35. The Right Decision Can Still Feel Hard w/ Dr. Jessica Lee

Have you ever gotten exactly what you wanted and felt unsettled anyway? And then felt guilty for feeling anything but grateful? In this conversation, Kellie sits down with Dr. Jessica Lee, a double board certified ENT, a mom, and a woman in the middle of a big life transition. Jessica recently left a life she loved, stepped back from the identity of primary breadwinner, and moved to a new city. It was the right move but it also brought up a lot of new feelings and emotions. Together they talk about what happens when your choices go against the grain, and why feeling two things at once doesn't mean you chose wrong. You'll leave with language for the feelings no one warns you about, a gentler way to think about slowing down, and a reminder that living by your values is its own kind of courage.  

Have you ever waited for a sign? Something big and undeniable that would finally give you permission to make the change you already know you need to make? In this episode, Kellie sits down with three women — Renee, Karen, and Sharon — for her first ever roundtable. All three are entrepreneurs, mothers, and friends who have walked through divorce and come out the other side. This isn't a conversation about whether to leave a marriage. None of these women would choose this path for anyone. But it is the reality for so many women watching, and this is a conversation to let them know they are not alone. Together they talk about the moment they knew something had to change, the strange grief of not recognizing yourself anymore, and why waiting for a dramatic breaking point isn't the requirement so many women think it is. You'll leave this conversation with permission to trust what you already know, language for the identity loss so many women carry in silence, and real, tested ways to find yourself again. If this episode resonates, share it with someone who needs to hear it.  Connect with Kellie: Instagram: @kelliesmithstudio Meaningful Messages Newsletter 💬 Have a thought or question this conversation stirred in you? I'd love to hear from you. Drop it in the comments. Referenced: Co-dependent No More

Today I'm walking you through my series on living a values-aligned life, starting with identifying the values that are actually yours. Not the ones that sound good on paper. The ones underneath your real highs and lows. Getting clear here changes how you make decisions, handle conflict, and know what's actually worth your energy. Grab a notebook and let's jump in.  JOURNAL EXERCISE 1: Clarifying Your Values - I created a Free Printable Journal Guide if you'd like it to guide you through the exercise. Step 1: Reflect on the Highs Think of times in your life when you felt happiest, most fulfilled, or at the height of well-being. Step 2: Reflect on the Lows Think of times when you felt deeply lost, untethered, or unfulfilled. What was happening? Step 3: Identify Your Core Values Look at your answers. What core themes or words keep showing up (e.g., Freedom, Connection, Growth, Security)? Write down your top 3 to 5 non-negotiable words. These are your core values. JOURNAL EXERCISE 2 - Brené Brown's "Living Into Our Values" practice from her book Dare to Lead (highly recommend you buy and read this whole book!) Value #1: ___________________ Three behaviors that support your value: Three slippery behaviors that are outside your value: An example of a time you were living fully into this value:  Value #2: ___________________ Three behaviors that support your value: Three slippery behaviors that are outside your value: An example of a time you were living fully into this value:  Value #3: ___________________ Three behaviors that support your value: Three slippery behaviors that are outside your value: An example of a time you were living fully into this value:  Connect with Kellie: Instagram: @kelliesmithstudio Subscribe to Kellie's Meaningful Messages Newsletter Referenced: Book: Dare to Lead by Brené Brown

My journal practice looks nothing like it did when I started. It's evolved a lot over the years — through a few different approaches, some that worked and some that didn't — into something that's become one of the most grounding parts of my life. In this episode, I walk through that evolution, and what I say to people who tell me they can't journal because they're afraid to mess it up. If you've ever wanted to start a journal practice or you have one that's stalled out this is for you. Connect with Kellie:  Instagram: @kelliesmithstudio Meaningful Messages Newsletter Referenced:  The Power of Journaling Emotional and physical health benefits of expressive writing  The Artists Way Favorite Journals

Maycember is real. And if you're a mom with school-aged kids, you don't need anyone to explain it to you. What you might need is someone to remind you that you are allowed to do less, to say no, and to let good enough actually be enough. In this quick solo episode, Kellie shares three practical things that have been keeping her grounded through her own full-on Maycember — including a question to ask before you say yes to one more thing, why good enough really is enough right now, and how protecting even one small thing for yourself might be what carries you into summer feeling human instead of hollow. This one is short because...Maycember. You're welcome. 😉 🌟 If this resonates, share it with someone who needs to hear it. Send it to the mom in your life who is running herself into the ground and needs permission to slow down. Connect with Kellie Instagram: @kelliesmithstudio Have a thought or question this conversation stirred in you? I'd love to hear from you. Share it here.

A social media post stopped me in my tracks today, so you are joining me on my morning walk because we need to talk. I came across a post this morning that featured a woman promoting a new treatment for Botox called "BarbieTox," where Botox is injected into the shoulders to create a more doll-like appearance. The post itself was enough to stop me in my tracks but then I saw the hundreds of comments from women eager to learn more about this procedure. Beautiful, real women. Wanting to look like a plastic doll. It crushed me. It is so disheartening to see all of these beautiful women feel the need to alter themselves to fit an unrealistic standard. This impromptu episode is a reminder about what's really driving the endless chase and why no injection will ever touch the place that actually hurts. You'll leave with a clearer eye for what social media is doing to your sense of worth — and to the little girls who are watching us do it. Consider this a real invitation and permission slip to stop fighting your body and start loving it. EXERCISE: Beauty trends are designed to make you believe you are broken and need to be fixed. Before you get sucked in, ask yourself these three questions. 1. What do I actually believe this is going to fix? If the honest answer is confidence, worthiness, or finally feeling like enough — that's your signal that you're chasing something no injection can give you. 2. Am I doing this for me, or because someone made me feel like I wasn't enough? There's a difference between a choice that comes from a place of wholeness and one that comes from a wound. Knowing which one is driving the decision changes everything. 3. Would I want my daughter or a young woman who looks up to me to make the same choice I am making — and what advice would I give her? We rarely extend to ourselves the grace we would give without hesitation to someone we love. Guide yourself the same way you would guide her. 🌟 If this resonates, share it with someone who needs to hear it. The woman in your life who is beautiful and doesn't know it yet — she needs this today. Connect with Kellie Instagram: @kelliesmithstudio Have a thought or question this conversation stirred in you? I'd love to hear from you. Share it here.

