Episódios
-
Self-reliance. Determination and grit. Treating others the way you want to be treated.
These are some of the most noble traits our society says we can possibly have, attributing people who exude them as being the product of a good upbringing and the kind of person we should aspire to be.
These are also the traits than can bite you in the ass and f*ck everything up when they come back at you like a boomerang and whack you upside the head just when you think you’ve done it all right and everything’s fine.
This is Michelle Charpentier’s story.
She was raised with the “Golden Rule” by hardworking, self-relliant parents who always came through for her, one way or another. Her dad was a school teacher and a musician who got by just fine by living this same value system. Her mom was always busy doing something.
Michelle embarked on a successful management career in the jewelry industry, where she discovered a few things that really stood out. Like the time a meeting coordinator asked Michelle to be liaison with the cleaning lady rather than approach the woman directly because Michelle seemed to get along with her so well. Or that some managers were assuming everything was fine with their employees and not taking the time to get to know their likes and dislikes.
Eventually, Michelle was offered the kind of major promotion you don’t say no to. For a while it involved a long commute from New York City to New Jersey, but she was able to get transferred to NYC and everything seemed fine.
But FINE is a 4-Letter Word.
Michelle burned out, but it wasn’t just the commute and the long hours that come with being in retail that drove her to leave it all behind and start her own consulting firm so she could have more flexibility to start a family.
Remember that boomerang that comes around and hits you back? Michelle felt it when all of a sudden she had nobody to manage. Then she found those traits of self-reliance, determination, and grit became a problem when employees weren’t around whose specific job it was to help her.
And that Golden Rule thing? She found out in the “silence of solopreneurship” that it played a huge role in burning her out and cost her a fortune in life.
In a moment, when you meet Michelle, you’ll find out how all those admirable traits f*cked things up – and some new values she developed that actually made her an even better person than the fine human being she already was. It may come across as contrarian, and it may shock you. And that’s exactly why you need to listen.
Michelle’s hype song is "WOW" by Post Malone.
Resources:
Michelle Charpentier’s website: https://www.charpconsulting.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelleccharpentier/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/charpconnectionsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/brooklyn_pioneer/Also, check out Episode #135, Pull The Weeds When They’re Wet with Kris Ward, for even more on the topics Michelle shares with us today.
Invitation from Lori:
In my special guide, 5 Easy Ways to Start Living the Sabbatical Life, you can discover, step-by-step, how you can stop settling for “fine” and look at your life with a fresh set...
-
Imagine going about your day, following your routine, when out of the blue something comes along and knocks you to the ground, ending the life you’ve known up until that moment.
In the movies, things can go into slow motion, or you hear the “needle scratch” that ends the background music as everything comes to a shuttering halt and you fall to the ground.
This was the moment Dori Staehle (pronounced STAY-LEE) got beat like a drum in a bicycle accident – and as she was soon to discover, drumming was going to be the next step.
Dori told her professors she was raised by wolves. Her father became a single parent to Dori and her two older sisters and the girls found themselves taking care of the household with minimal parental guidance.
At age 16, she left home to live with a friend from high school. Around that same time developed a curiosity about spirituality and sought to learn more about faith on her own.
After college, where she almost burned out due to her heavy course load, Dori pursued a career path of international business and sales and marketing but felt unfulfilled creatively. At the same time, she discovered her children “learned differently.” so out of necessity she designed a unique way to teach them mathematics.
It was then that Dori discovered that hand drumming helped beat stress and ADHD issues and improved productivity. So in 2009 she became a Certified Drum Therapist with Drums and Disabilities, and later trained with Health Rhythms.
Not everything was “fine” – that 4-Letter Word – but it was about to get worse.
BAM!
One day in 2011, that bicycle came out of nowhere. After weeks of being put off when she sought proper medical attention and being told she was “fine” when she was in constant pain, an MRI revealed that not only did she have a mass of cysts inside her, the bicycle accident had triggered Aphasia.
Dori almost gave up, but decided to ask God to give her a way to heal herself and others - and that's when things got interesting.
Already well into her 50s, she started her fourth business, Next Stage Drumming, mainly offering classes, events, and private drum therapy sessions. Once Dori added some mentoring and coaching to the mix, she began to see breakthroughs taking place very quickly – not only for her clients, but for herself as well.
In a moment, when you meet Dori, you’ll hear her fascinating story about how all the threads, lessons, triumphs, and tragedies of her life coalesced as if they were leading her to the drums. As Dori says, “You're never too old and it's never too late to rock what you've got!”
Dori’s hype song is "Rise Up (Lazarus)" by CAIN.
Resources:
Dori Staehle’s website: https://www.nextstagedrumming.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doristaehlemba Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nextstagedrummingInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/nextstagedoriClaim your access to Dori Staehle's free stress relief video when you sign up for her newsletter: https://www.nextstagedrumming.com/free-tips/
Invitation from Lori:
Before you press that "Play" button (or after you finish listening), let me mention that in my special guide, 5 Easy Ways to Start Living the Sabbatical Life, you can...
-
Estão a faltar episódios?
-
What do Anthony Hopkins, Dan Aykroyd, Courtney Love, Daryl Hannah, Jerry Seinfeld, Albert Einstein, Heather Kuzmich, Elon Musk, Lionel Messi, Eminem, and Satoshi Tajiri have in common?
Celebrity?
Creativity?
Fame?
Fortune?
Yes, all of them have these things to varying degrees. Each and every one of them also has (or in Einstein’s case, had) autism.
So does author, actor, autism advocate, and animal rights activist Daniel Keith Austin, creator of the children’s book series, Chelsea’s New Journey. I was especially interested in hosting Daniel on the show because there are a lot of misconceptions around what autism is and how people with it interact with the world. It’s a topic that’s near and dear to my heart because my nephew is on the spectrum.
Daniel was raised with the core beliefs of striving to be a good and decent person who treats people well, does things for the overall benefit of mankind, and helps people lead better lives.
