Hears How

Videos giving his students high-fives and hugs have gone viral online. Despite the duties piled high on the school principal’s lunch tray, Zac makes it a point to greet his student and teachers so they feel seen. The resulting joy is dopamine-inducing. 

In this episode of Hears How, Zac shares how simple acts of kindness performed with the intention of connecting can transform schools, families, workplaces, and communities. He also opens up about his own journey, from battling “crippling” anxiety and depression, to finding strength in vulnerability, faith, and purpose.

Host Erin Jensen sits down with Zac to explore:

• How a few seconds of presence can change a child’s entire day
• What Zac’s mental health journey taught him about slowing down and asking for help
• The small ways we can show up more fully for others
• Why creating environments of encouragement matters more than we realize
• What his viral moments reveal about our universal longing to be seen

This heartfelt conversation is for anyone feeling burnt out, disconnected, or unsure of how to make a difference. You’ll walk away reminded that slowing down to truly see people might be the most powerful thing we can do.

Stream now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.

In this episode of Hears How, we talk about suicide and its emotional aftermath. If this topic is sensitive for you, please take care of yourself — whether that means pressing pause or choosing another episode.

Remember that help is available, you are not alone, and your life matters.

• For the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, call or text 988
• To reach the Crisis Text Line, text HOME to 741741
• Visit the International Association for Suicide Prevention for additional resources 

Journalist and author Rachel Zimmerman met Seth Teller in her mid-30s. 

“He was a devoted father to our 8 and 11 year old daughters,” she shares. “He was a tenured professor of robotics at MIT. He was very close with his family.” 

Rachel and Seth were together for 15 years, married for 12.

“That’s partially why it felt so out of the blue,” Rachel says. “From the outside, it looked like he had a charmed life.”

In this profoundly moving episode, Rachel opens up about her search for answers, drawing from her book "Us, After: A Memoir of Love and Suicide." She shares the grief, guilt, confusion, and ultimately, the resilience that followed her loss.

“The questions were, ‘Why did he do this?’” she says. “'What was going on in his brain?’ And also, of course, the flip side of that, which is, ‘Could I have stopped it?’ And, ‘Did I miss the signs?’”

This conversation is about the messiness of grief, the stigma that surrounds suicide, and the slow, sacred return of joy. It’s about a mother rebuilding a life for her daughters, and it’s a reminder that we can survive the unimaginable.

“Grief does not unfold in tidy stages; it lurches,” Rachel says. “It isn’t, ‘At first you’ll feel this, then it’ll move to this and then it’ll be this and you’ll never feel that first thing again.’ It’s messy and ugly and not fair. And you feel all of these things, and it’s okay. And it does get better.”

In this episode:

1:40 Rachel and Seth’s life together: “He loved being a hero to the girls.”

3:57 Signs: “It wasn’t the signs we typically look for, but I think in retrospect, there were other signs.”

5:14 Rachel's search for answers: “I really believed that finding answers would give me some form of relief.”

8:33 What Rachel learned in her interviews with doctors and experts

10:45 Rachel interviews Leonard, a man who attempted suicide: “I thought maybe he would unlock this truth about what he was thinking right before.”

13:10 Rachel’s stopping point: “I am never going to understand it fully.”

14:26 Reclaiming joy: “Let’s allow pleasure and joy to come back in.’"

17:54 Rachel’s advice for people who have lost their spouses: “It does get better…and you need to ask for help.”

20:13 Final thoughts: “Obviously it was a disaster and caused tremendous pain. But in the back of my mind, as I was writing, the good was that we survived and thrived and found joy again.”  

More:

For more of Rachel’s story, read her book, “Us, After,” and visit her website. 

Laura Cathcart Robbins’ story is for anyone who has ever felt like they had to bury who they really are to be seen, loved, and accepted. She has written about her recovery in her memoir, “Stash: My Life in Hiding,” and candidly shares her experience in this episode of Hears How. 

Laura and her husband welcomed two sons in consecutive years. They were energetic little boys, who slept as long as Laura cradled them in her arms. When they got a little bit older, the children went to an elite private school, which tapped Laura as president of its parents’ association. From the outside, her family had everything to be envious of.

