At some point, leaving a chapter of your life behind stops feeling like growth and starts feeling like loss. In this episode, we explore the emotional complexity of moving back home after having transformative years; a time where friendships, experiences, and the person you were created a life you now must grieve.

We reflect on the dissonance of returning to a hometown that no longer feels like home, the fear of stillness when life seems paused, and the challenge of not knowing what’s next. Through personal stories and reflections, we talk about accepting these in-between moments, embracing stillness, and finding perspective in the fact that every phase of life, even the slow or uncertain ones, shapes who we are and what comes next.

This episode explores:

• Grieving a life you loved without losing yourself
• Personal stories from my time in New Orleans and having to leave
• Returning to a place that no longer feels like home
• The fear and discomfort of stillness after a period of growth
• Feeling like a failure and moving forward from that
• Accepting transition as part of life’s rhythm
• How past experiences build the foundation for new chapters
• Finding reassurance in uncertainty and embracing your own journey

If you’ve ever returned to a place or phase of life that feels unfamiliar, or felt lost in between what was and what’s next, this episode is for you.

At some point, hosting stops being about connection and starts feeling like a performance. In this episode, we explore how modern hosting, shaped by aesthetics, social media, and unspoken expectations, can feel draining instead of joyful.

We also reflect on cultural differences in hosting, where simpler, more casual gatherings can build stronger, more regular community. Plus, we discuss how social media often pushes consumerism, encouraging themed, curated events over genuine connection. While curated hosting can be fun, it can also make us spend less time truly together.

This episode explores:

• How hosting shifts from hospitality to performance
• When hosting starts to feel more like pressure than connection
• How social media influences how we gather
• Life is not an ad and doesn’t need to look like one
• Choosing memory over footage
• Reclaiming hosting as simple, warm, and human

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by hosting or pressured to impress, this episode is for you.

Valentine’s Day can feel loud. The internet tells us what love is supposed to look like: the posts, the pressure, the grand gestures, the performance. But real love is usually quieter than that.

This episode isn’t about hating Valentine’s Day or big gestures. It’s about the difference between being shown off and being understood.

We talk about:

• Asking someone to be your valentine and if it matters/what it actually means

• Performative love online vs. real connection

• Consumerism and why intention matters more than price

• The difference between gifts and being understood

• How social media shapes our expectations of love

• Why comparison steals joy from relationships

• Choosing presence over performance

• Why real love feels calm, not loud

Because love isn’t about how it looks online, it’s about how it feels when no one’s watching.

From personal relationship stories to pop culture references; this episode is for anyone who’s tired of the noise, the pressure, the comparison and just wants something real.

Why does everything women love eventually get labeled “basic,” “cringe,” or embarrassing? From Taylor Swift to Pilates and pumpkin spice lattes, this episode explores how women’s interests are constantly mocked in ways men’s never are; and why that judgment runs deeper than internet jokes.

In this episode, we unpack:

• Why women’s hobbies are devalued once they become popular
• How the “I’m not like other girls” trope was created by this criticism
• Why men are allowed community around shared interests (sports, gaming, cars) while women are shamed for theirs
• The cultural double standard behind calling women “basic”
• How liking things freely becomes a quiet act of rebellion

This conversation looks at pop culture, gender norms, and social media through a feminist lens; and asks why joy, especially women’s joy, is treated as something to be minimized or mocked.

If you’ve ever felt embarrassed for liking what you like, this episode is for you.

Starting over in your 20s often means starting without a support system. New city, new people, unfamiliar routines, and a loneliness no one really prepares you for. In this episode, we talk honestly about making friends as an adult, navigating rejection, and building a support system from scratch when you’re no longer a kid making friends on the playground.

Drawing from personal experiences of moving to a new city and rebuilding community, this episode explores:

• Why it’s harder to make meaningful friendships in your 20s, and why that’s normal
• The difference between getting along with people and truly connecting
• Why reaching out first is scary but essential
• How to handle rejection without letting it harden you
• Turning party friends into real support systems through vulnerability
• Why it’s okay to have different friends for different parts of your life
• How doing more things alone can actually reduce loneliness
• Trusting your intuition when friendships don’t feel right
• Why building a support system matters more than rushing into romantic relationships

This conversation reframes loneliness as part of growth, not failure, and offers reassurance that grief and joy can coexist while you’re starting over. Friendship doesn’t need to look perfect online; it just needs to feel real.

If you’re rebuilding, feeling lonely in a new city, or learning how to create meaningful friendships in your 20s, this episode is for you.

Your body is more than its looks; it’s a vessel for your life. In a world that constantly compares and criticizes, especially online, Sofia challenges the idea that self-worth is tied to appearance and offers a fresh perspective: seeing our bodies as vessels for experience, not just aesthetics. In this episode of Touching Grass, she draws parallels between beauty, aging, and the natural world, showing how we all carry the same inherent wonder and value as the diversity in nature. Through personal stories that changed her perspective, practical advice for reshaping how you see yourself, and empathetic reflections, Sofia explores self-image, the freedom of not caring what you look like, and navigating self-worth outside the noise of social media.

In this launch episode of Touching Grass, Sofia explores why meaningful friendships require a willingness to inconvenience ourselves for one another. In a culture that prioritizes boundaries, independence, and “protecting your peace,” we may be losing the depth that real connection requires. From emotional presence to small, everyday acts of care, this episode reflects on how showing up, even when it’s inconvenient, is what turns acquaintances into community.