Rest is not the reward you get after you've done enough. It's the foundation everything else is built on.

In this season finale, Rebecca and Meredith take on the culture of productivity, the problem with the term "self-care," and what it actually looks like to nurture yourself. Not someday, not when things calm down, but now, in whatever space you have. They share their own stories of burnout, forced slowdowns, and the practices that finally stuck.

This is also where they introduce Radical Rest Retreats, a space to do this work in community. Details can be found at https://thrivinghumans.org/retreats

20 nurturing activities to get you started are also in the show notes below.

Season 2 is coming. Thank you for being here.

20 Ways to Begin Nurturing Yourself

You don't need money, a full day, or a plan. You just need a few minutes and a willingness to try.

1. Sit outside and watch the sky for 10 minutes. Clouds, birds, light, whatever is there.
2. Make yourself a cup of something warm and drink it slowly without doing anything else.
3. Put on music you love and just listen. Not as background, but as the main event.
4. Take a walk with no destination and no podcast.
5. Write three things that felt good today, however small.
6. Lie down in the middle of the day, even for 15 minutes.
7. Pick up something you used to love doing as a child. Drawing, building, climbing, exploring.
8. Cook or bake something slowly, just for the pleasure of it.
9. Read something purely for enjoyment. Not for learning, not for work.
10. Sit with your hands in dirt, water, or sand.
11. Knit, crochet, or do something repetitive with your hands.
12. Take yourself somewhere new. A neighborhood, a park, a shop. No agenda.
13. Watch the sunrise or sunset without your phone.
14. Dance alone in your kitchen.
15. Call someone whose voice makes you feel good.
16. Spend time with an animal.
17. Lie on the floor and breathe.
18. Do absolutely nothing for five minutes and notice what comes up.
19. Look through old photos that make you smile.
20. Ask yourself: what did I love to do before life got so busy? Then do one small version of that thing.

Remember: this isn't a checklist. It's an invitation. Start with one.

Be curious. Be kind. Start with yourself.

Thriving Humans is hosted by Rebecca Thompson Hitt and Meredith Alvarado. Follow and subscribe wherever you listen.

Radical Rest Retreats are now open online. Self-directed and live group options available. Find upcoming dates and details at https://thrivinghumans.org/retreats

Podcast artwork: Visual Medicine paintings by Rebecca Thompson Hitt

Theme music composed and performed by Chris Peña · chrispenamusic.com

We hear a lot about setting boundaries. What we hear less about is how to know what your boundary even is, especially when you've spent years prioritizing everyone else's needs over your own.

In this episode Rebecca and Meredith reframe boundaries entirely: not as walls or ultimatums, but as acts of self-knowledge and honesty. They talk about what happens to relationships when we say yes and mean no, how to recognize your body's signals, and why slowing down is the only way to get there.

Try this: think of one clear yes in your body. Think of one clear no. Notice the difference.

Be curious. Be kind. Start with yourself.

Thriving Humans is hosted by Rebecca Thompson Hitt and Meredith Alvarado. Follow and subscribe wherever you listen.

Radical Rest Retreats are now open online. Self-directed and live group options available. Find upcoming dates and details at https://thrivinghumans.org/retreats

Podcast artwork: Visual Medicine paintings by Rebecca Thompson Hitt

Theme music composed and performed by Chris Peña · chrispenamusic.com

As children grow, our role as caregivers shifts, often in ways we don't expect. In this episode Rebecca and Meredith move into age twelve, exploring what it means to stay connected with a pre-teen, what it looks like when kids can still come to you with anything, and how the foundation you've been building since they were small starts to show up in your relationship now.

Whether you're parenting a twelve-year-old, long past it, or just thinking about what twelve was like for you, there's something here for you.

Be curious. Be kind. Start with yourself.

Thriving Humans is hosted by Rebecca Thompson Hitt and Meredith Alvarado. Follow and subscribe wherever you listen.

Radical Rest Retreats are now open online. Self-directed and live group options available. Find upcoming dates and details at https://thrivinghumans.org/retreats

Podcast artwork: Visual Medicine paintings by Rebecca Thompson Hitt

Theme music composed and performed by Chris Peña · chrispenamusic.com

What's actually our job as our kids grow? And what does it bring up in us when we look at our own lives at the same ages?

