Wellness Podcast

In this episode, I talk about how, especially at this time of year for college/grad students (or also everyone), it is so easy to drop sleep first- that is, sleep just a little less to get a little more "done." I give evidence from this article (and some of my own experience): https://www.ucdenver.edu/student/health-wellness/healthy-happy-life about why sleep is necessary and so important, especially considering we live in a society where "sleep is for the weak" or "you snooze, you lose." I also call "dendrites" (as in, axons and dendrites) "dendroids," so that's fun :) (Important side note for those who read these notes, I've had to stop running this week because of a hurt ankle and boy have I noticed my brain fog returning!)

In this episode, I explain an alternate definition to the traditional "extroverts love people and introverts fear people" definition of introverts and extroverts (hint: it has to do with the size of your social "cup"!), and I give some examples of a few easy things that helped me decide that I am maybe best defined as an ambivert (in the middle of introvert and extrovert) or even maybe a shy/anxious extrovert? I also talk about how I think this is a continuum, from introvert to ambivert to extrovert (meaning I could be an extrovert but really close to the middle of the continuum instead of all the way to the right). Action item: listen to my examples and decide which best fits you!

In this episode, I talk about how at this time of the year, I always feel the itch to clean/organize my house, and thanks to two of my favorite experts on organizing/cleaning, Gretchen Rubin, author of Outer Order Inner Calm (and many other excellent books) and Marie Kondo, I know a bit more about why it helps me feel better and how to get started. A few key tips: 1) if you can do a task in under a minute, never wait to do it (this lets things pile up- think throwing your clothes in the laundry basket, going through the mail and recycling junk mail/looking through catalogs, etc., and washing 1 dish after you eat lunch), 2) don't get overwhelmed, just do 1 thing at a time (1 drawer at a time, 1 part of 1 closet, etc.), and 3) remember that Outer Order Contributes to Inner Calm- if you are feeling frazzled, is it because your house/apartment/room/living space is a mess? In this episode, I also mention Leo Babauta, author of a minimalist blog called ZenHabits(https://zenhabits.net) that I followed for many years. Action item: find one thing from this episode that I mention and try to put it into action this week! Happy spring break for those who have it!

In this episode, I talk about what we call in our family "a feelings loop" and how to break out of it. Feeling our feelings is always good, but sometimes we can't keep doing it-either because we aren't safe to do so, because we just can't feel our feelings at a certain time (ex: it's not OK to yell at your boss at work probably), or because we are stuck in a loop. I talk about what this means, to be in a feelings loop (roundabout?) and how you can get out of it. Action items: take a deep breath (or 5), walk away, listen to music, write in a journal, go for a walk/run.

In this episode, I talk about my feelings and thoughts going into the second anniversary of the first quarantine of the pandemic. I think we are all tired- no, exhausted- and just burned out from this pandemic, maybe a little low level depressed, stressed, and maybe even a little hopeless. On that happy note, action items for this week: go back to the beginning again (sleep, exercise, healthy food), know that to save the world we have to take care of ourselves first, work on some social connection, and give ourselves some time and space to reflect (journal, etc.) this week.

In this episode, I talk about the connection between our brain (mind) and our body, and how if we do things to help our body (rest, exercise, eat healthy foods, etc.), they help our brain as well, and vice versa. Also, if we do things that hurt our brain (like suppressing our emotions, for example), they can actually hurt our body. I give a couple of examples from my own life, both positive and negative. Action item: think about how your brain/body connection is affecting you (write in a journal, talk to a friend, therapist, etc., to help you figure it out) and then reflect on 1 way you can use this knowledge to improve your life (ex: nap/go for a run before an exam).

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.).