Just Jelly: Unfiltered

Midlife is the season we finally stop doing things just because we always have. 👻

On this Halloween episode of Just Jelly Unfiltered, my friend Maria Williams, author of The Pretty Truth, joins me, and we’re each revealing the 6 things we’re ghosting in midlife. Some of our answers surprised even us.

We get real about menopause, mom guilt, people-pleasing, marriage, and date nights. Plus the advice a 91-year-old woman in a headband gave Maria forget it.

And Maria’s #4? You’re going to want to steal it. 😏

Listen now to find out what...

What do you do when you can’t see the road ahead?

On day one of the Camino de Santiago, I almost quit. A brutal hill, a car that clipped my e-bike, and three words I never thought I’d say: “I can’t do this.” So I called a taxi. And what I saw out that window changed how I think about fear, starting over, and what’s next.

Welcome to Season 5 of Just Jelly Unfiltered. After a summer of walking across Spain, publishing my first book, moving to Orlando, and becoming an empty nester, I ca...

✨ What do you do when life doesn't look the way you thought it would?

Come sit with me.

In this Season 4 finale of Just Jelly Unfiltered, I'm sharing thelessons from Luke 8, 9, and 10 that helped me find permission to speak again through grief, starting over, and preparing to walk the Camino de Santiago.

For the past two years, I've been moving through some of the hardest seasons of my life. Relationships changed. Dreams shifted. Parts of my story unraveled. Then I found myself sitting with Luke 8, and what surprised me wasn't what I learned ab...

The Messy Middle of Coming Out, Starting Over, and Finding Your Truth | From Silent to Said It with Jerod

In this unfiltered conversation, I sit down with Jerod to discuss coming out, divorce, parenting, bullying, self-discovery, and finding the courage to live authentically. Jerod shares his personal journey of discovering his sexuality, navigating major life transitions, having honest conversations with his children, and learning how to embrace his truth.

We explore the messy middle that so many people experience when life doesn’t go according to plan. From rebuilding af...

This week on Messy Midlife Monday, Maria from The Pretty Truth and I are talking about the 2026 trends everyone in midlife seems to be discussing: AI, side hustles, money stress, menopause, friendship shifts, boundaries, burnout, going offline, and what it really means to start over.

What began as a four-episode series became some of my favorite conversations about navigating the messy middle of life. Maria, thank you for showing up with honesty, wisdom, laughter, and heart. It has been such a gift to share these conversations with you and our community. Thank you for...

Summer can feel fun and heavy at the same time. In this episode of Just Jelly Unfiltered, I’m talking with Maria about midlife summer overwhelm, mom guilt, shifting routines, empty nest emotions, marriage communication, nervous system stress, and the pressure to make summer magical for everyone else.

If you feel overstimulated, out of sync, or emotionally exhausted as summer begins, you are not broken, you are transitioning.

We talk about summer routines for moms, midlife motherhood, empty nest grief, family boundaries, simple summer memories, and how to pause be...

AI does not have to feel scary, complicated, or only for tech people. In this episode of Just Jelly Unfiltered, Jen and Maria talk about using AI in the messy middle of life, especially for midlife women who feel overwhelmed, overstimulated, stretched thin, or unsure where to start.

This conversation is not a tech tutorial. It is a real, lived-in discussion about how AI can be used as a practical support tool for meal planning, weekly routines, decision-making, confidence, boundaries, emotional regulation, moving stress, social media ideas, and organizing all the thoughts running through...

In this first episode of Just Jelly Unfiltered with The Pretty Truth, Jenn and Maria invite you into an honest, lived-in conversation about midlife, friendship, identity, loneliness, leadership, healing, and learning how to know yourself again.

What started as a simple connection becomes a deeper conversation about why relationships can feel harder in midlife, why making new friendships can feel awkward, and why maintaining old ones can feel complicated when you are changing too.

We talk about becoming authors, recovering from people-pleasing, learning to use our voices, navigating confidence...

Sometimes the hardest part of faith is the moment right before everything changes.

In Mile Marker 4 of The Walk Before the Wonder, I’m sharing a very real and unfiltered Easter Sunday conversation about self doubt, silence, and the temptation to quit too soon.

After recording the first three episodes in this series, I left for a short vacation and came back feeling confused, uncertain, and honestly questioning what I was supposed to do next. The silence crept in the way it always does… quietly.

In this episode I talk about what it look...

What do you do when the world goes quiet after everything falls apart?

In Mile Marker #3 of The Walk Before the Wonder, we sit in the silence of Holy Saturday. The cross has happened. Jesus is in the tomb. The disciples are devastated, confused, and wondering if the story they believed in is over.

