17. EASY THINGS: Why, for some of us, is lightening up the hardest thing to do?

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Speaker 3 Well, hi, everybody. I missed you.
you. Welcome to We Can Do Easy Things.

Speaker 3 We're talking about easy things today because you might be surprised to know this, but

Speaker 3 you all often on social or in your emails or voicemails tell us that you are spending your weeks thinking about the things that we talk about here, and that makes us feel so good.

Speaker 3 But you should also know that we spend our weeks thinking about every word that you say about the podcast.

Speaker 3 So we read every single thing that you post about the podcast, every email you send, every voicemail that you leave,

Speaker 3 because we're so excited about this. The conversation back and forth is the best part.
That's why I've never just stuck to books because

Speaker 3 the back and forth, the ongoing conversation around

Speaker 3 all of these things we discuss is my favorite part. So thanks for that.

Speaker 3 Also, I'm a deeply sensitive person. And so when you tell me that there's something that you don't love about the podcast,

Speaker 3 I lose my little freaking mind. Okay.

Speaker 2 Just a touch, just a tad. Right.

Speaker 3 So,

Speaker 3 so I'm Abby is saying this because she's been listening to me talk about this for the last week and a half. So I'm on social and I see somebody tweet or I don't know, Instagram, something.

Speaker 3 And they say, I love Glennon's podcast. We can do hard things, but I can't do freaking hard things every week.

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 3 And then

Speaker 3 I see all these comments from this person, and they're all talking about how much they love the podcast, but also how heavy everything we talk about is.

Speaker 2 Right?

Speaker 4 Imagine how hard it is to be us. I mean, you just have to do it for an hour every week.
We have to do it all the hours of all the weeks to just be us.

Speaker 2 Sister,

Speaker 2 thank you.

Speaker 2 Feel pity.

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 3 Exactly that.

Speaker 3 But as you know, sister, I'm obsessing about this because it's not just because I can't stand when anyone doesn't like anything, because honestly, that whole likability ship has sailed, right?

Speaker 3 Very used to being someone,

Speaker 4 yes, out there.

Speaker 3 And I know I can't please everybody, but the reason this bothered me is because it was, it made me think, wait, are we not doing the service on this podcast that I thought we were were doing?

Speaker 3 Because my intention for this podcast was we are going to talk about hard things and that is going to make your life easier.

Speaker 3 That was my

Speaker 4 help each other carry the hard things.

Speaker 3 Exactly. That was my whole premise, like my dissertation or whatever you call it for this thing that we were doing together.
And then I think, oh my God, am I completely wrong?

Speaker 3 Am I talking about the hard things and making things harder for people?

Speaker 2 Yes, yes, you are.

Speaker 3 Am I really?

Speaker 4 I don't think, well, it just,

Speaker 2 but it's good. It's a good hard.
It's a required hard.

Speaker 3 Okay.

Speaker 4 Well, I think hearing that other people are struggling with the same hard, for me, it makes it easier for me.

Speaker 4 And I feel like you're giving language to people who to understand their hard instead of just feeling like I'm all jacked up. They're like, oh, actually,

Speaker 4 I'm just doing this hard thing. I'm not just all broken.

Speaker 2 Right.

Speaker 3 Okay. And also for me, I think I've always noticed about myself that

Speaker 3 what makes me feel like crap is when everybody just talks about light things. And like, it makes me feel like, wait, aren't you just as angsty and

Speaker 3 full of pain as I am? Like, why are you talking about these things? Like you have everything else nailed. So anyway,

Speaker 3 I'm taking my morning walk

Speaker 3 last week thinking about, is it too heavy? Is it too heavy? And

Speaker 3 two separate times, I walk the same path.

Speaker 3 Two people are crying on the path. Look at me, their eyes get wide and they say, I'm listening to your podcast right now.

Speaker 4 Just spreading joy.

Speaker 3 You're just like a, just spreading joy wherever you go. I'm like, California is crying.
It's crying. And then I told you all about this separately because it was, this was the icing on the cake.

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 3 So Abby and I are sitting on this sidewalk in this cute little cafe or something. I don't know.
And these two women walk up to us. And the first one says, oh my God, I'm listening to your podcast.

Speaker 3 I love it. It's so good.

Speaker 3 And then she kind of gets sidetracked with Abby. So I look at the other woman who's with her and I say, okay, so thank you for liking it.
But like, do you think it's too heavy?

Speaker 3 Like, do you think that we should be talking about lighter topics? Like, am I making you sad? Do you have any lighter topic ideas? Like, what do people talk about?

Speaker 3 Like kittens or ray, like, I don't know. Can you give me some ideas? And she says to me this, she says,

Speaker 2 um,

Speaker 3 I just actually don't know who you are. I'm just with my friend.

Speaker 3 But I mean, yeah, you do seem a little intense.

Speaker 3 Okay, so so that's when I understand what's happening here. Okay, what's happening here is that what has happened to me over the past week is that I have gotten my,

Speaker 3 I have been re-traumatized by this truth about myself, which is that I'm a little intense.

Speaker 2 Right.

Speaker 2 That's why we love you, though, babe.

Speaker 4 It's why we love you. Other people say when they, you know, people refer to people and they say, she's a lot.
I've never really liked that phrase. It's like, she's a lot, as in like too much.

