In this episode of Real Adult Wisdom, we sit down with Dr. Lee for a thoughtful discussion on education, systems, and student-centered learning. Drawing from lived experience and professional insight, the conversation explores how education can better recognize diverse pathways, support real-world readiness, and respond to the needs of students, families, and educators. While perspectives may differ on specific approaches, this episode is grounded in respectful dialogue, curiosity, and a shared commitment to improving outcomes for those within the education system.

When change is rooted in self-rejection, it becomes a form of punishment rather than growth. Growth that starts in shame rarely lasts. (And Why Shame Is a Terrible Life Coach) Let’s start with a hard truth:Most people don’t fail at change because they lack discipline. They fail because they try to build a better life on top of self-rejection. And self-rejection is not a strong foundation. It’s quicksand…Every January, the same ritual plays out. We declare war on parts of ourselves.

This episode of Real Adult Wisdom is not about overnight success or perfectly packaged stories. Becky Shaffer and Deborah Yager come together to speak candidly about where they began, what they endured, and how they built their lives one piece at a time. There were doubts, detours, setbacks, and moments when quitting would have been easier—but they didn’t. They are self-made, but not untouched by struggle. This conversation goes beneath titles and accomplishments and into the real work of becoming: choosing yourself, rebuilding after loss, pushing forward without certainty, and learning to trust your own voice when no one else is cheering yet. If you’ve ever wondered whether your past disqualifies you from the life you want, this episode is for you.

Tonight feels special. I’m sitting down with Scott Neff, and together we’re talking openly about what it really takes to write a book—the fear, the healing, the courage, and the moments that cracked us open. This isn’t just about the pages we wrote. It’s about the lives we lived to write them.

Jen Hendershott, world champion athlete, coach, and now author — "Life In One Shott", bringing raw honesty, resilience, and real-life wisdom.

Becky Shaffer, educator, coach, podcast host, founder of www.liveinconfidence.com, and author of "The Why Not Me? Concept", a transformative book on healing, worthiness, and reinvention. Together, they sit down to talk about what it means to grow up in a small town with big dreams, how life’s hardest seasons shaped their purpose, why healing, identity, and reinvention matter now more than ever, and how two women from one hometown became two voices of hope for anyone craving a new chapter isn’t just a conversation. It’s a collision of courage, lived experience, and truth.

Today’s episode is especially meaningful, because it brings together two authors, two women, and two journeys that started in the same small town… and led to lives built on purpose.”

We all know the script: Holidays are supposed to feel warm, familiar, and comforting. We see it on the Hallmark movies, we hear it in the carols. But what happens when that script no longer matches your reality? Perhaps your life has undergone a significant change—a divorce, a profound loss, a major relocation, or an unexpected shift in identity. When that happens, the holidays no longer feel like a cozy blanket. They can feel like grief wrapped in glitter. Tonight, we are tackling this head-on: Nothing is wrong with you if the holidays don't feel the same anymore. In fact, that's completely normal."

Endings have a way of shaking everything we thought we knew about ourselves—our roles, relationships, routines, and identity. In this episode, Becky Shaffer dives into the emotional and psychological terrain of reinvention seasons—those in-between chapters when who you were no longer fits, and who you are becoming isn’t fully clear yet.

We explore what it really means when:

• An identity ends

• A role dissolves

• A relationship shifts

• A version of you expires

If you’ve been feeling unsteady, disconnected, or unsure of your next step, you’re not broken—you’re in a transition.

This episode offers:
✨ A grounded understanding of why reinvention feels so destabilizing
✨ The hidden grief inside life changes
✨ How to release who you were without losing who you are
✨ A practical tool to help you move through endings with clarity instead of collapse

This is for the one who’s asking, “Who am I now?”
And learning how to answer with courage.

The holidays can feel magical… but they can also magnify the cracks we work so hard to hide.Grief doesn’t just come from loss through death — it shows up in endings, distance, changed traditions, kids growing up, and the versions of ourselves we had to let go.Tonight, we’re talking about the hidden spaces of holiday grief — the ones no one warns you about but so many of us live through.If this season feels heavy, layered, or complicated… you are not alone.

Ambition can be a coping mechanism. Many of us were taught to achieve our way into worthiness, to produce our way into safety. So we become leaders, healers, entrepreneurs, top students—pushing ourselves to excel while abandoning our own bodies and inner child in the process. Beneath the applause is often anxiety, emotional exhaustion, loneliness, and a deep longing to be seen beyond what we do. We've learned that suffering doesn’t always look like struggle—it can look like success. And our work invites people to finally exhale, feel again, and begin the sacred undoing of everything they thought they had to be.