Welcome to THE TRUE NORTH COLLECTIVE℠ PODCAST: SEASON 3! With co-hosts Rachel Bellotti and Jenell Riesner, this is a gathering of un-sugar-coated conversations celebrating the untold stories of everyday people fearlessly finding and living their true north.
In our own search to discover and live from our TRUE NORTH, we continue to meet many interesting, courageous people from all walks of life, doing all sorts of amazing things to live life in their own unique way. Stories from all over the world. Stories with heart. Stories with grit. Stories with plot twists. Stories going untold - until now. This season, we celebrate these untold stories of everyday people who are fearlessly living their true north and inspiring each of us to do the same.
Today, we talk to Jake White - Jenell’s college friend, speaker, creator, and founder of Party.0 - throwing sober house parties with students across the nation! We unpack standing in your own truth despite being surrounded by a very different culture, when seemingly harmless habits start to take away your freedom and your life and keeping silent about who you truly are so that you aren’t rejected (yet you end up rejecting your true self). We consider creating a life built around creating and having the things you want versus removing the things that are bad. And finally, how college drinking culture is shifting and the invitation to play with spirituality as a path to who you truly are.
*note: this episode includes explicit language appropriate for those ages 16+
RESOURCES MENTIONED:
- Party.0
- Hammerschlagen
- UW Oshkosh (aka sloshkosh)
- Goop Lab
- Alan Watts - The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so…
- Music from: https://www.jukedeck.com/
3 KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- 30% of college students don’t drink or do drugs - THAT’S ALMOST ⅓!! And we are shocked because no one is talking about it. What else are people hiding that might be WAY more normal than they have been led to believe? What have you been hiding that you are ready to own for yourself? Many times cultural norms keep us from sharing who we actually are, which keeps us silent and isolated. And it keeps us from potentially realizing that there is a decent-sized community of people that exist who feel like we do and have a shared experience. Give yourself permission to share our truth, you might be surprised by the community that already exists and wants to show up with you.
- Recognizing where you’re using shortcuts to experiencing the things you want can help you actually build the skill set needed to have those things more readily available in your life. If you want, say, connection, to have fun, cope with stress, try something new, but you are using something to help you get there (like drugs or alcohol or pretending to be someone else or even fashion/make-up, etc) then you are robbing yourself of the chance to learn the skills of creating what you want to have, without having to rely on a crutch. You are robbing yourself of the joy, the rush, the novelty, and the thrill of truly figuring out how to live life purely as you, on your own, without relying on something outside of yourself.
- Spirituality can be a huge support in connecting mind, energy, body to the bigger picture of life, to the life force that exists beyond us. When we are unsure of how to trust in ourselves or know what to do or how to be true to ourselves, we can invite ourselves to tap into universal life energy (or Universe or God or whatever you call it) to gain more insight and wisdom about how we make our next move. It is a co-creation process between ourselves and what lies beyond all of us. Between us as individual energy sources and the larger energy source that exists and remains and keeps going when all are gone. What else is there that allows life to happen? What more is out there beyond ourselves that can support us in creating the life we want?
TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:
- [1:00] Rachel almost hoarks
- [2:50] Hitchhiking + close calls
- [9:30] Introducing Jake!
- [12:23] Seeing family members struggling with addiction
- [18:00] Why ARE you drinking?
- [23:30] Being sober + FUN!
- [27:00] Short-cuts vs. skillsets
- [34:00] Making alcohol the scapegoat for poor choices
- [42:00] What does a sober party look like?
- [52:00] Find yourself a hype person
- [1:05:00] How college drinking culture is shifting
- [1:07:00] Habits, compulsions, addictions - recognizing when seemingly harmless habits become harmful coping mechanisms
- [1:15:00] Spirituality + spiritual wellness
- [1:20:00] Allowing everyone’s truth to arise
- [1:27:00] You cannot know the “right” answer
- [1:33:00] How do you live your TRUE NORTH?
- [1:33:30] Contact Jake via party0.org via IG @party.0 or highschool/middle school platform via IG @vive18