What if trying to manage your life more efficiently is actually the problem?

This week, Leela and Pri dive into optimization OCD, the subtype that hides in plain sight because it looks, from the outside, like just being very organized. The relentless need to do everything perfectly and efficiently, the hours lost researching the "best" way to complete an ordinary task, the paralysis when a system breaks down. If productivity has ever felt less like a tool and more like a trap, this one's for you.

Plus: a brief check-in on July resolutions. Because why should January get all the credit?

And we're completely obsessed with the Ghanaian spiritualist who publicly cursed Harry Kane before England's 2026 World Cup clash with Ghana. Did it work? Is Harry Kane going to be ok? Can England win another match? And what about the other Harrys — Styles, Prince, and more?

And to close: beneath the Royal Mile, there are tunnels. Centuries ago, a bagpiper was sent into the darkness playing his bagpipes so those above ground could follow where they led. Somewhere under the city, the music stopped.

Pour your tea, optimize nothing, and listen carefully for music in the walls. ☕

OCD

Optimization OCD (The Anxiety Resource Center)

Horror TV Recos

Widows Bay (Apple TV)

The Boroughs (Netflix)

I Will Find You (Netflix)

OCD Resources

IOCDF

Psychology Today

Looking for another cozy listen?

🎧 Check out Leela's other podcast, No Dating Till You're Married, an audiobook podcast. Gilmore Girls meets Crazy Rich Asians.

Contact Us

📱 IG: @drinkingteawithmonsters

📧 EMAIL: drinkingteamwithmosters@gmail.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do you know how to advocate for yourself as a patient? Most of us were never taught.

This week, Leela and Pri get into one of the most underrated skills in managing your mental and physical health: knowing how to advocate for yourself in a medical setting. How do you get doctors to actually listen? What do you say when you feel dismissed? How do you walk into an appointment knowing what you need and leave with more than a shrug? A practical, honest conversation with a mental health angle.

But first: libraries. Leela and Pri make the case for why libraries might be the most underrated, most quietly radical institutions we have, and why everyone should be using them more.

Then: Office Romance, the new Brett Goldstein and JLo film, gets the full review treatment. Does it deliver? (We have feelings.)

And to close: the haunting story of Windy Gates in Martha's Vineyard, a place where the wind apparently isn't the only thing that doesn't want to let you go.

So pour your tea, check out a book, and maybe call your doctor. ☕

OCD Resources

IOCDF

Psychology Today

Looking for another cozy listen?

🎧 Check out Leela's other podcast, No Dating Till You're Married, an audiobook podcast. Gilmore Girls meets Crazy Rich Asians.

Contact Us

📱 IG: @drinkingteawithmonsters

📧 EMAIL: drinkingteamwithmosters@gmail.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is accepting OCD the answer? It might be the bravest thing you can do!

This week, Leela and Pri get into acceptance. What does it actually mean to accept living with OCD and other mental health conditions? Why is acceptance so often given a negative spin and classified as giving up or "just dealing with it,"? We deep dive into whether genuine acceptance can actually be one of the most powerful tools in the entire recovery toolkit.

But first: tarot! Is it spiritual practice, superstition, or something that edges too close to OCD territory? Leela and Pri pull back the curtain on what draws people to tarot, what it can offer, and where the line gets blurry.

And to close: a haunting trip to the Croatian coast and Draga di Lovrana, a clifftop hotel above the Bay of Kvarner with a curse baked into its foundation. Built in 1908, burned down in an alleged insurance scheme in 1923, and seemingly cursed ever since, owners who bought the ruins kept dying of sudden illness, one after another, as if the house itself were choosing who got to stay. Some locals say there's an even older, darker history beneath it. We'll let you decide.

So, pour your tea, pull your cards, and accept the fate of spending the next hour catching up with us, and of course the monsters!It’s not me, it’s the OCD

We're Totally Obsessed with

The Sheep Detectives

The Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic

Dark whimsical tarot deck

Rider Waite tarot deck

Coraline

Devon and Blakely

Beware (Winnie the Pooh)

OCD

IOCDF

OCD Resources

IOCDF

Psychology Today

Looking for another cozy listen?

🎧 Check out Leela's other podcast, No Dating Till You're Married, an audiobook podcast. Gilmore Girls meets Crazy Rich Asians.

Contact Us

📱 IG: @drinkingteawithmonsters

📧 EMAIL: drinkingteamwithmosters@gmail.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The octopuses are organizing. The IOCDF can help. Coincidence? Probably.

This week on Drinking Tea with Monsters, the podcast about OCD and other less scary monsters, we open by diving deep, literally into the ocean to ask the question keeping us up at night: are octopuses plotting world domination? We investigate the evidence. It's not great.

Then we're back with Erika McCoy, IOCDF advocate and artist, for part two of a conversation that just keeps giving. This week we go deeper into Erika's work with the International OCD Foundation, what the IOCDF actually does, how it can help you find community aligned to your special interests if you're living with OCD, and how you can get involved no matter where you are in your journey.

Then Erika takes us somewhere unexpected: true crime advocacy, and the ways mental health is woven into that world more than most people realize. It's a perspective you won't hear anywhere else.

