The Broski Report with Brittany Broski - 90: Mortality & Deli Sandwiches

Episode Date: April 8, 2025

This week on The Broski Report, Fearless Leader Brittany Broski dissects her writing experience on her first original song and explores coping mechanisms for the fear of death.👕 Get your merch here: https://broski.shop/ Follow The Broski Report:https://www.linktr.ee/broskireporthttps://www.tiktok.com/@broskireport https://instagram.com/broskireport Follow Brittany:https://www.tiktok.com/@brittany_broski https://instagram.com/brittany_broski https://youtube.com/brittany_broski Follow Royal Court:https://www.youtube.com/@royalcourt https://www.tiktok.com/@bbroyalcourthttps://www.instagram.com/royalcourthttps://www.twitter.com/bbroyalcourt Brought to You By: Zocdoc – Go to https://zocdoc.com/broski Blissy – Get additional 30% off at https://blissy.com/broskireport with code: BROSKIREPORTSeatGeek – Download the app now and get 10% off with code BROSKI2025Songs of the Week:Exile by Saint LevantAdventure of a Lifetime by ColdplayParadise by ColdplayAnything But by HozierShrike by HozierReproductive Resources:https://aidaccess.org https://plancpills.org https://Ineedana.com https://www.reprolegalhelpline.org/ https://heyjane.com LGBTQ+ Resources:https://Translifeline.org https://Glaad.org  https://Pflag.org https://www.thetrevorproject.org/ Climate Resources:https://Oceanconservancy.org https://Climateemergencyfund.org Some helpful credible resources/links to help Free Palestine:Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund - https://www.pcrf.net/UNICEF - https://www.unicefusa.org/stories/helping-gazas-children-cope-traumaDoctors Without Borders - https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/secure/give-monthly-double-your-impact-search-onetime-reverse-mobile?ms=ADD2301U3U49&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=BRAND.DWB_CKMSF-BRAND.DWB-GS-GS-ALL-DWBBrand.E-BO-ALL-RSA-RSARefresh.1-MONTHLY&gclid=Cj0KCQjw6PGxBhCVARIsAIumnWZpQAMikxPIRiPMfAjYsJZ-eHiRQV2pw7tu2Jlo6YL8Gk_uaTSwH0MaAtFGEALw_wcWorld Central Kitchen - https://wck.org/World Health Organization - https://www.who.int/Headcount - https://www.headcount.org/IG ACCOUNTS TO FOLLOW:@eye.on.palestine@aljazeeraenglish@palestinianyouthmovement@byplestia@motaz_azaiza@impact  CHAPTERS:00:00 – Sandwiches03:48 – Original Music17:08 – Loving Lately21:54 – Deja Vu24:08 – Mortality58:27 – Songs of The Week01:03:42 – Outro#brittanybroski, #broski, #broskination, #broskireport, #music, #beyonce, #sandwich, #scents, #perfume, #dejavu, #mortality, #hozier, #coldplay

This one's for all my TV lovers. My Entertainment from DirecTV gets you 60 plus channels and Disney Plus, Hulu, and HBO Max all in one pack. But here's the thing. With so much great TV and My Entertainment, you're going to want to talk about everything you've been watching. Just remember that your friends might not be as well watched as you. Don't be a spoiler. And encourage them to get My Entertainment for just $34.99 a month. Go to directtv.com slash genre packs and sign up today.

New customers only, service for news monthly unless canceled. Credit card required. Conditions apply to apps. HBO Max Basic with Apps begins after DirectTV five-day trial. Learn more at directtvvv. Restriction supply. Direct from the Brozky Nation headquarters in Los Angeles, California. This is the Brozky Report with your host, Brittany Brozky.

Hey guys, major heads up for this episode. I had a crazy sandwich from some local deli that I tried out. And I've been having, sorry, TMI, nonstop diarrhea for the last, give us to take five, six hours. Just up and down, up and down. Back to the turlid. Back to my bed. back to the turlet. You know what I mean?

It's just, okay, one of those days. I'm having one of those freaking days. It's so good, though. I don't know what was on this damn sandwich. It was, because everything in life for me, I'm just trying to chase the high

of a Jimmy John's Italian nightclub. And I try to recreate it in other sandwich shops, and I just, I don't come close. You know what I mean? But I can't, there was, and if I'm allowed to bear my soul, there was a string of days. I can't remember when,

Oh yeah, last week when I ordered Jimmy John's four days in a row. I had Jimmy John's four days in a row. And I don't feel good about it. I don't feel proud or happy to say that. If you're my doctor and you're listening, no, I did not order Jimmy John's four days in a row. I had some whole meals. Think green leafy greens. Baby butter, gym lettuce.

Lots of protein. Very low-fat diet. That's actually what I was eating. Now, if you're not my doctor, I need you to know that I had Jimmy John four days in a row. I had Jimmy Johns and those damn Jimmy Peppers are so damn good. What do they

put in them? What are Jimmy Peppers? I see that on the fucking modifications add Jimmy Peppers. Yeah, add as many Jimmy Peppers as you possibly can. Stutter one more time. Stutter one more time. Jimer Poopers.

Irma Goody Jumper's on my Jimer Johns. Shut the fuck up. Jimmy Pepper. ingredients. Jimmy peppers are a sweet, mild, fire engine red pepper variety, or Jimmy John's Jimmy Peppers, a hot cherry pepper mix used in their sandwiches. Hot cherry pepper mix. Hot cherry pepper mix, I hardly know her. Oh my God, I found my fucking people on Reddit. I found my community on Reddit. Did you know you can get a gallon of Jimmy John's spicy peppers for $20 and they're delicious on everything? Where the fuck do you buy this?

you can get one pound of Mama Lills, which are the same thing for a little cheaper. Now, Mama Lills is what Alyssa's Magic uses, if y'all know my girl Alyssa on TikTok. She does the snack plates. She introduced me to those snack plates. Those damn snack plates, she'll cut up some Mama Lills peppers

and some pepperon chinis. Pepperoncini, pepperoncini, peppero chini, banana pepper. They're all the same thing, right? I love a damn banana pepper. Anyway, I am coming to you today to tell you that I have a fucking problem. Okay?

