Teenagers aren’t growing up in the same world we did.

They’re carrying social media, constant connectivity, comparison, academic pressure, anxiety, depression and a 24/7 stream of information in their pockets—and parents are trying to figure out when normal teenage behavior becomes something more serious.

In this episode, Branden sits down with Dr. Denise Rinderknecht, a board-certified family medicine physician with 30 years of experience and author of the young-adult fantasy novel The Spark.

Dr. Denise explains why she turned to fiction as a way of reaching teenagers about mental health. Instead of another adult lecturing them about anxiety and depression, she created characters young people could recognize themselves in.

They dig into social media, attention spans, boredom, independence, anxiety, depression, warning signs parents should pay attention to, the importance of open conversations, and the complicated transition teenagers make as they begin separating emotionally from their parents.

They also discuss something parents desperately need to hear: sometimes your teenager pulling away isn’t proof you’ve failed them. They’re growing up.

This conversation is about giving teenagers room to become themselves—while making damn sure they know they never have to struggle alone.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Why today’s teenagers face a different mental-health environment
• Social media, comparison and constant connectivity
• Why boredom actually matters for developing minds
• Normal teenage withdrawal vs. significant behavioral changes
• Helping teenagers develop independence
• Why stories can sometimes reach kids better than lectures
• Anxiety and depression in teenagers
• Creating conversations where kids feel safe asking for help
• Music and writing as tools for emotional processing
• Helping teens think about purpose without demanding they have life figured out
• The emotional separation that happens as teenagers approach adulthood
• What parents can do when they’re genuinely concerned
• Why hope matters

Dr. Danice is a board-certified family medicine physician, author, and advocate based in Golden, Colorado. With more than 30 years of clinical experience and a medical degree from Dartmouth, she's on a mission to bring whole-person healthcare into the homes and hearts of families everywhere. Her debut novel, The Spark: Light Begins Between a Rock and a Hard Place, uses young adult fantasy to address teen anxiety, depression, and PTSD — helping young readers find their inner strength and start the conversations that matter most.

What happens when the life you built changes—and suddenly you have to figure out who you are again?

Travel creator and podcast host Paula Barnes spent nearly two decades living abroad and raising her family across different cultures. But when her children grew up and left home, she found herself facing something completely different: freedom.

Her first solo trip became the beginning of a reinvention.

Paula and Branden talk about empty-nest identity, traveling alone, raising children internationally, fear, cultural differences, starting over later in life, and why adventure absolutely does not have an expiration date.

This isn’t really an episode about travel.

It’s about having the guts to find out who you are when the role that once defined you begins to change.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Losing your identity inside motherhood
• Becoming an empty nester
• Paula’s first solo trip
• Why traveling alone can be terrifying—and freeing
• Raising children internationally
• What living abroad teaches you about other cultures
• Reinventing yourself after 45
• Slow travel versus trying to cram everything into a vacation
• The guilt that can come with choosing an unconventional life
• Taking small risks before making huge changes
• Choosing curiosity over comfort

Paula is a travel creator, podcast host, and expat storyteller behind Truly Expat Travel. She has spent nearly two decades living across Asia, raising her family overseas while building a globally mobile lifestyle. Now a relatively young empty nester, Paula shares real, experience-led insights on expat life, travel, and what it looks like to reinvent yourself through different life stages.

Through her work, she helps women—especially those over 45—navigate travel and life transitions with confidence, curiosity, and a sense of freedom. Her conversations focus on the reality behind living abroad, raising children in different cultures, and redefining identity beyond traditional expectations.

Paula brings a grounded, honest perspective on what it means to design a life that doesn’t follow a fixed script, encouraging listeners to step outside their comfort zones and explore what’s possible at any stage of life.

https://trulyexpattravel.com/

You know what you’re supposed to do.

Eat better. Move your body. Stop stress eating. Quit starting over every Monday.

So why the hell is actually doing it so hard?

In this episode of Tell Me Why You’re Special, Branden sits down with London-based personal trainer and behavior-change specialist Ben Wilson, who has spent more than 20 years studying what actually creates lasting health and fitness transformation.

And his answer isn’t more discipline.

Ben breaks down why destructive habits become embedded in our lives, how stress and environment influence behavior, and why beating yourself up every time you fall off track can actually keep the cycle going.

They get into diet culture, emotional eating, unrealistic fitness expectations on social media, motivation versus learned behavior, exercise during difficult seasons, hunger, and the problem with treating weight-loss medications as the entire solution instead of one possible tool.

