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Welcome Back to The Love Drive Podcast · The Love Drive with Shaun Galanos

• 0:10
  Welcome back to the Love Drive Podcast.
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  My name is Sean Galanos. I am your host.
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  I am a Love coach. I am very, very excited to be
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  back. Gosh, where do I start?
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  OK, 12 years ago I was driving a taxi in San Francisco.
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  And driving a taxi is kind of fun until it gets really boring.
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  And my friend said, hey, you should record your conversations
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  with your passengers. And so I did.
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  I put cameras, lights, microphones in the taxi and I
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  called it the Love Drive. And I interviewed my passengers
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  about sex, love and dating. That is where the name The Love
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  Drive came from. And this idea started back in
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  2014. Since then, I've been doing some
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  version of like Love coaching. I got certified as a coach at
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  the Concordia University in Montreal.
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  I have a background in communication, in sexual
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  education, in Rape Crisis counseling.
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  And along the years I have hosted groups, retreats, I've
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  taught courses, I've coached individuals and couples on all
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  things love. And why?
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  Why do I do this? I think I've always had sort of
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  like a bottomless well of passion for love, sex,
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  relationships and dating. I also think that I've actually
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  kind of struggled quite a bit in this department my whole life.
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  And so anything that can be a challenge or a struggle can also
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  become a strength if you give enough attention to it.
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  And so that's who I am and that's why I'm doing this thing.
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  The Love Drive was a podcast. It was a podcast that I stopped
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  several years ago. And then I started a new podcast
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  with the angry therapist John Kim.
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  And then now I'm relaunching the podcast.
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  Why? Because Because I love having
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  conversations with interesting people about sex, love, and
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  dating. Some of these conversations are
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  going to be with experts. Some of them are going to be
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  with just like regular people, couples, singles, folks kind of
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  going through it. And then some of these
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  conversations are just going to be me, are just going to be like
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  musings on love. OK, hold on.
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  Let me read you the description of the podcast because I wrote
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  this down and I think it's important because I want you to
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  know what is this podcast, OK? The Love Drive is a no nonsense
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  podcast. It's funny, no nonsense.
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  There will be nonsense, but the advice that I give is often no
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  nonsense. It's not sugar coated.
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  So it's a no nonsense podcast on sex, love, relationships and
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  dating for hopeful romantics, love cynics and everyone
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  navigating modern connections. Hosted by me, Sean Galanos, your
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  local love coach. OK, hopeful romantics.
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  I don't like the term hopeless romantic.
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  Why can't we have a little bit of hope?
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  Why are we hopeless if we are romantic?
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  Just because we're struggling or things aren't going our way or
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  it feels like we're sort of like beating our head against the
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  wall, it doesn't mean that we're hopeless.
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  It just means that, like, things are sometimes hard, harder for
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  some of us than others. There are those people that have
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  just like a fairy tale romance, love affair relationship and I'm
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  like so happy for those people. That has not really been my
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  experience. And if it hasn't been your
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  experience, then maybe you can find a home here as well.
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  OK, love cynics. What does that mean?
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  People who are like kind of beaten down by love, who are a
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  little cynical, but yet still yearn like your heart still
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  yearns to be seen to be known by another.
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  You still feel desiring of connection of another, of like
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  of skin of love, of connection. Like you're cynical because
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  you've kind of been through the wringer, but you still yearn,
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  right? And then anybody who's just like
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  navigating what some people might describe as the dumpster
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  fire that is modern dating or modern relating, I don't think
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  it's a dumpster fire. I think that we are all wounded
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  inner children coming to the table with pain and hurt and
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  stories. And we are doing our best.
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  And some of us are doing way better than others.
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  And some of us are struggling way more than others, depending
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  on where you are in your life. But we are inner children who
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  who are yearning for connection and love and to be seen and to
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  be known and to be heard and to play and to connect.
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  I also wrote here something else I wrote.
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  I aim to create a space for raw, radically honest conversations
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  about desire, sexuality and intimacy and what it takes to
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  build lasting relationships. I hope to bring vulnerability,
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  humor, and curiosity to even the most taboo topics.
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  And also that perhaps this podcast becomes an antidote or
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  an alternative to the toxic red pill culture.
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  The like toxic masculinity manosphere podcast bro thing
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  that's happening out there where I can maybe bring a voice that
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  models emotional intelligence, healthy masculinity, and playful
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  banter. Not saying that I am a healthy
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  version of masculinity, like I have blind spots, I struggle, I
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  am working on stuff, I have zones of development that I'm
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  currently working on. But perhaps this serves as an
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  alternative to what is out there.
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  The love drive podcast. I want it to be like multi
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  format. I want to have, yes, guest
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  interviews, experts, thought leaders, but also conversations
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  with regular people, with friends, with couples, with
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  folks who are kind of going through it.
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  I want feel good stories. I want Q&A where you share with
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  me your questions. I do love Q&A.
