Ep.1462: Future Tense and Ep.1463: Adulting Wednesday, May 18, 2022

Kathryn interviews Author Tracy Dennis-Tiwary PhD. Dr. Tracy Dennis-Tiwary argues that anxiety is not, as we often refer to it, unhealthy—in fact, it’s an evolved advantage that protects us and strengthens our creative and productive powers. Although it’s related to stress and fear, it’s uniquely valuable—allowing us to imagine the uncertain future and impelling us to make that future better. Distilling the latest research in psychology and neuroscience and offering real-world stories and personal narrative, she shows how we can explore and leverage even very distressing anxiety rather than be overwhelmed by it. She's a professor of psychology and has been featured throughout the media, including the NY Times, Washington Post, CBS, ABC, CNN, NPR, and BloombergTelevision.Kathryn also interviews Author Julie Lythcott-Haims JD. What does it mean to be an adult? In the twentieth century, psychologists came up with five markers of adulthood: finish your education, get a job, leave home, marry, and have children. Since then, every generation has been held to those same markers. Yet so much has changed about the world and living in it since that sequence was formulated. All of those markers are choices, and they’re all valid, but any one person’s choices along those lines do not make them more or less an adult. Julie Lythcott-Haims has encountered hundreds of twentysomethings (and thirtysomethings, too), who, faced with those markers, feel they’re just playing the part of “adult,” while struggling with anxiety, stress, and general unease. Julie holds degrees from Stanford, Harvard Law, and California College of the Arts and is the NY Times bestselling author of How to Raise an Adult which gave rise to a popular TED Talk.