Make Some Noise with Andrea Owen

Jennifer Louden is a pioneer in the life coaching industry and author of the upcoming book, Why Bother?. I don’t know about you, but I think the title and topic of her book are incredibly timely. As we watch world events unfold, many are probably thinking things like, “Why bother to do that project right now?” Or “Why bother speaking up about the things I believe in?” Why bother?Together, Jennifer and I discuss her new book and all of the implications of asking the question, “Why bother?” We talk about why it is essential to sit in the grey area of inquiry and curiosity, even when it’s incredibly uncomfortable. And, we explore the idea of desire and the importance of letting desire flow without knowing how it’s going to turn out.In this episode you’ll hear:  How the writing of a failed memoir led Jennifer to write Why Bother? (10:00) One of the ways “Why bother?” comes visiting (18:18) As we face an unprecedented climate crisis, how asking, “why bother?” helps us address that (19:00) Jennifer shares her six-step process for turning to the bright side of “why bother?” (24:03) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amy Ahlers returns to the Your Kick-Ass Life podcast! She has been a life coach for many, many years and is a dear friend of mine. She is a master women’s leadership and life coach, keynote speaker, and the bestselling author of Big Fat Lies Women Tell Themselves and Reform Your Inner Mean Girl. Amy is on a mission to STOP women from self-bullying and being so darn hard on themselves so they can make their greatest possible contribution.Today we talk about managing your inner mean girl during times of crisis, such as what we’re all going through right now. Together we discuss the idea of leaning into the depth of what is really important to you currently— which could be napping or jumping into a passion project. What is your soul’s message? We also chat about writing and how it can be a powerful tool for healing. In this episode you’ll hear: Reform Your Inner Mean Girl: why Amy decided to co-author the book (5:00) Don’t let your inner mean girl beat you up about what you are doing or not during this time of crisis (7:00) The stress response and the antidote to the stress response; the relaxation response (9:00) Common lies women tell themselves like, “It’s too late for me.” (12:00) The many different ways to journal and how Amy’s practice of writing a letter to her inner wisdom (30:00) Don’t forget to sign up for our free community call, Top 10 Kick-Ass tips to Get Your Project Started, Done or Out the door which will be held on April 22nd at 3 pm Eastern time. You’ll walk away with concrete tools so that you can create new awareness, heal some old stuff that’s been hanging around, and/or finish that novel or blog you’ve been putting off for years. http://yourkickasslife.com/332  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week’s guest is a certified life coach, Liz Applegate. I’ve been wanting to introduce you to Liz because she is my lead coach here at Your Kick-Ass Life! (I so rarely use exclamation marks, so please know, this is very exciting!) She was hand-selected to assist me with my private coaching clients and I could not be more thrilled to have someone as fantastic as a coach as she is on my team. She is a certified Courageous Living Coach and has been called an inner-critic whisperer by many of her clients.One of the reasons I wanted to bring Liz onto the show was to speak on the topic of breaking the good girl rules, which is one of her areas of expertise. She explains that these rules are those in which keep grown women playing small. In this episode, we talk about what it actually means to play small, why we move through life unaware of our tolerations, and how we can work to let our innate gifts shine. We also talk about one of Liz’s deepest passions, creating connections with other women. I am super pumped to bring this episode to you today. I hope you enjoy it!In this episode you’ll hear: Liz’s introduction into the world of coaching, first through being life coached and then transitioning to becoming a life coach herself, in 2015. (6:00) What Liz means when she says, ‘breaking the good girl rules’  How Liz helps women get to the place of being their biggest/best self Breaking limiting beliefs: what they are and how to break them Creating connections with other women (29:00) http://yourkickasslife.com/331  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is a mixed bag of topics! First, I talk about how exhausted you might be, and not understand why. Most of us are emotionally and mentally exhausted, so if you need a nap, this is why. Next, I move on to values. Values are still important, even though you’re probably not living your life like you were the last time you did values work.I give an assignment in this section of the episode and talk about how the real work happens in the dark. I then move into some advice for other life coaches (I know there are a lot of you who listen!). About halfway through the episode, I speak to other life coaches, wellness people, and those of you that run online businesses. I’ve seen some people comment that life coaches