For The Love With Jen Hatmaker Podcast

Bonus: Grace for the Weird-Ass Brain: “The Bloggess” Jenny Lawson on How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay

Description:What does it mean to be okay when nothing is okay? Not fixed. Not optimized. Not cured. Just… okay. This week, Jen and Amy sit down with bestselling author and professional weirdo Jenny Lawson to talk about surviving — and sometimes even thriving — inside a brain that does not always cooperate. Jenny’s new book, How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay, is a field guide for tender humans: a collection of tiny tools for when the big solutions feel impossible. Today, we talk about: * Living with “tiny erratic squirrels” in your head * Why imposter syndrome gets louder with success * Learning to live within your real capacity * Why you’re not failing if it’s just not for you * Helpful tools like “weird walks”, “body doubling”, “writing Zooms”,  * The radical courage of simply staying This conversation explores what happens when we stop trying to override our nervous systems and start listening to them instead. Midlife has a way of stripping away illusion — about productivity, about comparison, about who we’re supposed to be. Jenny reminds us that sometimes grit looks like finishing the book. And sometimes it looks like taking a drink of water and calling it enough. If you are exhausted, if you feel behind, if your brain tells you you’re the only one struggling – YOU ARE NOT ALONE. And being “still here” is no small thing. Thought-provoking Quotes: * “Self-help books are super helpful for the right kind of person but I’m not that person.” – Jenny Lawson * “Keep in mind that what worked for you in the past might not necessarily work for you now or in the future, and that doesn't mean you failed. It just means that's an opportunity.” – Jenny Lawson * “If you throw humor into a really dark subject, it gives people permission to laugh. And then that big monster becomes so much smaller.” – Jenny Lawson Resources Mentioned in This Episode: * How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay: Tips and Tricks That Kept Me Alive, Happy, and Creative in Spite of Myself [https://amzn.to/4qWKZi5]by Jenny Lawson – https://amzn.to/4qWKZi5 * Samantha Irby [https://www.samanthairby.com/] – https://www.samanthairby.com/ * A Ghost and His Gold [https://amzn.to/405lMH8] by Roberta Eaton Cheadle – https://amzn.to/405lMH8 * Anne Rice [https://annerice.com/]– https://annerice.com/ * Dean Koontz [https://www.deankoontz.com/]– https://www.deankoontz.com/ * Mexican Gothic [https://amzn.to/475Qp31] by Silvia Moreno-Garcia – https://amzn.to/475Qp31 * Focusmate [https://www.focusmate.com/] (Body Doubling App) -  https://www.focusmate.com/ * Let's Pretend This Never Happened: (A Mostly True Memoir) [https://amzn.to/4rGEBN7] by Jenny Lawson – https://amzn.to/4rGEBN7 * Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things [https://amzn.to/4u4RBxG] by Jenny Lawson – https://amzn.to/4u4RBxG * Broken (In The Best Possible Way) [https://amzn.to/4r3Bhuh] by Jenny Lawson – https://amzn.to/4r3Bhuh * Jenny Lawson Book Tour [https://thebloggess.com/2026/02/25/how-to-be-okay-when-nothing-is-okay-on-book-tour/] - https://thebloggess.com/2026/02/25/how-to-be-okay-when-nothing-is-okay-on-book-tour/ * Jenny Lawson’s Nowhere Book Shop in San Antonio, TX [https://nowherebookshop.com/] - https://nowherebookshop.com/ Guest’s Links: Website [https://thebloggess.com/] - https://thebloggess.com/ Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/thebloggess/] - https://www.instagram.com/thebloggess/ Twitter [https://x.com/TheBloggess] - https://x.com/TheBloggess Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/jennythebloggess] - https://www.facebook.com/jennythebloggess Pinterest [https://www.pinterest.com/thebloggess/] - https://www.pinterest.com/thebloggess/ Substack [https://thebloggess.substack.com/] - https://thebloggess.substack.com/ Connect with Jen!Jen’s Website [https://jenhatmaker.com/] - https://jenhatmaker.com/ Jen’s Instagram [https://instagram.com/jenhatmaker] - https://instagram.com/jenhatmakerJen’s Twitter [https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/] - https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/ Jen’s Facebook [https://facebook.com/jenhatmaker] - https://facebook.com/jenhatmakerJen’s YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker?sub_confirmation=1] - https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker The For the Love Podcast is presented by Audacy. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

