We just got married… but we’re still dating.

In this episode, Jonathan joins me for a very personal conversation about one of the things we want to protect most in our marriage: intentional time together.

We talk about why date night matters to us, why we actually put it on the calendar, and why a great date doesn’t have to involve an expensive restaurant, or cost anything at all.

Sometimes it’s dinner out. Sometimes it’s a walk, a drive in the little truck, sitting by the firepit, listening to music, or staying home together.

The point isn’t where we go. The expense is optional. The intention isn’t.

We also talk about getting out of the sweatpants and making an effort for each other, putting our phones away, lingering instead of rushing, and why some of our favorite conversations happen on the couch after we get home.

We dig into our different love languages, the importance of being both interesting and interested, and why I don’t just want to know Jonathan, I want to keep getting to know him.

And date night isn’t the only time we protect. We share details about our 6:00 boundary

Because two independent people can have full lives of their own and still choose, over and over again, to reconnect.

We also get into the bigger question: What happens when couples stop being intentional? When does partnership start feeling more like schedules, chores and roommates than two people who actually chose each other?

Marriage may have changed our relationship status. It didn’t change our desire to date each other.

If you’ve been with someone for six months, six years or thirty years, maybe the question isn’t, “When was our last date?”

Maybe it’s: Are we still choosing each other?

———

Don't Be a Miserable Cow shares practical tools and deeply personal insights that empower people to take control and improve their lives with intentionality and presence. Lisa and her guests explore captivating topics like gratitude, boundaries, self-care, relationships, persistence, and finding joy in everyday life, all through the power of choice, by choosing peace and joy again and again.

Subscribe so you never miss a conversation like this.

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What happens when your mom no longer knows who you are, but you’re still the one showing up, loving her, caring for her, and finding reasons to laugh together?

In this deeply honest conversation, Tonya Maurer shares what it really looks like to care for her mom, Ginny, through Alzheimer’s, from the exhaustion, guilt, difficult decisions and grief to the funny, beautiful, completely unexpected moments of joy that still remain.

We talk about the terrifying night Ginny wandered, the difficult transition to memory care, a recent hospitalization and bringing her home again, and Tonya’s decision to welcome the support of hospice.

We also talk about something caregivers don’t hear enough: acceptance.

What happens when we stop asking, “Why is this happening to us?” and stop fighting a reality we cannot change? Can accepting what is actually create more peace, and allow us to be more present for the person who is still here?

Tonya shares the moments Alzheimer’s has not taken: gardening, laughter, games, a pool-noodle sword fight, a puzzle completed entirely Ginny’s own way, and those moments when being her daughter and caregiver feels like a gift.

We also discuss:

• The grief of losing pieces of someone who is still here

• What caregiving really asks of a family

• Knowing when care needs to change

• What hospice support can actually look like

• Radical acceptance and finding peace

• What friends can do to truly support a caregiver

• Why “Let me know if you need anything” often isn’t enough

• Finding community and asking for help

• How grief and joy can exist at exactly the same time

If you are caring for someone you love, or know someone who is, this conversation is for you.

You are allowed to acknowledge how hard this is and still notice what is beautiful.

Subscribe for more honest conversations about choice, gratitude, boundaries, caregiving, resilience, brain health and finding joy, even when life doesn’t go according to plan.

🧡 Don’t Be a Miserable Cow

Choose peace. Choose joy. And don’t be a miserable cow.

If this conversation resonates with you, please like, comment, and subscribe. And share it with someone who needs to hear that a diagnosis is not the whole story.

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Meredith Montana was diagnosed with severe scoliosis as a child, spent years trying to avoid major surgery, and ultimately underwent a 15-level spinal fusion with 24 screws and two rods.

And then she kept dancing.Known as The Bionic Ballerina, Meredith went on to become a professional dancer and model, perform with Cher, walk New York Fashion Week, and build a career many once feared her spine would make impossible.

In this episode of Don’t Be a Miserable Cow, Meredith and I talk about what scoliosis actually is, growing up in a brace, being told her body might limit her future, the decision to undergo spinal fusion, the reality of recovery, and what it took to trust her body again.

We also talk about why she created The Bionic Project and BioniCon, communities designed to give adults living with scoliosis and spinal fusion the connection, education, and support she wished she had growing up.

This conversation is about so much more than scoliosis.It’s about identity, body image, acceptance, resilience, community and refusing to let a diagnosis decide what’s possible.

If this conversation resonates with you, please like, comment, and subscribe. And share it with someone who needs to hear that a diagnosis is not the whole story.

thebionicproject.com

@bionic_ballerina

@the_bionicproject

———Don't Be a Miserable Cow shares practical tools and deeply personal insights that empower people to take control and improve their lives with intentionality and presence. Lisa and her guests explore captivating topics like gratitude, boundaries, self-care, relationships, persistence, and finding joy in everyday life, all through the power of choice, by choosing peace and joy again and again.Subscribe so you never miss a conversation like this.http://joywithlisa.comhttps://www.instagram.com/find_joy_no_regretshttps://www.facebook.com/share/1Ha53wjaKc/