In this special edition BIRTHDAY episode, Yoda answers a few listener questions including:

- Why Doula of Words?

- How has sobriety impacted your writing practice?

- Are you ever worried someone will read your diaries?

Yoda also goes deep into her poetry archives and reads several deep, dark poems, which we really hope you enjoy! <3

Thank you so much for listening! We couldn't do this without you!!!!!!!!!

For more info on my work as a writing coach or to sign up for workshops, head to www.doulaofwords.com

Follow on IG & threads @doulaofwords

To sign up to be a guest, please email Yoda at yoda@thedoulaofwords.com - we'd love to have you!

Find my books here <3

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Kid's Help Phone: You can reach a professional counsellor at Kids Help Phone in English or French 24/7 by calling 1-800-668-6868

9-8-8: Call or text from anywhere in Canada or the U.S., anytime

CMHA: Call Reach Out at 1-866-933-2023 to receive mental health and/or addictions support

We're back in 2006 and I am struggling to balance being madly in love with my boyfriend and my new girl crush, along with working full-time, finishing high school, and planning for prom. Oh, and also, I go to a strip club and stuff gets crazy. Yes. I am 17.

Every time I enter a room, I am filled with near-crippling anxiety, believing everyone hates me and thinks I'm a liar. I want to open up and tell Corey everything, but it feels impossible to let him see the real me. So, I pull away and start making out with girls at parties.

There's a lot happening in this one and most of it breaks my heart. My bestie thinks I'm a "mean girl" and I am drowning in my adult responsibilities. I barely see my friends in this one, and barely notice my Mom is weeks away from leaving my Dad. It's a heavy one but I hope you enjoy hearing me forgive myself in real time <3

For more info on my work as a writing coach or to sign up for workshops, head to www.doulaofwords.com

To sign up to be a guest, please email Yoda at yoda@thedoulaofwords.com - we'd love to have you!

Find my books here <3

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Kid's Help Phone: You can reach a professional counsellor at Kids Help Phone in English or French 24/7 by calling 1-800-668-6868

9-8-8: Call or text from anywhere in Canada or the U.S., anytime

CMHA: Call Reach Out at 1-866-933-2023 to receive mental health and/or addictions support

In this episode, I get the fuck out nof Brisbane (no shade!) and start a whole new life in Perth, WA. There's ups, there's downs. There's sex, drugs, and soooo much alcohol.

In Western Oz, I get a job and make juuuust enough money to blow it all on an EPIC roadtrip across the south coast of Australia. I make two of the best friends a girl can ask for, get two back-to-back bouts of food poisoning, spend a day on an $8 million yacht, and almost hook up with my friend's brother. (???) Then, I make it back to Sydney just in time to meet Jessa where it all started... Bondi Beach!

This episode is full of lust and longing... and so many lessons. I hate how it ends, but I kindof love it too.

For more info on my work as a writing coach or to sign up for workshops, head to www.doulaofwords.com

To sign up to be a guest, please email Yoda at yoda@thedoulaofwords.com - we'd love to have you!

Find my books here <3

------------

Kid's Help Phone: You can reach a professional counsellor at Kids Help Phone in English or French 24/7 by calling 1-800-668-6868

9-8-8: Call or text from anywhere in Canada or the U.S., anytime

CMHA: Call Reach Out at 1-866-933-2023 to receive mental health and/or addictions support

It's 2010 and I've been in Australia for about a month and am finally settling into things. I'm still dying of homesickness but am eager to find a job and am already thinking of extending my stay in Oz.

My friend Ian tells me I need to relax and come live with him in his van, and I consider it, but ditch him quickly for a local named Alan. Alan and I dive into a very passionate fling. The fling takes us on a disastrous trip to Fraser Island and our ending is as swift as our beginning.

I travel up and down the coast from Yamba to Byron Bay to Brisbane and back again. I get food poisoning on an island and worry I might die. My friend and I are fighting constantly and the zoo makes me feel nothing but sadness.

I turn 22 and stay on the job hunt. I get my heart broken, stomped on, and spit out. I decide I want to make some changes.... and decide I'm going to fly West! All that and more in this DOOZY of an episode. <3

For more info on my work as a writing coach or to sign up for workshops, head to www.doulaofwords.com

To sign up to be a guest, please email Yoda at yoda@thedoulaofwords.com - we'd love to have you!

Find my books here <3

------------

Kid's Help Phone: You can reach a professional counsellor at Kids Help Phone in English or French 24/7 by calling 1-800-668-6868

9-8-8: Call or text from anywhere in Canada or the U.S., anytime

CMHA: Call Reach Out at 1-866-933-2023 to receive mental health and/or addictions support

I'm skipping ahead a bit here and taking you to 2009. Brokenhearted from my messy break up with Corey, I let myself fall into the arms of the friend of my best friend's boyfriend. Him and I try desperately (and unsuccessfully!) to fit a whole relationship into a few months because surprise! I'm flying to Australia and no one can stop me.

Australia is the furthest I've ever traveled, and I am drowning in homesickness. So much so, I am having visions of the guy I left behind, and am rying myself to sleep while the other backpackers surf paradise around me.

I write about 20K words in the first 48 hours and every single one of them spells 'anxious attachment.' One minute, I am fighting with my friend, the next I am making out with a Dutch guy on the beach, the next I am cooking for everyone in the hostel. Total whirlwind.

