Then When

Then When Podcast
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  • Self-Improvement

We all have a list of things we’ve been meaning to do, changes we’ve been wanting to make, and versions of ourselves we’ve been waiting to become. We tell ourselves the time isn't right—but if not now, then when? Stop waiting for "someday." Start finding your "Then When." Then When is a podcast dedicated to the pivotal moments that change everything. This show explores the bridge between being stuck and taking the leap.

  1. Sep 30

    E25 - Then When? Progress Report!

    Progress Report: Sound Baths, Books & Big Moves 📊✨ Fall is here, leaves are falling, and Serina and Mary are in their era of doing the thing. This week's episode is a proper progress report — two people checking in on the big then-whens they've been quietly (and not so quietly) building toward, in real time, with all the nervousness and joy and roofing interruptions that come with it. Serina just held her first official public sound healing session — session one of ten for her certification. Complete with a brother-in-law armed with sage, a chain of studio friends holding chimes and Tibetan bowls in a blessing line, and a miraculous moment when the roofing crew went completely silent the second the ceremony started. (Coincidence? We think not. 🕊️) Mary is in the feedback-and-editing phase of her book — a self-help work born out of her professional practice, her own hero's journey of last-minute papers and emotional breakdowns, and a flow state that once it started, would not stop. A smaller publisher is showing interest. The mud is clearing. She's climbing out the other side. And she's also, for the record, a two-time published poet at her local library. (Serina is now holding her accountable to share it on a future episode. We're all holding our breath. 🎤) Together they get into the algorithm spiral of "why are there so many people doing my thing?", what flow state actually feels like from the inside, and why the scariest part — starting — is always the part that leads to everything else. In this episode: 🎙️ 🎵 Serina's first public sound healing session: roofers, sage, a blessing line, and 45 minutes that felt like five🔔 Reading the room: how Serina watches participants and responds with harmonics, triads, and chakra-aligned bowls📖 Mary's book journey: flow state writing, rejection letters, feedback, and a publisher who said maybe🤖 Mary's AI confession: she tries it, rewrites the whole thing herself, and gives up — because her voice is too specific to replicate (we agree)🧠 Comparison trap: "there's so many people doing this — what makes my voice different?" (Answer: everything)🌊 Flow state: when you're in the sauce of your purpose and time disappears🏫 Serina's next moves: yoga/meditation groups, sound baths for teachers in schools, and a Then When pop-up (Costa Rica? Waterfront Florida? Your local library? All TBD)📝 Mary's next moves: editing, a publisher's feedback, and maybe a poetry reading (she's been warned 🎤)🛻 Mary is manifesting a Range Rover and she is not ashamed. Virgo goals.🎉 Over two dozen episodes in, baby! Whoop whoop!Links & Resources 🔗 🌐 Then When Podcast: www.thenwhenpodcast.com💬 Discord — share your progress report, your win, your then-when — big or small: discord.com/invite/UYjfTPSdcQ📱 Socials @thenwhenpodcast — Serina's lit-up sound bowl photo is dropping. Go find it. 🌈This podcast is for general informational and entertainment purposes only. Until When! 🤍 #ThenWhen #ThenWhenPodcast #IfNotNowThenWhen #SomeDayIsToday #ProgressReport #SoundHealing #SoundBath #BookJourney #FlowState #TryItOn #ComparisonTrap #DoTheWork #YouAreEnough #ManifestingGoals 🎵📖💛

