Before we call ourselves procrastinators, maybe we should ask what we're actually avoiding. When something matters to us, and we still can't move on it, it's easy to decide the problem is us.

Evangeline Garreau sees it differently. She's a creative project coach who helps artists of all kinds bring the things they imagine into reality, and she doesn't start with discipline or time management. She starts with what she calls the thing under the thing: the fear, shame, or need hiding beneath whatever we've been avoiding.

We talk about how to tell the difference between fear and genuinely not wanting something anymore, and why our bodies may recognize what's holding us back before our brains do. Maybe the way forward starts with getting curious about why some part of us doesn't want to move in the first place.

TOPICS COVERED

• The sneaky ways avoidance shows up, including the one that sounds most reasonable.
• How to tell the difference between fear and genuinely not wanting something anymore.
• Why the body may know what's holding us back before the brain does.
• How ridiculously small goals can get us further than ambitious ones.
• Evangeline's unconventional path to creating her own dream job.
• What being fired and laid off taught us about work and identity.
• What a sustainable, humane creative practice actually asks of us.

Connect with Evangeline!
Website: https://www.evangelinegarreau.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evangelinegarreau/

______________________
Contact French Kissing Life Podcast

• DM us at @shawnnarstiver on Instagram or Facebook
• Connect with Shawnna Stiver on LinkedIn
• Email us at frenchkissinglifepodcast@gmail.com

Until next time, muah!

______________________

French Kissing Life is sponsored by Ampersand Copy and Content. Ready to convert browsers into buyers? If you want to master your messaging, stand out in a saturated market and become a crushed-on, go-to brand, contact us today!

Website: https://ampersandcopyandcontent.com/
Email: shawnna@ampersandcopyandcontent.com

What if remembering that we're going to die could actually make us better at living?

Chloe Markham calls herself a philosopher of joy, and she's fascinated by what it means to live a genuinely enjoyable life in a culture built to measure, optimize, and improve every part of being human. This conversation gets into why mortality might make joy feel more urgent instead of less, and why calm can start to feel unfamiliar once stress becomes the thing we know best.

We also talk about the autopilot most of us are running on without noticing, what it actually takes to reconnect with what our bodies are telling us, and the difference between real growth and treating ourselves like a project that's never quite finished. And somewhere in there, we land on a much simpler question than the one we usually ask: what if instead of building our best life, we started living our favorite one?

TOPICS COVERED

• Why mortality might make joy feel more urgent, not more morbid.
• How stress becomes such a familiar baseline that calm starts to feel unfamiliar instead of restful.
• The sensory practices used to interrupt autopilot.
• Why movement might need to come before meditation, not after.
• The safety wrapped up in overworking, and where that pattern can trace back to.
• The difference between real growth and treating ourselves like an unfinished improvement project.
• What it looks like to treat friction as a signal instead of pushing through it.

Mentioned in this episode:
Ikigai (生き甲斐), pronounced ee-kee-guy.
Roughly translates to "a reason for being." It's the Japanese concept of what makes life worth getting up for each day, the intersection of what you love, what you're good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. In everyday Japanese use it's simpler than that: it's just whatever gives your life meaning or purpose, big or small.

Connect with Chloe!
Website: https://www.chloemarkham.co.uk/
Substack: https://chloemarkham.substack.com/

______________________
Contact French Kissing Life Podcast

• DM us at @shawnnarstiver on Instagram or Facebook
• Connect with Shawnna Stiver on LinkedIn
• Email us at frenchkissinglifepodcast@gmail.com

Until next time, muah!

______________________

French Kissing Life is sponsored by Ampersand Copy and Content. Ready to convert browsers into buyers? If you want to master your messaging, stand out in a saturated market and become a crushed-on, go-to brand, contact us today!

Website: https://ampersandcopyandcontent.com/
Email: shawnna@ampersandcopyandcontent.com

What if imagination isn't something we lose when we grow up, but one of the most powerful tools we have for changing our lives? My guest today is Sarah Bush, a mixed media artist, writer, and creative activist who believes imagination is our greatest human superpower.

Sarah and I talk about why so many adults lose touch with their imaginations, and get personal about perfectionism, burnout, and learning to trust ourselves. This conversation is about staying open, loosening our grip on certainty, and remembering that sometimes the way forward begins with allowing ourselves to imagine that another way is possible.

Topics Covered:

• Why so many adults lose touch with their imagination as they grow up.
• The real difference between artistic skill and creativity.
• Why the messy middle of the creative process feels so uncomfortable, and why it's worth staying in it.
• How worry might actually be an overactive imagination pointed in the wrong direction.
• Protecting our imagination from being hijacked by fear and outside narratives.
• Letting go of perfectionism without letting go of high standards.
• Trusting ourselves enough to stay in ambiguity instead of rushing past possibility.
• What becomes possible, personally and collectively, when we actually use our imagination.

Connect with Sarah!
Website: https://www.sarahbushartworks.com/
Substack: https://substack.com/@sarahbush

______________________
Contact French Kissing Life Podcast

• DM us at @shawnnarstiver on Instagram or Facebook
• Connect with Shawnna Stiver on LinkedIn
• Email us at frenchkissinglifepodcast@gmail.com

Until next time, muah!

______________________

French Kissing Life is sponsored by Ampersand Copy and Content. Ready to convert browsers into buyers? If you want to master your messaging, stand out in a saturated market and become a crushed-on, go-to brand, contact us today!

Website: https://ampersandcopyandcontent.com/
Email: shawnna@ampersandcopyandcontent.com