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The Angry Therapist Podcast

Relearning How to Feel Joy

The Angry Therapist Podcast

John Kim

Mental Health, Health & Fitness

4.61.1K Ratings

🗓️ 2 February 2026

⏱️ 39 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What if the hardest part of healing isn’t pain — but joy? John Kim talks with Dr. MC McDonald about grief, intimacy, self-trust, and the quiet ways we hide when connection feels unsafe. MC shares why joy has been the hardest emotion to let in, and how learning to feel safe again changes everything. A grounded, human conversation about healing while still figuring it out. 🔗 Guest Links Dr. MC McDonald Instagram & TikTok: @mc.phd Website: https://www.drmcmcdonald.com 🎙️ Host Links: Surf, Sex & Pancakes - Join John Kim for a surf retreat in Costa Rica. More information: HERE Sign up HERE 📘 Read John’s new book in progress Sh*t Your Therapist Would Never Tell You on John’s SubStack ⁠HERE⁠ If you’re ready for deeper work, the Secure Self course is available HERE Order John's new book, Break Up. On Purpose,⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ HERE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow John on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ HERE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Find out more about John⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ HERE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

300 years of expertise in every twining sleep blend.

0:06.0

100 hours of craft in every cup.

0:10.0

Eight natural ingredients in every sip.

0:14.0

One night of winding down in every drop.

0:18.0

Your moment of serenity. Brought to you by twining sleep. Twinings. Alive in every drop.

0:29.9

But the cost of living is so expensive that it's not like you can just like get off the bus,

0:34.6

you know, so I'm constantly trying to like renegotiate what I'm doing

0:39.1

and really hold myself accountable. Like today I made a list of all the things I did this year,

0:43.7

like in excess of like daily clients and stuff like that. And I did like 48 talks, 48

0:51.1

podcasts, workshops. Like, and it was like, okay, how do we switch things so that, you know.

1:01.5

I'm John Kim, a licensed therapist who used to be a miserable fuck before going on a

1:05.8

hero's journey and turning expired relationships into revelations.

1:09.9

I use my story to help others come with you instead of at you,

1:14.4

unrehearsed on purpose,

1:16.2

because self-help doesn't have to be polished or complicated.

1:19.7

Just honest.

1:23.3

Can I tell you what I hate about Riverside?

1:25.7

No, what do you hate about Riverside?

1:44.4

You can't hide your self-view. What do you mean? I always hide my video of myself in Zoom. Oh, right. I don't want to watch myself talk. Oh, while you're talking, you don't want to watch yourself. I see where you're saying. Yeah. No, yeah, no. I just want to talk to the person. Oh, right.

2:02.6

If you're not watching this and listening, I'm in a treehouse. And the reason why this is significant, I didn't think about this. I didn't connect this dot until I texted you. We're staying in Los Angeles in an Airbnb and in the backyard. There's a giant tree house. So I tried to go up into it with Logan and she was scared because of cobwebs and stuff.

2:03.7

And I said, fuck it.

2:18.4

I'm going to do a podcast up here and uh one of the things that I think might interest you kind of the stuff that we talk about is the left brain when I thought to myself I'm going to podcast to the tree house the left brain was like why would you do that the Wi-Fi map be bad what's the point it's going to be uncomfortable all of that right spiders that was the left brain was like, why would you do that? The Wi-Fi map be bad. What's the point? It's going to be uncomfortable, all of that, right? Spiders. That was the left brain. And then the right brain was

...

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