January can feel like a trick of light—too slow, too long, and just honest enough to make you face what you’ve been dodging. We wade into that stretch with a messy mix of car trouble, online yoga teacher training, and a brand-new job in solar that drops me onto a dialer with a script, a headset, and a whole lot of resistance. What starts as a hustle for stability turns into a study in patience, discipline, and the weirdly tender art of staying with yourself when the room is silent and the stakes feel loud.

I share what it’s like to trade studio energy for at-home modules, and why self-paced learning is both a gift and a trap. We unpack the solar landscape—good programs, bad actors, and how to keep ethics front and center—then zoom in on cold calling as a crash course in shadow work. People-pleasing, fear of no, the urge to abandon your point just to be liked: it all shows up. The script, surprisingly, becomes a life raft. Memorize your foundation, and you get to improvise without losing yourself. That lesson echoes in performance, sales, and any creative pursuit that asks you to hold steady while you learn in public.

There’s a softer thread too: crying as a reset, resilience as repetition, and the eighth house of astrology as a map for transformation you can’t rush. Think year of the snake—shedding skin that clings in places, moving slower than your ego wants, trusting that relief arrives when it’s ready. If you’re navigating a season of becoming, this conversation offers practical footing and emotional company: show up, choose again tomorrow, and let gravity do its quiet work.

If this resonated, tap follow, share it with a friend who’s in the awkward middle, and leave a quick review to help more listeners find the show.

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Instagram: @tiam.podcast & @joyscout.mo

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Email Mo: mo@joyscoutstudio.com

“Don’t get Deterred, get Inspired”

Mo shares how a week long fever made her burn through identity, ego, and preferences. She shares how a brutal flu made her renegotiate food, comfort, and control: jello for texture, watermelon for water, spaghetti for sanity, and the realization that “good” choices look different when the only goal is to feel better.

This week she digs into the spirituality behind sickness. When your fever peaks at 105 degrees, you start having a different kind of conversation. She spent the week clearing and recalibrating. The takeaway isn’t “suffer more to grow.” It’s this: when life strips away your usual story, the body’s wisdom gets louder, and the smallest wins—breathing easier, tasting something gentle, sitting in the light—can reassemble who you are with more care than any resume or ritual. Listen, share with a friend who needs a reset, and if this moved you, follow the show, rate it, and leave a review with your own mantra for noisy nights.

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Instagram: @tiam.podcast & @joyscout.mo

For Guest Inquiries, collaborations, and questions:

Email Mo: mo@joyscoutstudio.com

“Don’t get Deterred, get Inspired”

We enter 2026 by trading performance for meaning, letting “yearn” guide how we make, love, and choose what matters. From a cold Tampa night that turned radiant to a creative rejection that became craft, we map how to turn longing into honest work—something more aligned than desire.

• pressure and pitfalls of year-end recaps
• choosing meaning over performance and applause
• the power of dropping expectations at a concert
• yearning versus desire as a creative compass
• finishing a bold 4x4 artwork and starting a book
• mobile studio delays and surrendering timelines
• a storyboard pitch loss and the skill it grew
• storyboards as living maps, not scriptures
• bike metaphor for process and flow
• texting an ex, meeting the ache with craft
• turning longing into stories instead of spirals
• making space so the right story can arrive

Let us know in the comments what you’re yearning for, and if you know the visceral feeling that comes with it.

Do you want to be on This is a Metaphor? Send Us a Text!

Instagram: @tiam.podcast & @joyscout.mo

For Guest Inquiries, collaborations, and questions:

Email Mo: mo@joyscoutstudio.com

“Don’t get Deterred, get Inspired”

The day after Christmas has its own quiet electricity—the kind that lingers in the air when the lights are still up, the floor is a little glittered, and the stories of yesterday are still warm. We lean into that charge to explore how simple comforts—fresh socks, a full stocking, a perfectly folded corner of wrapping paper—can feel more luxurious than anything extravagant. Then we follow that thread into a different kind of package: a holiday message from someone we loved, and the complicated hope that comes with it.

You’ll hear how anticipation can be its own gift, why we sometimes dress the surface when we’re unsure about the substance, and what it means to hold the last present just a little longer because the not knowing tastes sweeter than certainty. We unpack the delicate choreography of reading or not reading a text preview, the pull between information and intactness, and the choice to respond without reopening old doors. Along the way, we trade heart emojis for a single star—our shorthand for steady light, quiet confidence, and comfort in the unknown.

If you’ve ever wanted a message that arrives neat and polite but somehow not enough, this conversation offers language for that ache and a way through it. We talk boundaries, invitations that aren’t really invitations, and the surprising power of leaving things unsaid. Most of all, we practice the posture of anything could happen—not as a cliché, but as a daily discipline that keeps us receptive to new friendships, new turns, and gifts that arrive right on time.

If this resonates & helps you breathe easier into the unknown, follow the show, share it with a friend who’s between pages, and leave a quick review so more listeners can find our corner of quiet electricity.

What unopened “gift” are you choosing to keep sealed today?

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Instagram: @tiam.podcast & @joyscout.mo

For Guest Inquiries, collaborations, and questions:

Email Mo: mo@joyscoutstudio.com

“Don’t get Deterred, get Inspired”

Comedy is a mirror and a map, MO’s long conversation with stand-up comic Jake Poland traces both. They start with the personal—the tired voice after a great talk, the open mic nights in St. Pete and Tampa, the strange little signs that push you back on stage—and quickly find the bigger story: comedy as a daily reset. Jake insists the craft restarts every day. Yesterday’s kill doesn’t pay today’s dues, and last week’s applause won’t help if you coast. That tension creates a practice built on honesty and perseverance. It also exposes the real cost of choosing art over certainty: sleep debt, shifting friendships, quiet finances, and the unglamorous grind between laughter and silence.

