Girls Night #307: Not the Life I Ordered: When following the rules doesn't turn out like you hoped

Girls Night with Stephanie May Wilson

Stephanie May Wilson

Society & Culture, Health & Fitness, Relationships, Mental Health

4.9 • 4K Ratings

🗓️ 22 September 2025

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Season 22 is here — and Girls Night just turned 8! In this special kickoff, Stephanie introduces our new series, Not the Life I Ordered, a single, long, rolling conversation about what to do when your life doesn’t look or feel the way you thought it would — especially in The Everything Era, when all the biggest decisions arrive at once. You’ll hear the origin story of Girls Night, why this season is different, why so many of us feel disoriented and isolated right now, and a simple practice to turn down the noise so you can hear (and trust) your own voice again. Stephanie also guides you through three clarifying questions and leaves you with four grounding reminders — including this one: It’s not too late. In this episode: • The Everything Era (and why you’re not behind) • When the formula “A + B = C” fails you • The people-pleaser’s trap • How to create quiet in a noisy world • A guided reflection to name what’s hard (and why it helps) Resource mentioned: What to Say Script Guide — practical, word-for-word responses for uncomfortable family questions (marriage, kids, timelines & more): stephaniemaywilsonshop.com If this resonates, please follow/subscribe and leave a quick rating & review — it helps more women find the show. And say hi! DM or email me — I truly write back. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi friends, welcome to Girls' Night. Today feels like a really special one because we're kicking
0:08.1	off a brand new season of the show and it also happens to mark our eighth anniversary.
0:13.3	Eight years of Girls' Nights, I can hardly believe it. Since we launched, this little podcast has
0:18.0	been downloaded almost 8 million times by women all over the world.
0:22.3	I've had the honor of sitting down with some of the most brilliant women on the planet,
0:25.9	learning from their wisdom and sharing those conversations with you.
0:28.9	And truly, I think I've learned more than anybody.
0:31.9	But the very best part, the emails.
0:35.0	I cannot even count how many emails, how many messages I've gotten over the years
0:39.2	from you telling me about the ways an episode intersected with your life and the conversations
0:43.5	that started or how it gave you courage at just the right moment. Honestly, those emails feel less
0:48.7	like audience feedback and more like coffee dates that land in my inbox and I treasure them. Some of you have been here
0:55.9	since the very beginning of this show and that blows me away. Thank you for being here on this
1:00.6	journey with me. Thank you for listening, for sharing, for writing, and for letting me pull up a chair
1:05.8	to your life. Running a business comes with a lot of moving parts, but Shopify makes it easy.
1:16.9	From beautiful, ready-to-use store templates to AI tools that help with marketing and product
1:22.9	descriptions, Shopify gives you everything you need to build and grow your business. Plus, with
1:28.6	world-class support, you'll have expert help whenever you need it. Sign up for your $1 per month
1:33.8	trial today at Shopify.co.uk.uk slash finance. That's shopify.com.uk slash finance.
1:50.4	And if you are new to Girls Night, first of all, welcome. I'm so glad you're here. And second, let me tell you how all this got started. So years ago, I found myself in a brand new marriage,
1:55.6	in a brand new city with $11 in my bank account. And to top it all off, I had just lost my job. My whole future was up
2:02.4	in the air, and I had no idea what was going to come next. Well, you want to know what kept me
	...

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