Ep# 14 Serving Animals in a Messy World
Mostly Functional
In this episode, Julie and Derek talk about what it feels like to keep showing up for the animals you serve when the world feels chaotic, loud, and unsettling. We explore how constant news, doomscrolling, and uncertainty crank up our nervous systems, and why “safety” can feel hard to access right now. You’ll hear practical, compassionate ideas for staying regulated without sliding into toxic positivity, including a simple worry practice, spotting cues of safety, and choosing joy as a form of resistance. If you've been asking “How do I keep doing my life’s work in a messy world?”...
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Ep# 13 A Peace Practice
Mostly Functional
In this episode of Mostly Functional, Julie and Derek talk about what it means to practice peace in a world that feels loud, divisive, and hard to disconnect from. Inspired by Tibetan monks walking thousands of miles to raise awareness for compassion and empathy, they explore the idea that peace is not something you wait for, it’s something you create on purpose. They share simple, real-life “peace practices” anyone can try, from slowing down to a monk pace on a dog walk to building a personal “toolbox” of grounding habits. You’ll leave with one gentle question to carry into your...
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Ep#12 Too Exhausted To Feel Joy
Mostly Functional
In this episode, we talk about what happens when you lose your joy at work, especially in animal-care roles where the suffering is real and the pace never lets up. We unpack how exhaustion, resentment, and “systems set up for you to fail” slowly erode your passion, and why the most functional move might be a break, a stop-doing list, and asking for help before you burn all the way out.
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Ep# 11 Let's Giddy Up Into 2026: Year-End Check-In
Mostly Functional
In this year-end Mostly Functional check-in, we’re giddy up-ing into 2026 with a clear plan: protect your peace. Derek and Julie unpack what it looks like to stay steady when your work with animals involves constant care, constant urgency, and constant opinions, and why “block, ban, delete” can be a loving boundary, not a personality flaw. Then we share what we’re calling in for 2026: movement, momentum, expansion, and more joy on purpose.
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Ep# 10 Grief Is Your Friend
Mostly Functional
In this episode we talk about what it really looks like to plan for grief during the holidays, especially when it is your first season without someone you love. Julie shares her “grief practice” of making space in small spurts so it doesn’t swallow the whole season, plus simple permission slips like Plan B options, lowered expectations, and letting grief be a companion instead of an intruder. If you’ve been dreading the holidays, this one will help you feel a little less alone and a lot more human.
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Ep#9 Trusting Your Yes and No
Mostly Functional
In this episode we explore how to tell when something is truly right for you and when it is not. Through stories about saying yes to Esther the pig, savior syndrome, burnout, and the cost of ignoring your gut. They talk about how our bodies often signal truth before the brain does, the difference between head decisions and heart knowing, and why real care for animals and humans alike depends on having firm, compassionate boundaries. Also mentioned in this episode: "What About Your Grief This Holiday Season?" webinar Julie is hosting on Tuesday, December 16 @ 7pm EST. More info and to...
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Ep# 8 Boozy Hay & Big Soul Questions
Mostly Functional
In this episode, we somehow go from Thanksgiving side dishes and boozy hay to big soul questions like, “What is your soul here to learn?” Derek and I talk about love as the throughline of it all, how to reconnect with the dream inside the work you already do, and why it is perfectly acceptable to be mostly functional, not perfect. Expect luminary fields, tightrope walkers, snakes in dreams, and an invitation to remember what lights you up in this one wild, weird life. Mentioned in this episode: The Field Luminary at Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary. If you want to get in on the...
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Ep#7 Guilt and The Wolf You Feed
Mostly Functional
Chance are extremely high that if you work with animals, you've also experienced all the guilt that can come with helping other beings. Did I do enough? Did we miss something? What if it could've been different? Derek says that guilt is love wearing the wrong costume. Join us for this important and impactful episode where we talk all about guilt, impossible systems and what it means to know which "wolf you're feeding" .
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Ep#6 Life After The Loss of Your Parents
Mostly Functional
In this episode of Mostly Functional, Derek turns the mic on Julie and asks her what life is like after losing both of her parents, one suddenly and one after a long cancer journey. We talk about how grief has changed the way we see our own mortality, our work, and how little energy we spend on things that don't matter (like other's opinion) and we wander into all the messy parts too: not being there for every final breath, ambiguous loss with dementia, angel numbers, mediums, and the strange ways our parents still show up after they are gone.
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Ep# 5 Walking With Elephants in Asia
Mostly Functional
Think you can't live vicariously through someone's trip abroad? Think again. In this episode Derek shares his experience visiting Thailand and standing beneath elephants at a sanctuary where awe meets trust. Discover how Thai caregivers model non-attachment and offer unexpected wisdom for grief and compassion fatigue, echoed by a living field and burial trees that hold each elephant’s story. This is an episode not to miss!
info_outlineIn this episode we talk about what it really looks like to plan for grief during the holidays, especially when it is your first season without someone you love. Julie shares her “grief practice” of making space in small spurts so it doesn’t swallow the whole season, plus simple permission slips like Plan B options, lowered expectations, and letting grief be a companion instead of an intruder. If you’ve been dreading the holidays, this one will help you feel a little less alone and a lot more human.