In this episode, we push back hard against New Year’s resolutions and unpack why they so often leave us feeling guilty, frustrated, and stuck. Instead, we talk through the idea of yearly themes—a gentler, more flexible way to guide growth without the pressure of pass/fail goals. We reflect on our past themes, share what worked (and what didn’t), and introduce our themes for 2026: a year of peace and the year of gentle refinement. Along the way, we dig into anxiety, sleep, routines, and why progress is never linear—and that’s actually the point.

Show Notes

• We open by talking about being together in person over the holidays, unseasonably warm winter weather, and how strange it feels to see green grass in December.
• We reflect on how climate shifts, lack of snowpack, and wildfire smoke have become an unsettling “new normal.”
• As the year wraps up, we explain why we are firmly opposed to traditional New Year’s resolutions.
  • They tend to be overly ambitious.
  • They focus on failure and guilt rather than growth.
  • They encourage all-or-nothing thinking.
• We talk about how resolutions often repeat year after year, reinforcing a cycle of disappointment instead of progress.
• We introduce the idea of yearly themes, inspired by the Cortex podcast’s approach.
  • Themes guide decisions instead of dictating outcomes.
  • You can’t “fail” a theme.
  • Themes allow for flexibility, reassessment, and course-altering without shame.
• We discuss how progress actually works:
  • Growth isn’t linear.
  • Life looks more like a sine wave than a straight upward line.
  • The goal is to slowly shift the baseline over time.
• Aubrey reflects on last year’s theme—essentially survival—and why graduating, moving, and starting a new life counts as success.
• Peter shares past themes:
  • The Year of Growth (too broad)
  • The Year of Conscious Action (more effective and grounded)
• Aubrey introduces her 2026 theme: A Year of Peace
  • Focused on managing anxiety rather than “fixing” it.
  • Centered on inner calm, not external control.
  • Anchored in sleep, movement, mindfulness, and basic needs.
• We talk about anxiety as something often self-generated through imagined scenarios—and how peace is about changing our response.
• Peter introduces his 2026 theme: The Year of Gentle Refinement
  • A rejection of “optimization” as a harsh, weaponized concept.
  • Focused on small, monthly refinements rather than big overhauls.
  • Closely aligned with learning, workflows, and creative projects.
• We discuss embracing failure as information, not judgment.
• Sleep becomes a major focus:
  • Refining nighttime routines.
  • Consistent wake times.
  • Circadian rhythm basics.
• Aubrey shares practical strategies for anxiety management:
  • Walking meditations.
  • Getting sunlight early in the day.
  • Her “first aid kit for anxiety” (drink water, eat, go to the bathroom).
• We close by emphasizing that themes only need to work for you—there’s no universal right answer.

In this episode, we wrap up the year by looking back at everything we read in 2025 — the books we loved, the ones that surprised us, and the ones that completely missed the mark. We dig deep into our shared love (and growing concerns) around Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere, celebrate standout reads like Project Hail Mary and Murderbot, and unpack why some wildly popular fantasy series just didn’t work for us. Along the way, we talk rereads, audiobooks, nonfiction that actually changed how we think, and the frustration of realizing — a little too late — that a book you just finished maybe… wasn’t very good after all.

