The Gift of Struggle: Finding Resilience, Faith, and Strength in the Hard
Episode 13 with Jill and Molly
What if the very struggles you’re facing are the doorway to becoming who you were meant to be? In this episode of No Permission Necessary, Molly Bierman and Jill Griffin dive deep into the hard stuff, loss, resilience, identity, and the lessons hidden in life’s toughest seasons.
Through personal stories and raw honesty, they explore how faith, community, and inner strength can guide us through the storms. From navigating grief to embracing growth, this is a conversation about letting yourself feel the weight of it all, and still daring to rise.
If you’ve ever wondered how to keep going when life knocks you down, this episode is your reminder that the hard moments are not the end of the story. They’re the beginning of transformation.
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Molly Bierman 0:03
Where is it? We can even talk about that. Justin Bieber is dropping swag too, and I haven't listened to it yet. I meant to listen to it when I woke up, but, oh, I
Jill Griffin 0:12
listened to his love letter this morning. I listened to love letter.
Unknown Speaker 0:15
Whoa, there's a lot. That's what's on here.
Jill Griffin 0:19
Hold on. It's like to his daughter? I think,
Unknown Speaker 0:21
well, it's a son. Firstly, that's how Wait. Are they having another kid?
Jill Griffin 0:30
No, I think I just don't know.
Jill Griffin 0:39
I've never been a beans fan to be honest with you, Yukon, that song's okay, but only if it's remixed.
Molly Bierman 0:53
I mean, we'll throw out the remix real quick, because honestly, I feel like it embodies us as humans. I It
Jill Griffin 1:05
has to be a specific remix.
Jill Griffin 1:18
No, no, no. I don't like when it's I don't like when it's sped up like that.
Molly Bierman 1:24
Where is the one that Hold on It's this one.
Hold on this one. Huh? Watch full reel. Here we go.
Hey,
Jill Griffin 1:49
that's what I'm talking about. That's a real millennial vibe, right there. I
Jill Griffin 2:10
That's that, honestly, one of the best concerts last year was 50 Cent. I believe 50 Cent hands down, 50 Cent for sure, and I will tell you that that crowd was the most eclectic crowd that I've ever been a part of. Yeah, like you had you had six year olds, you had 16 year olds. Everyone was vibing. There was a lot going on. And honestly, I've never seen that lawn sofa at The Meadows. And I will never call it the XFINITY center. I will never call it that. It is the meadows. So if you're not calling it that, I don't know what to tell you. And if you ask me what that is New York City, you I
Jill Griffin 3:05
just watched it. We also have to retract 50 Cent being a major trolling everyone
Unknown Speaker 3:16
he does. So true. All right,
Jill Griffin 3:22
hello, hang on. Hang on. I still have to send this email. Can we please give me a moment? I went upstairs. Well, I went upstairs and we were giving a tour to a client, and then I felt like I had to stand there
Speaker 1 3:39
and do what, awkwardly. Say nothing.
Jill Griffin 3:42
He was like, I walk in and he goes, Oh, this, she must be a therapist. And I'm like,
Speaker 2 3:51
like, I wanted to, like, pretend like you didn't see me. That's what I wanted to say. Pretend like I'm not here, I'm not here.
Jill Griffin 4:02
I wanted to do one of these like you don't have to. You don't This isn't even, I didn't know that we gave pores like this. That's not the vibe you
Molly Bierman 4:23
you. Oh, now I get why people go ask for the honest feedback. Because I had someone message me after they listened to the episode and go ask for the honest asked me for the honest feedback. I'm like, What is she talking about? That was our permission to live from last week or this week,
Jill Griffin 4:39
yeah, but that's not why Justin did that.
Molly Bierman 4:44
No, I'm saying I had someone randomly text me and ask me for the honest feedback I'm like about. What are you all good?
Jill Griffin 4:55
Do you You better be real fucking careful if you're asking mom. For honest feedback, too. Depending on her mood, it might not be what you want to hear,
Molly Bierman 5:07
especially after this little, little Zinger,
Jill Griffin 5:10
ooh, I warmed mine up. And fun fact, there must be a little metal in here, because it definitely burns and feel and smells not not good. Definitely looks like something that this might be a lawsuit. Honestly, this might be something that
Molly Bierman 5:31
not me. The way that you can get out of this Starbucks is by sponsoring our podcast.
Jill Griffin 5:38
That is an option. I'm not litigious, but I'm just saying I could see somebody who could be if this looks like an explosion potential right here, are
Molly Bierman 5:47
you sure it's not your microwave? How long did you put it in there for?
Jill Griffin 5:51
I don't want to talk about that part, that variable. I don't want to talk about that variable. For anyone who knows me and Alan will say that i i Will scorch food. I want my food and beverage. I want it so hot if you deliver a some meal to me and it is lukewarm. Oh, lukewarm. Take it back.
Molly Bierman 6:13
Lukewarm soup. We talked it's any meal. We talked about this, any meal, anyone who take it back. Wait, hold on, hold on. This is a hot take. Everybody listening? Anyone who eats gazpacho and enjoys it is a psychopath,
Jill Griffin 6:29
absolute psychopath That is disgusting. No, no, that is psychotic behavior. Absolutely i i look forward to hearing from you.
Speaker 1 6:50
No, she doesn't. No, no, she doesn't. So whoever just received that email on the Friday, September 5 at 11:04am,
Jill Griffin 6:59
it's with us. I actually do look forward to hearing from this person. But do you ever see the memes, though, on Instagram where it's like, I wish I could just be like, the email responses is like, Katie, we have already discussed this. Like, like, Please circle back to the first email about this, where this was
Molly Bierman 7:20
already answered? Well, that's kind of like me with the guest, like in Riverside. You asked me every week. You're like, did Anthony send it to you? I'm like, I'm not sure.