And I also need you to know that this is the third piece of media that I have talked about Jimmy Johns on this week. We just filmed a bunch of Royal Court episodes. I brought it up in at least two of them. And at least two episodes, I'm like, you know about Jimmy Johns? I made it in a TikTok, Jimmy Johns. John's. Just now, Jimmy Johns.

Fuck off. I'm not even like being paid. Jimmy Johns, you want to sponsor this podcast? You let me know because I'm doing free promo, free press. Damn, I love Jimmy James Jonathan Okay Guys, welcome back

Okay And for the girls who were like Um, queen quit fucking around Drop the album Um, when's the single coming? It's fucking out I hope you bitches are hungry

I hope you bitches are hungry Eat Come get y'all juice It's here And if you don't know what I'm talking about, I went ahead and actually had released a single. I had released an original piece of music. So if anyone gives a shit.

Also, that's an inside joke between me and my friends. We'll say, they'll be like, oh, my God, how was your meeting? How was whatever? I'll be like, it was great, but, you know, like you give a shit. but actually that's my friend Channing's bit it's bit. It's my friend Channing and Tristan's bit and I kind of had poached it from him. I stole it from them. They all would be like, well, Brittany, we know you don't give a shit

but last night went great. I'll ever say? I don't care. I dropped a single, like y'all give a fuck. No one gives a fuck. It's a joke. Okay? Okay, let's talk about it because I feel like I've been talking about it nonstop, but not to my people, not to the people that actually matter to me, y'all, you know what I mean?

Brozky Nation, this single has been a labor of love, and I feel that it embodies the core, the heart of what I am introducing you to. And it's this delicate balance, right, where I don't want to come on

here and be like, this song means this, and let's go through it lyric by lyric, what I meant, because that takes away the fun. And I'm now understanding that. where when I was younger, or even by that, I mean, a year ago, I always want artists to come out and just tell me, right? When Florence Welch sits down to write a song and it's packed with all this imagery and like it's a clear reference to something, but I feel like I'm not quite getting it, but I'm getting it in my own way.

That's the point, right? If she was to come on and be like, this is what this line means and do it line by line by line, it ruins the mystique. It ruins the ambiguity of what that art is. And while I think that there's a balance between speaking to the inspirations and the sentiment that informs the song, the specifics of the lyricism, I really offer that up to y'all. You know what I mean? And I already saw, y'all just i just love you guys like you're picking up on things and i don't have to tell you you know and it's really nice it's really validating but the most validating thing about it is it is done it's done and the people that i want to have it it's yours you know what i mean like broskey

nation my fucking people my municipality city state do we have clean water no do we have health No. Do we have fresh crops? No. But do we have a fucking single? Yeah. And y'all are getting fed regardless. And you're getting fed again soon. Okay? So keep those baby bird mouths open. But here's the sort of thing, right? The son, the single, wrote that song about a year ago. and I came in just like with a heaviness on me the day that we wrote it and I was in the room with my co-writers Sissy and Emily and my producer Luke and we talked for half of the session because I was just like this has been my experience with this fucking dude that's like

it extends so much farther beyond just like this one interaction with a man though. Because while that solidified my feeling in that moment, zooming out a bit, it's like he wasn't the first one to make me feel like that. And this goes so much farther beyond him. He was just the catalyst, I guess, for this final like nail in the coffin. But it's this larger feeling that I've felt my whole life of people have told me. And I've bonded about this with some of my friends that have lived a similar thing. When you are a confident, loud, unapologetic person, I don't even want to say woman, when you are someone who knows themselves so clearly, that is very scary for some people. And it's not just men. It's some people cannot stand to stand next to your glow or

or be in the light of your glow without feeling a compulsion to dampen that light or to dull it or to make you feel less. And most often in my life that's come at the hands of men, the words of men, I would say it's not a unique sentiment to men only that have made me feel that way if you catch my drift. So when that happens and when you realize you're surrounded by people that it feels want to change, you or want you to be less because what you are is too much for them. And what I've come to realize is that's in a positive way for me, I'm too much for you because you can't handle me because you are not up to par with me. There's nothing wrong with me. Okay?

I say this every single episode where there is community in this feeling of being off the beaten path when it comes to relationships or intelligence or interests or creativity or just who you are as a person feeling misunderstood or feeling like you never really were in the same realm on the same planet as other people. I felt that way a lot as a teenager where it's like I found my community online and that's why I am the way that I am. The internet raised me and it also raised all of you and there's a community in that. and what used to feel so lonely now is brimming with life.

Anyway, so the sun is written from that sort of perspective of being told you need to be less, you're too good for me, but at the same time, what does that mean? What does that mean I'm too good for you? Because the only logical conclusion I can pull from that statement is that I need to be less. Is that going to make you want me? I'll be less.

Fine, I'll be mess. I've talked about this before. of that fucking lyric from Lemonade by Beyonce when she recites that poetry where she says, I've looked it up before. Hold on, let me find it. Girl, this gives me chills every time I fucking read it.

Okay, this is anger. This is from anger. So I think this is right before Don't hurt yourself. I think it's right before don't hurt yourself on lemonade. Okay, here we go. If this is what you truly want,

I can wear her skin. over mine. Her hair over mine. Her hands as gloves. Her teeth as confetti. Her scalp a cap. Her sternum, my bedazzled cane. We can pose for a photograph, all three of us. Immortalized. You and your perfect girl. I have chills. Can you zoom in on that? I have chills all over my body. I don't know when love became elusive. What I know is no one I know has it. My father's arms around my mother's neck, fruit too ripe to eat. I think of lovers as trees, growing to and from one another, searching for the same light. Why can't you see me? Why can't you see me? Why can't you see me? Why can't you see me? Everyone else can.

What the fuck? Never gets old. This is, in a roundabout way, the sun is everything in this poem and more. it's this feeling not only of in a romantic sense, what do you mean I'm too good for you, but in life, friendships, opportunities, jobs, anything. It's like some people just can't handle you. And that is okay because they're not meant to. And when you find the people that do and can and they can keep up with you and they sharpen your knife and you sharpen theirs, it is incredible. So, yeah, the sun, to me, is that. And I know it's not a unique experience.

