The Why Me Podcast

What if your purpose isn’t something you have to go out and find—but something that’s already woven into who you are?

In this episode of the Why Me Podcast, host Brianna Spurgeon shares a simple 5-minute purpose exercise she learned more than six years ago during a season of career uncertainty. At the time, Brianna was questioning what she brought to the table beyond her résumé, experience, and job title. Her coach gave her a surprisingly simple—and admittedly cheesy—prompt that has stayed with her ever since.

The exercise:

“I am a _____ who _____ so that _____.”

The first blank can be any noun—an animal, object, person, or something in nature. The goal is to identify something you naturally connect with, then explore what it does and why that matters to you.

Brianna’s answer was:

“I am an eagle that soars above to help people understand the bigger picture.”

Years later, that sentence still guides the way she approaches her career, life, change, and even this podcast.

In this episode, Brianna explores how to discover your purpose, how to identify your strengths and values, finding purpose during a career transition, and why looking inward may be more helpful than trying to predict your entire future. She also shares how this exercise unexpectedly became a description of the Why Me Podcast itself—where she takes difficult or unexpected experiences, rises above the immediate circumstances, and looks for the bigger picture and lessons that might help someone else.

If you’re feeling lost, stuck, uncertain about your career, unsure what you have to offer, or entering a new season of life, take five minutes to try this creative purpose exercise for yourself.

The 5-Minute Purpose Exercise:

I am a _____ who _____ so that _____.

Don’t overthink it. And don’t worry if it feels cheesy.

Write down whatever comes to mind. Then ask yourself:

• What am I naturally drawn to?
• What am I naturally good at?
• How do I help other people?
• What do I want people to experience because I was there?
• How can I live that out today?

Your purpose may not require you to become someone entirely new. It may simply require you to recognize more clearly who you already are.

Listen to the Why Me Podcast with host Brianna Spurgeon for this short, reflective episode about purpose, self-discovery, career uncertainty, personal values, strengths, life transitions, and finding meaning in the way you naturally show up in the world.

In this episode of The Why Me Podcast with Brianna Spurgeon, Brianna explores the lost art of telling people what they mean to us—before tragedy, grief, or a major life event forces us to say it.

From Facebook comments filled with “thoughts and prayers” to the disappearing nature of text messages, Brianna wonders whether modern technology has made it easier to acknowledge someone’s pain without truly connecting with them. She reflects on the emotional vulnerability that can come with expressing gratitude, love, admiration, and appreciation—and why so many of us wait until it feels urgent to finally say what has been on our hearts all along.

Inspired by a friend who regularly sends her thoughtful, handwritten letters, Brianna considers what makes a handwritten note feel so different from a text message and why putting meaningful words on paper can make someone feel deeply seen, valued, and loved.

Through personal stories of illness, friendship, old teachers, grief, and the realization that life can change at any moment, Brianna asks a simple question: Why do we wait?

This episode of The Why Me Podcast is an invitation to embrace emotional vulnerability, revive the lost art of meaningful communication, and tell the people who have shaped your life exactly what they mean to you—while they’re here.

The Why Me Podcast with Brianna Spurgeon is a faith-filled, honest and conversational podcast about turning life’s unexpected burdens, questions, and disruptions into breakthrough.

In this episode of The Why Me Podcast, host Brianna Spurgeon takes an honest look at self-criticism, negative thinking, judgment, and the exhausting habit of constantly comparing ourselves to others.

Brianna shares a personal realization that the criticism she had been directing toward herself was beginning to spill over into how she viewed other people. From judging our appearance, homes, careers, parenting, and choices to worrying about how others perceive us, she explores how easily comparison can turn life into a mental scoreboard—and why constantly keeping score can leave us feeling like we are never enough.

Through a vulnerable conversation with a friend, Brianna begins questioning where judgment actually comes from, why our first thoughts aren’t always the whole truth, and how we can become more intentional about what we choose to notice. She shares a simple practice for shifting attention toward the good, challenging negative thought patterns, and giving ourselves and others more grace.

