We’re Back, Barely Supervised & Emotionally Questionable

What do a divorce tiara, 20,000 unorganized photos, therapist-sanctioned emotional accountability, sleep deprivation, and a man writing an extremely questionable rap song have in common?

Apparently, this episode.

After an unofficial break and one aggressively chaotic summer, Sarah and Erika are finally back behind the microphones. And naturally, they’re easing back in with From Moments to FOREVER, digital estate reminders, Erika’s finalized divorce, self-destructive coping habits, friendship accountability, dating disasters, and the deeply rude realization that your therapist may, unfortunately, be correct.

Question of the episode: What happens when your friends love you enough to call you out, but you’re still emotionally committed to being a problem?

In this episode, Sarah and Erika catch up on what happened while they were gone, why they missed podcasting, and what it looks like to return when life still very much has its foot on your neck. They talk about avoidance, burnout, sleep, stress, healing that refuses to happen on a convenient timeline, and why being in your 30s means your self-destructive choices now come with consequences and probably lower back pain.

They also get into dating after divorce, listening to your gut, the horrors of “we can just cuddle,” and the secondhand embarrassment of a love song that should have maybe stayed in the drafts.

It’s messy. It’s honest. It’s funny in the way only emotional damage with a microphone can be.

Heavy? A little.

Unhinged? Respectfully, yes.

Understaffed? Always.

👉 Subscribe for new episodes full of sarcasm, storytime, and solidarity.

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/understaffedpod

🚨 #HurtFeelingsAlert 🚨. . . . .Like … legitimately. We warned you.

This week on Living Understaffed, Sarah, Erika & special guest Lilli Bewley (links below!) sit down to unpack attachment styles, hyper-independence, emotional safety, healing patterns, and why being “self-aware” does not automatically mean you’re healed. Unfortunately. 😌

Sarah discovers that interrogating men on first dates might be a trauma response.

Erika realizes she may not actually know what her needs are.

And Lilli lovingly drags both of them into the emotional deep end with sentences like:

“If you don’t get attached, you don’t get hurt.”

Cool cool cool. Love that for us.

This episode covers:

💔 Why smart women still end up in painful dating cycles

🧠 Hyper-independence as a trauma response

🚩 The difference between standards and self-protection

😬 Why you keep attracting emotionally unavailable people

🪞 The horrifying realization that the patterns outside of you might reflect what’s happening inside of you

✨ And what emotional safety actually looks like in dating

There are moments in this episode where Sarah fully contemplates swearing off men forever, Erika gets spiritually read for filth by the “Chill Woman” archetype, and both hosts realize they may have been trying to “logic” their way out of vulnerability this entire time.

Also featuring:

• Sarah preparing for a blind date immediately after recording this emotional damage session

• Discussions of trash men, ghosting yourself, and “dump trucks of a personality”

• Mushroom coffee, hormone supplements, and two women aggressively trying to hold it together

• A huge shoutout to Kayla for connecting us with Lilli and setting this beautifully chaotic emotional intervention into motion 💛

If you’ve ever said: “I’ve done the work… so why is dating still like this?”

Yeah. This episode is for you.

🎧 Listen now before we all delete the apps again: https://linktr.ee/understaffedpod

Huge thank you again to Lilli Bewley for joining us and lovingly reading us for filth. If you want to dive deeper into the Feminine Dating Archetypes, healing patterns, emotional safety, and all the things that made us pause this recording to stare into the void for a minute… go check out her website and sign up for one of her masterclasses.

Honestly? We’re signing up too. Begrudgingly. 💀

✨ Find Lilli Bewley here:

Website: https://www.DatingArchetype.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lillibewley

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lillibewley

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lillibewley

YouTube: https://www.YouTube.com/@lillibewley

Welcome back to Living Understaffed—where the men are questionable, the boundaries are in progress, and somehow… we still circle back for more.

This week kicks off with the usual chaos:

💼 New supervisor energy (tense)

📱 Tinder being a lawless wasteland (as expected)

🚩 Men self-eliminating faster than we can say “absolutely not”

From hospital-bed selfies to 5AM audacity, Sarah & Erika recap a week that proves dating in 2026 is less “rom-com” and more “psychological thriller.”

But then… Sarah decided growth was necessary. (We’re still processing that decision.)

