Shows
co-regulationHow to Stop Caring About What Everyone Else Thinks (Emily McDowell)Holly reconnects with her friend and former podcast co-host (Quitted) Emily McDowell for a raw conversation about how extreme adversity can strip away everything that doesn't matter and reveal what does. After years of health crises, family loss, and business transitions, Emily describes arriving at a place of No Fucks Given that feels like coming home to herself. Together, they explore what it means to build real community, trust your body's wisdom, and stop proving yourself to the world.Topics covered include how selling her business and facing health challenges (brain tumor, autoimmune thyroid condition) led...2025-06-191h 46
Creative CoffeeHow do you know when to quit?I really enjoy Emily McDowell’s honest take on creative grief, career identity, life transitions and quitting. She has a brilliant podcast called Quitted that she hosted with her pal and fellow Substacker Holly Whitaker. One of my favourite episodes is titled ‘Emily McDowell quits being a human brand.' (On that note, Emily and Holly have just launched a new workshop on how to help you navigate “the deep shitty middle” of transitions. These are two women who know the score, who have been there in the thick of it, and I’m excited that they are bringing their wisd...2024-06-2642 min
QuittedWho moved our cheese? (An update episode.)In June 2022, Holly drove across the country to move back to Los Angeles from New York after Martha Beck live-coached her into it on episode 14.The plan was to get to New Mexico by Friday in order to record episode 22 of Quitted (quitting compulsory sexuality!), but then Roe got overturned, and because we were both in the middle of having total life meltdowns already and didn't have much grace or space to begin with, we kind of broke. By July, neither of us had any desire to be talking in public; we couldn't even get ourselves...2024-05-301h 05
Beyond ReligionEp 5: Sober ConsciousIn this solo episode, Elizabeth talks about lessons learned in the her recent foray into sober consciousness. From the literal lessons on brain chemistry to the spiritual lessons of awareness, today's shorter episode is an honest look at the ways we settle for half a life and call it a whole one.
References in this episode include:
Holly Whitaker, Quit Like a Woman: The Radical Choice Not to Drink in a Culture Obsessed With Alcohol
Jen Sincero, You Are a Badass
Quitted--a podcast about quitting with Holly Whitaker and Emily McDowell
Beyond Religion on the socials...
Instagram
Twitter
Facebook
Elizabeth...2023-04-0924 minQuittedDiane Sanfilippo Quits Diet Culture Part 2Diane Sanfilippo Quits Diet Culture Part 2Last week in our interview with best-selling author of diet books and former-diet-entrepreneur-turned-anti-diet-activist Diane Sanfilippo: we got deep into how after 20 years of dieting and building a whole VERY SUCCESSFUL career steeped in diet culture, Diane found she couldn’t make herself lose the same x pounds yet again. Last week we dug into what diet culture is and how that came to define Diane’s existence. This week we go deep into the implications of that decision. We talk about changing our minds in public, being true to our inte...2022-06-3045 minQuittedDiane Sanfilippo Quits Diet Culture: Part 1Diane Sanfilippo Quits Diet Culture: Part 1During the pandemic, Diane Sanfilippo got on the scale and saw a number that was more than when she started dieting twenty years before; and she realized she couldn’t make herself diet again. This isn’t entirely exceptional, it probably happened to a lot of us, except in Diane’s case she was the author of six bestselling diet books, from Keto QuickStart to Practical Paleo to The 21-Day Sugar Detox. So it wasn’t as if she was just done dieting; she was also done with her career, liveliho...2022-06-2359 minQuittedAn Update Episode: Holly Whitaker and the Lost PlaceAn Update Episode: Holly Whitaker and the Lost PlaceThis week, we’re checking in with Holly, who in 2021, basically removed her skin and left it in the closet of her former life. She lost the thing she’d thought she’d do forever, and the person she thought she’d be forever; in her first “who’s Holly Whitaker?” episode that we recorded back in January, she was deep in the long, humiliating, humbling, sucky journey of surrender through the lost place. In this episode, we catch up on where she’s at, and talk about her shifti...2022-06-1655 minQuittedSara Clark Quits the United StatesSara Clark Quits the United StatesIt was meant to be a short vacation to Grenada in February 2020, but then Covid hit, and Sara Clark, who just happened to have all her things in storage (!!), followed her intuition and stayed in Grenada and left the U.S. for good. That one terrifying (and she means terrifying) leap led her to an unimaginable quality of life as a Black woman now living in a Black country and as a recovering New Yorker living on an island with just over a hundred thousand people. The m...2022-06-091h 08QuittedMar Grace Quits Trying to be SomeoneMar Grace Quits Trying to be SomeoneHi! Holly here. In this conversation between my friend Mar Grace and myself, we mean to talk about Mar being (their words) a “double black diamond quitter,” but just end up talking about our recovery, very different relationships to relapse, hating each other’s work (at times!) but loving