This episode of The Why Me Podcast is a reminder that there will always be something we could criticize, improve, or compare—and that peace doesn’t have to wait until everything is perfect. Sometimes the breakthrough is learning to stop keeping score.

The Why Me Podcast, hosted by Brianna Spurgeon, explores the unexpected disruptions, challenges, and “Why Me” moments of life—and how they can become opportunities for growth, perspective, faith, and breakthrough.

What if the setback you’re facing isn’t actually a setback at all—but a redirection?

In this episode of The Why Me Podcast, host Brianna Spurgeon explores the unexpected detours, delays, closed doors, and disappointments that can completely change the direction of our lives. Drawing from her own experience stepping away from an AI consulting business just as it was beginning to gain momentum, Brianna reflects on how something she once viewed as devastating may have ultimately redirected her away from a path she can no longer imagine navigating.

She also explores the everyday moments that make us wonder about timing, coincidence, fate, divine intervention, and God’s plan—from missed flights and unexpected delays to the small inconveniences that may cause us to arrive somewhere just a few minutes later than we intended.

Brianna doesn’t claim to know why every difficult thing happens. Instead, she offers a powerful perspective for navigating uncertainty: we may know the road we wanted to take, but we don’t know where that road would have ultimately led.

For anyone facing a setback, disappointment, unmet expectation, health challenge, career change, closed door, or unexpected life detour, this episode offers a different question to consider: What might this be redirecting me toward?

The Why Me Podcast by Brianna Spurgeon is a storytelling podcast about the moments that force us to ask, “Why me?”—and what we do next. Through honest reflections on illness, adversity, identity shifts, resilience, faith, and unexpected changes, Brianna explores how to find meaning and purpose when life doesn’t go according to plan.

What if the best time to prepare for a hard season isn’t when you’re already struggling—but when life is going really well?

On this episode of The Why Me Podcast, host Brianna Spurgeon reflects on what happened when an unexpected season of complications after surgery completely shook up her routines, leaving her feeling out of balance and unsure how to find her way back to the things that made her feel peaceful, fulfilled, and like herself.

Brianna explores the importance of studying your good seasons and identifying the systems that support you when life feels steady. Using the Wheel of Life as a framework, she walks through eight key areas of life: family and friends, romance/significant other, fun and recreation, health, money, personal growth, physical environment, and career. Rather than simply asking whether each area is going well, she encourages listeners to identify the specific systems and habits that are creating that sense of fulfillment—and to consider how those systems could adapt when circumstances change.

Because life is going to knock everyone off course at some point. The goal isn’t to build a life without holes. It’s to build a ladder before you need one.

In this episode, Brianna challenges listeners to pay attention to what is holding them together while they’re standing on solid ground, document what works, and create a foundation they can return to when their own Why Me moment comes.

What if getting out of a rut starts with getting out of your routine?

In this episode of The Why Me Podcast, host Brianna Spurgeon explores the surprising connection between routine, novelty, memory, and how we experience our lives. When life shakes you up with an unexpected change, disappointment, loss, transition, or difficult season, it can be tempting to retreat into the same routines and environments that keep you stuck. But what if that disruption could become an opportunity to wake yourself back up?

Brianna dives into the idea of breaking autopilot and intentionally creating new experiences—even when you can’t completely change your circumstances. Taking a different route to work, walking through a different door, talking to someone new, visiting a coffee shop, exploring your own town, or simply getting out of the house and observing life happening around you can create small moments of novelty that help shift your perspective.

The episode also explores why highly repetitive days can begin to blur together in our memories, and why creating new experiences and meaningful moments may help us feel more present and connected to our lives. Rather than waiting until you feel better to start living differently, Brianna challenges listeners to change their experience first.

For anyone feeling stuck, overwhelmed, bored, disconnected, or caught in a difficult season, this episode offers a simple challenge: interrupt the autopilot. Get out of your head. Change your scenery. Try something new. Pay attention.

Because sometimes you don’t need to completely reinvent your life.

Sometimes you just need to experience it differently.

