The Best Life Podcast

Being in love is great and all, but the real benefit to being in a relationship is the opportunity to split costs. It’s ridiculously expensive just to be alive, which leaves single people unfairly disadvantaged—they have to take care of everything on their own. And it’s not just the financial burden you face when you’re single, there are social struggles, too. While everyone else has a person to celebrate the ups with and get support from during the downs, you have to ride the waves mostly on your own. We think it’s time to start send...

We all probably agree that men, as a group, need to be going to therapy. But when it comes to your individual man… is it okay to demand that they go? We know firsthand exactly how therapy can make relationships better so of course we’d want our partners to try it out, but therapy still carries a lot of stigma, especially to men. We can try to lead them to therapy, but there’s no good outcome when forcing it, so your best bet is to draw your line in the sand, and be willing to let the chips...

We’ve chosen not to have children of our own, but would we date a man with kids? Becoming a step-parent is no joke—it’s a lot of responsibility, often with very little credit, and you’ll rarely, if ever, be the priority in your partner’s life. All of that goes double if the kids in question are under age 10, too. There’s a special place in heaven for people willing to take that on, but at this point, it ain’t gonna be us. 

Dating someone who has kids [1:47]

Being a step-pa...

We’ve been friends for a decade now and we’re not at all the same people we were when we met. Luckily, we’ve grown together, but not every friendship is so lucky. Sometimes we travel in an entirely different direction from our loved ones and it makes maintaining a relationship tricky, and sometimes that growing apart leads to a friendship breakup. Whether you slowly go ghost or have “the talk” is ultimately up to you, but we always advocate for leaving things open—you’ve grown apart now, but you could always grow back together in the future.

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When’s the last time you looked into your cringe archive? Everyone who has a personal brand has to go through some less than perfect posts before they get better—it’s a rite of passage. Too many people quit before they even begin because they’re too embarrassed to be seen posting something “cringe,” but you have to be willing to be cringe if you want to be seen and to make a difference. We’ve all been cringe at one point or another… Hell, we’re *still* cringe, but we show up and share our lives, and that’s what really...

Have you ever seen a course being sold by someone who teaches you how to sell courses about building courses? We love the internet business space and we think there’s so much good shit out there you can learn, but unfortunately for as many honest and hard working entrepreneurs there are, there are even more scammers, grifters, and snake oil salespeople. Sure, you can make a great living online, but it’s never been as simple as just “make a course and then sell tons of units,” as much as we’d like it to be. Selling courses, building a...

We know pretty-privilege exists, but is there another layer we haven’t been paying attention to? Some studies show that women who wear makeup make more money than their female counterparts that don’t. We’ve definitely noticed how much better people treat us when we look good—we do still live in a patriarchal society, after all—but is it worth it to start investing more money into your Sephora budget in order to get a raise at work? Whether it’s a case of feeling confident and therefore performing better, or just a case of good ol’ misogyny, this...

Look, we’re not into asking permission from our partners to do anything, but there’s something to be said about being mindful of how they feel. Your partner’s feelings should (hopefully!) matter as much as your own, and if you can make them feel loved and cared about, why wouldn’t you? All that said, let’s get one thing straight: no man will ever stop us from doing what we want due to their insecurity.

Asking your partner for permission to do something [3:01]

Feeling some type of way [6:25]

What’s t...

Not all men are evil monsters, but whenever we have a troll insulting our age or appearance… well, it’s always a man. Maybe it’s just because we have such incredible men in our lives, but it seems like the men of the internet are always bitter and rude, and it’s kind of breaking our hearts. We want to believe the best in men, but they’re making it really hard. The way we see it, there are only two options moving forward: we need to hold men to a higher standard, or we all need to become les...

As we get older, we find ourselves looking back on our happiest memories and noticing that what makes them happy isn’t what we’re doing, but the people we’re with. Life can get monotonous, bogged down with the million-and-one little things we have to do to keep our lives running. That’s why it’s so important to keep in touch with loved ones—because without a community to share them with, our lives could pass us by. So we’re grateful for you, Bestie, and everyone else in our lives who make an effort to care about us, too...

Somewhere along the way, liking (or not liking) someone’s instagram posts has become an act of politics. We like the things we stand for—or at the very least, the things we want to be seen caring about. So when someone you care about doesn’t give your post that double tap, it feels vindictive. But then again, isn’t it possible someone just didn’t see it? In any case, if you cared about us at all, you’d like our posts. And if you really want to show us you care, then leave a comment, too. 

