A (0:00)

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Because Progressive offers discounts for paying in full, owning a home and more. Plus, you can count on their great customer service to help you when you need it. So your dollar goes a long way. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance, Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations. Direct from the Broski Nation headquarters in Los Angeles, California, this is the Broski Report with your host, Brittany Broski. Guys. Holo, guys. Oh, man, it never gets better than that. And let me just go ahead and address the elephant in the room. There is a small colony of the Mucinex green fat monster in my nose right now. I am hosting. I am the host, okay? A parasite has entered my body and is feening for my lifeblood, for my life source. And it's winning, okay? The Mucinex, the little fat green monster, the Mucinex monster. It's winning and there's not much I can do about it. You know, you gotta just gotta let it run its course. But ultimately, I don't know if it's a sinus infection. I don't know if it's my body succumbing to, you know, all the bullshit I put it through, or if it's just maybe a head cold. I was going to Google it. But first, something I know will cheer me up. A blueberry Red Bull. Wow. It's never not good. And let me tell you something too. That Juneberry flavor, don't. Don't piss me off. Some of you guys tag me in Instagram stories and you say on my Britney Broski shit and it's the Juneberry flavor that is the most disrespectful thing you could ever do to me. June. When have I ever spoken about Juneberry Red Bull? It's just not even good. Blueberry. Honestly, it's like a coveted flavor. Blueberry. Most gas stations will carry it. And if they don't, you're missing out. That coconut flavor, I'm not fucking with it. Juneberry. I'm not fucking with it. That kiwi peach one, kind of delicious. They have another one that's like passion fruit. It's just nothing compares to the blueberry. I will go for a different one if I have to. The watermelon red bull. I OD'd on one time and OD'd in the most. You know, Ambiguous of terms. Ambivalent of. Because I mixed it with Tito's vodka. Vodka. IU Vodka. I am gonna actually put my phone on. Do not disturb nobody, please message me. Please. Y', all, I'm working right now. I'm on the clock right now. Anything y' all need from me, it's gonna have to wait. Y', all, I'm so sorry. Yeah, I love y', all, though. Okay. Y' all be good. I'll talk to you later. Okay. When you go to. Oh, yeah, I kind of overdid it on watermelon Red Bull. I've talked about this before. I pre gamed one night. Watermelon Red Bull is essentially. It's Red 40. It's carbonated Red 40. Okay. And you have to take accountability at a certain level that, like, I chose to buy this and also drink it. You know what I mean? Like, that's actually on me. That's on me at least with blueberry Red Bull, a very natural, you know, deep purple shade. Very. It's very much of the earth. It's very much blueberry. So, yeah, don't tag me in that juneberry shit. I'm not fucking with that. Y' all are pissed me off, okay? Sinus infection. Why? Why does snot turn green? And if you guys are going to be prudes and be like, I don't like the brusier part. She's so gross. Grow up. The human body is a marvel, and I am hell bent on understanding why and how it works. Everything in life is. It has the inclination to us perishing. All signs point to human life ending. Okay. Yet we prevail. We're like fucking roaches. I swear to God, everything should have killed us by now. And now we're half composed of microplastics and formaldehyde and we're being embalmed alive. We're being preserved. And I think that's beautiful. Okay. Green snot, also known as nasal mucus, is typically caused by an underlying infection or inflammation. Awesome. Bacterial or viral infections. Awesome. Such as the common cold, flu, or sinusitis. Can cause an increase in white blood cells in the nasal passages. These cells release enzymes that contain iron, which can give the snot a green color. Snot at the end of a cold can be yellow or green. Let's go. Indicating your immune system is still actively fighting the infection, as these colors are caused by dead white blood cells and other. Okay, now see, this is tea. Doctors and nurses out there. I get it. For some people who have a genuine interest in, like, medical. This Is tea. Because the human body is magical. It's magical. It's magical. As these colors are caused by dead white blood cells and other debris from the immune response. As you fully recover, you can expect your snot to become clear again. Of course, I knew this. Like, I've been on this earth for long enough to know that, like, when you're snot green, you're sick. But it's good to know that it's. You're at the tail end of being sick. Why does your snot change colors? Don't judge your mucus by its color. Yeah, we're going to Harvard Health. Whoa. We have a lot of mucus. The lining of the nose and sinuses makes a liter or more per day. 1 liter images. What? Ew. Ew, ew. Like one of these smart water bottles. That much fucking mucus. Damn, I'm snotted up. My shit snotted up. I'm clotting. I'm about to clot. Before getting into why. Okay, we do have a lot of mucus. The lining of the nose and sinuses makes a liter or more per day. Think of mucus as the body's own moisturizer. It's found on the tissues within the body, such as the lining of the nose, sinuses, and mouth, that come into contact with elements from the outside world. These lining tissues, also called mucosa, and have a tendency to dry out and crack if there's too little moisture, too. So mu. Mucous. Mucus serves as important sm. When. When you. What the fuck just happened? Sometimes I short circuit. Do you know Joey and Frankie from the basement yard? When Joey, sometimes he does the same shit I do. You'll get talking, or your brain's moving faster than your mouth and you just. And then you get frustrated. There's that one clip of him doing that where he says something, and then he looks straight into the camera and turns around and grabs a phone off the wall and yells into it. That is so funny. And he is so me because that's literally me on this fucking podcast, okay? The guy who does the Hugh Jackman. That's one of the funniest bits that's ever happened on the Internet, by the way. It just keeps getting funnier. Like somehow he's cracked the code to where that shit, day by day gets funnier. And I don't know, some days I'm like, okay, I'm over it. And then I'll watch a really good one. I'm like, oh, my God. And he changes the words to, like, ryan Reynolds. Loaf of bread. Loaf of bread. So funny. Okay, back to mucus. Mucus is thick and