Life's a Tripp
Welcome to Life's a Tripp. We are Shan and Ryan Tripp.
We are just a couple of small-town kids who fell quickly in love and couldn’t wait to do this life together!
We started having kids, were both working in healthcare and bought our first house right down the road from family… life was great - but something was missing.
We were happy and blessed, but we also felt a little stuck. We realized we weren’t moving closer to our dreams for our future and family.
So, we sold everything. The house, the cars, the clothes, all the stuff, everything - except for the kids - we kept the kids.
As scary as it was to make this big change - we couldn’t stop thinking about it; we knew in our hearts this was what God wanted for our family.
We packed our entire life into seven suitcases, grabbed our four small children by the hands, and jumped on a one-way flight to Hawaii.
From there, our whole world opened up.
We’ve experienced the highs and lows of parenting, marriage, running a business from home, finances, moving across the ocean, making new friends, and maybe doing things a bit differently to ultimately make the very most of our family life - and that’s what we want to share with you.
We are so grateful you are here, joining us as we pull back the curtains to have some fun together and chat about what we’ve learned during our unusual journey and what we’re doing each day to make the most of it.
It’s true what they say, “Life’s a Tripp,” - but despite the chaos, we want to show you that life can be lived on your terms.
This is our story. How will you write yours?
Life's a Tripp
73. Hey Parents, You're Doing Great
How often do we pause to truly appreciate the fleeting moments of life, especially when welcoming a new family member? After returning from maternity leave with our little bundle of joy, baby Cal, we’re excited to reconnect and share reflections on parenthood. Our latest episode is a heartfelt celebration of family, filled with gratitude and the lessons learned from raising six children. We talk about the beauty of embracing the chaos and the importance of savoring those precious, fleeting moments that make the journey worthwhile.
Parenting is a wild ride, and we’re here to navigate it together. Join us as we explore the intricacies of raising a family, where learning from past experiences and staying curious keeps us grounded. From managing the chaos of household life to maintaining relationships and balancing work, we share candid insights into our everyday struggles and triumphs. We also shine a light on the pivotal yet often overlooked role of dads, encouraging perseverance amidst the messiness.
Our amazing show sponsor is NEEDED.
Use code TRIPP to get 20% off using this link: https://www.thisisneeded.com/discount/TRIPP?rfsn=8522895.1867c4&utm_source=refersion&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=8522895.1867c4
FREE TRAINING WITH SHANNON Rise Above Worry: A Simple Guide for Moms to Stay Confident and Calm
Parents, you're doing great.
Speaker 2:You are doing great and when you don't feel like you are, that probably means that you're a great parent, because you're asking those questions and you care.
Speaker 1:Hey, it's the Life's a Trip podcast and I'm sitting here next to my sweet wife, Shannon Tripp.
Speaker 2:We're back from maternity leave.
Speaker 1:We're back maternity leave. We're back. Where have we been?
Speaker 2:Guys, we had a baby and we just. You know, when I get to heaven one day and I think back to what I'll be glad I did. It was.
Speaker 1:Do the podcast. Oh, have kids.
Speaker 2:Well, yes, have kids, but like, slow down my life in those moments that you know are just, are just like nothing else. And that's having a baby for me, it's a, it's a moment, it's fleeting, it's so precious and tender and I just want to pause everything else in my life and just make sure that I can set myself up to enjoy that, and you too, and the kids. And that's what we did.
Speaker 1:I deserve paternity leave. You do, unpaid albeit, but yeah, and you're good at that because I get caught up in we got this commitment, we got to do this, we got to show up here and we got the podcast. And you're like, look, this is maybe my last baby. I'm going to just enjoy this. Yeah, so sorry podcast listeners that we totally ditched you for a couple months, but we're back and we're so excited to get back into this and we were talking a lot during these last couple of months as we've enjoyed baby Cal. What do we really?
Speaker 1:You know, it was a good chance to just level set and think about life and think about everything that we're doing and think about how we're showing up online. And we love the community that Shannon has on Instagram. We love the parents that we interact with. We love the classes and the courses and the podcast and, in fact, there were a few messages that I received when we took a little break that were like hey, are you guys going to keep doing the podcast? We love just the short 15, 20 minute episodes to listen on our drive or at the gym, and we get so much encouragement out of it. Or we just laugh or we come away with some little hack or tip. So that was really good to hear, cause it was like, yeah, we need to make sure we keep doing this. We did it. I guess this is our 73rd episode.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we want to continue to do it and we want this to be a place where you can just come have fun, listen.
