Speak it Out

We are excited to release our first podcast episode of the 2024 season! Together with Sarah Peart ( @sarah_and_sexology ), Certified Sexual Educator, we delve into the world of SEXOLOGY: What is it? What does it mean to study this science and what can a career as a sexologist look like? . Sarah and Ludo explain why they chose this field, and offer some tips to people who would like to do the same....

What is loneliness? Why do we feel lonely when we are with other people? What can we do about it? We explore these topics along with Psychotherapist and Jr. Assistant Professor Anneke Vedder (Utrecht University), and Clinical Psychologists Yashna Pande and Angeliki Giannou. If you are a Utrecht University student here is their Peer Support Group on Loneliness: Conscious Connections

What is asexuality? Together with asexuality activist, Caterina Appia, and Sexologist and researcher, Filippo Nimbi, we try to clarify the main misconceptions surrounding asexuality. What is it? How do asexual people live their sexuality? And what about dating?

We dive deep into the topic of relationships, with the help of Henrik Sahlén ( @warriors_of_light_555 ). Henrik is a facilitator of sessions, workshops & retreats combining movement, psychology & energy healing. We talk about how security allows for vulnerability and depth, and the learning that come from connecting with others and from accepting change in our relationships.

Ludo and Marghe share positive and negative moments during the holidays throughout the years. We hope you can let your feelings flow whatever direction they may take.

We talk about loss, grief, and coping with bereavement along with Dr. Henk Schut, professor and researcher at Utrecht University. We go through the intricacies of grief, common misconceptions, and his (and Maggie Stroebe's) well-known "Dual Process Model of Coping with Bereavement".

With Georgia, a new Shrink it Out member, we talk about the EGO. Is why we engage in these mechanisms, what these mechanisms are, and how we let it all go!!!

And now what? We discuss the anxiety of nearing graduation from University (or high-school) and not knowing what to do next. Where does the pressure come from? Older-generations? Our peers? How does perfectionism play into this? and our inability to tolerate uncertainty? We share our thoughts on these questions along with @ellatheproject.

Along with our friend Sofia, we discuss the idea of breaking up with friends. While in romantic relationships, break-ups follow some sort of patterns and common rules, in friendships this is much more ambiguous. What brings us to break up with friends? Is breaking up as necessary as in romantic partnerships? Is it the same as growing apart?

How do you let go? Are you quick or slow at letting go? What do you find hardest letting go of: people, life phases, parts of yourselves? Ludo and Margherita discuss this and give some tips which personally helped them in letting go

What does honesty mean to us? How much do we value it? Why do we lie? How important is it to be honest to oneself? Being honest about honesty :)

People pleasing, unassertiveness, self-sufficiency.... Why do we engage in this behaviours? How intensely do we fear rejection? Can we work to stop engaging in them and live a free-er existence?

Which emotions do we struggle the most to actually feel? and attenuate? What about expressing them? We talked about this topic with two special guests: Marco Ughi and Mateo Montalbán. Emotions are like muscles, if we are not used to feeling some them, our ability to make use/experience them weakens. Everyone has more dominant and weaker emotions. However, just because we are more comfortable with...

Where does our mind wander more often? For Ludo this is the past while Marghe's mind wanders often towards the future. How come? How does mind wandering help escape reality and how does it impact everyday life?

Is there such a thing as compatibility? How important is it to be close to someone? How does it relate to intimacy? How important is it to you that you have shared views of the world, values to be close to someone? What about life-time compatibility? We share our thoughts on these questions with the help of some external interventions :)

What role do you have in your family? Did it change through the years? How does this relate to how many siblings you have or to divorce? What emotions do we feel towards our family members: jealousy, envy, comfort? We discussed all of these questions with a special guest :)

As the summer season approaches social media seems to become more and more of a competition on who is having the best time. This may be hard and increase our fear of missing out. We had a chat on what FOMO is, who experiences it and in which situations and what can be helpful for people who do feel it frequently.

What is the need for control? What types of control exist? Why do we experience it? Is it bringing us freedom and structure or is it controlling us?

Welcome to our First Episode! We read and discuss two pieces of writing which were sent to us anonymously on Derealisation and Dissatisfaction.