Story Cafe

Adriana McKenzie and Brian Braganza discuss some deep thoughts relating to transitions in life and our natural resistance to letting go. They dive into the role identity and relationships play in this process, tackling challenging topics like imposter syndrome, the fear of the unknown, and the concept of radical acceptance.

In this episode, the host reflects on the journey of Story Cafe from a memoir-writing project to a podcast. The host shares their struggles, including the technical aspects of podcasting, finding time, and running out of stories to share. Jumping into 2025 this episode talks about the hosts theme for the year: Acceptance. Adrianna shares what that means and why that theme seems to be bubbling to the surface.

This episode is about how we hold onto hope in times of overwhelm, through connection and action we can help ourselves stay emotionally afloat even when times are tough.

The Nostalgia episode takes a fun look back at back to school week. Looking back at those early year school memories is a fun way to recognize back to school and explore nostalgia in our lives.

This episode is all about focusing your time and energy into the present moment. It is easy to get pulled into ruminating on the past or over planning the future but our best moments are in the present. The present is all we have and we can choose how we want to live in it.

Today Story Cafe dives into the complicated nature of grief and loss. Adrianna talks about the messiness of grief and some ideas on how to hold those feelings instead of trying to bottle them up.

I welcome guest Nicole Landry to talk about how friendships change over time and in particular we explore how friendships in your 40s really do start to feel free and authentic in new ways. Enjoy this exploration into friendships in your 40's.

This is this first part of a two part episode on perfectionism. Part one takes time to look at what is perfectionism and how does it impact a persons life. By nature I am not a perfectionist so I do my best to represent the perfectionist experience from an outside view.

This episode has been five weeks in the making! Being enough is about exactly that, recognizing that we cannot be everything to everyone all the time. Sometimes we have to let go, surrender and just be enough as we are in that moment. Its also about making sure we are filtering the things we take in so we don't become consumed by not feeling like we are enough. Enjoy the episode.

In this episode Adrianna takes a dive into the complex nature of mothering and being mothered. Full of feelings and some laughs, Adrianna shares about her relationship with her mom and the many woman that helped raise her.

Adrianna explores the idea of accepting compliments, love and care. Adrianna shares her story of removing her protective armour and moving away from having to do everything by yourself.

This episode is all about bravery. Adrianna talks about her brave experiences, moments when she wasn't brave and the importance of learning through all those experiences.

This episode is a throwback to being a teenager. I talk about how weird I was and the struggle to figure out where I belong. Its a fun episode that is sure to inspire you to dig out that old album.

Episode 2 is all about our perspective, how it can impact the way we see and experience things and how much power we have to change our perspective.

The first episode of Story Cafe Podcast is about taking risks. The episode digs into the challenge of stretching your comfort zone, the impact on our life when we get stuck in one place and also why its so important to our personal growth.