💥 In this episode:

• Ignoring red flags like they’re cute personality traits
• Letting things slide… and then realizing why we had standards in the first place
• The emotional gymnastics of “I’m fine” vs. actually not being fine
• Why being alone feels terrifying… but settling feels worse
• Therapy casually dragging us by the roots (again)

💔 The 10 Questions That Absolutely Wrecked Us:

1. What am I pretending not to know?
2. What part of me am I ashamed to show?
3. Who do I keep forgiving just to avoid being alone?
4. What am I tolerating that I shouldn't be?
5. Where are you betraying yourself?
6. What version of me did I create to be loved?
7. What am I afraid would happen if I truly chose myself?
8. What am I holding onto that's already gone?
9. Where am I shrinking to make others comfortable?
10. What would I do if I trusted myself?

🫠 Final Reality Check:

This episode is for anyone who:

• Knows better… and still double texts
• Wants love but refuses to tolerate nonsense (growth? maybe?)
• Has ever read a question and immediately thought, “wow, I’m going to ignore that”

🎧 Press play if you’re ready to laugh, spiral, and maybe… accidentally become self-aware.

Check our Linktree for the usual: From Moments to Forever, Primal Queen, Everyday Dose & the Good Boy Special. You know you're curious, remember Mother's Day is coming and graduation/wedding season. Lots of gifts available across the board for your friends and family.

<3 Without you, we would be podding into the void.

https://linktr.ee/understaffedpod

Is there a therapist in the crowd… or are we all just going to unpack this together in real time? 😅

This episode? Yeah… this one hurt.

Sarah finally tells Erika the full story of Married Guy #5 (also known as Dopamine Doolittle), and let’s just say… the math is not mathing, the timeline is suspicious, and the audacity is fully clocked in.

What started as a few days of easy conversation, attraction, and “maybe this could be something” quickly spirals into a reality check that hits a little too close to home. Because nothing quite compares to finding out after the fact that someone took away your ability to make an informed decision. Cool. Love that for us.

We get into:

💔 The emotional whiplash of feeling something real… and then realizing it wasn’t built on truth

🧠 Why “I couldn’t resist you” is not the romantic statement some men think it is

🚩 Love-bombing, over-apologizing, and the fine line between guilt and accountability

🔥 The pattern of attracting unavailable men (and what the hell to do about it)

🖤 Owning your feelings without letting someone else’s actions define your worth

There’s sarcasm. There’s anger. There’s a little bit of “am I the problem?” and a lot of “no actually… I’m not.”

Because at the end of the day, this isn’t just about Married Guy #5.

It’s about boundaries.

It’s about self-respect.

And it’s about choosing yourself… even when it would be easier not to.

Listen now before we spiral again. 🚨🎧 #LivingUnderstaffed #DatingFails #EmotionalDamage #UnderpaidAndOverIt

Shoutout + credit to Joao Nogueira for the video on good women. You get it.

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/understaffedpod

🎧 Survival, Spice & Saying the Quiet Parts Out Loud 

⚠️ TRIGGER WARNING

This episode contains discussions of domestic abuse, coercive control, trauma, infertility, and mental health. Listener discretion advised. Please take care of yourself while listening. 💛

This week on Living Understaffed, Sarah & Erika sit down with indie romance author Elle Sparrow—professional heart-wrencher, emotional damage dealer (in the best way), and the woman behind stories that don’t just flirt with darkness… they unpack it, heal it, and hand it back with consent and communication.

From pandemic plot twists to publishing 20 books in 5 years, Elle takes us behind the scenes of building an indie author empire fueled by spice, storytelling, and a refusal to romanticize harmful dynamics.

But this episode? It goes deeper.

We talk about:

• What it actually means to survive and rebuild after abuse
• The difference between toxic fantasy vs. healthy power dynamics
• Why representation in romance matters (and where it’s been getting it wrong 👀)
• The emotional reality of healing, identity loss, and learning to trust yourself again
• And yes… the dating-show-style interrogation she puts her characters through before writing them (honestly, we might start using these questions on real men)

Elle shares how she turned trauma into storytelling—not to sanitize it, but to validate it, and how her books create space for readers to feel seen without judgment.

Also featuring:

💀 Sarah surviving Vegas, illness, and capitalism

🫠 Erika navigating divorce, adulthood, and sourdough as a coping mechanism

🔥 And all of us collectively realizing… we may have been accepting the bare minimum for YEARS

If you’ve ever questioned your instincts, your relationships, or your worth—this one’s going to hit.

👉 Buckle up. This episode is equal parts healing, horny book talk, and emotional damage control.

