Anxiety can be difficult to manage, but there are many ways to work through it. Award-winning chef and New York restaurant owner, Missy Robbins, joins Dr. Emily for this Emotional Push-Up to talk about how practicing gratitude can act as an antidote to anxiety. By grounding us in what is true and positive right now, gratitude can bring us back to the present moment, helping to move us away from worrying about the negative things that may or may not happen in the future. Listen now for more on how to tap into the power of gratitude!

Thank you for listening! Staying emotionally fit takes work and repetition. That's why the Emotionally Fit podcast with psychologist Dr. Emily Anhalt delivers short, actionable Emotional Push-Ups every Tuesday and Thursday to help you build a better practice of mental health. Join us to kickstart your emotional fitness. Let's flex those feels and do some reps together!

Follow Dr. Emily on Twitter, and don’t forget to follow, rate, review and share the show wherever you listen to podcasts! #EmotionallyFit 

The Emotionally Fit podcast is produced by Coa, your gym for mental health. Katie Sunku Wood is the show’s producer from StudioPod Media with additional editing and sound design by nodalab, and featuring music by Milano. Special thanks to the entire Coa crew!

Many of us have trouble asking for exactly what we want. But in today’s Emotional Push-Up, Dr. Emily is joined by author Melanie Ho to talk about taking the risk anyway and making the ask, because people aren’t mind readers and they can’t help you get what you want if they don’t know what that is. Tune in now for a helpful discussion on how to determine what you want and how to go about asking for it.

Thank you for listening! Staying emotionally fit takes work and repetition. That's why the Emotionally Fit podcast with psychologist Dr. Emily Anhalt delivers short, actionable Emotional Push-Ups every Tuesday and Thursday to help you build a better practice of mental health. Join us to kickstart your emotional fitness. Let's flex those feels and do some reps together!

Follow Dr. Emily on Twitter, and don’t forget to follow, rate, review and share the show wherever you listen to podcasts! #EmotionallyFit 

The Emotionally Fit podcast is produced by Coa, your gym for mental health. Katie Sunku Wood is the show’s producer from StudioPod Media with additional editing and sound design by nodalab, and featuring music by Milano. Special thanks to the entire Coa crew!

Growing up in a Catholic and Filipino family, Jo Portia Mayari didn’t talk about sex. Today Jo joins Dr. Emily in this Taboo Tuesday discussion to share how she went from feeling clueless and closeted to being named one of Arianna Huffington's top 20 health and wellness role models on a mission to help women build their sexual wealth. From struggling with her own sexual trauma at a young age to wanting to be a more body-positive role model for her kids, Jo doesn’t hold back in this episode. Tune in now to hear this deep dive into sexuality, self-pleasure, and how to talk about sex with your kids.

Staying emotionally fit takes work and repetition. That's why the Emotionally Fit podcast with psychologist Dr. Emily Anhalt delivers short, actionable Emotional Push-Ups every Tuesday and Thursday to help you build a better practice of mental health, and surprising, funny, and shocking conversations on Taboo Tuesdays - because the things we’re most hesitant to talk about are also the most normal. Join us to kickstart your emotional fitness. Let's flex those feels and do some reps together!

EPISODE RESOURCES:

Follow Jo on Twitter and Instagram

Find out more about Jo’s work at joportia.com

Read the LA Time’s story featuring Jo: Flirting, romance, love — and ghosting. L.A. daters share their stories

Thank you for listening! Follow Dr. Emily on Twitter, and don’t forget to follow, rate, review and share the show wherever you listen to podcasts! #EmotionallyFit 

The Emotionally Fit podcast is produced by Coa, your gym for mental health. Katie Sunku Wood is the show’s producer from StudioPod Media with additional editing and sound design by nodalab, and featuring music by Milano. Special thanks to the entire Coa crew!

JUMP STRAIGHT INTO:

(01:22) - The path that led Jo to seeking radical self-acceptance - “My oldest daughter and I were in her room getting ready, and she said, ‘Oh my god, Mom, you are so beautiful.’ And I said, ‘No, I'm not. I'm ugly and fat.’ And that look on her face was one I'll never forget, because it was the moment where I knew, as a woman, I could not ask my daughters to be the strong women that I wanted them to become if I wasn't one myself.” 

(8:46) - Becoming more comfortable with self-pleasure - “The only sex education I got from my parents was, ‘Don't get pregnant,’ and I'm like, ‘Okay, great. How do I get pregnant in the first place? Like, what is that act supposed to look like?’”

(14:57) - Permission to embrace our sexuality - “The way I'm having that conversation right now around self-pleasure is inviting moms and women to really understand, ‘You have the ability to step into your role as a sexual creature. And that was not something that needed to be taken away the moment that you became a mom.”

