This past month, Matt spoke both on the radio and in publications on issues related to our uncertain and stressful times, from the election to the surge in COVID-19 and the resulting months of quarantine falling over the end-of-year holidays.

Appearing twice on WNYC’s All Of It, Matt first joined host Alison Stewart for “Messages from Another Dimension,” focusing on the influx of people sending or receiving messages from exes during the pandemic. Matt discussed why people may seek out the familiar such as an ex during a crisis and offered some tips for how to navigate this communication, including managing expectations and being honest about what both former partners want.

More recently, Matt returned to All Of It with Alison Stewart to discuss anxiety in relation to the pandemic and the 2020 presidential election. In the segment “Coping with Anxiety in Uncertain Times,” he explained how anxiety can actually be important to feel while avoiding spiraling into a rabbit hole of anxiety. He also suggested ways to find social connection and manage anxiety, even when many of our interactions are remote. 

On the similar subject of election anxiety, Matt was quoted in Bloomberg’s “You’re Stressing Out About the Election All Wrong.” According to Matt, the fear and anxiety may have been about more than just the election itself, but the issues at stake. With action a key antidote to anxiety, Matt emphasized activism as potential anxiety relief, as opposed to simply just voting.

With Thanksgiving and the end-of-year holidays coinciding with the pandemic’s second wave, several publications reached out to Matt on mitigating stress around assessing risk and safety with family gatherings and holiday travel. In Slate’s “How to Cancel the Holidays Without Ruining Them,” Matt offered strategies to approach difficult conversations about family plans and spoke about the different aspects of grief inherent in this year’s holidays.

He also contributed to two guides to the holidays. In Food52’s “From Shopping to Prepping, 5 Ways to De-Stress Thanksgiving,” Matt acknowledged how the holidays can be an emotionally heightened time for families independent of a global pandemic and suggested ways to make Zoom family gatherings less disappointing. Likewise, Here Magazine’s “Your COVID-19 Holiday Travel Survival Guide” featured Matt’s advice on how to set boundaries in regards to safety and risk with travel and gatherings, as well as how to approach others’ differing views with curiosity.