Ends with Z

Whether we were ready or not, we’re in 2023! Our kickoff episode to the year surrounds setting goals and intentions, being mindful of our thought processes, the importance of yearly closure, and why it only takes a glass of champagne to make you feel like the luckiest girl (or guy) in the world.

This week is a BIG one for Ends with Z as we celebrate our 50th episode! Cecile, Juan, and Shawn reminisce on the beginnings of the podcast and recall some of their favorite show topics and episodes. This is also the time of year to celebrate the holidays with family and friends. But for some, it can be a time of emotional distress brought on by family triggers, holiday traditions, loss, and lonel...

We all love more of a good thing but are too many friends bad for you? Our favorite psychotherapist, John Tsilimparis, is back to wrap up our friendship series and he's bringing the science and deeply emotional reasons to answer all our questions. From what are the origins and importance of friendship, why it is the very thing that ensures our survival, how to find them and what we look for in a f...

What kind of friend are you anyway? Do you have close friends at work or just work acquaintances? Have you ever met a person who tried a little too hard to be your friend to learn later they only cared about your failure? Making and maintaining meaningful friendships is real work! It doesn't just magically happen. Join us for part 3 of our Friendship series where we talk about having friends at wo...

We continue our friendship series and dive deeper into making friends, keeping friends, and breaking up with friends. We talk about platonic love (or friends without those benefits), the modern concept of your soulmate also being your best friend, and why statistics say we’re failing at making friends and how to fix this. Join us as we spill the tea while we dish on our attachment theory in our re...

This week we dive into an underrated topic: the evolution of friendships. We get personal as we discuss the correlation between how we evolve as people and how our friendships evolve with us. What do you need from friends now versus when you are in your 50s, 30s, 20s, or in high school? Is your BFF today the same one you had 20 years ago? Do you even have a BFF? What friends do we need as our live...

This week’s episode, we have a fan of the show with us, Carlos, a hard-working, financial services professional who recently left his job, having been in the industry 16+ years. He’s listened to every episode, but the recent ones on quiet quitting, grind culture, work/life balance podcasts, and self-advocacy really resonated with him. Carlos is here to talk to us about his own, real life journey i...

Are you an advocate…for yourself? These days, we’re all about supporting each other, but sometimes we forget to be there for ourselves. Join us this week as Cecile and Juan recap Juan’s recent health scare and why it reminds all of us at Ends with Z how important it is to be our own biggest advocates, when it comes to our health and wellness, and maintaining hope during times of uncertainty. And,...

Do you have a secret sauce to life and are you willing to share it? This episode we talk about Juan's recent trip to Vegas for one of the nation’s biggest journalism conventions. We discuss how media careers and job needs have shifted and how we can make these changes work for all of us. From the younger one-person journalism band to teaching older generations the latest apps necessary to keep up...

This week’s episode, we discuss why “the grind” is overrated, how channel surfing can be good for your mental health, and what being a man, woman, and successful whole human looks like in today's world. How do you unwind? Taking just 5 minutes to chill out can help prevent you from being burnt out. Grab your slippers and a glass of wine, you won’t want to miss this one.

The answer may depend on which generation you ask. With older ones having internalized it and younger ones glorifying it, grind or hustle culture has been around for hundreds of years and is embedded in the DNA of American exceptionalism. It is our work culture. For many, modern-day work culture involves working a regular job plus a side hustle, working multiple part-time jobs, or working well pas...

Go with the flow, be like water, embrace change. They all mean the same thing: maintaining flexibility and leaning into change. We’re back this week to discuss what being adaptable means for each person, how to not fear change, and how to access your own flexibility for more happiness this summer season. Sit down, take a listen, and get ready to lean into change!

Summer is here and that means vacay, baby! Yes, we’ve all had the wind knocked out of us lately with ever-increasing prices, especially when we fill up. So how do we get our three R’s: rest, relaxation, and relationship time, when everything is so expensive? The answer is proper planning while adopting a flexible mindset that embrace choices to maximize your experience and minimize the stress and...

Taking time off shouldn’t be stressful, but it is for many, so much so that millions of vacation days go unused each year. Where is the line between being a hard worker and working all the time? It’s vacation time where the living is easy. Or it should be and can be, if we are flexible and plan properly. Do you take that trip to Europe we’ve put off that last 2 years or do we stay local to save mo...

While many of us are still trying to figure out what cryptocurrency is, the Metaverse has arrived. What is it exactly? Is it the Sims on steroids? Is it digital communal living? Virtual reality? Is it for socialization? Business? Education? Fitness? Well, if you're a novice like us, still scratching your head to understand the Metaverse, you'll want to tune into this episode where we break down th...

What we consume is our world. And in California, we love our detoxes to keep our world healthy--juice cleanses, Keto, intermittent fasting, sweat chambers, sage burning--we love it all! But what about our digital diet? With all that we consume from our devices, it stands to reason that taking an occasional break to detox can be good for our well-being. Do you know how much you take in without thin...

Is your phone keeping you from reaching your goals? Iphones, Androids, Tablets and Watches. They’re all so “smart.” You need to keep track of your receipts? There’s an app for that. Need to see what restaurants are nearby? There’s an app for that. Want to “unplug” and calm down from your day? Yeah, there’s even an app for that, and it’s great! However, when does digital usage crossover from being...

COVID-19 has rapidly accelerated many things in our society. Americans started new small businesses in record numbers during the pandemic, many fueled by being laid off or by just having the time and space to seriously contemplate their work and their personal lives. Now more than any time in history, the path to being an entrepreneur is easier than ever before because of the internet and the digi...

With everything we have experienced over the past 2 years, It seems we are all trying find more capacity to handle what keeps coming at us. How do we preserve in the face of adversity or constant change? The key is to be more resilient--to heighten our self-awareness of the things we cannot control and our responses to those things. It is the radical acceptance of the highest order. We are all bor...

All of us know at least one person who quit their job within the last year and about twenty others who are really thinking about it.  Many don’t have another job lined up before they quit – the one cardinal rule very few would ever dare to brake. But  almost 9 million people between November and December did exactly that. They were just done.  If you are not thinking about it, should you?  And, if...

We’re age inappropriate and loving it! Thanks to JLO, modern medicine and Botox, people say 50 is the new 30 and turning 40 no longer means doom and gloom. But why is that a good thing? Why are we all chasing youth; don’t you remember the acne, bad decisions and hangovers of your 20s? Because we, at Ends with Z, sure do! Maybe there’s a sweet spot? In this week’s episode, find out why 30 should ac...

Back to school is always a mixed bag of excitement, nerves, fears and change. Things are a somewhat better – we have vaccines and boosters too – but the tension and confusion, on top of a year and a half of living in a pandemic, has been a steep price for all of us to pay. We wanted to give voice to the human side of the hot-button issue of bringing kids back to school. Ends With Z revisits (from...

With the promise of higher vaccination rates, the U.S. economy continues to reopen. But as unemployment numbers drop, companies are having a hard time figuring out exactly how to get employees back to the office. Doing it safely because we are still in a pandemic is only one factor. While many company leaders prefer a return to the office, many employees want more flexibility in their work schedul...

We continue the discussion on how we adjust and readjust as we emerge from our homes and re-enter society. LA-based Psychotherapist, John Tsilimparis, MFT, joins the conversation to help us navigate the post-pandemic path to a new reality with less restrictions, masks, and mandates in a safer way that nurtures and supports our mental health and well-being.

In this podcast, we’re diving into how many of us are moving forward in the wake of COVID-19 and redefining the new normal. Do we hug again? How about just an elbow bump? We explore what our worlds are looking like now that we’re emerging from COVID-19 and discuss why it’s okay if you’re not okay in part one of this two-part podcast!