Mayim Bialik's Breakdown - Jackson Galaxy: Emotional Guardrails, Language of Empathy & The Social Anxiety Corner

Episode Date: July 20, 2021

Jackson Galaxy (Host & Executive Producer of My Cat from Hell, animal advocate, cat behavior expert, author, musician) opens up about his struggles with social anxiety, substance abuse, and disordered eating. After an illuminating installment of "What Mayim Hears", Jackson discusses growing up wanting to be a rock star and how playing guitar and busking at an early age helped him combat anxiety. He details his use of food as a comfort tool and alcohol as a social lubricant before he discovered the benefits provided by the structure of rituals. Mayim and Jackson break down how misdiagnoses and ineffective prescriptions can lengthen one’s mental health journey, the biological instincts tied to social anxiety, and navigating society as an empath. They bond over their shared love for the energetic minefield that is New York City, disordered eating as a public person, desires to be terminally unique involutes, and of course, their love of cats. Jackson Galaxy's Website: https://www.jacksongalaxy.com/ Jackson Galaxy's Books: https://shop.jacksongalaxy.com/collections/books Jackson Galaxy Cat Camp: https://www.catcamp.com/ Jackson Galaxy Project: https://greatergood.org/jackson-galaxy Best Friends Animal Society: https://bestfriends.org/ BialikBreakdown.com YouTube.com/mayimbialik Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

And I can't believe I'm telling you this, but I had a dream last night, and I think it was a doctor who said, you are fat. That word is so loaded, you know. Whereas I do feel like I've actually strengthened the alcoholic side of me in terms of the depth of my commitment of my program, the food just the devil reappeared. Hi, I'm Miami-Aolic, and welcome to my breakdown. is the place where we break things down so you don't have to. This is a fun one today. I'm smiling. You might be listening, but you could probably still hear that I'm smiling because today we're going to be talking with Jackson Galaxy. That's right, the cat daddy. Today we're going to be breaking down. Today we're going to be breaking down.

we're just going to be breaking down Jackson Galaxy, the whole human. I actually thought we'd talk mostly about cats. We'd talk very little about cats and a lot about, gosh, social anxiety and the things that underlie food addiction and alcoholism. It's a very, very lovely, lovely episode, if you don't mind me saying so, because of Jackson Galaxy. But before we talk to the cat daddy, let's talk to the cat's pajamas. Hello, Jonathan Cohen.

Hello, Ma'am. Cats don't wear pajamas. That's how unusual you are. I am unique terminally, some might say. How are you, Jonathan? I'm good. I thought maybe today we would change things up and we'd play a little game. Let's play a game before we talk to Jackson Galaxy.

What's the game? This game is called What Maim hears. Okay. I say something and you pretend we're in that scenario and you rapid fire without thinking say the first thing that comes to your mind. Now, I tend to be boyish, but this is going to be a very gendered conversation. I can already feel it coming. Like you're going to say a boy thing and I'm going to tell you not just what I hear, but what most chicks hear. We'll see. We'll see how this goes.

So I'm going to give the first one with a little bit more of a frame than the others. And the others will go rapid speed. So we're not together. We're in a different city. You text me, you say, can you talk? I say, I can't talk right now. You hear. I don't have time for you.

There are things far more important than you. The novelty has worn off. Maybe I'll have time later. Okay. Next, we are in the same city. We're hanging out. You say, let's go for a walk. I say, maybe we'll walk later.

You hear. You always get to decide what we do. Why don't my needs matter? should I be in this relationship. We are not together. We're in two different cities. We're making plans of when we are going to see each other. You ask, when are you driving down?

I say, I'm not sure what day I'm driving down yet. My aim hears. Everything is more important to me than this person. Also, she's put on a few pounds. What's that? Also, she's put on a few pounds. She's not what she wants to us. Because if you were, then I would drive faster.

That's right. Okay. We're in the studio and I say, can you play some music to intro our musical guests? And you say, and you hear. He wants to embarrass me. He doesn't understand anything about the way the world works. I'm going to be humiliated. I'm horrible. And he wants everyone to see that.

You're doing great so far. We're together. I say you're doing great so far. We're on a podcast. You hear. He's guilty about something and trying to make me feel better because he's going to tell me he's cheating on me or something. Okay. We're deciding what guests can possibly come on the podcast.

I say maybe insert any person's name there will come on the podcast. You hear. He's trying to usurp. my position as a human. He doesn't know anything. And also I hate myself. This is going great. I say I'm happy right now and things are going great. You hear. He's in denial. My therapy. I say I'm allergic to cats. You hear. If he really loved me, he'd stop being allergic to cats.

And that's our little episode we call What Maim hears. What Myam hears. Let's do a quick word of the day. Yes, sir. Word of the day. The word is invalute. Is that correct? It is.

Is that correct? It is. Yeah, involution. Involution. I mean, I pulled up the proper dictionary definition. The shrinkage of an organ in old age or when inactive. For example, the uterus after childbirth. The second definition is a function, transformation, or operator that is equal to its inverse.

i.e., which gives the identity when applied to itself. So that's more of a conceptual involution. But the word involution, as I kind of have used it most in my life, is not in terms of the uterus after childbirth, which is a very important involution. But when we talk about certain properties of how the nervous system develops, there's actually a process of involution. Really one of my most favorite aspects of neuroscience is embryology. And how you literally go from an egg cell and a sperm cell and you get a human. Anyway, so that's where I've learned the involution word is from spinal cord and notacord and all sorts of aspects of the formation of the spinal cord and the nervous system. Great word. Thank you, Jonathan. Involution. Now that I've

stopped crying with laughter, it's really a pleasure to welcome Jackson Galaxy. He's the host and executive producer of Animal Planet's long-running hit show My Cat from Hell, which I discovered while staying in a hotel at the Canada, New York border, about to go to Niagara Falls, and my kids and I found my cat from hell, and it is fascinating. Jackson is an animal advocate and a cat behavior and wellness expert. He's also a two-time New York Times best-selling author, with more than 25 years of experience working with cats and their guardians. He's on a mission to educate people about cats and deepen the human and cat bond. At the root of his approach is a philosophy known as cat mojo, which teaches cat guardians the skills to help their feline friends

build confidence and thrive in their environment. His first book, Cat Daddy, is a memoir, and it talks about the life-changing relationship that he had with a cat named Benny when he was a musician, a shelter worker, and an addict struggling to find his path towards recovery. It's a beautiful, beautiful book. His other books, co-written with Kate Benjamin, are catify to satisfy and catification. Those are the two that have been on the New York Times best selling list. And his latest is Total Cat Moja, which I love. I have all these on my bookshelf. He's been featured everywhere. And such a beautiful advocate for so many organizations that really are helping animals. And in particular, we are both friends of the best friends, Animal Sanctuary in Kinnab, Utah, where he actually got

married. Anyway, it is such an honor to welcome my friend and yours, Jackson Galaxy. Break it down. Thank you. Ma'am, how are you? I'm okay. It's so good to see you and really, really, really honored that you decided to come and speak to us today. You play a huge, huge part in so many people and cats' lives. It's touching and it's beautiful in how much of yourself you choose to share also with the world, as it were. So we're really excited to talk to you. Thank you. That means a lot. You know, our focus here is obviously mental health. And so we talk about all things mental health. And we would love to kind of start with hearing a little bit about your journey and where you grew up and what you were like and what was young Jackson

