What even is a mental illness? To begin with, you shouldn't be afraid of people with them. Their brains are just wired differently to your average one. They are a wide range of conditions that affect mood, thinking, and behavior. Some include: Depression, Anxiety, PTSD, OCDs, EDs, and so many more.

There are common ones and uncommon ones, all affecting everyone differently. Sometimes life as a teenager is already difficult enough, but when another weight is added to our problems, how do we as a society react? 

Listen in on this week's episode, with your hosts: Paola and Dani—where they talk about the different mental illnesses people, including teens and young adults, struggle with. From experiences with some themselves, friends they're close to, and the many ways the media incorrectly portrays them. Keeping things real through it all with each other, and you as the audience.

Note: This episode has a trigger warning. There are topics the hosts touch upon that may be triggering to some viewers.

Our Instagram - @getrealwithus

Often times we meet people we think we are going to stay in our lives. Some whom we believe we can trust and love without condition; but sometimes things don't go as planned. 

These people can make us cry for things we haven't done, ignore us when we need them the most. Even then, there are people who wipe our tears, hold our hands and give us the comfort we yearn for. The world is filled with these types of people, but we must learn which hands to hold and which to let go. 

Join your hosts—Paola and Dani—on this week's episode, where they talk about in depth toxic friendships; from past experiences to how it affected them, advice and how they deal with new people they meet: keeping things 100% real, just like every time. 

In honor of Thanksgiving of this year, we wanted to ask a few questions: What are you thankful for? Why are you thankful for it? Do you think this should be appreciated by everyone or is it personal?

"Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough." - Oprah Winfrey. 

Are you thankful for what you currently have or are you not satisfied yet? No shame, just why?

Join your host—Paola—on this week's episode, where she talks about the wonders of giving thanks and being appreciate for the good, the bad and the so-and-so. 

Instagram - @getrealwithus

FOMO, the fear of missing out. A fear that can take over anyone's mind. Social Media increases it everyday; teenagers and young adults being the ones most affected. 

"The fear of missing out on things makes you miss out on everything." - Etty Hillesum

Do you experience FOMO quite often? What exactly happens to a person when they have this fear? How can you avoid it? Can you even avoid it?

Join your hosts—Paola and Dani—on this week's episode, where they answer all these burning questions and more. Answers filled with past experience and advice given; all while keeping things 100% real.

Instagram - @getrealwithus

Sometimes as people, we need to experience humanity without the judgement; we just need to take in the small aspects of life. Whether we are young or old, we seem to all have similar needs. 

You might want to sit down, enjoy a hot cup of coffee, chocolate or maybe even tea. The sound of rain hitting the window and you snuggled up under the covers;  but something is missing—a novel perhaps? A child in his bed, with his mother by his side; expecting her to read something to him; a short story book or a nursery rhyme?

"Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become." - C.S. Lewis

Join your hosts—Paola and Dani—on this week's episode. A passionate conversation about the different literature that exists in this world; along with the benefits that can come from it. Stories that influence their lives and that create a sense of personal experience. 

Our instagram: @getrealwithus

Note & Disclaimer: Send us a dm or make a story with our @ with the answer to the question asked by Dani at the end of the podcast! We do not own any of the novels, webcomics, or any literature, we mentioned in this episode. Credit goes to all the rightful authors, artists and/or webtoon. 

Where are we when we're not exactly kids but not fully matured teenagers yet? Where our minds are slowly growing up and where it all seems to start? One answer: Middle School.

Has it changed over time? Has it not? Do you feel like it's a massive change from elementary or to highschool?

Listen in on this week's special episode, where your host Paola and a very special guest—Cole—have a mini-interview with one another with their experiences in middle school; present and past. A very interesting 20 minute episode indeed. 

Note: This episode is meant for those who are in middle school and above. 

Everyone is bound to feel a certain way every once in awhile. Especially teenagers, since we can barely understand our own emotions sometimes. Although because of this, we eventually end up make contact with a subject people like to called coping. 

Most people develop at least one coping mechanism at some point in their lives, but the real situation comes on along when the simple question comes along: Is it a healthy coping mechanism? 

Join your hosts—Paola and Dani—on this week's episode, where they have a 20 minute conversation, talking about different types of coping mechanisms; some of which themselves have done or currently use, personal experience from the past or around them, and how having a healthy or toxic one can really affect you. 

Our Instagram - @getrealwithus

Note: This episode has a trigger warning. There are topics the hosts touch upon that may be triggering to some viewers. 

Useful Links or Numbers:

List of Suicide/Help Numbers - https://www.suicidestop.com/call_a_hotline.html

Youth Helpline - https://kidscenter.org/

Everyone is human, we're bound to make mistakes. But with mistakes there comes a price; regret can be found among them.

Along with this, we can't forget that what allows us from feeling this way is learning from them. Mistakes can hurt from time to time, but eventually if looked at correctly in the future, we can say that we learn from experience. 

Join your hosts—Paola and Dani—in a 10 minute episode, where they talk about mistakes; some of which themselves have done, see from others, and how to make even the smallest ones valuable. 

You might be staring out the window, huddled up in your own room or just in the middle of a crowd with your headphones on. You get this pit in your stomach, your mind goes blank and you only think of one thing: I feel so alone. 

You might tend to keep a lot of things to yourself because it seems no one will understand, you've been hurt in the past and now you just don't feel like being vulnerable to others. 

Maybe you have friends but sometimes it feels like there this wall. A wall where you try to climb, but fall back down and you're starting to give up. It's a thing that happens to everyone—as a matter of fact, it happens to adults as well—and especially to us as teenagers. 

But you have to remember that there are ways to change this, there are ways to embrace this feeling and allow it to push you forward rather than down. The glass of water can be half empty but you can change how you look at it. 

Listen to this week's episode and join our only—ironically—host for today, Paola. In this episode she talks about what it's like to feel lonely, how she deals with it and how it seems to be for others, along with advice. 

As we grow up, we find ourselves leaning into a world of love and romance. A place where long-term relationships, heartbreaks, lovers and all the little things inbetween go from a small dream into our reality. 

You can plant a seed and expect it to grow but without effort and care, it will never bloom into the beautiful flower you wish it to be. 

Listen in on this week's special episode, where your hosts Paola, Dani, and a very special guest—Roxanna— go with the flow when talking about the subject at hand; relationships. An episode filled with 30 minutes of valuable information. 

Advice will be given, personal experiences will be shared, and rambles filled with passion will be said.  

Note: This episode is meant for both those who are in a relationship and who also aren't. Two sides of a coin; for the singles and for the taken.