anything goes with emma chamberlain - facing moral dilemmas, advice session [video]
Episode Date: March 16, 2025[video available on spotify] welcome back to "advice session", a series here on anything goes where you send in your current dilemmas or anything that you want advice on, and i give you my unprofessio...nal advice. today’s topic is how to face moral dilemmas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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I am fully in the middle of an allergy attack right now.
I sat down to record like 20 minutes ago and immediately started sneezing uncontrollably,
sneezing over and over and over again.
And after like 60 sneezes, I was like, I have to do something.
So I took my allergy pill earlier than normal because I do have seasonal allergies, although
it's starting to feel like they're not seasonal and they're just year-round allergies. Yeah, they're not specific to one season anymore.
When I was a kid, I used to get them during the spring because there's all this pollen.
Now I just constantly have really, really severe pollen allergies. Anyways, and so I
took my allergy pill. I normally take it in the
afternoon, not today. I needed to pop it early, so I popped it early. And then my ears started
itching and burning. So I went and got some cortisone cream and put that in my ears with
a Q-tip. Life hack if your ears are itchy from having allergies.
By the way, one of the worst feelings in the world, having itchy inner ears.
Oh my God.
And it happens to me all the time.
And sometimes it's so excruciating that I have to make a horrible sound like this.
I'll do it for you right now.
Are you ready?
I have to snort like that because it, for some reason, itches the inner ear.
And you can't get your finger in there to itch.
So like you have to snort and vibrate your inner ear
through the snorting to itch it.
It's a catastrophe.
So yeah, I just kind of got over a little allergy attack,
but I still feel it.
My ears are still itchy.
My nose is still itchy.
I'm on the verge of a sneeze.
It is just a mess, okay?
But the show must go on and it will.
So with that being said, welcome back to Advice Session, a series here on Anything Goes,
where you send in your current dilemmas or anything that you want advice on.
And I give you my unprofessional advice.
And today's topic is how to face moral dilemmas. Okay? We're faced with them every day. We're
faced with them every day. The moral dilemma is always a little different, it feels like.
We rarely get the same one twice. But every time we're forced to find the best way forward.
And it's not easy. And that's why today I am going to give you some unprofessional advice on how to face
yours.
So without further ado, let's begin.
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Now back to the episode. Somebody said, I found out my friend's boyfriend sent
a naked picture of her to his group chat. Do I tell her? How do I tell her? She's so
in love with him. This is really hard. It is a horrible feeling to know something about your friend that you know will hurt
them, but that you know is wrong not to tell them.
I've noticed in life, people tend to have two complete opposite perspectives when it
comes to telling your friend about their romantic
relationship. Some people are like, don't ever get involved. The golden rule is just
don't get involved. And then some people are like, no, you have to get involved. If you
know something, you have to tell your friend. That is being a good friend.
And I just noticed throughout my life,
it seems to be like a 50-50 split. I tend to fall on the side of to be a good friend is to tell them.
That's where I tend to fall, I'd say 90% of the time. And I would say in this specific scenario, I think you need to tell your friend because here's the deal.
There is a really high chance that your friend doesn't want her nude in the group chat. Listen,
is there a chance that your friend doesn't mind and is like, hey, I'm proud of this nude. Show
all your fucking friends. I don't give a fuck. You know, some people are like that In fact, if I took a really good nude, I would tell my boyfriend to show his friends. I'd be like fuck
Yeah, it looks really good. Unfortunately, I don't take nudes because I'm too afraid of having them on my phone and
Something about it just has always felt kind of
Ingenuine to me like inauthentic to me as a person. I've never been somebody who really takes nudes
to me, like inauthentic to me as a person. I've never been somebody who really takes nudes. But, but I think if you were to put yourself in your friend's shoes in this scenario,
I would assume that you would also want to know. And that's a good test. Like, should
I tell my friend about this? Should I not? Put yourself in your friend's shoes. If you
were them, would you want to know? Of course you would. We always want to know what's going on. If something's happening behind our back, we want to know.