Jill Griffin 7:32
The answer is, yes. Can we just put it in the digital workflow, though? That would be, listen, there's probably a lot of things. There's probably a lot of things we could do to make our this a lot more efficient. I'm just, I need, like, a little bit of time. You know what I'm gonna actually, you know when things, we'll get our shit together on the plane flight that I have, the six hour plane flight, where I'll, where I'll be trapped on the plane with my computer, the flight, the plane ride
Unknown Speaker 8:02
description, but
Jill Griffin 8:06
I'm on a fucking plane to California. Next week. I will be doing work because you're kind of
Unknown Speaker 8:12
trapped. It's nice uninterrupted
Jill Griffin 8:15
time. I also I'm good for a little prop your phone with a little I watch something and I work at the same time.
Unknown Speaker 8:24
Do you have a device for that?
Jill Griffin 8:28
Yes, I watch it on my phone, and then I have my MacBook, and then I work on my MacBook.
Molly Bierman 8:33
Oh, you propped the little prop on the computer.
Jill Griffin 8:36
Little, little prop. Let's also talk about for one second. Have you watched the hunting wives
Molly Bierman 8:41
yet? No. First of all, my TV broke in our bedroom, and so there's been like this desire to want to watch TV lately, like last night. I did want to watch football, but I did you. Did you watch No, because I didn't want to go down to the stairs, and our TV is not working upstairs. I don't know. So I just was like, Okay, well, I guess I haven't watched TV for the last 38 years of my life, so I guess there's no need to start now.
Jill Griffin 9:06
So hunting wives, we need to talk about this. The hunting wives is based on this book, which I've heard is not as sexual as the show, but these bitches are wild. Like, throughout watching it, you're like, I can actually understand how this happens. I as as
Molly Bierman 9:30
characters in this show, Britney, snow, Chrissy Mets it's,
Jill Griffin 9:36
it's essentially softcore porn. So brace yourself for that? Oh, really,
Molly Bierman 9:42
yes, yes, the hunting wives are, who are they hunting? Are they hunting other people's husbands?
Jill Griffin 9:49
I mean, I'm not gonna give it all away, but they also do actual hunting.
Speaker 1 9:54
Actual hunt. Did they by accident, kill anybody back? You know, on accident? Do they. Do they hunt?
Jill Griffin 10:01
There is a murder. There is on.
Molly Bierman 10:05
Cheat on, yeah, cheat day. Episode Four, body discovered in the woods. All right, I could get, I could get behind this,
Jill Griffin 10:15
yeah, did we? Did we do echo, cancel, when we started recording, Yeah, mine's on. We did. We did amazing. All right,
Speaker 1 10:23
let's try to get into it. Okay,
Jill Griffin 10:27
yeah, I'm going to lunch after this.
Molly Bierman 10:32
I made a like a steak, cabbage peppercorn stir fry last night, so we'll be having that for lunch. Okay, guys, welcome back. Welcome back to your favorite Tuesday.
Jill Griffin 10:54
Absolutely
Molly Bierman 10:56
no permission necessary. New episode drops every Tuesday, in case you're new here.
Jill Griffin 11:05
All right, what are we talking about today? We should just do a check in first. Because I think, Oh Lord, I would like, I would like to share that over the past week, for those of you who have listened to my episode that I do not make my bed, I have been bullied into making a change in my bedroom decor and by me blankets. Oh, by Molly, 1,000% and your
Unknown Speaker 11:32
husband, I'm Team Allen.
Jill Griffin 11:36
He didn't bully me into it. He, we're not putting this on my he
Unknown Speaker 11:41
we had some discussion about sheets.
Jill Griffin 11:45
Okay, well, either way, I have had to rely on Molly a lot for decor decisions. You know, there were, there were some things that had to be ordered. There's some things that have to take place. And this is just not my strong suit like, I think it's okay. It's like, one of those things, like, women are supposed to be, I don't know, like, esthetics and stuff. I know a lot of men that have a lot of good taste in that stuff, fashion, all that stuff. Not only am I not good at it, I could care less. It's just not my thing. It's something that needs to be outsourced in my life. Just tell me what to do, and I'll do it, but I don't want to be the one responsible for it.
Molly Bierman 12:26
And it's interesting, because I like to do it for other people, but I get really stuck myself. And for the listeners, everyone's like, Oh my god, I love your wallpaper. And maybe there's people that don't like my wallpaper, but a majority of the feedback has been positive, and it took me five months.
Jill Griffin 12:50
And so can you believe, can you believe that she left that light switch just out there, hanging in the back without me? Robbie is
Molly Bierman 12:56
on. I'm unwell about it every time I'm on. So today, after this episode is over, I am ordering a faux gold switch plate. But that being said, I really do like to help my friends, family and otherwise, pick out clothes, pick out esthetics for their home, give feedback, so Jill's getting,
Jill Griffin 13:24
she says, Help, yeah, I'm getting a whole new bedroom, essentially. I mean, I already have new, newer furniture, but when she says help, she actually means shame. She shames you into decisions. Makes you feel like an idiot when you ask questions, this is not her approach to helping clients, by the way, but with her friends, she does not, she doesn't mind using those tactics.
