The Quest Within

TINA!Thank you SO much for your time and for telling your story about how Guild met you in one of your darkest places in life and gave you the resources you needed to overcome your mental health struggles and begin to SUCCEED!Your story is so important and will help others to not only seek out help if they need it, but to show them that they are not alone whatsoever.Thank you to Guild Services, my charity partner for enabling this interview and I look forward to a continued partnership with you guys to keep transforming lives. LET'S GOOOO!

The Midnight Gospel is an animated special set to a podcast on Netflix. It goes through really deep topics like loneliness, death, and good/bad drugs. I binged the entire thing in one night with Rachel Silberman (Episode 010) and we immediately recorded a live reaction to it, so forgive us if our thoughts seem scrambled.I highly recommend seeing this at some point yourself, but for now, enjoy the discussion and our extrapolation of the information found within!

MY CHARITY PARTNER LET ME INTERVIEW THEIR CEO! I'm SO happy and excited to bring you this video. It shows how the work that Guild does is SUSTAINABLE and how they have a plan to continue to deliver their mental health, employment, AND housing services through this really terrible economy. The wholistic nature of their services is why I LOVE Guild and wanted to form a connection and partnership with them, so I hope that it just makes you understand the WHY of all of what I'm doing. Trish is such an AMAZING person and an executive that I absolutely RESPECT, (which is rare)! THANK YOU to Guild and thank you to all my Patreon supporters who are roundaboutly supporting the work that Guild does for people!Enjoy y'all!

(00:00:00) Intro (00:00:40) Part One (00:22:09) Sponsored by Guild (00:24:01) Part Two I met Pierce some years ago through the video game music scene and we've been friends for a while. He is a member of my Patreon community and is just a wonderful human being. Like seriously, I wish more people were like him and then the world would be a better place haha. Anyways, he read my book and developed a myriad of notes around chapter five, which talks about Yusuke Kitagawa from Persona 5 and how he was an artist exploited by someone in power, Madarame. We have an amazing discussion about power, changing systems, and late-stage capitalism. Our discussion went so long that i put it into two parts, and this is part two of that discussion. For Part One, see the previous episode.Enjoy!

(00:00:00) Intro (00:21:53) Sponsored by Guild (00:23:45) Part Two I met Pierce some years ago through the video game music scene and we've been friends for a while. He is a member of my Patreon community and is just a wonderful human being. Like seriously, I wish more people were like him and then the world would be a better place haha. Anyways, he read my book and developed a myriad of notes around chapter five, which talks about Yusuke Kitagawa from Persona 5 and how he was an artist exploited by someone in power, Madarame. We have an amazing discussion about power, changing systems, and late-stage capitalism. Our discussion went so long that i put it into two parts, so you'll have to catch the second half next month! Enjoy for now!

(00:00:00) Sponsored by Guild (00:01:38) Part One (00:23:07) Part Two In this episode, I talk with Rachel Silberman, the mastermind behind Fables and Flames, a romantasy (book) convention based here in Minneapolis, MN. We talk about her journey through bi-polar, the fact that she taught herself how to have empathy (a lost skill in this day and age) and how anyone can change. There are some deep topics in here that might be disturbing to some listeners (suicide and death), so discretion is advised!

(00:00:00) Guild (00:01:38) Intro - Living through Manic Episodes (00:31:47) Part Two - UFO's and How to Level Up in Life This one was all over the place but SO fun. It was really interesting to get a glimpse into the mind of my good friend David, AKA Pika, AKA DJ Tonedeaf who has Bipolar and once in a while, a manic episode. This conversation was as fun as it was informative and I'm so grateful to have chatted in this manner with Pika! We also have a discussion about UFOs, chemicals of various varieties (Pika has ingested a loooot of them hahaha) and how to gain the most EXP in the video game that is life.PS I don't know what happened with the microphone I was using, but some of the audio came out wierd, something I only realized in post, so please bear with me! I got a new mic literally the day after, so this shouldn't be an issue ever again.

