Midlife Cry, Sis (Formerly known as The Bettys Podcast)

109 - Christmas Squirrels

“Stop effing with my life, stars!” Friends, we’re not sure we can blame the insanity of 2023 on celestial events and planetary alignments, but we’d sure like to! Today Alexis and Mary are talking about this Christmas season, and how we’ve been handling it. There’s a lot of people-pleasing on Mary’s side, and more introspection on Lexy’s side. It’s been challenging for lots of people, yet in very different ways.
 
There’s quite a lot of talk about Christmas cookies and Spice Girls in this episode. Also, how you feel about your pets may be a good indicator of your state of mind. We should all probably chill the F out over Christmas. Just saying.
 
Lexy talks a bit about “Camp Nowhere” (which you can stream on Hulu) and Five Nights at Freddie’s. Mary also talks about Fourth Wing, which she read all in one night, and which she recommends if you don’t mind language, fantasy, violence, and some spicy/sensual scenes. And there is mention of some Doctor Who as well (watch the new David Tennant special here on Disney+ or watch the “Spice Up Your Life” scene here on YouTube).
If you’d like to hear more from us, please consider joining our Patreon! We’ll keep bringing you free episodes every week in your podcast feed, but If you would like to hear/read/see more from Mary and Lexy, and you feel inclined to support us financially, please join us here! We’ll be including lots of awesome bonus content, some behind-the-scenes, group coaching, extra photos, and more! Starting at just $5/month. We really appreciate your support.
 
Please get in touch! Send us an email at thebettyspodcast@gmail.com, and please follow us on Instagram @thebettyspodcast, on Facebook as The Bettys Podcast, on TikTok as TheBettysPodcast and on Twitter @bettys_podcast. 
 
We want to hear from you! Your comments and messages really help us know what you want to hear and how we can improve. If this show resonates with you, please make sure to share & subscribe, and give us a rating & review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
 
Thank you for coming today, friends. Channel your Master Oogway, and don’t feel like you need to prove yourself to anyone. You probably shouldn’t euthanize your mischievous dogs this season, either. And please remember that we love you more.
 
Music is courtesy of Pleasant Pictures Music Club. Check them out!

108 - Sharing Your Trauma is a Gift. Interview with Cindy (Part 2)

108 - Cindy, Part 2
CW: suicide ideation 
 
This is part two of our interview with Mary’s friend Cindy. They live in the same neighborhood/ward, and Cindy has been an inspiration to Mary for several years now. We hope you enjoy hearing more from this remarkable woman! You’ll hear a few background street sounds, but this was really a heartfelt, vulnerable conversation between friends. It is very church/Utah centric, and we talk about sexual assault, abuse, and suicidality, so if any of these things are triggering for you, please proceed with caution. Cindy has such a valuable perspective and has been through so many difficult experiences and can still manage to be a light for others.
 
If you are thinking about leaving an abusive relationship, please make sure you have someplace to go, and know that you deserve better. The domestic abuse hotline in the United States is 800-799-7233, or you can text START to 88788. The suicide hotline in the United States is 988 (call or text), or text HOME to 741741 for the crisis text line. 
 
One thing that has helped Cindy get through all of the difficulties in her life is that she always knew that she was a daughter of God, and that He loved her. One of her favorite quotes is, “There is no strength where there is no struggle” (probably a version of this quote from Oprah). Cindy also talks about learning to love the will of God, not just accept it. 
 
“There’s better ahead. There’s better around the corner. We can’t see it, but it’s there. It’s there. And it’s gonna be better than we thought would be possible.”
 
Lexy also dropped a nice truth bomb: “It’s not being brave unless you’re scared.” 
 
Cindy refers to a General Conference talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland given in October 2013. Read it here. Mary references a scene from Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix. Watch the scene here on YouTube. Cindy talks a bit about taking part in iftar, which is part of the religious observance of Ramadan for Muslims, as part of her outreach calling within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She also mentions President Nelson and his collaboration and friendship with the NAACP, and the Genesis group within the church.
 
