#775 Nate Berkus - Surviving The 2004 Tsunami
Mental Illness Happy Hour
Paul Gilmartin
4.8 • 6.1K Ratings
🗓️ 21 November 2025
⏱️ 83 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Nate Berkus (@NateBerkus) is an interior designer and a NYT best-selling author (look for his new book, Foundations: Timeless Design That Feels Personal) who joins Paul to share his story of growing up, his challenges with authenticity, and the trauma he endured while being stuck in the middle of a natural disaster, where he witnessed death on a massive scale, including that of his own partner.
For more about Nate:
Nate’s new book Foundations:Timeless Design That Feels Personal
This episode is sponsored Quince. Go to www.Quince.com/mental for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too.
This episode is sponsored by NOCD. If you're struggling with OCD or unrelenting intrusive thoughts, NOCD can help. Book a free 15 minute call to get started: https://learn.nocd.com/mentalpod
If you’re interested in seeing or buying the furniture that Paul designs and makes follow his IG @ShapedFurniture or visit the website www.shapedfurniture.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Extra value meals are back. That means 10 tender juicy McNuggets and medium fries and a drink are just $8. |
| 0:08.4 | Only at McDonald's. For limited time only. Prices and participation may vary. Prices may be higher in Hawaii, Alaska, and California, and for delivery. |
| 0:15.6 | Welcome to episode 775 with my guest, Nate Berkus. If you're new to the podcast, welcome. This is a place for |
| 0:23.9 | honesty about all the battles in our heads, from medically diagnosed conditions, past traumas, |
| 0:29.7 | and sexual dysfunction to everyday compulsive negative thinking. This show's not meant to be a |
| 0:35.2 | substitute for professional mental counseling. I am not a therapist. Half of the show is not meant to be a substitute for professional mental counseling. |
| 0:38.1 | I am not a therapist. |
| 0:39.9 | Half of the show is usually an interview and then surveys filled out anonymously by listeners. |
| 0:47.8 | I'm taking a break from the survey part. |
| 0:50.9 | I need a little bit of a, I don't know, a little bit of a, of a break. The fall, the short days |
| 0:59.6 | as I share the last couple of weeks have been hitting me pretty hard, spent a lot of time in bed |
| 1:05.0 | and not sad or anything, just a lack of vitality. And so I'm going to listen to my, to my body and |
| 1:13.7 | take a little, little bit of break from that. But I do want to read some loves that I, |
| 1:22.2 | that I wrote. And anybody who's new wants to help the podcast by filling out those surveys, you can go |
| 1:32.7 | to our website, MentalPod.com and do that. There's probably a dozen different surveys you can |
| 1:41.3 | fill out. I love, and this one happened the other night, it reminded me of |
| 1:46.2 | these, all of these memories are childhood memories, but this one reminded me of it. I was at an event |
| 1:52.9 | that was in the gym of a church at night, and I love the smell. Being in a church or a school gym during like an event like a bake |
| 2:05.6 | sale or some other kind of fundraiser and it's the combination of food being cooked and coffee |
| 2:11.3 | percolating like the old school out of a can coffee it's such a specific specific smell, not only the coffee itself, but when it percolates |
| 2:21.9 | in one of those big, big things. And speaking of coffee, I also loved that smell when I was a kid |
| 2:29.2 | of being in the principal's office, which, you know, see that a lot of sentence starting like that. |
... |
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