and healers should stop promoting their services during this crisis, and I’ve got some things to say about this. In a nutshell, if you’re a coach or healer, don’t stop promoting your business because that would essentially be shutting down your business and that won’t help the economy. At the same time (and this is for everyone)-- be present as to what’s happening right now. Communicate about it. Be of service as best you can and know your limits and capacity. http://yourkickasslife.com/330  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I’ve known Sam Bennet for many years now. She’s a writer, speaker, actor, and creativity-productivity specialist as well as the author of the best-selling books, Get It Done and Start Right Where You Are. Sam is the creator of the Organized Artist Company where she helps creative individuals get unstuck and move forward with their goals. She is such a joy and she gives the best advice when I need to hear it.In this episode, Sam and I discuss procrastination and overwhelm. She reminds us that other people can’t make us feel overwhelmed, it’s a feeling we put onto ourselves. And, she shares some ways to reclaim our power. As Sam said, “When you are doing something you like, in the way you like to do it, it’s not so hard to get stuff done.” In this episode you’ll hear:  What if you let this thing (whatever that thing is for you) be as big as it wants to be? (8:22) Overwhelm and procrastination are BIG words and used to describe many things (10:39) Setting worthy goals and how one can achieve them; plus the ‘groan’ zone (14:56) Some action steps to use your imagination for good (20:50) The eye-opening thing Sam does when she sees people doing things in which she disapproves (30:10) A 5-minute art exercise you can do to help you work through your feelings (32:19) The difference between being creative and being artistic (39:33) http://yourkickasslife.com/329 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I want to start this episode by telling you about two resources you may or may not know about. The United Way Emergency Relief Fund is there to help, click here to check it out and apply locally if you are in need. And if you have extra, you can help by donating here. Glennon Doyle, along with her sister, run Together Rising, a non-profit that helps people in need. If you can donate, click here, if you need help, contact contact@togetherrising.org. You may or may not know Brandon Stanton of Humans of New York. He posted something on Instagram last week that made me pause and think. What I want to focus on is the part where he’s talking about our behavior. Of course, our first instinct is to protect ourselves, our children, and our families. That’s normal, human behavior and if we didn’t have this instinct, we wouldn't all be here now. So if you’re beating yourself up for panic buying, or for not having reached out to anyone yet, try to practice self-compassion and let’s move on. I’m hoping by the time this episode reaches you, the dust has mostly settled. And by “dust mostly settled”, I mean the shock has worn off, you’ve figured out what your situation is right now, you understand we all need to take this day by day, and if you’re not there yet, you’re working towards a place of surrender. And if that’s the case, may we all be able to think about our behavior. Listen in to this episode as I break this down more for you and talk about how to be your best self during this time. I also get into GRIEF, as this might be something you’re dismissing without knowing how important it is. Lastly, on April 7th, I’m hosting a free Book CLub Q & A. If you’ve read 52 Ways to Live a Kick-Ass Life and/or How to Stop Feeling Like Shit, you don’t want to miss this! Bring your questions if you have them, and even if you don’t, I can guarantee you’ll learn something from the other women who bring their questions. Click HERE to sign up. http://yourkickasslife.com/328  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Last week I sent out two episodes to help you cope through these uncertain times. You can find them here and here. I’ll be airing another one later this week. But, today, I wanted to put out a regular interview. While we are overwhelmed with heightened anxiety and unsure of what will come next, many may be looking for a reprieve; just 45 minutes to focus on something else. Anything else. I hope this episode is that for you. I recorded this particular interview several months ago, with guest Regena Thomashauer (a.k.a. “Mama Gena”). I am such a fan of her work and of her, as a person! She is a teacher, mother, founder, and CEO of the School of Womanly Arts. She has authored four popular books, including her newest New York Times Bestseller, Pussy: A Reclamation. In this episode, we discuss why women should reclaim the use of the word pussy, developing sex appeal and exploring pleasure, and the importance of allowing yourself to feel a full range of emotions. In this episode you’ll hear:  Why women should use the word “pussy”, and why many women don’t want to (5:12) A woman who owns her pussy owns her life (18:00) Some ways women can begin to develop their own sex appeal and how to take it back (19:00) How