I Don't Know How You Do It Jessica Fein

Have you ever wished you had a guidebook to be by your side as you navigate the complexities of life? One that was written by a best friend, told you what to expect, and gave practical advice to help you through?

That's exactly what Kelley Coleman has written in her book, "Everything No One Tells You About Parenting a Disabled Child." 

In this episode, Kelly shares her personal journey of raising a son with multiple disabilities and offers invaluable advice not only for parents navigating similar paths, but for every human who wants to understand how to interact with empathy and show up in meaningful ways for others.

You'll learn:
 Why we should all be following people whose life experience is different from our own.  Who to turn to when you want to learn something about another community.What's a better strategy than  filling the air with words when you don't know what to say.  How and why to encourage self-advocacy in children.Why it's important to acknowledge the hard.And so much more...Learn more about Kelley:
Website
Instagram
Facebook


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"This is my go-to podcast for inspiration and to discover new approaches to embrace the challenges in my life." If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me reach more people -- just like you -- find strategies and insights to do the things that feel undoable. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!
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Order Jessica's memoir, Breath Taking: A Memoir of Family, Dreams, and Broken Genes

Music credit: Limitless by Bells

Any great movement requires not only the ability to generate creative ideas but also the skill of mobilizing people around those ideas and bringing them to life. How do you do that?

Introducing Nell Merlino, a creative catalyst and trailblazer who has dedicated her life to advocating for women's empowerment and raising visibility and recognition of women and girls' contributions. With an impressive track record of mobilizing people and ideas, Nell brought Take Our Daughters to Work Day to life, reaching an astonishing 25 million people worldwide. As the founder of Count Me In for Women's Economic Independence, she also facilitated women's access to billion-dollar financing, grants, contracts, and markets. Nell's current project, Crown Quest, further amplifies women's achievements by creating beautiful visual tributes to their influence and impact.

In this episode, you'll learn:


The first step in taking an idea from theory to realityHow inspiration can be found in unexpected placesWhy we have to recognize our own valueWhat it means to be a lionessThe power of being able to read a roomLearn more about Nell here.


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"This is my go-to podcast for inspiration and to discover new approaches to embrace the challenges in my life." If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me reach more people -- just like you -- find strategies and insights to do the things that feel undoable. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!
Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. Follow now!
Sign up for my newsletter and learn more about these remarkable stories at www.jessicafeinstories.com

Order Jessica's memoir, Breath Taking: A Memoir of Family, Dreams, and Broken Genes

Music credit: Limitless by Bells

What happens when your family's ideology prevents you from helping the person you love most?

That's what happened to today's guest, Kathleen Blackburn.

Kathleen Blackburn was the oldest of five children, a 12-year-old from Lubbock, Texas, whose evangelical family eschewed publ­ic education for homeschooling and wove improbable scientific theories into literal interpretations of the bible. Then her father, a former air force pilot, was diagnosed with stage IV cancer at the age of thirty-eight, and, as Kathleen writes in this searing memoir, “it was like pouring gasoline on the Holy Spirit.”

Stirred by her mother, the family committed to an extreme diet and sought deliverance from equally extreme sources: a traveling tent preacher, a Malaysian holy man, a local faith-healer who led services called “Miracles on 34th Street.”

What they didn’t know at the time was that their lives were entangled with a larger, less visible environmental catastrophe. Fire-fighting foams containing carcinogenic compounds had contaminated the drinking water of every military site where her father worked.

Twenty-five years later, Kathleen's memoir, Loose of Earth,  reckons with her past, her upbringing, the loss of her father, and the environmental story that shaped the landscape that for years she called home. Kathleen now lives in Chicago and teaches creative writing at the University of Chicago. 
You'll Learn:
The difference between shame and regret, and which one is usefulHow literature can be an antidote to violence and silenceWhat we do when we're told there's nothing we can do to help someone we loveAnd so much more...Learn more about Kathleen:
Website 
Instagram 
Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts

"This is my go-to podcast for inspiration and to discover new approaches to embrace the challenges in my life." If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me reach more people -- just like you -- find strategies and insights to do the things that feel undoable. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!
Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. Follow now!
Sign up for my newsletter and learn more about these remarkable stories at www.jessicafeinstories.com

Order Jessica's memoir, Breath Taking: A Memoir of Family, Dreams, and Broken Genes

Music credit: Limitless by Bells

When we encounter death, we're forced to confront life's biggest questions. Why do we suffer? Where is God in our darkest moments? Can we find beauty and meaning in the midst of grief?

Our guest is writer and former pastor Jonathan Foster who joins us for a profound and incredibly moving conversation about his book "Indigo: The Color of Grief," which he wrote after the tragic loss of his daughter.
In this raw, poetic dialogue, Jonathan invites us into the "liminal space" between hope and despair that he's inhabited since his daughter's death. He shares how this experience shattered his traditional beliefs about an omnipotent, omniscient God and led him to be "disinvited" from his religious denomination.
Jonathan reframes beauty as an act of defiant resistance against tragedy. And ultimately, he reveals the surprising power in simply being present with those who are suffering - not trying to solve or fix, but sitting alongside them in their "hell."
Whether or not you've experienced profound loss, Jonathan's perspective contains valuable wisdom for anyone confronting life's toughest challenges. By the end, you'll have a new appreciation for the profound presence of absence and be inspired to live with deeper intention.

