Odd Moms Go Off

We made it to double digits! In this milestone 10th episode of Odd Moms On Call, Chelsea, Britt, Lindsey, and Jess ditch the outline and let it all out. From life updates and personal glimmers to venting about healthcare, politics, Charlie Kirk, and the state of the world, nothing is off the table. We share what this podcast community has meant to us, why finding your people matters more than ever, and—of course—our unfiltered hot takes.

If you’ve ever needed a reminder that you’re not alone in feeling overwhelmed, angry, hopeful, or hilariously odd, this one’s for you.

✨ Key Takeaways

• Reaching 10 episodes is a huge milestone and a reminder to celebrate progress, even in hard times.
  
  
• Life updates highlight the challenges of healthcare, parenting, activism, and finding joy in small moments.
  
  
• The Charlie Kirk fallout, religious influence in schools, and rising extremism weigh heavily on moms nationwide.
  
  
• Connection, mutual aid, and community are essential acts of resistance in difficult times.
  
  
• Hot takes cover everything from gun violence and gender constructs to keeping religion out of schools.
  
  
• Odd Moms has created a supportive, empowering circle that makes each member feel seen, safe, and strong.

💬 Soundbites

• “The only thing more predictable than mass shootings in the U.S. is our government’s refusal to do anything about it.” – Chelsea
  
  
• “Gender is a completely made up social construct meant to fuel suppression—and it harms everyone.” – Britt
  
  
• “I don’t want religion anywhere near my child’s school. Period.” – Lindsey
  
  
• “If you’re speaking on scientific research and say correlation proves anything, I’m going to assume you don’t know anything about research.” – Jess
  
  
• “Find your pockets of people, because the world is on fire—and keeping each other stable and supported is resistance.” – Britt
  
  
• “Speaking your truth should not put you in danger. For anyone.” – Chelsea
  
  
• “Odd Moms has been a grounding, empowering reminder that we don’t have to do this alone.” – Collective

Got a hot take you want to share?

Send us a message, or email us at Oddmomsoncall@gmail.com. We might just talk about it on the show!

Be sure to follow us on Instagram, Threads, Youtube, and BlueSky!

Transcript

Chelsea Myers (00:25)
Oh, hey, welcome to episode 10 of Odd Moms On Call. This is very exciting, you guys. I've been studying a lot about podcasts in the last 10 years, two years, two years, and like 90 something percent of podcasts quit before ever getting to 10 episodes. So this is a big deal. So excited. Yay!

Britt (00:51)
Yay!

Chelsea Myers (00:54)
And we thought for our 10th episode, we would just hang out and talk about everything and anything that we want to. And one of the bigger differences in this episode, think, is like, we don't necessarily script our episodes, but we do research and we do fact check and we do have outlines to keep us like on topic. This one, I mean, we do have some.

stuff that's been fact-checked, but this is going to be us just talking about how we feel and just laying it all out there. So if you're going to be a stickler and try to ⁓ say like, that didn't happen exactly the way you said it, this isn't the episode for you. This is a vent sesh for all of us. and yeah, so we should introduce ourselves. ⁓ I am Chelsea.

I am a non-binary disabled stay at home mom of two and I host Quiet Connection postpartum mental health.

Britt (02:00)
I am a non-binary single mom of four currently a registered nurse, but I did just start a new Transformational life coach Program this week, so I'm working towards that but you can also catch me on the odd mom pod as well

Lindsey Basler (02:21)
I'm Lindsey. I am a stay at home mom and artist and I do a lot of artwork geared towards maternal mental health and you can find me mostly on TikTok but other socials at big.sister.irl.

Jess Rabon (she/her) (02:37)
And I'm Jess, I am a mom of two and licensed psychologist and host of Psych Talk Podcast.

Chelsea Myers (02:45)
That's us. That's the odd moms that you have with you today. We have others who are in deep, just like we are, and couldn't join us tonight. But we would be remiss if we didn't give shout outs to Brittany Chidley and Courtney and Tianna Trinidad and Kara Kushnir

Britt (03:08)
Kara.

Chelsea Myers (03:12)
and my brain doesn't work. I think, is that all we're missing? Tianna, Courtney, Brittany, and Kara. Yeah.

Britt (03:20)
I would have to,

I think I would have to pull up the group chat you guys if I'm being perfectly honest.

Chelsea Myers (03:24)
Yeah, but the... Well,

Jess Rabon (she/her) (03:26)
pulling it up now, hold on.

Chelsea Myers (03:28)
do you know how I do it? Is I count... I'm like, I think there's eight of us. There's eight of us.

Jess Rabon (she/her) (03:31)
Yes, you got everybody.

Britt (03:35)
That's impressive. I think you should get a gold star for that.

Lindsey Basler (03:38)
I agree. Gold Star Cookie.

Chelsea Myers (03:39)
I need a gold star.

I need a cookie and a gold star, please. So yeah, so we are your odd moms. We are here. Let's do little life updates for each of us, like where we're at right now. Because if you can't tell, if you're watching, I'm sure you can see it on all of our faces. If you're listening, we're tired, We're tired.

But I won't go first. I'll let somebody else go first. Let us know what's new with you, what's up with your life.

Britt (04:08)
I'll blub away because I always have exciting things going on. Life has been crazy, guys. ⁓ My divorce is finally starting to be in process, which brings good and bad things. The most recent bad thing is that I effed up my health insurance way before it was supposed to. And so I, for those of y'all who don't know, I have lupus and as...

Chelsea Myers (04:09)
I'm gonna mute myself. Yes.

Britt (04:36)
like a management for my lupus, get these infusions once a month. And I was driving to my infusion on Monday morning and the place called me and was like, you don't have health insurance coverage for today, so unless you can pay out of pocket, you can't come in for your appointment. Oh, and also your insurance was cut off four days before your last infusion. So you also owe $11,000 for that infusion. I about shit my pants, y'all.

I'm like a single mom barely like I'm picking up extra shifts just to pay for a divorce lawyer right now because that shit's $350 a fucking hour and Now I'm like cool, so I've had an abrupt med change this week my lupus was out of control I went without my lupus meds for the first time in six years and I was pretty much completely incapacitated for about 48 hours, but you guys that made me so mad about the health care

situation in the United States and how absolutely fucking ridiculous this is. It's so ridiculous that like, you know, I don't qualify. I make too much money as a parent, as a single mom on my own, as a nurse to qualify for health insurance coverage. But for my job, if I work full time hours or I got classified as full time to get insurance coverage, they would cut $15 an hour off of my pay.

to go full time and then the insurance that is there through my employer, it would still be about $750 a month for my infusions with insurance coverage through the hospital where I work as a healthcare provider. so like it was just a really shitty week, like to be mentally in like this spiral and then like.

angry like how you know somebody that you gave your whole freaking life and body to for over a decade to just be like Man, I don't want to be married anymore like then that to now impact my health and impact my ability to care for my kids as a primary and solo parent and It was just to be a nurse and at work like working in the healthcare industry for an industry that doesn't take care of its own and

like being in physical pain and then I have a lot of trauma with my medical stuff about, you know, when I start being in pain, my anxiety amps up because I don't know if this is gonna be the one that kills me or not, you know? And so it's just been, it's been a crazy week, but my glimmer of the week is that I did start this transformational life coaching thing. I've been trying to figure out what to do and what I want to do with my life.

find some clarity on where I want to pour my energy and get my creative juices flowing again because they've been offline for the last years. I've kind of just been in survival mode and so like I'm really excited about what's to come but yeah so it's been crazy over here but fuck the country that's all I have to say.

Chelsea Myers (07:52)
just chiming in because A, like, so I witnessed this and like I've been texting you and stuff and it pissed me off so much. As soon as I saw your story on Instagram, I texted you and I was so pissed for you. And so there's that whole thing. And obviously we did an episode about healthcare in the US and what it reminds me of when you're talking about like the healthcare providers who can't even get

good health insurance for themselves. It also reminds me of the teachers who can't pay, like they have to buy their own supplies and shit. And I'm like, these are the two most critical professions, I believe. I mean, there's a ton more mental health professionals and I kind of lumped those into medical professionals too. But like medical and mental health professionals and teachers can't afford to live. And that's bullshit.

