S4EP49: NO-FILTER Q&A
Hellooooo 2026! After getting way better feedback than expected on our 21 Questions episode (EP45), we decided to run that format back again. Here’s verbatim how this episode came together with ChatGPT:
Us: We want to do another Q&A style episode, but want something more catered and aligned with our new niche.
Him: Got it — you want a Q&A that feels DM For Guestlist, but also leans into your new niche: more raw, unfiltered, self-discovery / intentional living / “messy middle” territory rather than generic questions.
Here’s a curated list of spicy, thought-provoking, and on-brand Q&A prompts you could throw out to your audience (or each other) that fit the evolved vibe.
If you want, I can also give you a more savage, no-filter version of these so your audience feels like they’re answering a “truth or dare” level Q&A. That could spark way more engagement and fits your bolder side. Do you want me to give you that version too?
Us: Let's see that version.
#SlideTFIn
No-Filter Q&A: 21 Questions, Zero Filters, and the Soft-Launch of Our “Me Season”
Not who you once were, but not quite who you’re becoming. That’s the vibe. That’s the era. That’s the energy that has us staring at our ceiling fan at 2am like: “So… who am I actually?”
This episode of DM For Guestlist was basically a self-awareness speed round. Think: podcast recap meets spicy debrief with your best friend where you’re laughing, cringing, and then suddenly talking about childhood grief and capitalism like it’s normal (because it is or at least *should* be).
We did a Q&A format (because y’all loved it last time), broke it into four categories, and somehow managed to make “virtual setup struggles” work: it should be easy, but it’s weirdly hard, and there are cords everywhere.
Also: we refuse to do Zoom-audio podcasting. We would rather postpone the episode than serve you crunchy sound quality. We’re picky. We’re dramatic. We’re *particular* about our sound. Okay?
Episode Summary: What This Q&A Is Really About
This wasn’t a “fun little get-to-know-you.” This was a “look me in the eyes and tell me why you keep abandoning yourself” type of Q&A. Our favorite.
The categories:
Self & Growth
Relationships & Boundaries
Life & Identity
Messy & Real (aka: where the hot takes live)
And yes, we answered honestly. Like… honestly honestly.
Self & Growth Questions: Growth or Just Emotional Exhaustion?
1. A Habit We Dropped Because It Was Making Us a Worse Person
Cameron: prioritizing everyone else over herself to an actually unhinged degree. Like “don’t move from your laptop, be available 24/7, prove your worth by suffering” energy.
Now? She’s building a routine where she’s the main priority:
pool breaks
smoothie time
midday Pilates
being a human being
And! It's making her work better. Because turns out, martyrdom is not a productivity hack.
Kelsey: drinking. Two years sober and it’s not even close: every part of her life improved. Confidence, peace, self-respect, energy. The whole thing.
And Cameron’s over here like: “I didn’t even decide to stop drinking, it just… stopped being part of my world.” Which is honestly the dream. When something leaves your life so quietly you don’t even miss it.
2. The Version of You That Embarrasses You Now
Cameron’s answer was unexpectedly tender: her younger self. The awkward, insecure, “moments from crumbling” version. The one who didn’t have a strong sense of self yet.
Someone once told her: “You were an ugly duckling.” Which is the type of backhanded compliment that makes you want to scream into the void and remember why you didn’t keep in touch with many people from high school..
Kelsey’s cringe era: nightlife + music industry + working for other people.
Not because it wasn’t “cool,” but because the coolness was fake. Surface-level. Ego-based. Low-vibration. Once you’ve seen behind the curtain, it’s hard to unsee.
Also: working for other people when you know you’re meant to build your own thing is its own kind of humiliation. Why were we auditioning for approval?
3. Advice We Used to Give That Makes Us Cringe Now
We don’t really do the “you should do this” thing. We’re both more “let me ask you questions until you have an inconvenient epiphany” women.
But Kelsey called out her old independent era:
“I don’t need a man.”
Now she’s like:
“Actually I need one. Maybe two (kidding, Chris)”
Being grounded by a safe, solid person isn’t a weakness. It’s regulation. It’s nervous system support. It’s hot, actually.
4. When We Knew We Were Out of Alignment But Stayed Anyway
Cameron: staying too long in:
jobs
clients
and the big one: a five-year relationship that wasn’t right long before it ended
Her only real regret? time. Because time is the one currency you don’t get back.
Kelsey: staying too long in situations that were clearly wrong until her health forced her to change. The universe said: “You’re not listening, so I’m going to make this loud.”
It sucks but a lot of us don’t change until we have to. That’s human nature. But it’s also a warning.
5. Growing vs Burning Out
This part was basically: isolation = reset.
Cameron says every major pivot in her life came after a period where she didn’t want to go out, didn’t want surface-level anything, and just needed to marinate in her own thoughts.
Kelsey: also loves isolation, but with a twist. She’ll work on weekends if it means she can take breaks when her body asks for them. No arbitrary “Monday-Friday grind or you’re a failure” rule.
And then we discovered we both have JOMO (joy of missing out), because why would we be wasting precious sleep hours at 11pm when we could be in bed watching someone else’s story like: couldn’t be me.
Relationships & Boundaries: The Healing Era
6. The Worst Behavior We Excused Because We Were In Love
Kelsey: an abusive relationship (emotional/verbal/manipulative). The kind that feels like “fun and exciting” until you realize you’ve been slowly disappearing.