Molly Bierman 13:52
I mean, you tried to buy sheets off Amazon. It's a no unless there's like, a really, like, good dupe, and I can support that. But there was, I know you and I know it was just, this is what happened. You opened your Amazon app, you typed in King sheets, and you took whatever was the first three on the page. I read reviews and, oh, I was gonna say you didn't even read the reviews. Okay. Well, that's, oh,
Jill Griffin 14:16
I read reviews on everything.
Molly Bierman 14:18
Do you leave reviews? Let's talk about people who leave reviews. Okay, I left a review at the TSA in Portland, Maine a couple weeks ago for good
Jill Griffin 14:29
or bad, bad, oh boy. So me and you are the same. So if I leave a review, I'm telling you right now, it means that I had a horrendous experience where I am about to totally eviscerate you. I am eviscerating you in words, on whatever review thing I can, which I can tell you, from being a business owner, if you get a one star Google review, I am telling you that it is an act of God to get that thing taken down.
Molly Bierman 15:00
Yeah, and if someone deserves a one star review, TSA makes you go through like a different system, because it's the government, I guess I'm not sure.
Jill Griffin 15:11
To be very, very clear, TSA and the United States government gives zero fucks about your feedback. I'm just gonna throw that out there,
Speaker 1 15:21
send me an email immediately. And I was, I'm gonna tell you what happened. Okay, I was so I can't believe
Unknown Speaker 15:30
I'm this young about this. For the first time, this is
Molly Bierman 15:32
good. This is good when these things come out live and you haven't heard it prior, there's a separate issue that my husband does not have, TSA Pre check, and that is simple, just, just lack of action. Okay, so we'll leave that tonight.
Speaker 2 15:51
My clear just expired. I better get my shit together before I fly next week.
Molly Bierman 15:56
Yeah, exactly, especially if we're flying together, because it's separate. So whatever I said, my son with with Sam, and I'm like, I'm just gonna take my daughter through TSA, because I have the stroller.
Jill Griffin 16:08
Okay, so wait, so because he doesn't have it, you're separating. So if you have pre check, you can't bring your whole family, because,
Molly Bierman 16:17
no, he can't go pre check. If he is not like, I can bring my kids, but I can't bring my husband, and maybe I can, but we've actually never tried.
Jill Griffin 16:27
Okay, so I think just, I don't know, it seems a little bit selfish, because if my husband didn't have something, I would probably have stayed in the peasant line with him, which
Molly Bierman 16:37
I typically do, but we had the stroller, and I just wanted to make it easy to not go through the whole thing with the baby, right? That was my that was my rationale, if it's just sad, and I traveling like, I'll Joe, whatever with him, even though it's got it okay. So I get to the TSA, you know, whatever you get through, get ready to go through security. And for those that are moms that have that travel and have a stroller, you know that it is just annoying. Okay, there's just, it is just annoying. And so they want me to fold down this contraption and try to squeeze it into this, you know, the chute, security chute. Okay, the belt. And I am looking at them like it is not going to fit, and if it does fit, it's going to fit by this much, and it's going to be annoying, whatever, whatever. So I'm standing there, she comes up to me, the one woman is very kind. She goes, can you fit it through? And I said, I really don't think I can fit it through. And she was like, Okay, well, let's try. And another woman comes up to me and immediately is like, you gotta fold it down. And I was like, Okay, so I'm holding the baby in one arm,
Jill Griffin 17:48
one arm holding it, one arm folding it, which is a whole nother,
Molly Bierman 17:52
and she doesn't attempt to help me. Okay, so I'm already annoyed, but whatever I can do it, I'm holding one, you know.
Jill Griffin 17:58
Are they also yelling? Are they yelling about the bins and TSA workers love to yell about the bins and the shoes and the belt. I can? I do
Molly Bierman 18:07
understand their frustration, because half the time that I fly, I look at people, I'm like, Have you never flown before? Why is this always so hard? Why I don't get it so anyway, I try to intent, I fold it down, and then we noticed that it doesn't fit. Of course, it doesn't fit because I told you it wasn't gonna fit. So I was like, why don't we already know this? Why don't we just take the seat out and we'll run that through, and we'll just take the like, you know, contraption, you know, there's no, like, pockets or whatever. So we take it out. She doesn't help me to take it out. I need two people to unhook it, because it's two levers. I get it through. I get to the other side. She wipes all down. She tells me it's fine, and she just rolls it over. And then the seat is completely separate, and she doesn't attempt to say, Hey, do you think I could help you? Put the seat back in like no support, just so cold and I and honestly, I had support in the line, and I could have called over to my husband and done things a little bit differently, but I was thinking I wrote that review for the mom who's traveling by themselves always because I was so frustrated, I didn't even make it two seconds past the gate, did you
Unknown Speaker 19:21
ask for help? No, oh,
Jill Griffin 19:26
okay, you didn't. You didn't say like, Hey, can you? Can you help me out with this? No, you felt like this woman should have just offered help.
Unknown Speaker 19:37
Yes.
Jill Griffin 19:40
Oh, okay, you don't it's weird because it's just strange, because we've talked on this podcast too about how we have to ask for help in different scenarios.
Molly Bierman 19:53
I I think it's more so that you. Maybe it's my perception, but I look at someone who is struggling, holding a child in their arm, you wouldn't offer help. That feels weird to me.
