WEBVTT 00:00.191 --> 00:04.096 [SPEAKER_00]: Hey everyone, welcome back to room for us, a space where queer voices thrive. 00:04.556 --> 00:10.483 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm your host, P, and every single week I like to sit down, get vulnerable, and talk about all things queer with all of you. 00:11.203 --> 00:19.513 [SPEAKER_00]: I've noticed there's actually been a few new followers coming to the page, so I kind of wanted to do a little reintroduction to this podcast again for any new listeners. 00:20.293 --> 00:22.496 [SPEAKER_00]: So I am living in Vancouver. 00:22.876 --> 00:25.499 [SPEAKER_00]: I've been in out lesbian for many, many years now. 00:25.579 --> 00:29.123 [SPEAKER_00]: I've been on a journey with my queerness since I was about like 15 years old. 00:29.804 --> 00:33.188 [SPEAKER_00]: I started posting about my sexuality on the internet in 2019 in the hopes of 00:35.350 --> 00:42.978 [SPEAKER_00]: Creating more representation, especially for the South Asian community and it's been my most fulfilling thing I've actually ever done. 00:43.138 --> 00:57.393 [SPEAKER_00]: I feel like to share stories and to connect with others on the internet as well where we can just relate to each other is the most beautiful experience because that was always my biggest feeling of loneliness when I was growing up and 00:58.193 --> 01:12.823 [SPEAKER_00]: I was born in 1995, so around the time when I was like in my teens and it was the mid-2000s, there really wasn't anyone I was seeing who I could relate to, definitely not in real life, and also not really in the media. 01:13.683 --> 01:20.106 [SPEAKER_00]: And I feel like the media and, you know, movies, television art, those can be our forms of escape. 01:20.986 --> 01:25.708 [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm just so grateful that we have a lot more representation now more than ever. 01:25.728 --> 01:29.330 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm always going to say we need more queer representation. 01:29.390 --> 01:34.252 [SPEAKER_00]: There's not enough, but it's definitely a step up from when I was a teen. 01:34.912 --> 01:37.053 [SPEAKER_00]: So my whole goal with room for us. 01:37.753 --> 01:44.475 [SPEAKER_00]: was to showcase my story and also bring other guests in on the conversation so we could learn about people all over the world. 01:44.595 --> 01:46.236 [SPEAKER_00]: So that's a little bit more about this podcast. 01:46.356 --> 01:48.336 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, the topics are kind of endless. 01:48.496 --> 01:54.378 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes I have queer guests on to talk about their coming out stories, or I just talk about things that I'm very interested in. 01:54.418 --> 02:03.361 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, I'm such a huge Britney Spears fan and because I've been posting a few Britney deep dives, I've noticed a lot of Britney fans have been coming to the page. 02:03.441 --> 02:06.982 [SPEAKER_00]: So I've really found my people because I could talk about Britney forever. 02:07.582 --> 02:18.728 [SPEAKER_00]: I think I'm going to implement more Brittany themed episodes into this podcast because at the end of the day, like this podcast, I like to think of it as the inner works of my brain. 02:18.948 --> 02:26.692 [SPEAKER_00]: So of course, it's a lot of queerness topics I want to talk about and things I'm passionate about, even just in the world, from a justice level too. 02:27.052 --> 02:28.713 [SPEAKER_00]: But then I also love movies. 02:28.813 --> 02:32.375 [SPEAKER_00]: I love music and Britney Spears is my favorite artist, so I love doing 02:33.095 --> 02:34.877 [SPEAKER_00]: deep dives on her and her album. 02:35.237 --> 02:38.600 [SPEAKER_00]: I also love so many types of artists. 02:38.661 --> 02:46.348 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, my music taste ranges literally from like Frank Ocean to Tam and Paula to Nasha Brittany. 02:46.388 --> 02:47.930 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, it's a lot of artists. 02:47.950 --> 02:48.971 [SPEAKER_00]: It's kind of all over the place. 