Blessing Our ACTUAL Lives

What do we do when our families are sources of pain, confusion, or harm? How do we (or can we) outgrow our complicated childhoods when we no longer need the defenses we created?Today, I am speaking with Tara Westover. Tara earned her PhD in history from Cambridge, which is incredible on its own, but particularly when you remember that she had never stepped foot in a classroom until she was 17. She is the author of the bestselling memoir EDUCATED which describes growing up in a survivalist family and her costly pursuit of learning and unlearning. In this conversation, Kate and Tara discuss:  How to navigate the religious baggage of our childhoods Learning to hold people’s point of views but without letting go of your own Why people aren’t always doing their best (and why knowing that helps restore some dignity) How to approach people who have different worldviews than us  How to outgrow the defenses we develop as kids in painful or abusive homes CW: physical, emotional, and spiritual abuse***Find Kate on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter.Be sure to subscribe to our weekly email for bits of wisdom, prayers, free downloads, and more.No Cure for Being Human (And Other Truths I Need to Hear) is now available wherever books are sold. Order your copy, today.Introducing, GOOD ENOUGH: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection. Available wherever books are sold. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

12 Apr 202237min

Our culture seems convinced that going off-script is unbecoming. Instead, we are rewarded for being buttoned up, perfect (or at least appearing to be), and never ever no-matter-what admit weakness. But… don’t we need each other, especially when facing the most difficult moments? Author and Death, Sex, and Money podcast host Anna Sale leans into every hard conversation no matter how difficult the topic. In this conversation, Kate and Anna discuss: How conversations might engender the intimacy we need to get by Fostering the right interpersonal and listening skills it takes to approach a difficult topic (especially when you’re feeling nervous) Best practices for responding to someone’s hard news How learning to listen might bridge differences of all kinds What do we lose when we don’t talk about hard things? And what might we gain if we do?***Find Kate on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter.Be sure to subscribe to our weekly email for bits of wisdom, prayers, free downloads, and more.No Cure for Being Human (And Other Truths I Need to Hear) is now available wherever books are sold. Order your copy, today.Introducing, GOOD ENOUGH: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection. Available wherever books are sold. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

5 Apr 202245min

We often have very romantic expectations about parenthood. Parenthood is about a mythical child who will be perfect in a way we haven’t quite put our finger on, and the journey to love them will teach us something reasonably easy about ourselves. But what if we are not the parents we thought we’d be? Or our kids are not the kids we thought we’d have.Writer Cammie McGovern’s oldest son, Ethan, was diagnosed with autism as a small child. Soon though, he was not just a toddler learning how to play or a child needing adjustments in the classroom. He is an adult who wants to participate in the world, and Cammie is still determined to learn what it means to be an advocate for him and others living with disabilities as they enter adulthood. In this conversation, Kate and Cammie discuss: The myths parents of children with autism might face How to build inclusive communities (and how both parties might benefit from them) How the role of every parent is to discover their kid for the mystery and wonder they are Why parenting shouldn’t always be about becoming heroes or martyrs and how we might need communities and systems that better support our needs This heartwarming conversation covers everything from love to policy and everything in between, as Cammie describes her son and his future.***Find Kate on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter.Be sure to subscribe to our weekly email for bits of wisdom, prayers, free downloads, and more.No Cure for Being Human (And Other Truths I Need to Hear) is now available wherever books are sold. Order your copy, today.Introducing, GOOD ENOUGH: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection. Available wherever books are sold.Join us for Lent. Receive a free lenten reflection guide, here. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

29 Mars 202239min

Bestselling author Mitch Albom was at the height of his career when his favorite professor was dying. Mitch then spent his Tuesdays with Morrie—conversations that would change the trajectory of his life and career. Mitch continues to walk right up to the edge with the complicated questions around grief, loss, and hope in his books and charitable work. In this conversation, Kate and Mitch discuss: Why the loss of a child feels so different than the loss of someone farther along in years What questions we ask of God when we encounter death (and why we might not get the answers we hope for) How we might count our somethings (our people, our blessings) without imagining that God is teaching us “a lesson”  CW: ALS, death of a child with a brain tumor***Find Kate on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter.Be sure to subscribe to our weekly email for bits of wisdom, prayers, free downloads, and more.No Cure for Being Human (And Other Truths I Need to Hear) is now available wherever books are sold. Order your copy, today.Introducing, GOOD ENOUGH: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection. Available wherever books are sold.Join us for Lent. Receive a free lenten reflection guide, here. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

