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Pam talks with Brad Finkeldei about how a life coaching conversation, a corporate layoff, and a series of fear-facing moments shaped his path into coaching. The episode explores how fear, confidence, and purpose show up in everyday life and why learning to listen to yourself can change the direction of your work and relationships.Brad shares how his own setbacks became the foundation for helping others move through insecurity, take action, and make better decisions. Pam also highlights Brad’s book, his coaching philosophy, and the importance of recognizing when fear is running the show.

Timestamps

00:00 - Opening banter and setting up the episode
03:09 - The life coach conversation that changed Brad’s perspective
04:05 - Leaving behind the computer-first life
05:21 - A layoff that became a turning point
06:37 - Choosing photography as the next chapter
07:34 - How coaching entered the picture
08:42 - Trip to Ecuador and speaking at the university
09:18 - The rubber chicken symbol and what it meant
10:22 - The death of the shaman and taking on his message
11:31 - Confronting a package thief face to face
14:16 - Listening to someone’s story instead of judging it
15:52 - Intention, opportunity, and what fear reveals
17:15 - Learning when to coach and when not to coach
19:06 - Practice, repetition, and building discernment
20:14 - Confidence through experience, not just theory
21:51 - Coaching as listening, reflection, and empathy
23:22 - Helping people discover something new about themselves
24:05 - Brad’s books and why one was easier to talk about than the other
25:17 - Writing The Mindset Shift in about 100 days
27:00 - The Inspired Mornings Journal and growth through iteration
28:48 - Fear, excitement, and operating from an authentic place
30:54 - Why choosing through fear is part of living fully
33:29 - The belt story and fear making up worst-case scenarios
36:28 - Purpose, nudges, and being pushed toward the right path
37:39 - Slowing down and listening to what your heart is saying

Pam uses this episode to unpack negative self-talk and show how it can be rewritten through awareness, compassion, and repetition. She mixes research-backed concepts with a personal work story to explain why the brain defaults to self-criticism and how to build a healthier response.This is a solo episode with Pam as the only speaker. The main focus is educational, centered on understanding where negative self-talk comes from and what to do about it.

Time Stamp:

00:00 - Opening the episode and setting the intention
00:56 - Why Pam researched negative self-talk after episode four
02:22 - The belief-thought-word-habit-destiny sequence
03:42 - Beliefs as filters that shape what we notice
04:25 - The speech example: focusing on five people instead of 45
07:02 - Neuroplasticity and why rewiring is possible
07:30 - The dirt road metaphor for ingrained thought loops
10:47 - Workplace conflict and the triggering event that changed everything
12:30 - The thought, emotion, and behavior pattern that followed
14:59 - What it looked like to break the cycle
17:05 - The brain’s “spotter” mode and stress response
18:55 - Building a new trail instead of staying on the rutted road
21:35 - Introducing Taming Your Gremlin and the inner critic
22:58 - The power of simply noticing negative self-talk
24:53 - Naming the gremlin and creating distance from it
28:47 - Recognizing the body signals before the thoughts fully land
29:44 - Talking back to the gremlin with reality checks
30:25 - Square breathing as a tool to regulate the nervous system
31:23 - Reframing a mistake as a learning opportunity
33:19 - Catching self-punishment in real time at the winery
35:12 - Choosing not to punish herself and enjoying the moment
36:36 - Final takeaway: negative self-talk is rewiring, so treat it seriously
37:03 - The listener assignment: notice it and name it
37:59 - Closing thanks and sign-off

• Notice when negative self-talk shows up
• Name the inner critic something specific and even silly
• Practice stepping back and observing the thought instead of fusing with it
• Use square breathing when the body starts to react
• Reframe mistakes as data for improvement rather than proof of inadequacy

Voices That Keep Us Stuck, and How to Answer Back

Pam talks with Jennifer Abrahamson about the internal voices that shape self-worth, especially in seasons of transition, comparison, and uncertainty.

Jennifer brings 15 years of recruiting experience in healthcare, a psychology background, and deep faith perspective to a conversation about imposter syndrome, identity, and learning to speak truth back to fear. In this episode, they also discuss how upbringing and life experiences can feed limiting beliefs, why women often undercompensate while men overcompensate, and how small acts of courage can help rebuild confidence.