(22:07) - Where to start on the self-pleasure journey - “Touch is just so therapeutic and can be so soothing and so healing for people. And so oftentimes I say, ‘Just start from the neck down. It doesn't even need to mean anything. Just see what feels good, and that's it. And then if you're ready to explore lower, then get there. But no pressure.”

(25:14) - Talking to your kids about sex - “I think the most important part is just to leave the door open and have it open for them to walk through so that when they are ready, they know that you can be a trusted resource as a parent.”

Sometimes we forget to make space for new parts of ourselves to develop. And while this certainly applies to our sex lives, it’s also true for our professional lives, our friendships, our hobbies, etc. Jo Portia Mayari joins Dr. Emily in today's Emotional Push-Up to talk about how we can consider the things we’ve put on autopilot in our lives, and work to discover new needs and desires.

Thank you for listening! Staying emotionally fit takes work and repetition. That's why the Emotionally Fit podcast with psychologist Dr. Emily Anhalt delivers short, actionable Emotional Push-Ups every Tuesday and Thursday to help you build a better practice of mental health. Join us to kickstart your emotional fitness. Let's flex those feels and do some reps together!

Follow Dr. Emily on Twitter, and don’t forget to follow, rate, review and share the show wherever you listen to podcasts! #EmotionallyFit 

The Emotionally Fit podcast is produced by Coa, your gym for mental health. Katie Sunku Wood is the show’s producer from StudioPod Media with additional editing and sound design by nodalab, and featuring music by Milano. Special thanks to the entire Coa crew!

Anything that can be used to enhance life—think video games, food, alcohol, drugs, sex, etc.—can also be used to escape life. In today’s Emotional Push-Up, Dr. Emily is joined by Alaine Newland to talk about how to recognize the line between celebrating and coping and why it’s best not to conflate the two.  

Thank you for listening! Staying emotionally fit takes work and repetition. That's why the Emotionally Fit podcast with psychologist Dr. Emily Anhalt delivers short, actionable Emotional Push-Ups every Tuesday and Thursday to help you build a better practice of mental health. Join us to kickstart your emotional fitness. Let's flex those feels and do some reps together!

Follow Dr. Emily on Twitter, and don’t forget to follow, rate, review and share the show wherever you listen to podcasts! #EmotionallyFit 

The Emotionally Fit podcast is produced by Coa, your gym for mental health. Katie Sunku Wood is the show’s producer from StudioPod Media with additional editing and sound design by Nodalab, and featuring music by Milano. Special thanks to the entire Coa crew!

Conflict is uncomfortable, especially when it's with someone we work with or care about or otherwise depend on. So unsurprisingly, many people go to great lengths to avoid conflict. But in this Emotional Push-Up, Dr. Emily and her guest and fellow podcast host Lindsey Metselaar, (We Met At Acme) agree that conflict is as important to a relationship as exercise is to a muscle and what actually matters is focusing on how you repair after a conflict arises. Tune in now to hear how to move past conflicts in a healthy way. 

Thank you for listening! Staying emotionally fit takes work and repetition. That's why the Emotionally Fit podcast with psychologist Dr. Emily Anhalt delivers short, actionable Emotional Push-Ups every Tuesday and Thursday to help you build a better practice of mental health. Join us to kickstart your emotional fitness. Let's flex those feels and do some reps together!

Follow Dr. Emily on Twitter, and don’t forget to follow, rate, review and share the show wherever you listen to podcasts! #EmotionallyFit 

The Emotionally Fit podcast is produced by Coa, your gym for mental health. Katie Sunku Wood is the show’s producer from StudioPod Media with additional editing and sound design by nodalab, and featuring music by Milano. Special thanks to the entire Coa crew!

Love and sex addiction aren’t issues people talk about regularly. But this week’s guest Mason Spector, co-founder of the clothing brand Madhappy, doesn’t shy away from sharing his struggles with Dr. Emily in this Taboo Tuesday episode. From infidelity and seeking self-worth through the attention of others to rehab and starting a clothing brand rooted in mental health positivity, Mason shares it all. Tune in now to hear why he says all men need to get honest with themselves and their loved ones about their own struggles with mental health. 

Staying emotionally fit takes work and repetition. That's why the Emotionally Fit podcast with psychologist Dr. Emily Anhalt delivers short, actionable Emotional Push-Ups every Tuesday and Thursday to help you build a better practice of mental health, and surprising, funny, and shocking conversations on Taboo Tuesdays - because the things we’re most hesitant to talk about are also the most normal. Join us to kickstart your emotional fitness. Let's flex those feels and do some reps together!

EPISODE RESOURCES:

Follow Mason Spector on Instagram

Follow @madhappy and the @localoptimist on Instagram

Check out the Madhappy clothing brand

Listen to the Madhappy Podcast

Thank you for listening! Follow Dr. Emily on Twitter, and don’t forget to follow, rate, review and share the show wherever you listen to podcasts! #EmotionallyFit 

The Emotionally Fit podcast is produced by Coa, your gym for mental health. Katie Sunku Wood is the show’s producer from StudioPod Media with additional editing and sound design by nodalab, and featuring music by Milano. Special thanks to the entire Coa crew!

