Life has a way of throwing curveballs, and in this episode, Jess and Lisa get real about the stressors piling up in their worlds—from illness and unpredictable weather to the pressures of work, family, and everything in between. With humor and honesty, they unpack the emotional weight of their responsibilities and explore how stress manifests in their lives.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode:

• It's been a day, a month, a week, a year....
• Jess unpacks some feedback from her daughter's teacher that caught her off-guard and made her think about (over-)achievement culture.
• Lisa unpacks her new stress escalation matrix to find ways to disrupt the stress cycle and get back to a place of good.
• From brain breaks to mindful walks, Jess and Lisa explore strategies for interrupting the stress spiral before it takes over.

Why You Should Listen

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the relentless demands of life, this episode is for you. Jess and Lisa’s raw, insightful conversation offers a mix of personal stories, hard-won wisdom, and practical strategies for navigating stress with self-awareness and resilience.

Tune in next week as we dive into the ideas of "before" and "after," resilience in action, and values—we can’t wait to unpack it with you!

Support the show

Want to support the podcast and help us keep creating content that matters? Here’s how you can get involved:

Join the Conversation: We want to hear from you! What resonates with you from this episode? How are you navigating your own journey? Connect with us on Instagram @lotstounpacktherepodcast or send us a message at unpack@riverdropcoaching.com.

Subscribe & Stay Connected: If you love what you hear, subscribe and leave us a review! Your support helps us reach more women who need a space like this. Let’s build this community together!

📬 Stay Inspired: Sign up for our Substack, where you’ll get fresh insights delivered straight to your inbox. Whether you choose a free or paid subscription, you’ll be the first to know what’s next: Substack

🎧 Bonus Content: Want exclusive access to behind-the-scenes moments and extra episodes? For as little as $3, you can support the show and enjoy bonus content that’s just for you: Support Us

Every bit of support helps us keep bringing real conversations from our hearts to your ears! Thank you for being part of the journey! 🙌

Subscriber-only episode

Timers have revolutionized Jess's relationship with time and reduced the constant stress of time blindness that comes with her neurodivergence. Through various timer tools and intentional calendar management, she's created systems that allow her to function better while alleviating the shame that comes with chronic lateness.

• Experiencing time blindness as a neurodivergent person means getting deeply absorbed in tasks and losing track of time
• Multi-timed hexagonal timer allows for setting different time intervals for various tasks
• Visual timers provide clear indicators of remaining time, especially helpful for children
• Phone alarms serve as reliable reminders for daily transitions like school pickup
• Setting calendar appointments for departure times rather than arrival times ensures adequate travel time
• Using buffer time between meetings prevents back-to-back scheduling and allows for decompression
• Timers create a "safety net" by outsourcing time management stress to external mechanisms
• Alarms facilitate easier task-switching by providing clear signals to transition between activities

Want to support the podcast and help us keep creating content that matters? Here’s how you can get involved:

Join the Conversation: We want to hear from you! What resonates with you from this episode? How are you navigating your own journey? Connect with us on Instagram @lotstounpacktherepodcast or send us a message at unpack@riverdropcoaching.com.

Subscribe & Stay Connected: If you love what you hear, subscribe and leave us a review! Your support helps us reach more women who need a space like this. Let’s build this community together!

📬 Stay Inspired: Sign up for our Substack, where you’ll get fresh insights delivered straight to your inbox. Whether you choose a free or paid subscription, you’ll be the first to know what’s next: Substack

🎧 Bonus Content: Want exclusive access to behind-the-scenes moments and extra episodes? For as little as $3, you can support the show and enjoy bonus content that’s just for you: Support Us

Every bit of support helps us keep bringing real conversations from our hearts to your ears! Thank you for being part of the journey! 🙌

Welcome to the first full episode of our podcast! We’re Jess and Lisa—best friends, moms, and professionals in our forties—figuring out the messy middle of life together. If you’ve ever felt stretched thin between work, family, and your own aspirations, you’re not alone. This is the space where we unpack the real, raw, and sometimes hilarious moments of navigating personal and professional growth at the same time.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode:

• January is the longest month of the year, and this year it has some fun existential dread peppered in
• Lisa unpacks what it means to take up space, especially in a male-dominated workforce. She struggles with not wanting to take up time and resources from others at work, and recognizes this is holding her back.
• Jess unpacks the difference between a "manager's schedule" with lots of meetings, and a "creator's schedule" that allows for deep, uninterrupted work. She is trying to find ways to prioritize exercise and self-care within her schedule as an entrepreneur, which needs to accommodate both manager and creator schedules.
• Both ladies look for the adult in the room, only to realize that it's them.

Tune in next week as we dive into overachievement and stress—we can’t wait to unpack it with you!

Support the show

Want to support the podcast and help us keep creating content that matters? Here’s how you can get involved:

Join the Conversation: We want to hear from you! What resonates with you from this episode? How are you navigating your own journey? Connect with us on Instagram @lotstounpacktherepodcast or send us a message at unpack@riverdropcoaching.com.

Subscribe & Stay Connected: If you love what you hear, subscribe and leave us a review! Your support helps us reach more women who need a space like this. Let’s build this community together!

📬 Stay Inspired: Sign up for our Substack, where you’ll get fresh insights delivered straight to your inbox. Whether you choose a free or paid subscription, you’ll be the first to know what’s next: Substack

🎧 Bonus Content: Want exclusive access to behind-the-scenes moments and extra episodes? For as little as $3, you can support the show and enjoy bonus content that’s just for you: Support Us

Every bit of support helps us keep bringing real conversations from our hearts to your ears! Thank you for being part of the journey! 🙌