Name It Before You Fix It: Why Finding the Right Word for a Feeling Changes Everything

When Jil Hunter’s body started shutting down after the birth of her fifth child, doctors thought it was MS. What she actually needed was language for what she was feeling.

Dave and Luke sit down with Jil, creator of the YouTube series Lulubug’s Garden, to talk about her years-long journey with severe postpartum anxiety: the physical symptoms doctors couldn’t explain, and the one appointment that finally gave her words for it. Jil now teaches kids to name and work with their emotions through puppets, music and story. The conversation reaches well past parenting, into why naming a feeling changes what your brain does with it, and what happens when someone builds the thing they wish had existed for them.

Chapters

• 00:00 Jil Hunter’s Mental Health Journey. Jil shares how severe anxiety began affecting her physically after the birth of her fifth child.
• 06:30 The First Moment of Hope. How one doctor helped Jil set aside the possibility of MS and recognize anxiety, postpartum stress and burnout.
• 11:13 Healing Wasn’t a Quick Fix. The therapy, physical self-care and other support that shaped Jil’s four-to-five-year healing journey.
• 15:03 Why Naming Emotions Matters. How emotional vocabulary helps people separate a feeling from their identity and choose how they respond.
• 21:23 Creating Lulubug’s Garden. How Jil turned her own experience into a children’s mental health series built around puppets, music and storytelling.
• 31:45 Teaching Emotional Regulation. How Jil’s growing emotional awareness changed the way she parented and shaped the tools she now shares with families.

Links and Resources

• Sign up for NUE: Your Mental Fitness Platform
• ElizaChat: Responsible and Ethical AI Solutions
• Lulubug’s Garden on YouTube
• Lulubug’s Podcast for Parents: Apple | Spotify | YouTube