Visit Elle's website for her latest info, newsletter and upcoming events - and obviously, her books! Go support this amazing human: www.ellesparrow.com

Per usual... Check out our Linktree to support the pod, laugh (and probably cry) with/at us, and check out the latest shenanigans we've gotten ourselves into: https://linktr.ee/understaffedpod

🎙️ Episode 57: Duels, Drama & Doing the Absolute Most

After 3 weeks off the grid, Sarah & Erika are BACK and somehow still alive, employed, and only mildly unhinged.

👉 Erika is in her self-care comeback era (lashes done, life pending 💅)

👉 Sarah is casually working 120-hour pay periods like burnout is a personality trait

👉 The photo booth business is picking up… so if anyone can clone us, now’s your moment

🎭 This Week: Badass Women of History

Julie d’Aubigny (La Maupin) — the 1700s icon who made chaos a full-time job:

• Opera star by 17 🎶
• Dueled men regularly… and WON ⚔️
• Kissed a woman at a royal ball → fought 3 men → beat them all
• Broke her girlfriend out of a convent (allegedly set it on fire, as one does)
• Got paid ~$450K to leave a man alone and said “absolutely not”
• 
  

Yes, this is a real person. Yes, her life was a fever dream.

We also get into burnout, emotional chaos, and that RUDE poem about giving your body more than getting flowers (you’ve been warned).

📚 Book Rec

The Real Life of Julie d’Aubigny – Kelly Gardiner - For when you need proof that your life is actually pretty calm.

Amazon link: https://a.co/d/01fqzjOF

Listen now before we regret our life choices on-air. 🚨🎧 #LivingUnderstaffed #DatingFails #MovingMadness #UnderpaidAndOverIt

Link: https://linktr.ee/understaffedpod

Yes. We know. We’re 3 weeks late. Yes, Sarah has already broken her New Year’s resolutions twice. Yes, we are still here. And yes… we are still aggressively understaffed. We’re just doing our best. 🫡☕

This week’s episode is a chaotic, hilarious, unexpectedly heartfelt roundtable featuring a whole table full of indie authors we adore. What started as a creative retreat turned into one of the most honest conversations we’ve had in a while — about burnout, self-care (or lack thereof), neurodivergent brains trying to relax, creative pressure, and why women are historically terrible at doing literally anything for themselves. Somewhere between Ro-Mad-Libs, Cadbury Egg Creme trauma, and Bass Pro Shops chaos, we accidentally had a real conversation about what it actually looks like to survive creativity, adulthood, and capitalism at the same time.

We talk writing, retreats, friendship, healing, therapy breakthroughs, and why sometimes the most productive thing you can do is sit in a room with people who get it. It’s funny, it’s a little unhinged, and it’s one of those episodes that reminds us why we keep doing this podcast in the first place.

We’re spotlighting all of these incredible women for the next couple of weeks, and you can find ALL of their links in our Linktree so you can stalk them properly and support indie authors the way the algorithm refuses to. 📚🔥

👏🏼 Meg Becker – Spicy romance author, up and coming screenwriter

💫 Lindsey Hobson – Children’s books

➡️ Annie Lisenby – YA, romance, and adult fun books (like the game we played in this episode)

✍🏼 Maranda Collins – Action thriller author with strong, high-stakes storytelling

👀 Samantha Howell – Emerging YA post-apocalyptic writer

LINKTREE - https://linktr.ee/understaffedpod

Welcome back to Living Understaffed, where time isn’t real, everyone is dehydrated, and productivity is mostly a rumor. This week, Sarah & Erika are joined by indie author Eisley Rose for round two of beautiful chaos, and somehow we cover all of this in one episode:

🧠 ADHD side quests (cleaning one thing turns into reorganizing your entire life)

✈️ Planes, trains, automobiles, and storage units that cost more than rent

🍞 Sourdough starters with old-lady names

🐕 Dogs eating sweatpants and surviving purely on vibes

📚 Writing dystopian, action-packed, feminist-rage-fueled books that actually make you feel something

Eisley walks us through her Glitched series, a genre-bending dystopian saga featuring modern-day Spartans, secret civilizations, revenge arcs, mythology, romance, rage, and women who absolutely do not wait to be rescued. We talk writing process, rejection, self-publishing, playlists for fight scenes, accidental kink leaks, and why “say my name again” is the line. 🔥

Also discussed:

• Why writer’s block is fake (for Eisley, at least)

• Third-person POV supremacy

• Emotional damage as a literary device

• Men who want to be called “good boy” (unprompted)

• Why being direct isn’t being mean

• Darkness, light, and absolutely no compliment sandwiches

This episode is for anyone who’s ever felt understaffed, overstimulated, underestimated, or one minor inconvenience away from becoming a vigilante.

