Your Happy Hour - A Breath of Fresh Air

Episode Date: April 10, 2026

In this episode, we chat with Jessica Honan who shares her inspiring and unconventional journey driven by following her joy, from childhood passions to coaching soccer and writing poetry. Discover how embracing what lights you up, the power of speaking your joy and trusting the process can lead to unexpected opportunities and a more fulfilled life.And check out Jessica's book for some bite-sized pep-talk poetry ~ A Breath of Fresh AirThe Feels is all about having those honest conversations, the power of community for personal growth and taking those actionable steps towards being our authentic selves.Thanks for tuning in! Keep it raw and real out there xYHH is produced by swartkat.co - captured via riverside.fm & shared via rss.com.

It's the Friday feels and we're back with your first sip of the weekend. You're now tuned in to this week's episode of your happy hour. I'm your host Nicole Carmine and it's amazing to have you here. Joining me this week as we uncover the truths about being a human and a working professional. What are you up to this Friday? Well, whatever it is, this moment is just for you. And we're back with another episode on the Fields podcast, your Happy Hour series. And we are very much strongly in the month of April.

And we are talking about follow your joy this month. It's a topic that's very close to my heart. It's a motto of life that I have. And I'm really privileged to share this moment now with someone who seems to have followed her joy in so much of life as well to wonderful things. and I kind of want to just take a moment and do something I never do, and that is read something you shared with me, because I feel like it's such a nice segue into this, but you said, I choose joy and I trust life.

This has been my story and my wishes for everyone to feel celebrated and supported. And you're also saying that following your joy led you to becoming a professor, an artist, a poet, a program director, a soccer coach, yoga instructor, and so much more. So a big welcome to you, Jessica. to the space and I'm so excited to dive into all of this and more detail. Thank you so much, Nicole. And this is absolutely really truly a joy to connect with you.

And thank you for reading those words. It's really absolutely my truth. And I deeply hope and wish for others to go ahead and touch in and check in with what really brings true joy and follow and lead with that. Yeah, I love that so much. And I, you've worked quite. a untraditional, unconventional path. And maybe you can just take us a little bit on that journey of kind of how you ended up

where you are today and also include this story about the pumpkin because I'm curious. So yes, I grew up in many places and it's true, I do many things. Upon reflection and thinking about my childhood, there is a moment that I recognized really so many things coming together and clicking. And I felt so lit up. So to bring you back to that moment, I was about seven years old. And I was on my way to the grocery store with my mom.

And there was a table outside the grocery store with all these pumpkins. And half of them were painted and they were so delightful and gorgeous. And I asked, what is this? Like, what are these pumpkins? And there was a woman with an apron. And she said, oh, this is. is a place to paint some pumpkins, which you like to? And I said, oh, my gosh, absolutely. So this was the first time I'd ever taken a paintbrush and press it upon a pumpkin. And everything in me was

so excited and so just like fully in the moment. And I did ask her, as you can imagine, it was around Halloween time. I said, oh, well, I see that the other pumpkins are a bit like scary and Halloween themed. Is it okay if I do something different? And she said, absolutely, you're an artist. And in that moment, I said, yes, so it's true. And I had painting and I painted a little face and actually I continued to paint. I painted the golden blonde hair all the way around the pumpkin. And even though no one would see that, I just knew I felt like that needed to be there. And upon putting on that last little bow, that red paint and the white Pocodots, I just felt very lit up. And I felt that that moment was that.

And we carried on going into the grocery store. And much to my surprise, my name was called out in the grocery store. And I wasn't a lost child. I was right next to my mom. So I was a bit curious. And in fact, I didn't know that there had been a little competition. And I had won a prize. And so there was an envelope with my name on it.

And I went to go open up this delightful surprise. And inside was a little gift certificate for about $15 U.S. dollars for the grocery store. And this was the first time I ever had money to spend. And I remember walking down those aisles. And again, everything in me lit up. I thought about, ooh, like, what can I possibly purchase to go ahead and also bring joy to my brother and sister and my mom and dad? and I chose to get a little chocolate cake and seeing my brother and sister and my mom and dad take the bites of this cake. It just felt like, wow, like thanks to curiosity, thanks to creativity, we have this beautiful moment to go ahead and share, and I wish that for everyone.

