Actually Trying

Welcome to Actually Trying. Same podcast, new name, new format.

This week: have a lot of women got undiagnosed ADHD, or are we all just weird? I'm seeing a psychiatrist in two days. Old Ma thinks we should go back to the five original lunacies. She held that position for about ten minutes, until she found out there might be some legal speed in it for her.

We cover:

• Why ADHD in girls gets missed entirely
• Object permanence and forgetting your friends exist
• Whether it's real or just Big Pharma cataloguing sweaty palms
• Getting diagnosed as an adult: private assessment, five-year NHS waits, and what £200 online actually buys you

Ask Guru & Granny: a secondary school teacher of 22 years wants to jack it in and become a florist. Is 48 too old to start again? We get into midlife career changes, side hustles, and why women over 50 are the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs globally.

Next time: I report back on whether I actually got diagnosed.

Timestamps

0:00 New name, new format

3:20 Have we all got undiagnosed ADHD?

3:50 The five original lunacies

10:30 ADHD in boys vs girls

12:00 Object permanence

13:50 Eight signs of ADHD in women

18:40 My missed diagnosis at school

27:50 Ask Guru & Granny: teacher wants to be a florist

39:20 Women over 50 and starting a business

49:30 The £200 private diagnosis

ADHD in women, inattentive ADHD, ADHD symptoms in girls vs boys, object permanence, emotional dysregulation, private ADHD assessment, NHS waiting lists. I wrote that list for SEO, in case you didn't realise and just thought it was a random outburst.

Follow along to see me desperately trying in real time on:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rosehoneymorgan/

For podcast clips and BTS stories: https://www.instagram.com/actuallytryingpod

Youtube: www.youtube.com/@rose.honey.morgan

For brand enquiries: [email protected]

***DM me with your Guru & Granny questions on Instagram***

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

A field report (and Guru & Granny) featuring Japanese walking, Hot Girl Walks, movement after meals, and using the Steppin app to earn screen time through steps.

Click here to try the Steppin App - https://www.steppin.net/

Timestamps

0:00 Intro — reporting back on the walking experiment

1:00 Step In app review & my tragic step count

2:30 Why earning screen time through steps actually worked

4:10 The psychological cost of doomscrolling

4:45 Hostage-situation brand deals & choosing a secret code word

6:20 Japanese walking results

7:50 Why I abandoned the Japanese walking halfway through

9:00 Looking unhinged in front of villagers

10:00 Hot Girl Walks & mindset walking

10:45 My recurring imaginary hostage scenario

11:30 The gold eyeshadow plane defence plan

15:00 Krav Maga, Buffy & survival fantasies

16:30 Did Hot Girl Walks actually help?

17:15 Movement after meals

18:15 Finds & fails of the week

19:00 Hay fever, wasps & wanting to flee England

20:30 Guru & Granny: should you force a grown man to eat vegetables?

24:00 “You are not responsible for his asshole”

26:00 Tiny chopped vegetables vs letting nature take its course

27:00 Would Old Ma want another child in the family?

28:00 Final thoughts & term-time podcast plans

Ask Guru & Granny

Send your dilemmas, life problems and questionable decisions to:

@rosehoneymorgan

@field.notes.pod

Follow along to see me desperately trying in real time on:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rosehoneymorgan/

For podcast clips and BTS stories: https://www.instagram.com/actuallytryingpod

Youtube: www.youtube.com/@rose.honey.morgan

For brand enquiries: [email protected]

***DM me with your Guru & Granny questions on Instagram***

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

This week I’m testing whether walking really is the closest thing we have to a magic pill - and whether I can get my steps up without becoming the sort of person pacing the kitchen at 10pm to hit 10,000.

I’m trying:

• Japanese interval walking

• hot girl walks

• walking/moving after meals

• using SteppIn app to earn screen time through steps

• taking antihistamines so pollen can stop ruining my life

Also: why 10,000 steps may be a marketing myth, why walking helps mood, and whether we’ve lost the plot with step counts.

Click here to try the Steppin App - https://www.steppin.net/

0:00 Intro — this week’s walking experiment

0:45 Step In: earning screen time with steps

3:20 Why my step count has collapsed

5:00 Is walking a magic pill?

7:30 My current tragic step count

8:45 The 10,000 steps myth

10:00 Japanese walking explained

12:30 Hot girl walks

15:30 Walking after meals

18:00 My actual plan for the week

20:00 Hay fever, antihistamines and walking barriers

22:30 Have We Lost the Plot? Step counts vs human history

25:00 This week’s homework

Send your dilemmas, life problems and questionable decisions to:

@rosehoneymorgan

@field.notes.pod

Follow along to see me desperately trying in real time on:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rosehoneymorgan/

For podcast clips and BTS stories: https://www.instagram.com/actuallytryingpod

Youtube: www.youtube.com/@rose.honey.morgan

For brand enquiries: [email protected]

***DM me with your Guru & Granny questions on Instagram***

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

DM me your Guru & Granny dilemmas:

@rosehoneymorgan

@field.notes.pod

This week I tested three viral morning routines from an American wellness girl, a British productivity girl, and an aggressively glowing Australian woman.

The result:

• I gagged on expired coconut oil

• got laughed at by my children while doing Chinese lymphatic movements

• briefly became the kind of woman who makes her bed

• and accidentally discovered a morning habit that might genuinely improve my life.

Also:

• why affirmations made me feel like I was gaslighting myself

• the surprising psychological effect of making the bed

• whether electrolytes are worth the hype

• why “high-fiving yourself in the mirror” feels deeply threatening as an English person

• and the moment I almost accidentally quit the podcast altogether.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 — The field report begins

01:00 — Why the podcast vanished for 3 weeks

03:00 — Burnout, school holidays & trying to keep this running

06:00 — Coconut oil pulling: immediate failure

08:00 — Electrolytes: annoyingly effective

08:45 — Rebounding on a Peppa Pig trampoline

11:00 — Chinese lymphatic dance humiliation

12:15 — The Mel Robbins 5-4-3-2-1 rule

13:15 — Replacing doomscrolling with reading

15:00 — Ice rolling & why children ruin wellness routines

15:30 — High-fiving myself in the mirror

17:00 — What I’m actually keeping from the experiment

18:00 — Easter eggs, burnout & bizarre internet discoveries

If you enjoyed this episode:

• follow the show

• send it to a friend who’s trying to become a functioning adult

• or join the Actually Trying Book Club.

DM me your Guru & Granny dilemmas:

@rosehoneymorgan

@field.notes.pod

Follow along to see me desperately trying in real time on:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rosehoneymorgan/

For podcast clips and BTS stories: https://www.instagram.com/actuallytryingpod

Youtube: www.youtube.com/@rose.honey.morgan

For brand enquiries: [email protected]

***DM me with your Guru & Granny questions on Instagram***

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

Morning routines, productivity, wellness habits, dopamine, sunlight, gratitude, affirmations — do viral morning routines actually work?

This week I tested 3 viral morning routines from an English woman, an American woman, and an Australian woman to see whether any of them could make me feel more energised, productive, and less like I’m running on fumes.

The problem?

I’m doing this with:

• a toddler who wakes up at 4:30am
• broken sleep
• a massive family bed
• and a deep resistance to bouncing on a Peppa Pig trampoline with coconut oil in my mouth

So this is a very scientific experiment.

• my current chaos-morning routine
• Mel Robbins-style 5-4-3-2-1 habits
• oil pulling, electrolytes and gratitude
• Chinese lymphatic movements
• making the bed like a functional adult
• whether morning routines are modern madness… or actually quite anthropological

0:00 Intro – today’s experiment

1:00 My current morning reality

7:00 The American morning routine

10:30 The British morning routine

17:30 The Australian “hot girl” morning routine

25:00 Have We Lost the Plot? Morning routines through an anthropology lens

Actually Trying Book Club:

https://rosehoneymorgan.substack.com/freetrial

Send in your dilemmas, chaos, family drama and questionable life choices for Guru & Granny.

DM me at:

@rosehoneymorgan

@field.notes.pod

I’ll report back on which bits of these morning routines actually survived contact with real life.

Follow along to see me desperately trying in real time on:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rosehoneymorgan/

For podcast clips and BTS stories: https://www.instagram.com/actuallytryingpod

Youtube: www.youtube.com/@rose.honey.morgan

For brand enquiries: [email protected]

***DM me with your Guru & Granny questions on Instagram***

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

Luteal phase, PMS, hormone hacks, mood swings — do internet remedies actually work?

This week’s field report: I tested some of the internet’s favourite luteal phase advice.

That meant eating a suspicious number of carrots and sweet potatoes, attempting to “rebalance” my hormones, and keeping a list of everything that annoyed me during PMS week.

Some of the advice helped.

Some of it involved heavily salted vegetables and blind optimism.

Here’s the honest verdict.

