Love From the Inside Out: Honest Conversations for Women About Midlife, Menopause, Body Changes and Becoming Yourself Again

This short bonus minisode shares a thank-you, a community collaboration, and a special ongoing offer connected to last week’s episode on choosing a Word for the Year.

In the first episode of Season Two, Susan invited listeners to choose a word that supports nervous system regulation and embodiment — focusing less on resolutions and more on how you want the year to feel. This bonus episode highlights a values-aligned collaboration that grew naturally out of that conversation.

Susan shares:

• why this bonus episode is being released now
• a brief note on embodiment as her Word for the Year
• a community collaboration with Jewelya Designs
• an ongoing listener discount code

🎁 Community Offer

Jewelya Designs is offering Love From the Inside Out® listeners 15% off anything on their site using the code LOVE15.

This offer is ongoing and not time-limited. However, it cannot be combined with any other offers. 

👉 Visit: Jewelya Designs 

🎧 Listen to the Episode Referenced

If you haven’t listened yet, start with the Season Two premiere, where Susan walks through the Word of the Year exercise:

• 👉 Episode 1: Choosing a Word for the Year

This bonus minisode is a quick community note and collaboration highlight before returning to the regular weekly episode schedule.

Text Susan about this episode

🎧 Connect & Stay in Touch

• Instagram: @susan.kricun — DM me to share your story or ask a question.

• Join me on Substack: Love From the Inside Out® — Personal reflections, bonus content, and more ways to connect. Free and paid options.

• I'd love your feedback! Take my anonymous listener survey and tell me what you'd like more of.

✨ Support the Show

• Follow, rate, or review the podcast wherever you listen.
• Share this episode with a friend who might enjoy it.

🎙️ Interested in Being a Guest?

Fill out the guest interest form.

🎶 Music Credit

“Seize the Day” by Andrey Rossi, via #Uppbeat (uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day)

© 2025–present Susan Kricun. Love From the Inside Out® is a registered trademark of Kricun Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

All opinions are my own. This podcast is educational, not medical or legal advice.

A new year doesn’t require a new version of you — it requires a deeper commitment to yourself.

In this episode of Love From the Inside Out®, Susan shares a motivating reflection on the start of a new year and the powerful reminder behind this message: Don’t quit on yourself. Ever.

Rather than setting intentions that lead to pressure, burnout, or self-judgment, this episode invites you to approach the new year from inner strength, self-trust, and sovereignty. Susan explores why so many of us live externally referenced — letting life, schedules, and expectations pull us — and how choosing a different internal foundation can change how we show up every day.

You’ll be guided through a simple and practical intention-setting exercise inspired by podcaster and teacher Cathy Heller: choosing a regulatory word for the year — a word that helps your nervous system respond instead of react, supports consistency, and brings you back to yourself when life feels overwhelming.

This episode is designed to be motivational, grounding, and realistic — perfect for anyone who wants to start the year feeling empowered, steady, and aligned without guilt or pressure.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why “don’t quit on yourself” is about integrity, not hustle
• How to reset your mindset for the new year from the inside out
• The difference between external motivation and inner sovereignty
• A healthier approach to intention-setting that actually works
• How to choose a word for the year that supports follow-through
• What it means to truly choose yourself, one step at a time

Whether you’re starting fresh or continuing forward, this episode offers a grounded way to begin the year — committed to yourself and the life you’re creating.

Text Susan about this episode

🎧 Connect & Stay in Touch

• Instagram: @susan.kricun — DM me to share your story or ask a question.

• Join me on Substack: Love From the Inside Out® — Personal reflections, bonus content, and more ways to connect. Free and paid options.

• I'd love your feedback! Take my anonymous listener survey and tell me what you'd like more of.

✨ Support the Show

• Follow, rate, or review the podcast wherever you listen.
• Share this episode with a friend who might enjoy it.

🎙️ Interested in Being a Guest?

Fill out the guest interest form.

