022: Tiffany & Yu

Written By Tiffany Yu

Tiffany & Yu | Season One Finale, the Search for Happiness & Other Pandemic Lessons Learned

In this final episode of Season One, Tiffany reflects on how this all started, where we are now, and what you can expect in the future.

I discussed:

  • How this podcast started

  • How to start your own podcast

  • My “survival care” strategies

  • Things that will make you happy

  • Personal updates since the pandemic

  • Season Two of Tiffany & Yu

  • Pandemic lessons learned

Show notes:

Transcript:

Tiffany Yu: Hi everyone! It is Tiffany here, and you're listening to episode 22 of Tiffany & Yu, the podcast. This is the final episode of season one. I didn't realize I was going to have seasons, but here we are. And this is going to be a solo episode, doing some reflections on past, present, and future of this podcast.  I have wanted to start a podcast for maybe about seven or eight years. And come March 2020, shelter in place was beginning here in the U.S. And we were coming to terms with the fact that this, at least in March, we thought was going to last for three weeks, then I had heard that it would last through mid-May. Now I'm recording this in the middle of August, and I'm still quarantining like a champ. We still don't have a vaccine. We still can't get everyone on board with the efficacy of masks. So rewind back to March 2020.  I remember looking back and seeing everyone want to explore different creative projects. Baking has taken off.  A lot of people were thinking about digital content and how we could just continue to sustain ourselves and keep entertained when we couldn't leave our homes. 

 I ended up posting on my Instagram. I posted an Instagram Story around if people would listen if I created a podcast. And I'm one of those people who--I'm just super execution focused, less about the words and the planning, and more just about doing. I am a doer. I'm all about doing things. 

If anyone from Outdoor Voices or has a connection to Outdoor Voices is listening to this and wants to get me that hat that says "Doing Things" on it, I would gladly accept it. So I had heard a couple of other friends use Anchor and so ended up deciding I was going to record my first podcast episode, and that happened with my friend, Gina Moffa, who's a psychotherapist. 

And now 22 episodes later, we've touched on so many different topics ranging from mental health and social health connected to COVID-19, racism both against Asians fueled by COVID-19 and the racism that really woke America and the world up in the wake of what happened with George Floyd. We looked at COVID-19 through the lens of disability pandemic response. We looked at it through the lens of what is going on with education, especially as students return back to school. I'm recording this on Monday, August 17th, and it is the first day of class for many people, including my friend Elizabeth , so I wanted to give a shout out to her in case she ends up listening to this.  We looked at COVID-19 through the lens of creativity and building resilience  and how this pandemic has really mobilized young people to  try and help.  And then we also had a couple episodes around leadership and how to navigate the job search if you have been laid off or furloughed during this time.  I'm really proud of all of these conversations and  when I first started, there was zero editing. It was very DIY. We are still very DIY. I don't own a microphone. I have been recording these episodes through my iPhone headphones.  

I've gotten this question a lot about what it takes to start a podcast. So I use Anchor. If you talk to other podcast hosts, they may not recommend it. But for me, it was the lowest barrier to entry of how to record. The recordings are stored on the app. I can then download the recordings onto my computer to do any editing. Then it is helpful and important to have a transcript.  I discovered something called Descript, which is what I use for post-recording editing,  which uses AI to both transcribe the podcast, but then you can also go in and edit out any parts of the conversation that aren't going to make the final cut.  Originally I had stored the transcript in a Google doc, but then ended up adding a page to my website, tiffanyyu.com/podcast to host all of the transcripts and the show notes and more about the guests and also the episodes. But you can also listen to the episodes across any platform that you can get your podcasts, whether it's Spotify or Apple podcasts or Google podcasts. So speaking of Apple podcasts, if you haven't heard already, reviews are super important. If you have two minutes, even one minute, just to write a sentence or two about this podcast, if you're listening to this episode or any of our other episodes, these reviews really matter. 

