Description: Description:

Jen Hatmaker sits down with Nedra Glover Tawwab, Emily Nagoski, Kobe Campbell, and Kate Bowler for an honest conversation about what it really means to wake up in midlife.

Together, they explore where awakening often shows up first—our relationships, bodies, mental health, and faith. This isn’t about fixing yourself. It’s about noticing what’s shifting, understanding why it feels disruptive, and realizing you’re not alone.

From boundaries and burnout to anxiety, trauma, body shame, and faith after certainty, this episode offers language and clarity for women navigating midlife change with courage.

If you’ve ever thought, Something’s changing—and I don’t know what to do with it, this conversation is for you.

Thought-provoking Quotes:

“You’re not broken. You’re paying attention.” — Jen Hatmaker

“Midlife clarity isn’t cruelty. It’s information.” — Nedra Glover Tawwab

“Healing doesn’t mean you stop feeling. It means your responses finally make sense.” — Kobe Campbell

“Anxiety can bring clarity—but it’s not meant to be the fuel forever.” — Kobe Campbell

“You don’t complete stress by thinking it through. You complete it by letting it move through your body.” — Emily Nagoski

“Certainty falling away doesn’t mean faith is gone. It means it’s growing up.” — Kate Bowler

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself by Nedra Glover Tawwab – https://amzn.to/4rhSzofThe Balancing Act: Creating Healthy Dependency and Connection Without Losing Yourself by Nedra Glover Tawwab – https://amzn.to/46cF4hgCome As You Are: Revised and Updated: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life by Emily Nagoski – https://www.amazon.com/Come-You-Are-Surprising-Transform/dp/1982165316/

Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski – https://amzn.to/3MgTXIK

Why Am I Like This?: How to Break Cycles, Heal from Trauma, and Restore Your Faith by Kobe Campbell – https://amzn.to/4qIMqR9

Joyful, Anyway by Kate Bowler – https://amzn.to/3MdyfW3

Everything Happens podcast with Kate Bowler – https://katebowler.com/podcasts/

Nedra’s Links:

Website - https://www.nedratawwab.com/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/nedratawwab/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/nedratawwab/- 

Substack - https://nedratawwab.substack.com/

Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/you-need-to-hear-this-with-nedra-tawwab/id1686288228

Emily’s Links:

Website - https://www.emilynagoski.com/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/enagoski/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/emilynagoskiphd/

TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@emilynagoski

Substack - https://substack.com/@emilynagoski

Podcast - https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/come-as-you-are

Kobe’s Links:

Website - https://kobecampbell.com/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/kobecampbell_/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TheKobeCampbell/

Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@TheKobeCampbell

Substack - https://substack.com/@kobecampbell

Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-healing-circle-podcast-with-kobe-campbell/id1448504061

Kate’s Links:

Website - https://katebowler.com/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/katecbowler/

Twitter - https://x.com/katecbowler

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/katecbowler

Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf8m7lNdR7YVieU0muCg5cg

TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@katecbowler

Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/katecbowler/

Substack - https://katebowler.substack.com/

Podcast - https://katebowler.com/podcasts/

Connect with Jen!Jen’s Website - https://jenhatmaker.com/

Jen’s Instagram - https://instagram.com/jenhatmakerJen’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/

Jen’s Facebook - https://facebook.com/jenhatmakerJen’s YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker

The For the Love Podcast is presented by Audacy. 

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Description: 

Jen revisits this fan favorite episode with Mel Robbins. Buckle up, listeners.  It was only a matter of time before our paths crossed with Mel Robbins, one of the most respected experts on change and motivation in the zeitgeist, and today is that day. Known for being the host of the #1 ranking education podcast in the world, bringing deeply relatable topics, tactical advice, tools, and compelling conversations to her audiences, Jen and Amy spend today’s hour diving into Mel’s “Let Them” theory, which is taking the world by storm, already delivering instant peace and freedom in the lives and relationships of people putting it into practice.

