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 40: Pursuing Normal When Your Parent is Ill with Michelle Hod…
Michelle is writing a memoir about growing up with a parent with schizoaffective disorder. It will be a disjointed and bumpy ride…
Episode 39: Pursuing Relationship After Estrangement with Dave Koll A…
Dave will never cease in his desire to shine in a way that helps others find their way. He is a mesmerizing storyteller and autho…
Episode 38: Pursuing Strength, Sobriety, and Success at the Gym with …
As a world-record-holding strongwoman, personal growth expert Kathryn Bennett is an 40 under 40 award winner, celebrated speaker …
Episode 37: Pursuing Good Enough with NICU doc Dr. Susan Landers
Dr. Susan Landers is a neonatologist who worked full-time in the NICU for over thirty years and raised three children to young ad…
Episode 36: Pursuing Open Conversations With Teens with Cai Graham
Cai Graham is a Parenting & Teen Mentor, Podcaster, International Speaker and Amazon #1 bestselling author of The Teen Toolbox™. …
Episode 35: Pursuing Mental Toughness with Clifford Starks
Clifford Starks is a Coach and Consulting looking to help entrepreneurs get their time back by focusing on what they love and del…
Episode 34: Pursuing Justice with Rachel Bruno
Rachel is a Nashville based author, and advocate for parents that have been falsely accused in the child welfare system. Her boo…
Episode 33: Pursuing Soul Care with Kelly Skinner
Kelly Skinner is the founder of Soul Care, a day retreat center in Urbana, Illinois that provides resources to nurture the soul, …
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…
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.