As we announced last week, this is the last episode of Tell Me Something True. Today, Laura walks through why we made this decision (it’s all fine, nothing is wrong!) A thing worth celebrating is that, over 67 episodes, nearly a quarter of a million adventurous, curious people said YES and pressed play over 600,000 times. Holy cow…that’s A LOT!!!!! The numbers only matter because they’re the mirror of how much YOU - and thousands of folks like you - said yes to falling in love with the mystery o...
Sep 29, 2022•37 min•Ep. 67
Melissa Urban is one of the few people we’ve asked back to the show and there’s a reason for that. She’s got such a unique, magnetic energy and this strong, no-nonsense, yet compassionate way of showing up in the world. And now, she’s written The Book of Boundaries: Set the Limits That Will Set You Free and, can we get a hell yes? We need this in our lives. Melissa walks us through why boundaries are one of the most important life skills one can have, common pitfalls, why she wrote a specific se...
Sep 22, 2022•54 min•Ep. 66
Tell the truth - how many times does the phrase “I’m so burned out?” show up around you? Burnout is both more than we think it is, and much more insidious. Burnout has been defined by the World Health Organization as a workplace-centered phenomenon, and they calculate that it’s killing +750,000 people a year! Jennifer Moss has dedicated a large part of her career to researching, writing about, and educating people on burnout. She is going to get us on the same page so we can understand EXASCTLY ...
Sep 15, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 65
Ali Shapiro arrives with a mountain of good news! We don't have to evade our relationship with food. We don't have to be ruled by stories that shame us and keep us stuck. Most importantly, those stories don't have to contribute to hating ourselves. Ali is the creator of the Truce with Food Program, which combines how we think - and feel about - food and the stories we tell ourselves. She’s bridging psychology and behavioral change so we can break all the absurd, dangerous and shaming ways we app...
Sep 08, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 64
On TMST we’ve been open about our conflicted relationship with technology and social media. And you’ve heard many of our guests recount their mixed feelings, as well. Today’s guest takes all of that and turns it up to 11. In 2018, Larissa May (who goes by Larz) spoke out about her struggle with depression on social media. The post and hashtag that emerged around it was called #HalfTheStory - and it sparked a global conversation about the relationship between technology and emotional wellbeing. H...
Sep 01, 2022•42 min•Ep. 63
We don’t like to admit it, but there are a hell of a lot of scripts that run us. They’re the “shoulds” - ideas so woven into our lives that we don’t even know they exist. For virtually all women - the scripts around motherhood are the most pernicious. They load us down with self-doubt, bake in unattainable expectations, and set us up for a life where we’re always defined in relationship to others, our kids, or lack of kids. Erin Lane has spent most of her life challenging these scripts. Her late...
Aug 25, 2022•59 min•Ep. 62
It’s a familiar, but true, saying: recovery is about breaking cycles. Jeff and Debra Jay know this better than most. Together, they’ve been doing pioneering work in the areas of family recovery and intervention for decades. Their book, Love First is the essential work on the family recovery dynamic. It’s now in its third printing and it’s a powerful roadmap for harnessing the power of family and friends to help a loved one accept treatment. Debra’s book, It Takes a Family , is a ground-breaking ...
Aug 18, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 61
“Rachel Hollis is a manifestation of a larger ideology about women's place in society. That if you just try hard enough, all of these structural issues that are making your life really, really hard can be solved if you just wash your face. .” - Anne Helen Petersen Anne Helen Petersen is one of our most essential cultural observers. Her work at Buzzfeed culminated in her 2020 book, Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation. Now she’s using Culture Study, her Substack newsletter, t...
Aug 11, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 60
It’s great to love books and the written word and seeing new worlds open up through a writer’s work is thrilling. We know our lives can be transformed through a good book. Friends - meet Branden Collinsworth, someone who has taken those ideas, and turned them up to eleven. Branden Collinsworth is a Nike Master Trainer, Yoga Teacher, Human Performance Coach and Humanitarian. He describes his life as a journey “from the streets to the skies.” He comes from a seriously tough upbringing, and also em...
Aug 04, 2022•47 min•Ep. 59
People tell Mary Laura Philpott that her writing is like having a conversation with her. We can say that is 100% true. She’s an utterly captivating writer AND conversationalist. You may have first heard about Mary Laura Philpott through her first book, “ I Miss You When I Blink .” Her new memoir in essays is “Bomb Shelter: Love, Time, and Other Explosives .” It was named an Editor’s Choice by the New York Times Book Review and one of the Best Books of 2022 by NPR. “Bomb Shelter” had Laura laughi...
