<p>Why does discipline feel harder than it used to?<br>Why does motivation feel inconsistent?<br>Why do so many people feel scattered, overwhelmed, and quietly ashamed for not being able to “pull it together”?</p><p>In this episode, Jeb Stuart Johnston explores a deeper explanation most self-help and wellness conversations completely miss: <b>we’re living in a post-modern world with tools designed for a modern one.</b></p><p>This is Part One of a two-part exploration into the post-modern self — the psychological, philosophical, and nervous-system realities of living in a world without a single story, a single identity, or a shared definition of meaning.</p><p>This episode isn’t about fixing anything yet.<br>It’s about <b>naming the terrain</b>.</p><p>By understanding the cultural conditions shaping your inner world, you can stop blaming yourself for struggles that actually make perfect sense.</p><hr><h2><b>In This Episode, We Explore</b></h2><ul><li>Why many people feel fragmented, dysregulated, and overwhelmed — even when they’re “doing everything right”</li><li>How post-modern life dismantled the idea of a single, stable identity</li><li>Why your nervous system already knows the world has changed, even if your beliefs haven’t caught up</li><li>The difference between modern and post-modern ways of understanding truth, identity, and meaning</li><li>Why inconsistency is not failure — it’s a response to complexity</li><li>How artists, thinkers, and lived experience often sense cultural shifts long before psychology and self-help name them</li><li>Why post-modernism is powerful at diagnosis but incomplete as a way of living</li><li>The hidden cost of trying to navigate a plural, unstable world with outdated internal rules</li></ul><hr><h2><b>Key Themes</b></h2><ul><li>Fragmentation vs. failure</li><li>Complexity vs. chaos</li><li>Awareness vs. leadership</li><li>Identity as a system, not a singular self</li><li>Nervous system responses to cultural instability</li></ul><hr><h2><b>Who This Episode Is For</b></h2><p>This episode is for you if:</p><ul><li>You feel like the old rules for success, discipline, or self-improvement no longer work</li><li>You struggle with motivation, consistency, or direction and blame yourself for it</li><li>You feel pulled in multiple directions and don’t know which version of yourself to listen to</li><li>You sense that something bigger than “bad habits” is shaping your inner life</li><li>You want language for what you’re experiencing — not another plan to fail at</li></ul><hr><h2><b>Important Note</b></h2><p>This is <b>Part One</b> of a two-part conversation.</p><p>This episode focuses on <b>understanding the problem clearly</b> — the cultural, psychological, and philosophical conditions shaping the modern self.</p><p><b>Part Two</b> explores what comes next:</p><ul><li>how to build a center,</li><li>how to lead a self made of many selves,</li><li>and how to live with integrity inside complexity.</li></ul>