The Unfinished Human®

What does it mean to be human when the world feels like it’s burning?

In this unscripted anniversary episode, I reflect on one year of The Unfinished Human® and the unexpected path this project has taken — from personal writings to sibling conversations to guest interviews to this moment of raw, unfiltered truth telling.

I talk about the creative well running dry, the medicine of getting back on my bike, and the grounding power of being outside, in community, and in motion. I share why visibility as a queer white woman in a conservative town matters, and how small acts of presence can become lifelines for people who don’t feel safe.

I briefly speak to the heartbreak of watching the trans community be targeted, the ongoing erosion of rights, the violence of voter suppression, and the global crises unfolding in Gaza, Iran, Sudan, Cuba, and beyond. As a sensitive person, as an artist, it feels impossible to create without acknowledging the suffering happening in real time.

This episode is an invitation to remember our shared humanity, to show up where we can, and to honor the truth that art and activism are not separate — they are intertwined.

I close with my newest piece, Humanity, a reminder that we were never meant to stand alone.

What We Explore

• One year of The Unfinished Human® and the evolution of the project

• Creativity, burnout, and the need to refill the well

• Cycling, nature, and the grounding power of embodied community

• Queer visibility in conservative spaces

• The targeting of the trans community and the erosion of rights

• Voter suppression, redistricting, and systemic harm

• Global crises and the overwhelm of witnessing

• Art, activism, sensitivity, and the role of creatives in times of crisis

• “Think globally, work locally” as a path back to purpose

• The poem Humanity and the reminder that we belong to each other

Talking Points / Quotable Moments

• “Participating in humanity, less screens.”

• “Think globally, work locally.”

• “It feels bullshit to show up when people are literally dying.”

• “Being human never meant standing alone.”

• “Visibility matters — especially where it feels unsafe.”

• “Artists are struggling to know how to show up right now.”

• “We remember our humanity when we stop believing the story they sold us.”

Listen If You’re Into

Raw reflections on humanity, activism, queer visibility, creativity, burnout, community care, global grief, and the emotional complexity of being alive in this moment.

Stay Unfinished

Show up where you can. Rest where you must. And stay tethered to your humanity — and each other.

Follow The Unfinished Human® wherever you listen, and stay wrecked, wild, and full of wonder.

Connect with Lyndsay / The Unfinished Human®

🌐Website: TheUnfinishedHuman.com

📸Instagram: @theunfinishedhuman

🕯️Free Ritual Journey: The Descent Begins Here

🌀 Ritual Journey: Voice Reclamation Ritual Journey

🎧 Insight Timer Meditations: insighttimer.com/lyndsaytoensing

What happens after the identity collapse? After the title is gone, the body has spoken, and the old success story no longer makes sense?

In Episode 32 of The Unfinished Human®, I continue the conversation with executive coach, speaker, and author Becca Pearce (You Don’t Have to Achieve to Be Loved), moving deeper into the terrain that follows burnout, illness, and ego death: stillness, grief, money, anger, motherhood, and the slow process of redefining value.

We talk about the lies we were sold about success, productivity, money, and power—and how deeply they shape our nervous systems, our bodies, and the way we raise the next generation. Becca shares how watching her daughter choose a different relationship with achievement became a mirror for her own healing, and why time—not titles, money, or prestige—is the only thing that actually matters when everything falls apart.

About Becca

Becca Pearce, author of You Don’t Have to Achieve to be Loved, spent much of her career as a corporate leader at CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield and Kaiser Permanente before becoming CEO of Maryland’s Health Benefit Exchange.

After a very public separation from the Exchange, Becca was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The experience forced her to redefine success, identity, and what it means to live fully.

Today, she is an inspirational speaker, growth strategist, and personal executive coach helping professionals lead with authenticity and purpose. 

morebeccapearce.com

www.linkedin.com/in/beccapearce

www.extendcoach.com

What We Explore

• Why achievement becomes a nervous system survival strategy

• The lie that money, power, and titles equal safety

• Grief, anger, and the unresolved “what if” stories we carry

• Parenting without passing down achievement addiction

• Why time — not success — becomes the true measure of a life

Listen If You’re Into

Conversations about high‑achiever burnout, stillness and nervous system healing, grief and anger after illness, redefining success, motherhood and identity, money and worthiness, coaching without hustle culture, and building a life that values time over performance.

Stay Unfinished

Healing isn’t linear.
Stillness isn’t passive.
And believing you’re already enough may be the hardest work of all.

Follow The Unfinished Human® wherever you listen andstay wrecked, wild, and full of wonder.

