Surviving-ISH Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back to another episode of Surviving-ISH , where we trade the polished highlight reel for the messy, honest truth of getting through life. In this episode, I sit down with my dear friend Jamie—host of the true crime podcast Speculating Wildly About Crime (SWAC Pod) —for a conversation that swings wildly from the petty grievances of competitive cheer moms and toxic corporat...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when chronic illness isn't just about a single physical event, but a lifelong trajectory wired into our nervous system? In this episode of Surviving-ISH, host David Keck sits down with Dr. Kayte, author of Beyond Beauty: How Trauma and Repair Shape Biology, Identity, and Women's Health. They dive deep into the unseen wounds of early childhood abandonment, ho...

Send us Fan Mail When the line between military authority, public spectacle, and extreme state violence disappears, what’s left of a constitutional republic? In this episode of Surviving Politics-ish , we break down two alarming developments unfolding in real time inside the U.S. Department of Defense. First, we examine the stark, authoritarian-style visual rebrand that recently appeared behind De...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Surviving-ISH , we sit down with financial veteran and author of Be a Lion , Dean Vagnozzi. For nearly 20 years, Dean ran a booming financial services business in the Philadelphia area—until a Tuesday morning in July 2020 when the SEC and a court-appointed receiver walked through his doors, froze all of his assets, and completely upended his life. Dean opens up...

Send us Fan Mail In 1995, 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer was lured into the Knoxville woods and brutally murdered. Her killer, 18-year-old Christa Pike, became the youngest woman on death row in modern U.S. history after keeping a fragment of Colleen's skull in her pocket. 30 years later, the State of Tennessee attempted to execute Christa Pike in Nashville—and what followed inside that executio...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Surviving-ISH, Host David Keck sits down with friend, musician, and guest Pharnsworth to break down life’s daily frustrations, modern economic pressures, and serious systemic flaws. The two kick things off commiserating over the modern struggle of postal delays, fake delivery notifications, and waiting on bargain-bin Temu gear—including Pharnsworth’s quest to bu...

Send us Fan Mail JD Vance’s $9,000 Check: Who actually gets paid? 💸 JD Vance just announced a plan to give up to $9,000 to American families. On the surface, a direct check for stay-at-home parents sounds like a dream come true for struggling households. But when you look past the headlines and read the actual fine print, the reality is shocking. In this episode, we expose the rigid, ideological...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when untreated ADHD leads to a downward spiral of addiction? In this raw and unfiltered episode of Surviving Ish , Ronald, your ADHD Guy, opens up about reaching rock bottom, the shocking realization that changed his life forever, and how understanding his neurodivergence became the ultimate key to recovery. From hitting rock bottom to finding resilience through faith...

Send us Fan Mail Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) grilled FBI Director Kash Patel during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing regarding controversial updates to the agency's hiring and background check qualifications. PBS The line of questioning centered on rule changes regarding prior applicant behavior—specifically involving prostitution, trafficking, and bestiality—and whether victims...

Send us Fan Mail What's up, guys? Welcome back to Surviving-ish, Politics Edition. I'm rough, I’m tired, and I’m definitely pouring a drink for this conversation. 🥃 We don't know who to trust in the news anymore, but I’m doing the digging so we don’t have to guess. If you’ve seen the headlines this week promising that Donald Trump is personally going to hand you a $5,000 check if R...

Send us Fan Mail Was the Lindsay Clancy trial doomed from the start, or did one single detail hijack the entire justice system? In this episode of Surviving-ish , we are diving deep into the massive legal shockwave out of Massachusetts: seven straight days of deliberations, over 36 hours locked in a jury room, 85 witnesses—and an absolute MISTRIAL. According to court filings and statement notes, 1...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back to Surviving Politics-ish! In this episode, we’re breaking down a masterclass in political double standards: how Donald Trump treats convicted felons versus how he treats the U.S. military, 9/11 victims, and everyday working Americans. From wishing Ghislaine Maxwell well during her sex trafficking trial—and her subsequent transfer to a minimum-security "Club Fed&...

Send us Fan Mail From fighting university registration portals for 4 hours to realizing your mom isnt just “mom”,this episode gets real about parent-child dynamics, adulting struggles, and living with narcolepsy. David w/ special guest Johnna and her daughter Danica open up about what it was really like growing up with undiagnosed narcolepsy and idiopathic hypersomnia. Plus, they unpack the infamo...

