Do you have A LOT going on right now? You keep telling yourself you’re fine — you should be fine — but something still feels heavy?

You’re doing the things, showing up for everyone, checking the boxes… but underneath, you’re tired in a way that gratitude doesn’t fix. Maybe you’ve been carrying stress that no one sees. Maybe there’s a grief you’ve been trying to outrun. Or maybe you’re just exhausted from pretending you’re okay because “other people have it worse.”

Here’s the truth: you can be grateful and still feel overwhelmed. Both can exist. And in this episode, I’m vulnerably sharing the heavy things happening in my life currently + the moment I finally stopped minimizing what I was feeling — and the 2 shifts that helped me breathe again.

You’ll understand:

• Why naming hard things doesn’t make you ungrateful — it makes you honest
• The question that softened my hardest weeks: “How can this be easy?”
• How to stop carrying emotional weight that was never yours in the first place
• The journaling question that helped me see what I was carrying that wasn't mine

After listening, you’ll feel permission to stop “should-ing” yourself into silence and finally honor what’s heavy without getting swallowed by it.

• Free Calm Mind Blueprint: http://www.samanthapenkoff.com/calm-mind-pod

• 90 min Breakthrough Intensives: We get to the root of what keeps you performing instead of enjoying. Plus a 30-minute follow-up call 2 weeks later. Click here for details.
• Private Coaching - 2 open spots: www.samanthapenkoff.com/privatecoaching
• Clarity Call: https://calendly.com/samanthasays/clarity-call

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You're physically home, but your brain is still replaying that 2:30 meeting. Again. You're making dinner, but mentally drafting tomorrow's email. Your kid asks you a question and you have to ask them to repeat it—because you weren't actually listening.

You want to be present. You're just not sure how to turn your brain off when there's still so much left undone. This episode is for YOU. It will help you figure out what's actually keeping you mentally at work—and give you permission to let it go

Strategic Journal Prompts:

1. What specific work thought keeps replaying when you're trying to be present at home? Don't just say "everything." Name the exact thing—the decision, the email, the conversation—that follows you home.
2. If you let this go for the evening, what are you afraid would happen? Go to the worst-case scenario. Would you forget something? Would someone think you don't care? Write about the fear beneath the mental replay.
3. Think about the last time you were fully present at home. What was different about your internal state that day? Not just your schedule—but your nervous system. Were you calmer? More confident? What allowed you to be mentally there?
4. What if being present at home is the productive choice? If that were true, what would change? What would you give yourself permission to stop thinking about right now?

This is what one of my clients said after working with me:

"I've finally learned to leave work at work even if work is still stressful. I no longer bring work home with me and I'm a more supportive partner, especially when I don't explode at my husband from misplaced frustration at work."

• Free Calm Mind Blueprint: http://www.samanthapenkoff.com/calm-mind-pod

• 90 min Breakthrough Intensives: We get to the root of what keeps you performing instead of enjoying. Plus a 30-minute follow-up call 2 weeks later. Click here for details.
• Private Coaching - 2 open spots: www.samanthapenkoff.com/privatecoaching
• Clarity Call: https://calendly.com/samanthasays/clarity-call

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You're eating the "right" foods. You're trying to take care of yourself. But you're busy AF, still exhausted, your Googling if your hormones might be all over the place, and your kids are having meltdowns over everything...on top of stress at work.

Here's the thing: It's not about eating more protein or cutting carbs. It's about blood sugar — and how the way you start your day is setting you (and your kids) up for chaos. That coffee before breakfast? The banana as a snack? They're quietly sabotaging your hormones, your energy, and even your kids' ability to regulate their emotions. (Believe me, I felt attacked yet so understood since I always start my day with caffeine & no food for 1-2 hours lol.)

But we go way beyond nutrition advice. In today's episode, holistic nutrition expert Stephanie Adler breaks down exactly how blood sugar affects your hormones, why you're so depleted after having kids, and what minerals have to do with all of it. We go DEEP, and she provides her solution for how to slow down & how how to stress less!

You'll understand:

• Why coffee before breakfast is tanking your blood sugar for the entire day (and what to do instead)
• The "naked carbs" rule that will change how you snack — for you and your kids
• How mineral depletion after pregnancy is the real reason you're still tired years later
• What a hair mineral analysis can reveal about your stress, hormones, and inflammation

This isn't another list of things you're doing wrong — it's the missing piece that finally makes everything click.

• Click for Stefanie's website
• Follow Stefanie on IG: @stefanieadlerwellness
• Get 15% off your Hair Mineral Analysis Test w/ code JOURNALENTRIES. Click here for details & discount.
• Free Calm Mind Blueprint: http://www.samanthapenkoff.com/calm-mind-pod

• Private Coaching - 2 open spots: www.samanthapenkoff.com/privatecoaching
• 90 min Breakthrough Intensives: We get to the root of what keeps you performing instead of enjoying. Plus a 30-minute follow-up call 2 weeks later. https://www.samanthapenkoff.com/offers/LN9xep94

Connect with Sam: Instagram | Facebook | Reply to my newsletter