Together, they discuss:

The difference between “Let Them” and “Let Me”

Learning to release the white-knuckle grip we hold over other people’s behavior (and other things beyond our control)

Reframing disappointment to view it as a gift (yes, it’s possible!)

Repositioning self-worth inward, rather than leaving it dependent on others' opinions.

Thought-provoking Quotes:

“For a lot of women, we spend so much time upstairs in our heads as people-pleasers and over-analyzers, over-thinking and ruminating, trying to get things perfect. That’s the last place I should be, personally. I need to drop into my body and get out of my head.” – Mel Robbins

“People reveal who they are and what they care about through their behavior. Ignore their words. Watch their behavior. Let people be who they are. Let them do what they’re going to do. Focusing on them is not where your power is.” – Mel Robbins

“The difference between ‘not my business’ and ‘let them’ is worlds apart. When you say, ‘not my business’, you’re scolding yourself. With, ‘let them’, you’re in the power position because you see what’s happening and are choosing to allow it without allowing it. You’re rising above it.” – Mel Robbins

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

Demotivators - https://despair.com/collections/

Effin Birds on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/effinbirds/

Van Morrison - https://www.vanmorrison.com/

No Hard Feelings by the Avett Brothers - https://open.spotify.com/track/0bgQ1hQrpP6ScdBZlDfLE2

Foo Fighters - https://foofighters.com/

DePeche Mode - https://www.depechemode.com/

The Cure - https://www.thecure.com/

Taylor Swift - https://www.taylorswift.com/

The 5 Second Rule: Transform Your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage by Mel Robbins - https://amzn.to/427OHwu

The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can't Stop Talking About by Mel Robbins - https://amzn.to/4hc53bE

The Mel Robbins Podcast - https://www.melrobbins.com/podcast

The Four Questions: For Henny Penny and Anybody with Stressful Thoughts by Byron Katie - https://amzn.to/3C7tKXT

My Legacy Podcast - https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-my-legacy-podcast-255793246/

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl - https://amzn.to/4ajbyaz

Dr. Stuart Ablon - https://www.stuartablon.com/

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson - https://amzn.to/3PCqxmi

Guest’s Links:

Website - https://www.melrobbins.com/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/melrobbins/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/melrobbins

Twitter - https://x.com/melrobbins

Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/melrobbins

TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@melrobbins

Podcast - https://www.melrobbins.com/podcast/

Connect with Jen!Jen’s Website - https://jenhatmaker.com/

Jen’s Instagram - https://instagram.com/jenhatmakerJen’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/

Jen’s Facebook - https://facebook.com/jenhatmakerJen’s YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker

The For the Love Podcast is presented by Audacy. 

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Listeners Say, “Me Too”: Finding Familiarity in Shared Stories – A Listener Voicemail Episode

Description:In this special listener voicemail episode, Jen and Amy turn the mic outward—listening closely to the voices, stories, and wisdom of the community that makes this show what it is.

From reflections sparked by our Wake Up Call season to deeply personal responses to Jen’s book Awake, these messages trace a powerful throughline: what happens when we begin to tell the truth about our lives—and make space for who we’re becoming.

Listeners share how conversations with Lee C. Camp, John Fugelsang, Melani Sanders, and Chrissy King stirred something awake in them, naming long-held questions around faith, body, identity, and courage. Others call in to reflect on the uncanny resonance of Awake, beginning again and again with the same line: “Jen, our stories are very similar.”

This episode is tender, funny, and honest—a reminder that none of us are doing this work alone. It’s about waking up, letting go, finding language for the ache, and choosing what comes next—together.

If you’ve ever wondered whether your voice matters here, this episode is your answer.

