The Rising with Janel Gonzalez

Some people out there have scary energy and the holidays are full of them. In this episode of The Rising, Janel breaks down what energy vampires are, how to spot them, and exactly what to do before walking into any event this season so you can show up as your best self.

We live in a world where the holiday calendar fills up fast, and with every event comes an energetic cost. From grounding techniques to recovery time, Janel walks through the tools that keep you protected, present, and actually enjoying the season instead of just surviving it.

 In this episode:

• What energy vampires are and how to recognize them
• How to ground yourself before walking into any event
• The golden light protection meditation Janel swears by
• Why releasing other people’s energy is just as important as protecting your own
• How to schedule recovery time between events so you don’t burn out
• Why it’s okay to leave early, say no, or skip altogether
  
  

Stay Connected:

✨ Shop The Rising Quote Journal: https://www.amazon.com/Rising-Quote-Journal-Quotes-version/dp/B0G8T1BPKF

✨ Explore VIVÉA 44: https://vivea44.com

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Click here to follow Janel on Instagram.
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Have you ever felt deeply hurt by someone who didn’t even seem to notice or care?

In this October Rising After Dark episode, Janel dives into Patrick Gaines’ book Sociopath and explores what it really means when someone in your life seems emotionally detached, unapologetic, or incapable of empathy. This isn’t about labeling people. It’s about understanding them, releasing unrealistic expectations, and giving yourself permission to stop taking it personally.

Because sometimes people can only give you what they have and that’s all they have.

In this episode:
• What a sociopath actually is and what it isn’t
• The five key traits of antisocial personality disorder explained
• Why some people simply cannot offer deeper connection and it’s not always their fault
• The author’s journey from experiencing these traits herself to becoming a clinical therapist
• Why Janel read this book to understand people in her own life and not to label them
• What to do when someone close to you can’t give you what you need
• How to adjust your expectations without losing yourself
• Why empaths struggle most with emotionally detached people and how to find balance

📚 Book Mentioned: Sociopath: A Memoir by Patric Gagne https://a.co/d/02FIwsnJ 

✨ Shop The Rising Quote Journal: https://www.amazon.com/Rising-Quote-Journal-Quotes-version/dp/B0G8T1BPKF

✨ Explore VIVÉA 44: https://vivea44.com

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Click here to follow Janel on Instagram.
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What if the thing holding you back isn't a lack of motivation — it's the shadow side of the very principles you're trying to live by?

This October, Janel goes dark. In this special episode she walks through each of the four RISE principles and explores their shadow — what it looks like when reflection turns into rumination, intention turns into sleepwalking, simplicity turns into overconsumption, and enjoyment turns into waiting for life to be perfect before you live it.

This season, find the light — even when everything around you feels dark.

In this episode:

• Carl Jung's shadow work and why it matters for your personal growth
• What avoiding reflection is actually costing you
• The danger of suppressing your feelings — it always comes back
• What it means to sleepwalk through your life and how to wake up
• Aligning your daily actions with your core values this season
• Why you don't have to wait for the perfect moment to enjoy your life
• How Janel found joy during one of the darkest seasons of her own life
• Finding the duality — you can be in a hard season and still rise

✨ Shop The Rising Quote Journal: https://www.amazon.com/Rising-Quote-Journal-Quotes-version/dp/B0G8T1BPKF

✨ Explore VIVÉA 44: https://vivea44.com

👉 If this episode helped you, please rate, subscribe, and share it with someone who needs a reset.

Click here to follow Janel on Instagram.
Click here to WATCH this episode.

Nobody asks how the caregiver is doing. It's time to change that.

When journalist Juana Libedinsky's husband suffered a traumatic brain injury during a family ski trip in the Patagonia Andes, she didn't fall apart — she became a machine. In this powerful episode, Juana shares the story behind her book Downhill, what really happens to the person doing the caregiving, and why the caregiver's journey is just as important as the patient's.

This one is for every person carrying something heavy in silence.

