Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! The quiet voice in our head can be a coach or a critic—and most days, it’s the critic with a megaphone. Mary sits down with Cheryl Fischer, host of the Mind Your Midlife Podcast and a certified life and mindset coach, to unpack how subtle habits like constant complaining, reflexive apologies, and comparison keep us stuck. We share real stories about catching a negative loop in the moment, the surprising power of neutral language in close relationships, an...
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Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! The quiet voice in our head can be a coach or a critic—and most days, it’s the critic with a megaphone. Mary sits down with Cheryl Fischer, host of the Mind Your Midlife Podcast and a certified life and mindset coach, to unpack how subtle habits like constant complaining, reflexive apologies, and comparison keep us stuck. We share real stories about catching a negative loop in the moment, the surprising power of neutral language in close relationships, an...
Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! The quiet voice in our head can be a coach or a critic—and most days, it’s the critic with a megaphone. Mary sits down with Cheryl Fischer, host of the Mind Your Midlife Podcast and a certified life and mindset coach, to unpack how subtle habits like constant complaining, reflexive apologies, and comparison keep us stuck. We share real stories about catching a negative loop in the moment, the surprising power of neutral language in close relationships, an...
Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! What if the shortest path from fear to trust is a conversation you’ve been avoiding? Mary sits down with anti-racism educator and Interracial Sisterhood Coalition founder Karen Fleshman to explore how intentional, story-driven friendship across race can heal divides, strengthen workplaces, and change what power feels like between women. We begin with honesty—Mary naming her background, blind spots, and worries—and move into the systems that keep us apart:...
Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! What if the thing you’ve sworn off is the door you need to walk through next? That’s the spark behind a candid reflection on moving from quiet country life to a small city with more diversity, more community, and more ways to serve. I share how an unexpected love of bubbly water on a trip to Germany softened a lifelong certainty, and how that tiny shift opened space for a much bigger one: choosing a place that aligns with my values and offers real opportu...
Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! What happens when your entire identity is built around taking care of others? For Adaku Mbagwu, the journey from family provider to self-discovery required hitting rock bottom before she could rebuild her life on her own terms. Born in Nigeria and moving to London at age six, Adaku witnessed her family's financial collapse firsthand. The moment she saw her mother with rain seeping through holes in her shoes became the catalyst for assuming a parentified ...
Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! What happens when generations of emotional suppression collide with childhood trauma? For therapist Malisa Hepner, it created the perfect storm of perfectionism, people-pleasing, and eventual burnout that forced her to completely reimagine her approach to healing. Born to parents struggling with addiction and raised in an environment of chaos and neglect, Malisa developed coping mechanisms that initially helped her survive but eventually left her feeling...
Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! Gratitude gets tossed around like a seasonal slogan, but the real magic happens when you follow the thread from a hard moment to an unexpected opening. I share how a rough exit from school counseling set off a chain reaction that led to higher education roles, new mentors, a brush with doctoral study, and eventually a beloved position I never saw coming. And when that final chapter ended in early retirement—heartbreaking, identity-shaking—it turned out to...
Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! Do you ever find yourself wondering if constant overwhelm is just the price of womanhood? If checking all the boxes of success should leave you feeling this depleted? You're not alone. In this illuminating conversation with Dr. Wendy O'Connor, a Stanford-trained positive psychologist and success coach, we unpack the powerful framework of positive psychology and how it transforms the way we approach mental health and personal fulfillment. Rather than focu...
Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! Nancy McKay's recovery journey began like many women's stories – social drinking that gradually intensified until it became a way to cope with trauma. After her father's suicide when she was 50, Nancy's drinking shifted dramatically from social lubricant to emotional anesthetic. Two years later, following her own suicide attempt, she made the life-changing decision to embrace sobriety – a path she's now followed for over 16 years. What makes Nancy's appr...
Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! Ever notice how much energy goes into arguing with reality? We fixate on how someone should behave, how a conversation should have gone, or how we should feel, and the struggle only deepens the pain. Today we share a grounded approach to radical acceptance—acknowledging what’s true without endorsing it—so you can stop fighting the moment and start choosing your next step with clarity. We walk through the core distinctions that make this practice powerful...
Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! What if your confidence with money had nothing to do with math—and everything to do with meaning? We sit down with AJ Bishop-Andrews, founder of FEROZ and author of the forthcoming Rich Like Her, to unpack why so many high-achieving women still feel uneasy pricing their work, negotiating pay, or asking direct questions about investments. AJ blends financial psychology with practical strategy to help us move from proving our worth to choosing our path, and...
Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! What makes a strong, intelligent woman stay in an abusive relationship? Nikki Allen's answer might surprise you. The author of "Loved You Hated You" joins Mary to share how vulnerability after losing her mother and moving to a new city without support made her susceptible to an abusive partner she never imagined she'd tolerate. Nikki takes us through the confusing "charm-harm" cycle that trapped her for years—where moments of apparent love and grand roma...
Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! What if the fix you’re craving starts with a scene, not a plan? We explore a simple, powerful tool from solution-focused therapy—the miracle question—that helps you picture the version of your life where the problem is gone, then trace gentle, practical steps back to today. Instead of circling what’s wrong, we anchor in vivid details: what you see, who’s with you, how your body feels, and the first small sign that tells you change has already begun. We w...
Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! Have you ever felt the powerful pull of something unexplainable, something that science alone couldn't quite capture? That's the fascinating territory we explore with Dr. Sue McCreadie, a holistic pediatrician who has expanded her practice in surprising ways to help women navigate their midlife transitions. Dr. Sue shares her remarkable journey from conventional medicine to a holistic approach that embraces both scientific understanding and what some mig...
Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! Control rarely arrives kicking down the door—it slips in dressed as care. That’s the thread we pull with author and advocate Amanda Scott, whose 17-year marriage looked stable from the outside but ran on a quiet currency of emotional and financial abuse. We explore how intense attention, constant check-ins, and money “help” can be early signals of coercive control, and why fairy-tale scripts about rescue and romance make it harder to recognize red flags l...
Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! A bright orange wildflower taught us something bold about being human. Jewelweed doesn’t ask permission to exist—it launches its seeds with gusto, outcompetes invaders, and even soothes poison ivy. That unapologetic presence became our lens for talking about essential nature, the blend of genetics, environment, and epigenetics that shapes how we move through the world. We celebrate the joy of finishing the manuscript for Nature Knows: Growing and Thriving...
Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! Have we weaponized mental health terminology to the point of meaninglessness? Shannon Petrovich, therapist and author specializing in narcissistic relationships, joins us to untangle what truly constitutes toxic behavior versus simply unhealthy dynamics. "Anyone with whom they had a difficult relationship was bipolar, probably wrong. Most recently, the diagnosis du jour seems to often be narcissist. Again, most likely wrong," explains Mary as she i...
Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! Mental health information from social media and AI can be misleading and potentially harmful. While increased acceptance of mental health issues is positive, self-diagnosis through TikTok or AI often leads to misinformation and misunderstanding of complex conditions. • Over 50% of mental health information on TikTok is inaccurate • Even mental health professionals often disagree on diagnoses • The same diagnosis manifests differently in different people ...
Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! What happens when a therapist trained to maintain professional distance decides to share her most vulnerable truths? Kristin Louise Duncombe's story will leave you speechless. Growing up across continents as a foreign service "brat," Kristin developed a unique perspective as a third culture kid—someone shaped by their parents' culture, their host countries, and the international community surrounding them. But hidden beneath this globe-trotting childhood...
Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! Have you ever noticed how we admire trees for shedding their leaves each autumn, yet criticize ourselves when we need to slow down? This thought-provoking mini-episode explores the parallel between nature's cycles and our own rhythms of energy and rest. Starting with a simple self-reflection on how you're feeling right now, we journey through the various cycles that govern our lives—daily energy fluctuations, weekly patterns, monthly rhythms (especially ...
Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! Have you ever had that unmistakable gut feeling about someone you just met? That inner shiver that can't be explained but somehow turns out to be right? In this illuminating conversation, Mary Rothwell welcomes Anna Quigley, known as the "intuitive Yoda," to explore how women can reclaim their natural intuitive abilities despite societal conditioning that teaches us to doubt our inner knowing. Anna reveals the fascinating science behind intuition—we proc...
Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! The quiet voice in our head can be a coach or a critic—and most days, it’s the critic with a megaphone. Mary sits down with Cheryl Fischer, host of the Mind Your Midlife Podcast and a certified life and mindset coach, to unpack how subtle habits like constant complaining, reflexive apologies, and comparison keep us stuck. We share real stories about catching a negative loop in the moment, the surprising power of neutral language in close relationships, an...
