Claim OwnershipDancing in the Discomfort Zone with Anne Bonney
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© 2026 Dancing in the Discomfort Zone with Anne Bonney
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Let's face it, life is uncomfortable. Whether it's interacting with other humans (or trying to), going after our goals and improving our lives, or understanding other people's perspectives, preferences and proclivities, being able to face the discomforts in life with courage, compassion, confidence and resilience will make life a lot more enjoyable! So join me as we DANCE IN THE DISCOMFORT ZONE! We'll explore new ideas, learn how to build our confidence, courage and resilience, and laugh a little too, because life is serious enough. We need a little cha cha, and a little ha ha every once in a while! Welcome to the Discomfort Zone with Anne Bonney!
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What do tough conversations, grief, fear, and habits all have in common? Discomfort. In this month-end wrap-up, I’m pulling together the biggest insights from conversations with a hostage negotiator, a grief coach, a keynote speaker, and a habit expert—and the message is clear: discomfort isn’t the problem… avoiding it is. If you want more resilience, stronger relationships, and habits that actually stick, it starts with getting better at the uncomfortable stuff. Crucial Conversations Book: h...
Let’s talk habits… but not the cute, color-coded, “new year new me” kind. I’m joined by CHRISTOPH Merrill (aka the Habit Freak, thought-leader, speaker, author CHRISTOPHmerrill.com ), and this conversation goes way deeper than discipline and checklists. After a life-altering moment that nearly cost him everything, CHRISTOPH discovered a truth most habit advice completely ignores: Habits aren’t built for calm days. They’re built for the hard ones. We talk about what it really takes to build ha...
Today we’re dancing in the discomfort zone with Greg Bennick (www.gregbennick.com) keynote speaker, author, musician, juggler (yes, actually), and professional reminder that you matter. Greg’s message? If you want a better future, build a better now. We talk about what it really means to embrace discomfort. Not as something to survive, but as something to lean into. Greg shares how his early days as a performer (and yes, literal juggler) shaped his relationship with fear, uncertainty, a...
Grief. Death. Loss. Deep breath. Stay with me. (The name of the podcast should have warned you!) In this episode, I sit down with life transition coach and death doula Jennifer Sanfilippo (www.jennifer-sanfilippo.com) to talk about something we ALL experience… but rarely talk about well. PLOT TWIST: grief isn’t just about death! We explore how unacknowledged losses (like career shifts, identity changes, empty nests, layoffs, divorces and all that) quietly shape our resilience. Bec...
What do hostage negotiations and workplace conflict have in common? More than you think. Former SWAT hostage negotiator Scott Tillema (https://scotttillema.com/) joins me to break down what it really takes to influence emotional people in high-stakes moments...whether you’re outside a barricaded building, delivering some uncomfortable performance feedback or trying to solve a problem with your spouse. If you’ve got tough conversations in the back of your head that you need to have, thi...
Two Super Bowl commercials. Two very different emotional reactions. And one curious conversation that opens the door to something much bigger. In this episode, your host Anne Bonney (https://YourChangeSpeaker.com) contrasts a feel-good moment of human connection with a symbol-heavy display of comfort and certainty and explores what our reactions to each might say about how we view belonging, agency, and discomfort. This isn’t an episode that hands you tidy answers. Instead, it offers a ...
What happens when success on paper no longer feels right in real life? In this episode of Dancing in the Discomfort Zone, Anne Bonney talks with Trevor Blondeel (www.trevorblondeel.com) about leadership, emotional intelligence, and what it really takes to connect people across the C-suite and the shop floor. From manufacturing leadership to tough conversations and values-based decisions, this episode is packed with practical insight and refreshing honesty. We talk about: Making big, sca...
What happens when life knocks you all the way down—and then keeps going? In this powerful episode of Dancing in the Discomfort Zone, Anne Bonney talks with Front Row Frankie (https://frontrowfortitude.com) about addiction recovery, resilience, personal growth, and rebuilding life after rock bottom. This raw, honest conversation explores emotional intelligence, accountability, courage, and how real change happens when you’re willing to face discomfort head-on. We talk about What rock bot...
How do you perform under pressure without burning out? In this episode of Dancing in the Discomfort Zone, host Anne Bonney sits down with Jay Abbasi (https://jayabbasi.me/) global keynote speaker, TEDx speaker, former Tesla leader, and host of the Unstuck podcast to break down how high performers can navigate stress, uncertainty, and change with resilience and clarity. Jay draws from his experience leading national training programs at Tesla and coaching leaders at Google, Amazon, and Wells F...