You'll learn:
Why you don't have to choose between hope and despairWhy your pain doesn't get smaller, and why you might not want it toWhy beauty is an act of resistanceWhat we call the person who sits with us in hellWhy "no thing" is a very big somethingAnd so much more...Learn more about Jonathan:
website
Indigo
Instagram
Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts

"This is my go-to podcast for inspiration and to discover new approaches to embrace the challenges in my life." If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me reach more people -- just like you -- find strategies and insights to do the things that feel undoable. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!
Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. Follow now!
Sign up for my newsletter and learn more about these remarkable stories at www.jessicafeinstories.com

Order Jessica's memoir, Breath Taking: A Memoir of Family, Dreams, and Broken Genes

Music credit: Limitless by Bells

Have you ever felt a pang of regret for not saying yes to an opportunity that scared you? Or wondered what hidden potential lies within you that others see, but you can't quite yet?
This week's episode will light a fire under those very questions. Physician and writer doctor Mimi Zieman joins us with a truly extraordinary story - the time she said a resounding "yes" to an invitation that most of us would never have the audacity to accept.
At just 25 years old and one year into medical school, Mimi agreed to become the sole medical professional and only woman on a climbing team attempting a new, never-before-done route up the treacherous east face of Mount Everest. Oh, and they'd be doing it without supplemental oxygen.
In our riveting conversation, Mimi doesn't hold back on all the behind-the-scenes details you'd never imagine - from tap dancing in psychedelic tights on a boulder to leading a Passover Seder at 20,000 feet. You'll hear firsthand how she grappled with imposter syndrome while responsible for the lives of her teammates.
But ultimately, Mimi's journey becomes one of vulnerability, feminism, and an examination of what it truly means to feel vibrantly alive in the face of risk and uncertainty. Her hard-won wisdom and candidly beautiful writing will make you question how you too can start living more authentically and courageously.
Whether you're an adrenaline junkie or can't fathom leaving your living room couch, Mimi's inspirational story and perspective is one you won't want to miss. She'll have you pondering what you're willing to risk in order to discover your deepest self and make your own life itself a work of art.

You'll learn:
Why you should trust the people who see potential in you that you don't yet see in yourselfA simple tool to help combat imposter syndromeWhy "coming of age" is an ongoing processWhy you should get out of your safe zoneHow curiosity can be the most interesting life guideAnd so much more...Learn more about Mimi:
website.
Instagram
Threads
Facebook
X 
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"This is my go-to podcast for inspiration and to discover new approaches to embrace the challenges in my life." If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me reach more people -- just like you -- find strategies and insights to do the things that feel undoable. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!
Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. Follow now!
Sign up for my newsletter and learn more about these remarkable stories at www.jessicafeinstories.com

Order Jessica's memoir, Breath Taking: A Memoir of Family, Dreams, and Broken Genes

Music credit: Limitless by Bells

It's no secret that many of us feel lonelier and most isolated than we did in the past, so much so that there's a consensus that we're experiencing a "loneliness epidemic."

In this revealing episode, Jessica sits down with Jinhyun Shin, a mental wellness entrepreneur and founder of the "social being" app Penciv. Jinhyun shares his powerful personal experiences that sparked his drive to prevent suicide and how that led him to working to combat the modern "loneliness epidemic." 
Jinhyun reframes grief as the ultimate form of loneliness and shares his insights for honoring legacy. His innovative perspective will shift how you stay connected to yourself and build authentic community. You'll walk away with practical tools like the "feelings wheel" to identify nuanced emotions, as well as Jinhyun's three-step process for sharing your "wounds" to overcome loneliness.
Don't miss this candid conversation where Jinhyun gets raw about the difficulties of discussing mental health in the workplace, and hear his advice for receiving others' vulnerability as a precious gift. Whether you're grieving, disconnected, or simply crave deeper human bonds, this episode will leave you inspired to start meaningful conversations that combat isolation.
You'll learn:
The 3 steps to honoring your lost loved onesWhat you need to do before you can share your emotions with othersWhy we need to expand our emotional language beyond mad/sad/glad How to treat your emotions as important dataHow to share vulnerably and what to do when someone gets weird in responseAnd so much more...Learn more about Jinhyun:
Youtube
Blog
Medium Article: A House of Rooms
Medium Article: Life is Not About Happiness
Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts

"This is my go-to podcast for inspiration and to discover new approaches to embrace the challenges in my life." If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps me reach more people -- just like you -- find strategies and insights to do the things that feel undoable. Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode!
Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. Follow now!
Sign up for my newsletter and learn more about these remarkable stories at www.jessicafeinstories.com

Order Jessica's memoir, Breath Taking: A Memoir of Family, Dreams, and Broken Genes

Music credit: Limitless by Bells