The Reformed Tired Girls Club Podcast

11. All Healing and No Living Makes You a Tired Girl

Whoever said you need to stop and smell the roses was seriously onto something. In today's episode, we're talking about what happens when you're constantly trying to improve, heal, grow, process, optimize, and "work on yourself" 24/7. Because at some point, it all gets pretty dang exhausting. Plus, we're chatting about how life isn't meant to be one giant project to fix yourself, the importance of finding a sliver of joy in the middle of the chaos, and why sometimes staring at the sky, reading a good book, or touching some grass is exactly what the doctor ordered. Because sometimes the most productive thing you can do is stop trying to improve yourself for five minutes and go enjoy being alive.

10. The One Where My Dad Talked Sh*t About Me on the Internet

I skipped Thanksgiving one time and somehow ended up getting dragged on Facebook. So naturally, we're talking about boundaries. In today's episode, we're chatting about what happens when you finally realize you're an adult, you have agency over your life, and you don't actually have to keep putting yourself in situations that are bad for your mental health just because they're "family." I share the story of the time I decided to stop attending family holidays and the very public reaction that followed, and yes, I brought receipts.  Plus, we're getting into why boundaries can be so dang hard and how trauma helps explain behavior but absolutely does NOT excuse it. Because your body can't heal in the environment that made it sick in the first place. And sometimes protecting your peace comes with a little (or a lot) of backlash.

9. I Can't Go Out *cough cough* I'm Sad

When “I have a headache I can’t go out” is actually code for: I’m depressed and there’s no way I’m going to try and explain this to you… In today's episode, we're talking about the taboo subject of depression, the excuses we make when we don't know how to tell people what's really wrong, and how mental health has a way of bleeding into your social & work life. I also tell the story of a stranger who noticed I wasn't okay when I was working as a server. And how her small act of kindness has stuck with me almost a decade later. Plus, we’re chatting about the things that helped me manage depression in the short term, and the one surprising change that ultimately made it disappear completely.  Because as much as I thought depression was just something I had to live with, it turns out that wasn’t true.

8. Desperate Times Call for Extreme Food Restrictions

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Or in my case, obsessively counting Cheez-Its. In today’s episode, we’re talking about what happens when your health, body, and life feel so out of control that you start looking for something, literally anything, that you CAN control. I share my experience with acne, body shame, extreme food restriction, and the slippery slope of trying to "fix" myself through food. I talk about the time I got so restrictive with eating that I lost my hunger cues completely, and the night a random bag of peanuts became a turning point for me (which sounds ridiculous, but also wasn’t). Desperation can make us cling to extreme solutions. And when you're just trying to feel better and grasp control, it's really easy to convince yourself that more restriction is the answer. But spoiler alert: it wasn't.

7. Which Form of Escapism is Your Vice?

So many things to feel, so many ways to avoid them. In today’s episode, we’re talking about the different ways we numb ourselves when we don’t want to deal with what we’re feeling. I share how escapism showed up for me in my early twenties through things like binge-watching TV, smoking, drinking, and honestly just doing whatever I could to not be alone with my feelings. I read one of my old journal entries from 2017 where I literally wrote that I couldn’t wait for summer so I could be “high and drunk 24/7” and not have to feel sad. Which… dramatic, yes. But also very real. And weirdly validating to look back on now. We also get into how we can question if our experiences were as bad as we remember, and why chronic escapism is really just our way of trying to numb ourselves from emotional pain.