You don’t hear this side of military life very often: it’s the everyday whiplash of going from a world where everything is decided for you (even your socks) to a civilian life where every tiny choice suddenly feels huge.

Tanya Lakins shares how growing up in a small town as a preacher’s daughter led her to join the Marine Corps, serve for 11 years, and then hit a wall when civilian life felt strangely harder than military life. She opens up about decision fatigue, losing built-in purpose and community, why so many veterans feel “lost” after separation, and how getting support through the VA helped start her recovery. You’ll also hear how she went from struggling to hold a job to building a wellness business that serves others (including veterans), and why she’s stepping into Missouri politics next to push for better veteran support where it’s needed most.

Most people believe success belongs to the smartest, most talented, or most confident people in the room, but this conversation challenges that idea completely. In this episode, Troy Butterfield shares that his life has been shaped not by natural ability, but by resilience, integrity, and the willingness to keep going when quitting would have been easier. He opens up about feeling average in school and sports, taking terrifying financial risks with a young family, navigating commission-only income, unexpected debt, and later facing one of the most devastating challenges an entrepreneur can experience: employee embezzlement that wiped out savings and retirement. Rather than walking away, Troy and his wife chose to rebuild with honesty and faith, eventually creating businesses strong enough to sell. At its core, this conversation is about redefining excellence, learning to value peace, joy, freedom, and contentment over titles or recognition, and recognizing that ordinary people can create extraordinary lives through consistent, intentional choices.

Book: https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Troy-Butterfield/dp/1965401805
Website: https://excelexponentially.com/

Losing a job can feel like losing yourself, especially when your title has defined you for decades. In this episode of Notable Peeps, Karen Maria Alston shares the most difficult year of her life and how a series of professional losses forced her to confront a question many people avoid: who am I without my job title? After stepping away from a long executive career, watching major events and opportunities dissolve, and sitting in uncertainty longer than she ever expected, Karen explains how faith, self-reflection, and letting go of societal expectations opened the door to reinvention. What began as a season of disappointment became the catalyst for curiosity, learning, and an entirely new path she never imagined for herself. Karen talks candidly about identity, resilience, trusting divine timing, and why being human, not productive or impressive, is where real worth comes from. This conversation is a reminder that hard seasons don’t mean you’re failing, they may be clearing the way for something bigger than you planned.

Website: https://www.karenalston.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenmariaalston
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karenmariaalston