Jill Griffin 20:11
Well, no, I personally would offer help. In fact, if I was the woman behind you in line, I probably would have offered help, or if I was on the other side of I'm surprised that no other passengers tried to help either. To be honest, there wasn't a lot going on the Portland Maine airport is pretty low key. That is one thing. It takes one second to get through. Okay, but okay. But again, did she just seem uninterested? Was she just watching? She was
Molly Bierman 20:34
uninterested. She immediately just, like, dropped off. She goes, here you go. And just went the other way. There was a couple other people that looked like they would be more willing, but I think I felt like her energy, and I was like, I'm not even asking this woman for help. Like you could tell she was already annoyed. I guess she was annoyed because I
Jill Griffin 20:50
had a kid. I don't know. There's a lot of assumptions being made
Molly Bierman 20:53
here, but nonetheless, TSA got a review. And so
Jill Griffin 20:58
what did they say in the email that's just not their policy, that's not there. Or did they defend themselves?
Molly Bierman 21:03
No, they basically said, we, you know, pride ourselves on customer service. We appreciate all the feedback it was from
Jill Griffin 21:08
camp. Oh, do you do? You pride yourself in customer service? I listen. There are some. You know, one of my favorite airports to fly out of is actually Fort Lauderdale. Those TSA workers, for some reason, they always have their shit together. And also, in that airport, you don't have to take all your electronics out of the bag. They have the white things. You know that you can put your thing through the new thing, but they're always just, like, very informative. They're not yelling. They seem pretty happy. I don't know. Maybe it's just the times I've flown out of there. Then there's other ones where, why are we yelling this tone seems especially when it's like a 5am you're flying out. It's like, can we bring it down a notch? This isn't a lot, yeah. But again, I think they're yelling for the people that have you flown
Speaker 1 21:53
before? No, they haven't. Or if they have, or
Jill Griffin 21:57
did you fly? You haven't flown since 2000 you haven't flown since 2000 I also think it's bullshit that we have to take that there's our shoes off still. I think my internationally,
Unknown Speaker 22:07
I think they just did away with that. I think it's over.
Jill Griffin 22:10
I think it's one did you have to take your shoes off in Maine? No. Fact check that. Look it up.
Speaker 1 22:18
I'm well, I'm gonna fact check it right now. Shoes on an
Jill Griffin 22:21
air I will say, though, that some airports I've been through, the TSA Pre check line is longer than the regular line. So then it's like a scam. That is true
Molly Bierman 22:32
from a leadership perspective. Shoes off travel policy told you
Jill Griffin 22:35
when, when July 8. So when I go to fly next week, I don't have to take my shoes
Molly Bierman 22:41
off. Ending the shoes off policy is the latest effort DHS is implementing to modernize and enhance the traveler experience across our nation's airports. But if you have a kid, beware, because nobody wants to help you. That's the memo.
Unknown Speaker 22:56
Oh, boy.
Unknown Speaker 22:58
But from a leadership
Molly Bierman 23:00
as of Yeah, as of July this. This statement came out from official July 8, 2025, national press release. There you go, coming at you, coming at you.
Jill Griffin 23:13
Hot. I would say, though it, if you really want to see somebody's character, travel with them. Take them on, because I'm gonna I travel in a particular way which is the lowest stress possible. I don't, I'm not trying to bug out about things, but there are some people that like it. They can't get their shit together. It's like,
Molly Bierman 23:38
I feel like I landed somewhere in the middle, although, although I'm I'm good for, like, a last minute run to the convenience store right before we're supposed to board to grab a pack of gummies. And so, like gummy bears gummies, you almost miss boarding even worse. So I did this. Got a pack of gummies. This was a couple flights ago when we were flying down to Kiowa, and I went and grabbed I was like, come on, Bodie, let's run and get a grab a pack of gummy bears. Husband fully annoyed already, because he's like, we are boarding. It's not even like if we are about to we and so we get on the plane. I have gummies in hand, I literally have to pull a gummy worm out of my son's throat. He choked on it. Yeah, yep. So not
Jill Griffin 24:32
only not supposed to have gummies, are they not supposed to have gummy worms? Well, the gummy
Molly Bierman 24:35
worms like it here long. They're pretty long. I had to really, like, get a hook, line and sinker out of it. You know, my husband looked at me with the eye. He didn't even need to say anything. He was just like you and your decision making.
Unknown Speaker 24:54
He was disappointed,
Unknown Speaker 24:56
oh yeah, in a big way.
Jill Griffin 24:58
But let's go back to this poor. TSA worker. Do you think that she was obviously having a bad day, but do you think that this is ever gonna she's gonna be addressed about this behavior? No, I don't think so. This is a huge bureaucracy, whoever. No, whoever's guiding this email, it's not tracking down to Portland Maine and TSA. They're not getting a retrain.
Molly Bierman 25:17
I just needed it to be out of my either. That, I think is what needed to happen, like, if I go back into Portland and I see her, maybe we will have a repack. But for now, let's,
Jill Griffin 25:29
let's go back to the reviews, though, and people who leave reviews. We recently had a vile one star review, okay? We've had those vile and the whole basis of it was that this person didn't get the answer that they wanted right, which is, honestly, I guess, in some ways, a lot of the bad reviews, right? You didn't get something you expected to get, right?
Unknown Speaker 25:55
I didn't get help with my
Jill Griffin 25:59
behavioral health, right? So it's like, this is there's some subjectivity to these reviews, which I think is like, you know, and the people writing them might not be in their best state of mind, I'm just saying at the time. So we, we could see from the Google the Google review, all of the other reviews that they had given. Oh, this person
Molly Bierman 26:24
looked at that, yeah, you can see that, and it is all negative, typically, like the people who write the negative reviews, all you see is the negative reviews. But that to say, I don't, I always think about when I leave a positive experience, I'm like, oh, I want to really write them a positive review, but
Jill Griffin 26:39
I don't have the never do. No, I never do when I go on vacation. When I go on vacation the resort, people always be like, please leave us a Trip Advisor review, and you could see the people that follow through with this. And honestly, I choose my vacation spot sometimes, or I choose where I go based on these positive reviews, right? But yet, I don't feel in any way, shape or form that I am going to contribute to that positivity, I just don't. But if it's a it has to be a very bad experience for me to leave a review, though, because even then, it's like, I kind of want to give people the benefit of doubt, like, maybe this is just a one off, a bad experience, whatever. I don't know, but it was fascinating to see.
