Go With God

Retail therapy is a thing. A very real thing. But, there’s a difference in buying just to buy, and moving toward an attitude of intentional purchases - specifically where our clothes are involved. Today, I’m talking to the fashion director of a Nashville based, lifestyle brand focused on empowering women around the world. ABLE creates jobs for women who have overcome extraordinary circumstances while ending the cycle of charity dependency. Jordan Soderholm shares a little about what she does as ABLE’s Fashion Director and then we talk the do’s and maybe don’t do’s of style and fashion. Great tips that are easy to follow and hopefully mean less taking pictures in the mirror and asking my people if I can pull off overalls. Here’s No One Told Me What Dress Casual Actually Means. And don’t forget, ABLE is partnering with us with a special 20% off your purchase with promo code noonetoldme20!

I kept getting questions about organizing a house. Spring is coming and we’re starting to look around and realize we have a bunch of stuff. Everywhere. And it needs a place to go other than random piles. I am very good at piling things. I should have a show called Piling Up because it takes real skill to stack the way I stack. Anyway, I couldn’t answer any of these questions about organizing. So, I turned to what we lovingly call in my household, Dr. Google. I found a company called Help You Dwell. I reached out to them and was able to set up an interview with Taryn, the company’s co-founder. Let me tell you...she’s the best. Really. You’ll find out why in this interview as we talk about how there’s no one right way to de-clutter, how our stories help build our home and how I do not have to cry every time I see a label maker.

You know what’s hard? Transitions. You know what no one really tells you is hard? Transitions. Exciting, yes. But hard. What makes the biggest difference in how you navigate these transitions? Community. I met Julianne in college and have watched her walk through so many different seasons. I’ve seen her figure out that no one really has it all figured out. I’m excited for you to hear from her today in No One Told Me How To Move Through Life.

This episode is based on all the conversations I’ve had with so many women ranging from high school all the way to retirement about the way we see ourselves. And, you know, it’s not just a woman thing. It’s a human thing. The majority of people have a skewed view of who they are. Most people don’t have a positive self-image, but then others have an extremely positive one. So where’s the balance? What’s it rooted in? Why does it seem to get worse as we get older? I don’t know. But I’m trying to figure it out. And, I kind of feel like we can figure it out together. Let’s talk about it today in No One Told Me How To Like Myself.

Everybody has thoughts and feelings about Valentine's Day. More specifically, everybody has thoughts and feelings about everyone else's bad dates. And, as the saying goes, when you post it on social media you are thereby giving everyone the right to share their thoughts and feelings...or something like that. These are some of my favorite bonus episodes. Brooke, Whitney and I take the date stories you submitted and ask a lot of questions. Let's just say I am so thankful I am no longer a part of the dating world. Just so thankful.

The first years of marriage are a lot of just figuring out the other person. How they fold their underwear, why they won’t load the dishwasher the right way and if I stare at your French fries long enough will you give me one. These are the big questions. But, as your rhythms sync up and your days somehow seem to get shorter and fuller - you change. And, unless you’re incredibly on top of things, you forget to take time to keep getting to know each other. Understand each other. You just let life sweep you along. I asked someone who has spoken a huge amount of wisdom into my life to jump on here with us today. He's honestly someone who many people turn to for insight and direction. And, really, this interview is in my top five favorites. I hope you love today’s podcast on love. Here’s No One Told Me How To Be A Spouse.

Honestly, I feel like I’m getting this mom thing wrong more than I’m getting it right. I feel like there’s an unspoken set of expectations that linger out there that everyone else knows how to reach but I don’t. I feel like I’m not being the best for or doing the best for my kids and I’m scarring them for life with my decisions. And the more I talked about it, the more I learned it’s not just me. Whether it’s work or the day-to-day decisions we make for our Littles...we can’t escape this feeling. So I asked the best mom I know - my own of course - and my friends Natalie and her mom Rose to talk about the guilt so often connected to motherhood. This is No One Told About Mom Guilt.

Makeup is not something I ever cared about. I mean I threw on some mascara when I wore pants that buttoned and counted that as dressing up. But then I was squarely in my mid-20s and knew I wanted to walk into work or even the grocery store and occasionally look like I had my life together even if that’s also an occasional occurrence. My friend Rachel is ridiculously knowledgeable on all things beauty. Seriously. She’s done a huge amount of research and has compared so many products. And she spills it all for us on No One Told Me How To Take Care Of My Face.

Here’s the problem with expectations. We develop this mentality that we’ll exceed all of them. They become hard and fast rules. Not necessarily goals - they become facts. And then, when they go unmet, we face the emotional, spiritual and physical toll of what seems like failure. But that’s just not true. Expectations can change. They can be molded...but only if we hold them loosely. Many women expect getting pregnant to be a simple, easy thing. But as I got married, as my best friends got married, we all started approaching this next stage with this expectation of pregnancy. Morgan was my childhood best friend and continues to be one of my very best friends today. When she told me she and her husband had decided to start having kids, I was ecstatic. I knew she would be this incredible mother who would actually remember to pack her child’s juice for school and cook meals that include at least one vegetable every day. Months passed. And I never got a call with exciting news. Instead it was disappointment as Morgan came up with a negative sign - on every single pregnancy test. But how she faced this season, how she chose to respond to these unmet expectations is an encouragement to any woman facing infertility. This is No One Told Me How To Walk Through Infertility.

Cancer. Even saying the word, hearing the word - it makes my stomach drop. But when it’s tied to someone you love - it’s hard not just to say or to hear, all of a sudden, you feel it. When that word comes into your life, it’s a permanent marker. The lens through which you see the world shifts. Places have new meaning. You hear songs differently. Every day moments don’t feel so every day anymore. I didn’t think of any of this. Honestly, I didn’t know any of this, until my friend Jenny was diagnosed with breast cancer last summer. JENNY has invested in my life since I was a freshman in high school. She taught me unfiltered kindness, genuine openness, that it’s okay to not know where your keys are 80% of the time and more than anything else - she has taught me grace. How to give grace. How to receive it. How grace should be your default instead of your last resort. And, how, through the unexpected, through the fear, the worry, the pain - you take a posture of grace. A position molded by God’s faithfulness, goodness and His redemption. Jenny shares her story with us on No One Told Me Suffering Can Be Sweet.