What keeps someone in it? @IamJakePolin leans on a sports engine. He grew up on baseball where a .300 hitter is legendary even though seven of ten at-bats end in failure. That framing transforms a bomb into feedback rather than fate. He records sets, listens back in the car, and lets the tape tell the truth. He writes by riffing: outline a premise, talk it out on stage, find the sweet spots, cut the dead air, then tighten until the idea is both unique and relatable. He avoids fleeting references, reaching for material that will still hit in ten years. There’s a purist streak in him—less posting, more building—because the goal isn’t to be seen; it’s to be undeniable when you are.

By the end, the throughline is clear. Comedy is not an escape from life; it is a way to live it more honestly. You show up, you reset, you fail, you cut, you try again. Respect follows rigor. Money follows momentum. And if you hold your nerve through the quiet seasons, the work becomes its own reward—rich not in cash today, but in truth you can spend tomorrow.

If you’re chasing a craft, or trying to hold your nerve through a quiet season, this one’s for you. Press play to hear how the comedy reset builds a life, why respect might be the best metric of success, and how to keep your humor when the world asks for certainty. If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review.

What’s your version of “made it,” and what keeps you going if no one’s watching?

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Instagram: @tiam.podcast & @joyscout.mo

For Guest Inquiries, collaborations, and questions:

Email Mo: mo@joyscoutstudio.com

“Don’t get Deterred, get Inspired”

Do you ever know something is working, but the feeling isn’t there? Sometimes something good doesn’t mean it’s right. In this episode Mo tells a tale about a pair of borrowed pants, musical serendipity, and love that feels good but just isn’t right. She reflects on a relationship with kindness, keeping the memories bright instead of bitter. If you’re interested in emotional timing, respecting capacity, and letting a relationship end without turning it into a failure—this is the episode for you.

It’s about self-love, boundaries, and the unexpected freedom of a breakup that feels like summer break in a slightly unsettling way. If you’ve ever wondered how to navigate labels, embarrassment, and endings with grace, this is your invitation to laugh, reflect, and choose yourself—every f*cking time.

If this story resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs a nudge toward clarity, and leave a review to help more listeners find us.

Do you want to be on This is a Metaphor? Send Us a Text!

Instagram: @tiam.podcast & @joyscout.mo

For Guest Inquiries, collaborations, and questions:

Email Mo: mo@joyscoutstudio.com

“Don’t get Deterred, get Inspired”

A wrecked trailer with no side door isn’t the obvious start to a creative life on wheels—unless it keeps calling your name. In this episode we share the full, unglossed story of The Chariot, Mo’s DIY mobile studio built from a $1,500 shell, a stack of tarot pulls, and a stubborn need to turn fear of stagnation into honest motion. What began as a quest to “get to the West Coast” became a deeper practice: learning tools, learning patience, and learning to separate running away from moving toward.

This story is equal parts DIY build and nervous‑system repair: trading urgency for practice, comparison for curiosity, and perfection for iteration. If your “one‑month” project is creeping toward year three, you’ll find both solidarity and strategy here—how to outsource the parts you can’t do, how to add a year to your timeline without shame, and how to keep the dream alive when progress feels invisible. The Chariot Mobile Studio Project taught Mo that movement is more than miles and pavement; it’s the shift from panic to presence.

If this resonates, follow along, share it with a friend who’s mid‑build, and leave a review to help others find the show.

Tell me: what dream refuses to let you quit?

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Instagram: @tiam.podcast & @joyscout.mo

For Guest Inquiries, collaborations, and questions:

Email Mo: mo@joyscoutstudio.com

“Don’t get Deterred, get Inspired”

A penny that costs more than a penny is more than a quirky headline; it’s a sharp clue that our symbols of value can slip out of sync with reality. From that strange starting point, we open a wider lens on creative work, purpose, and the messy middle where many pursuits coexist before they cohere. If you’ve ever waited for one calling to choose you, this conversation offers a different map.

We talk through the myth of “the one thing” and trade it for a spider’s blueprint: anchor a corner, then another, and spiral until the center reveals itself. Early passes look chaotic and even embarrassing, but those loops build tension, strength, and direction. Along the way we explore why logic comes later, how patience protects fragile beginnings, and what it means to rebuild after the wind takes your work apart. Value emerges through repetition and connection, not through a perfect plan.

The episode also leans into vision and support. Like a spider sensing light and motion more than detail, we learn to follow signals instead of waiting for certainty. Mo digs into the courage to commit without fearing “forever,” the power of showing up when outcomes are unknown, and the quiet relief of friendships that let you set down the performer identity and be enough as a person. If you’re juggling skills and wondering whether they belong together, consider this your invitation to weave the threads and let the center find you.

If this resonates, follow the show and share it with a friend who’s building their own web, and leave a rating or review so more creatives can find their way here.

Do you want to be on This is a Metaphor? Send Us a Text!

Instagram: @tiam.podcast & @joyscout.mo

For Guest Inquiries, collaborations, and questions:

Email Mo: mo@joyscoutstudio.com

“Don’t get Deterred, get Inspired”