Wilde About Wellbeing

Hypothyroidism, insulin resistance, and pre-diabetes caused my physical health to deteriorate. The symptoms associated with being hypothyroid were especially trying on my mental health. Fatigue, weight gain, feeling cold all the time, and hair loss all increased my depression. I was at such a low point emotionally that the steps I took not only saved my thyroid, but also my life. When a blood test proved my thyroid hormones and glucose levels were out of whack, I felt frustrated. All I did was complain, and ask, “Why me?” My mental health deteriorated further than usual. It was at that point I decided that I needed to fight back. This podcast episode is the story of the five month fight back that ended with normalised thyroid hormones, and no sign of diabetes.    Honorable Mentions (if you can't access these links, try using the Apple Podcasts or Overcast apps) Workbook on Self-Talk- FREE!   Workbook on Building Rituals - FREE! Instagram: @wildeaboutwellbeing Pinterest: @wildeaboutwellbeing Wilde Ab

In the last podcast episode, we talked about what values mean to us, and how we (and others) are able to shape our own personal values.  We talked about the importance of being conscious of what personal core values we are developing, so in this episode, I'm sharing an easy process to find out what your values are right now. By questioning how you show up in significant moments in your life, both good and bad, you'll be able to determine what your are. In my experience, I found that "care for others," "reliability" and a "sense of community" came from the fulfilling activity of making scrubs for healthcare workers. I was then able to see these cropping up elsewhere in my life (e.g. making this podcast), and realised that these are values that are deeply embedded within me.  Having a list of the values my moral code seems to consist of was incredibly helpful. It allowed me to think about which values I want to exploit more, and which might be ones I'd like to remove (because - spoiler alert - some of us displa

"IT'S NOT WORTH IT"

WANT TO AVOID THE EMPATHY TRAP PAIN? Here's how! Being an empath and / or highly sensitive person can be painful, and finding our way through this can be difficult. I have been called stand-off-ish / nosy / trying to live in people's heads etc etc. Simply for being my authentic self.  In today's podcast, I'm sharing five things that happen for me regularly and that I've developed some awesome tips / hacks to overcome! Honorable Mentions (if you can't access these links, try using the Apple Podcasts or Overcast apps) Workbook on Self-Talk- FREE!   Workbook on Building Rituals - FREE! Instagram: @wildeaboutwellbeing Pinterest: @wildeaboutwellbeing Wilde About Wellbeing website

ONE MASSIVE PART OF MY PERSONALITY I RUN FROM - my empathy. It sounds kinda silly to be frightened of something that is supposed to [and, indeed DOES] bring about deep, passionate, purposeful connections with people, animals and situations.  But it can get incredibly painful - absorbing EVERYONE'S emotions, not always being capable of working out which feelings actually belong to me... I also attempt to problem solve, whether I'm asked to or not - that's led to a few 'heated discussions' over the years... These things convinced me that I didn't WANT to be an empath, that I needed to run as fast and far as possible from this godforsaken 'skill'. My coach and I have touched on this a number of times over the last few years, but it's only in the last month or so that I've honestly made a commitment to accept this as a part of me. It feels bizarre to embrace something that doesn't have scientific explanation. I'm ever the skeptic about woo-woo... In today's podcast, I'm sharing the pros and cons of being someone

We can find out what our preferential growing conditions are: just like plants, it's possible to determine the best combination of factors for growth. In today's episode, I share my top five things I believe we can learn from PLANTS, in order to improve our lives and prospects for personal development.  It's only a short episode, but it's life changing - Be More Plant.    Honorable Mentions (if you can't access these links, try using the Apple Podcasts or Overcast apps) Workbook on Self-Talk- FREE!   Workbook on Building Rituals - FREE! Instagram: @wildeaboutwellbeing Pinterest: @wildeaboutwellbeing Wilde About Wellbeing website

Did you know that you're just a glorified carrot? Like vegetables, we need conditions to be just right for us to grow. Water, feeding, sunlight, temperature, greenhouse vs outside, soil, size of container - plants are fussy little creatures, really! But - newsflash! - where our personal development is concerned, we need to be just as FINICKY!  Sometimes, we get so out of control that we do things we don't even know will help us grow - stressed veggie plants do that too, they put out a heap of male flowers, and no fruit. They are producing pointlessly, simply panicking - and we do the same sometimes.  But, the truth is, gardeners have learned to treat plants in the optimum way to maximise ripe fruit or flowers. And we can do the same with our progress... we just have to pay attention to what works for us! Plants just keep growing towards the light, like we grow towards our goals, when the environment is working for us.  And we have one MASSIVE benefit over plants - they have a limited growing window, but we ha

The barrier to change / a great job / decent healthcare / acceptance is never YOU. The barrier is societal patriarchy... white supremacy... systemic racism... culturally engrained homophobia... and so on...  In today's episode, I share the five steps I use to go from seeing MYSELF as the problem to viewing the TRUE obstacle. We cannot bring change, unless we're ready to see how society's perception of certain groups is the genuine barrier, rather than things we cannot change (e.g. skin colour / sexuality etc).      Honorable Mentions (if you can't access these links, try using the Apple Podcasts or Overcast apps) Workbook on Self-Talk- FREE!   Workbook on Building Rituals - FREE! Instagram: @wildeaboutwellbeing Pinterest: @wildeaboutwellbeing Wilde About Wellbeing website