In this 45-minute episode, Meredith and Rebecca pick up where cycle breaking left off-- looking at the four-year-old and the eight-year-old through the lens of the Circle of Security. What does it mean to encourage our children to go out, and being there when they come back in?

Along the way: why the age you struggled with as a child might be the age that's hardest to parent. Bruce Perry's research on the regression that usually comes before a developmental leap. The difference between extrinsic memory and implicit somatic memory. Why an eight-year-old who seems advanced still cannot, generally, clean their own room. And why play doesn't have an expiration date for them, or for us as adults.

And the quiet truth underneath all of it: if you had a childhood, you came from a family. The patterns you inherited live in you whether you have kids or not. Looking at these ages is also an invitation to look back at your own experiences.

In the next episode, we go deeper into the inner landscape of the twelve-year-old.

"We get to start over each time. There will always be a new opportunity to make a different choice." — Meredith

Resource mentioned in this episode

Circle of Security can be found here: https://www.circleofsecurityinternational.com/pages/what-is-the-circle-of-security

Be curious. Be kind. Start with yourself.

Thriving Humans is hosted by Rebecca Thompson Hitt and Meredith Alvarado. Follow and subscribe wherever you listen.

Radical Rest Retreats are now open online. Self-directed and live group options available. Find upcoming dates and details at https://thrivinghumans.org/retreats

Podcast artwork: Visual Medicine paintings by Rebecca Thompson Hitt

Theme music composed and performed by Chris Peña · chrispenamusic.com

Most of us enter parenthood, or really any significant relationship, with a plan for how we think it is going to go. The sitcom version, the book version, the "I will never do that" version. And then reality hits.

In this episode, Rebecca and Meredith get honest about the gap between what they imagined and what actually happened. They explored the patterns they broke, the ones they kept, and the long, messy, beautiful process of figuring it out as they went. Whether you're parenting right now, long past it, or just making sense of the family you came from, this conversation is for you.

Be curious. Be kind. Start with yourself.

Thriving Humans is hosted by Rebecca Thompson Hitt and Meredith Alvarado. Follow and subscribe wherever you listen.

Radical Rest Retreats are now open online. Self-directed and live group options available. Find upcoming dates and details at https://thrivinghumans.org/retreats

Podcast artwork: Visual Medicine paintings by Rebecca Thompson Hitt

Theme music composed and performed by Chris Peña · chrispenamusic.com

What does it actually mean to thrive, and not just survive? In this first episode, Rebecca Thompson Hitt and Meredith Alvarado introduce themselves, share what brought them together, and lay out the philosophy behind Thriving Humans: that you already have your answers, and they're here to help you find them.

Follow and subscribe so you never miss an episode. Radical Rest Retreats are now live. You can find them at https://thrivinghumans.org/retreats

Be curious. Be kind. Start with yourself.

Thriving Humans is hosted by Rebecca Thompson Hitt and Meredith Alvarado. Follow and subscribe wherever you listen.

Radical Rest Retreats are now open online. Self-directed and live group options available. Find upcoming dates and details at https://thrivinghumans.org/retreats

Podcast artwork: Visual Medicine paintings by Rebecca Thompson Hitt

Theme music composed and performed by Chris Peña · chrispenamusic.com

Welcome to Thriving Humans! A podcast for people whose inner knowing is whispering that there's another way.

Hosts Rebecca Thompson Hitt (holistic family therapist) and Meredith Alvarado (holistic healer of Mayan ancestry) have been having these conversations for years with clients, with each other, with friends who call late at night not knowing what to do. Now they're having them with you.

New episodes weekly. Subscribe wherever you listen.

Be curious. Be kind. Start with yourself.

Thriving Humans is hosted by Rebecca Thompson Hitt and Meredith Alvarado. Follow and subscribe wherever you listen.

Radical Rest Retreats are now open online. Self-directed and live group options available. Find upcoming dates and details at https://thrivinghumans.org/retreats

Podcast artwork: Visual Medicine paintings by Rebecca Thompson Hitt

Theme music composed and performed by Chris Peña · chrispenamusic.com