Send us a text

In this Thanksgiving episode, I am extra thankful for you being here! Many moms (including me!) are anxious to have their college students home for the holiday, but that doesn't mean it won't be without its possible challenges. We'll have a conversation exploring the joys and challenges of welcoming college freshmen back home for the holidays. As our families reconnect, we need to adapt to the changes our child has experienced in their first months at college, from newfound independence to identity growth, and how these shifts impact family dynamics, which have also had to adapt.. Whether it’s managing expectations, fostering open communication, or finding gratitude in the chaos, this episode is packed with advice to help families make the most of this special time together.

Dr. Brubaker’s warm and relatable approach offers encouragement and empathy, reminding listeners to focus on connection, gratitude, and the love that binds families. Perfect for parents navigating their child's return from college, this episode is your guide to a meaningful and memorable Thanksgiving.

Listen now on Reframing Me and connect on social media at @reframingme or at reframing-me.com.

Support the show

Thank you for listening and being part of this community! Let's get social. Follow me on Facebook, on Twitter @reframing_me, on Instagram @reframingme and on TikTok @reframingme
I hope you enjoyed the episode! Please leave a review, catch up on any missed episodes, and be sure to follow the show, so you don't miss new content!

Send us a text

Thank you so much for being here!

*** Join me in the Reframing Circle to go deeper each month with *1 bonus Jen is Zen episode,* *1 matreniassance-themed episode,* *1 guided meditation,* and *weekly book readings/discussions.***

You can create your own magic. You can create your own future. You do not have to be chosen. You do not have to wait to be chosen. You are the creator of your own life.

There's a moment that so many midlife moms quietly fear: the one where they sense that their purpose is fading just as their children’s lives are expanding. Being caregiving becomes an identity, and how losing that role can feel like losing yourself.

But you don’t have to wait to be chosen or validated. You can choose yourself. You can create your own magic. See this as an invitation for women to reclaim their purpose, trust their voice, and remember that midlife isn’t a decline; it’s an awakening.

Support the show

Thank you for listening and being part of this community! Let's get social. Follow me on Facebook, on Twitter @reframing_me, on Instagram @reframingme and on TikTok @reframingme
I hope you enjoyed the episode! Please leave a review, catch up on any missed episodes, and be sure to follow the show, so you don't miss new content!

Send us a text

It's the home stretch for my years as a "Football Mom," and I am feeling the feels. When your kids are involved in an activity that becomes consuming of your time, energy, and money, and when we find ourselves on the sideline or in the stands or seats watching day after day, week after week, year after year, there comes a point when it all ends. For many, senior year is that end. But for some, it happens sooner, whether they don’t make the team or grow out of love with the sport or activity and just decide they are done – but wait! You might say – but what if I’m not done?

It’s the end of a chapter. There is a loss – a sense of grief – it’s the loss of an activity – of a group of people you’ve grown to feel a community with – the loss of something that you share with your child. It's ok to feel sad. It’s ok for us to look back and reflect. It just won’t be the same. And it’s ok to mourn that end – mourn the loss. We may feel an ambiguous loss. At its core, ambiguous loss is about a lack of resolution. The loss of what could have or should have been. The loss of someone or something as it was.

But we aren’t the only ones who will feel the end because obviously, the kids will feel it even more than we do. So what comes next - what can we expect from our teen athletes post sports, and how you can help them find their identities.

Support the show

Thank you for listening and being part of this community! Let's get social. Follow me on Facebook, on Twitter @reframing_me, on Instagram @reframingme and on TikTok @reframingme
I hope you enjoyed the episode! Please leave a review, catch up on any missed episodes, and be sure to follow the show, so you don't miss new content!

Send us a text

*** Join me in the Reframing Circle to go deeper each month with *1 bonus Jen is Zen episode,* *1 matreniassance-themed episode,* *1 guided meditation,* and *weekly book readings/discussions.***

Each month in the Reframing Circle, we'll have a guided meditation. This month, the focus will be on gratitude. To show my gratitude to all of you, I've unlocked this November meditation, so you can have a peek inside, and because gratitude is something that you must have before you can receive. It’s not simply something you feel after something good happens. So today we’re going to cultivate that feeling of gratitude for what we do have so we can be open to the abundance of all that we want.

Support the show

Thank you for listening and being part of this community! Let's get social. Follow me on Facebook, on Twitter @reframing_me, on Instagram @reframingme and on TikTok @reframingme
I hope you enjoyed the episode! Please leave a review, catch up on any missed episodes, and be sure to follow the show, so you don't miss new content!

Send us a text

*** Join me in the Reframing Circle to go deeper each month with *1 bonus Jen is Zen episode,* *1 matreniassance-themed episode,* *1 guided meditation,* and *weekly book readings/discussions.***

What does it really take to build openness, honesty, and trust with our kids as they grow into teens? It's not by becoming the "cool mom" and loosening all boundaries, but it is by evolving right alongside them.

As kids grow up, parent–child relationships shift from vertical to horizontal -from top-down authority to side-by-side connection - and this change asks us to redefine what authority, influence, and love look like in modern families. Believe it or not, both openness and structure and both freedom and safety, can peacefully coexist.