"We had all the things that people thought, ‘If I had that, I would be happy,’” Laura says. “They looked at us, including me at the time, and thought they have it all together. This is the goal,” and Laura, “worked hard to keep up that facade. 

“The only thing I really cared about, really cared about was my connection to my children,” she continues. “But in order for me to do anything, I needed the Ambien and the booze. I had to wash it down with booze in order to get it to be as effective as I needed it to be.”

When Laura was first prescribed Ambien in 2002, it gave her, “the best sleep of my life,” she says. “I woke up the next morning full of energy. I can be the fun mom and, ‘Let’s go to the pumpkin patch,’ and let's do all the things that I would be dragging myself to normally.”

“I think that the addiction probably wouldn't have come into play if I weren't so separated from who I am authentically,” she assesses. “By the time I had my kids and was physically just kind of devastated by the lack of sleep and by the kids who wanted my attention all the time, I think I was ripe for an addiction. And because I have this front that I like to keep up, I'm not great at asking for help.”

In this episode:

1:26: How Laura’s desire to be the perfect mom and wife resulted in silent suffering and anxiety-fueled insomnia

2:54: The start of an addiction and her life in hiding

7:04: How being disconnected from her authentic self made her vulnerable to addiction

9:26: The breaking point: When Laura knew she had to make a change

13:23: Her difficult time in treatment where she met her “person”

15:47: The moment she realized she wanted sobriety

18:56: What has aided her recovery

20:39: Laura’s message to those impacted by addiction

22:50: How to recognize the signs in your own life

23:57: Laura’s “biggest lesson” from recovery
 

More:

For more about Laura’s recovery, read “Stash: My Life in Hiding.”

You can also follow her podcast, The Only One in the Room.

Share this episode with someone you think might benefit. Tag us with your thoughts on Instagram, using @HearsHowPodcast. We love hearing from you.

Note: This episode discusses addiction, withdrawal, and recovery. Please take care while listening.

If you or someone you love is struggling, help is available.

Contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or visit the organization online. 

You may also find the websites for Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, and Al-Anon to be helpful. 

In May 2024, army reservist Shayne Patrick Burke was enjoying his honeymoon. He and his wife, Chloe, visited national parks, with Shayne ready to snap his camera and capture a Great Grey Owl. 

Two years earlier, doctors removed a non-cancerous brain tumor about the size of a golfball, and Shayne was eager to get back to doing things he enjoyed, like rock climbing and wildlife photography. 

On a solo hike in Grand Teton National Park, Shayne couldn’t shake an “eerie feeling.”

“I didn't really quite feel alone,” he says. “I felt like something bad was gonna happen.”

Shayne spotted a bear cub, and merely seconds later, “the mom was jumping on me,” he says. “I just told myself I was probably gonna die.”

Miraculously Shayne survived. Listen as he reveals what was going through his mind during the attack, his rescue, and his emotional and physical recovery journey. Don’t miss this gripping story of survival, love, and resiliency of the human spirit. 

In this episode:

2:29 The honeymoon adventure: Searching for the Great Gray Owl

3:11 Shayne’s solo hike: “I did start to get a real eerie feeling”

4:37 The bear attack: A fight for survival

9:33 Rescue and recovery: “I just blew my whistle. S-O-S, S-O-S constantly.”

13:10 Reflections and gratitude: Life after the attack

14:44 Final thoughts: advice and appreciation

Welcome to another episode of Hears How! I was inspired to talk to Gwendolyn Bounds — or Wendy to her podcast friends like you and me — because I love her story. As she writes in her book, “Not Too Late: The Power of Pushing Limits at Any Age,” Wendy, now 53, went from the kid being picked last for dodgeball in gym class to a journalist glued to screens all day. 

At a dinner party in 2016 she overheard a man ask a young girl what she wanted to be when she grew up. 