That is amazing story. And I feel like, you know, it's beautiful that you like accepted that. Like you are an artist, yes, I am an artist, because I think that's one of the hardest things to say, you know, and to acknowledge. knowledge to ourselves. And it's beautiful how the universe does that. It like rewards you in the moments that you need to hear. Like this is a really beautiful path for you. This path will also bring your abundance in life because you are following your joy. Because I think that's one of the hardest things that we all kind of go through as humans. Like we all want to follow our joy, but we're all quite scared that it won't lead to the lives that we imagine for it to be,

you know? I love what you just said. And I feel like also, as children, we're so, if we're feeling safe as a child, in tune with what brings us joy. And something that I have come to realize, at least in my life, is the wonderful things that I could imagine, like life ends up presenting something so much, sometimes greater, that this is where I have come to really, like, trust. And it's interesting to think, what if joy had almost a wisdom to it? what if we did listen to it with actual like wisdom knowing like maybe there's something so much greater

and even if it's just in a fleeting moment to do something that lights us up or to hear what lights someone else up like what joy like this is something I strive for and I hope for others like every day yeah I love that and I know you were also saying that to you joy has like a certain sound you know and a certain way of being in the world and I love maybe putting joy as like a persona that you can talk to. I recently was watching something on

YouTube about this lady that talks, she's amazing, she gives you like money making tips, you know, and she has got all these untraditional ways of making money that kind of talks to leading from the heart with that and following the nudges, but then very much she says she talks to her money. She asks money where it wants to go to. And I think, Joy is a similar thing. Like, you know, maybe we should start talking to joy. Maybe we should start interacting with joy like at standing X-Fers as a best friend, you know, going like, I want you to live your best feels life, you know.

I love that. Yes, yeah, talking with joy, asking like also, like, how can I bring more joy to this moment? And being, like, prepared and ready for it. I sometimes just put some little things in my purse. whether they're bubbles or dice or bells, just like ready for like a moment to spice it up or think about, again, like, how can we be present? In terms of the way that joy sounds for me, it's true. Internally, it sounds like wind chimes. And so I'm just like ready to hear that.

Just like, all right, let's go with it. I love that. I love that. I think we need more wind chimes in the world. And tell me a little bit about what you do now. I mean, you do multiple things, but kind of what is it that brings you joy in your days and how do you structure all these different things that you do? Wow. Yes. My calendar is quite different perhaps than most. And I really try to prioritize the things that do bring joy. So in terms of work, in a typical week for me, it will be coaching soccer teams and teaching in the classroom and being on a yoga mat.

And to come back to actually a question you asked earlier, like, how did it happen? There is something that I'd like to share about leading into becoming a soccer coach. As a child, I really loved playing soccer. And this was something that, even though we moved around a lot, it was something I always did. And one thing happened, actually, back I'm based in Paris. I was leading a yoga class. And this class was for yoga teams. teachers to learn how to work with children. And I said something off the top of my head. I said,

I didn't have yoga as a child, but I had soccer and I really feel like it's important to have something. And the training continued for the weekend. And about three days later, I received a text message from a woman who was in the training. And she messaged me and she said, oh, my daughter would love to go ahead and learn how to play soccer. Would you mind like kicking the ball around with her in the park. And everything in me, like my whole body lit up. And it's like, yes, oh my gosh. Of course I would love to kick a soccer ball in the park. And yes. And 15 minutes later, I received another text message. And she said, you know, actually, my daughter has five other friends. Would you mind putting together a little good? And again, it was full body. Like, yes.

and those wind chimes were chiming, chiming, chiming. And so it was very natural for me to think, well, if there's going to be a little team, it would be nice to have more players. So I put together a little flyer, and I went over to a shop to pick up some soccer balls and inflatable goals and some cones, a whistle. And the flyers went out. And it took off. So many beautiful families ended up.

showing up and it was such a joy really really really to to be amongst these um gorgeous girls that were trying out soccer for the first time and um things just felt so natural and so lit up and little did i know at the time um parents were saying oh well it was so difficult to find a girls team like and i thought it was just hard but i didn't realize that there were no girls teams actually at the time. And so it opened up an opportunity. This was back in 2014 in Paris. And I remember feeling like I just followed what brought joy. And the takeaway point for me also was I didn't know that saying that comment in a yoga class off the top of my head would lead to anything like this. and my takeaway point was it's almost like for me it's very important to speak about the things that bring you joy

like as if it's a match and it just lights it up lights up in that moment and you never know who is on the other side and what they're holding in their hand and if it's a match that also goes and it lights a fire and it turns into something so gorgeous so now many years later actually my little soccer team the flyers were seen by a school and they said, oh, you're a soccer coach in Paris. And then it took off from there. And then I didn't know. I was giving just my normal trainings. Someone was watching the trainings and approached me from a club. And they said, we would really like to go ahead and create a women section for our club. And so I began doing that. And now I travel the world on soccer planes with teams that are magnificent going all around the world coaching soccer because of a comment in a yoga class.