0:00 Field report: testing internet luteal phase advice

1:00 My accidental vegetable discovery

2:00 The luteal phase irritation list

3:00 The real household tension revealed

5:00 Honest thoughts about the podcast and time pressure

7:00 A possible PMS supplement experiment

8:30 Ongoing trials: hormone hacks & brain headset

9:00 Next week: morning routines

• luteal phase awareness
• PMS mood tracking
• sweet potatoes & carrots for hormones
• magnesium & sleep support

Next week I’ll test morning routines — the topic you actually voted for.

Instagram:

@rosehoneymorgan

@field.notes.pod

Actually Trying Book Club:

https://rosehoneymorgan.substack.com/freetrial

Follow along to see me desperately trying in real time on:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rosehoneymorgan/

For podcast clips and BTS stories: https://www.instagram.com/actuallytryingpod

Youtube: www.youtube.com/@rose.honey.morgan

For brand enquiries: [email protected]

***DM me with your Guru & Granny questions on Instagram***

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

This week dives into the luteal phase (PMS) - what’s actually happening hormonally, why your mood drops, and how to cope without doing a crime.

We cover:

• what the luteal phase actually is
• why you feel more sensitive, irritable, and withdrawn
• whether it’s hormones… or your life being out of alignment
• practical ways to support your mood (from Instagram, obviously)
• and a slightly chaotic Guru & Granny segment involving vegans and king prawns

00:00 Intro – why we’re ignoring the poll and talking PMS

05:30 What the menstrual cycle actually does to your brain

10:30 Why the luteal phase feels like low power mode

12:30 Have We Lost the Plot? (evolutionary take)

14:00 “You’re not moody, your life is out of alignment”

16:00 Luteal phase survival tips (food, magnesium, sleep)

19:00 Guru & Granny: vegan boyfriend chaos

Got a dilemma?

Relationships, family chaos, existential crises…

DM your questions to:

👉 @rosehoneymorgan

👉 @field.notes.pod

(You can stay anonymous)

If you want deeper dives, experiments & slightly more structure:

👉 Join the Actually Trying Book Club:

https://rosehoneymorgan.substack.com/freetrial

Follow the podcast, leave a review, or send this to someone who:

• becomes a different person before their period
• has ever thought “why is everything suddenly awful?”
• or needs a luteal phase survival plan

Follow along to see me desperately trying in real time on:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rosehoneymorgan/

For podcast clips and BTS stories: https://www.instagram.com/actuallytryingpod

Youtube: www.youtube.com/@rose.honey.morgan

For brand enquiries: [email protected]

***DM me with your Guru & Granny questions on Instagram***

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

This week I tested 4 anxiety techniques…

two from a Harvard-trained life coach and two from Old Ma.

The methods:

• orgasm (did not happen)

• contemplating death (surprisingly helpful)

• building a “sanity quilt” (tiny habits that actually regulate you)

• visualising your perfect day (emotionally risky)

Some worked. Some absolutely did not.

Main takeaway:

👉 You don’t fix anxiety with one big breakthrough

👉 You fix it with small daily things that make life slightly more bearable

Also:

• no one is thinking about you as much as you think

• you will be forgotten (freeing, not depressing)

• and stroking your dog is genuinely medicinal

If you feel constantly slightly on edge, overwhelmed, or like your brain is doing too much…

this episode is for you.

• realistic anxiety coping strategies

• small daily habits that actually help

• a brutally honest test of popular techniques

• a reminder that your life doesn’t need to be perfect to be good

00:00 Testing 4 anxiety techniques

01:00 Why orgasm didn’t make the list

02:00 Thinking about death (and why it helps)

04:30 The “life in weeks” reality check

05:00 The sanity quilt (best one)

08:00 Tiny habits that improve your day

10:00 The perfect day exercise (spiral warning)

11:30 Final thoughts + what actually worked

@rosehoneymorgan

@field.notes.pod

Weekly experiments in:

• anxiety

• self-improvement (without the cringe)

• modern life

• and trying to function like a normal person

Follow along to see me desperately trying in real time on:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rosehoneymorgan/

For podcast clips and BTS stories: https://www.instagram.com/actuallytryingpod

Youtube: www.youtube.com/@rose.honey.morgan

For brand enquiries: [email protected]

***DM me with your Guru & Granny questions on Instagram***

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

If you live with that constant background hum of anxiety, you’ll understand the feeling of trying everything — therapy, routines, productivity hacks — and still feeling slightly on edge.

So today we’re trying something different.

This is a Mother’s Day anxiety special, featuring:

• two anxiety techniques from my mother (Old Ma)

• two techniques from a Harvard-trained life coach

• and a conversation that includes orgasms, existential philosophy, and a surprisingly detailed death plan.

In other words: a fairly normal episode.