And there's a really, really high chance that this is happening behind your friend's back.
She's unaware of it. And this isn't okay with her. This wouldn't be okay with her, right?
You got to tell her. But I do think it's important to tell her in the right way. Okay. This is
a very sensitive situation. It sounds like
your friend really loves this boy. You know, you want to handle this tactfully. You want
to communicate it tactfully. And there are some ways to do it wrong, right? You don't
want to tell her in front of anyone else. Okay? That would be bad, right? You want to
tell her in private. That's number one. Number two, you want to communicate it gently, and you want to communicate it honestly, right? Like you don't want to make light of
it. You don't want to make a joke of it, but you also don't want to make it a bigger deal
than it needs to be. Like you want to present this information to her in a way that is gentle and calming and because she might freak out,
right? Let her be the one who dictates the energy of the conversation, okay?
Don't come in and be like, Oh my God, I'm so sorry I found this out. Oh my God. Like be like, Hey,
you know, I'm gonna be honest, I found out about something. And if I were you, I would really want to know about it.
There's a chance that you don't mind or that you guys have talked about this and this is
totally fine or whatever, but I have to tell you because it would feel wrong if I didn't.
Your boyfriend sent your nude into the group chat. I found out about it and I just had
to tell you. I'm sorry if this is something that upsets you, but I really felt like it
was my duty as a friend to let you know. That's all you have to say. Do it in private. Say it gently.
Say it really calm and rational like I just did. And then you go from there. And then
you just be a supportive friend from there. I really do think because this is something
that is usually wrong, that's kind of an objectively wrong thing to do. I think 99.9% of people would
look at that and say, that's not right. And when that's the case, I think you can safely
tell your friend about it and not worry about overstepping. If it's an objectively bad thing
to do. I think it is generally considered wrong to share someone's nudes
when they shared those nudes with you in confidence and private, right? So I would
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Okay. Next, somebody said, I hate my job. I don't agree with the ethics of the company,
but I desperately need the money. I feel like I'm betraying myself. What do I do? Well,
to start, I would say you're not betraying yourself.
You're doing what you have to do.
This is how life works.
We have to work.
Sometimes we have to work somewhere that we don't want to work for survival.
So don't feel bad.
Don't feel guilty.
Don't feel betrayed by yourself.
Reframe the situation that you're in right now.
You know your morals and your values.
It's clear that you're connected to what they are.
That's an incredible thing.
The fact that you are aware of the fact that your job goes against your morals and values
only confirms your morals and values. right? And that's a beautiful
thing, I think. Your job doesn't reflect those morals and values. Your feeling about the
job does. So find confidence in the fact that you know how you feel about this job. You
know what I'm saying? You aren't the problem. You're not doing anything wrong. You're just showing up to work because right now this is your job and that's totally okay.
You are not the CEO of the company.
You are not the founder of the company.
You are not responsible for what this company does.
This is not your weight to bear.
So let that go.
And also understand that this is just a stepping stone
in your life getting you to the next step in your career. This is not your career. This
is a stepping stone in your career. Every single person on this planet, I think probably
at some point in their lives, work a job that in some way goes against their morals or values. Or they work a job that they look
back on later and they're like, Oh God, like that was so bad for my spirit. Like this is
a common part of the career journey. I look back at my career and I have moments like
that where, you know, maybe I did something that ended up not being right. Maybe went against my morals or whatever.
We've all done it. We've all done it. Good luck finding somebody who hasn't. I think
this is a common challenge. I think what is valid and true though is working a job that
goes against your morals and values is bad for your spirit, right? It's bad for, that was really spiritual. It's bad
for your spirit. The fuck? I sound like a psychic or something. It's really bad for
your spirit, baby. Let me pull another tarot. And then I pull another one and then anyways.
Yeah, it doesn't make you feel good. So I think to sort of put power back into your hands and to sort of, I don't know, feeling
control of the situation, I think just start dedicating a little bit more of your energy
to figuring out your next step.
A current, maybe unfavorable situation feels a lot less horrible when you're working towards
moving on from it. So I would say
focus as much energy as you can right now to figuring out your next step, figuring out
how you can leave this job. And it's not going to happen overnight and that's okay. But just
working towards it, I think is enough to sort of, I don't know, again, I hate to talk about the spirit again.
I mean, we're really getting into the spirit, but it will be good for your spirit and your
soul to be working on the next step in your career that has nothing to do with this job
that sort of goes against your morals and values.
Next, somebody said, I really want to date, kind of low key am dating, my ex boyfriend's
best friend.
Oh, wow.
I'm scared of what other people might think.
What do I do?
Well, to start, I kind of think that vibe is hot.
It is a little messy, but there's something about it that I have fantasized about before.
I'm not going to lie, after breaking up with every boyfriend
I've ever dated, afterwards, I've fantasized about dating their friends because of how
satisfying it'd be and how angry you would make them. And it's totally petty and it's
totally messy, but I've always fantasized about it and you're living my fantasy. So
good for you. However, it is a bit complicated, right? It is. Listen, even though you might be living my dream, this is still a really complicated
situation. I am sort of perplexed by the fact that, like, how are you dating your ex-boyfriend's
best friend right now? They can't be best friends. If they were truly best friends, this would not be happening.
So something is going on with the friendship and it's not good.
That friendship, like I think I need to be giving advice to the two boys in that friendship,
not you, because their friendship sounds a bit corrupt.
I think everyone knows that it's not great to date your best friend's ex, to date your
acquaintance's ex, to date your friend that you hang out with once a year's ex.
It's still a bit messy, but I don't know.
It's like whatever.
It's obviously not ideal.
It's a bit uncomfortable, but there's only so many options of who we can date in our local community.
Sometimes things become a bit, I almost use the word incestual, but we do not want to
use that word. That's not even what I mean. Yeah, sometimes you end up sharing. You know
what I'm saying? Sometimes you end up swapping. It just happens. But best friends, that's not your fault. I
don't think you're really doing anything wrong. Once you break up with somebody, you kind
of don't owe them anything anymore. And if you end up falling in love with their best
friend, it's not, in my opinion, your job to say, well, you know what, that's morally wrong.
This was my ex-boyfriend.
You don't really owe anything to your ex-boyfriend anymore.
It's up to the best friend of your ex to do the right thing in their eyes.
I really don't think it's your job to handle that situation.
However, if I were you, I would sort of see it as a red
flag that the guy that you're dating now is best friends with your ex and he's dating
you anyway. He's not very loyal to your ex, his best friend. That's kind of a red flag
to me. It's a sign of his loyalty and I don't love that.
So that's definitely something to keep in mind.
However, maybe you two are soulmates and for whatever reason, the universe put your ex
and his best friend into your life as the middleman to bring you together.
Who am I to say?
I think a lot of this depends on how serious these relationships are. You know, how deep is his friendship
with your ex? How deep was your relationship with your ex? How deep is your relationship
between the two of you? Like, how serious are all of these relationships? Because depending on the severity of each
relationship, you know, the morality of the situation sort of changes, right? If you two
are soulmates, and both of your relationships with your ex and his best friend are, or not
that deep and not that serious, or potentially even like deeply flawed or something like
that, then it's not that
wrong to me.
I'm like, that's fine.
But if you had a beautiful, beautiful relationship with your ex and you're still friends and
it's this beautiful thing and you truly loved each other and you want to remain friends
after and all this and the guy that you're dating now, they've been best friends since
they were two years old and they've helped each other dating now, they've been best friends since they were two years old
and they've helped each other through life
and they had this deep friendship,
then it's like, oh, this is really messy and not great.
I can't safely say that what's happening
is necessarily morally right and good.
But at the same time,
it's not really your job though to manage their friendship, right? And you don't owe
anything to your ex. So let's focus on that perspective. Ask yourself why you're scared
of what people might think because that's what you said. You said, I really want to
date and I kind of low key am dating my ex boyfriend's best friend. I'm scared of what
other people might think. What do I do? You're not asking me like, how do I make this official? You're asking me, what
do I do because I'm afraid of what other people might think? Why are you afraid of what other
people might think? Why are we ever afraid of what other people might think? Well, I
mean, it's a very normal human thing. But what I've noticed,
at least in myself and my loved ones is we tend to be self-conscious when we deep down
are insecure about something or we know it's wrong or we know it's bad. You know what I'm
saying?
Like I tend to be self-conscious about things that warrant or not warrant, I shouldn't say warrant, but I don't
think I'm a rationally self-conscious. And people would say, no, Emma, like, don't be
self-conscious about that. Like that's, it's totally fine. I think usually when I'm self-conscious
about something, it's because like it's actually rational and valid. It's like, no, you know, that isn't ideal.
That isn't great.
Whatever.
I don't know.
So like, you're scared of what people might think because you deep down know that it feels
wrong.
It feels wrong to you.
It goes against your moral compass.
That is why you're worried about what other people might think.
If you felt confident in the fact that
dating this person was like the right thing
to do in your life, if you could,
you'd be putting it up on billboards,
you know what I'm saying?
Because you'd be so excited.
You know that this isn't quite right.
Something about it isn't sitting right with you, okay?
And so now you're faced with a choice. Option number one is to find
confidence in your choice because you love this boy, you truly want to be with him, and
you aren't doing anything terribly wrong and neither is he. Or you can honor your feelings
of discomfort and moral hesitation and cut things off and just deal with the heartbreak
and find someone else. You'll find
someone else. But I think that that's sort of the choice that you have to make.
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Next, somebody said, I have a weird 60-year-old math teacher that calls me baby.
What do I do? Let's go ahead and
talk to the school counselor about that one instead of asking a podcaster that didn't
even finish high school and definitely didn't go to college. This is something to talk about
with the school counselor. This is something to talk about with your therapist. This is
not something to discuss with me. However, I'll still give you advice on what
I would do if I was in this situation. I guess I'm not going to give you advice because I
think the only advice that I can give in good faith is go talk to the administration at
your school. Go talk to the school therapist. Go talk to the principal. Go talk to somebody
and say, this is a little bit weird. I don't think it's professional. It's making me a
little bit uncomfortable. This teacher is a little bit eccentric. Just wanted to put
it on your radar and let you know. That is obviously the right thing to do. However,
if I was in this situation, this is what I would do. And I'm not saying that this is
right. I'm just saying that this is exactly what I would do.
I like, and I'm not, again, I'm not saying it's right.
Okay, because I think going to the principal
or going to the school counselor
or going to administration,
that's obviously the right thing to do.
However, I know knowing myself in high school
would have handled things differently.
I feel like what I would have done is,
because I was kind of,
I wasn't like a troublemaker or anything, but I
did sometimes have a little bit of an attitude for some reason.
I also don't want to demonize somebody or if they genuinely are not meaning any harm,
right?
I don't want to get someone in trouble just because they're weird or whatever. It's not okay to be calling you baby, right? I don't want to get someone in trouble just because they're weird or like
whatever. And I'm not saying it's not okay to be calling you baby. Okay? That's weird.
Right? However, if this is some sort of like 60 year old Italian man that's like, come
on baby, you know this. Like if that's how he's saying baby, it's like, it's very clearly
not in a sexual, like it's not sexual. It's not inappropriate necessarily.
It's not ideal.
He probably shouldn't be calling you baby.
But if it's in that way, to me, it's not dangerous.
It's not as dangerous.
It's just maybe a bad practice.
And so how I might have handled it when I was in high school is I'd be like after class
or something or like when he called me baby, I'd be like, you know, you're going to get
in trouble one of these days.
You can't, you can't be calling people that.