sticky. It's getting sticky. It's getting sticky. It can trap dust, bacteria, or other unwanted passerby in our environment and prevent them from entering the body. Mucus also contains elements of the immune system, such as white blood cells and antibodies that kill any bothersome trespassers it catches. There may even be other functions of mucus that haven't been discovered. Wow. The body's kind of like the ocean. We only discover about 17% of it. The rest of it is total mystery. Rest of it's tough fucking mystery. When the white blood cells in the mucosa encounter an irritant or infectious organism, they respond by producing enzymes to repel the invaders. These enzymes contain iron, and that's one of the reasons nasal discharge may be green. And if the mucus sits around, as when you're sleeping, it becomes more concentrated and so may appear darker yellow or green. Now that is interesting. I always thought if it was darker, that means it's getting worse, but maybe it just means you were sleeping real good. This is the natural order of things, whether they are offending Adrian to the virus, which is the most common cause of sinus infection or a bacterium. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Because Progressive offers discounts for paying in full, owning a home, and more. Plus, you can count on their great customer service to help you when you need it. So your dollar goes along long way. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance. Progressive Casualty Insurance company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations. You can make a difference in someone's life, including your own, with a job in home care. These jobs offer flexible schedules, health care, retirement options, and free training. They also provide paid time off and opportunities for overtime. Visit oregonhomecarejobs.com to learn more and apply. That's oregonhomecarejobs.com okay, we can move on. A liter of mucus a day is nuts. We're some sick, nasty creatures. Okay, let's talk about something that I really, really want to talk about today. Guys. My collaboration with Trixie Cosmetics is out. Add some celebratory music. Yes. Two, two, two to the moon I am American American red, white and blue Me and Trixie, guys, long time coming. Long time coming. We've been working on this palette for damn near Three years for real. Like, on and off. It's been in production. It's been like, we want to make sure that it's right. We went through a lot of different ideas, and we finally landed on this. We went through a lot of different products, finally landed on this. So what it is, we'll put the website in the description. We can put the product up here on the screen. It is a palette, eyeshadow palette with a cheek. A gorgeous cheek. Oh, also, we did a video on Trixie's channel, so go watch that. Um, it's a blush. It's some eyeshadows. It's two sets of lashes. It is a lip liner and a lipstick. And it's all old Hollywood classic, glamorous, silver screen, Tinseltown, Beverly Hills themed. Because Trixie and I are both transplants to Los Angeles. Like, we are not from here originally. I think it's fun that especially Trixie being a drag queen, like, this idea of what classic beauty and glamour is. Is kind of. It's been campified. It's been kind of almost cartoonized. And I feel the same. The way that I pull references from those kind of eras, you know, of like the 20s, 30s, 40s, it's very. It's almost like this whimsical, unreal time period. And I mean that in. In terms of the media coming out of that time period, not the historical events. Fucking bitch. Obviously, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about, like, the classic. This is where our idea of 21st century beauty really stems from. And it's fun to play with those references. So this was such a fun thing for us to collaborate on and to create into. I think. What is the perfect palette? It's an interesting color story that's deeply wearable. It matches this time period that we're talking about. And I think it'll look beautiful on any skin tone. I mean, it's just. I wanted to include neutrals, some fun colors. The blush is a stunning color. And then some glitter. We've got some glitters in there. Really gorgeous. Trixie Cosmetics makes really gorgeous pressed glitter pigments. So I'm. I'm excited for y' all to get your grubby little fans on and test it out. Let us know what you think. The packaging is stunned. I'm so happy with how it came out. But that's out now, so go grab it. For the quality of the product, the size of the product, I think it's very affordable. I mean, for real, like, Trixie Cosmetics is not sold in Stores. I mean, it's very like, you get what you pay for with Trixie. And I wouldn't collaborate with a company that I didn't personally use myself. You know what I mean? The fucking Trixie Juno Birch palette I use all the time. I use the Plant Gay palette as well. I have a bunch of them. It's like each one has such versatile uses. So, yeah, I'm very happy with it. I hope y' all like it. The photos came out stunning. Stunning. Shout out to John. Shout out to John, who who photographed this whole. I just. I'm gagged. The whole team who worked on the whole Trixie team is just incredible. They're such lovely, fantastic, beautiful, talented people. So, yeah, go check that out. I also, in that vein of just timely because I am pre recording this. I'm recording this two weeks early September 23rd, which, if you're watching today, on Tuesday, when this comes out, is National Voter Registration Day Team. Uh, we're going to put a bunch of links in the description. The first and foremost being Vote.gov, if you are an American citizen, uh, if you have never voted before, if you have just turned 18 and you would like to vote, now is the time. It's never too late to register to vote. Please, please, please register to fucking vote. All of those resources will be in the description, if you're interested. Headcount is also a company that I've worked with previously. I think they're great. They do great work. They make it really easy to see if you are registered to vote, if not, how to rectify that, et cetera, et cetera. So happy National Voter Registration Day. Go do that. Go be a. Go be a civil servant. Go be an involved citizen. And now we can kind of move on to what I want to talk about today, which is fear. Today I want to talk about the power of fear. And I don't really have an outline for this. I have some general bullet points that I kind of wanted to hit, but I. I was just gonna freeball it. So bear with me if this feels disjointed and not well organized, because it's not. This is gonna be kind of a James Joyce, Ulysses stream of consciousness type of shit here that I'm. I'm