Emotionally Fit with Dr. Emily Anhalt

So much of what we do in life is in service of avoiding discomfort. We avoid tough conversations. We avoid challenging the status quo when we know we could do better. We turn to drugs and alcohol to avoid facing other uncomfortable realities. But unfortunately the things we do to avoid discomfort often end up leading to more discomfort than the original thing we were trying to avoid in the first place. In this Emotional Push-Up, Dr. Emily talks to Chris Messina, credited with creating the hashtag, about why the most effective path to emotional growth is to become more comfortable being uncomfortable.

Growing up in a Catholic and Filipino family, Jo Portia Mayari didn’t talk about sex. Today Jo joins Dr. Emily in this Taboo Tuesday discussion to share how she went from feeling clueless and closeted to being named one of Arianna Huffington's top 20 health and wellness role models on a mission to help women build their sexual wealth. From struggling with her own sexual trauma at a young age to wanting to be a more body-positive role model for her kids, Jo doesn’t hold back in this episode. Tune in now to hear this deep dive into sexuality, self-pleasure, and how to talk about sex with your kids.

Chris Messina has over a hundred thousand followers on Twitter, but he wasn’t thinking about that when he accepted a challenge from his partner to be more vocal about his sexual desires, and updated his profile to include a personal goal of giving her more orgasms. Cut to the following day when people were shocked to see that this tech leader credited with inventing the hashtag had posted something so personal in such a public way. But for Chris, this event was a turning point for him in speaking more freely about sex without fear or shame. In this Taboo Tuesday, Chris talks to Dr. Emily about his journey to accepting himself as a sexual being and navigating a world where many people are not comfortable talking about sex openly.