Shows
The Energy XchangeNever Meet Your Heroes (aka The Pedestal Effect)Send us a textNever Meet Your Heroes: The Pedestal EffectWe’ve all heard the phrase “never meet your heroes.” In this episode, I’m unpacking the pedestal effect - the subtle but powerful dynamic that happens when we elevate someone else and, without realizing it, diminish ourselves.I explore how pedestal dynamics show up in dating, friendships, work, and mentorship. Especially for empaths, deep feelers, people pleasers, and anyone who struggles with imposter syndrome. When we believe someone else is more capable, more certain, or more valuable than we a...
2026-02-0511 minThe Energy XchangeEmpathy or Hypervigilance?Send us a textWhat if the way you “read a room” isn’t always empathy?In this episode of The Energy Xchange, I unpack the often-blurred line between empathy and hypervigilance and why sensitivity isn’t a personality trait, but a spectrum that shifts based on how safe and grounded you feel in your body.This episode is about understanding sensitivity as a spectrum, unpacking why hypervigilance develops, and learning how to work with your awareness instead of letting it run your life.This Episode Dives Into:The back...
2026-01-2816 minThe Energy XchangeEmbracing Nuance in a Polarized WorldSend us a textIn this episode of The Energy Xchange, I’m exploring what it means to live in the gray in a world that’s increasingly obsessed with certainty, sides, and extremes.For highly sensitive people, empaths, and quiet leaders, nuance often comes naturally. We’re wired to hold complexity, sense unspoken tension, and stay curious about how people arrive at their beliefs. But today’s cultural climate doesn’t reward that. It pushes black-and-white thinking, public allegiance, and loud certainty, even when it comes at the cost of connection, self-trust, and peace.This...
2026-01-2111 minThe Energy XchangeImposter Syndrome at the Edge of ExpansionSend us a textIn this episode of The Energy Xchange, I’m unpacking why imposter syndrome isn’t a sign that you’re underqualified or behind, but often a signal that you’re expanding into something really good.This conversation is especially for deep feelers, empaths, and highly sensitive people who experience imposter syndrome in a more embodied, relational way. When you’re highly aware of nuance, responsibility, and how others experience you, stepping into new rooms can feel risky even when you’re more than capable.Rather than trying to eliminate imposter syn...
2026-01-1411 minThe Energy XchangeWhat "Boundary Culture" Gets WrongSend us a textIn this episode of The Energy Xchange, I’m unpacking why modern boundary culture, especially the hardline, “just say no” approach, misses the mark for deep feelers, empaths, and quiet leaders.While that advice can sound empowering in theory, it often feels unnatural, rigid, or even unsafe in practice. Especially if you’re someone who values connection, nuance, and emotional awareness.This episode dives into:Why most boundary advice quietly assumes you’re powerlessWhy boundaries feel risky when you’re wired to sense consequences...
2026-01-0714 minThe Energy XchangeCrowdsourcing Your IntuitionSend us a textIn this episode of The Energy Xchange, I’m diving into something many highly sensitive people do without even realizing it: crowdsourcing their intuition. If you’ve ever asked for multiple opinions on something you already felt clear about, waited for someone else to say what you were thinking so you’d feel validated, or looked outside yourself for permission to trust your knowing, this episode is for you.Highly sensitive people often have strong intuition, but because our energy is so receptive, trusting that inner voice can feel surprisingly hard. In a r...
2025-12-2411 minThe Energy XchangeThe Price Tag of Being “Easy to Work With”Send us a textIn this episode of The Energy Xchange, I’m diving into something almost every highly sensitive person struggles with at some point: people pleasing. If you’ve ever said yes when you wanted to say no, softened your boundaries to keep the peace, or pre-managed someone else’s reactions so you wouldn’t feel uncomfortable, this is for you!People pleasing isn’t a flaw; it’s actually a survival strategy many of us learned early in life. But in adulthood, and especially in business, it can quietly drain our energy, our confiden...