So I hope you enjoy it. And it's finally yours to have. And more music coming very soon. So I need y'all to sit with it for a moment, though. Okay, I feel like I've bombarded you. Okay, we're doing adore you. We did the sun. We've got the video, visualizers doing all this, fucking bullshit, whatever.

enjoy it because the storm is coming. The storm is coming, girl. But yeah. So just need to talk about that. That's out of the way. Here's some stuff to completely pivot. All right, quick quiz for the hiring managers out there. What's worse?

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slash podcast. Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now. Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? This is a job for Indeed's sponsored jobs. Struggling to see up close, make it visible with Viz. Viz is a once daily prescription eye drop to treat blurry near vision for up to 10 hours.

The most common side effects that may be experienced while using Viz include eye irritation, temporary dim or dark vision, headaches, and eye redness. Talk to an eye doctor to learn a visual. Viz is right for you. Learn more at Viz.com. If you've been following the news, you know the world is dealing with a level of uncertainty that isn't going away anytime soon. Inflation pressures, global tensions, and the highest U.S. debt levels on record continue to influence markets day after day.

And the result is familiar to anyone checking their retirement balances or savings accounts. Volatility has become the norm. In times like these, people often look for ways to strengthen their financial foundation. Physical gold and silver have served that purpose throughout history. They're real assets that exist outside the digital and financial systems that tend to fluctuate during economic stress. They're not a guarantee and they're not a shortcut to wealth, but they can offer diversification when things feel unpredictable. Preserve gold is committed to helping Americans understand their options with simple educational information, including how precious metals can be held in an IRA. For your free wealth protection guide, text IHeart to 50505.

And with a qualified purchase, you could receive up to $15,000 in free gold or silver. Don't wait. Text Eyeheart to 50505. I'm U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. We all seem to be in a rush these days, from work to driving our kids around. But when you're behind the wheel, please do not speed. A few minutes save by going faster is never worth a risk. So follow the speed limit. Enjoy the drive.

Maybe bring some snacks for the kids. And know that along the way, you're getting quality time with your friends. family. Paid for by Nitsa. Some stuff I've been loving lately, okay? I'm just gonna, this is a random list that I've thrown together. I need to talk about this on the podcast. Here it is. Halfetti by Penhaligans.

That is my scent of choice right now. It is my favorite perfume. I wear it every single day. I'm addicted to it. I think it's, I say this, but this is going to change in the next 72 hours, probably. It's my signature scent right now, right now. Because sometimes I get a whiff of it and I'm like, Like, this is too mature for me.

And then some days I'm like, this is me. This is fucking me to my core. As God, you took a screenshot on my soul. It can't be healthy by pan halligan sometimes. Anyway, that's number one. Number two, yogurt covered pretzels. I was with Stanley this last weekend. We were filming Royal Court.

And he went into this dumbass, like, children's candy shop. Because he's like, I went something sweet. Went in, got yogurt pretzels. I was driving. I said, Can I have one of those? He's like, yeah. And now it's all I think about.

Yogurt covered pretzels, dude? I got a big tub. I went to the grocery store, got a big tub of them. ate half of them in a night, had diarrhea. Whatever. You can take the binge eating out of the binge eater. But, hey, those tendencies are still going to whisper.

They're going to come and tuck my hair behind my ear. You know what I mean? I had to hang up the proverbial robe. hang up the fucking hat on the binge eating but sometimes hey take that hat around the block for a spin don't listen to me don't listen to me

number three watermelon flavored things been loving that a lot lately there's this electrolyte drink I like this watermelon I'm pretty much I'm just been loving some like watermelon liquid IV that's all I've been drinking lately next is flossing

not the dance, not the backpack kid dance, just flossing in general, been doing that a lot lately. I've been really into flossing. Some of you bitches really might want to get into it too. Can I just say really quick, the thought of waking up in the morning and leaving your home and not brushing your teeth

is like, if you're a fan of mine, cut that shit out. If you're, we're not doing stinky bros. Nation ambassadors. Please, guys. Don't, we can't be the stinky fan base. Please.

Wear deodorant and not that fucking aluminum-free shit. Wear deodorant that works. And please brush your teeth. I'm begging y'all. We can't be stinky. What was that joke there? I was used to say the people who were like

barricaded concerts. It's like, y'all are in the no deodorant club. Y'all are in the, let's raise my arms and not wear deodorant club. I don't remember what the tweet was, but we can't be doing that guy, please. Anyway, big into flossing, big into French tips, okay? And when I got these nails at first, I was like, I feel like a 40-year-old southern mom of two boys, and one of them's not doing so great in school, the other one's trying to get, you know, he's like

16, 17, we're trying to get him noticed by colleges for either baseball or football, whatever he's playing, and he's like, just not there. Like, I'm really, I want my boys to be good. You know what I mean? But they're really struggling. They're feeling inferior. And it's on me as a mother to sort of coax them back to, you're good. You just have to believe in yourself.

And you can't let this stuff slip, right? Because you're in high school right now. When you get to college, that's a different ballgame. You got to be your own boss. That's what these nails make me feel like is I'm always in the car. I'm always on fucking Apple Car Play. My husband's trying to call me. Don't call me.

Because we fought yesterday. And he's being stupid and oblivious, and I'm going to leave him. I'm going to leave my husband. Probably, I'm going to wait until the kids, I'll get them through. And also, I'm the breadwinner. My bitch-ass husband doesn't do shit. He sits at home all day because I married him because he was a creative. And now he hasn't done anything creative for the last 11 fucking years.

Okay? Anyway, I get my boys through high school. I get them through college. I divorce my husband. Because I can't deal with it anymore, right? Then I go on an eat, pray, love journey. Maybe I don't go to Bali. Maybe I go to like Argentina or something.

Okay? Maybe I go figure myself out there. But I really see, in an alternative life, that was me. And I had these nails and probably this hair as well. Sometimes when I think of deja vu, I think of it as like alternate timelines or parallel timelines. And when deja vu happens, I usually see it as like, okay, you're still on the right track. Like it's check marks of where you are. where you're supposed to be, you're doing things right.

But sometimes I get deja vu and I'm like, it's because I had this same experience in my other life. Do you know what I mean? What are some common explanations of deja vu? Deja vu explained. Deja vu, meaning already seen in French. Now, see, I had no idea that's what that meant. Which is making sense.

The feeling of familiarity with a situation or experience that you know you've never encountered before. And while its exact cause is unknown, it's often linked to memory processing or subtle neurological events. I'm sweating, hold on. I've got to take off my blouse. Let's go to Cleveland Health Clinic.org, deja vu, what it is and why it happens. You may not be a magician, but when you experience deja vu, your brain is creating an illusion. This is thought to happen when there's a bit of a miscommunication between two parts of your brain. Deja vu is caused by dysfunctional connections between the parts of your brain that play a role in memory recollection and familiarity. You have two temporal...

Here we fucking go. Okay, locking in. Just touch down on science mode. You have two temporal lobes, one on each side of your head right above your temples. They play an important role, and I just actually had a freak out because I'm... I'm not my body. I'm just, I'm this fucking pink matter, gray matter inside of this skull. And one day I will also be bones.

I will be across bones and skull somewhere in the Paris catacombs. I just actually, hold on. Because I was going to have this freaking out on this podcast anyway, because I'm reading Circe right now and she's immortal and she is obsessed with mortals. Because obviously if you're immortal, again, this should be called. Okay. With record U.S. debt, ongoing geopolitical tensions, and constant market swings, many people are rethinking how to protect their savings. Physical gold and silver have been used for generations

during uncertain times to diversify, not replace traditional investments. Preserve gold helps Americans understand these options. Text iHeart to 50505 to get your free wealth protection guide and explore how precious metals may fit into your retirement planning. I'm U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. We all get distracted when we drive, whether it's from our phones or kids in the backseat bickering. But how we handle these distractions can be a matter of life or death. Before you get on the road for your next road trip,

please put your phones on silent and take a mental note. to focus on driving. Paid for by NHTSA. Just started six sentences back to back, didn't finish one of them. Here, I'm going to start and finish this one. I've been thinking a lot about death because what's new? I've been thinking a lot about death recently

because Circe is addicted to mortals. She loves them. And she finds them to be very interesting and intriguing and how emotional they are, how weak they are, but at the same time, so strong. how there's beauty in the imperfections, because when you are surrounded by beautiful, immortal, gods, goddesses, nymphs, dryads, naiads, whatever the fuck.

If beauty is the norm, then somewhere along that path, the roles become reversed, right? If that's all you see, then something off the beaten path or out of the norm is the new beautiful. So for her, when she sees marred skin or sunburn or age lines or smile lines or scabs or calloused hands, she thinks it's the most beautiful thing in the world. And honestly, been freaking out a lot about this because as a kid, quote unquote, I say, she's thousands of years old. As a child, when she first realized that mortals die. And not only do they die, but their lifespans are so short.

she was like, why is no one pitying them? Like, why is, how can this happen? Like, it's this very innocent, what do you mean they die? Because immortality is the norm. And I've just been taking a lot about death recently because what the fuck? Hold on, let me read this. I underlined something because it made me fucking spiral.

And if the real Bro Ski Nation comrades, remember, when I went on Mythical Kitchen's last meals and me and Josh had bonded over, mythical chef Josh, had bonded over how death is our biggest fear because what do you mean, it's just over? And also being raised religious and being ex-religious now, any sense of comfort or certainty that I had

has been ripped from under me. The rug has been pulled. So now it really is me versus the darkness. It's me versus nothingness. And there is nothing, I don't know why I'm laughing, it's not funny, there's nothing scarier to me genuinely than the great beyond. then this is it.

And while it fills me with a sense of optimism and I want to live my life to the fullest, the flip side of that coin is just eternal dread and a childlike fear of pain, of darkness, of loneliness, all of it kind of balls up into one big tumbleweed of anxiety and that's kind of what's going on in my head. Anyway, let me find this passage. Sorry.

Here's a passage from Searcy, okay? It's on page 159. And I'm about to butcher these names, so just bear with me. Icarus, Daedalus, Ariadne, all gone to those dark fields, where hands worked nothing but air, where feet no more touched the earth. If I had been there, I thought. But what would it have changed? It was true what Ermi said. Every moment morals died, by shipwreck and sword, by wild beasts and wild men by illness, neglect, and age. It was their fate, as Prometheus had told me, the story that they all shared. No matter how vivid they were in life, no matter how brilliant, no matter the wonders they

made, they came to dust and smoke. Meanwhile, every petty and useless god would go on sucking down the bright air until the stars went dark. Okay, so I just kind of read that and I had to close the book. And honestly, the episode that I did when I came back from the Paris catacombs where I was like truly having a freak out spiral, reading this book, I'm finding myself back down in the catacombs and that just wash over me of this cannot be. it's like an incredulous disbelief of this cannot be me one day like the catacombs is such a visceral experience you are face to face with death

these skulls and human bones are not behind wire they're not behind net you can go up and touch it don't don't do that but it's that close and it's on eye level and it is a human person's skull and I just, it made me freak out I don't know what makes me freak out more actually

the fact that it'll end or the fact that this is all I get or life is so fragile like you could die before you're meant to or the oblivion of it all

like death is loneliness and that's why it's so important during life to to bask in the comfort and love of your own presence up here and in the end this is dark and i don't know if i really agree with this but like you are all that you have in your mind that's why dementia scares the fuck out of me anyway i'm actually gonna here here was where i was going with this okay i want to look up both on this podcast and in my free time, what is the solution to that spiral of thinking? Because it's not a fun one to go down,

and I don't find myself following the spiral often, but it does hit me, especially with books like this, where I'm like, fucking hell. Also, the story being told from an immortal's point of view is like, it's not necessarily preferable to being mortal, so just throw that out there. but I want to know a metaphorical salve or a serum to quell those thoughts when they start

or some form of just comfort and outside the bounds of religion. I know the simple answer is, oh, just believe in God, believe in eternal life. You know, find your way to any of these prophetic deities and confess your loyalty and your whatever and promise you to do it. Okay.

Now what? It's also one of those things where I don't really believe it as I'm saying it. Because I'm saying it for a selfish purpose. And that is what my issue with Christianity was. From the moment that I was acquainted with the idea of baptism or of salvation, it was from a purely selfish point of view. When I told you all that story, my pastor said, if you're not for sure

if you died tonight you're going to heaven put your fucking hand in the air and I said well hell girl I'm 11 you know what I mean that was bred out of a sense of helplessness and selfish worry for my own soul not because

I believe that Jesus is the light in the way and the this and that and the whatever it's that's the disconnect and I feel like the puzzle pieces never really fit together for me and I'm I'm struggling for that, to find and keep that sense of certainty and security that I used to have. And also the validation of a church community telling you, you're doing everything right.

You know, you are not alone. He walks beside you. All these things where you're getting positive echo chamber feedback from people who believe the same or would like to believe the same for themselves. and it helps with the delusion. But being so far removed from the church, I have none of that now. And I don't miss the church. But this solitary solitude,

it's too much sometimes. If you've been following the news, you know the world is dealing with a level of uncertainty that isn't going away anytime soon. Inflation pressures, global tensions, and the highest U.S. debt levels on record continue to influence markets day after day. And the result is familiar to anyone

checking their retirement balances or savings accounts. Volatility has become the norm. In times like these, people often look for ways to strengthen their financial foundation. Physical gold and silver have served that purpose throughout history. They're real assets that exist outside the digital and financial systems that tend to fluctuate during economic stress. They're not a guarantee and they're not a shortcut to wealth, but they can offer diversification when things feel unpredictable. Preserve gold is committed to helping Americans understand their options with simple educational information, including how precious metals can be held in an IRA. For your free wealth protection guide, text IHeart to 50505. And with a qualified

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Paid for by NHTSA. So here's what I want to Google. How to get over a fear of death. We're getting to it, guys. Phanatophobia? There's a fucking name for it. Also, why does that sound like fanatos? I'm on my Greek mythology. Shit right now, girl. Hold on, because I'm, I'm powered through Song of Achilles. I'm doing Searcy. Next I'm going to finish Clytemnestra. Then I'm going to do the daughters of the wolf's den. Daughters of the wolves den. Then I'm going to do the Iliad. No, I'm going to do the Iliad, then the Odyssey. Which is the first one? No, you start with the Iliad, because the Iliad is the Trojan War. and the Odyssey is Odysseus's journey home after the Trojan War. Okay, so, anyway, I'm on my Greek mythology.

Shit right now. And you know what I love about Madeline Miller? She introduces you to all of these names, whether you've heard them before, whether you just know that, like, we just got introduced to the Minotaur in this book, and I'm like, oh, I know it to Minotaur. It's like half man, half full. And then you hear of the origin of, like, how he came to be and how the Minotaur was defeated and the significance of,

monsters to the Greek gods and goddesses and how it was a form of creating heroes. You can't have heroes without monsters to kill or to best or to conquer. So it's all a game. And what I was talking to Stanley about this the other day too, because what is so intriguing to me about Greek gods versus Norse gods versus any of these mythologies that have lasted for thousands of years is that. they're quite cruel. The gods are cruel.

And there's no balance of fairness or love. They're not motivated by love or hate. They're motivated by power. And that is such an interesting, you know what I mean? And the Norse gods are fucking cruel. Look that up too. Well, actually, what were we saying? Stanley said that the Norse gods,

gods were cruel and the Greek gods and goddesses were motivated by ego, which all of them are, it's just a power play. I mean, they're all under the same umbrella of just, you have power and you want to keep it. But I think that's what he said. And I need to, I need to lock the fuck end to all this. Ego versus Norse gods cruelty. Okay, I need to lock the fuck into this not here, because I'm, I'm reading too deep. Yeah, it's a very interesting, what feels like two different types of

deity worship but maybe not that far off so who's to say let me lock in anyway how to get over a fear of death okay oh I was going to look up

thanatos thanatose an ancient Greek mythology do you see how this is all related thanatos is the personification

of death the son of Nick's Knight and the twin brother of Hypnos, sleep. So night and sleep are brothers and the son of night is death. Okay. Okay. I'm scared. Okay, yeah, yeah, I'm horrified.

He appeared to humans to carry them off to the underworld when the time allotted to them by the fates had expired. I thought Ermes also was a psychopath. Hermes versus Thanatos. Oh, Phanatos is simply the personification of death, while Hermes was the guide. Again, just clock that because that's really fucking cool. The fear of death is fanatophobia. Thinotophobia is an extreme fear of death or the dying process.

psychotherapy is usually an effective treatment for death anxiety. Okay. Awesome. I love when you Google something there like, you should be on medication. You should see someone. Oh, okay, I had no idea. Thanatophobia is different than necrophobia. Necrophobia is a fear of dead things or places that contain dead things, such as graveyards.

I don't know if I have that per se because I was able to go to the catacombs. I can go to a graveyard. I mean, I'm a little spooked, but I'm fine. The concept of death itself is what kind of really sends me. How is, okay, this is like a medical perspective. I don't, I'm not really looking for this. I'm looking more so for like an inspiring Instagram infographic or potentially, you know,

Tumblr.com slash optimism sort of thing. I just need like one little phrase that I can remember forever that will always alleviate it and I can maybe get it tattooed. Because right now I have a fucking momento mori tattoo, which actually means remember that you will die. So I'm feeling like I have this obsession with it. I'm obsessed with it. I'm obsessed with the idea of my own mortality. I don't know why.

I don't know how to fix it. What do you do? What do you do? What do you do? Cognitive behavioral therapy? I already tried that shit from my binge eating disorder. That shit did not work, bruh. Cognitive behavioral therapy

can help you change the way you think about death so it isn't so scary. You may need to, this is so ridiculous. You may need to address unrealistic beliefs about death, such as feeling that death is unfair or that the dying process is always painful. CBT also gives you techniques to better manage how you react.

to thoughts of death, such as deep breathing. I mean, when I start thinking about the Paris catacombs. For real, though. Exposure therapy! This type of therapy gradually exposes you to places, thoughts, or situations that relate to death. Okay, awesome. You might start by writing about how you picture your own death or the death of a loved one. No!

No! Other exposure techniques could include visiting a hospital, writing a will, reading obituaries or talking with someone who was a terminal illness. I'm not fucking doing that shit. Medication for thanatophobia or other specific phobic disorders haven't proven very effective. But your healthcare provider may recommend anti-anxiety drugs if you have to be in a stressful or fearful situation like a funeral. Most people with thanatophobia respond very well to treatment. Okay, great.

How to get over a fear of death. Okay, wait, hold on, hold on on on. We might be cooking. We might be cooking. This is from psyche.co. Holy shit, guys. We're getting into it today. Sorry, sorry if y'all wanted like a Ed Shearin Azizam review.

We're not doing that today, even though I do love that song. We're not doing that. We're doing how to not fear your death on psyche.com. Sorry about that. Here we go. This is by Sam Dresser. You exist. But one day, you won't.

An Epicurean perspective can help you feel less afraid and even grateful for life's finitude. That's what I'm talking talking about. Let's fucking go. And let's actually Google Epicurean right now because I think I know what that means. Simple Epicurean philosophy. Oh, and you say, I'm such a cliche. A disciple or student of the Greek philosopher Epicurus. Okay, thanks, dude.

What do you mean by his teachings? In modern poppy, you! In modern popular usage, an Epicurean is a connoisseur of the arts of life and the refinements of sensual pleasures. Epicureanism implies a love or knowledgeable enjoyment, especially of good food and drink. What's the Epicurean lifestyle? An approach to life that stresses finding happiness through living simply. Is that not what I talk about on this podcast every fucking week? we're rebranding to the Epicurean report.

This is now the Epicurean report starring me, your host, Britney Scared of Dying Brosky. Britney Fanatos Brosky. Holy shit. Use Epicurean philosophy to find happiness. I'm so locked into this. Okay, let's go, let's go, let's go. This is exactly what I needed. Okay.

Your demise is inevitable. I hope that doesn't come as too much for shock. I agree that the brevity of human existence is by. bothersome. Thankfully for most of us, this frightful fact usually hovers somewhere beyond the margins of our consciousness. We're aware of our death without constantly fearing it. Okay, talk, speak for yourself because that's actually I fear it every day. Inevitably, though, there are moments when the reality of our eventual death strikes us in a new, chillier light. A close call demonstrates the tenuousness of life, or the death of a loved one reminds us that no one is

exempt from humanity's ultimate destination. Even talking about death, as we are now, can be enough to bring on a ruminative contemplation of the end, and with it a shudder of fear about one's own extinguishment. He's kind of a word smith. Sam Dresser, do you want me? In these moments, when your pending dissipation presents itself afresh, the fact of death is experienced in a new way. Rather than merely being known, like one more quotidian statement about the world, the sky is blue, I will die, the sense of one's ending is felt more deeply and more immediately. In these moods, the terror of death seeps into your awareness of yourself as a person. Its awesome inevitability and finality makes you feel small and powerless.

Yeah, me as fuck right now, Sam! This is the fear of death at an existential level, brought on by the almost unthinkable notion that there is and only ever will be one of you. And sooner or later, it will flicker out of existence, leaving little more than memories and other soon-to-begone beings. The fear of death, as I'm discussing it here, is not about the practical worry of who will pay off your credit card debt after you're gone. It's about the unsettling fact that the person who earned that debt in the first place

is but a fleeting speck of an event in the infinite history of the universe. Okay, maybe this, can we get on to the part where you're helping me? Because I've got, hey, look, dude, I've got all this down, right? I've done this little song and dance with myself. Let's move towards fixing it. Let's move towards a coping mechanism, you motherfucker. The fear of death is also heightened by thinking about how harmful mortality is to us, how there is no greater blow in life than for life to see.

As the philosopher Thomas Nagel observed, death is the great deprivation. There's always more life to be lived, and it's painful to have that taken away. The best way to get at this fear, perhaps, is to contemplate the almost unbearable thought of your future absence. One day, at family dinners, a place will no longer be set for you. The day after you die, the newspaper will still be published, just as it was the day before. and the morning after your funeral friends will make their morning coffee. You will be gone for good though, and that certainty is a terrifying impediment. So the fear of death is awful to behold, and therefore naturally something to overcome.

Indeed, the striving to overcome the fear of death, I would suggest, has stimulated a great deal of thinking over the course of humanity's time on earth. One could go so far as to say that working out how to thwart or perhaps accommodate death sits at the root of a vast number of cultural achievements. The fear of finitude is a powerful propellant. So how can the fear of death be overcome? Thank fuck, we're getting to it! One popular strategy is to plan for a sequel to life,

which, it's usually expected, will take place in another, happier realm. Resurrection, whether as a human or otherwise, has won a great many adherents, and there have been several religions, as well as philosophers, that have promulgated, great word, promulgated. Promote or make widely known. Promulgated. And there have been several religions as well as philosophers that have promulgated a view of time as cyclical.

We've done this before and we'll do this again. Death is a mere interlude. Okay, now look, I'm kind of maybe fucking with that. Maybe I'm fucking with that. But I don't know if I believe in reincarnation or, But we always talk about past lives and how things feel overly familiar or even deja vu, where there are these clear signposts towards, this isn't it. Like, this can't just be it.

Life continues on. And Earth continues on. The Earth keeps spinning. Hmm. Okay, okay, okay. These tactics and ideas have something to recommend them, certainly. But for now, let's set aside all possibility of, life after death so that we are left with the often horrifying thought. You exist, but one day you won't.

Are there any good philosophical reasons not to fear that gulf between being and not being? In this guide, I will suggest several philosophically inspired reasons not to be fearful of your own death. Let's go! And so, in that sense, I hope there's something helpful here to lighten the weight of the deeply unsettling existential state. Okay. It's time for episode. Epicurean hour. The life of the city-dwelling ancient Greek philosopher Epicurius straddled the third and fourth centuries BCE. His philosophy nowadays is popularly packaged as a kind of light hedonism, sensualist, joyful, a hint of luxury, a naughty second glass of wine. Though Epicurius himself was

probably not quite the blinkered and unimaginative pleasure-seeker that these cliches suggest, they do give a flavor of his outlook. For him, the purpose of human life is to achieve half. happiness. Epicurus construed this as an absence of pain rather than a positive program of indulging oneself by, say, keeping up a rigorous schedule of orgies or downing flasks of opium on Tuesday mornings. He recognized that whatever temporary excitement such pursuits yield in the moment will probably be well counterbalanced by a severe price to pay later on. So instead, Epicurious recommended, somewhat disappointingly, that it is moderation that will lead to a release from pain and suffering. which in turn will bring a respectable measure of happiness and therefore a good life.