each others’ essence, giving up on leaving a legacy or trying to be significant, divorces that you saw coming and break ups you didn’t want to and which is better, being grateful to those who quit before we are ready to...2022-06-0258 minQuittedAn Update Episode: Emily McDowell, Now With Even More Quitting!An Update Episode: Emily McDowell, Now With Even More Quitting!This week, we’re talking about the big thing Emily couldn’t talk about until now: in April, Em & Friends—the brand she founded and infused with her name, personality and life experience—was acquired, and Emily didn’t go with it. What did it feel like to, finger-by-finger, let go of the future she thought she’d have? WTF is she gonna do now? We get into it all. Big themes include the idea of comfort vs. growth; the feeling of knowing it’s time to go, but dec...2022-05-2645 minQuittedZach Anderson Quits Everything He KnowsZach Anderson Quits Everything He KnowsZach Anderson was raised to be a devout Mormon, with the belief that he could earn God’s favor if he could only be good enough. Obedient enough. Perfect enough. But Zach had a secret: he was gay, which meant his very existence was condemned by the church—and, so he believed, condemned by God. Zach’s specific story is about leaving Mormonism and its community; coming out at age 37 after a lifetime of being told that to be gay was the worst thing he could be; deconstructing his faith and re...2022-05-191h 07QuittedPART TWO: Martha Beck Quits LyingPART TWO: Martha Beck Quits LyingAuthor, speaker, teacher, legend, Oprah-endorsed Martha Beck is known for quitting a lot of things: her family of origin, her religion, marriage, heterosexuality, academia, multiple versions of herself…the list is long. But the thing she quit that has had the most profound and rippling effect was lying. And we mean, lying about anything at all. Years ago she made a resolution to not tell one lie—to herself or anyone else, even the pleasant little lies we tell to make other people feel better—for an entire year. It was th...2022-05-1241 minQuittedMartha Beck Quits LyingMartha Beck Quits LyingAuthor, speaker, teacher, legend, Oprah-endorsed Martha Beck is known for quitting a lot of things: her family of origin, her religion, marriage, heterosexuality, academia, multiple versions of herself…the list is long. But the thing she quit that has had the most profound and rippling effect was lying. And we mean, lying about anything at all. Years ago she made a resolution to not tell one lie—to herself or anyone else, even the pleasant little lies we tell to make other people feel better—for an entire year. It was through this on...2022-05-0553 minQuittedKoa Beck on Quitting Self-OptimizationKoa Beck on Quitting Self-OptimizationKoa Beck made it to the top of her field: she was the was the editor-in-chief of Jezebel and before that was the executive editor at Vogue.com with many other coveted roles held along the way, before she left to write a book that guaranteed she'd never be employable by those institutions ever again. But this isn't the story of how Koa managed that transition--it's not her quitting story. It's the story of white feminism and the lie that self-optimization will save us from a system designed to crush us. If...2022-04-281h 15QuittedAfrica Brooke Part 2: Knowing Who You Are So You Know How To ActAfrica Brooke Part 2: Knowing Who You Are So You Know How To ActWe’re back with the second installment of Africa Brooke. In this episode we dive into how Africa quit self-sabotaging and censoring and found her own voice and the self-confidence to say the things a lot of people are afraid to say. (Hint: it’s sobriety). We go deep on how identifying our values are the key to helping us remember who we are, what we care about, what we stand for, so we can quit trying to stand for everythingin the news cycle...2022-04-2144 minQuittedAfrica Brooke and Quitting Self-CensorshipAfrica Brooke and Quitting Self-CensorshipInstagram, and social media, can be an amazing tool for social justice. It can also be an absolute trash fire where nobody listens to each other, everyone is outraged, and there’s an overwhelming pressure to post the right thing at the right time, or have an opinion about everything, and a deep fear of saying the wrong thing by mistake or being misunderstood. This week, we’re talking to Africa Brooke about navigating all this, how to stop self-censoring and self-sabotage (and the relationship between the two), and showing up, both...2022-04-141h 04QuittedIt's Quitting Season with Lindsay CrouseIt’s Quitting Season with Lindsay Crouse“When the system doesn't historically stand for you, why sacrifice yourself to uphold it?” Today’s guest, Lindsay Crouse, is as close as it gets to a “quitting expert” in her role as writer and producer at The New York Times, and in this episode, we’re talking about some key things she’s learned and observed through her award-winning coverage. When female athletes at the top of their game like Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka start saying no, what larger truth does that indicate, and what does it mean for the res...2022-04-0753 minQuittedDr. Nathalie Dougé Quits Doctoring in the Middle of COVIDDr. Nathalie Dougé Quits Doctoring in the Middle of COVIDNathalie Dougé always knew she wanted to be a doctor: to help people; to make her family proud; and to advocate for people who looked like her: a first-generation Haitian-American woman from the Bronx. When Covid hit, she was working as a hospitalist in Queens: the epicenter of the pandemic. In this episode, Dr. Nathalie Dougé tells us her story: what it took to become a doctor; what it was like to treat the sickest patients in the early days of Covid; how George Floyd’s murde...2022-03-311h 34
