Episode 7 welcomes a close on 2025 where so many of use gave all we could and might have burnt out without realizing it.

Burnout isn’t always loud. Sometimes it creeps in quietly,disguised as “I’m just tired,” “I’ll push through,” or “ this is what I amsuppose to be doing.” But eventually, the body, the heart, and the spirit screamsfor us to stop—and when everything finally pauses, a deeper question often greetsus:

Who am I when I’m no longer surviving, striving, or proving?

Explore this conversation with us talking about burnout notas a failure, but as a powerful turning point. We’ll talk about the quietbuildup we often ignore, the point of breakdown that forces clarity, and theemotions many of us don’t talk about—grief, anger, emptiness, fear, and thestrange void that follows. What if that void isn’t the end… but sacred groundfor healing?

So let’s redefine purpose, what that can be afterburnout—what it means to let go of old identities, ask new and honest questionslike What restores me? What no longer fits? What feels true right now?

If you’re rebuilding after burnout, this conversationinvites you to:

If burnout brought you here, maybe it wasn’t to break you…but to return you to yourself.

Are you ready to hold what you’re building?

Listen in. Take a breath. Re-enter life gently.

What are we really searching for when we say we’re searching for "self"?

A heavy, and monumental question on the quest that is life...

What do we search for in the words of finding self, living authentically, or self-discovery, as if who we are is something lost, waiting to be uncovered.

Consider this, what if the self we adventure to seek isn’t something we find… what if it’s something we slowly create?

In this episode, we explore the tension and tenderness between self-acceptance and self-cultivation—two ideas that can feel contradictory, yet may be deeply intertwined. We reflect on the pressure to “figure ourselves out”.

Does this conversation feel so urgent in the season of life many of us are living right now?

Uzo and Shanel sit with questions like:

What are we really searching for when we say we’re searching for self?

Can we accept ourselves as we are while still choosing to grow?

Can self-acceptance and self-cultivation exist at the same time—or do they pull us in opposite directions?

Do we become who we are through our relationships with others, or in separation from them?

It's an arrival point to see the idea that just maybe who we are isn’t existence hidden or lost, but one shaped, tended to, and cultivated over time.

Explore these questions for yourself, and maybe in a conversation for anyone navigating becoming—without needing to arrive, fix, or perform their way there.

This episode's conversation invites a softer understanding of becoming—one that allows for both acceptance and growth, without urgency or self-rejection. It’s an episode for anyone navigating their sense of self in this season of life and wondering how to honor who they are while still allowing themselves to evolve.

Featured Guest: Evanis Hart- Actor and Community Activist.

The Ties That Bind Community takes on a deep and human conversation on how empathy, compassion, humility, forgiveness, and justice shape the way communities grow, heal, and stay connected. With our guest Evanis Hart, we step into and open a space to reflect on the values we often talk about but rarely unpack. We consider how understanding leads to care, how humility opens the door to truth and repair, how forgiveness can coexist with accountability, and how justice can be reframed through a lens of humanity. At core of their core, they intersect, challenge one another, and ultimately strengthen our relationships when practiced intentionally.

In thoughtful questions we invest in a conversation to gain insight into how these values show up daily in our lives and what it truly means to create communities rooted in compassion and fairness.

This episode is our own reflection, our making of space for growth, daily practice and a call to action: a reminder that the health of any community depends on the small, consistent choices we make to see one another, honor one another, and build a world grounded in shared responsibility and grace.

How you show up, how you care for each other, and which value do you think is most urgently needed in this moment?

Ultimately, this conversation in shaping a more connected, humane, and just society.