Wide Awake and Wondering

Navigating the Landscape of Loss: Why Your Grief is Normal with Suzanne JabourHave you ever found yourself wide awake at 3:00 AM, replaying a major life transition and wondering how you are supposed to piece your identity back together? Grief is a chaotic, unpredictable monster that society frequently pushes us to hide away. In this raw and deeply necessary episode of Wide Awake and Wondering, host Kristin Mason sits down with Vancouver-based grief educator, coach, and speaker Suzanne Jabour. Together, they strip away the shiny platitudes and explore the gritty, complex reality of reconstructing a beautiful life around catastrophic loss.Dismantling the Traditional Grief HierarchyWe live in a culture that loves to judge and categorize pain. However, Suzanne explains that comparing losses fails to serve anyone. Whether you are navigating a capital-B "Big Grief" like the death of a loved one, or a small-g grief like a career shift, relocation, or relationship pivot—change brings loss, and loss requires mourning. Instead of tracking a rigid timeline, we need to examine how deeply an event disrupts a person’s daily framework.Embracing the Dual Process ModelOne of the most liberating tools discussed in this episode is the Dual Process Model of grieving. Rather than viewing healing as a linear progression through rigid stages, this model frames grief as a natural vacillation. One moment you are forward-thinking—focusing on strategy, family dynamics, and business goals—and the next moment, a wave hits and you are fully inside the heavy "soup" of sorrow. Suzanne shares how learning to honor this flow keeps your emotional baseline moving, preventing long-term stagnation and physical burnout.The Physical Reality of "Grief Brain"If you are struggling to focus at work, forgetting multi-step processes, or fighting severe insomnia, you aren't losing your mind—you are experiencing normal biological grief. Suzanne opens up about her personal battle with intense brain fog following the passing of her son, Ben, in 2020. She highlights the heavy $200 billion annual toll unaddressed workplace grief takes on the economy, urging entrepreneurs and corporate leaders to trade standard, rigid tracking systems for human-centric flexibility. Rebuilding intentionally means learning to tend to your emotions instead of boxing them away in the attic of your mind.Meet Our Guest: Suzanne Jabour Suzanne Jabour is a dedicated grief coach, consultant, author, and speaker based in Vancouver, Canada. After navigating the catastrophic loss of her son Ben in September 2020, Suzanne turned her deep personal journey into a global mission to shift workplace cultures and support individuals through intense transitions. She is a featured co-author of the book 20 Shades of Grief and has shared her powerful insights on the TEDx stage.Resources & Links Mentioned in This Episode:Connect with Suzanne: Visit SuzanneJabour.comFree Resources for Grievers: Access custom guideposts and chapter excerpts at SuzanneJabour.com/grieversSuzanne’s Book: Find 20 Shades of Grief on Amazon.Book Recommendation: Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily and Amelia Nagoski.Learn More About Kristin: Explore financial and accountability coaching for business owners at CK Mason Consulting.Ready to Keep Wondering? If this raw, unfiltered conversation brought comfort to your late-night thoughts, please take a moment to subscribe, rate, and leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Share this episode with a friend or fellow business leader who needs a gentle reminder to drop the perfectionist shield and lean into self-compassion tonight.LISTEN & FOLLOWThanks for spending a part of your night—or your morning—with me. If today’s episode helped you feel less alone in the dark, follow Wide Awake and Wondering on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen, leave a rating or review, and share it with a fellow midnight thinker.Remember, whether you’re pondering the cosmos or your bank account, the questions are big, but we’re in this together. Don't forget to hit the follow button, before you hit the snooze so you never miss an episode of Wide Awake and Wondering.Until next time, keep wondering, and I’ll see you in the middle of the night.Powered by: CK Mason Consultinghttps://ckmasonconsulting.com/podcast