Britt (08:29)
Mm-hmm.

I agree with that.

Chelsea Myers (08:51)
⁓ Also, the reason I really wanted to jump in is because I know you've been going through this evolution thing over the last year and it's been so cool recently to see all of the things that you're doing and the places that you're going and the people that you're visiting and seeing you happy has been so cool. So I just want to like, no.

Britt (09:15)
I love you. Thanks.

Chelsea Myers (09:18)
And to hear you say that like you found this creative outlet that you really want to follow like I don't know it just makes me really happy because you deserve that. All of you do. Everybody deserves that. ⁓

Britt (09:25)
Thanks.

Yeah,

unfortunately, I think it's hard because, you know, so many of us and myself included are living in survival mode and like just trying to get by and just trying to keep our heads up and above and like holding on to like the good things that are happening around us because it's so easy right now to fall into that like mindset of like

We're in late stage capitalism and the whole world is about to implode but it's fine, we're fine. Let's make something that doesn't make it suck. As bad. ⁓

Chelsea Myers (10:00)
Yeah.

Yeah. Well, and I mean, I know I'm talking a lot, but like, I think I can speak for all of us and please chime in. But like, I think that this project too, the Odd Moms On Call has become so much more than this like podcast thing that we talked about maybe doing one day. Like we have a group chat that blows up almost daily.

And we're all rooting for each other and cheering for each other and virtually hugging each other. And we're all over the country. So it's, yeah, the world is on fucking fire and everything fucking sucks, even in our personal lives. But you guys and all the odd moms are a glimmer, a constant glimmer. So I won't go into mine. I'm talking too much. Somebody else.

update on your life because I'm just gonna complain. ⁓

Lindsey Basler (11:01)
Okay, let's talk more about some glimmers. So sometimes I feel like I want to share like something that's happy or a glimmer with the group. And then I'm like, like this seems small, this seems silly. But then we ultimately, we end up sharing that and you're like, like we all needed this. Like you said, we're all over the place and not directly involved. We're not there, but it's so nice just seeing that, hey, maybe I was having this bad day, but.

you know, this was going on in this area with this person and there's still good things happening out there. So something good that has been going on in my community on the day that I don't even like saying the name on the day that Charlie Kirk was shot. I in my community, we I am involved with an organization called Help Hungry and

We really keep the food banks open in our county. And on that day, I had my phone tucked away in my purse because I was helping volunteer at an event and none of us were really keeping up with the news. And that event raised $20,000 for food pantries in our area, ⁓ which is huge. And all we're doing is selling barbecue lunches. It's pretty awesome because we get a lot of the school districts in our area.

covered also, a lot of teachers and staff members get lunch for free that day and people are buying them lunch in return. We get a lot of the food donated, so we have hardly any cost of that. We only spend about $600 to raise that $20,000. So people are still doing good things out there. So it was kind of a, we were like celebrating and then it's like once we left,

everything was happening like looking at my phone and it was just like ⁓ so it was kind of just like instant okay stop thinking about that this is all we can think about right now but it's so important to stop and go okay this this huge thing is happening but there are still individual people in our communities doing good things so that is my one huge glimmer happy thing

We're hoping to make it to this organization was started 20 years ago and over the 20 years they're hoping this year they'll have made it to raising $2 million over the last 20 years for the food pantries in our area. So that is my big happy, happy thing that is going on right now. Just personally, I have had to remove Facebook from my phone.

and just not get on there. I've hopped on once in a while just to share some little happy things, but I think the overwhelm of seeing people who you knew maybe felt a certain way, having a lot of their feelings and beliefs and ideals confirmed over the last couple of weeks was just like, I cannot sit here and read this every day all day. ⁓ And I know sometimes it's, I guess, putting yourself in a protective bubble, but if you can and you

can step away from it. Sometimes you have to step away from it. ⁓ So, ⁓ dealing with all of that and having a kiddo starting school. And I know we've talked in our group chat about people having their kiddos have their first active shooter drills and we haven't made it there yet. She's in preschool. I'm not sure what, ⁓ I don't know what I guess procedures they follow.

I'm just kind of ignoring it right now. I'm waiting until it comes up. Just, just waiting until it happens. ⁓ and then yes, she's going to public school. Yeah.

Chelsea Myers (14:50)
Is she in public school, Lindsey

So she's

probably gonna have one eventually. Yeah, I was just curious. Like Avery's...

Lindsey Basler (14:57)
Right. Yes. Yes. Yeah.

Britt (15:00)
Some schools

call them now like danger drills or like safety drills instead of like active shooter drills, which I'm like, I feel like it's interesting.

Chelsea Myers (15:16)
The only reason I asked is because Avery's in a, ⁓ I guess it's a private preschool. It's through act 166. There's no way we could afford to send her a private preschool, but ⁓ I don't think they do those there, which is weird. There's a weird duality with that too. It's like, well, what if something were to happen there? But yeah, I didn't mean to interrupt you. was just curious. ⁓ Cause yeah, I don't know. I know in public schools, they definitely do it, but I don't think they, I don't think they're.

Lindsey Basler (15:16)
Right.

Britt (15:34)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsey Basler (15:35)
Alright. ⁓ we're fine.

Chelsea Myers (15:44)
I don't know, don't quote me. I don't think they do it in the private ones.

Lindsey Basler (15:47)
Yeah,

I am not 100 % sure. But one more positive and negative. I personally have just been dealing with some a family member ⁓ relapsing with substances that have been sort of tough and they deal with a lot of mental psychosis. They're going through kind of a legal case. That's really a lot. So but on top of that, I have

a lot of experience in dealing with my own dad and brother addicts. And I have recently been able to help someone with their own family member and they have just really taken the bull by the horns. And I am just so proud of her. I mentioned in the group chat, she actually got to present to the Missouri Drug Task Force about a week ago.

and she got to present to them about the substance called 70H. It is sold in gas stations. I don't know if any of you are familiar with it. It is, they, uh huh.

Chelsea Myers (16:56)
of it until you until you

kind of brought it up yeah

Lindsey Basler (17:01)
So they say on the packaging, it says that it is a form of kratom, which tons of people use and have a healthy relationship with. I don't know enough about kratom itself to give an opinion on it. But I know a lot of people use it, supposed to be more of a natural remedy, but the 70H itself is being advertised as more of a kratom product when its percentage of kratom is like 2%.

and it's actually more of they're wanting to classify it as an opioid. Like Florida just did an emergency ban on it. So her and her mom went and they presented, I got to watch them online. It was super emotional for them, but they did such a phenomenal job. And they made the recommendation that they do an emergency ban in Missouri. And the task force was super kind.

I didn't get to watch it all day, but they were super kind to everyone that presented and they, the entire task force was not present, but the few people that were there, most of them were like, you know, we're only two people that spoke to them at that time. They're like, we're only two people, but we, you know, have a feeling we'll make this recommendation. And I am just so proud of her. You know, it sucks when we can relate to people so, so much.

but when they're able to do something so positive and you know take all of that pain and horrible stuff and hopefully make some sort of change. So okay now I'm talking too much so let's let's hear about Jess.

Jess Rabon (she/her) (18:43)
Well, no, Lindsey, I love hearing all of that and I love your glimmers and your struggles and how you were able to connect the two. So ⁓ also I'm super impressed with the food bank that you volunteer for. That's wonderful.

For me, feel like not that we should play the comparison game, but comparatively to what I've heard, I feel like I haven't been going through like significant changes or unexpected things recently. Work's just been really, really busy. And with that comes more time at work, less time at home. And my daughter has said a couple of times, like, I wish I could see you more, which obviously for any mom, like makes your heart hurt.