He also grew up as one of four autistic siblings and experienced many challenges. He was a disruptive kid who struggled in an educational system that just wanted him to follow orders and behave while doing little to support him in learning to form relationships and communicate effectively. He didn’t find out he had autism until he was 14 years old.
In Daniel’s case, you could say things were never “fine” – for him, Fine is a 4-Letter Word and always has been.
In a moment, when you meet Daniel, you’ll discover how his passion for writing, performing, and storytelling led him to create a series of children’s books about Chelsea the Golden Retriever.
Revolving around the life story of a Golden Retriever based on Daniel’s childhood dog, this series breaks down and transforms complicated, contentious themes into an understandable, relatable tale that powerfully addresses themes of abandonment, the need for acceptance and belonging, and triumph over adversity through seemingly impossible challenges from the perspective of someone who lacks a human voice.
Through Chelsea’s eyes, Daniel invites you to join an engaging and thought-provoking story arc around Chelsea becoming a therapy dog for people on the autism spectrum.
Daniel’s hype song is “Something’s Coming” from West Side Story.
Resources:
Daniel Keith Austin’s websites: https://danielkeithaustin.com/ and https://www.chelseasnewbeginningbook.com/ Facebook: https://facebook.com/chelsea.the.golden.retrieverInstagram: https://instagram.com/chelseathegoldenretriever88/X (formerly Twitter): https://x.com/ChelseaTheGold2Invitation from Lori:
Before we get to this thought-provoking, emotional conversation that delivers a new perspective on thriving with autism, let me mention that in my special guide, 5 Easy Ways to Start Living the Sabbatical Life, you can discover, step-by-step, how you can stop settling for “fine” and look at your life with a fresh set of eyes. Even if, like many people in today’s high-speed world, you’re not in a position to take a month or year-long sabbatical.
You know how you normally hear the disclaimer “Don’t try this at home!” In this case, you CAN try this at home. And not just “try,” DO.
Once...
-
In conversations with friends and through my own experiences, I know our animals who’ve crossed the rainbow bridge can still communicate with us. My kitty girls show up in my dreams from time to time.
My guest today is Maribeth Decker. And when she started receiving messages from her dogs after they passed away, it led her to her current vocation.
Like many of my guests, Maribeth was raised to conform to social expectations. Be good, be quiet, be smiley. Don’t ask questions. Do as you’re told. Whatever you’re told is the absolute truth. At age 13, she was out in the woods when she asked God if He existed. She received an incredible response from a loving, intelligent presence. Part of the message was that maybe the humans in her life didn’t have all the answers after all.
In college, she studied pre-med and was horrified by being forced to do experiments on live turtles and mice. After college, her boyfriend suggested she join the Navy, which was a “Fuck Yes” decision for her. In the service she lived up to the drunken sailor stereotype. But when she lost her drinking partner because he decided to get sober, she decided to get sober too.
After 17 years, Maribeth took early retirement from the Navy and became an association manager. During that time, her first husband died, leaving her with young children. She could have worked as an association manager until she retired, and given all she had been through, that would have been fine for Maribeth.
But Fine is a 4-Letter Word.
Instead, Maribeth felt a calling to do something else – massage therapy, then Reiki. After 21 years as an association manager, having already taken courses in massage therapy and Reiki, she retired from her job and went into these practices full-time. Things were going great; this was a right fit. Then her deceased dogs began sending her messages.
Eddie transitioned right before she left for a business trip. While on the airplane, Maribeth felt Eddie’s presence in the aisle and even petted her. Eddie stayed with her the first night in the hotel to make sure she was able to do her best work. Similarly, Timmy, who had passed years before, visited her at her home. He was a full-body apparition, grinning to say he was OK, he was happy and he loved her. Had Maribeth become Dr. Doolittle? What did all this mean?
In a moment, when you meet Maribeth, you’ll discover how this led her to a new and exciting chapter working with animals to help them become better family members through intuitive communication, medical intuition, and energy healing.
Maribeth’s hype song is “Pyro” by Kings of Leon.
Resources:
Maribeth Decker’s website: https://sacredgrove.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maribethdecker/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/spiritualpetpeopleInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/maribethdecker/Also, check out the following episodes we discussed during our interview:
Tap Into Your Intuition & Own Your True Self with Brigitte BakerYou Have a Ghost in Your Neck with Melanie... -
As a Gen-Xer, I remember when the prevalent view about being gay was that it was something you’d be afraid for people to find out about. It’s also been our generation that started to change that.
We’ve come a long way in the past couple decades, but it can still be a frightening prospect if your family and community are predominantly heteronormative.
With the stigma surrounding homosexuality that prevailed in the last century, can you blame someone for being afraid to come out, even if everyone they privately confided in has been completely understanding and supportive?
This is Kevin O’Connor’s story.
Kevin was raised in the 1950s and 1960s in the middle of the Midwest – Elgin Illinois to be exact – as part of a family that founded the first funeral home in that town in 1930 and continued to operate it up until 1984. He, his parents, and his older brother lived in one part of the house; his uncle, aunt, and three older girl cousins lived in another part of the house; the funeral parlor was on the ground floor. He uses the word “inclusive” to summarize his family and social environment growing up.
While he was welcome to make a career in the family business, nobody insisted; his family supported him when he went to college for education and became a teacher. In his early 20s, he got married. This was a great start, and everything seemed fine.
But Fine is a 4-Letter Word – and in 1971, being gay was not considered “fine”.
In a moment, when you meet Kevin, you will discover his extraordinary journey of coming out to his first wife, his second wife, his father, and his sons. And then what inspired him to come out publicly at 55 years old and the impact it had on all his relationships, including and especially the one with himself.
This is a story about inclusivity, acceptance, self-discovery, and navigating the waters of society you cannot miss – tune in now and you may find yourself seeing a new point of view.
Kevin’s hype song is "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" by Stevie Wonder.
