Between Here + There

Between Here + There

You don't have to have it figured out to take the next step. Between Here & There is a podcast about life pivots — the career you walked away from, the version of yourself you outgrew, the season where the old map stopped working and the new one hadn't shown up yet. Hosted by Brian and Michael, two friends in West Michigan who left traditional careers to build more meaningful lives, and who are still very much in the middle of figuring that out. Every episode is an honest conversation about what change actually feels like from the inside. Sometimes it's the two of us talking through what we're navigating right now — the doubt, the money questions, the small wins, the mornings that don't go to plan. Sometimes it's a guest who's been through a pivot of their own: a career change, a move, a divorce, a diagnosis, a business that failed or a business that finally worked. We ask real questions, we listen, and we share what helped — including the yoga and mindfulness practices that have kept us grounded for more than a decade, explained in plain language and without the woo. What you won't get: hustle-culture pep talks, five-step frameworks, or anyone pretending to have all the answers. What you will get: the feeling of sitting around a fire with people who've walked through a few seasons of change and are willing to walk alongside you through yours. A little more clarity. A little more courage. And a reminder that uncertainty isn't the end of the story — it's usually where the good part starts. New episodes weekly. Between Here & There is the beginning of a Midwest home for meaningful transformation — close to where life actually happens. Available on: YouTube Spotify Apple Music Follow us: Instagram Facebook www.betweenhereandthere.co

Episodes

  1. 18h ago

    The Messy Middle: A Waiting Room, Not a Place to Live (Ep. 04)

    Something ended. Something hasn't begun. And sometimes nothing happened at all: you just stopped recognizing the person you are today. Brian calls that stretch the messy middle, and this week he asks Michael the hard question: what is it, really? Michael's answer is "thrashing": the season when the things you used to identify with stop resonating and nothing has replaced them yet. Brian brings back the book from his Big Sur retreat, the caterpillar in the cocoon, and the uncomfortable truth that for a while you're just goo. They talk about the grief in it, why the universe won't let you rush it, why pivots are rarely linear, and why you're not failing if your first move is a small one. Then they get practical: the tools that kept them steady in the middle. Space, body, people, journaling, making something with your hands, and a routine (or a ritual, if routine sounds too clinical). Also in this episode: "You're allowed to be goo"The universe gives you exactly what you want, just never when you want itA slice of the pivot pie is not the whole pieLate nights, late mornings. Don't judge."These years are years I'm not going to get back. I'm stealing from myself."Two questions to sit with: What do I already know? What's the next step I can take today?It's a waiting room, not a place to live. Where are you in your messy middle? Tell us on Instagram at @bhtcollective. Next week: reacting versus responding. Join the list for new episodes every Tuesday: https://www.betweenhereandthere.co Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bhtcollective YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bhtcollective Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bhtcollective

    The Messy Middle: A Waiting Room, Not a Place to Live (Ep. 04)
  2. Oct 13

    Common Threads: 5 Things Our Pivots Shared, and 2 That Weren't (Ep. 03)

    Brian and Michael told their life pivot stories in the first two episodes. This week they put them side by side. A house fire, a divorce and eighteen months in between on one side. A dream house he wanted to burn down, a bullet on the walk home from South by Southwest, and a productive midlife crisis on the other. On the surface, nothing alike. Underneath, five threads lined up: disillusionment with the version of success they were living, a run of existential life events, finding stillness to root into, the shift from having more to having less, and the inner-directed wisdom that was there all along. They also get honest about the two things that were completely different: how long each pivot took, and the very different tools they used to get through it. To close, they sketch the five phases of a life pivot they keep seeing, in their own stories and in other people's: erosion, a cluster of catalytic events, the breaking point, the in-between, and re-identification. Also in this episode: "A bullet is a good teacher"What am I going to do with two pools?Why "retirement" is often just the life you're deferringWhatever is on your path is your pathStripped down to nothing, or stripped down to everything?Why you can't pivot without uncertaintyThere's no timeline on a pivot. The only question is whether you're working on it.Which of the five threads sounds most like your story? Tell us on Instagram at @bhtcollective. Join the list for new episodes every Tuesday: https://www.betweenhereandthere.co Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bhtcollective YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bhtcollective Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bhtcollective

    Common Threads: 5 Things Our Pivots Shared, and 2 That Weren't (Ep. 03)
  3. Oct 6

    Michael's Story: The Dream House, a Bullet, and a Productive Midlife Crisis (Ep. 02)

    Michael Sanders tells his life pivot story, with Brian in the host's chair this time. By 39, Michael had everything his 14-year-old self could have wanted: a digital agency he co-founded, a custom-built dream house in Austin, a band that played South by Southwest. Building the house was miserable. The agency work had stopped filling his cup. And twice, he got the thing he wanted and it felt like it was going to kill him. Then, walking home from a show during South by Southwest in 2017, he was robbed and shot a few houses from his front door. No one came to help, so he got up and walked home. A few months later he turned 40 and felt none of the usual dread. What came instead was clarity: he didn't need a second pool or a second car. He left the agency he started and took the pay cut without looking back. In this conversation, Brian and Michael walk through the years that followed. The anxiety and PTSD that crept in two years later, when talk therapy stopped moving the needle and psychedelic therapy did. Coming home from the hospital to an empty house. Selling up in Austin for a small town in West Michigan, and signing up for yoga teacher training a week after the move. A breakfast taco trailer. A new baby. And the question that keeps coming back: who am I now? Also in this episode: Why aging is "a luxury that not everyone can afford""Thrashing": the internal, messy middle that the people around you may never seeAll things must pass: welcoming what enters your life and letting go of what leavesWhy your dreams are never as good as you imagine, and your nightmares never as badWhy Michael doesn't believe things happen for a reason, and why that's freeingHis advice for anyone in the middle of a pivot: the answers are already within youMichael is a new dad in Saugatuck, Michigan and co-founder of Between Here + There. Next week, Michael and Brian put their two stories side by side: the common threads, and the model they're building from them. We'd love to hear from you: have you ever gotten what you wanted, only to find it wasn't what you needed? Tell us on Instagram at @bhtcollective. Join the list for new episodes every Tuesday: https://www.betweenhereandthere.co Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bhtcollective YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bhtcollective Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bhtcollective