22 Mars 202238min

Bestselling novelist Ann Patchett knows how to walk right up to the edge with people she loves. She is the friend who sits with you during chemo, or lets you spill your secrets in the car. She shares what powerful lessons she learned early on about how to approach suffering with humility, knowing you can rarely change a life, but you can be there to witness and be amazed.In this episode, Kate and Ann discuss: Why no one cares what you write about (and why that should give you freedom)  How to bear witness to someone’s life—even when you can’t change their circumstances Why the question of the fullness of a life isn’t how long you live but something else entirely CW: addiction, death of friends, cancer***Find Kate on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter.Be sure to subscribe to our weekly email for bits of wisdom, prayers, free downloads, and more.No Cure for Being Human (And Other Truths I Need to Hear) is now available wherever books are sold. Order your copy, today.Introducing, GOOD ENOUGH: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection. Available wherever books are sold.Join us for Lent. Receive a free lenten reflection guide, here. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

15 Mars 202244min

Everyone loves to get VERY BOSSY when it comes to our fears. “Don’t worry, be happy!” Just be brave! But maybe ‘being brave’ doesn’t mean ignoring our fears but living alongside them. After all, we live in a world that offers us few guarantees, don’t we? Writer Taylor Harris has dealt with severe anxiety since she was a child. But when she became a mom, she had to learn to hold her fears alongside her love, especially when her son has an unsolvable illness.In this conversation, Kate and Taylor discuss: Balancing fear with love  What it means to be brave in a world that is so unsafe (and how to parent kids you can’t protect from everything) How to live in the uncertainty of a non-diagnosis How to make sense of God and faith without guarantees that things will work out   This conversation will give you courage to hold both your faith and fear, hope and disappointment, especially when we don’t have problems with simple solutions.CW: a sick child without a diagnosis***Find Kate on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter.Be sure to subscribe to our weekly email for bits of wisdom, prayers, free downloads, and more.No Cure for Being Human (And Other Truths I Need to Hear) is now available wherever books are sold. Order your copy, today.Introducing, GOOD ENOUGH: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection. Available wherever books are sold.Join us for Lent. Receive a free lenten reflection guide, here. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

8 Mars 202238min

Author and priest Liz Tichenor lost her mom and her baby in the same year. Brand new to leading a church and reeling from the grief, the pain was enough to break her. But it didn’t—because other people carried her through. In this conversation, Kate and Liz discuss: How in the thick of tragedy we need the church and shared rituals of grief How to be faithful and authentic when going through the “unimaginable”  The courage it takes to show up for another in the midst of their worst days (and why we are called to do so… no matter how uncomfortable)  Why Lent is the season for the brokenhearted This episode will restore your hope for communities of faith that can show up for our most tender moments. CW: suicide, death of a child***Find Kate on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter.Be sure to subscribe to our weekly email for bits of wisdom, prayers, free downloads, and more.No Cure for Being Human (And Other Truths I Need to Hear) is now available wherever books are sold. Order your copy, today.Introducing, GOOD ENOUGH: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection. Available wherever books are sold.Join us for Lent. Receive a free lenten reflection guide, here. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

1 Mars 202240min

Poet Kate Baer found herself inundated with the demands of motherhood and little time to write. Nothing was easy and then, at a breaking point, it felt impossible. If she wanted a creative life, she was going to have to redefine “perfection” (perfect mom! perfect woman!) and learn to tolerate a lot more imperfection instead.  On this episode of Kate & Kate, they discuss: How friendships give permission to speak honestly (and why your friendships are actually important) Why not every experience (motherhood, marriage) is “fulfilling” How they each went off-script to find meaning Kate Baer’s great love for Panera Bread CW: postpartum depression***Find me on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter.Be sure to subscribe to my weekly email for bits of wisdom, prayers, free downloads, and more.No Cure for Being Human (And Other Truths I Need to Hear) is now available wherever books are sold. Order your copy, today.Introducing, GOOD ENOUGH: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection. Available wherever books are sold.Join us for Lent. Receive a free lenten reflection guide, here. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

22 Feb 202231min