If you’d like to hear more from us, please consider joining our Patreon! We’ll keep bringing you free episodes every week in your podcast feed, but If you would like to hear/read/see more from Mary and Lexy, and you feel inclined to support us financially, please join us here! We’ll be including lots of awesome bonus content, some behind-the-scenes, group coaching, extra photos, and more! Starting at just $5/month. We really appreciate your support.
 
Please get in touch! Send us an email at thebettyspodcast@gmail.com, and please follow us on Instagram @thebettyspodcast, on Facebook as The Bettys Podcast, on TikTok as TheBettysPodcast and on Twitter @bettys_podcast. 
 
We want to hear from you! Your comments and messages really help us know what you want to hear and how we can improve. If this show resonates with you, please make sure to share & subscribe, and give us a rating & review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
 
Thank you for listening today, friends. Let’s be the kind of people who can call (and answer those calls) in the middle of the night. Sharing your trauma is a gift, because it can help others feel less alone. Remember that, and we love you more.

107 - Life is Hard AND Beautiful. Interview with Cindy (Part 1)

CW: Sexual assault, abuse, drug use, suicide
 
Hello, our pretitas!! Today's episode is the first of a two-part series, and we have a very special guest–Mary’s friend Cindy. They live in the same neighborhood/ward, and Cindy has been an inspiration to Mary for several years now. We hope you enjoy hearing from this remarkable woman! You’ll hear a few background street sounds, but this was really a heartfelt, vulnerable conversation between friends. It is very church/Utah centric, and we talk about sexual assault, abuse, and suicidality, so if any of these things are triggering for you, please proceed with caution. Cindy has such a valuable perspective and has been through so many difficult experiences, and she can still manage to be a light for others.
 
Cindy talks about trying to love her daughter out of her addiction–that everything would be fine if she only knew how much she was loved. She also talks about some difficult things in her life, and some of the tender mercies she found along the way. 
 
If you are thinking about leaving an abusive relationship, please make sure you have someplace to go, and know that you deserve better. The domestic abuse hotline in the United States is 800-799-7233, or you can text START to 88788.
 
If you’d like to hear more from us, please consider joining our Patreon! We’ll keep bringing you free episodes every week in your podcast feed, but If you would like to hear/read/see more from Mary and Lexy, and you feel inclined to support us financially, please join us here! We’ll be including lots of awesome bonus content, some behind-the-scenes, group coaching, extra photos, and more! Starting at just $5/month. We really appreciate your support.
 
Please get in touch! Send us an email at thebettyspodcast@gmail.com, and please follow us on Instagram @thebettyspodcast, on Facebook as The Bettys Podcast, on TikTok as TheBettysPodcast and on Twitter @bettys_podcast. 
 
We want to hear from you! Your comments and messages really help us know what you want to hear and how we can improve. If this show resonates with you, please make sure to share & subscribe, and give us a rating & review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
 
Thank you for listening today, friends. Remember that love really does make you stupid, and even though there are so many hard things in this life, we can trust in divine timing. Please join us for part two of this interview coming soon, and remember that we love you more.

106 - Help is a Gift (Viola Davis)

Today we’re talking about one of the greatest actresses of our generation: our friend Viola Davis. She recently starred in the new Hunger Games movie as Dr. Volumnia Gaul, and Mary recently listened to her Memoir Finding Me as an audiobook on Spotify. It’s a difficult listen, but one that is very rewarding. Viola says that this book was written for “anyone who needs reminding that a life worth living can only be born from radical honesty and the courage to shed facades and be . . . you.”
 
Mary has started doing a silly “Carpool Concert Series” on Instagram. Check it out here. (She was inspired by Matt Beaky–check him out here, and Shelley Smith–as House of Smiths.
 
