Your Joy and Resilience Stories
23:46 Share

Welcome to You're Wrong About, I'm Sarah Marshall, and today we are listening to you.

At the end of our last episode, I asked you to send in stories of things that were bringing you a little bit of joy right now, because the question of what joy is and where to find it seems very important. And I thought that you would have some answers and you did. I was inspired to do this because a few weeks ago, I had also asked this question on Patreon and just read people's answers as they came in as comments throughout the day and been inspired

Given the feeling of just being surrounded without having realized it with people who were doing and sharing and dreaming of such wonderful things and over and over again talking about finding joy by building community and by helping each other. That's a view of people that I really needed and I really then wanted to share with you.

And hearing your voices now as you share these joys after this prompt is even more wonderful. And I hope that as you listen to this episode, you realize that the people surrounding you on all sides are living with this kind of love and this kind of search for community and this kind of excitement about today and tomorrow. We don't feel this way all the time, but we can remember that this is what people often are like.

One of the things I also loved about reading and listening to all of your answers to this question of where the joy is in your life is seeing the patterns that emerge. And I will say again, to me, the big patterns are building community, expressing what is inside of you and finding ways to share what you love with people. So find each other. You're all out there.

Hi, Sarah and Carolyn and everybody in the You're Wrong About universe. First of all, thank you for You're Wrong About and all of the other shows that you create. They got me out of, got me through long commutes through a job that was really hard for me in my mental health and got me inspired to go back to grad school and pursue a career that's a much better fit for me. So thank you.

And while I'm pursuing that new career, it's inspired me to do something that's bringing me a lot of joy and which I wholeheartedly recommend to everyone. And that's witnessing as much live local art as possible. Going to local museums and seeing plays, especially weird ones, and chamber music and orchestras and jazz.

and vocalists and community choirs. And I just think especially in these weird and really hard times where art is really being criticized and being attacked, it is especially important for us as citizens to come out in support of local artists. And it's also just a really wonderful reminder of everything that's great about being alive. Thanks.

Hi, Sarah, and you're wrong about listeners. I guess what's making me feel sloppy and alive is I've been tap dancing for a long time, since about 2014. And lately, I've been adding some ballroom and swing dancing into the mix. I expect I will be fitted for a Ginger Rogers style frothy swirly gown any day now, but it makes me feel very sloppy and very alive, especially when I am bad at it.

Hope you're all well and let's keep dancing.

Hi, Sarah. Just wanted to say thank you so much for your wrong about. It's been something that's kept me company and helped me expand the way I view the world and I've learned really so much over the last couple of years. So just wanted to take part of my three-minute or less voice memo to say thank you. What's bringing me joy in this year as I feel fascism in the United States closing in around me is the act of creation, is art, specifically poetry.

reading other people's poetry, writing my own. This gives me hope that in the face of so much destruction, of so much hate and fear of everyone around you, that people can create and see the joy and creation in other people and find a real solace in that sort of a safe harbor

you know, a safe camp or a place to wait out the storm. And so that gives me hope that there are poems and art yet to be made and it will be a sort of life raft for me and for whoever's making it. And as people kind of throw those note in a bottle, you know, out into the ocean and I might receive it or someone might receive mine, I think that's a really beautiful thing.

The thing that's been giving me the most joy and hope these days has been volunteering with an organization in Pittsburgh where I'm from. It's called the Auto Body Shop. And basically my friend who has been working in reproductive justice for a long time

bought a van and turned it into a mobile reproductive justice and harm reduction distribution site. So we drive the van to different events like punk shows and health fairs all over local universities. And we give out things like birth control pills, emergency contraception, over-the-counter birth control pills.

condoms, zines about reproductive justice, and also harm reduction supplies like Narcan and like fentanyl testing strips. We have become this like little community and we have like a signal chat and a Slack channel. And we've organized what we call public displays of affection where we've gone out with a big banner we had made. It says we love our trans and immigrant neighbors.

And we just show up and have some visibility and tell people about what we do. And the traction has been amazing and the community has been amazing. And it's just been a really rewarding experience to know that there's other people out there who want to make a difference and they just need places to plug into. So, yeah, I really encourage people to get involved with mutual aid in their towns. And if not, start something if you don't know one that already exists.

the benefits are just like immeasurable. So that's mine. Thanks for doing this. Thanks for being you. Bye. Hi, Sarah. Hi, everyone. My name is Claire. I live in Washington, D.C. in the Adams Morgan neighborhood. Something that has made me happy is there's somebody in the neighborhood who walks around and sings on the sidewalk every

And he belts out these old Motown songs at the top of his lungs. And he actually has a pretty great voice. But what's special about it is that it's always really, really early in the morning, like before the sun has come up. And the sound bounces off the buildings and sort of echoes through the streets.

