Becoming BFF’s with the F Word - Season 5 / Episode 3

I discovered a magical prescription that helps me to thrive and it boils down to a well-known word in the English language. Some are more comfortable using it than others and I’ve found it useful in my vocabulary but more useful in my everyday life for the last 25 years. It’s become such a staple in my life that we’re now BFF’s. Press play to hear how the F Word and I began our close relationship 25 years ago. You just may find it as impactful in your life as I have.

We heard a lot about pivoting during Covid. Many companies were forced to change their product lines from what they’ve always done well to PPE in order to remain afloat. Pivoting has always been described as an action taken when things aren’t going as planned, and a change in direction or focus is needed. There is another useful way to pivot when things are going well. This alternative version of pivoting is now a pattern in my career success. Just recently, I realized that our conventional perception of pivoting restricts the possibilities that help us thrive in uncertainty. Press play to hear how doing the new pivot added another rich layer of gratification to my seasoned career!

Patterns and possibilities is back and I am explaining where I’ve been and why you haven’t had an episode since the end of 2025. It’s not an excuse but I believe it’s a a reason worth hearing. I’m also talking about style and a recent revelation I had that let me know it has nothing to do with being fashionable. If you’ve ever admired someone for their style, listen in. You may discover what you thought was style was really something deeper than what you see on the surface. Press play and let’s explore some possibilities together!

Can you believe it’s almost 2026? It’s seems like the past 12 months came and went like 12 days. A lot happened, a lot came and went and now we get to do it over again in a new way with new patterns.I’m curious how you navigated 2025? What were your highs and lows? What are you leaving behind from 2025 and what are you bringing with you for a safe, healthy and prosperous 2026? I’m answering those questions too in this episode. Press play and join the pod-versation.

Sex. That three-letter word may have automatically captured your attention because it’s woven into so much of who we are and what we invest in our time in. Sex is everywhere…in our relationships, conversations, and the tv shows and movies that we call our favorites. That is just the tip of the iceberg. I’ve chosen to move Sex to the back of the closet and focus on other important things. This decision is the best decision I’ve ever made and if you’re curious about my choice, press play to hear more about my what, so what, and now what!

We’ve all heard the phrase, “What you don’t know won’t hurt you.” It’s believed by some and has become a life philosophy of many. In the traditional sense, those seven words convey that ignorance of a problem or a misdeed can prevent you from being unhappy or harmed by worrying about it. I became curious about what else it could mean and explored how what I didn’t know was actually hurting me. Hurt doesn’t always signify something dangerous or life-altering. The hurt we face can be as simple as the hurt we do to ourselves through our assumptions, judgments, defensiveness and disagreements with others. I recently had questions about my future and realized that what I didn’t know could have led me to a decision I would have regretted. What I do know now is what we don’t know can definitely hurt our ability to thrive now and well into the future.

Some of the most impactful insights come during those quick, one-on-one conversations with close friends and family members. I recently had one of those lightbulb moments after listening to a friend’s sour story about the patterns that are keeping her stuck in a cycle she doesn’t want to be in. Sometimes we only want to indulge in deep, long, and uplifting exchanges, but we have to make space for problematic patterns to be quickly voiced even if we’d rather have a longer and sweeter conversation. The biggest lessons are often birthed from short and sour conversations. What have you learned lately from your quick conversations?

Romantic LOVE can be complex! Sometimes it expands, sometimes it shrinks, and sometimes it disappears altogether as if it never existed. Romantic love doesn’t have to struggle through complexity. It can navigate through the high and lows, if we human beings, give it a strong foundation to stand upon, and we remain committed to keeping that foundation strong TOGETHER as a couple. Listen to the revelation, I had recently, about the three foundations that keep love thriving. Think about your current and past romantic relationships and see if they embodied these foundational elements. Is your current romantic relationship built on a foundation that can weather the storms of complexity or do you and your partner have some work to do?

Note: This episode is being published about 13 hours later than normal due to some unexpected glitches in the app used to record the podcast.The episode was recorded on location and the inspiration for it came from a conference I attended this week. What is the quality of your connections? Could they use some attention, nurturing, and energy? If forming healthy connections is a challenge, you’re in the right place.Press play to hear how we can create and strengthen our connections with a few intentional behaviors that let others know we value our relationships.

I celebrated my birthday three days ago and came to Chicago a couple days later to celebrate all that I’ve poured into myself and others over the past year. Coming to Chicago on or around my birthday has been my pattern for several years, but honoring the investments I’ve made in my growth and the growth of people around me is still somewhat new.I decided to take a look back at the past year of my life and focus on the time in between my birthday last year and this year. I did it in solitude and in a place and space that I’ve never visited alone. The time I spent there, looking back with gratitude, opened up a well in me that was yearning to be set free. What poured out reminded me that I am a channel of transformation, and I’ve got some big assignments ahead of me. No more excuses. I’m on a mission to be better, live better, do better and move beyond who I am and where I am between every birthday. Listen in to hear the epiphany I had about birthdays. It just might inspire you to see and understand them differently too and release an influential flow that starts with your own transformation.What’s your standard birthday behavior and what do you wish for yourself as you get one year older?