In this episode, we're joined by two guests, a marriage and family therapist and father, and a Marine Corps veteran, mentor, and father, to talk candidly about what connection with our kids actually requires.

We ask each of them the hardest part of being a dad right now, what a truly connected relationship looks like day to day, and what they swore they'd never repeat from their own fathers, only to catch themselves doing it anyway. The conversation moves through screen time and distraction, the discomfort of letting kids sit with disappointment instead of rescuing them from it, and the long, sometimes painful work of breaking cycles of anger and disconnection passed down from one generation to the next.

One guest shares how a three week experiment with his teenage son, deciding not to call first, led to a conversation neither of them expected. The other describes how something as small as Pokemon cards became the bridge back to his son after months of distance.

This is a conversation about the gap between wanting to be present and knowing how, and about the small, repeatable moments that actually build trust over time.

Our guests: 

Kyle Harwick is a husband, father, and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Orange County specializing in men's mental health.

https://nextwavecounseling.com/

AJ Trujillo is an Afghanistan War veteran who turned a childhood shaped by instability, violence, and addiction, and his own post-war rehabilitation, into a career devoted to service. He works directly with veterans, first responders, and at-risk youth, with a particular focus on incarcerated young people whose voices are too often left unheard. His path from combat and personal crisis to purpose now shapes the compassion and resilience he brings to that work

In this episode, the hosts dig into the difference between healthy individualism and its toxic extreme. Healthy individualism looks like self-actualization, personal accountability, and boundaries that don't require villainizing anyone else. Toxic individualism looks like rejecting interdependence altogether: the "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" mindset that denies how much of anyone's success depends on other people, and that often curdles into hyper-competition, a lack of empathy, and profound isolation.

The conversation ranges across:

• The uniquely American flavor of individualism, from the self-made-man myth to the frontier mythology of Westerns like Lonesome Dove
• Why award ceremonies and participation trophies spark such strong feelings, and what that debate actually reveals about how we value people
• The developmental question of when individuation is healthy (adolescence, becoming your own person) versus when it curdles into permanent isolation
• The loneliness epidemic and what's replaced institutions like churches, bowling leagues, and youth sports leagues as sources of community
• Extreme wealth and the disconnect between how fortunes get built (with enormous collective support) and how little social responsibility often follows
• Each host's own honest reckoning with where they white-knuckle independence in their own lives, and what it might look like to let people in instead

It's a conversation about what we lose when self-reliance becomes a substitute for community, and what it might take to build the "we" back into how we live.

In this candid, free-flowing episode, we turn the microphone on ourselves for a rare deep dive into our own inner worlds.

We each share our maladaptive coping strategies, the Ds: delusion, denial, distraction, and drifting. What begins as a lighthearted exercise in self-awareness quickly opens into something more honest: a conversation about what it means to build a life that actually feels like yours, and how easy it is to drift into one that doesn't.

The episode's central concept, friction, comes from a simple but profound observation: technology has engineered inconvenience out of our lives, and something important has gone with it. We wrestle honestly with the paradox,  friction is good, but not all friction is created equal. We talk about what's worth leaning into, and share the small rebellions we're each staging against the frictionless life modern technology has sold us, and why we believe these small acts might be exactly what keeps us human and connected.

It ends where the best conversations always do, with small, concrete commitments. 

This one is personal, a little messy, and very real.

In this tender and deeply personal episode, Lynn shares a recorded interview she had with her father, a Vietnam War combat veteran who passed away last year. What unfolds is as much about what he says as what he can't bring himself to say.

Together, the hosts listen and then unpack the gaps: the fragmented storytelling, the detachment, the way he reframes a year of war as "easy riding" on a beach. Through a clinical and deeply personal lens, your hosts help listeners understand what trauma responses can actually look like, not just flashbacks and breakdowns, but smooth, emotionless retellings with no beginning, middle, or end.

This one is about fathers and daughters, the cost of war on the people who come home, the failures of a system meant to care for veterans, and the stories families carry without ever fully understanding them.

To all the service members (and families) out there, we thank you for your service and sacrifice. 

This episode dives into the complicated, often painful reality of adult friendships. Your hosts discuss how they form, evolve, and sometimes fall apart. Joined by the usually quiet but insightful Kris, the group explores two of his personal experiences with friendships that became messy before ultimately ending.  The conversation broadens into reflections on pandemic-era loneliness, the dangers of putting all your social eggs in one basket, how unresolved trauma gets projected onto friendships, and the importance of self-awareness in relationships. The episode closes on a warm note, with each of us sharing our favorite ways to slow down and be still which include: reading, crafts, puzzles, walking dogs, and listening to the same song on repeat.  

In this part 2 of a 2 part episode on messy work relationships the team is joined by two of Lynn and Yvette’s previous coworkers. In part 1, we shared experiences in unhealthy environments. In the second part of this episode, we discuss experiences in healthier work environments. Thank you for listening, we hope you enjoy this episode.  

In this part 1 of a 2 part episode on messy work relationships the team is joined by two of Lynn and Yvette’s previous coworkers. Together they discuss working for a boss who was smart, hard working, and well intentioned AND developed unhealthy work relationships and a dysfunctional culture. They discuss how it felt to work in this kind of environment and the consequences it had on their work output. 

“Lynnette’s Corner” is a space for authentic conversations, storytelling, and tapping into wisdom that nurtures connection, empathy, and personal growth. With a focus on wellness, social justice, our goal is to foster understanding, build community, and create a supportive corner for shared experiences. By giving a voice to personal struggles and triumphs, we are here to remind you that connection matters and that you are not alone on this journey.

On this episode we are joined by Lynn's sisters, Julia and Stacy.  In this heartfelt episode (grab your tissue) they share the struggles of their family life and how they have navigated, trauma, addiction, and estrangement. 

By vulnerably sharing their stories, the hope is that other's will find their path towards healing and deeper connections. 

Thank you for listening!

This is part 2 of a 2 part series with Yvette's mom, Dr. Holly Magana. She helps all of us understand why attachment theory is important and how secure attachments are the bedrock of relational wellbeing.  Enjoy!

Books discussed: I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo

This is part 1 of a 2 part series with Yvette's mom, Dr. Holly Magana. She helps all of us understand why attachment theory is important and how secure attachments are the bedrock of relational wellbeing. And of course, Lynn cries in the episode.  Enjoy!