In this episode we explore four very different ways of dealing with anxiety:

1️⃣ Old Ma’s technique #1: orgasm as emotional regulation

2️⃣ Old Ma’s technique #2: contemplating death (memento mori)

3️⃣ The “Sanity Quilt” method from Martha Beck

4️⃣ The Perfect Day exercise

Some of these are more sensible than others.

The Sanity Quilt idea comes from Martha Beck.

Imagine a patchwork blanket where each square is a small activity that reliably calms your nervous system.

Not big life changes.

Just tiny stabilisers you can rely on when things feel overwhelming.

Examples might include:

• a quick walk outside

• dancing to one song in the kitchen

• lighting a candle

• listening to music

• texting a friend

• reading a few pages of a book

• making a cup of tea

• eating a tiny cheeseboard (personal favourite)

The idea is to build a toolkit of small things that help you regulate before you spiral.

The Perfect Day exercise asks a different question:

Instead of chasing big life goals, what does a good ordinary Tuesday actually look like for you?

You imagine a realistic ideal day — from when you wake up to when you go to bed.

Not a fantasy billionaire life.

Just the kind of day your nervous system would actually enjoy living in.

Because life is basically thousands of Tuesdays in a row.

• how worrying brains invent problems that never happen

• why modern life might be fuelling anxiety

• why remembering death can sometimes make life easier

• Old Ma’s surprisingly detailed end-of-life plan

If you want Old Ma and I to attempt to solve your life problems, send us your dilemmas.

Relationship chaos, family drama, existential crises — we’ll take it all.

DM your questions to:

@rosehoneymorgan

@field.notes.pod

You can remain anonymous if you like.

Please follow the show, leave a review, or share it with someone who:

• worries about things that never happen

• enjoys slightly unhinged mother–daughter conversations

• or might benefit from a sanity quilt and a small cheeseboard

Follow along to see me desperately trying in real time on:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rosehoneymorgan/

For podcast clips and BTS stories: https://www.instagram.com/actuallytryingpod

Youtube: www.youtube.com/@rose.honey.morgan

For brand enquiries: [email protected]

***DM me with your Guru & Granny questions on Instagram***

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

Earlier this week I began testing the Flow Neuroscience headset — a device that uses transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to stimulate areas of the brain linked to depression.

In simpler terms:

I’ve started plugging my forehead into a charger.

This Friday Field Report is the week one update.

I talk through:

• What the headset actually feels like to wear

• The slightly alarming wet electrode pads situation

• Whether the electrical stimulation hurts (spoiler: mildly… but in a “strong skincare” kind of way)

• The surprisingly good therapy app that comes with it

• Why the behavioural therapy modules are actually better than a lot of therapy I’ve paid for

• Whether the experiment is making me feel even slightly more motivated

So far the results are… inconclusive.

But I do feel a bit more like “come on then, let’s be having you.”

Which is something.

One thing that genuinely impressed me was the built-in therapy courses.

The headset isn’t just about the electrical stimulation — the app includes:

• behavioural therapy modules

• mindfulness and meditation sessions

• sleep support

• habit-building exercises

• diet and lifestyle guidance

All delivered through a chat-style interactive course, which is surprisingly engaging when you’re struggling to focus.

It’s a bit like a choose-your-own-adventure therapy conversation.

The therapy format inside the Flow app — genuinely useful behavioural therapy exercises delivered in a way that actually keeps you engaged.

If I find similar tools that don’t require a brain-electrocuting headset, I’ll link them here. Ok so there's one called Youper but it's not available in the UK annoyingly. Abby - your AI therapist looks good. Or Wysa the app looks good too. Haven't tried any of them though so... just going off the App Store sales pitch!

I currently have around 200 unanswered messages across email, WhatsApp and DMs.

The longer I leave them, the more awkward the replies become.

Classic.

I’ll report back again once I’ve used the headset for the full three-week protocol to see whether it actually improves:

• mood

• motivation

• executive function

• anxiety

Or whether I’ve simply been mildly electrifying my forehead for no reason.

If you’ve tried anything that actually helped your mental health, motivation or executive function — send it my way.

DM me on Instagram:

@rosehoneymorgan

@field.notes.pod

We’re currently reading Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway inside the Actually Trying Book Club.

Join here:

https://rosehoneymorgan.substack.com/freetrial

Follow along to see me desperately trying in real time on:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rosehoneymorgan/

For podcast clips and BTS stories: https://www.instagram.com/actuallytryingpod

Youtube: www.youtube.com/@rose.honey.morgan

For brand enquiries: [email protected]

***DM me with your Guru & Granny questions on Instagram***

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