Pursuing Uncomfortable with Melissa Ebken
This weekly podcast addresses the issues that keep us awake at night. Am I a good enough mom/dad/spouse? Am I living up to my potential? Am I giving my kids what they need to be successful in life? What will my parents need from me as they age? Am I a good co-parent? How can I handle confrontations better? All of these things make life difficult and uncomfortable! Let’s lean into all the uncomfortable and yucky stuff to find a path forward to a life we really want to live. (Music by Joe Calindrino, “September’s Realm”)
Recent Episodes
Episode 32: Pursuing Health In The Real World with Chris Janke
Chris Janke has a fitness trainer and founder of the Health In The Real World Podcast. He's the author of five books. He's the fa…
Episode 31: Pursuing Healthy Foster-Parenting and Step-Parenting with…
A social worker turned lawyer, Debbie Ausburn has spent decades raising other people’s children as a foster parent and stepparent…
Episode 30: Pursuing a Miracle with Kaj Smit
Kaj Smit is a 19 year-old guy from the Netherlands. This is the story of how he went from a fit young man to a vegetable in mere …
Episode 29: Pursuing An Examined Life with Dr. Gwendolyn Dolske
Gwendolyn Dolske PhD is a professor in the Philosophy Department at Cal Poly Pomona. She is the author of academic essays and th…
Episode 28: Pursuing Humor In Mid-Life and When Your Kid Goes To Coll…
Sharon L. Brecher is a mom-blogger, writer, illustrator, wife, and Miserable Mom. Her first book, Miserable Mom: The Do’s and Don…
Episode 27: Thriving After Cancer with Amor Traceski
Amor Traceski is a two-time cancer survivor, motivational speaker, life coach, and author of The Cancer Patient's Reference Manua…
Episode 26: Pursuing Vitality When Your Body Hurts with Terry Tucker
Terry Tucker is an international podcast guest on the topics of motivation, self-development, and mental health. He has been a co…
Episode 25: Pursuing Finding Your Voice with Joyfully Cricket
Joyfully Cricket began her journey of transformation at the age of 20 when she experienced a personal tragedy. She made the choic…
Bonus Episode: Jonny McCoy's Story (Accompanies Episode 24)
This is the episode that contains Jonny's story. It accompanies episode 24. This story documents abuse suffered over the first de…
Episode 24: Pursuing Mental Health with Jonny McCoy
In October 2009, I witnessed a suicide while being unlawfully detained in a jail cell in Columbia, S.C. Although my case garnered…
Episode 23: Pursuing Calm When You Feel Anxiety
Jenna has been a therapist specializing in OCD and anxiety + related conditions since 2008. She's always been an anxious child an…
Episode 22: Pursuing Peace While Parenting (or any time)
Instagram: @coparentingwiththeuniverse Get Back To Peace Kit For Moms Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/melissaebken)
About the Host
Melissa Ebken
Podcaster, Pastor, Author, Coach
Melissa was called into ministry, much to her surprise, after becoming a biologist and serving for ten years in the IL Army National Guard as a utility helicopter mechanic, the first woman to do so. She has served in Illiopolis and Niantic since 2001.
Melissa is at home in the difficult spaces of peoples’ lives, willing to listen and to walk with those who struggle and suffer. She is a trained coach and has consulted with churches in conflict. Her current pursuits include founding a Virtual Assistant training academy, forming a ministry co-op to better serve small churches, supporting nurses to thrive in stressful climates through building emotional intelligence, and guiding people who are ready to lean into and overcome difficult challenges and experiences in their lives.
She authored a book Teach Us To Pray: An Ancient Model For a Modern Day, and has a podcast called Pursuing Uncomfortable.