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Soul Gum: Daily Summaries Delivered
by by Victoria Hutchins
A self-development podcast with philosophical, psychological and literary flair hosted by Victoria Hutchins, the creator of @thedailyvictorian and nationally bestselling author of MAKE BELIEVE.
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- 1 weeks ago41 min
Habits of Highly Charismatic People
The manosphere wants you to think charisma is all about dominance and control. But what if it’s actually about deep presence and social courage?I don’t want to be like the guy who uses scarce communication to hide his lack of depth and fear of commitment. I want to be like the people who make you feel cool just by talking to them, while radiating charisma themselves.If you’ve ever wondered why some people can have fun talking to literally anyone, struggled to know what to say when someone asks you a question, or wished you were more comfortable saying what you actually think, this episode is for you.In today’s episode, we unpack 5 habits of highly charismatic people, from what they say when they’re getting to know someone to how they navigate disagreements. Along the way, we’ll talk about what we can learn from Socrates about swag, dive into the science of answering any question well, and use Byung-Chul Han’s concept of “the smooth” to investigate how we can stay raw and real in a world that tries to sand our edges.EPISODE OUTLINE: HABITS OF HIGHLY CHARISMATIC PEOPLE00:00 Intro07:14 1. How to ask better questions 08:18 The science of how asking questions makes people like you 10:18 The power of follow-up questions13:41 2. How to answer any question without freezing 14:37 The scary thing no one tells you about writing a book 17:11 Why your mind goes blank when someone asks you a question 18:03 The secret to answering questions with ease 20:21 The link between storytelling and charisma22:40 3. Stop performing agreement in conversations 23:18 What is backchanneling? 23:59 Upspeak, confidence, gender, and the way we talk 26:05 Should we actually backchannel less?28:58 4. How charismatic people handle disagreement 30:27 What Socrates can teach us about intellectual humility32:14 5. Stop treating human connection like a formula33:36 Byung-Chul Han and “the smooth”36:13 Btw you’re not a chad for wanting to be loved39:04 Lightning round recap40:44 Poem: Small Kindnesses by Danusha LamérisMY LINKSMy debut poetry collection MAKE BELIEVE is out everywhere nowSubscribe to Soul Gum’s new instagram :-) Follow me on Instagram and TikTok
- 3 weeks ago41 min
How to Plan Your Fall to Change Your Life
Pumpkin spice apologists wya? It’s the great lock in Charlie Brown!!!!! In this episode, I’m walking you through the exact five-step seasonal planning system that dramatically changed my life a few years back. Along the way, we’ll dive into the philosophy and psychology behind why it works. We’ll talk through Nietzsche’s philosophy on habits, Simone de Beauvoir’s ideas on how to reconcile your past and future selves, the planning fallacy, and more. Whether you want to change the trajectory of your life this fall or just set up some systems to make life a little less chaotic, this episode is for you. EPISODE OUTLINE: HOW TO PLAN YOUR FALL TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE 00:00 Intro06:21 I made you a worksheet ◡̈09:30 STEP 1: THE AUDIT10:36 Facticity vs. transcendence (de Beauvoir) 11:11 The importance of considering both your past and your potential12:55 Using self-distancing to self-reflect more effectively13:31 How to audit your goals14:56 How to audit your execution18:24 STEP 2: THE PURGE 19:07 The paradox of choiceCleaning out digital and physical worlds22:15 Choice architecture25:15 STEP 3: THE CHOICE25:55 The planning fallacy27:54 Optimism bias & why overplanning feels good29:00 STEP 4. THE TRADE OFF 31:25 Nietzsche’s on the power of “brief habits” 33:10 STEP 5. THE TIME 34:33 Temporal landmarks and why they make you more likely to achieve goals 35:44 the fresh start effect36:05 Kairos: the opportune moment37:28 Leaving room for life inside our lives38:13 Lightning round recapEPISODE LINKSGet instant access to the fall planning worksheet HERE. NOTE: If you can't find it in your email, search "YOUR FALL PLANNING WORKSHEET" in your email inbox! It is likely hiding in the Social or Promotions tab. My debut poetry collection MAKE BELIEVE is out everywhere nowSubscribe to Soul Gum’s new instagram :-) Follow me on Instagram and TikTok
