The person I'm about to introduce you to is the reason you're listening right now. She's the one who takes the messy, beautiful, rambling conversations that happen in this little corner of the internet and turns them into something worth pressing play on. She's also the person I picture every single time I sit down to do a solo episode.

This week, I finally got Adrienne Cruz behind the mic and not behind the scenes, where she usually lives. Adrienne is my podcast manager and a podcast launch strategist who helps online business owners create the shows they’ve been dreaming about. She doesn’t call herself the Fairy Podmother for nothing!

Whether you've been saying "I want to start a podcast" to yourself for six months (or four years, like me), or you already have one, but need to get excited about it again, you’re gonna want to tune in to this one.

In this episode, we're talking about:

• What keeps people stuck before they ever hit record — the overwhelm, the tech, the fear of commitment, and the "why me?" intrusive thoughts
• The difference between an audience and a community, and what it really takes to get people to feel like your podcast belongs to them too
• Why your download numbers will mislead you
• The mentor text method: how studying your favorite podcasts the way Adrienne once taught her students to study essays can completely change how you approach your own show
• How to build a sustainable podcast when you don't have unlimited time, money to outsource, or the energy to play by everyone else's rules
• Insider language, giving your community a name, and the small things that make listeners feel like they're in on something
• Whether it's still a good time to start a podcast (YES)

Let's Connect

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review and sharing it with someone who could use a little more mindfulness in their life. Your support helps Thinking About reach more listeners and grow our community of thoughtful, intentional individuals.

Continue the conversation with me on IG / Tiktok @thinkingaboutpodcast and @kirstimcnabney. Follow along on Substack for more conversations on the things that keep us thinking.

Connect with Adrienne Cruz

Follow Adrienne on Instagram and Threads @adriennecruzpod

Website: adriennecruz.com

Grab her freebie, The Podcast Starter, to create a unique podcast concept

Check out her podcast launch group program, Saturday Morning Launch Plan

Sign up for her newsletter, Sounds Like Brunch

Blog post: How to Build a Podcast Community of People Who Love Your Show

Links from the episode

SpeakPipe (website for listeners to submit audio recordings)

Podcasts mentioned: Good Hang with Amy Poehler, Diabolical Lies, Wild Geese, My Favorite Murder, Point of the Story, Giggly Squad

Podcasting Business School

Bunny by Mona Awad

Widow's Bay on Apple TV

Obsession

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There are certain people you meet and you just think, “I want everyone to know this person exists." Jess Janz is one of those people. She's an author, community facilitator, and the founder of Dinner with Strangers, a concept she started in her friend's hair studio in 2017 with one simple rule: no work talk. Since then, she's hosted over 60 dinners and connected more than a thousand people!

She also has a book coming out July 14th called The Table Where We Meet, and if the poems she shares on Instagram are any indication, it's going to be the kind of book you press into the hands of every person you love.

In this episode, we're talking about:

• How Dinner with Strangers started with crock pot meals, no tickets, and a hypothesis about what happens when strangers can't talk about work
• The reasons behind the "no work talk" rule
• What over 1,000 dinners have taught Jess about human connection
• The questions that never fail to get people connecting
• What it really feels like to hold space for a room full of strangers, and the adrenaline crash that comes after
• Rethinking small talk ("lighthearted" doesn't have to mean "shallow")
• What writing The Table Where We Meet revealed to Jess about art, witnessing, and why we need each other
• One small thing you can do today if you're craving more real connection in your life

Let's Connect

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review and sharing it with someone who could use a little more mindfulness in their life. Your support helps Thinking About reach more listeners and grow our community of thoughtful, intentional individuals.

Continue the conversation with me on IG / Tiktok @thinkingaboutpodcast and @kirstimcnabney. Follow along on Substack for more conversations on the things that keep us thinking.

Connect with Jess Janz

Follow Jess on Instagram: @jessjanz and @withstrangersco Pre-order The Table Where We Meet Subscribe to her Substack

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I read something on Substack recently that I haven't been able to stop thinking about: our grandmas didn't optimize everything. How have I never thought of that?!?

