Girls Gotta Eat: “How to Let Go of Regret”

Hosts: Ashley Hesseltine & Rayna Greenberg
Release Date: December 22, 2025
Podcast Network: Dear Media

Episode Overview

In their final episode of 2025, Ashley and Rayna close out the year by diving deep into personal growth, regrets, and accomplishments. Blending their characteristic humor, candid self-reflection, and vulnerability, they address the universal feelings of regret that arise at year’s end—how to process and let go of those regrets, why changing your mind is healthy, and what it means to celebrate both wins and losses. The episode is full of real-life stories, listener submissions, and memorable lines—all delivered with the warmth and wit of two best friends who’ve hosted Girls Gotta Eat together for eight years.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Reflecting on the Year & Podcast Milestone

• Ashley and Rayna kick off by acknowledging the challenges of 2025 with their signature comedic banter.
• Celebrating eight years of the podcast, marveling at their longevity and partnership.
  • “We love to wrap up the year with you guys like this and just thank you for, you know, eight years together and can’t believe we still have stuff to talk about.” – Ashley (01:00)

2. Aging, Self-Acceptance, and Body Image

• The hosts joke about millennial aging and their fluctuating sense of self-image.
• Discussion of embracing imperfections and sharing insecurities about bodies getting older and resisting over-editing on social media.
  • “I think I’m done doing that. Like, I don’t really do it too much anyway. But I think those problem areas, I’m just gonna embrace them.” – Rayna (05:39)

3. Holiday Show Recap & Behind-the-Scenes

• Ashley and Rayna recount highlights from their eighth Girls Gotta Eat Holiday Spectacular.
  • Appreciation for the theater, their audience, and the teams (BD Entertainment’s drumline, Philly strippers, show volunteers).
• Reveal of favorite show segment: bringing audience members (often men) on stage to perform with strippers in costume—now a tradition.
  • “It has never not been my fave thing we’ve done in eight years. Cause you don’t see it coming.” – Ashley (08:24)

4. Tour Announcements, Small Embarrassing Moments, and Navigating Public Life

• Announcement of Rayna’s first solo comedy tour across 20 cities.
• Ashley discusses the intensity of managing large-scale shows and balancing professional/personal life.
• Stories of small social missteps, like wishing “Happy New Year” on December 14, and how harmless moments can haunt us with regret.

5. Work-Life, Success, and Post-Event “Crash”

• Ashley reflects on the emotional aftermath of achieving multiple major life milestones in one year (tour, wedding, special).
  • “If I can really do it all, I will be so proud of myself and realize just what I’m capable of. And I think that’s really what I learned this year about myself.” (26:00)
• Honest discussion about the “identity crash” after reaching big goals, how overwhelming it felt, and how she found herself again.
• Acknowledgement of living in a “double life” of personal happiness and broader societal/political distress in 2025.

6. Generosity, Community Support, and Social Responsibility

• Ashley shares her experience with Instagram outreach—offering direct financial help to followers in need, and being inundated by the volume and pain of responses.
• Both hosts emphasize the importance of giving back, citing the kindness seen during crises (e.g., LA fires) and the responsibility to help those less fortunate.
  • “If you can help, just do it... Give back where you can and help your neighbors.” – Ashley (30:57)

7. Rayna’s Year: Slowing Down, Self-Discovery, and Letting Go

• Rayna discusses her first year in a while not on tour, using the time for reflection, writing, exploring new hobbies, and re-evaluating where she wants to live.
• Honest talk about comparing herself to her co-host’s achievements and wrestling with “micro” and major regrets—like feeling slow to start stand-up or therapy classes not being fulfilling.
• Reframing regret: “Starting now is still starting.” (34:24)

8. Lessons on Regret and Personal Growth

• Regret is normal and sometimes necessary for personal growth: “Regret is really human and it’s not like personal failure.” – Rayna (34:37)
• How to process regret:
  • Ashley’s Three-Step Program for Micro-Regret:
    1. Reframe: Did it happen for a reason? Can it be for the best?
    2. Correct: Is there something actionable? Do it if you can.
    3. Move On: Accept humanity and vow to do better next time.
    • “Talk it out. You have to get it out of your body to really let it go.” (41:30)
• Notable quote:
  • “You can’t apply today’s literacy to yesterday’s version of yourself.” – Rayna (40:23)

9. Listener Regrets & Overarching Themes

• Audience-submitted regrets largely center on staying too long in jobs or relationships, ignoring red flags, moving too late, not putting themselves out there more.
  • “Our relationship timelines...all played into the timeline that got you where you are today.” – Ashley (52:45)
• The hosts urge compassion for one’s past self, noting that circumstances and knowledge at the time dictated decisions.