No spooky story this week but fear not, we'll be back next week with more tea and more monsters. We promise.

OCD

IOCDF

IOCDF Special Interest Groups

IOCDF - Find a Therapist

Not Alone Notes

Vase Your Fears

Erika McCoy

FB: erika.mckenzie.391

IG: @creativitea_plus_mha

TT: @creativitea_plus_mha

OCD Resources

IOCDF

Psychology Today

Looking for another cozy listen?

🎧 Check out Leela's other podcast, No Dating Till You're Married, an audiobook podcast. Gilmore Girls meets Crazy Rich Asians.

Contact Us

📱 IG: @drinkingteawithmonsters

📧 EMAIL: drinkingteamwithmosters@gmail.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

OCD doesn't care that you loved Boy Meets World.

This week on Drinking Tea with Monsters, the podcast about OCD and other less scary monsters, we open with the drama nobody asked for but everyone's talking about: Why did Ben Savage (Cory Matthews himself) ghost Danielle Fishel (Topanga), Rider Strong (Shawn), and Will Friedle (Eric)? We break down the Pod Meets World fallout, what it might mean, and yes, we're making it about mental health.

Then we sit down with Erika McCoy, IOCDF advocate and artist, for a conversation that is equal parts raw and hopeful. Erika walks us through her personal OCD journey, including religious scrupulosity, the exhausting loop of reviewing, and how she found her way to healing through art. Whether you're newly diagnosed, years into recovery, or just OCD-curious, Erika is exactly the voice you need to hear.

We close out with a deeply strange piece of internet history: a spooky story about soup, stretching from the early days of the web through YouTube and the rise of social media. You'll never look at a bowl of broth the same way.

Bonus: We have Panera thoughts. Specifically broccoli cheddar soup thoughts. No notes.

I'm totally obsessed with:

Pod Meets World

OCD

IOCDF

IOCDF Special Interest Groups

IOCDF - Find a Therapist

Not Alone Notes

Vase Your Fears

Erika McCoy

FB: erika.mckenzie.391

IG: @creativitea_plus_mha

TT: @creativitea_plus_mha

OCD Resources

IOCDF

Psychology Today

Looking for another cozy listen?

🎧 Check out Leela's other podcast, No Dating Till You're Married, an audiobook podcast. Gilmore Girls meets Crazy Rich Asians.

Contact Us

📱 IG: @drinkingteawithmonsters

📧 EMAIL: drinkingteamwithmosters@gmail.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is a fan favourite episode, back by popular demand.

OCD and uncertainty are a brutal combination, and this week we get into why. Leela unpacks what it actually feels like when your brain locks onto a thought and won't release it, how uncertainty fuels the OCD cycle, and the real strategies that help break it.

Then things get chaotic in the best way. We investigate the viral theory that Garth Brooks might be a serial killer, and how comedian Tom Segura came to be a key witness.

And we get into the social media algorithm and why it's making all of us a little more anxious than we need to be.

We close with a ghost story: Pri tells the haunting tale of Mrs. Bagsby, the spectral resident of the Ubon Thai Victorian Restaurant and Inn in Staunton, Virginia. Unsettling, atmospheric, and absolutely worth staying for.

For fans of true crime, paranormal stories, and honest mental health conversations.

OCD Resources

IOCDF

Psychology Today

Looking for another cozy listen?

🎧 Check out Leela's other podcast, No Dating Till You're Married, an audiobook podcast. Gilmore Girls meets Crazy Rich Asians.

Contact Us

📱 IG: @drinkingteawithmonsters

📧 EMAIL: drinkingteamwithmosters@gmail.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dissociation: what it is, how it connects to OCD and anxiety, and what it feels like from the inside.

Taking a page from Lena Dunham's Famesick, this week Pri walks Leela and the listeners through dissociation: what it actually is, how it shows up, and how it connects to OCD and anxiety. Both Pri and Leela share their personal experiences honestly.

Plus: The Devil Wears Prada 2 is here, and the genius of Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway is receiving the reverence it deserves. Also on the obsession list: Manifest, Resident Alien, Remarkably Bright Creatures, and the Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic.

And to close: Leela takes us into the haunting story of the Zanetti Train mystery, a chilling and atmospheric tale that's stayed with us.

We're obsessed

The Devil wears Prada 2

Yesteryear

Letstalk.ocd's Post on the Devil Wears Prada and OCD

The Cut

The Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic

Manifest

Resident Alien

Remarkably Bright Creatures

OCD

IOCDF

Looking for another cozy listen?

🎧 Check out Leela's other podcast, No Dating Till You're Married, an audiobook podcast. Gilmore Girls meets Crazy Rich Asians.

Contact Us

📱 IG: @drinkingteawithmonsters

📧 EMAIL: drinkingteamwithmosters@gmail.com

OCD Resources

IOCDF

Psychology Today

Looking for another cozy listen?

🎧 Check out Leela's other podcast, No Dating Till You're Married, an audiobook podcast. Gilmore Girls meets Crazy Rich Asians.

Contact Us

📱 IG: @drinkingteawithmonsters

📧 EMAIL: drinkingteamwithmosters@gmail.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.