freaking today. Fear, to me, what I. What I wanted to do is look up a list of people's biggest fears. And I think if y' all are longtime listeners of this podcast, you're probably well aware of the fact that my biggest fear is death. And not even like a painful death. Not Not. I mean, of course I fear being in pain. I don't. No one wants to be in pain. But my fear is more abstractly conceptual in the idea of life ending. Life being finite is my biggest fear. Let's look up. But here's a new one, okay? Fear of the dark is a very normal, very common terror that a lot of people have. And I want to know kind of the psychology of that because I've been thinking about it a lot. I was afraid of the dark as a kid. And, you know, one of the things that triggered my fear of the dark was I watched. There was a scene in Harry Bottom and the Sorcerer of the. Harry. Harry Bottom and the Queens of the Universe. My favorite movie, probably. Harry Bottom and the Sorcerers of the Universe. Queens of the Universe. I think that there is a scene. Okay, I forget which Harry Potter movie it was, but there's a scene where a Death Eater. Have I talked about this before? A Death Eater is in the forest sucking the life out of a unicorn. Harry comes across this scene and the Death Eater snaps his head over. And it, like, is terrifying the way that it's edited. And I may have constructed the scene in my head. Maybe this scene didn't happen in the movie. I haven't seen it in so long. That shit terrified me as a kid to the point where for a month I had to sleep with all the lights on in my room. Like, every single light. I was terrified because why would you do that? Why would a man be there? Why would a Death Eater be there? And why are you hurting the unicorn? That's. That's literally pathetic. Like, literally pick on someone your own size. I just couldn't fathom, like, why would someone do that to a unicorn? I can't believe it. And that was kind of my first introduction to cruelty for cruelty's sake, at the same time. So take with that take from that what you will. That was a scene as a kid where I don't know what. I drew a parallel between that scene of, like, a Death Eater bleeding and draining the life out of a mythical. You know, morally, unicorns don't have a moral standpoint. I don't know. Just like this innocent creature. Why did I link that to a fear of the dark? Like, I did not want to be alone in the dark because alone in the dark means those sort of visions. Those. That imagery will resurface if I have no other stimuli. Because fear is such a powerful emotion and it's such a powerful cognitive force. So I want to look up why or what are the top fears people have? This is from Chapman News News Chapman Edu over the past decade three Chapman researchers rest cup and from the top and three, two, one, go. Freddie from iCarly over the past decade, three Chapman researchers have explored the psyche of America, uncovering the top fears that haunt the nation. It's a cool ass website design. The Chapman University survey of American fears has been changing how sociologists think about the impact of fear. Okay, here they are. The top ten fears of 2024 by the percent of very afraid or afraid. Number one, corrupt government officials. Like yeah, like yeah. Which is a very, very, very, very valid fear. And it is not even an unfounded because you know, sometimes it's like oh, I'm afraid of the dark. Maybe that's unfounded only because I'm afraid of the unknown. Oh I'm afraid of spiders, I'm afraid of snakes, whatever. Like yes, there's a threat there. But that's kind of this baseline Maslow's hierarchy of needs type of fear. Like that's affecting your physical safety. So it is valid and primal to be afraid of that thing. This is more high level of like I am afraid of what life and my reality will look like, what that will shape up to be because of the corrupt government officials that have the power to, to negatively affect my reality. 65% very afraid. Number two people I love becoming seriously ill. Yeah, actually fucking totally, totally, totally, totally. 58.4% number three, cyberterrorism. 58.3% more on that later. Maybe because my thing is like of course cyber terrorism is terrifying. But there I've always had this piece of me, like this common denominator of my Internet experience where I have accepted, probably stupidly and naively, I never said I was intelligent, that my information has like been online since I was in middle school. Like for real. My data has been sold and resold and resold and bought and resold to the point of like I, I made a decision early on in my life with little to no agency of I want access to this thing. And I'm not really educated enough or interested enough to know what I'm sacrificing in order to get access to that thing. Does that make sense? I just am now probably at my ripe age of 28. This probably sounds so ignorant because it is. I'm realizing like truly how harmful that is. And the access that I have given, we all give the access we all give to people who potentially would want to use that for a negative intention, you know, with a Negative with mal intent. So I guess that's a very valid fear. Number four, people I love dying. Yes. 57%. Number five, Russia using nuclear weapons. Valid. Number six, not having enough money for the future. Valid seven, the US becoming involved in another world war. 55%. It was tied. Number seven, North Korea using nuclear weapons or no. Number eight. Number nine, terrorist attack. Number ten, biological warfare. Okay, let's. Let's read this article because this is very, very interesting. This is not the direction I thought this was going to take, and I guess I should have known by the denotation here of American fears because our realities are so politicized and our realities are so. Like, I was just kind of looking for spiders and snakes. So we'll keep reading. Sharks, clowns, Public speaking. Do you know what Americans are really afraid of? According to the researchers on the Chapman University Survey of American Fears, the nation's number one fear in 2024 is corrupt government officials. This isn't news to the members of Team Fear. It's topped the study every year since 2015. I wonder how they collected this data. Was this like a multiple choice or was it fill in the blank? Fear of corrupt government officials is always up there, says Christopher Bader, professor of sociology and lead investigator on the project. We think that is reflecting an overall sense amongst people, regardless of political affiliation, that the government is just not working. It is corrupt. While people are perennially concerned about not having enough money, the fear of economic collapse, lack of last year's number