The Growth Lounge

In this episode of The Growth Lounge, I’m talking about what it really looks like to let God into the hidden parts of us. Not just the polished places. Not just the parts we let everyone else see. The real parts. The scared parts. The over-functioning parts. The parts that still believe hiding is what keeps us safe.

I share how hiding does not always look dramatic. Sometimes it looks like productivity, people pleasing, overworking, control, serving everyone else, or staying so busy that we never slow down long enough to hear what is really going on underneath. I talk about the protection patterns we learned when we were younger, why they made sense then, and why they can quietly start limiting our relationships, joy, peace, growth, and capacity to hold the life God is calling us into now.

I also open up about my own pattern with weight loss and how, in the past, I lost the weight but could not hold that version of myself because I had not done the deeper healing work. I share why healing is not about perfection, performance, or fixing yourself for God. It is about being honest enough to let Him meet you in the messy middle and letting His presence into the places shame has kept covered.

This episode is an invitation to stop asking, “What is wrong with me?” and start asking better questions. What am I hiding? What is this behavior protecting? What old agreement am I still living under? And what would it look like to let God into that place, specifically and honestly, so real healing can begin?

If this episode speaks to you, I want you to sit with this question all week:

Where am I still hiding, and what would it look like to let God see that place?

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Today’s episode is personal.

This is not a conversation from the finish line.

It is from the middle.

In this episode, I’m sharing about the thing behind the thing.

For a long time, I thought my weight was the issue. The hold-up. The reason I did not feel fully free, fully confident, or fully at peace in my own skin. But what I’ve been uncovering is this:

It was never just about the weight.

It was about the thing behind the thing.

It was about what I made my weight mean about me.

What I believed about myself.

What I had attached to my body.

What I was carrying underneath the visible struggle all along.

In this episode, we talk about:

• why fixing the outside did not bring the peace I thought it would

• the deeper meaning I attached to my weight

• how early beliefs and hidden agreements get formed

• why shame quietly shapes the way so many women live

• and why healing starts when we stop only addressing the visible struggle and tell the truth about what is underneath it

And maybe for you, it is not weight.

Maybe it is your marriage.

Your body.

Your business.

Your parenting.

Your health.

Your fear.

Your waiting.

Whatever the struggle is on the outside, there may be a thing behind the thing that still needs your attention.

A question to carry with you as you listen:

What have I been making my struggle mean about me?

If this episode speaks to you, share it with a friend and come tell me what landed.

If you’d like to discover what ‘the thing under the thing’ is for you, I invite you to schedule a discovery call with me here: https://jessicaphillips.co/book-a-free-call

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Jessica Talks about the messy middle and some hard truths

We need to talk about the part of the story most people leave out.

Not the before.
Not the after.
The middle.

The messy, stretching, humbling, holy in-between where you are trying, learning, healing, praying, wondering, and sometimes wanting to quit because it feels like everybody else got their breakthrough faster than you.

In this solo episode, Jessica shares why more women need to tell the truth about the real journey, not just the polished outcome. Because when all we see is someone’s point A and point B, it is easy to believe our own middle means we are failing.

But the middle is not failure.
It is formation.
It is process.
It is where so much of the real work happens.

Jessica also opens up about how hard it was to bring her family into her own journey, why being seen in process can feel so vulnerable, and how accountability and support can become part of the healing when you let safe people in.

If you have ever felt behind, frustrated with yourself, ashamed that it is taking longer than you thought, or tempted to compare your middle to someone else’s finished story, this episode is for you.

You are not behind.
You are not broken.
You are not alone.
And the messy middle does not get the final word.

God does.

I'd love to know if this episode spoke to you. Send me a DM, I would love to cheer you on!

Remember, You Matter and your story does too! 🫶

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What do you do when marriage feels stretched, the day is stressful, and real life is happening in real time?

In this episode of The Growth Lounge, Jessica and Chad bring you into a real, honest, lightly humorous conversation from the middle of one of those kinds of days. They talk about why they intentionally take two months away each year, what that time means for their marriage, and how they use it to reflect, reset, and plan for the year ahead so they can show up better together.

This conversation also ties together the heart of the previous episodes. It is about learning the art of communication, making room for both togetherness and alone time, and understanding that growth in marriage is not something to fear. When one person grows, it does not have to mean the relationship is falling apart. It can mean something good is unfolding.

Jessica and Chad also talk honestly about choosing to stay even in seasons when they both had reasons they could have left. This episode is a reminder that strong marriages are not built by accident. They are built through curiosity, communication, grace, and the decision to keep showing up when things are hard.

If you are navigating stress, personal growth, or a hard season in your relationship, this episode will encourage you to lean in and keep going.

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Thoughts to ponder:

• Where might God be inviting me to get curious instead of uncomfortable in this season of marriage?

• What would it look like for me to communicate more honestly and love more intentionally right now?

• How can I show up better in my marriage in this next season instead of just hoping things change on their own?

  I am cheering for you!