The New Perimenopause: What’s Actually Happening to Your Body with Dr. Mary Claire Haver

Description:For years, women in their late 30s and 40s have walked into doctors’ offices saying the same thing: “I don’t feel like myself.” They’re exhausted but can’t sleep. Gaining weight but eating less. Anxious, foggy, irritable, disconnected. And too often, they’re told it’s stress. Aging. Depression. Just part of being a woman. But what if it’s something else? This week, Jen and Amy sit down with board-certified OB-GYN and menopause expert Dr. Mary Claire Haver to talk about what’s really happening in perimenopause — the hormonal transition that can begin years before your final period and affect nearly every system in your body. Drawing from her new book The New Perimenopause, Dr. Haver explains: * Why the brain may be the first organ to notice hormone shifts * Why antidepressants are often prescribed before hormones are even discussed * The dangerous legacy of outdated research and underfunded women’s health * How bone density, cholesterol, muscle mass, mood, libido, and cognition are all connected * And why midlife is not a decline — but a powerful window of opportunity This is not just a conversation about hot flashes. It’s about the “Zone of Chaos.” It’s about medical gaslighting. It’s about reclaiming your body as your ally, not your enemy. If you’ve ever whispered, “What is wrong with me?” or spent your sleepless nights up Googling dramatic questions like “is my brain broken?” — this episode is for you. You’re not broken. You’re not weak. And you are definitely not alone. Thought-provoking Quotes: * “We got some bad f*cking advice…Power through! You built this life. You asked for this. Oh, and also be thin, and make yourself smaller, and don't take up space, and make sure you put everyone in your family before your needs. That's the only way you're gonna be rewarded, elevated, celebrated is on this altar of self-sacrifice. You know what that did for my mother and my grandmother? Dementia and sarcopenia. I’m saying we’re going to take a different path.” – Dr. Mary Claire Haver  * “Men build rockets. Women build healthcare systems.” – Dr. Mary Claire Haver  * “One of the good things about menopause is that women lose their give-a-shit filter.” – Dr. Mary Claire Haver * “I just want menopause to be taken half as seriously as erectile dysfunction.” – Dr. Mary Claire Haver Resources Mentioned in This Episode: * The New Perimenopause: An Evidence-Based Guide to Surviving the Zone of Chaos and Feeling Like Yourself Again [https://www.amazon.com/New-Perimenopause-Evidence-Based-Surviving-Yourself/dp/0593736613/] by Dr. Mary Claire Haver – https://www.amazon.com/New-Perimenopause-Evidence-Based-Surviving-Yourself/dp/0593736613/ * The New Menopause: Navigating Your Path Through Hormonal Change with Purpose, Power, and Facts [https://amzn.to/4aUtrx3] by Dr. Mary Claire Haver - https://amzn.to/4aUtrx3 * The Blue Lagoon [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080453/] film (1980) – https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080453/ * Menopause.org [http://menopause.org] * The International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health (ISSWSH) [https://www.isswsh.org/] - https://www.isswsh.org/ * The Pause Life [https://thepauselife.com/] - https://thepauselife.com/ * MidiHealth [https://www.joinmidi.com/] - https://www.joinmidi.com/ Guest’s Links: Website [https://thepauselife.com/] - https://thepauselife.com/ Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/drmaryclaire] - https://www.instagram.com/drmaryclaire Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/drmaryclaire] - https://www.facebook.com/drmaryclaire Youtube [https://www.youtube.com/@drmaryclaire] - https://www.youtube.com/@drmaryclaire TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@drmaryclaire] - https://www.tiktok.com/@drmaryclaire Substack [https://drmaryclairehaver.substack.com/] - https://drmaryclairehaver.substack.com/ Podcast [https://thepauselife.com/blogs/the-unpaused-podcast] - https://thepauselife.com/blogs/the-unpaused-podcast Connect with Jen!Jen’s Website [https://jenhatmaker.com/] - https://jenhatmaker.com/ Jen’s Instagram [https://instagram.com/jenhatmaker] - https://instagram.com/jenhatmakerJen’s Twitter [https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/] - https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/ Jen’s Facebook [https://facebook.com/jenhatmaker] - https://facebook.com/jenhatmakerJen’s YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker?sub_confirmation=1] - https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker The For the Love Podcast is presented by Audacy.  To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Shannan Martin on Counterweights: Holding Grief and Joy in the Same Hands