"I'm female, therefore I can't get a boardroom job" = being female is the problem. NO!  The barrier is societal patriarchy. "I'm Black, therefore I can't get optimal healthcare" = being Black is the problem. NO! The obstacle is systemic racism. "I'm gay, therefore I am not accepted into this religion" = being gay is the problem. NO! The issue is culturally engrained homophobia. YOU are never the problem, and by labelling the problem as yours because of something you can't change, you're ignoring what you CAN change: society's perception of your skin colour / sexuality / gender / religion etc etc. In today's episode, I discuss why this is such a huge problem, and how by saying something is specifically our fault, we are shunning responsibility and actually doing a disservice to all those who are like us!     Honorable Mentions (if you can't access these links, try using the Apple Podcasts or Overcast apps) Workbook on Self-Talk- FREE!   Workbook on Building Rituals - FREE! Instagram: @wildeaboutwellbeing Pin

In today's episode, I'm sharing my APING five step method for moving into a place of neutrality about situations in your past... and using those situations to propel you forward with responsible action! If you haven't listened to the previous episode, all about how we move through anger / self blame to a place of responsibility for our [re]actions, please do so. It will make this episode make waaaay more sense!     Honorable Mentions (if you can't access these links, try using the Apple Podcasts or Overcast apps) Kain Ramsay - Responsibility Rebellion: An Unconventional Approach to Personal Empowerment   Workbook on Self-Talk- FREE!   Workbook on Building Rituals - FREE! Instagram: @wildeaboutwellbeing Pinterest: @wildeaboutwellbeing Wilde About Wellbeing website

I've let myself DWELL on all sorts of things in the past, either [usually, in my case] believing I was totally to blame for something, or seething with resentment that I had been wronged. The reality is that most events sat appropriately in neither of those camps. But that doesn't matter - in today's episode, I'm sharing how it DOESN'T MATTER who is to blame for an event! What matters is taking responsibility for YOUR [re]actions... If you're anything like me, I can replay events for YEARS afterwards - and what good does that serve? I go deeper down the spiral of feeling impotent / self-blaming / angry. The only person I'm punishing? Myself. Anyone else involved will likely have long forgotten what happened.  I've been reading an excellent book on this - Kain Ramsay's 'Responsibility Rebellion' - and it's made me think A LOT about how we all shun responsibility sometimes...  Today's podcast will enlighten you as to why it SUCKS to always be stuck in a position of refusing to take responsibility, and I show yo

In the last episode, I shared with you my thoughts on intuition and gut feeling - and why we should be listening to them more!  But I didn't share HOW to tune into that part of yourself, that strange edge between the conscious and subconscious...  So... Today, I'm sharing my top 5 tips to connect with your gut. It doesn't mean you have to follow the advice you come away with (though I strongly encourage you to take it seriously), but at least you will know it. Power is in hearing both sides: the logic AND the heart-driven desire.   Honorable Mentions (if you can't access these links, try using the Apple Podcasts or Overcast apps) Workbook on Self-Talk- FREE!   Workbook on Building Rituals - FREE! Instagram: @wildeaboutwellbeing Pinterest: @wildeaboutwellbeing Wilde About Wellbeing website

Do you ever doubt your gut feeling? I do All. The. Time. It's like I believe that logic / science / brainpower are always right, and my heart is always wrong.  We trust the more traditional senses, despite knowing we don't all see exactly the same colour for "red", or not all feeling the same level of pain from a papercut (ouch!).  Our ancestors used intuition to save themselves from danger - indeed, most animals still do. In today's episode, I discuss why not every outcome is statistically predictable (even SCIENCE gets it wrong sometimes!) - and sometimes we just need to trust our heart.  I also talk about the TOP THREE reasons why I think we don't trust ourselves. These are FIRE, and just knowing them can improve our ability to see situations where we could rely more on our intuition.    Honorable Mentions (if you can't access these links, try using the Apple Podcasts or Overcast apps) Workbook on Self-Talk- FREE!   Workbook on Building Rituals - FREE! Instagram: @wildeaboutwellbeing Pinterest: @wildeabo

How often have you been sent a 'news' story by someone on Facebook, only to KNOW it's factually inaccurate? Trump was right all along: fake news DOES exist. It's just not normally the news stories HE thinks are fake... There are all sorts of reasons why fake news gets written in the first place: genuine misunderstanding; propaganda; entertainment; ad revenue from the website the story is placed on, etc. etc. But what REALLY works for this fake news? You, me and gazillions of people sharing this stuff. In today's episode, I share my top five tips to avoid sharing fake news - this is SO important, especially as the US is in election mode, the world is in coronavirus lockdown, and the UK is enduring the realities of Brexit.  Be responsible in what you share: five simple steps to take before you share what you're reading. It'll make you a better and more trustworthy friend and human - because, let's face it, fake news sharing reflects badly on those of us who share it!   Honorable Mentions (if you can't access th