    Michael's Story: The Dream House, a Bullet, and a Productive Midlife Crisis (Ep. 02)
  4. Sep 29

    Welcome to Between Here + There

    What happens when the life you built stops fitting who you are becoming? Michael Sanders and Brian Di Bartolomeo introduce Between Here and There, a space for people in transition, burnout, reinvention, and those unmistakable moments when you know something has to change. This episode sets the tone for everything that follows: honest conversations about life pivots, identity shifts, and the messy middle between what was and what's next. Michael and Brian share why they created this community, how their own careers and life paths led them here, and why the most important question in these moments is often not "What should I do?" but "Who am I now?" You'll hear why they believe life pivots are bigger than career changes, how chosen and unchosen transitions shape us, and why authenticity is at the center of every turning point. Brian breaks down the deeper purpose of the community - creating a safe space to pause, reflect, and move toward what's next with clarity. Michael adds the perspective of staying present while everything around you changes, plus the Midwest-rooted, yoga-informed lens that shapes the show. We break down the tools and approaches listeners can expect from the community, including breathwork, reflective questions, guided meditations, yoga nidra, and thought-provoking exercises designed to challenge assumptions and uncover what really matters. This is not about quick fixes or pretending to have all the answers. It's about helping you hear the signal underneath the noise. If you're standing at a crossroads, rethinking your identity, recovering from burnout, or just sensing that your next chapter is calling, this is the conversation for you. Between Here and There is built for anyone learning how to carry forward the truest version of themselves.

    Welcome to Between Here + There
  5. Sep 29

    Brian's Story: From EVP to Yoga Teacher, and the 18 Months in Between

    Brian Di Bartolomeo tells his life pivot story from start to finish. On the outside it looked like success: an EVP title, a team of 120, a real-estate portfolio, an early retirement plan already in motion. Underneath, he was giving away a little more of himself every year and calling it fine. Then it all arrived at once. The company sold to private equity. His mother died. A month later, his marriage ended. On one work call, the disrespect crossed a line, and he hung up and said out loud, "I'm done." He skipped a party weekend in London for a silent retreat in Big Sur, and spent the next eighteen months between here and there: knowing something had to change, not knowing what. In this conversation, Brian and Michael walk through the whole arc. The house fire that cleaned the slate when he was young, and how the wanting crept back. The signs he now sees a decade before the break. The single question from his coach that took months to answer (who am I?). The Thanksgiving moment of clarity about his marriage. And the word he came out the other side with: less. Also in this episode: Why "gripping" is the feeling to watch for before a pivotLetting go of perceived certainty and what other people will thinkLearning to say no, and why rebuilding is the harder partNon-negotiables, and why what you're pivoting from becomes your boundaryBrian's advice for anyone on the edge of a pivot: listen to yourself, be vulnerable, let goBrian is a yoga teacher in Saugatuck, Michigan and co-founder of Between Here + There. Next week, the hosts swap seats and Michael shares his story. We'd love to hear from you: are you on the verge of a life pivot? Where are you in it? Tell us on Instagram at @bhtcollective. Join the list for new episodes every Tuesday: https://www.betweenhereandthere.co Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bhtcollective YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bhtcollective Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bhtcollective

    Brian's Story: From EVP to Yoga Teacher, and the 18 Months in Between

About

You don't have to have it figured out to take the next step. Between Here & There is a podcast about life pivots — the career you walked away from, the version of yourself you outgrew, the season where the old map stopped working and the new one hadn't shown up yet. Hosted by Brian and Michael, two friends in West Michigan who left traditional careers to build more meaningful lives, and who are still very much in the middle of figuring that out. Every episode is an honest conversation about what change actually feels like from the inside. Sometimes it's the two of us talking through what we're navigating right now — the doubt, the money questions, the small wins, the mornings that don't go to plan. Sometimes it's a guest who's been through a pivot of their own: a career change, a move, a divorce, a diagnosis, a business that failed or a business that finally worked. We ask real questions, we listen, and we share what helped — including the yoga and mindfulness practices that have kept us grounded for more than a decade, explained in plain language and without the woo. What you won't get: hustle-culture pep talks, five-step frameworks, or anyone pretending to have all the answers. What you will get: the feeling of sitting around a fire with people who've walked through a few seasons of change and are willing to walk alongside you through yours. A little more clarity. A little more courage. And a reminder that uncertainty isn't the end of the story — it's usually where the good part starts. New episodes weekly. Between Here & There is the beginning of a Midwest home for meaningful transformation — close to where life actually happens. Available on: YouTube Spotify Apple Music Follow us: Instagram Facebook www.betweenhereandthere.co

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