Some stories don’t just inspire ~ they unfold like a movie that reminds you of your own.In this cinematic-style episode, we sit down with Carmen Johnson, a powerhouse executive, strategic advisor, and advocate for women’s empowerment who dives into her developmental years and how she turned a life that could have gone one way into something extraordinary.Through the scenes of her life, we witness what happens when the script flips unexpectedly ~ from early loss and diagnosis to the strength found in community and purpose. This isn’t just a conversation about breast cancer ~ it’s about transformation, resilience, and the courage to keep rewriting the story even when life doesn’t go as planned.You’re invited to sit in the metaphorical theater with us, to watch real life unfold, and to ask yourself:If this were your story playing on the screen ~ how would you react?✨ Inside This Episode🎞️ How Carmen’s early choices shaped the foundation for her resilience later in life💔 The moment her life shifted from caregiver to patient overnight🌿 What it means to find grace and gratitude in the middle of grief💗 How humor, community, and purpose became her medicine🌅 Why Carmen believes legacy is about how you live now, not just what you leave behind💭 Listener Reflections~ What scene of your life are you currently living, and what lesson is it revealing?~ How can you let others help direct the story when your energy runs low?~ What does legacy mean to you today ~ and how are you living it right now?💕 Loving LinksCarmen continues to champion organizations that empower, educate, and uplift women through every phase of their journey. She’s living proof that advocacy doesn’t end when treatment does ~ it evolves into legacy.🌸 iRise Above Foundation ~ Supporting young women facing breast cancerCarmen and others sponsored and donated toward the publishing costs of Rising Above: Our Transformational Journey to Wholeness After Breast Cancer for the foundation’s benefit.🔗https://www.iriseabovefoundation.org/📚 Rising Above: Our Transformational Journey to Wholeness After Breast CancerBy Gillian Lichota | ISBN: 9781958472231An anthology that amplifies voices of resilience and healing, supporting the iRise Above Foundation.🔗 https://www.iriseabovefoundation.org/🏡 Carolina Breast Friends ~ The Pink HouseProviding comfort, community, prosthetic fittings, and education for women in treatment and recovery.Carmen proudly serves on the Board and plans to chair the Technology Board in 2026.🔗 https://www.carolinabreastfriends.org/🌿 TumbleweedAgentic AI for End-of-Life Planning, Legacy, and 24/7 Caregiver Support.Carmen supports this tech startup to help others prepare with clarity and compassion.🔗 https://tumbleweedplan.com/🎙 Sandwiched PodcastStories and support for the Sandwich Generation and caregivers ~ reminding us we’re never truly alone in caregiving.🔗 https://tumbleweedplan.com/sandwichedhttps://tumbleweedplan.com/sandwiched🎙 Hosted by Robin Gargano & Cliff Terracuso🎧 Tune in on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.Connect with Robin & Cliff:🌐 www.L4Livin.com📩 Robin@L4Livin.com📸 IG @candyforbreakfastpodcast🔗 https://linktr.ee/l4map📚 Robin’s Book:The Beauty Within Tragedy: How a Resilient Soul Can Turn Grief Into Giftshttps://amzn.to/4o6XKp6
All content for Candy for Breakfast is the property of PodPopuli Media and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
Some stories don’t just inspire ~ they unfold like a movie that reminds you of your own.In this cinematic-style episode, we sit down with Carmen Johnson, a powerhouse executive, strategic advisor, and advocate for women’s empowerment who dives into her developmental years and how she turned a life that could have gone one way into something extraordinary.Through the scenes of her life, we witness what happens when the script flips unexpectedly ~ from early loss and diagnosis to the strength found in community and purpose. This isn’t just a conversation about breast cancer ~ it’s about transformation, resilience, and the courage to keep rewriting the story even when life doesn’t go as planned.You’re invited to sit in the metaphorical theater with us, to watch real life unfold, and to ask yourself:If this were your story playing on the screen ~ how would you react?✨ Inside This Episode🎞️ How Carmen’s early choices shaped the foundation for her resilience later in life💔 The moment her life shifted from caregiver to patient overnight🌿 What it means to find grace and gratitude in the middle of grief💗 How humor, community, and purpose became her medicine🌅 Why Carmen believes legacy is about how you live now, not just what you leave behind💭 Listener Reflections~ What scene of your life are you currently living, and what lesson is it revealing?~ How can you let others help direct the story when your energy runs low?~ What does legacy mean to you today ~ and how are you living it right now?💕 Loving LinksCarmen continues to champion organizations that empower, educate, and uplift women through every phase of their journey. She’s living proof that advocacy doesn’t end when treatment does ~ it evolves into legacy.🌸 iRise Above Foundation ~ Supporting young women facing breast cancerCarmen and others sponsored and donated toward the publishing costs of Rising Above: Our Transformational Journey to Wholeness After Breast Cancer for the foundation’s benefit.🔗https://www.iriseabovefoundation.org/📚 Rising Above: Our Transformational Journey to Wholeness After Breast CancerBy Gillian Lichota | ISBN: 9781958472231An anthology that amplifies voices of resilience and healing, supporting the iRise Above Foundation.🔗 https://www.iriseabovefoundation.org/🏡 Carolina Breast Friends ~ The Pink HouseProviding comfort, community, prosthetic fittings, and education for women in treatment and recovery.Carmen proudly serves on the Board and plans to chair the Technology Board in 2026.🔗 https://www.carolinabreastfriends.org/🌿 TumbleweedAgentic AI for End-of-Life Planning, Legacy, and 24/7 Caregiver Support.Carmen supports this tech startup to help others prepare with clarity and compassion.🔗 https://tumbleweedplan.com/🎙 Sandwiched PodcastStories and support for the Sandwich Generation and caregivers ~ reminding us we’re never truly alone in caregiving.🔗 https://tumbleweedplan.com/sandwichedhttps://tumbleweedplan.com/sandwiched🎙 Hosted by Robin Gargano & Cliff Terracuso🎧 Tune in on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.Connect with Robin & Cliff:🌐 www.L4Livin.com📩 Robin@L4Livin.com📸 IG @candyforbreakfastpodcast🔗 https://linktr.ee/l4map📚 Robin’s Book:The Beauty Within Tragedy: How a Resilient Soul Can Turn Grief Into Giftshttps://amzn.to/4o6XKp6
