Two Addys and a Coffee, Please

Hey all! It's truly been forever since we last sat down and recorded an episode, but we're excited to be back with our listeners after a long hiatus! Apologies for disappearing into the void :')

In this podcast episode, we chat and reflect about the past year. We (Juno) planned a wedding, (Nelly) officiated said wedding, traveled and frolicked around Europe while wfh, explored hobbies (art, pole dancing, aerial hoop, boxing, pilates), and fell in love! Our 2022 was filled with so many ups and downs, adventures, and definitely so much chaos. Although we haven't kept up with recording for the podcast, we reflect on our mental health journey and our anxiety of not feeling good enough to even create content. You won't believe how many times we sat down, planned episodes, recorded for hours, and ended up deleting everything! It's hard breaking the cycle of perfectionism and so we took the time off to focus on taking care of ourselves and slowing down so we don't crash and burn.

Stay tuned for our upcoming episodes that will be released in a sporadic manner because ADHD time blindness, just kidding! Also, as we read through the backlog of emails and msgs, please do connect with us! :)

You can reach us at:

Hello 2022! It’s been a hot minute, but we’re back! 2021 has honestly been a challenging year and one full of personal growth. In our digital age, it seems hard to escape the noise of hustle culture and toxic productivity where everyone and their grandmas have a side gig. In this episode, we talk about why we went on leave from work, the podcast, and basically life itself. (Essentially, Nelly had a stick up her ass and Juno was emotionally constipated).

During the process of traveling and self-discovery, we reconciled our relationship with work, confronted shame, restarted/continued therapy, and learned the borders of our healthy boundaries. Sometimes we need to stop and slow down and smell the damn flowers… Here’s to a year of prioritizing yourself first!

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Dear Stranger, I finally love myself. Love, Me… Who would have thought that writing a letter to an unknown someone somewhere in the world could bring you comfort and warmth. From living in poverty as an immigrant in a new country to struggling with mental illness and bouts of blindness, Diana cultivated her hope and recovery through writing letters to strangers around the world. 

Diana Chao is the founder and executive director of Letters to Strangers, a global youth-run organization that seeks to destigmatize mental illness and increase access to affordable, quality treatment. Outside of mental health advocacy, Diana published a novel at age 13, receiving recognition from the U.S. Navy for her research on dengue fever at 16, worked for NASA and became the only girl in California to receive the 2016 Presidential Scholar Award at 17, became a special columnist for the American Astronomical Society at 18, was admitted to Princeton to study physics at 19, and even found time to create her own Vogue-featured photography studio along the way.

You can reach Letters to Strangers at:

Alcohol, junk food, and mindless consumption of media have been the go-to for escaping the shitty parts of reality - and we’re guilty of this too. It’s so hard not to run away or pretend our emotional baggage doesn’t exist. In this episode, we chat about how the hell we actually reach inner peace as Sabrina shares her own mental health journey (and we actually cried in this one). From a lonely childhood in China dismissed from her mental health struggles to overcome her cancer diagnosis, Sabrina found meditation and therapy as her light at the end of the tunnel. And now, she has become the light for others.

In a constant go, go, go buzzing world of productivity and hustle culture, we often feel the constant need to be on top of everything - to have our shit together. No one gets to see the behind-the-scenes version of your life when you really don’t have it all there. So, let’s talk about it. From recent crises, burnout, and short-circuiting, we’re (still) struggling with managing our ADHD and mental health. And, that’s okay too.

You can reach us at:

Twoaddys.com

IG: @twoaddys

We have experienced a deluge of pointed microaggressions to straight-up racist and sexist comments ranging from the stale model minority myth to the seemingly flattering yellow fever fantasies as Asian American women. Growing up as a Korean-American and Chinese-American to immigrant parents, we had a heck of a journey with our identity.

In this episode, we share our perspectives and opinions on our racial identity intermingling with gender, its effect on mental health, dealing with being gaslit, and navigating the social situations in which we’ve been objectified, othered, and oppressed.

You can reach us at:

Twoaddys.com

IG: @twoaddys

With cultural stigmas, outdated stereotypes, and the model minority myth, Asian Americans are often encouraged to fight their mental health issues in silence. Combined with a lack of culturally appropriate resources in a predominately white mental health workforce, finding support can seem especially inaccessible. Carrie Zhang, founder of the Asian Mental Health Project, experienced this firsthand as an Asian American raised by immigrant parents in California. We chat with Carrie in this episode to explore the unique struggles of being Asian American, her personal mental health journey, and her initiatives in the mental health community.

The Asian Mental Health Project is an initiative that began in 2019, that builds community events and multimedia resources to make mental health more accessible for Pan-Asian communities.

Enjoyed hearing us chat? Join AMHP and Two Addys for a live discussion and Q&A on Clubhouse this Saturday!

Imposter Syndrome, Mental Health, and Hustle Culture

We have a special guest on this episode! Fellow Asian American ADHDer, Dr. Feldmeier is a psychiatrist specializing in ADHD. In this episode, we ask our burning questions around coping mechanisms, tabooness of ADHD in the Asian American community, high functioning ADHD, social anxiety, and more. Follow along his journey to becoming a doctor and the lessons he learned along the way. Listen now to get the A’s to your Q’s!

Dr. Feldmeier is an Outpatient Private Practice Psychiatrist at his clinic, Level Up Mental Health, as well as a part-time in-patient Psychiatrist at UCLA Olive View Medical Center. He is the former Chief Resident and Chief Fellow of each of his programs.

You can reach Dr. Mike Feldmeier at:

IG: @levelupmentalhealth

Youtube: Level Up Mental Health - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRbg2y4aptflIA563S_xvdg

Twitter: @mikefeldmeiermd

Website: Levelupmentalhealth.com

You can reach us at:

Twoaddys.com

IG: @twoaddys

We all seem to be more comfortable taking off our clothes before we reveal our emotions, even to ourselves. In this episode, we’re going to talk about getting to the bare bones of our internal selves and being openly vulnerable. And no, this isn’t about crying and holding hands. It's about being unabashedly authentic in our thoughts, emotions, and desires. Listen in to hear us share our nuggets of wisdom and how to overcome the fear of vulnerability.

You can reach us at:

Twoaddys.com

IG: @twoaddys