
Trail Blazers & Chain Breakers
Insights and interviews to help you blaze your own trail through a world designed for conformity, and to break the chains holding you back from living an uncommon life. From gender roles and family conditioning, to societal expectations and self-sabotage, there are many more chains holding you back than you may realize. These chains affect many areas of our lives, including our Relationships, Parenting, Health, Spirituality, and Healing. Welcome to Trail Blazers and Chain Breakers, where we are focused on breaking free from "normal" and living an uncommon life.
Episodes
109 episodes
109: How To Have Hard Conversations
Hard conversations are hard. It's all to easy to think that by avoiding them we are keeping the peace... but we're not. We're just keeping the resentment, frustration & tension. In today's episode, we talk hard conversations, why we avoid t...
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Episode 109
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52:06

108: The Power of a Calm & Centered Presence
Would you consider yourself a calm and centered presence in your kids life? In today's episode, we talk about why it's so hard and so important for your kids, what it means and looks like, and how to actually become more calm and centered.<...
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Episode 108
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41:00

107: What To Say When Your Kids Are Upset
If you're anything like us, you're really good at saying the wrong thing in a heated moment... In today's episode, we hit on how to not do exactly that when your kids are upset.Just a warning: we do occasionally swear in these epis...
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Episode 107
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18:50

106: 5 Things Holding Your Marriage Back
Sometimes it's not about adding things, but taking things away. In today's episode we talk 5 things we had to let go of in our relationship in order to survive.Just a warning: we do occasionally swear in these episodes. We don't c...
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Episode 106
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1:00:10

105: Forgiving Your Parents
Parents are supposed to build us up, but sometimes they can can tear us down. In today's episode we talk about forgiving your parents, why not forgiving is hurting yourself, what forgiveness is & more!Just a warning: we do occasiona...
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Episode 105
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52:00

104: How You're Making Life Harder For Your Kids
Letting your children fail is hard. Watching them experience disappointment, frustration & discomfort is painful. But sometimes, it's what they need. In today's episode, we talk making life easier on our kids, letting them fail, consequence...
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Episode 104
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41:41

103: How To Love Your Partner In Their Unlovable Moments
We all have our moments where we're tough to love... In today's episode, we tackle the question of how to love each other in our less than lovable moments. We share stories, techniques, what worked for us (and didn't), and even talk about train...
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Episode 103
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50:45

102: How Learning To Fight Could Save Your Marriage
Conflict in a marriage doesn't mean it's doomed to failure. In today's episode, we talk why conflict is necessary, how to fight fair, and practical steps to learning how to manage conflict in your marriage.Just a warning: we do occasion...
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Episode 102
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44:34

101: What's Best For The Relationship Isn't Always What's Convenient
What's best for the relationship is not always what's most convenient for you (or your partner). In today's episode, we talk forgiveness & resentment, having difficult conversations, modeling a relationship you'd want your kids to have and ...
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54:38

100: Healthy Relationships & the Line Between Perception & Reality
Sometimes the line between perception and reality is blurred. In relationships, what you intended to communicate is different that what was received. In today's episode, we discuss how to walk the line between perception & rea...
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Episode 100
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43:42

99: 9 Ways To Make Your Kids Feel Valued & Respected
How do you react when you feel disrespected? For most people, the answer is some for of “like a child...” This lead us to the realization that most people did not feel valued and respected as children. Today, we're talking about ways to ensure ...
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Episode 99
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41:27

98: Guarding The Impact Of Your Words
Words have power We all know this, but how do we actually guard the impact of our words on ourselves and those around us? In today's episode, we cover keeping our mouths shut, intentional listening, having an "eject button," body language &...
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44:19

97: How To Repair Your Relationship In 2024
In today's episode, we share the most impactful changes we made in our marriage to go from near failure to happier than ever. We talk why you should run your relationship like a business, the weight of being the model for our kids, learnin...
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1:13:02

96: When Childhood Trauma Affects Your Relationship
Childhood experiences, whether traumatic events or subtle conditioning, can surface at any time. When they come out in our romantic relationships, it can be especially difficult (& dangerous for our partner) to navigate...
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50:06

95: Creating Generational Knowledge
Many of us dream of passing down generational wealth, but what about generational knowledge? What kind of knowledge can we pass down that will change the trajectory of our family tree? In today's episode, we talk generational wealth...
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1:02:04

94: How To Develop Faith In Yourself
"Believe in yourself" is easy to say, but harder to do. This week, we talk about how to develop this faith in ourselves, growth mindset for adults, parenting doubts, "fake it 'til you make it," and more!Just a warning: we do occasionall...
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Episode 94
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36:44

93: Is Anger Ever Useful?
Anger has a bad reputation, and understandably so! But can it ever be useful? In today's episode, we talk anger, victimhood, the people who benefit from making you angry, how to use anger constructively & more!Just a warning: we do ...
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38:31

92: How To Choose Growth Over Safety
We all KNOW we should choose growth over safety, but it's a lot easier said than done! In today's episode, we talk how to actually choose growth over safety, how the safety isn't actually that safe, how to use the pain of the past constructivel...
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Episode 92
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49:48

91: Lessons Learned From 10 Years Of Marriage
As we reflect back on our recent 10 year anniversary, we answer the "magic time machine" question and share the advice we'd offer ourselves at the start of our marriage. We talk healing together, learning emotions, the problem with expectations...
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Episode 91
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54:28

90: How To Build A Perfect Relationship
No marriage is perfect. Anyone claiming otherwise is full of crap! In today's episode we talk about how to weather the struggles of a relationship between two imperfect humans, growing together with your partner (or not), working through ...
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Episode 90
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58:55

89: Raising Strong Kids & Reparenting Yourself
Frederick Douglass said "It's easier to build strong children than repair broken men." This is deeply true, but the reality for most of us is that we must reparent ourselves into strong men & women in order to be the parents the can r...
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Episode 89
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50:20

88: Building A Family Brand w/ Melissa Smith
In today's episode, we're joined by Melissa Smith from the Family Brand. Melissa shows parents how to transform their family cultures, create relationships that last, intentionally grow together, and find the courage to live the life they want ...
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Episode 88
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44:11

87: How Your Relationships Reveal You Like A Mirror
It may not be what you want to hear, but what upsets you in other people reveals more about you than them. This is especially true in your close relationships. In today's episode, we talk "always" & "never," repeating patterns, what your ki...
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Episode 87
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46:18

86: Is It All Your Fault?
Blame is a dangerous game. It's easy to externalize all of our problems because it feels safer to blame others, but blaming ourselves isn't the answer either. In today's episode we talk blame, how taking responsibility is different than blaming...
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Episode 86
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54:59

85: What You Can Learn From The People Who Make You Angry
Here's the bottom line: we see others as a mirror of ourselves. This means that the things that anger us in other people can be incredibly informative of where we need to grow. What does that even mean? In today's episode, we go deep on this, t...
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45:43