Molly Bierman 27:21
Back to the experience that I had about the at the TSA. I think really probably where the resentment and the frustration lies is maybe not so much with that woman as it is the experience for women and children getting through TSA if you don't have health, because it is hard with the stroke and the breast milk and the pumps and all that stuff. I think that's probably really for so where the frustration stems?
Jill Griffin 27:48
Yeah, I'm just gonna say it right now that we had an entire agenda about what we were talking about, and I'm gonna tell you right now it's not happening. We're derailed. We're we're we are fully derailed now, which is fine, because it, you know, we sent, we shipped everyone off to school this week. There's solo parenting happening in my household at this moment. So it's a miracle that I have my hair done and clothes on at this point. You know, I think I really want to mention the fact that football season has started. That is really an important time of year that we are entering into fall. And if you're not a football fan, I don't know what to tell you. I'm not sure what you're doing with your time during this season, but Godspeed and I don't really want to be bothered when football is happening.
Molly Bierman 28:45
So for clarity, for a little bit of clarity to the listeners, will is an avid football fanatic. Okay, so we're not talking just a casual viewer. I, on the other hand, am a casual viewer, because it's regularly on in my house, and I am incentivized by fantasy football. So I have a fantasy football team. I'm here to win all the or all the winnings at the end of the
Jill Griffin 29:16
season. It's really to be able to talk shit at the end of the season. And also,
Molly Bierman 29:21
I like to do the Super Bowl boxes, anything that involves betting, really, and a little bit of competitive nature.
Jill Griffin 29:29
I don't know if we need to put in a gambling disclaimer now, but we don't endorse that, but it is fun if, if you aren't an addict, a gambling addict, yeah,
Speaker 1 29:38
there's definitely people who have challenges with if that is not what I am referencing, I'm just saying, anytime you talk about
Jill Griffin 29:51
gambling, there's that, like, disclaimer that, like, canned thing that comes on and it's like, if you're a gambling addict, I don't think I mean, yeah, this could be for you, but you're. Probably not calling this hotline. I hate to say it, but like they're they have to say
Molly Bierman 30:03
it, yeah. So Jill, being the therapist in the room, is giving this car disclaimer that we are just doing this for for fun, not for free. And so when football commences, we'll say that is a that is a part time job for Jill now, because football is on Thursday nights, Sunday all day and Monday night so, and if you watch college football, that's on Saturdays. So now, I mean, pretty much to get a hold of Jill is to basically send her a postcard.
Jill Griffin 30:49
Listen, let's not get crazy. I think there is definitely
Molly Bierman 30:52
no I think that is really, actually pretty accurate. If I try to call you on a Sunday during football, you're either one cooking football food. Two, napping in between games or three on Do Not Disturb because the football your your team is up. I mean, those are the three. Those are the three states on a
Jill Griffin 31:13
Sunday. And honestly, I'm probably the most hopeful right now that I can be as a fan, so I'm a Patriots fan. Last year, there was probably more yelling at the TV than anything else. The emotion was frustration. It was a lot of anger. Again, I think some people are like, it's silly for adults to spend this much time watching other adults play sports. I'm not disagreeing with you, but I will say that it brings me a lot of joy, and it has been a point of contention, which I think is relevant, because there's definitely a role reversal, where I've grown up in a football household. So I grew up having season tickets to West Point army football games. We always went up there since I was, since I can remember, since pre memory, right? So, like, that's part of my that's something I share really closely with my father. My brother played football, like, whatever. I just I like it. I like the sport. And honestly, when I was younger, I wanted to be a sportscaster. That was like my goal, and I used
Speaker 1 32:24
that tracks, that tracks.
Jill Griffin 32:27
I wanted to be like Aaron Andrews, like on the field, interviewing players, and even now, like, one of the things I would love to do is be like a therapist for athletes like that. I don't know. I'm just very fascinated by what it takes to get to that level. The I watch. I've always read autobiographies of athletes since I was like younger, I used to do like school projects and Middle School on like sports, and so it's not just football
Molly Bierman 32:55
teaming up with Justin karate, yes, one of our previous interviews, and if you haven't listened to that, you should, because he talks a lot about high performers, athletes, helping young adult males, you know, evolve in their careers in that way, and women, but he primarily focuses on men.
Jill Griffin 33:16
But I don't watch a lot of other sports, but during football season, I do love to watch football, and so my husband does not watch football this year. I did get him into the pool. Though he's he's involved now he I'm slowly it. I'm slowly making him a football fan. He still will say he doesn't really care about it, which is fine, but he'll at least watch it with me. My both my kids sat down and watched football with me now, and they know what's going on, so that is what matters.
Molly Bierman 33:47
And how did they get you a step closer to being a sports caster. You are now coaching six year old
Jill Griffin 33:52
in black football. I am now a flag football coach, and I am just going right now, just to be clear, are you the head coach? I think, by default, but I am going to say that I lead teams of people, adults, children. It's not, it's not for me. Probably my last coaching stint, to be honest, I don't know. Hats off to all the coaches. No, I'm just not. I like watching football, but all these play, I mean, I think it's too young for some of these kids to understand how like plays like I don't know. Maybe it's just my coaching style. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm out there floundering. I'm just trying to, Can we all just run in the right direction?
