Cecily Mak on Going Alcohol-Free, Finding Clarity, and Living "Undimmed"

Cecily Mak on Going Alcohol-Free, Finding Clarity, and Living "Undimmed"

Cecily Mak joins Shelf Care Society for a deeply thoughtful conversation about alcohol-free living, unwanted habits, and the clarity that becomes possible when we stop dimming ourselves. Cecily is the author of Undimmed: The Eight Awarenesses for Freedom from Unwanted Habits, a founding General Partner at Wisdom Ventures, a breast cancer survivor, mother of two, and an advocate for a more honest public conversation about alcohol and health. In this episode, Brian and Cecily discuss how her thirty-day experiment to go alcohol-free changed her life, and how habits like drinking, scrolling, overworking, or staying constantly busy can become “dimmers” that keep us from fully feeling and fully living. They also talk about family history, AA, meditation, found time in sobriety, Big Alcohol, breast cancer, and why Cecily’s Eight Awarenesses offer a more spacious and compassionate path toward freedom. This is a conversation for anyone who has ever wondered what might become possible if they stopped reaching for the thing that helps them escape and started listening to the life waiting underneath.

Kerry Docherty on "Selfish" & The Permission to Want More

What does it really mean to be “selfish”… and why are so many of us afraid of it? This week on Shelf Care Society, I sit down with Kerry Docherty, co-founder of Faherty and author of Selfish, a sharp, deeply personal memoir about unlearning the roles that keep us small. We start where the book does: on a therapist’s couch, where Kerry and her husband are negotiating Kerry's salary. From there, we unpack the invisible contracts so many of us inherit around marriage, work, ambition, and worth and what it takes to break them. We also discuss "soul contracts"! In this conversation, we get into: * Why “selfish” might be the most misunderstood word in personal growth * The cost of being the reliable one in every room * How ambition shifts when you stop performing for approval * What it looks like to rewrite your role inside a marriage, a family, and a business * The uncomfortable decisions that actually change a life This is a conversation about telling the truth, even when it disrupts everything around you.

Tayari Jones on "Kin" & Letters & The Bonds of Family

What do we owe the people who made us? This week on Shelf Care Society, I sit down with Tayari Jones to talk about her stunning new novel, Kin, an Oprah's Book Club selection. Tayari has a way of writing families that feel both intimate and expansive. In Kin, she turns her attention to legacy and inheritance through the lives of two girls, Niecy and Annie, and the bond that connects them across time. I take a shot at providing an overview of Kin—and Tayari reacts! We discuss what it means for a novel like Kin to resonate at this moment, and why stories about family, history, and inheritance continue to find us exactly when we need them.

Liz Tran On Why Your "Agility Quotient" (AQ) Might Matter More Than Your IQ

What if the thing that determines your success isn’t how smart you are, but how quickly you can adapt? This week on Shelf Care Society, I’m joined by Liz Tran, executive coach and author of AQ: The Agility Quotient. We talk about why agility is becoming the defining skill of our time and how to build it in a world that rarely slows down. Liz shares how AQ shows up in your career, your relationships, and your identity, especially in moments when everything you thought was stable begins to shift. We get into reinvention, letting go of outdated versions of yourself, and learning how to move forward without a clear roadmap. If you’ve been feeling stuck or sensing that your life is asking something new of you, this conversation will meet you there.

Deconstructing the Kardashians—and Ourselves—with M.J. Corey

Why are the Kardashians so famous—and what does that say about us? In this episode of Shelf Care Society: The Podcast, I sit down with M.J. Corey (@mjcorey) to talk about her new book, Deconstructing the Kardashians: A New Media Manifesto [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/741643/dekonstructing-the-kardashians-by-mj-corey/]—a sharp, surprisingly expansive look at the most influential family in modern media. What starts as a conversation about Kim, Kris, and the empire they’ve built quickly becomes something much bigger. M.J. unpacks how the Kardashians didn’t just rise alongside the internet—they helped define it. From reality TV to Instagram to the algorithm-driven attention economy, their story becomes a lens for understanding how media has evolved over the past two decades—and how it’s reshaping our sense of identity, reality, and self. We talk about narrative as strategy, the blurred line between authenticity and performance, and why the Kardashians function less as celebrities and more as a kind of cultural operating system. M.J. also shares her goal for the book: not to make you love or hate them, but to help you become a more active, intentional consumer of media in a world that’s constantly asking for your attention. This is one of those conversations that starts in pop culture—but leaves you thinking about power, perception, and the stories we’re all participating in every day.