Everything Happens with Kate Bowler

Are you living your best life now? Not always? This is a podcast for you. Duke Professor Kate Bowler is an expert in the stories we tell about success and failure, suffering and happiness. She had Stage IV cancer. Then she didn’t. And since then, all she wants to do is talk to funny and wise people about how to live with the knowledge that, well, everything happens. Find her online at @katecbowler.Sales and Distribution by Lemonada Media https://lemonadamedia.com/

Everything Happens with Kate Bowler is a society podcast hosted by Kate Bowler, with 298 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Kate Bowler hosts Everything Happens with Kate Bowler, a society show with 298 episodes published.

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  Episode #5

  Losing Religion with Diana Butler Bass

  Oct 6, 202648 minS17

  Something strange has happened to American religion. More people are checking “none” when asked about religious affiliation—but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve stopped believing in God, looking for meaning, or longing for community. Historian Diana Butler Bass helps us understand how we got here. Kate and Diana trace the transformation of American evangelicalism from Jimmy Carter to the Religious Right, why Christianity became increasingly entangled with political identity, and what happens when people leave religious institutions but still find themselves reaching for something sacred. Perhaps losing a religious label isn’t always the same thing as losing faith. And perhaps the question isn’t only why people left—but what they’re still hungry for. Show Notes:  Learn more about Diana Butler Bass Subscribe to Diana’s newsletter, The Cottage Explore Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape Study Learn more about America’s religiously unaffiliated (“nones”) Explore the data on spirituality and religious identity Join Kate on Substack

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  Episode #4

  You’re Going to Need Some Friends with Andrew O’Hagan

  Sep 29, 202649 minS17

  Who are the people who have made you who you are? Kate sits down with novelist Andrew O’Hagan for a funny and tender conversation about friendship: the childhood friends we swear we’ll love forever, the unexpected people who become essential, and the friends who know how to stay when life gets frightening. Together, they wonder what makes someone a good friend, why some friendships deepen while others fade, and how love sometimes looks less like having the right words and more like simply keeping pace. Show Notes On Friendship — Andrew O’Hagan Mayflies — Andrew O’Hagan Caledonian Road — Andrew O’Hagan The Illuminations — Andrew O’Hagan Andrew O’Hagan — London Review of Books Edna O’Brien — RTÉ Archives Sam’s Cafe — Primrose Hill Dignitas

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  Episode #3

  Joy, Come Find Me with Jennifer Garner

  Sep 22, 202655 minS17

  Jennifer Garner joins Kate Bowler for a conversation about happiness, joy, and the particular ache that shows up somewhere around midlife when the disappointments start to outnumber the wins, and you’re still not who you thought you’d be by now. They talk about what actually separates happiness from joy (hint: one requires everything to go right, the other doesn’t), the strange gift of a copperhead snake bite, why Jennifer went paragliding after her cancer diagnosis despite being terrified of heights, and what it means to be a “witness” instead of just a friend.  Plus: religious upbringing and how it shapes how we experience joy, letting-go rituals, raising teenagers, and why older women deserve more credit for staying vivid, capable, and alive. If you’ve ever felt like your life was supposed to add up by now and it just hasn’t, this one’s for you.

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  Episode #1

  How to Break Generational Cycles in Motherhood with Libby Ward

  Sep 8, 202650 minS17

  What if becoming the parent you want to be requires unlearning some of what you were taught? Author and creator Libby Ward joins Kate to talk about breaking generational cycles, people-pleasing, parental burnout, and the complicated work of becoming the parent you didn’t have. Libby shares how motherhood forced her to confront her own limits—and reconsider the impossible standards she’d absorbed about what makes a “good mom.” Together, they talk about boundaries, trusting your own needs, and letting go of the exhausting work of looking like a good parent so you can focus on what actually helps your children feel safe and loved. Show Notes: Watch the conversation on YouTube. Follow Libby on Instagram.  Read Libby’s book, Honest Motherhood.

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  Everything Happens with Kate Bowler

  Listen Again: We Are Good Medicine with Vivek Murthy

  Sep 1, 202646 min

  Loneliness is more than just a feeling—it shapes how we see ourselves and the world around us. It can make us withdraw, hesitate to reach out, or convince us that connection is for other people. But Dr. Vivek Murthy has spent years reminding us of what is most true: we are meant to hold each other up. As U.S. Surgeon General (twice!), Vivek confronted some of the biggest public health challenges of our time—addiction, youth mental health, the opioid crisis. But at the heart of it all was something deeply human: our need for each other. In this conversation, Kate and Vivek talk about what actually makes a life full—not perfect, not endlessly productive, but anchored in love and belonging.  Together, they discuss: • The quiet ache of loneliness and why so many of us feel it • Why relationships, purpose, and service are the real building blocks of a fulfilled life • Small, practical ways to reach out, even when it feels awkward • How asking for help might bring us closer, not pull us apart. This episode originally aired February 2025

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