Powerlessness Is a Feeling, Not a Fact

Powerlessness Is a Feeling, Not a Fact

--Media Links-- website: delvepsych.com instagram: @delvepsychchicago youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DelvePsych20 [https://www.youtube.com/@DelvePsych20] substack: https://delvepsych.substack.com/ [https://delvepsych.substack.com/] --Participants-- Ali McGarel Adam W. Fominaya --Overview of Big Ideas-- Despair is seductive because negative events are dramatic, immediate, and emotionally gripping, while meaningful progress is usually gradual, imperfect, and easy to overlook. Pointing out everything that is wrong can resemble sophisticated analysis while avoiding the much harder work of developing feasible solutions. Feeling powerless is not the same as having no power. Individual influence may be limited, but it is never entirely absent. Lasting change rarely comes from a solitary hero. It grows through organizations, relationships, accumulated preparation, and people willing to perform unglamorous but necessary work. Emotions are not choices, moral failures, or reliable descriptions of external reality. We cannot always choose what we feel, but we retain some choice about what we do next. Rather than trying to personally lead every movement, people can identify the contribution suited to their abilities and “do the dishes” of social change. Small, local actions spread through networks. A conversation, act of gratitude, or practical contribution can affect people far beyond its immediate recipient. --Breakdown of Segments-- Podcast milestones: celebrating one year of episodes and reaching 1,000 Instagram followers. Why despair attracts us: negativity bias, loss aversion, emotional persuasion, doomscrolling, and the asymmetric speed of destruction versus construction. “Worshipping the problem”: why cataloguing failures is easier than confronting tradeoffs, logistics, and imperfect incremental progress. The “why try” effect: how helplessness, hopelessness, and self-stigma can erode motivation and make effort seem pointless. Power at the proper scale: accepting that one person cannot control enormous systems while recognizing their influence within local relationships and institutions. Organization over heroism: joining existing efforts, following experienced leaders, and learning from the preparation behind movements such as the Montgomery bus boycott. Doing the dishes of political work: valuing the cooks, organizers, communicators, caregivers, and others who make collective action sustainable. Feelings and action: allowing despair without treating it as destiny, then choosing intentional behavior aligned with one’s values. Closing reflections: feelings are not facts, influence travels through social networks, and small acts of connection can produce unforeseen consequences. --AI Recommended References (APA)-- vlogbrothers. (2023, March 14). The seduction of despair [Video]. YouTube. Tufekci, Z. (2017). Twitter and tear gas: The power and fragility of networked protest. Yale University Press. Corrigan, P. W., Larson, J. E., & Rüsch, N. (2009). Self-stigma and the “why try” effect: Impact on life goals and evidence-based practices. World Psychiatry, 8(2), 75–81. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2051-5545.2009.tb00218.x [https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2051-5545.2009.tb00218.x] Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Finkenauer, C., & Vohs, K. D. (2001). Bad is stronger than good. Review of General Psychology, 5(4), 323–370. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.5.4.323 [https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.5.4.323]

The Psychology of Job Applications: Beyond the Numbers Game

==Media Links== website: delvepsych.com instagram: @delvepsychchicago youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DelvePsych20 [https://www.youtube.com/@DelvePsych20] substack: https://delvepsych.substack.com/ [https://delvepsych.substack.com/] ==Participants== Hosts: Ali McGarel Adam W. Fominaya ==Overview of Big Ideas== This episode reframes job searching as more than “send out as many applications as possible.” Adam and Ali argue that a strong job search includes several kinds of work: searching, applying, building materials, improving profiles, developing skills, networking, and practicing interviews. Instead of fixating on a daily quota, the episode suggests focusing on the rhetorical power of the overall application. A resume, cover letter, LinkedIn profile, certificate, coffee meeting, or interview practice can all strengthen the argument that you are the right person for the job. The hosts also explore how rigid application goals can backfire. A number can make underproduction feel shameful, while also capping effort when someone might have more energy. A more humane and strategic approach is to vary the task, follow motivation intelligently, and keep the search psychologically sustainable. ==Breakdown of Segments== Opening and Delve updates: Ali and Adam invite listeners to share the podcast, follow Delve on Instagram, and check out Delve’s website and Substack. Why job applications belong on a psychology podcast: Adam frames job searching as a problem of attention, energy, motivation, burnout, task selection, and self-organization. The limits of “just apply more”: The hosts discuss the common numbers-game mindset and how daily quotas can lead to shame, rushed applications, and missed opportunities. The broader job-search ecosystem: Adam outlines the real set of tasks: searching for jobs, applying, developing specific materials, building general reusable materials, improving professional profiles, skill building, networking, and interview practice. Skill building during gaps: The episode emphasizes using unemployment or career pauses to deepen skills, complete certificates, and create a more compelling answer to “What did you do during that gap?” Following motivation without surrendering structure: Adam suggests rotating among job-search tasks based on the kind of energy available that day, while still making sure all major domains receive attention. A sample first week after job loss: The hosts walk through a varied week of searching, updating materials, sending a few applications, contacting people, networking, and learning the job landscape before pushing harder. The psychology of familiarity and networking: Adam discusses how being around workplaces, colleagues, and industry spaces can create subtle familiarity and improve one’s feel for the environment. Compassion for job-search distress: Ali and Adam acknowledge how scary, demoralizing, and destabilizing the current job market can feel for people looking for work. Closing quote on vulnerability: The episode ends by reflecting on the line “Decide who gets the pleasure of seeing your pain,” using it to explore trust, vulnerability, and the honor of being allowed to see someone’s softer places. ==AI Recommended References== Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. W. H. Freeman. Latham, G. P., & Locke, E. A. (2002). Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey. American Psychologist, 57(9), 705–717. Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and human behavior. Macmillan.