QuittedAki Ito on Hustle Culture & How We Got HereAki Ito on Hustle Culture & How We Got HereIn white-collar, salaried America, there’s an idea that our jobs are supposed to give our lives meaning. It’s the gospel according to Steve Jobs, who famously said the only way to be truly satisfied is by doing great work. And in many industries, working long hours is a badge of honor. But it wasn’t always this way. Work in America was once viewed as a means to an end, not an end in itself. Up until 1980, salaried Europeans actually worked longer hours than Americans in sim...2022-03-241h 08
QuittedWhat is it About Endings?What Is It About Endings?Quitting is a huge topic, and in this episode, Emily and Holly dive deeper into the angles they most want to talk about. Endings excite Holly and terrify Emily. Why? Holly loves destruction; is she okay? We get into ideas of success and failure and what they are; what “failure porn” is, and the glorification of failure (which doesn’t exist in recovery); how there’s so much guidance for creating and so little around walking away; what happens when you lose your purpose and your passion; do we have one magical...2022-03-171h 14QuittedElizabeth Gilbert, Black Diamond Quitter Part 2Elizabeth Gilbert, Black Diamond Quitter (Part Two)This is the second half of our two-part episode with bestselling author and extremely wise person Elizabeth Gilbert. (If you missed part one, we aired it last week.) Liz is known for quitting many things, and for having a strong inner compass. She is also a person who Emily and Holly look to for guidance in their own lives (WWLGD?), and this conversation is filled with insight, permission, and surprises. It felt like an exhale to record it; we hope it feels that way to hear it.2022-03-101h 01QuittedElizabeth Gilbert, Black Diamond Quitter Part 1Elizabeth Gilbert, Black Diamond Quitter (Part One)This week and next week, we’re thrilled to have bestselling author and extremely wise person Elizabeth Gilbert on the show. Liz is known for quitting many things, and for having a strong inner compass. She is also a person who Emily and Holly look to for guidance in their own lives (WWLGD?), and this conversation is filled with insight, permission, and surprises. It felt like an exhale to record it; we hope it feels that way to hear it.In this episode, we talk about wh...2022-03-0349 minQuittedHolly Whitaker Reports from the Liminal SpaceHolly Whitaker Reports From the Liminal SpaceWhat happens when you have to quit the thing you thought you’d never quit? Welcome to the Holly Episode: Who is Quitted co-host Holly Whitaker, how did she get here, and why does she want to talk about quitting stuff? Holly is publicly known for quitting things: drinking, drugs, bulimia. Her book is called Quit Like A Woman. What we’re saying is: quitting has been a key part of Holly’s narrative. And getting sober sent her down the path to what became her purpose...2022-02-241h 21QuittedEmily McDowell Quits Being a Human BrandThe Emily Episode: Who is Quitted co-host Emily McDowell, how did she get here, and why does she want to talk about quitting stuff? This week, Emily shares the real story behind building a successful brand named after herself and based on her personality, and then, the painful reality of letting go of a dream, and an identity, in order to save both her company and herself. Holly and Emily cover a lot of ground in this hour, including the spiritual implications of “personal brand;” why bigger isn’t always better; the pain we carry from not honoring endings; the lo...2022-02-171h 14QuittedCaleb Campbell Quits The NFLCaleb Campbell is a kid from Texas who did the impossible: he was the first player in West Point history to be recruited into the NFL. His dreams came true, all the hard work paid off, everyone was so proud. He had the life millions of young athletes fantasize about. But there was one problem: he hated himself. And he knew, secretly, that in order to survive, he needed to quit football. On our debut episode of Quitted, Caleb takes us to church as he shares his story of leaving behind who he thought he was and his path...2022-02-101h 12QuittedThe Longer TrailerIn this second trailer for Quitted, Emily and Holly discuss what they're quitting in order to make the process of making this podcast feel fun (!!!), instead of turning it into another thing to suffer through. Music: Michael Blumenfeld, mikebloomstudio.comSound engineering + edits: Michael Blumenfeld, mikebloomstudio.comSupport us:Quitted is listener supported, made possible by us and by you; you can support this podcast by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/quitted Become a Quitted supporter on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com...2022-02-0321 minQuittedQuitted TrailerIntroducing Quitted, a podcast about quitting by Emily McDowell and Holly Whitaker. Quitted launches on February 10, 2022. Become a Quitted supporter on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.2022-01-1302 min