In this episode:

• What it means to become the family caregiver overnight
• The diagnosis that came with a 90% chance of death or vegetative state
• Why Juana never had a fog moment — and what that taught her
• The pressure caregivers feel to hold everything together
• What happens when the patient's story becomes the caregiver's whole identity
• How to keep living — tennis, books, and not becoming just your story
• The surprising way writing became a form of healing
• What Jane Austen has to do with hope and happy endings
  
  

📚 Book Mentioned: Downhill by Juana Libedinsky https://a.co/d/06Mq2weE

🤳 Follow Juana: https://www.instagram.com/jlibedinsky

✨ Shop The Rising Quote Journal: https://www.amazon.com/Rising-Quote-Journal-Quotes-version/dp/B0G8T1BPKF

✨ Explore VIVÉA 44: https://vivea44.com

👉 If this episode helped you, please rate, subscribe, and share it with someone who needs a reset.

Click here to follow Janel on Instagram.
Click here to WATCH this episode.

We were never meant to find meaning in our stuff — and deep down, we all know it.

Joshua Becker — bestselling author, pastor, and the man behind Becoming Minimalist — joins Janel for a powerful conversation about why we keep accumulating, what we're really chasing, and how his newest book Uncluttered Faith is helping people make space for the things that matter most. From human nature to faith to the RISE principles, this episode goes far deeper than decluttering tips.

It's a reset for your home, your heart, and your life.

In this episode:

• What people are actually searching for — and why possessions can't deliver it
• The lie marketers tell us and why our hearts keep believing it
• Why be the change you want to see is the only financial ethic that matters
• How a garage, a neighbor, and a Saturday afternoon changed everything for Joshua
• What a truly quiet hour of solitude can do for your direction and purpose
• Reflection, intention, simplicity, and joy — the RISE framework meets minimalism
• Why Joshua is intentionally doing nothing new for the rest of the year
• What brings him the deepest, most lasting joy — and it's not what you'd expect

📚 Books Mentioned:

• Uncluttered Faith by Joshua Becker https://a.co/d/0g0Y2SzG
  
  
• The More of Less by Joshua Becker https://a.co/d/0efkN1fp 
  
  
• The Minimalist Home by Joshua Becker https://a.co/d/03tm6RCj 
  
  
• Discipline Is Destiny by Ryan Holiday https://a.co/d/0aT6Zobw 
  
  

✨ Shop The Rising Quote Journal: https://www.amazon.com/Rising-Quote-Journal-Quotes-version/dp/B0G8T1BPKF

✨ Explore VIVÉA 44: https://vivea44.com

🤳 Follow Joshua: https://www.instagram.com/joshua_becker

🌐 Visit Joshua's website: https://www.becomingminimalist.com

👉 If this episode helped you, please rate, subscribe, and share it with someone who needs a reset.

Click here to follow Janel on Instagram.
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Back-to-school season can bring new routines, packed schedules, overstimulation, and plenty of unexpected changes—but the energy we bring into our homes can make a difference.

In this episode, Janel explores what it means to raise your vibe as a parent and as a family. Inspired by Vibrate Higher Daily by Lalah Delia, she shares practical ways to create a calmer, more positive home where both parents and kids have space to reset after the demands of the school day.

From starting the morning with gratitude and music to slowing down after school, Janel shares simple practices that can help families come back to center. She also explains why parents need to pay attention to their own energy, habits, and the content they're consuming—because kids notice and absorb the environment around them.

Janel also shares her family's Friday and Sunday reset rituals, including clearing away school clutter, creating peaceful spaces, meditation, music, rest, and intentional family connection.

In this episode:

• How to raise your family's energy during the school year
• Helping overstimulated kids come back to calm
• Why your energy as a parent matters
• Creating calmer morning and after-school routines
• Using gratitude and music to set a positive tone
• Creating a peaceful home where kids can decompress
• Protecting downtime during busy school weeks
• Simple Friday and Sunday reset rituals
• Making more room for family connection

📚 Book Mentioned: Vibrate Higher Daily by Lalah Delia https://a.co/d/0fwZV1GI

✨ Shop The Rising Quote Journal: Amazon

✨ Explore VIVÉA 44: vivea44.com

👉 If this episode helped you, please rate, subscribe, and share it with someone who needs a reset.

Click here to follow Janel on Instagram.
Click here to WATCH this episode.

Your calendar should reflect your values — not everyone else's expectations.

Janel is back with another back to school essential, and this one is for every parent who said yes to too much last year and paid for it by December. In this episode she breaks down how to approach the school year calendar with intention, protect your family's rest, and stop letting the schedule run your life.

