The Viall Files - E241 Better Together with Maria Menounos

Episode Date: February 24, 2021

Maria Menounos joins us today for an inspiring conversation about health, energy, miracles and how we are Better Together. Maria talks to us about her and her families struggles with cancer and how having hope is the way to keep yourself in a positive state of mind and body. Her show Better Together focuses on the good you can add to your life and can be found Monday - Thursday on YouTube and Apple podcasts featuring insightful conversations with experts in their fields.  “I would rather live in hope. That is not a denial. It is a true energetic state…” Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode and as always send in your relationship questions to [e-mail] to be a part of our Monday episodes.  THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS: Imperfect Foods: http://www.imperfectfoods.com use code VIALL for 20% off plus free shipping on your first order.  Apostrophe: http://www.apostrophe.com/VIALL use code VIALL to get $15 off your dermatology visit.  Echelon: http://www.echelonfit.com/VIALL  to try any Echelon Fitness equipment at home for 30 days. Function Of Beauty: http://www.functionofbeauty.com/VIALL to take your quiz and save 20% on your first order. Episode Socials:  @viallfiles @nickviall @mariamenounos See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

what's going on everybody hope you're having a wonderful hippity hump day it's wednesday if you are uh dedicated to this show and if it's not wed Wednesday, whatever, honestly, thanks to finally getting to us. And what you're looking for is upside down and on the backside of your page. That's my producer. She gets on my nerves sometimes. Thank God she's not in the room. I'm kidding. I love you, Chrissy. How are you? My loving girlfriend is a big chocolate cookie fan. How are you? My loving girlfriend is a big chocolate chip cookie fan. Just one of the many reasons why she's great.

Then I informed my girlfriend that my mom, in fact, makes the best chocolate chip cookies out there. Yes. There is a place in Milwaukee that does make a really good chocolate chip cookie, but that's literally their job. So I digress. But everyone has a good chocolate chip cookie. So I've learned on the Internet. Boy, everyone's a chocolate cookie expert, according to my Instagram. Everyone's got an opinion on that chocolate cookie. Yeah, honestly, didn't ask for it. But thanks anyways.

Instagram. But I brought in these cookies because I like bragging about my mom to the people in this office. Sorry, Chrissy. You decided to move. I can't imagine why you'd be her favorite son. You moved to montana so that's what happens when you leave us you don't get a cookie that's fine i'll make my own freaking cookie ali and amanda are with us in studio uh part of the social syndicate say hello ladies hi i i uh i brought in cookies. They they are going to their first appearance on this show is to eat this cookie. Now, again, as I mentioned to Natalie, I think it's really important

in a like to establish trust with the audience that, you know, it's a podcast. When you guys do speak, it's important that we we believe you. And at the same time, I don't want you to shame my mother. So I need you to decide. Yeah. So I just want you to shame my mother so i need you to decide yeah so i just want you like honesty mixed with respect so um so yeah they're about to eat the cookie a little asmr kind of is this like is this asmr i know i call a lot of things oh this will be fine all right so we're all gonna eat my mom's chocolate chip cookies on three. One, two, three. I can hear Nick chewing.

No, put it closer to the mic. It is very ASMR. It's great. You guys are doing a good job. How are you doing, Allie? Is it good? Do you think your mom makes good chocolate chip cookies? My mom doesn't bake.

My dad makes amazing chocolate chip cookies. How do they compare? My dad, he uses more like spices in there what okay what how dare you like paprika no no no no just like like like a subtle amount of clothes and nutmeg just to like make the flavor a little bit more complex what yeah they're amazing but these are that's like when people try to get fancy with a pepperoni pizza it's yeah it's like just read the box read the back of the nestle chocolate chips. That's all you need. I don't mean to shame your dad right off the bat.

I'm going to have my dad send cookies. Okay. And you're going to try them. My grandma. We should do that. We should do like a family bake-off. Yeah, we totally should. My grandma makes chocolate.

My sister has a baking service. My sister bakes cookies for a living. She does. Done. She does. Done. She does. Do you like your mom's chocolate chip cookies? Three Creations baking. Do you like her? Does she make good chocolate chip cookies? She does.

Would you tell me the truth if you liked my mom's more? I would. On the show? For your sister to hear? Yeah, I would tell you. I'm not scared of my sister. I stand by my mom's cookies. They're great.

Anywho, we have a great episode for you today. The legendary and wonderful Maria Menounos is with us today to talk about, well, lots of things. Her life, she certainly has had her struggles recently that she's been very open about, about her brain tumor. You know, she's been open about her mom, you know, struggling with the same infliction, brain cancer. She got a great show called Better Together, a daytime podcast show that you can find on YouTube. Just kind of all about self-improvement and how we empower ourselves, empower each other.

And I love that because we're – listen, you've got to focus on yourself first before you focus on others. But through focusing yourself and helping others, we can all be better in the world. And I think the world needs a little bit more of that. But a fantastic conversation with Maria. I hope you enjoy it. Don't forget to send in your questions at asknickatcastmedia.com. Cast with a K. Send in your five-star reviews.

I hope you guys love your mothers as much as I do. And I'm sorry you can't have a mom like me to make cookies for me whenever she's in town. But, hey, we can all be so lucky like I am. I love you, Mom. Anywho, Maria Menounos, everybody. Nick, can we get some sweatshirts? Yeah. Vile files. I love it. Vile files and chill. You seem like the vile files and chill kind of sweatshirts or some crop tops.

Yeah. Some crappies. Yeah. Like it. Where are you? What's that background? L.A.? Yeah, it's Los Angeles. Oh, very nice. And you're in New York, Connecticut, Connecticut. Do you are you? What's that background, LA? Yeah, it's Los Angeles. Oh, very nice. And you're in New York? Connecticut. Connecticut. Do you live there? With my poodle. I've actually spent more time here since the summer than I have in the 15 years of owning this house. I've probably never spent more than a week here in 15 years.

Do you like the snow? So I grew up in Boston. My first 21 years, I think, were Boston. And when I moved to LA, I became a California girl instantly. I was like, I never want to see snow again. So I pretty much didn't. And so I will say after two decades plus of no snow, I am enjoying it. I think it's like novel and it's magical and beautiful right now, but I also am not going anywhere. So I don't have to shovel. I don't have to worry about any of the things that come along with it. I can go outside and make snow angels and then come back into my house.

I guess that's not, I grew up in Wisconsin. So I know the feeling of like hating, like endearing six months or five months or whatever it is of cold and it wears on you. And I've definitely softened since I've lived in LA, but it's been, I missed, I was mentioning to Chrissy, I, I didn't go home this, uh, this holiday season, which I usually do because of COVID. And I definitely missed the week of getting a little bit of cold and showcasing my winter coats only to be able to know I'm coming back. It's really just the winter fashion I'm bummed about. Yeah, you miss your winter fashion. Be honest.

I love hearing a guy talk about the excitement of winter fashion. I feel like I've never experienced that. You know, I'm a unique bird. I, uh, I just kind of embrace it. I, I, I, I do. I, I, I, I'm a, I'm a winter coat snob. I like a good wind. I got a bunch of winter coats, which is great when you live in LA because they're always on clearance. They're like always on sale. And I, one time I went and bought like five,

I went to, uh, uh, which they have the best coats. And I went and bought just like six of them and spent like a nice amount of money. Only like, well, I don't really know what I'm going to wear them, but I got them. And I was really excited about them. And so whatever. They're in my closet. Thanks so much for joining us. I know I have so many coats and nowhere to do it.

Yeah. Of course. Thank you. What are you going to do? Did you, I met you once. I don't know if you remember. I was, I just remember being super nervous. Oh my God.

You were nervous? Yeah. I remember being super awkward. I kind of followed your career for a really long time. And then all of a sudden I was like, I was with some Fred and he was with a group of Fred and he knew some people and you were there and I got awkward. But anyways, I don't, I don't know if you remember, but it was a couple of years ago.

Of course I remember that super awkward moment. So I was, you can confirm that I was just a weirdo. Awesome. Super awkward. Well, yeah, I really appreciate you coming. You're doing so many great things these days. And obviously you've been so, you know, open about your personal life, which I really respect, especially when it's about personal things. You know, for me, I, you know, I have this platform and I try to be open about my personal life, but I,

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this podcast. You know, what, what, what made you want to be so open about the things that are going on in your life, especially like when you were diagnosed with the brain tumor, obviously your mother's health, you've been very open and transparent about, and it's certainly brought a lot of inspiration to a lot of people, but you know, how, how have you kind of toyed back and forth with kind of making those decisions? I don't know if it ever really was a decision. I just am kind of that person. I think, you know, the only hesitation we had was, I remember when I was diagnosed, my very dear friend was like, we got to keep this close to the vest for now. And I was like, okay, yeah, that sounds like a good plan. And then I realized, okay, probably should come out the other side of surgery first before I tell people what's happening, because

I really believe in energy. And although I believe that most people would send great energy, I also worry about the people who wouldn't, and I don't want that interfering with my outcome or my mom's, for example. But, you know, that was the only time that I kind of, you know, kept it quiet. And I think some things have to stay personal for a minute so you can also digest it and really make sense of it before you start talking about it to people. So I feel like for me, I am pretty open about most things unless it's going to hurt somebody. And so, yeah, and I love helping people. And for me sharing our story and sharing the highs and the lows and what's going on and the fears and the hope and the, the, you know, the lessons are, are part of like my mission. I feel like, I feel like I was redirected when these tumors hit into a whole new space. In fact, I was editing a little video today. new space. In fact, I was editing a little video today. We did this healing session on my mom over a week ago. And I don't know what possessed me, but at the end I was like,

mom, what do you think my purpose is? And she goes to help people, Maria. And I was like, oh, I never thought she was going to say that. Like, I didn't know what she was going to say. And I said, well, you're helping me do that, mom. And she's like, I am. And I said, well, you're helping me do that mom. And she's like, I am. And I go, yeah, I go, you are, you're helping me find that way. And so, um, as much as we can share and I'm doing it behind the scenes as well. Like I, I kind of am like a fake doctor now, Nick. So I, um, I have a lot of patients. I'm a fake therapist. So, you know, we have that in common. Oh, perfect. Oh my God. We should share our like accolades and our wall of PhDs and stuff. No, I, ever since I was recovering from surgery, I started coaching other people through their

brain tumor journey and their, and kind of in a way being their health concierge and their health coach, all for good karma, no financial exchanges, just to help people through, you know, one of the most devastating moments of their lives. And I feel like it is my kind of life's mission to help people through this. And I was just dealing with two of my patients today in the middle of my own cry fest, because I was having one of my worst days, I almost had to even cancel today, which I wouldn't normally ever even consider canceling anything. But I just couldn't stop crying. Like it was just like my husband would leave and then I'd heave again and then he would leave and then I'd start heaving again. And so, and that doesn't happen often. I'm usually like in a good state and just some stuff was

starting to kind of digest probably and move around in there. But I'm better now. Well, that's good. I mean, have you always been this level-headed? I don't know if level-headed is the right word, but sometimes when I get anxious or stressed out about, I guess, feels like silly things, especially after listening to you talk about this, or when something, say, serious to you talk about this, or when something say, you know, serious, or you get a scare, you know, it kind of puts things in perspective. Have you

always kind of been this grounded where you've been able to both simultaneously deal with your personal struggles and your family struggles all while being able to give to people kind of outside of your immediate circle? Or is that something you've learned through this personal struggle? I think there has been a lot of growth in the last few years and I've learned and I've really reached out to different spiritual teachers and healers and gurus to kind of get myself into a good place. And that's what my show Better Together is all about too, right? Is finding these experts that will help us on our journey of understanding of healing of all of that. And so I definitely have a training now that helps me in these really kind of excruciating moments. And it started with Tony Robbins seminars. And it's one kind of mantra that stuck with me,

which is life is happening for you, not to you. And so I put everything that happens in life through that filter as it's happening almost in real time life through that filter, um, as it's happening almost in real time. I was like, okay, how is this happening for me? Not to me. It's like a, it's like my bicep. I really like worked really hard. Not this one. Cause this one's really little, but like my imaginary Hulk Hogan, like muscles and I, or the rock we'll go with the rock. Um, or the rock we'll go with the rock um so it's it's been a process to get to a place where like incoming missile okay you get hit you digest and you figure out how you're going to move forward and that's the work that has to be done to to get you to like kind of a more even keeled place do i have my moments like today yes and. And I, I generally will reach out

for help. And Gabby Bernstein was one of the people I was texting with. Ironically, I know your producer, um, knows of her and, and, uh, lives near her. And, uh, Patty Penn, the Reiki master did a session with me about an hour ago where we were talking about how miracles live in the distorted and, you know, everybody else lives in the reality. And I don't want to live in reality. I want to live in the distorted. I want to live in the place where in the quantum field, things are possible and there's limitless limitlessness rather than the limitations that the real world will put on you and tell you, oh, it's terminal. Oh, this person has a month to live. I don't want to live there. So I'm constantly finding ways to kind of hack the system through energy work. I've been using my mom almost like a guinea pig in a sense where

I'm like, okay, we're going to try this out. Let's see if it works. And then it's like, holy shit, it worked. Oh my God, this is amazing. And you know, it's like a real time journey. And I always say, you can't, you can't control what's going to happen, right? I have no idea what God is going to do, but I know that I have to walk it out on this plane. And my walking out is going to be different. My walking out is going to be as jovial and hopeful as possible. And that's going to serve me and my mom and the people around me more than me being in that desperation of, oh my God, we might only have a month left. And this is just horrible.

And woe is us and poor us when the rest of the world is fucking suffering too. It's not just us. So I want to be the one that helps spread hope because I believe in miracles. They happen every single day and radical miracles happen. I did an episode on radical remission just the other day to remind people that there are some things that are common in the people who have had success with stage four or terminal diseases. There are nine common denominators between those people that Kelly Turner studied. And why not reach for that? So that's me.

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Do you hear the passion in Chrissy's voice? Pay attention. Yeah. I get to pick my own color so I know which one is which. I get to pick my own scent. I use eucalyptus. I get to pick what ingredients go in it because I filled out their survey. So it helps me with my split ends. It helps me with my dry hair. It's really cold here in Montana. It helps me us back in the day there's only one of us and shampoo there's only one special shampoo for us and the only way you can get the shampoo that's made for us because

we're special is through function of beauty never buy off the shelf shampoo just to be just disappointed ever again go to function of beauty.com slash v-i-a-l to take your quiz and save 20 off your first order. That applies to their full range of customized hair, skin, and body products. Go to functionofbeauty.com slash V-I-A-L-L to let them know we sent you, and you get 20% off your first order. Functionofbeauty.com slash V-I-A-L-L. I also just love the title of your show, Better Together.

I was thinking about that this morning before I was thinking about this interview. And it's obviously a great title. It seems simple. But yet, in a way, I feel like especially our world today, we are either very selfish in our own world and our own needs of like, okay, I need to self-improve myself. Or we're all more common these days pointing the finger and telling people how they can and should do better. And yet we're, we're not enough kind of combining this, like, you know, self-reflection on things we need to do better all while working with other people who, you know, we all have our struggles and then finding out how can we do this together? Whatever the, whatever, whatever it is, you know, uh, uh, you know, the, you know, the things that

we are struggling with, personal struggles, health, um, you know, different beliefs and things like that, or our own ignorance. And, uh, yeah, it's just nice to see that kind of mindset that you are kind of bringing to your show. Is that something you've always done in terms of being able to kind of be accountable first? You know, because I feel like when someone who says together, they first understand their own issues, but also want to help people rather than, you know, like I said, it's either me or pointing fingers. And I don't know, I just think that's kind of great. We really can't do it alone, right? Life. We can't do life alone. Really. We're meant to be together in one capacity or another, right? We're all supposed to help each other and, you know,

better together. We have so many moments where something will happen. We're like, oh my God, see, we're better together. We're better together. And it, it just is so true. If we all come together, we can all help each other. We all have something the other person doesn't have that can fill in the gap or can put the puzzle together. And, um, I'm a team player. I love team sports, team, everything. Right. team sports team everything right and uh and i i don't like working alone on anything i like being with a team i you know a week ago like i said i put the justice league of super healers together for my mom i'm like yeah i can try to do this by myself but how much more energy would come together if we brought everybody together and so you know you know, it's, it's fun. That's why think tanks are fun, right? You get all these great minds together. We are better

together in all areas. And so it's a nice reminder that we are all one and that we should be working together, not against each other. It is a great reminder. And especially now more than ever, because it feels like there's a lot of working against each other these days. Do you believe in miracles, Nick? Do I believe in miracles? That's a great question. I'm a bit of a natural born skeptic, but that doesn't mean I don't believe in it. I definitely believe in energy. It's interesting. I grew up really really religious i come from a very strong catholic family like you know priests and nuns were all over my childhood and and i had a great child it was great but i'm not it you know i'm still i still have a faith-based life i'm not as religious as i am spiritual which i never thought i would say like when i was younger i'd be like

oh god the people who call themselves spiritual but when when you like it is, I think early in my dating life, you know, the first time I felt someone else's energy is kind of like the first time I was like in love where you're you're standing next to a person and you're like six inches apart and you can literally kind of feel their presence. kind of feel their presence. And it was like, this is a tangible thing, right? And I think that was kind of the first time ever I felt energy, right? Or I've always... My biggest thing that I've missed about with the pandemic going on is I'm more introverted than extroverted. I'm kind of like on the amount of teeter, but even my introverted side, I miss people's energy. Like I miss going to movie theaters and And so, you know, when I hear people say they believe in energy, like that's, that's, I've always kind of, when I've, I got to the point in my life where I started kind of questioning things I was raised on or just started thinking for myself, it was like, that was the one thing I always knew I still believed in because, well, I felt it. I felt that thing around us. And where does that energy go? Um, you know, after we die, so to speak, if that, if that makes sense and you know, miracles, I definitely, I believe in

miracles, but yeah, because I think the unexplainable can happen. I think, uh, yeah, I, yeah, I do, I guess within reasons, but I don't believe in ghosts. I know people get bummed at me when I say I don't believe in ghosts. I don't know. I don't have an opinion either way. It doesn't matter. I mean, I believe in them, I guess, but like, yeah, I think it's good to be a skeptic. I think I'm like skeptical and then I have to just keep asking questions as a journalist and like I keep, keep, keep, keep, keep. And then I also just listen to my gut and my intuition too yeah and if something feels really good I'm like okay this feels really good I'm gonna go with it it's but that's the thing because like sometimes the it is it's a balance right because when I was younger when I

like people always talk about like with breakups like in relationships and you know if you have a bad breakup you come become obsessive about that relationship and you're just like I don't know why I'm always looking at the clock at 4 23 because that was my ex-girlfriend's birthday it must be a sign you know like sometimes we look for signs and then we kind of just manifest it by like obsessing over like why do I only see a silver Ford focus nowadays? Because, you know, and at that, and I would always tell myself that was like the signal of the miracle that I was hoping for to get back together. And I, once I kind of realized that I was just being obsessive, I, it was something that I kind of told myself,

I almost had to police myself in terms of those not calling those things miracles you know what i'm saying so that it's so that it was i was almost kind of trying to give more respect to the things that are in fact miracles not just trying to get what i wanted in the moment if that makes sense because i I just kind of, I remember, I remember it was when I was really young and I was saying this to myself, I was, I was almost kind of forcing it, you know? And I was, and I wasn't one, I didn't want to accept the lesson I needed to learn in the moment or, or the lesson, you know, you know, I was kind of being stubborn and saying, well, no, no, no, this is what I want. So I'm just going to, I'm going to call these things like aha moments that were really just

me being stubborn. But it's good that you understand the difference and that you've spent the time to kind of take stock in it all. And, and I mean, that's what the journey is all about, right? We're just learning and growing. Yeah. Are you, are you a religious person? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I grew up Greek Orthodox and going to church and singing in church choir

and all of that. Yeah. Yeah. Miracle. I'm going to spend the rest of my day thinking about believing in miracles and what miracles mean to you. I guess that's a good question. I think miracles mean a lot of different things with a lot of different people. Um, like what for you, like, what do you practice? Like, uh, like appreciation for the things you see around the day in terms of, you know, like just the miracle of life, not, you know, their sunsets, the miracle of coffee. Yeah. Honestly, that's the best smell there is. It's so funny. But yeah, like what does that mean to you in terms of a miracle? For the people who I'm sure are listening, who are maybe our skeptics are like, oh, you know, like sometimes

we, I've learned to embrace untraditional points of view in a lot of ways in my life. Because when you grow up one way, you know, your parents teach you this is, you know, especially when you grew up in a religious household, like these are the miracles you're looking out for. These are okay to believe in. Yes. This is nuts. And I'm like, wait, mom, like, I don't know who's right or wrong,

but I'm pretty sure that's also sounds pretty nuts. who's right or wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's also sounds pretty nuts. And so how have you, how have you been able to discern like what a miracle means to you? For me, it's just when the unexplainable happens, like when something is beyond comprehension, you know, when, you know, and, and by the way, like you can get super nitty gritty with it because, you know, for example, I took my mom to this facility in Mexico when they said her tumor was growing. And I said, okay, we're going to try something else. And while we were there, we met a lot of people who were sent home, told there was nothing

left that they could do for them. And within this facility in Mexico, and I have episodes on this, it's called Baja Medgate. They're incredible. Within these facilities, you hear stories of so many people who had complete turnarounds and part of the protocol there. I mean, there are a lot of things you can take part in. It's got a menu of things you can do, but a lot of it is optimizing the immune system, a lot of, you know, vitamin drips and clean, healthy, you know, diets and such, coffee enemas, I mean, all kinds of stuff. And they'd go back to their doctors in the States and they would say, we must have misdiagnosed you because we don't see any tumors or anything. And you're like, wow, what a miracle, but is it a miracle, right? Or is it just a different treatment that we're not, um, accepting

of, or that our system isn't allowing for, or we haven't researched enough or whatever, but I'm comfortable saying that that's a miracle. I'm comfortable saying that my mom is a miracle. You know, she has stage four brain cancer and has for over four and a half years now. And had I read the statistics, Nick, in the, in the beginning, maybe they would have crippled me and allowed me to believe in those limitations as well. But luckily I was smart and I didn't because the statistics will say she has six to 12 months and she's completely beaten all the odds, but it's because God first, I always say, and then second is her will and her, her belief. And then third is she's got like me behind the scenes being like, okay, we're going to try this. We're going to try that. And we're going to do this and we're going to do that.

And and we're not quitting. We're not giving into all of that. And so she beat covid in November and she got covid, too. She got covid, too. Both of my parents, Nick, right before Thanksgiving, two days before Thanksgiving, both come down with COVID. I was like dirty Harry, but with two hospitals. And so I had one at Cedars, one at UCLA, and it was a really challenging time. I try to refrain from the word nightmare, but it was really challenging. And she beat that too. And, you know, you don't hear that a lot before that I would hear type one diabetics. Like my dad at 76 would be gone. He made it too. Um, now I think that's a pretty big miracle. Um, so yeah, I think there are a lot of different

definitions, but it's kind of just like that unexplainable that that thing you never expected. And most people would generally not expect. Well, while you're talking, I was thinking, I want is there like a is there have there been studies on like hope of a science of hope? Because like hope is a real thing. You talked about like positive energy, positive affirmation. positive energy, positive affirmation. Even hearing you tell that story, not knowing your mom at all, or I'm sure there's so much about your mom's past four years that, you know, your attitude towards what your mom's going through, no doubt has played a significant role in your mom still being with us today. Right. I mean, that's, it's, I don't like, you talk about energy, like that's, yeah, you can't convince me otherwise. And, but that hope, I mean, there's always this quote from like Shawshank Redemption and like holding

on to hope and, and things like that. But I wonder if there's like an actual study that people have done and what that does for our bodies and our mind. And it allows us us to to keep going and surviving you know uh i don't know i just feel like there's some real i'm gonna look at that i'm gonna look at that because i know that there was like a magazine i kept a long time ago called the science of happiness and they've done studies on happiness we had that we had him on our podcast uh that he taught no way yeah he i don't know if the same guy but he taught the most popular class. It was. Yeah. Tall Ben Shahar from Harvard. Great. We talked about the signs of happiness. Now he's at Columbia. Yeah. Oh my God. Well, you guys, I need that episode. Send it to me.

Yeah. I don't know if there's a study on hope, but I just always tell people, you know, why not? Like what, what do you gain from despair? Right. Be like, here's the thing, what do you gain from despair? Right. Be like, here's the thing, like my oncologist the other day, I think he's trying to make sure that I'm also being realistic. And I keep telling him, I don't want to be realistic. That doesn't give me anything. Now I'm prepared for anything because I know I have no control over the outcome, but I would rather live in hope. And that's not a denial. That's a true energetic state. That is something that is, is tangible and, and energetically sends waves around someone. That's why when someone tweets out, like when my parents were diagnosed with COVID, I just, I was crippled. And I literally like

was getting off a plane, got all these text messages when I landed and my legs were taken out from underneath me. I couldn't even stand. And it was like, your mom just got rushed to the hospital unresponsive. And I'm like, and so I just, all I knew to do is to tweet out for help. I said, please pray for us. Like I need help. And, and I know that that helps because that's like millions of people who are just now praying for you. That's an energetic, like wavelength that comes and we all do it because we know it helps. So I believe in hope and I believe in miracles. And, and I, I think that that's the best way to go for you health wise. I mean, listen, there's so many ailments that people suffer with for so long and it takes its toll on the caregivers and the people around them. So why would you,

why would you want to also tax yourself and get yourself sick when you could stay in a much more beautiful state, right? Our states are so important, meaning like, you know, how we are feeling. And if we're depleted and in despair and in fear, nothing good is coming to us either. And then who's going to be there to help the person who really needs us? Yeah, totally. I really appreciate you sharing that. What are some things you do like, you know, other than maybe drinking coffee, which really does it for me too. But like when you're feeling this and you feel that despair,

do you have any like just Maria things that you do that are simple that, you know, just little things you enjoy to kind of allow you to kind of get out of that space of fear and get back into that kind of more of a space of hope other than, you know, you mentioned putting it out there, asking for people, but just like things that you do little exercises or things that you enjoy that just allow you to kind of appreciate where you're at in the moment. Cause I know I struggle with that. That's for sure.

Yeah, I think like this morning, you know, it was just hitting me in waves. It was like Tyson just kept knocking me in the chest. And I surrendered to it as much as I could because another thing is, you know, you're always trying to hold yourself together and not cry, but I'm like, no, no, no. I haven't released like this in a while. I got to let it out. So let it all out. Um, reach out for help. You got to know, like, it's almost like you have

to know who you're like spiritual nine one, one person is. Um, and you know, Gabby Bernstein ended up texting me, but meanwhile I was thinking of her cause I'm like, I should reach out to her. Patty Penn. Um, I reached out to her and I said, I'm just in an, you know, a really bad state and I just can't stop crying. And she's like, well, let's do a meditation session with you and a healing session with you. And I was like, okay, okay, I can do that. And one of the things that I learned from Tony that was really helpful is, well, a couple of things. So motion equals emotion. So when you are in despair and you are really fearful and you are feeling really badly,

get out and move your body, walking, running, whatever's going to like make you happy. I love walking and just being in nature. It reminds you also of like how small you are and compared to everything that's going on. It's like a humbling experience. It's also refreshing. It gets oxygen into your body. Um, always, always helps change my state and then focus equals feelings. So at some point, if you're going to continue to focus on this, you're going to continue to feel this. And then you can just start going lower and lower and deeper and deeper. And that's also not a good place to, it's not a good destination, right? Like I want to go to, you know, the Bahamas. I don't want to go to hell. Like I want to go into those like deep, dark places. And so, um, I think that at some point you got to shut the faucet off and say, okay, what am I going to do?

So for me, I went into that little like meditation session and that helped me. Um, I'll listen on YouTube to something inspirational or spiritual. Um, and I'll just literally put in there, like what to do when you're in despair, what to do when you're terrified and like things will pop up and you'll listen to it. And if it's not the right one, you go to the next one. Um, those are some of the things that I do that are my go-tos to kind of help me. And then once you, you know, you get, it's like you once foot in front of the other, right? Just put one foot in front of the other and you keep going. And then all of a sudden you're on next podcast and you're like, Whoa, I thought I was gonna have to cancel. because I literally couldn't stop fucking crying. But here

I am now because I put one foot in front of the other. When my mom was rushed to the hospital, my dad and my husband had gone out to get COVID tested because the day before the caretaker had gotten sick. So I was like, oh shit. So I was like, everyone's going to get a COVID test tomorrow. My mom was too weak to go. So my husband and my dad left and my housekeeper was with my mom. And that's when my mom went unresponsive. She called 911. When 911 showed up, Violetta didn't know what to tell them. Like, what is she allergic to and certain things? I created a solution because I am the solution queen. And so I created a medical manual that everyone must have in their lives. I created it and it's like everything you need to know about you or your loved one, social security numbers, date of births, prescriptions that they're on, allergies, doctors, everything, your answer key to your medical life in a binder in your kitchen. So you can rip it out because you're going to have extra copies in there, rip it out and hand it to the EMT and

never have to worry. They have everything they need, right? They were giving my mom penicillin at the hospital. They didn't know she was allergic to it. Okay. Until I landed and was able to, you know, rectify everything. So I made those, I made those things too. And you can actually make them make, take one, make it smaller and then put them in their wallets too. So if anything happens when you're not around, I put it in my dad's wallet. And so my dad passed out somewhere and then they, they found it in his wallet and they had all the information. It's a good spot. And here's an example of why we're better together, Chrissy, because I needed to know that.

My dad's type one diabetic and has a lot of those issues. So now I'm going to shrink this shit down and put it in his wallet thanks to you. So if you want my medical manual, if you go to my website and I'm not promoting this, I'm literally just sharing this because I think it's important. If you go to mariamannunos.com, subscribe to my newsletter, you'll get the medical manual. And I also have a life manual. That's pretty kick-ass too. So someone could literally run your life.

This was another thing. I had brain surgery and I'm like, who's going to run everything? I run everything. So I created this Bible that basically you give to someone and they can do everything and anything that comes their way without you. So you can actually heal and rest. So I have all of that there, but Nick, you gotta get it and you've got to fill it out for your family because there is nothing worse than in your crippling moment, trying to figure this stuff out and remember it and gather it.

And when they're just needing to get them to the hospital, now they can get to the hospital faster. It's like, here, I already thought of everything. It's here, go. Yeah. I was looking at your Instagram and you had a recent post talking about taking your power back or holding onto power specific to women.

It's something I've been trying to beat into my audience constantly, especially like in dating situations and how like you know I actually did I did an interview yesterday and they were asking me about playing hard to get and and and whether a tactic works and and and I just kind of changed it and talked about like we just listen dating is about a power dynamic you know we have to recognize that even like when we're swiping right as soon as we match with someone that we're excited about we feel in secret like we don't know how they feel about us we we lose that and we spend so much time focusing on trying to get validation that we we lose that power that we have or the things that

we bring to a table in a dating situation. But you talk so much about women in the workplace and something that you realized early on. And, and, and I thought about, wow, I mean, even you were talking about how you wish you had done better, uh, with that early in your life. And yet you've been dominating as a woman in an industry that hasn't always had women dominate in it. And, you know, we're, what are some things that you could mention that, you know, were helpful for you to realize and how you have focused on kind of the respect, respect your own power that you bring to any situation,

especially when you're facing say men in the workplace because that, you know, that can be intimidating. Yeah. It's, it's so funny because in the workplace because that, you know, that can be intimidating. Yeah. It's, it's so funny because there's, there's, you know, kind of like me who can push and like, you know, is, is, you know, is, and can be like very unafraid to, you know, sometimes people are like, Oh my God, I'm so this, but I'm also this, it's so hard to like reconcile, but there's the way I was raised too. So the way I was raised was Maria, you always gotta be a good girl. Okay, cool. I'm gonna be a good girl. Um, and then don't fight with the people, you know, basically like just be submissive and like do your job and be quiet and whatever. And it's hard because they're raising me like that,

but yet that's not necessarily me. Like, I'm like, wait, we should be doing this and that. And Oh my God, I have this idea and all of that. And, and then on top of it, you know, when you, when you're like, my dad was very strict and I was terrified of him. So now what I've learned in the journey is your family dynamic just gets shifted into your relationships, your work relationships. Everything is just like your, your, your life is just high school continued and your family continued. Right. But just different characters now. And so I was, I would like crumble with authority in the workplace. I would cry. I was

like, so scared. And, and I had a lot of cruel situations too, where I would ask for like my vacation, like a simple thing. Can I take my one week off, you know, March 3rd through the 10th, you don't have vacation. Wait, what? No, you don't have vacation. And the email will come back. I'm like, no, no, no, I do. In my contract, I have, you know, five weeks vacation. No, you don't. Talk to this person. Oh, okay. So then I go to the other person. Can I get my week off? Why are you coming to me? Well, because this person said that I need to come to you. No. I'm like, okay, so go back to, so I copied and pasted my contract. It actually is here. And they make you think that you're wrong and play all this, you

know, gaslighting shit on you. And you're like, wait, here it is. No, no, you know, until they tire you out and you can't even get your week off. It was like chaos and madness. And so, I mean, that's like one kind of like silly example, I guess. But the truth is, is that I did realize that I was giving away so much of my power by making them have power over things that were important, like having to, you know, take care of a health situation or whatever, like to go to the doctor, it's like the guilt that you feel to take a day off. Um, and some of it's self-imposed, which, you know, in that post that you saw, I'm taking my responsibility for it. It's my fault. I should have been able to say, no, this is what I need. This is what I'm going to do. Because as I've had employees of my own, the same thing happens when they come to me and they're like, I need to go. Okay. Go. Of course. Like never going to hold you back. In fact, how can I help you in the journey? Um, but you have to know that you have power. It's like Dorothy and the wizard of Oz. She had the power all along. All she had to do was click her own heels. So, um, it's really important to realize that you

have to matter. And if you don't, if you're not in a situation where you do, it's obviously not the right one. Now I knew that in a lot of situations, but I had to wait till I could get the fuck out. You kind of blew my mind with that whole Wizard of Oz thing. I was like, holy shit, that's what that was about. I just realized that it was about having it was no, it's great. It was like, have you, she had the power the whole time. And that's the auto metaphor for so many of us have all like, we, we, we sell ourselves short so often and in so many situations that, uh, like you, you can do this. Like you just have to believe and know that you have it and give yourself credit.

And then you make sure that you're expecting other people in your circle to respect the power that you bring to the table. And yet we we it's very easy to be intimidated and to forget that we have it and to utilize it. So, yeah, that's that's great. Before I let you go, this has been all been just amazing and inspiring and thoughtful. We like to play a fun game with our guest if you're down to play. I love games. It's called Do You Know Me? It's real simple.

Okay. We want to know if we know you, especially after talking to you for a good 55 minutes. So we're going to ask you questions. Does Maria like this? Has Maria done that? Et cetera, et cetera. Don't answer right away. Myself, Amanda, Allie, and Chrissy

are going to guess. And if you, it can be a simple yes or no question. If you have an anecdotal story that goes along with your answer, please feel free to share okay so you're gonna ask the question i'm staying silent and we'll confirm or deny correct yeah so do you know me with maria menounos question number one does maria like talking to their Uber driver?

Does Maria to your Uber driver? I thought the question was, do you actually like talking? I was like, my dad used to say, Maria, you talk too much. Well,

it's interesting because I too like talking. I'm a long winded talker I like to talk I don't like talking to my Uber drivers I I think Maria is Friendlier than I am Definitely

Definitely friendlier than you are Well I'm not This is not an attack on me I'm not saying you're not friendly I'm just saying You'd probably rather Be on your phone During your Uber ride

But you don't have to Laugh at me When I say it I feel like Maria I'm gonna say Maria Does talk to her Uber driver Yeah I feel like She leaves the Uber

And is like Good luck with your Uncle's knee replacement surgery And I'm sending Best wishes Alright but I wanna Point out that it says Does Maria like to?

Here's what I think is the real answer. I think Maria, like me, is a busy person. She has a lot going on. And sometimes we like to find those moments where we can unwind. And sometimes an Uber or a car is one of those things. However, she is kind and thoughtful and will, like Amanda said, engage in that person's life and make them feel heard. And

she's good at being present and she is willing more than she likes to is my answer. I think you're all right in your ways, Amanda. Very astute observation. My mission is to help people. So I especially enjoy the challenge of a cranky Uber driver that I can shift his or her energy. And I've been known to done that. Yeah. Well, to me, it's like all experiments. Like I said, let's see if we can shift his energy or her energy. Let's see if we can make them, you know, have a better rest of their day or whatever. So I do do that from time to time. I feel it out. Sometimes I get in the car and I will kind of feel the vibe. And if I don't want to engage, then I won't. But more often than not, I love people and I love talking to people and getting to know their stories. And

I think it's what keeps us grounded in reality. And we get to, we get to hear other perspectives. So I'm in limo drivers, not as much i've had some bad experiences in that one and so um i've had limo drivers get violent and crazy if i don't speak to them and and so i don't know why they they have this entitlement thing that they that i'm supposed to so then i think because of those little traumas i'm less i have to speak in a limo but you know if a car if a if a show sends me a car service i'm like uh can it be somebody i know i love um but yeah uber more often than not yeah i'll chat do you know do you know your uber rating

i was very disappointed with my uber rating ones i have not seen it since and i haven't used in a long time but wait people get uber ratings what yes i have i have a perfect almost perfect one i didn't know that when you think you're a nice person chrissy and then you look at your uber rating you slam one door they can write us I thought you only like you know it goes both ways and I've learned I've learned no heavy size in an uber because that's how I I know how I got my uber rating it's wait hold on when they go the wrong way and I I sigh at them and like a kind of a passive aggressive approach yeah got me in trouble well well they'll get mad um if you cancel like you lose points and sometimes i have to cancel

because shit changes so quick so i think mine i mean gosh i have to think mine is all due to that but i haven't looked at it in a while 263 points what3 points. What is it? Oh, oh, here it is. 4.85. It's pretty good. Okay. It's pretty good. I think that's what, I think I was somewhere in there, but I was like, why am I not a five? Oh, no. My mind is blown.

