Love Bites

We asked every guest in our New Beginnings series what starting over has taught them about love. In this special episode, we share their answers as well as a little insight into why each story had personal resonance, and what we learned about love in turn.

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A career change can be a difficult thing, especially when leaving behind the financial security of life as an attorney for the uncertainty and instability of life as an artist. But what if you were also leaving behind your marriage, family, and the community you were indoctrinated into all at the same time, shedding an entire belief system and way of life for a new one? How might this hinder your career change? How might it fuel you as an artist?

Former ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jew-turned actor Eli Rosen reveals his story of how repression, longing, and guilt brought him to ultimate freedom...at a cost.

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Cynthia Cherish Malaran was making mad money as a freelance graphic designer. She was married. She was "successful." But she was miserable. Then she got in an accident that left her body shattered and her mind with amnesia. Over a year into her recovery, music started to trigger her memories and she began to rebuild, leaving her miserable self behind. Then she got a diagnosis of a violent, advanced form of breast cancer.

"If I hadn't gotten into that accident, I would have still been miserable in this other job. Making money, but dying very slowly. And miserable."

Join us as Cynthia talks through the two tragic events that brought her life a New Beginning so rich that she's now been regularly called the "Drama-Free DJ" who's worked for clients from Oprah to hospice patients to women in prison. She has quite the story to tell.

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Packing up and moving to a whole new life. Tempting, huh? Mobility glimmers on the horizon and everything you know -- home, friendships, work -- await reinvention. But what realities play out when embracing relocation?

In our third episode exploring New Beginnings, Julia Bainbridge shares what happened when she moved from New York to Atlanta. What rituals did she invoke to help find closure, what did she enthusiastically leave behind, and how has she explored her new home? Is being a single thirty-something woman all that different now? How has her New Beginning affected her feeling lonely -- the subject she tackles in her Lonely Hour podcast?

We collectively discuss how to say goodbye to home, and then dig in.

*Photos by Amelia Tubb, courtesy Bourbon and Gloss

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What happens after you realize you were born into a system that you don't believe in?

How do you discover what you really think? How do you escape from all you've ever known? How do you find the confidence to express the new person you want to become? Where do you find a creative outlet, and how do you find new people to fill your life when old relationships are forcefully shed?

On the second episode of our New Beginnings series, writer Aimee DeLong shares how moving to New York helped her break from the Fundamentalist Christian "cult" she grew up in so that she could become the genuine intellectual artist she is now.

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"How does the relationship between mother and child change when the child moves out of the house? What does mom get to reclaim for herself, or what new things may she welcome?

In celebration of Mother's Day (!), we've lured our moms onto the show to talk us through this unique kind of New Beginning -- the first in our series exploring what happens after the Ending has dimmed. Plus, we get some dirt on Ben as a baby (!), and surprise our moms by sharing what they've taught us the most about love."

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According to Brian Kateman, if every American reduced their intake of meat and fish by 10%, huge gains would be made in personal and global health. So how do we moderate our consumption, and why should we?

On today's show -- the second in our series studying Moderation -- we discuss why it's so hard to not go whole-hog with certain foods overall. Then we dig into Kateman's work with Reducetarianism and his new book, The Reducetarian Solution [Tarcher Pedigree]. How do the essay contributors see this reduction as playing out in religion, politics, and science? How do the most productive conversations come about in regards to this kind of moderation? And can just tightening by 10% really help ourselves and the planet?

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Sometimes living as the best version of yourself means knowing when to say "no", avoiding drastic fad lifestyles, and allowing both joyful leisure time and periods of overwork to play together. Which is why we've asked Sarah Robb O'Hagan, the author of Extreme You: Step Up. Stand Out. Kick Ass. Repeat, to join us as the first show in our series studying MODERATION.

Sarah inspires colleagues, readers, and those who have heard her speak to make brave choices in their lives. But she's also a big-picture dreamer, wrapped up in an energetic, vulnerable, humble, and friendly package. So come along with us as we dig into the question: How can we be our most extreme selves without going too far and burning out?

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"So much time and attention are given to a restaurant's opening: Who's the chef? How will the menu be different than everything that's come before it? Who's designing the space? Will there be craft beer or craft cocktails? We fill reservations books. We rush in to review. We Instagram furiously. But when a restaurant closes? The process is colder, quieter, and far less bombastic.

On today's show -- the last in our six-week series on Endings -- chef Chris Jaeckle joins to share the process of closing his Italian-Japanese restaurant, All'onda. Opened to much critical acclaim in New York's East Village in 2013, he and his partners closed it two-and-a-half years later. How did that process break down, and how did it make Jaeckle feel?"

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“It wasn’t just losing him with the breakup, but a lot of the dreams and hopes I had for the future. It was coming to terms with the idea that this illness might be chronic. That there was no fix.” - Katrina

On Part II of our episode on breakups because of chronic illness, we first hear from Katrina, who contracted Malaria while in Uganda and then developed Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (also called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease) after the initial infection. She shares the process of understanding her new reality while in a relationship, its eventual demise, and where she's at regarding the potential for new love now. Then after the break, we're joined by Kirsten Schultz of Chronic Sex, who addresses questions that arose from last week's show regarding the absence of sex in relationships because of illness, and what resources out there might help. And before we close out, Jacqueline addresses a question from a recent reader: Do you ever feel your shortchanging someone in a relationship with you because of your physical limitations?""

Links to resources referenced throughout this episode can be found at www.LoveBitesRadio.com. And if you have anything you'd like to share on anything you've heard here, email us at [email protected].

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