Sh*t No One Tells You About Life

Alexa Pepe

Welcome to the podcast version of the book they should have handed you at graduation. Host Alexa Pepe tackles the topics that matter most — the ones nobody talks about with zero filter and zero apology. Because real life doesn’t come with instructions, but now you’ve got something better.

  1. Mar 12

    The Cover?

    Nobody warned you about the ice cream cone. Not your mom. Not your therapist. Not the overly enthusiastic guidance counselor in high school who promised you that if you “just followed your passion,” everything would work itself out. Nobody sat you down and said — hey, one day you’re going to be holding something really good, and it’s going to fall apart in your hands before you ever get a real taste of it. But that’s exactly what happens. Over and over again. In this episode, we’re talking about the ice cream cone — and why it’s on the cover of this book. Because you’ve been there. You waited in line for it. You agonized over the flavor. You finally got it… and then life happened. It melted. It dropped. Someone bumped into you. Or maybe it was perfect for exactly one moment and then it was just… gone. This is the chapter that started it all. The metaphor that explains everything this book — and this podcast — is really about. The good stuff, the messy stuff, and the beautiful, frustrating, very human experience of holding on and letting go at the same time. Welcome to Sh*t No One Tells You About Life. 🍦

    4 min

  2. Mar 12

    Final Note & Author Alexa Pepe

    This is the one we’ve been building to. If you’ve made it this far — through the hard parts, the messy parts, the parts you weren’t sure you’d survive — let me tell you something no one else probably has: you’re already doing it. You’ve carried more than anyone sees. You’ve kept going through grief that wasn’t always visible. You’ve faced toxic people, questioned everything you thought you wanted, and somehow — still — here you are. This isn’t a podcast of answers. It never was. It’s permission. Permission to pivot, to rest, to grow, to start over. You don’t need to fix yourself. You don’t need to explain yourself. You don’t need to prove yourself. You just need to keep going.  Sh*t No One Tells You About Life — written by Alexa Pepe, a straight-talking, chaos-juggling truth teller who learned (mostly the hard way) that no one hands you a roadmap when sh*t gets real. This is that roadmap. Kind of. You’re welcome.

    2 min

  3. Mar 12

    Chapter 15: You Don’t Need a Plan. You Need Permission

    We were sold a lie. Plan enough, hustle hard enough, stay on the “right path” long enough — and you’ll be safe. You’ll be happy. You’ll finally have it all together. So we made the career plan, the family plan, the five-year plan, the marriage plan, the financial plan… and then life said lol, cute. In this episode, we’re having an honest conversation about what nobody tells you: plans are fragile. The job changes. The relationship shifts. The dream evolves. And sometimes everything falls apart — not because you failed, but because life doesn’t run on a script. So what do you actually need? Permission. Permission to pivot. Permission to rest. Permission to live a life that doesn’t look like anyone else’s. Permission to stop chasing a version of yourself that was built around someone else’s timeline. This episode is your official slip. Do with it what you will.

    5 min

  4. Mar 12

    Chapter 14: Joy is in the Tiny, Stupid, Beautiful Moments

    Nobody tells you that joy doesn’t arrive with a grand entrance. No photographer, no hashtag, no perfectly curated Instagram moment. It doesn’t burst through the door with fanfare — it sneaks in. Quietly. In the middle of the mess, the exhaustion, the heartbreak, the “how the hell am I even holding all this together?” moments. In this episode, we’re talking about what joy actually looks like in real life — not the highlight reel version. It’s your kid losing it over something completely ridiculous. It’s an unexpected hug at exactly the right time. It’s the tiny, stupid, beautiful stuff that doesn’t make the feed but somehow makes life worth living. Because even when everything is a sh*t show, joy is still there — you just have to stop waiting for the big sweeping moment and start noticing the small ones.  This one’s a love letter to the chaos. And a reminder that you don’t need a filter to find something worth smiling about.

    7 min

  5. Mar 12

    Chapter 13: You Don’t Need to Be “Fixed” to Be Worthy

    We need to talk about the wellness industry’s dirty little secret — it’s banking on you believing you’re broken. In this episode, we’re getting real about the myth of “healed” and why healing was never supposed to be a never-ending project. You are not defective because life knocked you around. You are not behind. You are not less-than. And yet the world — and a billion-dollar self-help machine — will do everything in its power to convince you otherwise. We’re calling it out: the journals, the cold plunges, the chakra cleanses, the vision boards, the life coaches… When does self-improvement become self-rejection in disguise? This episode is your reminder that you are worthy right now — not after the next healing retreat, not when you finally “figure it out,” not when you become the polished version of yourself you’ve been promised. You don’t need to be fixed. You just need to keep going.

    7 min

  6. Mar 11

    Chapter 12: Grief Isn’t Just for Death

    Sometimes the people we mourn are still breathing. Everyone talks about grief like it only belongs to funerals — the casket, the eulogy, the final goodbye that everyone witnesses together. But grief shows up in a thousand quieter, crueler ways that nobody prepares you for. It’s the friendship that slowly faded without explanation. The best friend you used to text every single day who now feels like a stranger. The person you thought would show up for every milestone — who vanished the moment life stopped being convenient for them. No big fight. No betrayal you can point to. Just silence. Distance. Unspoken endings. And here’s the thing nobody talks about: when someone dies, there’s a ritual. People gather, bring food, send flowers, give you permission to grieve. But when someone drifts out of your life by choice or slow neglect? There’s no ceremony for that. No meal train. No sympathy cards. Just an empty chair at your table and a gnawing ache you can’t quite explain without sounding “too sensitive.” This episode is about the invisible funerals — grieving the relationships, the versions of yourself, and the futures you never got to live out. Because grief isn’t just for death. And no one tells you that.

    5 min

  7. Mar 11

    Chapter 11: The Mental Load is Invisible — and Crushing

    You know that feeling of waking up already tired — not because you didn’t sleep, but because your brain never actually stopped? The mental tabs that never close. The 2am “remember this” notes scribbled in your mind. The weight that doesn’t show up on any to-do list but demands everything from you anyway. This episode is about the invisible labor that so many of us carry in silence. The appointments. The permission slips. The birthday parties. Knowing which water bottle belongs to which kid because the green one “tastes wrong.” Reordering the allergy medicine before anyone else even notices it’s low. Nobody sees it. Nobody tracks it. And most of the time — nobody thanks you for it. We’re talking about the mental load: what it really looks like day to day, why it’s so exhausting, and why the fact that it’s invisible makes it so much harder to carry. Because most of what we carry, we carry in silence. And it’s time we talked about it.

    6 min

  8. Mar 11

    Chapter 10: You Will Question Everything You Thought You Wanted

    You did everything right. You went to school, picked the career, got married, bought the house, had the kids — and then looked around and thought… is this it? Nobody warns you about the unique kind of disorientation that comes with actually achieving the life you planned for. The dream job that leaves you drained. The house that feels more like a financial weight than a sanctuary. The marriage that’s somehow beautiful and brutal at the same time. The parenthood that fulfills you and breaks you simultaneously. In this episode, we’re talking about what happens when you check all the boxes and still feel unsettled — and why that doesn’t mean you failed. It means you’re human. Because checking all the boxes doesn’t guarantee contentment. And no one tells you that.

    7 min
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About

Welcome to the podcast version of the book they should have handed you at graduation. Host Alexa Pepe tackles the topics that matter most — the ones nobody talks about with zero filter and zero apology. Because real life doesn’t come with instructions, but now you’ve got something better.

Information

  • Creator
    Alexa Pepe
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    21
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Sh*t No One Tells You About Life