Oh wow I feel like This is the most inspirational story Like really wonderful that you I think also you took action On that nudge You know you took Like you said you

You spoke it And then you put out the flyer And you like you took action along the way Which is such a big important part Of the sentence Follow your joy It's not just about feeling it I think it's about

Really being brave enough to say Yes I am going to do that you know and that's that's incredible and I love that you talking about the the speaking of the things that come to you because so often in my life that's happened to like the things that I've just randomly said and then they come out of you're like was that me like you know but that's really your heart's desires that you're just so scared to to speak about on a daily basis you know or sometimes you're not but it just takes that moment where it's the right person right time so I love that that's happened for you. And I mean, of course, 10 years ago, you didn't imagine your

life to look the way it did now. And what do you feel is kind of next for you? I know you've written a book as well, which I'd love for you to tell us about a bit. And again, speaking to what you're just mentioning, I really feel like life is really often about showing up and sharing. And this is something that has come true over again, at least for me. And I feel like We get to go ahead and choose speaking to action where we show up and how we share and with who. So really checking in with what resonates and feeling safe to also explore and try new things. But showing up and sharing, this is what I wish for everyone. Speaking to the book, it's true, I wrote a poetry book,

and I often referred to it as the book that became a book before I knew it was a book. and it's called a breath of fresh air. And these poems were actually written and began during the pandemic. And I have to say there's a real before and after with this book in my life. The poems were actually written for myself. And I would read them out loud for years. And no one knew they existed. and I really thought they would always be that way.

And I felt like they were my little treasures. These poems, I refer to them as bite-sized pep talk poetry. So just little, little words, little pieces of prose to go ahead and for me, remember how it worked to live. And to sometimes to shift, to lift. And I was actually at a picnic here in Paris. And there was a woman just seated next to me. It was a gorgeous group of about 40 people, beautiful picnic.

No one knew everyone, so it was just beautiful mingling. This woman mentioned that she was an author. And I said, oh, wow, I would love to go ahead and also write a children's book one day. And she said, great, let's go ahead and sit down for a coffee. And two days later, we did. So she was showing me some different things about publishing. And again, I was still thinking about this children's book. And all of a sudden, I had this very.

strong feeling that came within that was, you know, you have something already. And I was like, my internal dialogue was like, oh my gosh, but I've never shared a poem with anyone before. And the second thought that in this internal dialogue was, if someone, if one other person might feel lifted or look at life in that moment from a different perspective, if they serve one person the way they've served you. Maybe they were never yours. Again. And so this was quite an opening moment and from there it became a book. And so it's a collection of pieces that are all different types. So there's a stream of consciousness and all different beautiful bits. And now I feel it was very like revealing. And this is also what I, I hope,

for others to dare to share what you care about and to also explore in that space of like we're living our life and we're ever evolving so to prioritize progress of sharing over perhaps perfection which is an interesting thing anyway so my analogy with the book is that these pieces are like raw gems rather than polished pieces. of jewelry, if I may say so. And so because they're raw, it was a very, again, before and after moment of sharing. And yes, it's a pleasure to go ahead and share the book and to hear what others feel. I'm such a fan of poetry.

I'm a poet myself and I haven't yet to publish my poetry. So you're very inspirational for me in this moment now. But I know how vulnerable it is and I think something that you just said about like it's not really yours you know i think that we often have to remind ourselves that we just kind of i want to use the word channel but you know we are vessels of light and of love and of inspiration for the world and if we hold on too tightly then the rest of the world don't get to see that and and experience that so i love that you wrote that it is a breath of fresh air to hear that someone is putting their stuff out into the world on the topic of james i actually want to take a little quick segue into a segment we

you called the gems. And so that's something that we feel gratitude for or that you've learned in this last week. And for me, it's been, we had a feels mixer with another community called New Friends in Paris at a bar called La Pam Dev last week. And yeah, it was just a beautiful moment of coming together, bringing the fields. They have their usual kind of mixer where they have little flags and everyone has different flags for the languages they speak. And we brought our fields with glitter and with fun and you know we did a bit of an interview and and it was just a beautiful moment and I love coming together with other people and that really does light me up and bring me lots of joy so it was a beautiful gem for me and how about for you oh wow this week

I went to a restaurant called cafe june and I sat down I enjoyed a beautiful meal and something that is different about this restaurant is that they hire individuals with different life experiences of mental and physical differences. And it was such a joy, really, like hence the name, to sit in a space that felt like it was a dream come true for so many. And it felt very nourishing, obviously, with the food, but nourishing for the spirit. And I went twice. And the second time I went, I was seated and I was reading with a book and finished up. And one of the workers came over and she gave a hug. And it was such a pure and such a human moment. I know and I can say like in this exact moment, it's a hug I will forever remember.