Ep. 24 - Who Made the Rules? Rewriting the Invisible Playbook
Candy for Breakfast
42 minutes
3 months ago
Ep. 24 - Who Made the Rules? Rewriting the Invisible Playbook
In this permission-giving episode of Candy for Breakfast, Robin and Cliff unpack the invisible rulebooks we live by—and why it’s time to question them. From cultural conditioning to psychological patterns, they explore how rules we never consciously agreed to can lead to burnout, shame, and chronic self-criticism.If you’ve ever wondered why it’s so easy to give others grace but so hard to give it to yourself, this conversation offers a psychological lens, emotional validation, and practical tools to help you rewrite the rules.What You’ll Learn:How family, culture, and society shape the "rules" you follow without realizing itWhat self-discrepancy theory is—and how it explains why you're so hard on yourselfWhy perfectionism and burnout are often symptoms of inherited expectationsHow to identify the difference between your values and someone else’s rulesReal-world strategies for rewriting your personal rulebook with more grace, flexibility, and freedomKey Concepts Mentioned:Social Conditioning: Absorbing beliefs and expectations based on external reward systemsSelf-Discrepancy Theory (E. Tory Higgins): Emotional distress stems from the gap between who you are and who you think you should beEmotional Legacies: Internalized "rules" passed down unconsciously through family, culture, or societyTools for Breaking the Rules:Do a Rule Audit: Write down three rules you live by—then ask, "Who gave me this?"Replace should with could to reduce internal pressureAsk yourself: "What do I need—not what do I owe?"Model new rules in real time, especially if you're in a leadership roleJournal Prompt:What rule have I been following that no longer serves me? What would freedom look like instead?Connect with Robin & Cliff: Website: www.L4Livin.com Email: Robin@L4Livin.com Instagram: @candyforbreakfastpodcast Linktree: https://linktr.ee/l4mapRobin’s Book: Beauty Within the Tragedy: How to Be Resilient in Grief, Loss, and Heartbreak
Candy for Breakfast
Some stories don’t just inspire ~ they unfold like a movie that reminds you of your own.In this cinematic-style episode, we sit down with Carmen Johnson, a powerhouse executive, strategic advisor, and advocate for women’s empowerment who dives into her developmental years and how she turned a life that could have gone one way into something extraordinary.Through the scenes of her life, we witness what happens when the script flips unexpectedly ~ from early loss and diagnosis to the strength found in community and purpose. This isn’t just a conversation about breast cancer ~ it’s about transformation, resilience, and the courage to keep rewriting the story even when life doesn’t go as planned.You’re invited to sit in the metaphorical theater with us, to watch real life unfold, and to ask yourself:If this were your story playing on the screen ~ how would you react?✨ Inside This Episode🎞️ How Carmen’s early choices shaped the foundation for her resilience later in life💔 The moment her life shifted from caregiver to patient overnight🌿 What it means to find grace and gratitude in the middle of grief💗 How humor, community, and purpose became her medicine🌅 Why Carmen believes legacy is about how you live now, not just what you leave behind💭 Listener Reflections~ What scene of your life are you currently living, and what lesson is it revealing?~ How can you let others help direct the story when your energy runs low?~ What does legacy mean to you today ~ and how are you living it right now?💕 Loving LinksCarmen continues to champion organizations that empower, educate, and uplift women through every phase of their journey. She’s living proof that advocacy doesn’t end when treatment does ~ it evolves into legacy.🌸 iRise Above Foundation ~ Supporting young women facing breast cancerCarmen and others sponsored and donated toward the publishing costs of Rising Above: Our Transformational Journey to Wholeness After Breast Cancer for the foundation’s benefit.🔗https://www.iriseabovefoundation.org/📚 Rising Above: Our Transformational Journey to Wholeness After Breast CancerBy Gillian Lichota | ISBN: 9781958472231An anthology that amplifies voices of resilience and healing, supporting the iRise Above Foundation.🔗 https://www.iriseabovefoundation.org/🏡 Carolina Breast Friends ~ The Pink HouseProviding comfort, community, prosthetic fittings, and education for women in treatment and recovery.Carmen proudly serves on the Board and plans to chair the Technology Board in 2026.🔗 https://www.carolinabreastfriends.org/🌿 TumbleweedAgentic AI for End-of-Life Planning, Legacy, and 24/7 Caregiver Support.Carmen supports this tech startup to help others prepare with clarity and compassion.🔗 https://tumbleweedplan.com/🎙 Sandwiched PodcastStories and support for the Sandwich Generation and caregivers ~ reminding us we’re never truly alone in caregiving.🔗 https://tumbleweedplan.com/sandwichedhttps://tumbleweedplan.com/sandwiched🎙 Hosted by Robin Gargano & Cliff Terracuso🎧 Tune in on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.Connect with Robin & Cliff:🌐 www.L4Livin.com📩 Robin@L4Livin.com📸 IG @candyforbreakfastpodcast🔗 https://linktr.ee/l4map📚 Robin’s Book:The Beauty Within Tragedy: How a Resilient Soul Can Turn Grief Into Giftshttps://amzn.to/4o6XKp6
