Love, Happiness and Success with Dr. Lisa Marie Bobby

Here’s the brutal truth about making friends as an adult: nobody is coming to find you. You want more friends. You want people who really know you, people you can call, people you actually want to spend time with. You just don’t want to go through the awkward, exhausting process of making them. And maybe somewhere along the way, you started wondering: Is something wrong with me? Am I too introverted? Too awkward? Too weird? Nope. But there is an uncomfortable truth: your future best friends probably aren’t going to magically show up at your house. Making friends requires action. The good news? You do not need to become an extrovert, work the room, or reinvent your personality. I’m joined by psychologist and marriage and family therapist Dr. Suzanne Wallach to unpack why adult friendship has gotten so hard and what actually works when you’re lonely, out of practice, or just really tired. You’ll learn: Why making friends as an adult feels so freaking hard Where adults actually meet people they might want to be friends with What to do when you want friends but dread the effort How introverts can build close friendships without pretending to be extroverts Why being comfortable alone can actually help you build better relationships Because you do not need 100 friends. You need a few good ones. And you don’t need to be less weird. You need to find your specific genre of weirdo. And if you’re realizing there’s a gap between the social life you have and the one you want, you don’t have to figure out how to close it alone. At Growing Self, our therapists and coaches help people create stronger relationships, build confidence, and make meaningful changes in every area of their lives. Book your free consultation and get matched with the right expert for you. Xoxo, Dr. Lisa Marie Bobby Growing Self Special thanks to this month’s sponsors of the podcast: Shopify — Every self-made person started somewhere. Yours starts free at⁠ shopify.com/lhs⁠ Quince — Quality products you’ll actually use that feel like luxury without the price tag. Get free shipping and 365-day returns at⁠ ⁠⁠⁠quince.com/lhs⁠⁠ Sequencing.com — Discover what your DNA can reveal about your health with clinical-grade whole genome sequencing that reads 100% of your DNA. Get 10% off with promo code LHS at ⁠Sequencing.com⁠ Ritual — Hormone-free support made for the perimenopause years. Get 25% off your first order at Ritual.com/LHS

A bad strategy can trick you into giving up on the right dream. The problem isn’t what you want… it’s how you’re trying to get it. Turns out, there's a totally different way of planning your life that's going to get you going to get you further faster. My guest Courtney De Ronde dropped a line in this conversation that stopped me cold: “We give up on our vision instead of shifting our strategy.” You may not have the wrong dream. You may just be taking the wrong road to get there. In this episode, we’re breaking down why smart, motivated people get stuck and how to build a life plan that actually moves you forward. You’ll learn: Why trying harder may actually keep you stuck The difference between your vision and your strategy How to turn a big dream into something you can actually do this week Whether you’re a visionary or a doer, and how each gets derailed How to know when it’s time to change course instead of giving up Why the thing you keep calling a “discipline problem” might actually be a support problem Courtney's framework moves from a long-term vision to a realistic annual milestone and finally into the days, weeks, and quarters where progress actually happens. Before you decide the dream isn’t going to happen, make sure you’re not just stuck on the wrong road. Take the free “What’s Holding You Back?” quiz to figure out where you’re getting stuck. And if you’re ready for support creating a different path forward, schedule a free consultation with a coach at Growing Self. Xoxo, Dr. Lisa Marie Bobby Growing Self Special thanks to this month’s sponsors of the podcast: Shopify — Every self-made person started somewhere. Yours starts free at shopify.com/lhs Quince — Quality products you’ll actually use that feel like luxury without the price tag. Get free shipping and 365-day returns at ⁠quince.com/lhs⁠ Sequencing.com — Discover what your DNA can reveal about your health with clinical-grade whole genome sequencing that reads 100% of your DNA. Get 10% off with promo code LHS at Sequencing.com Ritual — Hormone-free support made for the perimenopause years. Get 25% off your first order at Ritual.com/LHS

