The Good Life, Reconsidered

We're all a little stuck right now, and it's not because something is wrong with us.

In this episode, Jeremy and Blaire dig into what it actually means to get unstuck. Jeremy unpacks a decade-long pattern of saying yes to everything, hedging his bets across too many paths, and how a single reframe- choosing kind over nice- finally gave him his voice back. From there, the conversation turns into a practical tool: an upside-down food pyramid for figuring out where your energy should actually go, and why time isn't the real constraint most of us are working against.

Then the conversation widens. Blaire makes the case that being stuck isn't a personal failing; it's an infrastructure problem, one that community was built to solve. They talk about the lost art of tough love, why asking for help is a skill worth rebuilding, and how momentum starts the moment you let someone else see the truest version of you. If you've been feeling overwhelmed, overloaded, or just not quite yourself, this one's for you. Find your people. Let them hold you.

What if the good life isn't something you have to chase, but something you're already standing in the middle of? In this episode, Jeremy and Blaire dig into three deceptively simple states — awe, presence, and play — and why adults lose touch with all three.

They talk about watching bears sunbathe and dogs strut with "puppy posture" as reminders that presence is available to any animal willing to stop and notice. Blaire shares how a corporate play workshop cracked open something she didn't know she'd shut down, and Jeremy talks about disappointing his wife on purpose (it's a family game, promise) and the freedom he still finds dancing at shows in his late 40s.

Along the way: why lying in the grass for five minutes feels riskier than it should, the difference between real play and expensive distraction, and the idea that being your truest self in public gives everyone else permission to do the same.

In this episode of The Good Life Reconsidered, Jeremy and Blaire explore how storytelling can be a powerful tool for self-reflection — not to relive the past, but to get honest about where you are today, what's working, and what small step might move you forward.

The conversation turns to the difference between operating from scarcity versus abundance — how scarcity thinking shows up in relationships, finances, and career choices, often pushing us toward decisions that don't actually serve us. They talk through how a genuine gratitude practice can retrain the brain toward abundance, and why the real shift happens when you get specific rather than surface-level.

From there, the discussion moves into presence and awe — the small, unglamorous daily practices (morning coffee in the backyard, looking at the stars, noticing the sun after a string of gloomy days) that can reconnect us to the sense of wonder we had as kids, without changing your job, your home, or anything else about your life.

If you've ever felt stuck in "not enough," this episode offers a different way in.

What do you do when the career you built is the thing making you miserable? In this episode, Jeremy and Blaire dig into the pressure to keep climbing — more responsibility, more money, more status — and ask what it actually costs us along the way. Using the legal profession as a starting point, they explore the gap between what we think we need and what we actually want, and why change, even good change, is so hard to opt into. No dramatic life overhauls here — just honest questions worth sitting with. 

We all have things we mean to do consistently — and then life happens. In this episode, Jeremy and Blaire explore the idea of "non-negotiables": the small, almost automatic commitments that don't require willpower because they're simply what you do, no matter what. They talk about the surprising power of language (why calling something "non-negotiable" changes your relationship to it), how to give yourself grace without giving yourself excuses, and why the goal isn't more habits — it's fewer, deeper ones that actually stick. By the end, you'll be asking yourself the same question they leave listeners with: what's your one non-negotiable? 

 When the Environment Is the Problem

What happens when the problem isn't you — it's where you've been? In this episode, Jeremy Hirshberg and Blaire Bridges get real about what it means to recover from a toxic environment. They explore why standard wellness practices like meditation and walks often fall short when you're healing from years of survival mode, and why resilience can be the wrong frame altogether.

The conversation digs into the neuroscience of rewiring — how our bodies stay stuck in old patterns long after we've left the environment behind — and what it actually looks like to rebuild from the inside out. From celebrating small wins to finding unexpected ways to move through what's stored in your body, this episode offers an honest, grounded look at what growth really requires.