What if the clarity you’re waiting for doesn’t come before the action—but because of it? In this solo January wrap-up episode of Dancing in the Discomfort Zone, Anne Bonney connects the dots between this month’s conversations with Linda, Kim, Adam and Sabine and reveals a powerful truth about change, growth, and resilience: clarity comes after you move. Our brains crave certainty, but real progress happens in motion. Whether you’re trying to build healthier habits, make a change at work, or f...
What happens when you’re eating “healthy,” doing all the right things, and your body still refuses to cooperate? Or you diet and lose weight...and then find it again? In this episode of the Dancing in the Discomfort Zone Podcast, Anne sits down with Sabine Richard (revealyourself.info ), who shares her powerful and refreshingly honest story of gaining 42 pounds in her 40s after moving to the U.S. and how years of restrictive dieting, cutting foods, and starting over again and again...
If you prefer to watch on YouTube, go here. https://youtu.be/cIDt3PGnnz8 What happens when a successful, analytical professional looks at his life during COVID and realizes he is not happy, it's not working, and a change HAS to be made? In this episode of Dancing in the Discomfort Zone, Anne Bonney sits down with Adam Peters (https://mindmaprenovations.com/), neuroscience-based trainer, happiness ambassador, and author of The Blueprint to Happy, to explore how our brains get wired for s...
What happens when two moms look at textile waste and decide to do something about it? In this episode of Dancing in the Discomfort Zone, Anne Bonney talks with Kim Lau and Linda Young, co-founders of Project ReWear (https://www.projectrewear.com/) a mission-driven thrifting and textile-waste initiative based in Thousand Oaks, CA. What starts as lighthearted banter quickly turns into a powerful conversation about reinvention, courage, and building community-centered solutions to a massiv...
What if stronger relationships, better leadership, and more success all start with one skill: being brave enough to connect? In this insightful and energizing episode, success strategist and keynote director Brigham Blackham (https://linktr.ee/brighamblackham ) joins Anne to explore the power of discomfort, curiosity, and communication in building meaningful relationships. From learning Mandarin in Taiwan to coaching high-performance speakers, Brigham shares how stepping into the unfami...
The holidays are here… which means joy, cookies, twinkle lights, and—let’s be honest—a whole lot of humans who can push our buttons. In this solo episode, Anne breaks down a powerful emotional-intelligence concept she calls “freezing people.” It’s the unconscious habit of locking someone into one moment, one mistake, or one harmful comment… and then carrying that version of them forever. Using real-life stories, a little tough love, and her signature playful honesty, Anne explores how freezin...
In this solo episode, Anne shares the wild, twisty journey of finishing her seventh-continent marathon—complete with flight chaos, self-doubt, porta-potties, unexpected friendship, and one very persistent inner critic. What you’ll take away from this episode: Why your brain freaks out when you face something hard, new, or uncertain (and why it’s not a problem).How “just starting”, one small action shrinks fear and builds self-efficacy.Why failure isn’t the enemy…and why not trying is.A simple...
What do swamp volleyball, software debugging, and self-doubt have in common? A lot more than you’d think. In this episode, Anne sits down with Kari Sipinen (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kari-sipinen), a Finnish-born engineer, world-champion swamp volleyball player, and all-around discomfort-zone explorer, who has turned mud, mistakes, and mindfulness into a philosophy for life. Kari shares how wading waist-deep in the muck during the World Championship of Swamp Volleyball taught him abou...
What happens when the therapist becomes her own best client? Meet Judy Herman (https://www.judycounselor.com/), psychotherapist, author, and retreat facilitator who turned decades of personal pain into a roadmap for emotional freedom. After surviving a 30-year marriage filled with toxicity and raising four kids, Judy didn’t just heal—she rewrote the rules for how women reclaim their power. In this deeply honest and surprisingly uplifting conversation, Judy shares how her second husband’s psyc...
This week, Anne (https://YourChangeSpeaker.com) takes a quick dive into one of her favorite emotional-intelligence tools for real-world connection: how to approach tough conversations without blowing up the bridge you’re trying to build. Drawing on her keynote and workshop material, Anne revisits the cognitive triad—how our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors shape our results—and adds one crucial twist: before you assume someone’s being a jerk, ask yourself, “Is that the only explanation?” In ...
When the gloves come off in divorce court, Lois Liberman (https://www.blankrome.com/people/lois-j-liberman) brings empathy, grit, and a wicked sense of humor. In this Dancing in the Discomfort Zone episode, the powerhouse attorney with 36 years in matrimonial law spills the truth about what really goes down when love unravels—and how to come out stronger. Always striving to reduce her clients “emotional capital expenditure,” Lois helps clients stop wasting energy on battles that don’t matter ...
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