Thought-provoking Quotes:

“Our stories are very similar—and hearing that out loud made me realize I’m not behind. I’m just in it.” – FTL Listener

“I didn’t know how much I needed someone to say, ‘You’re allowed to change your mind,’ until this season.” – FTL Listener

“That episode felt like someone finally put words to the questions I’ve been carrying quietly.” – FTL Listener

“Something in me relaxed when I heard someone else say it first.” – FTL Listener

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

Beyond Words: Listening to a Hidden Community — Ky Dickens and The Telepathy Tapes - https://jenhatmaker.com/podcasts/series-64/unlocking-the-secrets-of-consciousness-and-telepathy-ky-dickens-and-the-telepathy-tapes/

The Telepathy Tapes podcast - https://thetelepathytapes.com/

Rick Rubin - https://x.com/RickRubin

Elizabeth Gilbert - https://www.elizabethgilbert.com/

Human Flourishing in a Distracted World: Theologian Lee C. Camp Offers a Wake Up Call To Living Well - https://jenhatmaker.com/podcasts/series-64/human-flourishing-in-a-distracted-world-theologian-lee-c-camp-offers-a-wake-up-call-to-living-well/

Love Over Dominance: John Fugelsang on the Future of Christianity - https://jenhatmaker.com/podcasts/series-64/love-over-dominance-john-fugelsang-on-the-future-of-christianity/

Social Media Sensation Melani Sanders Reminds Us That We Are Enough and We Do Not Care - https://jenhatmaker.com/podcasts/series-64/social-media-sensation-melani-sanders-reminds-us-that-we-are-enough-and-we-do-not-care/

Wake Up Call: Your Body Was Never the Problem with Body Liberation Advocate, Chrissy King - https://jenhatmaker.com/podcasts/series-64/wake-up-call-your-body-was-never-the-problem-with-body-liberation-advocate-chrissy-king/

Dr. Mary Claire Haver - https://www.instagram.com/drmaryclaire

Jen Hatmaker Book Club - https://shop.jenhatmaker.com/collections/book-club

Connect with Jen!Jen’s Website - https://jenhatmaker.com/

Jen’s Instagram - https://instagram.com/jenhatmakerJen’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/

Jen’s Facebook - https://facebook.com/jenhatmakerJen’s YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker

The For the Love Podcast is presented by Audacy.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Description:

This month in the Jen Hatmaker Book Club, Jen is joined by novelist Eliana Ramage to talk about her stunning debut, To the Moon and Back—a book that is as page-turny as it is tender, and as expansive as it is rooted.

Jen and Eliana trace the actual arc of this book—how it began with an unforgettable spark of an idea at Dartmouth (about an “astronaut girl” who shows us that our stories aren’t static, and neither are our people) and how, over more than a decade, that idea became a novel about ambition, belonging, identity, and the complicated, beautiful gravity of connection.

In this conversation, Jen and Eliana explore a story centered on a young woman unraveling in the aftermath of loss, navigating complicated relationships, spiritual longing, and the quiet ache of wanting more than the life she’s been handed. They dig into the women at the center of the novel—the ones you’ll root for, the ones who will frustrate you (hi, ambition), and the ones who will linger long after you close the cover—and they unpack why the ending matters: not because it ties everything into neat bows, but because it honors what’s true. Because in real life, healing doesn’t land with fireworks. It lands with honesty. With restraint. With the choice to keep loving, even when certainty has slipped through our fingers.

This is a conversation about grieving honestly, questioning inherited beliefs, and staying awake to your own life. It’s about learning that connection matters more than performance—and trusting that the long arc of love and healing is still unfolding.

Whether you’re reading along with the book club or simply craving a thoughtful, soulful conversation to start the new year, this episode invites you to slow down, feel deeply, and remember: even in loss, even in doubt, we are still reaching—toward connection, toward each other, and back to ourselves.

Thought-provoking Quotes:

“This is a story about women who are trying to understand who they are and move forward together after making some mistakes. That's where I definitely am right now. And if I could just finish this one thing that has been so hard for so many years, then it would be the first time I had done something that I could be really proud of.” – Eliana Ramage

“I think in real life, you don't need to know that everything is all gonna be figured out at once. You need to land the plane on what matters. I don't think any of us, for our own lives, feel like we have that written out. And so there's some wiggle room on where we could go next, I think.”– Eliana Ramage

“It’s become kind of a ritual to ask myself,  can you believe that you're doing this job because your wildest dreams came true?”– Eliana Ramage

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

Avid Reader Press - https://avidreaderpress.com/

Fancy Lunch - https://tinyurl.com/3uyuxryf

Joyride: A Memoir by Susan Orlean - https://amzn.to/49vTrhC

The Uncool: A Memoir by Cameron Crowe - https://amzn.to/3LFmd7n

Lily King - https://lilykingbooks.com/

Reese Witherspoon book club pick - September 2025 - https://reesesbookclub.com/book/to-the-moon-and-back/

Mid-America All Indian Center, Wichita, KS - https://www.theindianmuseum.org/

Awake: A Memoir by Jen Hatmaker - https://amzn.to/4swRPg9

Parnassus Books - https://parnassusbooks.net/

Ring of Salt: A Memoir of Finding Home and Hope on the Wild Coast of Ireland by Betsy Cornwell - https://amzn.to/3Z9qtPu

I’ll Tell You When I’m Home by Hala Alyan - https://amzn.to/4bof7yr

Guest’s Links:

Website - https://www.elianaramage.com/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/elianaramage/

Connect with Jen!Jen’s Website - https://jenhatmaker.com/

Jen’s Instagram - https://instagram.com/jenhatmakerJen’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/

Jen’s Facebook - https://facebook.com/jenhatmakerJen’s YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker

The For the Love Podcast is presented by Audacy. 

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Description:Today we’re talking about something most of us sideline, postpone, or avoid entirely until life forces our hand: MONEY. This is a topic our host Jen Hatmaker knows all too well. For years, Jen let her then husband handle all of the bills, the budgeting, the taxes, the investments, everything. When she walked through divorce in midlife, she had to start from zero. It was humbling, terrifying, and ultimately deeply empowering.

We’re thrilled to bring you today’s guest: Jean Chatzky, bestselling author, Emmy-winning financial journalist, CEO of HerMoney, and host of the hugely popular HerMoney Podcast. Jean is one of America’s most trusted voices on personal finance, with decades spent breaking down complicated concepts into simple, actionable steps—especially for women who have historically been excluded from financial conversations.  

In this discussion, we go straight to the questions so many of us have but don’t know how to ask: Where do you even start if finances feel overwhelming? How do you build confidence around money after years of letting someone else handle it? What does stability actually look like in midlife, especially for women navigating divorce, caregiving, career transitions, or reinvention?

We talk about the mechanics of getting your financial life organized, and the emotional stories women carry around worth, fear, and permission. Jean offers grounding guidance you can act on today—whether it’s tackling debt, starting to invest, or finally creating some safety and agency around your money.

If you’ve ever felt late to the financial game, intimidated by jargon, or unsure how to build security for the next chapter—this episode will meet you with compassion, clarity, and courage. Jean is a generous teacher, and we cannot wait for you to learn from her.

Thought-provoking Quotes:

“This is one of those things that we absolutely can blame on our parents because we weren't raised in homes necessarily where women took the lead on finances. And we tend to model what we grew up with.” – Jean Chatzky

“Women are an army of perfectionists and many of us don't like to do things until we know that we can do them correctly. And with money, there are some things where I can give you an answer. But if you ask me what's the best stock or what's the best mutual fund or what's the best investment strategy, I can give you an answer that's worked historically, but I can't give you a perfect answer. And a lot of us are just not comfortable with that.” – Jean Chatzky

“I've been around a lot of people who've made a lot of money mistakes that are solvable. The one that's not solvable is not starting, because if you ask any older woman, what they wish they had done differently where their money is concerned, a hundred of them are gonna tell you, I wish I had started investing earlier.” – Jean Chatzky

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

Jean Chatzky’s HerMoney Podcast – https://hermoney.com/t/podcasts/

From Financially In the Dark to Fully In Control: Jen Hatmaker’s Wake-Up Call – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/from-financially-in-the-dark-to-fully-in-control-jen/id1098802558?i=1000740622343

Monarch money management app – https://www.monarch.com/

Rocket Money –https://www.rocketmoney.com/

Openbank High Yield Savings account – https://secureapply.openbank.us/savings/intro/welcome

Guest’s Links:

Website - https://hermoney.com/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jeanchatzky

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JeanChatzky/

TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@jeanchatzky

Podcast - https://hermoney.com/t/podcasts/

Connect with Jen!Jen’s Website - https://jenhatmaker.com/

Jen’s Instagram - https://instagram.com/jenhatmakerJen’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/

Jen’s Facebook - https://facebook.com/jenhatmakerJen’s YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker

The For the Love Podcast is presented by Audacy. 

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Description:Many of us were taught that strength looks like independence. Don’t need too much. Don’t ask for help. Don’t lean on others. And then—somewhere along the way—we find ourselves lonely, exhausted, or quietly resentful, wondering why connection feels so hard and so heavy at the same time. We want closeness, but we’re afraid of needing too much. We want support, but we don’t know how to ask for it without losing ourselves.

Today’s guest is someone who has helped millions of people name that tension—and find a gentler, healthier way forward. Nedra Glover Tawwab is a licensed therapist, relationship expert, and New York Times bestselling author of Set Boundaries, Find Peace and Drama Free. With more than fifteen years of clinical experience, she has become one of the most trusted voices in modern mental health, helping people navigate boundaries, attachment, emotional health, and sustainable connection in real, everyday life.

Nedra ‘s work consistently meets people with clarity, compassion, and deep respect for how hard relationships can be. Her new book, The Balancing Act, invites us to rethink what healthy connection actually looks like—not as hyper-independence or over-functioning, but as learning how to depend on one another without disappearing in the process.

In this conversation, we talk about:

 - The major attachment styles and how they quietly shape our relationships- Why so many of us confuse independence with emotional health

- The dependency spectrum—and how to recognize where we’re over- or under-functioning

- When closeness crosses into enmeshment, and how to find your way back

- Gentle, practical first steps toward healthy dependency and asking for help

We honestly could not think of a better person to help us wake up in the area of mental health. This conversation is tender, honest, and deeply freeing—and it offers language for places you may have felt stuck, tired, or alone for a long time. You are not broken. You are learning how to connect.

Thought-provoking Quotes:

 ★ “You can be conflict-avoidant and peace-positive.” – Nedra Tawwab

★ “We have to allow people to exist as they are. And sometimes that's not in the same way as we exist.” – Nedra Tawwab

★ “The connection you’re seeking is on the other side of your discomfort.” – Nedra Tawwab

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

 ➢ The Balancing Act: Creating Healthy Dependency and Connection Without Losing Yourself by Nedra Tawwab – https://amzn.to/3Z77GEC

➢ Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself by Nedra Tawwab - https://amzn.to/49q8zg8

➢ Drama Free: A Guide to Managing Unhealthy Family Relationships by Nedra Tawwab - https://amzn.to/4b3cSkh

➢ Nedra’s Quizzes - https://www.nedratawwab.com/quizzes

Guest’s Links:

Website - https://www.nedratawwab.com/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/nedratawwab/?hl=en

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/nedratawwab/

Substack - https://nedratawwab.substack.com/

Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/you-need-to-hear-this-with-nedra-tawwab/id1686288228

Connect with Jen!

Jen’s Website - https://jenhatmaker.com/

Jen’s Instagram - https://instagram.com/jenhatmaker

Jen’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/

Jen’s Facebook - https://facebook.com/jenhatmaker

Jen’s YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker

The For the Love Podcast is presented by Audacy.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Description:Sometimes a wake up call doesn’t arrive as a crisis. Sometimes it arrives as a quiet realization: the way I’m living isn’t actually working.

In this encore episode, we revisit a powerful conversation with James Clear, bestselling author of Atomic Habits, whose work has helped millions rethink how real, lasting change actually happens. Not through willpower, reinvention, or overnight transformation—but through the small, often invisible choices we make every day.

This conversation is a wake up call to the myth of “someday”, a wake up call to waiting for motivation before we act, and a wake up call to the belief that big change requires big drama.

James breaks down why habits are less about self-discipline and more about identity, environment, and systems—and how the patterns we repeat, often unconsciously, are shaping our lives for better or worse. Together, we explore how paying attention to what we practice daily can wake us up to the lives we’re actually building.

If you’re standing at the edge of change—feeling stuck in patterns you can’t seem to break, exhausted by self-improvement cycles, or longing for a more sustainable way forward—this episode offers a grounded, hopeful reset.

Let this be your wake up call to begin again, not perfectly, not dramatically, but honestly, intentionally, and one doable step at a time.

Thought-provoking Quotes:

“The most powerful change doesn’t happen when you decide to achieve a goal—it happens when you decide to become a different kind of person. Every small habit is a vote for the identity you’re building, and over time those votes add up to who you believe you are.” — James Clear

“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” — James Clear

“If you can get 1% better every day for one year, you’ll end up thirty-seven times better.” — James Clear

“Fix the inputs, and the outputs will fix themselves.” — James Clear

“The goal isn’t to run a marathon. It’s to become a runner.” — James Clear

“Lasting change isn’t about doing something perfectly or dramatically. It’s about showing up consistently in small ways, even when it feels insignificant, because that consistency is what makes transformation inevitable.”— James Clear

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear - https://amzn.to/4pQLrh6

James Clear’s 3-2-1 Newsletter - https://jamesclear.com/3-2-1

Guest’s Links:

Website - https://jamesclear.com/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jamesclear/

Twitter - https://x.com/jamesclear

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/jamesclear

Connect with Jen!Jen’s Website - https://jenhatmaker.com/

Jen’s Instagram - https://instagram.com/jenhatmakerJen’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/

Jen’s Facebook - https://facebook.com/jenhatmakerJen’s YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker

The For the Love Podcast is presented by Audacy.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Description:This is your wake up call: your body was never the problem.

By midlife, so many women are exhausted—not just by life, but by decades of being told to manage, fix, discipline, and override our bodies. Wellness culture promised health and control. What it often delivered was shame, disconnection, and the quiet belief that rest, ease, and joy had to be earned.

Today’s conversation asks us to wake up to something different.

Chrissy King is a writer, educator, and body liberation advocate whose work exposes the harm baked into diet and fitness culture and offers a radically more honest path forward. One rooted in consent instead of control. Trust instead of punishment. Listening instead of fixing.

In this Wake Up Call episode, Chrissy opens our eyes to what happens when we stop treating our bodies like projects and start treating them like partners—especially in midlife, when our bodies are changing and asking us to pay attention. We unpack why rest is a biological need (not a reward), and how relearning how to listen can be a form of liberation.

This is a wake up call to the truth we’ve ignored: the body knows. It knows when something isn’t working. It knows when we’re depleted. It knows what it needs next. And when we learn to trust that wisdom—not just individually, but collectively—we don’t just heal our relationship with our bodies, we change the story entirely.

If your body has been tapping you on the shoulder, this episode is your invitation to listen.

Thought-provoking Quotes:

“Society has conditioned women to put all of our value, effort, and energy into being the smallest version of ourselves possible. Then we have to spend the second half of our lives trying to unlearn that.” – Chrissy King

“In ancient art, we see these big, beautiful bodies being immortalized and looked at as beautiful. So, how did we get to this point where we're demonizing people in larger bodies?” – Chrissy King

“I think falling in love yourself is the most beautiful love story of all time.” - Chrissy King

“The focus can't just be, do I feel good in my body? The focus has to be, is anybody in any body able to feel safe and respected and exist in their body free of harm? That's what the modern body positivity movement is really missing.” - Chrissy King

“I think that we have to accept what our abilities are today, that what our bodies look like today is what it looks like today and tomorrow could be completely different. Bodies are designed to change.” - Chrissy King

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

Awake: A Memoir by Jen Hatmaker - https://amzn.to/4qoLTnZ

The Body Liberation Project: How Understanding Racism and Diet Culture Helps Cultivate Joy and Build Collective Freedom by Chrissy King - https://amzn.to/49m6TWn

The Body is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love by Sonya Renne Taylor - https://amzn.to/3YJyfQ9

Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia by Dr. Sabrina Strings - https://amzn.to/49rmeoA

White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo - https://amzn.to/3NyO75z

Be The Bridge organization - https://bethebridge.com/ 

We Were Never Meant to Have Universal Healthcare by Dr. Jessica Knurick - https://drjessicaknurick.substack.com/p/we-were-never-meant-to-have-universal

Guest’s Links:

Website - https://chrissyking.com/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/iamchrissyking/

Twitter - https://x.com/iamchrissyking

TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@iamchrissyking

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ChrissyKingFitness/

Substack - https://chrissyking.substack.com/

Connect with Jen!Jen’s Website - https://jenhatmaker.com/

Jen’s Instagram - https://instagram.com/jenhatmakerJen’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/

Jen’s Facebook - https://facebook.com/jenhatmakerJen’s YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker

The For the Love Podcast is presented by Audacy. 

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Description:Today’s guest is someone who instantly made an impression on Jen when they met at a recent Hello Sunshine event in LosAngeles, when she moderated a Shine Away panel with Jen and beloved 9010 star and recent For the Love guest, Jennie Garth. Within five minutes Jen thought, “Okay… she’s one of us.” Warm, sharp, steady — Kanika Chadda-Gupta has this grounding presence that makes a whole room exhale.

An award-winning former CNN journalist and producer, Kanika built a thriving career in television news before motherhood rerouted her life in the most profound way. Born in India and raised in the U.S., her story is braided with themes so many of us know intimately: immigration and bicultural identity, the expectations women inherit, the invisible labor we carry, and the endless negotiation between ambition, caregiving, and our own becoming.

Today, Kanika is the creator and host of the beloved Total Mom Sense podcast, where she distills her lived experience — raising children while caring for aging parents, navigating mental and emotional load, reinventing purpose in midlife — into practical wisdom for women who are doing it all and feeling all of it.

In this conversation, we talk about what happens when life asks us to reevaluate our pace, our priorities, and the stories we’ve been handed about success. We discuss staying rooted inside seasons of huge responsibility, finding yourself in the middle of caregiving, and reclaiming a sense of agency and identity in motherhood and beyond. If you’ve ever felt stretched thin between generations, pulled in every direction, or unsure how to follow your own calling while caring for everyone else — Kanika’s clarity and compassion will feel like a deep breath. This one’s for all of us standing at the intersection of who we were, who we are, and who we’re still becoming.

Thought-provoking Quotes:

"I like getting the gold star from all of my teachers. I did all the AP classes. I hung out with my teachers at lunchtime. We had open lunch, and it was like you could go to McDonald's, or you could go across the street to the pizza place. But I would go sit with Ms. Townsend, my biology teacher, and just kick it.” – Kanika Chadda-Gupta

"It may be, the only headlights that you see heading to the eye of the storm are the first responders and the reporters. And I thought, I want to be in the eye of the storm. I belong here. I need to be here. I need to prove myself. And so then I stayed.” – Kanika Chadda-Gupta

"I was most surprised by how your kids will make you face your childhood trauma head on. My dad and I get along great now, but when we were younger, he would say things that really just shot my self-esteem. And those are the first things that come up when my kids do something wrong and I'm like, wow, I gotta reframe." – Kanika Chadda-Gupta

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

Hello Sunshine Shine Away Conference 2025 – https://shineaway.hello-sunshine.com/event/eddb3575-ec80-4812-a371-354c900d7cbf/summary

Jim Gaffigan, comedian – https://www.jimgaffigan.com/

Mom Brain with Hilaria Baldwin and Daphne Oz - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mom-brain/id1438292826