Listen now before we reorganize something unnecessarily and forget what we were doing in the first place. 💅📖🚨

Affiliate Shoutouts Because Capitalism Still Exists:

If you enjoyed this episode and want to support the pod without emotionally overextending yourself, check out our affiliates in the show notes. 🎧💸

Grab a $15 Instacart credit for your first order (because grocery stores are a sensory nightmare), stock up on things that make life easier, and help us keep the lights on, the mics hot, and Erika marginally hydrated.

As always, using our links helps support Living Understaffed at no extra cost to you—and we appreciate you more than our unfinished to-do lists appreciate us. ❤️

LINKTREE: https://linktr.ee/understaffedpod

Are you interested in the Good Boy Special???? Check out our Linktree for more information.

Here we go—Season 3 energy, fully unhinged, lightly reflective, and extremely on-brand. 🥂🎉

🎆 Happy New Year, you beautiful under- and over-achievers. 🎆

Living Understaffed is ready, baby—Season 3 starts NOW with Sarah & Erika doing what they do best: existing loudly, being wildly unprepared, and accidentally having deep conversations while absolutely not sticking to the plan.

Episode 54 kicks off 2026 with the girls recording together in Alabama (yes, really), fresh off antique treasure hunts, Barnes & Noble chaos, travel trauma, lost luggage grief, and one extremely unfortunate suitcase incident that involved missing journals, emotional damage, and—somehow—penises. So. Many. Penises. 🧳✈️💀 Why????

What starts as a casual New Year catch-up quickly spirals into:

• Goal setting (eventually… like 54 minutes in)
• What success actually looks like after two years of podcasting
• Being confident while also admitting we don’t know what the hell we’re doing
• Mental health, feminism, careers, kids (or not having them), and why anxiety is basically a personality trait
• Friendship > content creation (but also… pls like, share, and subscribe)
• Proof that “understaffed” is not a phase—it’s a lifestyle

This episode is part reflection, part chaos, part heartfelt reset—and a reminder that progress doesn’t have to be perfect to be real. We’re not experts, we’re just honest, tired, and still showing up. And honestly? That’s the vibe for 2026.

🥂 New year.

🎙️ New season.

🔥 Same understaffed nonsense.

Welcome to Season 3. We missed you.

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/understaffedpod

This week on Living Understaffed, Sarah & Erika sit down with Alan Mueller for a conversation that somehow manages to be inspiring, grounding, and still wildly unhinged (our brand). We’re talking burnout, leadership, community, hustle culture lies, and why rest is actually productive—even when your brain says otherwise. 😵‍💫

Alan shares how improv comedy intersects with leadership, adaptability, and executive presence, plus real-life lessons from solopreneur life that make building something of your own feel a little less terrifying. Honestly? He made Sarah’s many side hustles feel possible instead of daunting—and for that alone, we are grateful. 🙌

🎤 Also worth the hype: Alan’s TED Talk is a must-watch if you’re into leadership, presence, and not losing your soul to work. Truly inspiring human behavior.

📘 Get his NEW book:

Improv Comedy and the Art of Leadership

by Dr. Alan Mueller

✨ Want more Alan? Visit Adaptive Challenge Consulting to check out his services and work. [www.adaptivechallengeconsulting.com] Check out his socials also for the Etsy shop and travel agent biz. Listen... we're here for the hustle.

✨ Want more us? Head to our Linktree for all the things—including a $15 Instacart coupon for your first order, because feeding yourself matters. 🛒 [https://linktr.ee/understaffedpod]

Huge thanks to Alan for the inspiration, the wisdom, and the reminder that we might actually be doing okay. 🎧🔥

Featuring: Indie author Trisha Otis of Daughter of Broken Light

Today’s episode arrives sizzling like a sunstone dropped straight out of the sky and into your group chat. 🔥💬

Sarah is still in her Moving Era™ (a saga sponsored by stubbed toes and college boys who load trucks like Jenga). Erika is beefing with ID cards, printers, and her caffeine addiction. And Trisha? She pulled up ready to unleash her villain origin story with the finesse of a fantasy heroine who definitely has a dagger tucked somewhere. ⚡📖

Once we settle into the chaos, we dive into Trisha’s debut novel Daughter of Broken Light, where magic, mayhem, and emotional ruin dance together like they paid extra for VIP admission.

