Honestly Ever After

My older daughter joins me for a double-length special to finish out Season 1. She brings a new voice and a different perspective to our discussion of boundaries, adaptations, inner child work, and how to show up as a wise adult. This means: navigating family holiday plans, workplace communication, sibling relationships, how to connect with parents as an adult, and so much more.Leave us a review, and let us know what else you'd like to hear about on Honestly Ever After!We'd love to hear from you at www.juliepowellcoaching.com... Use any button to contact us until we set up our podcast connections.

In our most real-life, relatable episode yet, we tell stories of life in a restaurant, parenting in the age of social media, and how gender and power dynamics play out in ordinary days.Boundaries are a much needed tool for working out what I do and don't need or want.  But 'working' is exactly what's needed. Boundary setting is a skill that improves with practice, and we talk about how to practice.Join us, and let us know what you think. If you like what you hear, leave us a 5 star review, and we'll see you in Season 2.We'd love to hear from you at www.juliepowellcoaching.com... Use any button to contact us until we set up our podcast connections.

Nobody taught us to say no — and in this episode, we're talking about why.Join us as we get candid about the ways we learned from a young age to be agreeable, selfless, and endlessly available. We share our own stories — as mother and daughter — of losing ourselves in relationships, roles, and responsibilities because we never learned that boundaries weren't selfish. They're necessary for healthy relationships!.This episode is for every woman who has ever felt guilty for saying what she needs.We'd love to hear from you at www.juliepowellcoaching.com... Use any button to contact us until we set up our podcast connections.

It can feel like the lessening of romance means something is wrong. In reality, it means the relationship is asking to grow up. This episode reframes the shift from early intensity to long-term partnership as a necessary developmental move—from projection to presence, from fantasy to friendship. Julie and Faith explore how you can both show up for each other, and even appreciate the privilege of getting to grow!We'd love to hear from you at www.juliepowellcoaching.com... Use any button to contact us until we set up our podcast connections.

In this episode, we're having an honest conversation about love — what we're taught it should be, and what it actually takes to make it work.We start by unpacking the romance myths you grew up with: the movies,  the cultural scripts that shaped what we expected love to feel like. We dig into why intensity gets mistaken for depth, and how dating apps and social media have turned up the volume on the fantasy.Then we get into what real love actually requires — and it's less glamorous than the movies suggest. Seeing your partner clearly (flaws and all), learning to repair after conflict, staying yourself while staying connected, and choosing each other on the ordinary days, not just the electric ones.We close with practical wisdom for navigating love in her generation: how to tell the difference between a relationship that's stretching you and one that's hurting you, and how thinking about the long game can quietly reshape the choices she makes right now.We'd love to hear from you at www.juliepowellcoaching.com... Use any button to contact us until we set up our podcast connections.

Staying Yourself Without Blowing Things UpHow to be honest in love without becoming cruel—or disappearing.Most people think they only have two options in relationships:Be honest and cause damage.Or stay quiet and keep the peace.In this episode, Julie and Faith unpack why honesty can feel so risky — and why learning to express yourself with steadiness and care is one of the most important relational skills you can build.We'd love to hear from you at www.juliepowellcoaching.com... Use any button to contact us until we set up our podcast connections.

Conflict in  relationships isn’t necessarily a sign something is broken—but avoiding it or trying to win often is.In this episode, we explore why conflict itself isn’t the real issue in relationships, and how couples get stuck in unhealthy patterns of conflict avoidance or conflict domination. You’ll learn why “keeping the peace” can quietly erode intimacy, why power struggles damage trust, and how healthy conflict can actually strengthen emotional connection.This episode covers:Common relationship conflict patterns couples fall intoWhy avoiding conflict leads to emotional distanceWhat it means to fight fair in a healthy relationshipPractical communication skills couples can use right awayAnd we introduce a new segment: The Grown Up Move!We'd love to hear from you at www.juliepowellcoaching.com... Use any button to contact us until we set up our podcast connections.

Carrying on from Episode 2 - Most people think conflict means something is wrong with their relationship. But what if the real issue isn't the conflict itself—it's how we handle it?In this episode, Julie and Faith continue to explore why conflict is inevitable in intimate relationships, what actually goes wrong when we fight, and what healthy conflict really looks like. You'll learn the difference between productive disagreement and destructive patterns, why your nervous system goes offline during arguments, and the three core skills that help relationships repair after rupture.We'd love to hear from you at www.juliepowellcoaching.com... Use any button to contact us until we set up our podcast connections.

Most people think conflict means something is wrong with their relationship. But what if the real issue isn't the conflict itself (it's inevitable)—it's how we handle it?In this episode, Julie and Faith explore why conflict is inevitable in intimate relationships, what actually goes wrong when we fight, and begin to look at what healthy conflict really looks like. You'll learn the difference between productive disagreement and destructive patterns, why your nervous system goes offline during arguments, and the three core skills that help relationships repair after rupture.Key Takeaway: Conflict isn't the problem. Unskilled conflict is.We'd love to hear from you at www.juliepowellcoaching.com... Use any button to contact us until we set up our podcast connections.

"If it's right, it shouldn't be this hard… right?" We've all heard it—real love should feel easy, natural, conflict-free. So when relationships get difficult, we assume we picked the wrong person or something's fundamentally broken. In this episode, Julie and Faith tackle one of the biggest myths about love: that struggle means failure. The truth? Love doesn't fail because it's hard—it fails because people don't have skills. We'll explore where this myth comes from, what people do when love isn't effortless (blame the relationship, blame themselves, or avoid the work entirely), and why learning relational skills changes everything. If you've ever thought "I wish someone taught me this earlier," you're not behind—you're right on time.Topics covered: relationship myths, conflict in dating, communication skills, emotional safety, healthy vs unhealthy struggle, building intimacy, young adult relationshipsWe'd love to hear from you at www.juliepowellcoaching.com... Use any button to contact us until we set up our podcast connections.