Galaxy like. And is that your real name people are going to want to know? Okay. Let's knock these down in order. I'm a New Yorker. I still identify that. I live in California, but I'm always going to be New Yorker. Yeah, I mean, I grew up in New York City. I, from a very early age, was like, I'm going to be a rock star. Literally. Like, I had, like, these visions of playing Madison Square Garden from the time I was, like, very little. And that's the path I followed. I mean, I was, It's weird, though. It's like I wasn't one of those, like, my parents weren't pushing me into anything or whatever. I just, I was trying to shop a short story collection when I was like seven.

I just knew I was a writer, and then I found my singing voice, and that was that. Yeah, I mean, I was always the artie kid, which is also to say that I was really pretty crappy at everything else. You know, you find that sweet spot, you're like, well, forget about math and science and all the rest of that. Yeah, and that's, you know, I think my parents were, what's the word I'm looking, tolerant, you know, I think they knew I was a little weirdo. They would try, you know, my dad was just like that, that classic Jewish dad, like, I wanted you to be a doctor. I want, you know, I wanted you to be a, you know, doctor lawyer, whatever. And I wasn't. And no, Jackson Galaxy is not my given birth name. But, you know, I wanted you to be a doctor, you know, I wanted to be a, you know, a doctor lawyer or whatever. And I, I wasn't, I wasn't. And no,

But I will say this, I have now been Jackson Galaxy longer than I was anything else. So there was that. And were your parents artistic in any way? What did they do? Kind of what was your childhood like growing up with them? No, my parents were not. I mean, my grandmother was, on my mom's side, was in vaudeville. But besides that, I mean, it was interesting.

And I got to be honest, I don't know. a ton about my dad, except for what he's told me. My dad was an immigrant from Hungary and survived World War II in Hungary and then the Russians in Hungary after that

and escaped during that brief revolution, refugee camps, coming to America, not a word of English. And my mom was, I believe 19 when she had me, maybe 20. And so she just went from that person, you know, Susie from the block. And I mean, she, the crazy thing is, and she died a few years ago, having lived in the same like 10 block radius

her entire life, born on 76th Street, died on 82nd. And that's not even 10 blocks. The only time she'd ever gone to the village was to watch me play. Forget about Brooklyn or anything like that. So, yeah. You know, my dad found his way as a business owner. And my mom always worked, you know, but not really on the artistic side. So they didn't really know what to do with me. Did you have siblings? Yeah, I have a younger brother. Okay. Who also, you know, not even an inkling towards the arts. He's a business. person. Yeah, I was the black sheep. In fact, I was the black sheep all the way around. I mean, nobody ever, cousins, uncles, aunts, grandparents, nobody ever left New York City. I was the only one.

So tell us a bit about sort of, you know, your teen years. You were obviously still into music. Was there any inkling of kind of anything brewing emotionally that might sort of, you know, that looking back maybe foreshadowed some of the challenges that you had? You know, were you particularly moody? you, did you experience depression? You know, we didn't call it that then. But looking back, like, I mean, I also know, I don't know when, when eating stuff, you know, became prominent for you. So can you walk us a little bit through those aspects of your journey? Yeah, I mean, I was, I had a lot of anxiety issues when I was really young. I mean, I was seeing, the earliest memory I have of seeing a psychologist.

It was, I think I was in the second grade, third grade, maybe. I was so socially anxious that, and this is something I don't really tell many people, but I was going to Jewish Day School. You know, I first started in public school and then went to this school that was part of a temple. And I was so effed up going to school that my mom actually, took a job there just to be there. And that's where she worked the rest of her life. What did it look like as a small child?

It took a lot to get me out of the house in the morning. Got it. And there was a lot of like, please let me be sick. And my mom being really lenient about that. There's a sort of you are who you are thing where I was conscious very early on. And maybe this is what leads somebody to writing. or to channeling through art that I had very little sort of emotional, energetic guardrails. If somebody else felt something, I absorbed it and had no place to spit it out.

If, you know, my parents went through a really volatile period where they just fought a lot and that I'm still really pretty sensitive to people yelling. To this day, 55 years later, I mean, it just, I still can't really handle that all that well. So there was that. Yeah, I mean, when I was young, young, like kindergarten, first grade, had some really kind of harsh experiences in school that I can barely remember. But I know that they were, they instilled this sort of sense of like bad things happen in the world. And then there's New York City, which is just an energetic minefield in ways. I mean, I love my city.

And I can't imagine having grown up anyplace else. But if you already identify as somebody who just is that kind of sponge and you don't, you know, a little kid doesn't know how to create guardrails, it was a lot. It's funny you mentioned that about Manhattan, because my parents are from the Bronx, and I was raised out here, and I was born out here. But I definitely resonate a lot more with New York. And so one of the first times that I took my kids to New York, I was so excited because this is my city. Like, this is where I love to be.

It's where, like, the rhythm of the city, I tend to get very overstimulated, but there's something about that hum that really kind of is soothing for me. And my younger son, who actually sounds a lot like you might have been when you were little. The first time we tried to cross a street with him in Manhattan, he literally froze. He stopped walking, and we didn't know why. He was a very late talker, so we tried to ask him what's going on. And so we ended up carrying him through the whole city for this entire trip. And when he got older, he started to really love the energy of that city. And we realized that as a very young child, especially without verbal abilities, he felt paralyzed by that stimulation. And as he got older,

it's kind of interesting, he took on more of my, like, oh, the hum of this city makes sense, and I can blend in, and no one's going to observe me. And, you know, it's that. But it's so interesting that you mentioned that. You know, I wound up, you know, once I learned how to play guitar, I started when I was about 10, and I was already writing, and it was just a very, and singing and performing for my parents or whatever. I mean, I was that kid. I wound up, like, busking pretty quickly, like sitting on the sidewalk. And, you know, and, you know, I was that kid. I wound up, like, and playing. And I felt so, as soon as that guitar was in front of me, I was safe.

