Life transitions after purity culture can feel disorienting—shame, mixed messages, and binary thinking collide. With Linda Kay Klein, we name what life transitions look like during deconstruction and map one kinder next step so you don’t abandon yourself.

We unpack what “purity culture” is, how right/wrong binaries create internal tornadoes, why bothness (grief and relief) shows up in change, and the real ways it shapes adulthood and sexuality. Linda shares a practical three-part recovery path—deconstruction + reconstruction together, finding solidarity so you’re not alone, and (when ready) turning healing outward. If you’ve felt torn between who you were told to be and who you’re becoming, this conversation offers language, relief, and a gentler way forward.

If you’re navigating life transitions, follow for new episodes Tuesdays.

Get Connected & Support the Show:

- Listen to the companion podcast: It's Both- Guided Meditations for Anxiety, Emotional Regulation, & Real Life Transitions

- Follow Linda Kay Klein on Instagram & visit her website

- Subscribe, rate, & review It's Both on Apple Podcasts

- Join the Courageous Living Group Transformation

Feeling torn between selflessness and self-care while navigating transitions? In Part 2 with Rob Bell, we talk about reclaiming your inner knowing, how clarity emerges through stillness, and why healing isn’t “late”—it’s right on time.

You’ll hear a practical reframe for decision making when life feels complex, plus Nikki’s story of how a boundary/self-trust question from 10 years ago changed the trajectory of her life.

In this episode, we cover:

- How systems and power structures can train you to doubt your own intuition

- “The juice of life”: making choices without the fear of one perfect answer

- Self-care vs. selflessness (and why taking care of yourself expands what you can give)

- “Right on time” healing: releasing urgency and rebuilding peace of mind

- How to stay engaged with a hard world without losing yourself

This episode builds on Part 1 (“The Certainty Trap & Emotional Intelligence”). Listen to Part 1 HERE first for deeper context.

Follow It’s Both — Personal growth for real-life transitions for weekly conversations on growth, clarity, and real-life change.

Get Connected & Support the Show:

- Join the Courageous Living Group Transformation

- Listen to the companion podcast: It's Both- Guided Meditations for Anxiety, Emotional Regulation, & Real Life Transitions

- Follow Rob Bell on Instagram & visit his website

- Subscribe, rate, & review It's Both on Apple Podcasts

Feeling stuck chasing the “right” answer? This episode uses emotional intelligence to break the certainty trap—so you can get out of your head, back into your body, and hold joy and grief side by side without spiraling.

In Part 1 with Rob Bell, we explore why binary thinking feels like safety (and why it’s often scarcity in disguise), the relationship between grief and imagination, and how learning to feel what’s true can unlock clarity and your next step.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

- Why the mind craves either/or—and how the heart can hold both

- How “rightness” can masquerade as moral certainty while actually fueling scarcity

- The grief → imagination link (and why grief moves in waves)

- Why we get stuck in our heads (and what it costs us)

- A freeing reframe for the “I should be farther along” story

This is Part 1. In Part 2, we get more practical about self-trust, embodiment, and choosing without certainty.

Follow the show so you don’t miss Part 2—and share this with a friend who’s in the messy middle.

Get Connected & Support the Show:

- Listen to the companion podcast: It's Both- Guided Meditations for Anxiety, Emotional Regulation, & Real Life Transitions

- Join the Courageous Living Group Transformation

- Follow Rob Bell on Instagram & visit his website

- Subscribe, rate, & review It's Both on Apple Podcasts

Feeling mixed emotions at the end of the year? This solo reflection uses emotional intelligence to help you navigate transitions without burning out. If you’re grateful and grieving, hopeful and overwhelmed, this episode gives you simple tools to name what’s hard, honor what’s good, and make kinder decisions for the season you’re in.

I share candidly about loneliness, identity shifts in motherhood, career changes, community loss, and our family’s upcoming move—plus why reflection (before resolutions) restores clarity, energy, and self-compassion. You’ll leave with a grounded framework to process 2025 so you can step into 2026 with more peace and agency.

What you’ll get

- A calm, step-by-step reflection practice for the messy middle

- How to hold grief and gratitude without choosing one

- A nervous-system friendly way to make big decisions

- Language for naming loneliness and finding real connection

- A preview of our January faith series (Rob Bell, Linda Kay Klein, Brian Rucker, David Perez)

I’m off next week—back in January. If this helped, follow, rate & review on Apple Podcasts, and share this with a friend who’s in the both/and.