2025-12-1716 minThe Energy XchangeThe Myth of Being "Too Sensitive"Send us a textIn this episode of The Energy Xchange, I’m diving into a phrase so many of us have heard throughout our lives: “You’re too sensitive.” Maybe you’ve carried that line like a quiet warning, adjusting yourself in every room, trying not to take up too much space, or feeling like your emotions were something you needed to manage for everyone else’s comfort.I share parts of my own story, but more importantly, I walk you through the patterns that so many sensitive people develop, including shrinking, overthinking, overworking, and reading...
2025-12-1013 min
The Energy XchangeTrailer: Welcome to The Energy XchangeSend us a textWelcome to the trailer episode of The Energy Xchange! In this intro episode, I'm laying out why this podcast was created and the topics we'll be exploring. If you’ve spent your life adapting, over-functioning, or reading the room before you read yourself, this show is your new safe space. The Energy Xchange is here to help you understand your sensitivity as a superpower, reconnect with your own voice, and build a life that honors who you truly are.Main Topics CoveredWhy I started th...
2025-12-0902 min
Book Cougars Podcast: Two Middle-Aged Women on the Hunt for a Good ReadEpisode 214 - Biblio Adventure ExtravaganzaWelcome to Episode 214!
This episode contains a lot of biblio adventuring. Emily is in Traverse City, Michigan, helping her daughter, getting to know her new granddaughter, and discovering the many excellent Little Free Libraries in the area. She also shopped at Horizon Books and has been spending time at the Traverse City Library.
Meanwhile, back in New England, Chris and “Colleen from Chicago” hit the road for a four-day Biblio Adventure Extravaganza that included Melville’s Arrowhead, Wharton’s The Mount, Emily Dickinson’s family homes, The Homestead and The Evergreens, Amherst Books, and The Yiddish Book Center. The former bookstore...
2024-08-131h 10Book Cougars Podcast: Two Middle-Aged Women on the Hunt for a Good ReadEpisode 185 - Book Cougars Prowling in the MidwestWe both recently headed to the Midwest for some family & friend time.
Chris went to Chicago and met up with Colleen, our guest on Episodes 27 and 145. We had a browse in Women & Children First, a legendary feminist bookstore and one of Chicago’s oldest indies, after which we had lunch across the street at Lady Gregory’s, an Irish pub named after the legendary Irish dramatist. Chris also got to visit one of her favorite used bookstores, Frugal Muse in Darien, IL, where she found two copies of THE RED GARDEN by Alice Hoffman (it’s a book on our Scarle...
2023-07-0451 minBook Cougars Podcast: Two Middle-Aged Women on the Hunt for a Good ReadEpisode 179 - Deep Dive with Poet Shuly CawoodHappy National Poetry Month!
We kick off this episode with Emily reading Lucille Clifton’s poem, “Climbing,” and end with an in-depth conversation with poet Shuly Cawood about her poem, “Starter Marriage.” [The full text of Shuly’s poem is at the end of this description if you’d like to read it before or while listening to the episode.]
Both of us have Writing and Creativity on our minds. Emily started Julia Cameron’s THE ARTIST’S WAY, and Chris is listening to WRITING FOR IMPACT by Bill Birchard. And we have some reading/writing synchronicity going on with Natalie Goldberg...
2023-04-111h 31Book Cougars Podcast: Two Middle-Aged Women on the Hunt for a Good ReadEpisode 151 - Spring is in the air and the Book Cougars are on the prowl!Spring is in the air and the Book Cougars are on the prowl! Translation: Biblioadventures are ramping up as the weather gets better and Covid rates continue to fall.
We can’t remember the last time we had two joint jaunts in the same week, so it was a special treat to visit Riverbend Bookshop in Glastonbury, Connecticut and the New Bedford Whaling Museum in Massachusettes. Emily took a solo bibiloadventure to check out the Westport Public Library’s renovation and Chris attended a Zoom event with the Society for the Study of American Women Writers.
A Snake Falls to Eart...
2022-03-151h 04Book Cougars Podcast: Two Middle-Aged Women on the Hunt for a Good ReadAmerican Writers Museum in Chicago, IllinoisChris and Emily speak with Colleen Olson to recap her visit to the American Writers Museum in Chicago, Illinois.
2017-09-1231 min