Say It Out Loud = Tackling Tough Topics Together

After 2020, one of the most challenging years on a collective scale, we are bringing in 2021 with intentions for using our growth and lessons learned, harnessing our guiding intuition to make the changes we experienced work for us, to manifest the life we desire.

In order to reflect on what has been an exhausting and challenging year, we have a conversation around six specific questions to process the year's events and our experiences.  Idea borrowed from Mike Robbins' "We're All in this Together" podcast pre-COVID Dec. 2019 episode "Completing the Year Powerfully."

So much has happened throughout 2020, including the coronavirus crisis, racial injustice, major division during the presidential election season, and for college students, the need to suddenly pivot to remote learning.  The impact on both an individual and collective scale has been enormous.  We gather multiple perspectives on experiences, offer ways to cope, and discuss post-traumatic growth.

Special Guest: Dr. Hsin-Ya Tang, Associate Professor, Dept. of Psychology, Master of Science in Counseling Program, LSUS

The year 2020 has been exhausting.  And as we move into the holiday season, many people have concerns over an even deeper depression added to the commonly experienced Seasonal Affective Disorder. We go over strategies to proactively prevent falling into this deeper state, while normalizing that this holiday season is going to be different.  But we can focus on what is within our control to lift our spirits.

In this episode, we discuss the experience of diversity on a college campus.  Early adulthood and the pursuit of higher education includes encountering new and differing beliefs, values, and life choices of others around us, which can be both exciting and liberating, but also emotionally challenging at times.  How we handle potential discomfort in healthy and respectful ways is key to navigating a complex world, and reflects the importance of committing ourselves to grow into a direction of tolerance and acceptance.

We continue our discussion from Episode #1 and go over three science-backed strategies for having productive conversations when dealing with political (or other) conflicts.  

Step 1: Press Pause  Step 2: Listen to understand  Step 3: Speak with Humility

For our premier episode, we choose from a selection of student topic submissions, and discuss how to deal with the emotions involved in political stress surrounding the upcoming election.  Why do politics make us so angry?