🎶 Music Credit

“Seize the Day” by Andrey Rossi, via #Uppbeat (uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day)

© 2025–present Susan Kricun. Love From the Inside Out® is a registered trademark of Kricun Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

All opinions are my own. This podcast is educational, not medical or legal advice.

Feeling like you don’t fit in? In this episode of Love From the Inside Out®, Susan shares a heartfelt reflection on belonging, feeling different, and learning to trust the quiet light within — especially during the holidays.

Feeling like you don’t fit in can be one of the loneliest experiences — especially during the holidays, when it seems like everyone else belongs somewhere you don’t. In this season finale of Love From the Inside Out®, host Susan Kricun reflects on growing up Jewish in a Christmas-centered world, navigating quiet longing, and learning that feeling different doesn’t mean something is wrong.

Through intimate storytelling, Susan explores what it means to search for belonging, how our nervous systems crave safety, and why self-trust begins when we stop trying to match the world’s rhythm and start honoring our own. She shares sensory memories of Hanukkah, eight nights of small gifts, and a powerful metaphor of light building gradually — reminding us that joy doesn’t have to arrive all at once to matter.

This episode is for you if:

• You feel like you don’t fit in with family, culture, or traditions
• You struggle with comparison or feeling “behind” in life
• The holidays bring up quiet sadness, longing, or reflection
• You’re craving a sense of belonging and inner safety
• You want to reconnect with your inner light and self-trust

You’ll hear about:

• Why feeling different is not a flaw — it’s part of your story
• How the nervous system links belonging with safety
• The power of small moments of joy and light
• A gentle practice to help you soften, slow down, and feel grounded
• How to stop forcing yourself to fit and start trusting what feels true

If you’ve ever wondered, “Why don’t I fit in?” or “Am I missing something?” — this episode is your reminder that you were never missing the light. You were learning how to carry it.

✨ This is a quiet, hopeful reflection for the end of the year — and an invitation to move into the new year with more compassion, self-trust, and belonging from the inside out.

Text Susan about this episode

🎧 Connect & Stay in Touch

• Instagram: @susan.kricun — DM me to share your story or ask a question.

• Join me on Substack: Love From the Inside Out® — Personal reflections, bonus content, and more ways to connect. Free and paid options.

• I'd love your feedback! Take my anonymous listener survey and tell me what you'd like more of.

✨ Support the Show

• Follow, rate, or review the podcast wherever you listen.
• Share this episode with a friend who might enjoy it.

🎙️ Interested in Being a Guest?

Fill out the guest interest form.

🎶 Music Credit

“Seize the Day” by Andrey Rossi, via #Uppbeat (uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day)

© 2025–present Susan Kricun. Love From the Inside Out® is a registered trademark of Kricun Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

All opinions are my own. This podcast is educational, not medical or legal advice.

Hearing the Voice of Someone You’ve Lost — and what it teaches us about love, grief, memory, and legacy.

In this deeply personal episode of Love From the Inside Out, Susan shares the unexpected moment she heard her late father’s voice again after discovering old voicemails while transferring her phone to a new carrier. What begins as a simple, everyday task becomes a powerful reflection on grief, midlife transitions, and the people we carry with us long after they’re gone.

Susan explores why hearing the voice of someone you’ve lost can feel so emotional, why many adults describe feeling “orphaned” after their parents die, and how love continues to shape us beyond physical presence. She also reflects on finding a tender second act through marriage, step-parenthood, and chosen family — a reminder that love doesn’t end, it expands.

The episode weaves in a meaningful CBS Sunday Morning segment featuring author Rosie Grant and her book To Die For— a collection of recipes engraved on gravestones as a way of preserving memory — revealing how timing, tradition, and legacy often find us when we least expect it. (The book is included in Susan’s Favorite Books + Tools below.)

This episode is for anyone who has replayed an old voicemail, missed a parent, held onto traditions that keep someone close, or needed reassurance that love never truly leaves — it simply changes form.