When was the last time a friendship made you feel truly known? Not just caught up — but actually seen? In this episode of A Meaningful Life, Kellie Smith sits down with Heather Carlson MA, LMFT, a licensed marriage and family therapist and creator of The Invitation — a year-long program helping women build deep, intentional friendships.  We get into the real stuff: why female friendship feels harder than ever right now, the myths we were handed that set us up to fail, and what the longest-running Harvard study on happiness tells us about the relationships that actually matter. Heather shares a personal story about navigating conflict with a close friend in real time, why we avoid hard conversations with the people we love most, and the three things — regularity, intentionality, and commitment — that deep friendship actually requires. If you've ever felt lonely in a room full of people, grieved a friendship that quietly faded, or wondered why connection feels so hard in this season of life, this one is for you. RESOURCES MENTIONED: 📖 The Good Life by Robert Waldinger & Marc Schulz 🔬 The Harvard Study of Adult Development (started ~1937) 🔬 Jeffrey Hall's 2018 research on friendship formation — University of Kansas 🔬 Robin Dunbar's research on platonic relationships 🌐 The Invitation program: HeatherJCarlson.com CONNECT:  📲 Kellie's Instagram: @kelliesmithstudio 📲 Heather's Instagram: @heatherjcarlson

Have you ever stepped away from your career to be home with your kids — and felt that quiet ache of missing the part of you that worked, that earned, that contributed?  In this episode, Kellie gets personal about what it actually looked like to go from main breadwinner to stay-at-home mom — and how she built her way back to earning her own income, not once, not twice, but across multiple seasons of life. The goal wasn't glamorous. It was $1,000 a month. And she figured it out, more than once, in completely different ways — using the skills she already had. This one is full of real stories, a repeatable framework, and the kind of honest encouragement that doesn't make you feel behind — it makes you feel like you can actually start. Whether you're in a season of transition, feeling financially untethered, or just ready to do something that's yours again, this episode will meet you right where you are. 🌟 If this resonates, share it with someone who needs to hear it. You never know who's sitting on a dream they just need permission to try. Sit with these — in your journal, on a walk, or wherever you do your best thinking. What skills do you already have that you might be underestimating? Is there something you've been wanting to try, but waiting until conditions are perfect? What would it mean to you — really mean — to earn your own income in this season? Connect with Kellie Instagram: @kelliesmithstudio Have a thought or question this conversation stirred in you? I'd love to hear from you. Share it here.

Have you ever sat with someone — a teacher, a mentor, a pastor — and thought, how does this person just get it so right? Have you wondered what it is about them that makes their words land differently than everyone else's? It's their willingness to be fully, unapologetically themselves. In this episode, Kellie shares a quiet morning reflection that turned into something worth saying out loud. Sitting on her back porch with her coffee and journal, she found herself grateful for someone in her life who refused to fit into the box — and realized that gratitude was actually a mirror. Because the people who move us most are rarely the ones who follow the script. They're the ones who show up as exactly who they were made to be. And that changes everything for the people they're meant to reach. You'll leave this one with a simple but grounding reminder: the world doesn't need your most polished, most acceptable, most palatable version. It needs you. Your specific gifts. Your specific voice. Because somewhere out there, someone is waiting for exactly what only you can offer — and you can't give it to them if you're busy being someone else. 🌟 If this resonates, share it with someone who needs permission to stop shrinking and start showing up as themselves. Connect with Kellie Instagram: @kelliesmithstudio Have a thought or question this conversation stirred in you? I'd love to hear from you. Share it here.

Have you ever looked up from your life and realized you've become a stranger to yourself? You're fluent in everyone else's needs but can barely remember the last time you checked in with your own. This is what happens when we spend so much time living for everyone around us that we forget to live for ourselves. And the tricky part? You can't find your way back to who you were because that woman doesn't exist anymore. You've lived things. Maybe you have birthed children. Your capacity has changed. Your values have shifted and deepened and sometimes completely transformed. The work now is getting curious about who you actually are in this season of your life. Join me as I walk you through the grounded steps for coming home to yourself — not the old you, the current you. You'll leave with a framework for reconnecting with who you are right now, a practice for building stillness into even the fullest days, and the permission you may not have realized you were waiting for to make your inner life a non-negotiable. This is the episode for the woman who has been taking care of everyone else and is finally ready to come back to herself. Here are some of the questions we will be working through in this episode: How am I really right now? What do I really need in this season of my life? What do I really want in this season of my life? What am I going to do about it? What is one action I will take this week to reconnect with myself? 🌟 If this resonates, share it with someone who needs to hear it. You never know who is one quiet moment away from finding their way back to themselves. Connect with Kellie Instagram: @kelliesmithstudio Have a thought or question this conversation stirred in you? I'd love to hear from you. Share it here.