Unknown Speaker 34:45
Do you bring snacks? We had
Jill Griffin 34:47
no there's no time for snacks. We only have one hour practice a week, and then we have games on Sundays now, so it's going to be fine. Oh, they just didn't a little bit. Okay. Well, again, the sacrifices of a mother. It. It. We're sacrificing over here, because the game time start at three. For those of you who don't watch football there, sometimes there's an international game in the morning, but generally on the east coast, the games are at 1pm and
Speaker 1 35:13
four so and then again, we're missing a
Jill Griffin 35:17
part and then at eight, yeah, but we're missing a part of one of those games, no matter what do you see the problem here?
Molly Bierman 35:24
Yeah, but you'll have a crock pot, and food will be prepped the day before, and there'll be all sorts
Jill Griffin 35:29
of fun. Will it? Because we have softball games on Saturday.
Molly Bierman 35:34
Listen, I'm not in that season, but I will tell you that for the first time in a long time, maybe if ever, I have been excited to settle back into fall.
Jill Griffin 35:49
I have said this probably for the last three years. I'll say which actually is kind of interesting. I will because four years ago. My introduction to fall was me completely trashing my ankle and having full ankle reconstruction surgery. That will be four years ago. This this September.
Speaker 1 36:10
Wow, time flies. That feels like not that long ago.
Jill Griffin 36:14
It feels it's still pretty. There's still rough memory. We've recovered. But fall for the last couple years, it's like, Oh, I feel like I've been more excited for Fall lately than it was always the summer. But I think fall I need to be back in a routine. We've talked about this. But also there's like, fun stuff you do get the flannel out, you go apple picking, or you go pumpkin to the pumpkin patch. We have that stuff and but all areas of the country don't have that. Like my sister in law used to always say, like out in California, like it wasn't the same weather situation. So it wasn't like the same Well, it's even, I mean, it's hot
Unknown Speaker 36:57
here. It's 85 degrees today.
Jill Griffin 37:01
I mean, it's gonna be 80 today. It takes but it's not, it's not fall until September 21
Molly Bierman 37:09
Yeah, yeah. I guess we think that, you know, back to school and everything is, you know, it's a wrap.
Jill Griffin 37:17
Well, summer doesn't start until June 21
Molly Bierman 37:21
Yeah, yeah. But you know, you already feel the sun. You know the sun's going down earlier, it's already getting dark, and you know, earlier,
Jill Griffin 37:28
how are we going to prepare for that?
Molly Bierman 37:32
That's that's a really good question.
Jill Griffin 37:35
Are we wearing our red light mask? Does that help prepare for that? What's Listen,
Molly Bierman 37:39
I have been diligent last night. I was not because I fell asleep at 730 or eight o'clock while putting my son to bed, and then woke up at 930 and knew that my night was therefore in the gutter. But I have been regimented in a red light mask, which I don't know if that does anything for our anything but our skin. I don't know if that does anything for our
Jill Griffin 38:05
mental health. Does it do something for your skin?
Unknown Speaker 38:08
Yeah, I feel like my skin is or is it a
Jill Griffin 38:11
place effect? No, I have talked
Molly Bierman 38:14
to a dermatologist, dermatology focused nurse practitioner, who I go to regularly for advice,
Jill Griffin 38:21
who's dermatology focused? Okay, nurse practitioner,
Molly Bierman 38:26
so she does her work in a dermatology office. Essentially got it. And she will say that some of the regimens that you should follow, there's a lot of noise and, you know, the facial world and in the skin world, but red light therapy, sunscreen
Jill Griffin 38:45
and why are you pausing and staring at me like that?
Molly Bierman 38:50
I think I'm reiterating that to myself and to a fellow person that has used a tanning bed in our lifetime.
Jill Griffin 38:58
Whoa, I haven't used I haven't used a tanning bed since I had a skin cancer scare almost two years ago.
Speaker 1 39:05
Now, right? That's not that long ago, when our I'm just saying, Oh, we stopped in 2000
Jill Griffin 39:19
I know people still that regularly use tanning beds.
Molly Bierman 39:23
Okay? So I am, listen, I am good for maybe one time a year when I'm at the breaking point of winter and I feel so depleted.
Jill Griffin 39:34
When's the last time you did? When's the last time you did,
Molly Bierman 39:41
probably before Madden, after Bodie, so rain maybe, right? Well, this same amount of time I said, I'm delivering this message to the both of us, sunscreen is important. You're feeling attacked because you didn't put sunscreen on this morning.
Jill Griffin 39:57
Oh, I definitely didn't. I. Uh, wait, you have to put it on every day, not just when you're gonna sit out in
Unknown Speaker 40:04
the sun. Oh, every day we might
Jill Griffin 40:07
have to have a skin focused conversation.
Molly Bierman 40:10
I'll send you. I'll send you. Maybe we bring her on. That would be good. Maybe we bring her on,
Jill Griffin 40:15
should we? I think there's a lot of questions people have.
Molly Bierman 40:18
There is a lot of questions. So anyway, sunscreen, red light therapy and like a decent regimen, which is, wash your face, even if you're being lazy, twice a day, serum, moisturizer and vitamin C serum. That's what, that's what she tells me, that's what I've been sticking to my skin is never looked better.
Jill Griffin 40:39
But I will say that I I went through this period of rosacea when I turned 39 it was almost the entire year. Came out of nowhere.
