Today, we have a little bonus episode to kick off your weekend. Vivek Murthy, the current U.S. Surgeon General, had so much wisdom to offer us in this week's conversation on combatting loneliness and building better relationships. In this bonus clip, he offers us a little pep talk for connection. It may be just what you need to hear.

Follow Kate on Instagram, Facebook, or X (formerly known as Twitter)—@katecbowler.

Today, we have a little bonus episode to kick off your weekend. Vivek Murthy, the current U.S. Surgeon General, had so much wisdom to offer us in this week's conversation on combatting loneliness and building better relationships. In this bonus clip, he offers us a little pep talk for connection. It may be just what you need to hear.
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Follow Kate on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/katecbowler/">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/katecbowler">Facebook</a>, or <a href="https://twitter.com/KatecBowler">X</a> (formerly known as Twitter)—@katecbowler.

Are you living your best life now? Not always? This is a podcast for you. Duke Professor Kate Bowler is an expert in the stories we tell about success and failure, suffering and happiness. She had Stage IV cancer. Then she didn’t. And since then, all she wants to do is talk to funny and wise people about how to live with the knowledge that, well, everything happens.  Find her online at @katecbowler.

Sales and Distribution by Lemonada Media https://lemonadamedia.com/

Are you living your best life now? Not always? This is a podcast for you. Duke Professor Kate Bowler is an expert in the stories we tell about success and failure, suffering and happiness. She had Stage IV cancer. Then she didn’t. And since then, all she wants to do is talk to funny and wise people about how to live with the knowledge that, well, everything happens.  Find her online at @katecbowler.
Sales and Distribution by Lemonada Media <a href="https://lemonadamedia.com/" data-stringify-link="https://lemonadamedia.com/" data-sk="tooltip_parent">https://lemonadamedia.com/</a>

Honest conversation about life's less-shiny moments.

Everything Happens with Kate Bowler

Made for Connection: A Bonus Heart-to-Heart with Dr. Vivek Murthy

On the day her new book Joyful Anyway releases, Kate pauses before the interviews and travel to reflect on a harder question: what does it mean to talk about joy in a world that feels fractured, exhausting, and uncertain? In this short, personal episode, she pushes back on the pressure to optimize our way into happiness and instead explores a stranger, sturdier kind of joy—one that shows up alongside grief, ordinary stress, and lives that don’t quite match the ones we imagined. With a reading from the book and a few honest reflections, this is an invitation to consider what might be better than happiness—and how joy might still find us anyway.

SHOW NOTES


Joyful, Anyway by Kate Bowler — Available everywhere books are sold.


Tour dates & tickets: katebowler.com/joyfulanyway


Watch on YouTube

On the day her new book Joyful Anyway releases, Kate pauses before the interviews and travel to reflect on a harder question: what does it mean to talk about joy in a world that feels fractured, exhausting, and uncertain? In this short, personal episode, she pushes back on the pressure to optimize our way into happiness and instead explores a stranger, sturdier kind of joy&mdash;one that shows up alongside grief, ordinary stress, and lives that don&rsquo;t quite match the ones we imagined. With a reading from the book and a few honest reflections, this is an invitation to consider what might be better than happiness&mdash;and how joy might still find us anyway.
<hr>
SHOW NOTES
<ul data-pm-slice="3 1 []">
<li data-list-indent="1" data-list-type="bulleted">
Joyful, Anyway by Kate Bowler &mdash; <a href="https://katebowler.com/books/joyfulanyway/">Available everywhere books are sold.</a>
</li>
<li data-list-indent="1" data-list-type="bulleted">
Tour dates &amp; tickets:<a href="https://katebowler.com/books/joyfulanyway/">&nbsp;katebowler.com/joyfulanyway</a>
</li>
<li data-list-indent="1" data-list-type="bulleted">
Watch on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/@katecbowler">YouTube</a>
</li>
</ul>

Joyful Anyway (Yes, Even Now)

As Holy Week arrives, Kate talks with theologian, poet, and former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams about joy that doesn’t erase sorrow. Together they explore longing, grief, music, gratitude, hope, and the strange, defiant way joy can sit right beside pain without denying what’s true.