Connect with Lyndsay / The Unfinished Human®

🌐Website: TheUnfinishedHuman.com

📸Instagram: @theunfinishedhuman

🕯️Free Ritual Journey: The Descent Begins Here

🌀 Ritual Journey: Voice Reclamation Ritual Journey

🎧Insight Timer Meditations: insighttimer.com/lyndsaytoensing

There’s a particular ache that comes with being a high achiever: believing love, rest, safety, and belonging are things you earn through output. Sometimes that belief doesn’t loosen until something ruptures—a job loss, a devastating diagnosis, or a body that refuses to keep carrying the load.

In this episode, I sit down with Becca Pearce, a former corporate executive whose life cracked open in rapid succession: a very public job loss, followed by a brain tumor diagnosis requiring urgent surgery and a long season of relearning how to walk, live, and be in a body with real limitations.

Underneath it all was the question so many of us avoid until we can’t: Who am I without the title, the performance, the productivity, and the proving?

This is a conversation about identity collapse, illness, boundaries, and unlearning the belief that you have to achieve to be loved.

About Becca

Becca Pearce, author of You Don’t Have to Achieve to be Loved, spent much of her career as a corporate leader at CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield and Kaiser Permanente before becoming CEO of Maryland’s Health Benefit Exchange.

After a very public separation from the Exchange, Becca was diagnosed with a brain tumor. That experience forced her to redefine success, identity, and what it means to live fully.

Today, Becca is an inspirational speaker, growth strategist, and personal executive coach who helps professionals lead with authenticity and purpose.

morebeccapearce.com

www.linkedin.com/in/beccapearce

What We Explore

• Achievement as a survival strategy—and when it stops working
• Identity collapse after job loss
• Illness, limitation, and forced surrender
• Power, prestige, money, and worthiness
• Boundaries and choosing a different life
• Choosing presence over performance

Quotable Moments

• “The body wins.”
• “I thought I had made it—and it became my identity so quickly.”
• “I spent years wishing for the before.”
• “Power and prestige weren’t things I actually wanted—but I thought they were.”

Listen If You’re Into

High-achieving identity, perfectionism, burnout, people-pleasing, job loss, illness, boundaries, money and worthiness, and rebuilding a life not fueled by performance.

Stay Unfinished

Healing isn’t linear. Identity isn’t static. Learning to live without proving isn’t failure. It’s the work.

Follow The Unfinished Human® wherever you listen, and stay wrecked, wild, and full of wonder.

Connect with Lyndsay / The Unfinished Human®

🌐 Website: TheUnfinishedHuman.com

📸 Instagram: @theunfinishedhuman

🕯️Free Ritual Journey: The Descent Begins Here

🌀 Ritual Journey: Voice Reclamation Ritual Journey

🎧 Insight Timer Meditations: insighttimer.com/lyndsaytoensing

What does it mean to return to movement—not as the person you were, but as the person you are now?

In Part 3 of our Sibling Files catch‑up series, Ben and I continue unraveling what it means to rebuild our lives inside bodies that have shifted, slowed, and demanded new forms of care. We talk about returning to cycling after years away, the egobruises that come with aging, and the surprising joy of rediscovering play without performance.

Ben shares his desire to race again—not to place, but to participate—and the reality check of being told that “a 20-mile ride is going to feel like a long ride.” We explore the emotional terrain of starting over, learning not to chase younger riders, and finding community that isn’t elitist or exclusionary.

I talk about finding a new bike shop, reconnecting with the cycling world, and navigating my AuDHD tendency to go all‑in until I burn out. We explore micro‑steps, sustainable movement, and why listening to our bodies is the only way forward.

We also dive deep into nourishment—sweet potatoes, kimchi, sardines, gluten‑free comfort foods, dopamine cravings, inflammation, and the emotional complexity of feedinga body with a history of eating disorders. This conversation is raw, real, and rooted in the everyday work of staying alive, awake, and unfinished.

This episode is about aging, identity, nourishment, ego, community, and the quiet revolution of learning to move differently—not harder.

What We Explore

 • Returning to cycling after years away—ego, identity, and unexpected joy

• Aging bodies, shifting limits, and learning not to chase younger riders

• AuDHD pacing, micro‑steps, and sustainable movement

• Kettlebells, rebuilding strength, and the shock of starting over

• Sweet potatoes, kimchi, sardines, and the weirdly perfect meals that keep us going

• Why movement is no longer about performance—it’s about staying alive

Talking Points / Quotable Moments

• “A 20-mile ride is going to feel like a long ride.”