Speaker 2:What do we want it to be right? Because we talked about this, we said you know, we've done, you know 70 something episodes. We've just kind of shared our journey of you know where we've been in some of the choices we've made and how it's impacted our lives and how we've kind of, like you know, we've chosen to do some things differently. We're a little bit weird, we're not really. We sometimes go against the grain. Just just giving you guys a little bit extra encouragement, I guess, to just follow your, follow your parent, parental hearts follow your dreams.
Speaker 1:We said this podcast is about making the most of family life.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And that's.
Speaker 1:We're going to talk about a lot of different things and we have talked about a lot of different things.
Speaker 1:Our journey of picking up, selling everything and moving to the Island are, you know, starting our own business together as a family, homeschooling the kids, um, getting out of debt, debt, parenting tips I mean, shannon, you're so good at that and, just you know, you just seem to have this intuition on exactly how to handle all the difficulties of parenthood and also just being real and sharing with you. You know we're not perfect and we don't have it all figured out. So sharing with you the challenges and just a glimpse into our life because it is not perfect, but it is a lot of fun and we love just opening our front door to you to come inside the house, sit down with us here in our living room and just be a part of the family as we talk about our journey, and hopefully that's something for you that's helpful, motivational, encouraging, and that's kind of the message that we wanted to share today, too is just wherever you're at in your parenthood journey, just take a deep breath. You're doing okay, you're doing great. It can be hard, so we see you.
Speaker 2:And I just will interject and say I don't have everything figured out, but thank you.
Speaker 1:You do to me, I think you do so much.
Speaker 2:God has blessed us with six beautiful kids and we've had a whole lot of trial and error along the way and you know, seeing, I guess, the effects of things that we've done in the past, whether it be good or bad. And I think it's just so cool that we get to share some of that, because I remember being a new mom and kind of looking around like who's been through this, you know, and who's who's kind of got it, who's starting to figure it out, and and we love to stay curious about all things. So, yes, we've cracked the code on several things and we're also just staying real curious about other things, you know, and how can we just really make the most of this family life and raise great humans and enjoy it along the way? That?
Speaker 2:that's what we're trying to figure out and that's what we're going to share with you guys.
Speaker 1:Well, we are all in this together and no one's getting out of here alive. You know that my dad always used to say that nobody's getting out of here alive. And it's true. We have this life to live and, uh, it's amazing in a lot of ways and it's it's tough. It's tough in a lot of ways and there's a lot going on. Outside of our homes. There's a lot of threats Um, I don't know threats a strong word but inside of our homes, with devices and the experiences that our kids are having and bringing home.
Speaker 1:And I mean now more than ever, we need to protect our families and protect our homes and our kids and teach them. And I think that's why, over the last couple of years, you and I felt compelled and we were in a situation to do that and, during the pandemic, to just spend more time with our kids and think about what we want that experience to be like in our, in our homes, and that looks different for everyone. Uh, but we all go through the same challenges. I mean it is messy and it is great and it is challenging and I don't know. I just felt compelled that we wanted to share that as we came back out of the gates at the first of this year. That for the. Maybe it's just for the dads, right? I joked that. Your dad shared this the other day. The only people who are truly loved unconditionally are women, children and pets. But for the dads, you know, it's sometimes kind of a thankless job and you're like am I, am I doing the right stuff? Is anybody?
Speaker 2:noticing Am I making a difference?
Speaker 1:No, you do, but you know, I think you can feel that way as a dad. So for the dads out there, let me just say hang in there, put one step in front of the other. Day after day it can be crazy, but what an amazing blessing it is to have these kiddos. It's. I think it's easy, especially for us males to to get focused on work and providing and I know for me, sometimes selfishly, my hobbies, specifically golf and and those are not bad things, those are all important things, but at the end of the day, the true happiness that we'll have are our relationships. Right, we know that we've. We've read the books and it's just we've read the book, We've read all the books, We've read all the books, Every book. They're great books and we've read them all. And you?
