Coffee with Carly: Health, Rebuilt for Women
Most women have no idea how good they're supposed to feel — and it's not for lack of trying.
We're waking up at 6am for workouts, optimizing our nutrition, crushing it at work, holding everyone else together. We're doing everything we're "supposed" to do. Following all the wellness advice. Checking every box.
And yet… so many of us feel off. Burned out. Bloated. Anxious. Exhausted but wired. Brain fog that won't lift. Hormonal symptoms we're told are "normal." Running on cortisol and guilt more than actual energy.
Something isn't adding up.
I'm Carly, a registered dietitian & holistic health coach who spent my early career watching women be fed the same cookie-cutter version of 'wellness' — advice built on male biology, packaged for female bodies. Then I hit my own rock bottom: burned out (even while working my dream job), and became completely disconnected from my body.
That's when I realized the problem wasn't effort or discipline. It was the system itself. The hustle culture mentality. The way we've been taught to live, work, and achieve simply doesn't support how women actually function.
So I went searching for what actually makes women feel good. What happens when you work with your menstrual cycle instead of against it? When you prioritize nervous system regulation over productivity? When you tune into your intuition instead of drowning it out? When you understand your hormones, your energy, and your body's wisdom — and use that as your compass?
Coffee with Carly was born from that question.
Like a strong cup of coffee, this podcast is a wake-up call. Through personal riffs, honest storytelling, and conversations with women who are living differently, we explore what it really looks like to build a life that feels good — not just one that looks good. I blend science-backed women's health research with real-life application, mindset work, intuition, and embodied wisdom.
We talk about cycle syncing and hormone balance. Burnout recovery and nervous system regulation. Metabolic health and gut healing. Anti-hustle achievement and female entrepreneurship. Intuition, energetics, and human design. Brain fog, cortisol, adrenal health. Life transitions, identity shifts, and coming home to yourself.
This podcast is for high-achieving women who are tired of being tired. Who are ready to challenge hustle culture, listen to their bodies, trust their intuition, work with their cycle, balance their hormones, and create lives that actually feel like theirs.
You can be anti-hustle without being anti-achievement. Let me show you how.
Stay bold. Stay balanced.
I'm Carly, and I'm so glad you're here.
Coffee with Carly: Health, Rebuilt for Women
06 | Embrace Disappointment: A Path to Happiness and Growth
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How boring errands can turn into inspiring lessons. Today's episode shares a personal anecdote that evolves into a powerful lesson on the art of handling disappointment. This episode is a call to action for those seeking a more fulfilling life by learning to handle setbacks constructively.
Key Takeaways
• Learning to handle disappointment effectively can lead to personal growth and greater resilience.
• Practicing emotional regulation instead of reacting impulsively can transform challenging situations into learning opportunities.
• Embracing disappointment as a natural part of life allows for greater acceptance and faster progress.
Navigating life’s challenges often brings with it a series of disappointments. These can range from the mundane—like a long wait at the mall—to more significant setbacks, such as a failed job interview or a canceled plan. The way we choose to handle these disappointments significantly determines our ability to lead a happier, healthier life. In a recent Coffee with Carly episode, host Carly Shade shares an enlightening personal story about confronting disappointment. Her lessons provide a roadmap for transforming our reactions and embracing challenges with grace and positivity.
☕️ Stay bold, stay balanced, stay thriving
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0:00:00 Carly: Foreign welcome to Coffee with Carly, your weekly wake up call to a happier, healthier life. I’m your host, Carly Shade, and I’m here to uncover how good life can get. Hi, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Coffee with Carly. So today I want to, I want to just share a story. Essentially just what happened to me while I was running errands. So it’s a Monday, I’m running errands. I have to make a return at the mall before I leave for two weeks, heading on vacation.
0:00:45 Carly: And I pull into the parking lot and it’s packed. So I totally forgot that it was a holiday. Stepping out into the entrepreneur space definitely has shifted my relationship with time. And I have no concept of weekends, weekdays and what are holidays. I love it, but I’m already here, so I’m like, whatever, I’ll head inside to the store, you know, park really far away, walk forever. But I get to the store and it’s packed again.
0:01:14 Carly: There’s a huge line for returns and I’m like, okay, oh, well, I’m here. Let’s just keep doing it. So I’m waiting in line and all of a sudden I realize I don’t have my receipt. Should I leave? No, I’ve already waited like two thirds of this line. Plus my motto is, what are the chances? That is something that me and my fiance like to do all the time. I’m just like, what are the chances? It could totally work out.
