This episode is a long-overdue catch-up and a behind-the-scenes look at how I personally reflect on a year and set intentions moving forward — especially after a season that felt heavy, initiatory, and deeply transformative.

I'm sharing what 2025 actually looked like for me, the realities of postpartum depression/depletion and hyperemesis gravidarum, the creative unraveling that came with motherhood, and the intentional ways I'm choosing to move into 2026.

If you're feeling like you've changed, like the old way no longer fits, or like you're standing in an in-between season, I hope this episode is exactly what you need right now.

What We Dive Into:

✧ What 2025, a year of destruction, looked like for me

✧ How motherhood reshaped my priorities, pace, and presence

✧ My experience with postpartum depression, postnatal depletion, and advocating for my health

✧ Letting creativity gestate instead of chasing clarity

✧ Letting go of old versions of productivity, creativity, and output

✧ What I'm most proud of from the year

✧ My word of the year and the values guiding me forward

✧ The intentions and reminders I'm carrying into 2026

✧ My reflection and intention setting process in case you want to do this yourself

Resources:

Postnatal Depletion By Dr. Oscar Serrallach

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In this episode, I'm sharing 7 reminders that can bring you back to center when the mind feels noisy, you're spinning in self-doubt, or you're simply feeling off. These are truths I return to again and again—and I hope they land deeply for you too. You don't need to fix, force, or find the "perfect" next step. You get to come home to yourself, right here, as you are.

If you enjoy the show, please take 2 minutes to leave a review—it truly means the world.

What We Dive Into:

✧ Why coming back to your truth is always available—even in messy moments

✧ The power of remembering (and re-remembering) who you are

✧ How to shine before your shining moment

✧ What to do when uncomfortable emotions arise

✧ The ego will never give you the permission you're seeking

✧ Feeling lost might mean you're actually leading your own way

✧ Why slowing down isn't falling behind—it's setting you up for your next leap

Resources:

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I loved this conversation with Nikki Novo so much. She's an intuitive, a creative, a mom—and someone who was such a joy and gift to work with in her Made for More program. Her presence is so genuine and kind, and I loved getting to ask her all the questions that have been on my heart.

Lately, I've been sitting in the unknown of what wants to come through me next—especially as I find my truest voice in this new season of motherhood. We talk about true self expression, creative timing, moving through inner resistance, and trusting your path even when you can't see the whole picture.

If you're craving clarity, expression, or a deeper sense of trust in the unknown—I think this one will really resonate.

We dive into:

✧ Following creative pulls without needing the full plan

✧ Understanding the difference between your higher self, your soul, and your human

✧ Why your unique human filter is part of your soul's message

✧ Healing the protectors and stories that block your true expression

✧ Why your most painful, unknown seasons still hold deep value and purpose

✧ What Nikki does when she's feeling off or uninspired (one of my fav responses ever!)

✧ Building sustainable creative rhythms without pressure

Resources:

Find Me On Substack

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Connect with me on Instagram @madison.arnholt

Connect With Nikki:

Nikki's website

Nikki's book: Soul-Led Living

Nikki's Instagram @nikkinovo

So many of us wait on the runway of our lives, believing we can't take off until we feel totally clear, calm, and emotionally regulated. But what if a little emotional turbulence wasn't a sign to stop—but a sign that you're flying?

This episode explores navigating emotions while still honoring your soul's forward movement. I share a metaphor that came through so clearly and has completely shifted how I relate to resistance, inner waves, and knowing when to pause vs. when to go. If you've ever felt unsure whether you're "waiting for alignment" or just stuck in fear—this one will help you feel the difference.

You don't have to be free of emotion to be in motion. You don't need to wait for a guarantee. And you don't need to earn clarity by fixing all your feelings. This is about learning to trust the pilot within you—even when the skies are a little shaky.

What We Dive Into:

✧ Why waiting to feel "perfect" before acting can become a self-imposed cage

The metaphor that reframed how I move through emotional turbulence

✧ Why we often wait for a guarantee of peace before allowing ourselves to act

✧ 5 emotional response patterns: repress, react, freeze, feel & fly, feel & pause

✧ How to tell the difference between a sacred pause and a fear-based freeze

✧ When action is your medicine—and when stillness is your sanctuary

✧ Why your emotions don't need to be gone in order to move with truth

✧ How to build discernment and self-trust, moment by moment

Resources:

Find Me On Substack

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Connect with me on Instagram @madison.arnholt

Listen to the companion episode: Frozen in Fear, Doubt, or a Mental Loop? Try These 2 Life-Changing Practices

Sometimes the mind spirals so loud it feels like you're being yanked by an invisible leash—paralyzed by pressure, drowning in "shoulds," unable to access the truth underneath the noise.

In this episode, I share two simple, powerful practices that have helped me soften that grip and come back to myself—even in the middle of a fear loop, a wave of doubt, or an emotional freeze. These are the exact tools I turn to when I feel stuck in my head and far from my center—and they've helped me remember: I don't have to feel totally clear to return to truth. A sliver is enough.