Now I'm going to have so much anxiety in an Uber. I was hovering around like a four or five. Will. Yeah. I'm like, I was like a 4.5. Chrissy, you are going to have so much anxiety now that you know, I haven't gotten an Uber since COVID because I'm scared. But, um, but before that, and once I found out, I really had a lot of anxiety around it and I was really careful because you know, we're like type a, like we want,

yeah, we want everything to be good. I haven't had an Uber in God knows how long, but I'm going to LA next week and now I'm going to have anxiety in every Uber I'm in. God, it's so much pressure. Good question though. I like this. All right, Chrissy. I know we have to move on. You're going to be okay. You're going to be okay. Question number three. Is it three? Two?

Two. We're only on two. All right. It's my fault. Has Maria ever muted one of their friends on Instagram? And I mean like a friend. I don't mean like a friend through Instagram. Oh, shit. Maria, you don't know the rules of Instagram. So I'm going to go with no.

So yeah, I'm going to go with no. I'm going to go with no. Okay, moving on. Question number three. Has Maria ever named their car? Yes. Yes. I know she still has You still have your car

That you first moved Like you restored a car What it tells me The red one You have an Apple red Chevrolet Is it

Candy apple red Corvair convertible 1962 And what's her name Have we gotten Everyone's answer? What do you ladies have to say? Amanda?

I think the answer is yes, but I'm going to say no to keep things interesting. Okay. I feel like it's up to the car at this point. Like if it gave her the energy that it wanted to be named, she would maybe listen to that. Yeah, the car. The car. I'm going to say yeah. Nope.

No! Yes! Amanda wins. Nope. No! Yes! Amanda wins. No. I love cars, by the way. I'm like car crazy. They are gendered. Generally, like mine are girls.

I'm like, oh, that's my girl. I love my girl or whatever. But yeah, they're gendered most of the time, but not named. Question number four. Has Maria ever been stood up on a date hard to believe uh that she would be hard to believe um but i feel like everyone's had that happen yeah i feel like everyone has but i'm gonna still say no i'm gonna say yes i think yes because people in la are bad yeah someone bailed on your research chrissy come on where's your research i've been with the same person my

entire adult life 22 years you never went on a date in high school or anything where they didn't show up allowed to date till i was 18 and i remember i said i was terrified of my dad so i can count on one hand how many dates i ever went on and that was my freshman year of college most of them were greek boys and um no setups wow okay so that's a no never no this is so fun i love this game two two left two left uh can maria name four players in the national baseball hall of fame i know you're a sports fan hey come on of course you can why don't i say yeah too i mean baseball is my least favorite sport but i mean babe ruth yeah okay um uh if i pick a yankee and i can't find a red sock right now i'm gonna cry um you said the baseball hall of fame right baseball hall of fame oh this is gonna get ugly

um you can do this uh oh um the ted williams yeah boston red sox there you go well done arguably the best hitter of all time okay i just remembered the tunnel ted when ted williams tunnel so i i went with that one um i'm trying to think of like recent ones have been someone recently someone recently passed away who um yes shit i loved him i just saw him in a documentary too uh oh uh uh shit i know his name and i can't remember right now oh he got the coke the coca-cola deal he was the coca-cola guy and he was in the black godfather amazing documentary on netflix yes excellent documentary did you see it oh it's So great. Shit, what was his name? Come on.

Okay, let's go to like Derek Jeter. Wasn't he put in there yet? Is he in? Yeah, he's in. He's in already. Okay. He's in. So you got two more.

No, one more. I listed three. Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, and Derek Jeter. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Yeah, one more. Okay. One more. Babe Ruth, Ted Williams I'm sorry, I'm sorry, yeah, one more Okay, one more Oh, let's think of my

dream Red Sox team Oh, David Ortiz If you don't say Big Puffy, I was going to lose my mind Alright You were also thinking Hank Aaron I thought you were going say wade boggs wade boggs would have been a great choice too yeah what was the guy's name hank aaron hank aaron yeah yeah yeah hank aaron and there's okay i did it you did your job and last question

does maria know how to drive a stick shift yes yes yes my answer is yes yes yes yes my answer is yes she's from yeah i i think your your lady's generation no one learns it anymore but i think marie and i are like the last of the it's like a rite of passage just in case i'm of your generation this is this game older than you This game isn't about you Kristen Do the youngins not drive sticks? I don't think any I don't even think No

I think it's a lost art It's a lost art Not even a thing Like writing So fun Like cursive Cursive Cursive and stick shift

Just gone by the wayside Yeah Yeah Maria No cursive That's so funny Thank you so much for joining us I really appreciate you

taking the time, especially everything that you have going on in your life. Can you remind our listeners where they can find you, get more of the information you're putting out in the world? Of course. You can find me every single day, Monday through Thursday on Better Together with Maria Menounos on YouTube or Apple Podcasts. Subscribe. It will be worth your time and your listen. We like to change lives and help lives. And we have a lot of fun doing it too.

I think I'm going to steal your Uber segment though, because I think that's just a lot of fun. And you can find us on Instagram at Maria Menounos or at Better Together with Maria. Awesome. We really appreciate it again for taking the time. Thank you guys for listening. Reviews, Apple, iTunes, all that fun stuff. Send in your questions at asknick at castme.com, cast with a K for Ask Nick episodes.

And other than that, we hope you have a great rest of your week. Bye-bye. Bye.