EPISODES

 Luis Gomez, former journalist and creator of the CA//MEDIA//JOBS newsletter, details why he left his dream job at the height of his career and why he went dark after stopping the newsletter. After months of silence, he came back with a powerful story to share about addiction, mental health struggles and healing. 

 In 2017, Lucas Churchill, a member of the men's soccer team at UC Berkeley, faced an uphill battle with his mental health after a tough freshman year. Facing loss and challenges as a student-athlete, he turned to mindfulness and meditation. Amazed by how the practice helped him, he created CAL Athlete Led Mindfulness (CALM) and introduced it to the large student-athlete population at Berkeley. Now, he's leveraging his training in mindfulness to guide his next steps as he enters his senior year in the midst of an unprecedented global pandemic. 

 Aaron Ruth put together a book of his poetry after healing from a painful break-up. The book, Alone Together, details what it's like to experience deep feelings of loneliness and how to grow from that experience. We talked about some of the struggles we face as individuals that make it hard to reach out and make meaningful, and fulfilling connections, and how we can try to let our guard down and take off the masks we wear to allow others to see our authentic selves. 

 Not a typical interview episode this week. Just a reminder to be gentle with yourself and foster self-compassion. The best way for me to highlight this is to do it myself.  

 Keaton is a peer with a passion about making mental health a part of the normal conversation. He lives in Denver working in IT during the day, and working with a small team by night to grow the non-profit organization You Don't Fight Alone.

  Marina Gee is the host of the podcast Mind Bloom, a podcast exploring mental health and breast cancer awareness. She shares what it’s like navigating her LCIS diagnosis, keeping her mental health in check, and how sheltering-in-place led her to create a platform where she can share what’s on her mind, and interview people who make her mind bloom. 

 When overwhelming anxiety began to pop up for Keyla, she was especially concerned about the physical symptoms. One day, the 17-year-old felt intense worry and dread come over her, as well as nausea and lightheadedness. She didn’t feel in control of her mind and body. These were the first symptoms of a panic attack, something she would grapple with for months, until she learned she was struggling with panic disorder. Now more than 3 years later, she’s learning to manage the condition by understanding what may trigger her, and speaking up about her experience. 

It was certainly surreal to experience the Texas Freeze and consequently, the water and power crisis in the state. Writing and producing an episode has been helping me process the events of the week. This experience has allowed me to feel more connected to Austin and the state of Texas, after only being here for a month. I am so grateful to be safe.