“And she rattled off all these incredible things, and his eyes kind of glazed over,” Wendy, says on Hears How. “I think he was sorry he asked. But it really stuck with me, hearing her rattle off all these things that, at age 45, no one was ever going to ask me that anymore. And more importantly, I'd stopped asking myself. And that is what led me the next morning to wake up and Google, ‘What are the hardest things you can do?’”

Which led her to the world of obstacle course racing. To date she’s participated in more than 50 races and in November finished in fifth place for her age group at the 2024 Trifecta World Championship held in Sparta, Greece.

Wendy says she doesn’t know exactly why she searched that particular phrase, “but clearly there was a feeling inside that something was left in my tank, something I hadn't tapped.”

And that is why it is so important that you listen to this episode, so you can answer the question Do you hear a whisper or feel a push telling you there’s more?

In this show:

1:06 The entire point of this podcast episode: Is there more left in your tank?

3:21 From journalist to athlete

5:52 The dinner party revelation

9:33 The first steps in training

15:28 Facing challenges and overcoming obstacles off the course

17:14 The hardest part of all: Mastery and the plateau

26:56 Wendy’s advice for aspiring racers

28:09 Final thoughts

More:

To learn more about Wendy, visit her website and read her book “Not Too Late: The Power of Pushing Limits at Any Age.”  You can also follow her on Instagram. 

Be sure to subscribe to the Hears How podcast so you don’t miss an episode! 

You might've seen wood artist Ike Wynter's nostalgic and inspiring work on social media. His giant rendering of a 16-pack of Crayola crayons has more than 300,000 likes on Instagram since he unveiled the piece in April.

Surrounded by art in his studio, Ike says he hopes his pieces remind people “of a simpler time in their life or a person or a place that just brings a warm feeling to their heart.”

But for Ike, things haven't always been as bright as Crayola's sun yellow. After contracting COVID in 2020, he fell into a deep depression. 

“It was just not me,” Ike recalls. “I know how inspired I am, how focused I am, how determined I am, and my work ethic and all that just went out the window.”

Thankfully, Ike sought treatment at a facility where things quickly improved.

“It changed my life overnight,” he says. “When I showed up at the clinic, I was sleeping about an hour-and-a-half to two hours a night for about a month straight. My nervous system was just shot, and my brain was mush. Everything was just rough, and within two days of being at the clinic, I was like, ‘Okay, I can function as a human again.’" 

In this episode of Hears How, Ike shares his journey, one that he cautions isn’t one size fits all. But he speaks candidly to provide others comfort in knowing they are not alone.

In this episode:

Open: Introduction to Ike’s story

2:50 The start of Ike’s interest in wood art

3:58 The intention behind his works

5:00 Mental health symptoms appear months after contracting COVID: “I just woke up different.”

7:29 Ike’s symptoms worsen, and he seeks treatment at a wellness facility 

9:45 How Ike gets through difficult days: “You allow yourself to have tough days”

10:34 The questions he asks himself on hard days

11:43 When experiencing mental health challenges know “You’re not alone in it”

13:06 Ike recommends “Practicing gratitude and optimism everyday" 

More:

For more about Ike and his artwork, follow him on Instagram, @ike_wynter

You can find information about support groups and the National Alliance on Mental Illness HelpLine at their website

You can also call, chat or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. 

In this compelling episode of the Hear's How podcast, host Erin Jensen interviews Michelle Dowd, who shares her harrowing experience growing up in a religious, apocalyptic cult in the Angeles National Forest. Michelle details her isolated upbringing during which she learned how to rely on nature to survive the looming end of days. Once she was ex-communicated at 17 for defying cult rules, she applied those same skills to building an entirely new life. 

“That whole thing about being lost is kind of central, not only to the book, but to any of us in survival situations where there's the physical need for survival,” Michelle says. “Like, where you could actually die from starvation or whatever, but then there's also times in life where you feel like you're going to die because you don't know what to do. You feel so paralyzed emotionally. I think it's very similar. 

“Stop, stop moving,” she continues. “Stay still. Get quiet. Notice what's around you. The thing you do with survival is try not to let the anxiety lead you, but instead bring yourself down to stillness and find what is your next right move.”