two fear has dropped out of the top 10 list. Meanwhile, fear of cyber terrorism has grown by 9%, moving it into the third position in the rankings. We have shared the results with fema, the Red Cross, the National Weather Service, and emergency managers across the country who have used the information in their efforts to better prepare America for disasters. Ooh, this is tea. Fear of climate change and global warming has gone up and down since 2015. It was at 69% of people were afraid of climate change in 2015. Now it's 52%, but it's been steadily rising over the last five years. Very, very, very interesting. I think that. Well, I have a book called the Politics of Fear or the Politics of. Yeah, I have two separate books. One is called the Politics of Fear and it's about McCarthyism. And the other book is called How Fascism Works. The Politics of Us versus Them. And they're on my fucking nightstand. I need to start them. I'm powering. I'm still powering through Babel because again, I'm pre recording these episodes. Guys, I'm doing. Over the last two days I've recorded four episodes. Okay, Please just forgive me. I've run out of shit to talk about. Sorry, but those are two books that I once I read them. I also have another book called Monsters that's about separating the art from the artist. I'm really interested to see what this author has to say because I feel like that's such a hot topic in our generation and like pop culture. And it's this ever present question that keeps coming up, it keeps popping up of am I allowed to like this thing if it was made by a horrible person? So I'll read that. I'll get back to you on, on what the author said because I. I'm undecided. Like I don't. I think that it's gray, you know, like everything, everything needs nuance and most conversations online lack nuance. So it's hard to talk about it. So let me read it. I'm gonna read all those books. I'll come back to you with a quick sparked Notes this episode is sponsored by Galatea. You tell yourself just one more chapter and then suddenly it's 2am and you need to know how it ends with Galatea's Bingeable Can't Stop Reading Romance and new releases every week. Sleep is overrated anyway. Galatea is a reading app where anyone craving a little me time can dive into a library of romance stories that leave you feeling recharged and fulfilled. There's over a thousand bestsellers to choose, from Shifter Romance to Bad Boy Billionaires, Forbidden Love, Slow Burn Fantasy, Teen Dr. And much, much more. Galatea is home to original series and standalone stories with an exclusive catalog of bestselling authors. With new chapters and series dropping every week, there's always something new to explore. Over 30 million people have fallen in love with reading on Galatea. Join now to indulge in stories that make you feel like yourself again. Right now, Galatea is offering my listeners an extra 25% off on top of an already irresistibly affordable subscription. When you go to galatea.com Broski that's G-A L-A T E A.com Broski to indulge in unlimited stories for even less. Galatea.com Broski this episode is sponsored by Seatgeek. Guys, it's fall autumn for all my European listeners, and I'm so excited to go to some concerts later this year. Which is why I want to give the sponsor of today's episode, SeatGeek, a huge shout out with over 28 million downloads, SeatGeek is the number one rated ticketing app. There's more than 70,000 events listed on SeatGeek, including concerts, sports, festivals and more. Right now you can get tickets to Lorde, Renee, Rapp, Benson, Boone, Dua, Lipa, Chris Stapleton, Gaga, Tate McRae, the Lumineers, Hozier, so many more. I love using SeatGeek. I found SeatGeek recently to get my Ethel Cain tickets. Yes, SeatGeek has your back. Each ticket is rated on a scale of 1 to 10, so you know you're getting a good deal. Look for the green dots. Green means good, red means bad. Plus every ticket is backed by their buyer guarantee. And you know I came through for you guys. You can use my code BROSKI2025 for 10% off your next set of tickets at Seatgeek. That's 10% off tickets with promo code BROSKI2025. Make sure you click the link in the description to download the app and have the code automatically added to your account so you can use it later. Thanks SeatGeek. Okay, let's hit fearof.net because this. Yeah, this is what I wanted. Fear of is a website dedicated to helping people with fears and phobias. It contains a large list of phobias and teaches how to cope with and ultimately cure your fear. Now that's fantastic. Top 100 phobia list. These are the top 100 in the world, but the most common ones listed at the top. You can click on each one to learn about causes, symptoms and treatments. We'll do the top 15, I'm sure. Maybe you guys want to play along. We can, we can try to predict what each one's going to be. Let's start at 15. A tikiphobia. This is going to be. Honestly, this is an etymologist dream. All of these phobias, these are all just going to be like Latin roots and, and prefixes and fucking whatever. ATI Phobia. The fear of failure. It is the single greatest barrier to success. Valid fear of failure is really, really. That's a slept on one. That, that's one that's really slept on, I think. Number 14. Monophobia. The fear of being alone even while eating and. Or sleeping. I know some people who don't. This feels a bit more abstract, right? Like some people cannot be alone actually. Like from if it's a trauma response or whatever. But some people just prefer not to and maybe their behavior reflects that in kind of a self destructive way. Serial monogamists might suffer from monophobia. Number 13, glossophobia, the fear of public speaking. Not being able to do speeches and I want wonder why, why I've never had this fear. I don't know if you guys can tell. The exact cause of glossophobia is unknown, but it's likely that certain traumatic events in one's past as a child or even as an adult might have led to this fear of public speaking. Often the individual coping with this phobia might avoid speaking in public for so long that what beings as normal anxiety, that what begins there's a typo as normal anxiety might turn into full blown glossophobia. Most individuals who suffer from the fear of public speaking are also low on self esteem, expect perfection in everything they do, seek constant approval or expect failure. Wow. Get into that. In the case of traditional or orthodox treatment for glossophobia, beta blockers may be prescribed for soothing anxiety, controlling shaking or trembling, and also for lowering heart rate. There are several restrictions on taking such medicines. One must especially speak to a doctor about these meds when suffering