Resources:
Kevin O’Connor’s website: https://www.kevinoconnorauthor.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kmoconnor/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kevin.oconnor2Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegriefnavigator/Also check out our episode, Unleash Your Joy with Carol Banens which includes a theme related to something Kevin and I discussed.
Invitation from Lori:
In my special guide, 5 Easy Ways to Start Living the Sabbatical Life, you can discover, step-by-step, how you can stop settling for “fine” and look at your life with a fresh set of eyes. Even if, like many people in today’s high-speed world, you’re not in a position to take a month or year-long sabbatical.
You know how you normally hear the disclaimer “Don’t try this at home!” In this case, you CAN try this at home. And not just “try,” DO.
Once you read it, you’ll
✅ Discover a counter-intuitive approach to making intentional changes in mindset and lifestyle.
✅ Learn how to own your feelings and your struggles so you can address them.
✅ Find out how to face fears, step out of your comfort zone, and rewire your beliefs.
It’s only 7 pages, so it won’t take...
-
While it's difficult to track how many people with cancer do not seek treatment, the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) conducted a study a few years ago that indicated about 9.2% of patients receive no first course of treatment.
This could be for many reasons, including fear or disbelief in traditional or corporate medicine, alternative treatments that stay off the statistics, or they just say “fuck it” and decide to enjoy the time they have left the best they can.
But what if you’re diagnosed with cancer and seeing an oncologist just doesn’t fit into your plan?
This was Deb Krier.
Deb was raised in a small town as the only child of a father who worked most of the time and was uninvolved to the point that he was vaguely aware the family had a bank account, and a mother who was the secretary at the local doctor’s office. Their marriage may have been what we today call a “female-led relationship” – her mother ran everything and insisted on making every decision.
This brought out two traits in Deb – it made her a perfectionist and perhaps a bit of a control freak, and it also made her very independent and insistent on having control over her own life.
She went to college, started a business, and in her 30s got married. They lived in Denver until her husband got transferred to Atlanta. Because they don’t have kids and otherwise are independent people, the move wasn’t that hard. They planted stakes in Atlanta and things went on. Hell, everything seemed fine.
But FINE is a 4-Letter Word.
A routine mammogram revealed something, but it was minor and easily treatable. Since it didn’t seem urgent, Deb didn’t exactly rush to the oncologist – actually, it wasn’t until months later, once the cancer had spread and things got serious, that she began treatment.
The journey through cancer has taught Deb many lessons, including the importance of delegation in her business, how to assert her autonomy and retain her choice as she goes through treatment, and a long quest through which she has discovered a new meaning and definition for the concept of death.
For a while, her mother moved in to help with care, which led to arguments because Deb, her mother, and her husband fought over who was in charge. It was a huge deal just to persuade her mother to leave when she was no longer needed.
So, how is Deb doing? How did this inspire her to create her venture, Trying Not to Die, which works with cancer patients showing them how to LIVE?
We’re about to find out.
Deb’s hype song is “Fight Song” by Rachel Platten.
Resources:
Deb Krier’s website: https://tryingnottodie.live/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborahkrier/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1465660477225232Also check out our episode, Replacing Fine with F*ck Off! with P.J. Roscoe which includes a theme related to something Deb and I discussed.
Invitation from Lori:
Now, let me mention that in my special guide, 5 Easy Ways to Start Living the Sabbatical Life, you can discover, step-by-step, how you can stop settling for “fine” and look at your life with a fresh set of eyes. Even if, like many people in today’s high-speed world, you’re not in a...
-
First of all, I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge and celebrate all the work that’s gone into getting to this milestone of 150 episodes of Fine is a 4-Letter Word.
In past solos, I’ve talked about courage, doing what others won’t do, energy, and making decisions.
If you’re not familiar with what I do outside of this show, I work with business leaders and corporate teams, giving them tools and techniques so they can be more focused, resilient, and collaborative so they can manage the distractions in their heads that keep them from being as productive as they’d like and move projects forward with less stress and drama.
One of those techniques is meditation - but there’s often a lot of resistance around meditation, what it is, how to do it, etc.
There are many benefits, not least of which is meditation can decrease anxiety, it builds resilience. You’ll spend less time stuck in mulling over past mistakes and worrying about what might happen tomorrow.
In fact, a study at the University of Western Ontario followed an 8-week mindfulness program. Results showed participants experienced a 32% decrease in stress, a 30% decrease in anxiety and a 29% decrease in depression.
Tune in to this special episode and discover for yourself:
✅ When you can expect to see results from meditation
✅ The best time of day to meditate and how to use it to set yourself up to be more efficient and successful
✅ How you can easily make meditation a habit
✅ And much, much more packed into this powerful 23-minute episode!
This episode comes with a bonus called “Meditation: Clearing Anxiety” which is posted separately as a bonus episode.
Resources:
My Website: https://ZenRabbit.com/ LinkedIn: https://zenrabbit.com/linkedin/ Facebook: https://zenrabbit.com/facebook/ Instagram: https://zenrabbit.com/instagram/Invitation from Lori:
Much of what I included here comes from my digital Staying Calm in Chaos program.
If you’d like to get access to the entire program, where there’s a whole bunch more tools and techniques beyond meditation, you can find it at https://www.stayingcalminchaos.com/sp.
It’s time to step out of the clusterf*ck... of fear, regret, and disappointment, and into a place of peace and contentment!
-
This meditation is designed to clear stress and anxiety so you can feel grounded and safe in this moment. Sometimes anxiety can spin you into a frenzy. Worrisome thoughts get stuck playing on an endless loop through your mind. It doesn’t feel good and it doesn’t serve you in any useful way.
Use this one to bring yourself back to tranquility, serenity, and calm.
Music credits: ©2017 Rebecca Reads Recordings Root Chakra Singing Bowls Note C
-
In almost all of my episodes on Fine is a 4-Letter Word, I deal in varying degrees with the circles of life.