It was like my cape. I used to just go out to different places in my neighborhood and play for hours. And, you know, case open, make a little money feels good. It was amazing how I learned that I could feel safe and feel energized. And like you're saying, take that good stuff in of New York. And somehow because of that and the identity that started to form around it, I felt like I had a bubble from the toxic part of that energy. Speaking of toxins, you've been very public about two kind of significant sets of challenges, one being addiction or alcoholism or whatever wording you'd like around that. And the second being about eating.

We did an episode with Glenn and Doyle where I decided to talk about my eating disorder. I've been in recovery for two years now. Just took my two-year candle, as it were. Right on. Thank you. So which came first? I mean, obviously, we come first. But when did kind of each of these challenges kind of become part of your life?

Well, I mean, they are pretty much the same. I mean, you know, addiction is addiction. Right. And my food addiction is primal. It was the first thing I had, you know? I couldn't, you know, I'm not one of those kids who snuck into the booze closet when they were six. I found the comfort in food. And I don't even remember how early, to be honest with you.

It was that primal. But I am conscious of when I had to start sneaking it, you know, when I had to start putting stuff, you know, under my shirt or whatever to get past my parents. And my parents were very different in their approach to food. I mean, my dad came to this country weighing maybe 110 pounds. The pictures from him at the time, I mean, the guy lived through the Holocaust. The idea of not having was ingrained in him. So when he started being exposed to, oh, my God, the full fridge, you know, type of thing, it was, that became part of us.

And my mom was, you know, a Jewish girl from the Upper West Side, man. Food is food, you know. I was raised by like a combo of like my immediate family, like, you know, the Jewish part and most of my parents' friends were Italian. The combo was bad news. But yeah, no, early on, I'm very conscious of my food issue. MyNBialx breakdown is supported by Superpower. We all know the feeling of leaving a doctor's office and kind of feeling like we didn't get anything out of the experience that was useful. Maybe they're like, you're fine.

drink more water. There's no real data. There's no game plan. This has happened to me many, many times, especially on the perimenopause journey. That's why we're fascinated by what superpower is doing. They send a licensed professional to your home or you can visit a nearby lab. One simple blood draw with over 100 biomarkers. That's way more than you usually get. It unlocks a true understanding of your body. Their app has detailed information on heart, liver, thyroid hormones, metabolism, vitamin and mineral levels, even environmental toxins. From disease prevention to treating that annoying brain fog or simply optimizing your gym game, superpower is the most comprehensive and advanced system out there.

I've been super tired of constantly guessing or just trying to read articles online about what to do for health. Superpower gives you an actionable health plan based on personal results. It's a real game changer. Plus, they have an on-demand clinician team to answer questions. Supplement or prescription suggestions can be directly bought through superpower so you don't have to go anywhere else. They also have nutritional guidance, tips for lifestyle and behavioral adjustments. You even get your true biological age that you can track over time. Superpower used to cost $499.99. Right now, it's $199 for the full experience, which is much more affordable than anything else out there.

Make this the year you stop guessing about your health with superpower. Superpower. Not only did Superpower reduce their price to just $199, but for a limited time, our listeners get an additional $20 off with the code break. Head to superpower.com. Use the code break at checkout for $20 off your membership. and after you sign up, they'll ask how you heard about them. Make sure to mention my ambiolics breakdown to help support the show. I don't know. I was probably not until about the 10th grade or so that I started to realize how that feeling of, I don't know, what the word is. I mean, obviously it felt good. Sure.

Like eating felt good. But it also gave me that buzz and it also gave me that ability to push away things that caused me depression, anxiety. dread, you know. And, yeah, so by the time I left high school, those seeds were sown. But it wasn't until I got to college and I was like, oh, man, no curfew. I'm free. I'm whatever. Yeah, it spun pretty quickly.

But yeah, no food has come and gone. And it's been really, I'm not going to lie. I mean, even though I wrote about it in my book, you know, early on in my sort of public exposure, the way it's coming gone over the last what it's been like 10 years that I've been on camera has it's embarrassing still I mean

people have seen me get too skinny and people have seen me blow back up again which is kind of where I'm at to be honest I mean it's been a really rough year in that respect as you would know you can put the plug in the jug yep you can you can

you don't want to white knuckle it but there is recovery in alcohol, which is just don't use. Can't do that with food, though. You have to eat. You got to dance with the devil, man, every single day. The program and kind of the structure of recovery for eating, it is. It's very, you know, it's like graduate school of 12-step programs because there's not a thing to put down.

It's very, I was just talking yesterday about how, you know, I just celebrated two years, as I said. So my first year was kind of like, wow, okay, totally new way of thinking and operating. and then let's put you in a house and you can't leave because there's a global pandemic. Yeah, man. Yeah. And any notion of here are the foods that are safe. Here are the foods that like everything went out the window. And the pantry became, you know, an extension of my obsessive compulsive disorder,

which is, which does tend towards a hoarding and a fear and a fear around consumption or, you know, all these things. So it was like this perfect storm and, you know, add to that trying to work, which I did. I mean, I made 13 episodes of this show. But working during the pandemic was very, very stressful. And in a way, I was like, well, there's no craft service. So I'll be okay because there's not going to be that, you know, I'm a habitual grazer. Like I'll just graze all day and I'll say like, well, I didn't really eat except I ate literally all day. So it's been very interesting also adjusting.

And, you know, you learn it's about the food and it's not about it. the food. It's still about that God-shaped hole, you know, and at this phase of life, yeah, it's very, very difficult. And I'm glad you said that because when I spoke about it, so many people were like, you're so brave. That's so brave. And, you know, then I had like a dietitian, contact my publicist, like, would my am like to speak to me? It's like, no, I get what's happening. But just that notion of like, oh, she looks bigger than she was two weeks ago on television. I wonder what happened and being public, you know, having to be seen is so, so bizarre. And it's so hard because when you try and tackle these things, you're supposed to believe, you know, what I look like

has nothing to do with my serenity. Like, I can't live by a number. But it's very difficult. First of all, let me tell you that your two-year candle in times, it's like dog years. That's right. This year feels like 10 years. You should be celebrating like four. I mean, honestly, it really, and it's not, yeah, brave is a strange choice, but it's a level of self-knowledge gleaned during a time of panic and dread and depression that we all share. And it's, yeah, man, and I went the opposite. You know, right at lockdown.

