Mental

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 years they saw more than he realize...

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...

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 one.”

This story is about accountab...

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 sid...

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 him into his room long after the c...

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 because it doesn’t.

In this episode...

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. Relief.

Two glasses becomes a routine. R...

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. Diff...

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 ...

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 is still in Barcelona.

What this ep...

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” slowly turns into an unhealthy obs...

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 slowly tearing you down. What starts as...

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 sessions where your brain won't sh...

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 shift for anyone in their late teen...

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 schedule made her feel important. ...

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 Gen Z teens are navigating real frie...

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 out.

Feeling lost in your 20s? Can’...

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 down with Laura Ollinger, a teen and...

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 happens next? You’ll wish you had ...