Also… the amulet? The amulet. We are Not Okay. 🗝️🔥

Inside this episode:

✨ How a stolen sunstone sends an entire kingdom into meltdown

✨ The secret truth that her MMC is her husband in book-boyfriend form (collective gasp)

✨ Her lifelong dream of writing fantasy finally taking flight

✨ D&D character sheets, worldbuilding spirals, and swamp lore we enthusiastically endorse

✨ Her upcoming surgery and why she may sit at Lit & Libations like a politely wounded Victorian

✨ The audacity of Reddit giving her a FAKE one-star review (justice will be served)

Plus:

🐶 A tender tribute to Raiku, the dog who shaped her story more than he knew

🐈‍⬛ Cameo chaos from Maggie and Elrond

🧹 Erika and Sarah being written into Book 2 as cannibal swamp witch coven leaders (the honor of all honors)

If you love fantasy, friendship, chaos, and indie authors who drop stories that slap, this episode is your new comfort listen.

Grab the book: https://a.co/d/gDBCdAQ

Then come scream with us about Eldren, the ball scene, and the spicy enchanted accessories we will not emotionally recover from. 😭✨

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/understaffedpod

#LivingUnderstaffed #PodcastChaos #IndieAuthor #DaughterOfBrokenLight #FantasyReaders #SunstonesAndSwampWitches #TrishaOtis #LivingUnderstaffedPodcast #IndiePod #IndiePodcast #Fantasy #Amulet #bookboyfriend

🚨 Trigger Warning: This episode contains candid discussions of drug use, addiction, alcoholism, and sobriety. Please listen with care and step away if you need to. ❤️

It’s a Living Understaffed reunion episode — and yes, Daddy Kol (forever known as such) is back in the chaos seat. Sarah and Erika catch up with him on life, loss, laughter, and his incredible seven-month journey of sobriety. Sarah’s free from the woods, but her webcam didn’t get the memo. 🎥🚫 Erika and Daddy Kol carry the chaos while Sarah’s voice floats in from the void. Between laughs, near-tears, and one very unfiltered sobriety journey, this episode reminds us that growth is messy—and sometimes blurry.

From near-death experiences and heart attacks to parent-teacher conferences and shark vacuums, Kol gets real about turning his life around — all while roasting his own hair, collecting compliments, and demanding a T-shirt that says “Soft Lips & Nine Toes.”

This one has it all:

🌀 Chaos (obviously)

🧠 Deep conversations about recovery and purpose

💅 Sarcastic commentary from your favorite duo

😂 Way too much talk about vacuums and Subaru lesbians

❤️ Proof that healing, humor, and heart can absolutely coexist

So grab your coffee (or coin), press play, and join us for an episode that’s both unfiltered and unforgettable.

🎧 Living Understaffed with Sarah & Erika — where chaos meets compassion, one Daddy Kol at a time.

🔗 All links & chaos here: https://linktr.ee/understaffedpod

#LivingUnderstaffed #SobrietyJourney #AddictionAwareness #DaddyKolForever #PodcastChaos

FIFTY. FREAKING. EPISODES. 🥂✨ Somehow, Sarah and Erika (yes, with a K, thank you very much) have survived nearly two years of caffeine dependency, questionable decisions, and Wi-Fi issues to make it here — Episode 50! 🎉

Sure, it was supposed to drop Wednesday alongside Episode 49 with Madison Chase, but as usual, we’re a day late and a dollar short. ⏰💸 Because chaos? It’s our love language.

But today? Today’s special. Because not only are we celebrating 50 episodes of Living Understaffed… it’s also the Lit & Libations: Great Gatsby Edition in Kansas City! 🥂💃✨ And yes — Sarah is absolutely f*ing showing up in costume.** Pearls? Feathers? Champagne in a travel mug? Don’t worry about it.

Tune in as we get real about two years of podcasting, long-distance friendship, emotional growth(ish), and how we’re somehow still not rich but definitely funnier.

Also featuring: Dolores the dramatic plant, married men who still don’t get it, and the mutual realization that we might just be thriving through the chaos.

🎧 Listen now and come toast our 50th with us — flapper dress optional, sarcasm required.

