Author, podcaster, and cheerful nihilist Blair Hopkins navigates grief recovery against the booze-fueled backdrop of Manhattan's East Village. Listen as she wrestles with such universal themes as artistic insecurity (aka The Fraud Complex), dissociation in times of crisis, and the importance of empathy and humor.
Highlight Reel:
2:50 - Bar Widows of the East Village
8:52 - Comparison and imposter syndrome: the doom of all artists
11:30 - Stop collecting underpants (aka procrastinating)
12:57 - What it's like to be a widow magnet
14:46 - How 12 step culture taught Blair how NOT to tell a story
16:04 - What it was like to lose Shane (her partner who died)
24:40 - What denial really looks like
27:29 - The virtues of nihilism as a coping mechanism
28:20 - How tragedy amps up empathy
29:31 - Everyone is doing their best with the resources they have
37:14 - None of us are okay. And that's okay.
37:37 - The meaning of life
42:15 - An exercise to help you break through writer's block
Read the full transcript (plus pics) on the That's Aloud blog!