✨ Want deeper support, anytime of the year?

You can access The Come Home to Yourself Reset, my short, calming pay-what-you-want audio experience designed to help you regulate, rest, and reconnect with yourself whenever life feels loud—whether it’s the holidays, a busy season, or just a moment when you need grounding.

👉 Get it here: https://love-from-the-inside-out.kit.com/products/come-home-to-yourself-reset

Text Susan about this episode

🎧 Connect & Stay in Touch

• Instagram: @susan.kricun — DM me to share your story or ask a question.

• Join me on Substack: Love From the Inside Out® — Personal reflections, bonus content, and more ways to connect. Free and paid options.

• I'd love your feedback! Take my anonymous listener survey and tell me what you'd like more of.

✨ Support the Show

• Follow, rate, or review the podcast wherever you listen.
• Share this episode with a friend who might enjoy it.

🎙️ Interested in Being a Guest?

Fill out the guest interest form.

🎶 Music Credit

“Seize the Day” by Andrey Rossi, via #Uppbeat (uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day)

© 2025–present Susan Kricun. Love From the Inside Out® is a registered trademark of Kricun Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

All opinions are my own. This podcast is educational, not medical or legal advice.

A midlife story about memories, letting go, and the unexpected meaning hidden inside the things we keep.

What if the things we hold onto — the bins of gift wrap, the old holiday bags, the ribbons we’re sure we’ll “use someday” — aren’t clutter at all, but quiet carriers of our stories?

In this episode of Love From the Inside Out®, I revisit a forgotten voice memo from December 2023 — recorded on a day when I pulled many bins of gift wrap out of my storage closet and thought I was just doing a little organizing.

Instead, that moment turned into something else entirely.
A memory.
A reckoning.
A lesson I didn’t know I needed.

This episode explores midlife nostalgia, emotional decluttering, and the deeper stories hiding inside the things we keep.
It’s the perfect listen for the holiday season — especially if you're feeling the tender mix of joy, memory, and reflection this time of year brings.

We dive into:

✨ Why we hold onto certain objects — and what they’re really holding for us
✨ How small, ordinary moments can reveal where we’re growing
✨ The connection between clutter, memory, and the tender parts of midlife
✨ The pressure to “use every last drop” and where that comes from
✨ The beauty of noticing the stories inside our stuff
✨ Letting go with love vs. letting go with guilt
✨ The unexpected gifts our parents leave behind
✨ And the quiet moment when a simple organizing project becomes emotional clarity

What starts with gift wrap becomes a story about nostalgia, self-trust, generational patterns, and what it means to live with more intention — from the inside out.

Whether you’re navigating the holidays, missing someone you love, or simply feeling the pull to create more space in your life (and your heart), this one is for you.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

🔹 The Come Home to Yourself Reset — A grounding, pay-what-you-want audio experience.
👉 https://love-from-the-inside-out.kit.com/products/come-home-to-yourself-reset

Text Susan about this episode

🎧 Connect & Stay in Touch

• Instagram: @susan.kricun — DM me to share your story or ask a question.

• Join me on Substack: Love From the Inside Out® — Personal reflections, bonus content, and more ways to connect. Free and paid options.

• I'd love your feedback! Take my anonymous listener survey and tell me what you'd like more of.

✨ Support the Show

• Follow, rate, or review the podcast wherever you listen.
• Share this episode with a friend who might enjoy it.

🎙️ Interested in Being a Guest?

Fill out the guest interest form.

🎶 Music Credit

“Seize the Day” by Andrey Rossi, via #Uppbeat (uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day)

© 2025–present Susan Kricun. Love From the Inside Out® is a registered trademark of Kricun Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

All opinions are my own. This podcast is educational, not medical or legal advice.

Struggling with overthinking, decision fatigue, perfectionism, or second-guessing yourself? This episode unpacks the psychology of self-trust, emotional regulation, buyer’s remorse, and why we repeat habits we know aren’t aligned — plus simple inside-out tools to break the loop.

If you’ve ever bought something you weren’t sure about… only to return it later… this episode is for you.

But it’s also for you if you’ve ever second-guessed yourself, overridden your intuition, people-pleased your way into a “yes,” or held onto something long after you knew it didn’t fit.

In today’s episode, Susan shares a surprisingly emotional look at her long-running “buy-and-return” habit — and how a single junk drawer in her house revealed a much deeper pattern:

a self-trust loop.

The kind that shows up in shopping…

but also in relationships, commitments, boundaries, decisions, dreams, and everyday life.

Inside, you’ll hear:

✨ What the “return loop” actually represents

(not self-control… but self-trust)

✨ Why our nervous systems cling to familiar patterns

(even when we’ve outgrown them)

✨ The subtle ways we override ourselves

in dressing rooms, in conversations, in choices, and in moments of doubt

✨ How to notice your own version of the loop

whether it’s shopping, relationships, procrastination, people-pleasing, or emotional clutter

✨ A gentle, inside-out way to shift the pattern

so you choose from alignment, not anxiety

✨ A simple 3-question practice

to help you reconnect to your intuition before you hit “buy,” “send,” or “say yes”

This episode is cozy, honest, a little funny, and deeply validating — especially if you’ve ever felt stuck between wanting something… and not trusting yourself enough to choose it.

And if you’d like a little grounding support this week, Susan created something for you:

💗 The Come Home to Yourself Reset

A short, calming, pay-what-you-want audio experience to help you reconnect with yourself anytime life feels loud.
Get it here: https://love-from-the-inside-out.kit.com/products/come-home-to-yourself-reset

If today’s episode made you feel seen, supported, or simply less alone, share it with a friend who might need it too.

Every moment is a chance to come home to you.

Text Susan about this episode

🎧 Connect & Stay in Touch

• Instagram: @susan.kricun — DM me to share your story or ask a question.

• Join me on Substack: Love From the Inside Out® — Personal reflections, bonus content, and more ways to connect. Free and paid options.

• I'd love your feedback! Take my anonymous listener survey and tell me what you'd like more of.

✨ Support the Show

• Follow, rate, or review the podcast wherever you listen.
• Share this episode with a friend who might enjoy it.

🎙️ Interested in Being a Guest?

Fill out the guest interest form.

🎶 Music Credit

“Seize the Day” by Andrey Rossi, via #Uppbeat (uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day)

© 2025–present Susan Kricun. Love From the Inside Out® is a registered trademark of Kricun Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

All opinions are my own. This podcast is educational, not medical or legal advice.

Feeling overwhelmed this Thanksgiving? Learn 10 simple, nervous-system-friendly ways to stay calm, grounded, and present—no matter what the day brings.

Today’s episode is your calm-in-the-chaos guide for Thanksgiving. If you’re feeling holiday stress, overwhelm, or emotional heaviness creeping in, this short, grounding episode will help you come back home to yourself — no matter what the day looks like.

Inside, you’ll learn 10 simple, nervous-system-friendly ways to stay calm, present, and regulated during the holidays. These tools work whether you’re cooking, hosting, driving, or taking a quiet moment to yourself between it all.

We talk about:
• how to set one clear boundary (even if it feels uncomfortable)
• why tiny pauses help regulate your nervous system
• letting yourself feel without judgment
• choosing the simplest path through holiday stress
• honoring your capacity instead of your calendar
• giving yourself permission to be human during the holidays

If you want practical emotional support, gentle reminders, and grounding tools for your mind, body, and heart — this episode is for you.

✨ Want deeper support, anytime of the year?
You can access The Come Home to Yourself Reset, my short, calming pay-what-you-want audio experience designed to help you regulate, rest, and reconnect with yourself whenever life feels loud—whether it’s the holidays, a busy season, or just a moment when you need grounding.
👉 Get it here: https://love-from-the-inside-out.kit.com/products/come-home-to-yourself-reset

Take a breath.
You’re not alone, and you don’t have to power through this season.
You get to come home to yourself — from the inside out.