SHOW NOTES


George Herbert, “The Pulley”


Nick Cave


Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry


Tour dates & tickets: katebowler.com/joyfulanyway


Watch the live conversation on YouTube


Join Kate Bowler on Substack for the season of Lent: katebowler.substack.com

As Holy Week arrives, Kate talks with theologian, poet, and former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams about joy that doesn&rsquo;t erase sorrow. Together they explore longing, grief, music, gratitude, hope, and the strange, defiant way joy can sit right beside pain without denying what&rsquo;s true.
<hr>
SHOW NOTES
<ul data-pm-slice="3 3 []">
<li data-list-indent="1" data-list-type="bulleted">
<a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44370/the-pulley">George Herbert, &ldquo;The Pulley&rdquo;</a>
</li>
<li data-list-indent="1" data-list-type="bulleted">
<a href="https://www.nickcave.com">Nick Cave</a>
</li>
<li data-list-indent="1" data-list-type="bulleted">
<a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/hannah-coulter-wendell-berry/173f40bc83390d48?ean=9781593760786&amp;next=t&amp;&amp;utm_source=google&amp;utm_medium=cpc&amp;utm_campaign=dsa_nonbrand&amp;utm_content=%7Badgroupname%7D&amp;utm_term=dsa-19959388920&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=12440232635&amp;gbraid=0AAAAACfld43f-qCcOSINhBBx4Bt7a0c0k&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjwvqjOBhAGEiwAngeQnY5dakZxTq_qbs34NERV6j9bnHeesF-6XkDIs3T34EwD50zmmghfDBoCsr8QAvD_BwE">Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry</a>
</li>
<li data-list-indent="1" data-list-type="bulleted">
Tour dates &amp; tickets:<a href="https://katebowler.com/books/joyfulanyway/">&nbsp;katebowler.com/joyfulanyway</a>
</li>
<li data-list-indent="1" data-list-type="bulleted">
Watch the live conversation on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/@katecbowler">YouTube</a>
</li>
<li data-list-indent="1" data-list-type="bulleted">
Join Kate Bowler on Substack for the season of Lent:&nbsp;<a href="https://katebowler.substack.com/">katebowler.substack.com</a>
</li>
</ul>

The Strange Gift of Joy with Rowan Williams

There’s a particular kind of pressure that creeps in when we start measuring our lives—where we thought we’d be by now, who we imagined we’d become, how things were supposed to feel. The instinct is to fix it. Optimize it. Get moving.

But what if the invitation is something else?

Kate Bowler sits down with writer and speaker Suleika Jaouad (Between Two Kingdoms, The Book of Alchemy) for a conversation about living inside unresolved questions—especially the ones that ache. Together, they talk about ambition and exhaustion, chronic illness and uncertainty, and the quiet shifts that happen when nothing seems to change.

They explore the tension between momentum and meaning, the limits of self-improvement, and what it looks like to keep going without pretending everything is fixable.

SHOW NOTES


Suleika Jaouad’s Isolation Journals (Substack)


Between Two Kingdoms — Suleika Jaouad


The Book of Alchemy — Suleika Jaouad


Tour dates & tickets: katebowler.com/joyfulanyway


Watch the live conversation on YouTube


Join Kate Bowler on Substack for the season of Lent: katebowler.substack.com

There&rsquo;s a particular kind of pressure that creeps in when we start measuring our lives&mdash;where we thought we&rsquo;d be by now, who we imagined we&rsquo;d become, how things were supposed to feel. The instinct is to fix it. Optimize it. Get moving.
But what if the invitation is something else?
Kate Bowler sits down with writer and speaker Suleika Jaouad (Between Two Kingdoms, The Book of Alchemy) for a conversation about living inside unresolved questions&mdash;especially the ones that ache. Together, they talk about ambition and exhaustion, chronic illness and uncertainty, and the quiet shifts that happen when nothing seems to change.
They explore the tension between momentum and meaning, the limits of self-improvement, and what it looks like to keep going without pretending everything is fixable.
<hr>
SHOW NOTES
<ul>
<li data-list-indent="1" data-list-type="bulleted">
Suleika Jaouad&rsquo;s <a href="https://theisolationjournals.substack.com">Isolation Journals</a> (Substack)
</li>
<li data-list-indent="1" data-list-type="bulleted">
<a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/between-two-kingdoms-a-memoir-of-a-life-interrupted-suleika-jaouad/7b9b08059bab2526?ean=9780399588600&amp;next=t">Between Two Kingdoms</a> &mdash; Suleika Jaouad
</li>
<li data-list-indent="1" data-list-type="bulleted">
<a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-book-of-alchemy-a-creative-practice-for-an-inspired-life-suleika-jaouad/1f7a561e34f2384b?ean=9780593734636&amp;next=t">The Book of Alchemy</a> &mdash; Suleika Jaouad
</li>
<li data-list-indent="1" data-list-type="bulleted">
Tour dates &amp; tickets:<a href="https://katebowler.com/books/joyfulanyway/">&nbsp;katebowler.com/joyfulanyway</a>
</li>
<li data-list-indent="1" data-list-type="bulleted">
Watch the live conversation on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/@katecbowler">YouTube</a>
</li>
<li data-list-indent="1" data-list-type="bulleted">
Join Kate Bowler on Substack for the season of Lent:&nbsp;<a href="https://katebowler.substack.com/">katebowler.substack.com</a>
</li>
</ul>

Made for Connection: A Bonus Heart-to-Heart with Dr. Vivek Murthy

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