I would just check him on his shit in person.
Is that the right way to handle it?
No, you should go to administration.
But that's probably what I would have done.
I would have given him a chance in a way and been like, you can't say that.
And he would have been like, what do you mean?
I've been saying this for generations. I'm Italian. By the way,
I don't know. I just think of like, like a really like warm Italian, like grandfather
vibe when I think of somebody like calling you baby in a way that's like not sexual and
harmless. Like that's what I think of. And If that's the case, great, because that's
not truly harmful. It's still not maybe okay, but it's not dangerous. Do you know what I'm
saying? And so I would check him in person. Just because I think too, if that's the case
and if you can be of help and be like, hey, we don't say that, right? Let's not say that. And here's why. If we can do that, great. Again, at school,
I do think it's best to run it by the administration, but that's how I would have handled it. And
then if he continued doing it and it was making me uncomfortable, still, I would say, you
know what, enough's enough. And I'd go and I would have told administration. But I probably would have done the confronting
myself first. But I don't think that works for everybody and I don't think it has to.
In a school environment, it is supposed to be one of the safest environments. So if someone's
doing some weird shit, you got to report it. You got to report it.
Okay, moving on. How to tell your roommate that you're moving in with your boyfriend
next year. I don't want to put her in a bad spot, but I need to move forward with my life.
I feel bad. Well, to start, there's absolutely nothing to feel bad about. You are doing nothing
wrong. There is nothing wrong about what you're doing. So stop feeling bad. Okay?
There's nothing more useless than feeling bad about something that we don't need to
feel bad about. There are moments in life when we should feel bad. We did something
wrong. We hurt somebody's feelings. This is not something to feel bad about. That doesn't
mean it's not uncomfortable though. This is a very uncomfortable situation and it is a
situation that will cause unfavorable
feelings.
Your roommate is going to be sad.
You might be sad.
You probably less so because you are excited about moving in with your boyfriend.
You get to have cuddle time every night.
How fun is that?
No one's home.
Just you guys.
So much fun.
It's like playing house.
So much fun.
You're not that sad.
Your roommate's going to be sad. Your roommate's going to be sad.
Your roommate is going to be sad.
To an extent, you can feel a level of like, oh, I don't like making anyone feel sad.
But at the same time, you're not doing anything wrong.
So don't feel bad.
Don't feel guilty.
Be aware of the fact that yes, it may cause some sadness in your roommate and yes, it
may cause some sadness for you, but ultimately it's for the better and it's a normal part
of growing and moving through life.
I think the best thing that you can do is have the conversation as soon as possible.
Don't put it off to the last minute because then you actually have something to feel bad
about. If you screw your roommate over because you don't tell
them until the last minute that you're not going to live together next year, that's when
you need to start feeling bad because that's not fair to them. So tell them immediately
and be like, I'm so sorry. I've been talking to my boyfriend. We made this decision. I'm
going to miss you so much. It's been such a joy." And then if you're still feeling bad and you really want to help out even more, offer to ask the leasing person
in your building that you're moving into with your boyfriend if they have any open units.
Offer to help your friend find a new roommate. Offer to help make a plan on how you both
can stay connected, whether it's like, why don't we live in the same building? That would be fun. Or if that's not an option, maybe we live in the same neighborhood
on the same block. There's ways that you can lessen the blow and make it less of like a
depressing thing that you're no longer roommates. I think helping them in their process moving
forward, making a plan on how
to maintain the friendship, potentially planning to even live kind of close together.
All of these things can lessen the blow for both of you and make it less traumatic for
both of you.
I think there's something to be said for presenting bad news with good news. A lot of us don't think to
find a silver lining or to find a way to lessen the blow. We're like, oh God, we have bad
news. We just have to present the bad news and that's it. You can get creative and find
good news to pair with the bad news. And I try to do that whenever I can. If I'm going
to somebody and telling them something that they're not going to want to hear, I'll pair it with something that actually they would want to hear. I don't
think we can be roommates next year, but there's an open unit in my building and maybe you
could check it out this weekend. Do you see what I'm saying? There's different ways that
you can put a positive spin on it. And I think by doing that, you'll lessen the blow and
it won't be so bad.
