You are probably not the only one

In way ways, we're not that special -- and that's a good thing

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is that whatever struggles you are experiencing and whatever
questions you have, you are probably not the only one.

(00:28):
There is no need to figure out everything yourself. There
are eight billion people in this world, which adds up
to a lot of experience, so seek out what you
can and make use of it. I host another podcast
called Best of Both Worlds with Sarah Hart Hunger, and

(00:52):
since we are both forty something women and she is
a physician, we often get questions about things like hormonal
change is that women experience in their forties and beyond.
It seems that despite basically every female person who lives
to age fifty experiencing these changes, there's a lot of

(01:12):
mystery still surrounding them. People have no idea what is
going on with their own bodies, which is kind of
strange if you think about it. How can something that
a billion plus people have experienced be a surprise. To
that end, we were happy to welcome doctor Gillian Goddard,
an endocrinologist, to the program recently to talk about the

(01:34):
late reproductive years. One of the first things she assured
people is that these changes are normal. She's spelled out
what people can expect, She's seen thousands of patients, and
of course there are probably four billion women on this planet.
None of this really needs to be a mystery. But

(01:54):
all this got me thinking about how many things we
all think we need to figure out on our own,
as if we are Adam and Eve in the garden
facing the world anew. But for the vast majority of
human experiences, we are not going to be the first ones.
We aren't even going to be close to the first ones.

(02:17):
There is no need to muddle through without guidance or
the benefit of other people's experiences. So, for instance, if
you are relatively new in a remote job and you
are unsure how to let your boss know that you
will be away from your desk for a medical appointment,
well you could ask a trusted colleague what she does,

(02:40):
and even if she has never missed work for any
reason whatsoever, she has seen someone else do this, Well
perhaps she can tell you. Or if you are trying
to navigate how to tell your kids about your spouse
losing his or her job in a way that they
won't worry about, well, someone else has done this, They've

(03:02):
got ideas, or people in general might have suggestions, like
asking your school guidance counselor for help with scripts that
might cover this topic. Now, it's possible that no one
you know personally has navigated something, though maybe they have
and they just don't talk about it. But if so,

(03:22):
the good news is that we live in a very
connected world. It is possible to go on the internet
and search, read posts, study the literature. Now, of course,
you do have to be careful about the sources. That
person telling you that all medical problems can be cured
by paying attention to your auras perhaps a suspect, but

(03:45):
there is a lot of helpful stuff too. Humans like
to help each other. I wound up getting some relief
from my chronic sore throats by reading about the different
possibilities and then seeing which options most matched myncptoms. It
turns out I am not the only human being with

(04:06):
a throat. You can have a healthy dose of doubt
about many things, but see if there's anything that seems
like it might make sense or is repeated a lot,
particularly by people who seem relatively normal or experienced and wise,
like our guest doctor Goddard. We are all unique and wonderful,

(04:28):
but we are also, on some level not that special,
which is actually a good thing. Even if only one
in a million people has experienced something like you, if
there are eight billion people in this world, that means
that there are another seven thousand, nine hundred ninety nine

(04:52):
people who have had that experience. You are not the
only one, Thank goodness. We can all learn from each other.
In the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for

(05:20):
listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

(05:44):
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.