Tricky Existence

Pearl and Jordyn are back with this week's Tricky After Dark episode. This week, Pearl and Jordyn are discussing Pearl's first job out of grad school and her next steps.

Pearl and Jordyn are back this week to give their take on unhealthy coping skills. 

They start this episode with a Do Revenge rampage followed closely by a pursual of the merits of TVs in the bedroom and the importance of Florence Pugh on the world. Plus what really makes something, "like a movie you know?"

From there, join our hosts as they get deep and a little dark as they discuss the fine line between coping and dependency, and how something can be helpful while being hurtful.  They explore using maladaptive coping skills, escapism, and self-harm from the internal and external perspectives. Tying in self-worth and a sense of responsibility to help others vs yourself that many a water sign face, adds in some personal stories of childhood from our magnificent hosts that go a shade past tricky and tiptoe into downright vulnerable.

The two talk about using the emotions of beloved characters as a way to expression emotions that otherwise didn't have an outlet. Even noting  effects of this that can still be seen in coping skills today. Shame, comfort, and recommendations for the media you need only scratch the surface of what you can expect from this tremendously tricky episode.

Some questions your hosts explore this week:
1. How are your coping skills serving you?
2. What is it like to care about someone coping in a way that harms them?
3. How does your sense of self play into what you aim to get out of coping skills?

Referenced in this Episode: 
Movies- Do Revenge; Don't Worry Darling
TV- Dance Academy; Loki Series
Books- Not Drinking Tonight by  Amanda E. White, LPC
Music- Lilyisthatyou

Pearl and Jordyn are back with this week's Tricky After Dark episode. This week, Pearl and Jordyn are discussing Jordyn's process in deciding whether to move back to her home state or not.

Mentioned in this episode: "13 - What is The Motivation Behind Your Actions?", Lily DeTaeye Music

Pearl and Jordyn are back this week with their wonderful guest, Ariel, to give their take on navigating the healthcare system in the United States. 

This week your hosts and their guest start by discussing Jordyn's bond with her cat. After, they celebrate cheesecake, new job offers, recovery jobs, upcoming vacations, and healthy marriages. 

Buckle up, because Jordyn says "like" an obscene amount of times. Does this happen in every episode? Let us know at our instagram @trickyexistence

The majority of this episode is spent discussing how navigating the healthcare system impacts your mental health through access to therapy, escapism, compartmentalizing, traumatic intake procedures, and advocating for yourself from a place of survival. All this accumulates to participating in a systems that is built to make you question your worth as a human being. Your hosts and guests are here to discuss and hopefully provide affirmation for you in a similar setting. 

Some questions your hosts and guest explore this week:
1. How can friends support you by attending appointments? 
2. What are some tips to navigating the healthcare system? 
3. How do you return to your inner knowing amidst all the incoming information and opinions? 

Products, recommendations, and previous episodes references in this episode: "18 - Experiencing Chronic Illness in Your Twenties" and YouTube personality "Dr. Mike"

Jordyn and Pearl are back this week with a wonderful guest, Ariel, to give you their take on navigating physical health and chronic illness as young adults in society. 

This week, we start out by celebrating coconut water, new homes, and new pets. Pearl introduces our amazing guest, Ariel, and we learn more about Ariel and her friendship with Pearl.

We dive into the isolation that comes with chronic health conditions by discussing how to show up for your friends experiencing a change or hardship in their health. We spend time acknowledging some of the shared experiences in difficult relationships with health. We discuss the struggles that come with needing and asking for help, as well as what it looks like when the people you would go to for help are no longer supportive in the way you need.

Jordyn and Ariel begin to share their individual journeys navigating mental health in the United States Healthcare System and adjusting their lives to the changes with their bodies. We discuss the grief in disability and how difficult it is to trust your body again while you hold resentment against it. We talk about the accessibility of coping skills and stress management, the importance of support systems, and the role of fatigue in daily life. 

This is the first episode of two with Ariel as our guest on chronic illness, so tune in next week to continue the conversation. 

Some questions your hosts and guest explore this week:

1. What support can you provide without requiring the emotional labor of your friends deciding what support they would appreciate?   
2. What allows you to feel connected and grounded in your own body?
3. What coping skills can you use when your normal tools aren’t working? 

Products and recommendations mentioned in this episode: Feminist Trash

Pearl and Jordyn are back this week to give their take on maintaining friendships. Your hosts start this week’s episodes by celebrating books. This episode is high energy, due to your hosts’ passion for friendship and due to Jordyn consuming obscene amounts of caffeine (one cup). Led by a side track on Jordyn and Pearl’s favorite swear words, they discuss the importance of balance within a friendship.

