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Mental skills aren't just something you should reach for when you're feeling stuck: mental skills are something that can help you from feeling stuck in the first place.
Hosted by entrepreneur and mental skills coach Nick Gumpert, Mental is where hustle meets headspace. It’s raw. It’s real. It’s the mental tune-up every young adult should’ve gotten before stepping into life’s arena.
Those your age that are crushing it aren't smarter—they've just learned to protect their attention like their life depends on it. Because it does. Upgrade your mental toolbox weekly, and add to the most crucial skills you’ll ever have and no one can take away from you.
Let’s face it—
📉 Over 62% of young adults report feeling overwhelmed ”most of the time.”
😶🌫️ Anxiety, burnout, and imposter syndrome aren’t buzzwords—they’re battle scars.
Each short episode (less than 10 minutes) is a combination of elite mental performance tools, real-world stories, and questions that hit like a mirror:
🧠 “If mindset was a currency, how rich would you be?”
💥 “What if the biggest barrier between you and the life you're craving is the story you keep telling yourself?”
Nick doesn’t just talk mindset—he helps you build it. Whether you’re a student-athlete, a creative, or climbing your way through your first job, this show is your mental must.
The cost of ignoring these skills, isn't just struggling—it's watching your future self slip away while others who improve their mental skills soar past you.
Let’s get your mind right. Subscribe now so you can continue to add to the most important skills you’ll ever own, your mental skills!
152 Episodes
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If your “best friends” are the reason your stomach drops every time your phone buzzes, this episode is for you.
221 unread messages, one toxic group chat, and the moment Maria finally chooses herself over being “included.”
In this episode, we follow Maria, an 18-year-old senior in San Antonio, through one of the hardest moves you can make in high school: leaving the friend group that’s been slowly tearing you down. What starts as late-night FaceTimes and “main character energy” turns into backhanded comments, secret plans, and group chat jokes that land like punches.
Over Black Friday, Maria hits her breaking point, calls out the dynamic, and gets labeled “dramatic” and “the problem” for finally speaking up. With help from her older brother and a beat-up journal, she makes the terrifying choice to leave the chat, set real boundaries, and rebuild her circle with people who actually see her.
This episode is a guide for anyone stuck in a toxic friend group, learning that no is a full sentence, and that temporary loneliness is better than permanently feeling like you’re not enough.
If overthinking was an Olympic sport, Gen Z would take the gold—but all we get is anxiety and insomnia. This episode is the cool-down routine your brain's been begging for.
Freshman year. Private school. Family pressure. Sammy's life feels like a never-ending marathon of mental gymnastics, and he’s not alone. In this episode, we follow Sammy through the Overthinking Olympics—those 2:00 AM spiral sessions where your brain won't shut up about everything from forgotten homework to your entire self-worth. Through honest storytelling, laugh-out-loud moments, and the kind of advice that actually lands, we unpack the toll overthinking takes on young minds and how cool-down routines, breathing tricks, and honest conversations can start to bring peace.
For any teen who's tired of being tired, this is your reminder that mental skills aren't soft skills—they're survival skills. You don't have to control every thought. You just have to stop letting them control you.
You ever feel behind in life… like everyone else already bloomed and you're still figuring out if you’re even a plant? 🌱
Redwoods get it. They grow 350 feet tall, live for 2,000 years… but start smaller than a chip.
No comparing. No scrolling. Just growing. Quiet. Steady. Rooted in the right forest.
So maybe it’s not about how fast you grow—but who’s growing with you.
This episode is a mindset shift for anyone in their late teens or early twenties feeling lost in the scroll. Using redwoods as a metaphor for growth, host Nick Gumpert shares why consistency, not comparison, is the real measure of success. We talk about growing slow, staying grounded with the right people, and how sometimes it’s not you—it’s your soil. Mental skills are the hidden roots that help you stand tall when life gets stormy. By the end, you’ll feel less rushed, more rooted, and reminded that the tallest trees grow in good company.
You ever say yes so many times you wake up buried in commitments, caffeine, and a crusty planner? That’s Ariel. And this is the story of her yes hangover—and the breakthrough that followed.
In this episode, Ariel, a high-achieving senior, opens up about her chaotic fall into overcommitment—from three clubs to a demon dog to organizing a winter formal she didn’t even want to attend. At first, her schedule made her feel important. But slowly, it left her burned out, forgetting birthdays, and crying on boxes of frozen french fries in the walk-in freezer at work. After a humiliating friend fail and some blunt but loving truth from her parents, Ariel starts learning the value of saying no—and how boundaries don’t make you boring, they make you better. It’s raw, hilarious, and painfully real for any Gen Z listener trying to be everything to everyone.
By the end, you’ll realize that sometimes the bravest thing you can do is back out and show up fully for fewer, better things. Especially yourself.
I just deleted the group chat. 3 years of inside jokes—gone in one swipe. My hands are still shaking, and no one knows why... yet.
If you've ever felt group chat fatigue, this one’s for you. In today’s episode, Theo shares what led him to delete a group chat with his 8 closest friends. It wasn’t drama—it was exhaustion. From FOMO pressure to the weight of constant connection, we break down how Gen Z teens are navigating real friendship in the age of digital overload.
Learn how to recognize when your mental bandwidth is maxed out, why ghosting the group chat isn’t always toxic, and how to set boundaries without burning bridges. Whether you're a teen buried in DMs or a parent trying to understand why your kid hasn’t replied in days, this episode is a powerful look at how to protect your peace and rebuild connection—on your terms.
You ever feel like you’re collecting unfinished hobbies instead of achievements?
One month it’s Italian on Duolingo. The next, guitar lessons.
Now there’s an embroidery hoop staring at you from your dorm desk like it’s judging you.
You’re not lazy. You’re not lost.
You’re just curious in a world that keeps demanding commitment.
This episode? It’s for every “hobby hopper” who’s still figuring it out.
Feeling lost in your 20s? Can’t commit to one thing? You’re not alone.
In this episode of Mental, we meet Declan, a 20‑year‑old college student who’s mastered one thing: starting things. From embroidery to guitar to Italian lessons, he’s exploring everything—and blaming himself for not sticking to anything.
But what if curiosity isn’t failure? What if it’s a kind of mental skill—the courage to keep exploring even when the world tells you to commit?
Through Declan’s story, Nick explores:
Why Gen Z struggles with identity pressure and fear of commitment
The myth of “finding your thing” before 25
How curiosity actually fuels creativity, self‑discovery, and confidence
What it means to build mental skills for the in‑between seasons of life
Whether you’re a parent trying to understand your “indecisive” kid or a 20‑something wondering if you’re behind—this episode will make you rethink what success really means.
You didn’t waste your degree.
You didn’t fail your kid.
And you’re not behind.
You just bought into someone else’s definition of success.
This episode? It’ll help you rewrite it.
What if your major doesn't match your job? What if your career doesn’t look like your resume? What if being a great parent isn't about getting it right — but about listening right?
In this episode of Mental, Nick sits down with Laura Ollinger, a teen and parent well-being coach who helps both sides of the dinner table breathe, reset, and finally hear each other again. She’s got four teens of her own (yes, FOUR), so she’s not guessing.
You’ll hear:
The difference between goals and pressures
Why expectations can either build trust… or break connection
What fear of failure is really about (and how to face it)
How to be present without trying to fix everything
This one’s for every teen who’s ever been misunderstood… and every parent who’s trying.
Your family’s not falling apart because of politics.
It’s falling apart because no one knows how to talk anymore.
Antonia didn’t wait for peace—she built it herself at 18.
This one’s for anyone who’s ever wanted to scream at the dinner table.
Antonia is 18. Her family's got 8 people, 0 chill, and a dinner table that becomes a political battlefield every Sunday. But one night? She snaps. And what happens next? You’ll wish you had the guts to do it too.
This isn’t just about a pot roast—it’s about the cost of silence, the weight of emotional labor Gen Z carries, and the tiny rules that might just save your family.
