The Quiet Ways We Shape Each Other

In this funny, and honest episode, Sarah sits down with her longtime friend Kim Nevels for her first solo interview on Running Ahrens.

Sarah and Kim met at Illinois Wesleyan University in 1992, back when they were, as Kim says, “babies who thought we were grown.”

Their lives eventually moved in different directions. They built careers, got married, raised children, faced unexpected challenges, and became women their younger selves could not have fully imagined.

But even when they were not part of each other’s everyday lives, they were still paying attention.

They were quietly cheering each other on, learning from a distance, and finding encouragement in the way the other kept showing up.

Sarah and Kim reflect on the different backgrounds and experiences they brought into their friendship, the communities that helped shape them, and the things they understand more clearly now than they did in college.

Kim also shares how health challenges influenced the way she viewed time and purpose, and how an unexpected career path led her into decades of meaningful public service and leadership.

Together, they talk about motherhood, representation, work, identity, and the courage it takes to change direction when life no longer looks the way you expected.

This episode is about the friendships that stay with us, even through quiet seasons. It is about the people who expand the way we see the world and remind us what may be possible in our own lives.

And it is about the ways we can shape one another without ever realizing we are doing it.

Takeaways & Talking Points:

• A friendship that began during the college years
• Experiencing the same place through different perspectives
• The communities that help us feel seen and supported
• How life and health challenges can reshape our priorities
• Choosing purpose over the path others expect
• Finding meaningful work in an unexpected place
• Balancing leadership, marriage, and motherhood
• The importance of representation and visible role models
• Learning from people even when they are not part of our daily lives
• Quietly admiring and encouraging one another from afar
• Knowing when it is time to choose a new direction
• Protecting joy while continuing to care about the world

Things We’re Learning and Unlearning:

• Some friendships do not need constant contact to remain meaningful
• We can influence people without knowing they are watching
• Two people can share the same experience and remember it very differently
• Friendship grows when we stay curious about each other’s stories
• The expected career path is not always the right one
• Purpose often reveals itself slowly
• Reinvention does not mean the earlier chapters were wasted
• Representation can quietly change what someone believes is possible
• Community matters during every stage of life
• Encouragement does not always have to be spoken to be felt
• Joy is not separate from meaningful work
• Sometimes the people who inspire us most are doing it from a distance

This episode is for anyone who has ever looked at an old friend and realized they helped shape who you became.

It is for the people who have lived full lives apart, yet remained connected by shared memories, quiet admiration, and the knowledge that someone out there was cheering them on.

Whether you are navigating friendship, motherhood, leadership, career change, or a new season of life, this conversation is a reminder that our influence often reaches further than we know.

It’s about connection and purpose. Friendship and growth. The lives we build, the people we become, and the quiet ways we help each other along the way.

Thanks for listening,
Sarah and Justin

#RunningAhrens #KimNevels #Friendship #LifelongFriendship #Connection #Purpose #WomenInLeadership #PublicService #CareerReinvention #WorkingMothers #RepresentationMatters #Community #PersonalGrowth #RunningAhrensPodcast #BeingHumanKind