Nicole Abramowitz is certainly a qualified psychologist in terms of life experience, despite being a few months off having the piece of paper to prove it. Her story of family trauma lead her to a pursuit devoted to better understanding how the human mind works and has given her the firm belief that the biggest tragedy in life is not learning from the tragedy itself. 

This episode may be triggering and I would advise those experiencing any past trauma similar to Nicole's to speak to a trained professional, and just in general because psychology is awesome. 

00:00 How 2020 is a fucker so far and why it’s OK to be one of the people being strong for others, plus how I met Nicole.

04:00 Riding the sometimes shit wave that is life and the benefits of adversity. 

06:00 Why people are so fucked up, the societal regressions we are experiencing that contribute to our collective poor mental health. 

12:00 Nicole shares her story. (This may be triggering and contains themes of suicide and domestic abuse.)

18:00 Accepting that you can’t help anyone anymore than they can help themselves. The difficulty in accepting and providing support and the importance of autonomy and empowerment.

21:00 Toxic relationships and the addiction pathway, why we are hooked on playing the hero.

27:00 Grief and loss, death and breakups and the similarities in coping mechanisms for trauma.

35:00 There's no 'right' decision, you make a decision and you make it work. The importance of owning this is in a life of infinite possibilities. 

42:00 The importance of values. 

52:00 Takeaway strategies when supporting a loved one - accepting that it's not about you and why we find this so fucking hard. 

60:00 Why adaption is the most important trait in survival. 

64:00 Inner contentment and not being motivated by external reward.

68:00 Gratitude, perspective and acceptance...not letting your struggles define you.

70:00 The joy of living your mundane life and why being bored kinda rules.