Next, somebody said, and I'm sorry that now I'm like, you can hear the allergy attack
in my nose and in my throat, but let's just ignore that. Somebody said, I'm in college
studying something that I'm good at, but I don't love it. How do I tell my parents? I'm
scared that they'll be disappointed in me.
Well, to start, you're the one who has to live this life.
Okay, you're the one who has to go to school every day,
study this topic, do the homework, take the tests,
and ultimately get the job that you're gonna work
for the rest of your life in, perhaps, potentially,
if, you know, that's what you,
it's kind of what you're working towards right now,
so that's, you know, you're the one who has to live this life,
not your fucking parents. You have to live this life, not your fucking parents.
You have to live this life for the rest of your life.
And it's important to, you know, respect our parents' opinions and hear them out.
But at the end of the day, it's your fucking life and you're an adult.
And obviously we want to impress our parents.
We want to please our parents.
We want to make them proud. But it's not actually right of them to try to control our future. They should be open-minded.
If they're not, they're in the wrong, in my opinion. In my opinion, your parents are in
the wrong if they judge you for shifting directions, changing your path and light. I think that that's wrong.
I think that just because they're your parents doesn't mean that everything that they do
is right. And them being disappointed in you because you want to take your life in a different
direction to me is wrong. As long as you're not doing something that's self-destructive, I don't think that
they can ultimately be disappointed in you. I mean, I guess they can, but I don't know
that it's fair to inflict that upon you. They have to get over it. They have to either get
over it or they have to put a strain on the relationship between you and them, which is so harmful
and unnecessary.
Unless you're doing something that's destructive to their lives or to your life, it is not
good parenting for them to cut you out.
You know what I'm saying?
Find confidence in the fact that you're doing the right thing by maintaining control of
your own life, living life for
you and making this decision because it's what's going to be the most fulfilling for
you because you're the one who has to live this goddamn life.
You got to do it.
Okay?
Not them.
We love your parents, but you can be firm with your parents.
You can tell your parents that they're wrong.
You can tell your parents that they're overstepping. You can tell your parents that what they want for your life is not what you
want for your life. That is all okay. They were your authority for many years, but they're
not anymore. You are now your own authority. And part of that is taking responsibility
for your decisions and also making decisions yourself. That is a part of that is taking responsibility for your decisions and also making decisions
yourself.
That is a part of being a functioning adult, making decisions based on your own thoughts,
feelings, and beliefs.
Breaking away from your parents, that is a part of being an adult.
When you're a kid and you're living under their roof and they're paying your bills,
you do kind of have to do what they say.
Now you don't. And to truly mature is to truly break free from your parents and their beliefs and their ideas
about your life. And this is a great sign that you're questioning some of their beliefs
and you're like, okay, this isn't right for me. And so this is a conversation that you
need to have with your parents.
Embrace yourself for disappointment. They might be disappointed, but find confidence and comfort in the fact that you are doing
the right thing.
I also think, like I mentioned earlier, it can be really helpful and it can really soften
the blow to your parents to present a bit of good news with the bad news.
If you know that this was going to be bad news for your parents because they really wanted you to study this topic, they really
wanted you to go into this field for your career, find a way to present them with good
news instead of just saying like, I'm dropping out. I'm not doing this major anymore. I'm
going to do a different major. I'm going to major in something else. I want to go on a
different career path. And that's it. Instead of just saying that, say,
I'm switching my major. I'm going on a different career path now. But you know what? I'm really
excited because I'm going to major in this now. And I'm really excited because this is what I want
my career path to be. And I actually just started talking to this company about an internship.
