In the most connected generation in human history, why are so many people quietly falling apart in isolation?

In this episode of How to Stay Human, Kyle and Tori unpack the loneliness epidemic—and why it’s not just a “sad feeling,” but a real threat to our physical health, mental wellbeing, and long-term resilience. If you’ve ever had a lot of people around you but still felt alone, this conversation is for you.

Kyle shares a shocking insight from a health longevity conversation: loneliness is one of the most lethal forces impacting human health today. Together, they explore how our culture has traded depth for breadth, why adult friendships often dissolve into “surface-level proximity,” and how social media can create a false sense of closeness that leaves us even more disconnected.

You’ll also learn a practical framework for rebuilding real connection: the Four Circles of Relationship—a way to map the people in your life so you know who is truly core, who is inner circle, who is outer circle, and who is simply an acquaintance. This episode invites you to stop taking friendship for granted and start treating your most important relationships with the same intention you give to your career, goals, and romantic partnerships.

Because real friendship isn’t something you “luck into.” It’s something you build—through consistency, vulnerability, reciprocity, and care.

• Why loneliness impacts physical health (stress, cortisol, heart disease, and more)
• The difference between being “connected” online and being known in real life
• Why adult life makes friendship harder (survival mode, busyness, and the dopamine scroll)
• A story that reveals how much we’ve confused audience for friendship
• Why closeness isn’t history, proximity, blood, or nostalgia—it’s access + truth

The Four Circles of Relationship framework:

• Acquaintances
• Outer Circle
• Inner Circle
• Core (chosen family)

The real test of friendship: who answers when life falls apart

A powerful exercise to audit your relationships and name where dissonance exists

Why vulnerability is leadership—and why you can’t be loved if you can’t be seen

How deeper relationships become a form of resistance in a dividing world

Who do I call when I’m not okay?

Who thinks they’re close to me… but doesn’t actually have access to my real life?

Which relationships am I maintaining out of habit, history, or image?

Who is on the edge of my outer/inner circle—and do I want to deepen it?

This episode is sponsored by Anywhere Clinic, a virtual mental health provider offering expert support from the comfort of your home. Whether you’re exploring ketamine therapy, need medication management, or want a supportive psychiatric guide, you can prioritize your mental health today.
Book an appointment for as low as $120 or check whether your insurance covers it at www.anywhereclinic.com/tori-gordon

In the next episode, we go deeper into the how: how to build real community, what it means to be a good friend, and what sustainable connection actually requires.

If this episode hit home, share it with someone you love—and take one small step toward connection this week.

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If you’ve been feeling behind, stuck, or like your goals keep slipping through your fingers, this episode will reframe everything.

Tori shares her original framework, The 7 Seasons of Becoming Human, to help you identify where you are right now and stop forcing strategies that don’t match your current season. Because growth isn’t linear. You don’t “graduate” into constant momentum. You cycle. You rebuild. You reorient. And when you learn to work with your season instead of fighting it, your life gets clearer and more easeful.

Kyle joins as a student in the conversation, sharing real examples of moving through disruption, liminality, experimentation, devotion, and founding, and how seasons shape our ability to create goals that actually stick.

At the end, Tori shares how to take the 7 Seasons quiz and where to go deeper with the Substack series.

- Why “linear growth” is a myth (and what’s actually true)

- How to identify the season of life you’re in right now

- Why you can be in different seasons across different areas (business, health, relationships, faith)

The 7 Seasons breakdown:

• Comfort (belonging, structure, conformity)
• Disruption (initiation, rupture, awakening)
• Liminality (the in-between, surrender, identity dissolving)
• Discovery (curiosity, experimentation, aliveness)
• Decision/Devotion (choice, integrity, cutting off other paths)
• Founding (systems, discipline, sustainability)
• Stewardship (legacy, service, wisdom)

- The question each season asks you (so you stop shaming yourself and start listening)

- How to stop “swimming upstream” with your goals

- Why your friends’ advice might be wrong for you (they’re often in a different season)

- How to communicate your season to your partner, friends, and team for better support

Take the 7 Seasons of Becoming Human Quiz: https://torigordon.com/seven-seasons

Read the 7 Seasons Substack series: https://torigordon.substack.com

Contact: hello@torigordon.com or info@howtostayhuman.org

Today’s episode is sponsored by Anywhere Clinic — a mental health clinic offering a holistic approach to well-being with psychiatric care, medication management, ketamine therapy, TMS, talk therapy, and peak performance coaching. Anywhere Clinic supports anxiety, depression, ADHD, PTSD, insomnia, and more, with personalized care plans across multiple U.S. states.