So I will take us into the present. A lot has happened since we recorded our first episode in March.  What I found was that it was easy to take on a lot of pandemic projects at the beginning of shelter in place. Everyone was on pause, including myself. I had really turned inward to take care of my own mental health. For those of us who have experienced trauma and grief, parts of this pandemic and isolation were triggering. And  I've mentioned this in a lot of the podcast episodes, but my hope around us experiencing this collective grief is that we've created space for us to talk about what we're going through, and the fact that the struggle and challenges that we're facing right now are universal. And this pandemic is hard for all of us, even if it may be in different ways. It is hard if you're living by yourself. It is hard if you're living with other people. It is hard if you're trying to navigate a virtual environment at work. It is hard if you have lost your job and are trying to find a new job during this time. It's just hard. So that's what I found at the beginning of this pandemic. And for me, what really grounded myself was what Gina Moffa calls "survival care" strategies. And for me, my survival care strategies were to join a meditation group every single night. It was the same group of about three or four of us who would join pretty consistently to just catch up on life, meditate for 10 to 15 minutes, and then spend some time gratitude journaling. At around day maybe 75 of that in a row, or I think I had maybe one or two days where I couldn't make the time, I decided to see if I could keep those habits. And now in August, I am not meditating as consistently as I would like, but something new I've picked up is just making sure I'm doing at least one rep of my physical therapy exercises. And then I have transitioned my gratitude journaling into one or two minute journal voice notes of just talking about my day, touching on things I'm grateful for, and celebrating any wins. Some of the other things I did during this pandemic were I took a couple online courses. One of the best things that I learned and was really an evangelist for was a values exercise I found through a site called viacharacter.org. And backed by positive psychology and science, they had to come up with a questionnaire to really hone in on what are the top things that you value and that you celebrate. And for me at the top of my list were love of learning, honesty, justice, creativity, and leadership. And I found taking that exercise really validating for my work at Diversability, and how I've chosen to spend my life, and how I've chosen to live.  So I took a course through Coursera, offered for free, called The Science of Wellbeing, also informally known as the Yale Happiness Course and I'd highly recommend it. It was just about a one hour commitment per week to watch the lectures. But I found that to be the most impactful during this pandemic of  really revisiting what really makes us happy versus the things that we think will make us happy. And by anchoring ourself to that, we really will be happier.  And I watched a talk with Marty Seligman, who is informally known as the father of positive psychology. And he said something in his talk, he said, right now, during this pandemic, while we are all still sheltering in place and social distancing, we should really be trying to have as much fun as possible, as difficult as they may be. For when we start to transition and phase into cities reopening and businesses reopening , then that's when we should start thinking more about hope and optimism. But at least right now, we should be anchoring to fun. And one of my themes for the remainder of this year is to be ridiculous. And what that means to me is how can I just have as much fun as possible? And play for me is such a fantastic way that I am able to tap into my inner child.  For those of you who have been following my work for awhile, you will know that 2019 was the year of nine-year-old Tiffany. But I actually think that all the time should be time for nine year old Tiffany. 

So I'm going to run through a summary of the list of the things that will make you happier. The first is to use your signature strengths and finding new ways to use your strengths . So again, that anchors back to the viacharacter.org assessment. The second is called savoring, taking time to savor the things you enjoy. The third is gratitude, so expressing gratitude for the people and things in your life. The fourth is kindness, increasing your acts of kindness.  In the beginning, I made a post about sending greeting cards to whoever wanted one and the act of sitting down and spending the time to write those was really fun and made me happier. The fifth is social connection, making connections with strangers and acquaintances along with scheduling time for the people in your life.  One of the silver linings of this pandemic has been being able to reconnect with so many people all around the world. I've had so many Global Shapers on this podcast, and  starting this podcast has also helped with my own social connection. One I need to be better about is exercise, increasing your physical activity to 30 minutes, a few times a week. For me, I've been joining Dance Church.  It's a dance exercise class, but now they've been offering Dance Church Go on a sliding scale, donation based on Wednesdays and Sundays. And that's been a really fun way to stay active. And now I've been starting to venture out for socially distanced hikes.  I love getting outside. And then there's sleep, making sure you sleep at least seven hours a night, several times a week. Sleep has been very difficult this pandemic, and before, at least for me. I have a friend named Mollie who has a podcast on sleep,  but I have noticed that with increased levels of anxiety, sleep will be difficult. And especially if our routine is interrupted, our sleep will also be disrupted.  I'm also just exercising a little bit of compassion for myself if my sleep isn't what it had been or isn't what I would like it to be. And then the last is meditation, meditating for five to 10 minutes if you're a beginner or increasing your time in meditation, if you already meditate regularly.  I love some of these 21 day meditation challenges offered by Deepak Chopra. And I did one with Gabby Bernstein and I'm now part of a WhatsApp group where we will just write a check emoji if we have meditated for the day. But one thing I have noticed is that I've now taken on  maybe too many pandemic projects. I've noticed that by the end of the day, I am pretty tired. So I'm going to take a break here. And when I come back, I will chat more about where we are now in the pandemic and what I'm hoping for the future.  

