25 Honest Facts About Me | Behind the Mic of The Self-Help Podcast

This episode is a little different because today(Dec 23rd is my BIRTHDAY!)

No expert guest.
 No framework.
 No polished “lessons learned” wrapped in a bow.

Just me — pulling back the curtain and sharing 25 honest, sometimes messy, sometimes beautiful facts about who I am beyond the podcast mic.

From the parts of my story that shaped me…
 to the beliefs I’m still unlearning…
 to the quiet truths that don’t always make it into conversations —

this episode is an invitation to know me as a human first, host second.

You’ll hear about:
 • The moments that changed how I see life
 • What motherhood, and reinvention taught me
 • The things I’m proud of — and the things I’m still working through
 • The values that guide me when life feels loud
 • And a few unexpected facts that might surprise you

This isn’t about perfection.
 It’s about presence, honesty, and letting yourself be seen — even when it feels uncomfortable.

If you’ve ever wondered who’s behind The Self-Help Podcast…
If you believe connection starts with vulnerability…
Or if you simply want to sit with a real story — unfiltered and unedited —

this episode is for you.

✨ Thank you for being here.
 ✨ Thank you for listening.
 ✨ And thank you for letting me share a little more of myself with you.

— Deepali

Transcript

Framing Identity Through Ordinary Moments

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hmm. You know, we spend our whole lives trying to figure out who we are. But if you would have asked me that question five years ago, I would probably have said something rehearsed. My name, my job title, a few polished facts, maybe a hobby or two, that's about it. But the truth is, who we are isn't a bio, it is a collection of tiny unfiltered ordinary moments that make up the mosaic of a life. It's not just what we do, but how we do, how we laugh, what we notice, what breaks our heart, and what makes us laugh when no one's watching. So today's episode is not a highlight dream, it is a conversation. An sneak peek behind the mic, 30 pieces of me. Some deep, some silly, some finding still finding their place. I wanted to let you in the real end. Because I believe when we share ourselves honestly, authentically, something magical happens. We see our own reflections in each other. So before the year ends, just wanted to share some facts about me. Now that you've been listening, hopefully for quite some time, I want to share some fun, some thoughts of one fact about me. So grab your tea, take your breath, and welcome to the South Podcast with me the party. This is the space where we explore growth, healing, and immersive magnificent in-betweens. I'm your host and today we are breaking the format a little bit. Instead of unpacking a mindset or habit, I'm simply sharing myself. 30 facts, 30 games, perfect, some that will make you smile, others that might make you think, and a few rubers that might remind you of your own story. Let's dive in. I'm a man to a wonderful 18-month-old, and it's wild how one time you rewrite every definition of love, patience, and cares that you've ever had, known, or seen. Motherhood really got me down to my rose self. It's messy and magical and holy all at once. It also shifted how I see health. Not as fitness, but as wholeness as a part of complete well-being. I have learned that rest is productive, it helps you heal, but joy is medicine, and that slowing down isn't laziness, it's wisdom. I've always loved stories and have been deeply drawn to it ever since I remember. I have lived inside them, and honestly, books, shows, conversations, even the stories people don't tell out loud. I think those stories are how we remember that we belong here. Speaking of belonging, public speaking has always been where I felt most like me. I still remember the first time I stood in front of a room and spoke my heart. The world disappeared for a second. Words are my playground, my prayer, and my power. Almost always climbing without words is like touching the sky for me. But here's my funny thing. Clutter and I are not good friends, like we don't get along with each other. If my space is messy, my mind goes completely static. Except life with a toddler means clutter. It's a permanent journey. I think. I'm learning to breathe through it and also learning that sometimes the mess is in the moment itself. To live in a house that has been decorated with your kids' stories and stickers all around and the walls and the floor. Drawings, painting, just lying around on sofa and everywhere else. So mess is the moment. When I need to clear my head, I pray eye journal. It's like emptying my soul and ready excited brain onto the paper. It's not elegant or aesthetic. Sometimes it's just chicken scratch and just raw emotion. But it always brings me home to myself. I am a big believer in taking unconventional paths, uh, the one that makes zero or no sense at that time. But somehow, if I know in my heart I want to do something, even though it was against the grain, I'm gonna do it. And somehow, a few years later, almost always in hindsight, I've realized that these unconventional paths lead you somewhere divine. I have learned that sometimes what looks like a detour or a rejection is actually a redirection, and that's the exact road that you were meant to take. Also, sometimes you need to have one bad chapter or many bad chapters for you to rewrite your own story. One bad chapter isn't the end of your story, it's sometimes the reason that you start writing one. One bad chapter isn't the end of your story, it is the beginning of new one. Confession time. I am not an horning person. I I mean I respect those and admire those people who are up at 8 am, but I equally love and admire and respect people who are in their bed by 8 or 9 am or even later who's judging anyway. Journaling and writing is therapy for me, and my most preferred way to work out is to do some dance. It brings me so much joy, I cannot possibly describe. I bloom a little later in the day, you know, just when the work time begins, and I'm okay with that. For me, productivity starts when peace does. I have to have good, on an average, seven to eight hours of sleep every night. Otherwise, I wake up very groggy. I just don't do too well if I'm not well rested and well slept. Peace. And day, every single day of my health begins with a cup of chai. Cannot do without it. Strong, not as sweet and slightly emotional, just like me. It's not just a drink, it's a ritual, it's almost like hope in a mug. It's a pause, it's a reflection, and a love letter to myself in the liquid form. I love it. I cannot do like if someone was to tell me don't drink tea, it's not good for your health. You know, of course I drink it after chugging my lit and let and let's water, so I have my basics right, but I cannot give that hung. Alongside my chai, I have another love which is planning and tapping for things. I am a topical typing, not truly a nerd at heart, and I love planning and organizing. And I'm a certified list number. My total list has sublists and even multiple different categories underneath it. I also learned these past few years that no amount of planning can actually prevent and throw plot the rest of your life. And maybe if you think about it hard enough, that's the beauty of it. So, storytelling. It sits right off the heart of who I am, whether it's speaking at an event, recording this podcast, just having mic in my hand and having something to listen to is the stream. Or lost in a panel, or sometimes move about that panel. I light up when I can turn lived experiences into a language that meets people, that helps draft and curate conversations, trigger algorithms, all of that good stuff. And I built full-time in tech and consulting, but if if money was no object and if I weren't in tech, I would probably be a speaker and see a news anchor. So, you know, when I was a little kid, I wanted to grow up and be a journalist. Funny how it didn't turn out when I'm doing what I'm doing right now. I hosted many, many moments, many leadership connect sessions, townhouse for different organizations that I've been working with for I think up until three, four years ago, and every time I did that, I felt so annoyed, so in the moment, so present. And someone monster with me. In fact, my man is like I've had gonna five people for up until now, come on, but I have a reporter voice. I like a news reporter voice and vibe. I still hold that close because I love formals and I love the idea of just sharing stories and sending the messaging right across to people when they need it. So I still cherish that deeply. And one day, maybe one day, who knows, I'd be on a radio show or be somewhere presenting a news of a story. I hope the universe is listening to me. When I'm not planning or hosting, you probably will find me doing something really ordinary and basic because I am basic, I love basic things like just Musty, sometimes with the purpose of finding something really good, exploring grocery aisles. Like not to do the actual grocery shopping. I just get very easily overwhelmed with the humongous collection of Costco and Walmart here in Canada, but and I'm online. I I don't feel like spending hours and hours looking for things when I do have the privilege and option to go and do online shopping, but I really enjoy exploring different different varieties of superstores and markets here. Ever since I was a little kid, and it's oddly therapeutic to me. I find inspiration in the everyday things, right? Big and small equally, and everything in between, like