ORIGINAL SECTION

“I can’t breathe” isn’t always about air. Sometimes it’s about pressure. Sometimes it’s about survival. Sometimes it’s about trauma living in the body. In this episode, I speak on what it feels like when PTSD shows up physically — tight chest, racing thoughts, shaking nerves, paranoia, and the constant feeling that something bad is about to happen. When your body reacts before your mind can explai...

In this episode, Kariem Ali walks through the quiet war that happens inside the mind — the kind nobody sees, the kind most people suffer with alone. “Traveling With My Demons” is a raw reflection on how trauma follows you, how pain changes shape, and how survival can slowly turn into paranoia. This is not just a story about struggle — it’s about the moment you realize the thoughts you’ve been runn...

There’s a place I don’t talk about often. A place I call the bottom. Not just a basement… but a state of mind. In Episode 6 of the Original Section Podcast, Kariem Ali takes listeners inside the emotional space where fear, trauma, and self-doubt collide — the place people end up when life feels too heavy, growth feels too dangerous, and the mind becomes louder than the world. This episode explores...

In this episode, Self Hate, we explore the quiet war many of us fight when no one else is watching — the one that starts with the mirror. This is a conversation about reflection, trauma, and the environments that shape how we see ourselves. About how self-hate doesn’t come from nowhere… it grows from what we were taught, what we survived, and what we were forced to become. From neighborhood pain t...

There was a time when I wasn’t really living — I was fading. In this episode, I speak openly about addiction, trauma, and the quiet ways people disappear inside themselves. About using substances not to get high, but to stay numb. About how sobriety can feel more frightening than intoxication when your mind is filled with unresolved pain. Faded explores self-medication, identity loss, and the trut...

Episode 3 — The Pain That Turned Into Silence There came a point where the pain stopped being spoken… and started being carried. In this episode, I open up about the kind of trauma that doesn’t scream — the kind that hides in silence. The moments where words no longer feel safe, where smiling becomes a mask, and where surviving means holding everything inside. This is a story about emotional suppr...

'LIVE FROM THE SECTION' Episode 2 explores what happens when pain is met with pressure instead of guidance. This episode reflects on being told to “be strong,” “toughen up,” and “handle it,” without ever being shown how. Through spoken-word narration, Kariem Ali shares how masking emotions, suppressing tears, and forcing toughness led to self-medication, addiction, and vivid intrusive me...

"LIVE FROM THE SECTION " Episode 1 introduces the foundation of this podcast — a story rooted in repeated loss, emotional numbness, and living with trauma at a young age. Through spoken-word narration, this episode reflects on growing up losing loved ones back to back, avoiding funerals, suppressing emotion, and carrying last conversations that never stop echoing. What begins as imaginat...