The Dr. Brighten Show is entering a new chapter

0:00The Dr. Brighton Show is entering a new chapter. Welcome back, friend. You're listening to The Dr. Brighton Show, and I'm your host, Dr. Jolene Brighton. And today is going to be a little bit different. So if you've been with me for a while, you know that we've been publishing two episodes every single week for more than 150 episodes. So first thing, thank you. I think I need to say that first. Just thank you for your support. Thank you for being here. Thank you for your reviews, your comments. I read them all and I have been so grateful for all of your support. And I'm really incredibly proud of what my team has been able to produce, create, and the way we've been able to shape and change women's medicine.

0:47But 150 episodes plus means that this has been hundreds of hours of interviews, thousands of research papers literally reviewed. So yeah, it's been countless flights. I'd say recording days, editing sessions, fact-checking, writing. It's been an incredible amount of work behind the scenes for myself, my team. Shout out to my assistant, Angela, who watches and vets every single episode and makes sure that there's no weird camera angles of us or no odd clearing the throat or coughing. You know, those kinds of things that like, well, you maybe don't know because they've never shown up in an episode.

1:31So, you know, I want to thank you. I want to thank you for listening while you're driving to work, while some of you are watching on YouTube while you're cooking. I kind of love that I get to talk about nutrition and you're on YouTube in your kitchen watching me. And I want to say thank you for sharing episodes with your friends, your moms, your sisters, your daughters, your health care providers. Thank you to the health care providers. who have been a part of the Dr. Brighton Show journey, who have listened to this information, integrated this information, and have gone vocal on social media within your own practices.

2:09You know, you are really leading the change in women's medicine. So I want to thank you as well. And I want to say that when I started this show, the mission was really simple. I wanted women to have access to the kind of evidence-based conversations that I wish existed. When, you know, I was a teenager getting my period the first time, when I was struggling with incredibly painful periods that, you know, spoiler, the plot twist in that was 29 years of menstruating and I get diagnosed with endometriosis. Like I wanted the information to be put in women's hands so that they could really take the medicine into their hands, out of the gate for themselves, but also take the steps I know can change their lives every day.

2:58And I also wanted to bring together the world's leading experts and be able to translate complicated science into practical information that actually helps you and helps your family. And this is something I know I'm really good at. I take complex things and I break them down and I make them simple and I break down the gatekeeping that's happened in medicine. And I will continue to do that probably until my last breath because I'm pretty ornery like that. So together, you know, my team, you, me, we've built something I'm incredibly proud of. This community has been so much bigger than I've ever imagined.

3:39But over the last year, something has become increasingly clear. Producing two long form episodes every week is not just recording conversations. It's researching every guest. It's reading the latest studies. It's preparing interview questions. It's fact checking the stuff you've never heard on the podcast. Because sometimes I've had guests say outrageous things and we fact check it. And I'm like, if you want me to air this friend, you're going to have to back it up because the evidence says otherwise. And we can't just put this information out here into the world in the way that it's been presented.

4:17But you know, all of that takes a lot of time. And then there's the filming and the traveling and the reviewing edits. And then we create articles from that. We are creating YouTube videos. There's all of the clips that you see on the internet. It's a lot. It's a lot. And I don't think I really, I'm one of those people who's always overly ambitious and I get really excited and I start something. This is like every of my every one of my ADHD listeners are going to know exactly this. You get really excited. You're like, let's do it. Consequences be damned. Impulse control doesn't exist. And then you just do the thing.

4:56But I've been doing this thing. I have twice weekly podcasts all while writing a book, speaking internationally, running a company, developing educational programs, especially for practitioners. That's been a side that I've been working a lot more on. And the most important thing is also being present for my family. And I don't necessarily share too much about them, but I do have two kids that have special needs. And so, you know, as many of you know, I think, how many times can I say, you know, here, but to be serious here, I'm someone who believes deeply that our health is built on our daily choices.

5:38And I also very much am a doctor who practices what I preach. And we can't sit here on the Dr. Brighton show. I can't do it. Teaching boundaries and then refusing to have boundaries, honest talk, holding the mirror up to my face with myself. I can't continue talking to you about preventing burnout while I'm pushing myself towards burnout. And I certainly cannot encourage you to honor your nervous system and ignore my own. Like that, I just, my brain cannot handle contradictions and I cannot be a living contradiction. So I've been sitting with this and I've been talking to my team and talking. Lots of talking has been happening because it's been a hard decision.

6:24But after a lot of thought, I've made the decision, my team has made the decision that beginning now, the Dr. Brighton Show will become a weekly podcast. One episode every week. And now, you know, I just realized as I'm talking through this, maybe you were panicking that I was canceling. I'm not canceling. And I'm not going to back off on bringing you value. What this actually means is more intention. It means more time researching guests, spending time going deep into those questions and those conversations, more time reviewing what we're putting out and making sure that it's the highest quality.

7:04And then more time also creating resources that help you implement what you learn. It's also gonna give me more time finding the guests that you've been asking for and actually bringing them in, being able to talk to them. And instead of trying to keep up with a publishing schedule that's just frankly not working for myself or my team, I really want to shift the focus that every episode is giving you the highest quality and that you feel like it was worth your time because I believe your time matters and it is not lost on me. That we only get so much time and you're choosing to spend it with me.

7:43There's millions of podcasts out there. There's millions of videos. There's millions of people that are competing for your attention. And I definitely recognize that. And that's part of why the Dr. Brighton Show strategy, you know, my team was like, we need to just hit it hard and really deliver this high quality content every week, twice a week, week after week. And we did that for over 150 episodes. But I really realized that I need to be enjoying the process of this, right? We only get so much time on this planet. And it was starting to get to a place where it felt like a lot of hustle, and not a lot of enjoyment in what we were doing.