finding that perfectly ripe banana, cutting open your buraba and realizing that it's sweet and red and gooey. It's it's amazing in just quiet routines, in just making tea and just that first sip of tea on a Monday morning becomes even more jawless on on a Friday afternoon, right? In quiet routines, I love that. My mind though, never quiet. I wish it was the case. I am uh I think I overthink overthinking, so I'm an overthinker and like really a what-if expert. So I would create multiple different scenarios in my mind. It's safe to say for me, I've learned that we suffer more in our imagination than we do in our reality. I've I've really learned that it's almost always true, and also conflating at the same time, right? Like, not all my bash, negative, terrible, miserable thoughts about me or people that I love or just the sniper gonna come true, and that's so so reassuring. And that's also one quote that I kept very close. Maybe that's why I love psychology so much. Understanding why we do what we do feels like unlocking secret doors in the human heart. And that curiosity naturally led me to podcasts. I I like this intersection of wellness help, self-help, growth, mental health, along with my lifelong love for public speaking. I think just made a perfect blend, perfect spot for me to be at my podcast, and also I listen to I consume a lot of content. I mean, I listen to a lot of podcasts and yeah, audiobooks, videos, a lot, a lot. And then I probably should be at this point, but yeah, a lot. Uh storytelling, wellness, you name it, I could live in that world forever. Self-help isn't about becoming someone new, really. It's coming home, it's returning to your own self gently, fully intentionally. And that's also why I care so deeply about mental health. Uh, because when your mind is well, everything else blooms from there, and if it's not, then it's a very different case. It is why this podcast exists to make human more conversational and not clinical. Something that we all get to do and ensure and see ourselves on the other side of life. When I'm not thinking or talking, I am dancing. Usually in my living room, sometimes in the kitchen. Also, Zumba, cardio dance, all of that makes me feel self-conscious, if that's even weird. Someday I'd love to be certified. Is my other long walks by ocean? Just like stepping outside. Clears my head in ways therapy sometimes cannot. Just the just the gush of the almost like a do-way win here in Victoria. It's the most amazing feeling. I cannot explain this. It's my key quiet with life. No screens, no no noise, just breath. Maybe just a nice cozy family walk. And my son enjoys it too, so that's a win. Uh, those walks also taught me the importance of boundaries. Learning that no is a full sentence without the need for over-explaining or writing PDF long essays about you know why you're doing and why you don't want to do something, all of that. And learning that no is a full sentence and that a yes should never come from guilt or fear. These days I live slowly, deliberately, because rushing sends my nervous system into an overdrive, like panic and rushing and anxiety, all of that doesn't go very well with me because if I start rushing, I just like just don't feel very good about it, and not every one second of my night. I wanna feel rushed. I am gonna feel like I'm being pressured into something that I don't want to do. On the other side, I'm not able to be what I really really want to do. All of this just sends my nervous system into a state of flight or fight, and I don't want to be, and I've lived lived at the spot for quite some time, so I don't want to be there ever. I've learned that peace doesn't mean everything is perfect, it only means that I'm no longer negotiating my negotiating my calm. And in there for small moments, the ones that the world forgets to celebrate. I celebrate it. Like my sons have reaching for mind, like the way he wants to just do a cheers with me, his water bottle and my cup of tea, coffee, or anything. Like the smell of rain hitting the warm pavement. Like just no, now that it's winter season. I'm just so looking forward to that first round here in Victoria. Like a stranger smiling bag, or someone giving you a compliment. The other day, someone said, I love how you do your hair. And I was like, Oh my god, really? Like I look like the most um an assuming, not supremely dressed up as someone who would put in a lot of heart and effort into her hair and makeup, even though I want to, but you know, life takes over and I'm just so tired and depleted. That I don't do that, and hearing that from someone like complete, total stranger, just message my heart. But these tiny cleaning things, they're everything. They're the proof that life doesn't have to be big to be beautiful. Finally joining the ordinary