It's not about perfect parenting, but it is about relational growth - learning to listen more than lecture, to respond instead of react, and to trade control for connection. It’s about the moment we stop trying to “win” as parents and start learning to walk beside our kids instead.

Because the goal isn’t to raise perfect children - it’s to raise honest ones. And that kind of honesty is built, moment by moment, in a climate where trust feels safer than silence.

Support the show

Thank you for listening and being part of this community! Let's get social. Follow me on Facebook, on Twitter @reframing_me, on Instagram @reframingme and on TikTok @reframingme
I hope you enjoyed the episode! Please leave a review, catch up on any missed episodes, and be sure to follow the show, so you don't miss new content!

Send us a text

Be a founding member and join the Reframing Circle for EXCLUSIVE content! Inside the Circle - a private space for women ready to rediscover themselves beyond the frames around them, the roles they play, and the narratives they’ve been told - you'll have access to bonus Matrenaissance, Jen is Zen, book content and more!

In this bonus episode, we continue our weekly series, reading and discussing excerpts from my new book, Reframe the Moment. It's super fun and appropriate because each essay grew out of a Jen is Zen episode, so why not bring it full circle. Today we talk about Chapter 8 - Our Discontent.

Our discontent often comes from our desire to control the situation and to predict the outcome. Acceptance that we can’t do that can be a huge relief and an opportunity to move forward. Maybe it’s not from where you want to be, but it’s from where you are. What would happen if instead of putting that positive or negative frame around it, you just accepted it? As is.

Support the show

Thank you for listening and being part of this community! Let's get social. Follow me on Facebook, on Twitter @reframing_me, on Instagram @reframingme and on TikTok @reframingme
I hope you enjoyed the episode! Please leave a review, catch up on any missed episodes, and be sure to follow the show, so you don't miss new content!

Send us a text

Welcome back to the show! I hope you enjoy this episode - it's not a typical episode; instead, it's more of a guided walk-through of the ReFRAME process, a six-phase model for personal and identity transformation.

Do you feel like you're not quite sure who you're becoming, but you know you're not who you were? Identity discovery is a fluid, ongoing practice of communication between our past, present, and emerging selves, and the ReFRAME model exists to help you through it.

The class-style session introduces each phase with short explanations and reflective exercises.

1. Recognize – Becoming aware that something no longer fits and identifying the gap between external expectations and inner truth through the Identity Gap Audit.
2. The little e – Choosing an emotional current—Kindness → Joy → Love → Confidence → Gratitude → Grace—as the controllable energy that powers all other steps.
3. Feel – Allowing emotions to surface and interpreting them as information using the Feel & Flow Scan (Name it, Notice it, Nurture it).
4. Reflect – Making meaning from emotion and identifying personal narratives with the Reframe the Story exercise, transforming limiting beliefs into new perspectives.
5. Articulate – Giving language to the new understanding through the IRL Identity Map (“Right now, I am someone who …”), turning inner truth into lived communication.
6. Move – Translating awareness into action with the GROW Action Plan (Goal, Reality, Options, Way Forward) and committing to one aligned micro-movement.
7. Embody – Integrating the work through the Identity Embodiment Exercise (Before, Current, Becoming) and a daily affirmation that anchors the desired state.

Beginning In November, you'll be able to dig deeper into this process by subscribing to the Reframing Circle for bonus content. And in January, you will be able to really do a deep dive in a six-week course. I hope you'll join me on this wonderful journey!

Thank you for listening and being part of this community! Let's get social. Follow me on Facebook, on Twitter @reframing_me, on Instagram @reframingme and on TikTok @reframingme
I hope you enjoyed the episode! Please leave a review, catch up on any missed episodes, and be sure to follow the show, so you don't miss new content!

Send us a text

In this bonus episode, we continue our weekly series, reading and discussing excerpts from my new book, Reframe the Moment. It's super fun and appropriate because each essay grew out of a Jen is Zen episode, so why not bring it full circle. Today we talk about Chapter 6 - Feeling the Feels.

We waste so much energy avoiding uncomfortable emotions. Whether it’s sadness, worry, fear, or uncertainty, pushing feelings away doesn’t make them disappear - it only delays healing. Emotional growth comes from sitting with difficult feelings instead of resisting them, so if we can stop avoiding what we feel, accept emotions as they are, and move through them with awareness, we'll emerge stronger and more centered on the other side.

Beginning next week - join me in The Reframing Circle and begin to ReFRAME you!

Video is available on YouTube, my website, and socials (I think y'all know how rare that is for me! I guess I'm turning over a new leaf!). You can order the book now if you'd like to read along.

Thank you for listening and being part of this community! Let's get social. Follow me on Facebook, on Twitter @reframing_me, on Instagram @reframingme and on TikTok @reframingme

I hope you enjoyed the episode! Please leave a review, catch up on any missed episodes, and be sure to follow the show, so you don't miss new content!

Thank you for listening and being part of this community! Let's get social. Follow me on Facebook, on Twitter @reframing_me, on Instagram @reframingme and on TikTok @reframingme
I hope you enjoyed the episode! Please leave a review, catch up on any missed episodes, and be sure to follow the show, so you don't miss new content!