Stress Smarts with Colonel Deb
Mentally Tough Women aren’t born—they’re built. Together, let's Rise Stronger, Shine Bright, and Lead with Heart— in the moments that matter most!
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Welcome to Stress Smarts with Colonel Deb, where mental toughness meets heart. Each week we’ll explore powerful tools, fresh perspectives, and quick resets to help you rise stronger, shine brighter, and lead with heart—especially in the moments that matter most.
These episodes are adapted from my live Facebook series, Let’s Talk About…, where I share real tools for bouncing back stronger. You can also find the video versions on my Stress Intelligence YouTube channel (YouTube.com/@StressIntelligence).
As a West Point graduate, combat commander, and founder of Mentally Tough Women, I’ve spent decades leading through the toughest situations life can throw at us. But what makes this podcast different isn’t just my experience—it’s the depth, care, and realness that others have felt from me for years. Soldiers I once led still tell me they remember my tears of relief after welcoming them back from a mission where their safety was at risk, and the way I never asked them to do what I wouldn’t do myself.
That’s why people tune in. Because here, you won’t just get strategies—you’ll get them from someone who’s lived them, led with heart under fire, and knows how to help you turn stress into your strongest ally.
Stress Smarts with Colonel Deb
Season 2 Trailer – The Aloha Adventures with Colonel Deb | Stress Smarts Podcast
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Come along on a journey from my home in Hilo, Hawai‘i as we explore the story behind my book, Why Is Pono Not Pono Today?
What looks like a simple children’s book reveals powerful lessons about stress, leadership, and living with aloha.
Each episode shares a piece of the story—and the deeper meaning behind it, along with lessons we can apply in everyday life.
This podcast season is based on my YouTube series:
The Aloha Adventures with Colonel Deb, where I share the story behind the book along with the beauty and spirit of Hilo.
📖 To get a copy of the Pono book:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0991483049/
✅ Subscribe to the Stress Smarts Podcast for weekly tools that help you:
- Handle stress without breaking down
- Reset quickly after overwhelm
- Lead yourself and others with clarity, confidence, and care
🌐 Explore more at MentallyToughWomen.com
For Stress Intelligence™ tools, courses, and coaching for purpose-driven women ready to lead and thrive.
📺 Watch video versions on my Stress Intelligence YouTube channel (www.YouTube.com/@StressIntelligence)
🔗 Connect on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/MentallyToughWomen
Aloha friends and family. I'm at my home. I'll show you what's in the background. That's the background. I wanted to show you a little bit about our home. I'm going to be kicking off a new podcast where I'm going to be talking about my book. You can get that. It's Why is Pono Not Pono today? It looks like a children's book, but it's actually so much more. Just going to talk about leadership and Hawaiian words and all kinds of things. I birthed it a while ago, and I haven't really talked about the making of it. So that's what I'm going to talk about. In the meantime, I'm going to be also showcasing things around Hilo because our town in Hilo is just wonderful. But before I show you Hilo, I want to show you a little bit, just one of the rooms that I have coming in, our living room. Our living room is so cool. Chris Owens built our house. And in the entryway, you can see I have a beautiful Chinese screen that's here. There's lots of horses here. This is from something that I brought in from Iraq when I served in combat. Our door is really cool. It's got glass. And I keep a big wreath on it. Coming into the four-year, what's nice about that is it has a skylight which allows light to come in. Right now it's 4 35, it's starting to get dark. In our living room, one of the things I love that Chris designed, it has this doorway that is not a normal doorway. It just has a little bit of detail, but doesn't that make a nice difference? And then I can show you some of the quotes that I have here. If you can read that. It says live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll enjoy it a second time. I'll show the other one in another video. Now we're going to enter into our living room. My mom is sitting here. She sits here throughout the day. She has a little bit of dementia, and we take good care of her. She loves being able to look out the window in our living room. Did you know that many of the homes, even if they have a view, don't take advantage of their windows? We have turned this room into a living room where we have our TV, we do. We create an electric fireplace from when we had a regular fireplace, but really don't need it in Hilo. It's warm enough. Even though it can get down maybe in the 60s, for us that's cold. For the rest of you who have been experiencing really cold weather this past year, that's a lot. We have a love seat. I have a fan that I bought at one of the local stores. Doug put up this TV in the corner. Previous residents put the TV room in another room. But we like sitting out here. And then the other cool thing is I have a half wall here, which allows a view from the kitchen, the dining room, and the living room. And again, not many homes have a living room that takes advantage of the views. I'll show you the view in just a minute. And then I've got Mama's corner over here. She has her book, magazines, things that she can watch. And then I'm going to show you the last thing here, and that is, I'm going to flip it around and you can see our view. This is one of the only architectural things we changed. This window had three panes, and we've opened it up so we have a view not only of the ocean, but we have a view of the airport over here. I hope you'll come and join me weekly as I talk about my book, Why is Pono not Pono today? And learn a little bit about our wonderful town, Hilo. Aloha, and may you have a blessed day.