The WTF Podcast: Pivot Out of the Funk with Molly Smith

Everyone keeps telling you how strong you are. But behind the smile, you're barely holding it together, and you can't figure out why you're not over it yet. If your life changed in a way you never asked for, this conversation will help you finally name what you're feeling and show you how to start rebuilding, one day at a time.

Divorce. An empty nest. A move. A truth about your family you never saw coming. Nobody died, so it doesn't feel like grief. But it is. And until you call it what it is, you can't move through it.

Cheryl Killilea, founder of Changing Lanes Wellness, spent two years being "fine" after her 18-year marriage ended in the middle of a pandemic. Then the busyness stopped, and one message changed everything she thought she knew about who she was.

You'll hear why the hardest part often comes after the logistics are done, how to grieve the identities you didn't realize you'd lost, and the simple daily practice that helped Cheryl trust herself again and choose what comes next.

If you're tired of pretending you're fine, this one's for you.

Join the Get the Funk Out community: https://www.skool.com/get-the-funk-out/about

Some of us get so good at being who everyone expects that being ourselves starts to feel hard. The reliable one. The funny one. The polished one who always delivers. And that version might be the very reason we're successful.

But underneath it, there's a question we don't say out loud: if we stopped performing and just showed up as ourselves, would anyone still want to hear it?

John Di Domenico built his career impersonating some of the most recognizable people on the planet. More than 200 voices, from Trump to Austin Powers to Dr. Phil, on Conan, Howard Stern, and stages around the world. But it started with a five-year-old kid with a speech impediment who just wanted to be heard. And when he finally stepped on stage as himself, he found out the hardest voice to use was his own.

This conversation isn't about ditching the skills that got you here. It's about letting yourself be seen underneath them. Why imposter syndrome can show up the moment you stop leaning on what's always worked. And why your voice, the one people hear and the one you talk to yourself with, deserves more attention than you've ever given it.

If you've been carrying that question for a while, come sit with us.

And if imposter syndrome, or that tension between who you've been and who you're becoming, has you in a funk, the Get the Funk Out community is where we navigate it together: https://www.skool.com/get-the-funk-out/about

You've built something that looks really good from the outside. Maybe even enviable. But you know the truth: you're holding it together with white knuckles, and the version of you the world sees isn't the whole story. You've been performing for so long you're not even sure who you are underneath it anymore.

And the worst part? You can't tell anyone. Because what if they saw the real you and left?

Derek Newborn knows that fear intimately. He built the kind of life that looked like success from every angle, and quietly watched it destroy him from the inside. What he discovered on the other side of losing everything was something he never expected: the walls he'd built to keep people from leaving were the very thing keeping him from being real.

This is a conversation about what it costs to keep the image going, what happens when you finally stop, and how to find your way back to a version of yourself you actually recognize. If you've been carrying something you can't say out loud, come sit with us.

Join the Get the Funk Out community: https://www.skool.com/get-the-funk-out/about

Connect with Derek:

Facebook: Derek Newborn

Instagram: @dereknewborn

You already know something needs to change. You've probably known for a while. But you keep going back and forth, waiting for some kind of certainty that never comes, because the idea of choosing wrong feels like it could break everything.

So you stay. You carry it. And the weight of that unmade decision starts to take more from you than the decision itself ever could.

Hope Firsel knows that weight. After infertility, stage three cancer, and the end of an 18-year marriage, she'll tell you that divorce was the hardest, not because of what came after, but because no one could make that choice for her.

This conversation is about what happens when you stop waiting for the "right" answer and start trusting the one you already have. How to stop letting fear run the show. How to finally put the backpack down.

If you've been carrying something you're afraid to decide, come sit with us.

If you'd like a free session with Hope, text "Molly" to (773) 848-9349.

Join the Get the Funk Out community:

• 00:00:00 When You Know Something Has to Change But Can't Act Yet
• 00:02:11 From Corporate Change to Personal Transformation
• 00:03:40 Five Years of Infertility: The First Uninvited Change
• 00:05:05 Stage Three Cancer with Two Toddlers
• 00:06:39 The Hardest Change: Why Divorce Was Worse Than Cancer
• 00:09:05 The Weight of Maybe: Sitting in the Decision for Years
• 00:09:56 Building Self-Trust When No One Can Decide for You
• 00:11:00 Taking Off the Heavy Backpack: When the Decision Brings Relief
• 00:14:02 Internal Family Systems: Meeting Your Parts with Curiosity
• 00:18:00 The Breath, the Feelings Wheel, and Finding Your Center
• 00:20:53 The Most Common Fear: Letting Go of the Life You Envisioned
• 00:21:58 When Two Parts Are Fighting: I Can't Do This vs. What If I'm Wrong
• 00:22:57 On the Other Side of Fear Is Freedom

Do you feel most valuable when someone needs you?