Speaker 4 And I think a lot of people feel like they're too much. And I think that's why a lot of people talk about like things because they don't want to be seen as too much.

Speaker 4 Yeah, but I want all of your a lotness because your allotness is perfect.

Speaker 2 You're perfect.

Speaker 3 And honestly, I always think, okay,

Speaker 3 am I too much? Are you just not even close to enough?

Speaker 2 That's right. That's right.
That's what we should be talking about.

Speaker 4 But anyway, but the whole lighten up thing. Don't you think it's a little bit complicated?

Speaker 4 Because like, I just feel like if people, if people want to to lighten up, like, if it's from them, I just feel like if it's something that is required of you that you lighten up, I say no to that lighting up.

Speaker 4 If it's something that you desire for yourself, I say yes to the lighting up. So, required, no, desire, yes.

Speaker 2 Also, we have to remember people opt into this podcast.

Speaker 3 Thank you. It's not called we can do easy things.
It's not like I'm hiding the ball. I called it we can do hard things.

Speaker 4 But for some, well, but for example, if you wanted like to pick my number one hard thing that would be hardest for me, it would be lightning up.

Speaker 2 So it is

Speaker 4 and both.

Speaker 4 And I just feel like for people who, especially for women, lightning up is this like kind of like do all, it's like what you said in the, um, how you were talking the other day and you said, we're supposed to carry the whole sky and be exhausted all the time.

Speaker 4 Then we're also supposed to put on concealer to not show the evidence that we have been carrying the whole sky.

Speaker 4 It's like we're supposed to be doing all these things, but then we're supposed to like be light and breezy about it.

Speaker 4 And I just feel like, and structurally, I mean, water only flows in the same direction always until it's disrupted.

Speaker 4 It's like there is a value in not being the go-with-the-flow person, or else we're always going to end up the exact same place.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I feel like we've gotten into a defensive position, a defensive topic.

Speaker 2 You think that's possible? I'm just, I'm just showing, I'm just saying, you know what? Like, these are just, you know, this is feedback. And as an athlete, feedback is important.

Speaker 2 And I, I think lightening up might do us a little good, right?

Speaker 2 Like, maybe we could go like a couple of dinners without having an existential conversation with our children about life and what is life. Like, I just want to maybe talk about.

Speaker 2 like Zach freaking Efron. Do you want to tell that story, Glennon?

Speaker 4 Okay, can you, before you tell that story, because you're just said about meals, can I just tell what happened at the breakfast table this actual morning? Yes.

Speaker 4 So we were having breakfast and

Speaker 4 John says something like, wow, the mosquitoes are really active right now.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 4 because they're tearing us to shreds.

Speaker 5 And Alice goes, well, technically, dad,

Speaker 4 the only the female mosquitoes are active because they are the only ones that bite. I'm like, why did.
What is that? Why do only the females bite, Alice?

Speaker 4 Well, because they need the blood because they're going back to their babies. That's how it has something to do with the eggs and the babies so the males don't bite and i'm and i am like

Speaker 2 what

Speaker 4 and i get i'm like see see we think the females are annoying because they have to bite why do they have to bite for the perpetuation of their species because the males over there they don't have any responsibility so guess what they're not deemed annoying

Speaker 4 what the hell are they doing what are they doing all day what are the male mosquitoes doing all day i don't know but guess what no one's mad at the male mosquitoes because they don't have to bite and john looks at me from the breakfast table like with the face of a man who is surprised by his inability to not be surprised anymore right and he just shakes his head and is like does

Speaker 4 everything have to be about everything

Speaker 2 like let's

Speaker 3 does everything have to be about

Speaker 4 everything that's right yes it does damn it but that but i would i'm curious about this conversation let's be light i would like to be lighter in my life i do i do. I would like it.

Speaker 4 It would be lovely.

Speaker 3 Well, here's the deal. I don't think that I'm ever going to be a light human being.
Okay. I have a radical acceptance of myself.
Like that is what I wrote a whole chapter about Untamed.

Speaker 3 I'm midnight, midnight. I am a midnight human being.
If I were a time of day, it would be midnight. If Abby were a time of day, she would be 2 p.m., 2 p.m.,

Speaker 2 no clouds in the sky, bright, bright, bright.

Speaker 3 Right?

Speaker 3 So

Speaker 3 I have accepted accepted that about myself, but this is a community. This is not just me.
This is a community of people.

Speaker 3 And I am humble enough to know that sometimes people need more than what is natural for me. So, and also maybe it would be a gift to give ourselves to try to lighten up a little bit.

Speaker 3 So we are going to add some lightness today.

Speaker 2 And your partners. Gifts of you and your partners.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 You and your partners. Right, right, right.

Speaker 3 Not to change ourselves, but just to be in service to ourselves and to you.

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 3 Because as Abby mentioned, our friends who are two women who are married to each other and one is the midnight blue and the other one is the 2 p.m. and the 2 p.m.

Speaker 3 one that just looked at her wife in the middle of dinner who was talking about war

Speaker 2 and

Speaker 3 she said,

Speaker 3 sometimes I just want to freaking talk about Zach Efron.

Speaker 3 Which, by the way, is that so weird. Why did she want to talk about about Zach Efron?

Speaker 2 Isn't he?

Speaker 4 Because at the time, Throb and yeah, because,

Speaker 2 yes, but at the time, Zach Efron, this is like 10 years ago, Zach Efron was like one of the biggest movie stars.

