Soul Gum

By Victoria Hutchins

A self-development podcast with philosophical, psychological and literary flair hosted by Victoria Hutchins, the creator of @thedailyvictorian and nationally bestselling author of MAKE BELIEVE. Episod... more

4.9

500500 ratings

FAQs about Soul Gum:

How many episodes does Soul Gum have?

The podcast currently has 42 episodes available.

Best of Soul Gum

The most played episodes among Podcast App listeners.

Number 1: How to Plan Your Fall to Change Your Life
Pumpkin spice apologists wya? It’s the great lock in Charlie Brown!!!!! In this episode, I’m walking you through the exact five-step seasonal planning system that dramatically changed my life a few years back. Along the way, we’ll dive into the philosophy and psychology behind why it works. We’ll talk through Nietzsche’s philosophy on habits, Simone de Beauvoir’s ideas on how to reconcile your past and future selves, the planning fallacy, and more. Whether you want to change the trajectory of your life this fall or just set up some systems to make life a little less chaotic, this episode is for you. EPISODE OUTLINE: HOW TO PLAN YOUR FALL TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE 00:00 Intro 06:21 I made you a worksheet ◡̈ 09:30 STEP 1: THE AUDIT 10:36 Facticity vs. transcendence (de Beauvoir) 11:11 The importance of considering both your past and your potential 12:55 Using self-distancing to self-reflect more effectively 13:31 How to audit your goals 14:56 How to audit your execution 18:24 STEP 2: THE PURGE 19:07 The paradox of choice Cleaning out digital and physical worlds 22:15 Choice architecture 25:15 STEP 3: THE CHOICE 25:55 The planning fallacy 27:54 Optimism bias & why overplanning feels good 29:00 STEP 4. THE TRADE OFF 31:25 Nietzsche’s on the power of “brief habits” 33:10 STEP 5. THE TIME 34:33 Temporal landmarks and why they make you more likely to achieve goals 35:44 the fresh start effect 36:05 Kairos: the opportune moment 37:28 Leaving room for life inside our lives 38:13 Lightning round recap EPISODE LINKS Get instant access to the fall planning worksheet HERE. NOTE: If you can't find it in your email, search "YOUR FALL PLANNING WORKSHEET" in your email inbox! It is likely hiding in the Social or Promotions tab. My debut poetry collection MAKE BELIEVE is out everywhere now Subscribe to Soul Gum’s new instagram :-) Follow me on Instagram and TikTok
August 31, 202642min
Number 2: The Possibility Crisis of Your Late 20s
If your early twenties are for your Sylvia Plath fig tree allegory crisis, then your late twenties are for your Joan Didion Goodbye to All That crisis. In her famous 1967 essay, Didion writes, “That was the year, my twenty-eighth, when I was discovering that not all of the promises would be kept, that some things are in fact irrevocable and that it had counted after all, every evasion and every procrastination, every mistake, every word, all of it.” This episode explores a strain of existential dread that often shows up in your late twenties: the possibility crisis. Sometimes it hits you after capital-S Something happens. A bad break up, a wounding professional failure, or a friendship ending that felt like betrayal. Other times, there is no one defining moment or incident. You just realize one day that you are no longer as bright eyed, bushy tailed, or hopeful as you used to be, and can’t put your finger on why. Using Didion’s Goodbye to All That as our guide, we break down three key signs you might be experiencing a possibility crisis and what it might be trying to teach you. Along the way, we talk about how to cope with the realization that certain doors really do close, what to do when new people stop feeling full of promise, and how to let go of the fantasy that someday you’ll magically know what you’re doing. Consider this episode a field guide on the strange grief of growing up. EPISODE OUTLINE 00:00 Intro 04:23 What made Joan Didion great? 