02:49.291 --> 02:49.551 [SPEAKER_00]: So, 02:50.592 --> 03:05.846 [SPEAKER_00]: maybe over time I'll continue to do a deep dive on more albums and start to share some of that on the podcast do some movie reviews speaking of movies I just saw you can see everything which is the documentary all about Elizabeth Holmes the CEO of Theranos. 03:06.106 --> 03:10.190 [SPEAKER_00]: I feel like I want to get my thoughts out there on the podcast so stay tuned for an episode on that. 03:11.150 --> 03:12.411 [SPEAKER_00]: some housekeeping stuff. 03:12.571 --> 03:27.258 [SPEAKER_00]: So for those of you who've been following room for us for a minute, you'll notice I've been posting a lot of these like daily updates about this competition called Top Post, which is being run by Ryan C. Crest, I hurt radio and colossal management. 03:27.798 --> 03:34.464 [SPEAKER_00]: And I've been in the running for a few weeks now and it started with top 20, top 50 and now it's top 10. 03:35.004 --> 03:38.427 [SPEAKER_00]: So at this point, I think I'm number one in my group, which is amazing. 03:38.527 --> 03:44.152 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm so happy about it to keep that momentum up to make it into the top 10. 03:44.992 --> 03:51.874 [SPEAKER_00]: I just need to pass this voting period, and then from there, it keeps narrowing down until they finally select their top post. 03:52.734 --> 03:57.655 [SPEAKER_00]: Part of the prize is that you actually get six episodes produced by IHR radio. 03:58.416 --> 04:03.097 [SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, podcasting for me has been my biggest passion project. 04:03.277 --> 04:07.158 [SPEAKER_00]: It's something I've been really, really leaning into. 04:07.558 --> 04:09.220 [SPEAKER_00]: since the started with girl on girl. 04:09.300 --> 04:14.985 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, some listeners might not know this, but I actually went to school for journalism, print and broadcast. 04:15.065 --> 04:16.947 [SPEAKER_00]: And I also did a radio course, too. 04:17.047 --> 04:25.255 [SPEAKER_00]: So I've always had a love for that, like presenting, sharing stories, interviewing, also, something I love to do. 04:25.315 --> 04:28.438 [SPEAKER_00]: I love connecting with other people and hearing about their stories. 04:29.038 --> 04:32.902 [SPEAKER_00]: And so an opportunity with I-Hart Radio would just be amazing. 04:33.342 --> 04:38.926 [SPEAKER_00]: so you can cast a daily vote for free every single day and let's try to win this thing. 04:39.046 --> 04:47.993 [SPEAKER_00]: I have faith in the podcast, I have faith in all of you who've been voting every single day, I can see you, I can see the little names pop up and it's just, it's awesome. 04:48.053 --> 04:50.515 [SPEAKER_00]: So thank you so much to everyone who has been voting for me. 04:50.735 --> 04:56.298 [SPEAKER_00]: And I hope having an opportunity like this will help a queer podcast reach other people. 04:56.658 --> 05:03.241 [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, we need queer representation, but I think it would also be amazing to get more queer representation for the South Asian community. 05:03.341 --> 05:07.423 [SPEAKER_00]: So I would be so proud if room for us could make it to that level. 05:07.603 --> 05:08.744 [SPEAKER_00]: So thank you once again. 05:09.944 --> 05:15.067 [SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, those are just a few housekeeping things I wanted to just start off with from the get-go. 05:15.547 --> 05:20.829 [SPEAKER_00]: But this is going to be the type of episode I would love for you to tune into if you just need a little bit of a picking up. 05:21.669 --> 05:31.693 [SPEAKER_00]: I feel like around this time, I mean it's the day before Halloween weekend, it's really fun and exciting, but at the same time, this period of time can be a little bit tricky for some people. 05:32.433 --> 05:37.817 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going through daylight savings, it's getting darker, our moods are starting to shift. 