Mary also went to see the Broadway touring production of My Fair Lady and draws some conclusions about transformation. Changing yourself might be easier for a professional actress like Viola, but it may take a bit longer for regular people like us. Even so, we might be amazed at the kinds of transformation that can occur in our lives within a six-month period.
 
If you’d like to hear more from us, please consider joining our Patreon! We’ll keep bringing you free episodes every week in your podcast feed, but If you would like to hear/read/see more from Mary and Lexy, and you feel inclined to support us financially, please join us here! We’ll be including lots of awesome bonus content, some behind-the-scenes, group coaching, extra photos, and more! Starting at just $5/month. We really appreciate your support.
 
Please get in touch! Send us an email at thebettyspodcast@gmail.com, and please follow us on Instagram @thebettyspodcast, on Facebook as The Bettys Podcast, on TikTok as TheBettysPodcast and on Twitter @bettys_podcast. 
 
We want to hear from you! Your comments and messages really help us know what you want to hear and how we can improve. If this show resonates with you, please make sure to share & subscribe, and give us a rating & review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
 
Thank you for listening today, friends. Please remember that help is a gift. We'll talk to you again soon, and we love you more.
 

105 - What Does Your 2023 Spotify Wrapped Say About You?

It’s almost like Christmas . . . if an app you use all the time stalks you all year and then tells you what it learned! Once again, it’s time for our annual Spotify Wrapped Breakdown, and what we were listening to (and when) is a pretty interesting way of making sense of your 2023. Listen to our 2022 episode here on Apple Podcasts or here on Spotify. Alexis is quite a bit more adventurous when it comes to genres; Mary tends to know what she likes and stick with it. Mary laughs pretty hard at Lexy when she is told she listens like people from Provo, Utah . . . but is humbled rather quickly. 
 
Mary mentions an article in which Taylor Swift is nominated as “Person of the Year.” Read the opinion piece by Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal here.
 
And what kind of Spotify-based episode would this be if we didn’t include a playlist? Here’s a link to Wrapping Up 2023 With The Bettys, which includes a top 10 from both of us. For Lexy, it’s heartbreak and romance. And for Mary, it’s Rock. And Pop. And Pop-Rock. There’s a little bit about our podcast listening habits as well.
 
If you’d like to hear more from us (and an extended version of our 2023 Wrapped Playlist!) please consider joining our Patreon! We’ll keep bringing you free episodes every week in your podcast feed, but If you would like to hear/read/see more from us, and you feel inclined to support us financially, please join us here! We’ll be including lots of awesome bonus content, some behind-the-scenes, group coaching, extra photos, and more! Starting at just $5/month. We really appreciate your support.
 
Please get in touch! Send us an email at thebettyspodcast@gmail.com, and please follow us on Instagram @thebettyspodcast, on Facebook as The Bettys Podcast, and on TikTok as TheBettysPodcast.
 
We want to hear from you! Your comments and messages really help us know what you want to hear and how we can improve. If this show resonates with you, please make sure to share & subscribe, and give us a rating & review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
 
Thank you for listening today, friends. Don’t cut crisis bangs–they won’t do you any favors. We'll talk to you again soon, and we love you more.
 

104 - Talking About Ted (Lasso)

 
Howdy, neighbor! Now, “don’t you fret, Boba Fett”– Alexis and Mary have some stuff to work through, but we’re still good. Life is crazy, and we’re both exhausted, but we’re here. Today we're FINALLY talking about Ted Lasso! (Watch it here on Apple TV+). Well, Mary’s talking about it, because it’s one of her favorite ‘comfort shows,’ but Lexy hasn’t seen it yet, because she “sucks at TV,” and she’d rather watch a crime docu-series or Full House (stream it here on Max).
 
Mary first learned about Ted Lasso by listening to a podcast about her favorite comfort show, Scrubs (watch it here on Hulu; not to be confused with Grey’s Anatomy, which you can stream here on Netflix). Listen to the podcast episode of Fake Doctors, Real Friends here on Apple Podcasts, or here on Spotify. By the way – the language on the show, and on this podcast is quite fruity (explicit). 
 