Key topics

• Jennifer shares her background in recruiting across pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotech, plus earlier work in behavioral therapy, project management, and executive support.
• Pam highlights Jennifer’s devotional, Rooted in Rising, and how its message felt like a different, deeper voice from the one heard in everyday conversation. You can find her books on Amazon
• They discuss the “voice” many people carry internally that says they are behind, not enough, or fundamentally wrong.
• Jennifer explains why this struggle shows up so often in professional women, working moms, and even highly accomplished people.
• They explore imposter syndrome in both men and women, with Jennifer noting that men often overcompensate while women undercompensate.
• Jennifer connects those voices to upbringing, environment, and coping patterns formed in childhood reinforced over time.
• They talk about moving beyond negative self-talk by grounding identity in truth, especially scripture and the belief that one is a daughter of the King.
• Jennifer emphasizes practical steps like affirmation, taking small calculated risks, and building confidence brick by brick.
• She shares how a corporate layoff led to starting her own business, and how that season stretched her faith before guiding her into a new direction.
• The conversation closes with a reminder that God already knows our honest thoughts and invites us to bring them forward without pretending.

• Timestamps

00:00 - Introduction to Jennifer Abrahamson and how she and Pam met through recruiting
01:00 - Jennifer’s background in healthcare recruiting and earlier work in behavioral therapy
03:00 - Why Rooted in Rising resonated so deeply with Pam and her friends
04:20 - The devotional chapter about the voices we believe
06:00 - Why so many women feel “not enough” in the age of social media
07:40 - What Jennifer hears in recruiting conversations with high-achieving candidates
08:55 - How imposter syndrome shows up differently in men and women
10:45 - Comparison, calling, and the lie that we should be further along
12:00 - How environment and upbringing shape the voices we carry
14:20 - Replacing negative voices with truth, scripture, and small acts of courage
16:40 - Starting a business after a layoff and wrestling with failure
19:30 - The pressure of being the primary breadwinner and staying scrappy
22:30 - Learning to talk back to God honestly
25:55 - “Jesus, help me” as a simple prayer in moments of overwhelm
27:40 - Advice for people in transition: give yourself grace, learn, and speak up
29:30 - Where to find Jennifer

Action items

• Notice the voice that shows up most often in moments of stress or transition.
• Replace vague self-criticism with specific truth about identity and calling.
• Take one small, low-risk step instead of waiting to feel fully ready.
• Ask for help when a job, role, or season exceeds your current capacity.
• Practice honesty in prayer rather than trying to sound polished

Overwhelm and Burnout: How to tell the difference and what to do next.

We are discussing a practical, personal walkthrough of overwhelm and burnout, including how they differ, how they show up in the body, and what to do before overwhelm becomes chronic. The episode matters because it reframes these states as signals, not failures, and gives simple tools for regaining control when your mind and body feel overloaded.

Key Topics:

• In this episode, we are defining Overwhelm as an acute state and Burnout as a chronic state and that overwhelm can become burnout when it lasts too long.

• Common signs of overwhelm, including decision fatigue, avoidance, isolation, shame, frustration, and feeling like life is asking for more that you can give.

• Burnout as deeper depletion, with symptoms like chronic fatigue, dread, low motivation, brain fog, emotional numbness, and reduced performance.

• How stress shows up physically, including neck tension, headaches, low back pain, gut issues, sleep disturbances, and waking throughout the night with racing thoughts.

• She notes that both overwhelm and burnout can affect work, home life, confidence, and relationships, especially when you start withdrawing or snapping more easily. Recognize your own pattern is the first step, because knowing how overwhelm shows up in your body helps you respond earlier.

• There are several grounding tools, including box breathing, body scans, meditation, stepping away briefly, and taking some time to do nothing

• Make practical adjustments like protecting your off switch, shutting off our phone after a certain time, simplifying your workload, and prioritizing sleep

• Brain Dumping method: write everything down, sort it into buckets, then turn the list into something manageable.

