The More Sibyl Podcast

This is exactly the energy I wanted to open Season 9 with. The rawness, the healing, the self-love. This episode is a tribute to every woman who has been through so 8and chose, eventually, to let go instead of push through.
Temi Oseni is 38, Nigerian, divorced, three-fibroid-surgery-deep, and currently living her best life in Southeast Asia on a self-funded gap year she planned entirely for herself. No permission asked. No apologies given.
But getting there was not a straight line.
Temi takes us back to the beginning, the first-class degree she earned as an act of redemption, the marriage to her best friend of 12 years that unraveled within months, and the years she spent holding herself together in public while quietly falling apart. She also opens up about something many of us didn't know was even an option: taking paid mental health leave in the US without losing your job. Her seven weeks in intensive CBT changed everything.
We talk about fibroids, the dismissive diagnoses, the surgeries, the Lupron, the iron infusions, and why Temi connects her physical healing directly to the mental work she refused to skip.
And then we talk about the gap year, the one she gave herself. As an adult. As a Nigerian woman. In Vietnam. Alone. And completely on her own terms.
This one is for the woman who has been strong for too long. The one with the unsent draft sitting in her Notes app. The one still waiting for permission to choose herself.
Temi didn't wait. Listen to find out what that looks like, then send it to someone who needs it.
Read blog here: https://mosibyl.medium.com/after-the-divorce-and-the-burnout-a88c4fde030e

The More Sibyl Podcast Presents:
Season 9 is here. And Mo! is not arriving polished. This season opener is a monologue; no guest, no research framework, no retrospective lessons tied with a bow. Just Mo! sitting with you in real time, naming what has been true for a while, and telling you exactly what Season 9 is going to be.
Here is what is on the table:
The number NINE. Why this season hits different mathematically, culturally, spiritually, and personally. (Hint: Your girl’s turning 40)
A season eight recap that actually means something. The surrogate episode that nearly quadrupled download records, the prostate cancer series, and why ten downloads on one episode still kept her up at night, in a good way.
Dispatches from Seoul. Mo! is in South Korea on a Fulbright US Presidential STEM Scholar appointment, doing research on cancer survivorship at Seoul National University. But something quieter is happening, too: sitting with a traditional Korean medicine practitioner and reckoning with what Korea kept, and Nigeria lost.
The sleep conversation. She's not sleeping. Not a rough week, not jet lag. Something deeper. She's exploring EMDR therapy and asking hard questions about what it means when a high-functioning woman's body finally starts sending invoices.
A preview of season nine. Rest, ambition, identity, faith, and a new series on the quiet ways marriages unravel before anyone says the word divorce.
If you have been calling something fine that is not fine, this one is for you.
Read blog here: https://mosibyl.medium.com/tired-and-lucid-8035e258753b 

The Relationship Room Presents:
In this episode of The Relationship Room, I sit with Mo! and we get into the relationships that shape us, starting with the most important one: the one with yourself.Mo! introduced something she calls "ghosting yourself," that slow, quiet disconnection from your own voice, your needs, and your intuition. The kind that happens long before you ever walk away from anyone else.
She took us through the journey of not wanting to get married at all, to the ‘tea and biscuit story’ that started with her husband. She opened up about her first friendship heartbreak, the Fulbright opportunity that took her to Korea with two young children, and the profound sacrifice her husband made to support her career. Working long hours. Holding down the fort so she could chase her dreams.
But we don’t stay in the warm parts. We talk about what it means when you no longer feel safe, physically, emotionally, or spiritually, in a relationship. We get into divorce, why it's harder on women, and why so many stay long after they've already checked out: financial pressure, societal weight, the exhaustion of being everything for everyone. We also talk about men's loneliness. How so many men struggle to build friendships and quietly place the full weight of emotional support on their wives, and the burnout that creates on both sides. At the heart of it all is this: the hardest relationship you will ever have is the one with yourself. And until you do that work, you risk staying lost inside a relationship that's already over.
If any part of this sounds familiar, pull up a seat and listen.
Read Blog here: https://mosibyl.medium.com/the-room-conversations-on-divorce-loneliness-and-learning-to-choose-yourself-0886047c0f6c