👉 Affiliates & chaos management tools: https://linktr.ee/understaffedpod

#LivingUnderstaffed #GreatGatsby #PodcastChaos #LitAndLibations #DayLateDollarShort #LivingUnderstaffedPodcast #podast #indiepod #indiepodcas #KCBookBeat #KCBB #KansasCity #KansasCityMO

It’s giving collab chaos this week as Sarah and Erika welcome the powerhouse duo behind Madison Chase Books — authors of Dance with the Devil and Pack or Prey.

Expect equal parts sarcasm, storytelling, and “how did we get here again?” energy as the crew dives into:

💫 The wild ride from fanfiction to published novels

🧛‍♀️ Building dark worlds full of angels, demons, and very questionable life choices

🎧 Their upcoming audiobook (spoiler: it’s sexy AND spooky)

🧠 ADHD brain tangents, goblin tools, and why Trello almost saves their sanity

Oh, and there’s talk of vampire siblings, Buffy obsessions, and Lucifer himself. You know — just another Tuesday in the Living Understaffed universe.

Also featuring: Daisy the dog demanding attention, debates on whether 130 lbs is a realistic weight standard (it's not), and Erika trying very hard not to overbook her life (again).

Listen now before we regret our life choices on-air. 🚨🎧

💼 Support our chaos (and caffeine habits) through our affiliates — because your girls are hustling:

FOREVER | Liquid I.V. | Casetify | Dossier Perfume | And more linked below 👇

🎙️ Linktree: https://linktr.ee/understaffedpod

#LivingUnderstaffed #AuthorLife #PodcastChaos #UnderpaidAndOverIt #BookTokChaos

Did Erika miss her ADHD evaluation by an hour and a half? Absolutely. Did she also forget what day it was? Also yes. Welcome to another week of Living Understaffed, the podcast where chaos has a punch card, the reward is emotional damage (with a side of bagels and apricot jam) and the everlasting question of if our milkshake brings all the boys to the yard, is it even worth it? 🥯✨

This week, your favorite hot mess duo unpacks Logan Ury’s “How to Not Die Alone” — a dating book that hurts their feelings in the most educational way possible. From dissecting dating types (Romanticizers, Maximizers, Hesitators 👀) to ranting about men who think “friends with benefits” means “free therapy,” Erika and Sarah are on one.

Other highlights include:

🧺 The emotional trauma of folding fitted sheets.

🐶 Erika’s ironclad rule: only reply to exes who text dog pics.

💔 The “pool” of dating being a full-blown swamp, and yes, Sarah is Fiona.

🚐 The dream van that’s one disco ball away from a true-crime podcast episode.

📚 A chaotic love letter to Lit & Libations (booth 21 + 22, come see us!)

📍 Co-Op at Shoal Creek — 6816 N Church Rd #101, Pleasant Valley, MO 64068

📅 November 8, 2025

🕰 6 PM – 9 PM (VIP Early Entry: 4:30 PM)

Also featuring spirit fingers, caffeine dependency confessions, and the mutual realization that maybe they just need therapy and a nap. 😅

Don't forget to join our discord and check out all the badass things on our Linktree: https://linktr.ee/understaffedpod

🎧 Listen now before one of them joins a Facebook group for “men who only own fleece blankets.” #LivingUnderstaffed #DatingFails #FittedSheetWars #HowToNotDieAlone #PodcastChaos

Kicking off our brand-new Women in Mythology Series, Erika and Sarah dive headfirst into chaos, crows, and the eternal struggle of Irish pronunciations.

Erika is busy being understaffed but still a princess (don’t even THINK about taking away her second monitor), while Sarah is thriving on a healthy cocktail of ✨avoidance, anxiety, and projectile vomiting✨. Together, they spiral into work woes, moving-to-Texas dread, and their mom’s wildly questionable dating decisions (yes, there was a van… with a bed… we’ll never recover).

But because we’re nothing if not accidentally educational, we dive into the mythology of The Morrígan—Ireland’s most badass chaos goddess—who basically invented “main character energy.” 👑🪦⚔️

Special shoutout to Nicola Bardon from Tis Yourself Podcast for helping us attempt (and fail) to unf*ck our Irish pronunciations. Nicola, you’re doing the goddess’s work, and we owe you a pint. 🍻🇮🇪

IG: @tisyourselfpodcast / X: @WellTisYourself / Apple, Podchaser, Facebook - Just go follow her!! :)

So grab your journal (yes, we made one, and yes, you should buy it), laugh at our mispronunciations, and prepare for chaos. Because if you’re not screaming into the void like a banshee, are you even Living Understaffed?

Book Club: The Innkeeper by Pirateaba 📚 - Join our Discord! Meeting Sunday, 28-Sep.