The biggest takeaway?

Discipline isn’t where transformation starts. It’s something you build.

You don’t need to become a completely different human tomorrow morning. You need to learn how to make better decisions consistently enough that those decisions eventually become who you are.

No perfect diet. No magical Monday. No bullshit 30-day personality transplant.

Just behavior change that can actually survive real life.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Why knowing better doesn’t automatically mean doing better
• The difference between motivation, discipline and learned behavior
• Why stress can trigger overeating and destructive habits
• How your environment affects behavior change
• Why extreme fitness plans often fail
• Social media’s unrealistic version of health and fitness
• Emotional versus physiological hunger
• Using movement to manage difficult emotions
• Why perfection isn’t required for progress
• Weight-loss medications as tools rather than complete solutions
• The danger of the “microwave mentality”
• Why gradual change can produce sustainable results
• Changing self-talk instead of constantly beating yourself up
• Building skills that work when motivation disappears
• Why lasting transformation is ultimately personal transformation

Ben Wilson is a London-based personal trainer with over 20 years' experience helping people improve their health, fitness and body shape. Rather than simply telling people what to eat or how to exercise, his work focuses on the psychology behind lasting change. He's the author of three books and has appeared on television many times.

https://benwilsonuk.com/ig/

What if the life you’re living isn’t being controlled by what you consciously want—but by beliefs you absorbed before you were even old enough to understand them?

Lina Viner built an eight-figure international fashion company and achieved the kind of success people spend their lives chasing. Then she walked away.

Because despite the money and accomplishments, she wasn’t fulfilled.

In this conversation, Lina and Branden dig into the subconscious patterns that can keep people stuck even when they KNOW they want something different. They talk about inherited beliefs, self-sabotage, nervous-system regulation, emotional eating, entrepreneurship, success, anxiety, courage, and why changing your circumstances without changing the patterns underneath them often leads you right back where you started.

Lina also shares the philosophy behind her Rewire Method and challenges listeners to stop asking only what they want to change—and start figuring out what they actually want their life to look like.

Because sometimes the biggest thing standing between you and the life you want is the programming you don’t even realize you’re running.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Walking away from an eight-figure business
• Why success doesn’t automatically create fulfillment
• How childhood beliefs can influence adult behavior
• Subconscious patterns and self-sabotage
• Why courage comes before confidence
• Nervous-system regulation and feeling safe
• The connection between beliefs, emotions and behavior
• Why quick fixes don’t necessarily create lasting change
• Breaking unhealthy cycles
• Entrepreneurship and identity
• Anxiety even after achieving financial success
• Emotional eating and sustainable behavior change
• Lina’s Rewire Method
• Defining your ideal life before trying to build it

Lina is the creator of The Rewire Method, a neuroscience-based framework for transforming the subconscious beliefs and patterns that shape health, habits, and fulfillment. She spent 17 years building Mia Belle Girls from a garage startup into an internationally recognized 8-figure fashion brand (Inc. 5000), then walked away to pursue a deeper question: why do so many capable people struggle to build lives they love?

Today, through Dream Life Academy, she teaches science-backed strategies for mindset mastery, nervous system regulation, and lasting behavior change. As co-founder of Telezen MD, she is redefining telehealth by combining physician-guided GLP-1 therapy with structured nutrition education and her proprietary Lose It for Life program. A Ukrainian immigrant who came to the US at age 10, Lina builds everything she teaches by testing it on herself first.

https://linaviner.com/s

What happens when you build the business you wanted… and then realize the damn thing owns you?

Gabe Arnold, CEO of Simple Operations and author of Passenger Seat Leadership, joins Branden to talk about the side of entrepreneurship nobody likes putting in their highlight reel: burnout, obsession, bottlenecks, identity, and the bullshit version of hustle culture sold online.

After years of growing his business while working 60-hour weeks without seeing the profit increase with the workload, Gabe realized something had to change. His answer was learning how to move from the driver’s seat to the passenger seat—building systems, delegating responsibility, and creating a company capable of functioning without him controlling everything.

They get into why entrepreneurs often become their own biggest bottleneck, why the hardest thing to delegate is usually the thing you’re BEST at, and why making your business your entire identity is a dangerous game.

They also talk about family, money, freedom, impact, the 10-10-10 decision rule, separating your worth from your accomplishments, and the uncomfortable question every entrepreneur eventually has to answer:

Did you build a business to give yourself freedom—or did you just build yourself another job?

