In this episode, I talk about friendships where the friends are different ages. I give a few examples from my own life where friendships with (large or small) age gaps have been amazing, I talk about the importance of reciprocal friendships (you are both "getting something" out of the friendship) and how friendships with large age gaps are not inappropriate (in most cases). Action item: take a look at your friends and the people who could be your friends but are maybe older or younger than you.

In this episode, I try (yet again) to define the difference between comfort (which helps us feel better) and numbing (which helps us feel nothing). I talk about what I've decided for me is comfort vs numbing, I talk about how ANYTHING can be used for comfort or numbing (checking social media, food, alcohol, Netflix, anything) and how to help us figure out which things are comfort for us vs which things are numbing. Hint/action item: Go get your "List of things that make you feel better"!

This is a 3-part episode, where I talk about making friends, keeping friends, and letting go of friends. Key takeaway: all of these things are hard, but definitely worth it. We have this impression that a lot of things in life are easy and will just happen, but really that's not true. We have to work to make, keep and let go of friends, just like everything else. Action item(s)- let's try to make our own rules around friends and also not be afraid of rejection because we definitely won't make that friend if we don't ask them out for coffee/a walk/a drink/whatever.

This week, I talk about how even the smallest interactions with humans in our lives can add up to social interaction (the opposite of isolation) and increase our wellbeing (which I learned from an episode of the Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos). Then, I give some examples of social interactions that we can use to help reach our quote of social interactions, even in the time of covid, and give some advice on how to chat up the person next to you in class and some ideas of people we can talk to that can help us be happier and less isolated (waiters at restaurants, neighbors, the barista at the coffee shop, etc.). 

This week, I talk about my tiniest possible rebellion, blue nail polish. I also talk about how I don't wash my hair everyday, I don't wear makeup, I am super pro crying (I forgot to mention in the episode but if you don't feel your feelings, whatever they are, they will come out anyway- you can't hide from them so you might as well ride the wave and let it pass), and all the other tiny rules that I decided were not serving me. My action item for this week: figure out what unspoken "rules" of life are just not serving you anymore, that no one even cares about, that you can drop to make your life better. 

In this episode, I talk about what actual happy people do (and don't do) - and give 3 of the main actions/attitudes of happy people, so we can all start to work on being a little bit happier! I also talk about the Happiness Lab by Dr. Laurie Santos (which I highly recommend) and that even happy people aren't happy all the time, and that's OK.

In this episode, I talk about how I am (attempting/failing at) getting through omicron. I am trying to reset, go back to exercise, sleep and healthy food, drink tea and stare out the window, and journal a lot. I am trying to also hide the holiday chocolate, check the news one time a day, and most importantly, forgive myself a lot when I fail to do all these things. I also talk about feeling overwhelmed, ruminating and worrying, what these mean (from Brene Brown's Atlas of the Heart) and how knowing what these things mean can help us. Also, welcome any new students listening! :)

In this episode, I talk about the definition of disappointment from Brene Brown's Atlas of the Heart, about unexpressed and unmet expectations, how to express our expectations, how to let go of more expectations to help ourselves have a better holiday season, and how to move expectations from others to ourselves (since we only control ourselves!). This will be my last episode until the 2nd week of January, stay safe out there everyone.

In this episode, I talk about starting with goals (get strong!) but then building those goals into habits (run on Tues/Thurs and walk M/W/F) and making those habits into a collection of daily habits (a system) which can help us to achieve our goals. I talk about my current exercise system and how it helps to think of myself as a "healthy person" when making decisions about exercise, food and even sleep.

In this episode, I talk about finals week/the holidays/stressful times of the year and how to make time to sleep, eat and exercise during this time. I talk about cooking a big batch of something over the weekend (or whenever you aren't working), quinoa and polenta (grits), two of my favorite things to eat that are also pretty cheap and good for you, and building sleep and exercise into your schedule (to help you study, be nice to your family, etc.).