Confidence, Shame, and the Smallest Next Step

==Media Links== website: delvepsych.com instagram: @delvepsychchicago youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DelvePsych20 [https://www.youtube.com/@DelvePsych20] substack: https://delvepsych.substack.com/ [https://delvepsych.substack.com/] ==Participants== Hosts: Ali McGarel, Adam W. Fominaya Guest: Andrea Bink ==Overview of Big Ideas== A listener’s question about confidence opens into a deeper conversation about self-talk, shame, gender expectations, relationships, and the fear of failure. Confidence is not treated as a magic inner trait. The episode frames it as something built through action, reflection, relationships, values, and tolerable risks. The group explores how negative core beliefs can make even neutral events feel like “proof” of failure. They also question the cultural benchmarks people use to judge themselves: money, status, romance, productivity, attractiveness, and social ease. A central theme emerges: confidence may come less from feeling certain and more from knowing what kind of person you are trying to become. ==Breakdown of Segments== Opening and Reddit prompt: Ali introduces a listener-style question from Reddit about trying therapy, fitness, healthy habits, and social effort without feeling more confident. Core beliefs and self-talk: Adam and Ali explore the painful language of “how bad I am” as a possible core belief that filters experience through shame and confirmation bias. Confidence and definitions: Andrea asks what confidence and success even mean to this person, shifting the discussion from vague self-judgment to concrete personal values. Masculinity and social pressure: The group discusses how men may experience changing cultural expectations, loneliness, shallow friendships, and fewer affirming emotional spaces. The created self: Adam emphasizes that identity is built with others. Confidence often grows in relationships where people reflect back the self we are trying to become. Shame as a hidden hum: The group links low confidence with shame, especially around money, family, career, romance, and cultural milestones that many people feel they “should” have reached. Affirmations and action: Ali questions whether positive affirmations work without lived experience. Andrea adds that affirmations must feel believable, not grandiose or false. Tiny goals and tolerable failure: Andrea gives the gym example: first put on shoes, then get dressed, then drive there, then enter, then try five minutes. Success is made small enough to survive. Starting again: The group discusses missing a day, letting it go, and resuming without turning lapse into identity. Quote of the day: “Uncertainty may just be inevitable.” The group connects uncertainty to OCD, catastrophizing, planning, and the futility of trying to mentally solve every possible future. Closing idea: When life goes sideways, goals, needs, and values can become the reliable compass. Confidence can mean trusting your direction, not controlling the outcome. ==AI Recommended References== Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84(2), 191–215. Beck, A. T. (1976). Cognitive therapy and the emotional disorders. International Universities Press. Brown, B. (2006). Shame resilience theory: A grounded theory study on women and shame. Families in Society, 87(1), 43–52. Dugas, M. J., Gagnon, F., Ladouceur, R., & Freeston, M. H. (1998). Generalized anxiety disorder: A preliminary test of a conceptual model. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36(2), 215–226.