IN THIS EPISODE

• The moment Gabe realized his business owned him
• Working 60-hour weeks without proportional profit
• The entrepreneur’s “driver’s seat” trap
• Moving into Passenger Seat Leadership
• Why founders become bottlenecks
• Delegating the things you’re actually good at
• Why hustle culture gives entrepreneurs a distorted picture of success
• Building systems that don’t depend on the founder
• Work-life balance and choosing family
• Gabe’s 10-10-10 rule for making decisions
• Why money and recognition aren’t enough
• Freedom and impact as measures of success
• Separating your identity from your business
• Entrepreneurship as personal development
• Building a company that supports your life instead of consuming it

Gabe is the CEO of Simple Operations and the author of Passenger Seat Leadership and Atomic Words. After years of building and scaling businesses, he discovered a critical flaw that traps most entrepreneurs: building a company that completely relies on them to survive. Today, Gabe helps visionary founders eliminate operational chaos, build predictable systems, and scale their companies so they can safely step away from the day-to-day gears and start leading from the passenger seat. In today's episode, he’s here to break down the exact tactical frameworks founders need to build an independent, self-scaling business.

Having a great book is not enough. If nobody knows it exists, nobody buys the damn thing.

Publishing and book-marketing expert Sarah Bean joins Branden to talk about what actually makes books sell, why authors have to stop treating marketing like an afterthought, and how a book can become much more than something sitting on an Amazon page.

Sarah has worked with more than 800 authors through Book Launchers, and she breaks down the realities of traditional publishing versus self-publishing, why even traditionally published authors are often responsible for their own promotion, and why a smaller targeted audience can be far more valuable than a massive audience that doesn’t care about your message.

Branden also gets called out by his own damn interview. After publishing five books, he realizes somewhere along the way he basically stopped talking about them—and Sarah explains why authors can’t expect old books to magically keep selling without continuing to put them in front of people.

They also dig into how publishing is changing, audiobooks and digital formats, building authority through a book, and where AI belongs—and doesn’t belong—in the writing process.

This conversation is part publishing lesson, part business strategy, and part reminder to every author sitting on a book they stopped promoting:

Your book can’t work for you if you refuse to talk about it.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Why good books still fail to sell
• Why authors need an actual marketing strategy
• Books as business assets and authority builders
• Traditional publishing vs. self-publishing
• Why publishers don’t necessarily market your book forever
• Building the right audience instead of simply the biggest one
• Using books to create speaking, consulting, and business opportunities
• Audiobooks, ebooks, video, and changing reader behavior
• AI’s growing role in publishing
• Why AI can help with research and strategy without replacing an author’s voice
• Why authors shouldn’t give up on older books
• Branden’s realization that he needs to start promoting his own books again

Sarah Bean believes everyone has a story to tell that can help others. She is Book Launchers’ marketing professional with over 20 years of entertainment and publishing experience. She started her career in the literary department of a worldwide agency, before becoming a speaking agent with a roster of best-selling authors, celebrities, athletes and business leaders. She's managed NY Times best-selling authors, produced live events like TEDx and has been an entertainment journalist covering TV/film news and red carpet interviews for leading entertainment websites. At Book Launchers, she has a passion for helping nonfiction authors build marketing strategy that uses their unique story and expertise to help others, build their brand and launch their career.

https://booklaunchers.com/7steps

What if healing isn’t about making the pain disappear?

What if it’s about expanding your capacity to experience hard things without allowing them to completely take over?

In this episode of Listen Bitch Presents: Tell Me Why You’re Special, I sit down with Nicole LeMaster, a somatic therapist, dream coach, author, and publisher who helps people understand their nervous systems, reconnect with their bodies, and recognize patterns they may have been living in for years.

Nicole breaks down what nervous system regulation actually means — and no, it doesn’t mean walking around calm and unbothered 24/7.

We talk about the “window of tolerance,” fight-or-flight responses, shutdown, anxiety, depression, feeling stuck, and why people can become so accustomed to dysregulation that they don’t even recognize it until they hit a breaking point.

Nicole also explains somatic work and why healing can require more than simply analyzing what happened to you. Sometimes you understand the damn story intellectually — but your body is still responding as though the threat is happening right now.

And then Nicole actually walks me through a body-awareness exercise during the interview.

That opened up an entirely different conversation about stress, compartmentalization, resilience, parenting, relationships, and how our lives continually hold up mirrors showing us where we still have work to do.

We also get into something I loved: healing does not necessarily mean erasing pain.

The past doesn’t magically cease to exist. Healing can mean developing a larger capacity to hold difficult experiences, remain present, recognize what’s happening inside yourself, and choose how you respond instead of automatically reacting.

Nicole and I also discuss breathing, emotional regulation, dreams and Jungian approaches, feeling “safe enough,” and how nervous-system regulation can completely change the dynamics of our relationships.

Because when you’ve spent years surviving, chaos can feel normal.

And sometimes peace feels foreign as hell.

This conversation is about learning the difference.

Nicole Lemaster M.A., LMFT, S.E.P.

A somatic therapist, dream coach, author & publisher devoted to helping people reconnect with their bodies, regulate their nervous systems and live a life they LOVE. Nervous system regulation is the foundation of all my work, supporting clients feeling safer, present, and fully alive.

I work with individuals in my therapy practice, offering a space for healing, integration, and lasting change. Alongside this, I lead groups through my nervous system and dream coaching work. As author and publisher, I am gathering a collection of healers for a new anthology series, born from a desire to pour healing into the world and carve out a platform of possibility.

My approach is experiential and integrative, weaving together elements of the nervous system,
mindfulness, chakras, movement, breathwork, and awareness to create radical resilience. I guide people into embodied practices that create real shifts in how they feel, respond, and relate to themselves and others.

With over a decade of experience supporting healing, my work centers on expanding
resilience and capacity - so people can not only navigate life’s challenges, but move toward what
they truly desire with greater ease and authenticity.

In this powerful episode of Listen Bitch Presents: Tell Me Why You’re Special, I sit down with Carolyn Sherrill, author, speaker, former physician assistant, and founder of Cords of Grace.

Carolyn shares an intensely personal story of childhood trauma, dissociation, healing, faith, forgiveness, and discovering who she was beyond what happened to her.

We talk about what dissociation can actually feel like, including Carolyn’s experience functioning as a medical professional while struggling with dissociative trauma. She shares her personal account of trauma-based mind control and ritual abuse, how those experiences affected her identity, and the long road toward healing.

But this conversation goes somewhere even deeper: spiritual warfare.

Carolyn talks about experiencing what she describes as demonic attacks, learning to stand in her identity as a child of God, the power she found in worship and the blood of Jesus, and what she believes it means to surrender the battle to God.

We also get into PTSD, anger at God, forgiveness, justice, breaking unhealthy soul ties, and the difference between forgiving someone and allowing them back into your life.

Carolyn shares how she eventually moved from asking, “Why did God allow this?” toward finding purpose, healing, and a calling to help other people walking through trauma.

We also discuss her book My Personal Holocaust, her ministry Cords of Grace, and the resources she has created for people working through trauma, abuse, dissociation, forgiveness, and faith.

This episode isn’t surface-level motivation. It’s a conversation about what happens when someone survives something that could have destroyed them — and then decides their story isn’t going to end there.
Carolyn is an author, speaker, and survivor whose ministry through Cords of Grace exposes the works of darkness while illuminating the goodness of God. After enduring ritual abuse and mind control in her early life, Carolyn experienced profound healing through God's relentless love, compassionate counseling, and divine guidance. Her journey through a dissociative disorder became the foundation for a powerful testimony of faith, healing, and redemption.

A former physician assistant who practiced medicine for twenty-three years, Carolyn brings both clinical insight and personal experience to her writing and speaking ministry. Her work focuses on the intersection of mental health, emotional healing, and spirituality, offering deep exploration into topics including soul ties, identity, forgiveness, judgment, and the spectrum of dissociation—from simple "tuning out" to the complexities of Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Carolyn is the author of My Personal Holocaust: Triumphing Over the Devastation of Trauma-Based Mind Control, where she shares how yielding to God's gentle guidance led to profound transformation. Her writing has been featured in Pentecostal Evangel magazine, Chicken Soup for the Soul, and Bethany House anthologies. Through her books, blog posts, and speaking engagements, Carolyn helps readers and audiences collaborate with God to discover their true identity and understand the supernatural effects on the mind.

Her mission is to help wounded souls develop dependence on God rather than on people, while reminding others that with God, no wound is too deep to heal. A lifelong Colorado resident, Carolyn enjoys her flower and vegetable gardens when not writing or ministering.

https://cordsofgrace.com/