I'm someone who has fully bought into optimization — the Garmin, the protein goals, the sleep scores… I love checking things off and feeling like I’ve succeeded. And yet somewhere along the way, I started to wonder: are we actually living better, or are we just living from a distance?

I'm currently in what I can only describe as a whimsical, choose-your-own-adventure spring, and something shifted when I was in Guatemala and forgot my Garmin. I was just moving, eating, resting, and doing a sunrise hike that nearly ended me. And I felt more like myself than I had in a long time!

In this episode, I'm talking about:

• Why I think we're living in peak optimization culture and what it's costing us
• Learning to trust yourself again after outsourcing all your data to devices and apps
• Moving and eating intuitively — what that actually looks like for me right now
• Why not knowing my sleep score is genuinely making my days better
• You're allowed to take a break from optimizing

Let's Connect

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review and sharing it with someone who could use a little more mindfulness in their life. Your support helps Thinking About reach more listeners and grow our community of thoughtful, intentional individuals.

Continue the conversation with me on IG / Tiktok @thinkingaboutpodcast and @kirstimcnabney. Follow along on Substack for more conversations on the things that keep us thinking.

Links from the episode:

The Substack post about grandmas not optimizing

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Somewhere along the way, eating (one of life's greatest pleasures, tbh) started to feel like something to manage or optimize. I can’t be the only one who feels exhausted by all the conflicting advice out there.

So this week I invited a guest who I've worked with personally — holistic nutritionist, personal chef, and Reiki healer Amanda Michaelson. Amanda's entire approach is built around what she calls a heart-centered lens: leading with compassion instead of shame, and helping people reconnect to the wisdom that already lives in their bodies.

And let me tell you, after sitting in her group program sessions (all of which ended with dance sessions!) and watching something shift in me around food and confidence, I knew this conversation needed to happen.

In this episode, we're talking about:

• The gap between knowing and doing, and why filling it starts with compassion, not discipline
• What "heart-centered nutrition" actually means in practice and how it shapes the way Amanda works with clients
• Why confidence with food isn't about having the right information, but learning to trust yourself
• How to approach your nutrition without falling into restriction, shame, or all-or-nothing thinking
• The six foundations of health (whole foods, sleep, movement, nervous system regulation, joy, and community) and why food is only one piece of the picture
• Blood sugar balance: what it is, why it matters for women's energy and mood, and what a balanced meal actually looks like
• Amanda's "comeback" framework for returning to your healthy habits as quickly as possible
• Reiki, intuition, and slowing down enough to actually hear what your body needs
• Why dancing is one of the most powerful somatic tools around

Let's Connect

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review and sharing it with someone who could use a little more mindfulness in their life. Your support helps Thinking About reach more listeners and grow our community of thoughtful, intentional individuals.

Continue the conversation with me on IG / Tiktok @thinkingaboutpodcast and @kirstimcnabney. Follow along on Substack for more conversations on the things that keep us thinking.

Connect with Amanda:

Follow Amanda on Instagram!

Check out her website

The Glow Up (mention Thinking About, and Amanda will honor a 10% discount for listeners of the podcast!)

The Aliveness Practice playlist

Note: The Move the Needle Masterclass happened before the episode was released!

Links from the episode:

Bluetooth eye mask

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Right now, it seems like everyone is pregnant. And just writing that sentence takes me back to the years when everyone around me was getting engaged, buying houses, and starting families.

Meanwhile, I was starting a business and quietly wondering if I was the only one not following the same path. And of course I wasn't, but that didn't make it any less hard.

In this episode, I'm getting into the very real, very human feeling of being on a different timeline than your friends. We don't talk about this enough, and I think we should.

In this episode, I’m talking about:

• The Christmas I was convinced I was getting engaged
• Why grief and joy can coexist, and all the forms grief actually takes
• Why you're allowed to have the "but" and who you should be sharing it with
• Not putting all your eggs in one basket when it comes to friendship, and finding your people for each season you're in
• Protecting your peace at milestone events while still showing up for the people you love
• The milestones you're discounting because you're too focused on the ones you feel like you're missing

Let's Connect

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review and sharing it with someone who could use a little more mindfulness in their life. Your support helps Thinking About reach more listeners and grow our community of thoughtful, intentional individuals.

