Comparison is the one emotion everybody feels and nobody admits to — and Barb Schmidt and Michelle Maros of Life Happens with Barb & Michelle were scared to record this episode for a reason. In this raw, unfiltered conversation, they unpack the jealousy, resentment, and quiet self-destruction that comparison leaves behind — and make a case that might surprise you by the end.

From Michelle comparing her book sales to her friends' mid-tour, to Barb owning up to something she projected onto Michelle for years, this episode goes places most podcast conversations never do. If you've ever felt something ugly creep in while watching someone else win — and then felt ashamed of it — this one is for you.

What you'll take away:

• Why 85% of your daily thoughts are negative — and how comparison supercharges the loop
• How jealousy and envy are signals, not character flaws — and what they're actually pointing to
• The self-talk method for catching comparison before it turns into resentment
• Why "be better than yesterday" might be quietly doing more damage than good
• How to let comparison fuel action instead of shame



Don't risk letting comparison keep stealing your joy without ever asking what it was trying to tell you. Learn how to read it instead.

Episode Breakdown ⬇️

0:00 Introduction

0:36 Where Does Comparison Come From?

0:52 The Science of Negative Thinking

7:07 Barb's Personal Story: Childhood & Comparison

9:19 Comparing Yourself to Yourself

11:23 Comparison, Jealousy & Envy

25:09 Michelle's Story: Visiting a Friend's Family

28:22 Self-Talk as the Key Tool

39:17 Can Comparison Actually Be Helpful?

40:50 Takeaways & Closing

💬 We’d love to hear from you! What insight or moment resonated most with you in this episode? Share in the comments—we truly read every one.

📅 Subscribe & Join Us Next Tuesday for another heartfelt episode of Life Happens with Barb and Michelle! 💕

🎙️ Host by:

• https://www.instagram.com/peaceful_barb/
• https://www.instagram.com/michellemaros/

Join our community⬇️

YouTube: www.youtube.com/@LifeHappensThePodcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifehappensthepodcast/

Substack: https://lifehappensthepodcast.substack.com/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lifehappensthepodcast

Listen to our podcast anywhere→ https://michellemaros.com/podcast/

🎙️ New episodes of Life Happens with Barb and Michelle are released every Tuesday

✨ Available Now✨ Order Dear Friend to receive daily doses of clarity, hope, and heartfelt encouragement.💌 https://amzn.to/3Us9eqg

📘 Go Deeper with Dear Friend

If this episode resonated with you, you may also love Michelle’s USA TODAY bestselling book, Dear Friend, a daily reflection companion designed to help you reconnect with your inner voice, honor your needs, and find clarity and strength one day at a time.

Because resilience doesn’t begin with changing your circumstances.

It begins with strengthening your relationship with yourself.

And that may be the most important relationship you’ll ever build.

👉 Order your copy: https://amzn.to/3Us9eqg

🎧 Listen to the audiobook and step into a year that truly loves you back: https://amzn.to/459zSdt

You've read the books. You've tried the meditation. You've done the journaling, the breathwork, the therapy. So why do you still feel stuck?

In this episode of Life Happens with Barb & Michelle, master well-being educator Devi Brown joins the conversation for one of the most honest discussions about healing we've ever had. Devi spent years teaching wellness to athletes, executives, and thousands of students through her Deeply Well podcast and her work at Chopra Global. Then her own life fell apart... and she discovered that everything she'd been teaching wasn't enough to save her.

What she built from that breaking point became her book Living in Wisdom... a completely different approach to healing that doesn't start with fixing yourself. It starts with being brave enough to actually meet yourself. This conversation goes beyond surface-level wellness and into the real, messy, uncomfortable process of becoming whole.

In this episode, you'll learn:

- Why "doing the work" can still leave you stuck... and what's actually missing

- The difference between surface-level wellness and true well-being

- What "Complex Lived Experience" means and why it changes how you think about your pain

- Why Devi's 8-step healing process starts with grief, not gratitude

- What it looks like to live in wisdom on an ordinary Tuesday... not just during a retreat

If you've ever felt like you're doing everything right and still not feeling better... this episode is going to change how you think about the entire journey. Devi's book Living in Wisdom is available now in paperback (as of TODAY).