Guest’s Links:

Website - https://kanikachaddagupta.com/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/kanikachaddagupta/

Twitter - https://x.com/KanikaChadda

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/kanikachaddagupta/

Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgkOq_AmLsvu6YJsKglQvSw

TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@kanikachaddagupta?lang=en

Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/kanikachaddagupta/

Podcast - https://kanikachaddagupta.com/podcast/

Connect with Jen!Jen’s Website - https://jenhatmaker.com/

Jen’s Instagram - https://instagram.com/jenhatmakerJen’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/

Jen’s Facebook - https://facebook.com/jenhatmakerJen’s YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker

The For the Love Podcast is presented by Audacy. 

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Description:Today, we’re stepping into the candlelit, corseted world of Victorian England with New York Times bestselling author Madeline Martin—a master of emotionally rich, meticulously researched historical fiction. Madeline’s novels (The Last Bookshop in London, The Librarian Spy, The Keeper of Hidden Books) have introduced millions of readers to hidden corners of history where ordinary people wield books as lifelines, rebellion, and hope. Her latest work and our December JHBC pick, The Secret Book Society, is no exception.

Set in an era when women were warned that reading could “inflame the imagination,” The Secret Book Society follows Lady Duxbury—a thrice-widowed countess trailed by scandalous whispers—who covertly gathers a small circle of women for tea…and contraband literature. What begins as shared curiosity blooms into a daring underground society where women read the stories they’ve been forbidden, claim a power they’ve been denied, and build the kind of sisterhood that can spark a quiet revolution.

In this conversation, we pull back the velvet curtain on:

how real Victorian restrictions inspired her fictional rebellion

the archival rabbit holes that uncovered surprising truths about women, reading, and resistance

the power of “found family” in times of surveillance, judgment, and constraint

why stories become sanctuaries when the world demands silence

Thought-provoking Quotes:

“Reading can really provide such lightness in dark times.” – Madeline Martin

“Every book that I've written, I have been to the location where it is set. And I've been able to get that really wonderful firsthand experience of being there. I feel like it takes this black and white world and colors it in this really vivid, wonderful way that lets me accurately convey it onto the book for hopefully what makes for a very evocative read for the reader.” –  Madeline Martin

“If you read a book and it's so good you can't put it down, you read it over the course of a weekend, and you can viscerally recall every part of that story, from what the character drank and ate, to what they wore, to that snarky little one-liner that they gave the antagonist. But if you took six months to read that book, you might have a different experience. So for me, when I get to write that book in one month, it's like I'm living in their skin, and I'm living in their heads.” – Madeline Martin

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon - https://amzn.to/4iv5e3C

The Last Bookshop in London: A Novel of World War II by Madeline Martin - https://amzn.to/4pKU0uq

For the Love: Fighting for Grace in a World of Impossible Standards by Jen Hatmaker – https://amzn.to/48AqikP

A Time of Witches: A Novel by Madeline Martin – https://amzn.to/3MBpnJl

The Forgotten Pages by Madeline Martin – coming 2027

Goodreads 2025 Reading Challenge – https://www.goodreads.com/readingchallenges?ref=rc_summerreading_25

The Hope Keeper: A Novel by Heather Webb –https://amzn.to/48uJkc2

The Lotus Shoes: A Novel by Jane Yang – https://amzn.to/447ANuy

Guest’s Links:

Website - https://madelinemartin.com/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/madelinemmartin/

Twitter - https://x.com/MadelineMMartin

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/MadelineMartinAuthor

Pinterest - https://www.instagram.com/madelinemmartin/

Substack - https://authormadelinemartin.substack.com/subscribe

Connect with Jen!Jen’s Website - https://jenhatmaker.com/

Jen’s Instagram - https://instagram.com/jenhatmakerJen’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/

Jen’s Facebook - https://facebook.com/jenhatmakerJen’s YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker

The For the Love Podcast is presented by Audacy.

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices