Glennon Doyle

Andrea's poems center around LGBTQ issues, spirituality, feminism, mental health, and the dismantling of oppressive social systems. Andrea is the author of seven books, most recently, You Better Be Lightning. So PodSquad, welcome to We Can Do Hard Things. I need to tell you how this conversation that you're about to hear began.

Maybe a couple months ago, I was struggling in my recovery, just having a moment that I I was just stuck and nothing was getting better. And I, uh, was talking to my doctor, who's a amazingly wise and world renowned eating disorder specialist. Okay. And I was telling her, that the problem was that in any of my therapy sessions, which were wonderful, I just felt like nothing was true enough.

Maybe a couple months ago, I was struggling in my recovery, just having a moment that I I was just stuck and nothing was getting better. And I, uh, was talking to my doctor, who's a amazingly wise and world renowned eating disorder specialist. Okay. And I was telling her, that the problem was that in any of my therapy sessions, which were wonderful, I just felt like nothing was true enough.

Maybe a couple months ago, I was struggling in my recovery, just having a moment that I I was just stuck and nothing was getting better. And I, uh, was talking to my doctor, who's a amazingly wise and world renowned eating disorder specialist. Okay. And I was telling her, that the problem was that in any of my therapy sessions, which were wonderful, I just felt like nothing was true enough.

Like we were just like scratching the surface of something and I couldn't get to the truth of things. We're talking about eating strategies and I need to talk about like, are we sure that we should be doing life at all? And so she was quiet for a while because she's heard these sort of ideas from me. And then she said, Glennon, What I want you to do is I want you to find the poet Andrea Gibson.

Like we were just like scratching the surface of something and I couldn't get to the truth of things. We're talking about eating strategies and I need to talk about like, are we sure that we should be doing life at all? And so she was quiet for a while because she's heard these sort of ideas from me. And then she said, Glennon, What I want you to do is I want you to find the poet Andrea Gibson.

Like we were just like scratching the surface of something and I couldn't get to the truth of things. We're talking about eating strategies and I need to talk about like, are we sure that we should be doing life at all? And so she was quiet for a while because she's heard these sort of ideas from me. And then she said, Glennon, What I want you to do is I want you to find the poet Andrea Gibson.

And at first I thought, well, fuck. This is the world-renowned doctor and the only idea she has left for me is poetry. And does this mean that I'm fucked, right? But, of course... my entire insides went, huh. So that afternoon I ordered every book of Andrea Gibson's. And I think on the first page of the first book, I understood exactly why my doctor prescribed Andrea Gibson's poetry.

And at first I thought, well, fuck. This is the world-renowned doctor and the only idea she has left for me is poetry. And does this mean that I'm fucked, right? But, of course... my entire insides went, huh. So that afternoon I ordered every book of Andrea Gibson's. And I think on the first page of the first book, I understood exactly why my doctor prescribed Andrea Gibson's poetry.

And at first I thought, well, fuck. This is the world-renowned doctor and the only idea she has left for me is poetry. And does this mean that I'm fucked, right? But, of course... my entire insides went, huh. So that afternoon I ordered every book of Andrea Gibson's. And I think on the first page of the first book, I understood exactly why my doctor prescribed Andrea Gibson's poetry.

I felt for the first time in maybe ever that somebody was telling the truthiest truth that somebody could be hilarious and light and beautiful and also acknowledge how fucking brutal and beautiful love and loss and all of it is. And Abby and I went on away for my birthday vacation. And can you tell Andrea what happened there? First of all, hi, Andrea. Hi, Andrea. Hi, y'all. Hi.

I felt for the first time in maybe ever that somebody was telling the truthiest truth that somebody could be hilarious and light and beautiful and also acknowledge how fucking brutal and beautiful love and loss and all of it is. And Abby and I went on away for my birthday vacation. And can you tell Andrea what happened there? First of all, hi, Andrea. Hi, Andrea. Hi, y'all. Hi.

I felt for the first time in maybe ever that somebody was telling the truthiest truth that somebody could be hilarious and light and beautiful and also acknowledge how fucking brutal and beautiful love and loss and all of it is. And Abby and I went on away for my birthday vacation. And can you tell Andrea what happened there? First of all, hi, Andrea. Hi, Andrea. Hi, y'all. Hi.

On our birthday trip. I don't even remember Abby being on vacation with me.

On our birthday trip. I don't even remember Abby being on vacation with me.

On our birthday trip. I don't even remember Abby being on vacation with me.

What ended up happening for us is we got an email and you explained to us what had been happening in your life when the day that Abby DMed you the picture of me reading your poetry. So do you want to share that part of your experience with us?

What ended up happening for us is we got an email and you explained to us what had been happening in your life when the day that Abby DMed you the picture of me reading your poetry. So do you want to share that part of your experience with us?

What ended up happening for us is we got an email and you explained to us what had been happening in your life when the day that Abby DMed you the picture of me reading your poetry. So do you want to share that part of your experience with us?

In the email, you said one of the things that you were, this was amazing that this was like your second sentence, but you said you were trying to figure out how and when to talk about it because you have such a,