Reach Out And Share

Some things you can’t think your way out of, and a show with “better” in the title twice is exactly where that needs to be said out loud. This one is for anyone moving through the kind of loss nobody really prepares you for, in all its loud and quiet forms, and the grief that refuses to follow a schedule. I make the case that heaviness and peace can live in the same breath, and that you don’t need fixing to move through it. Follow Better Thinking Better Living so you don't miss an episode. Links to website and contact below.

Learn more at https://www.betterthinking-betterliving.com and follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/betterthinking.betterliving

Better Thinking Better Living. A Life Transitions Podcast, hosted by Tonya Shankle. Follow the show so you don't miss what's next.

This podcast is for educational and inspirational purposes only, not a substitute for therapy or professional mental health care.

Reach Out And Share

Your house is spotless, your inbox is empty, and the one thing that actually matters is still sitting there untouched. Sound familiar?

My microphone sat on the desk for weeks before I recorded a single word. Long before that, it was college term papers. I was a creative writer at heart, stuck writing clinical, by-the-book papers that came back with B's no matter how hard I worked. So I cleaned.....and cleaned.

This episode looks at procrastination as a coping strategy and the feeling it's usually protecting you from. You'll hear why fear works more like a dashboard warning light than a stop sign, why being seen trying can feel scarier than failing, and the one question I keep coming back to whenever I'm standing at the edge of something that matters: which fear is louder, the fear of trying or the fear of never having tried?

If you're in the middle of a life transition and something you care about keeps getting pushed to tomorrow, this one is for you. And if someone you love has a microphone of their own collecting dust, send it their way.

Learn more at https://www.betterthinking-betterliving.com and follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/betterthinking.betterliving

Better Thinking Better Living. A Life Transitions Podcast, hosted by Tonya Shankle. Follow the show so you don't miss what's next.

This podcast is for educational and inspirational purposes only, not a substitute for therapy or professional mental health care.

We've been sold the idea that purpose is a singular thing, a calling with your name on it that you are supposed to find. But, what if that's the story keeping you frozen?

In this episode, I unpack the myth of the "one big purpose" and the thing that gets most in the way of seeing your own clearly; comparison. Not just feeling behind, but the less-talked about direction too. I share a story from my mid-twenties that quietly shaped what I believed about myself for years, and what it finally taught me about what a full life actually looks like.

Learn more at https://www.betterthinking-betterliving.com and follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/betterthinking.betterliving

Better Thinking Better Living. A Life Transitions Podcast, hosted by Tonya Shankle. Follow the show so you don't miss what's next.

This podcast is for educational and inspirational purposes only, not a substitute for therapy or professional mental health care.

Some knowing doesn't feel peaceful. It feels like something already happening somewhere ahead of you, and you're not there yet.

This episode started with an Instagram post I couldn't stop looking at; a woman in a chair, exhausted, and a caption about a soul screaming. That image cracks open a conversation about the specific ache of wanting something you won't let yourself have. Not dissatisfaction. Not a bad week. Something closer to a ceiling you keep bumping into, quietly, while your life stays "fine."

I walk through why the rational mind isn't wrong to be cautious, but why "not yet" can slowly become where you live without you ever noticing you stopped moving. I talk about the lyrics to Leonard Cohen's "Bird on a Wire" (a beggar leaning on his crutch, told not to ask for so much, a woman at her door asking why not ask for more) as a way into the idea that timing isn't always the obstacle it pretends to be.

And this isn't only for the person standing at the edge of a big move. Sometimes what's screaming is a name. Someone you lost touch with. A thing you never said. This episode makes the case for saying it anyway, not because it goes perfectly, but because staying quiet has a cost too.

Three things to sit with after listening:

• The difference between genuine caution and fear wearing a very convincing disguise
• Why what you don't say out loud tends to grow in the dark
• That the screaming doesn't mean your life is wrong, it might mean it's about to go right

Learn more at https://www.betterthinking-betterliving.com and follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/betterthinking.betterliving

Better Thinking Better Living. A Life Transitions Podcast, hosted by Tonya Shankle. Follow the show so you don't miss what's next.

This podcast is for educational and inspirational purposes only, not a substitute for therapy or professional mental health care.

Reach Out And Share

Dolly Parton died yesterday and I couldn't move on to the episode I had originally planned. This one is about a statement I have carried for years, from a story I can barely remember the details of, and what it means to actually practice it now. How it ties to Dolly and her philosophies. It's not just a mood, but a decision made every day on purpose, especially when everything around us is pulling the other direction. Come find me on Instagram and tell me what you're choosing to lead with this week and how you are doing.

Learn more at https://www.betterthinking-betterliving.com and follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/betterthinking.betterliving

Better Thinking Better Living. A Life Transitions Podcast, hosted by Tonya Shankle. Follow the show so you don't miss what's next.

This podcast is for educational and inspirational purposes only, not a substitute for therapy or professional mental health care.

Emotional Resilience

Courage was never about feeling ready. This episode is for anyone who has been waiting for the fear to go away before they make their move and the reframe that might finally get you unstuck. I share my story of leaving Kentucky with no job waiting, a truck full of belongings, and a house that had not sold yet, and what that experience taught me about which fear actually matters.

Find me on your favorite podcast platform and tell me what your "jolt" is point toward.

Learn more at https://www.betterthinking-betterliving.com and follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/betterthinking.betterliving

Better Thinking Better Living. A Life Transitions Podcast, hosted by Tonya Shankle. Follow the show so you don't miss what's next.

This podcast is for educational and inspirational purposes only, not a substitute for therapy or professional mental health care.

Reach Out And Share

That question, What Is My Purpose, sounds inspiring until you have to really answer it and then it isn't. For a lot of people navigating life transitions, this question becomes a source of shame, a measuring stick for failure. I discuss this question and help reframe purpose, not as a singular destination you either find or miss, but as a thread running through every season of your life. Including the ones that look like wrong turns.

Learn more at https://www.betterthinking-betterliving.com and follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/betterthinking.betterliving

Better Thinking Better Living. A Life Transitions Podcast, hosted by Tonya Shankle. Follow the show so you don't miss what's next.

This podcast is for educational and inspirational purposes only, not a substitute for therapy or professional mental health care.

You've done the work, the therapy, the books, the routines and something still feels slightly out of reach. This first episode is an invitation to anyone who is self-aware enough to know they're capable of more, and honest enough to admit they're not quite there yet. Host Tonya Shankle introduces the show through two personal stories about what happens when you stop making everything about you.

New episodes drop every other week on Wednesdays, some solo, some conversations with guests. Usually ten to twenty minutes, something you can finish on a walk. Follow Better Thinking Better Living so you don't miss an episode.

Learn more at https://www.betterthinking-betterliving.com and follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/betterthinking.betterliving

Better Thinking Better Living. A Life Transitions Podcast, hosted by Tonya Shankle. Follow the show so you don't miss what's next.

This podcast is for educational and inspirational purposes only, not a substitute for therapy or professional mental health care.