(00:00:00) Sponsored by Guild (00:01:37) Part One (00:24:40) Part Two In this episode of The Quest Within, I talk to my friend Patrick/Iris Helders, who I met through 2D Con. We talk about the importance of community, how it makes you better as a person, and the wonderful world of Pokemon through the lens of Tama Hero! This episode went really well, and I hope you enjoy/get something out of it!

Oh I know uncomfortability isn't a word.But just bear with us. I promise this misuse of a word describes what we are talking about perfectly.Nate is back again as we dive into why it's okay to be uncomfortable sometimes. Life is unpredictable and having resilience during uncomfortable times is key!Enjoy!00:00 - Intro / Introducing Uncomfortability7:15 - Why Should we be okay with it? / The Nuances of Uncomfortability

In this episode I’m pleased to announce that NATE IS BACK… or Extra Breakfast as he’s known nowdays haha!   Is balance achievable? Listen to Nathan and myself argue about this and then talk about moments in life when you SHOULD quit… I thought this point, which I made in my Tetris video, should be expanded on, and Nathan was the perfect person to do it with. Enjoy! 00:00 - Intro and Balance. Is it Achievable?14:54 - More thoughts on knowing when to quit.

In this episode, Legion, a photographer I met at Ground Zero earlier this January and reconnected with at 2D Con in August, talks to me about Final Fantasy XIV and why I should play it. We touch on everything from themes of loss and the community’s support to gaining confidence and becoming a leader through the art of being a tank.Will Legion convince me to play Final Fantasy XIV? Listen and find out today on The Quest Within!

In this Episode, I sit down with Mayra Holguin, a friend of mine that I met at 2D Con who is JUST AS LOUD AS ME! We discuss how video game music heals, the doors and connections it has opened up for us, and mentally how it helps us.This is a topic I am SUPER passionate about and I am so glad when I find others who are JUST AS passionate, yet on the consumer side of things (something we talk about really early on in the episode). This conversation goes in many lovely directions, so check it out!

Episode 003 is all about the right to quiet enjoyment. What is it, how can we practice it, and what things surround it? AJ Schmalenberger, Jason Patterson (Zenos/Diamond Zenos) and I discuss this, social boundaries, how to recharge, how to limit over-consumption of media, and more!

Episode 002 explores food! We also talk about doing different things in different ways to achieve success, and my good friend Roq shared a story about uniting him and his GF's families over cooking a turkey in a different way than they were used to! Recording this had me salivating haha.Welcome to The Quest Within (formerly the Music and Mental Health Podcast with Theology and DJ Fat_Rain)!The Quest Within is the brain child of Nathan Ashby and Theology (Matthew Bentley), who met at a restaurant some years ago as a chef and a server, respectively. After quickly becoming friends through their shared love of Trance music, Nathan later served as Theology's life coach. As their bond deepend through their sessions, they decided to join forces and create a podcast. What started as The Music and Mental Health podcast is now a broader discussion surrounding a plethora of life topics focused on both self-improvement and mental health.For more, please visit https://www.instagram.com/thequestwithinpodcast to drop Nathan and Matthew a DM and engage with the community!If you are interested in Theology's club-ready video game remixes and mental health content focused at the gaming community, please visit linktr.ee/theologymusic

Welcome to The Quest Within (formerly the Music and Mental Health Podcast with Theology and DJ Fat_Rain)!The Quest Within is the brain child of Nathan Ashby and Theology (Matthew Bentley), who met at a restaurant some years ago as a chef and a server, respectively. After quickly becoming friends through their shared love of Trance music, Nathan later served as Theology's life coach. As their bond deepend through their sessions, they decided to join forces and create a podcast. What started as The Music and Mental Health podcast is now a broader discussion surrounding a plethora of life topics focused on both self-improvement and mental health.Episode 001 is about how Nate and Theology met (in greater detail), resilience as a concept and what it looks like, and examples of pivotal life events that shaped us into who we are today!For more, please visit https://www.instagram.com/thequestwithinpodcast to drop Nathan and Matthew a DM and engage with the community!If you are interested in Theology's club-ready video game remixes and mental health content focused at the gaming community, please visit linktr.ee/theologymusic