Before you present it to them, take some action
in the step of, you know, where you want to go in your life so that you have something
promising to present to them. You don't necessarily owe that to them, but I think it could lessen
the blow and be very positive. It could potentially reframe it for them. And just remember that
whatever comes of that conversation is necessary for the sake of
your quality of life and your wellbeing because this is your life.
Okay.
Next, somebody said, my bestie is hanging out with a guy with a million red flags recently.
Do I say something to her?
Okay.
As I mentioned earlier, I tend to be someone who believes
in communication. Like if I see something wrong, if something feels off, I just say
it. As I mentioned earlier, it tends to be like a 50-50 split. Some people believe don't
get involved in your friends' or loved one's romantic situations because it just always
goes wrong. And other
people are like, if I was in their shoes, I'd want to know if some shit was going awry.
And so I feel it's the right thing to do to communicate. For the most part, I tend to
fall in that category. As I mentioned earlier, I tend to believe it's better to tell your friend. Because if I was in that situation, I would want to know.
However, in this case, I'm a bit less sure. I can't safely say, you should just tell them.
Because red flags are technically subjective. A red flag to you might not be a red flag to me
and vice versa.
It depends, right?
To some people shyness in mysteriousness is a red flag.
To other people, it's an exciting challenge.
Like I'm gonna crack this person open
and find out who they truly are.
And I don't mind that.
You know, to some people a red flag could be,
you know, a certain type of sense of humor.
But then to other people, it might be a green flag. Like, oh my God, I think this person's
so funny. Red flags vary in severity. So it's harder to say. But I do think that there are
some objectively wrong red flags. We would all agree that these things are wrong. For example,
cheating in some way, like not being loyal. Disrespect is obviously objectively wrong.
Lying is obviously objectively wrong. If you know that this guy is actively doing things
that are objectively wrong to her, I think it's okay to gently bring up, right? And be like, hey, you know, you can do whatever you want. And I know you really like this guy,
but I, as a friend, am watching him mistreat you and it really bothers me. And like, I
just, I can't stand idly by. Like, I have to bring it up to you and tell you that like,
you don't deserve this shit. You deserve somebody who treats you like a little princess. You deserve to be treated with love and respect because that's
how you treat other people, assuming that your friend is a beautiful angel, although she might
not be. But if the red flags are a bit less obvious, they're a bit less intense, they're a bit less glaringly
obvious, I would say a lot of times it's better for people to find out for themselves that
someone isn't right for them because usually that's what they're going to do anyway.
You can bring shit up to them, but they're just going to end up figuring it out on their
own anyway.
They're not going to listen to you because in the case of love and romance and lust,
good luck. It's so tough. It's really hard to break through and be heard. Even when somebody's
treating you wrong. I remember in the past, I've been dating guys who have maybe sort
of not treated me the best and people people have told me like, hey, I
don't like that. Like I don't like the way that they treat you. I saw the way that they
said that to you. I saw the way that they handled the situation. I heard that story
about what they said to you, whatever. And like that doesn't sit right with me. And guess
what I said? No, no, but they're so, but I love them. and this was just like an off day for them and I made excuses.
So it's like, and it actually, if anything, made me resent them in the moment. Now in
retrospect, I'm like, you were totally right, but I had to figure it out on my own. I had
to touch the stove long enough and get burned bad enough to learn that I shouldn't touch
the stove. Sometimes you have to play
in the knife drawer to realize that playing in the knife drawer is a bad idea and that
you shouldn't do it again. You know what I'm saying? That's how we grow. That's how we
learn through experience. A lot of us struggle with it. A lot of us hear advice and we're
like, eh, okay. And we end up making the mistake anyway. We
don't follow the advice, but the advice sticks with us and it's not all bad, right? It makes
us aware of, huh, okay, I'm going to pay attention to like, maybe they are right, but I don't
care because I'm going to do what I'm going to do anyway. But then later it only further
sort of solidifies like, oh shit, I don't want to do that again. I got that advice.