Our limitations, our meager certainties, are at the center of Epicurious's system of thought, and it is in this context of mitigating pain and accruing a gentle happiness that he believed the fear of death needs to be understood. Epicurious and his followers held that the fear of death is harmful to the enjoyment of our lives, and so showing why this fear isn't well-founded contributes to the overall, hedonic project of living well. According to this tradition, the first thing to do to overcome the fear of death is to try to articulate to yourself what it would be like to be dead.

Okay, that's the fucking problem. Therein lies my problem, Sam Dresser. What it would like to be dead. Imagine yourself, but rather than alive, dead. Okay? I'm horrified. Remember, we've cast aside the afterlife. As you'll swiftly appreciate, there is an intractable contradiction right at the center of this first actionable item.

You cannot imagine what it would be like to be dead, because death is an absence of existence. There is literally nothing to imagine, because nothingness itself cannot be imagined. That's horrifying! There is no perspective, no view from nothingness, nothing to which it can be approximated. So that is the first recommendation. realized that being dead isn't an experience. Death itself isn't really a thing at all. And Epicurious's words, death is nothing to us. To drive the point home, let's turn to the Roman poet Lucretius. He was a saltier and more ironic Epicurean of a later generation, the first century BCE, whose unexampled poem,

on the nature of things, fell afoul of early Christians because of its crypto-Atheism. In the poem, Lucretius proposes an idea, later termed, the symmetry argument that hence at the second thing you should do to overcome the fear of death, which is try to recall what it was like before you were born. Okay, I can't do that I was baby. I don't remember. Okay, Lucretius, that's stupid as fuck I don't remember. Not how the world was, which is the task of historical imagination, but what it was like to be you before you were created. You'll discover that prenatal existence isn't something that can be thought about, much less experienced.

The symmetrical part of the argument, of course, is that you have the very same difficulty in imagining what it is like to be dead. Okay, but here's my thing. I've already got notes and I've got questions and I've got commentary. That does scare me of like there being nothing before and nothing after and it makes the miracle of life that much more of a confusing. confounding miracle that like against all odds I should not be here you should not be here

we should not be here yet life prevails beauty prevails but at the same time pain and suffering prevail so what's that fucking quote is it better not to have lived is it better to have lived

than not to have lived at all is it better to love than not to have loved at all all those things wrap up in the same feeling of Obviously, I'd much rather be alive. I think that's what freaks me the fuck out the most. I love being alive. I love life.

I have a passion for life. Life is my number one special interest. And the fact that that could be taken from me is horrifying. I don't, I want to, I don't want it. I, I don't want it. Let's keep reading. already cried once we're not going to cry multiple times in the same episode even though i've done it before no doubt you don't fear your prenatal existence so logically speaking given their equivalence

it follows that you should fear death the exact same amount as in not at all common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness this brings us to the third thing to do to calm your existential angst examine how much nothing non-existence, can reasonably be feared. That is, are there any good reasons for your pending death to trigger the emotion of fear? It is reasonable to be fearful of things to the extent that those things can cause you harm. It was reasonable to be jittery about nukes during the Cold War era. It is reasonable to be scared that humanity is turning the globe into a sauna, and it is reasonable for your heart to launch as from a trebuche into your throat when your partner

says to you the words, we need to talk. These are all identifiable threats that foretell awful experiences. None of them would help us in our Epicurean goal of being happy, and so are reasonably feared. But death itself, not the process of dying, which is something different, doesn't seem to be the sort of thing that one can reasonably be fearful of, because it isn't anything. It's not uncomfortable or hurtful to be dead. It's not as if you're being deprived of life or of more contented years because, again, you simply aren't there to be deprived in the first place. For you, there's nowhere to locate the harm of being dead since being dead is in a state of being. It's not something that strictly speaking happens to you, and so it can't be harmful.

No one would say St. Francis of Assisi'si is more dead than punker. The Epicurean argument against the fear of death concerns only your own self and its dissolution. When I think through these steps, I find that their efficacy is largely dependent upon my mood. I like the idea of being able to intellectualize away the fear of death, as if merely thinking philosophical thoughts would be enough to give me courage. And when I'm particularly despondent or detached from the world, perhaps there are glimmers of comfort from the argument that death is nothing. But commonly, this line of thinking doesn't completely allay the fear of death.

Epicurious recognize this. His argument by itself isn't strong enough to completely release us from the dread of a terminal existence. I doubt that anything is, or rather, I wouldn't trust anything that truly and fully did free one from fear of death. There are certain brands of fanaticism, for instance, that appear to do just this, with obviously horrific results. And by that, he's probably talking about, like, cults, like Heaven's Gate or David Koresh or whatever. But as the contemporary philosopher James Warren emphasizes, Epicurious's argument should be born in mind as part of a cognitive therapy for dealing with one's own life. It can have its fruits.

It can lighten a little the fear of death, which in turn can subtly augment your enjoyment of life. And that is, on the whole, one of the great purposes of being here in the first place. Okay, so he says, enjoy your own fleeting time on earth. This is the final paragraph, and I think there's something here. Without death, life would be nothing but a dire repetition, pointless and endless. Immeasurably long lives would eventually deflate into the most banal tedium. Millennia upon millennia upon millennia would have to be lived out, and even then, there would be an eternity to go. Eventually, the most sublime and wondrous experience is possible,

would become punishing in their drab familiarity. Fortunately, this isn't a possibility that need concern us too much, but confronting the alternative to death brings home the point. No matter how terrifying it might be, the fact of death makes life more brilliant and precious. The time we have together in this place is fleeting. Let's spend it well. The time we have together in this place is fleeting.