05:37.877 --> 05:44.482 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe I'm just speaking from personal experience, but I always feel like around this time, my mood does start to shift a little bit. 05:45.022 --> 05:52.948 [SPEAKER_00]: I get really affected by weather, and because I live in one of the rainyest cities in Canada, it tends to affect me a lot. 05:53.948 --> 05:56.710 [SPEAKER_00]: I was living in Toronto before Vancouver. 05:56.750 --> 05:57.791 [SPEAKER_00]: A lot of you do know that. 05:57.931 --> 06:01.613 [SPEAKER_00]: And around this time, I also start to feel a little bit more homesickness. 06:02.313 --> 06:14.260 [SPEAKER_00]: And I was reflecting on that homesickness feeling with my fiance Crystal and just saying how it's so interesting, how you can love a city so much and be so happy to be settled in there. 06:14.581 --> 06:16.141 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, we bought a place here. 06:16.762 --> 06:17.442 [SPEAKER_00]: We love our 06:19.143 --> 06:35.613 [SPEAKER_00]: I've really been loving my time in Vancouver but you still have those feelings of missing your home and what's familiar and Toronto I think will always be home for me and being in a city like that was just so new for me It'll always have a special place in my heart and I think that's 06:36.413 --> 06:37.134 [SPEAKER_00]: a beautiful thing. 06:37.754 --> 06:39.836 [SPEAKER_00]: And I was feeling a little more emotional over it. 06:39.936 --> 07:00.895 [SPEAKER_00]: I think just reflecting on a lot of times in Toronto, the friendships I have there and like these are people I still talk to now and I think it's just knowing there's that actual like physical distance like hits me a little bit more because there has to be much more effort now to go and actually make a trip down there and see people and spend that quality time, see my family, 07:01.415 --> 07:07.877 [SPEAKER_00]: I have two little nephews who I miss all the time and I also fear that I've missing some really pivotal moments being so far. 07:08.057 --> 07:17.821 [SPEAKER_00]: I think it's also a good reminder that you can choose a place that makes the most sense for you right now, which is Vancouver for me and my fiancé, and we love it. 07:18.921 --> 07:21.262 [SPEAKER_00]: you also just never know what could happen in the future. 07:21.562 --> 07:35.430 [SPEAKER_00]: I remember seeing a video where someone was explaining that they think it's so important to move when you have that craving to be somewhere else and just know that you have that free will, like if you ever 07:36.110 --> 07:37.692 [SPEAKER_00]: wanted to go back home at some point. 07:37.933 --> 07:38.914 [SPEAKER_00]: That option is there. 07:39.455 --> 07:41.718 [SPEAKER_00]: And I always feel like that's such a good reminder for me too. 07:41.838 --> 07:46.385 [SPEAKER_00]: I think that it's important to be set on certain decisions and you make those decisions for a reason. 07:47.206 --> 07:52.473 [SPEAKER_00]: And when you start to have those feelings, you just make the effort, you make that FaceTime call. 07:53.234 --> 07:56.376 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it's like you plan for a trip, like you have something in the calendar. 07:56.436 --> 07:58.337 [SPEAKER_00]: I feel like those are things that always help me. 07:58.697 --> 08:05.060 [SPEAKER_00]: So if you are also going through something like this and you're listening to this podcast and you've just been going through those emotions. 08:05.420 --> 08:06.421 [SPEAKER_00]: You're not alone in that. 08:06.741 --> 08:09.142 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I've been in Vancouver for two years now. 08:09.182 --> 08:10.983 [SPEAKER_00]: That's actually a very good chunk of time. 08:11.624 --> 08:15.726 [SPEAKER_00]: I feel like I always used to say like, oh, I'm new to Vancouver, but really, two years in. 08:17.107 --> 08:18.248 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't think I'm new anymore. 08:18.268 --> 08:21.050 [SPEAKER_00]: I think it's like, you know, we've been living in Vancouver. 08:21.791 --> 08:29.337 [SPEAKER_00]: But I think it's normal to still also feel like, you know, when you're trying to make friends as an adult and you're connecting with others. 