Too many of us enter motherhood carrying expectations shaped by filtered social media posts, polished representations in media, and well-intentioned but incomplete stories from those who came before us. We're told we'll instantly fall in love with our babies, that we'll intuitively know how to be mothers, and that any difficulties will be outweighed by overwhelming joy.

That’s not the experience for a lot of us.

This week I got to chat with Sarah Hoover, author of "The Motherload," for a candid conversation about the aspects of motherhood that often remain hidden: postpartum depression that manifests as rage, the grief of losing your pre-baby identity, and the challenge of connecting with your baby when nothing feels the way you expected.

You can find out more about Sarah Hoover’s work here — and buy The Motherload here.

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How good are you at communicating? The truth is that we can all be better at being heard and hearing others. Communicating well is not a super power, but rather a skill that any of us can learn. And in this age of intense digital communication, we all need to find ways to stop just shouting or whispering into the void and truly connect with one another. Our guest today is Charles Duhigg, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and the author of Supercommunicators. He's giving us practical tips for improving communication in personal and professional settings, and explaining why curiosity and understanding are key to becoming a supercommunicator.

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On Today's Sunday Nice Things we are diving into the new book Romances & Practicalities, a love story in 250 questions by blindsiding my husband into answering some of these questions live on a microphone. We also hear about his Parker Posey/Sarah Silverman fetish, which makes all of the sense.

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Are Gen X women having the best sex of anyone? Let's talk about this week's viral New York Times article about women in their 40s and 50s experiencing an unprecedented sexual renaissance. This is a generation that is rewriting the rules about pleasure, power, and partnership. Perhaps Gen X hit the perfect timing: mature enough to know their worth, young enough to embrace change, and shaped by an analog childhood that fostered authentic connections. From the impact of social media on modern dating to problematic portrayals of middle-aged women's sexuality in media we're diving into how cultural narratives fail to capture the reality and joy of real women's experiences.

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What if we just stopped accepting the absurd beauty standards that society has created for women? What if we actually aged gracefully instead of just talking about it? That's what New York Times columnist Jessica Grose has decided to do. We chat about her viral article about choosing to "go full crone" in 2025, rejecting cosmetic procedures like Botox in favor of letting her face just do what a face is supposed to do.

We explore how social media has intensified beauty pressures, the astronomical costs of "maintenance" treatments, and our attempts to model self-acceptance for our girls in this image-obsessed world.

Read Jess's NYT column on going full crone here.

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What if summer vacation did not suck? Let's dive into the challenging reality of summer childcare in America and explore why planning for summer breaks has become increasingly stressful and expensive for parents, particularly working mothers. Katherine Goldstein writer of "The Double Shift" newsletter, joins us to discuss the historical context of America's unique summer childcare crisis (spoiler: it is much, much worse here than in most other countries) and shares creative alternatives to traditional summer camps. Whether you're a parent already deep in the summer planning chaos or someone curious about this systemic challenge, this conversation offers both practical insights and a broader perspective on how we got here and what could change.

Follow Katherine's work at the Double Shift newsletter here.

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