⁓ and so yeah, work's just been stressful and tiring, but it's pretty common that this time of year, like you get a summer's good. The first couple of weeks of school are like super quiet because everybody's getting back in their routine. And like now it's just been really busy, I'm, I'm modeling Lindsey here. So, but with that, I will say I've had a lot of client wins.

this week, like lot of things I've been proud of with my clients making good progress and breakthrough, which is always good. I guess the most, I don't know, exciting glimmer that's recently happened yesterday, my husband, kids and I drove about two hours away from where we live to go to a brewery that two of his cousins opened and

This has been a project that they've been working on literally for probably three plus years at this point. it probably, and it finally like came to fruition and you people hear brewery, it's like super family friendly. Like there's an outdoor space, there's games, had live music. And that was just like so nice to one be around family that we haven't seen in a while, but like, you know, when you see people that you care about and love like pursuing their

dreams and like their dreams are finally a reality. It was it was so cool to see ⁓ and so we'll definitely be making more trips down there. The food was like phenomenal like you don't think of brewery food as being like really good you think of it as being like burgers and fries like I ate some like fig bacon sandwich something it was delicious.

Britt (21:18)
That sounds so

tasty.

Jess Rabon (she/her) (21:20)
I was like, I was like looking at the menu and I just asked the girl that was taking my order, like what? And she was like, I mean, I love our chicken Caesar salad wrap. And I was like, well, I can get one of those anywhere. And then my husband's cousin was like, that's cause you live in an actual city. Let's do the other thing. Like they live in a very small town, like less than 9,000 people. Like this is the first brewery ever there. Like it's really cool. And I was like, oh, okay. So apparently you can't get a chicken Caesar wrap here. But I was like, let me try this.

I don't know, fancy sounding sandwich, and it was delicious. ⁓ But yeah, that's been a glimmer, just seeing family and everything that comes with that. ⁓ Like I said, seeing people you love and care about following their dreams and creating something really cool is awesome. So Chelsea, what's going on in your life?

Chelsea Myers (22:14)
god. ⁓ I love that glimmer. I also, and it's not a comparison thing like you said, but I always think it's so, so, so funny whenever someone says like, it's a really small town because I lived, and there are so many towns like this and even smaller, but like I lived in a town through college that the population was under 200. ⁓ Like that's Vermont. That's just Vermont. Like, so we're like, yeah.

I've talked like on my other podcast, be like, yeah, I live in a really small town. We have a population of like 10,000. And I'm like, there's not even that many people in the town I live in right now. Like, so that it just always tickles me a little bit. But we're tiny anyway. But anyway, okay, what's new with me? ⁓ Well, I can't even remember the last time.

I recorded with you guys, so I don't know what I've talked about and what I haven't, but... And I think I told you guys this? I don't know. I, through a really random happenstance, finally found another person who had the same brain tumor as me, and...

Yeah, and went through a very similar postpartum experience as me, ⁓ except hers was caught a lot sooner. And her birth trauma is different than mine. Like our stories aren't going to be identical, obviously, but And so it was insane. And I cried for days because...

Like the whole reason I started my other podcast was because I couldn't find anyone that I related to and I didn't want that for anyone else. So I wanted to get as many people to share stories as possible so that someone out there would be like, okay, someone else is going through this. And I described it as like the missing puzzle piece for me that I just gave up on finding. I was like, I'm never going to find someone that's cause this is so rare. like, and then I ran, I found

Somebody started following me and I started chatting with them and they tagged me and like 10 other accounts. It's one of those like tag chain things. And so I followed the other accounts and then across my feed came this post and I'm reading the post and it was like reading my fucking story. And I just kept gasping and I kept like losing my breath and I called my husband and I just cried and I reached out to this person and sent them a voice memo and you guys know I don't.

like voice memos, I'm learning, I'm learning. I sent her a voice memo through Instagram and I was like, this is probably the craziest voice memo you're ever gonna get and I'm really sorry and if you don't wanna listen, that's okay. And I went through the whole thing, but long story short, she reached right back out to me. We've been in communication. She's like,

you are not alone. We're tumor sisters. ⁓ She said like sisters from another mister. And anytime like I'm posting about something about just this whole medical journey that I'm dealing with, she'll reach out and she'll be like, I know what that's like. You're not alone. And I don't know. So that's like the biggest hugest glimmer for me that I still am like, I can't wrap my head my head around it. It's so bizarre.

Beyond that, just like with everybody else, life is really freaking insane. Between back to school, which is like normal, normal chaos, and then the chaos of everything that's going on in our country right now, and literally every day something else is happening and it's getting bigger and bigger and bigger, and that's weighing on me a lot. And we're gonna talk about some of those things. But.

I know I talk a lot, but I want to do this. This is important to me because this group is such a glimmer for me. so like, so like, yeah, I talked to you, Britt, about how like, really love seeing this evolution of you and seeing you happy. And that makes me really, really happy. I love, love, love watching all of Lindsey's reels and I'm not on TikTok anymore. but I do see the reels and it, just, I hope that this doesn't come across.

like the wrong way, like, you're so fucking adorable. Like, I just love, I love it because you're so happy and so...

Lindsey Basler (26:47)
I have been

akin to a cartoon character more than once in my life. It's fine. You're not going to offend me.

Chelsea Myers (26:53)
I don't. OK, I

don't think you're a cartoon character. You're just so fucking cute and you just like live in your joy. And I understand that Instagram is a highlight reel. Like I get that. But you also show the other side, too. And so that's been so, cool to see. And like you're helping me with the odd mom's account and like, yeah, so that's really cool.

Lindsey Basler (26:59)
Well, thank you.

Chelsea Myers (27:19)
Jess, I'm so proud of you because I know you went through, no, you went through this period of like, okay, should I be posting things? Should I be pulling back? And you're not pulling back. You are still standing your ground and you are still dropping facts and knowledge like you do. Like you are so fucking good at it. ⁓ By the time this comes out, you have to check out the reel we put out today, because it is...

It's on point and it's also very us. It's the whole trend of the like, I'm sorry, but I do whatever. But like each one is very much us. But Jess is like our fact checker and our knowledge dropper. And I'm so, oh, 2000 views and it's only been up for a couple hours. I love that. I love that so much.

Britt (28:06)
was so excited I had to

film that I was like, my god we just hit 2,000 views too like just now which is crazy. That's definitely the most we've ever gotten on a reel for sure. On Instagram too.

Chelsea Myers (28:11)
my God.

And that is the most we've ever gotten on

And it's mostly non-followers, which is really cool to me. I know for some people they're like, why can't my followers see my stuff? But I actually think it's a benefit because we're being put in front. But whatever. So I'm so proud of all three of you. And then again, bringing in the other odd moms. Kara's doing really big things with her practice. she just got her dream. She just moved into her dream home. And Tianna's

business is doing amazing with her PCOS coaching and like she's starting to really be more vulnerable in how she's presenting herself and that is so cool to see because I love that side of her. And ⁓ Courtney, same thing, like Courtney is killing it. She is running the social media for PSI Indiana and her stuff is phenomenal.

Who am I missing? Brittany, Chidley. I don't see as much of her post. no, I do. I do see some of the things that she's posting. She's not as loud in the group chat. She's kind of ⁓ a lurker, which is OK. We that we hold space for that. like, I'm just so fucking proud of everyone in this group. And it's so cool to see everyone kind of like stepping into themselves and not being afraid because it makes me not afraid. ⁓

So yeah, you guys are my glimmers. I'm a sap.

Britt (29:46)
I love it. We're all goo and I love it. I love a goo moment.

Chelsea Myers (29:51)
Okay, well let's... as much as this fucking sucks, let's get into the things that are kind of really getting to us, because they may be the same things and they may be different things. There's so much to choose from!

what, what, what's weighing on you? What's weighing on you guys?

Britt (30:12)
We're dealing with the big Charlie Kirk stuff here in Oklahoma. ⁓ They petitioned for all the high schools to open Turning Point USA chapters. They just got the new Trump Bibles in the classrooms and teachers are reporting that they ⁓ cut all the amendments even because it was supposed to include like the Constitution and all of that. It's missing all the amendments after 11.

So they didn't enter in all the ones like women's right to vote or anything like that. None of that is in there, which has been interesting. All of the churches here are having big vigils, which is crazy. We have rest in peace billboards from various businesses all down the freeways. ⁓ It's been wild, guys. It's been wild. We've had like vets off. There was a vet ⁓ who like posted something on his personal page.