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  I'm sort of a big Q&A freak. And then also solo episodes
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  where I sort of check in, share with you what's going on with
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  me. Maybe we look at like love in
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  the news, love, sex and dating in the news.
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  I don't think I'll ever be like hey let me let me recap what
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  happened on Love is Blind. I don't think that's ever really
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  going to be my strength, but maybe it is, who knows.
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  Anyways, if you're here for multi varietal segments on sex,
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  love and dating then you're in the right place.
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  I also want the love drive to be a place where we can talk about
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  life, not just love, but ultimately, like, life is love
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  and love is life. And I know that sounds so
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  cheesy, but I think the deep down inside you agree that it's
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  all kind of love. Yeah.
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  I mean, basically, this show doesn't exist without you.
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  So I need your questions. I need your concerns, your
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  comments, your feedback, your criticism.
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  I need it all and I want it in a voicemail.
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  So you can leave me a voicemail at 415-494-9559.
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  That's 415-494-9559. You could leave a voicemail.
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  You can leave a text message. You can e-mail me at
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  podcast@thelovedrive.com. You can record a voice memo and
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  send it to that same e-mail. You can send me a love letter, a
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  hate letter. You can send me whatever you
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  want at either podcast at the Love dr.com or by leaving a
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  voicemail at 415-494-9559. OK.
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  If you're listening on Spotify or watching on Spotify or
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  YouTube, please leave a comment. I love comments.
• 8:23
  I I read all of them. It helps me understand what's
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  landing for you. If you're enjoying the show,
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  then leave a review wherever you listen.
• 8:32
  It really makes a huge difference.
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  But please leave comments. I love comments.
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  I love reading them. It's like my dirty little
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  secret. It's like a tasty little snack.
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  It's a little dopamine morsel and I and I thank you for all of
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  your comments. OK, what else?
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  I mean, that's it. I'm pumped.
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  I'm like, I'm, I don't know if I'm over caffeinated, but I'm
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  also very, very, very excited to be back.
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  I'm going to be honest with you, I'm also a little scared.
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  I'm a little scared and I think that it's good to be scared.
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  I think that fear, unless it's a Saber toothed tiger, which for
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  the most part in our culture, it's not.
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  There's something worth exploring when there is fear,
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  right? Like fear can sometimes, unless
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  we're talking about like keeping yourself safe, like legitimately
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  safe from like attack or harm. Fear is interesting because it,
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  it might illustrate where there's like juice, where
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  there's like something at stake, where there's risk.
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  And I'll be honest with you, I'm feeling a little scared.
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  I'm feeling a little scared. And I think that it's worth it
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  for me to explore that fear, but also to walk through it.
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  So I am feeling a little trepidation about relaunching
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  the podcast. For some reason, I feel like the
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  stakes are higher than they were a couple years ago.
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  I don't know why. I'm happy to explore that along
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  the way. I'm happy you explore a lot of
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  stuff. So while there's fear, there's
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  also genuine like Glee and excitement.
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  Like I'm legitimately gleeful at relaunching this podcast.
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  I also want to thank you if you're a long time listener,
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  first time caller. Thank you for your continued
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  support. If you're new here and someone
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  was like, hey, you should check out this podcast.
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  Welcome. You're super, super welcome
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  here. I'm excited for what hopefully
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  we will build together. Like I know that sounds kind of
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  weird. Like Sean, you're not, we're not
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  building this together, but like legitimately yes, right.
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  Like without you, what is this? Nothing, it's just me talking.
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  But with you, we can maybe create the kind of podcast that
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  like feels good, that is helpful, that helps to demystify
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  and destigmify, stigmify. I don't think that's a word.
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  But anyways, we'll go with it. You know what I'm trying to say?
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  Love, sexuality, intimacy, emotional availability,
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  vulnerability, all that stuff. The juicy, juicy, juicy stuff
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  that makes up love and relationships.
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  The reality is like, oh, I'm going to share with you what the
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  reality is. We are built for connection.
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  We're built for community, we're built for closeness, and
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  sometimes that shit is not easy. Oftentimes it's not that easy.
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  I would like for this to be a space for us to explore all of
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  that together. So thank you for being here.
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  You mean the world to me. I know that sounds weird to say,
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  but you do mean the world to me. Your support, your feedback,
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  your presence, it's all very, very welcome.
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  I'm also so pumped to announce that our first guest interview
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  is with none other than Dan Savage, American author, advice
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  columnist, podcast host, and someone that I've been a huge,
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  huge fan of for decades. In fact, I used to call myself
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  the younger, straighter Dan Savage, and he got a kick out of
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  that. We talked about why people are
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  going crazy for heated rivalry, why more straight men should
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  hook up with dudes just to have the experience, how my mom found
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  out that I downloaded Grinder, and the importance of
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  reciprocity in sexual relationships.
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  This is an incredible interview. I'm so so so grateful for his
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  presence and his wisdom. And that airs on Thursday.
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  So enjoy, thank you and have a beautiful week.