And I'm talking about the week before the whole world locked down, I had, I got this back surgery that I had been putting off for the entire run of my show because it needed a long layoff. It was a pretty major surgery. And I'm not kidding. Like, I go into surgery and my surgeon, like, shakes my hand. He's like, you know, I'll see you on the other side. Comes out and he elbow bumps me at the end of it. That's how much, right? So I'm now at home, not in an addicty way, doped up for quite a long time.

My wife obviously is in charge of dispensing. I had no say, you know. I was very much in touch with, you know, with my program, my fellowship. So then trying to wean off and not having work because I'm a workaholic. And I started to get really depressed. And food reappeared. In fact, and I can't believe I'm telling you this, but I had a dream last night. And I think it was a doctor who said in a very sort of apocalyptic way, you are fat.

And I woke up like, you know, you have that word is so loaded, you know, So, yeah, for me, whereas I do feel like I've actually strengthened the alcoholic side of me in terms of the depth of my commitment of my program, the food just the devil reappeared. Yeah. When did alcoholism sort of become part of your life? I mean, by the time I graduated college and went to grad school, I mean, obviously I didn't know who I was at that point, but I definitely, I was out of control. And that out of control went on through grad school. then I moved to Boulder after that

just to sort of commit to my music and that lasted another five, six, seven years before I finally surrendered. And in the meantime, my mental health had spun out and I spent like four straight years in doctor's offices and being diagnosed this and that

and different cocktails that honestly led me to the point of wanting to throw in the towel many times because I was so messed up. And of course, as it happens, I was self-medicating because the actual medicine was making me worse. We talk a bit about, I mean, we've talked a lot about sort of addiction in particular. And Jonathan and I have, you know, very specific interest in those conversations. And what the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous says, you know, is essentially, you know, drinking, it's the symptom. The cause is, you know, you can call it a God-shaped hole. You can call it mental health challenges. But what you see with that behavior is an indication of how deep the pain is that we're experiencing. You know, you mentioned workaholism.

Like, that's my most favorite drug because I get, I get patted on the back, you know, for being a workaholic. Like, I make more money when I'm a workaholic. I'm more productive, you know, So that's like, that's kind of a secret drill. Well, it's not so secret now because I'm telling everyone here. But that notion that, you know, you can fly under the radar as a workaholic, right? But there are certain things that are louder, you know, indications. What were you craving? Like, looking back, like, were you craving numbness?

Were you craving joy? You know, like, what was it? I craved everything. I mean, the one thing I can tell you, I mean, alcohol and drugs absolutely helped me in terms of my social anxiety. I could be the life of the party. And I don't mean that in this sort of like classic cartoony like, come on over here, honey, you know, kind of way. It was more like, it was just more like I could, I could be around all this energy and carve my own path and do it in a fairly lucid way. I wasn't sloppy. Well, I got there, but at first, until I wasn't, I was,

you know, and so it worked that way. Yes, I needed to be numbed out, which is probably why I never went in, I was never a speedy guy. I was never, you know, I didn't go for like meth and coke and that kind of thing, because I didn't want to be like this. I wanted a soft landing. I wanted a smooth passage where I could absorb. And I don't know. How do you feel about the word empath? How do you feel about it? Because it's being chucked around a lot these days. It's being checked around a lot. And also, it's become a really important word for me and for my younger son in particular, because I really do feel that it's very descriptive of a certain type of energy reception that I think. is true. And I mean that scientifically as well.

That's a relief to me. I don't know why that is. Oh, well, I'm glad to be of service. Well, no. No way. You know, well, just because I know that you occupy that, you know, both sides of this, that I can't because my brain doesn't go there, really, in terms of the scientific side of empathy or someone with an empathic nature like me. What is it? Tell me. Tell me. So I can't say that I'm up on, let's say, the latest, you know, functional MRI studies on this.

I know that they exist. But what I can speak to is that, you know, the shortest answer is everyone's different. And there are people who, you know, the colloquial way we talk about it is that they feel things very deeply, right? and there's not necessarily mystery or magic to that. It is a real thing that people have different levels of emotional capacitance. And just like you meet people who kind of keep it just right in the middle, they never get terribly excited, they never get terribly sad, they're just kind of there. Just like there are those people, there are people, forgive me, like us, who always have a strong neurochemical reaction to other people's experience. And you have it with animals as well,

as people sometimes do. But the notion is that you can have the same information hit you and someone who's not you, and you will literally feel it more deeply. It doesn't mean you feel it better. It's not that kind of thing. But you have things firing in your limbic system that other people may not have firing with the same intensity. And that's literally like that's neurons firing. We can measure intensity. It can be more neurons firing, just like some people are also happier, normally. Like, I'm not that person. I kind of operate below level all the time. And I kind of live my life from there. And yes, I happen to be on medication now, but it's not to fix that. That's still there. I promise. So it is that kind of thing. And, you know, the fact is, and Jonathan,

can speak to this as well. There are people, you know, the word energy has a very kind of like out there like, you know, kind of people get turned off by it, especially in scientific community, right? But Eastern philosophy, Eastern medicine has been aware that there is something palpable that we can perceive. It's kind of this notion of like, God never talks to me. Well, maybe you don't know how to listen, right? And you could say the same thing about energy.

It's there. It's just in our culture in particular. we're not trained to be tuned into it. As you're saying, not only are we not trained to listen to it, we're trained to look at it as sort of spiritual snake oil or whatever. Well, I would go as far as to say that we have additional senses and that we're taught most of the time, especially if you haven't grown up to understand any part of that,

is that, oh, it's anxiety. If your inputs are giving you a whole other language that you're not familiar with, then your sensory system is being overwhelmed. And until you are able to start to understand the language that you're receiving is then being translated by its only anxiety, or it's a diagnosis, or it's these other things that without a language becomes very unsettling for us. That's beautiful, Jonathan. That's perfect. That was perfect. And so important. when you say it's just anxiety. And in fact, that's so funny because that's how I introduced everything, but the word is so inadequate.

And so almost insulting in a way because, no, it's not. It's not that. I was diagnosed, you know, when they were trying to get a handle on me, you know, I went to a specialist and he said, you know, you're bipolar too. Hey, that's my diagnosis they gave me. Yeah, but you know what? everybody was bipolar at that point. You know what?

I felt special. Okay? I felt pretty special. I felt like from the moment he said it, I was like, no, I'm not. That's where you and I differ. I was like, yes, I am. I shouldn't even be alive. Maybe that's what?