And the backlash from the community is so bad he closed his business because it's been horrific. Like people are losing their jobs here. People are losing their businesses. So it's been crazy. That I think has been. It's been wild, though all of it's just been wild, but that's been the big. However, finally, Ryan Walters, our superintendent, did step down this week, which was like a huge freaking win because he got some job at some.

other private sector thing that's working on indoctrinating children in some other way. So where he should be in a private sector, like if that's what you want to be doing, like a private sector is your place to do that, I guess. But like good riddance but kind of also afraid of what's to come next for our superintendent space that is now open. So it should be interesting. Oklahoma has been weird. How's everybody dealing with all of, has anybody been really been impacted by any of the Charlie Kirk stuff elsewhere?

Lindsey Basler (32:08)
I was just going to say, just like personally from individuals like that. mean, that's a huge reason I had to delete Facebook. just, I mean, I can, I can't even put it into words. Like every time I hear the name, I am just like so much instant anxiety.

just people that I, you know, know and love and like know that I guess was just trying to be like, okay, like I know, I know that you made the choice to vote for Donald Trump and I am just going to try and remember the things I've seen you do and think that, you know what?

Maybe it was a mistake, maybe you regret your choice, but then just sadness, upset, worst day ever, and just, and.

Chelsea Myers (33:15)
Do you feel

like it's, do you feel like it's like more extreme than people were for Trump? Like I feel like it's way more extreme.

Lindsey Basler (33:22)
It's like scary

extreme. Scary.

Jess Rabon (she/her) (33:25)
I agree.

Britt (33:27)
The like people changing

their like cover photos to hit pictures of his family is mind blowing to me mind blowing

Lindsey Basler (33:35)
Yes.

Yes, and like having like remembrance shirts made, like we have like a what's going on in the county page and people being like, when are we gonna have a vigil? When are we gonna do this? When are we gonna do that? And I'm like, what? And then the people trying to be like, you know, everybody grieves differently for people that they actually care about and know. And I'm like, I've got news, you didn't know him.

Like maybe, I don't know, maybe you did personally know him. I don't know everyone you personally know. But I'm like, I would feel the same way if a celebrity died and you are like, my, I mean, I hope Mariah Carey doesn't die, but I hope not. She's just the first person that popped in my head. But if you were like, Mariah Carey has passed and this is the worst day of my life and I'm gonna hold a a vigil for Mariah Carey, like, I don't know, maybe I could get more behind that, but.

I would just be like, wow, that is a little bit of an intense love for her and some intense grieving for a person that you don't know. Like, I don't know. I have a really hard time putting into words. I think a lot of it was just the shock at how much love people that I know loved him and that I just, people that I didn't realize.

felt this way. just felt a lot of social media truth coming out, I guess, from it.

Britt (35:04)
Well, and it's one of those things, I'm like, did you really love them that much and follow them that much? Or is this now like a safe space for you to be able to like find a place in a way to bond? Like, you know how like people use some like weird tragedies and like trauma bonding type circumstances where like your emotional response is so much bigger than the actual circumstance. But in that, like you create like an emotional bond with other humans. I think the whole thing of it, was definitely, was a heavy block day for me. I just, ⁓

It was really telling to who had kind of snuck by, I feel like in the election and all of that, that it was very much like, ⁓ that's where we are. Okay. Understood.

Jess Rabon (she/her) (35:43)
Yeah, there's been a lot here. A local furniture store held a vigil, which I just thought was weird that it was held at a furniture store. you know, I think for me, and I know Chelsea mentioned this earlier about when I was kind of like, should I keep posting or not? And it goes to what you were saying about people getting fired because teachers in my county got fired. A professor from my graduate school where I got my PhD.

in my department got fired. ⁓ People at Clemson University, which is only about 40-ish minutes from me, got fired. so it's just, I don't know, like as somebody that posts a lot of political stuff on social media, but always tries to post in a way that is very just objective, fact-based. But then seeing people, like I'm thinking of the professor that ⁓

from my graduate school that got let go. His post wasn't even like praising the assassination, praising the death, anything like that. It was very neutral. And something, I mean, I guess he did say something about like not caring for him while he was alive, but nobody deserves to get shot. And I, what I've seen a lot on social media is like people taking anything as neutral.

or holding accountability as celebration. And that's what kind of gave me pause. I think the other thing beyond what has already been said for me, that's kind of been way on me is just feeling really confused about everything. I think Britt and Chelsea was in the text that the three of us, cause I didn't want to spam our entire group ⁓ that one day after Chelsea set boundaries around it.

But like, I think I said ⁓ something to the extent of like, I am not a conspiracy theorist. I am so like fact-based, but like, I've gone down so many rabbit holes on this one. And then the other thing that I've been confused about is like, did I just not know how popular he was or did he gain more popularity? Cause like, I knew who he was, but I didn't know much about him. Like I've seen some of his debates before and like,

I know Chelsea was like, oh, stats and things like that. like, you gov did a poll. I think it was like the day after he died or a couple of days after he died. And like only 24 % of us adults said they were very familiar. With Kirk and like, that's what confuses me. And like, I've even seen some older people I live in South Carolina, um, on my Facebook, like when I say older people, like, like boomer generation being like, I didn't know who Kirk was before his death, but like,

You know, now hearing how he was a man of God and things like that. So like also this like snowball effect. Now with Gen Z, I can't remember, it wasn't YouGo, there was another poll and it was like among like Gen Z, I think like 90 % had heard of Charlie Kirk, which makes sense given that Turning Point USA was focused on college age individuals. But it's just been interesting for me to more see like the popularity.

of it all for someone who, and this is what I'm about to say is not to discredit anybody that really liked him or anything, but at the end of the day was a political podcaster and debater. And I don't know, even my husband, when I texted him, because I found out I literally had just gotten done with back to back sessions, open my phone and that was the first thing. And I texted my husband who is

a millennial. He's not online like I am, other than watching like gym bro YouTube videos. But I was like, Charlie Kirk died or Charlie Kirk was shot. And he was like, who's that? And then he texts me back and he goes, wait, I looked him up. I recognize his face. But like, I wouldn't have been able to tell you his name. And I know like my husband's not alone in that. So that's just been interesting to me to to see like, how many vigils the

funeral that we watched. all of that. like I said, maybe it's just because I'm a female millennial, but like I knew who he was, but I just didn't realize how many people.

viewed him as highly and as possibly or felt such a connection to him.

in the way they are portraying, I guess. I hope that all made sense.

Chelsea Myers (40:32)
Yeah.

Lindsey Basler (40:32)
think that's

really close to what Britt said and is it that people were that big of a fan or did they find out about him and now they're connecting with everybody and I would I don't know how we could possibly know but I'd be really interested to know how much of it is just the religious factor and he was standing up for my religion then I automatically love him and

That's what a lot of what I've personally seen. ⁓ But yeah, I'm just as confused as you.

Britt (41:09)
I think that's where that like martyrdom

comes from, right? Like where it's like, ⁓ because he was a Christian and he was killed because he was a Christian, because he spoke on Christian values, that that made him like the, you know, martyr of, like if you had a gun held up to your head as a Christian, would you say that you believed and loved in God? Which like, when I was growing up in that church thing, that was like,

a thing that we talked about in youth group and that was like romanticized about being able to be like a martyr for your Christian faith. And like that's what he is. And for some people, for a lot of people in the Christian faith, I think that it has become like a weird obsession of like, see, now we could die. And all of a sudden now they look as like, we could possibly be a victim. And now it's scary when the people who have been victims all along have continued to be victims for a long time.

And it's just, I think it's just that connection point of like being like, ⁓ I can see myself in you now because we have something that keeps us similar.

Chelsea Myers (42:16)
There's so much, feel like we're focusing a lot on Charlie Kirk, but like that was a huge catalyst for everything that came after that. And it didn't happen that long ago ⁓ as we're recording this. It was just a couple of weeks ago, ⁓ if that. ⁓ But I do find myself being careful what I say and tying into like everything that all three of you have said.