Episode Notes

• We kick things off with winter check-ins, comparing Wisconsin’s full-on frozen wonderland to Peter’s suspiciously warm, snow-light winter.
• End-of-year busyness hits hard, especially when holidays collide with work schedules and stolen OR days.
• Our main topic: books we read in 2025, including highlights, rereads, surprises, and disappointments.
• Aubrey walks through reading all of Brandon Sanderson’s Secret Projects, with Tress of the Emerald Sea standing out as a near-perfect recommendation for new readers.
• We both revisit Mistborn — rereading the original trilogy reveals new layers, but also highlights lingering concerns about prose and late-series direction.
• The Sunlit Man sparks mixed feelings, especially around Sigzil’s characterization and its disconnect from Wind and Truth.
• Peter rereads the entire Mistborn saga through The Lost Metal, praising Wax and Wayne but expressing disappointment with the finale, escalating Cosmere gods, and Kelsier’s trajectory.
• Both of us admit growing unease after The Lost Metal and Wind and Truth, worrying about where the Cosmere is headed.
• Aubrey shares thoughts on Isles of the Emberdark, Sixth of the Dusk, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, and White Sand — including a strong dislike for Graphic Audio adaptations.
• Peter gushes about The Murderbot Diaries, praising their exploration of personhood, AI, free will, and identity — and recommends the Apple TV+ adaptation.
• We discuss The Three-Body Problem, including its hard sci-fi roots and the famous astrophysics concept behind the title.
• One of Peter’s standout reads: Murder Your Employer, a darkly funny, sharp, and satisfying novel that became his favorite fiction read of the year.
• Aubrey highlights Project Hail Mary as a clear top-tier read, praising both the story and the audiobook experience.
• We talk Hunger Games prequels, with Sunrise on the Reaping delivering emotional devastation and deeper insight into Haymitch.
• Aubrey runs through major fantasy misses, including Fourth Wing, From Blood and Ash, and An Ember in the Ashes, calling out weak prose, flat characters, and formula fatigue.
• Nonfiction roundup from Peter includes Atomic Habits, Save the Cat Writes a Novel, and Tiny Experiments, which had a genuinely life-changing impact.
• Aubrey shares a strong nonfiction miss with The Anatomy of Anxiety, ultimately abandoning it over pseudoscience and diet fear-mongering.
• The episode closes with Peter starting Gödel, Escher, Bach, setting up a serious, slow-burn intellectual challenge for the year ahead.

This week we settle in for a post-Thanksgiving catch-up, sharing how wildly different our holidays looked — from Peter’s early family feast and multiple pie rounds to Aubrey’s first snowy Wisconsin Thanksgiving with a marathon dog show in the background. We recap Aubrey and Hayden’s dream honeymoon in Punta Cana (complete with a personal butler, swim-up suite, and unexpectedly eye-opening moments outside the resort), reflect on the realities of tourism, talk about the new food-pantry project Aubrey is helping with, and rant lovingly about overconsumption and skipped-over Thanksgiving vibes. It’s a cozy, thoughtful, everything-we’ve-been-up-to episode.

Thanksgiving Recap
We compare how our Thanksgivings looked this year:

• Peter had family in town, ate early because Alex worked, and enjoyed the luxury of being done with dinner by 1:30pm — which meant pie three separate times throughout the day.
• Aubrey and Hayden had their first Wisconsin Thanksgiving together: quiet, cozy, just the two of them… and a national dog show that somehow ran for nine hours.
• Hayden cooked the full spread — turkey, stuffing, rolls, mashed potatoes — while Aubrey happily avoided the kitchen.
• The Costco pumpkin pie reigned supreme.
• Wisconsin immediately greeted them with bitter cold and a looming winter storm warning.

Honeymoon in Punta Cana

• Aubrey and Hayden finally took their honeymoon: a full week in the Dominican Republic at an adults-only all-inclusive.
• Thanks to deep research and a weird price quirk, they booked a VIP swim-up suite that was:
• Perfect weather the whole trip: 85° highs, 78° lows, light rain only at night.
• The butler sent daily WhatsApp newsletters with weather, restaurant schedules, and events.
• Resort activities
  • Parasailing
  • Muddy ATV/buggy tour
  • Swimming in a water cave
  • Tasting Dominican hot chocolate, coffee, and tea
  • Exploring local beaches
• Aubrey would like to return and never come home again.

The Realities of Tourism

• They learned resort employees often earn around $450/month, even in high-demand roles.
• Staff often work 12 days on, 2 days off, with housing just across the street.
• Resort guests are encouraged to leave TripAdvisor reviews for staff because bonuses and days off depend on it.
• Aubrey and Hayden tipped generously and left detailed positive reviews.
• We talk about how tourism helps but also doesn’t necessarily feed the real local economy.

What’s New at Home

• Aubrey is settling back into Wisconsin winter and starting her new job.
• Peter’s work has been the usual year-end chaos: med students, residents, OR days, and holiday-season busyness.
• He looks forward to January even though January hasn’t really slowed down in recent years.

