Today, I want to share an episode from a podcast I think you’ll enjoy called Proxy.

It’s hosted by Yowei Shaw, who you might know from the NPR show Invisibilia. After getting laid off in 2023, she found herself stuck with a question she couldn’t shake: why did she feel so ashamed… like it was her fault… even when she knew it wasn’t?

The question became the seed of her new show.

Proxy is built on a simple idea: no one is ever completely alone with their problem. Because somewhere out there is someone who’s lived something close enough to help you feel a little less stuck.

In today’s episode, Yowei talks with a pair of bandmates and best friends… who can’t figure out why they haven’t been able to finish their record for years. It’s a story about friendship, loyalty, and the quiet heartbreak of letting go of something that once held you together.

Follow Proxy here: https://www.proxypodcast.com/

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Depresh Mode is on BlueSky, Instagram, Substack, and you can join our Preshies Facebook group.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

Covid was already rough for the very funny and personable Annabelle Gurwitch, as it was for everyone, and that was before her car broke down on an LA freeway just as she was getting a call with a terminal cancer diagnosis. Stage four. Annabelle has dealt with anxiety and depression for a long time and the cancer news certainly didn’t help, especially as Annabelle found strong connections between mental and physical health, culminating, perhaps, in Annabelle crab-walking down the sidewalk. It’s all detailed in her new memoir, The End of My Life Is Killing Me: The Unexpected Joys of a Cancer Slacker, in which she tells of going on medications that have worked for years, but which she knows will eventually stop working. And eventually, as with us all, she will die. For now, she’s alive and here to talk, enlighten, and share more than a few laughs.

At age 24, Eric Zimmer was in rough shape. He was addicted to heroin, weighed maybe a hundred pounds, and was facing the prospect of a lengthy prison sentence. So he gave rehab another try and he had some success and started getting his life back together, diving into just about any book or teaching he could find that could help him get healthy and stay healthy. This led to conversations, the podcast The One You Feed, a career as a personal coach, and his new book, How a Little Becomes a Lot. Eric explains his philosophy of taking small actions toward better mental and physical health, concentrating on what can be achieved and repeated, and choosing actions that gradually move you toward where and who you want to be. He offers advice on how to determine those actions and how to stick with them. It’s not a long jump, it’s a series of small, manageable, and repeatable steps.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Depresh Mode is on BlueSky, Instagram, Substack, and you can join our Preshies Facebook group.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

At age 24, Eric Zimmer was in rough shape. He was addicted to heroin, weighed maybe a hundred pounds, and was facing the prospect of a lengthy prison sentence. So he gave rehab another try and he had some success and started getting his life back together, diving into just about any book or teaching he could find that could help him get healthy and stay healthy. This led to conversations, the podcast The One You Feed, a career as a personal coach, and his new book, How a Little Becomes a Lot. Eric explains his philosophy of taking small actions toward better mental and physical health, concentrating on what can be achieved and repeated, and choosing actions that gradually move you toward where and who you want to be. He offers advice on how to determine those actions and how to stick with them. It’s not a long jump, it’s a series of small, manageable, and repeatable steps.

Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of Maximum Fun.

Check out our I’m Glad You’re Here and Depresh Mode merchandise at the brand new merch website MaxFunStore.com!

Hey, remember, you’re part of Depresh Mode and we want to hear what you want to hear about. What guests and issues would you like to have covered in a future episode? Write us at depreshmode@maximumfun.org.

Depresh Mode is on BlueSky, Instagram, Substack, and you can join our Preshies Facebook group.

Help is available right away.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.

International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines