Better On Purpose

What happens when being helpful starts getting tangled up with needing to feel indispensable?

In the Season 1 finale of Better on Purpose, I’m reflecting on reassurance, validation, capacity, and the ways we sometimes tie our value to being the person who can handle it all.

We’re talking about what happens when the reassurance doesn’t come, when someone else steps in, when we’re misunderstood, and when we finally realize we can’t keep being everything to everybody.

This past year has taught me that discomfort isn’t always an emergency, that I can become okay before everything around me becomes okay, and that growth isn’t about becoming a perfect version of myself. It’s about becoming aware enough to recognize my patterns and intentional enough to choose what I do with them.

Twenty episodes later, this feels like the right place to put a bookmark in it.

Thank you for growing with me through Season 1!

Sometimes we don’t realize how depleted we’ve become until we experience what it feels like to come back to center.

This week, I’m reflecting on a pretty dramatic shift I experienced in less than 24 hours. One night, I was so overstimulated that the smallest sounds and movements felt like too much. The next day, after spending a few hours hiking at Mount Rainier, I returned to my everyday life feeling noticeably lighter, calmer, and more present.

The world hadn’t gotten quieter. I had.

That contrast made me think about how well we recognize when we’re running low, how what’s happening internally can affect the way we show up with the people around us, and whether we know what helps us find our way back to center.

This isn’t about never becoming overwhelmed. Life gets full. It’s about learning to recognize what our own behavior might be telling us, understanding what helps us feel grounded again, and becoming more intentional about making room for those things before we’re completely depleted.

Because maybe the goal isn’t to never lose our center. Maybe it’s to know ourselves well enough to recognize when we have, and to know how to find our way back.

What happens when everything feels important, but you only have so much time, energy, and attention to give?

In this episode of Better On Purpose, Teryn reflects on the difference between being capable of carrying more and actually having the capacity for it. From the things that keep getting pushed to “when I have time,” to the automatic yes, to the belief that if something really matters we’ll always make time for it, this conversation explores what it looks like to be more intentional about what gets our attention.

Because just because you can make something fit doesn’t always mean you have room for it.

What are you making room for? What keeps waiting? And are you okay with that trade right now?

Because how you show up matters.

What happens when you know your heart, but someone else walks away with a completely different understanding of your intentions?

This week, Teryn reflects on what it looks like to navigate misunderstanding, accountability, boundaries, and the very human desire to explain ourselves until someone finally gets it. She shares what a couple of difficult conversations reminded her about growth, including the uncomfortable reality that doing the work doesn’t mean we’ll always respond perfectly when our emotions are heightened.

There’s a difference between taking accountability for the impact we’ve had and taking responsibility for someone else’s entire perception of us. So how do we honestly examine what belongs to us, repair what needs repairing, and eventually release what we cannot control?

Because none of us get it right all the time. But we do get to choose, again and again, how we show up next.

What if figuring out what’s next requires looking at where you’ve already been?

In this episode of Better on Purpose, Teryn reflects on the different versions of herself she’s been over the years and the interests, experiences, and parts of her identity that have continued to show up in different ways.

For her, one of those threads is photography. From growing up surrounded by family photos, to studying photography in high school and college, to eventually finding her way back to cameras, video, editing, and storytelling, something that once felt like a chapter she had moved on from may not have disappeared at all. It simply changed form.

This episode isn’t about living in the past or assuming that who you were determines who you have to become. It’s about paying attention. Sometimes, when we’re so focused on figuring out where we’re going, we miss the clues sitting in where we’ve already been.

Maybe the next version of you isn’t starting completely from scratch.

Feelings are real. They matter. But they don’t always have to decide what happens next.

In this episode of Better on Purpose, Teryn talks about the space between what we feel and how we choose to respond. The discomfort that makes us want to leave. The insecurity that starts writing a story before we have all the information. The disappointment that can quickly turn into assumptions about someone else’s intentions.

Sometimes growth isn’t about no longer having those reactions. It’s about learning to notice them, get curious about what’s underneath them, and give ourselves enough space to decide what we actually want to do next.

You can feel uncomfortable and stay. You can feel insecure without needing someone else to fix it. You can acknowledge what you’re feeling without handing it control.

Let it matter. Then decide how you want to show up.

This week on Better On Purpose, we're making a little room to exhale.

Life can be full of really good things: people we love, work that matters, experiences we're grateful for, places to go and people who need us. But even a life we love can require moments of quiet, rest and restoration.

In this episode, Teryn reflects on our own relationships with busyness, her growing craving for quiet, the difference between simply stopping and actually feeling restored, and why she's learning to pay more attention to what her mind and body are asking for.

From sleep and overstimulation to boundaries, warmth, water, spas and those tiny moments when the volume finally comes down, this conversation is an invitation to get curious about what genuinely gives something back to you.

Because a full life and a restful life don't have to be opposites.

What helps you exhale? What makes your body soften? What leaves you feeling a little more like yourself?

Maybe this week, you simply notice.

Life has a way of reminding us just how quickly things can change. And sometimes those reminders make us look a little differently at the people we love, the memories we're making, and even the seasons that don't look quite like they used to.

In this episode of Better On Purpose, we'll reflect on loss, change, the fear of what we can't control, and the importance of being present for the life that's happening right now. We explore what it means to love people well while they're here, to make room for the relationships and experiences that matter, and to recognize that sometimes we're so busy mourning an old version of something that we miss what still exists in front of us.

Because different doesn't always mean better. Sometimes there's real grief in what has changed. But different doesn't automatically mean there's nothing left here for us.

This is a conversation about staying, noticing, loving, remembering, and allowing ourselves to experience the beauty that's still available to us right now.

Because this version counts, too.

What does it really mean to consider someone?

Sometimes it looks like remembering their favorite candy. Sometimes it’s asking the follow-up question, noticing when someone seems a little quieter than usual, making the introduction, or simply telling someone something good you’ve noticed about them instead of keeping it to yourself.

In this episode of Better On Purpose, we'll explore the difference between caring about people and intentionally paying attention to who they are, what fills their cup, and how they experience love and support. Teryn also shares a recent unexpected reminder that while we’re busy noticing others, we may not realize how closely others are noticing the ways we show up too.

We’re talking about consideration, the small seeds we plant in one another, learning to receive affirmation, and the important difference between being needed and being meaningful.

Because you don’t have to make yourself indispensable in order to matter. You can care deeply without carrying everything. And sometimes the smallest gesture can simply say:

I see you. I remembered. I thought about you. You matter to me.

Because how you show up matters.

I almost didn't record this episode.

After spending four days as a mentor at youth summer camp, I came home with pages of journal entries and stories I wanted to tell. But as I reflected, I realized the biggest lesson didn't happen at camp.

It happened before I ever got there.

This week, we're talking about the stories anxiety tells us before reality ever gets a chance to speak. The conversations we rehearse. The assumptions we make. The opportunities we almost miss because we've already decided how they'll end.

I'm also sharing what camp reminded me about community, encouragement, and why meaningful change rarely happens because of one extraordinary person. More often, it's the result of ordinary people choosing to show up for one another.

If you've ever found yourself sitting in your own "parking lot", hesitating before a hard conversation, a new opportunity, or a step forward, I hope this episode encourages you to give reality a chance before fear finishes writing the story.

Because sometimes the life we're hoping for isn't waiting for us to become more confident.

It's simply waiting for us to get out of the car.