What can surviving a zombie apocalypse teach us about surviving everyday life?

In this episode of The Still Growing Up Film Club, Cece Fanning takes an unconventional coming-of-age trip into Zombieland, following Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita and Little Rock through a world where staying alive requires rules, resilience, courage — and occasionally a desperate search for a Twinkie.

Using Columbus's famous survival rules as a starting point, Cece explores our need for structure and predictability, the comfort of self-imposed rules, and what happens when keeping ourselves safe begins to get in the way of actually living. Through a neurodivergent lens, she reflects on anxiety, hypervigilance, vulnerability, finding safe people and the complicated process of learning when to trust ourselves enough to take a risk.

But survival is only part of the story. Zombieland is also about finding your people, knowing what keeps you going, doing things even when you're scared, enjoying the little things and making room for fun when life feels overwhelming.

Because sometimes the rules that keep us safe are exactly what we need. And sometimes growing means knowing when it's okay to break them.

Follow Cece:

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenotoriouscece

📱 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thenotoriouscece

✍️ Blog: https://cecewhatimean.com/

🛍️ Store: https://stillgrowinguppodcast.dashery.com/

Produced for the Autistic Culture Podcast Network.

🎧 The Still Growing Up Film Club is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms.

🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com

🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcastnetwork.com

📲 Follow us on Instagram: @autisticculturepodcast

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.