And she named the real trap: the lifestyle. The boats. The Charleston fantasy. The playing house part. That’s the thing people don’t talk about enough: you can get addicted to the world someone brings you into, even when they’re hurting you.
Cameron: the pattern of shrinking herself because her existence felt like a threat to certain people (romantic + friendships).
If someone needs you smaller so they can feel bigger, that’s not love. That’s insecurity with access to your life.
7. The Last Person We Cut Off Without Explaining
Cameron: yes. And if that scares you, here’s the thing: she doesn’t cut people off lightly. It’s after:
too many chances
too many conversations
too much emotional labor
And sometimes the boundary is simple:
you don’t get access to me anymore. Periodt.
Kelsey: doesn’t really block or cut people off. More like: “My door is open, but I will mute you for my peace.” Which is honestly a softer version of the same boundary.
8. Friendship Breakups That Still Sting
We both agreed: it’s hard losing friendships, not always because you miss the person, but because you miss the chapter. The memories.
Cameron mentioned her mom still having decades-long friendships, and that hit. Because we want that. We do. But we’re not willing to pay for it with self-betrayal.
Modern friendships feel different. More fragile. More seasonal. More “if you don’t grow, we can’t stay close.”
9. Have We Ever Told the Full Truth Even When It Hurt?
Kelsey: always. Guilty conscience. No filter. Will accidentally narrate her stream of consciousness like it’s a podcast.
Cameron: she tells the truth about things that involve both people, but keeps some inner processing private because she doesn’t want outside opinions influencing her decisions.
Translation: Kelsey is an external processor. Cameron is a marinator. Both valid. Both annoying to the other sometimes haha.
10. Rules for Second Chances
Both: depends on context.
But cheating?
Kelsey said it best: it’s a jackhammer to the foundation.
And honestly, we’re pretty forgiving unless it’s:
repeated patterns
lack of accountability
intentional harm
or straight-up diabolical behavior
Life & Identity: Who Are We Without the Old Version of Ourselves?
11. The Ballsiest Thing We’ve Done
Cameron: uprooted her life and left Charleston. In 30 days. Like the switch flipped and she said: “I’m SO done living this Charleston existence..”
Kelsey: betting on herself + speaking openly about hard topics on the podcast (even when backlash is guaranteed). Having opinions in public is terrifying when you were socialized to be palatable.
12. The Room That Brings Out the Fakest Version of You
Both basically said: the nightclub surface-level social scenes.
The energy of having to:
perform
ego-stroke
pretend you care about gossip
be “on” when you’d rather be in pajamas
We’re no longer doing that. We simply do not attend rooms that require us to abandon ourselves.
13. The Most Expensive Mistake
Cameron: time spent in the wrong relationship.
Kelsey: health. Tens of thousands of dollars. Years of damage. Detoxing, learning, unlearning, rebuilding.
14. Can People Change?
Yes, but only if they’re honest.
We talked about “fake confidence” - people who look solid externally but are internally insecure and therefore unwilling to grow. Because growth requires humility… humility that some people don’t have these days..
Also: you can feel insecurity. It’s an energy. People pick up on it immediately.
15. When Did You Last Feel Like You, Not a Curated Version?
Both answered: now.
Which is honestly the goal. Not perfection or good branding. Just: more you.
Messy & Real: The Takes That Will Get Us Subtweeted
16. Our Most “Toxic” Opinions (aka: controversial ones)
Cameron: modern feminism (in its most extreme, distorted form) can hurt women more than help them. Not because empowerment is bad, but because expecting women to operate like men 24/7 isn’t liberation. It’s a different kind of cage.
Kelsey: drinking is lame. She said what she said.
And then she went further:
it’s a class 1 carcinogen
it lowers your vibration
it blocks growth
and if you’re a “health and wellness” person who drinks regularly… she can’t take you seriously
If that triggered you, ask yourself why.
17. Weirdest Thing That Makes Us Lose Respect Instantly
Lack of accountability.
If you can’t say: “I fucked up, my bad,” you’re not mature enough for closeness.
Also: people who are fake to your face and messy behind your back. If they do it to others, they will do it to you.
18. The Version of Yourself You’re Still Grieving
Kelsey: childhood. The 90s/early 2000s. Pre-social media magic. Being outside until streetlights. That whole “the world felt safe and bright” era.
Cameron: grieving her naive belief that adults and institutions were mostly well-intentioned. The realization that a lot of society is structured to work against you is… a hard awakening.
19. Main Character Moment
Both: building, choosing themselves, and quietly putting their heads down.
Not “look at me” main character. More like:
I am rewriting my life and I don’t need the attention main character.
20. If Your Life Had a Warning Label, What Would It Say?
Kelsey: “Get more sleep. Do more self-care. Stop acting like you’re optional.”
Cameron: “I don’t mind being alone, so don’t bring me your bullshit.”
Which honestly is the real flex: when loneliness isn’t your threat anymore, you stop tolerating chaos.
Final Takeaways:
If this episode hit you, here’s what we want you to know:
Isolation isn’t always depression. Sometimes it’s transformation.
Outgrowing people doesn’t make you cold. It makes you honest.
A boundary isn’t punishment. It’s protection.
Your nervous system is a compass. If something feels off, it probably is.
You’re allowed to change fast. You’re allowed to outgrow your own life.
You don’t need to be “fixed.” You just need space to tell the truth.
And if you like this kind of self-reflection content, we turned these questions into something you can download and answer yourself… because we love this shit too.
If you want more conversations like this, slide the fuck in and check out our guides.
We’re not here to teach.
We’re here to talk it out.