Make Some Noise with Andrea Owen

I am ecstatic to introduce you to this week’s guest, Rob Mack. Rob is an ivy-league-educated Celebrity Happiness Coach, Positive Psychology Expert, Published Author, and TV Host/Personality. He just exudes peacefulness and while it looks like it comes naturally to him, he works hard at it.Rob joins me to talk about prioritizing peace, happiness, love and joy and how to focus on feeling better. We also talk about negativity bias, being comfortable with our uncomfortableness, being stuck in an identity story and some ways to let it go. Rob is such a delight. And, y’all, he is a very snappy dresser too!In this episode you’ll hear: Rob shares his story of suffering with depression and attempting suicide (11 minutes and 35 seconds) Micro-meditations (for super, busy women) (17:15) Some ways to build optimism, resilience, and real confidence (24:40) Negativity bias and why we tolerate being unhappy (26:45) Being stuck in an identity story and how to reframe it and let it go (31:04) A few simple actions you can take today to get on a path to happiness (39:58) http://yourkickasslife.com/260  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We are in the last stretch of the year and it’s business as usual over here at Team YKAL with a brand new episode!. This week on the podcast, speaker, writer, and educator Melissa Toler joins me. Her work encourages people to make the connection between our culture's oppressive beauty standards and our personal struggle with self-acceptance.I’ve been following Melissa and her work online and social media for a while now. I love her message and I was so excited for the chance to speak with her. Today, we talk about challenging the cultural standards of wellness and beauty, plus diet culture and it’s messaging. We also talk about how we all have internalized thoughts around certain body types, including black bodies, brown bodies, or even trans bodies and how it perpetuates harm. Melissa reminds us the work of unpacking and unlearning our internal body biases is lifelong work.In this episode you’ll hear: Melissa’s pivot away from the wellness industry and why she became disillusioned with it (7 minutes and 24 seconds) How Melissa challenges the cultural standards of beauty and wellness (13:10) Questioning the messages we receive about body image, health and fitness (17:04) How health and wellness professionals can shift their education and start to question their current practices and philosophies (24:28) Fatphobia and unpacking internal biases (26:22) Melissa shares her story of her own weight loss obsession and how she overcame it (34:09) http://yourkickasslife.com/259  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Happy December! It’s podcast day, y’all. And this week, I am excited to introduce you to my guest, Nitika Chopra. She has been a leader in the wellness industry since 2010, is known for her straightforward tone and intense vulnerability, and recently created a conversation about self-love in the chronic illness community. The energy she exudes is just so magnetic. She is someone I wanted to have on the podcast for a while and I’m thrilled to share our conversation with you. Nitika and I talk in-depth about self-love, specifically her journey to finding self-love after suffering debilitating psoriasis for many years and her thoughts and philosophy about self care. Plus, Nitika shares openly and honestly about how she repaired the hatred she had over her body for so many years.In this episode you’ll hear: Nitika’s humbling and eye-opening journey to self-love (9 minutes and 11 seconds) Why Nitika thinks self-help can sometimes be more harmful than helpful (15:22) Self-care was Nitika’s saving grace; she explains why, as well as, shares some of her own self- care practices and describes where she thinks self-care really starts (22:08) Nitika’s letter to her body and why she was driven to write it (28:49) Some ways you can begin to love yourself more, today (32:12) Also, I have ONE spot open for 1:1 coaching. Two options there: I take women privately through The Daring Way™ work, as well as do traditional life coaching where we basically get down to what you want, I help you get there (with a little hand holding and a lot of holding your feet to the fire) and VOILA! You have Your Kick-Ass Life.http://yourkickasslife.com/258   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Not long ago, I got inspired, turned on the mic, and riffed about comfort zones. I think I started sweating even a little, not because I was nervous, but because I get FIRED UP about this stuff.I go over what it is that keeps us stuck. Is it fear of failure? A habit? Fear of success? Is it our feelings and emotions that keep us from the person we want to be? I go over all of this.Alas, I don’t have this episode in written format, but you don’t want to miss this. Also, I have ONE spot open for 1:1 coaching. Two options there: I take women privately through The Daring Way™ work, as well as do traditional life coaching where we basically get down to what you want, I help you get there (with a little hand holding and a lot of holding your feet to the fire) and VIOLA! You have Your Kick-Ass Life. Simply reply to this email and we’ll get you started with an application and a call with me to see if it’s a good fit. Okay? Okay.http://yourkickasslife.com/257  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The holidays are upon us! If you’re like me, you love to get your shopping done early AND you love to get just the right gift for that special someone in your life (and even if they’re not that special to you, I mean sometimes we have the obligatory gift to buy, am I right?)Here’s a few of my favorite gift ideas as well as some nifty stuff we found on the internet to I like/love so you have a plethora of things to choose from! Happy