The Real Question

I started listening to this podcast in January 2023 when I was in the midst of trying to decide whether or not to leave my job sooner rather than later. It was a really dark and challenging period, but this podcast was a bright light and beacon of hope. I tried to imagine what Vanessa would ask me and how I would respond. I felt great empathy and got great insights from those who so vulnerably shared their own stories. And then there was the laughter …which I hadn’t realized how much I needed. These decisions are tough and Vanessa has such a gift for not only asking very direct questions in as compassionate a way as possible but also finding ways, when appropriate, to laugh at the situation and especially human behavior. I am sorry it has taken me so long to write this. You don’t know it but you were an instrumental part of helping me to quit something I very much needed to and I am so much better for it now a year later. Thank you, Vanessa and team!

this podcast (and all that came before it in the not sorry body of work) have helped keep me sane. i felt especially seen with the “quitting my comfortable relationship” episode, because it sums up pretty niftily how trying to date has gotten so unbearably icky, and how hopeless it feels to try and search for partnership while maintaining a modicum of self-worth. anyway. love you guys, keep it up.

Listening to the opening episode of, “should I quit?” I actually got emotional, something that doesn’t happen often. I’m at a crossroads moment in my own life, as we all inevitably come to. But it’s more than that. This podcast has resonated at the deepest level for me, and made me at least start to be curious about why my moral compass has always insisted that endurance, perseverance, and commitment for the sake of it were so important. It’s made me wonder why quitting, which is actually a really rational decision, feels like such a referendum on myself. Vanessa’s questions to her guests, her compassion, and her insights have helped me enormously in this journey. The podcast is helping me to give myself permission to quit what no longer serves me. I’m so grateful.

I cannot believe how much I feel like I learn from every episode. I’ve felt like I’m on the precipice of changing or not changing for the last few months and every episode feels like it’s meant for me. Vanessa counters and/or validates all of the guests’ fears with so much compassion that it expands beyond the conversation into my own heart.