If you’re looking for support that blends modern clinical care with a whole-human approach, check out Anywhere Clinic and explore their services.

Visit www.anywhereclinic.com/tori-gordon

If this episode helped you, subscribe for new weekly episodes of How to Stay Human.
Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or watch the full episode on YouTube.
And if you take the quiz, share what season you’re in — it changes how you set goals in 2026.

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As 2025 comes to a close, Kyle and Tori invite you into a more human way to plan your next chapter—one that honors your energy, your nervous system, and the natural rhythm of life.

We reflect on the state of humanity in 2025—polarization, system breakdowns, and the quiet revolution of people choosing a more conscious path. Then we shift into a practical framework for 2026: why New Year’s resolutions often fail, how winter is meant for reflection, and how to create goals that are simple, measurable, meaningful, and aligned with your inner authority.

Kyle shares the SMART goal framework, breaks goal-setting into personal vs. professional, and maps personal goals through the seven energetic bodies (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, primal, social, financial) plus life logistics. Tori grounds the conversation with the core reminder: don’t follow the crowd—follow your truth, your body, and your season of life.

If you’ve been forcing goals that don’t stick, this episode will give you a new map.

• How to reflect on 2025 using themes (integration, not pressure)
• Why winter is for slowness, stillness, and intention-setting
• How to create SMART goals that you can actually sustain
• The seven energetic bodies goal framework (plus life logistics)
• How to balance maintenance and experimentation
• Why inner authority matters more than dogma
• How to stop chasing someone else’s life and build your own

This episode is sponsored by Anywhere Clinic, a mental health clinic with a holistic approach to care, including psychiatric care, medication management, ketamine therapy, TMS, talk therapy, and family counseling.
Learn more / book a consult: www.anywhereclinic.com/tori-gordon

Substack: torigordon.substack.com

Instagram: @howtostayhumanpod @thetorigordon @kyleaherron

Website: torigordon.com

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Relationship agreements only work if you actually use them. In this episode, Tori Gordon and Kyle Herron share how to implement relationship agreements in real life: how to recognize when you’re drifting, how to regulate before you react, and how to build weekly check-ins that keep love practical, safe, and alive.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to:

• Use relationship agreements as guardrails (like bowling bumpers) to stay aligned with your shared vision
• Spot the signs you’re drifting (in your body, mood, tension, and motivation)
• Practice the “Sacred Pause” before reacting when you’re dysregulated
• Create emotional safety so vulnerability becomes a source of trust (and attraction)
• Use weekly check-in questions to prevent resentment and strengthen connection
• Track “ouchies” and wins so the little stuff doesn’t become the big stuff
• Ask for support in a way that improves efficiency, intimacy, and teamwork
• Bring play back into your partnership (without needing a “reason”)

Key Concepts & Frameworks

• Agreements as guardrails: A living manual for repair, regulation, and alignment
• The Sacred Pause: Pause → regulate → return to the agreement → choose your next step
• Ouchies: Naming small hurts before they stack into resentment
• Weekly rhythm: A light structure that becomes more fluid over time
• Mutual accountability: Repair is reciprocal, not one person “doing the work”

Weekly Check-In Questions (steal these)

• What did I do this week that you loved?
• How could I have loved you better this week?
• Do you have any “ouchies” we need to bring presence to?
• What support do you need from me in the coming days?
• What would be fun for you this week?
• Where are we aligned with our shared vision right now?
• Where are we drifting? What agreement isn’t being honored?
• What responsibility am I taking for how I show up this week?

Resources

Substack: Relationship agreements + check-in questions (paid subscribers get the full formats Tori & Kyle use): https://torigordon.substack.com

Get our Relationship Agreements Starter Pack: https://torigordon.gumroad.com/l/ikkcp

Instagram: @howtostayhumanpod | @thetorigordon

If you loved this episode:
Send it to your partner or best friend, and try one question together tonight.