Continue the conversation with me on IG / Tiktok @thinkingaboutpodcast and @kirstimcnabney. Follow along on Substack for more conversations on the things that keep us thinking.

Links from the episode:

Pathpal Grief Summit

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For 12 years, Shelly Thorne had a book living in her head, a story she always knew she'd write, just never knew when. And then one day, she decided it was time to start drafting.

She finished the whole novel in SIX WEEKS!

Shelly is a former TV and communications pro, and someone I actually used to work with — who just published her debut novel, Cruising, a rom-com set in the world of reality TV production on a cruise ship, and it is exactly as fun as it sounds.

But beyond the book itself, we talked about what self-publishing costs (emotionally and financially), what it looks like to squeeze creativity into the pockets of a very full life, and why the romance genre is doing something way more important than people give it credit for.

In this episode, we’re talking about:

• The difference between traditional publishing and self-publishing
• Finding an editor, designing a cover, and building a street team when you're doing it all yourself
• The "coming of self" moment, and why we need more stories that follow women through it
• Rom-coms and reality TV are doing something culturally important
• The "shitty first draft" (and why getting something imperfect onto the page is the only way to start)
• AI in publishing and what it means for writers who are putting their whole selves into their work
• Balancing writing, a career, and kids (Shelly says having children actually made her a more efficient writer)

Let's Connect

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review and sharing it with someone who could use a little more mindfulness in their life. Your support helps Thinking About reach more listeners and grow our community of thoughtful, intentional individuals.

Continue the conversation with me on IG / Tiktok @thinkingaboutpodcast and @kirstimcnabney. Follow along on Substack for more conversations on the things that keep us thinking.

Connect with Shelly Thorne:

Follow Shelly on Instagram and Threads

Buy and read her novel, Cruising!

Links from the episode:

Old episode with the last author I spoke to: The Journey To Self-Publishing Your First Novel With Elizabeth Monier-Williams

Reedsy

Save the Cat! Writes a Novel: The Last Book On Novel Writing You’ll Ever Need

Story Genius

Quinn

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There's this moment that happens every time I come home from a trip. I'm on the plane, feeling spacious and happy and like the fullest version of myself, and I start wondering if there’s a way to hold on to that.

I just got back from Guatemala, and let me tell you, it did not disappoint. Between a yoga retreat in San Marcos with my friend Ash, exploring Antigua, and watching a sunrise so beautiful it made me do a hike I absolutely did not think I could finish — I came home with a lot to think about.

In this solo episode of Thinking About, I'm unpacking why travel feels so good, the actual neurological and psychological reasons our brains light up when we're somewhere new. And then, because I'm always asking myself how to bring that feeling into everyday life, I'm sharing some practical ways to do exactly that.

In this episode, I'm talking about:

• Why travel feels so good: the brain science behind novelty, dopamine, and your nervous system resetting
• Psychological zoom out — why seeing a volcano (or just being on a plane) puts everything in perspective
• My three personal takeaways from the trip: movement as reward, discomfort leading to wonder, and community
• Practical ways to access the travel feeling at home: micro adventures, routine shake-ups, printing your photos, and protecting unscheduled time

Let's Connect

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review and sharing it with someone who could use a little more mindfulness in their life. Your support helps Thinking About reach more listeners and grow our community of thoughtful, intentional individuals.

Continue the conversation with me on IG / Tiktok @thinkingaboutpodcast and @kirstimcnabney. Follow along on Substack for more conversations on the things that keep us thinking.

Links Mentioned:

Past episodes with Devon: Preserving Memories From Life's Biggest Moments & Getting Real About Running A Business With Devon Elcomb-Anzit | Pressed In Time and What You Need To Know Before Turning Your Passion Into A Business With Devon Elcomb-Anzit From Pressed In Time 

Past episode with Ashley of The Feelosophy: Answering Your Questions About Starting Therapy & NeuroAffective Touch With Ashley Brodeur Of The Feelosophy

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If I'm being honest, showing up online is something I still have to talk myself into sometimes, and I do this for a living!

This month on Thinking About is all about confidence, and this week we’re talking about the confidence to be online. So many of the people I talk to are carrying around the same fears about being online, and most of the time, they're holding themselves to a standard they'd never hold anyone else to.