• “It’s not baby steps—it’s micro baby steps.”

• “I used to think of my body as something to control. Now I’m learning to listen.”

• “Good ingredients, done simply, win every time.”

• “I’m a toast specialist, Ben.”

Listen If You’re Into

Honest conversations about aging, identity, cycling, nourishment, chronic pain, AuDHD pacing, community, and the emotional complexity of rebuilding a life inside abody that keeps changing.

Stay Unfinished

Healing isn’t linear. Movement isn’t punishment. And returning to yourself—again and again—isn’t regression. It’s the work.

Follow The Unfinished Human® wherever you listen, and stay wrecked, wild, and full of wonder.

Connect with Lyndsay / The Unfinished Human®

 🌐 Website: TheUnfinishedHuman.com📸 Instagram: @theunfinishedhuman

🕯️Free Ritual Journey: The Descent Begins Here

🌀Ritual Journey: Voice Reclamation Ritual Journey

🎧 Insight Timer Meditations: insighttimer.com/lyndsaytoensing

What happens when the body you’ve relied on your whole lifesuddenly refuses to cooperate—and the tools you swore you’d never use become the ones that finally help you heal?

In Part 2 of our Sibling Files catch‑up series, Ben and I pick up right where we left off, diving deeper into what it means to rebuild a life inside bodies that have changed faster than our identities have. We talk about GLP‑1s, perimenopause, mobility loss, and the slow, humbling climb back toward strength. We also explore the surprising emotional terrain of returning to cycling after years away—and why freedom and play matter more to us now than metrics or milestones.

I share the long road from hysterectomy to chronic pain, tobeing told I have “the spine of an 84‑year‑old,” to the medical team that helped me claw my way back through Pilates, PT, and functional movement.

Ben talks about pool therapy, the shock of how quickly the body deteriorates when you’re forced into stillness, and the mindset shift required to train differently at 50.

And somehow, without planning it, we both found ourselvescircling back to the same thing that once defined us: bikes. The community we left. The identity we shelved. The freedom we’ve been craving.

This episode is about aging, resilience, stubbornness, andthe quiet revolution of learning to move differently—not harder.

What We Explore

• GLP‑1s, metabolism shifts, and why “doing all the rightthings” sometimes isn’t enough

• The aftermath of hysterectomy, chronic pain, andrebuilding from the ground up

• Pilates vs. yoga for aging bodies and why functionalmovement is everything

• Pool therapy, water treadmills, and the shock of delayedsoreness

• How identity gets tangled up in strength, capability, and independence

• Returning to cycling after years away: freedom, play, andzero expectations

• Why movement is no longer optional—it’s survival

Talking Points / Quotable Moments

• “They told me I have the spine of an 84‑year‑old woman.”

• “Pilates has strengthened everything—muscles I didn’t even know I had.”

• “Pool therapy felt easy… until the next two days when Icouldn’t move.”

• “Cycling has always given me a sense of freedom and play.”

• “We both stepped away from cycling—and now we’re bothcoming back.”

Listen If You’re Into

Raw conversations about aging, chronic pain, identityshifts, mobility, functional movement, and the emotional complexity of rebuilding a life inside a body that no longer behaves the way it used to.

Stay Unfinished

Healing isn’t linear. Strength isn’t static. And returningto yourself—again and again—isn’t regression. It’s the work.

Follow The Unfinished Human® wherever you listen, and staywrecked, wild, and full of wonder.

Connect with Lyndsay / The Unfinished Human®

🌐 Website: TheUnfinishedHuman.com
📸Instagram: @theunfinishedhuman

🕯️Free Ritual Journey: The Descent Begins Here
🌀Ritual Journey: Voice Reclamation Ritual Journey

🎧 Insight Timer Meditations: insighttimer.com/lyndsaytoensing

What happens when the body you've always pushed keeps pushing back?

In this first installment of The Sibling Files catch-up series, I sit down with my brother Ben to talk about what Q1 2026 has really looked like for both of us—surgeries, recovery, and the humbling process of relearning how to move in bodies that no longer play by the old rules.

Ben shares the full story of his ankle surgery: the bone spurs, the scar tissue, the ligaments that had to be cut and re-tied, and the 90+ days of forced stillness that followed. We talk about what it's like to go from "the beast" to someone who can't make it from the bed to the kitchen without planning. About the panic of realizing you can't do this alone—and the stubborn resistance to asking for help anyway.

