Sense of Dread
Dread, that gnawing—and for some debilitating—feeling that something bad is going to happen, it's in the air. Just look at how much of our entertainment these days is based on a doomsday premise. From facing it head on, to working really hard to ignore it, this week, Piya asks: How do we harness dread?
Here are the stories from this week's episode...
'Trump giveth and Trump taketh away,' says maker of bomb shelters
Ron Hubbard is in the dread industry as the owner of Atlas Survival Shelters. His company builds personal bunkers for various uses, including protection from nuclear fallout. His clients are from all over the world and buy bunkers for various reasons. He says that since Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un's meeting, business has gone down. Bruce Beach, on the other hand, built his bunker decades ago, in the 1980s. It can house a whole community. Bruce says he's not filled with dread over the prospect of nuclear war, but it is something he's expecting.
Knowing you will lose your vision but not knowing exactly when
At thirteen years of age, Kirsty James was diagnosed with Stargardt disease, a genetic disease that leads to vision loss. Kirsty had to come to terms with the fear of losing her sight, but also with the fear of not knowing when it would happen.
'You're almost naked up there': What terrifies one comedian about stand-up is also what draws her in
Comedian Danita Steinberg's dread starts the morning of every show. She even thinks about dropping out until the very last minute the announcer calls her name on stage. But Danita knows she's going through with it, because what she dreads about stand-up comedy is precisely what she loves about it.
'I was so destroyed inside. I couldn't even fake it': From breakdown to breakthrough
Joey Laguio says it's not just about how you harness dread, but about why you're harnessing it that way. He got really good at harnessing his dread by pushing himself to be the perfect student. It worked really well for a while until his third year university when he had a breakdown. It was then that he realized he had to find another way to deal with his anxiety and dread.
Radio host quits job over chronic dread, then decides to face her fears head-on
Courtenay Hameister dreaded everything. It got so bad that she even started dreading the panic attacks she'd have on stage as the host of a live radio show, Live Wire! Now, Courtenay dreads fewer things after deciding to face her debilitating anxieties. She started the Okay Fine Whatever Project, where she forced herself for a year to do what scared her, like an afternoon in a sensory deprivation tank, going on 28 first dates, and hiring a professional cuddler.