Maybe I just wanted to be extra special. And I was just like, no, that's not. You have to invent something for me. This is how terminally unique I am. There's not even a diagnosis. Exactly right But they did turn out to be You know for the most part

It didn't hold, it didn't work It didn't whatever drugs they prescribed at that point And whatever ridiculous cocktail It also served to just sort of Fog it up even more So I had this thing in the back of me That was still trying to fight through Which is just to totally jump around

That's why I'm so like it's one of my soapboxes with cats that if you prescribe them, and I'm all for psych meds, period. It's all good, but I'm a believer in, there's a big old tree to pick apples from, and it could be Prozac over here, and it could be flower essences over here, and it could be anywhere in between

from acupuncture to cold laser to cranial sacral to rakey. It's all good, you know. But when you start to, to tranquilize in order to get through like a cat, they're always looking. They're always like, who's out to kill me and who am I going to kill? That's what I'm like, too, Jackson. I'm cat-like. Yeah, no, I felt the same way. I felt like there was so many meds that I was

attempted with at that time that just kept me using alcohol and drugs because it just made the need. And it was just, it was just, it made it harder to. fight through it. That's all it was. I still had to fight, I still had to do my thing, but I was fighting harder, you know? It just provided a down escalator for me to have to go up, you know, and that was it. Yeah, I mean, it's, I, I thoroughly identify, although I get reactions when I use the word empath that range from an uh-huh to a, you know, and I feel totally judged. So it's, it's tough. But now that gives me. me, and I think that you're saying this, it just, it gives me this place to put it that is

that works finally for me after all these years. I think it's because we still don't have language for it, but something you said about the cats made me have a, you know, correlative idea about social anxiety, which, and I haven't really talked this through, so it will be a little rough. But you take a group of people in a social scenario. Let's say there's 40 people at a party. And historically, when did 40 people outside of the same tribe all get together, come together, and be in a room with no guardrails, no guidelines for general, like what you're supposed

to be doing there? You're just supposed to go and hang out and have fun. Fundamentally, we are not designed to understand that at the basic primal level. of like the caveman brain. We are there to be like, what's going on? Who is a threat? What is that threat going? Who am I supposed to be threatening to?

Who is threatening to me? And so if you're someone who is very empathic and aware of an energetic world, you might be going in and seeing or feeling, not seeing, but you might be feeling all of the dynamic happening there, all of those other people's insecurities. And, you know, if you, my mom says this all the time, were animals. If you just look at that as not a group of humans

in our current age, but a group of primates all interacting out of their normal clans, it may have a very different perspective of what social anxiety could be. We don't throw poop at each other, but we sure do a lot of other things, you know? And

that's the thing. Like, I was just thinking as you were talking about that, Jonathan, well, first of all, 40 people at a party sounds terrifying to me. Totally. Totally. And here's the thing. I can drink, actually. I used to be able to drink. I literally have gotten a physical allergy. And I get a rash and I break out in hives. But in theory, I'm a person who used to be able to drink.

And I know this doesn't sound good. And I think my therapist probably listens. I don't know if I could have stayed at parties if I wasn't able to have two glasses of wine over the course of an evening, you know. I love that term, social lubricant, you know. Oh, it's liquid courage. And for me, if you, if you, well, now you have taken that away, but it's been COVID.

I literally, this allergy reared its ugly head during the time. I wasn't even drinking a lot. I was like, oh, I'm home. I'll have a glass of wine. Nope. So now that I have to reenter the world, I don't know that I can because I don't want to be with 40 people. But anyway, back to the point of being with 40 people. I'm going to go ahead and say that my instincts about people are right a lot of the time.

And when I go to a party and I see dynamics of like, forgive me, people who are like super drunk, super stoned, like not really having any meaningful conversations, just being silly and like randomly hooking up. The feeling in my gut when I was a teenager was like, I'm prude, I'm stupid. Everybody hates me. But as I got older, I realized those just are not my people. I don't operate like that. And it used to be such a source of anxiety for me because I was like, why am I not like the others?

But then I like got to college. I started meeting people who were also like cerebral. And we like to have a good time. Don't get me wrong. But that notion of instinct, you know, like if you put me in a room with people and everybody's going to have their own experience. But yes, I do feel that I'm at a disadvantage in that sense because I can't. let things go emotionally. I just, I feel them deeply. Yes. My nightmare is like literally,

Jonathan, when you started to set that scenario, I started to get like really, you know, worked up. That's all it takes. And it's funny, because I mean, we're the same in so many ways that way because people get confused. How can you get up on a stage? How can you get up in front of all these people and do your thing and do it well and not be able to walk off the stage into a party or into whatever. I want a trapdoor literally that takes me from the stage to my bed. I don't even want to stop in the rest of, well, I've got to feed the cats. But then I just want to be in like literally even the leave, the transition between my public life and my personal life is often the hardest. It's that drive home. Yeah, man. Yeah. But that makes total sense to me because

there are rules when you're on stage. There is an expectation. There is a dynamic that you're like, this is what I do, I know what it is, and that is a safe container. When you get off the stage, it's a free-for-all. You have no idea what will happen. And that's exactly, I think, why I have

fallen into a huge trapdoor over the past year. Now, listen, I come to my studio, we do videos, I do things like this. It's all good. I had these rituals that worked so well for me, not just worked, but fed my soul, getting out in the world, working in shelters, doing public appearances, signing books, hugging people. I feed off of that.

But if you make that in any way anarchic, for lack of a better word, I fall to pieces. And without that, I keep telling people that without being able to travel over the past, year between my back and the recovery and then everything else, I feel like you've cut my leg off. Like I have a really hard time functioning, not being able to work with the animals one-on-one having to do it through Zoom, people the same way, not being able to take that energy for what I can take it for and what I can give out. But it's all about ritual for me. And without, like you're saying, without that structure, I know how this is going to go.

I know who I am when I am on stage on camera on. My wife is always like, how come I don't live with stage Jackson? I won't live with stage Jackson. Well, my ex used to say, can you talk to me like I'm a stranger? Because you're so nice to other people. But it's true.

But it's true. It's like, but I can't do it in a part. One of the worst experiences I've had as an adult, was a few years ago at a friend's birthday party, and it was a very big Hollywoody party. And I was mortified. There's no better way. I was mortified.

And my wife had never seen that side of me before. And she was trying. She was trying to peel me into the mix. I hate when the partner does that. Just leave me attached to the wall. Everything's fine. It made me angry. I started to get angry.

Jonathan and I, do you want to tell a Super Bowl story? When we didn't go see Lady Gaga? Ooh, that's a good one. Well, that's the punchline is that Myam was so overwhelmed, overstimulated, tapped out, rung out, like losing my brain, that it was a tremendous act of recovery for me to say, I cannot go. I had had like three other things that we had to do

and everyone was pretty and everyone was skinny and I just felt like I felt horrible. And Jonathan was like, this is great. We're having a good time. They've got donuts. Like he was having a great time. The donuts were delicious. The donuts were insane.