Text Susan about this episode

🎧 Connect & Stay in Touch

• Instagram: @susan.kricun — DM me to share your story or ask a question.

• Join me on Substack: Love From the Inside Out® — Personal reflections, bonus content, and more ways to connect. Free and paid options.

• I'd love your feedback! Take my anonymous listener survey and tell me what you'd like more of.

✨ Support the Show

• Follow, rate, or review the podcast wherever you listen.
• Share this episode with a friend who might enjoy it.

🎙️ Interested in Being a Guest?

Fill out the guest interest form.

🎶 Music Credit

“Seize the Day” by Andrey Rossi, via #Uppbeat (uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day)

© 2025–present Susan Kricun. Love From the Inside Out® is a registered trademark of Kricun Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

All opinions are my own. This podcast is educational, not medical or legal advice.

Why do we chase the deal — even when we don’t need anything?

In this episode, we dive into emotional spending, stress shopping, dopamine-driven deal hunting, and the deeper stories we inherit around money, safety, and self-worth. If you’ve ever felt pulled toward a “can’t-miss deal,” found yourself impulse buying during Black Friday, or used shopping to feel a sense of control, this episode will help you understand what’s really happening underneath the urge.

Susan explores the patterns that make us crave the discount: childhood money conditioning, inherited scarcity beliefs, nervous system triggers, and the emotional “high” of finding the deal. She shares her own family story — from clipped coupons to Black Friday lists — and explains why the thrill of saving often becomes a coping mechanism we don’t even recognize.

You’ll learn:
• Why emotional spending feels so satisfying in the moment
• How stress, overwhelm, and guilt activate impulse buying
• Why deal-chasing releases dopamine and creates a false sense of safety
• How childhood patterns and inherited money beliefs shape our spending habits
• What your nervous system is actually trying to feel when you “add to cart”
• How to interrupt emotional shopping with intention, awareness, and self-trust
• The difference between a want, a need, and a coping impulse
• How to feel safe, grounded, and “enough” without the deal

If you’ve ever wondered, “Why do I buy things I don’t need?” or “Why can’t I resist a good deal?” — this conversation will give you clarity, compassion, and practical tools to shift the pattern from the inside out.

Text Susan about this episode

🎧 Connect & Stay in Touch

• Instagram: @susan.kricun — DM me to share your story or ask a question.

• Join me on Substack: Love From the Inside Out® — Personal reflections, bonus content, and more ways to connect. Free and paid options.

• I'd love your feedback! Take my anonymous listener survey and tell me what you'd like more of.

✨ Support the Show

• Follow, rate, or review the podcast wherever you listen.
• Share this episode with a friend who might enjoy it.

🎙️ Interested in Being a Guest?

Fill out the guest interest form.

🎶 Music Credit

“Seize the Day” by Andrey Rossi, via #Uppbeat (uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day)

© 2025–present Susan Kricun. Love From the Inside Out® is a registered trademark of Kricun Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

All opinions are my own. This podcast is educational, not medical or legal advice.

If hosting the holidays leaves you overwhelmed, exhausted, or feeling like you’re “performing” instead of connecting, this episode will change everything.

In Episode 17, Susan shares the emotional roots behind holiday stress and perfectionism — and how one non-traditional Thanksgiving completely transformed the way she hosts. You’ll learn how childhood patterns, emotional caretaking, and the pressure to “make it special” shape our gatherings… and the simple mindset shift that helps you finally relax and enjoy them.

Whether you’re hosting Thanksgiving, a holiday dinner, or a simple family meal, this conversation blends storytelling, reflection, and practical tools to help you create gatherings that feel meaningful — not stressful.