Don't worry! I share how to properly make a Vegemite sandwich, chef-stylez. I also get a foot rub from Jamie Oliver's cousin (lol)! I am pounding 'goon,' which is a wine (if you can call it that!) that costs $11 for 4 liters!!

This episode certainly isn't a party, although there is a fair amount of that. I get caught stealing and hate myself so much that I almost decide to go home. Instead, I wander aimlessly up the East Coast and try to find myself.

Join me in Bondi, Sydney, Byron Bay, and Yamba. <3 You might want to take a lorazepam for this one!!!

For more info on my work as a writing coach or to sign up for workshops, head to www.doulaofwords.com

To sign up to be a guest, please email Yoda at yoda@thedoulaofwords.com - we'd love to have you!

Find my books here <3

------------

Kid's Help Phone: You can reach a professional counsellor at Kids Help Phone in English or French 24/7 by calling 1-800-668-6868

9-8-8: Call or text from anywhere in Canada or the U.S., anytime

CMHA: Call Reach Out at 1-866-933-2023 to receive mental health and/or addictions support

The long-awaited episode is here!! I finally had the chance to sit down and interview my Dad, Ron, for The Angsty Pod!

"Let's call it a journal, not a diary!" lol Dads... ammiright?!?!

We sat down in my Dad's living room, mic between us, Dad sipping wine, me sipping Gingerale, and we talked for about four hours. We covered all kinds of topics, including the way his mother smelled, eating escargot, staying open to life's opportunities, writing practice, and much more.

In this episode, it's 1979, and my Dad, age 20, is backpacking through Europe. His mother, my grandmother, has recently died and he is living at home with his father, my Gido. It's the first time he's left the country, been on a plane, or rode in a taxi... and he does it all in the first page of this journal. He ultimately wanted to end up in India, to become a yogi and learn more about meditation, or, in his words, "I wanted to live in a cave and become a guru."

But the story takes a turn when he is "bamboozled" in Rome. He loses most of his money and the scam leaves him completely broken hearted. His shame over the incident, 45+ years later, is still profound.

"It was the most beautiful, incredible journey I've ever had in my life; the most adventurous, and I learned SO much... but there were so many other moments of pain and sadness and loneliness."

We end this episode with a conversation about travel, and Dad even agreed to read some poems!

This is one of my favourite episodes, as well as a personal & career highlight for me. I know my Dad will appreciate you for listening, and I do too!!

For more info on my work as a writing coach or to sign up for workshops, head to www.doulaofwords.com

To sign up to be a guest, please email Yoda at yoda@thedoulaofwords.com - we'd love to have you!

Find my books here <3

------------

Kid's Help Phone: You can reach a professional counsellor at Kids Help Phone in English or French 24/7 by calling 1-800-668-6868

9-8-8: Call or text from anywhere in Canada or the U.S., anytime

CMHA: Call Reach Out at 1-866-933-2023 to receive mental health and/or addictions support

Join me as I chat with my pal and client, Sarah Hanson! Sarah (she/her) is a poet from Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is a truth teller, trauma survivor, and constant reinventor. Sarah's writing practice is "in bloom" and her first poetry collection will be out April 28th!

In this episode, we talk about poetry, trusting yourself, and the importance of friendship. We exchange hilarious, heartbreaking stories of our youth, and Sarah generously reads several poems from her junior/senior year of high school, which we have given a 10/10 rating on the ANGST and tenderness scale.

"I don't want to throw her away anymore," is now on a post-it on my altar. Thanks for that one, Sarah!

To pre-order Sarah's collection, Conjuring the Hurricane, and for more info, head to www.sarahhansonwrites.com

For more info on my work as a writing coach or to sign up for workshops, head to www.doulaofwords.com

To sign up to be a guest, please email Yoda at yoda@thedoulaofwords.com - we'd love to have you!

Find my books here <3

------------

Kid's Help Phone: You can reach a professional counsellor at Kids Help Phone in English or French 24/7 by calling 1-800-668-6868

9-8-8: Call or text from anywhere in Canada or the U.S., anytime

CMHA: Call Reach Out at 1-866-933-2023 to receive mental health and/or addictions support

Content Note: This episode mentions self-harm and suicidal ideation.

In this week's episode, I am falling in love and terrified of saying it out loud. I'm so terrified, I start inflicting physical and spiritual harm to myself and others. There's some tough stuff in this one but it was kindof cool to read back on how in love I truly was.

There are so many elements of this journal that remind me of previous journals - it's a new year and a new guy, but I am still a classic avoidant!

There is a certain violence in this episode that surprised me. Not only amoungst my friend group, but also within myself. I turn 18, tell my boyfriend I love him, and start planning for prom & graduation.

I apparantly feel like I can really relate to Jewel and The O.C. lolololol This episode is packed with details of an 18-year-old who is trying her absolute best and the boy(s) who loves her.

For more info on my work as a writing coach or to sign up for workshops, head to www.doulaofwords.com

To sign up to be a guest, please email Yoda at yoda@thedoulaofwords.com - we'd love to have you!

Find my books here <3

------------

Kid's Help Phone: You can reach a professional counsellor at Kids Help Phone in English or French 24/7 by calling 1-800-668-6868

9-8-8: Call or text from anywhere in Canada or the U.S., anytime

CMHA: Call Reach Out at 1-866-933-2023 to receive mental health and/or addictions support