Alexis talks a bit about paths, and how we don’t really know what is best for other people. You might want to go way back and listen to Episode 15 of the Bettys Podcast, about Manuals and Agendas (listen here on Spotify and here on Apple).
 
If you’d like to hear even more about Ted Lasso (because Mary won’t shut up about it), please consider joining our Patreon! It’s a little more raw and unfiltered, and we’ve got some good stories coming. If you feel so inclined, please join us here! We’ll be including lots of awesome bonus content, some behind-the-scenes, group coaching, extra photos, and more! Starting at just $5/month. We really appreciate your support.
 
Please get in touch! Send us an email at thebettyspodcast@gmail.com, and please follow us on Instagram @thebettyspodcast, on Facebook as The Bettys Podcast, on TikTok as TheBettysPodcast and on Twitter @bettys_podcast. 
 
We want to hear from you! Your comments and messages really help us know what you want to hear and how we can improve. If this show resonates with you, please make sure to share & subscribe, and give us a rating & review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
 
Thank you for coming to Mary's "Ted Talk," friends. We hope you’re “in the mood for shape-based jokes,” and that your ultimate comfort show is as good as this one. We'll talk to you again soon, and we love you more.
 

103 - Forget Turkey Talk; Are You Ready For Hunger Games?

Well, hi. Mary’s voice is extra squeaky today, so even though it might be as painful to listen to as it was for her to speak, we hope it’s at least tolerable for you, friends. But it’s definitely worth it to hear Lexy’s insights and stories from her work as security for Lionsgate, at several Utah premieres of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (the 2023 film, based on the 2020 Novel and Hunger Games prequel by Suzanne Collins). Also, check out Lexy’s cool P.I. aunt here on Instagram.
 
Alexis was able to get quite familiar with the show, and watching it more than once resolved her concern about plot holes. There were a couple of themes that stood out for her: trust, and this quote from Snow: “We all do things we aren’t proud of to survive.” Lexy then talks a bit about what we do when we’re in survival mode.
 
She mentions this quote from Jeff Jarvis, author of What Would Google Do (2009): "The more you control, the less you will be trusted. The more you hand over control, the more trust you will earn."
 
If you’d like to hear more from us, please consider joining our Patreon! It’s a little more raw and unfiltered, and we’ve got some good stories coming. If you feel so inclined, please join us here! We’ll be including lots of awesome bonus content, some behind-the-scenes, group coaching, extra photos, and more! Starting at just $5/month. We really appreciate your support.
 
Please get in touch! Send us an email at thebettyspodcast@gmail.com, and please follow us on Instagram @thebettyspodcast, on Facebook as The Bettys Podcast, on TikTok as TheBettysPodcast and on Twitter @bettys_podcast. 
 
We want to hear from you! Your comments and messages really help us know what you want to hear and how we can improve. If this show resonates with you, please make sure to share & subscribe, and give us a rating & review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
 
Thank you for listening today, friends. Please keep your phone in your pants, and "Smile–it’s what your teeth are for." We'll talk to you again soon, and we love you more.

102 - Love Languages, Relationships, and Balloons

Greetings, ladies and gents!! Alexis and Mary are talking about the Five Love languages, and some of their pitfalls today. We talk a lot about balloons (IYKYK), and how they are attention-seeking and temporary. Mary also references this article about the love languages. Women are pretty good at sniffing out those 'half-a**’ presents, so please put some thought and intention into your gifts! 
 