Whose life is this? You built it. You chose it. So why doesn’t it feel like yours anymore? Maybe you checked all the boxes. Built the career. Created the relationship. Became the responsible one, the successful one, the person everyone can count on. And then one day you looked around and thought, Wait... is this actually what I want? That’s the uncomfortable realization at the heart of this episode. My guest, Growing Self therapist Tania Chikhani, knows it personally. Before 30, she was managing a half-billion-dollar brand and headed toward an executive career. On paper, she was wildly successful. Inside, as she puts it, her “joie de vivre” was gone. Because sometimes the life you built was designed for an earlier version of you. Or around what your family wanted. What your partner wanted. What you thought you were supposed to want. And eventually, you have to ask: Who am I now? In this episode, Tania and I are talking about how to find yourself again when you genuinely don’t know what you want next. You’ll learn: Why the life you wanted can suddenly stop feeling like yours How to figure out what you actually like and want Why you can’t always think your way back to yourself How to reconnect with yourself through experimentation and experience Why your blind spots can keep pulling you back into the same patterns A powerful “Perfect Day” exercise to help you see what you really want next If you’ve been looking around at your own life thinking, How did I get here?, this conversation is for you. And if you’re ready to figure out who you are now and what comes next, schedule a free consultation with Tania at growingself.com/tania. Xoxo,Dr. Lisa Marie Bobby Growing Self Special thanks to this month’s sponsors of the podcast: Shopify — Every self-made person started somewhere. Yours starts free at shopify.com/lhs Quince — Quality products you’ll actually use that feel like luxury without the price tag. Get free shipping and 365-day returns at ⁠quince.com/lhs⁠ Skylight — Stay connected with the people you love through beautiful digital calendars and photo frames designed for real family life. Learn more at skylightcal.com/lhs.

The world is already judging your appearance…but the real danger is when you start judging your worth by it, too. FYI: This is NOT in your head. The way you look really does affect how people treat you (unfortunately).Research shows that appearance can influence who gets hired, who gets helped, who gets the benefit of the doubt, and even the assumptions people make about you in a split second.But that doesn’t mean that you need to buy into the lies our culture is trying to hand you. In this eye-opening conversation, I sit down with psychologist and The Problem With Pretty author Dr. Allycin Powell-Hicks to unpack the uncomfortable psychology of beauty, appearance, and self-worth, and, more importantly, how to stop letting the mirror determine how you feel about yourself. You’ll learn: How your appearance can quietly influence so many shocking aspects of your life The consequences of being seen as “unattractive” (and how to overcome them) How beauty standards get tangled up with your confidence and identity Why tying too much of your self-esteem to your appearance is a dangerous investment How to build a stronger sense of self that isn’t dependent on how you look Your appearance may influence how the world sees you. It does not have to define your worth. If you’re ready to build deeper confidence, strengthen your sense of self, and feel more secure in who you are, schedule a free consultation with a Growing Self therapist or coach at growingself.com. Xoxo, Dr. Lisa Marie Bobby Growing Self Special thanks to this month’s sponsors of the podcast: Shopify — Every self-made person started somewhere. Yours starts free at shopify.com/lhs Quince — Quality products you’ll actually use that feel like luxury without the price tag. Get free shipping and 365-day returns at ⁠quince.com/lhs⁠ Skylight — Stay connected with the people you love through beautiful digital calendars and photo frames designed for real family life. Learn more at skylightcal.com/lhs.

What if the resentment you feel toward your partner isn’t actually about what they’re doing wrong…but about what you keep doing? You do the dishes. You make the bed. You remember everything. You fix problems before anyone asks. And then you quietly think: Why do I have to do everything around here? Here’s the twist: You may be blaming your partner for resentment that’s actually coming from how much you’ve taken on. That’s the realization that changed Alyssa Zander’s relationship. After four years of believing her partner needed to change, they broke up, and an unexpected encounter forced her to ask a much harder question: What was my part in this? Today, that same man is her fiancé. In this conversation, Alyssa and I unpack how over-functioning, unspoken expectations, and trying to manage your partner can quietly create the exact relationship dynamic you’re so angry about. You’ll learn: Why resentment may be a sign you’ve been doing too much How over-functioning can accidentally reinforce the dynamic you hate Why trying to fix your partner’s moods can push you further apart What to do when you’re thinking, “Why do I have to do everything?” How to ask for what you need instead of expecting your partner to read your mind Your resentment might not be asking you to try harder. It might be asking you to put something down. Xoxo, Dr. Lisa Marie Bobby Growing Self P.S. If resentment keeps showing up in your relationship and you’re ready to understand what’s really happening (and how to change it), schedule a free consultation with a Growing Self relationship expert at growingself.com. Special thanks to this month’s sponsors of the podcast: Shopify — Every self-made person started somewhere. Yours starts free at shopify.com/lhs Quince — Quality products you’ll actually use that feel like luxury without the price tag. Get free shipping and 365-day returns at ⁠quince.com/lhs⁠ Skylight — Stay connected with the people you love through beautiful digital calendars and photo frames designed for real family life. Learn more at skylightcal.com/lhs.