Speaker 1:guys can't see his hand gestures, but I think you could probably guess yeah, well, we, we know that it's the relationships that make us happy, but sometimes it's tough to see the forest through the trees, and I think.
Speaker 2:I mean I I love that you're bringing this up and it looks like you might, you know, get a tear in your eye when you're talking about this. Choke it back because, because I think we just get it. And in case you need to be reminded that sometimes, even on social media, it's all real, it like what we share. It's all real, everything's real. But it's also not everything you know, and so I'm not going to record my kids when they're having an argument or, you know, when the house is as a disaster it's, I don't really think to pull out my phone. I don't. We don't think to share that kind of stuff. It doesn't mean that we're, that I'm just talking like social media in general. It doesn't mean anybody's hiding it necessarily, but you just don't think to share that stuff. So when people say it's the highlight reel usually it is it's like let me share. You share the best parts of of what's going on here.
Speaker 2:So don't ever get tricked that we're not all doing literally the same things we're. We're all trying to figure out bedtime. We're all trying to figure out how to get our kids to get along. We're all trying to keep manage the house while we're managing maybe potentially work and one-on-one time with our kids and keeping friendships alive as an adult and you know, staying healthy while not having a lot of time, you know, for yourself. And I mean we're all just literally doing the same things. We're checking our kids poop and seeing like are they healthier, are they not healthy?
Speaker 1:I'm not doing that for the record. I love, I love everything you said and I will add to that. We're all going through that, but we don't just throw our hands up and go, oh well, you know, we just let's just give up. There are tools and there are best practices and there are little things that as you go through your journey and here we are, 16 years married with the six kids so we feel like, hey, when it comes to disciplining the kids, or when it comes to bedtime, or when it comes to you and I making time for date night away from the kids, like we've, we've figured that out along the way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's what it's is fun to share and compare with other parents. And oh, by the way, a new part of the podcast that we're super excited about, which will be a little more kind of back and forth communication, is we're going to be able to take questions. So in the show notes, at the very top, there'll be, I think it's a purple link that you can click. So probably do it on mobile and it's click to text us a question, so then those can roll in and then we can have even even more interaction with uh, with the parents listening out there that want to ask specific questions, and then we can answer those through the podcast.
Speaker 2:Love it and and that's fun, because there are some things that I wish I would have learned earlier. And there's some things that, with a little bit of intention, or a lot of a bit of intention, you know when your kids are little, we're now seeing, oh, the way we taught them. Cause, you know, discipline like, for example, discipline to us is teaching. It's not punishment. There's no timeouts in our house. There's no, you know, there's not shaming, different things like that. There's not spanking, nothing like that. So discipline is teaching. Teaching takes a lot of effort. It's a way easier to go whack your kid's bum than to sit down, look them in the eyes and talk through what just happened and validate them and what could we do next time. But we're seeing now, I guess, the investment, the return on our time spent. You know, row as ROI, you got it.
Speaker 1:Look at you, go honey. Thank you, that's a business Never looked at a bank statement in your life and you're just slinging out these financial terms.
Speaker 2:Anyway, we, we, I just, yeah, we want to encourage you guys like, hey, do it, I promise it matters, you know. And then other stuff literally doesn't matter. Sell the stuff that's that's making you crazy in your closet, you know, live with less and and go spend time with your kids rather than like scrolling on your phone, Like there's so many other things that it's like oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, we can see how this has blessed us greatly and this has not, and we're just excited to pull back the curtains, unfiltered. Excited to pull back the curtains unfiltered, unhinged, totally raw, because this is my happy place, not having to think about what I'm going to say, and I can just say it, Except for sometimes you look at me like you shouldn't say that.
Speaker 1:I don't think you've said anything too out of control yet.
Speaker 2:If I have, he's probably clipped it out.
Speaker 1:Well, we, uh, we just wanted to share that message today that, parents, you're doing great.
Speaker 2:You are doing great and, um, when you don't feel like you are, that probably means that you're a great parent, because you're asking those questions and you care and we just care. We just care about things that matter. We worry about things because we love, and that's just parenthood and we're all doing it together, so we're cheering you on.
Speaker 1:And we, when we, when we started, I think we figured out what's causing us to have these kids. So when we, when we started our parenthood journey, uh, cause, there was a time where it was just you and me but we wanted to build a family and we knew it would be great and we knew there would be challenges. So what's that quote about? Take a look at your life and this is what you dreamed of years ago, or? It's like I botched it.
