In this deeply honest and timely conversation, Kari and Lisa sit down with gender diversity therapist, parent coach, and AFFIRM Coaching Program founder Rachel Hulstein-Lowe to talk about allyship, LGBTQ+ advocacy, parenting gender-diverse youth, and the emotional realities families are navigating in today’s polarized climate. Together, they explore what meaningful allyship actually looks like beyond performative support, the emotional cost of silence and passivity, how affirmation impacts a child’s nervous system and sense of safety, and what parents can do when they feel scared, uncertain, or overwhelmed. Rachel shares insight from more than twenty years as a licensed therapist, along with her personal journey of stepping more boldly into her voice in midlife, helping listeners understand how to move from anxious parenting to empowered connection. This episode is a compassionate, nuanced conversation about identity, emotional safety, LGBTQ+ youth, parenting transgender and gender-diverse children, and what it means to truly show up for the people we love in real life.

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And if you are craving deeper conversations, meaningful connection, and space to reconnect with yourself, we would love to invite you to join us for the Best Chapter Yet Fall Retreat 2026, happening September 18 through 20 in Portland, Oregon. This year’s retreat, YOUnique & Amazing, is designed for women who are ready to trust themselves more deeply, stop shrinking to fit expectations, and step more fully into the life that feels true to them. We will gather for a weekend of honest conversation, reflection, laughter, connection, and growth in a beautiful retreat setting in Portland’s Mississippi District. You can learn more here: Best Chapter Yet Fall Retreat 2026

It's a strange moment to be talking about imposter syndrome when so many of the people running things appear utterly unburdened by self-doubt. In this episode, Kari and Lisa are joined by returning guest Charlotte Callahan — songwriter, actor, performer, and frontwoman of the all-female band The Deffades, back from the Season 2 fan favorite Barbie in the Real World. Together they dig into the research behind imposter syndrome, the confidence-gap data that will make your jaw drop, and why Girls Who Code founder Reshma Saujani argues it's not a syndrome at all. It's a scheme. If imposter syndrome were cured by qualifications, most women would already be immune. Instead, many are still questioning themselves while watching audacity get rewarded as if it were expertise. If you've ever wondered whether you belong in the room, this conversation may leave you asking a different question entirely.

If this episode lands for you, you might be ready for a room full of women who get it. Join Kari and Lisa at the Best Chapter Yet Retreat, September 18–20 in Portland, Oregon, for two and a half days of connection, reflection, laughter, and the chance to spend time with women who are done shrinking themselves to make everyone else comfortable. Details and registration at [link].

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In this episode of The Things We Know, Kari Morin and Lisa Callahan make the case that fun isn't something you earn after you've crossed everything off the list — it's a genuine biological need, and the science backs them up. Drawing on the research of Dr. Stuart Brown, founder of the National Institute for Play, and author Cyndie Spiegel's concept of microjoys, Kari and Lisa explore what actually happens to women who lose their relationship with play, why high-achieving women are especially vulnerable to fun deprivation, and how to find your way back even when the muscle feels completely gone.

They explore:

• What play deprivation actually looks like — and why it's not a character flaw

• The science that makes joy a requirement, not a luxury

• Why microjoys are always available even when life is heavy

• How to reclaim fun when you can't remember what you'd even enjoy anymore

If you've been serious and responsible and available to everyone around you for a very long time — this is your permission slip.

And since Kari and Lisa talk about how joy is better shared, join them at the Best Chapter Yet Fall Retreat, September 18–20 in Portland, Oregon — two and a half days to exhale and remember what it feels like to be in your own life lightly. Spots are filling — grab yours here.

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