Unknown Speaker 40:49
You're supposed to work
Jill Griffin 40:49
with for that came out of nowhere. It was so frustrating, because it's like, Why all of a sudden is this happening? Well, the thing that cured it was this skin, this, like, moisture barrier cream, because, I guess what it is, it's almost like, like, really, really bad dry skin. It's like your skin's exposed, and I guess there's, there's a protective layer over your skin, and if that gets, like, breached or something, then it's like, that was one of the theories. I was on the Reddit pages. I was like, I need a solution here. There were a lot of there are a lot of solutions. I tried some. Actually the thing that cured it though, ivermectin cream. I know that's a controversial word, post covid, but I think it's actually used in dermatology space pretty often. Ivermectin cream. It's like something, something that lives in your skin. It like kills it. But anyway, your your skin changes as you get older.
Molly Bierman 41:49
And yeah, we're trying to never the city. We're trying to keep the the glow. We're trying to do all those things. It's not easy, and we're going to try to prevent the bags, but the things, yeah, but I think when going back to your original question about fall and kind of transition is, you know, you get up early and it's dark. I mean, I took a picture of my morning routine the other day, and someone messaged me, and she's like, I'm sorry. Why are you drinking coffee in the dark? Is it in the middle of the night? And I go, No, it's 535 45
Jill Griffin 42:23
she goes, ma'am. I was up at 410 it was not, it was not light out. I want to say, well, 615,
Unknown Speaker 42:32
two and a half hours. Yeah, yeah,
Jill Griffin 42:35
I'm in the dark, yeah.
Molly Bierman 42:39
So in the dark that does make it a bit harder, but what makes it nice getting up early and doing that routine in the morning is that the kids sleep longer because it's dark in the morning, you know. And when you know, summer more daylight, they're up later and up earlier.
Jill Griffin 42:58
I'm not gonna lie. All bets are off. When that time change happens? When it's dark at 530 that means that a 630 bedtime for me is not out of the question.
Molly Bierman 43:13
630 I mean, that's me pregnant, but that's what's happened. It's happened. I know it's so hard. I remember, you know, back when I first, first got sober, I apprenticed at a hair salon, and there would be days like dead of winter that we were assisting, and it would be that you go into work and it's dark, and you leave work and it's dark, that's a real thing. You don't have time. You don't have a lot of time, like around daylight.
Jill Griffin 43:42
What about if you live in other parts of the world? It's like dark 23 hours a day, no.
Molly Bierman 43:49
Depression, no, I can't get depression, no, but I, I do feel that it is important to find catcher stride during the day. If you are in you know, a job that doesn't have a lot of holes in the day, you know, I will say that a lot on Morning tonight,
Jill Griffin 44:10
some of my clients and I have a couple of friends, actually, that have used the happy light. Yeah, I haven't used it. I'm talking about, yeah, I haven't used it. But I know I don't have seasonal stuff, really, I don't, that's not, I don't like when it's dark out, but I also feel like I don't know it's kind of like a bear hibernating, like how mine going to bed a little early, get
Speaker 1 44:35
up early. Like you're, really,
Unknown Speaker 44:38
you're, you're supposed to go, you know,
Molly Bierman 44:40
you need to go into hibernation. Essentially, we're going into hibernation season.
Jill Griffin 44:45
We're going into hoodie season. If you're not familiar with that, it's just looking like, I don't know, like you've just rolled out of bed and sweatpants and a hoodie and. And people don't know if you've changed from waking up or going out in public, but that's generally what I'm looking like on the weekends in hoodie season. That's not That's not Molly's vibe. It is mine. That's not true. I will look like straight trash.
Unknown Speaker 45:15
I'm still putting on mascara.
Jill Griffin 45:17
Oh no, no chance.
Molly Bierman 45:20
Do you know that I just heard a stat around women who wear makeup are are more inclined to get paid more as an employee. Oh, I did see that too. Did you see that episode? I think I sent it to you. It was on the diary of a CEO, and it was that interview with those three. And it was drastic. I want to say, I mean, I'll pull it up, but I want to say it was like 20% more.
Jill Griffin 45:55
I There is definitely something to, and we can pull up statistics on this, but there is something to how you how you present yourself, and what you look like as a female definitely matters more than if you are a male. I will say that that's what I'm not saying. I'm not saying that it's fair. I'm just saying it is what it is, and you need to make your decisions accordingly. I always was somebody who would not leave the house. It didn't matter where I was going. I would not leave the house without makeup. I think that was born out of I watched my mom do that from a young age. She always wore makeup. I I think there's some like pride, right? And how you look. I also, for me, it was a lot of self worth issues, right? Me feeling self conscious. Me not wanting to like show my real self. I will say that after I had my second child, I remember a distinct decision was made. We are no longer wasting time in my morning routine, putting makeup on so when I go back to work from this maternity leave, everyone is going to be taking me how I am, because it's not happening. I ditched all makeup routine after that. Mascara, no foundation, nothing, not even sunscreen. Molly, really living on the edge.
Unknown Speaker 47:18
I don't, I don't feel like that. That's you. Now, though
Jill Griffin 47:23
I have makeup on. Oh, I I have not. I probably have worn makeup more often now, since we are recording and podcasting only because I feel like these videos live somewhere, and I have to, I don't know, I feel like when you're in a light and you're in perfection, just show more. But before that, I wasn't wearing makeup maybe once a month, maybe
Molly Bierman 47:51
see I do not feel complete. I do not feel complete. I'm telling you, I and it's really the mascara of it like, if I cannot put on mascara, I have to be at a very low point in my morning, because that's also a little, I don't know what it is, it's a little lift. I think I also grew up with Not, not full face. We're not talking full face, but a grandmother, a mother who would a little bit of a little bit of lip, a little bit of mascara, a little tinted moisturizer that I'm okay with. Call it a day.