Get Connected & Support the Show:

- Join the Courageous Living Group Transformation

- Subscribe, rate, & review It's Both on Apple Podcasts

- Follow the show on Instagram

Feel stuck in survival mode even though you “know” what you feel? This episode uses emotional intelligence to reconnect mind and body—so you can stop performing healing and start coming home to yourself.

Therapist and educator Janice Holland (The Trauma Teacher) joins Nikki P to unpack what trauma really is (“what happens inside us”), how fight/flight/freeze/fawn show up in everyday life, and how to build safety without overwhelming your nervous system.

In this episode, we cover:

- Trauma as disconnection—and healing as reconnection

- Fight/flight/freeze/fawn and how they map to overworking, numbness, and people-pleasing

- How to build capacity slowly (desire, micro-choices, safe people)

- Holiday boundaries: simple scripts + the reframe that makes them possible

- Signals of real progress: sleep, digestion, ease, laughter, and less guilt

If this helped, follow the show and share it with a friend who needs language for what they’re living.

Get Connected & Support the Show:

- Join the Courageous Living Group Transformation

- Follow Janice Holland, The Trauma Teacher, on Instagram & YouTube

- Get connected with Janice Janice Holland, The Trauma Teacher

- Listen to the companion podcast: It's Both- Guided Meditations for Anxiety, Emotional Regulation, & Real Life Transitions

- Subscribe, rate, & review It's Both on Apple Podcasts

Feeling isolated, ashamed, or torn about divorce? This episode names the both/and—grief and relief—while offering emotional intelligence tools for navigating transitions with self-compassion. Therapist and author Oona Metz (founder of long-running divorce support groups for women; Unhitched: The Essential Divorce Guide for Women) explains why survival mode makes reading hard, how group therapy turns isolation into strength, and language shifts that reduce shame (think “parenting time” vs. “custody,” “family restructuring” vs. “failed marriage”). We also cover co-parenting with an unhealthy ex, what’s actually a safety issue, and the mindset reframe from “who filed first” to “who left the marriage.”

You’ll learn:

- How to hold mixed emotions without self-judgment

- Practical co-parenting boundaries (what to let go vs. when to get help)

- The power of community to rebuild confidence and identity after divorce

- Healing-centered steps to move from survival to personal growth

If you’re considering separation, in the messy middle, or rebuilding on the other side—this conversation is for you (and the friends who love you).

Get Connected & Support the Show:

- Follow Oona Metz on Instagram

- Get connected with Oona Metz (with links to order her upcoming book)

- Subscribe, rate, & review It's Both on Apple Podcasts

- Join the Courageous Living Group Transformation

Feeling productive yet still wiped out? This conversation translates emotional intelligence into practice with HRV—heart rate variability—so you can handle stress without burning out. Author and Optimal HRV co-founder Matt Bennett breaks down HRV in plain English, how the nervous system shapes our energy, and why small daily habits beat white-knuckle “push through.”

We dig into post-traumatic growth, the difference between capacity-building and overdoing, and the midlife both/and of feeling more alive while reimagining who you’re becoming. You’ll leave with simple ways to support your nervous system (breathwork, sleep consistency, habit stacking) and a gentler lens for seasons of transition.

Get Connected & Support the Show:

- Get connected with Matt Bennett

- Learn more about Heart Rate Variability (HRV)

- Subscribe, rate, & review It's Both on Apple Podcasts

- Join the Courageous Living Group Transformation

Ever catch yourself sounding one way in a meeting and another with your people—and wonder which version is “real”?

In this conversation, Darius Moore invites us into his story of growing up in a military family, moving between rural West Tennessee and corporate rooms, and learning how to code switch without losing himself. Through Darius’s lens, you’ll notice what it’s like to meet people where they are and stay rooted in who you are—navigating life’s gray areas, the messy middle, and the tension of holding multiple truths. You’ll hear how presence can disarm assumptions, how language shapes identity and belonging, and why love—as Darius puts it—can be a guiding code for how we show up in hard spaces.

If you’ve wrestled with “Am I adapting to be understood—or disappearing to be accepted?”, this episode offers authentic conversations that build emotional intelligence, self-compassion, and emotional resilience for real-life transitions. Come for the story; leave with grounded perspective on decision making in complex rooms, practicing both/and thinking, and choosing connection over performance in your ongoing personal growth journey.

Get Connected & Support the Show:

- Subscribe, rate, & review It's Both on Apple Podcasts

- Join the Courageous Living Group Transformation