JUMP STRAIGHT INTO:

(02:04) - Battling mental health and creating Madhappy - “It's inevitable that we’ll have really sad days and go through hard times, and I think the more that we can pay attention to that and really honor those times so we can just learn so much more about ourselves, about each other, about the world, and therefore really be able to grow and evolve.”

(04:49) - The stigma around men's mental health - “Having that ability to be vulnerable is actually such a sign of courage. And I think for men especially, they will do whatever it takes to just put on that facade of being very strong and kind of being rock solid on the outside and never showing that weakness.”

(08:31) - Mason’s love and sex addiction - “I had really just built a world where I was just getting all of my self-worth from other people, and always having to be in relationships and always having to be talking to people on the side to really just make me feel like I had this web of people who needed me and wanted me so that I would really never feel alone.”

(15:58) - Mason’s work to get to the root of the problem - “Really seeing what comes up and really getting to know myself and my story, and being able to contextualize as to how these events that I might not think about on a daily basis or consciously even remember are really drastically affecting my present-day life and my behaviors, has been a game changer”

(20:01) - Advice for men who want to confront their mental health struggles - “Even if you can't see it, it's there, and for better or for worse, it will eventually rear its ugly head in some way someday. So I think it's better to just kind of be realistic with yourself and be practical and just know that it's a normal part of the human experience.”

Have you ever heard the idea that the things we dislike about others are the things we dislike about ourselves? Well, Dr. Emily says that while that’s true, it’s more complicated than it sounds. In this Emotional Push-up, she is joined by Mason Spector, co-founder of the mental health clothing company Madhappy, to work through an exercise that can help us better understand what is happening when we are feeling annoyed, frustrated or judgmental with others. Tune in now to learn what the three J’s are and how you can use these tools to work through an issue. 

Thank you for listening! Staying emotionally fit takes work and repetition. That's why the Emotionally Fit podcast with psychologist Dr. Emily Anhalt delivers short, actionable Emotional Push-Ups every Tuesday and Thursday to help you build a better practice of mental health. Join us to kickstart your emotional fitness. Let's flex those feels and do some reps together!

Follow Dr. Emily on Twitter, and don’t forget to follow, rate, review and share the show wherever you listen to podcasts! #EmotionallyFit 

The Emotionally Fit podcast is produced by Coa, your gym for mental health. Katie Sunku Wood is the show’s producer from StudioPod Media with additional editing and sound design by nodalab, and featuring music by Milano. Special thanks to the entire Coa crew!

We’ve all had bad days. Bad years. Bad fights. Bad jobs. Hard losses. And in this Emotional Push-Up, Dr. Emily isn’t going to tell you that it’s all going to be ok. Nope. Instead, she’s going to tell you to feel it. Because sometimes it’s better to let yourself feel shitty than it is to push your feelings aside and move on too quickly. Co-Founder and CEO of Nira, Hiten Shah, joins this episode to talk about how a more realistic outlook helped him deal with a particularly tough time in his own life.

Thank you for listening! Staying emotionally fit takes work and repetition. That's why the Emotionally Fit podcast with psychologist Dr. Emily Anhalt delivers short, actionable Emotional Push-Ups every Monday and Thursday to help you build a better practice of mental health. Join us to kickstart your emotional fitness. Let's flex those feels and do some reps together!

Follow Dr. Emily on Twitter, and don’t forget to follow, rate, review and share the show wherever you listen to podcasts! #EmotionallyFit 

The Emotionally Fit podcast is produced by Coa, your gym for mental health. Katie Sunku Wood is the show’s producer from StudioPod Media with additional editing and sound design by Nodalab, and featuring music by Milano. Special thanks to the entire Coa crew!

Have you ever tried to make an important decision with a colleague, romantic partner, friend, or family member, but gotten completely stuck? In this Emotional Push-Up, Dr. Emily is joined by her co-founder and Coa’s CEO, Alexa Meyer, to share an effective, proactive tool they’ve used to get through decision impasses.

Thank you for listening! Staying emotionally fit takes work and repetition. That's why the Emotionally Fit podcast with psychologist Dr. Emily Anhalt delivers short, actionable Emotional Push-Ups every Tuesday and Thursday to help you build a better practice of mental health. Join us to kickstart your emotional fitness. Let's flex those feels and do some reps together!

Follow Dr. Emily on Twitter, and don’t forget to follow, rate, review and share the show wherever you listen to podcasts! #EmotionallyFit 

The Emotionally Fit podcast is produced by Coa, your gym for mental health. Katie Sunku Wood is the show’s producer from StudioPod Media with additional editing and sound design by nodalab, and featuring music by Milano. Special thanks to the entire Coa crew!