It’s a brand new year, so now is the perfect time to think about what we want the next 365 days of our lives to look like. Things feel fresh and we’re finding ourselves craving some routine, so for this episode we did something we hardly ever do—we thought about what we were going to talk about ahead of time. So today, we’re sharing all of our “in’s” and “out’s” for 2026. We learned a lot in 2025, both personally and professionally, so there are things we’re eager to keep doing and things we’re ready to leave behind.<...

As we get deeper and deeper into our 40’s, we’re finding ourselves less impressed with whatever everyone else is up to. Flashy lives and high follower accounts feel kind of meaningless and we’re happy to watch the next generation make all the same mistakes we did and care about all the things we used to. Having a million followers doesn’t mean you have a million dollars, and having a million dollars doesn’t mean you’re even happy. We’ll stick to doing what feels right to us and having conversations with interesting people, instead of influential pe...

2026 is tomorrow, so it’s out with the old and in with the new! Jill had a pretty great personal year while Danny-J had a pretty shitty one, so we’re wondering, what kind of year did you have? In any case, we’re feeling refreshed and excited for what 2026 has to offer us. Cheers to a new year, Besties!

What the fuck is Hyrox? [2:01]

Paying to pay attention [9:50]

A weird year, all around [13:34]

What we’re leaving behind, and what we’re adding in [15:59]

Feeling lit up for...

Life is shitty to us in one way or another, no matter who we are or what we try to do to prevent it. It is, however, our choice on what to do about the shittiness. Blaming others, giving up, or leaving weird hate comments on Facebook isn’t going to make the pain of our pasts go away, so we have to own them and heal them in whatever ways we can. Maybe that looks like going to therapy, maybe it looks like doing ayahuasca in the jungle, or maybe it looks like getting plastic surgery in Vietnam. We...

We’ve heard of quiet-quitting when it comes to work, but what about quiet-quitting your relationship?—not really leaving, but not putting in any effort beyond the bare minimum either. We saw something recently that claimed many women over 40 are quiet-quitting their marriages. Nothing good comes out of apathy or resentment, and it seems to us that this is where the seeds of infidelity get sewn. We’d be the first to tell you that marriage isn’t always sunshine and roses, but the way we see it, if you’re unhappy you should try to do what you can to mak...

The holidays are around the corner and with visiting family inevitably comes arguing with your weird uncle about some insane thing happening in the news. There’s a time and place for walking away from discussions about politics—we can recommend this action highly—but maybe there’s a time for you to engage, too. All of us are more alike than we are different, and when we lead with curiosity and truly listen to others, finding common ground (and peace!) is possible, too. Unless the person you’re talking to is insane. We can’t help you there.

Today, Jill and Danny dive into everything from TikTok earworms and the chaos of keeping up with new platforms to Danny’s new “50 First Dates With Myself” challenge that has completely reignited her creativity and joy on social media. Danny shares how the idea was born, her experience returning to TikTok after years away, and how her first official date set the tone for a year of intentional, elevated solo experiences. Planning meaningful dates matters in both single life and long-term relationships, and when you raise your standards with yourself, they naturally raise for what you expect from others. That’s...

Last week we talked about Jill’s big news, so this week we wanted to share Danny’s: she’s dating again! Except there’s one big catch—Danny is dating herself. No more waiting around for a man to go try new foods or do fun things, she’s going to take herself. And it’s not just doing activities alone, she’s dating herself with intentionality and presence. Connecting with others is always great, but connecting with yourself is everything.

Going on 50 First dates [1:02]

Why wait for a man to do the things yo...

Our girl Jill is married! For our OG Besties, you know what a wild ride it’s been—we started this podcast before Jill even met her now husband. We all couldn’t be happier for her, or more proud of her for having the courage to trust in love again. Of course, Jill’s wedding was beautiful and perfect, and we thought since our Besties have seen Jill through it all, you deserved to know how the day went, too.

The difference between a girlfriend and a wife [5:07]

An intimate wedding [8:11]

The...