0:01:40 Carly: So I sit there, I wait in line, and I pretend it’s all gonna work out so I’m next in line. I just know it’s gonna be fine, there’s gonna be some exception, whatever. I’m not gonna worry about it. I’m also buying something, so maybe they can just do an exchange. I’m feeling super hopeful. Possibilities are endless. So finally it’s my turn. I tell the very nice gentleman my situation and it’s a no. I mean, he does go to ask his manager, brings her over, he’s like, I just want to check. Let’s see what we can do. He’s very nice.
0:02:10 Carly: Manager comes over, no receipt, no return, no exceptions, didn’t matter. Kept kind of explaining my story. That’s a no. It’s a no. It’s a no. And as she’s just telling me this, I could feel. Feel my heart just starting to beat faster and faster and I can feel the energy in me just shift. And I’m about to get angry because that’s how we solve problems, right? Like, if I can just make a bigger deal If I just let myself get really pissed and annoyed, then it’ll eventually turn in my favor. I feel like that’s like all of us as customers these days.
0:02:43 Carly: But this time, as the energy was building, I surprised myself and I chose to do something different. I took a breath, I let the energy move through me, and I smiled and I said, I totally understand. I purchased my two. My new, very cute coat, and I walked away to live the rest of my day happily. So was I disappointed? Yes, 100% it was annoying. I was disappointed. It was sad. But I let myself be disappointed for a few minutes.
0:03:14 Carly: But ultimately, it was my fault. I forgot the receipt. And that’s their policy. All fair things move on. See, disappointment is a major part of our lives. The job interview that didn’t go your way, the flight that got delayed, the friend that canceled dinner plans. So why are we all so afraid to feel it if it’s so prevalent in our life? We’re afraid to be disappointed. We don’t know how to be disappointed or will do anything to avoid feeling it.
0:03:44 Carly: It’s that inner child in all of us. But when we do this, we end up keeping ourselves stuck, which eventually leads to more disappointment anyway, because we’re in the same place that we started. We ruin our day, our entire day, because of one event. And instead ask yourself, do you really need to have a bad time? Or did things just not go your way? And then we end up wasting so much energy time trying to control a situation that we can’t control, ruminating on things that we can’t change, holding on to the moment of. At one moment of the day or our past. It all adds up.
0:04:19 Carly: No wonder we’re all walking around feeling uninspired and drained all the time. So the quicker that you can get good at being disappointed, the quicker you are going to progress in life. But to be clear, I am not saying avoid it. I’m saying feel it. And this resilience will take you further and faster in life. And the good news is that we can start practicing this trick right away. Like I said before, disappointment is all around us.
0:04:51 Carly: The next time something happens and you notice the familiar increase in heart rate, energy, it’s all building. Take a second and breathe. Let yourself be disappointed. But feel it. Don’t take it out on someone else. We all face moments of disappointment, big and small, but they do not have to define our day or our lives. And so the next time you find yourself in one of those moments, at the cashier, at the mall, wherever it is, remember this you have a choice.
0:05:22 Carly: You can let that frustration build, or you can breathe, process and move forward. Or if it helps, you can reframe. The word disappointment is simply a sign that you’re aiming high, striving for something more. As John Eads said, disappointment is a part of life unless you have depressingly low standards. So embrace it, learn from it, and let it shape you into someone even stronger. Alright, that’s it. Today we like to keep things short again, just digestible lessons that you can take with you.
0:06:00 Carly: And if this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who might need a little reminder that it’s okay to feel disappointed. Because that’s what this podcast is all about. Wake Up Calls to being happier and healthier. And the way to do that is free up our time, free up our energy for the make room for all the other magical things in our lives. Not worrying about the cash cashier who couldn’t make an exception for their policy. That is totally fair and totally valid.
0:06:28 Carly: You know, a wake up call to making bold moves to lead us to a life that’s better than we imagined. But remember that living boldly doesn’t always come from big decisions. Being bold also means choosing to show up differently, even when you’re making a return at the mall. So as always, please be sure to subscribe. Follow rate my show and if you are curious about going deeper on topics like disappointment, overcoming fear and failure, or just, you know, how can I live boldly?
0:07:01 Carly: Send me a DM on Instagram. That is what I do. As a reminder, I am a life coach. I do focus on breakthrough transformation transitions and I’d love to share more about my coaching space. So please don’t hesitate. Reach out to me. I’d love to share with you and really go dive deeper into the work that I do. And if you’re looking for accountability buddy on some of these things, that is what some of that long term container can help you through.
0:07:27 Carly: So thank you for spending time with me. Short but sweet. I will catch you on the next one. And until then, breathe deeply, let it go and keep showing up for yourself. Thanks for joining me on another episode of Coffee with Carly. Take care.