8:30And I want to have that enjoyment in my life. And I want to have that enjoyment come through in what you're listening to every week. I also realized that something I really love doing, so we did the endometriosis series and I loved that so much. I almost feel like at times maybe I'm better in my element in that group conversation dynamic. I still love the one-on-one. I love you and me being one-on-one where it's just me in a solo episode talking to you. And I do love the one-on-one conversations I have, but I do want to be able to shift my energy into creating more special series for you so that the Dr.

9:14Brighton show can really go deep at times in creating series. So with the endometriosis awareness series, I want to, well, I'm not going to give too much away, but as I pull back in this time, it's so I can allow time to work on something really big and special that we're planning for this fall. Do you love how I'm like, oh, I'm going to pull back and I got to have boundaries and I got to take care of myself. And at the same time, I'm also like, and then here's this really exciting thing. But as I, you know, look at exciting things to do, I look at the projects that we're wanting to complete, realize that like time is my scarcest resource and I can't be, I can't be sacrificing time with my kids.

9:55That's just a non-negotiable for me. And at the same time, I was like, how can I buy myself back time to be able to do these special series to actually make a tremendous impact in women's lives and not just women's lives, but actually forcing some change in women's medicine. You and I did that. Our community did that with the endometriosis awareness event that we had in March of 2026, whenever you're listening to this. Um, we saw tremendous change. We saw more providers listening than ever saying they were changing the way they practice. We saw more women getting access to providers, knowing how to advocate for themselves.

10:34And we saw more providers having their minds changed, which I just think is phenomenal. And it built momentum. And now here I am sitting here in July. And it's so interesting to see how many people are saying, wow, it seems like everyone's talking about endometriosis now. And wow, endometriosis is trending. You know, we actually, the Dr. Brighton show, we got nominated in an award. We won an award for that series. I didn't even talk about it because true to my like neurodivergent nature is that I always feel like I'm behind. So I'm never taking time to celebrate. And I'm always just like, oh, next thing, next thing.

11:15And I realize as I'm saying that, like, I should have shared that with you. But part of why endometriosis is not just trending and it's not just, oh, suddenly everyone's talking about it. It's that's not coming out of nowhere. That's so much of the work that you and I have been doing together on this podcast. It's also the wonderful practitioners who support this podcast, the ones who come on, the ones who share it, the ones who listen every single week. Like, together, we are making really big change. And that's the thing I'm looking at, you know, I'm not getting younger, which I was like, I can't believe I'm at the age where I'm not, I'm saying that now, right.

11:53But it's also, you know, I'm coming to realize that like, hey, listen, I'm, I've got so much time left. And like, how, how much more time is it going to take to really change women's medicine? I don't really have an answer for that. I feel like it's too long. But I really want to make a bigger impact. And so that's part of the change and why we're doing this. It's not just because we're like, oh, yeah, we're just like not wanting to support you anymore. I don't want anyone to receive it that way. So, you know, the other thing I want to say is that I am incredibly excited about my book, ADHD and Women.

12:33That's being released October. It's October 6th. Anyone who's interested and is available for preorder. My publishers would be very upset if I didn't say that right now. And with that coming, I have more speaking engagements than I've ever had in a year. And I just feel like I keep saying like I'm in my like cottage granny era, like my cottage core era. Like I just want to stay home, garden, like bake bread. No, I'm not saying that like I've given up working or anything like that. But like I love baking with my kids. Like I just I love that so much. And yet I'm going to be traveling, speaking all throughout Europe this summer, which I'm so grateful for these opportunities, for my job, for my life.

13:17And I'm going to be teaching so many clinicians this fall and this winter as well. And I'm very excited for all of that. But it's just made it really real to me of like how how little time I have at the moment. And so I feel like I'm going on and on. and maybe the thing you want to know is just like, what can you expect going forward? So let's talk about what you can expect. We're going to keep to one brand new episode every single week. Same evidence-based conversations, more incredible experts, solo episodes. I know you guys love those. I will still be doing those as well. And we're going to have the same commitment to helping you understand your body and moving women's medicine forward.

14:00If you've been with me since episode one, thank you. If you just discovered the show, I want to say welcome. I'm glad that you're here. You're not missing out on anything because you have more than 150 episodes that you can go back through and listen again. And I want to let you know that if you are new, you are joining an amazing community. Now, I would love to hear from you as always. Tell me what topics you want us to cover. Are there interview series you'd like to see? Are there panels of people you would like to have me interview? Is there just one person you want me to have on the show? What questions are keeping you up at night?

14:37What kind of conversations do you feel like you need to hear more of? And what health topics do you wish someone would finally explain? You can leave a comment wherever you're listening to this. You can send us a message on social media. You can drop it in the comment section on Instagram, TikTok, you know, YouTube, really anywhere. We really do read them. And many of our guests and episodes have come directly from your suggestions. I take very seriously what it is that you want to hear. And I do want to say that if this show has helped you, you know, whether you've learned something about your hormones, or you've understood your symptoms in a new way, you found a diagnosis sooner, you've been able to advocate for yourself, not get bullied by a healthcare practitioner, or you just simply felt less alone, I would be so grateful if you would share the show with someone who needs it.

15:32Consider leaving a review wherever you listen to the podcast. I know that it might seem like a really small thing, but it really does help us reach more women who are searching for answers. And my team gets really excited every time they see a new review. So thank you for allowing me to be a part of your health journey. Thank you for showing up with me week after week. This isn't the end of the Dr. Brighton show. I'm not going anywhere. This is just simply a new chapter, one where we can continue creating the highest quality conversation possible and keep spending time together week after week.

16:10I can't wait to share what's coming next. And I will see you, or you will hear me, on the next episode of The Dr. Brighton Show.