Michelle is now a college professor and author of a memoir that chronicles her childhood,  “Forager: Field Notes for Surviving a Family Cult.” Tune in to be inspired by Michelle's resilience and transformation.

In this episode:

02:48 Origins of the cult founded by Michelle’s grandfather

3:39 Michelle’s relationship with her abusive, neglectful parents: “My parents didn’t say, ‘I love you.' They didn’t raise us to need that.”

4:45 Daily life inside the organization: “Happiness was absolutely not allowed”

5:42 Unwritten rules: no dancing, movies, or touching the opposite sex: “You had to obey the leader, at all costs, at all times.”

07:34 Michelle faces health challenges 

8:50 Michelle is ex-communicated from the cult for seeing an R-rated movie with a young man

13:03 The hardest part: “Not trusting yourself … and ultimately having no connection to self”

14:36 How Michelle rebuilt her life 

17:10 Her advice for overcoming challenges: “Stop panicking. Don't let fear set in to the degree that it paralyzes you.”

More:

For more on Michelle’s story, read her book, "Forager," follow her on Substack and Instagram.

Subscribe to Hears How so you don’t miss an episode. Let’s be friends on Instagram! 

In this captivating episode, actress/singer-songwriter Jillian Shea Spaeder candidly speaks about her battle with anorexia and its impact on her mental health. If you are suffering from an eating disorder, know NAMI’s HelpLine can be reached weekdays, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. ET at 800-950-6264. You can also text “helpline” to 62640, or find someone to chat with on their website.  The National Alliance for Eating Disorders can be reached weekdays from 9 a.m. – 7 p.m. ET at 1-866-662-1235. 

“I couldn’t keep up with things,” says Jillian, known for her work on Disney’s “Walk the Prank” and “Godmothered.”  “I couldn’t make sentences. I couldn’t write. There was no creativity. I just was, like, dead basically.” 

“So if I’m choosing between being a cool human being,” Jillian adds, “who’s fun to be around and who enjoys her life, and who’s happy and successful, or being skinny, I’m obviously going to choose the other one.”

While in treatment in 2022, Jillian wrote a short film, “The Noise,” that depicts her unrelenting inner voice that told her she was nothing.

“I think a lot of the representation out there and a lot of the media tends to just talk about, the body issues and the physical issues that come from eating disorders,” Jillian says, “and nobody ever really talks about the mental aspect of it.”

Listen to the episode now to learn how Jillian has been able to silence the noise.  

In this episode:

2:01 Jillian’s start in the entertainment industry

3:08 Her battle with anorexia inspires her short film, “The Noise,” which conveys the mental anguish she experienced: “It felt like a mental battle.” 

5:15 Show business warps Jillian’s perception of what’s normal: “It’s a very yay, self-love but there’s no self love kind of industry.”  

7:10 The depths of Jillian’s illness: “I would wake up, lay around, didn’t have energy to talk, didn’t have energy to move but would force myself to go to the gym for hours…”

9:46 Jillian enters treatment and gives insight to the valuable realizations she discovered: “It’s taken a lot of time, but I’m starting to distance myself from my need to be successful because it’s so out of my control.” 

13:08 Jillian reveals her relationship with food and her body and mind today: “Food, I’m treating it like a joy." 

15:22 Jillian’s advice for the hard days and those with an eating disorder: “Just try as hard as you can to keep the eye on the prize.”

More:

Jillian’s short film, “The Noise, is available to watch on her YouTube channel. You can follow her on Instagram and TikTok. 

You can also follow Hears How on Instagram to stay up to date on the latest from the show. 

When Paul Luu arrived to the United States all alone as teenage, Vietnamese refugee in 1979, he didn’t know any English.

"The language barrier hit me like a rock,” he says in this episode of “Hears How.” “How am I going to communicate with people? That's when reality set in. That's when I realized, 'Gosh, I don't even know how to (tell) people when I'm hungry, how to go to school.’”

Once Paul enrolled in high school and began learning English, he felt a renewed since of purpose. He graduated college and was accepted to medical school, but felt overwhelmed by the brilliance of his fellow students. 