I share my own parallel journey: a hysterectomy that kicked off years of medical challenges, the slow rebuild through Pilates and PT, and the recent return to cycling after three years away.

We both stepped away from a community and identity that had defined us. And now, without coordinating, we're both finding our way back.

This episode is about aging bodies, lost strength, and the grief that comes with it. But it's also about what opens up when you finally stop fighting your body and start listening to it instead.

What We Explore

• Ben's ankle surgery: bone spurs, scar tissue, and ligaments re-tied

• The difference between recovering at 19 vs. recovering at 50

• Living alone through major surgery—and the struggle to ask for (or accept) help

• How forced stillness affects not just the body but the mind

• The role of companions in healing (enter: Jax the dog)

• Cycling as identity: what it meant, why we left, and why we're coming back

Talking Points / Quotable Moments

• "I get halfway to the front door and I turn around and look at her and say, 'I have no idea how I'm going to do this.'"

• "People are used to you being the rock... and when you have a pattern of not asking for help, to see that panic is like, oh shit."

• "I either need to start riding again or finally just get rid of my bikes—they're just taking up space."

• "We both stepped away from cycling a few years ago. And now, unbeknownst to each other, we're both stepping back in."

Listen If You're Into

Honest conversations about aging, identity tied to physical ability, the emotional weight of recovery, sibling dynamics, and what it means to rebuild from a body that's changed the rules on you.

Stay Unfinished

Recovery isn't linear. Neither is identity. Sometimes relearning means accepting that what worked before won't work now—and that's not failure. That's just being human.

Follow The Unfinished Human® wherever you listen, and remember to stay wrecked, wild, and full of wonder.

Connect with Lyndsay / The Unfinished Human®

🌐Website: TheUnfinishedHuman.com

📸Instagram: @theunfinishedhuman

🕯️Free Ritual Journey: The Descent Begins Here

🌀Ritual Journey: Voice Reclamation Ritual Journey

🎧 Insight Timer Meditations: insighttimer.com/lyndsaytoensing

In Part 2, Andrea D. Carter, organizational scientist and creator of the Belonging First Methodology™, talks about the personal side of belonging — the messy, inconvenient, unfinished part we all wrestle with.

Andrea shares how belonging often breaks down not because people fail, but because conditions fail — and how we can start rebuilding those conditions both inside organizations and inside ourselves. From how we negotiate our needs (or forget them altogether), to how generational patterns shape our ability to connect, this is a powerful look at what it takes to stay in the room when leaving would be easier.

We explore what it means to do belonging work for yourself first, to rebuild from burnout, and to recognize when not fitting in isn’t failure.

This one’s tender, timely, and quietly radical.

👤 About Andrea D. Carter

Andrea D. Carter (she/her) is an organizational scientist, adjunct professor at Adler University, and creator of the Belonging First Methodology — a neuroscience-driven framework to measure and strengthen belonging across workplaces and communities. She’s one of MSN’s 2025 Top 10 Disruptors and an award-winning researcher helping leaders and HR professionals transform toxic culture into psychologically safe, high-performing environments.

Find her work and resources at andreadcarter.substack.com or explore her human-centered leadership insights on fisher.osu.edu.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreadcarter/

Research: https://www.adler.edu/en-ca/faculty-engagement/faculty-directory/carter-andrea-d/Belonging 

HealthCheck: https://belongingfirst.com/belongingbreakdown

🚀 Listen If You’re Into

Raw conversations about identity, the science of relationships, healing generational conditioning, and the courage to be unfinished together.

🌀 Stay Unfinished

You don’t have to keep showing up to something that keeps asking you to disappear — but you do have to keep showing up for your own belonging.

Follow The Unfinished Human® wherever you listen, and remember to stay wrecked, wild, and full of wonder.

✨ Connect with Lyndsay / The Unfinished Human®
🌐 Website: TheUnfinishedHuman.com

📸 Instagram: @theunfinishedhuman

🕯️Free Ritual Journey: The Descent Begins Here

🌀Ritual Journey: Voice Reclamation Ritual Journey

🎧Insight Timer Meditations: insighttimer.com/lyndsaytoensing

What if belonging isn’t just a feeling — but a brain-based necessity?

I sit down with Andrea D. Carter, organizational scientist, global speaker, and founder of Belonging First, to unpack the real science and human cost behind belonging. We move past the buzzwords and dig into what it truly means to create spaces — at work, at home, in our communities — where people can exhale, connect, and contribute for real.

Andrea breaks down her five neuroscience-backed indicators of belonging and shows how each one shapes not only how we perform, but whether we thrive. We talk about the difference between fitting in and truly belonging, how cortisol hijacks our brains, and why burnout isn’t personal failure, it’s environmental design.