📍0:00 Introduction & Wellness Industry Overview

1:11 Welcoming Devi Brown

2:11 Healer Burnout & Passing the Torch

10:17 Creators, Art & Living for the Work

17:31 Music, Consciousness & Cultural Roots

18:13 Bridging Generations & Staying Curious

26:10 Navigating Uncertainty & The Shift from Hope to Faith

33:36 Freedom After Divorce

39:20 Surface Wellness vs. Real Healing

40:47 The Wellness Industrial Complex

59:38 Truth Telling & The Personal Healing Path

1:05:38 Closing Reflections & Where to Find Devi

Connect: @DeviBrown @DeeplyWellPodcast

Read: "Living in Wisdom" DeviBrown.com Now Available!

Substack: https://substack.com/@devibrown

The Deeply Well Podcast is available on:

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3n5hEIV…

Youtube: @devibrownwell-being

Living with someone you love is supposed to be easy — until it isn't. In this episode of Life Happens with Barb & Michelle, hosts Barb Schmidt and Michelle Maros pull back the curtain on the two years they spent living together after a sudden condo flood turned a two-week crash pad into an unplanned life arrangement. What started as a temporary inconvenience became one of the most challenging — and unexpectedly transformative — seasons of their relationship.

From laundry wars to a 20-year high school reunion that felt like stepping back in time, Barb and Michelle get honest about the moments that nearly broke them and the practices that kept them together. This conversation is for anyone who has ever loved someone deeply and still needed serious space from them.

What you'll take away:

• Why trying to control small things (like dryer settings) is almost never actually about the small thing
• How to survive cohabitation with someone you love without losing the relationship
• The real emotion hiding underneath anger — and how to get to it
• Why your role as a parent fundamentally shifts when your adult child moves back in
• A practical starting point for building self-awareness through journaling and reflection

Don't risk letting conflict quietly damage a relationship you can't afford to lose. Learn how to find the baseline of love — even when you want to pull your hair out.

Episode Breakdown ⬇️

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:34 - Moving In

00:07:38 - Early Adjustment

00:09:00 - Tension Builds

00:14:06 - The Laundry Wars

00:21:16 - Learning to Pause

00:25:08 - Finding the Lessons

00:39:40 - Love Coexists

00:41:35 - Parent Role Shifts

00:43:50 - Closing Wisdom

💬 We’d love to hear from you! What insight or moment resonated most with you in this episode? Share in the comments—we truly read every one.

📅 Subscribe & Join Us Next Tuesday for another heartfelt episode of Life Happens with Barb and Michelle! 💕

🎙️ Host by:

https://www.instagram.com/peaceful_barb/

https://www.instagram.com/michellemaros/

Join our community⬇️

YouTube: www.youtube.com/@LifeHappensThePodcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifehappensthepodcast/

Substack: https://lifehappensthepodcast.substack.com/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lifehappensthepodcast

Listen to our podcast anywhere→ https://michellemaros.com/podcast/

🎙️ New episodes of Life Happens with Barb and Michelle are released every Tuesday

✨ Available Now✨ Order Dear Friend to receive daily doses of clarity, hope, and heartfelt encouragement.💌 https://amzn.to/3Us9eqg

📘 Go Deeper with Dear Friend

If this episode resonated with you, you may also love Michelle’s USA TODAY bestselling book, Dear Friend, a daily reflection companion designed to help you reconnect with your inner voice, honor your needs, and find clarity and strength one day at a time.

Because resilience doesn’t begin with changing your circumstances.

It begins with strengthening your relationship with yourself.

And that may be the most important relationship you’ll ever build.

👉 Order your copy: https://amzn.to/3Us9eqg

🎧 Listen to the audiobook and step into a year that truly loves you back: https://amzn.to/459zSdt