[break]

Tiffany Yu: And we are back from the break. I am totally just riffing here, but  welcome back to the final episode of season one of Tiffany & Yu, the podcast. This is episode 22.

Before the break, I was talking about what it took to get this podcast off the ground, exploring pandemic projects and other creativity projects , some of the things that I've learned so far through coming up with what my own survival care strategies were for the beginning of the pandemic, some of those have stuck, some of those haven't, and then talking about a course that I took that I thought was really transformative for me and really figuring out how to thrive and try and live my best life during this pandemic. We are still in the middle of it. Some of my friends who work at larger tech companies are work from home through July 2021. So that means one year of really reassessing, at least for the next year, what do you want your life to look like? What do you want your home to look like?  What do you want the physical space that you're in to look like? And is that setting you up to really tend to your mental, physical, and social needs? 

So right before the break, I was talking about all of the things that would really make you happy that I learned from The Science of Wellbeing.  Now here we are in mid August. As I had mentioned earlier, I didn't anticipate having any seasons for this podcast. I thought I would get on a regular cadence of releasing episodes every Tuesday. As time went on, it got a little bit more difficult to record and transcribe and edit the podcast.

July was the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act and it was the most full month I had experienced. And I feel extremely grateful for the level of visibility that both I and Diversability got through some of the work that we were doing, whether it was the D-30. Disability Impact List. I am so proud that we were able to put that together and recognize 31 disability leaders who have been so impactful within the last year. I have to give a huge shout out to our former Digital Content Director Katy Brennan for really being the conductor behind making all of that happen. So there was that. And then,  on the San Francisco Mayor's Disability Council, I got to play a role in helping get San Francisco Mayor London Breed to declare July as Disability Pride Month. And as part of that, we were able to get City Hall lit in blue and white colors. There is no disability pride color. Although there is, I just discovered there's a disability pride flag during Disability Pride Month  so maybe next time we put the ask out, we can choose those colors. But we also played a small role in helping San Francisco put together an ADA 30 website on SF.gov, and curating and highlighting some events that were happening throughout the month, and also participating in some of those events as well. So honestly, I still feel like I'm in the July hangover of how incredible that month was. The programming was incredible. Right now I'm helping curate a list of recordings from some of the events that happened that month. And you should be able to find that eventually on the ADA30 SF.gov website. And if not, the thread is housed in our Diversability community. 

But the other big news that happened in July was that it was announced that Diversability had been selected as part of Facebook's Community Accelerator. And as a part of that, we get to participate in really thinking through growth for our community . And that is actually the main reason why this is the final episode of season one, because I wanted to make sure that I could dedicate more time to the accelerator. It has been fascinating to be a part of that. All of it is leading to good things , really thinking about how to think through growth and how to better serve our community.  

And then on top of that,  I discovered TikTok during this pandemic as many of us have. A controversial product to some, but it has really been an incredible source of fun, play, entertainment, being ridiculous, tapping into my younger self, and reaching an entirely new audience in my work. And I have been grateful to be part of the Creative Learning Fund since the beginning of July, and will be part of the Creative Learning Fund through the end of August. And it is a paid program to get more educational content onto the TikTok platform.  And really thinking of creative and entertaining ways to engage with  a much younger audience who might be new to disability,  might be new to seeing bodies that are different. And my hope is that by creating and starting those conversations earlier, we can create an entirely new generation of young people who have seen and heard and talked about everything. 

I've been really inspired by the emergence of the activity around Black Lives Matter and children's books that have been written. There's a whole series. The first one that I saw was called "A Kid's Book About Racism."  I saw a reading of it on YouTube and  having these conversations early on is super important. So that is where we are presently. We are also in the process of preparing for October, which is National Disability Employment Awareness Month, and December, which is World Disability Day on December 3rd. So, if you are curious about any of those, stay tuned. 