Aubrey’s New Unpaid Job

• Aubrey is now the social media manager for her best friend’s mobile food pantry in Salt Lake.
• The pantry serves communities that can’t easily get to traditional food banks.
• Winter increases needs dramatically.
• Aubrey’s been making Canva graphics, Reels/TikToks, and growing the project’s presence.
• Shameless plug: Instagram → freefoodtruck.slc

Rethinking Consumption & the Holidays

• Aubrey has been reflecting on:
  • Volunteering
  • Spending money intentionally
  • Avoiding overconsumption culture — especially around the holidays
  • Donating or supporting causes rather than buying random gifts
• She shares love for:
  • The Hank & John Green–run Good Store
  • Awesome Socks Club subscriptions that funnel profits into maternal health in Sierra Leone
  • Coffee/tea subscriptions funding TB research

Peter’s Mini-Rant on Thanksgiving

• We revisit the idea (from Middle of Culture) that Thanksgiving has meaning but gets ignored since it can’t be easily commercialized.
• Halloween and Christmas dominate because they’re more profitable.
• Black Friday is a shadow of itself — 30% off is now considered a “deal.”

Wrapping Up

• We’re both getting back into routines after travel.
• Aubrey is preparing for a long winter of hibernation.
• Peter encourages light exposure (even artificial) to survive seasonal darkness.

This week, we dive deep into Wind and Truth, the fifth entry in Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive. What starts as admiration for Sanderson’s worldbuilding turns into a sharp critique of bloated storytelling, lazy editing, and inconsistent prose. We talk about what worked—Kaladin’s healing arc, Adolin’s relationships, and some truly epic battles—but spend most of the episode unpacking what didn’t: Shallan’s unbearable arc, the meandering Ghostbloods subplot, and a Dalinar who’s overstayed his welcome. The discussion moves from disappointment to analysis, tackling themes of mental health, narrative bloat, and the line between ambition and indulgence. We end by recommending The Gone Away World as a palate cleanser for readers craving tighter, more inventive writing.

📝 Episode Notes

• Both hosts share travel updates and kick things off sick but chatty.
• Wind and Truth clocks in at 1,360 pages or 63+ hours on audio—“a beast of a book.”
• Aubrey finished months ago; Peter only recently wrapped it up after rereading all Mistborn and the Secret Projects.

Overall impressions:

• Aubrey: emotional, conflicted, “stabbed in the heart” but also confused.
• Peter: relieved it’s over—“glad I won’t have to spend any more time with some of these characters.”

Favorites:

• Kaladin’s recovery and arc completion.
• Adolin and Yanagawn’s evolving friendship.
• The battles in Adolin’s storyline.
• Kaladin’s ending feels earned and hopeful.

Critiques:

• Sanderson’s prose feels “lazy” and “11th-grade honors English.”
• Too much worldbuilding—“circled back around and crawled up its own ass.”
• Shallan and the Ghostbloods storyline: “No one likes Shallan.”
• Dalinar: “A whiny ass little bitch.”
• Yasna’s “debate” with Odium felt implausible and shallow.
• Side plots (Lift, Navani, singers) felt unnecessary or underdeveloped.

Positive Spoilers:

• Kaladin’s ending as a Herald and Szeth’s tragic depth were highlights.
• Discussion of how Sanderson’s earlier writing (Mistborn, Final Empire) felt sharper and better edited.
• Peter recommends The Gone Away World by Nick Harkaway as a contrast—beautiful prose, mind-bending structure, and unforgettable turns.
• Aubrey resolves to slow down her reading pace to savor strong writing better.
• We close with laughs, no facts this week, and announce a four-week break for travel before the next episode.

After years of Marvel fatigue, we dive deep into Thunderbolts*—the first MCU film since Endgame to genuinely move us. From Florence Pugh’s standout performance as Yelena to the surprisingly heartfelt “group hug” finale, we unpack why this movie finally brought back the magic that’s been missing. Along the way, we reflect on our shared Marvel journey, rank the post-Endgame films (spoiler: most didn’t make the cut), and rediscover what made these stories so meaningful in the first place.

Opening Catch-up

• Aubrey starts a new job as an after-school group leader for kids — “the fun person, not the teacher.”
• Peter updates on Gareth’s swim success (first places all around) and a hilarious 2 a.m. fridge alarm incident.
• Both discuss recovering from September burnout and their ongoing learning projects — Peter’s Save the Cat course and Aubrey’s self-taught math/physics review plan using ChatGPT as a tutor.