So we're busting some myths, walking through what helps me (and the clients I've worked with), and hopefully leaving you feeling like maybe — just maybe — you do have what it takes to show up online. (I believe you do!)

In this episode, I'm talking about:

• Why showing up online feels unnatural for pretty much everyone
• Three myths that are keeping you from showing up
• Why editing, practice, and time are the actual secret
• Lowering the bar, finding an accountability buddy, recording on your best days, and treating content like a creative experiment
• The "one person" trick

Let's Connect

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review and sharing it with someone who could use a little more mindfulness in their life. Your support helps Thinking About reach more listeners and grow our community of thoughtful, intentional individuals.

Continue the conversation with me on IG / Tiktok @thinkingaboutpodcast and @kirstimcnabney. Follow along on Substack for more conversations on the things that keep us thinking.

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You know that feeling when you open your closet and nothing feels quite like you anymore? Maybe, ever since the pandemic, it's been a few years of sweats and working from home. Maybe your body has changed, your life has changed, and the clothes hanging in there feel like they belong to someone you used to be.

That's exactly where I was, and then Suzanne Colmer walked into my closet with her closet cleanse method and literally changed my life!

As one of Canada's premiere style and image consultants, Suzanne Colmer works with her clients to ensure they love their clothes and that their clothes love them back. She specializes in closet cleanses, size-inclusive personalized shopping, and Canadian curated capsule wardrobes that allow you to buy less and wear more. Often sought out by the media as a Canadian style expert, Suzanne has been featured locally on Global TV, and CBC and in the Globe and Mail and globally as Toronto's style consultant with Tourism Toronto.

Suzanne has a gift for making you feel seen, understood, and genuinely excited to get dressed again. I can’t wait for you to listen!

In this episode, we're talking about:

• The first step to reconnecting with your style when you have no idea where to start
• Closet cleanses are like cleaning out your fridge before you go grocery shopping
• “It's not you, it's your clothes"
• How to handle clothes you're saving for "someday"
• Suzanne's philosophy for her own closet – and why she shops on a one-in, one-out rule
• What "style words" are and why figuring out yours is a game-changer
• How to actually finish an outfit
• Suzanne’s take on trends
• The one piece Suzanne thinks almost everyone should own (can you guess what it is?)

Let's Connect

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review and sharing it with someone who could use a little more mindfulness in their life. Your support helps Thinking About reach more listeners and grow our community of thoughtful, intentional individuals.

Continue the conversation with me on IG / Tiktok @thinkingaboutpodcast and @kirstimcnabney. Follow along on Substack for more conversations on the things that keep us thinking.

Connect with Suzanne Colmer

Follow Suzanne on Instagram!

Check out her website

Links from the episode:

The Diary of a CEO podcast

Good Hang with Amy Poehler podcast

My Friends by Fredrik Backman

New York Times Cooking

Jenn Eats Goood on Substack

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Somewhere between the girlboss era and a world that's constantly telling us to optimize, monetize, and move faster, I quietly forgot how to just... do something for fun. Not because it would make good content or even make me a better person.

Just because it felt good! Like, why can’t that be enough?

If your days have been blurring together too, or if you feel like you’re so restless you can’t even pay attention to a TV episode anymore, I feel you. Let’s do something about it! I cover a ton of ideas in this episode.

In this episode, I'm talking about:

• My complicated relationship with my phone
• Digital anhedonia: the reduced ability to enjoy real-world experiences after too much screen time
• Why hobbies are actually identity work – and what they have to do with your inner child
• The two big reasons hobbies matter: mental health and joy
• Embracing the beginner's mindset and doing things badly on purpose
• What I'm trying: diamond painting, coloring, craft afternoons, Duolingo, the library, cooking, Pilates, and my hobby wish list
• Three questions to sit with this week

Let's Connect

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review and sharing it with someone who could use a little more mindfulness in their life. Your support helps Thinking About reach more listeners and grow our community of thoughtful, intentional individuals.

Continue the conversation with me on IG / Tiktok @thinkingaboutpodcast and @kirstimcnabney. Follow along on Substack for more conversations on the things that keep us thinking.

Send us Fan Mail