"With hindsight, that was a bad decision." We've all said that, yeah?  And we've probably been asked by parents, "If X jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?" Annoying, right? But perhaps we are NOT to blame for our desire to copy others, to ignore the logic and plough on regardless.  PRESTIGE BIAS is exactly this: the people we look up to dictate our actions... It explains why Republicans are less likely to wear a mask - because up until a few days ago, President Trump refused to do so... Remember when Oprah bought a 10% stake in WW? We all decided THAT was obviously the best way to lose weight - because Oprah said so... If I see someone I respect doing something, I am more likely to do it too.  I discuss the perils of prestige bias in today's episode, and explain how we can overcome always trusting others' opinions and decisions as being right for us, too.  How do we decide who is the RIGHT person to dictate our own prestige bias?! How do we stop prestige bias making us devalue ourselves and lose self-es

This is a bit of a selfish podcast release. You see, I'm celebrating!! Today marks the release of my 100th episode - a landmark I never expected to reach! The truth is that the Wilde About Wellbeing podcast isn't Joe Rogan's, y'know, Spotify aren't going to be offering me a [rumoured] $100m+ rights deal. And that's what I thought I wanted at the beginning of all of this!  What my podcast is, though, has become something just as important to me. I love hearing when you find something that resonates - or when you have ideas of what I should be talking about. I feel closer to my audience than Joe Rogan can feel right now. So, yes, 100 episodes in, I don't care how many are listening to me - because it only takes one person to hear it and benefit. That's all it takes to make me realise this is worthwhile and important.  In today's episode, I share the top 5 things reaching the big 1-0-0 has taught me!!   Honorable Mentions (if you can't access these links, try using the Apple Podcasts or Overcast apps) Wor

History is written by the [so-called] victors. It always has been. That's why I live in a country FILLED with statues of those who oppressed Black people for centuries. I have no argument in favour of statues dedicated to those who were slavers, BUT are White people whitewashing more history? You see, the footage of the bringing down of statues worldwide has enthralled me. In many cases (including the one a few miles down the road from me, in Bristol UK), White people are front and centre in pulling them down. I see that as a problem - those of us who are White should NOT be engaging in this White saviourism. If we are the ones downing statues, are we not just whitewashing history?  We need to find ways to give the contextualisation of these people, without forgetting them entirely by erasing them.  I also discuss how things like The Rhodes Trust is now so unconnected with Cecil Rhodes that I simply CANNOT understand why the name / his statue is being defended so vigorously.  How can we educate kids about th

I wasn’t going to post this podcast today, but I realised something important: White people who are saying I DON’T HAVE TIME to educate myself on race issues, like it’s an excuse for saying the wrong thing / continuing to promote their products…   We need to make the time, and - frankly - if you’re White and not ALREADY making time to educate yourself on the history of Black oppression, you’re not trying hard enough.   This podcast feels more vital than ever in helping people FIND TIME. I get that many of us are working from home, and the pressure is immense to work 24/7, since we’re now CONSTANTLY in our workplace.   If we don’t have spare time to educate ourselves, we will never learn. And it’s time White people started learning harder about Black history, racism, and why it’s TIME FOR CHANGE. And part of finding time for the important stuff [the anti-racist movement should be top of your agenda right now, if you’re White] is being able to distinguish weekend from weekdays.   In this podcast, I talk about t

Before George Floyd's death at the hands of Minnesota police, how ANTI-RACIST were you? I wasn't racist, but I was a hypocrite. I would SAY I wasn't racist, and yet my IG feed and stories didn't really reflect that. I'd rarely comment on black issues, as I didn't feel it was my place. The truth is: anti-racism is EVERYBODY'S place. Whether we are White, Black, Indigenous, Asian and so on, it is our place to speak out against racism.  It is our place to act against racism. In today's podcast, I controversially discuss why some Black educators on social media may help the anti-racism cause by being more open to questions from those of other colours. Hint: it's about a thing called "Prestige Bias"...  I also touch on the hypocrisy of some of the things I'm seeing on my social media feeds, especially from brands and influencers... And - perhaps also controversially - I talk about why I think it's about WAY more than being anti-police. The 'fuck the police' chants are conflating the fact that Black people are oppr

Has your drinking increased during quarantine? Mine has... put it this way, if alcohol were a cure all [spoiler alert: it's not!], I'm never going to get any bug, virus, bacteria right now!  My relationship with alcohol has varied a lot over the years. I was entirely sober for eight years, in AA, but the reality was that I needed to tackle the underlying reasons for drinking. Otherwise, my so-called 'addiction' would transfer elsewhere (hellooooo, cookie jar at midnight!).  In today's Wilde About Wellbeing episode, I share my FIVE steps to reduce or end your drinking RIGHT NOW. We talk about how I've found wine tastings have made me WAY more conscious and mindful in my drinking, so that I drink less and enjoy more (shoutout here to virtual versions from Great Western Wine / Enotria and Coe, as well as John Lewis' Experiences for gin cocktail making!).  I also let you in on the 'secret' non-alcoholic brands that'll make you think you're drinking The. Real. Thing. Honestly!! The terms alcoholic / alcoholism get