Main Topic — Marvel Since Endgame

• The two go phase by phase, movie by movie, revisiting the highs (Shang-Chi, No Way Home) and many lows (Eternals, Love and Thunder, Secret Invasion).
• Aubrey admits she used to defend Marvel “like an apologist,” but finally concedes the spark was gone.
• Peter jokes that Secret Invasion made him “angrier than anything he’s ever wasted time on.”

Thunderbolts*: The Return of the MCU?

• Directed by Jake Schreier, starring Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, and others.
• Plot breakdown: Yelena leads a ragtag group of “broken people” — Bucky, Red Guardian, John Walker, Ghost — under the manipulative Valentina.
• The villain “Bob” becomes The Sentry and then The Void, forcing the team to confront their trauma inside a literal nightmare realm.
• The climax: they defeat the Void not by fighting, but by hugging Bob — a surprisingly emotional resolution.
• Post-credit: Valentina tries to rebrand them as “the new Avengers,” and the Fantastic Four ship appears.

Highlights & Themes

• Florence Pugh dominates — “It’s really Yelena and the Thunderbolts.”
• Standout emotional moment: Yelena’s tearful “Daddy, I’m so lonely” scene with Red Guardian.
• Symbolism: the opening fight mirrors the “shadow” motif that returns when the Void consumes people.
• The film’s power lies in broken people learning to support each other without pretending friendship fixes everything.
• Classic Marvel humor returns — from Bucky-as-congressman gags to Red Guardian’s sticker-covered tracksuit.

We kick off this cozy catch-up episode by talking about burnout, post-wedding exhaustion, and the lingering weirdness of long-distance relationships. From there, we dive into the theme of lifelong learning—how to keep your brain sharp and your curiosity alive after formal schooling ends. Peter shares his new quarterly “learning sprint” approach inspired by David Perell’s Learn Like an Athlete, outlining his plan to spend the next three months mastering story structure before returning to novel-writing. Aubrey reflects on keeping her astrophysics skills sharp, learning more about fitness from a science-nerd angle, and her dreams of returning to piano someday. The conversation wraps with a classic Generations blend of humor and motivation as Peter shares a health study proving heavy lifting’s long-term benefits—reminding us all that it’s never too late to pick up a barbell or a new skill.

Episode Notes

Opening chat:

• Peter feels completely drained after a whirlwind of family events and hospital admin battles.
• Aubrey talks about being home alone while Hayden traveled and how long-distance “muscle memory” still hits hard.
• Both agree that post-big-life-event fatigue is real.

Topic introduction – “Lifelong Learning”:

• Peter introduces an article by David Perell, Learn Like an Athlete, found through ReadWise Reader.
• Discusses how ReadWise makes highlighting meaningful through spaced repetition and daily resurfacing of insights.
• Perell’s idea: approach learning like athletes train—using three-month learning sprints with clear focus and goals.

Peter’s Q4 learning sprint:

• Theme: Story structure and character development for novel writing.
• Goal: Build an outline and structured framework for his next book by January 1.
• Using Jessica Brody’s Writing Mastery Academy and a library of writing books from Humble Bundle and StoryBundle.
• Plans six books and six courses—may adjust as he finds his pace.
• Next quarter (Q1 2026): Learn photography fundamentals—composition, editing, and shooting with just his iPhone.

Aubrey’s learning plans:

• Wants to keep her math and physics skills sharp while applying to grad school.
• Plans to study Physics GRE problems to maintain academic sharpness.
• Considering a personal training certification—diving deeper into the science of fitness and anatomy.
• Hopes to return to piano when space allows—acknowledging how humbling it’ll be to rebuild old skill.
• Has been deep in her plant care hobby, enjoying the continuous learning it offers.

Shared reflections:

• The joy of learning freely, outside of grades and assignments.
• Using modern tools like ChatGPT and YouTube to build structured, personalized learning plans.
• Seeing learning as a lifelong habit that keeps the brain resilient.

Health segment:

• Peter shares a study featured in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Pump Club:
  • Adults in their 60s who trained with heavy resistance for one year retained significant strength four years later.
  • Resistance training builds long-term neuromuscular adaptations—real “muscle memory.”
• Peter and Aubrey geek out on progressive overload, structured training, and how repetition creates real growth.
• Shout-out to Arnold’s Pump Club app—even Peter’s wife is hooked!