What happens when the people who believed in you before you believed in yourself finally sit across from you and you get to say thank you on a mic?
That is exactly this episode.
I am joined by two of my oldest friends and fellow members of what we proudly call the Sisterhood of the Traveling Scarves. Temi, an endoscopy nurse visiting the US for the very first time, and Bisi, an ER nurse who has been holding it down stateside in Texas. We met in college over two decades ago. We have survived a lot together. And this episode felt like exactly what it was: a reunion, a reckoning, and a love letter to the friendships that refuse to let you stay small.
We get into Temi's first impressions of America: the roads, the houses, the sheer scale of everything. We do not shy away from the food conversation, because what better lens for a culture than what it puts on a plate? Temi had opinions. Bisi had receipts from her own early years in the US. And I had plenty to say about the gaps between what looks good and what actually nourishes.
We also talked about what it means to travel on a Nigerian passport, and how a single document can determine how much dignity you are afforded at a border. How bureaucracy becomes a tax on ambition. How some of us carry an extra weight just to move through the world.
But here is what sits at the heart of it all:
Temi saw something in me before I saw it in myself. She is the one who pushed me to start this podcast. Seven years ago, when I was still hesitating, still making excuses, she would not let me hide. She kept saying, "You need to do this. You have something to say."
So we sat down and talked about what those seven years have held. The episodes that became therapy. The stories entrusted to a microphone. The listeners who made it all worth it. And where this show still needs to go.
We also talked about transformation. About the surgery that split my life into before and after. "Something snapped in me," I said. "I told myself I'm going to live my life." About growing up under surveillance, sheltered, silent. About finding my voice and never looking back. About the friends who see you clearly, even when you are still figuring out who you are.
Because here is the truth: you cannot make old friends. The ones who knew you before you became who you are now? The ones who pushed you when you wanted to shrink? Those are irreplaceable.
This one is personal. And I think you will feel that.
If this episode moves you, share it with a friend who has been your Temi.
Read blog here: https://mosibyl.medium.com/the-sisterhood-of-the-traveling-scarves-6def9aff811e 

The Relationship Room Presents:
In this episode, Mo! and I talk about money, not just how it shows up in our relationships, but how it shapes our lives.
We dive into the infamous Black Tax, something so many of us can relate to whether we live at home or abroad. There’s the pride that comes with being able to support family, and the quiet responsibility that follows. Mo! reflects on a moment when she looked back at a year’s worth of money sent home and felt overwhelmed, not with regret, but with awareness. It clarified just how much love, effort, and sacrifice can be tied up in a single decision.
If you’ve ever felt guilty for not wanting to send as much as you “should,” or selfish for needing to choose yourself sometimes, you’re not alone. We see you.
We also take on a very delicate topic, prompted by a question from one of our listeners: to prenup or not to prenup, especially as Nigerians in the diaspora and as Christians. Why does the word feel so scary? Why does it sound like you’re ending a relationship before it even begins? Mo! captures it perfectly when she says it feels “like putting a lawyer in the room.”
We don’t have all the answers. We’re still figuring things out too. But this conversation is honest, personal, and rooted in lived experience.
If any part of this sounds familiar, pull up a seat and listen.
Read Blog here: https://mosibyl.medium.com/1175d517d43e
 

The More Sibyl Podcast Presents:
In a moment where diaspora conversations often swing between "I miss home" and "I'm never going back," what happens when you actually spend two months living—not visiting—in the place you left behind?
This episode brings Doc Ayomide back to us on the podcast for an unfiltered conversation about my recent two-month stay in Nigeria. What started as a trip home became a masterclass in adaptation, comparison, and the uncomfortable work of holding two realities at once. We explore why we romanticize past lives from a distance, the classism we have been trained not to notice, and how obtaining a simple passport became a months-long ordeal that cost nearly a million naira and still has not been fully resolved.
We also talk domestic staff, Lagos airport chaos, the five-year-old who is picking up "ọ" faster than expected, and why something about Nigeria's resilience makes American "breaking news" feel a little dramatic. Three weeks, we decided, is probably the sweet spot. Two months will teach you things you did not ask to learn. This episode will not give you closure. But if you have ever been caught between loving a place and being exhausted by it, between the version of home that lives in your chest and the one that charges you 250k for a letter, you will find company here.
PS: Shout out to Nigerian teachers who reminded us what patient, collectivist education actually looks like. And to the government officers charging 250k for letters, we see you, and we are tired. 
Available now on all major podcast platforms.
Read blog here: https://mosibyl.medium.com/romanticising-home-bfe44dfde5c5

The More Sibyl Podcast Presents:
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about how many of us are holding two things at once: prescription bottles on one hand, herbal teas and mindfulness practices on the other. Somewhere in the middle, a question keeps surfacing for me: what does healing look like when we stop asking it to choose between science and soul?
In this episode, I sit with Dr. Tokunbo Akande, a board-certified pediatrician, clinical informaticist, and dual-trained fellow in integrative medicine and Ayurveda. Dr. Akande moves with ease between worlds. He can talk vaccine schedules and electronic health records, and in the same breath speak to doshas, herbs, and the wisdom he grew up with. We talk about how ancient healing traditions can live alongside modern medicine, why stories matter in clinical spaces, and what sustainable wellbeing really looks like when you’re navigating burnout, cultural displacement, and the quiet loss of inherited knowledge.
Dr. Akande shares his journey, from growing up with childhood asthma in Nigeria to nearly leaving medical school, to rediscovering the herbs that reshaped his relationship with healing during the pandemic, and eventually founding Harmony 360 Health. Along the way, we reflect on what gets lost when medicine forgets the body, and what becomes possible when we learn to listen again.
If you’re tired of the false choice between East and West, traditional and modern, this conversation offers something gentlerand truer. A reminder that healing isn’t something we outsource, and balance isn’t passive. It’s a practice.
At the end of the episode, Tokunbo offers a short guided body scan. It’s a small gift; five quiet minutes that might help you come back home to yourself.
Read blog here: https://mosibyl.medium.com/the-integrative-pediatrician-334071454c21 

The Relationship Room Presents:
You know that moment when you start to text someone you used to speak to every single day… and then your spirit just says, leave it?
Welcome to the very first episode of The Relationship Room, a new segment of the award-winning More Sibyl Podcast, created because some conversations just need their own space. A space where we can talk plainly about the relationships that shape us, challenge us, and sometimes drain us.
In this debut episode, Mo! and I get into a season almost every adult recognizes: when your circle shrinks as you grow. Not because anything dramatic happened, but because you finally see things for what they are.
We talk through the things most people feel but rarely say out loud, how “I don’t chase anymore” stopped being a caption and became a boundary, how friendships now live on voice notes, delayed replies, and calendar availability, and how choosing peace brings both relief and a quiet question of whether you’re evolving or just exhausted.
We get real about the parts life never posts: how boundaries can feel like guilt before they feel like freedom, how family photos can look perfect while conversations stay awkward, and how money can subtly shift power in relationships. And we name that moment you realize you’d rather enjoy your own company than shrink yourself for people who never really heard you.
There’s laughter too — the random Facebook voice notes, the dating audacity, the ways adulthood humbles us all. But the thread running through everything is simple: real connection still exists and still feels good, but only when it’s mutual and doesn’t drain you.
Wherever you are in your journey with friendships, family, or love, this episode reminds you that you’re not the only one trying to figure it out. Pull up a chair. Let’s talk
Read Blog here: https://medium.com/@mosibyl/the-room-conversations-small-circles-big-peace-517831088f89

The More Sibyl Podcast Presents:
In this age of going no-contact, and in a moment where the word “narcissism” is often slapped on everything, family conversations can feel more divided than ever. Stay or leave. Set boundaries or keep the peace. As we close out the year, we wanted to slow that binary down and make space for nuance.
In the final episode of this year, we talk about the weight of family and how cultural expectations around loyalty, obedience, and sacrifice can quietly blur into hurt. I’m joined by Agatha Peters, a Nigerian-American psychotherapist, founder of Beautiful Sunshine Therapy, and author of Trapped in Their Script, who brings both professional insight and lived experience to this conversation. Together, we explore family dynamics without rushing to labels or extreme conclusions. We talk about control, unmet emotional needs, boundaries, distance, and the often overlooked middle ground between staying and leaving.
As the year comes to a close, and holiday gatherings make family dynamics feel especially tender, we hope this episode offers reflection rather than pressure. A reminder that you do not need perfect language or drastic decisions to honor your experience. You are allowed to choose what care and connection look like for you.
Thank you for listening with us this year. We’ll see you in the new year with more thoughtful, grounded conversations.
PS: You can find Mrs. Agatha’s book, Trapped in Their Scripts, wherever books are sold, and her practice, Beautiful Sunshine Therapy, through the link below.
 
Read blog here: https://mosibyl.medium.com/lets-talk-about-narcissistic-parents-other-stories-2954d1c61de5 

The More Sibyl Podcast Presents:
This episode asks something quietly radical in our moment: what if the real crisis isn’t ignorance, but the steady erosion of how we relate to knowledge, to one another, and to responsibility?
In my conversation with Mr. Gbane Okolo, we talk about what it’s like to think deeply in a world that often feels impatient with nuance, how curiosity can start to feel risky, how expertise can be misunderstood. How simply asking careful questions can come with social and emotional costs. Gbane reflects on anti-intellectualism not as a buzzword, but as something people quietly bump into every day.
We also make room for the pressures people don’t always say out loud, especially financial stress. Not the dramatic, headline kind, but the quieter strain of living “in between”: planning a future while your footing still feels temporary, carrying responsibility before stability fully arrives, trying to stay hopeful while the timeline keeps stretching. It’s a reality many students, immigrants, and early-career professionals recognize immediately, even if they rarely hear it named with tenderness.
From there, our conversation moves through faith, science, and intellectual humility; through technology, AI, and the strange way modern tools can mirror our fears as much as our progress. Gbane shares why he believes a shift is coming—a growing hunger for authentic connection, critical thinking, and human presence in a world that’s becoming increasingly automated.
At its heart, this episode is about staying curious when it would be easier not to. About thinking carefully, living honestly, and giving ourselves permission to ask better questions, even when the world seems uncomfortable with depth.
Read blog here: https://mosibyl.medium.com/thinking-in-an-age-of-distrust-afcb05b8d5f0