Speaker 2 This is just like my favorite story ever because you can't, like, there's usually one lesbian in every relationship that's like militant about feminism and it's me, gay actor.

Speaker 3 I'm militant. Yeah.

Speaker 2 And there's usually another lesbian who's just like a little bit easier going about the world and things.

Speaker 2 And I just, this Zach Efron story is my favorite because that's exactly how I feel. Like

Speaker 2 sometimes I just like want to talk about nothing, not

Speaker 2 everything. Right.

Speaker 3 I hear you. Okay.
All right. We're going to try.

Speaker 3 Sounds pointless and awful. If you would like to talk about pointless, awful things,

Speaker 2 please leave your ideas.

Speaker 3 Please leave your ideas at 747-200-5307.

Speaker 2 Teach some like phone.

Speaker 2 I just checked the number. It's the correct one.
She's not giving a fake one. It's the correct one.

Speaker 3 Yes.

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Speaker 3 okay so we do have some lighter questions that we're going to throw to the panel today

Speaker 3 and the panel of three

Speaker 3 and the first question,

Speaker 3 you all, is about movies.

Speaker 3 Okay.

Speaker 6 Hi, Glennon. This is Liz.
I'm just curious, what are your favorite movies to watch, and what's some of your favorite music to listen to? I love the podcast. Thanks so much.

Speaker 3 Okay, so first I think we should each maybe say

Speaker 3 one of our favorite movies. Sister, have you ever watched a movie? I'm going to put you on the spot.
I'm serious.

Speaker 2 These questions are going to not apply. Like, can you answer N slash A?

Speaker 3 She's going to say like a Ken Burns documentary or like something about,

Speaker 3 like, do you know any movies? I'm serious. I just don't want to put you on the spot if you don't know any movies.

Speaker 4 I mean, I know about movies.

Speaker 2 Okay, okay. All right.

Speaker 3 Abby, you and I can answer this question. And then, if Sister can think of one, she'll probably Google it real quick and then she'll tell us hers.

Speaker 3 I like this question to go after this conversation about lightness because I think it relates so much

Speaker 3 because

Speaker 3 I have found that people who are 2 p.m on the inside

Speaker 3 tend to like dramatic feely movies oh uh-huh and people i maybe i shouldn't speak for all people but midnight people like me

Speaker 3 do not okay i hate with it my favorite movies are

Speaker 3 as follows. Elf.

Speaker 2 Boring.

Speaker 3 Elf is my favorite movie.

Speaker 2 I mean, I love Elf, but like, you like boring movies. You like movies that don't get you above or below a certain emotional feeling.

Speaker 3 That's right. Elf Home Alone, although, although the scenes get pretty, my heart starts beating when the robbers come inside.

Speaker 4 Too intense.

Speaker 3 I love

Speaker 3 Legally Blonde, although the sexual harassment scene gets me every time. Oh my God.
I like Notting Hill. I like movies that I know.

Speaker 2 Except the objectification of Julia Roberts in the movie and then talk about the eating disorder. You will find a problem

Speaker 2 living within every kind of television show or movie. And so what it does is it really limits our

Speaker 2 movie slash TV situation. So what I have to do is whenever I go on a trip to go to work or whatever,

Speaker 2 people, I have to watch like the war and mystery and crime. And so the people to my right and left on planes are like, what is this person watching because i gotta consume it in these like time

Speaker 3 you know what babe you know what the real world is full of what war and mystery and crime why

Speaker 3 i beg of you do we have to make up fake war and mystery and crime why

Speaker 3 do we have to make it up to be entertained by it we can put it on the news if i'm watching a movie i want to be less upset

Speaker 3 We use movies for different things. Okay.
Like we have one child who I think is very much like you. She's sunny.
She's not stormy on the inside. And she likes

Speaker 3 dramatic movies. She likes scary movies.
She likes very, very sad music.

Speaker 2 Well, I think it's because it's, we can't, we don't go there very easily. We don't go to the sad parts of our humanity as easily as you do.
And so sometimes we have to curate it ourselves.

Speaker 2 And part of that is in movies or art or music. I mean, I only like sad music, literally.
I know.

Speaker 2 And for a while, you thought that I was rainy on the inside. So that's why I liked listening to sad music and watching some sad movies.
I was just depressed.

Speaker 2 That was just a depressive period of my life. I'm actually pretty sunny on the inside.
And I think because of that, that makes me want to actually feel sometimes the full spectrum of human emotion.

Speaker 2 And one of those spectrums is sadness.

Speaker 3 Interesting. Remember when we were trying to decide where to live and you said, you said, well, I live in Portland.

Speaker 3 And I said, oh, for Christ's sakes, I am Portland on the inside. I cannot live in Portland on the outside.

Speaker 3 I need to be with the sun screaming at me. Sister, what is your take on all of this?

Speaker 4 I'm just really interested in what Abby just said and what you're saying about you watch the opposite of yourself

Speaker 4 as like an escape from yourself. That's so interesting, an ability to access things.
I find I have a hard hard time watching TV shows and movies because I

Speaker 4 feel like then it takes up residence in my head. Like I am now,

Speaker 4 like when I start watching them and I really like them, I become obsessed and I can't stop. It'll be like 2 a.m.

