The L Podcast

Have you ever tried cannabis? Most portrayals of weed and cannabis depict a stereotypical stoner who talks slowly and just eats cheetos all day in their mom's basement. But what if it helps manage your stress or helped your pain more than any pharmaceutical has? Today I'm talking with the amazing BJ Garceau about all things cannabis, including the health benefits for diabetes management and mental health. Although recreational use may be illegal in several states, medicinal use is legal in many of them, so check to see if medicinal marijuana is an option in your state. And of course, always talk to your doctor about trying new things for your health, like cannabis. In today's episode, you'll learn what dinosaurs have to do with edibles—you don't want to miss it!

Losing a loved one sucks, whether it happened unexpectedly or you saw it coming a mile away with illness. But there's more to grief than just the rollercoaster of emotions. Today my bestie Noe and I are talking about all the tons of extra SHIT you deal with after losing a loved one like canceling their phone service and figuring out how to arrange a funeral. All these extra little tasks become reminders of your loss, the salt in the wound. Grief doesn't get easier, it just changes. But you change with it. Whether you're preparing yourself to lose a loved one or they've been gone for 20 years, this episode is for you.

We've all heard the phrases "no pain, no gain", "push through", "fight through", etc. I've definitely tried living by those phrases in the past, and to some extent, it's probably helped me achieve some pretty awesome things. But the reality is, I probably would've achieved them anyways! Instead, I lived by this mentality of just pushing through life, and it's cost me my physical and mental health sometimes. Yesterday my body took a Muhammad Ali quadruple hit and knocked me down pretty hard. And instead of getting right back up and trying to keep fighting, I stayed down—and I'm better for it. Let's talk about when you get knocked down, why you should probably start staying down.

I've had some very complicated relationships in the past, and one of those was with food. It still is. I love food but because of societal pressures, many of us start assigning foods as "good" or "bad", or as the health industry has labeled "clean" foods. It's all confusing and I always end up feeling dirty and shameful if I eat anything other than a salad—especially with diabetes! Today I'm chatting with my bestie Erika Szumel (@erikaszumel) who lives with type 1 diabetes about how living with diabetes sucks, but how it can really impact our relationships with food. Since starting insulin, I've personally struggled with feelings of guilt and shame surrounding how many carbs I'm eating. It sucks. But food, specifically carbs, are NOT the enemy.

We've all heard the stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. I've gone through most of these but this past weekend I went through the final stage—acceptance. Let me tell you, this is NOT the final stage. Grief is not linear. You may go through one stage onto the next one, but then end up going back into a previous stage at any given time. People tell us we'll go through these stages but they never tell us we'll go through them over and over and over. Acceptance isn't the final stage because grief never truly ends, no matter how long it's been since they've gone. Like Shrek, grief has complicated layers and will also make you cry like an onion.

Aside from having children, saying something you regret, and maybe donating an organ, very few things in life are permanent. Yet, so many of us are hesitant to try new things or make changes because we think "what if I don't like it?". Well, if you don't like it, you just change it again. After almost a year of changing my hair to different fun colors, I've learned that nothing is really permanent—and that's been comforting AF. When nothing is permanent, meaning you can always change your mind, paint color, job, or even relationship, it makes decision-making and venturing outside of your comfort zone a little easier. Here's why you should start to embrace the concept too. 

I've had my share of breakups in the past, but this one takes the win. I broke up with my goals. If you're a goal-driven person like me, you probably have like anywhere from 5-10 different goals you're always working on. I definitely was. And I always felt behind, in a rush, and burnt out. The thing is, WE set these goals for ourselves, so we can also decide when we want to work on them and when we want to put them down. The world doesn't fall apart just because you decide to put a project down (I did and here we still are!). This one is for all my fellow hustlers! 

Certain words can trigger us, motivate us, and even change the rest of our lives. It may sound like a simple trick, but choosing the words we use in our day-to-day and to describe ourselves can make a really big impact. This is yet another therapy knowledge nugget I've gained and wanted to share with you. Today we'll chat about how a simple switch from words like "help" to "support" and "control" to "manage" have made all the difference in my life and possibly yours! Words and language matter. Here's why.