You Are Not Failing: Systems, Shame, and the Context Around Us

==Media Links== website: delvepsych.com instagram: @delvepsychchicago youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DelvePsych20 [https://www.youtube.com/@DelvePsych20] substack: https://delvepsych.substack.com/ [https://delvepsych.substack.com/] ==Participants== Hosts: Ali McGarel Adam W. Fominaya ==Overview of Big Ideas== * The episode begins with a deceptively simple claim: you may not be failing; the system around you may be failing you. * Individual responsibility can become a convenient place for systems to deposit blame, especially when institutions, markets, and cultures avoid accountability. * Scale matters. A small individual habit may help, but it may be dwarfed by larger structural forces. * Therapy theories often reflect the values of the cultures that produce them. Reality therapy, systems theory, feminist theory, ACT, and psychoanalysis all emerge from particular historical moments. * “Failure” itself is culturally loaded language. It can turn misfortune, exhaustion, and constraint into personal defect. * Context does not erase responsibility. The better frame may be: “It is not your fault, but it is your problem.” * Shame can be a signal that friction exists, but it does not have to be the force that chooses your next action. * Good creative work often requires ruthless editing. Concision is not easier than length; it is usually harder. ==Breakdown of Segments== * Opening and Delve updates: Ali and Adam invite listeners to share the podcast, follow Delve on Instagram, explore the Substack, and reach out through the website for therapy services. * “You are not failing”: Ali introduces the central quote, and the hosts explore how people often blame themselves without seeing the broader systems shaping their choices, limits, and distress. * Individual blame and structural avoidance: Adam uses recycling, energy use, and corporate scale to examine how large systems shift responsibility onto individuals while leaving the bigger machinery intact. * Effect size and misleading claims: Adam critiques the way research and popular psychology often focus on whether something has a “significant” effect while ignoring how large or meaningful that effect actually is. * Culture as transmission: Ali and Adam discuss how culture is not a monolith. It reaches people through parents, schools, media, influencers, religion, therapy, and other messengers. * Therapy reflects its era: Reality therapy becomes a case study in how psychotherapy can absorb the values of its cultural moment, especially individualism, capitalism, and personal responsibility. * History, religion, and selfhood: Adam connects contemporary guilt and productivity pressure to older religious structures, including the Protestant Reformation and the selling of indulgences. * Productivity and moral worth: The hosts challenge the idea that rest, exhaustion, or non-productivity make a person a failure. * Fault versus problem: The conversation turns toward agency without blame. Even when a situation is not your fault, you may still need to decide what to do with it. * Values, shame, and action: Adam describes bombing in improv and learning that shame can be endured without letting it govern behavior. Ali connects this to ACT and values-driven willingness. * The long letter quote: The episode closes with Mark Twain’s line about not having time to write a short letter, leading into a reflection on editing, concision, creative defeat, and the hard work of making something clear. ==AI Recommended References (APA)== Cushman, P. (1990). Why the self is empty: Toward a historically situated psychology. American Psychologist, 45(5), 599-611. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.45.5.599 [https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.45.5.599] Cushman, P. (1995). Constructing the self, constructing America: A cultural history of psychotherapy. Addison-Wesley. Glasser, W. (1965). Reality therapy: A new approach to psychiatry. Harper & Row. Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (1999). Acceptance and commitment therapy: An experiential approach to behavior change. Guilford Press.

Love as a Verb: Risk, Generosity, and Slowing Down

==Media Links== website: delvepsych.com instagram: @delvepsychchicago youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DelvePsych20 [https://www.youtube.com/@DelvePsych20] substack: https://delvepsych.substack.com/ [https://delvepsych.substack.com/] ==Participants== Ali McGarel Adam W. Fominaya ==Overview of Big Ideas== * Ethan Hawke’s quote becomes a springboard for thinking about love as something you do, not just something you feel. * Unrequited love can be painful, but loving openly is not inherently foolish; chasing someone who is not participating is a different problem. * A relationship is built through mutual agreements, not private fantasies or one person selecting the other into a prewritten life. * “Falling out of love” can be a thin explanation when love is treated only as a feeling rather than an ongoing commitment. * Guardedness may protect against heartbreak, but it can also prevent the very intimacy people are seeking. * Generosity, complimenting, helping, giving, and noticing others can be a real salve for loneliness and low mood. * In conflict, urgency is often misleading. Anything truly worth fighting over will probably still matter in three days. ==Breakdown of Segments== * Opening and Delve updates: social links, Substack reflections, and the Baader-Meinhof frequency illusion. * Ethan Hawke and unrequited love: “the one who loves wins” as a statement about aliveness, risk, and generosity. * Love versus chasing: how to love freely without begging, self-erasing, or trying to force reciprocity. * Dating and agency: why “are they interested back?” is the first dealbreaker. * Love as a verb: commitment, care, negotiation, and the difference between liking how someone makes you feel versus caring about them. * The yard-work example: how small conflicts can reveal larger values, shared dreams, and relational cooperation. * Guarded dating: how past hurt can make people closed off, and why that can sabotage new connection. * Fantasy versus negotiation: imagining a future is normal; building one requires conversation and consent. * Everyday generosity: compliments, soccer stories, Ali’s first goal, and the lasting power of being seen. * Conflict pacing: “drop it, but don’t drop it forever”; waiting before sending the text; slowing down when emotionally activated. ==AI Recommended References (APA)== Brown, B. (2012). Daring greatly: How the courage to be vulnerable transforms the way we live, love, parent, and lead. Gotham Books. Fromm, E. (1956). The art of loving. Harper & Brothers. Gottman, J. M., & Silver, N. (1999). The seven principles for making marriage work. Crown Publishers. Post, S. G. (2005). Altruism, happiness, and health: It’s good to be good. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 12(2), 66-77.