This episode of Just Jelly Unfiltered explores the space many of us know too well, the waiting season where God feels silent and hope feels buried.

Because Holy Saturday reminds us of something powerful: just because heaven is quiet...

Sometimes the road with God doesn’t just get confusing… it completely collapses beneath your feet.

In Mile Marker #2: The Walk Before the Wonder, we arrive at one of the heaviest moments in the entire resurrection story: Good Friday.

The disciples had walked with Jesus for three years. They left their careers, their homes, and everything familiar to follow Him. They believed they knew where the road was going.

And then they watched it end on a cross.

Not a rumor.

Not a misunderstanding.

Not a moment of c...

Before the resurrection… there was a road.

In Mile Marker #1: The Walk Before the Wonder, I step into the moment many of us rush past. The moment before the miracle. The space between expectation and reality. Palm branches were waving, voices were shouting praise, and hope was riding into the city on a donkey. Everyone believed they knew what Jesus had come to do.

But they were wrong.

In this episode, I reflect on how easily we walk the same road with our own expectations, believing God will move one way, only to di...

Why do I keep ending up here? If you’ve ever asked yourself that after repeating the same relationship patterns, emotional cycles, or life habits, this episode is for you.

In this episode of Just Jelly Unfiltered, I’m talking about what it really takes to break the rinse and repeat cycle. I share how I realized that staying busy was not the same as healing, and how constant movement, overcommitting, people-pleasing, and emotional survival mode can keep us stuck in the same patterns for years.

We are diving into...

Come sit with me for a moment.

Are you spiritually awake, or are you simply going through the motions in your faith?

In this episode, I’m diving into a question many Christians quietly wrestle with: are we fully awake to the power of Jesus’ resurrection, or have we become distracted, comfortable, and spiritually asleep?

This conversation goes beyond Easter Sunday traditions and explores what it means to live with spiritual intention, renew your faith in God, and wake up to the deeper meaning of following Christ.

Come sit with me for a moment.

In this episode, I’m sharing a spring break moment that caused me to P.A.U.S.E. and look at life differently. What I thought was just a cruise with my daughter and her friends became a powerful picture of transition, grief, identity, and what it feels like when everyone on the same journey is experiencing change from a different place.

At the front of the boat was my daughter, facing everything ahead of her. In the middle was her dad, carrying the ma...

This one is tender.

In this episode, I’m sharing what it feels like to realize this is our last spring break under the same roof before my daughter moves out and steps fully into her own life.

It’s about the quiet moments in between. The way time speeds up when you want it to slow down. The grief and the pride that somehow live in the same breath. Watching her grow into her own person while learning how to loosen my grip without losing our connection.

This isn’t just about a scho...

Some silence feels safe.
Until it starts to feel like a prison.

In this bonus episode of Just Jelly Unfiltered, we’re diving into the quiet spaces we hide in… the parts of ourselves we shrink, suppress, or soften to keep the peace, protect others, or avoid being “too much.”

But what happens when staying silent costs you your voice?
When being agreeable becomes self-abandonment?
When surviving quietly turns into living in the shadows?

This conversation is about recognizing when silence stops being strength and starts becoming a cage.

🎙️ In...

There comes a moment when you can’t ignore it anymore.

The signs.
The nudges.
The quiet knowing you’ve been trying to outgrow.

In this episode of Just Jelly Unfiltered, we’re talking about what happens when the writing has been on the wall… and you finally decide to say it out loud.

From the silent truths we carry to the conversations we’re afraid to have, this episode dives into the shift from internal awareness to spoken clarity. The discomfort. The grief. The empowerment. The freedom.

Because sometimes...

This episode feels personal because it is. Today, I’m celebrating another year of life and taking a moment to reflect on what I’m leaving behind and what looks different now.

In this birthday episode, I talk honestly about growth, grief, lessons learned, and the versions of myself that no longer fit. Some things had to be released. Some things softened. Some things finally started to make sense.

This is about honoring where you’ve been without staying stuck there, and stepping into a new year with more clarity, intention, and self trust than before...

Valentine’s Day is overrated, and it’s time someone said it out loud.

In this honest and empowering episode, Jenn Board breaks down why February can feel emotionally heavy, especially if you’re single, married, healing, menopausal, rebuilding, or simply tired of unrealistic relationship expectations.

We’re talking about comparison, loneliness, faith, self-worth, boundaries, and why your value is not measured by flowers, cards, or captions.

If you’ve ever felt “less than” in February, this episode is for you.

✨ This is...