In two of the themes I explore with my guests – the values and beliefs they were raised with, and the moment in their life when they realized or found out that everything wasn’t “fine” – we see how these themes come together. And see where some of the conscious as well as the subconscious imprints either trigger the latter and/or blaze the trail for self-discovery, self-improvement, and self-actualization.
For the first time, I have a returning guest, Christina Robinson Race, who joined me 105 episodes ago for a conversation called “Lighting a Candle & Letting It Go”.
For a quick recap: Christina was raised in an abusive home and when she was sexually abused by a neighbor, got shut down by her covert narcissist mother who didn’t want to deal with it. There was no trust and no communication. During our conversation, we delved into how Christina and her husband had applied lessons from their upbringings in efforts to be better parents to their children, and how her desire to be an available, accessible parent had influenced her career path.
Today, we pick up with what’s happened since that episode. It’s been interesting to say the least, but it definitely hasn’t been “fine.”
The day we sat down for our update, Christina had just – and I mean within the couple days preceding – gotten out of surgery, packed up her house in Tennessee, and moved to Illinois to live with her now ex-husband, who in the intervening time had left her after having an affair with a younger colleague.
Christina’s children are coming along – her son is in the military, and one of her daughters is now starting as a teacher in a summer school.
The biggest challenges Christina has been working to overcome is having limited social interaction as an extrovert, taking things day-by-day as a person who was so organized she would have color-coded charts planning things out months in advance, and finding out that even when your children are grown, not only do you continue being a parent, but it takes on new and interesting forms!
Most people fear change, even positive change, because it involves the unknown. That’s why we settle for less, conform to others’ expectations, wonder how we became clones of our parents when we swore that would never happen, and stunt our own growth as human beings.
In a moment, when you meet Christina, or reconnect with her as the case may be, I invite you to open your mind and your heart as you prepare to discover answers to questions you didn’t even know to ask. Then be sure to stick around for the MANY takeaways, because there are some extremely powerful lessons here.
Christina’s hype song is "Brand New Me" by Alicia Keys.
Resources:
Christina Robinson Race’s websites: https://christinarobinsonrace.com/ and https://www.epremium.com/ Facebook: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crrace/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrisraceAlso check out Christina’s previous episode, Lighting a Candle & Letting It Go.
Invitation from Lori:
Now, let me mention that...
-
Your life is a collage of all the experiences you have, people you meet, and what you learn along the way.
Like many collages, even if they begin with a concept or a plan, as you bring them together they may take directions you hadn’t anticipated and show you things even more interesting than what you originally expected.
This was the case for Noemi Beres, whose professional work owning and managing a podcast booking agency involves helping people tell their stories and connecting them to hosts who provide the canvas for their verbal collage.
Growing up as an only child in a small town in Hungary, Noemi had loving, supportive parents as well as an extended family who nurtured her spirit, helped her fulfill her dreams, and saw things in her that she could not see in herself.
When Noemi started school, she was bullied by her classmates. Seeing that Noemi needed something bigger than that little school and town, her parents encouraged her to study abroad for a year in Denmark. After she came back to Hungary, locals barely recognized Noemi – she had become a different person.
The foundation was a level of confidence and clarity far beyond most young women her age. As she began her university studies, she fell in love with and quickly married a young man from her hometown. All these years later, they’re still married and going strong, so everything looks fine in that department.
Noemi finished college, moved to Ireland, and started her career and her family. She and her husband discovered their love of entrepreneurship and built a business together. They built a family when their son was born. And when they decided they preferred a Mediterranean climate, they moved to Cyprus and started their life there. Yep, everything’s fine there too.
But that word… “fine”… Fine is a 4-Letter Word.
Just when everything seemed to be going well, Noemi’s father was diagnosed with cancer. He was given a six-month prognosis, but beat the odds and lived two years, passing away in 2019. A few months after that, her paternal grandmother suffered an injury and died as a result. A few months after that, the pandemic hit and Noemi and her husband lost their business and found themselves starting over professionally.
In the midst of all this grief, Noemi reconnected with her flair for art. She had begun weaving collages while sitting with her sick father. This passion took on a life of its own and she now incorporates her love of photography, as she creates collages using family photos with pictures she takes.
In a moment, when you meet Noemi, you’ll see how all the threads of her life experience come together as she plans to publish a book of collages and participate in a very unique pilgrimage!
Noemi’s hype song is "The Pretender" by Foo Fighters.
Resources:
Noemi Beres’ website: https://www.podcastconnections.co/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noemiberes/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/noemi.beres Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/noemi_beres_/Invitation from Lori:
Now, let me mention that in my special guide, 5 Easy Ways to Start Living the Sabbatical Life, you can discover, step-by-step, how you can stop settling for “fine” and look at your life with a fresh set of eyes. Even if, like many people in today’s high-speed world, you’re not in a position to take a...
-
Having compassion for people is generally considered a good thing and a sign that you’re a decent and kind person who makes an effort to make the world a better place by being part of it.
Raised in a religious household, Tara LaFon Gooch learned the value of love and kindness towards others. However, she struggled to extend that same love and compassion to herself.
She came from a home with an abusive, toxic father who disappeared from the picture just when she was beginning to discover the meaning of life from an adult perspective, and she hasn’t seen him since she was 14. You see already the conflict in energies and values.
Confidence was a major issue for Tara, and in so many ways she was down on herself.
On March 16, 2022, she found herself sitting alone in her garage, having just quit a job that featured a highly toxic work environment, contemplating ending her life.
How had everything gone so wrong? Why doesn’t it ever get any better? “If I have a purpose, let me know. If there’s anybody that can hear me, just let me know,” she cried.
Things were not fine at all – and Fine is a 4-Letter Word.
Then she heard a voice in her mind that said, “Your life has meaning but you need to give more.”
After hearing that message, Tara discovered some powerful lessons.
One of them was giving yourself radical permission to accept that your memories of past experiences and traumas are YOUR memories – and the simple fact that they may not actually be exactly what happened does not make them less real. Reframing negative experiences can lead to personal growth.