Being the helper, fixer, or person everyone counts on can bring real purpose. It can also make it difficult to know where caring for others ends and your identity begins.

After serving 19 years of a 32-year prison sentence, Jesse Crosson built a large social media following by sharing an honest look at incarceration, restorative justice, and second chances. In this episode, Molly goes beneath the story so many people know to explore where Jesse’s drive to help came from and why it became so difficult to separate his value from what he did for others.

Together, they examine the complicated relationship between self-worth and helping, how meaningful work can quietly become your identity, and what burnout can reveal about the cost of constantly proving your value.

If you’ve ever tied your worth to productivity, achievement, or being needed, this conversation may help you recognize your own patterns, put language to something you haven’t known how to name, and feel less alone as you learn how to be without always doing.

You’ll also find Molly’s free Self-Worth Rewired meditation here: https://nextbeststep.co/resources

If you’re working through a funk and feel stuck, you don’t have to navigate it alone. Continue the conversation inside the Get the Funk Out community, where we can help you unpack what you’re experiencing and take your next step forward:

Join the Get the Funk Out community (https://www.skool.com/get-the-funk-out/about)

• 00:00:00 When Helping Becomes Your Only Value
• 00:02:03 Growing Up Believing You're a Mistake
• 00:04:19 The Pendulum: Selflessness to Selfishness
• 00:05:48 Finding Cocaine and Losing Everything
• 00:07:31 The Night That Changed Everything
• 00:16:12 138 Years: Hearing the Sentence
• 00:18:03 Survival Mode: The First Years Inside
• 00:19:46 Meditation and the Space to Breathe
• 00:23:09 Becoming the Helper Again—But at What Cost?
• 00:26:25 Getting Out and Building a Life on the Outside
• 00:28:42 When Your Cup Runs Empty
• 00:33:40 Learning to Just Be Enough

Have you ever experienced a setback that made you question whether you could trust yourself again?

A broken promise, relapse, burnout, or difficult decision can leave you buried in shame and believing that all your progress has been lost. But beginning again doesn’t mean beginning from nothing.

In this episode, Molly talks with Amberly Lago about rebuilding self-trust after a setback and finding your way back to the practices, relationships, and priorities that keep you grounded. You’ll learn how to recognize the warning signs that you’re drifting out of alignment, interrupt the cycle of shame, establish healthier boundaries, and rebuild confidence by keeping small promises to yourself.

Whether you’re navigating recovery, overcoming burnout, or simply going through a season when you don’t feel like yourself, this conversation offers practical tools, honest encouragement, and a hopeful reminder: a setback isn’t the end.

If you’re working through a funk and feel stuck, you don’t have to navigate it alone. Continue the conversation inside the Get the Funk Out community, where we can help you unpack what you’re experiencing and take your next step forward: Join the Get the Funk Out community - https://www.skool.com/get-the-funk-out/about

• 00:00:00 When You Break a Promise You Kept for Years
• 00:00:31 The Motorcycle Accident Isn't the Story Today
• 00:01:47 When Life Got Really Good and Really Full
• 00:02:41 The Little Things Started to Slip
• 00:03:54 The Trip That Was Supposed to Be Time Off
• 00:05:37 One Pill and Five and a Half Years Lost
• 00:06:34 The Morning After: Calling Her Sponsor in Tears
• 00:08:29 Why She Couldn't Pretend It Didn't Happen
• 00:10:30 The Deep Moment That Built Self-Trust
• 00:11:21 Starting Over as a Newcomer
• 00:15:33 The Non-Negotiables That Keep Her Grounded
• 00:19:35 What the Mornings Looked Like Before the Relapse
• 00:21:35 Taking Inventory: What Brings Joy and What's a Waste
• 00:22:34 The Energy Exchange: Who and What Drains You
• 00:24:25 The Signs You're Getting Off Course
• 00:25:22 Every Yes Is a No to Something Else
• 00:26:54 This Year's Motto: Keep It Simple
• 00:27:22 How's That Working for You?
• 00:27:52 Where to Start When You've Stopped Doing the Things
• 00:29:09 The Clarity That Comes From Cutting Out Sugar and Alcohol

What if nothing is falling apart… but you still know something feels off?

The funk doesn’t always look like a crisis. Sometimes you’re working, taking care of everyone, meeting deadlines, and doing all the things—and quietly carrying more than anyone realizes. And sometimes, it takes hearing someone else’s story before you start recognizing pieces of your own.