When I saw it like we all saw it it was accidental like the news it was just there and then the video which I'm not gonna get into because that's horrid but like so many of us we were all talking in the chat about how like I never intended to see that video and it just showed up like it showed up on my Instagram or it showed up on my tik-tok feed and

and I literally witnessed his death and the same thing happened for me. I was actively trying to not see that because I mean, out of respect and also protecting my own mental health. And when I say out of respect, like I wanna be completely clear. I knew of him. ⁓ Same as Jess was saying, same as Lindsey, same as Britt I knew who he was. ⁓ I didn't know a lot about him. ⁓

I actually would mix him up with, ⁓ is the other guy's name Nick Fuentes? Is that what his name is? Yeah. I would mix them up a lot, which I'm sure saying that out loud, if somebody hears that, they're going to be super pissed at me because there, I know that there was a lot of infighting in terms of like one feeling that the other was not extreme enough. But I'm being honest. So I knew who he was. I knew that he was

sort of challenging narratives and trying to recruit, you said like Gen Z, or was it Gen Z or Gen X? I don't know, Gen Z. I get them all mixed up. I had to look them up the other I knew very little about him, but I knew that the things that he stood for and the things that he was talking about were things that did not align with my beliefs. So yeah, out of respect just for a

person because he's a person. I no one should witness what happened to him and so many of us did. And kids did and like the trauma and the lasting impact of that like we're going to hold on to that for I can still see it in my head. then like you were saying Jess like even being.

as neutral as you can try to be, it's still being perceived as celebratory. So like even saying things like I, I post it and I said, no one deserves to be assassinated. No one deserves to be killed for their beliefs. But, or and let's say and I'm not sad that he's gone.

I am, I obviously feel for his family. Although that's another thing we can go down. When we were talking about conspiracy theories, a lot of us went down a lot of rabbit holes. I'll say the quiet part out loud. Like his memorial service was not a memorial service. That was a rally. ⁓ A US president going to a memorial service for a

political podcaster and Christian figure is completely unheard Trying to consider if I want to actually say this out loud.

Britt (46:10)
Well, now the vice president's

like on his podcast, right? Or something like that. Like, it's just the crossing of lines is just.

Chelsea Myers (46:14)
Yeah.

So many crossing of lines and I am going to say this. I'm going to say it. Everybody grieves differently and I will absolutely never say how another person is feeling because I'll never know. I will say that in videos that I've seen of his wife

Britt (46:24)
Do it, do it.

Chelsea Myers (46:47)
It makes me feel very confused. It makes me feel confused and that's okay. You can feel angry at me for saying that, but it's valid for me to feel confused. Like my brain isn't understanding what I'm seeing in her behavior, in her actions, in the words, in the things she's inciting. ⁓ It doesn't read to me as grieving wife.

it reads to me as a person trying to recruit to some sort of religious crusade. that's scary to say out loud. That's really scary to say out loud.

But it just really confuses me. So then when we talk about all of this confusion and all of this fear, everything that's happened since that, since, and even I said, I posted something on my personal page, I think, and I called it, I said the incident with Charlie Kirk was not okay. And someone said, I think you mean assassination. And I said,

Yeah, he was shot and killed. Yes. ⁓ but so were three students in their school just three hours earlier and last week. And see if this was an incident, ⁓ just like it was an incident at the school and just like it was. So I feel like I have to be so careful with my words. And like he said, like, and I know I'm talking a lot and I'm rambling.

So yeah, so what stemmed from that is immediately, without even having a perpetrator, immediately the President of the United States is tweeting or on Truth Social, this is the leftist extremists and this is the trans agenda and we have to stop these leftist terrorists. ⁓ since, again, like I said, we didn't fact check these, so look these things up.

But like, there is, Trump is now trying to like put into place calling certain ⁓ nonprofits, terrorist organizations. He's trying to identify protesters as terrorists. He has sent ICE and military to several more cities in our country. ⁓ And this has all happened.

Britt (49:16)
He deemed Antifa

a extremist terrorist organization. Which is just crazy, because like, aren't we supposed to be anti-fascist? And like the whole thing that like history has taught us over and over and over again. So the fact that even saying that is an as-and-out trans person, like, I'm a big bag scary, you better watch out for me over here just trying to spread joy.

Chelsea Myers (49:19)
terrorist organization. Yeah, they're...

Yeah.

It is so effing scary right now. I will say I'm thankful that I am, I mean, I describe my aesthetic as ⁓ Adam Sandler's chic, but I, yeah, my husband's laughing. ⁓ But I'm female presenting. I understand that I'm biologically female. I have no whatever, but I am non-binary. To be a non-binary and especially a trans person right now is so...

fucking scary. It started with, God, what's the poem? I'm talking so much, but like, started with immigrants. And then it went to the trans community. Now it's turning to Antifa and like, mmm, people are disappearing. People are disappearing all the time.

Britt (50:39)
You see two thirds of the detainees and alligator alcatraz have now been like wiped from two thirds. That's insane. Insane. Mind you, and then at the same time, like we're processing all this information and then it's like, okay, there was another shooting today at a church. yeah, cause he drove his car through the front doors of the church. Apparently that's what started the fire from what I saw.

Chelsea Myers (50:45)
No, there's no record. There's no record of where they are.

Yes, and it was set on fire.

So for that one, so that was today. is, I did fact check this one. So that was in Michigan. Two people, as of right now, two people are confirmed dead. Eight people are wounded from that. Yesterday, there was a shooting in North Carolina that left three people dead and eight people wounded. One, I believe, is still in critical care, or is deemed critical.

Britt (51:37)
But where are the vigils for these people?

Chelsea Myers (51:39)
Exactly!

I'm sorry, so I know I'm talking a lot you guys. Right, like thoughts and prayers?

Britt (51:43)
I'm like dying in a church during a service. That's

just as much of a martyr as Charlie Kirk voicing his opinions. So why are we not now mourning the deaths of these people the same way that we did for some? I think that's, it's just like, it's becoming so telling.

Chelsea Myers (51:59)
Yeah.

Britt (52:02)
And I think that's so hard because as much as you don't want these things to become divisive, right? And then we want to like build community and structure and safety for each other at the same time. Like it becomes so hard to find that cohesive understanding when somebody's opinion is that you shouldn't exist or that certain groups of people shouldn't exist.

Chelsea Myers (52:26)
Yes!

Britt (52:28)
And so it's getting really sticky, I think, for a lot of us because it's becoming...

Chelsea Myers (52:33)
Well, they're not quiet about it anymore. They're not even trying.

Britt (52:35)
No, and now they're now they're able to not

be quiet about it in various ways because now it's just like I feel like every day another Like okay show us what show us your humaness show us your compassion show us your ability to see other things i'm seeing still videos every day from Palestine and The you know the genocide happening in Gaza and like it's like where is our humanness and how did it get so lost?

Jess Rabon (she/her) (53:01)
Britt, going to something you said about where the vigils hurt these people, I've definitely seen people comment and then get really upset. One of my favorite things to do when I want to make myself angry is go to my local news page on Facebook and read the comments. But there was something about Charlie Kirk and then this woman commented, my church held a vigil for all the victims of...

gun violence this past year, including like, well, she thinks things like that. And people like jumped on her about it. And I'm like, that's, I feel like what we should be doing. But another thought I had when you just said like, where are these? I read something recently and granted this was just somebody's opinion, but it was talking about how like we as Americans, especially the younger generation, like Gen Z who grew up doing, you know, active shooter drills, bringing it back to that.

have become so desensitized to school shootings or mass shootings that we're like, okay, it's like, yeah, thoughts and prayers and then we move on where, and this is me just objectively speaking, not sharing any opinion on it, like the intent killing. And I know there's some back and forth about, we use the term assassination? Because technically it's for political figures and yes, he was a political podcaster. ⁓

Chelsea Myers (54:27)
This is, I

wanted to say, they keep calling it a political, he wasn't a political figure.