Embracing Spontaneous Structure: ADHD, Shame-Free Productivity, and Chasing Dreams with Barb HubbardDoes your brain flatly refuse to hit the pause button at night? Are you constantly hunting for the perfect time management framework, only to watch it fail your neurodivergent brain weeks later? In this episode of Wide Awake and Wondering, host Kristin Mason sits down with San Diego-based ADHD coach and author Barb Hubbard to dismantle the rigid mainstream expectations surrounding business operations and establish realistic, shame-free frameworks for modern visionaries.Barb spent years as a special educator before launching her independent coaching practice eight years ago. Today, she works directly at the intersection of structure and creative chaos, mapping out intentional solopreneur environments that leverage neurodivergent traits as genuine professional strengths.The Myth of Consistency: Embracing Sporadic ProductivityFor years, business gurus have claimed that identical, daily routines are the primary gateway to elite success. Barb completely rejects this premise for the ADHD community. Because neurodivergent brains intrinsically demand novelty, any singular organization or tracking tool is bound to eventually lose its dopamine-inducing luster. Barb encourages solopreneurs to accept their natural ebb and flow, giving themselves permission to pivot between different paper planners, digital software, and morning workflows without spiraling into negative self-talk or guilt.Building Your Evidence List: Flipping the Negativity BiasWhen tasks fall to the wayside, the instinct for high achievers is often to hide behind a mask of hyper-vigilant busyness or harsh internal discipline. Barb shares how to shift out of judgment and step into scientific curiosity. She introduces the concept of the "evidence list"—a tangible record of wins designed to counter our evolutionary negativity bias. By expanding our definition of success to celebrate micro-wins, like spending 10 minutes researching a project or typing a single email response, business owners can intentionally rebuild their confidence and find the motivation necessary to restart.https://barbhubbardcoaching.com/LISTEN & FOLLOWThanks for spending a part of your night—or your morning—with me. If today’s episode helped you feel less alone in the dark, follow Wide Awake and Wondering on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen, leave a rating or review, and share it with a fellow midnight thinker.Remember, whether you’re pondering the cosmos or your bank account, the questions are big, but we’re in this together. Don't forget to hit the follow button, before you hit the snooze so you never miss an episode of Wide Awake and Wondering.Until next time, keep wondering, and I’ll see you in the middle of the night.Powered By CK Mason Consulting, LLC https://ckmasonconsulting.com/podcast

Why 2 AM Anxiety Is Important To Your Business StrategyWe are officially at the mid-season mark of Wide Awake and Wondering! In this special solo episode, host Kristin Mason hits pause on the usual guest interviews to step out from behind the spreadsheets and into the quiet hours of the entrepreneurial mind.If you’ve ever found yourself staring at the ceiling at 2 AM wondering if your business is sustainable, if you are doing enough, or if it’s all going to fall apart tomorrow—this episode is your permission slip to take a deep breath. Kristin dives into why the math is rarely the actual problem in business, how to identify the "monsters under the bed," and the exact psychological framework she uses to help entrepreneurs move out of panic and into a state of wealthy abundance.The 3-Question Mindset FrameworkWhenever midnight anxiety or heavy negative self-talk begins to swirl, halt the spiral by immediately asking yourself these three grounding questions:Is it true? (Look at the objective facts, not the emotional projection.)Is it real? (Is this happening right now, or is it a hypothetical future narrative?)Is it yours? (Are you carrying your own truth, or absorbing the external noise and expectations of others?)Connect With KristinWebsite: https://ckmasonconsulting.com/Instagram: @ckmconsulting124Enjoying the show? Share this episode with a fellow entrepreneur who needs a late-night reminder, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!(Grab your favorite comforting iced latte, find a cozy spot, and let’s keep wondering together.)LISTEN & FOLLOWThanks for spending a part of your night—or your morning—with me. If today’s episode helped you feel less alone in the dark, follow Wide Awake and Wondering on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen, leave a rating or review, and share it with a fellow midnight thinker.Remember, whether you’re pondering the cosmos or your bank account, the questions are big, but we’re in this together. Don't forget to hit the follow button, before you hit the snooze so you never miss an episode of Wide Awake and Wondering.Until next time, keep wondering, and I’ll see you in the middle of the night.Powered by: CK Mason Consultinghttps://ckmasonconsulting.com/podcast

