In this hour, stories of searching for fulfillment and finding one's bliss. Unconventional self-care, making ancestors proud, and a quest for the perfect gift. This episode is hosted by Moth Senior Director Jenifer Hixson. Storytellers: Ann Guo battles postpartum depression by soliciting dares from her family and friends. Morgan Givens joins the police academy, following in the footsteps of his trailblazing grandmother. Ruby Cooper strives to give her son everything, until he asks for an untraditional Christmas gift. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Full Episode
This is the Moth Radio Hour. I'm your host, Jennifer Hickson. In this hour, the pursuit of happiness. It's a deep concept from our Declaration of Independence, our inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Scholars and lawmakers and regular citizens have debated the meaning of these words since they were first inked in 1776.
In this hour, people pursuing their versions of liberty and happiness in ways unforeseen by the framers. For example, our first story is by a woman who turns to crowdsourcing to find her joy. Live from the Wilbur Theatre in Boston, where we partner with public radio station WGBH, here's Anne Guo.
back in January 2014, I'm driving toward a hotel in Cambridge with a sense of dread in my stomach because I can't believe that I, a 38-year-old professional Asian mother, I'm about to become a party crasher. And not just any party, it's the Goldberg Bar Mitzvah. This all started back in 2008 when my son was born, a time that should have been the happiest in my life.
I was diagnosed with postpartum depression. All of a sudden, at work, around the water cooler, I no longer know what to talk about. Instead, I find myself smiling a lot, partly to hide how I was truly feeling inside, and partly because I once read somewhere that the act of smiling will trigger happy chemicals to release in your brain.
And I can tell you from personal experience that it's a load of crap. The depression lasts around two years or so, but it's not like after two years of darkness, I wake up the next morning and win the lottery. And the happiness and joy from winning the lottery fills up that big emotional deficit from the last two years. Instead, I'm dragging around this deficit, this huge burden, everywhere I go.
And anytime I have a bad day and I'm feeling a little down, I would worry, maybe it's coming back. Overall, life just felt kind of flat. And I couldn't help but wonder, is this my new normal? Will I ever be as happy as I once was? Now, by the time my son turned five, I said, all right, enough is enough. I'm going to have to do something about this.
In fact, I'm going to print my own winning lottery ticket. It's going to be something that brings me so much joy and happiness, it'll fill up my emotional bank. Now, what could that thing be, though? I figured I'll look to my past for some clues. So I sat down at my kitchen table and made a list of all the most joyful moments in my life.
And I look at it, and a lot of them involve going on silly adventures. So I said, all right, if that's what it takes to get back to tip-top shape, so be it. I declare the year 2014 to be the year of adventures, where once a month, I will make time and go on an adventure.
And to help me come up with ideas, and also to help hold me accountable, I sent a mass email to family and friends, making them a deal they can't resist. I said, look, you now have an opportunity to dare me to do whatever it is you want, provided that you donate money to my favorite charity. If I hit my donation target, I will do your dare, no matter what it is.
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