Speaker 2:It's like remember that you're living the days you've prayed for you know, or something like that.
Speaker 1:That's a much better way to say it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just don't forget that the day like you prayed for a time like this, you prayed for the day like this you used to pray for, to have this. Yeah, and at any given time, somebody would do anything in the world to be in your shoes, no matter what our circumstances are. We just have so we have so many blessings and we're so blessed by, I mean, just being alive, but each of us have something to be grateful for.
Speaker 1:So and I think your perspective being in the emergency room, the pediatric emergency room you saw some really sad things right and you share a lot about that and that perspective of we just don't know how much time we have.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you really don't. And I always think of me being a 90 year old grade hair, gray hair, wrinkly grandma, you know, at the end of my life, and thinking what, what would I wish I would have done? Who would I wish I would have loved more? Who you know would have? What baby would I wish? I can't even talk about it. Like, what baby would I would I wish I would have held longer, like all of those things. I think about her all the time. She is my best mentor because I think what will she wish that I would have done? Like, I have the opportunity right now to do that. So that's what we're going to go do. We're going to go live a life that we're comfortable leaving one day and um that's beautiful.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I don't know that. I really want to make it to 90. I do that's pretty old and you don't really move. I want to be.
Speaker 2:I want to make it to a hundred.
Speaker 1:I want to say 80 and I want to be swinging.
Speaker 2:I want.
Speaker 1:I want to be okay, I want to be 85. I want to be at band and dunes swinging a golf club and just I don't know.
Speaker 2:And then your heart stops.
Speaker 1:My heart stops or my clubs up in the air. The lightning hits me. The Lord takes me home. It's a beautiful sending off. You know, nobody really needs me anymore. I'm an old man. My body's falling apart.
Speaker 1:I don't know that guy can dream, can he? Well, thanks for listening to the show. Again, remember, in the show notes, click that link and send us your questions. I'm really excited to see you get a lot of DMS. Sometimes you can't get to all of those. We get emails, but this would be a good way to just write through the podcast. Send us a question that you would want us to answer or talk about. Whatever it is, If it's an easy, specific question, whether it's a really I don't know something you're going through in your family or you know, we've shared a lot about our adventures picking up and and moving around the world, and actually we're going to be in Hawaii next week going back where it all started, where the adventure started five years.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean five years ago the adventure started before that, but you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That really changed the trajectory of our life and we'll talk about that next week.
Speaker 1:Hey guys, thanks for listening to the show Before you go. We reached out to one of our very favorite companies. Uh, we carry their stuff here in the house. Shannon loves them. The company is needed and they were nice enough to help sponsor the show, and what that means is there's a link in the show notes for you to go check them out. And as we lean into the podcast more, we thought they would be a perfect partner. We are bringing video to the podcast, we are answering your questions, which is going to be super fun and so needed was nice enough to jump in and say they want to be a part of the show. And, shannon, this was created by two moms. I'm not a mom, you're a mom and you love their stuff. So what is it about Needed? What did you need from Needed?
Speaker 2:What did I need from Needed? Well, one thing I love about them is they'll just meet. They'll meet any mom where they're at in their motherhood journey. Yeah, they'll just meet.
Speaker 1:They'll meet any mom where they're at in their motherhood journey. Yeah, they'll show up at the front door and meet you here with product in hand collagen, whatever prenatals they do have my favorite collagen, such a high quality prenatal omega, sleep support, cognitive support.
Speaker 2:And the reason this is all so important is because, as we create these babies, grow these babies, because as we create these babies, grow these babies, feed these babies. Our nutrient stores are depleted and they have so many nutrients in each product and I could not be more grateful for a company like them. So, so grateful for them. We'll put a link with a code in the show notes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the code is trip T-R-I-P-P and that gets you 20% off. And also we are going to give a $50 credit to Needed for someone who leaves us a positive review on the show.
Speaker 2:Not a negative one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, negative, forget about it. You're not going to select you, but if you leave a good review and if you like the show, share it. Leave us a good review and then we're going to pick someone and give out 50 bucks to shop at Needed. How cool is that.
Speaker 2:How cool is that? That's so fun. Okay, guys, we love you so much. Have a great week.