Your Life Lived Well

<p>There’s no doubt we have an unhealthy relation to stress. But it is an unavoidable part of living. And it is especially unavoidable if you live with a chronic health condition or work in healthcare. In this episode...

<p>Your pain is trying to send you a message, but we misinterpret what it’s trying to tell us. Our pain systems get confused and overwhelmed, especially as pain becomes chronic. Our healthcare system mishandles our...

<p>Grief is complex, layered, nuanced, and — most of all — individual. Each time you grieve is unique because the loss is unique. Our grief doesn’t need to meet anyone’s expectations (even your own) and it doesn’t need...

<p>Most of us want to change something about ourselves. And if you live with a chronic diagnosis, you may need to make some life changes to accommodate that health condition. That sort of change is hard!</p> <p>If you...

<p>This episode digs into the words surrounding health, illness, and disability. We look at how words shape our thoughts, the surprising meanings of some common medical words, and how words can both tear us down and...

<p>Why do we have such a difficult time accepting the reality of mental illness? In this episode, we’ll talk about the reasons why many are uncomfortable with mental illness, and we’ll suggest some better ways to think...

<p>Everyone thinks they should relax more, but we can’t make ourselves relax. It doesn’t work that way. Here’s why relaxation is important, what’s getting in our way, and how we can really get to it.</p>

<p>96% of us with lasting health conditions are largely or completely “invisible.” We don’t have any external signals that remind others of the battles we are fighting inside. That’s confusing to others and they don’t...

<p>Pain is sending you a message, but we tend to misinterpret what it’s trying to tell us. Our pain systems also get confused and overwrought. Chronic pain also easily becomes “noise,” and not a meaningful signal. In...

<p>Stress is a part of life. Sometimes, it’s even a good part of life. It’s always there, so we must learn better strategies to cope. In this episode, we’ll discover what stress really is, distinguish between its...

<p>Fear is part of being human. We’ve all experienced it — whether we admit it or not. But for such a common experience, we misunderstand it far more than we realize. This episode is a deep dive into what fear really is...

<p>“Burnout” is rampant in the healthcare and caregiving professions. “Compassion fatigue” strikes even the most devoted loved ones and caregivers. These can leave us feeling angry, guilty, confused…or just empty. But...

<p>Staying hopeful is a real challenge with chronic illness — for those diagnosed and for their closest loved ones. In this episode, I invite you into a raw conversation about becoming hopeless and finding hope again in...

<p>Most of us aren’t very kind to ourselves, but we need to be. This episode dives into what it really means to be kind to yourself, as opposed to just occasionally “nice.” Along the way, we understand what self-esteem...

<p>We all need better sleep. Better sleep is a necessary key to a better life. But good sleep seems to be in short supply. In this episode we talk about why so many of us sleep so poorly, and we suggest the most...