In Six Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me Sooner: Pause Is Knowing, Jenn Board shares six life-changing truths she learned the hard way while starting over at 43. From healing emotional burnout and navigating midlife transitions to learning how to trust God’s timing and set healthy boundaries, this episode is an honest, unfiltered conversation for anyone feeling stuck, behind, or overwhelmed.

If you are in a season of reinvention, recovery, or realignment, this episode will help you pause, reflect, and move forward with clarity, confidence, and faith.

Topics in...

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The hardest breakup is not the one with a person. It is the breakup with the version of yourself you worked so hard to survive as.

In this Season Four opener of Just Jelly Unfiltered, Jenn gets honest about the quiet, disorienting ending no one prepares you for. The moment you realize you cannot go back to who you were, even when it feels safer there. This episode is for anyone starting over in midlife, navigating emotional growth, healing old patterns, and learning...

This is not a polished highlight reel. This is the truth from the in-between.

Healing In The In-Between: When Your Growth Triggers Other People

In this season finale of Just Jelly Unfiltered, Jen pulls back the curtain on her real life healing journey in 2025. She shares what it has really looked like to walk through estrangement, mental health struggles, friendship breakups, and that quiet, lonely space where your old life is gone but your new life has not arrived yet.

Inside this episode, Jen talks about

outgrowing friendships...

This episode speaks to anyone in midlife who feels the holiday pressure building. Instead of chasing perfect photos or performing for social media, we talk about choosing presence, peace, and authenticity.

You dive into what a no pressure holiday really looks like in midlife, especially when life feels messy, blended families feel complicated, and emotional wellness matters more than a picture perfect moment. This conversation explores why so many of us get caught between real life and the pressure to post, and how shifting your intent can transform the entire season.

<...

In this episode of Just Jelly Unfiltered, Jen dives deep into self doubt, fear, and the challenge of staying authentic during midlife growth and content creation.

She opens up about navigating visibility, finding confidence, and pushing through the messy middle when everything feels uncertain. Jen talks about the power of community support, how to keep moving even when fear is loud, and why failure is a necessary part of building a meaningful life.

This episode is for anyone in a season of personal growth, mindset shifts, rebuilding confidence, or trying to find their voice in...

De-Grinch your season with clarity, courage, and care. Boundaries, brain science, and a five minute circuit you can repeat all week.

Tired of Grinch energy, ready for real kindness.

In this episode you will learn,

• The Five Minute Kindness Circuit, how to run it for seven days, what changes to notice, mood, patience, connection

• The science, dopamine, oxytocin, vagal tone, and why precise words calm your nervous system

• Holiday friction points, why conflict spikes, three scripts that cool a hot table in under ten seconds

• One small act for...

Messy Middle Mindset | Just Jelly Unfiltered

Life doesn’t always fit into neat before-and-after boxes. The messy middle is where real growth, healing, and rebuilding happen.

 In this episode Jennifer explores how mindset shifts during menopause and andropause can feel overwhelming but also open the door to deep transformation. Learn how to recognize your own thought patterns, reframe fear into freedom, and embrace this season with strength and clarity.

You’ll learn practical tools for reframing your perspective, the real story from Jen's real messy middle, and affirmations to keep you moving forward when...

The Messy Middle Is Where We Grow

This is not just a podcast, it is a community. Hosted by Jen, Just Jelly Unfiltered dives into the real stories and struggles of midlife such as menopause, andropause (men's Midlife), gray spaces, empty nests, identity shifts, and all the labels we are learning to release. Together, we will unpack mindset, confidence, and healing with raw conversations and real tools.

🎧 Subscribe now and join a space where you are seen, supported, and never walking alone.

💬 Join the conversation inside The Messy Middle Support Group on Facebook and co...

“An honest look at navigating doubt, exploring faith, and rediscovering meaning in midlife — whether you believe, don’t believe, or aren’t sure what you believe anymore.”

Midlife has a way of shaking things up- careers change, relationships shift, and sometimes, the faith you once held so tightly feels distant or uncertain.

In this episode, I take an honest, compassionate look at what it means to navigate doubt, explore spirituality, and rediscover meaning in the messy middle of life.

Whether you’re a lifelong believer, someone who’s walked away from faith, or you’re still f...

“An honest look at friendship breakups, shifting connections, and finding your people in the messy middle of midlife.”

Friendships in midlife don’t always look like they did in our 20s — and that can be both heartbreaking and freeing.

In this episode, I dive into the messy middle of friendships: the breakups we didn’t see coming, the quiet drifting apart, and the unexpected beauty of making new connections later in life.

I share my story.

🎙️ Messy Middle: Midlife Chaos

Can you Relate?