👤 About Andrea D. Carter

Andrea D. Carter (she/her) is an organizational scientist, adjunct professor at Adler University, and creator of the Belonging First Methodology — a neuroscience-driven framework to measure and strengthen belonging across workplaces and communities. She’s one of MSN’s 2025 Top 10 Disruptors and an award-winning researcher helping leaders and HR professionals transform toxic culture into psychologically safe, high-performing environments.

Find her work and resources at andreadcarter.substack.com or explore her human-centered leadership insights on fisher.osu.edu.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreadcarter/

Research: https://www.adler.edu/en-ca/faculty-engagement/faculty-directory/carter-andrea-d/Belonging 

Health Check: https://belongingfirst.com/belongingbreakdown

🚀 Listen If You’re Into

Raw conversations about being human, navigating identity, messy leadership, nervous system science, and building real community in a fractured world.

🌀 Stay Unfinished

If this stirred something in you, get curious.
Don’t ask where you belong — ask what you’re willing to risk to build it.

Follow The Unfinished Human™ wherever you listen — and as always, stay wrecked, wild, and full of wonder.

✨ Connect with Lyndsay / The Unfinished Human®
🌐 Website: TheUnfinishedHuman.com
📸 Instagram: @theunfinishedhuman

🕯️ Free Ritual Journey: The Descent Begins Here
🌀Ritual Journey: Voice Reclamation Ritual Journey

🎧 Insight Timer Meditations: insighttimer.com/lyndsaytoensing

It starts with crooked shirt banter and ends with a question that could break you open: If life imploded—what would you fight to keep?

Lyndsay and Brother Ben talk humanity, integrity, and what stays when the world loses its mind. They wrestle with moral courage, fear, and the quiet hope that maybe—just maybe—we’d still choose compassion when everything else burns.

And because it’s them, the conversation eventually pivots—Virgo-season style—from collapse to creation. They dream out loud about the seeds they still want to plant: music, art, movement, freedom, new homes in other corners of the world. Joy as rebellion. Hope as ritual.

Takeaways

• Humor helps when the world is on fire.

• You don’t really know who you are until everything breaks.

• Integrity and humanity are worth protecting—even when it costs you.

• Connection outlives possessions.

• Spirituality doesn’t need ceremony; sometimes it’s just what you hold in your head.

• Moral courage begins where comfort ends.

• Hope and horror can coexist without canceling each other out.

• Planting wild dreams in dark times is defiance, not denial.

• Joy is a survival skill.

• Being unfinished means loving and creating anyway.

Chapters

00:00 Crooked Shirts & Side-Eyes

02:42 If the World Imploded

11:25 Seeds for the Next Decade

26:30 Thanks for Listening

✨ Connect with Lyndsay / The Unfinished Human™

🌐 Website: TheUnfinishedHuman.com

📸 Instagram: @theunfinishedhuman

🕯️Free Ritual Journey: The Descent Begins Here

🌀 Ritual Journey: Voice Reclamation Ritual Journey

🎧 Insight Timer Meditations: insighttimer.com/lyndsaytoensing

Plant medicine, shadow work, and the ache of un-becoming.

Some truths don’t rise in words — they erupt through the body.

This episode is part of my Harvesting the Raw series, a night of shadow work, plant medicine, and somatic unwinding that didn’t just crack me open…it flooded me with joy and love I didn’t know my body still remembered.

Yes, there was release. Yes, old trauma stirred.

But what surprised me most was the tenderness — the silliness — the way my whole being flooded with light. Grief and joy tangled together. Laughter breaking through tears. The kind of embodiment that feels like cominghome and falling apart in the same breath.

This isn’t a tidy story of “healing.”

It’s a reminder that the body doesn’t only store pain — it also stores delight, wonder, and the kind of love that refusesto die, even when you forget to feel it.

If you’ve ever had a moment where your body rememberedsomething sacred before your mind did — a softness, a truth, a release — you’ll feel yourself in this one.

✨ Listen in.

🎧Ritual Playlist: Shadow Dwelling — Tidal Link

✨ Connect with Lyndsay / The Unfinished Human™

🌐 Website: TheUnfinishedHuman.com

🕯️Free Ritual Journey: The Descent Begins Here

🌀 Ritual Journey: Voice Reclamation Ritual Journey

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🎧 Insight Timer Meditations: insighttimer.com/lyndsaytoensing

📸Instagram: @theunfinishedhuman