Alexis talks a bit about Kelly Clarkson’s album “Chemistry” (listen here on Spotify or here on YouTube). And Mary hearkens back to Episode 22 of The Bettys Podcast (listen here on Spotify, or here on Apple Podcasts) when we talked about Lessons in Chemistry, the book by Bonnie Garmus, and the series on Apple TV+
 
If you’d like to hear more about this topic, please consider joining our Patreon! It’s a little more raw and unfiltered, and we’ve got some good stories coming. If you feel so inclined, please join us here! We’ll be including lots of awesome bonus content, some behind-the-scenes, group coaching, extra photos, and more! Starting at just $5/month. We really appreciate your support.
 
Please get in touch! Send us an email at thebettyspodcast@gmail.com, and please follow us on Instagram @thebettyspodcast, on Facebook as The Bettys Podcast, on TikTok as TheBettysPodcast and on Twitter @bettys_podcast. 
 
We want to hear from you! Your comments and messages really help us know what you want to hear and how we can improve. If this show resonates with you, please make sure to share & subscribe, and give us a rating & review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
 
Thank you for listening today, friends. We'll talk to you again soon, and we love you more.
 

101 - Looking Back & Looking Forward

Hello, friends! Happy Episode 101! We’re going to talk about armpit hair. We hope you are feeling fresh today, and clean shaven (or not . . . it’s cold outside, so you do you)!
 
We talk about some of the statistics for the Bettys Podcast in the past year/100 episodes, and have a little discussion about the virtues of Apple vs. Spotify vs. Amazon.
 
We also talk a little about our Patreon! It’s a little more raw and unfiltered, and we’ve got some good stories coming. If you feel so inclined, please join us here! We’ll be including lots of awesome bonus content, some behind-the-scenes, group coaching, extra photos, and more! Starting at just $5/month. We really appreciate your support.
 
Mary talks a little about her friend and coach Daniel (check out his coaching program here). We also reference the book The Dip by Seth Godin.
 
Please get in touch! Send us an email at thebettyspodcast@gmail.com, and please follow us on Instagram @thebettyspodcast, on Facebook as The Bettys Podcast, on TikTok as TheBettysPodcast and on Twitter @bettys_podcast. 
 
We want to hear from you! Your comments and messages really help us know what you want to hear and how we can improve. If this show resonates with you, please make sure to share & subscribe, and give us a rating & review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
 
Thank you for listening today, and thanks for coming back. We'll talk to you again soon, and we love you more.
 

100 - Our Most Personal Episode Yet: The Bettys Top 10 Defining Moments of Our Lives

Here we are, Bettys and Jacks. We actually made it to 100! On our one-year anniversary, no less! Alexis and Mary (and our special guest Rebecca) are extra squirelly during this live recording; we hope you can follow this hilarious, intimate and heartfelt conversation. We also recorded this on video, which we are definitely not used to, so please forgive us as we talk about cameras and fight with microphones and complain about how pale Mary looks compared to Lexy. We ARE the gift. (Anyone want to be our T-Shirt designer?)
 
We do have some special guests and restless dogs in the background, and a shared microphone that keeps getting bumped. We hope you find all of this more entertaining than distracting! 
 
Mary quotes from the book Get Out Of Your Own Way by Dave Hollis. 
 
We’ve launched our Patreon! If you feel so inclined, please join us here! We’ll be including lots of awesome bonus content, including some behind-the-scenes, spicy bonus episodes, group coaching, and more! Starting at just $5/month. We really appreciate your support.
 
Please get in touch! Send us an email at thebettyspodcast@gmail.com, and please follow us on Instagram @thebettyspodcast, on Facebook as The Bettys Podcast, on TikTok as TheBettysPodcast and on Twitter @bettys_podcast. 
 
We want to hear from you! Your comments and messages really help us know what you want to hear and how we can improve. If this show resonates with you, please make sure to share & subscribe, and give us a rating & review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
 
Thank you for listening today, and every other day you’ve tuned in. Let us know if you prefer Zach Morris or A.C. Slater, and if you don’t mind the messiness of a live recording. Remember that nerdiness is a little sexy. We'll talk to you again soon, and FOR THE HUNDREDTH TIME-–we love you more.