Well, one of us is sick and the other is crying to The Lion King again, so you could say we're hanging on by a thread! Anyway...

Following the finale of The Summer I Turned Pretty (!!!!!) and Belly's moment of talking to a photo of herself as a child, we felt inspired to talk to our younger selves today - because you don't have to wait until your birthday or NYE to reflect. Getting to know who that person was not only allows us to be kinder to ourselves, but lets us explore how they shaped who we are today and how to move forward.

We discuss why we need to zoom out (from 1, to 5, to 10 years and beyond) to see real change, how slow progress is still progress, and why if you don't know where to start, take out an old photo of younger you.

We also speak about why realizing you value something you thought you outgrew doesn't mean you're regressing, the critical lens we develop as we get older, and why at the end of the day...YOLO.

About Your Hosts:

Beth is a licensed, Ph.D. clinical psychologist with 40+ years of experience treating patients of all ages.

Joyce is a millennial just trying to figure it all out.

Note:

Advice and opinions on this show should not be considered as treatment. Please contact your healthcare provider if you are in need of individualized help.

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Follow us on Instagram: @noyourenotdyingpodcast

The names Whelmed...Over Whelmed.

The world feels heavy at the moment, and when that combines with chaos in your own life, it creates the perfect storm for feeling downright weird. There's a sense of being lost (cut to us throwing our socks in the garbage and packing 2 sandwiches for lunch...listen and you'll understand), being unsteady, and not knowing how to react because there's actually so much to react to. 

Today, we're brain dumping our own experiences with this and how we attempt to get through the day - because there aren't always answers during times like these. 

We get into the importance of small routines to cope with the constant barrage of terrible news all of the time, why we rewatch TV shows when we're stressed, and how to find balance between overthinking and turning your brain off.

We also talk about 'get back to work' culture, how we unconsciously 'forget' painful experiences, why it always takes longer to process our emotions than we think, and why thankfully with time, most things do get better.

About Your Hosts:

Beth is a licensed, Ph.D. clinical psychologist with 40+ years of experience treating patients of all ages.

Joyce is a millennial just trying to figure it all out.

Note:

Advice and opinions on this show should not be considered as treatment. Please contact your healthcare provider if you are in need of individualized help.

Other Stuff:

Follow us on Instagram: @noyourenotdyingpodcast

Alright, so you've decided you might want to go to therapy. What the heck now?

In today's listener-requested episode, we're giving you the Therapy 101, because like with doing your taxes, they don't teach this in schools.

We go through how to go about finding a therapist and knowing when you've found the right one, the different types of clinicians, and why (spoiler alert) satisfied customers are the best people for a recommendation.

We also talk about why going to therapy on a regular basis can help you avoid being in the trenches later, why going regularly doesn't mean going forever, and what meeting for therapy in-person offers you that online therapy cannot.

Plus, a PSA on using AI for therapy - don't.

About Your Hosts:

Beth is a licensed, Ph.D. clinical psychologist with 40+ years of experience treating patients of all ages.

Joyce is a millennial just trying to figure it all out.

Note:

Advice and opinions on this show should not be considered as treatment. Please contact your healthcare provider if you are in need of individualized help.

Other Stuff:

Follow us on Instagram: @noyourenotdyingpodcast

It is even really a birthday if you don't have a crying selfie? 

In honor of Joyce's 31st birthday - in our 31st episode, no less - we're talking about the complicated feelings around celebrating another year around the sun. On one hand, yay, it's your day of birth and there's so much to look forward to! On the other hand, time is flying and you're just getting older and it's time to mourn your youth.

We dive into how having grand expectations can lead to disappointment, why you shouldn't compare your age against milestones other people are hitting, and why tempering your feelings can actually make you happier in the long run.

We also chat about the ultimate existential crisis of attachment, grandma hobbies and how youth is wasted on the young, why we should look at every decade as a new adventure, and why it's all silly anyway because do you really remember every birthday you've ever had?

About Your Hosts:

Beth is a licensed, Ph.D. clinical psychologist with 40+ years of experience treating patients of all ages.

Joyce is a millennial just trying to figure it all out.

Note:

Advice and opinions on this show should not be considered as treatment. Please contact your healthcare provider if you are in need of individualized help.

Other Stuff:

Follow us on Instagram: @noyourenotdyingpodcast

We've all had moments where we want to tell people in our life to stop doing something - being friends with someone we think is toxic, dating someone that we think is undeserving of their love, engaging in bad behaviors that we ourselves have done that ended badly, and, and, and. So what do you do about it? Well...

Today we're talking about why you shouldn't give unsolicited advice and why people need to make their own mistakes (easier said than done, we know). We get into how to decide if a 'bad behavior' warrants sharing your input, why you might have your own personal needs for giving your opinion, the importance of learning from the consequences of our behavior, and why overprotecting people weakens them.

We also discuss why therapists shouldn't treat their patients like their kids, the difficulty in giving up the urge to parent your adult children, validation and resistance in therapy, and why we need to engage our frontal lobes.

About Your Hosts:

Beth is a licensed, Ph.D. clinical psychologist with 40+ years of experience treating patients of all ages.

Joyce is a millennial just trying to figure it all out.

Note:

Advice and opinions on this show should not be considered as treatment. Please contact your healthcare provider if you are in need of individualized help.

Other Stuff:

Follow us on Instagram: @noyourenotdyingpodcast

We know you were thinking, 'I Wish You Would do an episode on Taylor Swift this week!' Well...