Closing notes:

• Message of the week: Keep learning. Keep lifting. Keep showing up.
• Feedback welcome at feedback@generations.fm

In this catch-up episode of Generations, Peter and Aubrey return after a whirlwind few weeks. Peter talks about buying a new car (and reluctantly becoming a Toyota RAV4 hybrid owner), while Aubrey shares stories from her Alaskan cruise, her wedding, and all the chaos leading up to it—including marathon-induced detours, anxious pre-wedding jitters, and Mario Kart battles. The two swap laughs, family updates, and wrap with Aubrey geeking out over a black hole that’s devouring suns by the thousands.

Show Notes

Catching up after a break

• Peter and Aubrey talk about why they’ve been away and what’s been going on.
• Peter shares the story of unexpectedly trading in his car for a Toyota RAV4 hybrid.

Aubrey’s three-week whirlwind

• An Alaskan cruise full of hikes, glaciers, wildlife, and a 65-mph zipline adventure.
• Packing stress: wedding dress, cruise gear, and everything else in one massive haul.
• Banana-posing seals, neon moss hikes, and glacier ice crashing into the sea.
• The world’s largest zipline: GoPros, nerves, swearing, and exhilaration.

Wedding chaos & beauty

• Marathon traffic nearly derails the timeline, but the day turns out magical.
• Emotional first look: Hayden cried before even seeing Aubrey.
• Wedding day menu: three meatballs and a slice of cake.
• Reception highlight: Aubrey destroying Hayden at Mario Kart and Smash Bros.

Family weekend

• Following day: Alex’s homecoming talk.
• Coming home to a mountain of wedding gifts.

Final science fact

• Aubrey shares about a supermassive black hole devouring 300–3,000 suns per year.
• Quasars, the Eddington limit, and the wonder of looking billions of years into the past.

In this episode, Peter and Aubrey talk candidly about the stresses they’re facing—Aubrey with last-minute wedding planning and Peter with heavy experiences at work. They explore how decision fatigue, social media comparisons, and secondary trauma weigh on them, and share the small but important ways they cope—from Hayden’s grounded advice and wedding perspective shifts, to Taskmaster marathons, D&D nights, and even Donkey Kong therapy. The conversation circles around what really matters—connection, perspective, and finding moments of relief—and wraps with an astronomy tidbit on the Perseids meteor shower.

Show Notes

• Aubrey shares the whirlwind of last-minute wedding planning: decision fatigue, pressure from TikTok wedding “must-dos,” and the relief of remembering the day is about love, not perfection.
• Peter recalls once joking that he’d hand his kids $10k to elope—and realizing maybe it wasn’t a joke after all.
• Discussion on the stress of endless tiny decisions, and how habits can remove decision fatigue.
• Aubrey’s Vegas bachelor/bachelorette trip recap: pool days, Cirque du Soleil, magic shows, and Costco mac & cheese.
• Reflections on long-distance PTSD—her body still feels like Hayden might “leave for school” even though he’s not.
• Peter opens up about dealing with secondary trauma at work, the kind that lingers in unexpected ways.

Coping strategies:

• Aubrey: limiting social media wedding content, leaning on Hayden, remembering it’s about “us, not me.”
• Peter: staying connected to colleagues and family, seeking low-stakes entertainment (Taskmaster, Donkey Kong Bananza on Switch 2), taking breaks from heavy books, playing D&D, and finding catharsis in music.
• Reflection on extravagant weddings vs. long marriages—Emory study shows higher costs often linked to shorter marriages.
• A funny cake panic: Aubrey blurts out “raspberry lemon” flavor on the spot, then spirals until Hayden reminds her they can always renew vows in ten years if she still cares.
• Peter talks about scaling back Imperfect Practice’s 30-day challenge plans due to current emotional load—sometimes you need to simplify.
• Closing discussion about transitions: Peter’s son Alex returning from his mission and the challenge of re-adjusting to home life after such a focused purpose.
• Aubrey’s astro fact: the Perseids meteor shower, up to 70 shooting stars an hour, though cloud cover blocked her view this year.