Sponsors: From Moments to FOREVER, Everyday Dose & Primal Queen

New Sponsor: World Citizen Travel Agent! Send us a PM for your travel, cruise, concert and bucket list needs!

Linktree for chaos & discounts: https://linktr.ee/understaffedpod

Shoutout to Kareena from Freedom Literature, the indie book lover behind a mobile pop-up bookstore and The Book Nook in Harrisonville, MO. With blind date books, local authors, and a passion for making literature accessible, Kareena is putting stories back into the hands of readers everywhere.

| freedomliterature.com |  @freedom_literature_books

Also Featuring Eisley Rose—the registered nurse-turned-author behind Glitched, a sci-fi thriller where modern-day Spartans battle biological threats and dark conspiracies. Expect mythology, mystery, and medical-inspired storytelling.

| eisleyrosebooks.com | @eisleyrosebooks

Soft life? More like chaos with whimsy—unpack your Target bags, join our Discord book club 📚, and thank our sponsors for funding this mess ✨☕👑.

Welcome back to Living Understaffed, where Sarah and Erika are once again oversharing the chaos you cannot clock out of. This week, we’re diving into the elusive “soft life” 💅—you know, the one Instagram influencers pretend is just candles and cashmere, but in reality looks more like:

• three full Target bags you still haven’t unpacked 🛍️
• Daisy refusing to poop unless the vibes are ✨immaculate✨ 🐕
• and, oh yeah, Erika throwing up in Graygg's car (love that for her, not at all genuine). 🚗💀

We’re talking about meal prep, why crying is basically a national emergency 🚨😭, and the art of adding more whimsy to everyday life—like naming your plants Dolores and Beverly, or giving bugs entire backstories. (Sorry, Frank the beetle, your divorce sounds rough. 🪲💔)

Also featuring: being bullied by capitalism, the guilt of rest, and our ongoing battle to remember that self-care counts even if you don’t post it on Instagram.

💡 PSA: You deserve whimsy. Drink tea with the dishes still in the sink, tell the neighborhood dogs to stop yelling at you, or buy the damn fancy bread—your soft life doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s.

📚 BOOK CLUB ALERT: Join our Discord. Seriously. It’s the best decision you’ll make all year (and we don’t say that lightly because we make terrible decisions). This month we’re reading Rider’s Blood, Moonlit Black by Myka Silber—forest, mountains, ocean, mystery, and a cat with better boundaries than we’ll ever have. 🌙🐈‍⬛

✨ Sponsors:

• From Moments to FOREVER – because memories deserve better than your phone’s “storage full” notification. 📸
• Everyday Dose Mushroom Coffee ☕🍄 – fueling our chaos one adaptogen at a time.
• Primal Queen 👑 – skincare that makes us look like we slept (spoiler: we didn’t).

LINK: https://linktr.ee/understaffedpod

#PodcastGirls #SupportIndiePodcasts #SoftLifeStruggles #PodNation #PodcastCommunity #PodcastLife #LivingUnderstaffedPodcast 🎧 #UnderstaffedChaos #LivingUnderstaffed #Understaffed #Sarah #Erika #IndiePod

Erika survives five days of work crammed into two 😵‍💫, an office barbecue she refuses to let anyone sulk through 🍔, and Daisy’s post-spay Houdini routine 🦴🪄. Sarah, meanwhile, juggles Army chaos 🎖️, overbooked weekends 📅, and the dawning realization that her “best employee ever” era is… on pause 🙃. The duo also dive into the Halo 3–based study that proves misogyny is, in fact, a skill issue 💅—complete with hostile low-performers, fragile male egos, and the eternal “maybe she’s just better than you, bro” problem 🎯.

Shoutouts to:

• Dillon Wallace, author of The Hunt Initiative 📖—a mild dystopian, present-day thriller with action, suspense, humor, and just enough doom to keep you hooked 💥. If you liked The Hunger Games, 1984, Minority Report, or The Purge, this one’s for you.
• Alexandra Rovirosa of A Place For Us Productions 🎭, creating a collaborative, skill-focused theatre space in Kansas City for actors of all levels—because everyone deserves to grow in their craft 🌟.

Book Club 📚: Rider’s Blood, Moonlit Black by Myka Silber 🌙—forest, mountains, ocean, mystery, and a mercurial cat 🐈‍⬛. You know you want in.

