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Make It Less Scary

Make It Less Scary

Written by: Maria Jose Oliver
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Make It Less Scary — Relax, nothing is under control.
A podcast by Maria Jose Oliver to help you transform fear into growth. Life can throw us into moments that feel overwhelming, uncertain, or downright terrifying. But what if those challenges could become stepping stones instead of stumbling blocks? Make It Less Scary is a podcast about finding courage, building resilience, and uncovering growth in life’s hardest moments. https://stan.store/Makeitlessscary

© 2026 Make It Less Scary
Self-Help Success
Episodes
  • Besties, Big Dreams & “Bitch, We Did That!” 🥂 | Season 2 Finale
    Sep 21 2026

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    How much of the life you once dreamed about are you already living and have you paused long enough to celebrate it?

    For the Season 2 finale of Make It Less Scary, I’m celebrating my birthday with Samantha Jo and Jillian Maeve, my fellow Juicy Queens, and inviting you into the conversations that help us grow.

    We revisit the dreams we shared on New Year’s Eve and get honest about bringing them to life: claiming our creativity, receiving support, showing up for our work, and learning to enjoy what we’re building.

    Inside this conversation:

    • Celebrating your progress before reaching for the next goal.
    • Bringing pleasure and discipline into the same room.
    • Recognizing when familiar work is keeping you comfortable.
    • Letting friendship, coaching, and accountability support your next brave move.

    I also share how my experience inside The Temple helped me ask deeper questions about my gifts, my audience, and the value of my work and move through resistance to create Who’s Gonna Stop Me Now?

    Ready to put this conversation into practice?

    ✨ Who’s Gonna Stop Me Now?
    Move through my program at your own pace, with classes, transmissions, and practical exercises to help you build self-trust, make decisions, and take action on what you want.

    🔥 The Temple
    Explore the work Samantha and I are doing together, bringing pleasure, capacity, strategy, and structure to the life and business you’re creating.

    Thank you for being part of Season 2. Keep going. I’m so proud of you. 💛

    https://www.instagram.com/lessscarywithmaria?igsh=MWNsYnNnaWh6dDFoNQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

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    1 hr and 18 mins
  • Full Circle: Courage, Leadership & Reinvention with Kim Jenkins
    May 27 2026

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    What happens when the woman who once changed the trajectory of your life sits across from you years later on your podcast?

    In this deeply personal full-circle conversation, I sit down with Kim Jenkins executive leader, author of Undaunted Aspiration, and one of the first people who truly saw potential in me before I could fully see it myself.

    Together, we talk about courage, visibility, relationships, leadership, reinvention, and what it really means to choose yourself.

    This episode is honest, heartfelt, expansive and one I’ll never forget.

    📚 Undaunted Aspiration: Lessons of Curiosity, Courage, Authenticity, and Purposeful Intention
    By Kim Jenkins

    🔗 https://www.thekimjenkinsexperience.com/

    https://www.instagram.com/lessscarywithmaria?igsh=MWNsYnNnaWh6dDFoNQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

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    1 hr and 7 mins
  • From Power Struggles to Play: Making Parenting Less Scary with Jillian Maeve
    Mar 16 2026

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    Parenting can feel overwhelming, isolating, and sometimes… terrifying.

    But what if it didn’t have to be?

    In this episode of Make It Less Scary, I sit down with my dear friend Jillian Maeve artist, parent coach, former Montessori educator of over 20 years, and creator of The Playbook, a coaching container that helps parents connect with their children through play rather than control.

    Jillian has spent decades working with young children and families, and what she discovered is something both simple and revolutionary:

    Play is the most powerful parenting tool we have.

    In this conversation, we explore how shifting your energy, your environment, and your approach can completely transform the dynamics inside your home.

    You’ll hear:

    • Why traditional discipline often leads to power struggles

    • How play activates the brain and helps children regulate themselves

    • Why connection works better than correction

    • How parents can shift from control to collaboration

    • The surprising power of sensory play (yes… including the famous “spaghetti method”)

    But this episode is also personal.

    Jillian is a former client I coached as she stepped away from a 20-year career in education to build something entirely new around her gifts.

    Watching her step into her own path has been one of the most beautiful full-circle moments in my work.

    Today, she helps parents create homes where children feel respected, empowered, and safe to grow.

    And if you’re listening to this and thinking:

    “I want parenting to feel more joyful… less stressful… and more connected.”

    Jillian has created a beautiful container for parents called The Playbook, where she teaches these tools in depth.

    You can learn more about it here: https://www.jillianmaeve.com/

    And if something inside this conversation stirred a deeper question in you about fear, courage, growth, and the moments in life where we know we are ready for something more I created a workshop for exactly that moment.

    It’s called:

    Why Not You. Why Not Now.

    A space where we explore the stories that keep us small and begin practicing the courage to show up differently.

    You can join the workshop here:

    https://stan.store/Makeitlessscary/p/expansion-lab-laugh-play--rewire-your-brain

    Because sometimes all it takes is the right room…

    and the right moment…

    to realize:

    why not you. why not now.


    https://www.instagram.com/lessscarywithmaria?igsh=MWNsYnNnaWh6dDFoNQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

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    44 mins
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