The Why Me Podcast with Brianna Spurgeon is about turning unexpected challenges into opportunities for growth, perspective, resilience, and a more intentional life.

Everyone knows the advice: “You should exercise.”

Move your body. Go for a walk. Get outside. Work out. Take care of yourself.

But what if exercise could do far more than improve physical health?

In this episode of The Why Me Podcast, host Brianna Spurgeon takes a deeper look at exercise as a powerful complementary tool for navigating the mental and emotional weight of a Why Me Moment. Whether someone is facing a difficult diagnosis, major life transition, grief, anxiety, an overwhelming decision, an unexpected opportunity, or simply a season that requires more emotional capacity than they feel they have, movement can create space to process, regulate, reflect, pray, and reconnect with yourself.

Brianna shares her personal journey from being someone who hated running to discovering that a simple one-mile treadmill goal became one of her most meaningful rituals for mental clarity and self-care. She also opens up about how being diagnosed with myasthenia gravis changed her relationship with exercise—and forced her to learn one of the episode’s most important lessons: meet yourself where you are.

Because sometimes that means running three miles. Sometimes it means walking ten minutes. Sometimes it means stretching. And sometimes it means resting.

The point isn’t how much you can do.

The point is showing up for yourself in the capacity you have today.

For anyone who has ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, anxious, emotionally exhausted, or unsure of what to do next, this episode offers a simple invitation:

Move.

Maybe everyone who has ever told you to exercise was onto something after all.

The Why Me Podcast with Brianna Spurgeon explores the moments that make us ask Why me?—and how we can transform those moments into opportunities for reflection, resilience, growth, purpose, and hope.

In this powerful episode of The Why Me Podcast, host Brianna Spurgeon shares what she learned after a 10-day hospital stay, two surgeries, time in the ICU, and some of the most physically and mentally difficult days of her life.

Brianna opens up about what happens when mental strength, positivity, and resilience aren’t enough—and what it means to reach the end of yourself. Through a powerful moment of prayer and Isaiah 40:31, she reflects on faith, hope, surrender, and trusting God when circumstances don’t immediately change.

This episode is for anyone facing a season of illness, grief, burnout, fear, uncertainty, or simply feeling like they have nothing left. Brianna’s message is simple: you don’t have to be strong enough for everything life throws at you. Sometimes, all you need is enough hope to take the next step.

The Why Me Podcast with Brianna Spurgeon explores faith, resilience, personal growth, adversity, mindset, motivation, and finding purpose through life’s hardest seasons.

In this episode of The Why Me Podcast, host Brianna Spurgeon explores the power of zooming out when life feels overwhelming. Through personal reflection and practical perspective shifts, Brianna shares how stepping back from the details can help people see their challenges, fears, and decisions through a bigger lens.

From stressful work moments to life-changing leaps of faith, this episode challenges listeners to stop allowing temporary problems to carry permanent weight. Brianna reminds listeners that while challenges deserve attention, they do not have to consume their peace.

By remembering the bigger picture—that we are all living on a spinning rock in space—listeners are encouraged to release fear, embrace courage, and take action without being trapped by the question of “what if?”

In this episode of The Why Me Podcast, host Brianna Spurgeon explores why gratitude is not just an emotion we experience when life is going well, but a discipline we can practice in every season.

Inspired by her conversation with Emily Stuckwish, who experienced being struck by lightning and later the loss of her father, Brianna reflects on the power of choosing gratitude even in the middle of difficult circumstances. Emily’s daily practice of finding something to be grateful for—even on the hardest days—serves as a reminder that gratitude is not about ignoring pain, but about making room for hope.

Brianna shares why gratitude can change the way we see our circumstances, open the “windows” of our minds, and help us recognize the good that still exists even during life’s storms.

Listeners are challenged to create their own gratitude practice by tying it to a daily habit: brushing their teeth. Each time they brush their teeth this week, they are encouraged to pause and name one thing they are grateful for.

Because gratitude isn’t something we have to wait to feel. It’s something we can choose to practice.