Nobody warned you about the ice cream cone.
Not your mom. Not your therapist. Not the overly enthusiastic guidance counselor in high school who promised you that if you “just followed your passion,” everything would work itself out. Nobody sat you down and said — hey, one day you’re going to be holding something really good, and it’s going to fall apart in your hands before you ever get a real taste of it.
But that’s exactly what happens. Over and over again.
In this episode, we’re talking about the ice cream cone — and why it’s on the cover of this book. Because you’ve been there. You waited in line for it. You agonized over the flavor. You finally got it… and then life happened. It melted. It dropped. Someone bumped into you. Or maybe it was perfect for exactly one moment and then it was just… gone.
This is the chapter that started it all. The metaphor that explains everything this book — and this podcast — is really about. The good stuff, the messy stuff, and the beautiful, frustrating, very human experience of holding on and letting go at the same time.
Welcome to Sh*t No One Tells You About Life. 🍦

This is the one we’ve been building to. If you’ve made it this far — through the hard parts, the messy parts, the parts you weren’t sure you’d survive — let me tell you something no one else probably has: you’re already doing it.
You’ve carried more than anyone sees. You’ve kept going through grief that wasn’t always visible. You’ve faced toxic people, questioned everything you thought you wanted, and somehow — still — here you are.
This isn’t a podcast of answers. It never was. It’s permission. Permission to pivot, to rest, to grow, to start over. You don’t need to fix yourself. You don’t need to explain yourself. You don’t need to prove yourself.
You just need to keep going. 

Sh*t No One Tells You About Life — written by Alexa Pepe, a straight-talking, chaos-juggling truth teller who learned (mostly the hard way) that no one hands you a roadmap when sh*t gets real. This is that roadmap. Kind of. You’re welcome.

We were sold a lie. Plan enough, hustle hard enough, stay on the “right path” long enough — and you’ll be safe. You’ll be happy. You’ll finally have it all together. So we made the career plan, the family plan, the five-year plan, the marriage plan, the financial plan… and then life said lol, cute.
In this episode, we’re having an honest conversation about what nobody tells you: plans are fragile. The job changes. The relationship shifts. The dream evolves. And sometimes everything falls apart — not because you failed, but because life doesn’t run on a script.
So what do you actually need? Permission. Permission to pivot. Permission to rest. Permission to live a life that doesn’t look like anyone else’s. Permission to stop chasing a version of yourself that was built around someone else’s timeline.
This episode is your official slip. Do with it what you will. 

Nobody tells you that joy doesn’t arrive with a grand entrance. No photographer, no hashtag, no perfectly curated Instagram moment. It doesn’t burst through the door with fanfare — it sneaks in. Quietly. In the middle of the mess, the exhaustion, the heartbreak, the “how the hell am I even holding all this together?” moments.
In this episode, we’re talking about what joy actually looks like in real life — not the highlight reel version. It’s your kid losing it over something completely ridiculous. It’s an unexpected hug at exactly the right time. It’s the tiny, stupid, beautiful stuff that doesn’t make the feed but somehow makes life worth living.
Because even when everything is a sh*t show, joy is still there — you just have to stop waiting for the big sweeping moment and start noticing the small ones. 
This one’s a love letter to the chaos. And a reminder that you don’t need a filter to find something worth smiling about.

We need to talk about the wellness industry’s dirty little secret — it’s banking on you believing you’re broken. In this episode, we’re getting real about the myth of “healed” and why healing was never supposed to be a never-ending project. You are not defective because life knocked you around. You are not behind. You are not less-than. And yet the world — and a billion-dollar self-help machine — will do everything in its power to convince you otherwise.
We’re calling it out: the journals, the cold plunges, the chakra cleanses, the vision boards, the life coaches… When does self-improvement become self-rejection in disguise? This episode is your reminder that you are worthy right now — not after the next healing retreat, not when you finally “figure it out,” not when you become the polished version of yourself you’ve been promised.
You don’t need to be fixed. You just need to keep going. 

