Climbing Cringe Mountain (solo episode)

Season One of Further Forward is officially complete. ✨

This little mini episode is part reflection, part thank you, and part look ahead at what’s coming next.

Over the last year, this podcast has become so much more than I expected. What started as a space for honest conversations has evolved into something deeper — conversations about growth, identity, courage, grief, ambition, healing, belonging, becoming, and what it actually means to build a meaningful life.

Season Two is going deeper.

Thank you for listening, sharing, reviewing, messaging me, and growing alongside me in real time. Every download, every conversation, every kind word has mattered more than you know.

Listen now wherever you get your podcasts — and let me know:
What conversations resonated most this season?
What do you want more of in Season Two?

Further Forward: Honest Conversations on the Art of Becoming, is hosted by Ashley Mitchell. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Hey everybody, welcome back to the Further Forward Podcast. My name is Ashley Mitchell. I am your host, and this is a very different episode. It's like a teeny tiny little nugget of an episode because this is holding space as the transition from season one to season two. Wow, we've come to come to the end of the first era of the pod. 27 episodes. I think the first episode premiered in August of 2025. So almost a year of further forward. And I think it requires a bit of reflection. It certainly requires gratitude. Thank you so much for listening to this season, for sharing episodes, for sending me messages, for letting me know what you think about it when I see you in person. Thank you for finding the podcast because of a particular guest and then staying and listening to other guests, people that you don't know, have never heard of. Thank you for the love on the solo episodes. You are growing alongside me in real time. And that's like, what more could I ask for? Because your most valuable resource is your time. So whenever you listen to these episodes, and whenever you take the extra time to share or to reach out to me, I carry it with me. I hold it. It means a lot. You have to know that. You know, when I started this episode or this episode, this podcast, I knew I wanted to have honest conversations. I knew I wanted to talk about growth and becoming. It's something that never stops being a theme for me. And I thought it would. Like I thought, you know, maybe, maybe I reach a certain point in life, and not that you stop growing or becoming, but maybe that it's like this thing that just quietly lurks in the background. Like you're always going to be entering a new era or a new version of yourself, or, you know, you're contending with different things, right? Like as our children grow, as we grow in our marriages or our friendships or personal relationships, our careers. You know, it's not like these things go away, right? Like all of it requires growth and forward motion. And I knew that I wanted, I knew that I wanted to dispel, especially with women, any idea that it's perfect, any idea that everyone has it all together, or someone has it all together, or someone has it figured out. Because we all know that shit's not true. And we can give advice and we can, we can speak from lived experience and our own wisdom and the wisdom of our mothers and grandmothers, and we can talk about the mistakes that we've made and all that kind of stuff. All of that kind of earned, I guess wisdom is the best way to put it. But it doesn't mean you got that shit figured out. It doesn't mean, it doesn't mean that it's just like, okay, done. Done. I got it. I got all the answers. Here you go, everybody. So I knew that all of that was happening sort of under the surface, so to speak. But I did not realize once I started going, just kind of like, no, none of this stuff is quietly lurking in the background. This is it for me. It colors everything I do. And that may be true or that may not be true. And I'm not projecting that onto you, but I'm just saying that for me, the growth and the discomfort are so loud and so present that, you know, it is like it's informed this past year. It's informed, you know, the direction of this podcast going forward. I've just felt a lot of I don't even know how to put it. I guess it's been a little bit of an internal battle. Is battle the right word? Yeah, I guess it's been I it's been a little bit of a battle. It's been a little bit of a being called to just live in what feels true and authentic, regardless of whether or not other people like it or want to listen to it or want to support it, or whether or not they think it's important. But to to be where I am and be there with conviction. And when it's time to move on to something else, then I do that. Right. I think I like, I think I hold myself back, I pull myself back too often. And even just the couple of conversations I've had for season two, which I'm just so excited about. The women coming up on the podcast, they are such a beautiful representation of what it looks like when you get out of your own way and when you just own your shit and you own your power. And I'm just, I'm like, wow, this is all going in the right direction. Couldn't have designed it better myself. You know, I saw this video one time about, you know, before, before anything gets good, right? Like you start something and your taste level and your actual output just don't match in the beginning. And that you have to climb cringe mountain in order to get better, right? Like you need the reps. And so I definitely feel like this has been whatever, nine or 10 months of climbing cringe mountain and letting things be awkward and weird and not good and you know, whatever. Like all these things have happened. And it's all in service of becoming and becoming excellent and becoming a master in a craft and being willing to be devoted to that for however long it takes. So there's that piece for sure. There's also something that I noticed, you know, no matter who I was talking to, just certain things kept returning over and over again. And it's this idea of, you know, we're craving depth. We are craving depth in a world that really rewards speed and shallowness. And if you think about all of the women I spoke to on the podcast, and even those solo episodes, right? We're we're talking about wanting more, building deeper, being in community, healing, right? It's not like there's not a single person who has come on the podcast and and has been like, you know, my whole goal in life is to go viral and be famous for being famous. No, people want to be really good at what they do. They want to be recognized for it, and they they want to build a life on, you know, this like beautiful mix of purpose and ambition and and courage. And I think that on the other side of that, you know, it's it's really scary to be seen sometimes. And growing requires confronting certain parts of yourself that you'd rather avoid. And so there is always this duality of the light and the dark, right? The parts of ourselves that are sparkly and extroverted, and the other parts that are, you know, dark and tangled and introverted. And so, you know, as this conversation or these conversations continue to go forward, this is this is where I want to continue to go. Like this is the direction that we're nudging in, right? We're talking about change, we're talking about fear, we're talking about grief, we're talking about courage, we're talking about self-worth, we're talking about becoming, we're talking about what it actually takes to build a meaningful life, and we're talking about the tension that that inherently brings to it. Because it's not fucking easy. It's not fucking easy, and nobody has it figured out, but we're gonna talk through it and we're gonna learn from each other and we're gonna grow with each other, we're gonna pull each other along. So there's also that piece. This next season we're going deeper. Um, you're still gonna hear from incredible guests, and you're also gonna hear more solo episodes, more reflection, more storytelling, more conversations about identity and healing and being fully human, fully alive. It's gonna be way, way less about having the perfect answer, way more about just being curious and honest and holding space for nuance. So I want to ask you as I wrap up this little mini nugget, you know, what do you want more of? What are your thoughts? Talk to me, tell me, send me a message. If you haven't yet left a review, give me those five stars, baby. Okay. Give me the five stars, type a review, telling everyone you love this podcast and that you're excited to hear this podcast evolve. Uh, let me know what guests you love. Let me know what conversations resonated with you. Let me know if you're interested in more wellness, more business, or if we just want to keep the conversation well rounded. Um, give me the juice, give me the tea, okay? Let me know. You know where to find me. I'm always around. Okay. So I'm gonna leave it there. Thank you so much for being a part of this first season. Thank you for wow, just every single every single download is like a little voice that whispers, keep going. And so I do. I'll see you next week. Bye.