Ep. 59: Here's to more side character energy in 2024

Our brains love a binary: extraordinary vs. ordinary, good vs. bad, motivation vs. laziness, beauty vs. brokenness. But, real life is rarely cut and dry. What do we lose in our attempt to have it all? What might we gain if we ditched the dichotomies? 

Join Ashley Adamson and Chantal Below in their effort to live in the messy middle, to celebrate our scars, to acknowledge the blessings of a skinned knee, and to adopt some side character energy in 2024. 

Like most things worth doing, embracing “both/and” thinking ain’t easy. It encourages us to put our problems into perspective. It challenges our core beliefs about success and satisfaction. It asks us to pay attention to ourselves and those around us. 

And yet, this practice also allows us to release the pressure valve and reject the pursuit of perfection. It reminds us that, in the wise words of the great Jess Sims, “You are allowed to be a work in progress and a masterpiece at the same damn time.” 

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About the hosts:

Chantal Below moved from the US to England in third grade. She never developed a love of cricket, but did develop a fascination with humanity, unconsciously examining how different cultures and beliefs expand or limit our choices. 

After graduating from Georgetown University, she started her career as a 4th grade teacher with Teach For America, hoping to expand choices for too-often marginalized children in low-income schools. She loved the energy of the kids and the vibrancy of the community, but no one really wanted her teaching long division. 

Since then, she’s been exploring the many dimensions of the human condition while avoiding math. She worked for years in the education non-profit world leading teams and developing leadership development programs. Then, she ventured out on her own and started Redcliff Coaching, Inc. She supports leaders in all industries - with clients at Google, Homeless Prenatal Program, and to get out of their own way and live and lead in the way they most want. 

She also attempts to parent three kids who are curious, compassionate, hysterical, and only vaguely pay attention to her advice. She lives in Oakland, CA.

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Ashley Adamson is an Emmy-award winning storyteller and lead host for the Pac-12 Network. Honored by Cynopsis as a “Game Changing On-Air Talent”, her biggest achievement to date was being crowned the arm wrestling champion in third grade.

A native of Denver, CO, she earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Boston College followed by a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University. 

Adamson lives in San Francisco with her very handsome husband and two young children. In 2022, she started the Your Mom™ podcast with Lisa McCaffrey to honor and celebrate the beautiful, messy randomness of motherhood. She dreams of one day becoming a professional karaoke singer in the Florida Keys.

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