Chapter 15: You Don’t Need a Plan. You Need Permission

The Cover?

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. 🍦

Final Note & Author Alexa Pepe

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.

Chapter 15: You Don’t Need a Plan. You Need Permission

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.

Chapter 14: Joy is in the Tiny, Stupid, Beautiful Moments

Nobody tells you that joy doesn’t arrive with a grand entrance. No photographer, no hashtag, no perfectly curated Instagram moment. It doesn’t burst through the door with fanfare — it sneaks in. Quietly. In the middle of the mess, the exhaustion, the heartbreak, the “how the hell am I even holding all this together?” moments. In this episode, we’re talking about what joy actually looks like in real life — not the highlight reel version. It’s your kid losing it over something completely ridiculous. It’s an unexpected hug at exactly the right time. It’s the tiny, stupid, beautiful stuff that doesn’t make the feed but somehow makes life worth living. Because even when everything is a sh*t show, joy is still there — you just have to stop waiting for the big sweeping moment and start noticing the small ones.  This one’s a love letter to the chaos. And a reminder that you don’t need a filter to find something worth smiling about.

Chapter 13: You Don’t Need to Be “Fixed” to Be Worthy

We need to talk about the wellness industry’s dirty little secret — it’s banking on you believing you’re broken. In this episode, we’re getting real about the myth of “healed” and why healing was never supposed to be a never-ending project. You are not defective because life knocked you around. You are not behind. You are not less-than. And yet the world — and a billion-dollar self-help machine — will do everything in its power to convince you otherwise. We’re calling it out: the journals, the cold plunges, the chakra cleanses, the vision boards, the life coaches… When does self-improvement become self-rejection in disguise? This episode is your reminder that you are worthy right now — not after the next healing retreat, not when you finally “figure it out,” not when you become the polished version of yourself you’ve been promised. You don’t need to be fixed. You just need to keep going.