  2. Sep 23

    E24 - Then When? To Check In

    Then When to Check In 🔄✨ Weird Al. Puddles Pity Party. A paper plate of shells with exactly one piece successfully glued together. A sound healing session that gave Serina a receipt from the universe saying you're on the right path. Skull branch pencils. A stationery store discovery that has already become a future field trip. This episode has everything. 💛 At its core, episode 24 is a check-in — on the then-whens they've talked about on past episodes, on each other, and on themselves. And what they find is so human and so real: sometimes things are in motion and beautiful, sometimes you're holding up a paper plate with shells and a dream. Both are valid. Both count. The point is you keep checking in. Because here's the thing about accountability: it's not about shame, it's about staying in the conversation. With yourself, with your people, with the thing you said you wanted. That's the whole move. In this episode: 🎙️ 🎸 Weird Al at 66 is putting on Backstreet Boys-level shows (Kurt Cobain costume change included — we can't)🐌 Puddles Pity Party shoutout — Atlanta's own🧱 Serina's Lego succulents: the official antidote to a rough day (Lego, call us)🪴 Mary's plant repotting pivot: big feelings → hands in soil → mood lifted instantly🐚 The shell project check-in: a paper plate, a missing hot glue stick, and an unshakeable vision🎵 Serina's sound healing practice: a space confirmed, a mini session held, participants melting into stillness — and a deeply validating feeling of this is right📜 Checking in with yourself: movement, breathing, journaling, walking the block — what actually works for each of them📓 Mary's journals — she left one at Serina's house, Serina mailed it back with a sticker and a little note (we love them)💌 Hidden notes in lunchboxes as a love language (Mary's signature move, and honestly a whole life philosophy)🖊️ Stationery and pen rabbit hole: neon pens, skull branch pencils, and a Tokyu Hands floor dedicated entirely to pens (someone book the tickets)💬 Who are YOUR check-in buddies? And do you have different ones for different things?🧘 Serina's new then-when: getting back to yoga — Discord, hold her to itTry It On This Week 🌟 Check in on something — a project, a goal, a person. Not with pressure, just with presence. You might be surprised what moves when someone rings the bell beside you. 🔔 Links & Resources 🔗 🎵 Weird Al Yankovic — on tour: weirdal.com🎭 Puddles Pity Party — Atlanta's own sad clown icon: puddlespityparty.com🌐 Then When Podcast: www.thenwhenpodcast.com💬 Discord — check in on Serina's yoga journey, share your shell project update, or drop a note about YOUR check-in buddy: discord.com/invite/UYjfTPSdcQThis podcast is for general informational and entertainment purposes only. Until When! 🤍 #ThenWhen #ThenWhenPodcast #IfNotNowThenWhen #SomeDayIsToday #CheckIn #Accountability #SoundHealing #ShellProject #TryItOn #FindYourPeople #ItTakesAVillage #MorningPages #WeirdAl #CheckInBuddy #PersonalGrowth

  3. Sep 16

    E23 - Then When? Is It Time To Adventure?

    Then When Is It Time to Adventure? 🌊🗺️ Micro, medium, or macro — there's an adventure out there with your name on it. And this week, Serina and Mary are living proof. Mary is deep in her birthday month (Happy Virgo season! ♍) and has been stacking adventures like a pro — a spontaneous beach overnight, bottomless mimosas at an old-school brunch, the Yale Art Museum, thrift shops, and yes, another Brooklyn dance party. Because why not? It's her month. Meanwhile, Serina just returned from a Baja road trip where she snorkeled with whale sharks 🦈, climbed things she probably shouldn't have, came home with a cactus-stabbed thumb and a scraped shin, and considers both souvenirs a badge of honor. "Better to dust off your body from falling in the dirt than sit and admire something on a shelf." Say less. 💛 This one is a love letter to the full spectrum of adventure — from the library puzzle section to the desert off-grid. Wherever you land on that scale, this episode wants you to go there. In this episode: 🎙️ ♍ Happy Birthday Mary! Virgo season is here and the adventures started August 28th and are still going🌊 Serina's Baja adventure: whale sharks, desert road trips, off-grid living, and facing down a old Tijuana border anxiety (brave pants: worn ✅)🎨 Mary's birthday month lineup: beach overnight, brunch revival, Yale Art Museum, thrift shops, Brooklyn dance party 💃🔬 Micro vs. macro adventures — and the beautiful "schmackro" middle ground🛒 The Costco storyteller who trapped Mary in the bread aisle (a cautionary tale in social awareness)🎭 What role do YOU play on an adventure? Solo you vs. matriarch you vs. sidekick you — they're all different trips🎪 Adventure persona cosplay — Serina's challenge: pick a non-you persona and go on an adventure IN it🍕 Mary wants to eat pizza off fine china. She has already done this. We fully support it.👗 Mary also wants to go to the grocery store in a wedding dress. We also support this.🎬 The theme snack idea: pair your favorite film with a snack box from the movie (Napoleon Dynamite tater tots, anyone?)🧒 Try It On: tap into your teenage adventure spirit — what did your teen self love to do? Go do it.Try It On This Week 🌟 What did your teenage self consider an adventure? Hacky sack in a parking lot? A midnight drive to nowhere? A gas station snack run? Go do it — then tag us! 🎯 Links & Resources 🔗 🌐 Then When Podcast: www.thenwhenpodcast.com💬 Discord — share your adventure, your persona experiment, or your teen-era then-when: discord.com/invite/UYjfTPSdcQ📱 TikTok & socials @thenwhenpodcast — Serina and Mary will be posting their own teen Try It On. Stay tuned. 👀This podcast is for general informational and entertainment purposes only. Until When! 🤍 #ThenWhen #ThenWhenPodcast #IfNotNowThenWhen #SomeDayIsToday #Adventure #MicroAdventure #BajaMexico #WhaleShark #VirgoSeason #HappyBirthday #TryItOn #FollowYourBellyButton #AdventurePersona #LivingVsFeelingAlive #TouristInYourOwnTown 🌊🗺️♍💛