Jill Griffin 48:27
Well, women love that's why they love the the fake
Molly Bierman 48:31
eyelashes so much easier. And I did it for years. And you know what, with kids, I don't have time to lay in the chair. Every couple
Jill Griffin 48:38
of weeks, it takes like an hour, doesn't it, to do it, yeah, but I would fall asleep. Listen, let me just say, though, that some people are taking the lashes too far. Okay, we also need to be as women, just be a little bit aware if it looks like, I don't know, a Caterpillar's legs or something. I don't some of these lashes look absolutely crazy. They're not okay,
Molly Bierman 49:05
but it is incredible. Dial it back. Just, have you ever done them?
Jill Griffin 49:11
No, because I'm afraid for No, I have not. What are you afraid of? I just got my brows done for the first time a few weeks ago. They look good. Well, no, that. Well, thank you, but, yeah, I need to get them. I literally, when I went to get my brows done, she's like, Oh, what do you usually do? I was like, I haven't plucked a hair, cut a hair, waxed a hair, done nothing to my eyebrows in no less than eight or nine years. And that. She was like, floored, like, What are you talking about? I'm as much as it may seem, and my husband would like to make it seem like I'm high maintenance. I'm actually very low
Molly Bierman 49:50
No, you you are, you are. It is true, you are low maintenance.
Jill Griffin 49:54
I mean, I can get ready, and I frequently do after my workout, to leaving. The House, 25 minutes I can be out the door.
Molly Bierman 50:04
Yeah, you know, I think that you would probably have a different experience and feel probably pretty positive about lashes, because it does give you this level of feeling put together, and you don't have to do
Jill Griffin 50:18
any Well, that's why effortless. That's That's my nails if I don't have nails on, no, my life is atrocious. Something's wrong if my if I don't have nails on, however, I don't think I can add another hour long thing to my like, no routine that that's not gonna work, that would
Molly Bierman 50:39
then put your husband over the edge to a high maintenance threshold
Jill Griffin 50:43
my workouts alone. I think, yeah, I think my most high maintenance thing are my football schedule during the fall and my my workouts right now. We did come up with a good solution for that, though, during the school year, because, dude, this the you think you have it down, you think you have a routine established, and then something changes, and you need to rework that routine, and that's where flexibility comes in. But at some points you just want to be like, I wish I could be somebody that'd be like, I'm just gonna wing it. I'm just gonna, like, just see what happens. I envy those people in some ways. We can't be those people. No, we're not, though it's not.
Molly Bierman 51:32
I mean, until we roll to go record a podcast that we had a full agenda for, and we completely winged it, and we're at minute,
Jill Griffin 51:38
oh, oh, we just completely went off script. Were it's fine, it was what it was meant to be. And what I would really like to say, though, for people, how you can help us out and help us grow here, please go on to wherever you listen. Spotify Apple YouTube. Give us a review. Give us some feedback. Like it, download it, share it with a friend. Also, we have our Instagram at no permission necessary. We would love to hear from you, like, what do you want to hear us talking about? What unhinged topics? Where do you want us to go
Speaker 1 52:16
that would be good? Yeah.
Jill Griffin 52:19
Please feel free to reach out. We are here. We want to hear from you. And yeah, so this was just a little,
Molly Bierman 52:28
this was a little, just glimpse into, into, into our, to our inner workings, yeah, yeah. And so we got to give a permission slip. And I think I already have one go ahead. The permission slip coming from Jill is you don't have to wear mascara.
Unknown Speaker 52:53
I don't have to wear makeup at
Molly Bierman 52:54
all. I don't feel aligned with that permission slip. I feel like you do, but I'll allow it.
Jill Griffin 53:04
You don't have to wear makeup. And I think there, there was something really freeing to be like, fuck that makeup. After maternity leave, I will say, like, to not feel like I had to do it. I don't know it, just set the tone. Also, I'm gonna give a second permission slip. Is that I love it. I'm gonna I'm gonna give everyone permission to just embrace your team this football season. I don't care if they go zero and 16, I'm gonna give you permission to still cheer as if they may make it in the Super Bowl, like there is something to be said about those teams, typically New York, at this point, it's been a while since they won. Also the Cowboys, though, but
Molly Bierman 53:47
I would also give permission to my husband to pick a new team,
Jill Griffin 53:52
or that's not actually allowed. Why? If you're a ride or die, you're sticking with your team, I will tell you.
Molly Bierman 54:06
Are the Giants expected to do anything or no,
Jill Griffin 54:11
you think Russell's bringing them somewhere. Don't get me started.
Molly Bierman 54:15
What about our brother's a Jets fan? Yikes.
Jill Griffin 54:21
I mean, you know, the Jets are cursed. When Aaron Rodgers, everyone's pumped. They're they're really hyping it up. First game, done. There goes all that hype that didn't go anywhere good. Okay, so whatever
Molly Bierman 54:37
player was supposed to do well last night on my fantasy team, did not
Jill Griffin 54:42
Well, I give everyone permission to really embrace winning losing. Just support your team. You know where the gear? Be shameless about your support.
Molly Bierman 54:55
Wear the gear. Maybe Joe will break out the maybe Joe will break out. Her Jersey, and then I will of weeks,
Unknown Speaker 55:04
okay, I will okay
Molly Bierman 55:07
until next time, guys, thanks for thanks for tuning in
Jill Griffin 55:11
peace out.