And I've also been doing a lot of reflection around building my own personal brand.  I started Diversability in 2009 and then really doubled down on it, starting in 2015. But I've realized that my story is more than just a disability story and the people I've been able to reach through my advocacy work have been at the intersections of so many other identities. And people have been able to see mirrors of themselves in my story, not just because I'm disabled. It might be because I'm Asian or I'm Taiwanese American and grappling with that identity, especially in the context of this pandemic. It may be because I'm a woman of color. It may be because I've experienced loss of a parent, or a death in the family, or death of someone you cared about. It may be because I've experienced childhood trauma or experienced adversity as a kid and navigating how to go about the world in the wake of that, when  people don't really know how to broach those topics. It may be because I've experienced grief. It's a lifelong healing journey that I am proud to wear. And it may be because I'm trying to navigate dating during this time of the pandemic and how ridiculous and absurd and awkward all of that is. But again, I'm anchoring myself to what Marty Seligman  said, and just to have fun at the ridiculous of all of this. 

But as we think to the future, here are a few things I've been thinking about. I've been thinking about what season two of Tiffany & Yu, the podcast should look like. Season one was all about tapping into my own network and sharing conversations with friends. I'm curious from you, the listeners, if you'd be interested in hearing more thought leadership, but opening up and democratizing who the guests can be.  And then also really mobilizing our listener community. I've seen a couple other podcasts create Facebook groups or other communities to have conversations around some of the podcasts episodes that we've been having. Or even hosting listening parties.  I'm really curious to hear from you around what's important, what you want to hear more of, maybe what you want to hear less of, who you want on the show, and how you want to be able to connect with each other. Right now we do have Instagram. instagram.com/tiffanyandyu. And we are currently going through a rebranding. So stay tuned for season two of the podcast. Stay tuned for a whole new look. So thank you again for being a part of season one, for sticking with us through 22 episodes, for being a part of this wonderfully DIY one woman show podcast. I have learned a ton from doing this. I have been so grateful to connect with so many people I respect and admire on a deeper level, and to be able to get my creative juices flowing in this way. 

 So I want to close this podcast with three learnings that I've taken away from this pandemic and the time that we're in now. And by the way, total sidebar, but how incredible is it that we are living through this piece of history? I can't wait a couple of generations from now to tell our future generations that we lived through a pandemic. 

So lesson number one. What I have is enough. Everything I have is enough. It is always enough. It is easy, especially in some of these high-achieving communities that I'm a part of, to be always striving. There is something to me that isn't super sustainable about that, but when the pandemic hit, everything that was in my home was enough. Everything that I had access to through technology was enough. 

Lesson number two. Rooting yourself in gratitude always makes things better. By rooting myself in gratitude, I could really just look at the absurdity of life right now and laugh. I could look at darkness and see the light.  And don't get me wrong, I've definitely experienced grief. I've definitely been frustrated about wanting things to go back to the way they were, what I would give for a hug right now, or to go and grab a glass of wine with someone. But here we are.  How can we remind ourselves to root ourselves in gratitude, no matter what circumstances we've been dealt? 

And my third lesson out of all of this is that moments of hardship challenge, adversity, discomfort, being uncomfortable are all opportunities for growth, for a conversation, for learning and education, and for creativity.  When I look back at how hard this pandemic has been, it has been an opportunity to tap into my own creativity around starting this podcast. When I look at what emerged with Black Lives Matter, it was an opportunity for me to confront my own discomfort and talk with my Black friends around what they were feeling and have always been feeling. 

I think about all of this in the context of my disability work and how we may make comments to other disabled people around how brave or courageous or inspiring they are. And I would challenge all of us to think about why. What is it about the disability experience that we think makes someone brave? What is it about the disability experience or a disabled body that we think makes us uncomfortable? Confronting that and doing a little bit of self reflection there is really a huge opportunity to confront and practice more anti-ableist exercises. So I noticed that I transitioned a little bit into my advocacy hat on this podcast, so I will close it there. 

Thank you again for sticking with us for 22 episodes of this season one. If I can leave you with any message, it would be to head to Apple podcasts and to leave us a rating and write us a review. Those will really come into play as we think about season two. Thank you again, and that closes season one of Tiffany & Yu, the podcast.  


Tiffany Yu
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