Parts Along the Way with Mel Taylor

Mel Taylor
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Thoughtful conversations with expats, immigrants, and others pursuing dreams or navigating life changes. Hosted by psychotherapist Mel Taylor, Parts Along the Way explores not only where people go, but the struggles they face and who they become along the way. Together, we explore identity, relationships, the parts of ourselves, and the inner journey of pursuing something that once felt out of reach. I'm a psychotherapist who also simply loves deep conversations with friends. While this is not psychotherapy, let's have those conversations together and discover our Parts Along the Way.

Episodes

  1. Sep 8

    5. The Part That Likes to Stay Home, Making Friends After Moving Abroad, and Connection.

    Note: Starting with Episode 5, I’m uploading audio-only on the podcast platforms. If you’ve been watching the video and like that format, you can still find the videos on YouTube! What does friendship and connection look like when you move abroad? What if a part of you really likes to stay home? In this episode, I’m talking about making friends after moving abroad, maintaining relationships from home, and the very different ways connection has shown up for me through living abroad, long-term travel, and digital nomad life. I talk about my first location in Portugal, a town in the Algarve, and how I made connection one of my intentions for that move, and how that compares with later moving to Lisbon. I look back at the deep friendships that can happen during long-term travel, my more detached experience as a digital nomad, and maintaining relationships with people back home. As a therapist, I look at much of this through parts work and the nervous system: What parts get activated when we want to meet new people? When is discomfort something worth moving through, and when is staying home actually what we need?

  2. Sep 1

    4. The Part that Feels Uncomfortable with Stillness versus the Part that Craves It, Leaving “Hustle Culture,” and Our Nervous System

    What happens when you leave a culture that taught you to always be “productive”? In this episode, I talk about leaving “hustle culture”—the constant pressure to be productive, achieve, move, and keep going—and what I’ve noticed in myself and others after spending time outside the U.S. I explore why slowing down can feel surprisingly uncomfortable, even when we desperately want it. Using Polyvagal Theory as a framework for understanding our nervous systems, I look at the relationship between our nervous system, our environment, and our ability to actually settle into stillness. I share stories from traveling, living as a digital nomad, and my years in Portugal. I talk about how, even as a therapist and after years of meditation and studying the nervous system, I can still find myself rushing toward the next thing. And then there’s the “parts” perspective: What parts of us get activated when we stop? What comes up when there is nothing we need to accomplish? And how do we recognize when we actually need to slow down versus when a part of us needs movement and stimulation? If you’ve ever found yourself uncomfortable with silence, restless when you have nothing planned, or wondering why you can’t seem to slow down even when you want to, this episode is an invitation to get curious about what’s happening underneath that urge. What comes up for you when you try to just sit still?

  3. Aug 25

    3. The Part That Fears Making the Wrong Decision: Location Decisions and the Art of Noticing What Feels Right

    In this episode, I explore the part of me that wants to make the “right” decisions and how that part has shown up in choosing where to live and travel. I look back at some of the location decisions that shaped my life abroad: choosing where to start my year in Southeast Asia, making a last-minute decision to leave Thailand for Bali, figuring out where to go next as a digital nomad, and eventually choosing Portugal as my home. Along the way, I talk about how my approach to these decisions has evolved. I became less focused on finding the one perfect choice and more interested in what I wanted to experience, what felt right in the moment, and what made sense practically. I also began to trust that a decision doesn't have to be permanent to be meaningful. Looking back, I can see that some of the most important things I gained weren't the destinations themselves, but the experiences of choosing, going, discovering, and changing along the way.

    3. The Part That Fears Making the Wrong Decision: Location Decisions and the Art of Noticing What Feels Right

  4. Aug 18

    2. The Part that Fears Regret, and the Dream that Kept Evolving

    This episode introduces the three different ways I have experienced living abroad: long-term travel, digital nomad life, and becoming an immigrant and resident in Portugal. I've been asked well over a hundred times why I moved to Portugal. In this solo episode, I look back at the evolution of the decision to leave the U.S. I explore the different parts of me involved along the way: the part that liked my life, the part that wanted stability, the part that wanted adventure, and the part that feared regret. From my first solo trip to Europe, to a year in Southeast Asia, to becoming a digital nomad and eventually moving to Portugal, I explore how experiences can open doors in our souls that can't quite be closed again—and what happens when you realize you're less afraid of going than you are of never going. Because, sometimes the question isn't "Why would I leave?", it is "Why wouldn't I go?"

  5. Aug 12

    1. Starting Something New

    Welcome to Episode 1 of Parts Along the Way with Mel Taylor. In this first episode, I introduce the podcast and share why I wanted to create conversations that go beyond the logistics of moving abroad and explore the inner journey of pursuing dreams and navigating big and small life changes. As a psychotherapist, I've always loved the kinds of conversations that help us better understand ourselves and each other. Through conversations with expats, immigrants, and others pursuing dreams, I hope this podcast offers a space to explore not only where people go, but the struggles they face and who they become along the way. Whether you're an expat, an immigrant, dreaming about a different life, or simply navigating a meaningful life transition, I'm glad you're here. Welcome to Parts Along the Way.

  • 5 Episodes

About

Thoughtful conversations with expats, immigrants, and others pursuing dreams or navigating life changes. Hosted by psychotherapist Mel Taylor, Parts Along the Way explores not only where people go, but the struggles they face and who they become along the way. Together, we explore identity, relationships, the parts of ourselves, and the inner journey of pursuing something that once felt out of reach. I'm a psychotherapist who also simply loves deep conversations with friends. While this is not psychotherapy, let's have those conversations together and discover our Parts Along the Way.

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