Jess Rabon (she/her) (54:33)
Yes. And then technically my understanding, and I could be wrong, so somebody feel free to fact check me on this, is like until the investigation is complete, you can't technically call it an assassination. Like it's a murder, but it was an intentional murder of a public figure, which is very different than, unfortunately, the mass shootings we see in schools and in churches and at

Chelsea Myers (54:47)
It is a murder. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Jess Rabon (she/her) (55:03)
places people go grocery shopping or things like that. And it doesn't mean it's right, but I do think about that a lot, Britt, with what you were saying just about like, where are these vigils And I think, unfortunately, we as a country have become so desensitized. I mean, like, I know all of us here have spoken up about gun violence because we've done collaborative posts on it. And like,

And I will continue to speak up. posted about the shootings in the church today. And I feel like a broken record. I literally have this Facebook post that I made. I think I was in my master's program. I don't think I was an undergrad, but like I graduated with my master's in 2013 about gun violence being an access problem and talk about we have too much access to guns. We don't have enough access to mental health care and things like that.

And for years, I would just repost it on Facebook because I'm like, another shooting, same post applies. like, we talk about needing change. like, I feel like on the small scale, like local communities are doing, I know like after Parkland, there were some actual changes, but like on a large scale, feel like we're just spinning our wheel on both sides because people, we've become so divided. So people are either like, don't steal my guns. And then research shows that

After a mass shooting happens, gun sales go up because people are so scared that the government is going to take all their guns. And then we have the other side that's like, need more laws and regulations. And we're all just saying the same thing. And it's just like making us further go apart. I totally went on a tangent there, but those were all my thoughts that was coming up. I started at point A and I think I ended at point L.

Chelsea Myers (56:45)
that was a tangent.

L.

Lindsey Basler (56:51)
I

wanted to jump in kind of where you were at, Britt, and then where you were at Jess, and this is a little bit off, but hear me out, hear me out here. So I recently posted on TikTok about what I experienced working in a school in a town where, I mean, the KKK is alive and well in the county where I live. ⁓ And the town where I taught at is,

The last teaching position that I held, I worked at a high school. Now I do think when I was speaking about this, I was very general. I didn't say high school, so people might've been thinking I meant elementary students, but regardless, I was talking about how students in that class were playing catch the illegals, and 14, 15 year olds were chasing around. There was a large...

population of students who are first generation Americans. Their parents are immigrants and they were chasing them around playing catch the illegals. And obviously the students that are the children of immigrants are just kind of going along with it. And I am doing my best to shut this down, you know, and stop it. But I also know that if I escalate this, like if I call their parents,

I mean, it's not going to go well. They're not going to have a response. And if I were to get them in trouble, if I were to have a more extensive conversation about this, I think I mentioned this when we talked, had our education episode, depending on how far I talked about this, I could be the one getting fired. And having kids in my class,

saying daddy trump all the time constantly and on that video what made me stop and think and where i was reaching back to you guys in the humanity is that one i'm not convinced that it wasn't kids that were actually in this class commenting on this video those those individuals are now 19 and 20 ⁓ so they are now registered voters but i didn't get a lot of views on this but i have like 20 comments going

this never happened. No way this ever happened. ⁓ I'll take 1000 for this never happened. And I just comment back to most of them was just like, thanks for engaging with me here, like, or something like that. And the thing is, I know those are silly comments on a TikTok post, but all I could think about the rest of the day was when do those things like with those students, like stop becoming a joke, like once they're voting now.

and where is that humanity stopped? Where have they have been desensitized to so much of that stuff and that they may not even have ever realized, you know, what they 100 % believe. There are other options even. ⁓

Britt (59:57)
I saw this thing where was like most active shooters now were the ages when we started doing active shooter drills. They know exactly where to go, how to go, exactly which ways to evade or not evade because they have been literally being trained on this their whole life. And that desensitization of like, this is something that happens all the time and like has infiltrated on such ⁓ a different level now. And it's scary, it's sad, it's so

honestly it's mind-blowing.

Chelsea Myers (1:00:29)
I think it's also so fucked up. And I said this to my husband the other day. I like, literally cannot conceptualize how, like we've always said growing up, like we've learned about the Holocaust in school and like our grandparents were alive during that time. so everyone knows someone who was affected by the Holocaust.

And like we lived through 9-11 and things like that. I genuinely cannot make myself understand how this could happen again. And anyone who says that it's not happening and then that it's not a comparison, you're not, you're burying your head in the sand. They're following the exact same playbook. They're doing the exact same things.

they're even targeting some of the same groups. ⁓ It's not necessarily like we associate the Holocaust with the Jewish population, but it also heavily affected the disabled population. And at the time, people who were considered gay or so today what we would call the LGBTQIA plus community, they're targeting the same groups, foreigners according to them, most of them aren't even foreigners.

It's the same playbook. It's the same rules. It's the same act. It's the same goddamn movie and we're watching it again. And I cannot for the life of me figure out how. What I do want to say is that

I think there is still a lot of good happening. There's a shit ton of bad. There's so much bad. I think there's still good. think that, like Lindsey was talking about, raising money for the food shelf, ⁓ we all have these little examples of something that we post about a lot is mutual aid.

what that means and what that looks like. think there's a lot of that happening right now and it's so beautiful to see and I think that people are coming together and things feel really really scary.

Britt (1:02:47)
Find your pockets of your people, y'all, because the world is coming to a crash and like us keeping each other stable and supported and rested and like in your local communities helping the people that are hurting, like that is the only thing that we can do at this point is keep our own mental health up.

because that is our biggest form of resistance right now is keeping our wits about us, continuing to help and love others, supporting our communities and not letting that shit win because it will win if we let it. And like the, yeah, sorry I cut you off but I was like, it felt like it went there. ⁓

Chelsea Myers (1:03:22)
Yeah, I do remember what I was gonna say. No, sorry. No, it's okay.

No, it's okay. ⁓ It did go there. It does go there. But what I was gonna say was like, the other comparison to Germany and the Holocaust is like, we're not seeing things. Like our media isn't reporting things objectively or accurately most of the time. So I have friends.

all over the world. have pocket friends all over the world. And I've had a couple of them literally reach out to me, some from Australia, some from Canada, and ask me unprompted, like, Chelsea, can you get out? Can you feasibly leave? And I was taken back. like, what do you mean? I'm like, yeah, things are really scary, but that would be really, really hard for us financially, like this, that, and the other thing.

⁓ and they're like, I think safety is more important than financial stuff. And it hit me really hard. And,

I will be completely honest with you after everything that's just been escalating so quickly, we made literally a next day appointment. I already had my passport, but we applied. We got both my kids' passports. My husband has a passport. ⁓ Well, they're coming. Hopefully, hopefully the government doesn't decide to stop issuing them. But like,

The next day we went in and made sure that our applications were in for us to all get passports we like, have family in Canada. If we needed to leave, I could go to Canada, but that has been so scary to just have so many people. I'm like, what are you hearing? Like, what are they saying about us? And I'm just hearing, I know this sounds dystopian and I know that this is hard to hear, but like,

Like this is me saying that, not them, but like people in other countries are scared for us. ⁓ They're either scared for us or they're laughing at us. And it's kind of heartbreaking, but to bring it back to what Britt was saying and like, find your people, find your safe people, be a safe space for somebody else.

work on community and mutual aid because these little things add up. And that's the resistance. I know we say so often on this show, like, what next? Like, how can it get worse? But if it continues down the path that it's going, we're going to need each other more than any of us ever anticipated. And I think we're up.

for challenge. think we are. think especially Millennials and Gen Alpha. God, Gen Alpha. I love Gen Alpha. Britt sent me a video that I'm gonna have to share. But like, think Millennials and Gen Alpha and...

Gen Z, I don't know about Gen Z. I don't know, I don't know, but I think we can do it. I think we can take care of each other.

Britt (1:06:46)
We need an odd mom's on call compound.

Chelsea Myers (1:06:50)
I've been saying that. I've been telling everybody. I am not going to disclose where

I live. But what I will say is that I have a significant amount of land and I keep saying to everyone, I'm like, just come here.

Britt (1:07:06)
Podcasting would be a lot more fun if we could all do it together in person.

Chelsea Myers (1:07:09)
my God,

I'm like, you can build a house on my land. We can just have an odd mom's compound. We can farm. This is Vermont. I'm literally surrounded by farms. We can get ducks. can get, we've got plenty of cows. Not here. I hate cows, but we'll get them if we need them. ⁓ Don't look at me like that when I say I hate cows. They're everywhere, Jess. They're everywhere here and they scare me. They're so big.

Britt (1:07:18)
We'll get ducks.

Jess Rabon (she/her) (1:07:35)
They are much bigger

than ducks. I will give you that.

Chelsea Myers (1:07:37)
Ugh. I don't like chickens either or ducks. I don't like birds.

Britt (1:07:37)
You

No,

that's why you do ducks instead of chickens. They lay all year round. They're less sassy. They're heartier

Chelsea Myers (1:07:43)
Okay, good. Okay.

Well, what is it? What?

Jess Rabon (she/her) (1:07:49)
Chelsea's regretting

their offer for this compound now that animals are involved.

Chelsea Myers (1:07:53)
No, no, I

still want the compound because like you think about, can you. I did bring up farming, but. Yeah, crops. Yeah. Well, I mean, I'm a pescatarian, so I just I need some fruits and veggies and then we can go fishing. Yeah, I have a river. But no, like if we want to get silly for a second, like think about it, like we've got.

Lindsey Basler (1:07:56)
Maybe someone else takes on the farm.

Britt (1:07:57)
They're the one who brought up farming.

Jess Rabon (she/her) (1:08:00)
True. Yeah, what kind of farming do you just, crops? No animals? Okay.

Britt (1:08:12)
or make a pond.

Chelsea Myers (1:08:20)
two therapists, so we would all have built-in therapists. ⁓ I was an educator, Lindsey worked in education, so we could teach the kids. ⁓ Britt works in healthcare, so they can heal all of our ails. Yes, yes. And Tianna is fantastic in terms of like, so she would help everyone with like, syncing their cycles and like, helping us through, like she's a PCOS coach.

Britt (1:08:34)
and the herbs. I love a garden. I loved a garden. I will totally help manage the garden.

grounding us all.

Chelsea Myers (1:08:50)
Yes, and ⁓ we have three mental health professionals. Kara's a licensed clinical social worker. and Courtney is a maternal mental health advocate and stuff. We would be fine. We'd be fine. My husband is super handy. He's like an HVAC tech, so he can make sure we all have heating and air conditioning. And we'd be fine. We'd be OK, you guys. Just come here.

Britt (1:08:57)
We're set.

Chelsea Myers (1:09:21)
⁓ Okay, let's try to bring it around a little bit. I mean, we had a section that was like, are we really okay? I think that's a little evident based on what we were talking about. I don't think any of us is really okay, but my mantra is just keep swimming. Before we get to our hot take, which...

Is it is gonna be fun because we're all gonna have to come up with our own I already thought of mine and it relates back. I know I didn't tell you I'm sneaky. Okay. ⁓ but What this is this is off-topic it's completely unrelated. So here's a palate cleanser for you What has joining odd moms? meant to you What and what is it kind of brought to your life?

I mean, I can go first because I'm already talking so much. But it's like I said before, like you guys are my glimmers. You are my pocket friends. I feel closer to you than some people I've known for years. And knowing that you exist in the world is empowering. It makes me feel safe. It makes me feel seen. And I have so much love for every single odd mom. so.

And it makes me feel like I'm doing something. Yes, it's scary to talk about these things because you don't know what people are going to say or do, especially right now. But I'm empowered to speak my truth because of you all. So that's what odd moms means to me. ⁓

Lindsey Basler (1:11:03)
That is the exact word I was going to use empowered. I feel so much more empowered to share. And before I definitely did not feel empowered to share my point of view as much, maybe more in a personal conversation, but definitely not a more of a public platform. So odd moms has given me so much more empowerment to keep sharing my own story, my own thoughts, opinions, point of view.

leaves and it is very refreshing to have new friends a lot of my friends I've known since I was like three years old so it's really nice to know people who aren't like I know your mom dad brother uncle cousin so you know sorry that makes me sound like I am from Missouri guys sorry

Chelsea Myers (1:11:56)
If

you're not watching this, we are all laughing our asses off right now. That was amazing.

Lindsey Basler (1:12:00)
Stop.

Britt (1:12:02)
That was so funny.

Lindsey Basler (1:12:04)
home. So yeah, it's very nice to meet people from different places and you all have brought wonderful perspective into my life. So thank you.

Britt (1:12:18)
Odd Moms has been just such a grounding thing for me, I think. I've had a lot of uncertainty in my life over the last year of my life. And I think starting this group and getting to know you all and with the uncertainty that life has thrown at us over the last 10 episodes that we've done, ⁓ having...

grounding place to go back to and know that like I have something that's certain I have a support place that's certain I have ⁓ a place to run to if I needed to and those kinds of things it's been it's been so huge for me and it has been so massive in my like journey of my own self exploration Chelsea was kind of talking about she's been loved watching it but honestly being a part of the odd moms and seeing how well open you guys are about posting and discussing and what a huge role you play in your own

individual circles because of the work that you're doing has just been such a guiding light for me and I'm so excited to like actually get into the active posting stuff and like getting back into it with you guys because it's been a while but you guys have really ⁓ given me my inspiration and been a good muse for me so love y'all

Jess Rabon (she/her) (1:13:32)
The word that came up for me is connection and you know Chelsea I know you talked a lot about that and we've talked about our group chat, but I think for me it's been Nice to have online friends that even though there are two other odd moms in the mental health space like as clinicians that are not other mental health providers or the thing that we did not connect on was being a mental health provider because

You know, I've been creating mental health content online since the pandemic. we're five and a half years in and I love the mental health connections I've made. when you, and like, yeah, some of them I've become friends with beyond that, but most of my conversations with the people I've made are about mental health. And for me, it's been really refreshing to, even though we talk about mental health, obviously, but it's more like,

how we're doing with our mental health or advocacy work. It's not like consultation or clinical information or things like that. And I love that. don't want if any of my like friends that have been online that are therapists listen to this. I don't want to downplay our relationships, but it has been really nice to like, you know, connect with you all via text and then follow you all and having like diversity on my feeds. Like Lindsey, I love seeing like all your artwork.

and things like that. And yes, you do a lot of like maternal mental health stuff. And like, I'm going to echo what Chelsea said earlier about like, it's just like, so much joy in your posts. like, you know, Chelsea, you're a fierce advocate for so many things. And I love that. like, I've just loved our conversations when we've had side conversations about like random stuff and getting to know you as a human. And it's just like,

I know you said Chelsea, like a palate cleanser, like, I don't want to call you all a palate cleanser, but it is refreshing to make connections with people that are not just like, the thing we connected over was our job. I love my job. I love talking about mental health. And sometimes you also need to just have real human connection unrelated to your job and what you do day in and day out. And that's what.

I mean, there's a lot of things I love, but that I think is what comes up for me because I'll be honest, I'm not great at, I mean, not maintaining friendships, that's not the wrong word. I maintain friendships, but I work with people all day. And I am actually pretty introverted, people don't believe me when I say that. So when I get home after a nine, 10 hour work day, I don't wanna really connect with people.

Obviously I connect with my husband and my kids and you all have reminded me the importance of connection and connection that's not just about clinical stuff and work and it's a mix of serious conversations and glimmers and all of that. So I'm going to stop rambling now.

Chelsea Myers (1:16:37)
You're not rambling! None of this is rambling. It's all... I don't know. It just... It makes me emotional and it makes me just so thankful. It's... Life has thrown things at every single one of us, just like every single one of you listening. ⁓ And the circumstances and coincidence and whatever you want to call it, fate that threw us all at each other...

I don't know what it was, but I'm so thankful for it. Yeah, it's I don't know, it's beautiful and it makes me so happy. But yeah, and to our Odd Moms who are not with us today, we feel the same way about you. All of us, all of us root for each other. Like there's genuinely nothing, like we are always supportive of each other. We are always there for a virtual hug. are like,

If somebody's going through something, somebody is going to respond, usually everybody. It's just beautiful. And so know that you can make those connections. don't have to be living in the same town as someone to have a true connection. And I think that's what's going to make all the difference. Lindsey usually does our hot takes, but I decided to throw everyone off tonight.

