The Most Eye Opening Conversation of Your Life

215 snips

Jan 26, 2026

Ocean Vuong, award-winning poet, novelist, and MacArthur fellow, reflects on grief, dignity, and reclaiming voice. He talks about using language to heal, finding beauty amid hardship, reshaping self-talk through beloved texts, and redefining what truly counts in life. Short, tender, and quietly powerful, the conversation invites gentleness, community, and living with care.

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INSIGHT

Reclaim Language To Regain Dignity

Language can be weaponized to humiliate but also reclaimed to restore dignity.
Ocean Vuong uses deliberate language to reconfirm self and communal dignity every day.

ANECDOTE

Tomatoes, Shame, And Motivation

Ocean recounts childhood poverty moments like watching his mother reassign tomatoes at the grocery store.
Those memories turned shame into the motor that propelled his learning and work.

ADVICE

Rewrite Your Inner Language Daily

Break habitual evasive language and allow yourself to say honestly, "I'm not okay."
Copy favorite poems or uplifting lines by hand daily to reprogram your internal language like secular prayer.

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In today’s episode, you’re going to hear a conversation that will help you find meaning again - especially if you’ve been feeling lost, stuck, stretched thin, or quietly wondering, “Does any of this even matter?”

Joining Mel is Ocean Vuong - one of the most acclaimed writers of our time and the bestselling author of On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous.

His newest book, The Emperor of Gladness, moved Mel so deeply she knew she had to bring him on the podcast - because Ocean has a rare gift: he puts words to feelings you’ve had, but never knew how to say out loud.

Ocean is an award-winning poet, a MacArthur Fellowship “Genius Grant” recipient, and a professor at NYU. He writes and speaks about grief, love, identity, hardship, and hope with an honesty that doesn’t just hit… it stays with you.

This episode is an invitation to pause, reset, and reconnect with yourself. It will help you stop judging where you are, release the pressure you’re carrying, and remember that you don’t need to become someone else to be worthy - or to build a meaningful life.

Even if you’ve never read Ocean’s work, this conversation will feel like someone finally handed you the words you’ve been searching for.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

-How to find meaning even when you’re behind in life

-How to move through grief without shutting down and let beauty exist alongside pain

-Why chasing who you “should” be is keeping you stuck and how to come back to yourself

-How to reconnect with yourself when you’ve been in survival mode for too long

-How to feel calmer and more grounded when life feels uncertain

- How to reprogram your mind for more positive thinking

By the end of this episode, you’ll feel more hopeful, more centered, and more at peace with where you are - with permission to be exactly who you are, right now.

For more resources related to today’s episode, click here for the podcast episode page.

If you liked the episode, check out this one next: Why You Feel Lost in Life: Dr. Gabor Maté on Trauma & How to Heal

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