Speaker 2 I'll be like, one more, one more.

Speaker 4 I have to keep going. But then I find like the character, I'm like.
talking like them. I'm when I was pregnant with and they're living.
I'm worried. I seriously am worried about them during the day.

Speaker 4 Yeah.

Speaker 4 I can't, there's no separation between what I'm watching and then it's just with, it's like a total immersion program where it's like, when I was watching The Wire, when I was pregnant with Bobby, do you know The Wire?

Speaker 3 Oh, I tried that for 15 minutes.

Speaker 4 No, I got through and then I was like, oh, I, I live there with them. I am so, I, I couldn't stop.
And I had to stop at the last season because I realized it was so, I was doing it so much.

Speaker 4 I was thinking about it so much that I was like, my, my child is going to be born and it's going to be like, bam, bam, bam, bam.

Speaker 2 Like,

Speaker 4 I am intravenously transferring all of this emotional weight to my child. And so I, so I had to stop there.
But I think that's my problem. It's not an escape for me.
It's like

Speaker 4 adding another, it's assimilating. a whole nother thing into my head.

Speaker 5 You do that.

Speaker 3 I mean, even when I think about when I've tried to watch my, because trash TV for me is a very, is a perfect, it's a perfect thing.

Speaker 2 okay like a real housewives

Speaker 2 yes if there's a conflict in the show I'm watching I just want it to be are Teresa and Melissa from the Real Housewives of New Jersey ever gonna pull it together and be friends like I need that level of conflict that's it okay yeah with no consequences like no consequences yeah exactly um but I mean we'll be watching a movie babe we'll be watching a movie and a conflict comes up and it's a pretty gnarly one like handmaid's tale no god oh god nope nope no nobody nope and and glennon I will like look over and she hasn't taken a breath in like 60 seconds.

Speaker 2 And I'll be like, honey, breathe. Just breathe.

Speaker 3 And then you always say, which makes me

Speaker 3 crazy. She says, this is not real.
And I'm like, yes, everything is real. Everything is real.
If somebody has thought of this, it's, this is a metaphor, but it's not, but this actually happened.

Speaker 4 Well, and more than that, it's happening to me. That's what John says all the time.
This is fake. This is not really happening.
I'm like, oh, you want to tell my body that?

Speaker 4 Because I am very, very upset about this thing that's not happening.

Speaker 3 Tell the, tell the two-inch puddle of sweat below me that this is not happening.

Speaker 3 This is not real.

Speaker 2 Yeah, that's right. I mean,

Speaker 2 it feels real, but it's just like, it's, it's fiction in the way that it's being told.

Speaker 2 And then I have to, I have to say, it's art. And you're like, okay, okay, it's art.
Okay. It's the only way it gets you to like take a breath.

Speaker 3 Yeah, that does get me to take a breath.

Speaker 4 I'm glad this has been so light.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 3 Okay, so Elf, Home Alone. I love Almost Famous.
I can watch that one.

Speaker 2 Almost Famous. I love that movie so much.

Speaker 3 I think about the scene when Kate Hudson finds out that the boys were trading her for beer and then she

Speaker 3 looks at the guy with her watery eyes and smile and says, what kind of beer? And I don't know why. Or

Speaker 3 Lester Bangs.

Speaker 3 I mean,

Speaker 3 the only true currency in this bankrupt world is what we share with each other when we're uncool.

Speaker 2 Forget it. And also, I'm on drugs.

Speaker 4 So good.

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Speaker 3 There has never been a more perfect male character in any TV show

Speaker 3 than Ted Lasso.

Speaker 2 Okay. Okay.

Speaker 3 Okay. I just, I need for everyone to watch Ted Lasso.

Speaker 2 I, oh, God. I can't believe I didn't say that before.

Speaker 3 Oh, my God. It's, I, I can't put into words how comforting, how deep, how funny, how perfect, how

Speaker 3 necessary,

Speaker 3 how beautiful. The level of conflict is right on.

Speaker 3 Okay, the humor is perfection.

Speaker 3 The lessons and depth in it, the writing it's the show that is needed and i you know i don't have any like connection to ted lasso or anything i'm just our family just feels very it is about the soccer so there's that and it's also about the football though because he was a football coach so he's applying all these i feel like there's a little dadism in there for us where it's like the old school like

Speaker 2 all right or

Speaker 4 I mean, he's just like an old school football coach trying to apply his life to soccer.

Speaker 3 And it's so it is such an anti-toxic masculinity. It's like an undoing of everything.

Speaker 3 And it's like in this time when leadership is so just gone and like we have gotten so confused about what a good leader is and what's important.

Speaker 3 It's Ted Lasso on the scene just reminding us of goodness and what real power is.

Speaker 2 And oh, so good. Some of his little, like, little

Speaker 2 quiet one-liners are

Speaker 2 like

Speaker 2 just completely shifting, like mind-shifting, you know, like the joke, but the truth in the joke and the sexism that he talks about through a joke. It's just, it's so beautifully done.

Speaker 2 Jason Sudecas, great job.

Speaker 3 Yeah, good stuff.

Speaker 3 And light.

Speaker 4 Light. Yeah, it's light, but heavy.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 Yeah. Okay.

Speaker 3 Let's, oh, she did ask about music. So I would say the same thing about music.
I don't want to be sad and upset when I listen to music. I like some good

Speaker 3 protest music. I love some Tracy Chapman.

