EP#34- What Brings You Endorphins? Friends From College Edition

(gentle piano music) - Going on runs and doing a lot of yoga. - Playing Super Smash Bros. Yeah, we play a lot of Super Smash Bros. in our apartment. - It's weird, but alone time, like time where I just like worked on myself. - I think just finding people that I could be myself around. Welcome back to another episode of Everyday Endorphins. This episode is a bit different from what I usually put out there. What makes it a bit different is firstly, instead of my regular episodes, where I interview experts in the fields around health and wellness, this week I decided to interview about 11 of my college friends on what brings them happiness, joy, and endorphins. Secondly, the inspiration behind this episode came from a very special event that happened recently. My college graduation. Throughout producing this podcast and interviewing people, I realized that although endorphins are the neuropeptides and the hormones in our bodies that work to relieve pain and stress, and that when we think of endorphins, we think of the runners high, getting these endorphins from physical activity, there are so many other activities beyond physical exercise that actually work to bring us happiness. And that the ways to derive happiness isn't really just a one size fits all solution. Oftentimes, seeking the pursuit of a good life and finding ways to be happy is way more nuanced than we think. Which is exactly why I wanted to hear from my friends on what brings them happiness and joy. Before you get to hear from my wonderful 11 guests, I wanted to take a minute to reflect on the commencement ceremony and the spirit of now being a recent college graduate. I didn't know this, but the word commencement comes from the French word beginning or the start of. A friend of mine told me that, and when I heard that, it really sunk in for me. I was so sad to graduate college because I felt like, or I guess I feel like, this chapter is ending. And it's sad to say goodbye to people and to not be in the same location anymore and just to have a change of pace now. Instead of thinking about graduation as this event where we're mourning something that's now over, a positive way to reframe the commencement ceremony is to realize that the word in itself means a beginning. A new start. So being appreciative, rather than sad and being grateful of what we had and getting excited for what our lives are going to bring us next. We also had an incredible graduation speaker, Kareem Abduljabar, and he said a series of profound life lessons throughout the speech, but something that really resonated with me in particular was that he mentioned life being a series of multiple graduations and multiple milestones, not necessarily on a linear projected path that we may lead in the future, but constant challenges that are going to come up, that are going to present themselves as their own kinds of graduations and moving on to the next chapter. And he also said that life is also a constant feeling of anxious uncertainty. I really liked that point because growing up, I thought that we only have that feeling as kids and moving through like young adulthood, not really knowing what's coming next and feeling uncertain about the future. Little did I realize, and Kareem really solidified this for me, was that the feeling of uncertainty will persist because life is just constant change, and we never know what's gonna come next. So working to continuously embrace change and uncertainty and knowing that things are impermanent is kind of comforting and knowing that adults feel this way too is very comforting as well. We're all in it together, which as cliche as it sounds is true to a certain extent. So without further ado, and in the spirit of graduation and Kareem's incredible speech, you'll hear from about 11 of my friends on what's brought them in Dorfins in their lifetime and what's been making them very happy. (gentle piano music) I personally think just having deep relationships with people has made me the most happy, especially in college I think I've found a lot of people who understand me and are similar, but also if we're not similar, find ways to have things in common. I think just finding people that I can be myself around is that I'm not afraid of being vulnerable or not saying the right thing and just being completely myself. I definitely think that in high school I didn't have that with that many people, but here at college I have a very great group of friends that just support me being me and help me grow and teach me things. What brings me in Dorfins is the chance to move my body in whatever form that may be. I love listening to Spanish music, specifically at Regatone, and when I can just get up and dance and let my body feel the music, I don't know what it is. I'm just so happy when that happens. Even when I was locked in my room, over the past year quarantine, nowhere to go, tried to find at least 30 minutes every day to move my body in some way, whether that's just like dancing in the shower or going on a run outside or doing some yoga or something random, like just something about moving your body and feeling in touch with your whole being is something that I think I never took the time to appreciate. I think especially in the past year, I've definitely reflected on this idea of what brings me happiness, how do I really produce those in Dorfins, both by myself, which I think I've had to confront a little bit more, and then also with other people. And so in those two realms, I think with other people, I have just really found the beauty and like walking with people. I had never ever really been like, "Oh my god, let's go on a walk today." But I think the pandemic really forced me to make time for the people that I really love but be able to see them in 16 apart outside and go on those walks. So getting my exercise in, but also like reconnecting and talking about things that you don't normally just get a chance to like text about. And I think the other thing that brings me in Dorfins more independently that I've also found this past year is cooking. So like throwing on a really fun playlist, like me and my mom at home will do like yacht rock. And then, what's that? It's like an old like 70s rock that you would hear on a boat. Like, oh I love that. I can't so fun. And just like dance around the kitchen and be able to cook, make my food, be able to like really engage with what I'm eating and appreciate that. I think those bring me to Dorfins. The first thing that has always been a constant in my life, which is unique to me is cars, whether it be looking at them, driving them, just being around them, taking pictures of them. You know, it really puts a smile on my face that not many other things can do. Another thing very similar, which I think most people share is a love from music. There's not really one type of music that I listen to. I'm really all over the place, depending on my mood. Love rock, love rap, love everything, but nothing really gets me like some 808s on a subwoofer, nothing can beat that. And lastly, you know, I've always viewed myself as somewhat of an introvert. And that hasn't really changed much over the past year, but the pandemic and not being able to see people has really made me miss being around my friends. So as someone who before this whole pandemic happened, I wasn't always, you know, the type of person to go out of my way to see people. But this past year, spending a lot of time sitting alone in my room doing nothing made me really appreciate all the time that I had with my