0:00

We are going to win. We're not

0:02

going to lose. Our planet is at its breaking

0:04

point. The industry is in denial. The

0:06

politicians are selling us out to industry.

0:09

Plastic is the nightmare

0:11

gift that never stops giving. Welcome

0:15

to Lemonado Media's latest series, Discarded,

0:17

in partnership with Only One, hosted

0:19

by me, Gloria Riviera. Join

0:22

us on our journey through the past, present, and

0:24

future of plastic.

0:25

Out now.

0:32

Lemonade.

0:36

Think about a moment that changed you. A

0:38

time when you look back and realize, one day I was

0:41

myself and the next day I wasn't. On

0:43

the previous seasons of Last Day, we've explored

0:45

deep, complex societal issues like

0:48

opioids, suicide, and guns. This

0:50

season, we're giving you the listeners

0:53

the microphone. Each week

0:55

on the new season of Last Day, Stephanie

0:57

Whittleswack sits down with a new guest to explore

1:00

happy, sad stories of survival, resilience,

1:02

and transformation. We'll

1:04

unpack the moment that changed them, fundamentally

1:07

and forever, and how they learned to move through

1:09

it. You're

1:10

about to hear a trailer for the new season of

1:12

Last Day.

1:13

After you finish, search for Last Day and

1:15

listen to the first episode out now. You

1:18

can also find a link in the episode notes.

1:21

Have you ever been

1:24

going about your life minding

1:26

your own business and then boom, something

1:29

happens and suddenly everything

1:32

is different? And the second

1:35

I hit the front steps of my house, I

1:37

just collapsed. Totally lost

1:39

consciousness. Last day

1:41

from Lemonado Media is a show about the

1:43

moments that change us fundamentally

1:46

and forever. The stuff

1:48

that's hard to understand, much less

1:50

talk about. I remember just

1:52

standing in the shower

1:53

and saying to myself, your brother

1:55

is dead. Your brother is dead. moment

1:58

or like this shower.

2:00

oddly, is like the dividing line

2:02

between when he was alive for you and

2:05

now he's dead. I'm

2:07

your host Stephanie Whittleswax and

2:09

I too have had to repeat those

2:12

same words to myself. Even

2:14

eight years later the fact that my

2:16

little brother Harris died of an overdose still

2:19

doesn't seem real. But it's what

2:21

propelled me to make this show in the first place.

2:23

And for

2:26

three seasons, we've explored massive

2:28

epidemics with alarming numbers

2:30

that keep trending up. Opioids.

2:33

Suicide. Guns. Big,

2:37

heavy stuff. But

2:39

no matter the topic, the heart of

2:41

last day has always been people

2:44

sharing their stories. Sharing

2:46

those lightning bolt moments that have changed them

2:48

in an instant. they were in

2:50

the before times and how they have found

2:52

a way to exist

2:54

in the after. So

2:56

now on Last Day, we are throwing

2:59

the script out the window, literally. Instead

3:02

of having a dozen voices on every

3:04

episode, I'll sit down with one

3:06

new guest each week to hear their

3:08

stories of survival, resilience,

3:11

and transformation.

3:12

How do

3:14

you start coping with this new identity, with this

3:16

new reality? and

3:19

alcohol. And

3:22

those things, like I think we all see

3:24

them as such negative things, and they are because

3:26

they lead to such horrible things.

3:28

Inevitably, it's a progression, right, with

3:31

those things. But for me at the time, they

3:34

were my only tools. They were my best friends.

3:37

That was how I lived. And

3:39

then it was really just as many as

3:42

I could get my hands on, and I

3:44

needed to have something in my system all the time

3:46

or else it was debilitating. At

3:48

first, it would get me this really

3:51

lovely, kind of

3:52

euphoric feeling before I fell asleep,

3:54

and I really enjoyed that. But at this point

3:56

it was just maintenance and survival.

3:58

I'm 22

4:00

weeks pregnant, it's my birthday,

4:03

I'm in pain, and this alarm

4:06

is blaring in my ears, and all

4:08

I could think about was like, how did I

4:10

get here?

4:11

We also laugh

4:13

a lot on this often sad

4:16

little show, because sad people

4:18

are the funniest people.

4:20

Totally normal.

4:22

Yep. Yep, totally normal. People

4:25

pleaser, to the max. I

4:28

wanna make sure that everyone is happy and taken care

4:30

of in this moment. Are you all good? In my moment,

4:32

the most extreme grief, everybody, good. Do you have a drink?

4:35

You're good, good, good. Okay, great. Anybody

4:37

need any deli meat? Does anybody need a

4:38

snack? You're

4:41

in the middle of the worst sh**

4:43

in your life, and then something just ridiculous

4:46

happens, and you're like, why

4:49

do I have a flat tire? Like, I just

4:51

buried my kid yesterday. I feel, I don't

4:53

know, this is just me, but I feel

4:56

like maybe I've hit

4:58

my quota of stupid to deal with

5:00

this week. You know what I mean?

5:03

I will say though, this

5:09

is what the experience was like, was that it

5:11

never got worse than this moment. People

5:19

are just so magical.

5:22

And I leave each conversation in

5:25

awe of what we are all capable of. You

5:27

know, I'm in this work all the time and that the

5:30

result is that I get a life. You

5:33

know, my, my kids didn't have to bury their mom,

5:35

right? My kids didn't have to visit me in

5:37

jail. They don't have to visit me in an

5:39

institution. They don't have to do

5:41

that. And that is because of this work

5:44

that I, that I do. So if that's

5:46

the price of admission, I'm happy

5:49

to pay

5:49

it. Real conversations

5:52

with real people who have lived through

5:54

days they will never forget and have

5:56

wisdom to share from the other side.

5:58

So consider

6:01

this our last day of the old show

6:03

and the first of this new version. We

6:06

are so excited for you to hear it.

6:09

It's still very sad. It still sucks.

6:11

But if there's ways

6:13

to find some joy and light

6:16

in the suck, I'll

6:18

do that all day. Last

6:21

Day from Lemonado Media is back and

6:23

now available wherever you get your podcasts.

6:31

Last Day from

6:33

Lemonado Media explores the moments that

6:35

change us. Those times where you look back and say,

6:38

whoa, one day I was myself and

6:40

the next I wasn't. I'm Stephanie

6:42

Whittleswax, and I have seen time and time

6:44

again how sharing these stories can change lives.

6:47

So do you have a moment in your life that changed

6:49

you fundamentally and forever? What

6:51

happened? How did you move through it and how

6:54

did you eventually start again? If you'd like to

6:56

share your story, go to bit.ly slash

6:58

lastdaystories, bit.ly

7:00

slash lastdaystories. We can't wait

7:02

to hear from you.