Speaker 2 I love Bucklan.

Speaker 3 I love

Speaker 2 the Indigo Girls.

Speaker 3 I've listened to the Indigo Girls maybe every day of my life since I got sober because they helped me get sober. They helped me learn how to feel my feelings.
I used to every single day.

Speaker 3 I was so scared when I got sober that. my feelings would kill me.

Speaker 3 And so each day I would put on one Indigo Girls song and let myself feel for that song. And then when it was done, I would tell myself I didn't have to feel any feelings anymore.

Speaker 3 So Amy and Emily helped get me sober and I still listened to them every single day. And in fact, when I told Craig that I was in love with Abby,

Speaker 3 the first thing he said was,

Speaker 3 wait, is this what all the Indigo Girls has been about?

Speaker 2 Yep.

Speaker 3 And I said, holy shit, I think it might just be. I mean, there was just something in their voices that I knew was for me, some kind of freedom and some kind of subversiveness and some kind of longing.

Speaker 3 And I still love all of that.

Speaker 2 Sissy, what kind of music are you into?

Speaker 4 We're on a

Speaker 4 we're on a T-Swift

Speaker 4 period right now. This is the period of the T-Swift.
And I, I just, I love her so much. And I love that my daughter is obsessed with her because it just,

Speaker 4 so we're listening to a lot of that.

Speaker 4 And Alice, I love it because every time she puts one on, she requests them and she says, mommy, you need to make sure this is the Taylor version because I don't want that guy getting her money.

Speaker 3 And yes.

Speaker 4 So I love just everything that she says.

Speaker 4 John has recently turned me on to Sturgil Simpson, who is,

Speaker 4 he's wonderful. And I feel like there's this new kind of crew of of um country but taking back country from the establishment margo price yes yes yes yes and then

Speaker 4 chris stapleton jason isbel and amanda yeah and his wife amanda is amazing in her own right so i'm into what they're doing too

Speaker 3 cool what about you babe

Speaker 2 well

Speaker 2 I like to keep up with the times. So

Speaker 2 taylor swift for sure olivia rodrigo um phoebe bridgers the vampire weekend um

Speaker 2 a lot of stuff that the kids turn on in the car they're like now just getting into music in a big way and you know it's tough when they get like very much into olivia rodrigo because that's like all we listen to every car ride but you know i'm staying up on the times I also like the Indigo Girls.

Speaker 2 I also like Bruce Ringstein.

Speaker 2 You know, lots of of folks.

Speaker 4 I mean, shout out to Olivia Rodrigo, though.

Speaker 3 She's good. I expected her not to be because Tish told me she was like a Disney person, whatever.
And then I found myself listening to her album again and again.

Speaker 3 I'm glad the kiddos have Olivia Rodrigo. She's saying things that are important.

Speaker 2 Yeah, like go vote.

Speaker 2 Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 4 And we would be. remiss to do this whole thing on music and not mention the hottest drop um in recent history, which is

Speaker 4 Tish Melton's We Can Do Hard Things. I mean, to the men.
top of the playlist, people.

Speaker 3 Oh, I mean, you all, basically, I feel like mostly this group of podcast listeners, the pod squad, took Tish Melton's We Can Do Hard Things. I think it hit number eight on iTunes.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 I mean, she's freaking out. It's like

Speaker 3 so wonderful.

Speaker 3 And better than that are the stories.

Speaker 3 People are sending me pictures of their little kids listening to them, videos of their, you know, seven-year-olds and eight-year-olds doing their hard things, listening to the song.

Speaker 3 One lady wrote this letter about how she is getting sober and listens to the song over and over again. So Tish is kind of her indigo girls because she's, you know,

Speaker 3 I don't know.

Speaker 2 Tish is just kind of filled up, filled up lately.

Speaker 3 So thanks to you all, really. Thanks for supporting our little one.

Speaker 2 For sure.

Speaker 3 Okay, let's hear from Ginger.

Speaker 6 Hi. Oh my goodness.
I love you. Glennon and Amanda, my name is Ginger, and I don't have a hard question for you, but my beautiful cheetah friend, Chelsea, is going through a very hard time right now.

Speaker 6 And I was wondering if you could just

Speaker 6 tell her hi, and she is loved, and she is supported, and she is a goddamn cheetah.

Speaker 6 Love your podcast. Thank you for what you do.
Goodbye.

Speaker 2 Aw,

Speaker 2 Chelsea.

Speaker 3 Ginger.

Speaker 2 What a good friend. I just read about

Speaker 3 somebody. Ginger

Speaker 3 sat down in her house, thought about her friend Chelsea, picked up the phone, found the phone number, left the voicemail on the small chance that on the air we would get to talk to her friend Chelsea.

Speaker 3 Chelsea,

Speaker 3 as Ted Lasso would say,

Speaker 3 we all go through hard times, but it is a blessing to not go through them alone. That's what he said in the locker room last night, right, babe?

Speaker 3 So, I mean, Chelsea, very cool that you have somebody like Ginger to go through this hard time with.

Speaker 3 I mean,

Speaker 3 you know, I love talking about hard times. Okay.
So let me start this one.

Speaker 3 I'm not a big advice person. I'm really not, because nobody else knows what we should do ever.

Speaker 3 But there is this good news that I have found during hard times, which is that

Speaker 3 hard times kind of like

Speaker 3 give you an excuse to forget everything

Speaker 3 except the things that are most precious and most important to you. It's like that idea that we have that the word crisis, you know, the word crisis, which we all want to avoid.

Speaker 3 Crisis is bad, crisis is bad. The word crisis actually means to sift.

Speaker 3 Like one of those kids who goes to the beach and like digs up the sand and holds that little sieve up and watches all the sand fall, hoping that there will be treasure left over, right?

Speaker 3 That's what crisis does.

Speaker 3 It forces us to watch everything fall away so that we can find out

Speaker 3 what treasure is left over, right? And what can't be taken from us. So Chelsea, during this shitty, shitty time, pay close attention to the treasures that will be uncovered because they will.

Speaker 3 And then give yourself permission, Chelsea, to just do nothing but the next right

Speaker 2 thing.

Speaker 3 You know, during hard times, we all want to know how is it going to end? How is it going to end? When is it going to end? Why is it going to end?

Speaker 3 And we don't get any of those answers. Unfortunately, we never get the five-year plan.
We never get to see the final destination, but we do

Speaker 3 get to be part of this amazing system where if we surrender that wish to knowing how it's all going to turn out and we instead just decide, okay, I'm going to.

Speaker 3 I'm going to go inside and I'm just going to do the next right thing one thing at a time, then the whole path becomes like this yellow brick road. And

Speaker 3 as soon as we commit to the next right thing, then the next right thing lights up.

Speaker 3 And it's like that saying where we, we're driving at night and we can make it all the way home just by seeing the next 10 feet that our headlights show us.

Speaker 3 So,

Speaker 3 Chelsea, pay attention. Look for the treasure.
I think ginger is one of the treasures.

Speaker 3 And you just do the next right thing one thing at a time, and that will take you all the way home.

Speaker 1 Also, you're a goddamn cheetah.

Speaker 3 That's right, baby.

Speaker 2 That's right.

Speaker 5 I see so many products out there for hair care. It's hard to know where to start or what I even need.

Speaker 5 My hair texture has changed a lot over the years, depending on what phase of life I've been in or what my hormones are currently doing.

Speaker 5 And if you're someone who is also coloring your hair, it might mean you want a product that really supports the health of your hair.

Speaker 5 I have tried hair masks before with none that have really stood out to me or which might leave my hair soft for like a day, then back to dry and brittle the next day.

Speaker 5 But that is why I want to tell you about the K18 Molecular Repair Hair Mask. This isn't just another temporary fix.

Speaker 5 It's patented K18 peptide goes deep all the way to the molecular level to actually repair damage from coloring, bleaching, and heat. The result?

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Just a few minutes once a week after coloring and your hair starts to come back to life.

Speaker 5 It's like giving your hair a reset button, leaving it healthier, smoother, and more resilient than ever before. So yes, we can do hard things, but your hair doesn't have to be one of them.

Speaker 5 With K-18, you can keep coloring, styling, and creating while your hair stays strong and beautiful every step of the way.

Speaker 5 Shop K18's mask at Sephora or get 10% off your first purchase with code hardthings at k18hair.com. That's code hardthings at k18hair.com.

Speaker 3 All right, now we're going into this brand new segment that we decided to do because

Speaker 3 so many of you are so damn funny and amazing. And we just decided we're going to have a pod squatter of the week.

Speaker 2 So

Speaker 3 we have two pod squatters of the week today, and they are Olivia and Lindsay. Can we please hear from Olivia and Lindsay?

Speaker 6 Okay, so you can totally use this because we are obsessed with you.

Speaker 6 Okay, hey, so it's Olivia. I'm Lizzie, and we're dating and we're both 19 and we're calling in because we have a question for you.
You're cutting me off.

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 2 Take number two.

Speaker 6 I'm so sorry, Bonnie. Okay, hey, it's Olivia.
My name's Lizzie and we're both 19 and we're dating. Top twist.

Speaker 6 And our question for you is how to kind of cope with our teenage friends referring to straight sex as normal sex. Thank you.
There's just a lot. I'm going to keep going because it's important.

Speaker 6 It's just really hard to navigate because our friends just are constantly invalidating our experiences and saying that they're not as real.

Speaker 6 Okay, we can do hard things.

Speaker 2 Six number three.

Speaker 6 Hey, so my name is Olivia and my name is Lizzie and we're both 19 years old and we're dating.

Speaker 6 Anyways, we're calling in because We are constantly surrounded by friends referring to straight sex as normal sex, which is obviously not inclusive of our relationship.

Speaker 6 And we're wondering if you have any suggestions on how to cope with that and and like how to handle that situation. Please let us know.
We love you. Okay.

Speaker 2 Those are my favorite. I want them on the show.
Me too. I love you.
I want them on the show.

Speaker 4 This reminds me. I mean, this is the power of not quitting, like our last episode.

Speaker 2 Those two

Speaker 4 women tried three different times to leave that message. And they, nonetheless, they persisted.

Speaker 2 They really did.

Speaker 3 And also, can we talk about like the unbelievable stereotype, but truth of the codependency in lesbian relationships? Like, were they on the call together? Were they sharing one phone?

Speaker 2 Like, how did that happen? They had to. Oh, love them.
Love them.