Also, when you have conditions like Tara’s - major depressive disorder and anxiety - you find yourself crying in the shower, screaming into the void, wondering what’s wrong with you and why it has to be this way. Treatments usually involve years of therapy, often combined with medications that make you feel worse, not better.
But then she found a treatment that costs nothing, yet rewires neural pathways and increases dopamine and serotonin levels in the brain.
In a moment, when you meet Tara, you’ll learn all about this “wonder drug”.
Tara’s hype song is “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor.
Resources:
Tara LaFon Gooch’s website: https://taralafongooch.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tara-lafon-gooch Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tara.lafon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/taralafongooch/X: https://x.com/Taralafongooch Watch Tara LaFon Gooch’s TedX Talk now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vuq-HJb_QdsInvitation from Lori:
In my special guide, 5 Easy Ways to Start Living the Sabbatical Life, you can discover, step-by-step, how you can stop settling for “fine” and look at your life with a fresh set of eyes. Even if, like many people in today’s high-speed world, you’re not in a position to take a month or year-long sabbatical.
You know how you normally hear the disclaimer “Don’t try this at home!” In this case, you CAN try this at home. And not just “try,” DO.
Once you read it, you’ll
✅ Discover a counter-intuitive approach to...
-
Picture yourself living what seems like a regular life as a parent and entrepreneur, where everything seems uneventful and you have every reason to expect the rest of your life to follow a pretty straightforward path. You know, everything’s FINE.
Then, one day you go to pick up your kids from school and all of a sudden you’re seeing double.
Next thing you know, your life has been turned completely upside-down, your legs are numb and you’re sitting in a wheelchair.
In what version of reality could you picture yourself becoming an Olympic weightlifter just five years later?
This is Kim Rahir’s story of how Fine is a 4-Letter Word.
Fortunately, she was raised with two values that would support her through her unexpected midlife journey – always be ready to show up and perform, and conscientiously show respect for people and take them as you find them.
Along with these values, she became a person who did not wallow in self-pity or claim victimhood status. There was no asking “why me?” when faced with adversity.
When she first started seeing double that day when she was 45 and picking her kids up from school, her doctor suggested she might be experiencing a cerebral hemorrhage and urged her to hail the next taxi to the hospital. After a long series of tests combined with the onset of additional health issues, it eventually became apparent she had Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
Now wait – five years later she was at the gym training to become an Olympic-level weightlifter?
As you’re about to discover, her doctor discouraged her from doing it in a way that indicated he didn’t want to be involved. She was told to take all sorts of injections that made her feel worse, and ultimately traded them in for some ibuprofen. All of it made her feel disrespected, and she had to find a way to reclaim her power.
This isn’t the outcome you’d imagine for someone who has Multiple Sclerosis - nor would you picture her becoming a fitness coach helping women feel fabulous doing 15 minutes of work each day.
In a moment, when you meet Kim, you’ll be awestruck by her comeback story.
Kim’s hype song is “Far From Over” by Frank Stallone.
Resources:
Kim Rahir’s website: https://kimrahir.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kim-rahir/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kim.rahir/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kim.rahir/ Take Kim Rahir's free Strength and Health Assessment today to find out exactly where you are at and what will be your best next steps: https://link.roasmail.com/widget/survey/GiXtvmtUw9cHkOlCRRLGInvitation from Lori:
In my special guide, 5 Easy Ways to Start Living the Sabbatical Life, you'll discover, step-by-step, how you can stop settling for “fine” and look at your life with a fresh set of eyes even if, like many people in today’s high-speed world, you’re not in a position to take a month or year-long sabbatical.
You know how you normally hear the disclaimer “Don’t try this at home!” In this case, you CAN try this at home. And not just “try,” DO.
Once you read it, you’ll
✅ Discover a counter-intuitive approach to making intentional changes in mindset and lifestyle.
✅ Learn how to own your...
-
Here’s a challenge for you: ask your social media followers if they believe money can buy happiness or bring it up at your next social gathering and watch people fight it out.
Some say you can; some say you can’t; others say that money cannot buy happiness like getting a box of happiness at the store, but it solves problems and greases the wheels that make happiness possible and attainable.
But what if you’ve been looking at it in the completely wrong way?
Growing up the daughter of a German immigrant father and a mother whose parents came from Norway, Susan Glusica was raised with what she calls Northern European mores, values, and habits. Like so many of my guests, she was raised with a strong work ethic but lacked emotional nurturing, which influenced her professional and personal relationships.
Out of college, she started on Wall Street and eventually transitioning to financial advising. Her career went well; she moved from one job to another without ever posting a resume. Susan’s values surrounding hard work got her noticed for doing the work of three people, which brought prospective employers calling her, rather than vice versa.
Her husband was also getting his career going, and everything seemed fine, but you know what comes next – Fine is a 4-Letter Word.
Susan felt that while she enjoyed her work and was very good at it, she wasn’t creating a legacy for herself. So she started her own business, which she planned to make wildly successful by compressing ten years of development into one. While she built the business, her husband landed a great job so he could take over as breadwinner for a while.
Then the Great Recession hit and he lost his job. Crushed by the burden of debts she had hidden from her husband and unexpected medical expenses, she filed for bankruptcy. Yes – the financial wizard who helped others create wealth filed for bankruptcy.
But then a few years later, she discovered the seven energetic levels of money consciousness. Coming to understand the power of frequency and vibration, and discovering new terminology to replace the entire “money buys happiness” riddle, have since enabled Susan and her husband to create what some would consider an opulent lifestyle.
If you, like so many, are struggling with money, this episode is a must-hear.
Susan’s hype song is “Soak Up the Sun” by Sheryl Crow.