Jul 28, 2022•42 min•Ep. 58
Being human means sometimes we feel deeply alone. Cut off from other people. For most people, it passes quickly. For others, especially those who also suffer from addiction, that feeling of isolation is persistent. It’s a low hum that follows a person everywhere. Part of the reason why some drink is to numb that feeling and turn down the voices that whisper why we’re alone. Chris Marshall knows these feelings well and he’s here today to share how listening to those voices have almost killed him ...
Jul 21, 2022•52 min•Ep. 57
HANDS UP if knowing what you want, and standing up for it, has not always been welcome. Imagine being hit with that - and you’re America’s top-selling female group of all time! Marissa Moss has a lot to say about powerful women, making their own rules, and finding solidarity when the world is pitting them against each other. This TMST is a conversation about how women are being true to themselves and reshaping culture, while building huge, diverse audiences. In the book, “Her Country: How the Wo...
Jul 14, 2022•59 min•Ep. 56
When was the last time you got real about jealousy or envy? In this episode, Laura brings the heat, digging into how jealousy and envy have shown up in her life. She explores the ways they’re different and the ways we use them to blow ourselves up. This is no trail of tears, though! We’ll take a look at what social psychologists and researchers have identified as the purpose of these emotions. And then we explore ways to help work through these feelings when they rise up and want to take charge ...
Jul 07, 2022•54 min•Ep. 55
We are never more than one connection away from a veteran or first responder. They are the ULTRA helping professions. During the pandemic, many were the first line of protection and care. Over 20 years of The Global War of Terror, many have experienced repeated deployments with an anodyne “thank you for your service” and a bad country music song as their only Thank You. But how many of us have asked how we can be part of THEIR solution network? Meet Dr. Kate Pate, a neurophysiologist who is look...
Jun 30, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 54
Rollercoasters are a fun diversion, but they’re no way to live. That’s why the whipsaw experience of being on an emotional rollercoaster is one of the things folks are most happy to see leave their life. Those radical highs and lows aren’t confined to the times when people are using - they often extend well into sobriety. Usually driven by hyper-sensitivity and, to be honest, a lot of self-absorption. And that’s where today’s guest comes in…. As we mark the beginning of Year Two for Tell Me Some...
Jun 23, 2022•52 min•Ep. 53
Brianna Madia’s journey as a vagabond lifestyle influencer was extraordinary. It was her, her van, her dogs and, for a time, her husband. And according to her it was really good. Until it wasn’t. And then, it got really scary. Brianna takes us behind the curtain of the IG influencer life - and then we go 100 levels deeper. While the world was fixed on her very attractive-appearing life, she was living with a slow, gnawing truth that was killing her. When she came clean, the geyser of vitriol was...
Jun 16, 2022•27 min•Ep. 52
An insatiable need for romantic attention and love. Periods of overeating or starving. Using alcohol, food, or over-working to numb out. A pattern of unstable and painful relationships. Does this sound painfully familiar? Kelly McDaniel is a trauma therapist who saw these traits over and over in clients who felt trapped in cycles of harmful behaviors and were unable to stop. In 2008, she coined the term Mother Hunger as a way to describe this pattern and has since helped countless women. In this...
Jun 09, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 51
What could be heavier than the secrets we carry? The constant vigilance and concealment can be exhausting. But can you tell the difference between what’s a secret and what’s being kept private? Michael Slepian does and he can back it up with research. Slepian studies the psychology of secrets and, as he’s discovered, the real problem with keeping a secret is not that you have to hide it, but that you have to live with it, and think about it. But here’s the trick - we confuse secrets, lies and pr...
Jun 02, 2022•50 min•Ep. 50
Every day, every hour, every minute, there’s a request. More time. More attention. More engagement. More space in our brains and our lives. Laura feels the pinch like everyone and she frequently fields questions on how she allocates her time, attention and life passion. In this solo episode, Laura shares how she found inspiration in the way the comic Whitney Cummings thinks about it - ENERGY DOLLARS. We aren’t infinite people (no matter what society and our conditioning tells us.) For all the th...
May 26, 2022•40 min•Ep. 49
Everyone has a day, or week, go sideways. What happens when life hits the blender - and it goes on for years? Shauna Niequist has a lot to offer because she’s lived it. Her latest book, I Guess I Haven’t Learned That Yet, covers a time in her life when Every. Single. Thing. was, as she says, tossed in the blender. Family. Vocation. Faith. Sense of belonging. And then, also… menopause. Shanua has the rare gift of being able to inspire while never getting saccharine, to be honest without overexpos...
