Mental

Derek spent 15 years holding everything together. He watched his mom fall apart. He protected his little sister. He became the kid every teacher called "so mature for his age." That phrase isn't always a compliment. Then he got into a master's program specifically designed to teach people how to help others ask for help. He studied shame. He studied stigma. He learned the exact psychological archi...

Brian's 18, nineteen days past graduation, and very much in the “so… now what?” phase of life. Which is a super fun phase, if your hobbies include anxiety, comparison, and reopening the same browser tab at 1 AM. Then he finds a shoebox on his bedroom floor. Inside are 18 handwritten letters from his parents: one for every year of his life. The funny years. The hard years. The years he forgot. The...

The tassel's still swinging. Four hours past the handshake, the diploma, the long hug that felt more like a goodbye than a celebration. Judy is in a Cracker Barrel parking lot on I-81, somewhere between who she was and whoever comes next, ordering chicken and dumplings she didn't need and crying into them anyway. This is that episode. The one about what happens after the floor disappears. Not in a...

Mikayla spent eight months earning her car and only nineteen days driving with her license before one choice changed everything. This episode follows a night that starts with music, freedom, and friendly pressure, then ends with red and blue lights in the rearview. Not because Mikayla is a bad person. Because sometimes the most dangerous pressure doesn’t sound mean. It sounds like, “Come on, just...

Nick Kirchhof won national championships as a player and a coach. He wasn't always winning though. He started games. Until he didn't... He watched teammates take his spot. Then he got selfish. And everything changed. In this episode, Nick and Nick break down the mental side of sport that nobody teaches you: Why being selfish can actually be the most team-first thing you can do. Why the athletes wh...

What happens when someone else’s voice gets in your head before yours ever has a chance? Cole is 17, throws 91 off the mound, and has D1 coaches texting his phone. From the outside, he looks like the athlete who has it all figured out. But after every game, the hardest part isn’t the mound. It’s the car ride home. The criticism. The silence. The words he pretends don’t hurt. The voice that follows...

Ever sit in your car after a bad day and realize… it wasn’t just the day? It was the same spiral. The same reaction. The same version of you showing up when pressure hits. This episode uses the honey badger — yes, seriously — to talk about one of the most underrated mental skills: being selective with your energy. Because the honey badger isn’t fearless because it fights everything. It’s powerful...

What you call “coping” might be quietly becoming the thing that’s costing you. Brooke is in nursing school, trying to become the kind of person who understands what the body is saying before it’s too late. But after losing her mom suddenly, grief doesn’t leave politely. It lingers. It gets quiet. Then it finds somewhere to go. For Brooke, it starts with wine. Not recklessness. Not rebellion. Relie...

Talon had it all mapped out. Division I track scholarship. A coach who nodded instead of spoke. A mom whose old meet footage he'd been chasing since he was nine. Then his ACL tore. Again. Different knee. Same life, detonated. The scholarship went on hold. His girlfriend left. And at 2am he was on a bathroom floor with a pill bottle and fourteen pills he hadn't taken yet. This is that night. The ta...

Nat drove 9 hours to Nebraska. Stood on her parents' porch in April. Hands shaking, phone in hand, watching the minutes tick up. She could smell her mom's honey glazed ham through the door. She still couldn't knock. 18 months earlier she withdrew from a Chicago university mid-year. $34K in debt for a communications degree she picked because everyone around her was picking something. Six clicks to...

It turns out the “post-travel crash” is common enough that therapists and travel writers have a name for it: post-vacation blues—that mood drop when you go from high-stimulation adventure back to routine. And if you’ve ever felt it, you know it doesn’t feel like “blues.” It feels like your happiness got used up. It’s 6:43 AM on a Wednesday and Emily’s alarm has gone off three times… but her brain...

I’m 16, standing in my aunt’s kitchen on Thanksgiving, trying to convince myself that a marshmallow is a threat. Everyone else is laughing in the dining room, and I’m over here negotiating with a casserole like it controls my entire future. That’s when it hit me: this isn’t discipline anymore. This is fear dressed up as focus.   This episode follows Devin, a 16-year-old wrestler whose “discipline”...

If your “best friends” are the reason your stomach drops every time your phone buzzes, this episode is for you. 221 unread messages, one toxic group chat, and the moment Maria finally chooses herself over being “included.”   In this episode, we follow Maria, an 18-year-old senior in San Antonio, through one of the hardest moves you can make in high school: leaving the friend group that’s been slow...

If overthinking was an Olympic sport, Gen Z would take the gold—but all we get is anxiety and insomnia. This episode is the cool-down routine your brain's been begging for.   Freshman year. Private school. Family pressure. Sammy's life feels like a never-ending marathon of mental gymnastics, and he’s not alone. In this episode, we follow Sammy through the Overthinking Olympics—those 2:00 AM spiral...

You ever feel behind in life… like everyone else already bloomed and you're still figuring out if you’re even a plant? 🌱 Redwoods get it. They grow 350 feet tall, live for 2,000 years… but start smaller than a chip. No comparing. No scrolling. Just growing. Quiet. Steady. Rooted in the right forest. So maybe it’s not about how fast you grow—but who’s growing with you.   This episode is a mindset...

You ever say yes so many times you wake up buried in commitments, caffeine, and a crusty planner? That’s Ariel. And this is the story of her yes hangover—and the breakthrough that followed.   In this episode, Ariel, a high-achieving senior, opens up about her chaotic fall into overcommitment—from three clubs to a demon dog to organizing a winter formal she didn’t even want to attend. At first, her...

I just deleted the group chat. 3 years of inside jokes—gone in one swipe. My hands are still shaking, and no one knows why... yet.   If you've ever felt group chat fatigue, this one’s for you. In today’s episode, Theo shares what led him to delete a group chat with his 8 closest friends. It wasn’t drama—it was exhaustion. From FOMO pressure to the weight of constant connection, we break down how G...

You ever feel like you’re collecting unfinished hobbies instead of achievements? One month it’s Italian on Duolingo. The next, guitar lessons. Now there’s an embroidery hoop staring at you from your dorm desk like it’s judging you. You’re not lazy. You’re not lost. You’re just curious in a world that keeps demanding commitment. This episode? It’s for every “hobby hopper” who’s still figuring it ou...

You didn’t waste your degree. You didn’t fail your kid. And you’re not behind. You just bought into someone else’s definition of success. This episode? It’ll help you rewrite it.   What if your major doesn't match your job? What if your career doesn’t look like your resume? What if being a great parent isn't about getting it right — but about listening right? In this episode of Mental, Nick sits d...

Your family’s not falling apart because of politics. It’s falling apart because no one knows how to talk anymore. Antonia didn’t wait for peace—she built it herself at 18.   This one’s for anyone who’s ever wanted to scream at the dinner table. Antonia is 18. Her family's got 8 people, 0 chill, and a dinner table that becomes a political battlefield every Sunday. But one night? She snaps. And what...

Everyone’s posting their wins. You’re just trying to remember the WiFi password from high school. Myles isn’t failing to launch. He’s j ust honest enough to say: “I don’t know if I’m burnt out, or if this system is just fire.” This episode is for anyone feeling stuck between who they thought they’d be by now… And who they actually are. Spoiler: You’re not behind. You’re just awake. This isn’t a mo...

47,000 followers. And not one of them noticed she was drowning. You ever been so online that you forgot what it felt like to be here? Mallory didn’t think she had a problem… Until the people who loved her most couldn’t get her to look up. This isn’t just a story about screen time. It’s about what happens when your phone becomes your personality. And your life becomes a performance.   Seventeen-yea...

You ever say yes to something small… then wake up in a nightmare? That was Tyler. One favor. One bag. One lie to protect a friend—nearly cost him his sister, his family, and his future. Sometimes it’s not the big choices that break you. It’s the tiny ones that sneak in and blow up everything.   Tyler’s just a regular 17-year-old—honors student, softball-practice chauffeur, and go-to big bro. But o...

I built a box for myself. Everything neat. Everything controlled. Then life, betrayal, and depression came in like a wrecking ball. The box shattered—so did I. This is the episode about what happens when the people you trust break you… and the tools that keep you from breaking yourself.   Sometimes the people you count on the most let you down the hardest. In this raw conversation with Jeb Brofsky...

They say becoming a parent changes everything. What they don’t say? Sometimes… ‘everything’ includes your will to keep living. I was 20. My baby was 2 pounds. And I was ready to give up. Until one text—with a stupid little heart emoji—changed everything.   On December 18th, Tara Williams became a mom. By March 15th, she almost wasn’t here to be one. This is the unfiltered, emotional story of a 20-...