• Closing with the 4 D's of time management

  : delete, delegate, defer, and do now.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Why this episode is about overwhelm and burnout
03:01 - What overwhelm is and how it shows up
05:30 - Burnout as a chronic, depleted state
10:22 - Shared symptoms like exhaustion, brain fog, and poor sleep
12:58 - How overwhelm affects performance and relationships
14:44 - Why burnout feels deeper and harder to recover from
16:32 - The first step: notice how stress shows up in your body
18:00 - Box breathing and centering as a reset tool
19:58 - One in, one out and protecting your capacity
22:37 - Boundaries, sleep, support, and simplifying workload
26:21 - Fight, flight, and freeze responses under stress
29:25 - The brain dump method for clearing mental overload
32:22 - The 4 D’s: delete, delegate, defer, and do now
34:41 - Giving yourself credit for recognizing overwhelm early

Action Items

• Notice your personal warning signs of overwhelm.
• Try box breathing when your thoughts start racing.
• Do a brain dump and sort tasks into categories.
• Protect your off switch by setting work boundaries.
• Identify one task to delete, delegate, defer, or do now.
• Prioritize sleep, movement, and recovery time.

You Can't Stay Here, Episode 2

Pam introduces her husband, Robert Rosenthal, and uses the episode to unpack the meaning behind the show’s title. The conversation connects Pam’s life story, Robert’s upbringing, and the shared pattern of getting to a point where staying the same is no longer an option. It’s a personal, reflective episode about survival, trust, marriage, and the decision to move forward even when it feels risky.

Key topics

In this episode, Pam and Robert explain how the phrase “You can’t stay here” became the emotional center of the podcast and the song Heath wrote after hearing Pam’s story.

Robert shares how the song started as a tentative idea, how he sat with it for about a month before telling Pam, and why it felt risky to turn her life into a song.

Pam reflects on her own journey from poverty and embarrassment to earning a BSN and MBA, raising three boys as a single mom, and building a career in nursing and medical devices.

They discuss how every person’s hardship is different, and why comparing pain across families or circumstances is not fair or useful.

Robert describes his childhood in a tightly controlled, isolated religious environment where he was made to feel responsible for terrible things, including droughts and other disasters.

Pam adds context to that upbringing, describing it as cult-like and reinforcing how damaging it was to a child’s sense of safety and responsibility.

Robert explains how that experience shaped his adulthood, including his tendency to expect consequences for everything and to stay overly safe.

The episode also traces Robert’s college years, when he pushed against those restrictions, got into trouble, and then slowly began rebuilding a healthier life.

Pam and Robert connect their personal histories to their marriage, describing how trust, stability, and emotional growth helped them build a life together.

Robert shares a key turning point in their relationship when Pam sent him lyrics from “White Flag” by Dido during a breakup, and he realized he could not keep choosing safety over action.

Timestamps

00:00 - Introducing the podcast and why the title matters

02:02 - How Heath’s song connected Pam’s story to the phrase “you can’t stay here”

05:14 - Why Pam’s transformation from food stamps to leadership is so rare

06:38 - Pam’s journey from single mom to nursing school, BSN, and MBA

09:48 - The central idea of the podcast: overcoming and sharing survival stories

10:04 - Robert’s career shift from St. Louis to central Illinois

12:31 - The “you can’t stay here” moment behind Robert’s decision to move

15:33 - Robert’s childhood in an isolated, tightly controlled family system

17:47 - Pam describes the environment as cult-like and spiritually manipulative

20:00 - How that upbringing shaped Robert’s fear of consequences

21:29 - Robert explains the religious control used to blame natural disasters on children

23:34 - Rebuilding a more normal life in high school after the leader died

24:26 - Why both Pam and Robert still wait for the other shoe to drop

26:50 - How stability works as both a strength and an annoyance in marriage

29:13 - Robert’s fifth

In this episode, the host shares her inspiring journey from a traumatic childhood to a successful career in medical device sales, emphasizing resilience, authenticity, and the power of storytelling. She discusses overcoming adversity, the importance of community, and her vision for sharing stories to inspire hope.


keywords:

resilience, storytelling, overcoming trauma, personal growth, medical device sales, authenticity, hope, mental health, empowerment, life journey, coaching