May 19, 2022•46 min•Ep. 48
Let’s be real. The words “Love Addiction” can trigger a massive eye roll. Jodi White gets it and she’s here to show us that it’s real and a lot more common than we think. Jodi draws on the groundbreaking work of Pia Mellody and builds on it in a way that is comforting, clarifying and hopeful. Jodi is open about the ways SHE’s struggled in this area and we talk about what it’s like to be love anorexic (yes, that’s a thing). We dig into Mother Hunger and some of the other behaviors that prime us f...
May 12, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 47
When Ana Marie Cox said, “I can’t wring self-worth out of the universe,” we felt that hit like a mountain. Ana spent the better part of two decades as a political columnist and culture critic. She started the political blog Wonkette in 2004, and worked at outlets like The New York Times, Time magazine, GQ, Air America, and The Guardian. After living behind a professional persona for a long time, Ana started to talk about more personal parts of her life publicly, like being bi-polar and strugglin...
May 05, 2022•49 min•Ep. 46
Wes Hurt is the founder of Sparkling Yerba Mate CLEAN Cause, a beverage company donating 50% of its net profits to funding sober living scholarships; Jason Isbell is a Grammy Award-Winning singer/songwriter; and Jan Rader, Director of the Mayor’s Council on Public Health & Drug Control Policy for Huntington, WV, who was also named to TIME Magazine’s 2018 Top 100 Most Influential List, star of the Emmy Award winning film Heroin(e), first female fire chief, and lead witness in the Landmark Opi...
Apr 28, 2022•58 min•Ep. 45
Laura mines more gold from the TMST community this week with a MUCH requested topic: Imposter Syndrome. Hands up - who doesn’t face some version of this, and would we want to hang with someone who doesn’t??? In this episode, Laura leaves us with three key ideas to help us deal with Imposter Syndrome and we close the show with a note for people who are looking for more recovery support. Tell Me Something True is a 100% independent podcast. There are no corporations or advertisers backing this com...
Apr 21, 2022•40 min•Ep. 44
What do you do when a friend tells you he’s just gone through his worst year? Well, when he’s a brave and bright light in the world, and he’s Mishka Shubaly, you invite him on the podcast! Seriously, Mishka Shubaly is a brilliant writer, a profound soul and the owner of one of the darkest senses of humor EVER. As he says early in our conversation, “I'm here to bring you the inspirational message that there's always a fresh hell available to you.” And…somehow, it’s a laugh line! Alternating betwe...
Apr 14, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 43
Peter Rollins is back! Our first return guest to TMST, we asked Peter back to talk about how we contend with uncertainty (e.g. life). If you don’t know Peter, he’s an Irish theologian, philosopher, author, and speaker who got an international reputation for turning traditional ideas of religion on their head. As is typical with Peter, the conversation went down many useful tangents. We started by talking about the role of liturgical structures in our lives, what they mean and why we need them (t...
Apr 07, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 42
When the world is screaming “It’s all black or white,” how do we remember that we mostly live in the grey area? Brenda Davies might be onto something. She’s the author of “On Her Knees: Memoir of a Prayerful Jezebel,” which chronicles the pendulum swing experienced as she left Christian purity culture and then embraced LA’s hook-up culture. She’s also the creator of In The Grey a Youtube channel and podcast that “champions curiosity, sex positivity, compassion & healthy debate.” Whether it’s...
Mar 31, 2022•45 min•Ep. 41
What if there’s more to our collective struggle to FOCUS than we’ve considered? And what do we have to do to regain what we’ve lost? Those are the questions Johann Hari is exploring in his new book, “Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention - and How To Think Deeply Again.” It’s a surprising look at how our struggle with attention isn’t just about tech. In this conversation, Johann brings the same inquisitive, roving gaze that led him to observe, “the opposite of addiction isn’t sobriety - it’s...
Mar 24, 2022•38 min•Ep. 40
“Nothing is personal” is easy to say, but our adult friendships can truly test our ability to hold on to that vital lesson from Don MIguel Ruiz. In this AMA Laura takes on two different questions from listeners about how we navigate adult friendships. How do things change when one friend gets sober? How do we navigate the reality that we can grow apart as friends, just as we can in a romantic relationship? How do our patterns in friendships mirror our patterns in family dynamics and in our love ...
Mar 17, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 39
What if one of the most powerful things we can say is, “I don’t know?” Sharon McMahon came to our attention through her hugely popular @sharonsaysso Instragram account. Sharon’s ability to share clear, relevant and non-partisan facts about the US government and democracy with her followers has built one of the few sane, healthy communities on the internet. More than anything, Sharon is SUCH a clear thinker on why we need to have more places in our lives to say those three magical words: “I don’t...
Mar 10, 2022•44 min•Ep. 38