from diabetes, depression or heart. Okay. Many public speaking courses, associations and clubs are dedicated to help individuals alleviate their fear of public speaking. Talk therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy and counseling can help people. Hypnosis, positive visualization, meditation and even acupuncture. Getting a tattoo. Because you're afraid of public speaking, you just have to look sick. Have you thought about looking fucking cool? Okay, then I wouldn't be afraid of public speaking. Maybe get a bomb haircut. Okay, back to the list. Number 12. Thanatophobia. The fear of death, bro. There's a name for it. Thanatophobia. Even talking about death can be hard. Oh, I don't know if I want to read this. Oh, I don't know if I want to read this. Oh, here we go again. Guys, I've recently got a clip on my own for you page of me talking about my fear of death and how I was reading through that article that was like a really genuinely sweet and beautiful eye opening article about you only get one life, live it well and like live it well and live it together. That was kind of the gist of the article and I, I was crying, I was sobbing and so if I start crying again, don't mind me, it's my biggest fear. Oh that it's just my biggest fear. Oh, that it's just the absolute Achilles heel of my entire existence and being so. Yeah, don't mind me. I'll just move on really quick. The extreme and often irrational thought of fear or death leads to the Phobia known as thanatophobia. And before we move on and yes, I'm stalling. Thanatos. Thanatos. Etymology. The name thanatos comes directly from the ancient Greek word thanatos, meaning death. This Greek word is related to the verb which means to die and is thought to derive from an even older Indo European root related to the concept of dying or disappearing. In Freudian psychology, thanatos was used to describe the death instinct or the urge towards self destruction. I really gotta read some Freud. I feel like it might really negatively affect my life. Actually a site or view of death. Thanatism, a belief that the soul ceases to exist at death. Thanatology, the scientific study of death. Thanatophobia, the fear of death. What the fuck is going on? Thanatopsis is an early poem by the American poet Willem Cullen Bryant. A consideration of death. Yeah, I'll be reading that later. I'll be reading that later and freaking the hell out. Posted up in my house. Freaking the hell out. Very severe, very severe. Can I talk? Suckering succotas. That's how I feel, dude. Very severe. Oh my God. Severe, Severe. Who says suckering succotash. Suckering succotash. Sylvester. Suckering succotash. Suckering succotash. That's how I feel on this fucking podcast. I am Sylvester. And what is that from? Looney Tunes? Sylvester the cat. Yeah, Looney Tunes. He was always trying to eat Tweety. Anthropomorphic cat. Most of his appearances have him chasing Tweety Bird, Speedy Gonzalez or Hippity Hopper. He was so horny for Tweety. Was Tweety non binary? Tweety was non binary. Sylvester clocking Tweety's non binary gag. Moving on, moving on. Okay, why do you guys listen to this podcast? Very severe cases of thanatophobia often negatively impact the day to day functioning of the individual suffering from this condition. I can, I can personally go ahead and endorse that statement. Often she or he refuses to leave the home. Owning to this fear, owing to this fear. The talk or thought of death or what lies after death can trigger panic attacks in the patients. It's also known as the fear of entombment or the fear of being buried. Yes, that's a fear of mine. Dying phobia. Fear of cremation. Fear of the unknown. Okay, here's what they have to say about the causes. And again, like, I don't know if there is a cause. It's just kind of a general, you know that saying, that's like Men come to revelations of things that women thought about when they were nine. Like I had, I first had my fear. My first thought that I was afraid to die around the age of like 8 or 9. For real. Like I oh, I don't want to die. It has never intrigued me to a point of like especially in high school I had a lot of friends who self harmed and who were very depressed, like dangerously depressed. And I always kind of. We gravitated towards each other because I have such the antithesis of that, you know, that disposition. And I think that, you know, things happen for a reason. You people come into your lives for a reason. And I was able to provide, you know, a flip side of that sensation. That feeling of like I don't want to be here anymore because I'm on the complete other end of the spectrum of like I don't want to leave this place. Everything that I need and want and desire, like my mortal soul, it yearns to be here. And it just like I think that that's. But that can get kind of murky, you know what I mean? You're not helping each other, you're kind of just talking at each other. Anyway, I'll go ahead and move on. Causes as is the case with several other kinds of fears and phobias, the fear of death also results from external events or internalization or predisposition of extreme concepts about death. As children we learn that death is inevitable and non predictable. But this knowledge can paralyze or overwhelm the person. Mental symptoms Loss of control. Feeling of going crazy with automatic or uncontrollable reactions. Repetition of gory thoughts. Inability to distinguish between reality and unreality. Perfect emotional symptoms. Desire to flee and escape from current situation. Extreme avoidance. Persistent worry and terrifying or overwhelming thoughts. Anger, sadness, guilt. It is important to consider a few conditions that are mistaken for thanatophobia. Depression, ADHD and bipolar disorders are often linked to this type of phobia. In other cases, undiagnosed conditions like Alzheimer's, migraines, concentration disorders, strokes, schizophrenia and epilepsy may be related. Diagnosis of anatophobia is best done by the patient themselves. If the extreme thoughts of the fear of death are affecting your life so much that you are unable to leave the home or compromising your daily functions, then you must discuss this with a medical doctor. Sure. Anti anxiety medications? Yeah. Hypnotherapy, Religious counseling. I don't know if I would. Well, let's talk about it. Would you turn to religion for a fear of death? Because here's the Thing with religion, if you're talking about death in the context of religion, that's like to me, and this is, I'm speaking as myself and my troubled past with Christianity, if you are given now on top of this baseline anxiety of I don't want to die, I am afraid of dying and. And this being it and there being nothing after