And I just like that I feel it right now. If I could involute, that's the word. I want to turn into myself and just disappear, like a snake swallowing its own tail. You taught me a word. I like that word. Involute. I want to go away.

And I really wanted to see Lady Gaga. I mean, I'm not like a, she's my favorite person and I can't go see her. But like, I wanted that experience. I wanted Jonathan to have that experience. And that's a very painful thing, too, is when my stuff hurts other people. And I mean, I have kids. And they know, oh, Mama can't do that. Mama won't do that.

Mama, we have to go get the thing at the market. Are you going to make us go down every aisle? And I was like, well, there's no other way to do it. Remember when you went to the Grove during Christmas? I can't go to the Grove when it's not Christmas. Malls in general. I just, it's not because people think it's like, oh, you're so famous. Like, wear a hat.

It's not that. It has nothing to do with being recognized. It is the amount of information, both visual, auditory, and sensory, being near people, and also, yes, it is energy. And especially at the holidays, everybody's so freaking happy. They've got all these expectations. I'm Jewish. I've never even had a Christmas tree. We went to the grove.

And who did we see? Angelina Jolie was there. Someone far more famous than me. And that was what was the best part because her kids are like, look, someone way more famous than you is. here, you're fine. Just calm down, mom. Things that you try to reconcile or at least tie up in a nice little

bow and you can't is how I am the exact same way. The mall, especially the old malls, where like, you know, you can't you can't escape. You're, you're, you're, you know, windows.

You can't get out. Yeah. And, but, but, but yet I can go to New York. New York and just I can stand in the middle of New York City and breathe? What the hell? See, that doesn't make any sense to me, and I don't think it ever will. I mean, as a scientist, I can say that there's a different kind of, you know, attenuation. There's a different kind of maintenance of information that we have.

Also, when there's a specificity to an experience, like the mall, and you're interacting that way. That's actually been one of the hardest things about this last year. I like to go to New York on average twice a year. And it's like I soak up all that energy and then I bring it back and it lasts me, you know? And L.A., I mean, I live here. It's where my kids are. It's where my work is.

The energy of this city is not my energy. And I can just tell. Remember when you drove out of L.A. And you came to Southern Oregon? Oh, and my heartburn went away and I stopped biting my nails. It was like two days in. And she turns to me, she goes, you know, my heartburn that I've had for the last four months, I don't feel it right now.

I'm like, oh, yeah, that's a really big shock. Go figure. Yeah, I mean, this is the longest in, and I'm about to have my birthday. So 55 years, and I've never been away from New York this long. This is, it's been just a little over a year. So January would have been a year. And never been away this long. And it causes me so much.

grief. It's grief. I miss my city so badly. My family. But just more than anything, like I can see it now when I close my eyes. I long for it. First of all, I'm really enjoying this conversation. There's so many facets to you. And you're just also so eloquent and so articulate. And it's really just a pleasure to talk to you. And I was actually thinking like, this is the kind of person that I need at one of these things that I don't want to be at. I need my person. Let's do it. We can be wing people. Yeah, you want to go to the Emmys with me if I ever have to go again? No. Let's do it, man. No, come on. We can do that. No, I actually might be lying.

Maybe woke events will have a socially anxious corner and it'll just make a little tape section and you guys can all meet there. Don't even laugh. That's a brilliant idea. I mean, I am the social anxiety corner at every event I go to. But I will say you could usually spot the addicts by who was hanging out. Alone-ish or in a group of alone people, right? Or plowing drinks. The people who were smoking, the people who were drinking. Like, there was definitely, I mean, at these kind of events, you get that corner. Let's move on to cats.

Miami-Bialx breakdown is supported by Babel. This summer, or any time you travel, get the most out of your travels abroad by learning the language of your destination with Babel. It's the number one selling language learning app from ordering in restaurants or asking for directions to flirting with people, to gaining a deeper understanding of the culture. Babel makes the whole process of learning a new language addictively fun and easy. With bite-sized lessons you can actually use in the real world, Babel is a can't miss travel essential. It's incredibly important to be able to communicate even minimally in anywhere you go in the world where it's not your native tongue.

They have 15-minute lessons that make it the perfect way to learn new language on the go. Unlike the infamous language classes you took in junior high or in high school, Babel designs their courses with practical real-world conversations in mind, things you'll get to use every day. Other language learning apps use AI for their lesson plans, but Babel lessons were created by over 100 language experts. Their teaching methods been scientifically proven to be effective. You can choose from 14 different languages. Give them some examples, Jonathan. Spanish.

Spanish. French. Francius. Italian. Italian. German. I don't know how to say it. Well, you need Babel.

Babel speech recognition technology. helps you to improve your pronunciation and accent, which is also an incredibly important part of speaking another language. There are so many ways to learn with Babbel. In addition to lessons, you can get podcasts, games, video stories, and even live classes. And right now, when you purchase a three-month Babel subscription, what do you get, Jonathan? You get an additional three months for free. That's six months total.

I know how to do math. For the price of three, just go to babble.com, use promo code break. That's B-A. BBEL.com slash break for an extra three months. So first of all, I'd like to acknowledge that I had the honor of having Jackson Galaxy in my home. He was in my home.

And you helped me tremendously assess a very, very upset system that was going on in my house. At that time, I had four cats. And, I mean, first of all, it was just like a thrill to physically have you in my home. Also, I hope We can cut this out if I'm not allowed to say this. You have a cat carrier that has a dome that I wear on my back.

It's like my favorite thing. By no means cut that out. What are you talking about? First of all, it's adorable. And Jackson is not paying me to say this. But it's the best cat carrier that I've ever had. I mean, it's like, no, because it's, she feels, it's where Adi, that's Adi's preferred carrier. She feels so safe, but we don't feel like we've imprisoned her just to go to the

the vet, you know, or whatever. So anyway, I just wanted to say that that's our favorite thing. Every time I put her in that carrier, there's like seven photos that I need to take. And every time it's as cute as the last time, if not cuter. You were tremendously helpful and you were helpful in the way that everything that everyone has just gotten to learn about you can see. You understand things that other people don't. And you see things that other people don't. And you feel things that I was not even feeling. So thank you for that. Thank you. The saddest part of my story is that over COVID, my alpha male, my big 16-pounder, his name was Shadow, he got a series of infections and had a series of surgeries from which he could not recover.