  4. Aug 26

    E22 - Then When? How To When Your Then

    Getting Unstuck: How to Start, Keep Going & Actually Finish the Thing 🌱✨ We're gonna be real with you: sometimes life be lifing so hard that the podcast itself becomes a living example of the very thing you're trying to work through. And this episode? This is that episode. Serina and Mary pull up a chair, get honest about where they've been, and dive into one of the most universal struggles in the Then When universe — getting started, staying in motion, and not completely bailing when you're this close to the finish line. 🏁 From shell projects on the shelf to gardens being rebuilt one bag of soil at a time, from body doubling at cafes to pep talks in the mirror — this is a warm, real, and deeply relatable episode about the messy middle of doing the things we say we want to do. And what it actually feels like to show up for yourself when it's hard. Also: Serina's house hugged a friend. A rainbow lives in a closet. Someone loaded 20 bags of soil alone and was told by a stranger, "Women really are powerful." 💪 In this episode: 🎙️ 🌱 Learning IS starting — giving yourself credit for the research and ideation phase📋 The daily goal list that includes both "shower" and big dreams (next to each other, always)🧩 The case for a dedicated puzzle table — and why visual cues change everything🏡 "Your house just hugged me" — Serina's home reimagining journey with designer Roanna Bales of Radiantly Roanna (shout out! 🌟)🎨 Live fully in your space — stop saving the good stuff for resale🐚 Mary's shell project situation: a scallop, some muscle shells, tiny earrings, and five inherited jars of shells from Serina (we may need a pop-up)📚 Body doubling, book clubs, and accountability structures that actually work😬 The shame spiral around not finishing — and how to flip it🏆 Garage clean-out as a genuine then-when (family of five, lots of bicycles, SO many shoes)🎢 Mary rode a roller coaster to prove she could do scary things. She did it. We are proud.🌿 Serina's garden: axes, volunteer trees, 20 bags of soil, and a stranger who said exactly the right thing💬 "Talk to yourself like a friend would" — and maybe try a ridiculous mirror pep talk while you're at itShoutout 🌟 Big love to Roanna Bales of Radiantly Roanna for helping Serina bring the hug-first energy to life in her home. https://www.instagram.com/radiantlyroannahome/ Links & Resources 🔗 🌐 Then When Podcast: www.thenwhenpodcast.com💬 Discord — how do YOU get started? Share your tricks, your then-whens, and your shell projects: discord.com/invite/UYjfTPSdcQThis podcast is for general informational and entertainment purposes only. Until When! 🤍 #ThenWhen #ThenWhenPodcast #IfNotNowThenWhen #SomeDayIsToday #GettingUnstuck #StartTheWork #Accountability #BodyDoubling #HomeDecor #TryItOn #ShameSpiral #MomentumBuilding #YouGotThis #FinishTheThing 🌱🐚🏡

  5. Aug 12

    E21 - Then When? Start Before You are Ready - with Daina

    Build It & They Will Come: A Conversation with Writer & Producer Daina Smith 🎬✨ What if the story you thought was "out of your wheelhouse" turned out to be the one that changed everything? This week Serina and Mary are joined by Daina Smith (https://dainasmithwrites.com/) — writer, producer, Big Apple Film Festival judge, and Mary's neighbor-turned-kindred-spirit. Daina's most recent project, Semolina Pilchard, is a wild, wacky, nineties-soaked independent film that she'll be the first to tell you was unlike anything she'd ever written. A gangster film? From a rom-com writer who's never done a drug in her life? (She announced this at the Q&A. In front of her parents. We love her.) 🎭 Daina gets into the real talk of how creative ideas actually become finished projects — through discipline, daily goal lists (yes, even shower counts), momentum-riding, connection-making, and the willingness to start before you feel ready and finish before you feel done. She also talks about rejection, the pivotal choice she made in college to step away from acting, and what she'd tell that younger version of herself now. Meanwhile, Mary drops her own then-when: sitting on a publishing connection for four months out of fear and finally hitting send — with cool things already starting to unfold. The energy in this one is contagious. 💛 Upcoming Screenings 🎟️ 📍 August 27 — Bedford Playhouse, Bedford, NY https://bedfordplayhouse.org/📍 August 30 — Edmond Town Hall, Newtown, CT https://edmondtownhall.org/🖥️ Streaming on various platforms — coming this fall!Links & Resources 🔗 🎬 Semolina Pilchard — https://halfsunentertainment.com/semolina-pilchard/🎭 Ridgefield Playhouse: ridgefieldplayhouse.org📺 Catastrophe (Sharon Horgan & Rob Delaney) — available on Prime Video🌐 Then When Podcast: www.thenwhenpodcast.com💬 Discord: discord.com/invite/UYjfTPSdcQThis podcast is for general informational and entertainment purposes only. Until When! 🤍 #ThenWhen #ThenWhenPodcast #IfNotNowThenWhen #SomeDayIsToday #Screenwriting #IndieFilm #SemolinaPilchard #CreativeLife #TryItOn #BuildItAndTheyWillCome #Rejection #WritersOfInstagram #FilmFestival #Manifesting #CreativeEntrepreneur 🎬✍️🌟💛

  6. Jul 8

    E20 - Then When? It's Time for Recess!

    Let's Play! 🦉✨ (A.K.A. Our 20th Epiversary Special) How dare we start a podcast? In this economy? Apparently, pretty well, because THIS, friends, is episode twenty. 🎉 And to celebrate hitting their twentieth epiversary, Serina and Mary decided to do something a little different: put down the deep dives, pick up a card game, and just play. Enter Smug Owls, the clever riddle-generating party game created by Mike and Grace (longtime Then When faves). It's two (or more) of you. It's a deck of cards. It's whatever combination of "what," "ages," "holes," and "tops" the universe decides to throw at you. And it is absolutely unhinged in the best possible way. 🃏 From gas station sushi to sloth bathroom habits to Gavin Rosdale (never not relevant), this is the episode that proves sometimes the most Then When thing you can do is just give yourself permission to be ridiculous. As a group activity. On the internet. In this episode: 🎙️ 🦉 Smug Owls riddle game, live — two people, one deck, zero prep, many wrong turns🎉 Episode 20! Happy Epiversary to us, and to you, and to the whole Then When community🤔 Riddles include: What ages because it sleeps? What is clear and hurts? What is scary and is always cheap?(Your answers in the Discord, please and thank you)💧 The pool/plant situation (Mary blames the neighbor's pool, we believe her)🌟 Why adults need to play more — and how play is where wonder, awe, and real connection live🦥 A surprise sloth bathroom fact (fact-check pending, your algorithms are now ruined, sorry)🎸 Day 513 of Mary trying to get Gavin Rosdale on this podcast (Gavin, please)🔮 A teaser: Serina and Mary are going to be in the same place soon. Scavenger hunt incoming.Try It On This Week 🌟 Drop your best answer to a Smug Owls riddle in the Discord — or just call someone you've been meaning to call. Old school. Like it's the 80s. Links & Resources 🔗 🦉 Smug Owls by Mike and Grace — the game we played: https://www.runawayparade.com/smug-owls🌐 Then When Podcast: www.thenwhenpodcast.com💬 Discord — post your spicy Smug Owls answers here: discord.com/invite/UYjfTPSdcQThis podcast is for general informational and entertainment purposes only. Until When! 🤍 #ThenWhen #ThenWhenPodcast #IfNotNowThenWhen #SomeDayIsToday #SmugOwls #Episode20 #Epiversary #PlayMore #AdultsWhoPlay #GameNight #RiddleMe #TryItOn #GavinRosdale 🦉🎉🃏💛