If you've ever felt stuck between two sides you didn’t choose—this one’s for you.
Everyone’s posting their wins. You’re just trying to remember the WiFi password from high school.
Myles isn’t failing to launch.
He’s j
ust honest enough to say:
“I don’t know if I’m burnt out, or if this system is just fire.”
This episode is for anyone feeling stuck between who they thought they’d be by now…
And who they actually are.
Spoiler:
You’re not behind. You’re just awake.
This isn’t a motivational episode.
This is a brutally honest one.
Myles has a computer science degree, a mountain of debt, and zero job offers.
He’s 22, living at home, and surrounded by siblings “crushing it” in cities with skylines and salaries.
He spends his days rewriting résumés, scrolling LinkedIn, and wondering if his future ghosted him.
This episode dives headfirst into the "failure to launch" myth, post-grad paralysis, comparison culture, and the quiet panic of feeling like everyone else has their life figured out—except you.
But here’s the flip:
Maybe uncertainty isn’t failure.
Maybe it’s the first sign you’re thinking for yourself.
And maybe living at home isn’t a setback—it’s just the only rational response to a broken system.
If you’ve ever laid in bed wondering when dreaming turned into dreading…
If you’ve ever wanted to throw your phone across the room because someone got a promotion and you just got out of bed…
This one’s for you.
47,000 followers. And not one of them noticed she was drowning.
You ever been so online that you forgot what it felt like to be here?
Mallory didn’t think she had a problem…
Until the people who loved her most couldn’t get her to look up.
This isn’t just a story about screen time.
It’s about what happens when your phone becomes your personality.
And your life becomes a performance.
Seventeen-year-old Mallory Smith has it all: a 4.2 GPA, a scholarship on the line, and nearly 50,000 followers hanging on her every post. But while her online presence skyrockets, her real life starts falling apart. Missed passes on the court. Missed dinners at home. Missed moments with her 13-year-old sister Chloe, who sees the warning signs before Mallory does.
What starts as brand-building turns into addiction—silent, sneaky, and disguised as ambition. She thinks she’s working on her future. But what she’s really doing… is missing her present.
This episode explores social media dependency, dopamine addiction, and the moment Mallory finally wakes up—on the night she loses everything she thought she wanted.
If you’ve ever said “real quick” before a scroll session that lasted hours…
If you can name your top followers but forgot your sibling’s last win…
This one’s for you.
You ever say yes to something small… then wake up in a nightmare?
That was Tyler. One favor. One bag. One lie to protect a friend—nearly cost him his sister, his family, and his future. Sometimes it’s not the big choices that break you. It’s the tiny ones that sneak in and blow up everything.
Tyler’s just a regular 17-year-old—honors student, softball-practice chauffeur, and go-to big bro. But one decision to “help out” his best friend by holding a bag of Adderall turns into a life-altering chain reaction.
When his 12-year-old sister finds the pills and ends up in the hospital, Tyler is forced to confront the truth: loyalty can be lethal when it blinds you to what matters most. What starts as a favor spirals into threats, police reports, and a full-on investigation.
This episode is about choices—the kind you think won’t matter until they ruin everything. And how speaking up, even when it’s scary, might be the only thing that saves you.
I built a box for myself.
Everything neat. Everything controlled.
Then life, betrayal, and depression came in like a wrecking ball.
The box shattered—so did I.
This is the episode about what happens when the people you trust break you… and the tools that keep you from breaking yourself.
Sometimes the people you count on the most let you down the hardest.
In this raw conversation with Jeb Brofsky, we unpack what happens when your identity, friendships, and mental health collapse at the same time—and how to build real resilience before you need it.
We talk about:
• Feeling betrayed and boxed in by your own expectations
• Why “just tough it out” is a myth (and what to do instead)
• How to support a friend who shares dark thoughts without feeling like you have to “fix” them
• Simple, immediate, quick (“S.I.Q.”) tools for staying grounded when your world tilts
Whether you’re a teen, a young adult, a parent, or a coach, this episode gives you real techniques, not just ideas—breathwork, micro‑habits, and mindset shifts you can start today.
