I Hugged Thousands of Strangers: The Rebel Hugger Story with Melinda Lee

I am sitting down with the incredible Melinda Lee, whose new memoir is called Rebel Hugger. Now, I have to brag just a little bit, because I have been called a very good hugger, and when I heard her story, I knew I had to meet her! Melinda decided, after moving to a new state and feeling incredibly lonely, that she was going to go out and hug everyone she encountered for an entire year including the person next to her in the grocery line. She hugged thousands of people and had only five "no's!" But the story gets deep: she’s here to talk about the "dark night of the soul" that followed, and how writing this book helped her unpack her own pain and find a way back to herself and back to loving those hugs again. This is a powerful, inspiring episode about connection, vulnerability, and why sometimes, a simple hug is everything.