96. Endless Okays

Sometimes your okay thing is our IGTBO thing of the day! It’s an ouroboros of okay!

Transcripts may not appear in their final version and are subject to change.

INTRO MUSIC

I am Nora McInerny, and this is, it’s going to be okay. We have been making this show, this a little experiment for, I, I, look, I can’t, I can’t tell how much time has elapsed, but all I can tell you is that we started this in May and our agreement with each other as a team was, we’re gonna make 30 episodes.

We’re going to make 30 episodes. That six weeks, Monday through Friday. And we’re gonna see what happens. We’re gonna see if people like it. We’re gonna see if we like it. We’re gonna see if making this show makes us feel better about the world. This show, obviously, if you’ve listened to the trailer or if you’ve listened to the first episode, this was a suggestion from a mental health professional that I work with to lower the bar.

For myself and for the world around me to not fall into a pit of despair, but to instead to not fall into a pit of despair and to not constantly reach for the stars, which is a good way to dislocate your shoulders, but to just exist in the world and be aware of, and appreciative of all the things that are not terrible.

Not the very best things not to be expecting every day to open like an oyster with a pearl inside, but to open the day and think about what’s all right, what’s okay? And what keeps us going is that there are always more okay things. And what keeps us going is all of you. Is hearing all of your okay things and hearing how your okay things have made other people feel okay. 

And how some of our okay, things have made you feel, okay. This is the circle of, okay. And that’s what this episode is. Um, as much as we love finding and sharing our own okay things, we love yours as well, I. And that’s what this episode is. 

Okay Listener:  Good morning. This message is for Ralph. I wanted to let him know that the day his podcast aired, um, I think it was June 9th, I was headed to a very important interview for a job I desperately wanted and needed. The job I currently have has, Taken a toll on my body and mental status and emotional wellbeing and life work balance, all of the above.

And this dream job popped up and I so desperately wanted it that I was so nervous the morning of turned on my, it’s going to be okay, podcast. And there was Ralph telling me that I am good, I’m safe, and I’m doing great. And I might have listened to that podcast a second time on the way into my interview.

And. Sitting in the interview, it was my mantra, you know, I’m good, I’m safe, I’m doing great. And turns out I got the job. I start on Monday. So it really is good. I really am great and I really am doing okay. So thanks Ralph. Thank you for reminding this adult that I am. Good. I’m safe, and I’m doing great.

Okay Listener:  Hi, I, um, am behind on it’s going to be Okay, and was listening to several on my way to work this morning. And the one about, um, teaching your child how to drive, um, it really got to me at the end where the stranger gave you a thumbs up and said, if she’s doing great.

And it really upsets me when people tell me things like, you’re so strong. You know, I, I make these crochet hearts that I give away at, um, pride events that have, um, suicide awareness information, and mental health information on little cags. And it’s really the only thing I know to do to keep walking and to keep my daughter’s memory alive.

And when I was listening, I realized that when people say you’re so strong, what they’re really doing is giving me a thumbs up and telling me that I’m doing great. And so I just wanted to let you know. I’m gonna try to reframe that. Um, now whenever somebody says that to me.

Okay Listener:  On your recent episode of The rom Crime, it’s going to be okay. You told about, um, jokes that had been played on you and that you believed, and I instantly thought of, uh, one that has pervasive my entire life, um, and thought I have to send it in to you. When I was about three or four years old, um, I was, uh, sitting, I remember sitting on the dining table while my mom fixed my hair and an episode of Sesame Street or Mr.

Rogers neighborhood was on, and they were showing how they make paper at a paper mill. And my mom said, that’s what your uncle Larry does. And I said, no, it isn’t. And she said, yes, it is. And I said, no it isn’t. And she said, what do you think your uncle Larry does? And I said, he’s a brain surgeon. And she said, who told you that?

And I said Uncle Larry. So that became the big family joke. Um, my entire life was that I believed that my uncle Larry was a brain surgeon. And it really became this very affectionate thing between me and my uncle. Um, every time he saw me, um, he would say, you know, your old brain surgeon, uncle’s here, or he’d call the house and say, Hey, it’s your brain surgeon, uncle.

Can I talk to your mom? Things like that. And so, uh, boyfriends that I had knew about it, my husband now, you know, still likes to kid me about it. My kids know. Um, at my wedding, of course, he had to make a big thing about that. He was my brain surgeon uncle. Um, and last year at my mom’s memorial service, as his wife willed him in.

To the church and I went up and hugged him. Um, he’s now suffering from Parkinson’s disease and dementia, but he still remembered and said, don’t worry, your old brain surgeon, uncle’s here. And so it’s really this sweet, affectionate thing that’s that’s been between us, but every family member knows and likes to still kid me about it.

And of course I’m like, Hey, I was like three years old. How was I supposed to know? I just believed what my uncle told me. And so, but it’s, it’s been a sweet, uh, fun joke that has run between us.

OUTRO MUSIC

I’m Nora McInerny. It’s been okay. It’s still okay and it’s going to be okay.

CREDITS