  
  

Welcome back to The Growth Lounge and part three of our Love and Marriage series.

In this episode, Chad and I talk about marriage growth and reconnecting when life gets busy. Many couples experience what we call the slow fade. Not because love disappears, but because raising kids, managing schedules, and the business of everyday life slowly pulls attention away from the relationship.

If you are searching for marriage advice, ways to reconnect in your marriage, or how couples stay close while raising a family, this conversation will resonate.

We share how drift can happen quietly over time when couples move into survival mode. Running kids to activities, working long hours, and simply trying to keep food on the table can slowly replace intentional connection.

One of the biggest things we learned is that growth inside a marriage matters. When one person begins growing emotionally or spiritually it can feel uncomfortable or even scary for the other partner. But healthy relationships allow space for both people to keep growing and becoming.

In this episode we discuss:

• Why many couples experience the slow fade during busy parenting years
• How personal growth inside a marriage can create both tension and renewal
• Why marriage is not always 50/50 and how couples support each other through different seasons
• Learning to listen without trying to win the argument
• How an introvert and extrovert can build a strong partnership
• The importance of simple connection rhythms like family dinners, game nights, camping, and shared time together

One of the most powerful lessons we learned is that marriage is not about keeping score. There will be seasons where one partner has to give more because the other is stretched thin. That is not failure. That is partnership.

We also talk about the simple family traditions that helped rebuild connection in our home. Many of our deepest conversations happened around the dinner table, during pizza and game nights, camping trips, and everyday moments together.

If you did not grow up seeing a healthy marriage modeled, we want you to hear this clearly.

You can still build something beautiful.

Even if your story did not begin that way, intentional connection and personal growth can help you create a legacy your family will carry forward.

Next week we close this series by talking about marriage legacy and how the work you do in your relationship shapes your children and future generations.

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Marriage is not always beautiful. Sometimes it feels hard, heavy, and uncertain.

In part two of our Love and Marriage series, Chad and I share the middle of our story. Fresh out of rehab and the Navy, unexpectedly stepping into parenthood, financially strained, and emotionally immature, we were trying to build a life while still learning who we were.

We talk about broken communication, damaged trust, counseling, emotional growth, and the turning point that shifted everything. If you are wondering how to rebuild trust in your marriage or how to fix a struggling relationship, this episode offers honest hope.

A messy middle does not determine your finish.

Let's Connect:

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In this kickoff episode of our February Love and Marriage series, I sit down with my husband of 30 years, Chad. We share our real journey from young love to legacy love. We talk about how we met, what we thought marriage would be like, what actually shaped us, and how faith, commitment, and personal growth carried us through the stretching seasons. We are honest about the rocky parts of our beginning and what helped us build something stronger over time. The heart of this episode is simple. A hard or messy start does not disqualify you from a beautiful, connected finish. If you believe marriage can grow deeper and better with intention, this episode is for you.

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In the last episode in the Women in Wellness Series, Jessica has and in-depth and eye-opening conversation with Lori Bradford, a trusted midlife wellness expert, to cut through the noise around women’s health in midlife.

They dive into hormone replacement therapy, why diet and exercise alone often stop working, and how detoxification and proper gut health directly impact hormones, inflammation, energy, and overall well-being. Lori explains why what you put in your mouth matters more than ever in this season of life, how ultra-processed foods are quietly harming women’s health, and why enjoying real, nourishing food is not only possible but essential.

This conversation also covers the importance of testing before chasing solutions, doing your research, and working with well-trained functional doctors instead of throwing random fixes at your body. Together, they talk about making intentional, sometimes hard choices now so you can live better, stronger, and more fully later.

If you’re a woman trying to sort through the wellness noise and finally understand what actually works, this is the episode you’ve been waiting for.

Connect with me:

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Connect with Lori:

https://www.facebook.com/lori.welch.108

https://www.instagram.com/theloribradford?igsh=MXBubGRlZXN5dGVqZw==

You are getting 2 drops this week due to some technical difficulties. We are wrapping up our Women in Wellness Series with these last 2 episodes. Be sure to tune in to all of them as each one is unique.

In this episode of the Women in Wellness series, Jessica sits down with Angie Ambrosetti, a mother of seven, adoptive mom, grandmother, entrepreneur, and passionate advocate for holistic health.

Angie shares her deeply personal wellness journey, including her experience with anorexia and bulimia, what finally helped her heal at the root, and how redefining nourishment transformed her relationship with food, her body, and her life. We talk openly about what she tried in the past, why extreme restriction failed her, and how learning to support her body instead of fighting it became the turning point.

This conversation explores Angie’s experience with the carnivore lifestyle, her approach to fueling her body as a busy mom and grandma, and the holistic tools she uses to support physical and mental health, including red light therapy, rebounding, vibration plates, and biohacking practices.

If you’re a woman navigating motherhood, healing your relationship with food, recovering from disordered eating, or looking for a more grounded, whole-body approach to wellness, this episode offers honesty, hope, and practical insight rooted in lived experience.

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