And it reminds me that, you know, my little four block neighborhood has some pretty cool gems, including this person. And every time I get the chance, I try to run to the window and crack it without being noticed so that I can listen as he walks by. And it never lasts for very long, but it always brings a smile to my face. So that's what makes me happy.

I think remembering there's hope in the world is more crucial than ever. Here's my simple story from the crows. I noticed them around my neighborhood, so I started imitating their calls and that got their attention. Negative or positive, I'll never know, but I had a bag of mixed nuts with me and while they were looking, I threw down a handful on my driveway and went back in my house. Over weeks, I noticed they would always leave the almonds and I agree, almonds suck. So I got them shelled and unshelled pistachios and they prefer the shell.

Most of the time they would wait for me to leave and then immediately come scoop up a bunch in their beaks, fly off a safe distance. They always have a guard watching me and the guard alerts the others, "She's gone! Go get the snacks!" Or at least that's how I interpret it. I shake the bag as I walk outside so they know I'm coming and suddenly crows appear. Alighting on rooftops and light poles and right next to my house, pretending not to look at me and faux searching the ground for bugs.

One time, my son didn't want his scrambled eggs and I could hear the crows going about their business outside, cawing and scratching. I brought them the plate and turned around to leave. They had the plate clean before I could make it to my door. I wish I had more egg money for them because I would love to treat them more. One day, I was playing with my son outside and I found a bead bracelet in the spot where I always leave their snacks.

The bracelet had two shiny silver medallions on it, and the beads spelled out, number one grandma. I've never been so offended and so grateful at the same time. I find hope and joy in my tentative but budding relationship with my murder of crows. I often find them in the treetops, speaking to each other their own special language and watching me garden. I like to believe they watch over me and my family, even though they chase my cat every chance they get.

Hello, this is Carolyn Kendrick. I work for this show. And lately, I have been finding joy in going outside and experiencing the beauty of nature. I live in Los Angeles, and I'm originally from Northern California. And I've always loved being outside.

But after evacuating from the Eaton fire earlier this year and seeing many of my friends lose their homes and their instruments and their workplaces, and also in seeing so many National Park Service employees and Forest Service employees be fired by the Trump administration, I have experienced this huge emotional surge of reverence for the absolute insanity and beauty of nature.

Also with that, I have experienced a surge in desire to make sure that I, as a Californian and as a human being, can be as responsible as I can with the land that I live on and experience it as much as possible. So right now the seasons are changing. It's a

early spring and it's beautiful here in California and the wild poppies and the mustard is popping out on the sides of the highways and I saw some beautiful lupins yesterday while I was driving. The wild fennel is growing in the fields and I've been noticing the hawks and the egrets and the cherry blossoms are floating in the wind.

And today I am taking this afternoon to go to the beach with some of my closest friends and my family. We're going to go look at the elephant seals at Drake's Beach in Marin County. And when I get back from traveling, when I get back to LA this week, I am going to be joining my local trash cleanup club, which is called Echo Park Trash Club if anybody's interested. But there's probably trash clubs in your area that you can find too.

So that's what's been bringing me joy lately, experiencing and interfacing with nature alongside my loved ones. It makes me feel proud, makes me feel protective. It makes me feel joyous to be able to witness this land that feeds us and keeps us and that we're part of.

Hi Sarah and Carolyn, this is Heather from New York and I am a library worker. In January, I began facilitating a class for New Yorkers from all over the world to practice their English conversation skills.

And it has become my favorite thing that I get to do every week. We meet together for two hours. We watch videos. We talk about our hometowns, our cultures. And everyone is just so open, welcoming, just lovely, lovely people. And I can think of few other situations where

where people from different backgrounds, cultures, classes get to engage at this level. And I am just really grateful that I get to spend my time with these folks every week. Thank you for letting me share with you. All right. Bye-bye.

Hi, my name is Ray. I'm currently a graduate student working on my master's thesis. And in between that and everything else that's going on in the world, I've been finding a lot of joy in a weaving project where I'm trying to recreate a coverlet from the 19th century and

It's been lovely to reconnect with history and my body. And I've had to recruit classmates to help me at various steps of the process. And it's been a really lovely little respite. And I wanted to share that. ♪

Hey, my name is Dan. I'm from Vancouver, Canada. But something that has been really getting me through everything has been my dodgeball team. I'm on a dodgeball team in a queer league. And on Tuesdays, no matter how bad of a day I have, I get to go and play dodgeball with some new friends. I didn't know anyone on my team before I joined, which is really cool.