As The WTF Podcast celebrates its one-year anniversary, I’m sharing what a year of conversations has taught me about recognizing the funk, why awareness is only the beginning, and what it actually looks like to start navigating your life differently.

Because getting out of the funk usually isn’t one giant breakthrough. It’s learning to recognize what’s happening sooner, understand what you’re feeling, and make a different choice.

Not perfectly. Differently.

And those small moments add up.

Ready to go beyond recognizing the funk and start learning how to navigate it?

Join the Get the Funk Out Community for practical tools, a personalized journey, and live guidance to help you move through the funk and feel more confident in your next step.

https://www.skool.com/get-the-funk-out

• 00:00:00 When Someone Else's Story Feels Like Yours
• 00:01:00 One Year of the WTF Podcast
• 00:02:02 The Funk Doesn't Always Look Like a Crisis
• 00:03:02 The Quiet Weight You've Gotten Used to Carrying
• 00:04:05 You Don't Have to Wait Until You're Falling Apart
• 00:04:43 Recognizing the Pattern Underneath the Story
• 00:06:03 Awareness Is Not the Finish Line
• 00:07:30 The Little Moments That Actually Matter
• 00:08:37 What the Next Year Means for This Show
• 00:09:32 Beyond Talking About It: Actually Practicing It

What do you do when something in your life doesn't feel right—but you keep wondering, What if I'm the problem?

When you don't trust yourself, it's easy to second-guess what you're feeling. Is this just a hard season? Do I need to work on myself? Am I expecting too much? Or is something in my life actually telling me it's time for a change?

In this episode of The WTF Podcast, my conversation with Mariah Runions explores what can happen when you stop looking outside yourself for the answer and start doing the work to build self-trust, self-compassion, and clarity.

You'll discover how to:

• Recognize the difference between a rough season and something you can no longer ignore
• Build enough self-trust to stop constantly second-guessing what you know
• Take care of yourself when you're in the middle of the funk and so much feels outside your control
  
  

Because personal growth doesn't always make the decision easier. Sometimes it simply gives you the clarity to see what you couldn't see before—and the courage to trust yourself with what comes next. 

If you've been questioning a relationship, a career, or any part of your life that no longer feels right, this conversation will help you get curious about what you already know—and take your next best step.

Connect with Molly: https://www.instagram.com/mollypositivepants/

What happens when you finally achieve the thing you thought would make you feel successful… and you still don’t feel like enough?

Natasha Kostalas knows that cycle well. After pushing herself to the breaking point in her career, she found a new sense of confidence and purpose through fitness—only to discover that the same drive to prove herself had followed her into bodybuilding.

In this episode, Natasha shares the hidden cost of high achievement, burnout, body image struggles, and tying your self-worth to what you accomplish. We talk about what happens when success becomes part of your identity, why reaching the next goal doesn’t automatically make you feel worthy, and the powerful shift that happens when you stop asking your achievements to prove your value.

If you’ve ever thought the next promotion, goal, accomplishment, or version of yourself would finally make you feel like enough, this conversation is for you.

Connect with Natasha: https://www.instagram.com/natashakostalas

Connect with Molly:
https://nextbeststep.co
https://www.instagram.com/mollypositivepants/
https://www.facebook.com/molly.m.smith.90

Have you ever sat across from a doctor and been told, “Everything looks normal,” when you know damn well you do not feel normal?

Maybe you’re exhausted. You’re gaining weight even though you’re doing all the right things. Your brain feels foggy. Your hormones feel completely out of whack. Or maybe you just have this gut feeling that something is wrong—but because your labs fall within the “normal” range, you’re told you’re fine.

My guest today, Dr. Jamie Gilliam, knows exactly what that feels like.

Before becoming a PhD in integrative medicine and founding the Heal Your Body Clinic, Jamie owned a gym and spent her career in health and fitness. She thought she understood what it took to be healthy.

And then her own health started to unravel.

She began experiencing symptoms she couldn't explain. She went to doctors again and again looking for answers, only to hear the same things: Your labs are normal. You're fine. It's anxiety.

But Jamie knew something was wrong.

And she was right.

There was something very wrong.

What happened next completely changed the trajectory of her life—and ultimately led her to the work she does today helping thousands of people who have been told the exact same thing.

In this episode, we’re talking about medical gaslighting, what “normal” labs may not be telling you, why learning to listen to your body matters, and how to advocate for yourself when you know something isn't right.

Because if you've ever walked out of a doctor's office wondering, “Am I crazy? Is this really all in my head?”—you need to hear this conversation.

Connect with Dr. Jamie

Website  |  TikTok

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