⚠️ TW: Suicide / depression is discussed. If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988 or text HOME to 741741. You are not alone.
They say becoming a parent changes everything.
What they don’t say?
Sometimes… ‘everything’ includes your will to keep living.
I was 20.
My baby was 2 pounds.
And I was ready to give up.
Until one text—with a stupid little heart emoji—changed everything.
On December 18th, Tara Williams became a mom.
By March 15th, she almost wasn’t here to be one.
This is the unfiltered, emotional story of a 20-year-old NICU mom navigating postpartum depression, medical bills, isolation, and total exhaustion—until a text from her boyfriend’s mom changed the trajectory of three lives.
India, born 10 weeks early, weighed just over 2 pounds.
Tara, still bleeding, still healing, returned to work after two weeks.
Kobe, India’s dad, took on three jobs to pay the bills.
And somewhere between breast pumps, hospital alarms, and 3AM Google searches like “Does my baby hate me?”—Tara began to believe that her daughter would be better off without her.
But as Tara sat on the ledge of a parking garage, ready to give up, her phone buzzed. One message. One emoji. One person who didn’t look away.
This episode is for anyone who’s ever felt invisible in their pain.
For the ones who smile through survival.
For the ones searching for a reason to keep going.
You don’t have to fight alone.
TW: This episode contains real stories of postpartum depression and suicidal thoughts. If you or someone you know is struggling, please call/text 988 or text HOME to 741741. You are not alone.
I was 20, sleep-deprived, broke, and convinced my baby hated me.
I wasn't scrolling at 3am.
I was on the edge of a parking garage.
Then I got a text.
From his mom.
That stupid little red heart emoji might've just saved my life.
What if the person who saves your life… isn’t your partner, your best friend, or even your therapist… but your boyfriend’s mom?
This is Tara's story.
20 years old.
A mom too soon.
NICU alarms at 2am.
No sleep. No money. No map.
Her breaking point? A 7th floor parking garage ledge.
The person who noticed? Kobe’s mom, Kim.
In this unforgettable episode, we follow Tara’s spiral through postpartum depression—and the woman who pulled her out. This story isn’t just about surviving the darkest moments…
It’s about how love can show up unexpectedly, awkwardly, and just in time.
Because sometimes, saving someone doesn’t look like therapy.
Sometimes it looks like sandals on concrete. A NICU hug. A heart emoji.
TW: This episode contains discussions of suicide and postpartum depression. If you or someone you know is struggling, text HOME to 741741 or call/text 988. You're not alone.
I was supposed to go to Joey’s house that day. Then he did what he did.
I’ve spent years wondering—could I have saved him? Could I have changed something?
That’s the guilt that lives in you when suicide hits close.
But the truth is, sometimes it’s not about having the answers—
It’s about finally letting go of the questions that were never yours to carry in the first place.
What happens when trauma doesn’t just hit your school—but your street, your friends, your family?
In this raw and powerful episode, we go deep with Jeb—a Columbine survivor whose life was forever changed by school shootings, suicide, and the weight of "what ifs."
He opens up about the neighbor who didn’t make it…
The basketball star everyone admired…
The best friend he was supposed to hang out with—until he never got the chance.
We talk about how trauma rewires your brain, how perfectionism turns pain inward, and what healing actually looks like.
This isn’t a motivational speech. It’s a life-saving reminder:
💬 You don’t have to earn love.
💬 You don’t have to be okay to be worthy.
💬 And if you’re in darkness right now… it’s not forever.
Permission to feel.
Patience to heal.
This is the episode someone you know needs right now.
June 16, 2002.
I thought it was the best day of my life.
My dad pushed me on the swings, bought me ice cream, told me I was brave.
Hours later, he was gone.
Not from a heart attack. Not from an accident.
From a decision no 6-year-old should ever have to carry in silence for 30 years.
Sometimes the most beautiful days… carry the darkest endings.
This is the story I never wanted to tell.