women can start to experience a full range of emotions (33:00) http://yourkickasslife.com/327  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Well, first and foremost, I hope you are well, taking care of yourself, and taking care of your loved ones and community if you can. During these uncertain times, that’s the main thing we all need to focus on. Before I get into what’s on this extra-bonus episode this week, I wanted to urge you to take social distancing very seriously. If you haven’t played the Social Distancing Game, I urge you to go to this website and play around with the numbers. This is great to do with kids too. It shows you the math on what happens (in other words, how many people will die) if we wait to do social distancing, or if we just have a few friends over who aren’t sick, etc. Yes, people still need to work in order to make money. And yes, it breaks my heart that so many people in the service industry and other industries will take a huge hit during this time. If we work together in our communities, we can help those people recover, and if we practice social distancing we can collectively hit the brakes on this virus and less people will die. On Wednesday I sent out a podcast episode where I talked about knowing your boundaries in terms of news and other media. By no means is this the time for spiritual bypassing, but being glued to the news is likely not helpful either. Consume what you need to, take appropriate action, and take breaks. I also gave a few more ideas on how to cope, and today I’m back with more. In this episode I’m talking about your physical health (exercise can be your best medicine right now!), your spiritual, and now that I think about it, your mental and emotional health too. All of this is being tested for us, so it’s incredibly important to do your best to stay on top of it. In this episode, I also talk about trying to find something to ground you-- a symbol you might see on a fairly regular basis that you can use as a reminder to practice gratitude and/or to remind you to focus on what you CAN control right now. I close out the show talking about how eventually, maybe not right now, but eventually this will teach us all something. If you’re in a place to look and listen for that, that’s great. If you’re just barely trying to keep it together, your lessons will come later. Lastly, I’m putting together a playlist on Spotify of songs to help get us through this time. Please send me your song suggestions! Once we have a good playlist I’ll send the link out. You can reply to this email or DM me on Instagram. Please tell me the song AND artist. http://yourkickasslife.com/326  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Originally I had an interview set to go out to you today, but since the world had other plans, we’ve adjusted. I want to start out by saying the health and safety of you and your family is what’s MOST important right now. In this podcast episode, I’m going to be talking about how coronavirus is potentially impacting your life, so I just want to make sure you know in case you’re at your limit with what you can take in. Of course, my spin is always positive as I try to inspire you and give you tools to cope, and at the same time, our reality is what it is. In this show, I offer a handful of tools to take care of yourself during this time. You know I’m mildly obsessed with coping mechanisms, and right now our coping mechanisms are being put to the test. Also, I plan to do two podcast episodes a week at least for a few weeks to help you manage your life while we all try to navigate this new reality. Xoxo, Andreahttp://yourkickasslife.com/325 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we dive into another coaching episode, this time with a woman named Rebecca. She is a speech pathologist living in the NYC area. She has been through The Mentorship Masterclass with me and continues to do the work; because the work never stops.  In this episode, Rebecca opens up about her struggles with self-doubt. She shares her experiences with procrastinating on some tasks that are very meaningful to a big project in her life. You’ll hear us talk through some of her issues and decide upon some exercises she can use to work through them. In this episode you’ll hear:  Rebecca shares her challenges and fears around starting her own business (4:55) Her struggles with feeling like she is ‘not doing enough’ (6:45) The fear of being judged and unwanted identities (6:56) Self-sabotage, comfort zones, and the fear of outshining (16:06) A kick-ass update from Rebecca (45:36) If you’re a regular podcast listener and resonate with what I tell you there and are wanting something a little more...maybe you want more than just the information and you want to actually implement the things I tell you here and in my books, The Mentorship is for you. You’ll walk away with science-based tools to have more confidence, more self-trust, better relationships, better communication (did someone say boundaries!?), so much more self-awareness and you don’t have to travel! Applications close soon, so check it out here. http://yourkickasslife.com/324  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices