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Solo Parent Podcast
This week we’re discussing Overcoming Toxic Thoughts.
Most solo parents are not struggling because they are doing too little. They are struggling because the voice in their head will not let them believe what they are doing is enough. It is there before the day even starts, in the moment you realize you are the only one holding all of it together. It shows up when a hard conversation with your teenager goes sideways and you have no one to debrief with after. It is there when you are grieving a partner you lost and trying to keep things steady for kids who are grieving too. It surfaces when a grown child calls struggling and you wonder, quietly, if something you did years ago is the reason why. It is there at the end of a long day when the plan fell apart, the patience ran out, and the mental replay begins. Every misstep. Every thing left undone. Every version of yourself you think you are supposed to be but cannot quite reach. That voice sounds like fact. It has been running so long it feels like your own. But it is not.
Robert Beeson, Founder and CEO of Solo Parent, and Elizabeth Cole, single parent and co-host, bring in Jon Acuff, New York Times bestselling author of Soundtracks: The Surprising Solution to Overthinking and host of the podcast All It Takes Is a Goal, for a conversation that is equal parts practical and freeing. Jon has spent over a decade studying the repetitive thoughts that quietly run our lives, where they come from, how to spot the ones that are lying to us, and what it actually takes to replace them. Whether you are parenting through loss, navigating life after divorce, or building your family on your own terms, and whether your kids are still small or grown and finding their footing, the internal noise of doing this without a partner is real. This conversation goes there.
Key Insights from This Episode:
- Your Broken Soundtracks Have a Source. The repetitive thoughts holding you back did not appear out of nowhere, and knowing where they came from is the first move toward changing them.
- There Is a Three-Question Test to Tell Real Concerns from Toxic Overthinking. Not every hard thought is a lie, but there is a simple way to tell the difference between what is true and what is just loud.
- New Seasons Deserve New Scorecards. Measuring this chapter of your life against a different one is one of the quietest ways solo parents keep themselves stuck.
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- Jon Acuff
- Soundtracks: The Surprising Solution to Overthinking
- Procrastination Proof (released April 2025)
- All It Takes Is a Goal podcast by Jon Acuff
- That Sounds Fun with Annie F. Downs
- Chip Dodd / 8 CORE Feelings framework
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