But maybe… it’s the story someone else needs to hear.
Zach was six when he had the best day of his life.
Ice cream, swings, laughter with his dad on Father’s Day, 2002. But by bedtime, everything changed.
For decades, all anyone said was that his father “had an accident.” But the truth — uncovered 30 years later — shattered that silence:
His dad planned that perfect day as a goodbye.
In this powerful episode, we unpack how the lies meant to protect us as kids can become the secrets that shape us as adults. It's about grief. About legacy. About the choice to stay.
And how the hardest conversations—about suicide, mental health, and being enough—might be the ones that save lives.
The day I found out how my dad really died…
was the same day I started learning how to live.
I was 6 when he died.
36 when I finally found out why.
And what no one tells you about hiding the truth to ‘protect’ your kids…
is that the silence leaves its own scars.
This isn’t just about my dad.
It’s about what happens when you don’t say the hard things.
And what it took for me to finally say them to my kids.
After decades of believing his dad died in an “accident,” a 36-year-old father of two stumbles on a box in his grandmother’s attic that shatters everything he thought he knew. Inside are the letters his dad wrote before ending his life on Father’s Day, 2002 — just hours after spending a perfect afternoon with his 6-year-old son.
This episode isn’t just about one family’s tragedy. It’s about what happens when we bury the truth to protect the next generation — and how those buried truths grow into silent fears, shame, and questions that echo for decades.
This is a story about generational healing, suicide loss, mental health, fatherhood, and finally giving the next version of yourself a fighting chance.
Because the truth might hurt. But silence does worse.
"I wasn’t planning to die because I hated life.
I just didn’t know how to keep living it.
And one mom — who overheard everything —
saved me before I could save myself."
When you’re 17 and drowning, planning your way out can feel mature — logical even. But under the weight of toxic friend drama, family pressure, and a brutal breakup, Reese didn’t need a perfect plan. She needed someone to overhear the pain she didn’t know how to say out loud.
Enter Mrs. Jefferson. A quiet listener. A mom who knew what it meant to fight for life — and what it looked like when someone wanted to give up. What happens next isn’t a rescue. It’s a perspective shift. It’s the conversation that changes everything.
If you’ve ever thought you were the only one hurting, if you’ve ever felt invisible, or like the world would be better without you — this episode is for you.
Because sometimes, the voice that saves your life isn’t the one in your head.
It’s the one that refuses to walk away.
You ever realize mid-conversation… that you didn’t want to die?
You just wanted the pain to stop.
This is the story of how my best friend’s secret battle — one I never even knew about — ended up saving my life.
📍 September. A backyard. Two best friends and one life-changing conversation.
Reese is spiraling, silently planning her exit from life — until Mrs. Jefferson, her best friend's mom, sits her down and drops a truth she never saw coming:
Gabby, her ride-or-die, the girl who makes her laugh at 2am… once spent four years fighting leukemia.
And never said a word.
This episode is about the moments that change everything — how someone else’s hidden battle can unexpectedly hold up a mirror to your own.
It’s about what we miss when we assume we’re alone. And what we gain when we finally let someone love us back to life.
If you've been feeling stuck, hopeless, or like no one sees you — listen to this. Then send it to the one person who might need it even more.
Derrick wasn’t supposed to be a hero that night. He was just a 17-year-old with a gut feeling… and a hallway door that wasn’t locked.
This is the story of the knock that saved my life. And why listening to your instincts might save someone else's too.
📍 September 4th, 2007. Derrick Warren is deep in senior year — college apps, parties, pressure — but something about his little sister Lexi feels off. Really off.
She’s slipping away slowly — skipping meals, avoiding conversations, wearing his old hoodies like armor. Everyone else misses the signs… but Derrick doesn’t.
And that night, one knock on her bedroom door changes everything.
This episode is about the small instincts that save lives. The split-second decisions that ripple forward into entire futures. And how sometimes, the strongest thing you can do… is refuse to walk away.
If you’ve ever worried about someone but weren’t sure if it was your place to speak up… this story is for you.
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