PROJECT 24 - The Table

We spend so much of our lives waiting.

Waiting for the house to sell. Waiting to make more money. Waiting for the relationship to get better. Waiting for the credit score to improve. Waiting for the kids to grow up. Waiting for work to calm down. Waiting for one more problem to finally disappear.

But what if we’ve got it backwards?

Life isn’t waiting for us at some finish line where everything finally gets figured out. Life is happening right now.

In this episode of Project 24: The Table, Dominic Michael talks about the difference between living and simply surviving—why constantly solving problems can consume our lives, why ordinary days matter more than we realize, and why we need to stop requiring perfect conditions before we allow ourselves to enjoy being alive.

There will always be another problem. Another bill. Another decision. Another obstacle.

The goal isn’t to eliminate all of it.

The goal is to live while it’s happening.

Because one day, we may realize the days we kept trying to “get through” were actually our life.

This moment is your life. Don’t miss it.

Something feels different about the way we interact with each other.

Those of us who remember life before smartphones, social media, and constant connection have watched that change happen in real time. We have more ways to reach each other than ever before, yet sometimes it feels like we acknowledge each other less.

In this episode, I talk about what I’ve noticed after more than 50 years of living—the judgment, the comparison, the disappearing conversations, and how quickly we decide who somebody is without knowing anything about what they’ve lived through.

But I don’t want to spend the rest of my life complaining about what society has become.

I want to decide what I’m going to contribute to it.

Kindness. Service. Politeness. Respect. Curiosity instead of judgment.

And that connects directly to the next chapter of my own life.

For the second time in a year, I’m downsizing—but this time I’m going much further. Less stuff. Fewer things tying me down. A Transit or Sprinter, my girls beside me, and an open road without knowing exactly where I’ll eventually end up.

I’m becoming less interested in accumulating more things and much more interested in accumulating more life.

More conversations. More places. More people. More experiences. And maybe a better understanding of whether the human connection so many of us feel we've lost is actually still out there waiting to be found.

We don't know nearly as much about people as we think we do.

We don't have to live a life that makes sense to everybody else.

Less stuff. More life. And an open road in front of me.

🎙️ Project 24: The Table — available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

We can love someone and still have an answer of our own.

We can listen when they say their plans have changed. We can respect that they want something different. But understanding their choice does not mean we have to keep setting aside what matters to us.

Love shouldn’t mean we’re the only person who isn’t allowed to change our mind.

In this free Sunday conversation, Dominic Michael brings together the week’s discussion about love, honesty, changing plans, and the choices both people deserve to make.

We talk about respecting someone’s direction without hiding our own disappointment, facing uncertainty together, and being honest about whether the promises we’re making still reflect what we want today.

Some conversations are uncomfortable because the answers matter. Avoiding them does not make the uncertainty disappear.

We may need time to think. We may not know exactly what comes next. That does not mean our questions—or our place in the conversation—matter any less.

“I need time to think” is a sentence we get to use too.

We can care about someone without pretending every change works for us. We can respect their answer without hiding ours.

They get to choose. So do we.

Project 24 — The Table · Spotify and Apple Podcasts

Pull up a chair.

We weren’t waiting for a stranger to change.

We were waiting for somebody we loved. Somebody we had history with. Somebody who sometimes showed us exactly why we kept believing things could become different.

There were good days. There were conversations that gave us hope. There were moments when we thought, “There you are. That’s the person I’ve been waiting for.”

Then we found ourselves having the same conversation again.

In this free episode, Dominic Michael talks about what it feels like to keep waiting for someone to become the person they say they’re going to be—and why love, history, and hope make that waiting harder to walk away from.

We explore the difference between what someone could become and how they are treating us now. We also talk about recognizing genuine change: not only the apology or the effort that follows a difficult conversation, but what continues on the ordinary days afterward.

This isn’t about expecting perfection or dismissing someone who is genuinely trying. It’s about being honest about what we’re actually living with, rather than continually planning our future around what might happen.

We can appreciate the good memories without using them to explain away the present. We can recognize real progress when it happens—and admit when we’re still hearing the same promises.

We weren’t stupid for believing somebody could change. We just don’t have to spend the rest of our life waiting for them to become who they keep telling us they’re going to be.

Project 24 — The Table · Spotify and Apple Podcasts

Pull up a chair.

We’re not always struggling to accept a clear no.

Sometimes we’re living with a yes that never becomes anything we can count on.

They say they love us. They say they want the relationship. But when it comes to making decisions together, nothing feels settled—and we’re left wondering how much longer our own life is supposed to wait.

In this free conversation, Dominic Michael talks about the exhaustion of repeatedly asking whether both people still want the future they discussed.

We weren’t wrong for believing someone’s words. We weren’t asking too much by wanting to know whether an agreement still mattered. But there comes a point when another explanation of our feelings may not be what the relationship needs.

What do they already know—and what are they choosing to do with that information?

We explore the difference between love and willingness to build a shared life, the importance of honest communication, and why understanding someone’s uncertainty does not mean placing our own needs on hold indefinitely.

This conversation also considers how we decide whether to stay or walk away based on what is actually happening—not only what keeps being promised.

We can care about someone. We can respect their answer.

But we cannot make their half of the choice.

