Space for Life

You're in a known place, and then you're not. Parenthood, an empty nest, grief, a career, retirement. Tommy spent the summer wondering if this was the year he let Space for Life go, then he found Encore. Elizabeth Zelinka Parsons left big law at 35 to be with her kids, called it front ending retirement, and lost her identity anyway.

What You'll Hear in This Episode
Tommy takes a sabbatical, wonders if Space for Life is over, and then reads Encore.
Elizabeth leaves Milbank at 35 to be with her kids, moves to Tucson, and loses her identity.
The difference between the roles we walk in with and the person under those roles.
Tommy adds a line to his mission statement, I am God's son.
How to make a plan so you don't base jump into a panic.
Grief, the choice toward hope, and taking one small action when you are stuck.

(0:00) Season eight after a sabbatical
(2:55) Meet Elizabeth Zelinka Parsons
(4:04) Leaving big law at 35
(7:40) Far from just fine
(12:17) The roles we lead with
(16:16) Who stays when roles go
(23:11) Tommy's encore after 40 years
(25:14) Call it a graduation
(33:50) Plan, don't panic
(38:08) Treat it like an experiment
(41:50) Structure that fills you
(47:28) Don't kill the dream
(50:40) Hope after a terrible change
(54:50) One small action

Encore, A High Achiever's Guide to Thriving in Retirement
https://encoraco.com
https://zelinkaparsons.com
Elizabeth Zelinka Parsons on LinkedIn

Tommy revisits a conversation with Lisa Ould, executive director of Barnabas Center and decades-long counselor, on one of the most personal and underaddressed topics he has taken on across all of Space for Life. Whether you tend to suppress what you feel or find yourself regularly overwhelmed by it, this episode offers a clear framework for understanding where emotions come from, why they matter, and how to stay in what Lisa calls your window of tolerance. Tommy gets personal too, sharing a formative story from his high school lacrosse days that quietly shaped how he has related to his own emotions ever since.

What You'll Hear in This Episode:
What the emotions wheel is and why most of us only have five or six words for what we actually feel.
The critical distinction between experiencing an emotion, expressing it, and the choices you make from there.
The counseling concept of the window of tolerance, and what it looks like to be in hyperarousal or hypoarousal.
How your belief systems shape your habitual emotional patterns, and why naming those beliefs is the first step toward changing them.
Practical guidance for the over-expressive person and the emotionally shut-down person, including how habits and movement can shift where you land.
Tommy's high school lacrosse story, the moment he made a quiet vow to shut down his emotions, and the cost of that vow on both the hard feelings and the good ones.
Why the goal is never to stop feeling but to grow your ability to stay present and functional while you do.
How faith and scripture connect to emotional health by reshaping the belief systems that drive our habitual responses.

Timestamps:
(0:00) Intro
(4:11) Emotions as part of how we're made
(6:20) The emotions wheel
(10:18) Feeling vs. expressing vs. choosing
(15:40) The window of tolerance
(21:44) Beliefs, emotions, and choices
(30:55) The person stuck in habitual negative emotion
(36:00) The emotionally shut-down person
(38:14) Tommy's lacrosse story and the vow he made

Resources / Next Steps:
Learn more about Lisa Ould and Barnabas Center at barnabascenterclt.com.
Visit TommyThompson.com for more helpful content and resources from Tommy.
If you enjoyed this episode, leaving a review helps others find the show.

Ana Megrelishvili went through a troubled childhood: her family was poor and in disarray, and her own father sexually abused her. Nevertheless, she did not let trauma shape her identity, and she eventually found healing and peace after going on a silent retreat. In this episode, Ana joins Tommy Thompson to share how she immigrated to the United States, overcame her resentment of God, and is now changing the lives of many after fully understanding her purpose in life. She talks about the origins of her non-profit Christian Professionals Network Worldwide and how they are addressing the worsening state of homelessness in the country.

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Tommy Thompson sits down with author and attorney Justin Earley to talk about one of the most underdiagnosed crises of our time, an epidemic of loneliness that most people are living with but can't even name. Justin is the author of The Common Rule, Habits of the Household, and his most recent book Made for People, which makes the case that we were created not just for connection but for deep, covenant friendship. This conversation traces the biblical roots of why friendship matters, what it actually takes to build it, and why one honest hour a week with the right person might be the most life-changing thing you can do.

What You'll Hear in This Episode:
Justin's unlikely path from English major at UVA to missionary in Shanghai to Georgetown law school and Richmond business attorney, and how that journey gave birth to three books.
The collapse Justin experienced in his first year of lawyering, and how that season of anxiety and panic attacks led directly to The Common Rule.
Why Justin believes loneliness is one of the most dangerous conditions of our time, one most people are living with but would never self-diagnose.
What Genesis reveals about why God made us to be fully known and fully loved alongside other people, not just with him alone.
Why having a full network of acquaintances and connections is not the same as friendship, and can sometimes make the loneliness worse.
The concept of covenant friendship and its ten ingredients, from vulnerability and honesty to geography, time, and worship.
Why vulnerability is the hardest thing to get your heart around, and why scheduling is the hardest thing to actually follow through on.
Why one honest hour a week with the right person is all it takes to begin changing your life.

Timestamps:
(0:00) Intro
(0:47) Justin's background and three books
(9:19) Anxiety, collapse, and the birth of The Common Rule
(17:54) Why Justin wrote Made for People
(21:01) The epidemic of loneliness
(23:49) The theology of friendship in Genesis
(29:06) Ten ingredients of covenant friendship
(37:24) One hour a week is enough
(41:03) Where to start if you feel alone

Resources / Next Steps:
Pick up Made for People on Amazon and leave a review to help others find it.
Find Justin and all of his books at justinwhitmoreearly.com.
Visit TommyThompson.com for more helpful content and resources from Tommy.
If you enjoyed this episode, leaving a review helps others find the show.

Tommy Thompson and co-host Patricia Clark revisit a conversation that cuts to the heart of one of the most common struggles in modern life. Rather than treating stress as something to push through or accept as inevitable, Tommy makes the case that stress is a barometer, a signal worth reading about what is really going on beneath the surface. This episode walks through five practical ways to stop letting stress run the show, from the simple act of slowing down to the deeper work of engaging your faith in a way that actually changes how you feel.

What You'll Hear in This Episode:
Why stress has become epidemic in modern society and how the American dream may be quietly fueling it.
The barometer concept, treating stress not as noise to ignore but as a signal with something real to say.
A quick review of five practical tools from a previous episode, covering morning routines, breathing, mini getaways, and distractions.
Tip 1: How to take a step back, ask why you are stressed, and why naming the source gives you power over it.
Tip 2: Why rushing and stress are inseparable, and what intentionally slowing down actually does to your nervous system.
Tip 3: How narrowing your focus to one or two truly important things cuts through the overwhelm of a long to-do list.
Tip 4: The discipline of simplifying, identifying what can wait and letting yourself cut it without guilt.
Tip 5: How faith functions as the deepest stress barometer of all, and what it looks like to live like what you believe is actually true.

Timestamps:
(0:00) Intro
(1:53) Stress as a barometer
(4:13) Why stress has become epidemic
(10:15) Review of five previous tips
(11:57) Tip 1: Take a step back
(17:10) Tip 2: Stop rushing
(20:32) Tip 3: Focus on the important
(26:44) Tip 4: Simplify
(28:43) Tip 5: Engage your faith

Resources / Next Steps:
Visit TommyThompson.com for more helpful content and resources from Tommy.
If you enjoyed this episode, leaving a review helps others find the show.