shopping!Pet stuffPersonalized pet socks. Y’all. YOU CAN GET YOUR ACTUAL PET ON A PAIR OF SOCKS. I mean, not the actual pet but their picture. You understand. Is this already a thing and I’m just learning of it? Whether it is or isn’t, it’s amazing.If you follow me on Instagram and watch my IG stories, you know Dirty Baby. If you don’t, then this won’t be funny at all (but seriously, get in on the joke, go to my Instagram profile in the “highlights” and click on “#dirtybaby”. You’re welcome). So, for your dog (or cat?) they CAN HAVE THEIR OWN DIRTY BABY and we can be gross pet toy friends.Barkbox is for those people who really, and I mean really love their dogs. They used to sponsor the podcast, so if you use this link you can get a free month. My dog LOST HER SHIT over their toys and treats. But, then again she eats rabbit poop in the backyard so she may not be a good judge of delicious things. Food stuffChocolate covered pretzels GALORE. I’m just sayin’ that if someone wants to buy me these I will NOT be mad. At all.Fruitcake from Harry and David. For that person in your life who has everything and is also 137 years old, yes, fruitcake. My stepdad LOVES THIS STUFF and he’s only 76. But seriously, seniors love fruitcake and Harry and David know how to do it up. I can’t say I’ve personally tasted it, but we frequently buy it for Gene, the love of my mom’s life and he raves about it. Plus, super affordable. Also, their other food is delish.Read the rest of the list HEREhttp://yourkickasslife.com/256   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week I welcome Lauren Handel Zander to the YKAL podcast. Lauren is the author of, Maybe It’s You: Cut the Crap, Face Your Fears, Love Your Life. She is also a life coach, university lecturer and co-founder of Handel Group. She joins me to talk about the everyday shit that we do that takes us farther away from the person we want to be and the person we were meant to be.We had an amazing conversation about her journey to becoming a life coach, what personal integrity means to her and her work, qualifying yes versus no, and the epidemic of lying.In this episode you’ll hear: Lauren’s path to becoming a life coach (7 minutes and 30 seconds) What is personal integrity and how she uses it to help people achieve their goals (13:51) One trick to keep you accountable when it comes to doing the work (20:17) Boundaries: Why people say, “Yes,” when they mean, “No,” and how to empower ourselves to say, “No”, when we really mean it (26:35) How to develop the awareness to stop the cycle of numbing out and isolating (35:12) The seven ways we lie, cleaning up your lies and telling the truth and how doing so can truly jumpstart your happiness (38:17) 💥 REGISTRATION IS OPEN FOR THE NEW AND IMPROVED DARING WAY™ PROGRAM AND RETREAT! (Shouty caps on purpose!). LET’S CHAT ABOUT IT! Head on over here to check it out! 💥 http://yourkickasslife.com/255  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week my dear friend Kate Anthony is back on the podcast. If you are new to the show, I’ve started a new series where I’ve been talking with close friends about shit that matters. During these candid conversations, we take a big topic where we are not experts and unpack our own stuff around it and begin to make sense of it all. In this episode, Kate and I continue our conversation on rape culture and sexual assault. I highly encourage you to listen to part one of our conversation, if you haven’t done so already. The reason I wanted to create two episodes on this topic is to shed light on stories of non-consensual sex, rape, and assault. If you feel your story is not important enough, something I believed of my own story for a long time, know that your story is important. All of our stories are important and everybody’s story matters. That’s my why. And, trigger warning: Kate and I share our own experiences with non-consensual sex in this episode.In this episode you’ll also hear: The moment Kate realized her sexual assault was rape (10 minutes and 1 second) Saying yes out of fear and coerced consent (19:03) I retell the story of when, at 17, my boyfriend videotaped us without my knowledge and I lost my shit (24:28) And then, I share my own story of date rape (27:53) The untrue stories we make up about the kind of men that assault women, like, “Only scary looking men or strangers in an alley assault women.” (45:50) Kate shares a story about a man asking for consent (46:31) 💥🎉FREE LIVE TRAINING! 💥🎉Okay, y’all-- there are two topics I’ve seen come up over the last few months during my retreats and programs. One is trusting women-- why do we have such a hard time with this and how do we overcome it?The other is the concept of feeling “good enough”. Do we just decide this and wait for it? Is it a mindset issue? Or something else?Join me on Friday, November 9th at 12:30 eastern time where I’ll break down these two topics and give you some tangible steps to take to make this happen in your life. As you know from my book HTSFLS, both of these topics are IMPERATIVE for you to stop feeling like shit and start living your kick-ass life. See you there! (And yes, a replay will be available)No need to sign up for anything, just mark your calendar, and put THIS LINK in there. Then, on 11/9 at 12:30 eastern, click the link and join us! 