08:29.617 --> 08:43.770 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes it can almost come at a slower pace compared to, I feel like when I was in my 20s and I was putting these social situations or school or work or, like, institutions where there's a lot of like social time. 08:44.470 --> 08:58.222 [SPEAKER_00]: And with Vancouver, like I work remotely and I work with people in Toronto, there is a team of Vancouver people here who work at my agency, so it's been amazing that I actually, you know, do get to hang out with them and I see them in person, so I'm so grateful for that. 08:58.922 --> 09:08.430 [SPEAKER_00]: And there's been ways I have to push myself out of my comfort zone to make friends as a 31-year-old and moving to Vancouver with such a, 09:09.571 --> 09:17.213 [SPEAKER_00]: opening experience for me in that way because I was surrounded by so much comfort and familiarity in Toronto. 09:17.613 --> 09:26.876 [SPEAKER_00]: Like despite making new connections and new friends, I always felt like there were connectors involved in a way which kind of made that transition easier. 09:26.956 --> 09:29.997 [SPEAKER_00]: Whereas when I moved to Vancouver, I didn't really know anybody. 09:30.577 --> 09:48.438 [SPEAKER_00]: It was really just my partner and I, so we really had to like go out there, go out to events, meet people, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but at least you're trying and I know we'll always look back at these years with like so much love and feeling so proud of ourselves for also getting out of our comfort zones. 09:49.258 --> 10:01.403 [SPEAKER_00]: And we have met some really, really lovely people here and I can see those friendships like beginning to get stronger and I think it's making Vancouver start to feel a lot more like home too, which I'm grateful for. 10:02.003 --> 10:09.126 [SPEAKER_00]: But like I said, with those feelings of, you know, feeling so happy in a certain area, especially with how a city treats you and, 10:09.626 --> 10:18.853 [SPEAKER_00]: how my lifestyle has changed a little bit here as much as that has been good, I do get those little spikes of like, I miss my family, I miss my friends back home. 10:19.573 --> 10:28.500 [SPEAKER_00]: So if you're ever feeling something like that, what I've been trying to do is really, really romanticize the city I'm living in. 10:29.180 --> 10:32.163 [SPEAKER_00]: I've done these tips in the past too, and I feel like this always comes. 10:32.943 --> 10:42.629 [SPEAKER_00]: back around for me when it's this season, because it's darker, but I do think it's really important to almost treat your day like you're in a movie. 10:42.929 --> 10:51.675 [SPEAKER_00]: And what I mean by that is when I'm starting to have like a miss for Toronto, I think a lot of that comes down to my familiar spots. 10:52.175 --> 10:53.856 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, I had my favorite coffee shops. 10:54.297 --> 10:55.057 [SPEAKER_00]: My lunch spots. 10:55.598 --> 10:56.558 [SPEAKER_00]: I knew that area. 10:56.819 --> 10:58.300 [SPEAKER_00]: The parks, everything like that. 10:58.540 --> 11:00.942 [SPEAKER_00]: What I'm trying to do now is every single day. 11:01.322 --> 11:07.227 [SPEAKER_00]: I want to kind of go on a walk around my neighborhood and kind of starts to familiarize myself. 11:07.807 --> 11:25.878 [SPEAKER_00]: So you have those local spots around you, and I think doing something like that can actually really rewire your brain in a way to feeling like you get that homey feeling and I'm lucky because my neighborhood in a way sometimes reminds me of that like it has those aspects. 11:26.518 --> 11:29.339 [SPEAKER_00]: that I love introducing a place to live. 11:29.379 --> 11:34.620 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, you have your go-to coffee shop, for example, or you have your certain walking route or running route. 11:35.000 --> 11:37.561 [SPEAKER_00]: And I feel like doing little acts like that. 11:37.841 --> 11:46.043 [SPEAKER_00]: Really helps you see those beautiful things that you can appreciate and love about your city that maybe you've missed from something back home. 11:46.423 --> 11:50.384 [SPEAKER_00]: When Crystal and I lived in Toronto, one of our favorite things to do was actually go to brewery together. 11:50.644 --> 11:52.624 [SPEAKER_00]: Toronto has such a good brewery scene. 11:53.285 --> 11:59.806 [SPEAKER_00]: And now that we're living in this neighborhood in Vancouver, we've started to find those spots that give us that feeling of home. 12:00.666 --> 12:03.807 [SPEAKER_00]: And then it becomes really fun when people come to visit us. 12:04.147 --> 12:10.069 [SPEAKER_00]: You can explore a new city together and like show them where you're living, show them your favorite restaurants. 12:10.089 --> 12:13.289 [SPEAKER_00]: Like you have kind of a list going or even like your favorite 12:16.811 --> 12:35.272 [SPEAKER_00]: So I think it's something as simple as like look around your surroundings and see how you can kind of romanticize it a little bit even if it's like trying to write a little journal entry every single day of something that was beautiful that you saw or a new local shop you want to support or 12:35.752 --> 12:45.279 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe on some of the nights that you want to stay in, maybe force yourself to like go out and try to connect with another person or go to the event even if you've been unsure. 12:45.519 --> 12:51.323 [SPEAKER_00]: There was an event I actually went to last week with Sarah and all of you must know Sarah if you've been here since girl one girl. 12:51.383 --> 12:58.247 [SPEAKER_00]: So now you know Sarah and I live in the same city so we've been able to hang out a few times and we went to this event that 12:59.468 --> 13:06.272 [SPEAKER_00]: I was so excited to go to because it's by this creator, her name's Kat and she runs, we should be friends Vancouver. 13:06.752 --> 13:13.175 [SPEAKER_00]: Because Vancouver does get this rep for being a very lonely city and people have a hard time making friends. 13:13.475 --> 13:19.838 [SPEAKER_00]: So she started this initiative in the hopes like she could also make friends because I believe she moved to Vancouver from Ontario. 13:20.699 --> 13:25.381 [SPEAKER_00]: And it's just grown so much and she hosted something called office hours where you get to 13:27.642 --> 13:41.972 [SPEAKER_00]: And Sarah and I ended up going, we had a really good time, and even just to look at the turn out of people who are in the same boat as you, sometimes it's really easy to look around and feel like everybody already knows each other or they've been 13:42.632 --> 13:45.614 [SPEAKER_00]: friends with these people forever and it's just so easy for them. 13:45.634 --> 13:54.200 [SPEAKER_00]: It's familiar but more often than not, a lot of people are actually kind of new to certain cities and they're looking to expand their friend groups as well. 13:54.380 --> 13:56.261 [SPEAKER_00]: And maybe they are feeling a little homesick too. 13:56.861 --> 14:03.866 [SPEAKER_00]: A lot of the really, really good friends I've met who've been new friends in Vancouver actually a bunch of them aren't even from Vancouver. 14:04.026 --> 14:05.367 [SPEAKER_00]: They've moved from different cities. 14:05.767 --> 14:06.848 [SPEAKER_00]: So I think there's always that 14:09.850 --> 14:13.213 [SPEAKER_00]: you can be there for each other as you navigate like a new challenge together. 14:13.813 --> 14:25.823 [SPEAKER_00]: So if you're in this boat and you're feeling like, you know what, I needed to hear this today, I hope that piece of advice kind of helped just try to really fall in love with your radius of where you live. 14:26.183 --> 14:36.212 [SPEAKER_00]: There was this awesome video I found from a creator where they said, where you choose to live is so important, but what's more important than actually even like sometimes the space itself is 14:38.553 --> 14:46.435 [SPEAKER_00]: And not just the whole neighborhood, anything that's like 10 minute walking distance around you makes a really, really big impact. 14:46.535 --> 14:48.295 [SPEAKER_00]: And I found that really fascinating. 14:48.676 --> 14:58.238 [SPEAKER_00]: But at the same time, I was like, I feel that really deep because, especially when it's a really rainy day in Vancouver, for example, I still wanna go out, but maybe I'm not trying to venture out too much. 14:58.398 --> 15:00.378 [SPEAKER_00]: I just wanna go for a walk and see what's around me. 15:00.718 --> 15:05.940 [SPEAKER_00]: Anything that's within 10 minutes, if I'm liking what I'm seeing, I start to feel this like happiness. 15:08.140 --> 15:23.065 [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, this is starting to feel like home, and if any of you relate to that kind of feeling as well, and you've been trying to look for that within your neighborhood or seek out like your go-to spots, I think that's a really good trick when you start to feel a little bit low. 15:23.365 --> 15:48.996 [SPEAKER_00]: I think also social media around the holidays or around like those lonely periods can either be helpful or sometimes it can be tough because sometimes I get into these like follow feelings or like um sometimes do like a comparison right like even to see this person moved somewhere new and they're and they're already appearing like they've made this big group of friends and they're so settled and 15:49.896 --> 15:59.124 [SPEAKER_00]: I think it's also okay to normalize that we all have these different paths and also what you see on social media isn't always the reality, right? 15:59.184 --> 16:10.874 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean whenever I talk to Crystal about like what's the song that really matters a lot to her, the one she always brings up is Jay Cole's love yours and I think it's actually a really beautiful message. 16:11.054 --> 16:15.898 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a great song plus we saw Jay Cole in Vancouver and it was a great, great show. 16:16.318 --> 16:17.298 [SPEAKER_00]: really, really good crowd. 16:17.318 --> 16:18.159 [SPEAKER_00]: They were so into it. 16:18.419 --> 16:25.461 [SPEAKER_00]: But love yours is a really good song because what he's basically trying to talk about is like, your life is going to be the best life. 16:25.841 --> 16:26.441 [SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean? 16:26.461 --> 16:33.303 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, you should never compare yourself to other people's because you don't know what they're going through. 16:33.883 --> 16:39.865 [SPEAKER_00]: At all, like you were never going to know what it's like to walk in somebody else's shoes to that extent because you're not that person. 16:40.505 --> 16:40.945 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you can 16:44.886 --> 16:48.089 [SPEAKER_00]: Here, what they're going through, and you can talk things through, but it's still at the end of the day. 16:48.670 --> 16:53.895 [SPEAKER_00]: Never compare because you actually, you're not that person, and you never will be that person. 16:54.315 --> 16:55.336 [SPEAKER_00]: You're only gonna be you. 16:56.428 --> 17:00.349 [SPEAKER_00]: So he says it like, there's no such thing as a life that's better than yours. 17:00.729 --> 17:04.191 [SPEAKER_00]: This is the last time it's going to be October 29th, 2026. 17:04.871 --> 17:12.473 [SPEAKER_00]: And when you really think about it, it's like, I know it's not possible all the time, but try to do something once every single day. 17:13.193 --> 17:14.934 [SPEAKER_00]: That's something special. 17:15.394 --> 17:31.287 [SPEAKER_00]: Even if it's very little like today, I went for a really awesome walk, and I found a cool coffee shop, or I went and supported this local shop, and I bought something I bought a little treat for myself, or I went to this event, and I supported a friend. 17:31.647 --> 17:38.012 [SPEAKER_00]: Instead of like, I don't know, doom scrolling, and getting into a bit of a funk, because you're seeing all these videos that 17:38.793 --> 17:47.221 [SPEAKER_00]: Once again, are like highlight reels, try to like step back from your phone for a minute and stop doing scrolling and do that for your own life, right? 