Send us Fan Mail David records an impromptu conversation with returning guest Daniel, who shares what he’s “surviving-ish” after moving farther from work and reframing commute frustration by using it to improve his Spanish, including plans for Spanish TikToks. David vents about rushed deck painting mishaps, then they discuss Daniel’s background leaving a fundamentalist Christian sect and why he ma...

Send us Fan Mail Host David welcomes Christine Blosdale, an Australia-based expert authority coach who helps entrepreneurs get seen, trusted, and paid through branding, messaging, and media. David shares how his podcast began during COVID after therapy stopped, following a brutal anti-gay hate crime and rape that shaped his healing and the show’s shift to “Surviving-ish,” where trauma and everyday...

Send us Fan Mail The episode discusses a recent trend I have noticed while scrolling through social media: a specific group of gay people—mostly cisgender white gay men—publicly stating “I support Trump.” #GayPolitics #Trump #LGBTQ #GayMen #Cisgender #SocialMedia #WhiteGayMen #Politics Support the show

Send us Fan Mail David and Johnna open by chatting about Johnna’s massive home library, a book- cataloging app, and her frustration with two newly empty shelves, leading to ideas for dedicating space to signed books from authors and memoirs by troubled teen industry survivors. The conversation shifts to why true crime and survivor stories can feel comforting, including discussion of Amy Bradley’s...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Surviving Politics-ish, the host reacts to reports that Senator Lindsey Graham died at 71, stressing they don’t celebrate death but refuse to let media “sanctify” his legacy or erase what they call his hypocrisy and the harm of his record. They question the official statement of a brief, sudden illness (described as a main-artery tear), noting Trump’s quick push...

Send us Fan Mail Did you miss her? Because she’s BACK! 🌟 This week on Surviving-ISH , David catches up with the absolutely phenomenal Audrey Nicole for a chat that is equal parts eye-opening, hilarious, and deeply inspiring. Audrey drops some serious truth bombs about her recent adventures, including what actually happens when you show up to a Pride event in a super conservative town. Hint: It’s...

Send us Fan Mail Let’s be honest: life is rarely clean, perfect, or entirely figured out. Most of the time, we’re all just surviving the "ish"—the messy, chaotic, uncertain gray areas of being human. 🤷‍♂️ In this episode of Surviving Ish, host David is joined by author, teacher, and Air Force veteran Shawn Helgerson to talk about what happens when the rigid, black-and-white rules we&apo...

Send us Fan Mail When Andrea Leeb finally spoke the truth about her childhood, her mother’s physical reaction was so intense it defied medical explanation. What followed was decades of denial, a secret that nearly broke her, and a reckoning that changed everything. 👇 Subscribe to Surviving-ISH for more raw, unfiltered stories of survival: [Insert Link] ABOUT THIS EPISODE: In this gripping episode...

Send us Fan Mail Ever received a single “K” text and immediately felt the passive-aggressive wrath? Or had your spellcheck completely ruin your life by changing it to an “L”? In this wildly unfiltered episode of Surviving-ish , we are jumping from hilarious everyday frustrations straight into some of the heaviest realities facing our world today. Joining the conversation is Dee from the incredible...

Send us Fan Mail I used to have ABSOLUTELY ZERO empathy for the MAGA movement. As a gay man living in a deep-red Southern state and a survivor of a brutal hate crime, my anger wasn’t just justified—it was a survival mechanism. But recently, everything shifted. In this raw, unfiltered mini-episode of Surviving Politics-ish , I'm stepping back from the terrifying realities of #Project2025 to lo...

Send us Fan Mail Ever get that chilling feeling that you’ve already lived this exact day? This week, David talks with Jenny Smith, the host of Unholier Podcast, and drops a bombshell about a recurring vision of his own death that has us questioning reality. Are we trapped in a looping timeline, or did David just unlock a memory from a past life? 👁️👁️ We start off normal—laughing about aging, David...

Send us Fan Mail SHE ALMOST DIDN’T MAKE IT OUT… 💔 (Mariel's Story) In this episode of Surviving-ish , we are sitting down with the incredibly brave Mariel, who opens up about a journey that will leave you absolutely speechless. From surviving the dark reality of the troubled teen industry to escaping a highly abusive relationship ruled by coercive control, Mariel’s story is a masterclass in...