And we lost him. So I now have a home that lost its alpha male. And we have three other cats. And the whole system went haywire. It went totally cuckoo-pants, haywire. So it's been an adjustment. He had a brother, a litter mate, who was the runt, who has now kind of taken that place literally on my chest. And then we have Addie, our female, who has kind of become the alpha. It's a little uncomfortable. And then Francis, the 12-year-old, who the other two hate, she lives by herself in my room with me. But what ended up happening is that after Shadow died, the other cats got very aggressive with her in a new way. and they started attacking her. And she was not given access to her litter box,

meaning if I wasn't home to protect her, they would trap her. And she peed all over the room, the clothes. Like, we lost a lot. So what I finally did is I have now secured Francis in a way that she knows no one can hurt her. It's just her and me in one very large room. She has her own box and her own food.

But the other cats are extremely upset because they miss me. They miss me at night. And when my boys are not there, which is most of the week, they don't have me. So it's like mom is being pulled in every direction. So what has started happening is that I promise I'm almost to the end of this, is that they cry for me, usually around 4 a.m. And I go upstairs and I spend the rest of the night on the couch with them or in one of my boys' rooms if they're not there. So two nights ago, the crying started at two. And it's It's loud and it's very sad. And it's like not going to a child that's crying to me.

Meaning it is a deep, soulful mourning. I don't believe my cat is manipulating me. They're expressing needs. And so it's been intense. Jonathan's heard all about it. Jonathan also is very allergic to cats. So when he comes to town, we can't even stay there. But Jonathan is concerned for my mental health because of my cats.

I mean, first of all, I'm so sorry. you know, in a house with multiple cats when one is lost, cat grieving, like all species grieve and all species grieve differently. And by the way, I'm not a subscriber to the alpha. I don't think that there is

an alpha in a cat. It felt like an alpha. Well, but here's the thing. Here's what's so crazy. And I know you're going to appreciate this, that from a scientific standpoint, we know squat about how cats time share, how they work. It's a very fluid system until it's not.

When multiple cats are living together, it's pretty fluid. And so that role can be usurped one day and then it comes. And a lot of times when people refer to alphas, I don't think it's the case for you, but they refer to Alpha when they see that sort of behavior of the cat that I call the Napoleon, the over-owner, the one who's like, well, I don't actually believe I own any of this, so I'm going to prove it to you by beating the crap out of you on a daily basis, you know. But it's not to say cats can't occupy that role of being like, I am the social bridge from the humans to the cats or something like that.

It's very complicated, and for any study that's been done on that social dynamic, there's gotten nowhere, for the most part, I think. But here's the key, and we can talk about this more whenever you want, but I will say that talk about that escalator, right? That she's safe, but she occupies the most important place in the house. The other two can't. So the other two keep associating the smell of her with lack and then they'll double back. It's almost like the mistake that so many people make, especially when they have their first child, and they bring home the baby and immediately lock the cats out of the nursery. Right.

So the removal of attention, removal of territory, and a whole lot of noisy, weird-smelling Mishigas. So that's where you find yourself, but I'm sure there's a way through it. I mean, Francis has never been happier. She's having a renaissance, the cat that never allowed anyone to touch her. She's like cuddling and frolicing. She's a new woman. And every time, and I am very, but my heart really is torn in many different directions because when I hear them crying and I see Francis feeling so comfortable with me,

Like, it's a really big deal. It's a very big deal that she feels that safety. But anyway, it's a whole thing. But Jonathan, you have some other concerns you'd like to bring up with Jackson about my cats. Go ahead. Well, I have a question about cats on the table. Because it grosses you out? Well, it just seems unnecessary to have a cat directly in the food that you're eating.

So I eat meat. Mine doesn't eat meat. So when there's meat in the house, even when there's not meat in the house, when there's not meat in the house, When there's not meat in the house, the cat sits on the side of the table. As soon as dinner comes, cat is on the table. Myam picks up the cat, she puts the cat down, the cat jumps back up, Malian puts the back down, repeated over and over and over again until Maim loses and the cat is sitting on the table.

That's not true. I know how operant conditioning works. I know it. So I assume now that there's no hope given that this has gone on so long. But in general, there must be a way to train a cat not to go on the table. Whisper nice things in their ear. It's positive conditioning. I don't want to harm the cat.

I don't have any militia towards the cat. But I would like the cat not to be like literally shedding in my face while I'm eating. Especially since you're allergic. I should also say, and this is something important. You're not the only Hungarian in the house, Jackson. Who's Hungarian? I am. My grandmother was Hungarian from near Munkaj.

No way. I didn't know that. I knew we were from the same village, possibly literally. And my great. And of blessed memory, she actually passed away during COVID. She was in hiding in Budapest as a Gentile during the war. My Tanta Feige did not make it out, and she hid as a Gentile. My grandmother made it to America, and she was left behind and worked in a factory hiding as a Gentile.

I mean, like... How you attach that to cats on the table. Wait for it. I'm about to be impressed. Go. My grandparents were immigrants, and in particular on my mother. side, I was raised in a home with a lot of love, but my mother was raised in a tenement house. So a lot of the notions of cleanliness and order that many people had ingrained in them, my mother did not have

ingrained in her and I did not have ingrained in me. So I also grew up, I'm grateful for it. I have a tremendous tolerance for chaos. And to me, like, cats, they go everywhere. I don't believe in this notion that, like, they have filth that's going to contaminate me. I just don't have that notion, you know? Well, a lot of people feel like it's dirty and it's gross and their butts are there. People have lived for a very long time with cats on the table. It's like not a big deal. I also don't believe in antibacterial wipes unless I'm using chicken that has bacteria, which I don't. So, like, I'm just that kind of hippie of like, this is just like, we're all creatures. And these cats are my fur babies. And they go where they want. And they do know how to be removed.

Do they need to go on the table during dinner, is my question. Some people are from Toronto and their families did very well for themselves in America. Oh, there's the circle I was looking for. He's a Cohen, Jackson. He's a Cohen. He's very fancy. He's royalty. Okay, so cats on the table.

Go. And then we'll let you leave. Well, listen, I mean, of course there's when you, and we talked about operant conditioning. The thing I think where everybody fails on this one is that sure, you can keep them off the table by operating conditioning when you're around them. That ain't going to keep them away from the table when you leave the room. And yeah, sure, you can do things like, you know, I've worked before with that little spray canister with a, you know, it's got a little electric eye and the cat jumps on the table. It makes them scared. I don't like it. I'm not a believer either, but I've used it in

places where people are like, it's either me or the cat or it's either my cat's terrible habits or it's me or blah, blah, blah. Jonathan, is that why you had Jackson on? Is it you or the cat? Are you asking right now? Are we getting there? Are we getting there? I would just like the cats maybe not to cry quite so loudly so that you're waking up

like you have a newborn, because I can't see that being good for your health. Wait, wait, the low-hanging cat fruit here, which is the table thing. I mean, I think that the easiest thing to do, if it bothers your guest, then cats can eat their dinner in the next room, you know. Or humans can. You can sit outside and eat your dinner and I'll join you. I'll just take my food outside where the cats don't go. No, Jonathan's other concern is, it's true, me being awakened, you know.

