The Comeback Lounge

In 2008, Philippe Choiniere and his wife started their company with no background in cosmetics or chemistry, building it alongside other jobs until it turned a profit nine years later. He opens up about the costly investment he made without consulting her, the lesson in accountability it forced on him, and why her instincts are now his greatest business asset. From cold plunges and daily creation time to raising kids who know they can build their own reality, Philippe shows that the way back starts with gratitude for what you already have.

In 2005, deep in depression, Meaghan McCue got down on her knees and promised God a life of service in exchange for help, and soon after, a single pranic healing session gave her the first joy she’d felt in months. Now a certified pranic healer and instructor in Sedona, Arizona, she talks about growing up adopted, why trauma can get stuck in the body’s energy centers, and how she stopped trying to carry everything alone. Episode 1 of The Comeback Lounge with Cara McCarron is a conversation about faith, healing, and finding the back door out of rock bottom. Note: This episode includes discussion of depression and suicidal thoughts.            

Jason Shipley, owner of Midwest Custom Engineering and a serial entrepreneur since his teens, has survived the 2008 crash, a pandemic that hit his businesses hard, and the unthinkable loss of his daughter Zia in 2024. He opens up about how grief led him to faith and healing work, and how a health scare forced him to finally slow down, set boundaries, and give himself grace. Now he’s building a family legacy and growing his company toward a $100M valuation, proof that rock bottom has a back door

I'm almost three months out of my marital home, and something's been sitting on my heart. There are a hundred tools out there to regulate your nervous system, cold plunges, biohacks, breathwork, and yes, they help. But none of them replace the actual work of healing what disregulated you in the first place. In this episode, I get honest about what's coming up for me right now, including grief I thought I'd already processed. I talk about losing my son eleven years ago, and how healing isn't linear, it's not something you finish and check off. Sometimes the work you thought was done comes back around when your life changes enough to shake it loose. This one's shorter than usual, but it's one of the most important things I've said on this show. If you've been doing the personal development work and still feel like something's underneath it all, this episode is for you. A guest episode with my healer Nancy is coming soon, where we go deeper into this work together. 🎙️ New episodes weekly. Subscribe so you don't miss what's next. #TheWifeyVibe #NervousSystemHealing #Perimenopause #DivorceRecovery #GriefAndHealing #WomensWellness #MidlifeReinvention

In this episode, I reflect on what I learned during my time in Tulum, Mexico. I talk about rest, perspective, emotional shifts, and what happened when I gave myself space to unplug and pay attention. Being in a different environment opened up clarity I didn’t even realize I needed, and I’m sharing the honest takeaways I brought home with me.

In this candid, reflective episode of The Wifey Vibe Podcast, Cara shares a real-time check-in from Tulum after turning 50. She talks about solo travel, the emotional layers of divorce, navigating perimenopause, and how neurodiversity shaped her past marriage. Set against a quiet morning and a missed sunrise, this episode explores what it actually feels like to be in a season of transition—and how your mindset quietly leads your experience, whether you realize it or not.

Perimenopause & Memory One of the most frustrating parts of perimenopause for me has been memory. I’ll literally walk into a room and have no idea why I’m there. That’s always happened to me to a certain degree — my brain moves fast, I think quickly, and that’s something people either love or hate about me. But this feels different. This is a whole other level. Lately, it feels like I can’t access old memories as easily. My long-term memory feels sketchy, and I don’t know if or when that changes. I know a lot of women experience this, but it’s still incredibly frustrating. Honestly, this might be the part of perimenopause that makes me feel the most insane — the memory issues and the brain fog. Those two things can really mess with you because they make you question yourself. And that’s scary. There are times when I feel genuinely fearful about how out of it I feel. I just want to say this out loud: it’s normal. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck. When it comes to memory and brain fog, there are so many things we’re told to do — omega-3s, B12, iron, hormones, estrogen, progesterone, supplements on supplements. At this point, I feel like I have supplement fatigue. I don’t even know if that’s a real term, but it feels real to me. I do know that some basics make a difference. Vitamin D helps. B12 shots help. Sublingual B12 helps. Liquid iron helps. Those foundational things absolutely matter. But beyond that, I honestly don’t know. There are millions of supplements out there, and I question whether most of them truly make a meaningful difference for everything we’re dealing with in perimenopause — or if it really comes down to hormone replacement therapy. I’d love to hear other women’s experiences, because when I talk to women around my age — a little younger, a little older — very few are actually educated about perimenopause and everything that comes with it. And that’s incredibly frustrating. So many symptoms get misinterpreted. Anxiety, for example. I have a close friend going through this right now with intense anxiety and what I call health anxiety. Women, in particular, experience this a lot. And so often, it’s hormonal. When your hormones are out of balance, anxiety can come rushing in. When we don’t talk about it, we assume, “It’s just me,” or “I just have anxiety.” I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder at 18 — and it turned out to be my thyroid. Looking back on my life, every period where I experienced anxiety or panic attacks has always traced back to hormones being out of balance — thyroid hormones, estrogen, progesterone, iron levels. Low iron alone can send anxiety through the roof. Anxiety isn’t a normal state. Neither is depression. Your body is communicating that something needs attention. For me, memory issues are worse at certain points in my cycle. That pattern is very clear now. And when women talk to me about anxiety that feels like it comes out of nowhere — especially when life is generally okay — I always say: get your hormones checked. Even if life isn’t okay, still get them checked. As for supplements, I’m still undecided. The basics matter, but beyond that, I’m not convinced. I keep coming back to hormone replacement therapy as the thing that actually makes a tangible difference — maybe not for everyone, but for many of us. Perimenopause is not just hot flashes and mood swings. That’s how it was explained to us, and it’s wildly inaccurate. It’s so much more than that. One example for me was joint pain. I struggled with really painful joints until my estrogen was adjusted. I’m currently at a pump and a half, which feels like my sweet spot. And the joint pain is gone. Completely. Zero. It takes time to dial things in, but I’m incredibly grateful. Because being in pain, forgetting things, feeling grumpy, and feeling sad all at once is just too much. I hope this helps. And if you forget to listen — well, I guess that’s on theme.

Tanner's entrepreneurial journey began during college when he identified opportunities and turned them into profitable ventures. He didn’t start with a lot, but his drive to succeed pushed him to create multiple companies that now generate significant revenue. Listen as we chat about how the masculine energy has become a presence in his life while he navigates his business and his personal life!