Feeling lost, overwhelmed, or like you’re quietly falling apart? You’re not alone. In this raw and real episode of Just Jelly Unfiltered, I dive deep into the chaos of the midlife “messy middle”—where our hormones are shifting, our relationships feel strained, our identity is blurred, and no one seems to notice we are unraveling.

I talk about:

The emotional toll perimenopause & midlife hormones had on my life

How communication struggled in this season of my life

Why it fel...

Before we can heal, we must first name what hurt us.

In this powerful season finale, Jen sits down to reflect on the life-altering experiences that often go unnamed but silently shape our lives—estrangement, sibling abuse, spiritual manipulation, divorce, friendship breakups, and more. This episode isn’t just a recap — it’s her story!

Together, we confront the truth: we can’t heal what we refuse to name.

Jen shares how recognizing the dumpster fires of trauma is the brave first step toward healing, and why calling it what it is—abus...

Sex Isn’t a Bad Word

In this powerful and healing conversation, Jen sits down with certified sex therapist JP to explore why sex shouldn’t be surrounded by shame, silence, or stigma. Together, they unpack the messaging many of us received growing up and how it shaped our relationship with our bodies, pleasure, and self-worth.

This episode invites listeners to peel back the layers of fear and guilt, and instead approach sex with curiosity, clarity, and compassion. Whether you’re healing from past experience or simply wanting a deeper, healthier connection with your body and de...

“When Love Gets Quiet: Navigating Estrangement Between Parents & Children”

In this deeply emotional episode of Just Jelly Unfiltered, we explore the often unspoken reality of family estrangement — when parents and children become strangers. Whether the distance came suddenly or slowly over time, the grief of disconnection runs deep and complex.

Jen sits down with Christy Sable to unpack the heartbreak, healing, and hope that can still exist after the silence.

Together, they talk about what it means to honor your story, set healthy boundaries, and find peace — even when reconciliation seems impossible.

Learni...

Divorce Trauma! Are you feeling broken?

In this powerful episode of Just Jelly Unfiltered, Jen sits down with Brittany to talk about the deep emotional impact of divorce — and the strength it takes to rebuild a life afterward. Together, they dive into the raw realities of heartbreak, identity loss, and starting over, while also celebrating the resilience, healing, and hope that can come from even the most painful endings.

If you’re navigating the aftermath of divorce or rebuilding after any kind of life-altering loss, this conversation will remind you: you are stronger than you know...

We talk about romantic breakups all the time—but what about the end of a friendship? In this episode, Jen sits down with our favorite TikTok friendship coach, Sabrina, to shed light on one of the most painful and often overlooked goodbyes: the end of a friendship.

From the slow fades to the explosive endings, we’ll explore what causes these splits, how they impact us emotionally, and why losing a friend can sometimes hurt more than losing a partner. We’ll also talk about the grief, the growth, and how to heal when a friendship that once f...

In this episode, we’re calling it like it is—life can feel like a full-blown dumpster fire sometimes. We’re diving into how to recognize the chaos we’ve grown comfortable in, the lies we tell ourselves to keep going, and the ways we avoid the truth because it’s easier than facing the flames.

But here’s the twist: there’s still happiness to be found in the middle of the mess.

Join Jen and Sarah Shaffer for a raw and reflective conversation about what it means to stop preten...

Sibling relationships are often seen as a source of love and support, but what happens when they become a source of trauma?

In “I Feel Real Guilty: Healing from Sibling Abuse,” we dive into the overlooked reality of sibling abuse—what it looks like, why it happens, and how to heal from its lasting effects.

Through Jane Epstein story, we explore the emotional wounds, the guilt often carry, and the path to reclaiming peace and self-worth. If you’ve ever struggled with the impact of sibling abuse, this episode is for you.

It’...

Power. Silence. Betrayal.

Betrayed by Faith: The Church Knew uncovers the devastating truth behind sexual abuse and cover-ups within the religious institution.

Sandy Phillips Kirkham has dedicated her life to exposing the abuse of power within the church. As the author of Let Me Pray (Prey) Upon You: Breaking Free from a Minister’s Sexual Abuse, she sheds light on the dark realities of clergy abuse and empowers survivors to reclaim their voices.

Through Her testimony, this podcast episode exposes the systems designed to protect the abusers instead of the vi...

Just Jelly Podcast is more than just a podcast—it’s a thriving community built on self-love, connection, and empowerment. In this special episode, I’m sharing all the details from our very first Self-Love Ladies Retreat at the breathtaking Carrabelle Seaforest Sanctuary. From soul-nourishing conversations to moments of deep reflection and joy, this retreat was an unforgettable experience. Tune in as we dive into the highlights, the powerful takeaways, and the magic that happens when women come together to uplift and support one another. 💛✨