There are some studies coming out that show young people—especially boys—are turning more and more towards AI for relationships instead of their peers. Yikes. Me are already lonely, and we think it has a lot to do with porn, technology, and social conditioning. If they’re outsourcing companionship to AI bots, it seems like it can only go down from here. We need real human interaction to build real human social skills, right? All we can say is good luck to the parents out there. 

The problems with turning to AI for compani...

It’s somehow the era of the Trad Wife—at least on Threads and Twitter—and it seems like all the former Boss Babes are hanging up their blazers and turning them in for aprons. But does it really have to be just one or the other? We want to live soft lives, too, but we love working and getting shit done! Everyone has different goals for their lives, so while some women may be opting for a more “traditional role,” lets leave some room for all the others who want something else.

Do strong wom...

We’re back in our Shenanigans Era! Okay maybe not, because we’ve really been home-bodies in recent years… but one thing we really miss from 2016-2018 is sharing our day-to-day lives with our followers. Having a strong personal brand is more important now than ever and part of building a personal brand is sharing what you’re up to! So even though we don’t get up to too much shenanigans anymore, we’re going to start sharing the same way we did all those years ago. Wanna join?

The best way to stand out is...

As we get older, we want to look and feel good for ourselves, but we kind of want to look good for our partners too! Men can be annoying as hell for sure, but men as a whole are not the same thing as the individual men in our lives, and that includes our partners. It’s not a crime to want to look hot for your significant other! Life is long and there are ways our appearances will change that we have no control over and of course we hope to be loved through all of those changes. Bu...

We’ve talked about botox and plastic surgery on this podcast before and Besties know, we’re all for it. Maybe when we were younger we were on Team Aging Naturally, but now that we’re in our 40’s, small cosmetic enhancements make us feel beautiful and confident… Well, for the most part they do. But there are some cosmetic procedures that do more harm than good, especially one specific procedure Danny had done this summer, but we’ll leave that story for you to hear in the full episode. 

Aging naturally or with enhancements...

We love having thoughtful and insightful conversations as much as the next people, but sometimes we just wanna shoot the shit. It’s been a hectic summer, so we wanted to sit down for an episode and talk about all the little things we’ve been thinking about lately. 

Having ChatGPT be our personal stylist [3:55]

An obsession with Vans [5:59]

Everyone loves retail therapy [9:23]

Getting into F1 [12:52]

An AI color analysis [24:05]

What to wear to a wedding [29:01]

Relationships in the age of AI [37:18]

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Our value systems are deeply personal and influence almost everything we do in our lives. We all have core values, whether they’re obvious to us or not. Getting clear on what our values are can help us find direction in work, play, love, and life. It’s often said that you teach people how to treat you, and with a defined set of values, you get to set the tone for your interactions and future choices. Not all things in this life can be important, and when you know what your core values are, you have the freedom to f...

We don’t normally talk about pop culture, but we just watched Unknown Number on Netflix and holy. fucking. shit. This episode is full of spoilers so if you haven’t watched yet, do it and report back! There are all sorts of fucked up people in the world and being able to hide behind screens and unknown numbers just makes the worst of us even bolder.

We watched “Unknown Number” [1:39]

Our theories [26:45]

Cyber-stalking without consequences [38:38]

Constant vigilance and fear [45:07]

Subscribe to The Lighthou...

Apparently, hating the same things is the mark of a great friendship. It makes sense—misery does love company. There’s something so freeing about getting to be the worst version of yourself in front of your friends and not only to be accepted, but for your base-level feelings to be validated. Life will always be full of some holier-than-thou-Kathys who “hate” gossip and find it “beneath” them, but Kathy is a bitch anyways and we have so much more fun hating her pretentious ass than she could ever imagine. No one is perfect all the time, and when we hate toge...

Yeah, you read that title correctly. Danny-J went to the infamous Burning Man festival. We’ve been skeptics for years, but curiosity finally won out, and we wish we could say it was a great experience. Burning Man was fine, but there may or may not have been some unexpected bumps along the way. People always say, “you don’t get the Burn you want, you get the Burn you need,” but that’s left us with more questions than answers. 

Burning Man’s Reputation [1:52]

Getting to Burning Man [7:46]

Stuck in jail [16:2...