05:13 Signs of a Goodbye to All That crisis 05:46 1. You realize future you is just you 07:41 Weird girl money 08:22 The 90s’ overly adult depiction of your 30s 10:41 2. You stop believing in new faces 11:32 Hope springs eternal on Love Island 12:09 Give me back my girlhood, it was mine first 12:58 POV you’re 28 & have met every person alive 13:55 3. Some doors are actually closing 14:52 The first time I felt a door close 16:14 When the doors start slamming left & right 17:03 It’s easy to see beginnings and harder to see ends 18:54 Perspective shifts that got me out of this crisis 19:29 1. Idk what I’m doing but neither does anyone else 20:59 2. Trust means more when it’s a choice not an instinct 21:45 3. On “it’s never too late” 22:27 Possibility must be unactualized to exist 23:10 The U-shaped happiness curve 23:55 Has the internet made the possibility crisis start earlier? 24:28 Socioemotional selectivity theory 25:25 The happy ending Joan Didion doesn’t tell you EPISODE LINKS ⁠My debut poetry collection MAKE BELIEVE is out everywhere now⁠ ⁠Follow Soul Gum’s new instagram :-) ⁠ Follow me on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠TikTok
August 16, 202628min
Number 3: Rituals for De-Internalizing the Male Gaze
Be honest: do you ever perform for no one? Do you spectate your own life instead of living it? Have you ever caught yourself changing pieces of you, from your clothes to your voice to your hobbies, in order to impress someone you don’t even like? This episode is for you if you’ve ever sucked in your stomach in a completely empty room. Or scrolled through your own social media posts, imagining someone else looking at them. It’s for you if you've ever looked at yourself through someone else's eyes for so long that you've forgotten what you look like through your own. In it, we’ll unpack how we get trapped under the male gaze through the work of Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Susan Sontag, Margaret Atwood, Ada Limón, and more. Then, I'll walk you through 7 rituals that have actually helped me climb out from under it. This is not an episode about giving up on love. It is a field guide on how to stop twisting yourself into inauthentic shapes to earn validation to fill the void of love. If you want to become the subject of your own life again, I think you'll like this one. RITUALS FOR DE-INTERNALIZING THE MALE GAZE: EPISODE OUTLINE 00:00 Intro 07:28 1. The gaze audit (Sartre) 08:40 Subject self versus object self 10:01 Foucault’s panopticon & self-surveillence 10:54 How to do a gaze audit 14:11 2. Photo and mirror detox (Sontag) 15:42 3. Interrogate “I do it for myself” (de Beauvoir) 16:50 de Beauvoir v. Sartre: existence precedes essence? 17:21 Do we have to stop shaving to be good feminists? 18:14 How to trace the origins of your grooming habits 18:47 The marketing origins of shaving 20:02 5. Bechdel mode 21:35 The importance of non-man focused conversation 22:25 6. Pleasure inventory (Mary Oliver) 22:56 The antidote to self-surveillance according to psychology 23:45 How to take a pleasure inventory 24:49 7. Pre-situationship prep 26:44 Love poem with apologies for my appearance (Ada Limon 27:51 The surprising unobjectifying power of being really loved and really seen 28:48 Lightning round recap EPISODE LINKS My debut poetry collection MAKE BELIEVE is out everywhere now Subscribe to Soul Gum’s new instagram :-) Follow me on Instagram and TikTok
August 02, 202631min
Number 4: Secret Portals to Your Next Self
In stories, the narrator tells you which ordinary things are portals to magic and adventure. In real life, you have to find them yourself. This episode reveals 5 secret portals to the next version of yourself: seemingly ordinary choices, traits, and habits that are thresholds to the future version of you who lives with more courage, clarity, and freedom. It’s for you if an old version of you has died but the new one hasn’t been born yet. You might have recently experienced a big life change: a move, or a relationship ending, or a career change. Or maybe you know one is coming. It’s for you if you have an unshakeable feeling that there is a more alive version of you out there, if only you could figure out how to get to them. We’ll examine the work of philosophy’s greatest minds, like Nietzsche, Kant, Kafka, and the Ancient Greeks, to uncover the hidden thresholds between who you are and who you're becoming, and point out clues for how to spot them when they appear in your own life. EPISODE OUTLINE 00:00 Intro 04:54 I missed you 06:05 Help me keep Soul Gum ad-free 07:35 Talk to me!!! 08:18 1. Intuition is a portal 08:49 Nietzsche’s beef with Socrates 10:44 The neuroscience of intuition (Gary Klein) 12:31 I exist because of a woman’s intuition 13:03 The tension between ambition & intuition 14:13 Mary Oliver on reacquianting with your intuition 15:05 Small ways to reconnect with your intuition 15:42 2. Solitude is a portal (Pascal) 16:39 The fear of being alone with your thoughts 17:33 2014 study on the discomfort of being un-stimulated 18:05 Solitude as a tool in my creative process 18:58 Brain drain study: it is that d**n phone 19:30 Going phone n*k*d 20:12 3. Aligned friendship is a portal 21:36 Nietzsche: Friends should be your “best enemies” 23:06 Friendship as a mirror 23:40 The research of social contagion 24:18 Look for friends that show you what’s possible 24:52 4. Nature is a portal 25:40 Our increasingly sanitized relationship with nature 26:15 Kant, the sublime, and the gorpcore of it all 28:41 The ego-interrupting power of awe 29:45 5. Action is a portal (Kafka’s Before the Law) 31:29 Mary Oliver on the most regretful people 32:00 You deserve to know what’s on the other side of fear 32:33 Leap by Joy Sullivan 33:34 For the Ones Who Left by Me (Victoria Hutchins) 34:29 Lightning round recap 35:40 Subscribe, rate, share, talk to me!!! LINKS My debut poetry collection MAKE BELIEVE is out everywhere now Subscribe to Soul Gum’s new instagram :-) Follow me on Instagram and TikTok
July 19, 202637min
Number 5: The Confidence Code: 8 Shifts for Instant Growth
Confidence isn’t just something you have—it’s something you do. Today, we’re breaking down 8 small but powerful shifts that will instantly change how others see you and how you feel about yourself. These aren’t generic “believe in yourself” tips. These are super specific, research-backed tips that will instantly improve your confidence. We’re diving into original sources ranging from Plato’s the Republic to HBO’s Euphoria to ask: what does it mean to be a confident person? And how do you become one? If you want to show up in the next conversation you have as most magnetic, grounded, and comfy-in-your-skin version of yourself—this episode is for you. EPISODE OUTLINE 00:00 Intro 03:42 The philosophy of confidence 03:55 Plato’s virtue of the mean 05:30 Maddy from Euphoria on confidence 06:49 8 shifts for instant confidence 07:18 Break - with a surprise for you! 11:12 1. The power of the pause 13:35 2. Watch overactive listening 16:02 3. Open body language 18:29 4. Handshakes are hot 20:34 5. Rephrase mirrored questions 24:04 6. Slow blink rate 26:43 7. Watch upspeak 29:22 8. Call them by their name 32:32 Lightning round recap MY LINKS ⁠⁠⁠Preorder my poetry book MAKE BELIEVE from Blue Willow to get a free poem print and a personalized signed copy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Preorder MAKE BELIEVE from Amazon, Target, Barnes & Noble, and more⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Get the Believe Again yoga flow, guided meditation and mini-journal bundle free when you preorder MAKE BELIEVE!⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Join me in Bali June 1-7! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Find me @thedailyvictorian on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Find me @thedailyvictorian on TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠ EPISODE LINKS ⁠On nonverbal dominance⁠ ⁠How open body language makes us more attractive⁠ ⁠The calming effect of physical touch⁠ ⁠The power of handshakes⁠ ⁠TALK: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves by Allison Woods Brooks⁠ ⁠Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman⁠ ⁠The body language of the eyes (re: blink rate)⁠ ⁠The neuroscience of calling people by their name
February 16, 202536min