Sponsors: From Moments to FOREVER, Everyday Dose Mushroom Coffee ☕🍄 & Primal Queen 👑

Linktree for chaos & discounts: https://linktr.ee/understaffedpod

#AugustVibes #2025Aesthetic #InstaGlowUp #SelfCareSeason #EcoLiving2025 #WeekendWander #MindfulMoments #LinkInBio

⚠️ Trigger Warning: This episode contains talk of grief, mental health, family trauma, and the chaotic joy of self-publishing. Basically, if you’re feeling fragile, pour a drink first. Or don’t. We’re not your therapist.

🎙️ Episode 44: Writing Through the Wreckage (ft. Vanessa Kramer)

Just when you thought we couldn’t get any more emotionally unstable — surprise! We invited indie author and all-around powerhouse Vanessa Kramer to pull up a mic and spill all the tea on writing while wounded, family dynamics that aren’t Instagram-worthy, and what happens when your creative outlet becomes your survival strategy. ✍️🧨

Erika's one mic away from an existential spiral, Sarah’s trying to remember what day it is, and Vanessa? She’s out here dropping truth bombs wrapped in wit. (Because nothing says healing like dark humor and a Google Doc.)

💔 Grieving and still functioning?

💡 Turning trauma into a book deal?

📝 Self-publishing without losing your mind (entirely)?

This episode is basically the group chat with your smartest, snarkiest friends — plus some publishing advice and a few emotional sucker punches.

🎧 Buckle up, it’s a ride.

🔥 Are you a fellow creative chaos gremlin trying to stay afloat?

📚 Thinking about writing your own story — the messy, unfiltered version?

😵‍💫 What’s your biggest WTF moment of the week?

Tell us. We need to know we're not alone.

Find Vanessa on all the socials and her website: vanessakramerauthor.com

Sponsors: Forever, Everyday Dose & Primal Queen

Linktree for chaos & discounts: https://linktr.ee/understaffedpod

#LivingUnderstaffed #IndieAuthor #WritingThroughIt #PodcastChaos #VanessaKramer #WeCriedALittleNotGonnaLie #Therapyisneeded #chaosgremlins #indiepodcast

🎙️ Episode 043: Crying, Coping & the Control Freak Chronicles

(because this episode is a full-blown feelings spiral with bonus life decisions and zero chill)

Welcome back to Living Understaffed, where the breakdowns are weekly, the coping mechanisms are questionable, and the feelings are... everywhere. 🙃

This week:

• Erika admits her type is “emotionally unavailable,” and Sarah reminds her it’s not a flex. 💔
• Sarah quits her job, cries about it, then books it to Texas like a girlboss on the edge. 🚨✈️
• We spiral through boundaries, burnout, and why “prioritizing yourself” is somehow still a radical act. 💅
• Plus, shoutouts to indie authors from Lit & Libations, our surprise magazine feature (?!), and a gentle reminder that milkshakes are not a valid breakfast. 🥤

Also featuring: vulnerability hangovers, emotional self-sabotage, and Erika's dog stealing handmade blankets like a Disney princess. 🐾👑

Also featured: awkward coping mechanisms, personal breakthroughs disguised as breakdowns, and Erika fully deleting her dating apps because, quote, “I’m the validation now.” 💅💔

Listen now if you love:

💬 Sarcasm with a side of emotional trauma

📣 Real talk about quitting jobs and fixing everyone else’s lives

🧠 Therapy terms misused for comedic relief

💔 Talking about dating without actually talking about dating

-Upcoming: Lit & Libations returns in November—mark your calendars, chaos friends. 🍷📖

-Support us: Follow on socials, comment, scream into the void (we’ll hear you), and visit our linktree for discounts + memories. 💾🎧

Linktree for chaos & discounts: https://linktr.ee/understaffedpod

Shoutout to Kareena & Marcus Cloe of Freedom Literature, a mobile bookstore and indie author haven that began with a misbid pallet—and grew into a movement. Find them at Headquarters Winery or at pop-up events across Missouri.

📚 freedomliterature.com

📱 @freedom_literature_books

Blind date with a book? Yes. Falling in love with reading again? Even better.

Shoutout to Yvette Babs Walker, author of Sixty and We Talk to God. Sometimes. She’s the voice behind Positively Joy, a podcast and ministry helping women rediscover their connection to God—through devotional writing and the faith-filled journey of fictional character Linda Radcliffe.

📚 positivelyjoy.com/books

📱 @positivelyjoypodcast

Because faith doesn’t need to be perfect—just personal.