Nobody warned you about the ice cream cone.
Not your mom. Not your therapist. Not the overly enthusiastic guidance counselor in high school who promised you that if you “just followed your passion,” everything would work itself out. Nobody sat you down and said — hey, one day you’re going to be holding something really good, and it’s going to fall apart in your hands before you ever get a real taste of it.
But that’s exactly what happens. Over and over again.
In this episode, we’re talking about the ice cream cone — and why it’s on the cover of this book. Because you’ve been there. You waited in line for it. You agonized over the flavor. You finally got it… and then life happened. It melted. It dropped. Someone bumped into you. Or maybe it was perfect for exactly one moment and then it was just… gone.
This is the chapter that started it all. The metaphor that explains everything this book — and this podcast — is really about. The good stuff, the messy stuff, and the beautiful, frustrating, very human experience of holding on and letting go at the same time.
Welcome to Sh*t No One Tells You About Life. 🍦

This is the one we’ve been building to. If you’ve made it this far — through the hard parts, the messy parts, the parts you weren’t sure you’d survive — let me tell you something no one else probably has: you’re already doing it.
You’ve carried more than anyone sees. You’ve kept going through grief that wasn’t always visible. You’ve faced toxic people, questioned everything you thought you wanted, and somehow — still — here you are.
This isn’t a podcast of answers. It never was. It’s permission. Permission to pivot, to rest, to grow, to start over. You don’t need to fix yourself. You don’t need to explain yourself. You don’t need to prove yourself.
You just need to keep going.

Sh*t No One Tells You About Life — written by Alexa Pepe, a straight-talking, chaos-juggling truth teller who learned (mostly the hard way) that no one hands you a roadmap when sh*t gets real. This is that roadmap. Kind of. You’re welcome.

We were sold a lie. Plan enough, hustle hard enough, stay on the “right path” long enough — and you’ll be safe. You’ll be happy. You’ll finally have it all together. So we made the career plan, the family plan, the five-year plan, the marriage plan, the financial plan… and then life said lol, cute.
In this episode, we’re having an honest conversation about what nobody tells you: plans are fragile. The job changes. The relationship shifts. The dream evolves. And sometimes everything falls apart — not because you failed, but because life doesn’t run on a script.
So what do you actually need? Permission. Permission to pivot. Permission to rest. Permission to live a life that doesn’t look like anyone else’s. Permission to stop chasing a version of yourself that was built around someone else’s timeline.
This episode is your official slip. Do with it what you will.