And I left the space just feeling like very lit up. I feel again like, being able to go ahead and choose where we show up is so key and to surround ourselves with people who celebrate and support us. This was something that really came through this week. I love that. I love that so much. Yeah, I actually could feel the emotion. I was like feeling of it here while you were talking about it. And hugs are such beautiful things and we don't do enough of them in this northern hemisphere. I feel like from South Africa we hug a lot, you know. So that's really beautiful. Thank you for. sharing that. And I also want to say a big thank you to our partners who hold our hands in this

journey of podcasting, and that is to RSS.com, who make this podcast possible to be distributed into the world, and also to BNE SIM, which is called Best Network Ever Sim. It's a long name, but it's a really great sim and a very easy to use as you travel. And then lastly, but not Lucy Blenderbom's bomb company is a company who do nutritious snacks and they offered our audience a 20% discount on anything that you buy with the fields and so to the others as well if you want to learn about these discounts just DM us on the socials we'd love to hear from you and I also wonder what everyone's kind of feeling out there take a moment and just think about your joy how you following it how you feeling it but also how are you taking action on it perhaps

what does joy sound like to you? All these things are important topics to think about. And I also want to give a shout-out to a person, place or space that we always do, called the PPAs, that bring us the feels, bring us joy. And so my shout-out goes, actually, this is long overdue, but a couple of months ago, I went to a disco night, organized by this group called LaGloria. And it was one of those universal things where they contacted. at me. They said, we'll give you a ticket. Would you mind marketing this? And we'll give you a ticket

for a friend. And I was like, yes, of course. But I was in just such a difficult moment in my life. And the universe was like, this girl needs to go dance, you know. And so I ended up going to this disco night, which I've never seen in my life. It was so wonderful four hours straight of disco dancing. It's a great genre because you never leave feeling more joyful. You know, it's just you can't not move when you listen to disco music. So what are you? You know, it's a great genre. So what gift from the universe and I just want to give LaGloria a shout out and say yeah thank you for your fields thank you for the gift of the ticket I know they're having another event on the 18th of April so I'm keeping an eye out here in Paris and and yeah just thanks to you guys for for bringing

dance into people's lives that I think is such a therapy and so wonderful so and then I have one more question for you Jessica and that is something we call the stack and it's our reading list. And so maybe you have a book, we've spoken about yours, of course, but maybe you have a book that you've read that you'd like to recommend to the audience, or maybe you still want to read it. But all the stacks, books and recommendations from the guests on the podcast go on a website for those who are curious for more reading. Oh, yes, I definitely have recommendations, that is for sure. I am currently reading a book called The Road Less Traveled by Scott.

pack and so I'm beginning now and I'm loving it so far. There is another book that I have really appreciated deeply and it's called Every Moment Matters, and that's by John O'Sullivan. And it's really connecting a lot with team spirits and group dynamics. And the book, I'm going to give three, that I come back to over and over and over and over again in my life is called The Last Lecture. And it's by Randy Posh. And the premise of the book, he is a professor. He was a professor and gave what was referred to as a last lecture at Carnegie Mellon, which was something they do at the end of every year for the seniors.

And his particular lecture was indeed his five. a lecture because of his health condition. And he was faced with that task of what is it that we wish to share about life. And so what I really love about this book is the chapters are these short words of wisdom that you can like flip through from one chapter to the next. And it is in fact the first book that ever made me cry and the first book that ever made me laugh out loud. So I, I deeply am moved by this piece and I find myself coming back to it as a source of inspiration and I hope maybe others will too. That's amazing. I feel like I need to add that one to my stack. Thank you so much for all those recommendations. I love M. Scott Peck as well. I really enjoyed his work and

we're going to add all of these to the reading list to the stack. So thank you so much for for adding them and for bringing your presence and your light energy. It's just you have such a beautiful energy and aura and light tartiness and even just before getting onto this podcast, all the flexibility. Thank you so much for that. And you are just a joy to the world. So thank you for spreading your joy and your light and with us today here. Well, it's time to shine. And thank you so much. Nicole, this is really truly a pleasure. and I look forward to everything that is yet to come. Absolutely, and we will celebrate it with you.

Please keep us updated and we will. This is all about the Fields Life celebrating and having more joy. So we wish that for everyone out there. If you haven't just yet, follow Friday Fields on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and LinkedIn. You can share with us all your fields this week by tagging us at Fridayfeels.com. and you can also find the website at that handle. And now, as you ease into this weekend, take a moment. Celebrate who you've become, what you've overcome,

and what is yet to come as you do the crazy and cool things that you do, as the authentic you. You know, the truth about life and work is that it's hard, but the beauty is this global working experience that you're in, while we earn it together. So keep connecting, empowering and inspiring this week. And of course, keep it raw and real. Until next time.