And last night was the first night that I tried not going up there. And so the first cry came at around 3.30. I went back to sleep. You know, he tried again at five. He tried again at 5.30. And I finally woke up at 6. So, you know, I feel like it was progress. And, I mean, when I go upstairs after he's been crying,

it's like when you see puppies, when they see their owner. I mean, like, the cat is like, like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, climbing on my leg just wants to be held. Like, it's literally like, mama, hold me. And this is my runt baby. He was the run. And he has all sorts of weird sucking behaviors with blankets.

Like, he's... I have a solution. Someone just moves into your living room. lives in your living room with your cats to be with them at all times when you can't be there. I was going to say, is that sort of like a wet nurse? Is that kind of like a... Yeah, we're offering a wet nurse for love. You're my wet nurse for love, Jonathan. On that note, Jackson Galaxy, I also want to give a shout out to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. I'm actually traveling there next week. My son's

Bar Mitzvah Project is to volunteer for Best Friends. So we are going to be... Have you never been there before? I have been there once, and this was my younger sons. I mean, this was his greatest wish, and we're going to be volunteering in the cat, you know, the cat sanctuary. And, I mean, we all may just weep the whole time. But I know you got married there, I know, and it's an organization very important to you as well. And mine, right before you say goodbye to Jackson, Jackson, we're going to do this in the intro,

but tell people where they can find all of your things. Well, all of my things would be, I mean, the place to start is Jacksonagelaxy.com. That's where you'll get access to blogs and links to videos and, of course, products. And then you can also get my convertible cat backpack. And also check out Cat Camp. That's where we do our thing multiple times a year, hopefully this year in New York. And we offer a lot of educational and advocacy links there. Finally, Jackson Galaxyproject.org, which is a special.

signature program of greater good. That's where we do all of my shelter work and all these really cool programs that are actually going to wind up being even cooler as we come out of the COVID nightmare. Well, Jackson, I also want to say thank you so much for sharing so much of you and for getting so personal with us. And on a personal note, you're beautiful and your body is beautiful and we love you. And I hope that you can see yourself the way. I see you. Thank you so much. It's going to make me cry. And we'll talk about your kids.

You know, you never know what's going on for people. He's this really successful, awesome, dynamic, charismatic personality. And you never know what people are going through. You know, I mean, forget about his journey. He's still in it. You know, that's why I feel like he's like, he's our people. He's still in it. He's not afraid to say, I'm still figuring this out. This was a hard year. It was hard for eating. It was hard for everything. I like him a lot. Have you read Kinship with All Life, the book about talking to animals? No. Do you talk to animals? I'm going to take the fifth on that.

That's a yes. I do think you can have relationships with animals that, you know, I don't know about talk to necessarily, but I think people can communicate with animals. Communicate. Yeah. Would you like to talk about your favorite dog that you had? I mean, I had two favorite dogs. One of them was actually quite a great teacher of energy.

When I started to learn somatic work and energy work, I would practice on this dog. And she would give me very visceral responses. She would shake. She would move for something that I really struggled to believe, is this real? Is this imagined? She was quite an amazing teacher. So you won't tell us if you speak to animals, but you have no problem telling us that you had a dog who was a teacher. because when you would lay hands on the dog and move energy,

the dog would respond accordingly. But you won't tell us if you spoke to dogs. That's correct. Hold on two seconds. What is happening? Then my most favorite dog, which you put in this piece of glass, here a little tribute to jazz the dog, the sweetest creature. She had a crazy emotional intelligence.

This dog, if anyone was sad in the house, and this is another reason to think about extra sensory knowledge, someone could be crying in a bedroom two floors away. She would leave the room and she would like go to that person. You're like, jazz, we're hanging out, we're playing. Where are you going? She would be off and then she would sit in the person's lap and she would comfort them. She had a level of emotional intelligence that was like beyond other animals that I've known. Was she your dog when your brother had his accident? No, she was not.

She was a dog who I got when I was about 19, so that, you know, his accident happened when I was 14. And she came into our lives really when we were trying to like sort of reassemble things. He had been through enough rehab that he was somewhat functional at that point, but had serious disabilities and was sort of being left behind as his peers went off to university. And he spent a lot of time with me. And that dog was really a way for us to bond and to, you know, bring a level of joy and excitement into the home that we hadn't had in a long time. That's really lovely.

Your family does have a very special relationship with dogs. And your brother, to this day, really likes dogs. That's true. Circuling back to one thing Jackson said about the food and sneaking food, I don't think I've shared this, but I think I've touched a little bit, which was that when I was younger, I used to play competitive hockey. and hockey practices used to be like ice time was at six in the morning. So you have to get up at five, drive to the rink, half an hour to get dressed and get on the ice. And there was all these vending machines in hockey arenas. And I would take the money that I had and I would buy candy.

And I would eat that candy at 5.30 in the morning before I would go on to the ice. And I was so out of control. I would actually stash candy in the fingers of my hockey. gloves and then while I was on the ice I would take it out and I would eat it in between drills. My heart goes out to that Jonathan, you know? Well, I think about what you were saying is like that as a sign of like what is that masking or what sort of feelings that were going on. And, you know, I didn't recognize that at all as anxiety, but I think looking back, I was an anxious kid.

I mean, there's a whole universe. This is, I don't want to take your inventory, but there's a lot. No, you have a lot. There's a lot about food that we connect on and that we talk about. It's true. It's true. If you want to ask Miami anything about food, you can do so at Bialligbreakdown.com. That's BIA. L-I-K breakdown.com.

And thank you everyone who has subscribed to the show. If you like what you're hearing, drop us five stars recommended to a friend. And you can also check us out on Miami-Bialik's YouTube channel. Click the bell notifications to get informed of new episodes. and sometimes we drop things on Thursday. It's very exciting. I don't want to make a pun on Jackson Galaxy's name, but this episode was out of this world.

Well done. From our breakdown to the one we hope you never have. We'll see you next time. It's MyN. Beallix Breakdown. She's going to break it down for you. She's got a neuroscience PhD or two. One fiction. And now she's going to break down.