MeaningMaker Podcast

Jana and Charlene
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Relationships

Their lives were forever changed - by a closet. Listen in with hosts Jana and Charlene, now middle-aged and married to each other, as they have real and raw conversations about making meaning of the mess and the beauty of it all.

  1. 11/10/2025

    S2/E5 Sunday School

    We prepare to return to the small town we left in 2020 to speak at a church exploring same sex marriage and what it means to be an affirming congregation - openly welcoming and supportive of 2SLGBTQ+ people. If feels complicated. But why we agreed to do it isn't. It's an act of faith.

    57 min

  2. 04/16/2025

    S2/E4 Your Life Is A Creative Act

    If it's true that creative ideas come to us because they're begging to be brought into the world, then maybe it's also true that our lives - and the ideas and dreams we have about them and the next version of ourselves - are also begging to be brought into the world. In this episode, we talk about our own creativity and what it's teaching us - that similar to life, it's about surrendering to the process.

    52 min

  3. 11/22/2023

    S2/E3 The Price of Shame

    In a continuation of the failure discussion from S2/E2, we talk about shame - which touches all of our lives at some point. It's about what happens when shame is deeply internalized and allowed to become the narrator of a life story. It's about the inability to set boundaries, the acceptance of a story told by others as your own, and the belief that who you are at your core - and who you are becoming - is your biggest failure.

    42 min

  4. 09/27/2023

    S2/E2 The Road Out

    In an unexpected episode - recorded just after Episode 1 of Season 2 - we turned the mics back on to capture a conversation about what we weren't planning to talk about. Two divorce stories playing out with much different outcomes - one much more common than the other. Not every story has a happy ending. Some endings feel like failures. Sometimes you learn that the real work is just accept the ending that you have so that something new can begin.

    33 min

  5. 09/06/2023

    S2/E1 Beginning Again

    More and more, we’re each learning that the podcast has been a journey to owning for ourselves both the hard and beautiful aspects of our story. One year after taking a one-year break from podcasting, we’re “beginning again” after experiencing a profound moment of closure. In this first episode of the new season, we talk about that moment, why we’re back, what has changed over the last year, our regrets from the first season, and what it is that we don’t want to talk about anymore.

    41 min

  6. 09/05/2023

    S1/E3 One Foot in Front of the Other

    As mothers and wives with young families, we knew there would be no right time and no right way to open the closet door.  Listen as we talk about some of the things that inspired courage in us, that guided us to the eventual decision and that we had to consider - including the losses we would likely face.

    28 min

  7. 07/20/2022

    S1/E23 Graduation

    Over these 23 episodes, we’ve chronicled our coming out story — and our life in the decade after that. We’ve honoured and loved and struggled to make meaning of all that came before — and so much of what has followed. These real and raw conversations every other week have healed and changed us both. And recently, they’ve left us with another unexpected gift. The realization that as much as the podcast has been about telling the story — it has also been about letting go of it.

    37 min

  8. 07/06/2022

    S1/E22 The Meaning of Meaning

    The past is gone but, so often, it defines the present. After reliving this many-faceted coming out story over more than 20 episodes, we talk about why it’s been important to make meaning of what happened in those initial coming out years. How we needed to find a truth about those events which is true for each of us, individually. How we discovered that our understanding of the truth continues to evolve and change over time. And, how all of this has pushed us to re-examine faith, flaws and even how we imagine the future.

    46 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Their lives were forever changed - by a closet. Listen in with hosts Jana and Charlene, now middle-aged and married to each other, as they have real and raw conversations about making meaning of the mess and the beauty of it all.

Information

  • Creator
    Jana and Charlene
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2025
  • Episodes
    29
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Jana and Charlene
  • Show Website
    MeaningMaker Podcast