If you want a calmer holiday season filled with connection instead of burnout, this is your episode.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• How to host Thanksgiving or holiday gatherings without stress
• Why perfectionism shows up around hosting (and how to loosen its grip)
• The emotional roots of over-preparing and over-performing
• How to create meaningful connection without the pressure
• A simple mindset shift that makes hosting easier and more enjoyable
• How to stop doing everything yourself and let people contribute
• Why “good enough” gatherings actually bring people closer
• How to trust that you don’t have to earn love through effort

✨ Featured in This Episode

📘 Book Mentioned

The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown

💛 Julia Winter & Jewel Ya

Shop beautiful, timeless, handcrafted jewelry:
👉 https://www.jewelya.com

Exclusive Listener Promo Code:
🎁 LOVE15 — Take 15% off your order (for Love From the Inside Out listeners!)

Follow Julia on Instagram:
👉 @jewelyadesigns

💛 A Moment to Reflect

Ask yourself:
“Where could I let go… just one inch?”
One inch less pressure.
One inch less control.
One inch more presence.

Small shifts create memorable holidays.

Text Susan about this episode

🎧 Connect & Stay in Touch

• Instagram: @susan.kricun — DM me to share your story or ask a question.

• Join me on Substack: Love From the Inside Out® — Personal reflections, bonus content, and more ways to connect. Free and paid options.

• I'd love your feedback! Take my anonymous listener survey and tell me what you'd like more of.

✨ Support the Show

• Follow, rate, or review the podcast wherever you listen.
• Share this episode with a friend who might enjoy it.

🎙️ Interested in Being a Guest?

Fill out the guest interest form.

🎶 Music Credit

“Seize the Day” by Andrey Rossi, via #Uppbeat (uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day)

© 2025–present Susan Kricun. Love From the Inside Out® is a registered trademark of Kricun Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

All opinions are my own. This podcast is educational, not medical or legal advice.

What if gratitude wasn’t something you practiced once a year, but something you lived — every day, in every small, quiet moment?

In this episode of Love From the Inside Out, Susan shares how gratitude works not just as an emotion but as a physiological reset — your body’s natural way of finding balance, calm, and coherence. From coffee-cup mornings to the science of heart rhythms, this conversation blends practical wisdom with everyday magic.

You’ll learn how to create a simple gratitude ritual you can actually stick to, why it improves both mental and physical health, and how even thirty seconds of appreciation can shift your entire day.

💫 In this episode:

• The science behind gratitude and your nervous system
• Simple ways to build gratitude into your mornings and nights
• What “heart coherence” really means (and why it matters)
• How small moments can become daily medicine for the soul

✨ Mentioned in this episode:

• 📖 The Hidden Power of the Five Hearts by Kimberly Snyder — Listen or read here
  
  
• 🎧 Cathy Heller’s This Abundant Life, a community focused on creativity, abundance, and aligned living. You can learn more about it here:
  👉 Cathy Heller’s This Abundant Life
  Looking to deepen your abundance practice? Explore Cathy’s Wealth Identity Mastermind here.
• 💌 Join my Love From the Inside Out newsletter for inspiration, podcast updates, and tools for living with intention — Sign up here!

If this episode resonates, please share it with someone you love or tag me on Instagram @susan.kricun

 — I’d love to hear what gratitude looks like in your life today.

Text Susan about this episode

🎧 Connect & Stay in Touch

• Instagram: @susan.kricun — DM me to share your story or ask a question.

• Join me on Substack: Love From the Inside Out® — Personal reflections, bonus content, and more ways to connect. Free and paid options.

• I'd love your feedback! Take my anonymous listener survey and tell me what you'd like more of.

✨ Support the Show

• Follow, rate, or review the podcast wherever you listen.
• Share this episode with a friend who might enjoy it.

🎙️ Interested in Being a Guest?

Fill out the guest interest form.

🎶 Music Credit

“Seize the Day” by Andrey Rossi, via #Uppbeat (uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/seize-the-day)

© 2025–present Susan Kricun. Love From the Inside Out® is a registered trademark of Kricun Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

All opinions are my own. This podcast is educational, not medical or legal advice.