Mental Health, Listening to the Universe, and Crowd-Sourcing Hope with Ariana Vargas

Over the past few months, I have gone through a lot of life-changing events. To help find my path forward, I've been relying a lot on my intuition and listening to the universe. I feel like I'm open to the universe speaking to me more than I ever have before. I'm really listening to it.   Today's guest, Ariana Vargas, is the founder of the mental health app STIGMA. This app is designed to help people who are struggling connect with one another and give each other support. Given that caveat, how did I get in contact with Ariana? This is where I think the universe is speaking to me.   A couple of weeks ago, I was trying to find any excuse not to go to the gym, but forced myself to go anyway. When I arrived, I didn't feel like working out and began to wander. As I finally got in a groove, I noticed a former co-worker and felt the social pressure to say hi. I wasn't in a mood to talk, so I began avoiding him. This led to me ending up in one of the gym's studios, where somebody approached me and asked if I was "the marketing executive from 'Love is Blind.' I got into a conversation with him about how he quit his well-paying tech job to begin his startup journey.    As we conversed about marketing and business, he asked me what I was doing right now, and I talked a little about my advocacy for authenticity and mental health. He mentioned that his friend Ariana had recently won an award for her mental health app STIGMA, and I immediately said I'd love to meet her. A little bit later, she DM's me, and we set up a time to grab a coffee. An hour of discussion turned into many hours of sharing stories and learning about STIGMA. When I heard her passion and found out about the vision, I immediately wanted to get her on the podcast.    I love hearing people talk about their passions, and as I go through my own journey, Ariana is someone who I think can help guide me as she's guided so many others. The STIGMA app is free, and gives you the opportunity to ask someone for hope or share hope through video, text, voice memos and a variety of ways.  Find Ariana here:   STIGMA App: https://thestigma.app/  Find Nick Thompson here:   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nthompson513/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXipWcR8Pit6vYHd1ZcKgKg