Resources:
Susan Glusica’s website: https://susanglusica.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanglusica/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SusanDGlusica Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moneyenergymastery/ Claim your free copy of “7 Prosperity Keys to Bring in More Money with Ease”: https://susanglusica.com/Invitation from Lori:
Now, if like Susan was, you’re feeling like an imposter claiming you can help other succeed at something you failed at, the 5 Easy Ways to Start Living The Sabbatical Life guide could be the fresh-eyes look that changes your outlook.
Once you read it, you’ll
✅ Discover a counter-intuitive approach to making intentional changes in mindset and lifestyle.
✅ Learn how to own your feelings and your struggles so you can address them.
✅ Find out how to face fears, step out of your comfort zone, and...
-
When you hear the word “perfectionist”, what comes to mind? Maybe you think of yourself?
Typically, it’s someone who holds themselves to impossibly and unachievably high standards, driven by fear of real or imagined consequences if they don’t get it (whatever “it” is) exactly right.
Because perfect is rarely possible, they never “measure up,” and they get discouraged and burn out. They’ve given away all their f**ks and feel like they never got any results or recognition for all their work, so they stop caring altogether.
To say the least, that makes them unproductive – which is exactly what Kathryn Mayer is here to change.
Kathryn was raised by a father who was a neurologist and a professor who taught her that your identity comes from the work you do and a homemaker mother who passed on perfectionism – that you have to work hard and if you’re going to do something, you must do it well or not at all.
As a child, Kathryn tried ballet and wasn’t good at it, then gymnastics which didn’t work out because she was too tall. Then she discovered tennis, which she enjoyed and showed real aptitude for. So, her mother put Kathryn in private lessons and then, because they were spending money on the lessons, she had to compete in tournaments.
Until she was 14, she did well in singles tournaments due to her height advantage over opponents her age, but then the other girls caught up in height. So, she switched to doubles, which she was also good at, but she lost her joy for tennis and quit.
When Kathryn went to college, she was Dean’s List level, but she graduated with no idea what to do as a career! So she hired a career coach, which began a three-year process of discovery that included mapping out a forty (yes, four-oh) year plan. Meanwhile, she went through five careers by the time she was 26 before landing what she thought would be her dream job in New York City.
The following years would see her try more careers, plus take a biking vacation with her husband to Cambodia. It was that trip where it struck her that it was actually okay if she rode in the van instead of fighting to ride her bike over the bad roads. It was okay to not do the thing she thought she was “supposed” to do.
Back home, she was “shoulding” all over herself, her career, and her life – which reminds me of the conversation back in episode 2 with Dara Goldberg where we talked about “shedding the shoulds.”
Finally, she had a boss who told her to lighten up because she was constantly frustrated. When his message didn’t get through, he pulled her aside and asked her a curious question: “Why don’t you try going to clown school?”
In a moment, when you meet Kathryn, you’ll see how all these threads came together and inspired her to mesh productivity with perfectionism. If you feel like you’re just not hacking it, this show is for you.
Kathryn’s hype song is “I’m Coming Out” by Diana Ross.
Resources:
Kathyrn Mayer’s website: https://www.kcmayer.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathryncmayer/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KCMConsulting/ X (formerly Twitter): https://x.com/GrandSlamCoach Claim your copy of “The Productive Perfectionist: -
Building your family and your life is like planting, nurturing, and harvesting crops on a farm. You put a lot of effort, a lot of heart, and a lot of energy into it, hoping your knowledge, wisdom, and patience deliver a bumper crop that fills your pantry and allows you a life of comfort, security, and happiness.
You may have heard the expression “Man plans, God laughs.” My version of that, of course, is Fine is a 4-Letter Word.
That’s how things went for Luvyna Mantle, who saw the crops she had patiently planted and nurtured ripped out by the roots just when she thought the harvest was about to come in.
Luvyna was raised with the values of hard work, sacrifice, and frugality by parents who owned a ranch in Kansas. Her father gave up his corporate job and her mother gave up becoming a global journalist to go all-in with the ranch.
In college, Luvyna met a man who, unlike the folksy cowboys and farm boys she was used to dating, showed up driving a sleek sports car and listening to rap music. In contrast to her stable upbringing, his parents were divorced and he received little accountability as he was shuffled between his parents and relatives. On their first date, they barely said 3 words to each other.
Funny, though - they got married at ages 19 and 18 and due in part to Luvyna’s values around money management and avoiding debt, they had a house and a lot more spending money than typical teenagers. Her husband went into the military to become a careerist. This meant following him to his assignment in Germany and giving up her studies – which she was fine doing.
Fine… yes… Fine is a 4-Letter Word.
Right before they shipped out, her husband suffered an injury and was unable to get proper treatment due to his responsibilities. Before long, it became apparent that his dreams of a military career would come to naught, and the family, which now included their infant son, would be coming back to Kansas.
But then COVID kept them stuck in Germany. Eventually, Luvyna was able to return to the States, but because of his condition, her husband had to stay longer. So for nearly a year after she returned to Kansas, Luvyna and her husband were separated except for one three-week furlough.
Once he was home for good, her husband seemed an entirely different man. While he got along fine with their second child, he constantly berated and flipped out on their toddler who was acting out with aggressive behaviors. Luvyna was afraid to leave her kids alone with their dad and scared that if she went out and came home, she’d find her husband dead. Something had to give.
The spoiler alert? Luvyna and her husband are still together and are actually happier than they’ve ever been. How does THAT work? What changed? And how has her experience inspired her to help other military families?
Luvyna’s hype songs are "The Man" by Taylor Swift and "Kings & Queens" by Ava Max.
Resources:
Luvyna Mantle’s website: https://mantleandco.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luvyna-mantle Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mantleandco Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mantleandco/ Get Luvyna Mantle’s interactive cost-comparison that helps you save money marketing and selling... -
Today’s solo episode is about ENERGY!
When you look it up, Energy is defined as the capacity or ability to do work.
I’d expand it to include the capacity or ability to have fun too.
If you have no energy, you’re not going to be getting any work done or having any fun.