- Aug 16, 202627 min
The Possibility Crisis of Your Late 20s
If your early twenties are for your Sylvia Plath fig tree allegory crisis, then your late twenties are for your Joan Didion Goodbye to All That crisis. In her famous 1967 essay, Didion writes, “That was the year, my twenty-eighth, when I was discovering that not all of the promises would be kept, that some things are in fact irrevocable and that it had counted after all, every evasion and every procrastination, every mistake, every word, all of it.”This episode explores a strain of existential dread that often shows up in your late twenties: the possibility crisis. Sometimes it hits you after capital-S Something happens. A bad break up, a wounding professional failure, or a friendship ending that felt like betrayal. Other times, there is no one defining moment or incident. You just realize one day that you are no longer as bright eyed, bushy tailed, or hopeful as you used to be, and can’t put your finger on why. Using Didion’s Goodbye to All That as our guide, we break down three key signs you might be experiencing a possibility crisis and what it might be trying to teach you. Along the way, we talk about how to cope with the realization that certain doors really do close, what to do when new people stop feeling full of promise, and how to let go of the fantasy that someday you’ll magically know what you’re doing. Consider this episode a field guide on the strange grief of growing up. EPISODE OUTLINE00:00 Intro 04:23 What made Joan Didion great?05:13 Signs of a Goodbye to All That crisis05:46 1. You realize future you is just you07:41 Weird girl money 08:22 The 90s’ overly adult depiction of your 30s10:41 2. You stop believing in new faces11:32 Hope springs eternal on Love Island12:09 Give me back my girlhood, it was mine first12:58 POV you’re 28 & have met every person alive13:55 3. Some doors are actually closing14:52 The first time I felt a door close16:14 When the doors start slamming left & right17:03 It’s easy to see beginnings and harder to see ends18:54 Perspective shifts that got me out of this crisis 19:29 1. Idk what I’m doing but neither does anyone else20:59 2. Trust means more when it’s a choice not an instinct21:45 3. On “it’s never too late”22:27 Possibility must be unactualized to exist23:10 The U-shaped happiness curve23:55 Has the internet made the possibility crisis start earlier? 24:28 Socioemotional selectivity theory25:25 The happy ending Joan Didion doesn’t tell youEPISODE LINKSMy debut poetry collection MAKE BELIEVE is out everywhere nowFollow Soul Gum’s new instagram :-) Follow me on Instagram and TikTok
- Aug 2, 202630 min
Rituals for De-Internalizing the Male Gaze
Be honest: do you ever perform for no one? Do you spectate your own life instead of living it? Have you ever caught yourself changing pieces of you, from your clothes to your voice to your hobbies, in order to impress someone you don’t even like? This episode is for you if you’ve ever sucked in your stomach in a completely empty room. Or scrolled through your own social media posts, imagining someone else looking at them. It’s for you if you've ever looked at yourself through someone else's eyes for so long that you've forgotten what you look like through your own.In it, we’ll unpack how we get trapped under the male gaze through the work of Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Susan Sontag, Margaret Atwood, Ada Limón, and more. Then, I'll walk you through 7 rituals that have actually helped me climb out from under it.This is not an episode about giving up on love. It is a field guide on how to stop twisting yourself into inauthentic shapes to earn validation to fill the void of love. If you want to become the subject of your own life again, I think you'll like this one.RITUALS FOR DE-INTERNALIZING THE MALE GAZE: EPISODE OUTLINE00:00 Intro07:28 1. The gaze audit (Sartre)08:40 Subject self versus object self10:01 Foucault’s panopticon & self-surveillence 10:54 How to do a gaze audit 14:11 2. Photo and mirror detox (Sontag)15:42 3. Interrogate “I do it for myself” (de Beauvoir)16:50 de Beauvoir v. Sartre: existence precedes essence?17:21 Do we have to stop shaving to be good feminists?18:14 How to trace the origins of your grooming habits18:47 The marketing origins of shaving20:02 5. Bechdel mode21:35 The importance of non-man focused conversation22:25 6. Pleasure inventory (Mary Oliver)22:56 The antidote to self-surveillance according to psychology23:45 How to take a pleasure inventory24:49 7. Pre-situationship prep26:44 Love poem with apologies for my appearance (Ada Limon27:51 The surprising unobjectifying power of being really loved and really seen28:48 Lightning round recapEPISODE LINKSMy debut poetry collection MAKE BELIEVE is out everywhere nowSubscribe to Soul Gum’s new instagram :-) Follow me on Instagram and TikTok
