Note 2 Self

Saskia Starck
  • 5.0 (7)
  • Society & Culture
  • Updated Weekly

This is Saskia, and this is Note 2 Self — your weekly dose of everything that’s simply too long to text. Consider this your personal invitation into my inner circle, where I share my thoughts and quiet reflections that usually live inside my notes app. Each week I explore modern life through conversations about relationships, culture, mental health, identity, and the stories that shape how we see ourselves and the world around us. Part personal journal, part cultural commentary, Note 2 Self is a space for honest reflection, thoughtful conversation, and the occasional pop culture deep dive.

  1. 2d ago

    Love Island, Rave Culture, and What We Let Shape Us

    In this episode of Note 2 Self, Saskia is mourning the end of Love Island and asking a bigger question: is reality television harmless catharsis, or is it quietly shaping what we consider normal? Before diving in, she shares a truly absurd full-circle update involving the man who ghosted her twice a decade ago, a LinkedIn DM, and the most corporate f*****y greeting imaginable. What begins as a Love Island season wrap becomes a deeper look at why viewers become so emotionally invested in strangers on television. Through Plato, Aristotle, cultivation theory, and the online pile-ons directed at contestants, Saskia explores the line between having opinions about reality TV and forgetting that the people inside its constructed world are still human. That question then moves from the screen to the dance floor. Inspired by a DoubleBlind article about psychedelic experiences at raves and ceremonies, Saskia reflects on intention, community, and why moving in rhythm with other people can make us feel part of something larger. She shares the freedom she felt at her first Brooklyn rave, the promise she made to herself before meeting Jeffrey, and why dancing has become central to her second chapter in New York. Because sometimes we need to watch the connection. And sometimes we need to turn off the television and go dancing. Show Notes Turns Out, Dance Floors and Ceremonies Heal in the Same Way Plato, Aristotle, and reality TV framing from @kent.repreneur Gardening, serotonin metabolism, and cognitive health study Follow Note 2 Self YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠TikTok

  2. Jul 16

    Engagement Comedowns, The Sheep Detectives, and Finding Your Voice

    In this episode of Note 2 Self, Saskia shares what happened after one of the happiest weekends of her life. Following the engagement high came an emotional crash, five days of falling into old patterns with Jeffrey, and a conversation with her therapist about why major commitments can become nervous-system events. Because engagements are joyful, but they can also activate the fears hiding underneath a relationship. The progress is not never falling back. It is recognizing the pattern and finding your way to each other faster. From there, Saskia finally understands why football is called the beautiful game while watching Cabo Verde take on Argentina, and reflects on the vulnerability, collective joy, and human connection that make sport feel like something much bigger. A film about detective sheep then unlocks an unexpectedly personal conversation about winter lambs, childhood abandonment, belonging, and pre-grieving a parent who is still here. Finally, Saskia dives into Belle Burden’s Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage, a devastating story about betrayal, financial power, generational trauma, and taking back the voice someone tried to silence. Because we are quick to share the happy moments. But perhaps sharing the hard ones is how we help each other feel a little less alone. Show Notes Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage by Belle BurdenThe Sheep Detectives Follow Note 2 Self ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok

  3. Jul 9

    My Engagement Story, Intentional Love, and Designing Our Marriage

    In this episode of Note 2 Self, Saskia is engaged and very much still processing it in real time. What begins as the story of how Jeffrey proposed becomes something much bigger than the proposal itself. Saskia shares the little details that made the moment feel so deeply personal: the ring they designed intentionally, the women-led New York jeweller behind it, the oak tree in Fort Greene Park, the family surprise, and the feeling of realising someone had thought through every tiny piece of what would make her feel loved. But this episode is also about what comes after the yes. Saskia reflects on the kind of love she and Jeffrey are trying to build, the conversations they have had about marriage, and what it means to design a relationship with both freedom and dedication. Not just stepping into the next expected milestone, but choosing it consciously. Because maybe the most romantic thing is not the perfect surprise. Maybe it is being known deeply enough that someone knows how to bring your people, your story, and your future into one moment. Follow Vice Versa ⁠Instagram⁠Website Follow Note 2 Self ⁠YouTube⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠TikTok

  4. Jul 2

    Love Island USA, Casa Amor, and the Psychology of Being Chosen

    In this episode of Note 2 Self, Saskia is doing things a little differently. Her sister Liliana is visiting from LA, and naturally, they are using their precious sister time to unpack one of their favourite shared obsessions: Love Island. This week is all about Casa Amor, the most chaotic and revealing week in reality TV. Saskia and Liliana break down where the couples stood going in, who explored, who disappointed them, who surprised them, and why this season finally started to feel alive again. From Melanie and Sincere, Aniya and KC, Trinity and Bryce, Kayda and Zach, to Kenzie and Corbin, they get into the couples, the choices, the heartbreak, and the moments that felt like actual television. But because this is Note 2 Self, it is never just about reality TV. It is about wanting to be chosen, learning how people move when there are options, the difference between loyalty and fear, and why watching strangers date in a villa can somehow teach us so much about human connection. Follow Liliana Starck InstagramWebsiteFollow Note 2 Self YouTubeInstagramTikTok