The full premium conversation, “I Love You Enough to Let You Choose,” is available on Project 24 — The Table, on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Pull up a chair.

Some of us listened to this week’s conversations and still had a difficult week.

We still thought about them. Still felt upset after a message. Still wanted our partner to understand something we have explained more times than we can count.

That does not mean we missed the point.

In this free Sunday recap, Dominic Michael brings together The Art of Detachment with one central reminder: we are not trying to become people who feel nothing. We are trying to make room for our lives while those feelings are still here.

We revisit handling necessary contact after a breakup without reopening the entire relationship, grieving an ending without treating sadness as a decision to return, and caring about a current partner without taking responsibility for every reaction.

We also discuss the conversations that continue privately—the explanations we rehearse, the answers we keep searching for, and the pressure to feel completely better before enjoying anything again.

Detachment is not pretending the relationship meant nothing. It is not abandoning our responsibilities or learning to tolerate more while asking for less.

We can acknowledge what hurt, seek support, and give something in our present life attention too.

Our next good moment does not have to prove anything about the relationship. It can just be good.

The complete Art of Detachment conversations are available on Project 24 — The Table, on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Pull up a chair.

We wanted a good relationship with our partner’s family.

We made the effort. We showed up. We tried to understand their traditions, their personalities, and how they did things. But some of us still felt evaluated instead of welcomed.

And when we told our partner something hurt, we heard:

“That’s just how they are.”

We weren’t asking our partner to choose a fight with their family. We were asking them to hear us without making our reaction the problem.

In this free conversation, Dominic Michael explores what happens when trying to belong becomes years of trying harder—and how we can step back from chasing approval without becoming unkind or giving up our self-respect.

We talk about managing the disappointment of not having the family connection we hoped for, making choices about what we’re comfortable giving, and recognizing the difference between being considerate and feeling obligated to keep proving ourselves.

Not every difficult interaction means someone intended to hurt us. But repeated disrespect does not become harmless because everyone expects us to accept it.

We can appreciate the good relationships, acknowledge the painful ones, and put more of our energy where care is returned.

Wanting to belong wasn’t the mistake. We just cannot build that belonging through our effort alone.

Project 24 — The Table · Spotify and Apple Podcasts

Pull up a chair.

You can stand by your decision and still need support getting through what follows.

It’s the first family dinner since the separation.

Someone asks how you’re doing. For once, you answer honestly:

“It’s been a rough week.”

Then comes the response:

“But you’re the one who wanted the divorce.”

As though choosing to leave meant you were supposed to stop feeling everything connected to the marriage.

In this free conversation, Dominic speaks directly to the person who made a difficult decision—and is now expected to be fine with every painful detail that followed.

You may have asked for the separation. You may have been the one who moved out. That does not erase the years, the family history, the good memories, or the future you once imagined together.

This episode explores the difference between missing someone and wanting to return, how other people’s expectations can make it harder to speak honestly, and how to ask for support without turning every difficult day into another debate about your decision.

You can be relieved that you are no longer living the same way and still feel sad about what ended. You can enjoy an afternoon without proving the relationship meant nothing. You can have a painful evening without treating it as evidence that you must go back.

You didn’t say you were going back. You said you missed them.

The Art of Detachment continues on Project 24 — The Table, available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Pull up a chair.

Your daughter calls. She got the job.

You congratulate her, hang up, and reach for the person you would have called next for twenty years.

Your former spouse.

You want to share the news. But you also miss having somebody who understands why that news matters so much.

That is the part people miss when they tell you to “just move on.”

In this free preview of The Art of Detachment, Dominic opens a conversation for people navigating separation, divorce, the end of a long-term relationship—or a current relationship where they need to stop losing their entire day to someone else’s reactions.

This is not about pretending the marriage meant nothing. It is not about ignoring shared responsibilities or becoming cold toward someone you still love.

It is about making room for your life while those feelings are still there.

This week’s premium conversations will explore managing contact with an ex, detaching without abandoning your responsibilities inside a current relationship, and handling the thoughts and memories that continue after someone is gone.

You can miss them and keep an appointment. Feel sad and enjoy dinner. Remember what you shared and still make a plan that does not depend on them changing their mind.

Your heart can take its time. Your whole life doesn’t have to stand still while it does.

The premium conversations continue Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on Project 24 — The Table, available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Pull up a chair.

You didn’t stop caring. You stopped carrying the whole conversation by yourself.

You could send three paragraphs explaining exactly what hurt you and receive one word back:

“Okay.”

You could ask to talk, try to repair the argument, and wait hours for a response. But the first time you stopped calling, stopped explaining, and stopped chasing the conversation, suddenly they wanted to know:

“What’s wrong with you?”

In this free episode, Dominic speaks directly to the person whose effort went unnoticed until it disappeared.

You did not become quiet to play a game. You were tired. You had already changed your tone, chosen better timing, sent the long message, and returned to conversations the other person kept walking away from.

This conversation explores what happens when one person becomes responsible for every check-in, apology, follow-up, and attempt at repair—and why emotional withdrawal can begin long before love completely disappears.

They may remember the day you stopped responding.

You remember all the days you tried before that.

Tomorrow inside The Table:

You Still Cared. You Just Stopped Letting Them Use It Against You.

Pull up a chair.