Podbit · Reimagining Love with Dr. Alexandra Solomon
Before any framework applies, one thing must be true: getting back together cannot threaten your mental, physical, or sexual health, or your recovery from a harmful relationship. If it does, the work is not reconciliation — it's continuing to build the beautiful life you've already started.
Where this was said
At 1:36 · chapter starts 0:00
The episode opens with Dr. Solomon's signature introduction — clinical psychologist, author, Northwestern professor, devoted to translating complex relationship science into usable tools. She situates this episode in the arc of a recent breakup series, noting that her earlier episode on breakup regret focused on individual coping strategies, and that this two-parter will zoom out to the relational dimension: what happens when regret becomes conviction and you want to reach back out to your ex. The 12 RSA questions, split across this episode and next week's, are announced as the central framework, giving the listener an immediate sense of the structured, rigorous approach ahead.
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Fei-Fei Li's father had liver surgery performed by a da Vinci robot guided by a surgeon. The result: 10 times less blood loss than a typical procedure. This isn't replacement — it's the gold standard of human-machine collaboration, where the human's judgment and the robot's precision combine.
US drug overdose deaths fell from 110,000 to roughly 70,000 — the biggest CDC-recorded single-year drop ever. Men's rates fell 27% in one year, and the steepest decline of all was among 15–24-year-olds, down 37%. The crisis narrative around young men needs to make room for signs of genuine progress.
Kessler thought his grief expertise would protect him. It didn't. When his son David died unexpectedly, he found himself on the floor — and eventually realized that acceptance alone wasn't enough. That unmet need became the sixth stage: finding meaning.
Grief isn't just death — it's any unwanted change. Kessler lectured at Coca-Cola and General Mills not because they had lots of funerals, but because change management is grief management. People who grieve well live well.
Witnessing someone's grief isn't just emotional support — it's an essential act of healing. Kessler argues grief is a severance and connection heals it. But real witnessing has two steps: seeing the pain AND affirming the person's capacity to recover.
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Most people try to control their environment to avoid triggers. Kessler flips this entirely: triggers aren't problems to manage around — they're a detailed map to your pain and your healing. Every trigger points directly to what needs attention.
Running from pain doesn't leave it behind — it accelerates the chase. Whatever we run from pursues us, and whatever we face transforms us. Both Kessler and Lewis Howes testify to knowing both roads firsthand.
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