The Wholeheartedly Podcast

A message for World Mental Health Day (today): Sometimes, you just know when it’s time to take a break. That is the crossroads in which Kaylin now finds herself — should she pause Wholeheartedly or keep going? This intermission episode outlines the plans for the podcast. Yes, a break is on the horizon, starting now. Mental health advocacy is complicated. It can be easy to get such tunnel vision with creating content that you forget about your own mental health and why you advocate in the first place! This short, imperfect, impromptu episode — recorded on an iPhone — will shed light on current events and will hopefully inspire you to take breaks when needed as well. Thank you for being with us on this leg of the journey! 

Send us a question, topic suggestion, or another message here: ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wholeheartedly⁠  and email ⁠[email protected]⁠. 

Follow us:

💌 @thewholeheartedlypodcast on Instagram

💌 ⁠www.tiktok.com/@thewholeheartedlypodcast⁠ 

💌 ⁠www.facebook.com/thewholeheartedlypodcast⁠ 

💌 ⁠www.wholeheartedlypodcast.com⁠

💌 ⁠https://www.patreon.com/kaylinstaten

Resources:

• To The Journey Digital Magazine

• My Etsy Store

*Please Note: Kaylin is a media psychology professional and mental health advocate (and does professionally communicate for a living!).

Support this show on Patreon! We appreciate your support as we build this community of fellow emotional sponges and supporters! We’re all in this together. :) ⁠https://www.patreon.com/kaylinstaten⁠ 

Copyright Ⓒ MMXXV Hourglass Media

We’ve all been there. We have to wake up and greet the day’s to-do list, even when we don’t feel particularly motivated, inspired, or confident. It can be just a temporary slump or a red flag signifying a more pressing, deeper issue. In this week’s episode, after a two-week hiatus, Kaylin gets to the heart of what you can still do if you’re lacking the oh-so-coveted crown of motivation. We often look to internal and external cues for the answers to our questions, including our “past self.” Romanticizing your past self can be dangerous for your mental health, the present moment, and relationships. It’s easy to self-deprecate, dissociate, and compare when we aren’t happy with the present moment or future — much less feel motivated to get outside of our comfort zones. How can we wade through internal and external clutter and cycles to feel like ourselves and to uncover our motivation and purpose? Learn more in this episode. 

Send us a question, topic suggestion, or another message here: ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wholeheartedly⁠  and email ⁠[email protected]⁠. 

Follow us:

💌 @thewholeheartedlypodcast on Instagram

💌 ⁠www.tiktok.com/@thewholeheartedlypodcast⁠ 

💌 ⁠www.facebook.com/thewholeheartedlypodcast⁠ 

💌 ⁠www.wholeheartedlypodcast.com⁠

💌 ⁠https://www.patreon.com/kaylinstaten

⁠

Resources:

• Article: Show Up Anyway: Taking Action Despite Not Feeling Motivated

• To The Journey Digital Magazine

• My Etsy Store

*Please Note: Kaylin is a media psychology professional and mental health advocate (and does professionally communicate for a living!).

Support this show on Patreon! We appreciate your support as we build this community of fellow emotional sponges and supporters! We’re all in this together. :) ⁠https://www.patreon.com/kaylinstaten⁠ 

Copyright Ⓒ MMXXV Hourglass Media

As we get older, birthdays can begin to lose some of their luster. For Kaylin, birthdays come with reflective waves. Sometimes, we can’t bridge the gap between excitement and recurring fears. Aging is inevitable, but we can find intrinsic meaning in life’s ebbs and flows. In this episode, she talks about some recent musings prompted by another trip around the sun, as well as recent life changes and milestones. We talk about healing the inner child, the loss of assumptive worlds, self-acceptance through your child’s eyes, personality traits in an increasingly extroverted industry, being “peopled out,” breaks from therapy, and more.

Note: Co-edited by Kaylin’s son. ❤️ 

Send us a question, topic suggestion, or another message here: ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wholeheartedly⁠  and email ⁠[email protected]⁠. 

Follow us:

💌 @thewholeheartedlypodcast on Instagram

💌 ⁠www.tiktok.com/@thewholeheartedlypodcast⁠ 

💌 ⁠www.facebook.com/thewholeheartedlypodcast⁠ 

💌 ⁠www.wholeheartedlypodcast.com⁠

💌 ⁠https://www.patreon.com/kaylinstaten

Resources:

• Article: 37 Musings

• To The Journey Digital Magazine

• My Etsy Store

*Please Note: Kaylin is a media psychology professional and mental health advocate (and does professionally communicate for a living!).