Sponsor: Anywhere Clinic
This episode is sponsored by Anywhere Clinic—your online destination for high-quality mental health and hormone optimization.

Whether you're exploring ketamine therapy, need psychiatric medication management, or want ongoing support from experienced clinicians, Anywhere Clinic brings expert care to you—wherever you are.

💻 Book your first appointment or explore holistic mental health options now at:
anywhereclinic.com/tori-gordon

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode of How to Stay Human, Tori and Kyle open a conversation that sits at the core of personal transformation — the difference between values and virtues, and why virtues are the true compass of the soul.

Values are often inherited… taught… or projected onto us by culture, religion, or institutions.

But virtues?
Virtues are embodied.
They live in the body, in the heart, in the soul. They are the qualities of your essence — courage, honesty, devotion, awe, patience, truthfulness, creativity, trust, and more.

Together, Tori and Kyle walk through:

• Why values often feel rigid, performative, or socially prescribed
• Why virtues are alive, adaptive, and deeply personal
• How virtues help you return to yourself during seasons of uncertainty
• How to identify your “home frequency”
• How to map your own virtue design (your soul’s operating system)
• What underdeveloped virtues are trying to teach you
• How virtues show up inside partnership and mirror your growth
• Why your virtues shape your reputation, impact, and spiritual expression
• How to use virtues as a framework for healing, clarity, and self-leadership

This is a foundational episode — one that will change the way you understand yourself, your relationships, and the path you’re walking.

If you’re feeling lost, unsure, or in transition… this episode will bring you home.

• Virtues vs. values
• Home frequency
• Virtue mapping
• Embodiment vs. performance
• Soul-led decision making
• Devotion vs. attachment
• Trust, surrender, faith
• Assertiveness, detachment, honesty
• How virtues support relationships
• How to stay grounded during uncertainty

0:00 — Welcome to Just Push Record Studios (Austin episode 2)
1:30 — Why this conversation is timely + alive
3:00 — The limitations of socially prescribed values
7:20 — Values vs. virtue signaling
9:30 — What virtues actually are (mystical, philosophical, psychological)
11:30 — Virtues as the language of your light
14:30 — Success vs. excellence (a major reframe)
17:00 — Your inherent worth and divine nature
18:50 — Values as performance vs. virtues as embodiment
20:45 — Innovation vs. creativity (doing vs. being)
22:30 — Attachment vs. devotion
25:45 — The Virtues Project + how to work with the cards
29:40 — Mapping your virtues + identifying your core essence
34:20 — Tori’s core virtue: Truth
36:00 — Virtue clusters in relationships & partnership mirrors
39:45 — Kyle’s hardest virtue: Assertiveness
42:40 — Detachment, trust, surrender
47:00 — When you feel lost, virtues bring you home
49:30 — How to navigate uncertainty using virtues
51:20 — Using virtues to solve problems & make decisions
53:00 — Appreciating virtues in others as a spiritual practice
54:30 — Final reflections + an invitation to choose a virtue this week

This episode is sponsored by Anywhere Clinic — a modern mental health and neuroscience clinic offering psychiatric care, ketamine therapy, TMS, and holistic support for anxiety, depression, trauma, burnout, and more.

Their team blends cutting-edge science with compassionate, human-centered care to help you heal at the root and reclaim your clarity, calm, and confidence.

Learn more or book a consultation at:
👉 www.anywhereclinic.com/tori-gordon

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This is the story behind the biggest leap of our lives.

In this new episode of How to Stay Human, Tori and Kyle open up about the decision to leave Las Vegas, uproot their entire lives, and begin again in Austin — not from fear, not from pressure, but from alignment, trust, and truth.

This episode is an intimate look at what it means to follow your soul when the path is unclear, the timing feels inconvenient, and the stakes are high.

It’s about endings done well, beginnings done bravely, and learning to trust the signs that guide you into your next chapter.

We explore how to choose calling over comfort, how to maintain sovereignty inside relationship, how to honor the seasons of your life, and why true partnership never asks you to abandon yourself.

This is a conversation about alignment, courage, devotion, and the unknown — and what becomes possible when you say yes before you have all the answers.

