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In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - Some holidays are just more loaded than others, depending on our individual experiences. When you’re grieving the loss of your mother — either because they’ve died or because you don’t have a relationship with them — what the heck are you supposed to do with a holiday like Mother’s Day?  When...

In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - Grief comes with so much judgment. Everybody is sure that there's a right way to do it, and only for a certain length of time. If our grief doesn’t neatly fit into a category, we worry that it’s illegitimate. Erin knows this judgment very well. She’s a widow … or is she? Did you know we’re on...

In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - In 2020, we asked how it was going in there … wherever it was you were isolating, quarantining, social distancing. Somehow, it’s been *checks watch* TWO YEARS of COVID and so much more, so we thought it was time for another check-in. How *is* it going in there, Terribles? Did you know we’re on...

In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - Danielle’s daughter Della was a quintessential “good baby.” She slept through the night almost from the get go. She rarely cried! But when Danielle started weaning her, little Della would just … not eat. Could not eat. Her tiny body rebelled against her with every food she tried. When your bab...

In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - Growing up, Dani Shapiro never felt like she truly belonged to the orthodox Jewish community she lived in. All around her were kids who dressed and prayed and looked alike … and then, there was Dani — a fair-skinned, fair-haired, blue-eyed little Jewish girl. Dani spent much of her early writi...

In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - When someone we love dies, we become the vessels responsible for carrying their memory forward. The people we love stay alive in the big things, of course … but in the little things, too. When a listener shared an inside joke with the Terrible community about her late husband, we knew it was t...

In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - Liam was raised as a girl, but from a very young age he knew that just … didn’t make sense. When he comes out to his evangelical Christian parents as a young adult — first as a lesbian, then as a trans man — it unfortunately goes exactly how he expected it to. This episode includes anecdotes a...

In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - In our “Behind The Scammer” episode, you met Celisia Stanton and Rev. Gonzales, two people who had their life savings stolen from them by their financial adviser, a man named Isaiah Goodman. We intentionally focused that episode on the scammed – on the victims. But we do have a duty to reach o...

In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - We are all just products of the people who raise us. And they are products of those who raised them. Vanessa Zoltan knows that better than most. She is the grandchild of four Holocaust survivors, and for her, nihilism and depression kind of run in the family. Did you know we’re on TikTok? Yep,...

In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - Many people who have autism are diagnosed at a young age. But today’s guest, Grace, wasn’t diagnosed with autism until she was 27 years old. In the months since the diagnosis, Grace has spent a lot of time reflecting on her childhood and young adulthood to understand why this wasn’t caught soo...

In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - We recently made an episode called “The Grudge Book” filled with your grudges, and the feedback was SO strong. People felt validated. They laughed. They connected. So Nora got to thinking … did we need an episode that also gave you a place to share the other things that are hard to say? Your r...

Olivia is 7 years old when her dad moves out of state to take a new job … and is never heard from again. In high school, a manilla envelope appears in Olivia’s mailbox letting her know the reason she never heard from him is because he died by suicide. But when Olivia learns as a young journalist that her father might have faked his own death all those years ago, she decides to investigate. - Did y...

In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - It’s the stuff of romantic comedies: Man meets woman as they’re boarding a flight. The two quickly discover they share many similarities and go on to chat for hours. There’s an instant connection. The big difference here is the woman is Nora, and the man is a TTFA listener. And what she and Jo...

In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - Suffering can feel like such a singular experience -- like there’s no one else in the world who understands what we’re going through. But sometimes, if we look hard enough, we find that our singular experience intersects with another. This is the story of two young girls whose stories intertwi...

In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - We’re culturally obsessed with scammers, con artists and fraudsters. People like Elizabeth Holmes and Bernie Madoff dominate headlines and then get films made and books written documenting what they did and how they did it. But behind the scammers are the victims: individuals who are strugglin...

In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - When one of the people in a relationship is dead, the relationship becomes a bit one-sided. Your version of who that person is and was is obscured by all of your own biases, your commitment to your version of the truth, to your side of the story. Nora’s dad — Vietnam veteran, father of four, a...

In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - Sleep experts the world over seem to have countless tips and tricks for getting those eight hours of Zzzs each night. But sometimes our brains just … can’t shut down, no matter what we do. Nora recently asked you, the TTFA community, what’s been keeping you up at night these days, and you answ...

In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - About six years ago, Nora took a notebook and wrote down all of the grudges she was holding against people ... and then, she left that notebook in a seat-back pocket on a plane and never saw it again. We wanted to know what you, our listeners, would put in your own Grudge Book if you had one,...

In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - Melissa is the epitome of responsible. She loves following rules and has spent her whole life trying to be the best person possible. But accidents happen, and one winter morning, a split second changes everything she thought she knew about herself. Did you know we’re on TikTok? Yep, it’s true....

In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - Edith Eger was 16 years old when the Nazis invaded Hungary during World War II. She was imprisoned at Auschwitz concentration camp with her family. Today, Dr. Edith Eger is a 93-year-old clinician, speaker and author who is so full of wisdom and light, we could’ve done ten episodes with her. T...

In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - Cynthia is a Latina adult woman living with autism. In this episode, she lets us in on her world, what her life was like growing up, and what she experiences today as an autistic adult. Cynthia made a Spotify playlist for all of us! You can listen to it here. Nora also writes sad & funny books...

In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - This episode features conversations with people doing the best they can in difficult circumstances. Like Dr. Lucy Kalanithi, whose husband Dr. Paul Kalanithi was a notable and rising brain surgeon who wrote When Breath Becomes Air, a bestselling memoir about his fatal battle with cancer. And c...

In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - In 2012, Rosie became the first Black woman to win the Miss North Dakota pageant. She got to do what she loves most — play music and perform! — and she won scholarship money to pay down her student loab debt. It was thrilling. It was exciting! But winning Miss North Dakota means more than just...

In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - Lyndsey and her mother have a shared love of horses. They both compete in dressage (Google it). They ride together after their daily farm chores are finished. But Lyndsey is more naturally gifted in the saddle than her mother, and this creates tension and envy. After a riding accident leaves h...

In case you didn't know, we're still making episodes that are available exclusively on Nora's Substack! - When you believe that love will never, could never happen to you, it feels like a miracle when it finally does. This is the story of a young man named Oliver, whose religious upbringing has convinced him that love isn’t in the cards for him. And it’s a story about a young man named Jamie, who...