Something that's really fun about it is that we actually suck as a team. We're really bad, but that's kind of making it a bit of a hero's journey. And it's really cool to see a bunch of people that didn't know each other before help one another and work through problems together.

and also laugh the entire time. And we go for beers after, and we sometimes just yap, and sometimes we talk about important things like the trade war, or sometimes we talk about just gossip, or we talk about our jobs, and it's so cool to learn about everybody.

And I feel like I haven't had this type of community and camaraderie since I was a lot younger. And I think that I didn't realize how important joining a rec league would be for me, especially a queer one, but a rec league in general. So even though it sounds just like grown ups playing a children's sport in a children's gymnasium,

I think that all of us get a lot from it and we learn from one another and we have a really good time. The most important part about it, I think, is that it's fun. And if we stop having fun, then we kind of lose the plot altogether. So I'm really, really grateful for this team. And I'm also grateful for you for listening. Thank you.

Hello, Sarah Marshall and the You're Wrong About team. My name is KB, and the thing that brings me joy is also something of a "You Are Good" crossover because it's about movies. Last summer, I had the opportunity to open up a physical media shop, meaning that I sell movies to people every day across the spectrum of formats from VHS to DVD and Blu-ray.

Not that into Laserdiscs at this point because I don't have room for it. But yeah, I get to have conversations with people about movies regularly. And whether it's younger people who are in their 20s who recently discovered the old family VCR and they're just kind of looking for whatever tapes appeal to them so they can go home and experience them. Or if it's someone who regrets having a yard sale and getting rid of all their DVDs and really just wants that copy of While You Were Sleeping back in their hands.

I get to share that with them. I get to connect people with the cinema that they love or are about to discover. And it's the kind of thing that if I told my 16-year-old self back in 1994, you know, that I was running a movie shop...

I would have been like, "What are you talking about? Who are you, gay person from the future?" And I would say, "Kid, you know you're gay. Deal with it now or later. It's fine. You'll be okay. You're gonna run a movie store." One of the coolest things about it is watching someone see a movie on the shelf.

and that recognition in their eyes of like, "Oh my God, I haven't thought about the Whoopi Goldberg movie, 'Jumpin' Jack Flash,' since I watched it on TV when I was 12 years old." You know, something like that where I'm watching someone have a memory and reconnect in real time. And in a time right now when things feel weird and dark and uncertain, it's really great to be part of something joyful. Thank you, and good night.

♪ ♪

For me, what's bringing me joy and letting out my artistic side and connecting me with community is puppets. Last year, I was involved in a show called Evil Dead the Musical, which required a puppet moose that became a zombie puppet moose who had a song to sing, and I built that. And since then, I have gained a bit of a reputation as the guy who makes puppets for

local community theater shows. And so now I have been commissioned to make puppets for a couple more shows, including one called Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, which makes me building a pigeon who is not allowed to drive a bus and a duckling who eats a hot dog for some reason.

And then I'm also building a puppet of a fortune teller machine for a musical called Ride the Cyclone. And I'm hoping that the rest of 2025 is filled with lots of art, lots of music, lots of theater, community, and maybe a lot more puppets. Thanks for asking. Hi, Sarah. My name is Hannah. I'm a huge fan. I wanted to share something that's been bringing me joy in the last few years, and that is thoughtful gift giving, and especially for somebody's milestone birthday.

The idea is that you buy somebody something that was released or published in the ideally month, but definitely the year that they were born.

This should be based on what they're interested in. So, for example, for a friend of mine who's into horror, I got her a first edition of Pet Sematary when she turned 40 in 2023. A friend of mine that's into comic books, some comics that were released in the month and year that he was born. A friend of mine that's like obsessed with Joan Crawford, I got her a coffee table book about...

Joan Crawford that was released in the year that she was born. So this is a really cute idea and also really fun to do because you know a milestone birthday is coming many, many months out. And it's like a little treasure hunt where you can scour the internet or physical bookstores. And it's just a great, nice use of your time that is not doom scrolling.

And yeah, it's very well received. Everybody has always really liked it and been very appreciative because you're basically giving them something that was released into the world at the same time that they were released into the world.

Let's say if it was your milestone birthday, I might get you a vintage book about growing cabbages that was published in the year that you were born. I hope this is helpful and just wishing you all the best. And I know times are tough right now, but, you know, thoughtful gift giving always warms the soul.

Hi Sarah! After a year of unhealthy growth I'm currently excited about all the healthy growth in my life. I have several small tomato and chili seedlings that are growing strong and I have a few different craft projects that are steadily moving forward and I'm also very excited to see my hair slowly starting to grow back after finishing chemotherapy a month ago.

Thank you for listening. This episode was edited by Miranda Zickler and our producer, as always, was Carolyn Kendrick. And thank you, all of you, for sending in your stories and telling us about your search for joy. We read them all. We listened to them all. And we loved them all. We'll see you in two weeks.