Let's spend it well. Okay. Fine. Fine, I'll enjoy my life. Fine, I'll enjoy my life and find the whimsy in the finite. Fine, I'll go there. Oh, dude. Okay. I don't know if that helped, but it definitely offered some perspective. Shout out Epicurious, I guess. Epicurus. I don't know why I'm adding an extra yes in it. I think all this shit is so interesting, but it's also so...

Much. It's so heavy. But look, if my brain's going to take me there anyway, I might as well read about it and learn about it. You know what I mean? Let's do the songs of the week. Let's just, let's move on. Thanks for going there with me, team. Thanks for...

Sorry, if you had to click off, I understand. If you're still here with me, shout out. shout out you're a brave soldier here are my songs of the week exile by St. Levant get into St. Levant bitch Palestinian rapper and singer-songwriter I'm into it

and is he hot? Yeah I've been getting a lot of clips of his live shows and I'm like damn hey hey nuts and I get clips of his interviews too he's just a charmer he is a charming young gentleman

That's number one. Adventure of a Lifetime by Coldplay. I love that song. Every time it comes on shuffle, I'm like, oh, greatest song ever made? Shut out, turn it up. That one in Paradise by Coldplay, two of the best songs ever written, ever made. And then the last two are hosier songs. Y'all fucking hate me.

Y'all hate me. Y'all hate every time I talk about hosier, you hate. Every time I talk about florence of the machine, want to kill me. But I won't stop. I won't stop. And you know, I'm still trying to figure out what my hosier tattoo is going to be, but it's one of those things where, you know, like, I love the Rolling Stones. I love Rosalia, whatever. Those to me are very clearly identifiable things. Like, for Rosalia, Motamami, that was a no-brainer. I had to get Multimami on my, on my sleeve. Rolling Stones, the lips, duh, that's it. For hosier, I have, what I've been like waiting on is I have yet

to find a piece of art to me that is like, that embodies the way he makes me feel, that this embodies his body of work. This embodies what he signifies to me and the layers down to the core of my being that he's impacted me on. There's no singular line of a lyric or an album artwork or his logo

that would mean that. So I've been sure, struggling to find the perfect one. I almost got a tattoo when Harry's house came out of what song is it? Is it keep driving or is it? No, it's grape juice. It's grape juice when he says sitting in the garden. I'm a couple glasses in. That coincided with a lyric from a Beatles song that I've always wanted to get tattooed, which is sitting in an English garden waiting for the rain. And I was like, they're both English gardens. And I'm addicted to that concept of this little,

there's something very whimsical about an English garden. You think about like Peter Rabbit or, what's that? Isn't it called the secret garden? Yeah, the secret garden. And then is not Johnny Depp in it? Neverland? I think that's the name of the movie, Neverland. There's something very whims.

And it also brings me back to my childhood of just being, outside. Imagine me playing outside. I did used to, but I used to, I was acting. Okay. I was using it as a backdrop. I was not on my knees in the mud, digging up worms, or just like that. I was like, obviously, this scene would take place in the forest. That's what I was doing. So the scene that I'm directing, okay, lean against this treat. Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes. And then you're going to be holding this sort of stimmy. You're going to be playing with it just as a sort of, you know, fixation of the hands while you're speaking. That's more so what I was doing. But when it comes to this idea of an English garden,

it's something in my mind that, like, should not exist, and therefore it's a portal to somewhere a bit more mystical. Because the English countryside is so... It's just got this ethereal nature to it, I think. So in English garden, the fact that two of my favorite artists have a similar line, I'm going to get that eventually one day. Like, that's a no-brainer. And that's also an homage, homage, homage, homage to those songs because I love them.

But yeah, for Hozier, it's just difficult for me to try to pinpoint one song or one, because they're all so fucking good. You're spoiled for choice. And it's hard to say which one's impacted me more than another because that's just, it's not how it works with his discography. So I'll keep y'all updated on that anyway. Oh, the Hoseier songs that I'm addicted to right now are anything. but from Unreal on Earth

and Shrike from Wasteland Baby. Damn. That is an album I keep coming back to. I keep coming back to it because it's a work of art. Shrike. And that song is about a

he describes it, but it's about a predatory bird. It's about a bird of prey that's very cute and tiny. And it like impales its meals above its house. or on it's like in a cactus or something i don't know it's like a very um nefarious bird and he writes around this concept of a something so gentle and sweet being a predator um so yeah i love that song and

it's been on repeat lately for no reason i just keep coming back to it okay i think that'll do for me this week go listen to the sun by brittney brosky if you care if y'all even give a shit And then if you want to MoMA, go to Burrsky.com. And Brosky Report merch, we've got that shit on. She's got that shit on, though. And subscribe to this YouTube channel, rate me five stars, please, on Spotify and Apple Music. I haven't asked you all to do that in a long time because I honestly forgot. I've been forgetting.

So, no pressure. Love you guys a lot. I really, really do. Thank you for letting me do this job. Thank you for letting me do this job. It is crazy to think that I ever was doing anything else because this is just, it's it. No, but I mean it. This is the happiest I've ever been, and it is the most fulfilled I've ever been,

and it's the most connected to a community I've ever felt, and I'm just infinite. There are no words. There are no words. The best I can give you is myself, you know, as a form of thanks. I'm going to keep leveling up and I'm going to keep creating because that's what I have to give you

in exchange for your love. So I just, I'm so grateful. And I don't say it enough. Okay, team, with that, fuck off. And I'll see you next week. Bye-bye. Volatility is hitting retirement accounts and savings across the country.

More Americans are exploring physical gold and silver for added diversification during unpredictable economic periods. Preserve gold offers straightforward education on how precious metals can be included in an IRA. Text IHeart to 50505 for your free wealth protection guide and with a qualified purchase, you could receive up to $15,000 in free gold or silver.

I'm U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. The sound of a seatbelt. It's one of the most important sounds in our car. It means everyone is ready and everyone is. is safe. The more our kids see us put on our seatbelts, the more natural it is for them to put theirs on two. Make it a priority. Buckle up every time. Hear the sound? Make it a habit. Paid for by Nitsa. Exima's unrelenting itch and rash. If you know the feeling, you should know the facts. The eczema medication you're taking may not be right for you. Visit my raw truth.com and talk to your

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