“Fine” is not fun – it’s a 4-Letter Word!
Tune in now as we cover three key areas:
1) Figuring out your values and why they matter
2) Finding your energetic home and what’s important about that
3) Why it’s essential to honor what’s not a F*CK YES for you!
Thank you for being part of what we do.
I love you, our listeners, and I appreciate that you’ve said F*ck Yes to listening to Fine is a 4-Letter Word!
Resources:
My Website: https://ZenRabbit.com/The F*ck Being Fine Experience: https://zenrabbit.com/f-being-fine-program/ LinkedIn: https://zenrabbit.com/linkedin/ Facebook: https://zenrabbit.com/facebook/ Instagram: https://zenrabbit.com/instagram/Invitation from Lori:
If, like me, you find yourself ready to get energized and enjoy what life has to offer that, up until now, you may not have known existed, the 5 Easy Ways to Start Living The Sabbatical Life guide is your roadmap.
Once you read it, you’ll
✅ Discover a counter-intuitive approach to making intentional changes in mindset and lifestyle.
✅ Learn how to own your feelings and your struggles so you can address them.
✅ Find out how to face fears, step out of your comfort zone, and rewire your beliefs.
It’s only 7 pages, so it won’t take you long to get through. If you find yourself feeling stuck or stagnant, this could be the energetic catalyst you need to find what you truly need make this an amazing life.
When you’re ready to say F*ck Being Fine, this guide is the place to start. It’s time to look beyond where you are now so you can get to where you are destined to go.
Go to https://zenrabbit.com right now to download it for free.
Now let’s get pumped up with energy and create a new F*ck Yes for ourselves!
-
From the very first episode of Fine is a 4-Letter Word, where my guest revealed that she did not even know what emotions were until she was in middle age because she was punished as a child for having them, I’ve been sharing stories of what happens from the inside out.
My mission and drive for this podcast is to give you hope, help you find your passion and purpose, and dare you to see the life that’s waiting for you, so you’ll never hear - or say - the word “fine” in the same way again.
Brad Chandler, who was my client/boss when I was the marketing director for his real estate company, brings a level of clarity and understanding to this work that could change your life in just the next few minutes.
See, Brad was created – not raised – with the belief that something was wrong with him and he was never good enough. Note how I phrased this.
His parents didn’t mean for this to happen. It was simply a consequence of how they processed – or failed to process – their own traumas that were handed to them through generational patterns. They handed them down to Brad.
Fast-forward to when Brad was in his mid-40s. He had a successful company and a boat, but he also had two failed marriages, two kids who lived with severe anxiety, a feeling that even though he was wealthy and owned a successful company he had not succeeded, a lack of joy, and a propensity to smoke a lot of weed.
Lots of people get divorced, have anxious kids, question their self-worth, lack joy, smoke a little weed now and then, and they seem fine on the day-to-day.
But you know… you guessed it… Fine is a 4-Letter Word.
Looking at all these situations, Brad noticed a common denominator in all these situations – Brad Chandler.
Why didn’t Brad Chandler ever seem to be good enough?
Why wasn’t all that hard work paying off for him emotionally?
He was scared. He was hurt. He realized he was protecting himself from something. What did a wealthy guy who from the outside had an incredibly blessed life need protection from?
In a moment, when you meet Brad, you’re not only going to join him on his journey of self-discovery - that has changed him and made him possibly the happiest guy on earth - you’re also going to get a step-by-step prescription on how to understand and sort your own emotions so you finally come to understand that yes, you are good enough.
If you can’t see that for yourself right now, gift yourself this episode now.
Brad’s hype song is “Roar” by Katy Perry.
Resources:
Brad Chandler’s website: https://www.bradchandler.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lbradchandler/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brad.chandler1 Instagram: https://instagram.com/bradchandlercoaching X (formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/lbchandler1 Take the Self-Love Quiz: https://www.bradchandler.com/quiz/ Claim the Joy Regenerator: https://unlocklimitlessyou.com/joy-regenerator/Invitation from Lori:
Now if, like Brad, you just don’t feel like you’re good enough, you’re always...
-
Children who are told to be “seen, but not heard” learn early on that their thoughts, feelings, and words don’t matter.
Then as adults, they continue to silence themselves even when they do speak by hiding and suppressing their true thoughts and feelings.
Growing up in a small Welsh village, P.J. Roscoe learned early on to know her place, don’t have an opinion, don’t question or challenge anything, and generally stay completely out of the way.
It was such a small village that as P.J. says, you could fart on one end of the village, and by the time you got home, everyone would know about it. The adults talked with each other about the children constantly, but the children were supposed to stay silent and contribute nothing.
Ironically, when P.J. and her family moved to another town where she felt more free to express herself, she felt out of place and wanted to go back.
Going away to college didn’t change much. She ended up in an abusive relationship that gave her no freedom, and in college she was told that she could not have certain jobs or career choices because she was a woman. She was studying to be a beauty health and sports therapist and dance instructor, but she really wanted to be an author. No, she was told, her grades weren’t good enough.
When she was eight months pregnant, P.J. went for her usual scan where they discovered the baby didn’t have a heartbeat. This tragedy became the catalyst for her to write her first novel, called “Echoes”.
So maybe things were going to be fine after all – but Fine is a 4-Letter Word.
P.J.’s next step was training to become a therapist. Her instructor gave her an assignment – for the next three years, instead of saying the word “fine” (or “okay”) when asked how she was doing or how her day was, she was to say “fuck off”.
Her instructor explained that when you say “fine” as the answer to questions like “how are you” or “how was dinner,” it disrespects the person asking because it shows them you reject their interest or concern for you. Similarly, P.J. should never accept “fine” or “okay” as the response when asking after someone else.
What should she do instead? How does changing the conversation lead to better communication as well as empower and honor both you and the other person? In what ways does this help us be both seen and heard?
In a moment, when you meet P.J., you’ll discover a new take on how Fine is a 4-Letter Word which could open new doors for you.