“I felt very intimidated, because you're surrounded by all of the competitive, top of the class,” he says. “Here I am, little Vietnamese guy, looks so young, spoke I call it broken English, with an accent and everything. The only (way) I can compete with them (is if I) study hard.” 

“They are way, way ahead of you, not just IQ wise, everything,” he told himself. “So, the best thing you can do is just work hard, do the best you can.”

He experienced “a rough time,” he admits. “But I put in more hours than most of my colleagues. I think the best thing is that I realized what my weakness. So I just work on it.”   

Tune in to hear about Paul’s struggles, his resilience, and the invaluable lesson in hard work and perseverance that led him to achieve his dreams.

In this episode:

Intro

1:25 Paul’s details his upbringing in Vietnam, sharing a 450 sq. ft flat with his parents and six siblings 

2:35 Paul has to flee Vietnam 

4:04 His crowded boat is robbed by pirates. Paul makes a promise to Buddha that if he survives he’ll use his talents to help people in need

5:50 Paul arrives in the States, where the communication barrier “hit me like a rock”

7:15 School, where Paul learned English, became his “salvation.”

10:05 Paul has a difficult time while in college and discovers therapy 

13:27 How Paul overcame the temptation of giving up

14:52 Paul’s advice for when people doubt you 

15:30 Paul’s advice for refugees arriving to the US

More:

For more on Paul’s incredible journey, read his book, “From Survivor to Surgeon: A Refugee's Memoir of Perseverance and Purpose.” 

Follow @HearsHowPodcast on Instagram for more inspirational content. 

Season 3 of the Hears How podcast begins with the remarkable journey of Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall whose life was forever changed by an attack in Ukraine. On March 14, 2022, the British journalist and two of his colleagues — cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski and journalist Oleksandra "Sasha" Kuvshynova — came under attack while covering the war between Russia and Ukraine outside of Kyiv.

Ben heard a familiar whistling sound followed by a massive explosion. The soldier driving the news crew tried to reverse but then came a second explosion.

“Everything went black,” remembers Ben, the only survivor of the attack. “And right in front of me, came my daughter, Honor — as real as anything, into the blackness she came. And she said to me, ‘Daddy, you've gotta get out of the car.’ And I just came right back, flooding into the world without even thinking. And I took one step out (of the car) and then the third one hit … I’m unconscious for a bit, and I wake up about 10 feet away from the car, and I'm on fire.”
 
 Ben noticed his right leg was “hanging on by some skin” as he tried to put out the flames engulfing him. His left foot had a hole in it the size of a baseball. His skull had been fractured and his left eye sliced in half. Much of his left hand had been destroyed.

“I thought of getting home to my daughters when I was injured,” Ben says of Honor, Iris, and Hero. “And I said a prayer. The two places I went, when everything else was taken away — even though I wasn't really a strictly practicing Catholic — those are the two places I went: my family, and I said a prayer, ‘Please, Lord. Please help me get home right now.’”

This conversation walks us through Ben’s tough road to recovery, during which he held tight to a vision of reuniting with his family. His recount highlights the crucial role of loved ones and community in the healing process.

In this episode:

4:22 Ben recounts the day of the attack, March 14, 2022

6:40 Ben explains how a vision of his daughter Honor saved him

8:26 Ben remembers his late colleagues, Pierre Zakrzewski and Oleksandra "Sasha" Kuvshynova 

9:38 Ben is rescued from the site of the attack

10:46 A plan is formed to get Ben out of Ukraine

13:35 Ben begins rehabilitation at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio

15:05 After months, Ben is finally headed home to be reunited with his wife, Alicia, and their three daughters: “I feel a physical sense of love, which I never did before” 

21:25 Ben discusses how he was able to overcome his challenges: “No matter how difficult things are, there is goodness on the other side.”

24:27 Ben shares his advice for those going through a challenging time

More: 

Ben details his attack and recovery in his book, “Saved: A War Reporter's Mission to Make It Home,” available for purchase. 

Ben’s recent work can be viewed on Fox News’ website. New episodes of his inspirational podcast, “Searching for Heroes with Benjamin Hall” are released on Wednesday.