throughout my life, i've gone through phases of low self-esteem. this is normal, we all experience this. i'm not super excited to admit this, but for as long as i can remember, phases of low self-esteem have caused me to fixate on one person that i believe is better than me, and compare myself to them. their appearance, their relationship or lack thereof, their friend group, their job, their family situation… everything. i chose to admit this today because i'm talking about comparison. it’s a pretty normal human instinct, and it's important that we have the ability to compare, but when it comes to comparing ourselves, it gets a little bit more complicated. so let's figure out why we compare ourselves to others.

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[video available on spotify] since high school, i've been cycling between two phases: wow, this girl is productive, and wow, this girl can't get anything done. when i'm in a productive phase, working comes easily to me. and when i'm in an unproductive phase, it's the complete opposite. during these unproductive times, i take a step back and analyze what's happening. and what i'm trying to figure out is am i being lazy, or am i burnt out? so today, i want to talk about the difference between laziness and burnout because they are kind of hard to distinguish, but understanding where you’re at helps you get back on track. 

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[video available on spotify] today i present to you, amanda montell: a writer, linguist, and fellow podcast host. amanda has written three books. one of them, the age of magical overthinking, is about to come out. today i want to zoom in on one of our many common interests. she wrote an entire book about cults, the language used in cults, and cult-like behavior, and i'm excited to discuss how we participate in cult-like behavior on a day-to-day basis without even realizing it. she's really investigated the line between what is a cult and what is just cult-like behavior. and this is something I am curious to explore because I think it's a little bit more relevant than we even realize.

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[video available on spotify] about a month ago, i posted a casual selfie, and i saw comments saying “wow, she looks tired,” and “she looks kind of sick.” i was like, wait a minute. i’m well rested and healthy… what's everyone going on about? and then it clicks. i'm not wearing makeup in that selfie. at first it was sort of disturbing to me that i was getting so many comments about how tired or sick i looked just because i wasn't wearing makeup. but then i had an epiphany. so that's what we're going to be talking about today: how makeup impacts the way that we perceive natural appearance. 

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[video available on spotify] it's 2016. i'm 15 years old, and for the first time i'm realizing that life is challenging. i'm becoming obsessed with inspirational quotes. i think i’m having a philosophical awakening. now imagine during this time someone comes up to me and says, hey emma, what's your favorite quote? well, my answer would've been - everything happens for a reason. during that time, that quote answered all the questions that i needed answered, because my challenges were painfully simple. i thought i would get that tattooed on my body somewhere as a teenager, and i thank my lucky stars every day that i didn’t because i'll tell you, inspirational quotes look really good on the surface, but when you start to analyze them, they usually have some holes.

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today i'm going to be giving you unsolicited fashion advice. you might be thinking, hold on a minute, i need to hear this girl's credentials before i take fashion advice from her. well, i have some bad news. i don't have a lot of credentials or sit front row at every fashion show, and i'm not a full-time fashion designer. i'm not the most fashionable girl in the world either, but I do have one thing and that's a passion for fashion. and hopefully for some of you, that's enough. fashion is very personal and what works for me might not work for you, but it also very well might. so take what applies to you and your sense of style and ditch what doesn't. let's just have a good time.

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[video available on spotify] the concept of soulmates can be a relief to people, a nightmare, complete bullshit, or somewhere in between all of those things. everyone has their own unique perspective on the concept, and it's pretty rare to find two people who see it exactly the same. humanity as a whole has believed in soulmates for a very long time. though it's a very old concept, it has evolved to fit our current time. this isn't some sort of niche spiritual idea. this is very mainstream and even has sort of a trendy feel in some ways. so today we're going to talk about the concept of soulmates. 

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[video available on spotify] we're all constantly waiting on our favorite creatives to put out their next project. and the reason for that is because art takes a long time to create. i think a lot of us know this, but we forget this. i see a lot of fans online saying things to their favorite creatives like, hello, where's the next project? did you forget about us? are you being fucking lazy? it's very easy to believe that for artists, being creative is just automatic. and if they're not coming out with stuff left and right, it's because they don't want to. but that's very far from the truth. so today i want to talk about why good art takes time.

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[video available on spotify] i rarely discuss the business side of my life. and i think that's for two reasons: number one, i fear it's boring, and number two, I feel like it doesn't align with how people see me. but today i'm finally going to let the business-minded side of myself speak. a few years ago i started my coffee company, chamberlain coffee. i had this rare opportunity to start a business with little to no experience because my career on the internet gave me the resources to reach out to people who knew how to make a business vision come to life. and throughout this experience, i've not only learned a lot, but have also grown an appreciation for the process itself. so today i'm going to list 10 of the challenges that i've faced running a business, and talk about what those 10 challenges taught me.

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approximately three months ago i decided to embark on the journey to quit nicotine for good, and today's episode is going to be focusing on my experience thus far trying to quit. it's been incredibly hard. the reason why i feel the need to say how hard it is, is because people underestimate how severe nicotine addiction can be. i will say, it depends on the person and the level of addiction. but whether you or someone else in your life is addicted to nicotine and trying to quit, it's important to remember that it's not that easy. i was addicted to the vape specifically. that was my kryptonite. so with that in mind, i want to describe to you all of the different ways i’ve tried to get off the vape, and where i'm at in my process today.

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