Staying Human with Dr. Vivek Murthy

Vivek Murthy

What if, instead of looking for quick fixes or life hacks, we asked: what does it take to live a fulfilling life? Like so many people, trusted physician Dr. Vivek Murthy grapples with what it means to live well. As U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy started a groundbreaking public conversation around loneliness and the importance of connection. Now, he’s inviting listeners to join him as he explores what makes life meaningful, even when that means going against the grain.  Through warm, provocative conversations with people from all walks of life, Dr. Murthy takes on topics that profoundly affect our health and well-being, but that most people don’t really talk about, let alone with a doctor: What if we redefined success not in terms of money or status but in terms of meaning? How do we find our sense of purpose? Can we center our lives around connection and community? Can technology help us be more human instead of taking away from our humanity? In a world that can feel harsh and isolating, Staying Human is a show about finding better, more human ways to live, together. Substack vivekmurthy.substack.com/ IG @drvivekmurthy

Episodes

  1. 1d ago

    Maya Shankar: What Happens When Life Changes Our Plans?

    Ten years ago, Vivek and Maya Shankar met in a meeting at the White House; he still doesn't remember what the meeting was about, but he remembers being struck by her brilliance, and even more by her warmth. They stayed in touch, became close friends, and now, a decade later, Maya has traded her work as a cognitive scientist and White House advisor for a new mission: helping people understand why change is so hard, and how to come out the other side whole. She's the host of the hit podcast A Slight Change of Plans and the author of the instant New York Times bestseller The Other Side of Change. In this conversation, Vivek and Maya talk about why uncertainty can feel worse than bad news itself, and why anchoring our identity in our "why" rather than our "what" can carry us through loss and reinvention. They dig into the mental spirals we all fall into — and the small shifts in perspective that can break them — plus the crucial difference between guilt and shame, and why community and service are often the surest way out of both. Maya also shares deeply personal stories from her own life, including experiences she writes about for the first time in her book, and what she's come to believe change reveals about who we really are. It's a conversation about the hardest parts of being human: uncertainty, identity, rumination, and shame. It’s also about the quiet, durable hope that even unwanted change can show us who we're capable of becoming. .   .   . Every episode offers a reflection question inspired by the conversation. Share your thoughts and ideas with us at hello@stayinghuman.us, on our Substack, or leave us a message at 1-833-74-HUMAN. IG @drvivekmurthy Substack vivekmurthy.substack.com/ More about your host, Dr. Vivek Murthy https://www.vivekmurthy.com

    Maya Shankar: What Happens When Life Changes Our Plans?

  2. Jul 21

    Dr. Robert Waldinger: What does 85 years of research reveal about a Good Life?

    What makes a good life? Is it accomplishment and wealth? Meaning and purpose? Relationships? This is the question Dr. Robert Waldinger, a Harvard psychiatrist, has spent decades exploring as the fourth director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development – the world's longest-running study of adult life and happiness – following hundreds of people since 1938 and still running today. Robert is co-author, with Marc Schulz, of bestselling book The Good Life. He is also a Zen Buddhist priest whose spiritual journey has shaped how he thinks about thriving. In this episode, Vivek and Robert talk about what the data reveal about happiness (spoiler alert: it has little to do with achievement or status). They discuss "social fitness" and the need to tend to relationships the way we tend to our physical health, along with surprising insights about marriage and loneliness, and why attention is "the most basic form of love." Robert also shares how his Zen practice has helped him hold onto hope without looking away from the world's hardest problems. And what medicine could learn from all of this about caring for patients, and for each other. If you're wondering what the research says about a good life, this episode is for you.

    Dr. Robert Waldinger: What does 85 years of research reveal about a Good Life?

  3. Jul 7

    Jennifer Wallace: Why Don’t We Feel Like We Matter?

    A lot of us move through our days on autopilot, heads down, just clearing the to-do list. And somewhere in there, we stop noticing the small signals that tell us we matter. We stop sending them, too.In this episode, Dr. Vivek Murthy sits down with journalist Jennifer Wallace, author of MATTERING: The Secret to a Life of Deep Connection and Purpose. They get into why so many people feel invisible right now, how a culture built on individual success can leave us feeling more hollow than whole, and why the men who wrote to Jennie kept reaching for the same two words: useless and worthless.It's also a personal conversation. Vivek opens up about feeling like a void would open whenever he left the hospital during residency. Jennie traces her own sense of mattering back to a church pew and a Spanish teacher who matched her with a struggling classmate. They talk about parenting, AI and what happens to our sense of purpose when work changes, and the small, almost mundane acts that remind us we're not alone.If you've ever wondered whether your presence makes any difference in the world, this one's for you.. . . Every episode offers a reflection question inspired by the conversation. Share your thoughts and ideas with us at hello@stayinghuman.us, on our Substack, or leave us a message at 1-833-74-HUMAN. IG @drvivekmurthySubstack vivekmurthy.substack.com/More about your host, Dr. Vivek Murthy https://www.vivekmurthy.com#stayinghuman  #VivekMurthy #JenniferWallace #mattering #selfworth  #mentalhealth  #mensmentalhealth  #Loneliness #parenting  #HumanConnection #purpose  #wellbeing  #artificialintelligence  #values  #podcast

    Jennifer Wallace: Why Don’t We Feel Like We Matter?

