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

After being hit by a car in June 2024, Eleanor Shell’s life changed overnight as a traumatic brain injury reshaped everything about how she thought, moved, worked, and lived. In this episode, she opens up about the depression and anxiety that come with a TBI, the grief of losing the identity and competence she once relied on, and the humbling reality of relearning basic tasks like driving, cooking, reading, and even remembering to brush her teeth. She shares how overwhelming multi-step tasks became, how her nervous system stayed stuck in fight-or-flight, and what it’s like living with an invisible injury most people can’t see. Eleanor also reflects on the drastic shift from her once full, purpose-driven life working multiple jobs she loved, caring for her kids without outside help, and being deeply embedded in her community to now spending much of her time at home recovering. Yet through it all, she has found new purpose in writing, sharing her story, and using her experience to bring awareness to women with brain injuries. Connect with Eleanor: https://www.instagram.com/reclaimingmybrain/#

What if the biggest turning points in your life aren’t actually big at all but small, subtle habits shaping everything beneath the surface? In this episode, James McCambridge, movement coach and founder of Rewire NPT, shares how one two-hour flight changed a lifelong struggle he believed was impossible to overcome.

James opens up about decades spent biting his nails down to painful levels, the bullying that shaped his early years, and how circus arts, acrobatics, and Rubik’s Cubes eventually led him into the world of brain-based movement and habit change. What he discovered about anxiety, coping mechanisms, and the nervous system will completely shift how you view your own daily patterns.

Connect with James : https://www.instagram.com/circustrainer

From the outside, Josh Case looked successful, he built a renewable energy company, sold it to a Fortune 500, and held a major executive role. But behind the scenes, he was a functioning alcoholic, drinking at work, drinking to cope, and drinking to numb trauma he’d never dealt with. In this episode, Josh talks about going to rehab, why sobriety never lasted, and how everything changed when he finally confronted the childhood abuse and codependency patterns driving his addiction. Now sober, rebuilding his life, and running SoberBuzz, Josh shares why, for the first time ever, he no longer has a desire to drink.Connect with Josh

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshcase/

Instagram (SoberBuzz):
https://www.instagram.com/soberbuzztoken/

YouTube – SoberBuzz Podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/@SoberBuzzPodcast

What if the moment you think your life is over becomes the moment you finally rebuild it?

At just 20 years old, Danielle Young walked away from an abusive relationship with nothing but her newborn daughter, a diaper bag, and the clothes on her back. In this episode, she shares how she rebuilt everything from scratch working full-time, finishing her degree at night, healing years of trauma stored deep in her body, and eventually discovering a love that finally felt safe.

Connect with Danielle: inspiredactionwellness.com

What if the moment you feel stuck, plateaued, or completely out of momentum… is actually the moment you’re closest to leveling up?
That’s exactly where , Kam Knight, found himself and he opens up about it in a way that every creator, entrepreneur, and human will feel in their bones.

In this episode, Kam shares the honest truth about plateaus, internal resistance, and what really happens when the brain tries to keep us from growing. From being a left-brained accountant who never imagined becoming an author… to writing 12 books, building a transformational course, and traveling to 100 countries, Kam’s story is a reminder that your next breakthrough often hides inside the slow seasons.

Kam’s work, courses, and books can be found here: http://www.kamknight.com