ICMM: Living Life Unpaused

Abby Ventrillo
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Self-Improvement

Most of us are waiting for something. The right job. The right relationship. Better health. More money. More confidence. More certainty. And while we're waiting, we quietly put parts of our lives on hold. ICMM: Living Life Unpaused is a podcast about what happens when you stop waiting. Hosted by Abby Ventrillo, each episode explores the idea that transformation doesn't come from having all the answers. It comes from taking ownership of the things you can control and moving forward, one step at a time. Through honest conversations, personal stories, and interviews with experts and everyday people who have reinvented themselves, we'll explore what it means to build a life that's aligned with who you are and what you want. We'll talk about physical, mental, emotional, financial, and functional well-being. We'll talk about careers, relationships, purpose, personal growth, and the dreams you've been putting off until "someday." Because life isn't meant to be lived on pause. One intentional thing. Every day. Let's press play.

Episodes

  1. 1d ago

    Episode 6: If You're Not Moving, You're Just Wishing

    I know I'm not happy — I just don't know what I actually want. If you've ever said some version of that, this one's for you. In this solo episode, I get into the quiet trap so many of us live in: waiting to feel certain before we're willing to move. And here's the thing — we've got it backwards. You don't think your way into clarity. You move your way into it. Clarity was never a lightning bolt that strikes before you act. It's the information you collect because you took the first small, scary step. We'll talk about the real difference between wishing and dreaming, why "figuring it out" can be the most comfortable place to hide, why confidence is the receipt you get after you start (not the ticket in), and why a small, unglamorous action will always beat the big idea you never begin. Plus what writing things down actually does for your brain — and why a dream you never buy a ticket for is really just a wish. And I give credit where it's overdue: to the friend who, when I lost my job, was the first to say "maybe this isn't it — maybe you need something more creative." That's Marci. She's here next week to talk about her own mid-pivot from corporate finance to astrology, and you're going to love her. Your one thing this week: write down what you actually want, then buy one ticket — take one small, real step toward it. Because it's just one intentional thing every day.

    35 min

  2. Jun 29

    Episode 5: Turn Your Brain Off and Sign the Papers

    Chance Lemos drove past the same building on 39th Street every morning for two years. Big building, great neighborhood, a for-sale sign that kept blowing over in the wind. And for two years he told himself he couldn't. Then he turned his brain off and signed the papers. In this episode I sit down with Chance, owner of Blue Collar Barber Co, about making the leap most of us only talk about — what it actually costs, why he hand-picked every barber and every chair in the place, and how he built the old-school barbershop he wished he'd had as a kid. We also get into the part of his story he doesn't tell often: the loss he went through young, and the moment he decided he would never use his circumstances as a reason to stay small. It's a conversation about fear, action, and what happens when you stop waiting for the timing to feel right.

    37 min

  3. Jun 22

    Episode 4: Stop Calling It a Crisis

    What if the midlife crisis isn't a crisis at all? We've all heard the phrases — the quarter-life crisis, the midlife crisis — and most of us picture the same thing: someone buying a sports car, blowing up their whole life overnight. For years, I rolled my eyes at the idea. My life was "normal"… until it wasn't. In this solo episode, I get honest about the season that forced my own realization — losing my job, back-to-back surgeries, losing my dad, my brother's diagnosis — and how, somewhere in the middle of all of it, I finally understood I wasn't unhappy with my work. I was living my life on pause. We get into the science that made me feel less alone: where the term "midlife crisis" even comes from, the U-shaped happiness curve, and the quietly powerful idea of languishing — that joyless, aimless, going-through-the-motions feeling that isn't depression and isn't burnout. I share the story of the woman who walked into my lobby with a vase of flowers, the question a friend asked that I couldn't answer, and what the regrets of the dying taught me about the life I was about to keep chasing.

    34 min

  4. Jun 15

    Episode 3: Betting on Yourself

    My very first guest! I sit down with my friend Jim Wiegand, who spent more than twenty years climbing to the top of the finance world — all the way to CFO — and then walked away to open his own Discover Strength studio. We talk about how he knew it was time, how he made the leap with a family and a mortgage on the line, and then he gives a practical, no-excuses guide to why and how you should start strength training.

    33 min

  5. Jun 8

    Episode 2: You Are Not Your Job

    Episode 2 — You Are Not Your Job We've quietly agreed, as a society, that what you do for money is the same thing as who you are — and this week Abby pushes back on that. Starting from the most ordinary question in the world ("So, what do you do?"), this episode makes the case that you are so much more than your job, and that it's completely okay for a job to be just a job — a means to fund a life you love. Abby walks through two signs worth listening to when a role no longer fits: the Sunday dread and the slow drain of motivation. She digs into the science of why those signals matter — including Self-Determination Theory and why intrinsically motivated people actually perform better and burn out less — and explains why the popular advice to "monetize your passion" or "just do what you're talented at" can quietly backfire. She closes with two honest questions to sit with this week: What would you do if no one was watching? What scares the hell out of you? Key takeaways: A job doesn't have to be your dream to be worthwhile — the problem starts only when it prevents the life you actually want.Sunday dread and lost motivation are information, not character flaws.Turning something you love into a paycheck can quietly kill the love (the overjustification effect) — some things are meant to be loves, not livelihoods.You're allowed to change your mind about your career. Every role teaches you something — sometimes what you don't want. Research referenced: Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan); Sunday Scaries surveys by Adobe, Zety & LinkedIn" —

    36 min

  6. May 31

    Episode 1: Press Play

    What if the thing keeping you stuck isn't a lack of clarity, but the belief that you need clarity before you can move? In the first episode of ICMM: Living Life Unpaused, Abby shares the story behind the movement, the podcast, and the simple idea that changed everything. After a year marked by job loss, grief, health challenges, and more than a thousand rejections, she found herself asking a difficult question: How much of my life have I been postponing while I wait for one thing to work out? What followed was a series of realizations about happiness, control, and the small decisions that shape our lives far more than the big moments we spend years waiting for. In this episode, Abby shares: The "when" trap that kept her life on pauseThe unexpected ChatGPT conversation that changed her perspectiveWhy happiness isn't something you find, it's something you buildThe third-grade classroom lesson that became ICMMHow one small action a day became the foundation for Living Life UnpausedThis isn't a story about having all the answers. It's a story about pressing play before you do. One thing. Every day. Let's press play.

    23 min
  • 6 Episodes

Ratings & Reviews

About

Most of us are waiting for something. The right job. The right relationship. Better health. More money. More confidence. More certainty. And while we're waiting, we quietly put parts of our lives on hold. ICMM: Living Life Unpaused is a podcast about what happens when you stop waiting. Hosted by Abby Ventrillo, each episode explores the idea that transformation doesn't come from having all the answers. It comes from taking ownership of the things you can control and moving forward, one step at a time. Through honest conversations, personal stories, and interviews with experts and everyday people who have reinvented themselves, we'll explore what it means to build a life that's aligned with who you are and what you want. We'll talk about physical, mental, emotional, financial, and functional well-being. We'll talk about careers, relationships, purpose, personal growth, and the dreams you've been putting off until "someday." Because life isn't meant to be lived on pause. One intentional thing. Every day. Let's press play.

Information

  • Creator
    Abby Ventrillo
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    6
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Abby Ventrillo