friends growing up. I made me miss all the time that I was missing out with my friends for the past year. So spending time with my friends when I'm able to now has definitely brought me a lot of joy. Throughout the pandemic, I noticed like at the beginning, my mental health and like physical health were both deteriorating. And I feel like throughout college, I've had like kind of bursts where like I'm better at like one of them compared to the other, like either like I'm more like going to the gym and like actually like trying to like not force my body into his stupor. But maybe like I'm not doing so all mentally. And so I think what really brought me in Dorfins was like, honestly, it's weird, but alone time, like time where I just like worked on myself. And one of my favorite quotes that I've been reading a lot is like it's lonely when you work on yourself, but like when you work on yourself, you attract good energy. And I feel like I finally like struck a balance where like that couldn't be sure for me this semester. Specifically just like finding a good balance of like being okay by myself and like finding like a good support system of friends who I can fall back on but understanding that at the end of the day, like I have to fall back on myself. And that like sustaining my mental health. And then also just like moving my body for at least like 30 minutes to an hour every day, like that I didn't understand how much of a day that would like truly make what it's done like sustainably. 'Cause before it was kind of like a bandaid like, "Oh, I'm having a bad day, like maybe I'll go for a run "to make it better." But that was like the whole struggle for me through college. Just like this, like whatever health means to you, like it has, if it's not sustainable, it's not gonna work. - Yeah, I think like what brings me happiness is, like I get a lot of external, you know, I'm not like, I don't get, I don't go for a runner's high, you know, but I feel like you can sort of hack your brain with things like podcasts or stand-up comedy or you know, marijuana and a good book, like whatever it is. That's definitely what I do. Yeah, I think like the importance of good quality comedy and like content is what I'd stress here. Like comedians are professionals for reason and laughing feels good. So especially with podcasts and YouTube, I feel like I find myself just consuming a lot of content even in the background. And yeah, I'd like to just listen to funny shit, I guess. - Speaking to like the actual seeking of happiness, something that I really found myself doing, which I haven't done since middle school was going on runs and doing a lot of yoga. I used to like run cross country in middle school, which is pretty funny, 'cause I was terrible. Now I just like find myself putting on an awesome playlist and going for run and feeling freaking amazing. And I just like love the sweating and love everything about it. And I mean, my yoga practice, I've always had a yoga practice and it goes on and off like depending on how I'm feeling. It's held me together during quarantine for sure, completely and utterly. And something else like a new hobby that I really got into during quarantine was antiquing. I'm not really thrifting, but I just love going out to these antique fairs. One that I would frequent was one that happened like every other Sunday on Miami Beach, which was like 20 minutes for my house. And yeah, it just these like really eccentric people just go out and put off these crazy items. And yeah, the people are really just as interesting as the items. And I just, I love the feeling of like feeling as though you've like discovered something on this like crazy person's table. So I did that a lot. Like me and my mom would go like all over Florida, like drive two hours to these random antique fairs. And it was just so much fun. - What brings me endorphins, human relationships, probably the biggest relationship I'm thinking of is the one I'm in right now, shout out Emma, bringing me lots of endorphins. It's so interesting being in a relationship. And like yes, I'm like physically comfortable with my friend, but just like having a best friend that you can just like cuddle with anytime. It's sweet, especially with my love language is like physical touch. TMI audience, you learn a lot about why. - I would say the top contributors of my joy and happiness are definitely talking to my friends and family, spending time with my friends and family. I just love human connection. Playing super smash bros. Yeah, we play a lot of super smash bros in our apartment. Going to the AC brings me endorphins or just exercising in general. Although I haven't been doing much of that these days, it's been a rough two weeks. End of senior years, crazy. I would say, yeah, I would say, oh, listening to music, I love listening to music. I always wait, the first thing I do in the morning is I put on headphones and I brushed my teeth and I wash my face with music playing. Gets my day going. - I think because we came into this year with kind of an idea in mind of what we wouldn't be able to do, we were almost more able to like get excited about the smaller things and the day to day things. I took a lot of joy in just like becoming more of an adult and getting a routine, doing things that make me feel good on my own moving and eating foods that I love and cooking at home, things like that that we weren't, you know, that's not what we were picturing our senior year to be but made it really, really special. I'll also say just kind of for myself, the semester, going to summers a lot more and the cardio being closed and like just going to, you know, lift and do strength training has been like so transformative just for me mentally and I had no idea but that was gonna happen. And so I take that as a huge blessing from this year 'cause I'll just carry that with me into, you know, wherever I go. - Sunrise and sunsets are something that's been bringing me in dolphins. More recently, I've been able to experience routine sunrise and sunsets while living on a dive boat. This combination of being on the water and experiencing different sunrise and sunset colors have really passed down the ultimate feelings of euphoria for me. Like many, I associate watching or being in the ocean and really anybody of water with the unconscious and a powerful meditative state. And I'm hoping to continue to incorporate this combination of sunrise, sunsets and time on the water for the ultimate boosts of endorphins. (upbeat music) - Thank you to everyone who participated in this episode. Katriana Ureya, Dalia Weinstein, Grace Ann Aldred, Adam Glotzer, Armand Nalceri, Andrew Fleck, Alex Levine, Wyatt Williams, Keon Nori, Riley Hager, and Nicole Rabanue. Thank you again. And also huge shout out to Tara Kilkenny and Ellen Edler, who were not featured in this episode but are very much here in spirit. I am fortunate to have also had the two of you throughout my college experience to share endorphins with. One final announcement to leave you all with is that I will be taking a bit of a break before coming out with new episodes. I am currently quarantining in Jakarta, Indonesia. I've been here for almost a week now. As I make my way to Bali to complete a yoga teacher training program. So by the time that everyday endorphins is up and running again, I will be a certified yoga instructor. So stay tuned for very exciting episodes to come. Remember to like, rate, review on whatever listening platforms you use to stream everyday endorphins. And until next time. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)