We’ve lived enough life by now to know that shame is never helpful. Sometimes when bad things happen to us as a result of our choices, some asshole hits us with the, “well, you did this to yourself.” No shit, Sherlock. Just because our choices led to less than desirable outcomes, doesn’t mean we can’t feel bad about it. Shaming anyone for the things they did or didn’t do won’t rewrite the past, and it certainly doesn’t make them feel better. Shaming someone like that only makes them hate you. And it’s always easy to jud...

Our Jill is getting married 🥹 If you’ve been a listener from the beginning, you’ll know what a big deal this is and just how proud we are. To celebrate Jill’s Final Fiesta (IYKYK), Danny-J planned a wild bachelorette trip in Cabo. And by wild, we mean incredibly tame and everyone was in bed by 10. No, really. Life may not look how we thought it would in our 20’s and 30’s, but we’re so happy everything ended up the way it did. 

Danny joined a calisthenics gym [5:89]

Going to bed early is the...

Much love and respect to the Gen Z hustlers out there, but that couldn’t be us. Maybe we’re getting lazy, or maybe we’re getting old, but either way, we don’t want to work anymore unless we absolutely have to. Life is too damn long—you can’t sprint this marathon! We’re too busy worrying about our parents getting crazy and the fact that bar soap is gross. 

We were more ambitious in our 20’s [2:20]

Needing a deadline to get shit done [6:20]

Enjoy the slow seasons [8:48]

You can’t sp...

Is everyone on Ozempic? Look, GLP-1s are a game changer for so many people’s health. People with metabolic dysfunction and chronic obesity are getting the help they need, which is amazing! Buuuut… let’s be honest with ourselves. It’s not just the chronically ill that are experimenting with weight loss drugs. Hey Bestie, it’s your body and you get to make the choice on whether or not you should try GLP-1s and we certainly won’t judge whatever choice you want to make. Just make sure you’re doing it for YOU, and not because everyo...

Modern life is just way too overstimulating. There’s more news flooding our feeds before we can even come to terms with what we’ve already seen and now we’re hearing things about people falling in love with their AIs? Between robot girlfriends and the now-infamous Coldplay Concert Cheating scandal, we feel more confused than ever about how to handle relationships in the digital age. Maybe we should just change our names, delete all our social media accounts, and disappear off-grid forever.

Disappearing from the internet [3:24]

Some wedding planning updates [6:26]

Fall...

Have you noticed an increase in discourse about why (or why not) birth rates are declining in America? We see a lot of blame directed towards women—things like, “women are too superficial” or “women aren’t willing to make sacrifices” or “women won’t date broke men.” Whatever the reason is, it’s a whole lot of bullshit and not a whole lot of men taking responsibility. The idea that women are gold-diggers is tired and frankly, untrue. What women really want is careers, flexibility and time to pursue hobbies, and male partners that don’t treat us like shit. Maybe the r...

The wellness industry needs to chill the fuck out. Everyone wants to live forever, but we haven’t heard any good reasons why we would want to. Look, we aren’t advocating for eating horribly, quitting exercise, doing hard drugs, or any other “unhealthy” choices but giving up every fun activity in life in hopes for a few more years seems like a major fucking bummer. We want long and healthy lives, yes, but not if that means living without any of the little things that make us happy. There’s only so much you can sacrifice in hopes of a longe...

Does grief have a timeline? Is there a statute of limitations on how long you’re allowed to hurt? We’ve been through our fair share of shitty situations, and have come to understand that grief and healing aren’t linear, nor are they predictable. The saying that “time heals all wounds” is only half the truth, and unless you’re intentionally working on your healing, all time will do is pass. And even when it does pass, there doesn’t seem to be a prescribed time for healing. For some, it’ll be within months, for others it may be years. We...

There’s this funny thing about being a creator on the internet—strangers think they know you. And while we post the things we post with connection in mind, there are always a few… oddballs (to put it nicely) who take things too far and act like they know us, when they really don’t. We absolutely overshare on the internet, and especially on this podcast, but for as much as we do share, there are so many pieces of personal information that we keep behind closed doors. Para-social relationships are bound to happen when you’re as public as we are...

Have you ever loved the idea of what someone *could* be, more than the person that they actually are? There’s danger in falling in love with someone’s potential. Some people are happy to be challenged by their partners, but there’s a fine line between challenging them to reach their dreams and setting expectations that your partner can’t reach, or never wanted in the first place. You’ll find a lot more peace in letting your partner tell you who they want to be, rather than attempting to force them into being who you wish they were.