moment in making the bed, cooking a simple meal, sipping chai, while staring out of the window, preparing a nice cozy meal, burning lighting a candle, burning an incense stick. Everything long sharp. Just like deep focus book, the energy to just clean and organize the hell out of the house. Joy hides in plain sight, uh, in routines, in stillness, in presence, and speaking to my family. My family stays um miles away from me. Just that first phone call or video call in the day, so much meaning in joy. The more I look for it, the more it shows up. I talk to nature and universe all the time, not out loud, well sometimes also, but in quiet ways. I'll whisper to the sky a thank you to the sea, a curve and the wind, a thanks to the moon, all these beautiful, lovely things. And I very, very, very strongly believe I cannot overstate it enough that the universe listens and is caring and is watching, and it's with you, not with words, but synchronous, with synchronicities, signs, and just soft nudges. Every sunset feels like a conversation, every wave, an answer, every sunrise or bring on your an opportunity to do better, to be more grateful, to love more deeply, to connect and be present with your family, and just to become that better, more happier, joyous version of you. I deeply believe in the power of stories like fursling, and I believe like we earn our stories, and stories are meant to be told. Because stories are medicine, they help us name our pain, reclaim our voice, and remember, but we've not wrong. And that's exactly why I started this podcast to turn pain into purpose and to provide a language and and experience into empathy, to remind us that life doesn't have to be perfect to be worth sharing. You don't need to have a million followers for someone to actually joy listening to you. I I mean I'm just building an audience, but I'm okay. I love this path. The joy is in the pursuit itself. It's okay if if it takes a while for me to get there. I want to be a speaker and I'm looking for very many opportunities in that area, but it it can be arduous and long and long jum down the years, but sometimes it does demotivate me. But find my heart and my best, and I will never stop storytelling and never stop believing in it simply because the results are not just right here with me as yet. I am going to keep doing it. And kindness to me is the most magnetic energy in the world. Like, if you do yourself and if you're kind and thoughtful, you have won my heart over. Like, there's nothing more sexy to me than someone who is thoughtful and is kind. I tell the time I spend with my family, dinners, um, snacks, bedtime giggles, even grocery runs, those are the even sometimes drives to and fro from the daycare. Those are real luxury moments in my life, and I feel supremely blessed. I love taking my son to the libraries, celebrating festivals with you know folk swaying, driving with music on loud, and yes, eating samosas with zero guilt. Like, because what is life, hey, without some samosa and joy anyway. Balance, but balance always 80% whole foods, 20% all the junk. And another secret joy that I have, also almost like a built-y pleasure, is efficient gadgets, like things that do the job on half the time with least or very minimum amount of effort from your side. Like I love my Nova vacuum cleaner, I love my Tyson, I love my juicer, pure, pure satisfaction. If you know you know the beauty of being seen. So there it is 30 fragments of me, not a resume. This was not a label, just a story told in heartbeats. Um, and I was writing and I was writing this to shuffle and arrange my thoughts in my head. I realized the things that different grand or loud, very basic because I am also very basic like that. They're bright, they're human, but they are unfiltered. And maybe that's the lesson for all of us, including me, that we don't need to chase extraordinary lives, we just need to notice the ordinary ones and love them fiercely. If you know what this resonated with you, if you saw a silver yourself in my story, please notice that you're not alone. We're all working each other on through worlds, through moments, and through these tiny acts of courage. Thank you for letting me be a part of your journey, even if just through your earbuds today. And if this episode moved you, please share it. Not for numbers really, but for connection. I really want to connect to as many people as I possibly can. Because maybe, just maybe someone out there needs to hear a story that sounds just like theirs. I'm Pupali, and this is the South Hour Podcast. A space, your safe space for return life and lived experiences into one language that you can identify, that you can hopefully have a moment with. And remember that your story matters always. I hope you always have the courage to go and tell it. Bye bye.