this, why would you then give me a list of things that I have to do to ensure which is never solid. It's not guaranteed. That gives me more anxiety. What if I do all these things? I live my life according to your doctrine that you have created. Who fucking knows if it's divine? Who fucking knows if it's gifted from some holy power. Oh, my God, that scared me. Who knows? If I follow all these rules and I still, at the end of my life, I die and I'm on my deathbed thinking, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. Was it worth it? Why? What was the point? I don't know if tying yourself to a religion is actually going to alleviate. That's me speaking. I know religion has really, really turned some people's lives around. It is offered a purpose. It's offered an explanation. It's offered a why. And to that, I've said this before, like I am a bit envious of the faithful. You know that you have this certainty to cling on to. Even if you sometimes doubt it, still it is a certainty that you have accepted. I'm on the flip side of that. I had a certainty and I let it go and look where it's left me. You know what I mean? But I would do it a hundred times over. I would do it anytime, for real. Like the harmful effects that religion had on me and my friends and my relationships and my outlook on life and my prejudices and my worldview. I would let go of it a hundred times over. So I don't know. I think it depends on are you being responsible with your relationship to religion and what religion is offering you? And are you impeding on or limiting someone else's way of life by practicing your religion? That is the asterisk that I would put by that. Talk therapy, neuro linguistic programming, cognitive behavior therapy, relaxation techniques. I will say controlled breathing does help sometimes. I gotta. When me and Elizabeth and Paige were in Ireland, we were going to a function one night with some sexy Irishman there, okay. And we were nervous as we were so nervous. And we were telling me, Elizabeth were like, I feel like that fucking RuPaul video. He laughs and then like takes a deep breath and I, I went to search it on TikTok and it popped up. RuPaul Laugh and blow. Yeah, I'm laughing. RuPaul Laugh and blow. And guess what? That's exactly what I wanted. I pulled it up and that was exactly the video. Self help techniques, group therapy with other patients suffering from thanatopia. It really be a bunch of mentally ill saying exact. Exactly. That's what that would be be like. I'm afraid of dying is my biggest fear. Exactly. Say that twin. Yes. Okay, in conclusion, thanatophobia is a complex phobia which if left untreated, can touch every aspect of the individual's life. Fuck this website. This shit is not helping. However. Oh, here we go. However, one must not lose hope, but opt for treatments and therapies that can help them cope with it. Families and friends can also play a very important role in helping the individual deal with one's fear of death. Okay, that didn't help me at all. So let's actually just go back. That was number 12. Number 11, carcinophobia, the fear of cancer. Very, very, very valid. I have that as well. Trypophobia. We all know that. One, the fear of holes. The fear of grippy holes. Of tight, grippy holes. Number nine, aerophobia, the fear of flying. 25 million Americans share a fear of flying. T. Mysophobia, the fear of germs. It's also rightfully termed as germaphobia. Claustrophobia, fear of small spaces. Number six, astrophobia, the fear of thunder and lightning. Ooh, let's read about that. This isn't really like scratching my itch of why are humans afraid of these things? Like, I want to know what primal instinct it's triggering for us to be afraid. Like, this website is just not going deep enough for me. In many cases of astrophobia, the sufferer is known to have experienced an electric shock when there is lightning and thunder outside. Many a phobic is also known to fear flooding, which usually results from heavy rain. See, this is all just. It's stupid. This is all very straightforward. Like, one time I had someone get struck by lightning. Now I'm afraid of it. Like off. No shit. I want to know the. More like deep psychological. Whatever. You're pissing me off. Fearof.net shit's not helping. Number five, the fear of dogs. Cinephobia. Who's afraid of puckies? He's never been afraid of puppy. Number four, agoraphobia. The fear of open or crowded spaces. Very Valid number three, Acrophobia. The fear of heights. I have this as well, but it's interesting because I'm not. When I'm up in a plane, I'm not afraid of heights. Cause I'm like, I can't fall out. I can't individually fall out of the plane. Like if the plane goes down. Look, we're all in this together, right? It also feels like a video game. Like when I'm looking out the window of a plane, it's not like, oh My God, I'm 10,000ft in the air. It's like, eh. It's like a movie. However, when I'm up on a skyscraper, what is that dumbass building in Chicago? And also the one in New York, is it the Rockefeller Center? And the. Y' all know the one I'm talking about where the floor is glass and you can. There's a name for it. It's on the tip of my tongue. You can walk out onto this glass, albeit it's like 12 inches of solid glass that you're walking out onto. And you can look, oh, I'm just going to chill. You can look down on the city and there is nothing under you. That is. That's actually going to make me have diarrhea. Like my stomach just turned. That is her. That's different than being in a plane. Do y' all get me? Do you know what I mean? The edge. The edge, Is that what it's called? There's another one, I think in Dallas and Reunion Tower. Is that the one? Or maybe that's in Chicago. That one's in Chicago. That I'm thinking of. Where the top of this building is circular. It's like a sphere and you can lean against the glass and it's rounded and you can like put your forehead against it and look down and it's. There's nothing. So that's awesome. Number two, ophidiophobia. I like that word. Fear of snakes. Number one, Arachnophobia. Yeah, that. That checks out. People are afraid of spiders. That movie, dude, that movie scared the shit out of me as a kid. Arachnophobia. That big ass spider arachnophobia. Oh, this. A small California town becomes invaded by a deadly spider species starring Jeff Daniels and John Goodman. Jesus. Yeah, that shit. I watch that as like a middle schooler. No, no, no, no, no. I want to look up. Why is being afraid of the dark so common? Here's what I'm talking about, dude. It's called nictophobia. N Y C T O Phobia Nyx. N Y means dark. Right? Nyx. Nyx. Etymology. Knight. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Comes from the ancient Greek word nux, which directly means knight. In Greek mythology, Nyx is the primordial goddess and personification of the night. Shout out a shadowy figure present from the beginning of creation. The Latin equivalent of Nyx is Nox, and that's why in Harry Potter they say Loomis and Nox. Thank you. Also, Hozier's song Son of Nyx. He's so good. He's so fucking good. He's so fucking good. Let's go back to. Why is being afraid of the dark so common? Our ancestors were vulnerable to predators at night, leading to an ingrained prepared fear of darkness that enhances vigilance. In modern times, this primal fear is reinforced by a lack of visual information which can trigger a startle response and allow the mind to conjure worst case scenarios. So it's an evolutionary protection thing. Duh. Like, I think we all knew that, but a part of me is like, is there a layer deeper? A prepared fear? What does that mean, a prepared fear? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Here we go. Here we go. We're on Wikipedia now. In psychology, preparedness is a concept developed to explain why certain associations are learned more readily than others. For example, phobias related to survival, such as snakes, spiders and heights, are much more common and much easier to induce in the laboratory than other kinds of fears. According to Martin Seligman, there is a result. This is a result of our evolutionary history. The theory states that organisms which learned to fear environmental threats faster had a survival and reproductive advantage. Consequently, the innate predisposition to fear, these threats became an adaptive human trait. The concept of preparedness has also been used to explain why taste aversions are learned so quickly and efficiently compared with other kinds of classical conditioning. Classical conditioning, meaning like Pavlovian? Yes, classical conditioning. I'm sure everyone here knows, or if not, you're about to learn. Pavlov and his dogs was a famous theory. I can probably just. Yep, let me read it. Ivan Pavlov, the Russian physiologist, studied classical conditioning with detailed experiments with dogs and published the experimental results in 1897. In the study of digestion, Pavlov observed that the experimental dogs salivated when fed red meat. Pavlovian conditioning is distinct from operant conditioning, which is instrumental conditioning through which the strength of a voluntary behavior is modified either by reinforcement or by punishment. Basically, Pavlov's experiment was you would ring a bell and the dog would begin to associate that with being fed, I believe. So let me click on it. But let me make a prediction. That is what I remember it to be. And it got to a point where you would ring the bell, the dog would start salivating, and then there would be no food. So they've been conditioned, if you've ever heard of that. Like Pavlovian conditioning. That was the actual experiment. Yeah. I'm so fucking smart. The process involved repeating pairing of the neutral stimulus, a bell, with the unconditioned stimulus food, leading the dogs to salivate at the sound of the bell alone. That was the takeaway of the. Of Pavlov's dogs. Now going back together with operant conditioning. Which means what? Operant conditioning originated with Edward Thorndike, whose law of effect theorized that behaviors arise as a result of consequences as satisfying or discomforting. In the 20th century, operant conditioning was studied by behavioral psychologists who believe that much of mind and behavior is explained through environmental conditioning. Reinforcements are environmental stimuli that increase behaviors, whereas punishments are stimuli that decrease behaviors. Okay, got it, got it, got it. Both kinds of stimuli can be further categorized into positive and negative stimuli, which respectfully involve the addition or removal of environmental stimuli. So that's different than classical conditioning, which is just you associate something with something else. Classical conditioning and operant conditioning became the foundation of behaviorism, a school of psychology which was dominant in the mid 20th century and is still an important influence on the practice of psychological therapy and the study of animal behavior. Classical conditioning has been applied in other areas as well. For example, it may affect the body's response to psychoactive drugs, the regulation of hunger, research on the neural basis of learning and memory, and in certain social phenomena, such as the false consensus effect. We'll have a look. Of course we'll have a look. Oh, duh. Cognitive bias in psychology, the false consensus effect, also known as consensus bias, is a pervasive cognitive bias that causes people to overestimate the extent to which other people share their beliefs and views. So all of TikTok, bro. So TikTok.gov bro it is the tendency to see their own behavioral choices and judgments as relatively common and appropriate to existing circumstances. In other words, they assume that their personal qualities, characteristics, beliefs, and actions are relatively widespread through the general population. The false consensus is significant because it increases self esteem. Very, very T. God. Yeah, I bet y' all didn't think I know I got a lot of psychology majors in brisky nation because you bitches are fucked up and I love you for it. And. And because you're Fucked up. You want to. You have a deep rooted desire and curiosity to learn about the human brain, which I love because I have the same thing. I know this probably feels really rudimentary and like elementary to you, but I think it's so important. I took a sociology and psychology class, like a summer between sophomore and junior year of college. And I really was into it. But it gets to a level that's like, okay, if I'm not, if this isn't my major, I'm not gonna go ham on this. You know what I mean? Like, I was taking it as a required elective. Yes, it was relevant to my degree, but I was, you know, psychology goes hand in hand with like, persuasion. Persuasion was a course I took in college that really lit my fire. Damn, I loved that class. I took one called Rhetoric of Western Thought. I took one called Sustainability Ethics. I've talked about this kind of before on this podcast of like, communication. A lot of people like to make fun of it. They like to, you know, whatever. But companies will hire a third party communication consultant group to come in and assess like, interpersonal issues within a company. Like, why aren't messages being communicated properly to, you know, an audience, to a consumer base, top down messaging? And what's really interesting in the psychology aspect of the comm degree is in the persuasion class we studied orators. You know, like a lot of that class actually focused on Hitler and like Nazism. Because at the core of it, the question is why was his rhetoric so successful? And we're watching it today with Trump. What is it about these people that is so magnetic? And it's just psychology tricks. Like at the core of it, it's because they were excellent orators. Which is terrifying because it's never really about the words they're saying, the harmful things they're suggesting. It comes down to how they're saying it. And are they likable? Are they likable to the right people? And that's terrifying because humans are so easily swayed, we're so easily won over, you know, and that is so interesting in and of itself. We also, we studied a bunch of other famous orators, but that probably being the number one example because at this point, Trump hadn't been elected yet. This was early 2016 when I took this class and I remember being gagged because I was like, I've never thought about it like that before. I've just thought, if you voted for that person, that means you are a bad person too. Like, surely you saw how scary this world that this person is Suggesting surely you see through that, right? No. And we're watching that with Trump's America. These people are brain dead. They're brainwashed. The human part of me wants to have sympathy for like, you fell for it, girl, you fucking fell for it. And then the other part of me is like, it's unforgivable. You should have the wherewithal and the discernment to know that this is a self serving person who has none of our best interests at heart. He is serving his own best interests and everything else is. It's. It could matter, it could not matter less to him. And it's just like, you have to take stock of the world that we've created at a certain point and how powerful words are. I love etymology, I love language, I love this shit. Like, truly, there's something about it that lights my soul on fire. But I. It's because I recognize how fucking scary it is. Words are the most powerful thing we have. Language and messages and meaning behind those messages and like, interpretation. And it's daunting, honestly, not to like, draw it back to a personal relatability. But like, some days I don't want to record the podcast because I understand how important words are, especially my words are. And some days I don't. That that task feels way too daunting and it feels like I am not the one. But then I kind of sit in my purpose of like I. I have this deep rooted connectivity with you all, whoever choose to listen, whoever chooses to listen to this podcast. And I to a certain extent, want to connect with you in this human way that is, you know, talking about our fears and the state of the world, but also making light of it. Because I want this to be an escape and I want this to be something that you can turn to, to feel seen and to feel heard and to not feel fucking crazy and to feel that we're all in this together and we will make it out the other side. But some days, Shit, girl, it's heavy. It is heavy. So, yeah, I've always had a interest in passion for language and its uses and capabilities and history and evolution, etc. Etc. Thank you. Okay, guys, let's do one ghost story. One ghost story. This is from Shay. Here's the story. I believed in ghosts for as long as I can remember. But one moment when I was 14 made that belief impossible to shake. We lived in a house with a side door that had two locks, a standard doorknob lock and a deadbolt above it. We only ever used the bottom one the deadbolt had its own separate key, one we never had. It could only be locked or unlocked from the inside. One afternoon, my mom, my two youngest siblings, who were still too young to know what a ghost even was, and I left to go shopping. The house was empty when we left. Just us. No one else had a way in or out. When we got home, my mom went to unlock the door like always. The bottom lock turned just fine, but the door wouldn't budge. That's when we realized the deadbolt was somehow locked. I just gotta chill, bitch. What the fuck? She tried every key on the ring, but none fit. Because of course they didn't. We'd never had a key for it. After a few tries, I said, let me try. And the second I touched the doorknob, we heard it. A clean, clear click. The sound of the deadbolt unlocking from the other side. My mom and I just looked at each other wide eyed. Then we did the only reasonable thing we could do. We let my siblings go in first. Yeah, you guys go check that shit out. We'll be out here. You guys go play, girl. What the hell? Ew. I don't. I don't like that. I do not like that. Thank you for sharing, Shay. Maybe you've got. You've got the gift of the gab. You've got the gift of the touch. You're touched. Okay, let's do songs of the week. It's just one. And it's 27 hours by banks. I used to be the biggest. I still am the biggest. Banks Stan. I didn't listen to Serpentina as much as I should have because three by Banks is top five albums of all time to me ever, ever, ever, ever, ever. I fucking love that album. This is not from that album. 27 hours from I Believe the Altar. I love that song and I recently rediscovered it. It came on shuffle and I was like, damn. She's also got a song called Judas. Get into that, girl. Just go through banks. If you're not familiar with banks, lock into banks. All right, team, I love y'. All. If you want merch, go to broski shop. Go shop the Trixie Cosmetics collab. Go register to vote and anything else I forgo got Just do it shots just do it like Nike do. I think they like me clean pair of sneaks with a bees on her belt Please watch your step Throw a flag on the plate miss somebody get the pulled up on the block. Hit the corn, hit the corn. All right, love you guys. Bye. Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. Spooky season is quickly approaching, so time to stock up on all your favorite treats now through October 7th. You can get early savings on your Halloween candy favorites when you shop in store and online. Save on items like Hershey's, Reese's Pumpkins, Snickers Miniatures, Tootsie Rolls, Raw Sugar, Milk Chocolate, Caramel, Jack O' Lanterns, Brock's Candy Corn Charms, Mini Pops and more. Offerings October 7th. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details. And Doug Here we have the Limu Emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating meeting. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug. Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us. Cut the camera. They see us. Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Ferry unwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates. Excludes Massachusetts.