OUR RATING:
Glennon Doyle’s “We Can Do Hard Things” delivers a casual and conversational psychology experience with a side of empowerment quotes you’ll probably see on Instagram tomorrow.
The podcast, hosted by bestselling author Glennon Doyle alongside her wife Abby Wambach and sister Amanda Doyle, functions as a public therapy session where no emotional stone remains unturned. These three have apparently never met a vulnerability they weren’t willing to broadcast to millions of listeners. Want to feel like you’re eavesdropping on the world’s most intense brunch conversation, except instead of mimosas, everyone’s drinking from cups of their own tears?
Perhaps only second to the True Crime genre, the self-help podcast category is extremely crowded. And so this podcast’s remarkable ability to transform seemingly ordinary life challenges into Olympic-level emotional events is a welcome surprise. Did you experience mild disappointment today? Congratulations! According to Glennon, you’ve just survived trauma and deserve a medal, or at least a dedicated episode exploring the generational patterns that led to this moment of mild inconvenience.
Are you detecting a hint of scorn yet?
The episodes featuring just the three hosts provide the podcast’s foundation, with Glennon delivering at times, solid observations that manage to be both blindingly obvious and somewhat insightful. Amanda serves as the voice of reason, while Abby frequently contributes sports metaphors that sort-of apply to everything from parenting to processing grief. The sisterhood dynamics between them create a natural flow that makes the heaviest topics digestible.
The guest episodes are often where the podcast shines, particularly when they feature experts who bring actual research to complement the hosts’ lived experiences. The conversation with Dr. Edith Eger, Holocaust survivor and psychologist, stands out as a profound lesson in resilience that manages to be both gut-wrenching and uplifting. Similarly, the episodes with Brené Brown felt like watching two heavyweight champions of vulnerability duke it out, for good or bad.
For all its emotional intensity, the podcast doesn’t shy away from humour. There’s something funny and sometimes absurd about these women dissecting their neuroses with the precision of NASA engineers planning a mission to Mars. “Today we’re going to examine my pathological need for external validation,” Glennon might announce with the enthusiasm most people reserve for announcing pizza night, before proceeding to do exactly that for 75 minutes.
Critics like me argue that “We Can Do Hard Things” occasionally veers into territory so earnest it borders on parody. There are moments when you might find yourself wondering if you’re listening to a legitimate self-help podcast or an SNL sketch about one. The frequent references to “being a warrior” and “finding your truth” sometimes pile up so quickly you could make them into a drinking game.
But beneath the eye-roll-inducing moments of peak earnestness lies the podcast’s true value: its unflinching commitment to normalizing the messy, complicated business of being human. In a society that rewards emotional suppression and Instagram-perfect facades, there’s something great about three women loudly proclaiming that it’s okay to struggle, to feel too much, to be gloriously imperfect.
For listeners willing to embrace the wisdom and occasional cheese factor, “We Can Do Hard Things” offers a strangely addictive listening experience. You may start tuning in for the celebrity interviews or self-help tips, but you’ll stay for the oddly comforting realization that everyone, even successful authors and world-class athletes, is just figuring it out as they go along.
And maybe, just maybe, that’s the point of the whole podcast: doing hard things isn’t about perfection; it’s about showing up anyway, preferably with sisters (biological or chosen) who aren’t afraid to laugh and cry with you along the way.
Where to listen to We Can Do Hard Things
Episodes.fm | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Overcast | Pocket Casts | Castro
Discover the best episodes of We Can Do Hard Things