Rietta Boksha
222 episodes listed below
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A storytelling podcast about resilience, growth and navigating life’s hardest seasons. How to Deal When the Shit Gets Real is where honest conversations unfold about the moments that change us. Each episode features real people sharing their journeys through grief, trauma, adversity and the challenges that reshape who we are. This show isn’t about perfection or pretending everything is fine. It’s about what happens when life cracks open — and how we find strength on the other side. If you’ve ever felt lost, overwhelmed, broken, or unsure how to move forward, these conversations are for you.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Rieta turns personal accounts of anxiety, trauma, caregiving, and upheaval into candid conversations about coping under real pressure.
Rieta begins each interview with a blunt invitation to explain how the guest responds under pressure, then lets that answer set the direction.
Rieta asks how you deal when the shit gets real; your brain might ask for a bubble bath.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A calm, direct look at grief, identity, and the harder work of change.
Nicole Lee speaks plainly about grief, identity, and the choice to sit with hard feelings instead of trying to dodge them. The episode opens there, then moves into the weight of leaving a 20-year corporate identity behind and the grief that can come with that kind of change.
A plainspoken conversation about trauma, grief, and starting over.
Pamela Topjian talks through how she handles hard stretches: she steps back, pauses, and tries to trace a difficult moment back to where it started.
Practical trauma talk that keeps panic manageable through simple, repeatable steps.
Marietta's conversation with Connie Zatkowski stays close to one simple idea: when panic or old trauma starts to rise, the next move should be smaller, steadier, and easier to repeat.
A warm, spiritual take on healing that treats body signals as clues, not dead ends.
This episode follows a direct conversation about healing, trauma, and the idea that physical symptoms can reflect what someone is carrying emotionally.
A blunt look at how fear and bad patterns can feel normal until they do not.
Tina looks back on a fear-driven childhood and the adult relationships that kept echoing the same hurt. The episode is strongest in the way it treats control, denial, and the slow moment when a written list makes it harder to keep explaining things away.
A frank, steady conversation about self-love, boundaries, and learning to leave harm behind.
Grace Williams turns a hard life story into a plainspoken argument for self-love. She moves through a religious upbringing, an abusive relationship, and the slow work of learning how to leave, making the emotional point feel concrete instead of abstract.
A direct, unsparing look at caregiving, grief, and learning how to say the hard part out loud.
Jason Tuttle's conversation stays close to the daily work of caring for two children born with multiple cognitive and physical disabilities, severe neurological delays, and epilepsy.
Plainspoken talk about doing the next right thing and learning to listen before talking over others.
Ryan Rush and Rieta keep the focus on one steady idea: do the next right thing, even when the easier path is tempting. The talk stays grounded in instinct, listening, and the discipline of checking yourself before speaking over someone else.
Anna Martin interviews writers and couples about the real stories behind Modern Love essays.
Knox and Jamie turn celebrity gossip, film deep dives, and streaming news into weekly comedy.
Two hosts revisit one film, show, or book a week, plus long personal tangents.
A Brazilian journalist spends years reinvestigating unsolved child disappearances in Paraná.
Cris Bartz and Juva Lauer alternate debate and interview episodes on Brazilian social issues.
Robert Wright interviews specialists on Iran, Gaza, Ukraine, Taiwan, and open-source AI.
Lindsay opens with a blunt answer about how she gets through hard things: she distracts herself.
Grace Williams shares her journey from growing up in a strict religious household with eight siblings and an abusive father, through a six-year abusive marriage where her church told her to go back, to finally finding self-love and a healthy relationship in her 40s.
Rieta opens by asking Ryan how he handles it when the shit gets real.
Marietta sits down with hypnotherapist Connie Zatkowski and asks the blunt question the episode always circles back to: how do you deal when life gets real?
Rieta asks Nicole Lee how she gets through the moments when life turns difficult, and Nicole offers a plain answer: sit with it instead of trying to get around it.
Pamela Topjian talks through how she handles crisis by pausing, stepping back, and tracing where the trouble began.
Rieta opens by asking Maggie Soule how she handles it when life gets real, and Maggie answers with a case for honesty, connection, and not having to feel alone.
Don Gleason returns for a second conversation with Riera.
Rieta sits down with Jason for a frank conversation about how he gets through life when everything feels heavy.
Tatiana Szulc describes how somatic experiencing, developed by Peter Levine, works directly with the nervous system so trauma does not have to be retold.
Lisa Heacock says she lost 12 loved ones in 22 months, including her father, mother, and 24-year-old son-in-law Jack, and calls the experience “compound grief.” She explains “micro grief” through details like her father’s decline from brain cancer, her mother “shrinking” while caring for him, and the loss of health, finances, independence, and communication inside illness.
Rieta interviews Greg Linkowski, MD, who says at age 71 he has "lived two lifetimes rolled into one" and wants his "last quarter" to be his best quarter.
Rieta talks with Lindy Edge, a licensed journeyman hairstylist with 30 years in beauty, film, practical effects, and relationship coaching.
Rieta interviews Yuki Yoshii on How to Deal When the Shit Gets Real Podcast about spiritual practice, ego, and her Satori Mindset framework.
Vinaya frames life as "basically just a movie," says she watches it without fear, and links that outlook to shadow work, crystal readings, and coaching.
Pops Danny, 65, says Zachariah's of Hopes has spent two years building backpacks for the homeless in Oklahoma, funded mostly through TikTok and not through grants.
Kenzii Rose, a mental health advocate with AFSP, explains how Solace and Healing Conversation shaped her response to suicide loss and why she now co-facilitates a Saturday morning group that is available worldwide on Zoom.
Coach Mack opens up about what it feels like when anxiety takes over.
Geoffrey “G” Cole says he developed a brainwave-analysis framework through EEG work with thousands of people since 2007, and he ties it to trauma, sleep, and depression.
Riera opens with the show’s blunt question, and Mayvina answers with a joke about boxing the pain up and dealing with it later.
Tina talks through a childhood shaped by a strict, fanatical Christian church and the isolation that came with it.
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Lisa Zawrotny says she handles crisis by “cry[ing]” and then “boss[ing] up,” and she ties that pattern to caregiving, burnout, and productivity coaching.
Matt comes back to keep talking with Rieta.
Danny Kuhn comes in with 31 years in the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department in Los Angeles County, California.
The host honors the eight-year anniversary of Heather Turner's unsolved death, discussing inconsistencies in the case, including discrepancies in police reports and interviews with her husband Andy, and calls for renewed investigation and public awareness.