The Real Question – Details, episodes & analysis

We're thrilled today to be joined by story-telling coach Micaela Blei – the co-teacher of our upcoming memoir writing class. Micaela enjoys making her home beautiful. She's good at scouring thrift stores and finding just the right touch to bring everything together. She's also a little bit ashamed of how much time and attention she puts into buying home goods. Is she making her days at home easier and better through small improvements? Or is she frivolously spending on un-important things?

This week on Should I Quit? Micaela and Vanessa discuss how to know if our self-soothing techniques are positive or over-indulgent.

If you enjoyed hearing Vanessa and Micaela on this episode, you can sign-up for their class: https://notsorryworks.com/writing-workshops-2024#memoir

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This show is completely funded by Patreon, and we are so grateful to our supporters who make it possible. If you can, please considering chipping in!

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Megan has always hated the dating apps. She's tried them – they're awful! Recently, however, she's been wondering if she should suck it up and give them another try. Is online dating truly the best way to find a romantic partner? Or should she continue waiting and hoping to meet someone 'organically' in the world?

This week on Should I Quit? Vanessa and Megan discuss how to be clear-sighted and intentional while dating.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Instead of a regular episode this week, we're sharing an episode of one of our favorite podcasts, The Best Advice Show. Last week, Vanessa had the pleasure of guesting on the show. You can listen to Vanessa's episode here, but today we're dropping a different episode from their archives – Deciding with Nell Wulfhart.

Here's how the wonderful host, Zak, describes the podcast: The Best Advice Show is your reminder that there are weird, delightful and effective ways to make life slightly and sometimes profoundly better. In every (very short) episode of the show, a different contributor offers their take on making life more joyful, healthful and livable and it's likely gonna be something you can try today, if you want. 

We'll be back in two weeks with our regular format! In the meantime, be sure to subscribe to The Best Advice Show.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Risa has a family member who isn’t getting vaccinated and the relationship is really troubling her. She wants to respect the values of the person she loves, but is finding that hard to do when the ‘right thing’ seems to be so clear.

With help from a Brandy Carlile song and a blog post by Lilach Shafir, Risa and Casper explore how to be in relationship with someone who has values that seem diametrically opposed to your own. 

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We are so grateful to our supporters on Patreon who make this show possible. If you can, please considering chipping in!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Vanessa used to have a helpful story she told herself about her depression. She let herself stay in bed some days and understood that it was important for her health. But lately, she hasn’t been staying in bed. The story seems…broken, like it doesn’t fit the new version of her life. Is there a new story that could help her take care of herself better?

With help from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Cheryl Strayed, Vanessa and Casper explore how to think about mental health when there’s so much pressure to be productive. 

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We are so grateful to our supporters on Patreon who make this show possible. If you can, please considering chipping in!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Casper is feeling a lot of nostalgia for his graduate school experience. There are so many times in his day to day life where he feels like he should know more and he wishes that he had a teacher to guide him. He's been trying to teach himself, but it just doesn't feel the same. Should he just go back to school?

With help from Legally Blonde and Hermes Trismegistus, Casper and Vanessa explore how learning gets institutionalized and how we can make room for it after school is over. 

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Back in May, Vanessa brought us the question 'am I a Karen?' That episode focused on gender and the way systems of power can fail and frustrate women. This week we bring you part two of that conversation, where we discuss the racial dynamic at play in the Karen meme. We were incredibly lucky to be joined by Dr. Apryl Williams for this conversation. Dr. Williams is a multidisciplinary scholar who studies the experience of race and racism in digital spaces.

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We are so grateful to our supporters on Patreon who make this show possible. If you can, please considering chipping in!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Casper has a soft spot in his heart for the monarchy. He understands all the absurdities of the institution, but he can’t get rid of that feeling that he associates with childhood and history and national identity. Is it okay to have that feeling knowing what he knows intellectually? Or should he be trying to get rid of it? 

With help from Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf and The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel, Casper and Vanessa reflect on what it means to glorify national stories and how to go about dismantling them.

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We are so grateful to our supporters on Patreon who make this show possible. If you can, please considering chipping in!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Every so often Vanessa scrolls through photos on her phone and runs into some memories she’d rather forget. Should she just delete those photos? Or are those bad memories something productive? 

With help from Spotlight and Mad About You, Vanessa and Casper explore what it means to re-write our own historical record and when we should do it.

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We are so grateful to our supporters on Patreon who make this show possible. If you can, please considering chipping in!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Casper is getting older and he's been thinking about what that means. On the one hand: age is just a number! There’s no such thing as the ‘right’ thing you should be doing at any age. But on the other hand: he wants to make sure he’s stepping into the full responsibility of what it means to be an adult. Without subscribing to tradition benchmarks, how do you keep yourself on track?

With help from David Sedaris and Shakespeare, Casper and Vanessa think about the 'stage' of middle age and what Casper should be doing with it.

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We are so grateful to our supporters on Patreon who make this show possible. If you can, please considering chipping in!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.