Jan. 29, 2026

Happy Birthday: Reflections

🎂🎙️✨ "SEVEN YEARS. A PAUSE. A REFLECTION." ✨🎙️🎂 This week’s episode of "Other People’s Shoes 👟 marks seven years of listening 👂, storytelling 📖, and showing up week after week 💛 and instead of a countdown ⏳ or a highlight reel 🎉, this birthday episode does something different. It slows down 🛑. It looks back 🪞. It listens. In honor of our new season, "Who’s There." 🚪 I invited back a familiar voice from the past 🗣️ Cindy Ryan 💛 whose inward, intuitive work mirrors the very heart of this season. After listening to a quiet nudge 👂✨ that led to a life-saving cancer diagnosis 🩺, Cindy returns to reflect on healing 🌱, awareness 💭, community 🤝, and the small knocks 🚪 we’re so often tempted to ignore. In the middle of her journey, a song shared between friends 🎵💌 became a reminder of presence and hope, a mirror 🪞 held up when seeing yourself clearly feels impossible. This episode is about growth 🌿, gratitude 🙏, reflection 🪞, and the power of listening not just to stories, but to your own life 💛✨.

🎂🎙 SEASON 22: WHO’S THERE: REFLECTIONS

A Seven-Year Birthday Episode of Other People’s Shoes

🚪 SEASON THEME: WHO’S THERE

This season asks a quiet but powerful question:

Who’s there when life knocks?

Sometimes it’s loud.
Sometimes it’s gentle.
Sometimes it’s barely noticeable.

Season 22 is about learning to listen, especially to the small nudges we’re tempted to ignore.

🎉 SEVEN YEARS AND A DIFFERENT KIND OF BIRTHDAY

This episode marks seven years of Other People’s Shoes.

In the past, birthday episodes have looked like celebrations and countdowns.
This year felt different.

Instead of looking outward, this milestone called for reflection on growth, on listening, and on how this show has quietly shown up, week after week, like a steady presence.

So rather than a traditional birthday episode, I brought back a familiar voice from the past, echoing a line from the Season 22 intro itself.

👣

My guest today is Cindy Ryan, who first joined the show on October 5, 2022.

Cindy’s work has always centered on reflection, listening inward to find healing and clarity. That way of listening didn’t just shape her work. It shaped her life.

In 2024, Cindy felt a nudge.
A quiet knock.
A sense that something needed attention.

She listened.

That nudge led to a cancer diagnosis.

Had Cindy ignored it, had she brushed it off, or stayed busy, she would not be here today recording this episode.

🎵 THE SONG THAT REOPENED THE DOOR

In the midst of Cindy’s journey, including a vulnerable, hairless Instagram post during treatment, I felt led to reach out.

I didn’t have the right words.
So I sent a song.

If You Heard It from a Friend.

That song became the bridge to the reconnection and ultimately, the reason Cindy is back on the show today.

Because sometimes what someone needs most isn’t advice…
It’s a reminder.

🪞 A FRIEND HOLDING UP THE MIRROR

The heart of that song feels like the heart of this episode and, honestly, the heart of this show:

“Here I am holding up a mirror
Hoping you might see
Yourself a little clearer
Beyond a shadow of a doubt
From where I’m standing now
I see the light in you.”

In seasons when Cindy couldn’t always see herself clearly, the song spoke what a friend would say when words fall short.

And maybe in some small way Other People’s Shoes can be that too.

A place you come back to.
A voice that reminds you who you are.
A steady presence that shows up, even when things aren’t pleasant or easy.

🚨 THE POWER OF LISTENING

This episode isn’t about guarantees.

There was no promise that Cindy would “make it out.”
Only the choice to listen.
To respond.
To take the next step when the knock came.

As Cindy shares in this conversation: