You're listening to the American Girl Podcast Network.

Hey everybody. Welcome to the Smart Girls podcast. I'm Shay. And I'm Jess. And today we have a very special and important episode, right? Yes. Yeah, we are talking about mindfulness and mental health

today. So, so important. I think, you know, as a cultural expert and somebody who really

studies this for young people, Shay, I was so excited we decided to have this conversation because

we know that mental health and mental well-being super important for everybody, but did you know

that girls, even as young as 11, are 30% more likely to struggle with mental health issues than

boys? So I think there's lots of reasons why, you know, it's kind of the way also we process

and the issues that are affecting girls today in culture. But you and I

both have experiences with this too. Yes, we do. That's why it was also really important for me to

have this conversation on this show because I know as somebody who's living through this and

growing up with the internet and social media playing such a huge part of our lives, I know the

effect and the mental toll it takes on people.

And so I just wanted to be able to talk about that and make sure every listener knows they aren't alone in these feelings and that we all feel a lot of this.

That is so important. And I hope everybody listening really gets that. We're going to talk about things today like feeling anxious or maybe even depressed at times or, you know, just a worry or stress. And, you know, every episode is really inspired by a smart girl's book. And this one is the worry book, which I reread as an adult and really need. It's an amazing book.

It is really an amazing book.

It's how to feel less stressed and have more fun.

And that's also the point is that we're going to talk a little bit today with our guests and with our expert.

Katie Hurley is back with us about how we can move through some of these feelings.

They don't have to define us, right? Absolutely. I agree.

So when you say Shay that, you know, this is something that you've kind of struggled with,

would you be open to sharing a little bit about where you feel more stressed in your life or how

anxiety comes up for you? Yeah. For me, I get overwhelmed really easily, actually. So sometimes I'll even just be talking about all the things I have to get done in a day.

...