Sometimes the people we mourn are still breathing.
Everyone talks about grief like it only belongs to funerals — the casket, the eulogy, the final goodbye that everyone witnesses together. But grief shows up in a thousand quieter, crueler ways that nobody prepares you for.
It’s the friendship that slowly faded without explanation. The best friend you used to text every single day who now feels like a stranger. The person you thought would show up for every milestone — who vanished the moment life stopped being convenient for them. No big fight. No betrayal you can point to. Just silence. Distance. Unspoken endings.
And here’s the thing nobody talks about: when someone dies, there’s a ritual. People gather, bring food, send flowers, give you permission to grieve. But when someone drifts out of your life by choice or slow neglect? There’s no ceremony for that. No meal train. No sympathy cards. Just an empty chair at your table and a gnawing ache you can’t quite explain without sounding “too sensitive.”
This episode is about the invisible funerals — grieving the relationships, the versions of yourself, and the futures you never got to live out.
Because grief isn’t just for death. And no one tells you that.

You know that feeling of waking up already tired — not because you didn’t sleep, but because your brain never actually stopped? The mental tabs that never close. The 2am “remember this” notes scribbled in your mind. The weight that doesn’t show up on any to-do list but demands everything from you anyway.
This episode is about the invisible labor that so many of us carry in silence. The appointments. The permission slips. The birthday parties. Knowing which water bottle belongs to which kid because the green one “tastes wrong.” Reordering the allergy medicine before anyone else even notices it’s low.
Nobody sees it. Nobody tracks it. And most of the time — nobody thanks you for it.
We’re talking about the mental load: what it really looks like day to day, why it’s so exhausting, and why the fact that it’s invisible makes it so much harder to carry.
Because most of what we carry, we carry in silence. And it’s time we talked about it.

You did everything right. You went to school, picked the career, got married, bought the house, had the kids — and then looked around and thought… is this it?
Nobody warns you about the unique kind of disorientation that comes with actually achieving the life you planned for. The dream job that leaves you drained. The house that feels more like a financial weight than a sanctuary. The marriage that’s somehow beautiful and brutal at the same time. The parenthood that fulfills you and breaks you simultaneously.
In this episode, we’re talking about what happens when you check all the boxes and still feel unsettled — and why that doesn’t mean you failed. It means you’re human.
Because checking all the boxes doesn’t guarantee contentment. And no one tells you that.

Unpublished Notes 

We need to have a real talk. About money. About debt. About the fact that we are living in the most financially stressed generation in modern history — and somehow people are out here buying $800 sneakers on a $38,000 salary with $60,000 in student loans and calling it a lifestyle. In this episode of Shit No One Tells You About Life — the show where we say the things your mama thought but was too polite to post about — we’re getting into all of it.
How did we get here? Why does every generation feel like they’re one unexpected bill away from the edge? And why is nobody talking about the shame spiral that comes with being broke while looking blessed on the internet?
This is the episode for everyone doing the math at the grocery store, robbing Peter to pay Paul, and still somehow managing to show up, provide, and push through. You are not alone, you are not a failure, and you are absolutely not the only one whose bank account does not match their highlight reel. 

Blood isn’t always thicker. Sometimes, boundaries are the most loving thing you can give yourself.
We grew up hearing it stitched onto pillows, whispered in prayers, declared at Thanksgiving tables — “family is everything.” And for a lot of people, that’s a beautiful truth. But for a lot of others, it’s the myth that kept them stuck, silent, and shrinking for years. In this episode of Shit No One Tells You About Life, we’re having the conversation that challenges everything we were taught from birth.
Not every family is safe. Not every family is love. And nobody — nobody — prepares you for the heartbreak of realizing that the people you were expected to stand by might never be the ones who have your back.
This episode is for everyone who has ever felt guilty for outgrowing a toxic dynamic, for setting a boundary that got called betrayal, or for quietly grieving a family that looks fine from the outside. You are not dramatic. You are not disloyal. Sometimes the most courageous thing you can do is protect your own peace — even from the people who share your last name.