17:47.321 --> 17:50.684 [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm not saying you have to do something grand every single day. 17:50.724 --> 17:57.490 [SPEAKER_00]: Like I know some days are different than others and you're going to have some days when you're like, I'm just not really in the mood or I'm feeling off. 17:58.110 --> 18:00.532 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't mean it in like a toxic positivity way, but 18:01.453 --> 18:21.176 [SPEAKER_00]: even when I sign off from this podcast, I'm going to go for a walk and just try to like discover something new or like take a nice picture and send it to a friend or send it to like even my nephews like something that reminds me of them and you'll be surprised at what that can kind of do to your brain especially when you're feeling a little off. 18:22.017 --> 18:24.119 [SPEAKER_00]: it's back to like the romanticizing. 18:24.819 --> 18:31.504 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, I was, I remember yesterday, I had a really, really like busy day running errands, right? 18:31.564 --> 18:41.532 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes like something had a mundane, but you know what made it that much more fun for me was I was listening to some old Britney Spears songs and once again, I'm warning you, new listeners. 18:41.592 --> 18:42.873 [SPEAKER_00]: I bring up Britney Spears a lot. 18:43.293 --> 18:49.579 [SPEAKER_00]: But I was listening to some of her old songs and I was instantly like in such a better mood. 18:49.659 --> 18:59.729 [SPEAKER_00]: I was like feeling myself and inspired me to like go back home and do like do some weights, which I never ever really want to do any heavy lifting, but I know it's important to. 19:00.209 --> 19:01.851 [SPEAKER_00]: But it's something as simple as that. 19:01.911 --> 19:06.475 [SPEAKER_00]: Like I listened to it, my favorite artist today, or I listened to this awesome new album. 19:07.156 --> 19:07.256 [SPEAKER_00]: And 19:08.237 --> 19:18.102 [SPEAKER_00]: I think it's important to write it down like write down those moments and something with physical media where you can remember and you have that notebook and you can look back at all those memories. 19:18.142 --> 19:21.304 [SPEAKER_00]: Look at each day where you documented something. 19:21.644 --> 19:23.045 [SPEAKER_00]: I can be kind of bad with journaling. 19:23.205 --> 19:28.807 [SPEAKER_00]: I've been through phases where I'm good, but then there's other phases where I just don't journal for a few days. 19:29.368 --> 19:29.768 [SPEAKER_00]: But even 19:30.348 --> 19:43.145 [SPEAKER_00]: What I'm going to probably try to do now is write down like even one thing like what is one thing I did today Within my radius that made me really happy and just brought like a little joy into my life So 19:44.807 --> 19:59.773 [SPEAKER_00]: especially as I'm like working through these feelings, you know, working through the home sickness here and there, missing my people, you know, missing the people who have grown up with and have spent a majority of like my adult life with, right? 19:59.873 --> 20:00.133 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, 20:01.033 --> 20:26.489 [SPEAKER_00]: I need to give myself grace and say, it's okay that you're having these feelings and There is ways to kind of like combat that a little bit without like Masking anything it's good to also be honest and check in even with my cousin him and I had like such a good chat I used to see him all the time when we lived in Toronto or when I lived in Toronto and he even said yeah Just like cold call me sometimes he's like either I'll pick up or like I'll definitely get back to you, but 20:27.450 --> 20:35.657 [SPEAKER_00]: He's like, that kind of works for me too, because he's really busy, he's a new dad, and even for him, it's probably nice to kind of get away for a little bit and just catch up, right? 20:36.218 --> 20:43.044 [SPEAKER_00]: Those are the kind of things like, I need to do to feed my soul, and I think it's really important to listen to yourself in what you need. 20:43.344 --> 20:53.753 [SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, if you clicked on this episode, I'm sure you were in need of a little pick me up, just know that you're not alone, and we're all going through it at times, and 20:54.534 --> 20:55.754 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not a linear feeling. 