I should have followed it. I didn't. I learned the hard way. Now I'm here. Now I know even more
certainly that I should never do that again. And so I don't know. I think you can maybe
subtly give some advice or even ask like, Socratic, is it a Socratic question? Yes,
it is a Socratic question. You know, you can ask your friends sort of Socratic question? Yes, it is a Socratic question. You can ask your friends Socratic questions, which if you don't know what a Socratic question
is, Socratic questioning is a method of asking and answering questions to explore ideas and
debate logical responses.
It's a collaborative process that involves asking open-ended questions to encourage people
to think critically.
So instead of saying, Hey, I don't really
think it's good how that person is treating you. Instead, you say, how does it make you
feel when that person does this to you? And you let them answer and you let them come
to the conclusion. You know where I learned this from my dad, because this is what my
dad does to me. Instead of like, my mom will tell me like, sorry, like that is fucked up.
Like I don't like the way that that person treats you or, oh, I don't like that.
I don't like your hair like that or like whatever.
My mom will just tell me.
My dad on the other hand will be like, how do you feel about your new haircut?
Or how do you feel when that person talks to you that way?
Or how are you doing with that person?
And then I'll answer and be like, well, I don't really like my haircut. It's not great.
I've been feeling kind of self-conscious about it. Or I don't know. When that person talks
to me like that, it makes me feel small and it makes me feel disrespected and I really
don't like it or whatever. And then from there, he'll be like, well, what kind of haircut
are you going to get next? What do you think would look better? Or, well, what are you going to do
about that? How are you going to handle that situation with that person?
And then I end up finding a solution myself. And that is far more empowering and far more
helpful than just being told what to do. Because number one, it's less personal. It's not like
we all need to handle situations differently, right? Because we're all very different. So told what to do. Because number one, it's less personal. You know, it's not like we
all need to handle situations differently, right? Because we're all very different. So
there are moments when somebody will tell you like, this is how you need to handle the
situation and that's what worked for them. But what would work for you is actually a
bit different and only you can figure that out. Through Socratic questioning, you can
actually figure that out quicker because you're being asked and you're being forced to answer. And through the answering, you're figuring that out yourself. So you're,
you know, oh, ow, sorry. I was being very expressive with my hands and talking with
my hands. And then my cat bit my little finger because he thought it was a little sausage.
It's not a little sausage. It's my finger. It's my finger. Let's not bite anymore. Okay? We don't play
like that. We play nice. Anyway, that's the last one. That's it for today's advice session.
I had a lot of fun as always. I was on the verge of a sneeze the entire episode. The
second I stopped recording, I'm just going to sneeze for the next hour, but I had a lot
of fun and I hope you did too. And if you did, tune into Anything Goes every Thursday and Sunday. Episodes are available
anywhere you stream podcasts and video episodes so you can watch me and hang out with me with
your eyes. Video episodes are available on Spotify and on YouTube, so check it out. And
Anything Goes is on social media at Anything Goes. I'm on social media at Emma Chamberlain and my coffee company
is on the internet at chamberlaincoffee.com and at Chamberlain Coffee on social media.
We are also in person at some grocery stores near you. We're talking Whole Foods, we're
talking Target, we're talking Sprouts, we're talking Albertsons. See if we're in a store
near you on the store locator online, chamberlainCoffee.com. That's
all I have for today. Thank you all for listening and hanging out. It's always a joy. It's always
a pleasure. I also have to pee really bad. I had to sneeze this entire episode. I also
had to pee for the second half. I just need to sit on the toilet and fucking put my little
legs up on the squatty potty and I just need to blow my nose and I need to just sit there and see what happens. And yes, I do put my
feet up on the squatty potty even when I'm peeing. I just love the squatty potty. I love
the way it feels. Anyway, that's it for today. Thank you all for listening and hanging out.
It's always a pleasure. I love you all. I appreciate you all. And I can't wait to talk
to you very soon in a few days here on Anything Goes, the podcast. Okay. Love you all. Bye.
Bye-bye. Bye-bye.