Messy & Magnificent with Karlee Fain
For leaders building organizations that don’t run on adrenaline.
Messy & Magnificent with Karlee Fain is for the people responsible for what they lead — and tired enough to know the way it’s running isn’t sustainable.
If your calendar is full, your team is smart, and endless challenges still seem to land on your desk, this show is for you.
Each episode shares candid stories and practical, proven tools to help you build clearer systems, steadier leadership, and a grounded approach to success that doesn’t cost you yourself.
Messy & Magnificent with Karlee Fain
Lost Your Mojo? | Lessons on Languishing and Rediscovering Joy
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If you’re languishing and you know it, clap your hands. (Or roll your eyes.)
Why acknowledge something as unglamorous as languishing? Because recognizing how you’re really feeling is the first step to getting unstuck. It's the moment the door cracks open.
If we want something to shift, we have to be willing to see it first.
And clapping? Laughing when you’re frustrated? Groaning mid-eye-roll? These are small but mighty ways we invite a little movement into stuck places — tiny rebellions that make space for joy to sneak back in.
Joy and sorrow aren’t opposites — they’re dance partners. Feeling the heavy stuff is what stretches our capacity to feel the good stuff too.
So if things feel foggy or heavy lately, you’re not broken. You’re actually right on schedule. The way through it... leads you back to your joy.
This week, Karlee brings back an episode that dives into how joy and sorrow are woven together, and why pretending we’re "fine" never really gets us anywhere. You'll hear how acknowledging the hard emotions protects your energy and opens you up to the kind of joy that lasts.
In this conversation, you’ll learn why numbing out never works, how joy and sorrow are two sides of the same coin, and practical ways to spark more everyday delight—especiall in tough times.
If you’re ready to acknowledge your sorrows so that you can clear a path for the joy behind them, then this is the episode for you.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- (8:53) Joy isn’t one-size-fits-all — here’s the breakdown.
- (9:54) Joy + sorrow = deeper capacity.
- (12:09) Why acknowledgment changes everything.
- (18:14) Tiny ways to spark big joy.
- (21:03) The science says: joy is legit.
Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
Article: Grant, Adam. “There's a Name for the Blah You're Feeling: It's Called Languishing.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Apr. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/04/19/well/mind/covid-mental-health-languishing.html.
LISTEN NOW: The Boundary Brunch
Book: The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
Website: King, Pamela Ebstyne. “Pamela Ebstyne King.” The Thrive Center for Human Development, 8 May 2021, thethrivecenter.org/about/pam-ebstyne-king/.
TED Talk: Where Joy Hides and Where to Find it with Ingrid Fetell Lee
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