Bravely Connected Podcast

Have you ever walked into a conversation feeling completely fine… and walked away anxious, frustrated, heavy, or emotionally exhausted?
You may be carrying something that was never yours to carry.
When we care deeply about people, it can be difficult to know where empathy ends and emotional absorption begins. We feel their stress. We take on their frustration. We carry their stories home with us.
But caring about someone doesn’t mean you have to carry what they’re carrying.
In this episode of Bravely Connected, I share a resilience practice I recently taught to frontline nonprofit staff.

This episode feels different.
For almost 30 years, I’ve worked in mental health, resilience, schools and communities. And somehow, all those years have been leading me here.
So in this episode, I’m sharing something pretty personal:
My dream for this year.
It’s a little audacious. It starts with just 10 people in my neighbourhood. And if it works, I think it could change the way we think about mental health, belonging, work and what communities are actually capable of.
I stumbled over my words a few times recording this one because, truthfully, I care about it that much.
This is the work I want to give the next season of my life to.
So grab a coffee, go for a walk, and come dream with me for a little while.

Maybe you haven’t lost your purpose. Maybe you’ve never had the space to discover it.
In this week’s episode, we’re taking the pressure off “finding your dream” and looking instead for the clues.

And this conversation is bigger than us. When children, students, and community members discover “I’m good at something. I matter. I have something to contribute,” it can build hope, belonging, and a sense of possibility.

We’ll explore three simple places to start.
You don’t need the whole map. You just need the next clue.

🎙️ In this week’s podcast, I’m talking about where resilience really comes from, why small wins matter, and how we can help ourselves—and the people around us—come alive.

For a long time I believed personal growth was mostly about what happened when I was alone.
Reading the books. Doing the inner work. Going to therapy. Learning boundaries. Figuring out my triggers. Trying to regulate my own emotions.
And all of that matters. Deeply.
But after 27 years of marriage—and years of trying to love people, lead in community, repair conflict, stay soft when I want to shut down, and remain present when relationships feel hard—I can tell you this:
Some of the deepest transformation in my life has not happened in solitude.
It has happened in relationship.
In the moments where I wanted to run but needed to stay.
When I felt misunderstood and had to choose honesty instead of withdrawal.
When old wounds got touched and I had to ask, “What is this reaction trying to show me?”
When I had to learn that healing isn’t becoming less affected by people—it’s becoming more grounded with them.
This episode is personal.
I’m sharing what 27 years of marriage and years of being in community have taught me about the kind of growth we’re missing—the kind that doesn’t happen in isolation, but in the messy, sacred, stretching work of loving other imperfect people while learning to stay connected to yourself.
We’ll talk about why community can heal us and exhaust us, why humility matters so much in relationships, and how to know your threshold for connection without burning out.
If you’ve ever felt stretched by people, disappointed in yourself, tired of your own reactions, or unsure how to stay connected without losing yourself… this one is for you.