The fear and excitement of starting over in a new city

Why all meaningful change begins with a single yes

How to know when a season of your life is complete

Why endings deserve intention, closure, and respect

How to live from calling rather than comfort

The difference between commitment and devotion

How to stay sovereign inside relationship

What it means to follow signs instead of logic

Why resistance to change creates suffering

Asking the question: What do you want to be known for in this chapter?

You feel a life change coming, but you’re afraid to act

You’re in a season of uncertainty, transition, or initiation

You want to learn how to hear and trust your intuition

You’re craving deeper alignment and more honesty with yourself

You’re exploring partnership, sovereignty, and conscious relating

You need permission to end a chapter — or begin one

This episode is sponsored by Anywhere Clinic, your online destination for evidence-based mental health care.

Whether you're exploring ketamine therapy, need psychiatric medication support, or want to work with a clinician who sees your whole person, Anywhere Clinic brings high-quality care directly to you.

💻 Learn more or book your appointment:
anywhereclinic.com/tori

00:00 — Welcome to Austin: the start of a new chapter
02:00 — The invitation of change and the discomfort of the unknown
04:30 — Saying yes even when the path isn’t clear
07:00 — The first nudge toward Austin (and why it took years)
10:00 — Spiritual awakenings, internal shifts, and following the call
14:00 — Signs, synchronicities, and trusting the higher self
17:00 — Ending a marriage, beginning a pilgrimage
20:00 — Listening to your soul vs. abandoning yourself
24:00 — Kyle’s dark-night-of-the-soul and major life reset
29:00 — Surrendering control and learning to swim with life
34:00 — The moment their paths reconnected
38:00 — Devotion vs. compliance in conscious partnership
42:00 — Why safety and sovereignty matter before big decisions
47:00 — Ending well: how to close a chapter with integrity
52:00 — Starting a new chapter without leaking energy
55:00 — What they each hope to be known for in Austin
58:00 — Final reflections: movement over fear, alignment over certainty

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What if health wasn’t just physical—but a full-spectrum experience of being alive?

In this continuation of The Seven Energetic Bodies, Tori and Kyle return to complete the holistic framework that’s shaped how they live, love, and lead. In Part II, they explore the social, financial, primal, and spiritual bodies—the energetic dimensions that connect us to belonging, abundance, vitality, and divine purpose.

This is a grounded, heartfelt conversation about how to build real balance in a world that glorifies hustle, isolation, and survival. Through personal stories, practical frameworks, and spiritual insight, they reveal what it means to live in alignment—body, mind, and soul.

What We Cover

The social body: building conscious relationships rooted in truth and boundaries

The financial body: transforming your relationship with money and self-worth

The primal body: reconnecting to nature, movement, and instinct

The spiritual body: deepening your connection to the divine

Why balance begins with awareness

How avoidance, neglect, and disconnection show up across all seven bodies

The importance of co-elevation and growing with your community

How money mirrors your internal state of value and trust

Practices to return to your primal and spiritual intelligence

Why awareness—not perfection—is the first step toward wholeness

This Episode Is For You If:

You feel off balance or out of rhythm in your body or relationships

You’re craving deeper connection—to yourself, others, and Spirit

You’ve been avoiding your finances or feel disempowered with money

You sense that your modern life has disconnected you from nature

You want to live with more purpose, stability, and spiritual integrity

🧬 Sponsor: Anywhere Clinic
This episode is sponsored by Anywhere Clinic—your online destination for high-quality mental health and hormone optimization.

Whether you're exploring ketamine therapy, need psychiatric medication management, or want ongoing support from experienced clinicians, Anywhere Clinic brings expert care to you—wherever you are.

💻 Book your first appointment or explore holistic mental health options now at:
anywhereclinic.com/tori-gordon

Timestamps
00:00 – Welcome back to Part II: Expanding into wholeness
03:00 – The social body and the power of boundaries
08:00 – Conscious relationships and energy management
15:00 – How your community reflects your identity
20:00 – The financial body: money as energy and mirror
27:00 – Awareness, avoidance, and taking responsibility
32:00 – Building systems for financial stability and sovereignty
40:00 – The primal body: returning to instinct and nature
46:00 – The cost of modern disconnection and overstimulation
51:00 – The spiritual body: rediscovering inspiration and divine guidance
56:00 – Integration and daily awareness practices
59:00 – Closing: The journey of self-mastery is infinite

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