P.J.’s hype song is "Rain” by The Cult.
Resources:
P.J. Roscoe’s website: https://pjroscoe.co.uk/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pjroscoeauthorgriefguru111/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulaGriefGuru/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pjroscoeauthor/ X (formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/PJRoscoeauthorP.J. is offering you a 10% discount on her 5-month program when you contact her and say “I heard you on Lori’s show, Fine is a 4-Letter Word”.
Invitation from Lori:
Now if, like P.J., you feel seen but not heard – like you’re existing in a reality dictated by somebody else and you’ve no say in the matter, the 5 Easy Ways to Start Living The Sabbatical Life guide can help you find your own voice.
Once you...
-
Family trauma and drama flow through generations and can take on a form of fiction around “family unity,” “handed down traditions,” and “that’s the way it is” that sweep the suffering under the rug. But two things can happen.
Either you’ll find yourself in pain from stepping on the lumps of dirt under the rug, or the rug will slip and slide due to the dirt making it less sticky to the floor – either way, you could fall when you least expect it.
This need to create narratives could be part of why Lana McAra became a published fiction author, a coach and mentor to fiction writers, and host of an acclaimed podcast that delves deep into the ins and outs of fiction novel writing.
Lana was raised in a conservative environment as the oldest of five children of a hospital handyman and a housewife. They lived in Amish country and belonged to a Mennonite community. Rustic, yes – however everything looked fine.
But Fine is a 4-Letter Word – and the contradictions were just beginning.
Her father seemed to be a pillar of integrity who upheld traditional values, while her mother was a rebel who didn’t wear her bonnet or stockings and therefore “scandalized” the entire family. Eventually, her mother filed for divorce, her father moved to the opposite side of the country, and not even two weeks after the divorce, her mother married a volatile and abusive man.
As de facto parent to her four younger siblings, Lana created the narrative that their father, who had become a successful tradesman in his new life, was the example they should follow – even though he had completely abandoned them.
So much for moral rectitude from both parents, huh?
Lana went to college with the intention of breaking free and blazing her own trail… only to almost immediately meet, and soon marry, a man who had the same hypocritical character and controlling manner her father did.
Lana and her husband became missionaries, traveling to different countries like Grenada where her husband’s efforts to control her didn’t fly with the culture. It was a culture shock to come back to the United States and learn it all again.
In the meantime, just as she had been the sole caretaker as a teenager for her four siblings, she now became this for her seven children, all while pursuing her lifelong passion for fiction novel writing.
After 30 years, Lana and her husband divorced. Her family relationships unraveled as she formed short-term reunion bonds with her parents before they died. Then she became estranged from her siblings. All of this led to a nervous breakdown.
The fiction stories she had written all fell apart – but then she met someone at a conference who led her toward literally tapping the depths of her trauma.
You’re about to meet Lana and discover the very real new story she is penning!
Lana’s hype song is "You Don't Mess Around with Jim” by Jim Croce.
Resources:
Lana McAra’s website: http://LanaMcAra.com LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/lanamcara Facebook: https://facebook.com/lana.mcara2 Instagram: https://instagram.com/lanamcara2 X (formerly Twitter): https://www.twitter.com/lanamcaraInvitation from Lori:
Now if, like Lana, you find yourself discovering that the life you think is real has turned out to be a...
-
In the United States, more than 64 million men identify themselves as fathers.
Yet, 7 million American dads are absent from the lives of their minor children, and 17.4 million children live in fatherless homes!
Philip Lower, technically, grew up as one of these statistics.
His biological father took his own life when Phil was five years old, leaving him with the question: "Why did Daddy have to leave me?"
Five years later his mother met and married a wonderful man who became Phil's stepfather. But, it wasn't until until he was 25 that Phil stopped treating his stepdad as a “butthead,”– that was his own term.
As an adult, Phil became dad to two daughters and worked for a Fortune 250 company managing leadership development and training for 2,000 employees.
It seemed like everything was fine - but Fine is a 4-Letter Word.
There was a reorganization and the development team got whacked – and in the meantime, Phil was diagnosed with Guillain–Barré syndrome.
Due to his condition, he couldn't get another job, even as a Walmart greeter, for the same reason.
He and his family ended up homeless for almost three years, with a period of time where they lived apart before he was able to figure out a way to afford to live with them in hotel rooms.
Not only was he physically separated from his daughters, but because of the impact of Guillain–Barré on his nervous system, he couldn't even feel them when touching them on the cheek.
For Phil and his daughters, as well his career, this experience led to a new beginning. The dad jokes he told to his girls turned into the first published Dad Quote of the Day book. The second book was a collection of recipes they developed in the kitchenette of their Extended Stay hotel room.
Phil is now on an endeavor to translate concepts and principles of leadership and empathy into language kids can easily understand. From the Trees of Leadership sprung the Grandpa Owl series, which features a wise owl who teaches family values in a way that relates to historical events in a unique, holistic approach you’ve not seen before.
Phil’s hype song is "Strength of a Thousand Men" by Two Steps from Hell.
Resources:
Philip Lower’s website: https://dqotd.com/welcome-to-grandpa-owl/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lowerphil Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dadquoteoftheday Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dadquoteoftheday To learn more about Granda Owl, e-mail Phil at [email protected].Invitation from Lori:
If, like Phil, you find yourself in a place where you either physically or metaphotically lose touch, the 5 Easy Ways to Start Living The Sabbatical Life guide can be the restorative vitamin that brings back the feeling.
Once you read it, you’ll
✅ Discover a counter-intuitive approach to making intentional changes in mindset and lifestyle.
✅ Learn how to own your feelings and your struggles so you can address them.
✅ Find out how to face fears, step out of your comfort zone, and rewire your beliefs.
It’s only 7 pages, so it won’t take you long to get through.
When you’re ready to say F*ck Being Fine, this guide is the place to start. It’s time to reach out and feel the power
- Mostrar mais