If you've ever felt like you're doing all the right things and still can't shake something, this one's for you. 

 Why We're Lonelier Than Ever — And How to Find Our Way Back 

We're in the middle of a loneliness epidemic. One in three Americans report feeling lonely at least once a week. One in ten feel it every single day. And according to the WHO, loneliness contributes to roughly 800,000 deaths a year worldwide. 

In this episode, Jeremy and Blaire take a different approach — instead of just talking about connection, they turn the lens on their own 12-year friendship and unpack what's actually made it deepen over time. 

They explore why "How are you?" has quietly become a greeting rather than a genuine question, and what changes when you actually stop and mean it. They talk about why connection with others has to start with connection to yourself — and what happens when that internal alignment is missing. Jeremy shares a striking story about a 10-minute experience with a horse that taught him more about the energy he was putting into the world than a year of coaching. And they get into the specific, low-effort practices — like pairing coffee with a walk — that have helped rebuild real relationships, with friends, family, and even a teenager who only opens up in the car. 

This is a conversation about what deep connection actually requires: intentionality, reciprocity, and the willingness to keep showing up, even when it's easier not to. 

In this episode: 

• The data behind the loneliness epidemic
• Why "How are you?" has lost its meaning — and how to reclaim it
• Why connection with yourself comes first
• A horse, an energy shift, and an unexpected lesson in presence
• The "coffee then walk" practice for deeper conversations
• The real cost of not investing in connection

If you're capable, accomplished, and quietly aware that something's missing in how connected you feel to the people around you — this episode is for you.
 

 We've all heard the advice: find work-life balance. But what if balance is the wrong goal entirely?

In this episode, Jeremy and Blaire unpack why balance fails as a framework — not just culturally, but practically — and offer something more honest and more durable in its place. They explore the four-domain elasticity model from the Center for Creative Leadership, the science of flow and what it actually asks of us, and why the real problem isn't too much work but a broken relationship with time.

If you've been chasing balance and wondering why it never arrives, this episode might reframe the question entirely. 

Have you ever finally had space to rest and felt more anxious, not less?

In this episode, Jeremy and Blaire explore what happens when high achievers slow down and why it can feel like a threat rather than relief. Drawing on neuroscience, clinical psychology, and real-world stories from the coaching room, they unpack why your nervous system may be wired for urgency, and what it costs you when it is.

Topics explored:
— The window of tolerance and how high performers often live outside of it
— Why cortisol-fueled productivity becomes its own kind of addiction
— The link between identity and busyness — and what gets lost when they fuse
— The social identity map: a simple tool for rediscovering who you are beneath the title
— What it means to be "productive but strangely hollow"

This episode ends with one question worth sitting with this week — no journaling required.

If you've ever felt guilty for resting, or more anxious on vacation than at work, this one is for you.

The Good Life, Reconsidered is hosted by Jeremy Hirshberg and Blaire Bridges.

The Good Life Reconsidered — Episode 1: Death is Coming, Act Accordingly

What if thinking about death could actually help you live better? In this episode, Jeremy and Blaire explore mortality not as something to fear, but as a powerful lens for living more fully and intentionally.

Blaire shares insights from years of bedside work with people navigating major life transitions, and Jeremy opens up about two near-death experiences, a capsizing canoe at 17 and a widowmaker heart attack at 37, and how those moments shaped his relationship with death.

Together they discuss:

• The obituary exercise — writing your own obituary annually as a tool for reflection and self-awareness
• Death apps — gamifying mortality to shift how you spend your days
• The living funeral — and why the people closest to us may not be in the same place with death that we are
• Grief — why it has no timeline and how to hold it as a permanent guest in life
• The business of death — wills, passwords, and the practical work of making things easier for those we leave behind
• Western culture's sanitization of death — and how leaning in, rather than away, can unlock more presence, beauty, and freedom

Where to start: Have death over for tea. Read philosophy. Ask yourself — if I died tomorrow, did I live a good life?