Because the calendar cannot be your family's boss.

In this episode:

• What calendar clutter actually costs you
• How to pad your schedule before and after events
• Why it's okay to say no without guilt — and how to do it gracefully
• How to protect white space and keep it open
• Involving your kids in the calendar conversation
• What over-scheduling does to your children's nervous system
• How to let your calendar reflect your values
• A RISE framework check-in for the school year ahead

✨ Shop The Rising Quote Journal: https://www.amazon.com/Rising-Quote-Journal-Quotes-version/dp/B0G8T1BPKF

✨ Explore VIVÉA 44: https://vivea44.com

👉 If this episode helped you, please rate, subscribe, and share it with someone who needs a reset.

Click here to follow Janel on Instagram.
Click here to WATCH this episode.

What do you do when your child comes home and tells you another kid has been mean to them?

In this episode, Janel continues her Back to School series with a practical conversation about bullies, mean kids, and difficult situations at school. Inspired by Jefferson Fisher’s book The Next Conversation, she shares tools parents can teach their children to help them respond with greater confidence, self-control, and resilience.

From pausing before reacting and confidently addressing hurtful comments to knowing when to walk away or ask a trusted adult for help, Janel explores ways to help kids protect their self-esteem without teaching them to retaliate or engage in negative behavior.

She also discusses the parent’s role—gathering the full story before reacting, modeling healthy conflict resolution, addressing problems early, and recognizing that sometimes our own child may be the one behaving unkindly.

In this episode:
• How to help kids respond to bullying and mean behavior
• Teaching children to pause before reacting
• What kids can say when someone makes a hurtful comment
• When to walk away and when to ask for help
• Helping kids build confidence and protect their self-esteem
• Why parents shouldn't immediately react to school conflict
• Teaching empathy without excusing bad behavior
• What to do when your child is the one being mean
• Helping kids navigate difficult friendships and classmates


📚 Book Mentioned:
The Next Conversation by Jefferson Fisher
https://a.co/d/0jdLPsom


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What does it really mean to raise a teenager well — and what does success actually look like?

In this special episode, Janel sits down with her son Alex Gonzalez for a freshman year recap that every parent and teenager needs to hear. From drumming with Tommy Lee to navigating a new school, building discipline, and figuring out what actually matters — this conversation is honest, funny, and full of heart.

Spoiler: it's not about the GPA.

In this episode:

• How Alex's freshman year surprised him
• Why character matters more than grades
• Performing at The Whisky and Viper Room at 15
• Rock Fantasy Camp with Tommy Lee and John 5
• What discipline really looks like in a teenager
• What Alex wishes parents would stop worrying about
• How teenagers can actually decompress and rest
• What Alex hopes to become by junior year

✨ Shop The Rising Quote Journal: https://www.amazon.com/Rising-Quote-Journal-Quotes-version/dp/B0G8T1BPKF

✨ Explore VIVÉA 44: https://vivea44.com

👉 If this episode helped you, please rate, subscribe, and share it with someone who needs a reset.

Click here to follow Janel on Instagram.
Click here to WATCH this episode.

Back-to-school preparation is about more than school supplies, new clothes, and getting back into a routine. It’s also an opportunity to prepare kids with the social skills, manners, and character they need to navigate the school year with confidence.

In this episode, Janel sits down with world-renowned etiquette expert Carla Shellis for a much-needed Back-to-School Manners 101 refresh. Carla shares practical etiquette tips every child should know—from making eye contact, greeting adults, and saying please and thank you to respecting teachers, practicing good hygiene, and noticing the people who are often overlooked. 

They also go beyond traditional manners to discuss emotional etiquette and parenting: why character matters just as much as grades, how to help children handle conflict respectfully, creating a home where kids feel safe telling the truth, and why parents have to model the behavior they expect from their children. 

Plus, Janel and Carla tackle digital etiquette and the lasting impact of what kids post, text, and share online. 

Whether you’re raising an elementary schooler or a teenager, this conversation is a timely reminder that some of the most important lessons children carry into the classroom begin at home.

🤳 Follow Carla: @carlashellis

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Click here to follow Janel on Instagram.
Click here to WATCH this episode.