10. Jobs, Relationships, & Changing Your Mind

• Both share candid stories of regretting or questioning big life choices (buying a house, moving cities, career changes), and the value in learning from “mistakes.”
• Encouragement that career and relationships naturally ebb and flow, and nothing is wasted—even if you feel you “should have known better.”

11. Letting Go, Forgiveness, and Being Gentle with Yourself

• The hosts emphasize the importance of expressing and processing regrets, not bottling them up.
  • Ashley shares an emotional conversation with her mom about missing a wedding photo, illustrating the power of simply naming and sharing regret (44:00).
• “Every year is a new year. Every day is a new day.” – Rayna (76:27)

12. Audience Accomplishments: Inspiring Submissions

• Celebration of community wins: becoming debt free, overcoming loss, finishing school, starting businesses, surviving hardships, big health milestones, and personal growth.
  • “When you’re thinking something 100 times a day and you finally think about it 98 times a day, what an accomplishment.” – Rayna (71:24)
• Reflection on resilience, and affirmation that everyone’s journey, pace, and growth are valid.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Ashley on Pride and Achievement:

  • “I think that’s really what I learned this year about myself, is just what truly I am capable of.” (26:00)

• Rayna on Regret as a Sign of Growth:

  • “If you’re carrying regret into the new year, like, I hope you pause and notice…what it really means is that you’ve grown and you got new information and none of this was like a mistake.” (35:06)

• On Editing Ourselves in Photos:

  • “We do ourselves a disservice by doing that sometimes, because you look back at photos of yourself from two years ago or something and you’re like…I was so this. It’s like, you weren’t. You edited that too.” – Ashley (05:53)

• Ashley’s Three Steps for Micro-Regret:

  • “My first course of action is reframing…If I can’t get there, I move to step two, is there something I can correct?...And if there’s not, you have to just move on. You are human. You will do better next time.” (40:54)

• On Not Living in Regret & Changing Your Mind:

  • “We love to change our mind and it’s just human.” – Ashley (66:46)
  • “You can be exactly where you’re supposed to be right now.” – Rayna (35:45)

Timestamps for Major Segments

• 00:00 – 01:30: Opening banter, year-in-review vibes
• 03:50 – 06:55: Outfit fails, aging, reflections on self-image
• 06:55 – 10:54: Holiday Spectacular recap & tour talk
• 13:07 – 14:46: Regretful moments, social faux-pas and how they linger
• 21:05 – 27:00: “Lessons learned,” post-wedding/tour come down, duality of joy and world events
• 31:37 – 34:24: Helping audience in need, reflecting on hardship and generosity
• 34:24 – 39:04: Rayna’s year, embracing a slower pace and self-discovery
• 40:54 – 42:55: Ashley’s 3 Step Micro-Regret Program
• 51:05 – 56:15: Listener regrets: relationships, jobs, personal decisions
• 61:10 – 69:14: Changing minds, moving, the butterfly effect
• 71:09 – 74:19: Audience accomplishments and collective resilience

Takeaways & Closing Thoughts

• Regret is Universal: Everyone deals with regret—small blunders and big choices alike—but it’s not a sign of failure. Rather, it often signals learning and growth.
• Be Kind to Your Past Self: Knowing what you did with the information you had is enough; there’s no sense in beating yourself up with hindsight.
• Start Now: “Starting now is still starting.” Beginning at any age or stage is valuable and worthy.
• Celebrate Progress: Audience accomplishments, big and small, matter. Every struggle survived and every step forward counts.
• Change is Human: It’s okay to change your mind—even on big things—and it doesn’t diminish your reliability or worth.

Shareable Moments

• [41:30] Ashley’s three-step micro-regret program
• [35:06] Rayna reframes regret as a sign of personal growth
• [72:14] Audience accomplishment submissions that highlight resilience and hope
• [40:23] “You can’t apply today’s literacy to yesterday’s version of yourself.” – Rayna

Girls Gotta Eat wishes all listeners a gentle, reflective, and joyful end to the year—reminding everyone that we’re all works in progress, and there’s no deadline on growth, healing, or happiness.