  5. Jun 25

    The Knicks, Love Island, and What Makes Us Feel Alive

    In this episode of Note 2 Self, Saskia is still thinking about New York. After last week’s conversation about J.Lo, Subway Takes, and what makes someone a New Yorker, the city decided to answer in the most New York way possible: the Knicks won, the streets erupted, and for one night the whole city felt like one living, breathing nervous system. What starts as a story about a Knicks watch party on the Lower East Side becomes something much bigger. Saskia reflects on collective joy, the strange power of strangers wanting the same thing at the same time, and why connection can feel like its own form of resistance. From there, she moves into a very different kind of connection crisis: this season of Love Island, and why the contestants seem so scared to flirt, explore, risk, and be messy. She also reflects on Emily Ratajkowski’s essay Sex As a Single Mom, the roles women are taught to play, and how hard it can be to know what we actually want when desire has been shaped by what we were told would make us safe, loveable, chosen, or powerful. Because maybe the work is paying attention to what makes us feel alive, what makes us feel connected, and what makes us feel like we are finally telling the truth, and chasing that with all we’ve got. Emily Ratajkowski essay referenced in this episode: https://www.thecut.com/article/emily-ratajkowski-sex-single-mom.html Follow Note 2 Self on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@note2self_podcast Follow Note 2 Self on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/note2self_podcast/ Follow Note 2 Self on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@note2self_podcast

  6. Jun 18

    New York, Fame Sick, and Reinventing Yourself in Your 30s

    In this episode of Note 2 Self, Saskia is thinking about New York. After J.Lo’s Subway Takes claim that you have to be born in New York to be a New Yorker, Saskia reflects on moving to the city in 2015 with one suitcase, no job, and no idea what life here would become. What starts as a New York take turns into something much bigger: belonging, identity, and who gets to decide where we are allowed to feel at home. Saskia talks about the energy in the city right now, dancing under the K Bridge at Chris Lake, the joy of connection, and why New York has always been a place for people who arrive, rebuild, and become. She also reflects on Lena Dunham’s memoir Fame Sick, the complicated relationship between a city that makes you and a city that can also break you, and what it means to leave behind an old version of yourself. From creative failure and grief around acting to redefining success in your 30s, this episode is about reinvention, changing your mind, and learning that the versions of you that came before do not disappear. They become another layer of who you are. Because maybe belonging is not about where you were born. Maybe it is about what changes you, what holds you, and who makes room for the person you are becoming.

  7. Jun 11

    Off Campus, the Teach Us Consent Movement, and Why Talking About It Takes the Power Back

    ⚠️ Content note: This episode includes discussion of sexual assault (roughly 17:00–25:00 — skip to 25:00 if you need to). This is also discussed in the second half of the episode. Please take care of yourself, and skip ahead or come back another time if you need to. Support resources are listed below. In this episode of Note 2 Self, Saskia opens with a story from a chaotic New York rave, the return of Love Island, and the official start of summer. Before landing on the show she cannot stop talking about: Off Campus. What looks like a steamy college hockey romance turns out to be something far more important, and it's the thread that runs through everything this week. Saskia breaks down why this show matters: how it proves chemistry doesn't require toxicity, how it refuses to villainize women, how it portrays trauma the way it actually lives in a body: slowly, and never healed in a single conversation. And how one scene about trust, safety, and consent reframes what masculinity can look like. Because the hottest, most masculine thing a man can do is be vulnerable. That leads into the heart of the episode: the Teach Us Consent movement, the Australian woman who started it with a single Instagram poll, and the letter Saskia wrote to her own high school. She shares her own experiences with sexual assault and slut-shaming with a vulnerability that is still unfolding in real time... and the thing her therapist keeps reminding her: the more we talk about it, the less power it holds. Because whether it arrives through a hockey show or a hard conversation, the message is the same. You are not alone. And every time we say the things that once felt unsayable, we build something better for the women who come after us. — SHOW NOTES Lindsey Fleming's breakdown of Off CampusTeach Us ConsentKsenyeah (DJ from NY Rave Girls)— SUPPORT RESOURCES This episode includes discussion of sexual assault. If you or someone you know needs support, you are not alone: US — RAINN: https://rainn.org/AU — 1800RESPECT: https://1800respect.org.au/

  8. Jun 4

    Avoidant Attachment, Dating Patterns, and What Changed My Love Life

    In this episode of Note 2 Self, Saskia maps a dating pattern most people recognize but rarely name: the people who feel chemically intense and exciting, while quietly leaving her anxious, confused, and spinning. She uncovers a decade of patterns starting in New York with the first wave of ghosting that trained her to chase intensity, then moves into Sydney, where a second cycle confirmed she was repeatedly attracting emotionally unavailable men. From there, she gets practical. She shares how attachment theory and therapy helped her rewire the script from “high and crash” to “clarity and consistency,” and the five red flags she now catches earlier. Saskia also gets specific about process: she built a list of what she wanted to feel, not just what someone looked like on paper, and kept revising it until it gave her a new standard for love. The turning point came in New York with two dates that made the pattern impossible to ignore: one familiar, one calm. She chose the uncomfortable calm over the old high, and that choice became the foundation of the relationship she has with Jeffrey today. The lesson is direct: anxiety can mimic love, but calm is often the truest signal of safety. Tune in now.

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5
out of 5
7 Ratings

About

This is Saskia, and this is Note 2 Self — your weekly dose of everything that’s simply too long to text. Consider this your personal invitation into my inner circle, where I share my thoughts and quiet reflections that usually live inside my notes app. Each week I explore modern life through conversations about relationships, culture, mental health, identity, and the stories that shape how we see ourselves and the world around us. Part personal journal, part cultural commentary, Note 2 Self is a space for honest reflection, thoughtful conversation, and the occasional pop culture deep dive.

Information

  • Creator
    Saskia Starck
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    63
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Saskia Starck
  • Show Website
    Note 2 Self

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