  4. Jun 23

    Atul Gawande: What Does Death Teach Us About How To Live?

    Are we paying too much attention to how long we live, and too little to how well we live? For most doctors, the goal is to help patients live as long as possible. But more time and more life aren’t always the same things. In this episode, host Dr. Vivek Murthy and guest Dr. Atul Gawande, surgeon and author of the landmark book Being Mortal, discuss a question neither of them were trained as doctors: for a patient, what makes life worth living? This conversation is part interview, part friendship, and part shared reckoning with what makes a life worth living. Atul reflects on how Being Mortal reshaped his own understanding of what it means to be a good doctor, and why the most important skill in medicine may be the simple act of asking patients what they actually want from life. Along the way, Vivek and Atul get personal, sharing what it means caring for aging parents, the guilt that comes with it, and the loss of Atul's mother and Vivek's grandmother. They talk about belonging, the future of AI in medicine and the risk of human connection becoming a luxury, and the surprising things that make life meaningful — from chocolate ice cream and football to remembering the score in a ping pong game. This episode is a conversation about what dying can teach us about living, and the questions worth asking the people we love before it's too late. . . .  Every episode offers a reflection question inspired by the conversation. Share your thoughts and ideas with us at hello@stayinghuman.us, on our Substack, or leave us a message at 1-833-74-HUMAN.  IG @drvivekmurthy Substack vivekmurthy.substack.com/ More about your host, Dr. Vivek Murthy https://www.vivekmurthy.com

    Atul Gawande: What Does Death Teach Us About How To Live?

  5. Jun 9

    David French: How Can We Come Together Across Divides?

    We’re living in an era where division often feels like the status quo, and it's affecting us on a personal level. A 2025 study from the American Psychological Association found 62% of adults say polarization is a significant source of stress in their lives. How can we bring people together, especially across divides, whether they’re a friend, neighbor, stranger, or family member? How do we build bridges while staying true to our values?  David French is a columnist for the New York Times who often writes about the beauty and challenges of living in community. His most recent book is called Divided We Fall: America’s Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation. David is also a U.S. Army veteran who served in the Iraq War. In this conversation we explore how we can forge connections to people who we don’t always agree with —and why this is so important not only to our democracy, but to our well-being.  Every episode offers a reflection question inspired by the conversation. Share your thoughts and ideas with us at hello@stayinghuman.us, on our Substack, or leave us a message at 1-833-74-HUMAN.  IG @drvivekmurthy Substack vivekmurthy.substack.com/ More about your host, Dr. Vivek Murthy https://www.vivekmurthy.com

    David French: How Can We Come Together Across Divides?

  6. May 26

    Kate Bowler: Is Joy Possible When Things Are Difficult?

    What does it mean to feel joy amid moments of real difficulty and even sorrow? Not in the sense of being falsely upbeat or pretending that everything’s ok—but as a way to sit with and honor what’s going on in our lives. Kate Bowler is a bestselling author known for her writing about loss, grief, and hope. She’s also a professor at Duke University who studies the history of religion, and host of the podcast Everything Happens. Her latest book is called Joyful, Anyway. In this conversation we explore how joy is very different from positivity or happiness, and how it can co-exist with struggle. We also get into how constantly seeking to optimize our lives can actually hold us back.  Every episode offers a reflection question inspired by the conversation. Share your thoughts and ideas with us at hello@stayinghuman.us, on our Substack, or leave us a message at 1-833-74-HUMAN.  IG @drvivekmurthy Substack vivekmurthy.substack.com/ More about your host, Dr. Vivek Murthy https://www.vivekmurthy.com

    Kate Bowler: Is Joy Possible When Things Are Difficult?

  7. May 19

    Announcing Staying Human with Dr. Vivek Murthy

    What if, instead of looking for quick fixes or life hacks, we asked: what does it take to live a truly fulfilling life? Join Dr. Vivek Murthy, 19th and 21st U.S. Surgeon General as he explores what it means to stay human though interviews with people from all walks of life.  Substack vivekmurthy.substack.com/ IG @drvivekmurthy

    Announcing Staying Human with Dr. Vivek Murthy

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About

What if, instead of looking for quick fixes or life hacks, we asked: what does it take to live a fulfilling life? Like so many people, trusted physician Dr. Vivek Murthy grapples with what it means to live well. As U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy started a groundbreaking public conversation around loneliness and the importance of connection. Now, he’s inviting listeners to join him as he explores what makes life meaningful, even when that means going against the grain.  Through warm, provocative conversations with people from all walks of life, Dr. Murthy takes on topics that profoundly affect our health and well-being, but that most people don’t really talk about, let alone with a doctor: What if we redefined success not in terms of money or status but in terms of meaning? How do we find our sense of purpose? Can we center our lives around connection and community? Can technology help us be more human instead of taking away from our humanity? In a world that can feel harsh and isolating, Staying Human is a show about finding better, more human ways to live, together. Substack vivekmurthy.substack.com/ IG @drvivekmurthy

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