20:56.055 --> 21:03.497 [SPEAKER_00]: It's so interesting to love a place so much and feel like, you know, this loft that crystal and I have together is so homie. 21:03.557 --> 21:05.318 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, it really, really feels like home. 21:05.918 --> 21:10.500 [SPEAKER_00]: But I do go through my waves of, you know, missing the people I love. 21:10.940 --> 21:12.841 [SPEAKER_00]: And I think it's not talked about enough. 21:12.921 --> 21:16.522 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes the hardships that come with moving somewhere new. 21:17.242 --> 21:18.603 [SPEAKER_00]: That's another thing on social media. 21:18.623 --> 21:24.085 [SPEAKER_00]: We see a lot like people are all up and moving across the world or you know they're moving to the city. 21:24.105 --> 21:30.528 [SPEAKER_00]: They've always dreamt of living in and you know Vancouver was one of those places that was appealing to me for so long. 21:31.268 --> 21:35.109 [SPEAKER_00]: The reason behind that is I was always curious about like the West Coast lifestyle. 21:35.690 --> 21:37.090 [SPEAKER_00]: I love nature. 21:37.430 --> 21:40.292 [SPEAKER_00]: I love being close to the ocean and having that access. 21:41.172 --> 21:45.714 [SPEAKER_00]: And while there's been so many positives that have come out of this experience, 21:46.434 --> 21:54.100 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, like I got to say, I'm human and I, it's different for me to be away from people I've been around my whole life. 21:54.681 --> 21:58.344 [SPEAKER_00]: I've never lived more than an hour away from my family. 21:58.884 --> 22:04.909 [SPEAKER_00]: It is an interesting transitional period for me and I've chosen to really settle down here too. 22:04.929 --> 22:08.672 [SPEAKER_00]: I think there are definitely healthy ways to work through those feelings and, and 22:09.962 --> 22:20.512 [SPEAKER_00]: to find the little joys because I do think there's something beautiful and also experiencing something so new and like allowing yourself to feel that and to grow in that way too. 22:20.652 --> 22:34.025 [SPEAKER_00]: I also think being away has helped me really grow in so many different ways and the people who I still talk to and I connect with from back home like they're always going to be there and I'm always going to be there for them so that's also like a good reminder. 22:35.623 --> 22:40.687 [SPEAKER_00]: But anyway, I know this episode didn't really have a big structure or anything. 22:42.328 --> 22:53.357 [SPEAKER_00]: I was just kind of talking freely and kind of wanted it to be one of those like check-in episodes and, you know, just know I'm always here to, I love talking to listeners through Instagram and thank you for 22:54.018 --> 22:56.079 [SPEAKER_00]: all of you who DM me and we just have chats. 22:57.321 --> 23:06.870 [SPEAKER_00]: I think that's also like a whole reason why I wanted to have a queer podcast is because the biggest thing I always wanted when I was growing up was more queer people around me. 23:07.570 --> 23:11.194 [SPEAKER_00]: And I mean people are meeting on the internet and making friends through the internet. 23:11.294 --> 23:14.617 [SPEAKER_00]: I've met so many internet friends, and it's like so cool how 23:15.197 --> 23:17.599 [SPEAKER_00]: We can use social media as a tool for that. 23:18.079 --> 23:21.701 [SPEAKER_00]: Like as much as social media can have its toxic ways There's also so much good. 23:22.402 --> 23:25.704 [SPEAKER_00]: I think that has come out of it in terms of connection. 23:25.964 --> 23:31.027 [SPEAKER_00]: So I am grateful for that But if you did relate to this episode Please message me. 23:31.668 --> 23:44.096 [SPEAKER_00]: I would love to talk to you guys and as always if there are any guests You would like for me to have on room for us or any topics who want me to cover semi a message and I'll make sure I do all the research So I can have that podcast episode ready for you 23:44.637 --> 23:49.040 [SPEAKER_00]: That'll be all for today, but thank you so much as always for tuning in, and I will see you all next week.