Factory Settings Podcast

“Avoid talking about politics and religion” is such a boring cliche. It’s not helpful. Obviously, it’s prudent to know when to give in to that rule, because meaningless fighting is the real problem with a discussion about politics or religion. When it comes to politics and religion, differentiation should be the goal. In this episode of Factory Settings, Bridget and Jeren dive into religion, God, moderation, Catholicism, a Higher Power, and how to manage —all of the stuff, and more. We’re living through an era of infernal Discourse. This episode is an example of how to escape it.QUESTIONSBridget* If you’re celebrating Lent, what are you giving up? And if you’re not celebrating Lent, or religion at all—whatever you need to access your higher self: What are some distractions in your life? What’s distracting you?Jeren* What’s one thing in your life that you would better for, if you gave up? Is there something you’re doing that you shouldn’t be doing? Or if you did less of it, or gave it up, it would allow you to access some other part of yourself or achieve something—what would that be?MENTIONED“The Lord’s Prayer” from The Sermon On The Mount by Emmet FoxThe War of Art by Steven Pressfield“Bill’s Story” from The Big Book - Audio VersionHumbuggery Substack by Father Tom MillerBeyond Parody with Bridget Phetasy is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.phetasy.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget and Jeren discuss their diverging relationships with AA as they approach 13 and 9 years of sobriety, respectively, exploring what it means to feel “dry” (acting like a drunk without drinking) and how resentments, control issues, and the loss of spiritual connection can creep in during long-term recovery.QUESTIONSHow does a normie kind of do this…

The Epstein news cycle has captivated Bridget in a way that it hasn’t captivated Jeren. Why?Why do we latch on to certain stories, but not others?QUESTIONSWhere are you at with the Epstein Files?If you are captivated by the Epstein Files, why? How did you get to that place? If you’re not interested: Why? What makes you go, “Don’t care”?And, whatever you believe, why do you want to believe it?What are you getting from the Epstein Files? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.phetasy.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comIn a hilarious return episode Jeren finally sits down and explains to Bridget how Dungeons & Dragons and other Role Playing Games work. Her endless questions include; Does sex come into the campaigns? What happens if I just walk up and stab the guy in the tavern? What does a Dungeon Master actually do? And so many more. Questions:Have you ever played a …

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, have a fun catch up conversation about their lives lately, what they’ve been reading, what they’ve been watching, the general loss of our ability to focus, the different types of science fiction, and the form and function of art as a means of protest and in…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, discuss technology this week. They cover what it’s like to raise a young child in today’s technology environment, the rise of AI, the debate about screen time, the number of technological shifts that occurred during their lifetimes, which new technologies b…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comThis episode will remain open to the public for 2 weeks and then go behind the paywall.Bridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, decided to talk about optimism this week to bring a little more positivity into the world. They discuss whether being in the real world is a more optimistic place than be…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comThis episode will remain open to the public for 2 weeks and then go behind the paywall.Bridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, discuss discipline this week. They talk about their first exposure to the concept, what it looks like to them, whether they agree with the idea that discipline equals fre…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comThis episode will remain open to the public for 2 weeks and then go behind the paywall.Bridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, discuss pets this week. They talk about the ups and downs of pet ownership, their first pets, having traumatic experiences with pets, and how their dog Hope changed both …

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, talk about the gifts they’ve found in sobriety. They discuss how they feel about the phrase “this too shall pass,” the relationship between stoicism and some of the AA teachings, recognizing that sobriety wouldn’t just automatically solve your problems, the…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, discuss self-awareness this week. They debate whether self-awareness alone will help you change your subconscious patterns, bad habits and things that hold you back, the importance of building trust with yourself, humility vs. low self-esteem, overcoming fe…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist sit down to discuss being late bloomers. They talk about giving up on themselves, failing young, and how living in such a youthful culture can make it feel like you missed the boat if you haven’t gotten your career together and found the love of your life by…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, talk about the “fuck its” this week. They discuss what they are, where they come from, how they fight them, and when they surrender to them. They cover maintaining a routine and allowing for slips off the beam, letting yourself down, getting the “fuck its” …

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, finish their discussion of the 3 pillars for mental and physical well-being by talking about exercise. They cover the sports they played as kids, how active they were, how active their parents were, when they actually had to start consciously focusing on ex…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, talk about sleep as one of the 3 pillars for mental and physical well-being. They discuss how much sleep contributes to mental health - probably more than the average person realizes, what their sleeping patterns were like as children, what their sleeping p…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, explore the topic of creativity. They discuss what the word means to them, the preconceptions they have about being creative, what it means to go into a creative field professionally, and why creativity can be found in virtually every aspect of human experi…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, discuss their relationships with food. They talk about how they were raised, what family meals looked like, whether or not they learned to cook, what their parents modeled for them about healthy eating, and what they’d like to model for their daughter. They…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, talk comedy, humor, and the ability to laugh at yourself. They talk about laughter as a factory setting, the infectious laughter of children, the comic strips, comedians, and shows that shaped their senses of humor, the attitude towards humor in their famil…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, talk about impostor syndrome this week. They explore the definition, when they first understood what it was, and discuss where and when they’ve felt it in their lives. Bridget pinpoints that there’s a relationship between the effort she puts into something …

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, talk about America and what it means to them for the 4th of July. They cover how they were raised and the ideas about the country and patriotism that their families held, how they feel about the 4th of July, the Olympics, the ideals the country was founded …

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, wax nostalgic about summer this week. They share their vastly different experiences of summer, what it means to them, sense-memories that come to mind at the word, the feelings it evokes, and what they would like to give to their daughter for the summers of…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, discuss procrastination this week. They explore whether or not there’s a difference between procrastination and laziness, how Bridget has always struggled with procrastination vs. Jeren’s ability to knock things off his list immediately. They cover what fee…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, discuss their introverted and extroverted tendencies this week. They cover the definitions of introversion & extroversion, what it means to them in their lives, what they were like in their childhoods vs. what they’re like as adults, how their introverted a…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, cover hypochondria and health anxiety this week. Bridget shares her past experience with debilitating hypochondria, where it came from, how it manifested, and the treatment and habits she created to break the mental loops she was stuck in and help her beat …

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, talk about marijuana addiction. They recall their first experiences with weed, their various levels of addiction to it - Bridget being a full-time stoner and Jeren who could take it or leave it - having stoner pride, yet marijuana addiction was laughed at i…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, talk about the role God has played in their lives in the past and what they believe now. From Bridget’s Catholic upbringing to Jeren’s childhood with no religion of any kind, they come from very different places on this topic and have very different ideas, …

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, discuss negative self-talk and the inner critic this week. They attempt to untangle their experiences with substance abuse, parental divorces, their own natures, and when that snowballed into negative self-talk, whether it’s part of the human condition, wha…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, discuss depression this week. They talk about their own personal experiences with it, their first exposure to the concept of “depression”, how much therapeutic language has crept into everything, whether we’ve pathologized a lot of behavior that’s somewhat …

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, discuss leaving Los Angeles as they prepare to move to Texas. They share how many times they’ve moved in their lives and their different expectations and experiences; Jeren having lived in Los Angeles for nearly 40 years, and Bridget being a nomad most of h…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, contemplate meaning this week. They discuss when they first started thinking about meaning, the search for it, when your life can be defined by a lack of meaning, how they’ve found it in their lives, and true meaning vs. false meaning. They also cover the r…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, talk about STUFF this episode. How much stuff most people have, particularly in America, what their relationship to stuff is, who likes to shop and who hates it, their mutual love of purging, keeping things you think you might need, and giving a thought for…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comDue to popular demand, Bridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, discuss AA slogans this week. They share the ones they love, the ones they hate, the ones they used to roll their eyes at but have come to embrace, and the ones they use every day. They break down the meaning and effectiveness of thei…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comWe Answer A Question Asked By A SupporterQuestion: Since listening to this podcast, it seems that you and Jeren really use your recovery as something that you two can relate to each other and bonds you. My question is, how does someone like me who doesn't have a substance addiction and honestly doesn't quite understand addiction, relate to someone who t…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, discuss body image in their latest episode. They cover the clinical definition of body dysmorphia, when they’ve felt their best and worst physically in their lives, fat shaming, the damage we can cause to others, Bridget’s struggle with gaining pregnancy we…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, share their personal primary education stories from K through 12th grade. They each talk about how many times they moved and/or switched schools and the effect it had on them, share their public vs. private school experiences, discuss how they both nearly f…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, an associate marriage & family therapist, debate whether trust in media is dead and whether anything could revive it. They discuss where they got their news growing up, why media corporations and channels have to define themselves as THE TRUTH and make you believe other media organizations are ly…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comWe Answer A Question Asked By A Phetasy Supporter3 Part Question: * Which factory setting has been the most difficult to overcome?* Are there any that now that you are each around your midpoint of life and know yourselves as well as you do think aren't really solvable and just are and always will be?* Since the term Factory Settings has a slightly critical un…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, discuss the hardships of making friends as an adult. They talk about making friends as kids vs. making them as adults, the friendships they made as children that they’ve managed to maintain their entire lives, how moving every year and a half factored into …

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, discuss self-censorship this week. They talk about what it means in today’s society and how the higher your social status the more fearful and self-censoring you become. They share instances where they’ve found themselves self-censoring, when it can be usef…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comWe Answer A Question Asked By A Substack SupporterQuestion: I'm curious about your parenting expectations. I'm sure you want your daughter to avoid the issues you both faced. But does that mean limiting her freedom to explore and take risks? Are you hoping for a traditional path college, business school, running a hedge fund or something more adventurou…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, explore the topic of creativity. They discuss what the word means to them, the preconceptions they have about being creative, what it means to go into a creative field professionally, and why creativity can be found in virtually every aspect of human experi…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, tackle the topic of porn this week. They discuss their first exposure to it as kids, how much access to it has changed since then, the pornification of everything, Bridget’s short-term addiction to it, and whether or not it’s possible to have a healthy rela…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, talk about love and relationships for Valentine’s Day. They share their first “spark” moment, and how their first date had them literally walking down an aisle together, their past relationships, previous marriages, confusing lust for love, wanting a love a…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comJoin us for our first ever Factory Settings Q&A! Question: What was the most difficult situation that either of you had to deal with after getting sober, and how did you deal with it?Bed bugs, broken hearts and our beloved dog, Hope—the struggle is real.Factory Settings is a podcast exploring politics, culture, relationships, mental health, addiction, a…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, discuss money and financial anxiety this week. The talk about their first awareness of money, the roles their parents’ divorces played in financial stress, the dichotomy of being stressed about money and also being aware of how good they have it, how much o…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, talk about therapy this week. They share their own experiences with therapy and how effective it’s been for them, what made Jeren want to become a therapist, the difference between understanding something, being self-aware, and allowing those emotions to be…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, dissect self-disclosure in both private and public spaces in this week’s episode. They cover self-disclosure in our culture, the rise of therapy, how if you self-disclose publicly you’re opening yourself up to other people’s opinions and interpretations of …

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, discuss social media this week. They both share their first interactions on social media, when they started to be immersed in the online world, Buddyhead, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit & Instagram. Bridget talks about the surprising impact Dane Cook ha…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, sit down to discuss commitment this week. They talk about what comes to mind when they hear the word commitment, how Bridget ran from it for years, and how their parents’ marriages, divorces, and their mothers in particular affected their views on commitmen…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.phetasy.comBridget Phetasy and her co-host/husband Jeren Montgomery, a licensed marriage & family therapist, talk about willingness this week, both as a concept and in practice. Bridget acknowledges a tiny window of willingness that came at the right moment that led to her getting sober, and they discuss what that meant for her life, what the definition of willin…