😘😘😘http://yourkickasslife.com/254  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey ass kickers! I am bringing you another episode of Conversations About Shit That Matters with Unqualified People. My “unqualified person” this week is my friend Kate Anthony, who helped me kick off this series several months ago. For newcomers, here’s a brief introduction to Kate: Kate Anthony is a certified life coach who specializes in helping moms decide whether they should stay in or leave their marriages. This week, Kate and I are talking about rape culture. Kate is truly kick-ass, one of my dearest friends, and someone I feel totally comfortable with unpacking this sensitive topic. And, rape culture is a lot to unpack.As a reminder, before we get started, this is not an episode where I am teaching about rape culture. It’s an honest conversation between two unqualified people, emphasis on unqualified, about a very important and hard topic. We cover a lot, including what rape culture looks like, how we all participate in it, and some ways to start conversations with people about it.In this episode you’ll hear: Identifying rape culture and Kate’s experience with being slut-shamed in high school  Defining toxic masculinity  Our thoughts on Brett Kavanaugh and what he could have done to make the situation different Rape culture, protecting the internal patriarchy, and denial of sexual assault  How to start to have deeper conversations with others and take steps towards change  Bringing men into the conversation about rape culture and toxic masculinity Kate’s experience with today’s dating scene and why she has decided to take a step back from it  💥🎉FREE LIVE TRAINING! 💥🎉Okay, y’all-- there are two topics I’ve seen come up over the last few months during my retreats and programs. One is trusting women-- why do we have such a hard time with this and how do we overcome it?The other is the concept of feeling “good enough”. Do we just decide this and wait for it? Is it a mindset issue? Or something else?Join me on Friday, November 9th at 12:30 eastern time where I’ll break down these two topics and give you some tangible steps to take to make this happen in your life. As you know from my book HTSFLS, both of these topics are IMPERATIVE for you to stop feeling like shit and start living your kick-ass life. See you there! (And yes, a replay will be available)No need to sign up for anything, just mark your calendar, and put THIS LINK in there. Then, on 11/9 at 12:30 eastern, click the link and join us! 😘😘😘 http://yourkickasslife.com/253  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With recent events that are happening in the news in the U.S. surrounding the U.S. Supreme court nomination of Brent Kavanaugh and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford coming forward with her story of sexual assault, I knew I needed to have a podcast on the topic of sexual trauma. While I do plan on having an episode where I speak with a friend on the topic of sexual assault, I knew how very important it was to have an expert on to discuss this topic, as well. Because, y’all, I am not an expert in this area, but as many of you know, finding an expert in a given field is something I take very seriously.And that is why I am honored and grateful to be welcoming back to the show, Licensed Marriage and Family and Therapist, Rebecca Bass-Ching. Rebecca is also a Certified EMDR Therapist+Consultant, Trauma Therapist and a Certified Daring Way™ Facilitator. Today you’ll hear us speak on the topic of sexual trauma, including: feeling triggered by sexual assault stories in the news, navigating the differencing of opinions to sexual assault, healing and processing from sexual trauma and the all important fact that there is no time limit on healing.Trigger warning: while we go into mostly surface level conversation related to sexual trauma and assault, it’s still a very tender topic. In fact, I let Rebecca really take the reigns in this episode because, as you’ll hear, I am still unpacking and navigating my own feelings too. In this episode you’ll hear: Some reasons why we may be feeling triggered, angered or on edge related to current events about sexual trauma or assault (8 minutes and 29 seconds) How to navigate feedback from people who have different opinions or reactions to sexual assault (14:02) Handling the question and red herring argument, “What if your son was falsely accused of sexual assault?” (21:21) Your memory network and trauma: remembering portions of trauma so very clearly (32:30) Healing from trauma is very inconvenient, plus we touch on residual trauma (34:35) The deep connection between sexism and racism (38:47) http://yourkickasslife.com/252  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on the podcast Shanna Lee joins me. She is founder of the platform The Soul Frequency and author of the book of the same name. And, guess what? I’m holding a contest this week over on Patreon. One winner will receive a copy of Shanna’s book, Soul Frequency: Your Healthy, Awakened and Authentic Life. If you haven’t joined the Patreon Party yet, which is in full swing, you still can. Head over to Patreon to participate in this contest or to become a Patron, here. I know of Shanna because I was a guest on her podcast several months ago. Her message is very similar to the one I share with you here at YKAL. Once I learned she was about to release a book, I knew I wanted to have her on my show. Today, we talk about some of the concepts she covers in her book, including how to align yourself with the life you want to be living. Plus, we talk about suppressed anger as a woman and how to open the door to it, being open to bad experiences and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.In this episode you’ll hear: What The Soul Frequency actually means (9 minutes and 42 seconds) Shanna’s journey, and her own lesson of just showing up and being fully present (12:41) Walking your path, getting back into alignment with what feels good (15:48) Shanna’s anatomy of transformation and its four pillars: truth, release, experience, and align (19:02) Women’s anger and rage: your relationship around anger, how it's socially unacceptable, and ways to open the door to anger. (26:27) Being open to the bad that may be happening around you instead of shutting the door on it. (37:36) http://yourkickasslife.com/251  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices