All Episodes

When Lea Thau’s fiancé left her, she felt all the feelings. Then she had their baby, and decided to start dating again. But, despite going out, nothing seemed to be clicking. Over and over. And eventually, she wanted to know why. Why didn’t men want to keep dating her? So she asked them. And recorded […]

What do you wish your grown-ups had said to you when you were a kid? Especially while dealing with really hard stuff? We wanted to know, so we asked the Terrible Club – listeners who support the show – and they had some thoughts. Geez da wheeze, did they have some thoughts. You can join […]

Khaleel Thompson is an 18-year-old who loves music, reading, and his cat, Domino. Naomi is his mother, asking why four police officers fired more than 12 rounds at her son in a public park two weeks ago, leaving him in critical condition. The two of them are the humans behind a news headline – caught […]

Grief is always fresh for someone, somewhere. Right now, someone is losing a friend. A partner. A parent. And they are entering a new role, a new relationship to their loved one, and to the world. Holly felt that grief. And she came in to share it with us. Fresh and undiluted. Just hours into […]

When someone dies, you’re supposed to say something. Someone is supposed to say something. Someone is supposed to summarize this person, prove that they existed, that they mattered. But what do you say when a complicated person dies after a complicated life?

Alysha-Aubrey sent us a story about both her parents falling seriously ill at the same time, and the toll it took on her as a teenager. And she ended her story with a question about whether or not it’s OK that she doesn’t feel OK. Even though her family has recovered from trauma and is doing OK. […]

March is #trypod month, where everyone should force their loved ones to listen to podcasts. Not sure which one to subscribe every family member to? Well, we have one for you. It’s called the The Hilarious World of Depression, and it features open, honest conversations about depression. But funny. Because the guests are professional comedians […]

It’s 12:00. No, 1:00. No, 4:45 in the morning. You should be sleeping — we all should be — but you’re not. You’re laying there as the minutes tick away, thinking about…what, exactly? One sleepless night, Nora took to Twitter to see what was keeping you up. And you answered. This is an episode made […]

So many people start off their stories by saying that it doesn’t compare to what happened to someone else. But this isn’t a game of Who Has It Worse, so why do we act like there is some sort of imaginary yardstick for struggling? This is the first episode of our in-between season while we […]

When Nora McInerny’s dad died, she lost his stories. The ones that she’s not sure she can can’t quite remember right, and the ones she never knew. Like those from his time as a Recon Marine in Vietnam. So Nora decides to look up some of the men he served with, and discovers one day […]

Damon’s grandparents were murdered 18 months before he was born. And, for the first time in his life, he prepares to see his grandparents’ murderer face to face.

For most of us, death is scary. And what happens next is just as mysterious. But what if we could see death as something beautiful? Or holy? Sarah Gottfried and Heather Olson share their experiences of being with people who are transitioning from this world to whatever comes next.

Sexual violence thrives in silence, and it’s hard to talk about…so we don’t. But rape survivor Sarah Super refuses to be quiet, and has dedicated her life to helping other survivors Break the Silence.

Colleen Barton is a pediatrician, a wife, and a mother to a beautiful son named Henry. Since Henry’s stillbirth, Colleen and her husband have been working to build their family while dealing with miscarriage and secondary infertility.

Dawn Pereda is a nurse who was injured by a patient while working. And this injury resulted in a brain injury that has changed her life completely. Dawn and her family open up about what it can be like living with Traumatic Brain Injury, grieving for the person they used to know while getting to know the person who is here now.

Danni Starr had everything she wanted: an enviable career, a husband, and, finally…her first baby. But off the air, motherhood wasn’t what she expected it to be. She had taken all the classes, read all the books, bought all the stuff…but nothing had prepared her for what was to come.

Two days after Nora’s husband Aaron died, she celebrated Thanksgiving with her family. Well…maybe not “celebrated.” Actually, why would you do that? Try to be normal when clearly everything isn’t?

The year is 2007. Eva Hagberg is a 20-something writer snagging bylines in the New York Times by day, and partying herself stupid by night. It’s all going great, until she gets her big break, and her big breakdown…