  7. Jul 1

    E19 - Then When? We Are Building From Within

    Building Your Best Life (Within the One You Already Have) Days become months. Months become years. And then one day you blink and think - wait, when did I stop steering this thing? This week Serina and Mary get into the real, unglamorous, deeply relatable work of taking steps toward your Then When moments, big or small, within the life you're already living. No retreats required. Just you, your ideas that won't leave you alone, and maybe a key blank from the hardware store. 🗝️ They talk tools, accountability, how to measure your own success without crushing yourself, and why "curious, not judgmental" (Ted Lasso forever) might be the most useful lens you've got. Plus: dancing to your 15-year-old self's playlist, why Duo the Owl needs to stop shaming people, and a mystery project Mary is keeping close to the chest... for now. 👀 In this episode: 🎙️ 🏗️ How do you build toward your Then When within the life you already have?🔁 Constant reassessment vs. long-term planning — Serina's actually philosophy🌿 Getting back to your habits and routines first, so you can actually think clearly🤝 The power of accountability and why trust is non-negotiable for it to work📏 Setting your own bar: whose standard of measurement are you actually using?🏆 Celebrating the wins you've already had toward a goal🗝️ Try It On - Serina's totem idea: a key blank for your future home, a physical reminder of what you're building✉️ Try It On - Mary's letter from your future self: write it, then read it aloud (Serina will challenge you to record it too)🗺️ Tourist in your own town: start close before you go far📓 The food passport Serina made by hand and how you can make your own for anything🌍 Atlas Obscura for finding the weird, wacky, and wonderful near you👩‍🎨 Shoutout to Nikki at The Peach Parlor in ATL (the hair. the HAIR.)Try It On This Week 🌟 Pick ONE: Get a key blank (or another small totem) for a goal you keep circling. Or write a letter from your future self to yourself now — then read it out loud. And if you want to share your letter in the Discord? Serina's setting up a space for that. Bold hearts welcome. 💛 Links & Resources 🔗 The Peach Parlor ATL: https://thepeachparloratl.glossgenius.com/Atlas Obscura find the weird and wonderful near you: atlasobscura.comFinch: the self-care pet app Serina loves: finchcare.comThen When Podcast: www.thenwhenpodcast.comDiscord: share your future-self letter, your totem, or your Then When: discord.com/invite/UYjfTPSdcQThis podcast is for general informational and entertainment purposes only. Until When! 🤍 #ThenWhen #ThenWhenPodcast #IfNotNowThenWhen #SomeDayIsToday #BuildYourLife #TryItOn #Accountability #FutureSelf #PersonalGrowth #TouristInYourTownown #MeasureYourSuccess #AtlasObscura #CuriousNotJudgmental

  8. Jun 25

    E18 - Then When? Can We Get Inclusive - with Nick

    Let's Get Inclusive with Nick Lucatino This week, Serina and Mary welcome a very special guest into the Then When chaos: Nick Lucatino, founder of Inclusive Pathways Project and Mary's friend-turned-collaborator since the day they nearly got hit by a car together. Nick is a behavior analyst who's spent his career thinking outside the box about something most of us never talk about out loud: that moment of "wait, what do I actually want to do with my life?" — whether you're 17 and graduating high school or 47 and wondering how you ended up here. His work with Inclusive Pathways helps young people with disabilities navigate the leap into adulthood, find their passions, and build the kind of independence that too often gets left out of the conversation. And on top of that, he built Ask What Do You Mean — a free, genuinely brilliant communication tool born from a very real, very relatable problem: getting a text and having absolutely no idea what to say back. But the heart of this episode is Nick's own then-when: after feeling stuck in a rut, he followed his gut, applied to PhD programs, and is now days from a cross-country move to Wisconsin choosing a fresh start, a new identity (cheese hats may be involved 🧀), and the kind of leap that doesn't feel less scary just because it's the right one. Also featured: a passionate shirt design debate, the great QR-code controversy of 2026, and Mary getting "clocked" as a lavender queen. In this episode: 🤝 How Mary and Nick met — nearly getting hit by a car in a conference parking lot, bonded over "slamming" brown shoes🧠 Inclusive Pathways: helping young people with disabilities discover their passions and navigate adulthood💡 Nick's origin story — watching students hit the same "what do I even want to do" wall, over and over🎯 The hobby-and-leisure quiz that always, somehow, recommends geocaching📱 Ask What Do You Mean (askwdym.com) — Nick's free communication app that decodes confusing texts, emails, and "what does this even mean?" moments🎓 Nick's then-when: applying to PhD programs and following the feeling of "this is the moment"🌱 Fresh starts, new versions of yourself, and the people who still remember every version you've ever beenShow Links! Inclusive Pathways Project: https://www.inclusivepathwaysproject.com/Ask What Do You Mean: askwdym.com : free, open-source tool for decoding confusing texts and messagesThen When Podcast website: www.thenwhenpodcast.comJoin the Discord — drop your then-when, your hot takes on QR-code merch, or your geocaching alias: discord.com/invite/UYjfTPSdcQFind us on the socials @thenwhenpodcastListen on all major podcast platformsThis podcast is for general informational and entertainment purposes only. Until When! 🤍 #ThenWhen #ThenWhenPodcast #IfNotNowThenWhen #SomeDayIsToday #FollowYourGut #InclusivePathways #AskWhatDoYouMean #TrustTheProcess #FreshStart #CommunicationMatters #TryItOn #DisabilityAdvocacy #NewBeginnings #LifeTransitions #PersonalGrowth

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We all have a list of things we’ve been meaning to do, changes we’ve been wanting to make, and versions of ourselves we’ve been waiting to become. We tell ourselves the time isn't right—but if not now, then when? Stop waiting for "someday." Start finding your "Then When." Then When is a podcast dedicated to the pivotal moments that change everything. This show explores the bridge between being stuck and taking the leap.

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  • Creator
    Then When Podcast
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    27
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Then When Podcast