- Jul 19, 202636 min
Secret Portals to Your Next Self
In stories, the narrator tells you which ordinary things are portals to magic and adventure. In real life, you have to find them yourself.This episode reveals 5 secret portals to the next version of yourself: seemingly ordinary choices, traits, and habits that are thresholds to the future version of you who lives with more courage, clarity, and freedom. It’s for you if an old version of you has died but the new one hasn’t been born yet. You might have recently experienced a big life change: a move, or a relationship ending, or a career change. Or maybe you know one is coming. It’s for you if you have an unshakeable feeling that there is a more alive version of you out there, if only you could figure out how to get to them. We’ll examine the work of philosophy’s greatest minds, like Nietzsche, Kant, Kafka, and the Ancient Greeks, to uncover the hidden thresholds between who you are and who you're becoming, and point out clues for how to spot them when they appear in your own life.EPISODE OUTLINE 00:00 Intro04:54 I missed you06:05 Help me keep Soul Gum ad-free07:35 Talk to me!!! 08:18 1. Intuition is a portal08:49 Nietzsche’s beef with Socrates10:44 The neuroscience of intuition (Gary Klein) 12:31 I exist because of a woman’s intuition13:03 The tension between ambition & intuition14:13 Mary Oliver on reacquianting with your intuition15:05 Small ways to reconnect with your intuition15:42 2. Solitude is a portal (Pascal)16:39 The fear of being alone with your thoughts17:33 2014 study on the discomfort of being un-stimulated18:05 Solitude as a tool in my creative process18:58 Brain drain study: it is that d**n phone19:30 Going phone n*k*d20:12 3. Aligned friendship is a portal21:36 Nietzsche: Friends should be your “best enemies”23:06 Friendship as a mirror 23:40 The research of social contagion 24:18 Look for friends that show you what’s possible 24:52 4. Nature is a portal25:40 Our increasingly sanitized relationship with nature26:15 Kant, the sublime, and the gorpcore of it all28:41 The ego-interrupting power of awe29:45 5. Action is a portal (Kafka’s Before the Law)31:29 Mary Oliver on the most regretful people 32:00 You deserve to know what’s on the other side of fear32:33 Leap by Joy Sullivan33:34 For the Ones Who Left by Me (Victoria Hutchins)34:29 Lightning round recap35:40 Subscribe, rate, share, talk to me!!! LINKSMy debut poetry collection MAKE BELIEVE is out everywhere nowSubscribe to Soul Gum’s new instagram :-) Follow me on Instagram and TikTok
- Sep 7, 20256 min
Season 3 Coming Soon
See you soon - I'll miss you! Make sure you're subscribed so you know when Soul Gum is back. WHERE TO FIND ME:MAKE BELIEVE is out everywhere nowGet a signed copy of MAKE BELIEVE from Blue Willow Bookshop (write “REQUEST FOR SIGNED COPY” in the order notes!)Join the waitlist for future retreats! Practice yoga with me at Shanti Yoga Houston on the last Sunday of every month!Find me @thedailyvictorian on Instagram Find me @thedailyvictorian on TikTok
- Aug 24, 202546 min
The Philosophy of Love
Everyone wants love, but no one can tell you exactly what love is. In this episode, we deep dive into seven philosophical perspectives on love, ranging from the Ancient Greeks to the existentialists. If you’re curious whether Plato thought soulmates were real or Kierkegaard would tell you to text your ex, this episode is for you. EPISODE OUTLINE 00:00 Intro (the philosophy of love)03:19 What even is love? (hypotheticals on love)07:07 Ancient Greek philosophy on love 07:35 Origins of the concept of soulmates (Plato’s The Symposium)09:03 Socrates’ ladder of love 13:03 Enlightenment thinkers on love 13:15 Love as social performance (Rousseau)13:58 Rousseau’s two types of self love 15:22 How self love affects how you love others17:31 The humanity formula (Kant) 19:49 Practical vs. passionate love (Kant)22:07 Love as a trick (Schopenhauer)24:04 Why do opposites