Katina Mountanos is a renowned writer and creative entrepreneur who founded On Adulting, the viral blog and community in 2016 to help her fellow Millennials navigate adulthood in a mindful and happy way. Her work has been featured in Teen Vogue, Fast Company, HuffPost, Mindbodygreen, Elite Daily, and other publications.

Katina graduated from NYU’s Stern School of Business in 2014 and began her career in data analytics at Goldman Sachs. She quickly realized her deep desire for social impact, helping to formalize and lead Goldman’s environmental sustainability work, moving into philanthropic consulting soon after. Katina’s early career has largely focused on bending the rules for good – most recently, she co-founded a mental well-being startup called Daydreamers to redefine how we all spend our “free” time.

Katina is currently pursuing her Master’s in Clinical Psychology from Columbia University. She lives in Brooklyn – and around the world - with her fiancé, Dupi, and rescue pup, Wythe.

In this episode, we discuss:

·       Why she started writing about the difficulties she was facing transitioning into adulthood after college, which eventually became her very popular blog, On Adulting.

·       How our upbringing and the people in our lives can impact the career options we define as successful.

·       How our definition of happiness and our strive for it can cause us to be unhappy.

·       The power of questioning everything so you can define your own terms for life and happiness.

·       How making changes in your life is a process, and you should move through the process at a pace that feels right to you.

·       The shift from looking to the external for answers on what you should do with your life and who you should be to listening to and trusting yourself.

·       The importance of identifying who you want to be, not just what you want to be.

·       Our tendency to negotiate our values to fit into certain societal boxes.

·       The impact growing up with technology and social media, as well as a different type of parenting has had on the Millennial generation.

·       And some small things we can do that will make big differences in our lives.

You can find and follow Katina here:

OnAdulting.com

Instagram: @onadulting

Facebook: @onadulting

Her book releases Nov 24 – On Adulting: How Millennials (and any human, really) Can Work Less, Live More, and Bend the Rules for Good

RESOURCES DISCUSSED:

Lori Gottlieb & her article, How to Land Your Kid in Therapy

Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian L. Weiss, MD

Text-based gratitude journal by RYZE Superfoods

Outrageous Openness by Tosha Silver

PREVIOUS EPISODE RECOMMENDATIONS:

Ep. 70: Balancing Taking Care of Yourself and Being There for Others with Asha Tarry

Ep. 69: Breathing Through Stress & Anxiety with Dr. Emma Seppala

Ep. 63: Eastern Philosophy & Living Meditation for Your Life with Dr. Jenelle Kim 

Please SUBSCRIBE, SHARE, RATE, and REVIEW the podcast!

Follow the podcast on Instagram @TheBetterYouPodcast or Facebook @TheBetterYouPodcast. And you can email the podcast at TheBetterYouPodcast@gmail.com

Follow me on all the socials: Instagram @kaciemain_writes, Facebook @kaciemain.write, or Twitter @kaciemain_write.

Find my book – I Gave Up Men for Lent, the story of a jaded, hopelessly romantic, health-conscious party girl’s search for meaning – on Amazon, Kindle, and Audible.