage.  4. Glennon and Amanda use the Enneagram to di...

1. Brené and Barrett share their parenting strategy that Brené calls “the opposite of raising a child that’s full of shame.” 2. The family of origin roles that Brené (the Protector) and Barrett (the Peacekeeper) had to adjust in order to work together–and the two keys to working well with family.   3. The ways in which a child who grows up living on eggshells becomes an adult who is fearful–and ho...

Jen Hatmaker is back with the new man in her life–actor, author, and activist Tyler Merritt–for a double date with Glennon and Abby discussing:   1. How Jen and Tyler met, what first attracted Jen and Tyler to each other–and who made the first move.   2. How not knowing any “dating rules” led Jen to jumpstart the “define the relationship” step.   3. The triggers for Jen that led to an early relati...

1. Jen describes the shock of losing her 26-year marriage overnight.  2. How, looking back, Jen sees that she knew something was wrong in her relationship well before she “knew” something was wrong–and the moment she reached out to Glennon to share it for the first time.   3. Why Jen’s friends told her she was a “human spotlight” and “cleanup crew” in her marriage–and the pain of realizing she was...

1. How to know if you are a “Bittersweet” type. 2. On “stabs of joy”—and why our joy is often accompanied by dread. 3. How to complete the cycle of sadness, in order to live with more joy. 4. Susan and Sister’s best relationship advice: That our longing for the perfect partner is not really about our partner. 5. Why Glennon thinks those who feel the ache are often those who fall into addiction. Ab...

Glennon’s son, Chase, joins Glennon for a special conversation with his hero, author Ocean Vuong, to discuss: 1. Chase shares with Ocean the impact his work has had in his life–and Glennon thanks Ocean for helping mother her son. 2. What Ocean learned from his mother about how to navigate being an Asian boy in America–and Glennon’s recognition that she did not prepare Chase for the same realities....

1. How to know when to dig deep–and when to quit digging.  2. The greatest blocker of connection–and how to remove it. 3. How to handle our fear (without obsessively controlling our people and our environment). 4. Why we all deserve a standing ovation for navigating relationships over the past two years.   About Brené:  Dr. Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston where she...

1. Why Hannah describes her later-in-life Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis as “an exfoliation of shame.” 2. How neurodiversity affects Hannah’s relationships–and how she connects to the world through what’s “interesting” instead of what’s “important.” 3. Hannah’s revolutionary commitment to stop using self-deprecating humor about her body, sexuality, and gender–and why we might all consider the...

1. Why we’ve been sold a lie–and the truth that we actually get happier the older we get! 2. The two most important–and shocking–predictors of aging well. 3. Busting the most prevalent misconceptions and about getting older. 4. How believing the myths about aging literally harms our health and makes us more vulnerable to the fears we hold about aging. 5. Glennon paints a mental picture of her olde...

1. How Glennon is using her 46th birthday as an intermission–to slow down and decide what to bring with her into Act 2. 2. The counterculture power of knowing what is enough, and letting ourselves go. 3. The way to transition from Role Living to Soul Living–and why Glennon has Joni Mitchell on repeat. 4. The real meaning of “crisis”–and the idea that living well now means reimagining everything we...

1. Why the construct of beauty is oppressive, but the essence of beauty is freedom.  2. What living with integrity looks like. 3. Why Dr. Blay doesn’t need any more allies—and what she really wants from an accomplice. 4. How “Karens” have been around for centuries—and the direct line from “Miss Anne to Karen.” 5. Dr. Blay’s greatest hope for her granddaughters—even if she doesn’t like it.

1. Amanda shares the biggest regret of her life: the one that still wakes her up in the middle of the night. 2. The five biggest regrets of the dying—and how to make the necessary changes to avoid them. 3. Why we should reframe regret as proof of a life well-lived.

In this hilarious and heartwarming in-person double date with Abby and Glennon—and their dear friends and brilliant artists Brandi and Catherine Carlile—we learn: 1. Why Brandi was completely dismayed the first time she met Catherine; 2. Who made the first move—and why it made Catherine sweat; 3. All about the Carlile family compound—where they are raising their girls surrounded by family, band me...

1. The two disagreements between Brandi and Glennon that started, and cemented, their friendship. 2. Brandi’s lifelong quest to continuously “calibrate” herself so that her outsides are in tune with her insides. 3. The trait Brandi loves most about Catherine—and the sticky note on Glennon’s desk with the same message.  About Brandi: Brandi Carlile is a six-time GRAMMY Award-winning singer, songwri...

1. How do we make a new thing with our life? 2. What is your fingerprint on the world? 3. Who does history try to erase and why? 4. What does pain do to our bodies? 5 .What is our capacity for transformation? About ALOK: ALOK (they/them) is an internationally acclaimed writer, performer, and public speaker. As a mixed-media artist their work explores themes of trauma, belonging, and the human cond...

“The days that I feel most beautiful are the days that I am most afraid.” “What feminine part of yourself did you have to destroy in order to survive in this world?” “Why have we been taught to fear the very things that can set us free?” About ALOK:  ALOK (they/them) is an internationally acclaimed writer, performer, and public speaker. As a mixed-media artist their work explores themes of trauma,...

1. Amanda shares the story of Séamus, the newest addition to her family–and how he has ruined her “religion” of the spreadsheet.  2. Why Glennon says that Honey and Hattie are the only “people” who truly understand her–and what each of them teach her about love. 3. The ways we hilariously project emotions onto our pets–and how Abby has fallen for Tish’s pet hamster, Biscuit.

For their first (of hopefully many) podcast double dates, Abby and Glennon sit down with the icons, activists, and Olympians Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird. In this honest and hilarious conversation, we find out: 1. The delightfully awkward moment Megan and Sue first met; 2. What’s hard for each of them right now; 3. The boundaries they’re working on together; 4. How they communicate and deal with jea...

Today, Glennon, Abby, and Amanda continue their conversation about Glennon’s eating disorder relapse and the Next Right Thing for their family.    CW // eating disorders

Today, Glennon shares about her recent eating disorder relapse.   If talk about eating disorders and mental illness helps: Listen today.   If it triggers: Skip today.     CW // eating disorders

1. Glennon explains her “soundaries”—and why a lack of audiorial yield in public places is her biggest peeve. 2. Abby’s struggle, as a bonus parent, adjusting to a kid-filled life with zero personal space and personal property boundaries. 3. Why Amanda is allergic to the word “fine”—and why she’s stopped saying “I didn’t have time.”