attract? (Schopenhauer)24:28 Is love just biological encouragement to reproduce? (Schopenhauer)26:06 Existentialists on love26:14 The tension between love and freedom of choice (Sartre)27:50 Love as an objectifying force (Sartre)30:32 Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir’s non-monogamous love story 31:40 The relationship between love and possession (de Beauvoir) 33:06 How your fear of being seen impacts your ability to give and receive love (Sartre, Doestoevsky, de Beauvoir) 36:54 Kierkegaard’s Works of Love 37:22 Unreasonable standards in love (Kierkegaard)42:24 Lightning round recapMENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEPlato, The Symposium (c. 385–370 BCE)Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract (1762)Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785)Immanuel Kant, The Metaphysics of Morals (1797)Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Representation (1818)Søren Kierkegaard, Works of Love (1847)Fyodor Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground (1864)Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness (1943)Jean-Paul Sartre, No Exit (1944)Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (1949)Gordon Marino, The Existentialist’s Survival Guide (2018)MY LINKSMAKE BELIEVE is out everywhere nowGet a signed copy of MAKE BELIEVE from Blue Willow Bookshop (write “REQUEST FOR SIGNED COPY” in the order notes!)Join the waitlist for future retreats! Practice yoga with me at Shanti Yoga Houston on the last Sunday of every month!Find me @thedailyvictorian on Instagram Find me @thedailyvictorian on TikTok
- Aug 17, 202543 min
7 Secrets of Creative Geniuses
Ever wonder why some people seem to have endless creativity while you’re stuck with half-baked ideas that never make it out of your Notes app? In this episode, we explore the habits, tips and artistic processes of creative geniuses ranging from Plato and Picasso to Mary Oliver and Rick Rubin. I reveal the 7 secrets of creative geniuses that helped me stop chasing perfection, relight my creative spark, and actually enjoy the process of making art. If you’re ready to stop gatekeeping your own creativity, this one’s for you. EPISODE OUTLINE00:00 Intro: Why creativity matters for everyone (not just artists)03:58 1. Great creatives don’t let perfection be the enemy of creation (Plato’s Republic, perfection vs. forms, Ira Glass on “the gap”)11:28 2. They separate creation, refinement, and critique (Rick Rubin, The Creative Act)14:41 3. They focus on next possibilities, not ultimate goals (Stuart Kauffman’s adjacent possible, evolutionary biology, Bhagavad Gita, Rick Rubin on artistry vs. craftsmanship)20:56 4. They embrace flow and anti-flow (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi on flow state; Mary Oliver’s editing process; Stanley Kubrick’s many takes)25:52 5. They thrive under constraints (Barry Schwartz’s paradox of choice; Mary Oliver writing Wild Geese as a constraint exercise; Parkinson’s Law)30:35 6. They know that if they don’t create it, someone else will (Rick Rubin on how ideas move, Elizabeth Gilbert’s hand-off story with Ann Patchett)34:01 7. They know that no one really knows (Socrates on knowing nothing, imposter feelings, why your contributions matter)37:57 Lightning round recapMENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE • Plato, The Republic • Studies on the impact of perfectionism on performance and creativity (2022 and 2025)• Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way of Being • Stuart Kauffman, At Home in the Universe • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience • Mary Oliver, A Poetry Handbook; “Wild Geese”; On Being interview with Krista Tippett • Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice• Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear MY LINKS• MAKE BELIEVE is out everywhere now• Get a signed copy of MAKE BELIEVE from Blue Willow Bookshop (write “REQUEST FOR SIGNED COPY” in the order notes!)• Join the waitlist for future retreats! • Practice yoga with me at Shanti Yoga Houston on the last Sunday of every month!• Find me @thedailyvictorian on Instagram • Find me @thedailyvictorian on TikTok
About Soul Gum
A self-development podcast with philosophical, psychological and literary flair hosted by Victoria Hutchins, the creator of @thedailyvictorian and nationally bestselling author of MAKE BELIEVE.
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