And I know Jess is like, ugh. Jess and I are both planners. I threw you for a loop, Jess, so I apologize. Our hot take section tonight, I'm going to ask each of us to throw something out. ⁓ And just to give you time to think, I have mine already. I wrote mine down because I could prepare.

Jess Rabon (she/her) (1:18:25)
Because you can prepare.

Britt (1:18:29)
Must

have been really nice.

Chelsea Myers (1:18:31)
I know, I'm

really sorry.

Jess Rabon (she/her) (1:18:34)
No, it's good, it's good. This is, you know, challenging us.

Chelsea Myers (1:18:38)
Yeah!

Britt (1:18:38)
I'm over here

like which of my hot takes do I want to delve into because I got lots of boxes I can stand on guys.

Chelsea Myers (1:18:44)
I know that was

a challenge for me as well. And again, check out our reel. We'll probably repost it. But like, that was the thing. It's like, what do I say? There's so many things. But actually, my hot take is something that Jess kind of already said, which is ironic. ⁓ I just am saying it in different words. But my hot take is that the only thing more predictable and maddening

than mass shootings in the US is our government's refusal to do anything about it. That's my hot take today. That's and I'm feeling pretty spicy about it. So that's mine. Now somebody else has to go.

Britt (1:19:26)
I'll go with mine that I did on my paper on our reel today. So you should check it out because it's cute. But my hot take is that gender is a completely made up social construct meant to fuel suppression. And that harms every human being no matter what genitalia you were born with or how you identify the social gender construct is hurting you.

Chelsea Myers (1:19:50)
I agree with that hot take. Okay, somebody else, let's go. It's up to Lindsey or Jess.

Lindsey Basler (1:19:57)
Okay, I guess this is a hot take. mean, I don't feel like it is. I live in the Bible Belt here in Missouri, south of St. Louis, and my hot take with everything that has happened with Charlie Kirk and such is that I don't want religion anywhere near my child's school Period.

Chelsea Myers (1:20:26)
Again, I don't think that should be considered a hot take, Linds I think you're right. ⁓ we acknowledge that other people may feel differently.

Jess Rabon (she/her) (1:20:26)
Yeah.

I will get to my hot take, but I want to say to that, Lindsey, it's wild to me as somebody that literally went to Catholic school. Like I went to Catholic school. What I have seen in certain states trying to implement in public schools was more religion than I literally got in my Catholic school, where I took religion class for four years and like went to mass and things like that. It's just wild. But like my family paid for me to get a religious education, which is very different.

than public education, like in the sense of having religion in it, that came out wrong. But yeah. So I think my hot take for today, which is actually, it's pet peeve of mine. And I made a, I think a thread about this the other day. But if you are speaking on scientific research and you say any correlation proves

anything, I'm gonna assume you don't know anything about research because I've been seeing a lot of

people lately, you know, because everybody is an armchair expert for anything these days because the internet let you make it. the amount of people that, and I know understanding scientific literature is a privilege because you're not taught to read scientific literature typically unless you get to higher education and we can get into that. But the amount of people that try to give advice with no medical degree, no background knowledge, don't understand how to interpret scientific literature and

Yeah, prove is like my least, well, should is probably my least favorite word. Second is prove, but the amount of people I've seen with this whole Tylenol autism thing that we didn't even get into say that these studies prove Tylenol causes autism. Like one, it's correlational, not causational. But yeah.

Chelsea Myers (1:22:35)
That's my new mantra, Jess. I've been saying that correlation

does not equal causation. That's because of you.

Jess Rabon (she/her) (1:22:41)
So yeah.

Britt (1:22:41)
I've been saying

that calling me autistic is now a slur and I identify as Tylenol All-American.

Chelsea Myers (1:22:49)
I saw someone post, I only took Tylenol PM, so I guess I'll be only autistic tonight. ⁓ Yeah, like, as a parent of an autistic child, like, yeah, we're not gonna get into it. Let's do that on a different episode, but ⁓ yes. I think it's on our list.

Britt (1:22:55)
Yep. Yep.

Jess Rabon (she/her) (1:23:05)
Mm-hmm.

Britt (1:23:06)
We should do an autism episode, or neurodivergent

episode, because there's quite a few of us that touch or are on their neuro spicy spectrum. And I think it would be really fascinating, especially with the stereotypes that are coming down the pipeline now.

Chelsea Myers (1:23:24)
Yeah, it's on our list as our unofficial like scheduler slash planner. Like it is on our list. ⁓ and I think we should get into it more, but I do, I want to leave this because I, this is so important for moms, especially, and we are odd moms. You did not cause your child's, ⁓ neurotype, whatever it is. You didn't, you didn't do anything. there could be a genetic component that's still not your fault.

It's nobody's fault and it doesn't need to blame and it's not a disease and it doesn't need to be cured. Whether it's autism, whether it's Down syndrome, whether it's whatever it is. Your child's beautiful and you're beautiful and all of you are beautiful. ⁓ it's late. This is one of our longest episodes, but I love it so much. I hate to say goodbye. This is what we get for not having an outline. It's my fault.

Britt (1:24:16)
This is what we get for not having an outline.

It's magical. We love it.

Chelsea Myers (1:24:23)
no, this was great. And I will be completely honest with you. are things that I said that I'm a little nervous about going out there, but I know that at the end of the day, I have all of you. have my partner. ⁓ and speaking your truth should not put you in danger. No one, no one. And so that goes across the board.

So me speaking my truth should not put me in danger and someone else who has a completely opposite opinion from me speaking their truth should never put them in danger. That's the bottom line, I guess. ⁓ So we have to go back to real life and we will schedule our next episode soon. We're trying. It's very hard for all of us guys, bear with us, but we will try to release a little more frequently as we can. But yeah.

Britt (1:25:18)
My new favorite

thing is telling people to go forth with the audacity of a mediocre white man. Love you guys.

Chelsea Myers (1:25:27)
my god,

I love that. I actually love that. Yeah, that's a sound bite right there. Go be audacious Be your beautiful selves. I mean, we're gonna be on the chat tomorrow. We're all gonna be able to talk to each other tomorrow, but for everybody listening, for anybody listening, we love you. We see you. I don't care what you believe as long as you're not harming another person. And I know that everybody here can say the same thing. ⁓

Britt (1:25:34)
Go forth, be audacious.

Chelsea Myers (1:25:55)
So thank you for sticking with us for 10 episodes. Keep with us, because we're going to keep going. We're going to keep talking until there's nothing to talk about. And that's never going to happen. So.

Britt (1:26:04)
We're

only gonna keep getting odder.

Chelsea Myers (1:26:07)
and hotter.

Lindsey Basler (1:26:07)
the world

gets better and we somehow get less odd

Britt (1:26:08)
odder

Chelsea Myers (1:26:13)
Yeah, the world

will become so odd that we're not odd anymore. We're just hot. Yeah. We'll be hot moms on call. What did you say, Lindsey?

Britt (1:26:15)
Honestly, that would be great. We'll just be the hot the hot mom's on call.

Lindsey Basler (1:26:17)
Yes, just hot.

I don't know if that's since the message we got.

Britt (1:26:25)
Perfectly average mom's on call.

Lindsey Basler (1:26:30)
I said, I don't know if that's the message we want out there. Hot mom on call. 1-800-HOT-MOMS-ON-CALL.

Chelsea Myers (1:26:33)
Yeah, no, We're not on call.

Jess Rabon (she/her) (1:26:33)
Bye.

Britt (1:26:35)
That's good point. That's a good point.

Chelsea Myers (1:26:40)
No, strike that. What is it? Whatever, whatever Willy Wonka said. we're not that, but what he says, strike that, reverse it. ⁓ we are, we are not hot moms for you to call. Don't do that. anyway, on that note, we love you. ⁓

Jess Rabon (she/her) (1:26:41)
you

you

Britt (1:26:55)
You

love you guys.

Jess Rabon (she/her) (1:27:00)
love you.

Lindsey Basler (1:27:02)
Thank