Speaker 3 Olivia and Lindsay. I mean, so

Speaker 3 Olivia and Lindsay's hard thing is that they feel discounted and

Speaker 3 disrespected. They feel like their relationship is disrespected by friends who sort of

Speaker 3 in a million different ways, suggest that real relationships are between a man and a woman. So, how could Olivia and Lindsay's relationship be real?

Speaker 3 Listen, I get this.

Speaker 3 You get this, babe, right?

Speaker 2 Yeah, I have a kind of a my experience. It was like I was the person that was educating everybody about the gayness.

Speaker 2 So, like, I'm on the other side of the spectrum where I'm like, I actually don't want to talk about sexual or sexuality or or like what parts go where and who does what. Like,

Speaker 2 I think that all sex is normal sex, you know?

Speaker 3 Yeah, totally. I mean, I,

Speaker 3 you tend to be lighter about this than I do. I get really pissed off at all of the macro and micro aggressions.
I'm going to share one thing for Lindsay.

Speaker 3 I'm going to share one thing for Lindsay and Olivia, because if I'm sure they have gotten this, and if they haven't yet, they will. And this is something that annoys me to no end.

Speaker 3 But I also want to say that many of you listening have probably done this, maybe in comments or said something like this to me. And I want you to know that it's okay.

Speaker 3 I love you. And I know that when you've done this,

Speaker 3 it has been meant with good intentions. And now I'm just going to explain it and we're all going to have grace for each other and try again.

Speaker 3 Okay, so this thing happens constantly with us, babe, which is that people on Instagram, on Twitter, in real life, at events, on the street, at a party, all the time

Speaker 3 will come up to me and say something like this.

Speaker 3 Oh, my God, Abby is so freaking hot.

Speaker 2 Oh, God, here we go.

Speaker 3 I would leave my husband for Abby.

Speaker 2 I did not know you were going here.

Speaker 3 Well, you know that that's okay.

Speaker 3 So

Speaker 3 I think think i would leave my husband i would totally leave my husband for abby i would totally i would leave my

Speaker 3 okay

Speaker 3 i believe

Speaker 3 that the intention

Speaker 3 behind this comment is that the person is trying to signal to me. This is always a straight woman, right?

Speaker 3 And she's trying to signal to me that she is down with my relationship, that she is an ally, that she is progressive, that she is with me, that she is also a goddamn cheetah, that she has a rainbow flag, that she, right?

Speaker 3 Like she is trying to signal this to me.

Speaker 3 But in fact,

Speaker 3 what it does is the

Speaker 3 reveals the opposite, okay? What it's revealing is deep internal homophobia. Okay.
Now,

Speaker 3 let me explain why. Because,

Speaker 3 sister, I want you to imagine. Okay, you have a friend, Brooke, right?

Speaker 3 I want you to imagine walking up to your friend Brooke, whose husband's name is Mike.

Speaker 3 You barely know Brooke, though, okay, in this scenario. And you're walking up to Brooke and you're meeting her for the first time.
And I want you to think about the first thing you say.

Speaker 4 I'm going to say.

Speaker 2 Okay, go ahead.

Speaker 4 Oh my God, Brooke. It is so nice to meet you.
And I would totally leave my husband for Mike.

Speaker 2 Exactly. Yeah.

Speaker 2 So F'd up. You would never say that.

Speaker 2 Okay.

Speaker 3 And so what you're implying, what you're revealing is that you in fact don't respect my relationship as much as you respect male-female relationships because you would respect that boundary.

Speaker 3 If it were a male and a female, but because we're two females, you don't see our relationship or our marital boundary as real. real, and it feels fun and playful, and it feels like you can F with it.

Speaker 2 Or

Speaker 2 they just might think that I'm hot.

Speaker 3 Okay, that everyone thinks you're hot.

Speaker 2 Okay, I'm just kidding.

Speaker 4 You're objectively hot.

Speaker 2 No, but no, no, no.

Speaker 4 But we don't know. Mike could be objectively hot too.
Exactly.

Speaker 3 Exactly.

Speaker 4 I mean, unlikely. Mike is definitely not as hot as you.

Speaker 4 But it's, but the boundary, that the boundary that we respect of not telling heterosexual couples that we would like to lay in bed and sleep with their spouses is

Speaker 4 a boundary of respect to their institution and their marriage and their relationship.

Speaker 4 I think this effort to kind of signal allyship and think, and like, I'm cool with you sleeping with her so much so that I also would sleep with her. Like, it's, it is a lack of, it's a misstep.

Speaker 4 I agree with you that it comes from a place of intent, but it does reveal that

Speaker 4 you would not be horrified to say that to me reveals that you don't actually respect

Speaker 4 my relationship the way you respect your relationship.

Speaker 2 So,

Speaker 2 what do we say to Olivia and Lindsay about their problem?

Speaker 3 Olivia and Lindsay don't have a problem because Olivia and Lindsay have each other and they are the luckiest people on earth. I mean, they are gay.
They are queer.

Speaker 3 They already hit the freaking jackpot. They get to hang out for the rest of their lives.
They get to make out with each other. They get to have an endless sleepover party until they die.

Speaker 3 So I'm not worried about Olivia and Lindsay. And also they're talking about sex.
Okay. So like if I walk up to a person at a party and I open with, I want people to take my sex life seriously.

Speaker 3 I want you to acknowledge that vaginas are also, then I am opening the door.