You can't deny that she is one of (if not THE) most influential musicians in the world. She has Forever & Always had a thriving fan base, aka the Swifties (of which Joyce is an active member), but the negative sentiment towards her seems to be stronger than with other celebrities. Plus, the haters seem to be ~so casually cruel~ to her fans, which has us seeing Red. With popularity comes criticism, we know, but the critics can be downright Mean. So, how do you explain it?

Long Story Short, today we're talking about the phenomenon of Taylor Swift. We discuss why she is so appealing and so many are drawn to her music, the value system that she has, and her ability to understand girlhood. We then dive into what drives the haters, from envy and idealization, to misogyny, to lack of power. 

We also cover how to reframe jealousy, the problem with parasocial relationships, and why the opposite of love isn't hate, it's just indifference...so...yeah.

About Your Hosts:

Beth is a licensed, Ph.D. clinical psychologist with 40+ years of experience treating patients of all ages.

Joyce is a millennial just trying to figure it all out.

Note:

Advice and opinions on this show should not be considered as treatment. Please contact your healthcare provider if you are in need of individualized help.

Other Stuff:

Follow us on Instagram: @noyourenotdyingpodcast

There are two kinds of people in this world: 1) those of us who act totally fine when we have a health symptom, and 2) those of us who freak out and convince ourselves that we have every illness known to humankind and also probably might die.

If Option 2 feels ~familiar~ to you, join us for today's episode as we chat about hypochondria and what it's like to have health anxiety. Starting with the tale of a recent full-scale meltdown involving challah bread, we dig into what kinds of personalities may be more susceptible to experiencing this, hypochondria's purpose and what it can teach us, and how even small amounts of stress can make it worse.

We also discuss why you should never consult the internet with your symptoms, how to figure out when to visit a doctor versus when to let it be, whether the placebo effect is real, and how to let logic back in the driver's seat. 

About Your Hosts:

Beth is a licensed, Ph.D. clinical psychologist with 40+ years of experience treating patients of all ages.

Joyce is a millennial just trying to figure it all out.

Note:

Advice and opinions on this show should not be considered as treatment. Please contact your healthcare provider if you are in need of individualized help.

Other Stuff:

Follow us on Instagram: @noyourenotdyingpodcast

Some of the most daunting words that can be spoken in a relationship: 'let's try long-distance'.

In today's listener-requested episode, we're diving into what the heck to do when this happens - and yes, it does also impact the person who is leaving - and how to make sure your relationship lives to tell the tale.

We discuss why you need to define 'distance', how to overcome trust issues/insecurities, ways to make requests of your partner without it feeling controlling, and why human interaction is irreplaceable and texting is the least effective method of communication (how many times have you misread a 'sounds good' text and thought someone is mad at you?)

We also chat about emotional baggage, why breaks are really breakups, 'we' vs. 'me' behaviors, and the importance of not disappearing from your own life just because you're a part of someone else's.

About Your Hosts:

Beth is a licensed, Ph.D. clinical psychologist with 40+ years of experience treating patients of all ages.

Joyce is a millennial just trying to figure it all out.

Note:

Advice and opinions on this show should not be considered as treatment. Please contact your healthcare provider if you are in need of individualized help.

Other Stuff:

Follow us on Instagram: @noyourenotdyingpodcast

Ugh, here we go again with another lifestyle trend on social media that got taken way too far and then people absolutely lost the plot!

Today, we're dissecting the 'princess treatment', which started as a way to describe being cared for and pampered by your significant other, morphed into a breakdown of what's 'bare minimum' vs. what's 'princess treatment', and then went viral with stories of women refusing to talk to wait staff at restaurants, having their husbands tie their shoes for them, and other insane things we can't even write down. 

We get into how this content and trend infantilizes women, why we need to go beyond face value and understand the price of our choices, and our opinions on why this trend has seen a rise in popularity (and why now). We also discuss power dynamics in relationships, how the dissatisfaction that drove modern feminism is now being popularized through these ideas, what these behaviors teach the younger generation of women, and why good partnerships need reciprocity.

About Your Hosts:

Beth is a licensed, Ph.D. clinical psychologist with 40+ years of experience treating patients of all ages.

Joyce is a millennial just trying to figure it all out.

Note:

Advice and opinions on this show should not be considered as treatment. Please contact your healthcare provider if you are in need of individualized help.

Other Stuff:

Follow us on Instagram: @noyourenotdyingpodcast

Wouldn't it be easy if life came with a manual, just so we could feel like we sort of knew what we were doing?

Unfortunately that's...not the case, especially when it comes to the evolution of caregiving. Our parents/guardians care for us when we're young, but it often ends up with us caring for them as they get older.

In this listener-requested episode, we discuss this transition and how complicated and confusing it can be. We cover the mix of feelings we may feel during this time, why we need to get comfortable with sacrifice, the importance of taking mental breaks when being a caregiver, and why the 'theoreticals' don't always help us prepare for the real thing.

We also share our thoughts on who makes a strong caregiver and what to do to improve your skills, how anger and resentment are used as defense mechanisms, the difference between actions and feelings, and why ultimately, becoming a caregiver is a choice.

About Your Hosts:

Beth is a licensed, Ph.D. clinical psychologist with 40+ years of experience treating patients of all ages.

Joyce is a millennial just trying to figure it all out.

Note:

Advice and opinions on this show should not be considered as treatment. Please contact your healthcare provider if you are in need of individualized help.

Other Stuff:

Follow us on Instagram: @noyourenotdyingpodcast