Description:What do we do when the world feels like too much? When the headlines won’t let up, when grief and uncertainty sit heavy in our bodies, when we’re carrying more than we ever thought we could—how do we keep going without numbing out or falling apart? This week, Jen sits down with beloved writer and friend Shannan Martin to talk about her new book Counterweights, a tender, practical guide for living with hope in a heavy world. At the center of Shannan’s work is a deceptively simple idea: when life gets heavy, we don’t eliminate the weight—we learn to carry something equally weighty in the other hand. Not balance. Not denial. But both/and. Together, Jen and Shannan explore what it means to hold grief and joy at the same time, to resist despair without turning away from reality, and to find steady ground in the middle of it all. They talk about community as survival, faith that evolves and expands, and the small, ordinary moments that become lifelines when everything feels overwhelming. This conversation is a fitting close to our Wilderness & Wonder exploration—because if the wilderness strips us down to what’s real, Shannan helps us ask: what will hold us up now? If you’ve been feeling stretched thin, worn down, or just plain tired of carrying it all alone, this episode is for you. Thought-provoking Quotes: * “Now, what are the things that are keeping me going? For me, it’s clawing for those little tiny moments where we can. I need to see myself take care of myself.” – Shannan Martin * “We have to carry a lot of really heavy things in one hand. We don't choose these things. We would never have asked for them. And we can't just put them down. We don't have control over them. We can't just set them aside. So how do we carry these heavy things? We fill the other hand with heavy goodness.” – Shannan Martin * “The world feels catastrophic right now. My bowl of curry for lunch cannot cancel that out. There's no amount of beautiful sunsets that can cancel out a diagnosis that nobody wants or these heavy, heavy things that we are tasked with carrying because balance is impossible.” – Shannan Martin * “When wholeness is our goal, beauty is our emergency.” – Shannan Martin * “Anytime I can disrupt the algorithm, I feel it in my body.” – Shannan Martin * “The abundant life is not getting all the things we ever wanted. The abundant life is you get this and this and the task now is to figure out how to carry it.” – Shannan Martin Resources Mentioned in This Episode: * Counterweights: An Essential Practice for Holding Hope in a Heavy World [https://amzn.to/4sRdTRZ] by Shannan Martin - https://amzn.to/4sRdTRZ * David Chang [https://www.instagram.com/davidchang/] - https://www.instagram.com/davidchang/ * 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess [https://amzn.to/4sQVftp] by Jen Hatmaker * Rainer Maria Rilke [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/rainer-maria-rilke] - https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/rainer-maria-rilke * Sara Miles [https://sara-miles.squarespace.com/bio] - https://sara-miles.squarespace.com/bio * Shannan Martin Book Tour [https://www.shannanmartin.com/counterweights-events] - https://www.shannanmartin.com/counterweights-events Guest’s Links: Website [https://www.shannanmartin.com/] - https://www.shannanmartin.com/ Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/shannanwrites/] - https://www.instagram.com/shannanwrites/ Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/shannan.garbermartin] - https://www.facebook.com/shannan.garbermartin Substack [https://www.shannanmartin.com/newsletter] - https://www.shannanmartin.com/newsletter Connect with Jen!Jen’s Website [https://jenhatmaker.com/] - https://jenhatmaker.com/ Jen’s Instagram [https://instagram.com/jenhatmaker] - https://instagram.com/jenhatmakerJen’s Twitter [https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/] - https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/ Jen’s Facebook [https://facebook.com/jenhatmaker] - https://facebook.com/jenhatmakerJen’s YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker?sub_confirmation=1] - https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker The For the Love Podcast is presented by Audacy.  To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Welcome to Becoming You with Suzy Welch

Today we are thrilled to introduce you to a voice we think can really help us navigate some of the big life questions we’re facing right now: Suzy Welch. Have you ever wondered, “What should I do with my life?” Or, “Should I stay or should I go?” Or, “Is there anyone out there who actually tells the freaking truth about life and work today, but also does not leave me in despair?” Wonder no more! The “Becoming You” podcast has arrived, hosted by Suzy Welch, the business journalist-turned-professor at the helm of NYU’s wildly popular self-discovery class by the same name. A three New York Times best-seller and frequent contributor to the Today Show and the Wall Street Journal, Professor Welch is considered a leading expert on decision-making, and the discovery and pursuit of authentic purpose. Join Suzy every week to laugh, learn, get riled up, get calmed down, and basically get closer to becoming you, joyfully, in this crazy, upside-down, scary, messy, and altogether beautiful world we share. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