Speaker 2 Yeah, that's it. That's right.

Speaker 4 Maybe the answer for them, I mean, I think the answer to the people who want to say, say, want to signal that they love what you guys have together is, you have a beautiful family.

Speaker 2 What a beautiful couple.

Speaker 4 It's so, it's, it's, it's so great to see you together. Something like that.
That isn't that. Yeah.

Speaker 4 And then to these two, maybe the problem is trying to worry about justifying your sexuality to other people. Maybe you just go about being very happy in your sex life and let other

Speaker 4 and not worry about whether people think you're having good sex. You just go ahead and have it because isn't that really the ultimate reward?

Speaker 2 Yeah. And I also,

Speaker 2 but when is the ultimate reward? But when we're talking about like conversations in college, right?

Speaker 2 And helping some of these other kids who aren't in the gay circles that I found myself in, like, unfortunately, some of us have to hold standards for some of those friends so that they can learn some of these like language questions and answers, right?

Speaker 2 So, you know, heteronormative sex, like teaching them some of the words and the phrases that

Speaker 2 can feel more inclusive than exclusive.

Speaker 4 Yeah, well, I think that's a really good point.

Speaker 4 We should tell these two to listen to our episode on sex, yeah, because it is true that until the 1970s, sex was defined as penal penetration of a vagina. And I mean, that's it.

Speaker 4 So it is, it's true that that was literally, that is sexual intercourse.

Speaker 3 Okay, sister, you have a pod squatter of the week too, right?

Speaker 4 Yes, yes, yes, yes. Here we go.
Let's listen to this cat.

Speaker 7 Hi, Glennon. My name is Alan.
I'm calling in to thank you. I listened to your podcast episode about roles and responsibilities at home.

Speaker 7 And my wife and I sat down and made the invisible list visible and realized that my wife was doing so much because because I wasn't doing enough.

Speaker 7 So, since then, I've taken on the laundry and the grocery shopping, going to the grocery store every weekend to buy groceries for the entire week. My wife thanks you, and I thank you.

Speaker 5 I appreciate it.

Speaker 4 I mean,

Speaker 4 you can have Olivia and Lindsay, but I have Alan's wife. Alan, Alan.

Speaker 2 Okay. Alan's wife.

Speaker 3 Alan's wife.

Speaker 4 I want to tell you that this,

Speaker 4 if nothing else, the gratification that has come from the overwhelm episode to me, just in people feeling seen and understood.

Speaker 4 And also on a personal level, me knowing that I am not, in fact, just a psychopath person, but this is

Speaker 4 that I am not, in fact, a person. Crazy?

Speaker 2 That you're a guy cheetah?

Speaker 4 That this is a true thing that is happening inside people's heads with the ticker.

Speaker 4 And then we've heard this a lot, that it's just like the people that are brave enough, Alan's wife who sat down and said, This is my experience.

Speaker 4 Will you take the time and listen to this and understand this?

Speaker 4 And then the people that are brave enough, like sweet Alan, who's like, I will do that. Not only will I do that, I will now

Speaker 4 start a new practice.

Speaker 4 I mean, I just love it. It makes me so happy.
Yay, Alan, yay, Alan's wife.

Speaker 3 That they're having some good sex after that grocery shop, too.

Speaker 4 Tell you what,

Speaker 4 they're not going to have to justify their sex to anyone.

Speaker 2 Oh, my God.

Speaker 3 That's why Alan sounds so happy on that voicemail. It

Speaker 3 all works out.

Speaker 4 There is no aphrodisiac like, hey, do we have hamburger buns in toilet paper?

Speaker 2 We do.

Speaker 4 And I didn't procure them.

Speaker 2 Let's get Megan. Let's get it.

Speaker 4 And with that.

Speaker 2 And with that.

Speaker 3 You guys, we did light things.

Speaker 4 I know. I said.

Speaker 2 We did light things, right? I said tough.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 3 All All right. I'm proud of us.
We can do hard things, but y'all, don't forget this week. We can also do easy things.

Speaker 4 Also, I think we should leave

Speaker 4 people with a Ted Lasso bit of advice for doing easy things.

Speaker 4 You know what the happiest animal on earth is, Glenn and Abby?

Speaker 2 No.

Speaker 4 It's a goldfish.

Speaker 2 Oh, why?

Speaker 4 You want to know why?

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 4 Got a 10-second memory.

Speaker 4 Be a goldfish this week, guys. You just go through life just for 10 seconds at a time.
You got low expectations.

Speaker 4 You got low memory. You just be 10 seconds at a time.

Speaker 3 Low expectations and a short-term memory problem. That is the secret.

Speaker 2 I think I am a goldfish. I think I actually am a goldfish.

Speaker 4 That's why you're so damn happy. That's why you're 2 p.m.
Okay.

Speaker 4 I am an elephant.

Speaker 2 Okay. That's what I am.

Speaker 3 All right, my favorite elephant, my favorite goldfish. We will see you all back here next week.

Speaker 2 We can do hard things. Bye, guys.

Speaker 2 Love you.

Speaker 3 We Can Do Hard Things is produced in partnership with Cadence 13 Studios. Be sure to rate, review, and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Odyssey, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 3 Especially be sure to rate and review the podcast if you really liked it. If you didn't, don't worry about it.
It's fine.