Reclaiming Your Energy: Building Systems of Sanity and Defeating Burnout with Chris VasiliadisIt’s 3:00 AM. You're completely exhausted, your body feels heavy, but your mind is running a full marathon. If you are sitting in the dark staring at your bedroom ceiling wondering how to balance big goals without running yourself into the ground, you are in the right place. In this episode of Wide Awake and Wondering, host Kristin Mason sits down with "burnout buster," author, and health coach Chris Vasiliadis to unpack the root causes of our systematic exhaustion and reclaim a healthy relationship with rest.Chris is the author of Ignition: A Professional Woman's Guide to Energized, Burnout-Proof Living. By teaching women how to stop moving at a frenetic, unsustainable pace, she helps high-achieving leaders implement customized frameworks to protect their well-being, recover their health, and step into their own best self-advocate.The Physiology of Frenzy: How Emotions Show Up in the BodyWhy do we struggle to name our boundaries until we are completely overstretched, overwhelmed, and "over it all"? Chris explains that long before our logical brain attempts to interpret an emotional shift, our physical body experiences it first. Anger might manifest as a tightening chest, anxiety as a pounding heart, and worry as a knot in the stomach. Kristin and Chris look at how our society often discourages us from expressing these tricky human emotions, leading to chronic workaholism, toxic hustle-grind mindsets, and a severe lack of personal recovery time.The Sandbox Mindset: Designing a Choose Your Own Adventure LifeFollowing her own life-altering diagnosis with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in 2008, Chris realized that long-term success cannot coexist with perpetual burnout. She dives deep into the writing structure of her book, Ignition, describing it as an evergreen, individualized tool modeled after a custom coaching engagement. Rather than enforcing a rigid, black-and-white checklist for self-care, Chris invites readers into a figurative sandbox of play and experimentation. Listeners will learn how to identify five essential elements of well-being, craft practical 30-day integration plans, and discover the true magic of letting the mind wander.https://prioritywellness.com/LISTEN & FOLLOWThanks for spending a part of your night—or your morning—with me. If today’s episode helped you feel less alone in the dark, follow Wide Awake and Wondering on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen, leave a rating or review, and share it with a fellow midnight thinker.Remember, whether you’re pondering the cosmos or your bank account, the questions are big, but we’re in this together. Don't forget to hit the follow button, before you hit the snooze so you never miss an episode of Wide Awake and Wondering.Until next time, keep wondering, and I’ll see you in the middle of the night.Powered by: CK Mason Consultinghttps://ckmasonconsulting.com/podcast

The Journey of Rebecoming: Breaking Silences and Rebuilding Self-Trust with Catherine SipherHave you ever had the realization that you are moving through life on mute? Perhaps you have spent years silencing your own voice just to keep the peace, or maybe you have forgotten just how powerful it actually is.In this episode of Wide Awake and Wondering, host Kristin Mason sits down with Catherine Sipher, a Boston-based poet, author, and journaling guide. Catherine’s debut poetry memoir, Barely a Whisper, became a number one new release because it strikes a chord so many of us feel: the deep, burning desire to stop self-betrayal and finally listen inward.Catherine opens up about her ultimate comeback story—the grueling, beautiful journey of returning to herself after leaving an 18-year marriage and a suppressive religious community simultaneously, all while raising six children.Stepping Out of the SilenceCatherine takes us back to 2019, a period where she found herself drowning in extreme exhaustion, overwhelm, and isolation. As a stay-at-home, homeschooling mother of six within a rigid, evangelical Christian community, she was taught that her own heart was "deceitfully wicked" and could not be trusted. Catherine candidly shares the breaking point—seven words spoken in the middle of deep emotional distress—that exposed the rift in her marriage and catalyzed a massive personal paradigm shift.The Creative "Gooey Cocoon Phase"When the global pandemic hit in 2020, it provided an unexpected gift: a forced physical isolation that allowed Catherine to completely unravel away from the heavy social expectations of her former community. She terms this her "gooey cocoon phase," where her old identity disintegrated so a new, authentic self could emerge. It was during this dark season that she picked up a notebook and discovered Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. Through daily stream-of-consciousness writing, she finally found a direct line to her own thoughts, eventually rebuilding her financial independence by starting a virtual piano studio and stepping into her power as a writer.Connecting to the Body and VoiceNow, years into her freedom, Catherine details how somatic practices like yoga, breathwork, and intuitive movement allowed her to process deep-seated emotional trauma stored in her body. Kristin and Catherine explore the concept of "rebecoming"—not transforming into someone entirely new, but stripping away the "shoulds" to return to who you always were in the first place. Catherine closes the episode with a moving live reading of her title poem, Barely a Whisper.https://www.catherinesipher.com/LISTEN & FOLLOWThanks for spending a part of your night—or your morning—with me. If today’s episode helped you feel less alone in the dark, follow Wide Awake and Wondering on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen, leave a rating or review, and share it with a fellow midnight thinker.Remember, whether you’re pondering the cosmos or your bank account, the questions are big, but we’re in this together. Don't forget to hit the follow button, before you hit the snooze so you never miss an episode of Wide Awake and Wondering.Until next time, keep wondering, and I’ll see you in the middle of the night.Powered by: CK Mason Consultinghttps://ckmasonconsulting.com/podcast