What We Dive Into:

✧ Why trying to figure out how to feel better usually makes it worse

✧ The 5-minute pause that helps me stay with the feeling instead of reacting to it

✧ The exact journaling question I come back to when I can't hear my intuition

✧ How I move forward without waiting for the emotion to fully go away

✧ What "freezing disguised as feeling" looks like — and how I catch it

✧ How these two practices help me come back to truth, even on the hardest days

Resources:

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Connect with me on Instagram @madison.arnholt

In this episode, I'm joined by intuitive guide and spiritual teacher, Sean Murphy. We dive into grief, identity, emotional depth, and what it means to live in true alignment with your soul—even in the chaos and beauty of everyday life. Sean shares how the loss of her father became a catalyst for her spiritual path and what it's looked like to keep choosing presence, truth, and expression along the way.

We also explore how to stay grounded through resistance, the power of prayer and meditation, and what opens up when we let go of who we thought we were to make space for what's ready to emerge.

You're going to love this episode if you're moving through transition, holding a lot emotionally, or craving to feel more like you again.

✧ Grief as a portal to spiritual expansion

✧ Letting go of identities and letting your soul lead

✧ The illusion of "high vibes only" and embracing the full emotional spectrum

✧ Prayer, meditation, and grounding into presence

✧ Expressing your essence in your body, your voice, and your work

✧ Navigating resistance in business and creativity

Resources:

Find Me On Substack

Explore coaching & offerings

Join the newsletter, Rise & Align

Connect with me on Instagram @madison.arnholt

Connect With Sean:

Essence Reading

Getting Essence-ial Podcast

@_seannicole

Books Mentioned:

A Return To Love

Still Here

Catcher In The Rye

Lessons From The Magic Shop

In this episode, I'm diving deep into one of my favorite topics—creative expression. For the past year, I've been exploring what it means to create from truth, to let the unknown take shape through me, and to honor my rhythms instead of forcing myself into a box.

I'm sharing 16 reminders that have been guiding me back to my truest expression—reminders that might be exactly what you need to hear if you've been feeling blocked, doubting yourself, or unsure where to go next in your creative process. My hope is that this episode reminds you that your voice matters, your creations matter, and you are here to express what only you can bring into the world.

What We Dive Into:

✧ Why your ideas often feel smaller when you start bringing them to life—and why that's not a bad thing

✧ How feeling lost in the unknown is actually a sign you're on the right path

✧ The truth about experimentation and why nothing is ever wasted

✧ How to dance with blocks, frustration, and perfectionism instead of fearing them

✧ Why you don't have to have it all figured out before you share your work

✧ The importance of honoring your creative rhythms, including rest, input, and play

✧ Letting your expression transform pain into art and meaning

✧ Choosing truth over external validation and trusting yourself to go first

If you've been craving permission to create in a way that feels more alive, more honest, and more you, this episode is for you.

Resources:

The Creative Unknown (aka. The Bane Of My Existence) Substack post

Find Me On Substack (for more behind the scenes of my everyday life as a mama & creative)

Explore coaching & offerings

Join the newsletter, Rise & Align (your weekly pause to breathe, reflect & realign)

Connect with me on Instagram @madison.arnholt

Lindsey Simcik, co-host of Almost 30, returns for a real conversation about motherhood, marriage, and creativity. We explore the "in-between" seasons, what authentic creative expression looks like now, and how to stay present with our kids while still pursuing what lights us up. We also talk about navigating relationship changes, claiming time for ourselves without guilt, and finding joy in the small, everyday moments.

I LOVED this conversation and I'm so excited for you to listen.

We dive into:

✧ Relationship dynamics after becoming parents

✧ The mental load of motherhood

✧ Claiming time for yourself without guilt

✧ Simple joys that ground and energize

✧ Creative expression in an "in-between" season

If you're craving more presence, joy, and authenticity in your everyday life, you'll love this episode.

Resources:

Explore coaching & offerings

Join the newsletter, Rise & Align (your weekly pause to breathe, reflect & realign)

Almost 30 Book

Follow Lindsey On Instagram

In this episode, I share a real-time walk through how I brought myself out of a spiral—not by solving everything in my head, but by coming back to center. If your mind has been trying to fix, plan, and figure it all out at once, this episode is a breath of fresh air and a deep exhale.

✧ What it actually looked like for me to walk myself back to alignment

✧ How I shifted from spiraling to presence on a morning walk

✧ Why venting or looping mentally isn't the same as truly processing

✧ The one shift that began opening space for peace

✧ Six soul reminders to help you ground, feel, and come back to yourself

✧ Why prioritizing your energy changes everything—even when nothing externally has changed

Resources:

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Join the newsletter, Rise & Align (your weekly pause to breathe, reflect & realign)

Feeling lost in the in-between? Like what used to feel aligned no longer does—but you're unsure of what's next?

This episode is for the space between death and rebirth, when your old reality no longer resonates and the new one hasn't yet arrived. Madison shares 7 soul-grounding messages to support you through the emotional, energetic, and intuitive discomfort of outgrowing what was—without forcing what's next.

✧ The truth about what it means to "feel stuck"

✧ Why emotional tension isn't a breakdown—it's expansion

✧ What to do when you're shedding but clarity hasn't come yet

✧ How to hear your inner voice through the noise

✧ The surprising magic that unfolds when you stop over-efforting

✧ Why "calm and powerful" can coexist—and how that's enough

✧ Why messy, imperfect action might be your next right step

Resources:

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Join the newsletter, Rise & Align (your weekly pause to breathe, reflect & realign)