Pearl and Jordyn share personal experiences on maintaining a relationship over time, life changes, and distance. They discuss the importance of compromise in relationships and the line between compromising actions versus compromising a sense of self within relationships. Your hosts discuss expectations, boundaries, and respect in friendships. This episode, listeners are really taking a deep dive into perspective taking in the container of a friendship. Such as, love languages, communication styles, and changing seasons in friendships. Jordyn shares how she took steps towards giving others the benefit of the doubt while managing personal insecurities.

This episode is the third and final episode in our series on friendship, so make sure you check out episodes “15 - When is it Time to End a Friendship?” and “16 - When Should I Call My Friend Out?” for more. 

Some other questions your hosts explore this week:

1. Are you providing space for your friends to be their full versions of self? Is that space being provided to you?
2. Have you had relationships end due to space or time changes that created space for a new relationship to form?
3. How do you take on problems or issues in relationships?
4. How do you support a healthy interracial friendship?

Pearl and Jordyn are back this week to give their take on calling your friends out and when to share your opinion on how they are living their lives. 

This week, we start off by celebrating waffles, intuition, and job offers. Then, we dive right in to discuss what it really means when we feel obligated to call our friends out. We discuss how we act when we perceive our friends are sabotaging their success and potential, understanding the motivation behind your friends' life choices, and serving as others' emotional support. We ask ourselves, when does problem solving get in the way of connecting with others? 

For the second part of the episode, we discuss our take on being in friendship with someone when you don't like their romantic partner. What is our responsibility in those friendships and when does safety come into play? We share signs of domestic violence and the stages of change.

Some other questions your hosts explore this week:
1. Are you listening to understand or respond?
2. How much of your interactions with friends are rooted in projections? 

Products and recommendations mentioned in this episode: ModifyHealth, "Maid" on Netflix

Jordyn and Pearl are back this week to give their take on ending friendships. 

Your hosts start this week's episode by giving you an update on the local weather and new pets, then they dive in to all things that come with assessing friendships. They discuss what grief in friendships and after friendships end look like, the loss of potential in a friendship, and how you decide when a friendship is no longer a good fit. 

Some other questions your hosts explore this week:
1. How do you react to behavior changes in friendships?
2. How do you actually end a friendship?
3. What purpose does the role of friendship in your life serve?

Previous episodes referenced in this episode: "8 - White Family Easter"

Pearl and Jordyn are back this week to give their take on being overwhelmed and using somatic coping skills to regulate.  To prove where their mental health is at, this video is a disorganized mess with some true pearls of wisdom scattered throughout. It's like a sleepover with your besties, so get cozy and take your time listening to the episode in its entirety. 

Pearl and Jordyn start the episode by sharing how they are at capacity for their distress tolerance window and what exactly is putting them on edge lately, including flash floods and heat waves. 

Your hosts walk you through how rhythm, routine, and repetition have aided them in building coping skills and becoming embodied in moments of being overwhelmed. They take on the question of how to connect with your intuition and fight the fear of failure and embarrassment. 

Join Pearl and Jordyn as they talk about how they use masturbation as a coping skills and listen to the end for some safe sex tips on condoms and lube. 

This week's episode listens as a audible brain dump, so you're sure to hear some embarrassing stories and why everyone is having the shared experience of sensory overdrive. 

Some questions your hosts explore this week: 
1. What does your body feel like when your brain is at capacity? /
2. How does your body show up when you pause to pay attention to what sensations you are experiencing?
3. What are you doing in the moments you feel most connected to your intuition? 
4. What actions do you take to take care of yourself? 

Resources referenced in this episode: 
BOOK: Trauma Stewardship by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky, Connie Burk
BOOK: What Happened to You? by Oprah Winfrey, Bruce D. Perry

Pearl and Jordyn are back this week to give their take on desires, motivation, and behavior. Have you ever considered that your self presentation might be influenced by self-preservation? That's a question Pearl and Jordyn are diving into during this Mercury in retrograde season. 

To begin, your hosts dive into giving your mind a break with Summer Vacation Mode. They explore how to frame brain breaks to let go of control and release some anxiety. They even give you a recap of a BFF Summer Vacation to Greece they took. 

Are parties actually fun? They talk about how trauma has affected their response to being invited to parties and how their motivation for attending parties has changed over the years. What's the motivation behind your behavior? Yourself or others? 

Jordyn shares how her attendance at social events has changed in sobriety. Pearl shares her take on the "Pick Me Girl."

Listen in as Pearl and Jordyn discover the motivation behind their party attendance, old messages that aren't serving them anymore, and how they are choosing to no longer change their behavior to keep others comfortable.  

Some other questions your hosts explore this week:
1. How do you give your brain a healthy mental break? 
2. How far do you go to get people to like you? 
3. How important is it for you to feel special and unique? 
4. What protective measures are you using that you are ready to let go? 

Previous episodes referenced in this episode: "6 - The Big Bang"