Support this show on Patreon! We appreciate your support as we build this community of fellow emotional sponges and supporters! We’re all in this together. :) ⁠https://www.patreon.com/kaylinstaten⁠ 

Copyright Ⓒ MMXXV Hourglass Media

Life can throw myriad curveballs, and it’s human nature to resist change.  Change is inevitable, but for HSPs, even minor changes can throw off the balance of our everyday lives. In this episode, Kaylin discusses some current changes that continue to throw her for a loop, as well as what helps to center her when the chaos of change threatens to wreak havoc on her world. We can choose to ruminate in our own uncomfortable dysregulation or enjoy the journey as it happens — no matter our feelings or internal and external situations. Learning to let go when you covet control is one of the largest challenges, but there can be another, more positive side! Nostalgia, for one, is a powerful tool to soothe a troubled mind.

Send us a question, topic suggestion, or another message here: ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wholeheartedly⁠  and email ⁠[email protected]⁠. 

Follow us:

💌 @thewholeheartedlypodcast on Instagram

💌 ⁠www.tiktok.com/@thewholeheartedlypodcast⁠ 

💌 ⁠www.facebook.com/thewholeheartedlypodcast⁠ 

💌 ⁠www.wholeheartedlypodcast.com⁠

💌 ⁠https://www.patreon.com/kaylinstaten

⁠Resources:

• Article: Liminal Spaces

• Studies:

• Batcho, K. I. (2013). Nostalgia: Retreat or Support in Difficult Times? The American Journal of Psychology, 126(3), 355–367. https://doi.org/10.5406/amerjpsyc.126.3.0355 – Argues that nostalgia is a constructive response to psychological distress and change.

• Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., Arndt, J., & Routledge, C. (2006). Nostalgia: Content, triggers, functions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(5), 975–993. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.91.5.975

• The Psychology of Zelda: Linking Our World to the Legend of Zelda Series

• To The Journey Digital Magazine

• My Etsy Store

*Please Note: Kaylin is a media psychology professional and mental health advocate (and does professionally communicate for a living!).

Support this show on Patreon! We appreciate your support as we build this community of fellow emotional sponges and supporters! We’re all in this together. :) ⁠https://www.patreon.com/kaylinstaten⁠ 

Copyright Ⓒ MMXXV Hourglass Media

Welcome back! In this week’s episode, after a brief one-week hiatus, Kaylin talks about the art (and maybe even the science?) of sitting with yourself. It can be exceedingly challenging to sit with your feelings in the world we live in. We are constantly bombarded with distractions, from the devices at our fingertips and to-do lists to even our most ambitious goals and everyday moments. As we grow older, there is a wistful nostalgia that comes from the silence. Learning to sit with your thoughts and feelings comes with practice, and Kaylin has been actively in the trenches with this process for more than a decade at this point. The hardest part? Really, it’s patience. You “will learn patience,” as Obi-Wan’s Force ghost tells Yoda about Luke Skywalker on Dagobah. Uncluttering your mind and listening to yourself takes self-compassion, curiosity, and patience to uncover your true self. 

Send us a question, topic suggestion, or another message here: ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wholeheartedly⁠  and email ⁠[email protected]⁠. 

Follow us:

💌 @thewholeheartedlypodcast on Instagram

💌 ⁠www.tiktok.com/@thewholeheartedlypodcast⁠ 

💌 ⁠www.facebook.com/thewholeheartedlypodcast⁠ 

💌 ⁠www.wholeheartedlypodcast.com⁠

💌 ⁠https://www.patreon.com/kaylinstaten

Resources:

• Article: Sitting With Ourselves

• EP2. Breaking Up With Achievement Addiction & Toxic Positivity

• My Books

• To The Journey Digital Magazine

• My Etsy Store

*Please Note: Kaylin is a media psychology professional and mental health advocate (and does professionally communicate for a living!).

Support this show on Patreon! We appreciate your support as we build this community of fellow emotional sponges and supporters! We’re all in this together. :) ⁠https://www.patreon.com/kaylinstaten⁠ 

Copyright Ⓒ MMXXV Hourglass Media

Social media is a part of our daily lives. From connecting to others to engaging with a brand’s newest product release, social media provides a link between us and the rest of the real (and virtual) world. What happens, though, when our highlight reels and social media use levels become too overwhelming and/or addictive? This episode reveals some downsides to social media, and Kaylin talks about her love/hate relationship with it. We talk about boundaries, fake news, emotional drains, anxiety/depression, and more. Over time, she has started to decrease her use, which has prompted some eye-opening realizations. Most notably, happiness increases when she is away from a screen — and certainly a social media account! 

Send us a question, topic suggestion, or another message here: ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wholeheartedly⁠  and email ⁠[email protected]⁠. 

Follow us:

💌 @thewholeheartedlypodcast on Instagram

💌 ⁠www.tiktok.com/@thewholeheartedlypodcast⁠ 

💌 ⁠www.facebook.com/thewholeheartedlypodcast⁠ 

💌 ⁠www.wholeheartedlypodcast.com⁠

💌 ⁠https://www.patreon.com/kaylinstaten

⁠

Resources:

• Article: How Social Media Affects a Highly Sensitive Person’s Brain

• Research Article: Vogel, E. A., Rose, J. P., Roberts, L. R., & Eckles, K. (2014). Social comparison, social media, and self-esteem. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 3(4), 206–222. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000047 

• Research Article:  Keles, B., McCrae, N., & Grealish, A. (2020). A systematic review: The influence of social media on depression, anxiety, and psychological distress in adolescents. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 25(1), 79–93. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2019.1590851 

• Article: “Sharenting”

• Research Article: Hall, J. A. (2013). Online self‐presentation: Facebook profile pages and the moral implications of visual cues. New Media & Society, 15(6), 885–902. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444813506975 

• My Books

• To The Journey Digital Magazine

• My Etsy Store

*Please Note: Kaylin is a media psychology professional and mental health advocate (and does professionally communicate for a living!).

Support this show on Patreon! We appreciate your support as we build this community of fellow emotional sponges and supporters! We’re all in this together. :) ⁠https://www.patreon.com/kaylinstaten⁠ 

Copyright Ⓒ MMXXV Hourglass Media

In this bookend episode to EP25., Kaylin talks more about what it means to come home to yourself. During this period of reflection, she has had time to think more without the clutter of external toxicity and her own internal ruminations. In order to adjust and seemingly thrive in an ever-changing world, we sometimes squash our authentic selves. For Kaylin, burnout commenced in full force during her undergraduate studies in her 20s and erupted in her 30s. It has been an arduous road, but life is slowly getting back on track. Burnout can certainly take things away from you, but it can also give you the gift of perspective, knowledge, and inner peace that will lead to happiness. 

Send us a question, topic suggestion, or another message here: ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wholeheartedly⁠  and email ⁠[email protected]⁠. 

Follow us:

💌 @thewholeheartedlypodcast on Instagram

💌 ⁠www.tiktok.com/@thewholeheartedlypodcast⁠ 

💌 ⁠www.facebook.com/thewholeheartedlypodcast⁠ 

💌 ⁠www.wholeheartedlypodcast.com⁠

💌 ⁠https://www.patreon.com/kaylinstaten

Resources:

• EP25. 2025: The Year of Homecoming 

• “I Lost The Plot”: How Burnout and Inauthenticity Led to a Reawakening

• Alerts & Antidotes: Tracing the Burnout Spiral

• “We May Burn Out, But We Can Rebuild”: The Crossroads of a Mental Break or Eventual Happiness

• My Books

• To The Journey Digital Magazine

• My Etsy Store

*Please Note: Kaylin is a media psychology professional and mental health advocate (and does professionally communicate for a living!).

Support this show on Patreon! We appreciate your support as we build this community of fellow emotional sponges and supporters! We’re all in this together. :) ⁠https://www.patreon.com/kaylinstaten⁠ 

Copyright Ⓒ MMXXV Hourglass Media

We are often taught that we need to be individualistic to stand out in a crowded world. Where there is truth to that statement, what happens when you obsess too much about being an individual? In this week’s episode, Kaylin discusses the fault lines of individualism and how our actions can determine if we follow the status quo or our own voices. As with everything in life, too, individualism has a light-and-shadow dyad. We’ll talk about Jung’s concept of individuation, ego inflation, archetypes, personal stories, and more.

Send us a question, topic suggestion, or another message here: ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wholeheartedly⁠  and email ⁠[email protected]⁠. 

Follow us:

💌 @thewholeheartedlypodcast on Instagram

💌 ⁠www.tiktok.com/@thewholeheartedlypodcast⁠ 

💌 ⁠www.facebook.com/thewholeheartedlypodcast⁠ 

💌 ⁠www.wholeheartedlypodcast.com⁠

💌 ⁠https://www.patreon.com/kaylinstaten

Resources:

• About Enneagrams

• Jung’s Self Work and Individuation

• Ego Inflation

• Jung’s Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious

• Jung’s Man and His Symbols

• Therapy Speak and Selfishness

• To The Journey Substack Newsletter and Magazine

• My Etsy Store

*Please Note: Kaylin is a media psychology professional and mental health advocate (and does professionally communicate for a living!).

Support this show on Patreon! We appreciate your support as we build this community of fellow emotional sponges and supporters! We’re all in this together. :) ⁠https://www.patreon.com/kaylinstaten⁠ 

Copyright Ⓒ MMXXV Hourglass Media

If you’re highly sensitive, you can often hear, “You’re too sensitive,” “Don’t take things so personally,” and other statements that impact your true self. You can feel like you’re too much for people and the world in its entirety, leading to a divergence of the Self. You can be who you want to be in your vivid inner world, but to other people? You choose how much to release in every situation with each individual. This episode explores how feeling too much in childhood can lead you down a path away from your authentic self. An inner world can be a safe haven, but it can also prevent you from growing into the person you are meant to become. You can regain your footing in adulthood — at your own pace and on your own terms. 

Send us a question, topic suggestion, or another message here: ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wholeheartedly⁠  and email ⁠[email protected]⁠. 

Follow us:

💌 @thewholeheartedlypodcast on Instagram

💌 ⁠www.tiktok.com/@thewholeheartedlypodcast⁠ 

💌 ⁠www.facebook.com/thewholeheartedlypodcast⁠ 

💌 ⁠www.wholeheartedlypodcast.com⁠

💌 ⁠https://www.patreon.com/kaylinstaten

Resources:

• My Alone Poem

• Attachment Styles

• To The Journey Substack Newsletter and Magazine

• My Etsy Store

*Please Note: Kaylin is a media psychology professional and mental health advocate (and does professionally communicate for a living!).

Support this show on Patreon! We appreciate your support as we build this community of fellow emotional sponges and supporters! We’re all in this together. :) ⁠https://www.patreon.com/kaylinstaten⁠ 

Copyright Ⓒ MMXXV Hourglass Media

Feelings and emotions are what make us human. For some of us, however, overwhelming feelings can lead to greater disturbances in life. When you drown in your feelings instead of sitting with them, they tend to overtake your life. This episode talks about general feelings – specifically anger. How can we let go of a feeling when it seems to consume us? Passion is considered a good thing, but when does it cross the line? How can you maintain your authentic self throughout the process? We’ll delve into those questions, “pop psychology,” and more in this week’s episode. 

Send us a question, topic suggestion, or another message here: ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wholeheartedly⁠  and email ⁠[email protected]⁠. 

Follow us:

💌 @thewholeheartedlypodcast on Instagram

💌 ⁠www.tiktok.com/@thewholeheartedlypodcast⁠ 

💌 ⁠www.facebook.com/thewholeheartedlypodcast⁠ 

💌 ⁠www.wholeheartedlypodcast.com⁠

💌 ⁠https://www.patreon.com/kaylinstaten

⁠

Resources:

• The Feelings Wheel

• Anger and HSPs: 

• Aron, E. N. (1996). The highly sensitive person: How to thrive when the world overwhelms you. Broadway Books.

• Acevedo, B. P., Aron, E. N., Aron, A., Sangster, M. D., Collins, N., & Brown, L. L. (2014). The highly sensitive brain: An fMRI study of sensory processing sensitivity and response to others’ emotions. Brain and Behavior, 4(4), 580–594. https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.242 

• My Revenge of the Sith Retrospective Article

• The APA’s Definition of Pop Psychology

• @raquel_the_capacity_expert’s video: Sitting versus drowning in emotions

• My Etsy Store

• To The Journey Substack Newsletter and Magazine

*Please Note: Kaylin is a media psychology professional and mental health advocate (and does professionally communicate for a living!).

Support this show on Patreon! We appreciate your support as we build this community of fellow emotional sponges and supporters! We’re all in this together. :) ⁠https://www.patreon.com/kaylinstaten⁠ 

Copyright Ⓒ MMXXV Hourglass Media