[ENCORE] Wonder in the Wilderness: David Gate on Poetry, Care, and Staying Tender in a Harsh World

Description:Sometimes a conversation lands so gently—and so powerfully—that it deserves another moment in the light. In this encore episode, Jen revisits her conversation with poet, writer, and visual artist David Gate, whose work explores themes of care, community, and spiritual resilience. Jen first discovered David the way so many of us discover the words that change us: late at night on Instagram, stumbling across a poem that made her stop mid-scroll and immediately send it to six friends. That was the beginning of a quiet fandom that eventually turned into this conversation—one that felt less like an interview and more like sitting in the presence of someone who has learned how to notice beauty in hard places. David’s work—including his collection A Rebellion of Care—is rooted in the radical idea that tenderness, attention, and compassion are not small acts. They are resistance. They are survival. They are a way through the wilderness. Together, Jen and David explore the ways language can become a lifeline during difficult seasons. They talk about the courage of softness in a harsh world, the sacred practice of paying attention, and how poetry can give us words for things we thought we had to carry alone. This conversation sits right at the intersection: the wilderness of grief, uncertainty, and fatigue—and the wonder that still insists on growing in the cracks. Thought-provoking Quotes: * “I did not want to have an email job and I did not want to be in meetings that could have been emails. I did not want to be on Slack. I just didn't want that to be what I was spending my time doing. I loved caring for people, and I loved creating and writing, and I got to do that within the church world.” – David Gate * * “It’s a constant battle to speak the truth. Even things we all know It can be difficult to say, if it's not something that is normally said, and it's not something that is normally expressed, so you have to fight for that and you have to fight for your experience of the truth. You have to fight for your story. You have to fight for all of that.” – David Gate * “I think it's very, very difficult for men to reach for emotional honesty because everything tells you that you're failing if you do that. But it's the most important work right now. And so much of what men are actually looking for in this world, intimacy, a sense of place, a sense of belonging, companionship, adventure, excitement, is on the other side of reaching for that emotional honesty.” – David Gate Resources Mentioned in This Episode: * A Rebellion of Care: Poems and Essays [https://amzn.to/4jjf87X] by David Gate - https://amzn.to/4jjf87X * Good Soil: The Education of an Accidental Farmhand [https://amzn.to/3GnS21w] by Jeff Chu - https://amzn.to/3GnS21w * Cultivating Belonging and Evolving Faith with Jeff Chu [https://jenhatmaker.com/podcasts/series-64/cultivating-belonging-and-evolving-faith-with-jeff-chu/] - https://jenhatmaker.com/podcasts/series-64/cultivating-belonging-and-evolving-faith-with-jeff-chu/ * Sarah Bessey [https://www.sarahbessey.com/] - https://www.sarahbessey.com/ * Armando Veve, Illustrator [https://www.instagram.com/armandoveve/] - https://www.instagram.com/armandoveve/ * Awake: A Memoir [https://amzn.to/3YHKgpw] by Jen Hatmaker - https://amzn.to/3YHKgpw * Sinners film (2025) [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31193180/] - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31193180/ * Malaprop's Bookstore, Asheville [https://www.malaprops.com/] - https://www.malaprops.com/ Guest’s Links: Website [https://www.davidgatepoet.com/] - https://www.davidgatepoet.com/ Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/davidgatepoet/] - https://www.instagram.com/davidgatepoet/ Substack [https://substack.com/@davidgatepoet] - https://substack.com/@davidgatepoet Connect with Jen!Jen’s Website [https://jenhatmaker.com/] - https://jenhatmaker.com/ Jen’s Instagram [https://instagram.com/jenhatmaker] - https://instagram.com/jenhatmakerJen’s Twitter [https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/] - https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/ Jen’s Facebook [https://facebook.com/jenhatmaker] - https://facebook.com/jenhatmakerJen’s YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker?sub_confirmation=1] - https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker The For the Love Podcast is presented by Audacy.  To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]