Good morning, and welcome to Morning Cereal!
Pull up a stool, grab your favorite cereal, and let’s kick-start your day with a spoonful of inspiration, nostalgia and personal growth. Join your host, Shaen Inglis, as he highlights the music, movies, and moments that made the 80s, 90s, and 2000s unforgettable—kind of like digging for toy at the bottom of the cereal box. Each episode, Shaen also reviews a chapter or so from top wellness books, offering practical insights to help you set a positive tone for your day. Start your mornings right—no cartoons required!
Follow and subscribe to the Morning Cereal podcast and visit our Life Happens, Live Balanced channel and our website at shaeninglis.com to check out and follow our other podcasts. You can also follow Shaen @ShaenInglis on Instagram, YouTube, etc. Feel free to share the Morning Cereal with someone who could use a little fun and motivation to start their day right.
Good morning and
welcome to Morning Serial.
Okay, good morning
and welcome to Tuesday.
Now this might be the day where the
coffee needs you just
as much as you need it.
But that being said, let's just jump
straight into the quote of
the day here with a thought
from one of the most fascinating voices
in film, John Malkovich
once said, "If you don't
believe in what you're
doing, why would anyone else?"
Now that's good to hear, right?
It's a good reminder that your own
convictions and beliefs, they are
foundational, right?
If you lack faith in yourself, your own
work, your own products,
or your goals, it's going
to be impossible to convince or inspires
others to believe in them too.
All right, that being said, here are your
four moments that
matter for December 9th.
Now we're going to start
back on this day in history.
In 1965, a Charlie Brown
Christmas aired for the first time.
Despite CBS executives
nearly scrapping it, right?
They thought the pacing was a little too
slow, the music was a
little too jazzy, and Linus'
Bible verse, well,
that was way too risky.
Today, it's a beloved classic for some,
but love it or hate it,
it basically signals the
start of the holiday season.
Well, along with the Rudolph the
Red-Nosed Reindeer stop animation.
All right, today's special day, and this
is a good reminder for
those of you that might
be a bit behind this year.
Today, it's Christmas card day.
Now, may your stamps be plentiful and
your handwriting legible.
All right, the number one song on this
date back in 1990 was
"Because I Love You," the
postman song by Stevie B.
Now, this was an eighth
grade love song jam, no doubt.
All right, well, happy birthday to you.
Today is your birthday.
You share a birthday with singer, host,
and entertainer Donny Osmond.
He's 68 today.
Actor, director, and apparently a fashion
designer, John Malkovich.
He's 72 today.
And finally, the legendary actress, a
national treasure, Judy Dench.
She is 91 today.
All right, well, let's turn the page
literally and
metaphorically and talk about something
we all experience.
It's book review time of Mel
Robbins, The Let Them Theory.
Now, friendships that change soften,
stretch, and they sometimes dissolve.
We've been talking about that lately.
Now, Mel Robbins opens chapter 12 with a
deeply honest truth here.
"Friendships don't always fade because
someone did something wrong.
Sometimes they fade because life moved
you to different chapters."
End quote.
Now, in this section, Robbins gently
dismantles the guilt that
we often carry around these
fading friendships.
She reminds us that
relationships aren't static.
They're living ecosystems shaped by
proximity, by timing, by
energy, and a shared purpose.
And as she puts it, "People grow in
different directions, and
that doesn't make either
of you wrong."
End quote.
Robbins explains that friendship shifts
are often not personal.
They're practical.
Moving away, changing jobs, having kids,
shifting priorities, or
entering just a new season
in life that can naturally change the
closeness that we once had with people.
Robbins writes, "Letting friendships
evolve doesn't mean you don't value them.
It means you value yourself
enough to accept reality."
End quote.
Now, Mel also reframes a painful but a
liberating truth here.
Maintaining every friendship from every
era of life is simply impossible.
We are not meant to carry dozens of
deeply connected relationships forever.
Instead, we form these seasonal
friendships, these situational
friendships, and there are
also our forever friendships, each
meaningful in their own ways.
Now, Mel urges readers to release that
pressure to keep up with
everyone and instead honor
the friendships that are alive and
aligned with who we are today.
"When you stop forcing connections, you
create space for the
right relationships to grow."
End quote.
Now, this section is ultimately about
self-permission, permission to stop
apologizing for growing,
permission to let go without bitterness,
and permission to
cherish what was without
forcing what isn't.
Robbins ends the intro
with a comforting reminder.
Quote, "You haven't lost people.
You've lived life alongside them."
End quote.
Now, here is your Tuesday takeaway.
You don't have to hold
on to every friendship.
Honoring growth sometimes means allowing
connections to naturally change or fade.
All right.
So send that Christmas
card out today, people.
Hold on to your boundaries and give
yourself grace for the
friendships that look different
now.
Hey, thanks for starting your morning
with Morning Serial.
We will see you back here tomorrow.
And until then, have a fantastic day.
Don't forget to follow and subscribe to
the Morning Serial
podcast on the One Life Live
It channel.
You can find more episodes and videos by
visiting our YouTube channel and the
website at Shawningless
and at Shawningless.com, where you can
also follow our other
podcasts, the Mr. and Mrs.
English podcast and
the Life Happens podcast.
And these other podcasts will dive deeper
into everyday issues,
self-improvement, well-being,
business and finance, and we
welcome special guests too.
So join us.
It will be a good time, I promise.
Thanks again for listening.
Have a fantastic day,
and we'll see you tomorrow.