Actually Trying

Today’s episode is about mental health, low mood, chronic anxiety, executive dysfunction, and a slightly alarming-looking headset that may or may not be about to change my life.

I’m trying the Flow Neuroscience headset — a non-invasive medical device that uses tDCS (transcranial Direct Current Stimulation) to stimulate the part of the brain linked to depression.

In simpler terms:

I am, apparently, going to start plugging my forehead into a charger.

And honestly? At this point I’m open to it.

In this episode I talk about:

• My long history of low mood, dread, anxiety, and general internal gloom
• Everything I’ve already tried:
• CBT
• EMDR
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
• medication
• exercise
• water
• sleep
• trying really hard not to lose the plot
• What the Flow headset actually is
• How it’s meant to work
• Why the NHS uses it
• The statistics that made me willing to strap an electrical device to my head
• Whether this is cutting-edge science or a sign that modern life has gone badly wrong
• Why our ancestors may have had lives that were more naturally protective of mental health than ours are now

A new Ask Guru & Granny segment on beauty, Botox, fillers, lipstick, tailored clothing, and why my mother believes a teaspoon of botulism could kill the human race.

So, as usual, it’s a mixed bag.

I’m starting the headset experiment now.

On Friday I’ll report back on:

• what it feels like
• whether it hurts
• what the app is like
• and whether I feel even slightly less like I’m permanently treading emotional water

The bigger results, apparently, take a few weeks — so this is just the beginning

If you want me and Old Ma to attempt to solve your problems, send them over.

DM me on Instagram:

• @rosehoneymorgan
• @field.notes.pod

And if I ignored your last one by accident, just bump it and send it again.

We’ve just started Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway inside the Actually Trying book club.

https://rosehoneymorgan.substack.com/freetrial

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

• is hanging on by a thread
• has tried everything
• or would absolutely try electrically charging their forehead if it meant feeling a bit more perky

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.

Last week I tested the internet’s favourite anti-doomscrolling trick:

turning your phone to gray scale (black and white).

The theory is simple: remove the bright colours that hijack your brain’s dopamine system and suddenly your phone becomes far less addictive.

Did it cut my screen time in half?

Well… not exactly.

But it did reveal some interesting things about how our brains react to colour, stimulation, and the endless scroll.

In this week’s Field Report we discuss:

• Whether gray scale actually reduced my screen time
• Why social media becomes weirdly less appealing in black and white
• How the experiment accidentally pushed me into a ChatGPT rabbit hole
• Why real life suddenly looked much more colourful and vivid
• A brief “Have We Lost the Plot?” anthropology segment on humans and colour stimulation
• The unexpected downside: trying to play phone games in grayscale

Plus:

Find of the Week

Appreciating colour again (and the joy of bold interiors)

Fail of the Week

Spending another two hours helping June solve a murder in June’s Journey

Join the Actually Trying Book Club

👉 https://rosehoneymorgan.substack.com/freetrial

Lucy’s interiors Instagram

👉 https://www.instagram.com/lucycollierinteriors

Follow the podcast so you don’t miss next week’s experiment.

If you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend who is also trying (and occasionally failing) to reduce their screen time.

Next week’s topic may or may not make brands even more nervous about working with me… but at this point the damage is probably already done.

See you then.

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 your screen time is creeping up…

If your phone feels impossible to put down…

If the real world is starting to look a bit dull by comparison…

This week I’m testing a free, surprisingly simple method that claims to reduce doomscrolling fast.

No apps.

No discipline hacks.

No expensive “digital detox” retreats.

Just one setting change.

In this episode we discuss:

• How color and contrast hijack your dopamine system
• Why overstimulation can make the real world feel flat
• The “gray scale” method and how to set it up
• And why I realised I needed to fix this — urgently

I’m committing to a full week of gray scale to see if it genuinely reduces screen time.

If you try it too, let me know what happens.

The Instructions 

To enable grayscale on an iPhone, navigate to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Color Filters, then toggle "Color Filters" on and select "Grayscale"

To turn on grayscale on Android, go to Settings > Digital Wellbeing & parental controls > Bedtime mode and enable "Grayscale"

📲 DM me on Instagram:

@rosehoneymorgan

@field.notes.pod

I’ll report back with the results.

⭐ If this episode helps:

Follow the show, leave a review, or send it to the friend who says “I don’t go on my phone that much” but somehow knows every trend

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.

📚 Book Club Free Trial : https://rosehoneymorgan.substack.com/freetrial

Next month’s book: Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway

Link in show notes.

Join us so I can reject brands with confidence.

ANYWAY

I’m back from the front lines.

Four whole days.

Zero processed food.

Planned, chopped, cooked, washed up.

Repeated.

Never again.

In this episode we discuss:

• The emotional toll of planning three meals a day like a Victorian housewife
• Whether chopping board dinners are secretly genius
• Why cheeseboard dinner is an elite parenting hack
• The M&S “non-UPF” range (sausages, buns, ketchup — full review)
• Migraines, morale, and missing Biscoff
• Being dropped by my first big brand deal and spiralling publicly
• Whether I should sell my soul for a podcast editor
• And if early death from crisps is simply a trade-off I’m willing to make

The experiment verdict?

Did I feel superhuman?

No.

Did I feel morally superior?

Briefly.

Did I miss ready meals with my entire being?

Yes.

Cheeseboard dinner.

Elevated picky bits.

Zero guilt.

Highly recommend.

Everything else.

If you’ve cracked the code on eating well without turning it into a full-time job, tell me.

📲 DM me on Instagram:

@rosehoneymorgan

@field.notes.pod

⭐ If you enjoyed this episode:

Follow the show.

Leave a review.

Send it to a friend but pre warn them about which episodes are shite.

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.

Last week I tried going ultra-processed-food-free.

I lasted one day.

Then I got violently ill.

Was it the chicken?

Was it soft play?

Was it karma for mocking chopping-board influencers?

Unclear.

This week is Take 2.

Because the real question isn’t “Is processed food bad?”

It’s:

How on earth are we supposed to avoid it if we can’t cook and don’t have a private chef?

• My catastrophic attempt at roasting a chicken
• Why I owe chopping-board people an apology
• Cottage cheese and berries (I’m still not convinced)
• The alarming bacteria situation on cutting boards
• The new M&S “UPF-free” range
• Why modern health advice quietly assumes unlimited time
• Whether there’s a realistic middle ground between crisps and grinding your own flour

I’m trialling:

• The single-ingredient chopping board approach
• The M&S UPF-free range
• And whatever I can manage without poisoning myself again

I’ll report back properly in Friday’s Field Report.

If you have:

• Healthy ready meal recommendations
• Low-effort meal hacks
• Or thoughts on whether I’ve lost the plot

Tell me.

📲 DM me on Instagram:

@rosehoneymorgan

@field.notes.pod

I read them. I respond. I occasionally take your advice.

Private chef reel link : https://www.instagram.com/reel/CteX-QfMvkD/?igsh=cjR4bzNlOHM2eGU3

⭐ If you enjoyed this episode:

Follow the show, leave a review, or send it to a friend who owns a chopping board but still eats waffles daily.

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’s update is… brief.

After confidently declaring I would attempt a week of ultra-processed-food-free living, I made it:

👉 One day.

And now I am recording this hunched over a sick bowl in what can only be described as the pink fluffy gown of shame.

Is it norovirus?

Is it food poisoning?

Is it my body rebelling against actual vegetables?

We do not yet know.

What we do know:

• Cooking is dangerous

• My stomach muscles are shot

• The commitment to this podcast remains intact

Full debrief on Monday — assuming I survive.

—

📚 Join “Actually Trying” for the proper breakdowns (when I’m upright again): https://rosehoneymorgan.substack.com/freetrial

📲 Follow along for live chaos:

@rosehoneymorgan

@field.notes.pod

Like. Subscribe. Send electrolytes.

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 on Field Notes, we enter the land of: Ultra-Processed Food.

According to certain very serious doctors on the internet, UPFs are now:

Cool.

Not dramatic at all.

So naturally, I’ve decided to test whether cutting them out for a week will:

• Improve my migraines
• Reduce my exhaustion
• Fix my yo-yo weight history
• Or simply make me feral and resentful

Because unfortunately… most of the things listed as “ultra-processed” are the things I actually eat.

• What actually counts as Ultra-Processed Food (and how inconsistent the definitions are)
• The claim that UPFs are worse than tobacco
• The inflammation / microbiome argument
• The counter-argument from registered dietitians
• Whether the research is observational or causal
• Food anxiety vs legitimate health concern
• My chaotic personal diet
• Growing up on enforced raw spinach
• Cheese-based GCSE breakdowns
• Yo-yo weight cycles and hyper-palatable food
• Ozempic changing the household food dynamic
• Whether non-UPF eating is realistic with children
• Why I eat like a 19-year-old boy with a student loan
• And whether “whole foods” are actually practical in real life

My current diet includes:

• Fistfuls of turkey
• Salt & vinegar crisps
• Tuna pasta
• Mushroom coffee
• Minimal fruit
• Suspiciously little fibre

Meanwhile the internet is telling me my gut lining is dissolving and my liver is weeping.

So this week I attempt to go:

👉 UPF-Free (or as close as I can manage)

And we’ll see whether:

• My energy changes
• My migraines shift
• My mood improves
• Or whether I simply miss crisps

• Are we pathologising modern food?
• Is this another wellness panic?
• Or is the hyper-palatable environment genuinely wrecking us?
• Can a busy parent realistically cook everything from scratch?
• And why does cutting processed food feel so emotionally loaded?

This week’s dilemma:

“I’ve narrowed it down to three husband contenders. How do I choose?”

Featuring:

• The Strong Stomach Theory™
• The Chap Olympiad
• Escape room testing
• Vomit resilience
• And a brief detour into secret families

You’re welcome.

If you’d like to improve your life without becoming insufferable:

Join the book club / self-improvement group chat over on Substack.

This month:

👉 Atomic Habits by James Clear

You’ll get:

• Weekly practical breakdowns
• Private podcast episodes
• Cheat sheets
• Knowledge topics
• And a place to collectively sort ourselves out

Join here:

https://rosehoneymorgan.substack.com/subscribe

Or sign up free for the weekly notes.

Follow on Instagram:

@rosehoneymorgan

@field.notes.pod

Share this episode with someone who:

• Owns at least three types of oat milk
• Is suspicious of emulsifiers
• Or eats crisps in the car and calls it “lunch”

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’s Field Report is the follow-up on vagus nerve regulation, still-face parenting, and trying to soothe our fried nervous systems.

I tested the homework:

Ice water dunk.

Breath work.

Humming (unfortunately, in public).

• Vagus nerve stimulation device - https://shorturl.at/Q0YQQ
• Breath work app - https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/breathwrk-breathing-exercises/id1481804500
• Gospel Sunday Service Choir track - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qre8LJVd3o (wait for SIA to come out and sing with them, it gets me every time. Also look up 'sunday service choir' on youtube or spotify and enjoy the full album. I love 'rain' and 'father stretch' the most.

📚 Join “Actually Trying”

Private podcast episodes, book breakdowns, and practical self-improvement without becoming unbearable.

https://rosehoneymorgan.substack.com/subscribe

Follow on Instagram:

@rosehoneymorgan

@field.notes.pod

New episodes every Monday (deep dive) and Friday (Field Report).

• Full head ice dunk attempts (and whether they calm you down or just make you feel mildly feral)
• Why breath work felt surprisingly effective
• The school gate humming incident
• The still-face experiment and why scrolling in front of your kids hits differently
• Why regulation starts in the body, not the brain
• Whether overthinking (and over-ChatGPT-ing) makes stress worse
• The new vagus nerve stimulation device you can clip to your ear
• The gospel choir soundtrack that fuelled my public “moment”
• Why humans used to regulate naturally (and now need calendar reminders to breathe)

Public humming.

Misread eye contact.

A minor wellbeing check from one of the two hot dads.

We move.

Regulation is physical.

You cannot reason your way out of stress when your heart is racing.

Long exhales > spiralling thoughts.

Unclench your jaw > rewrite your narrative.

Body first. Brain second.

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.

Vagus Nerve Tips, Stress & Still Face Parenting

This week I force you to join in with whatever the mad reels tell us to do - so concentrate.

My algorithm is obsessed with vagus nerve regulation: calm your nervous system, soothe your vagal tone, stop being on edge, stop snapping, stop doom-scrolling and just… relax.

So naturally, I decided to look into it.

In this episode I unpack why modern life feels so dysregulating, why scrolling feels calming but actually isn’t, and whether humming, cold water, jaw unclenching and breathing like an ancient human might help — or whether we’ve officially lost the plot.

You may need to unclench your teeth while listening.

• Why “just calm down” doesn’t work

• The Still Face experiment — and why blank-facing kids backfires

• What the vagus nerve actually does (without wellness nonsense)

• Why your body has to feel safe before your brain can think

• The most common vagus nerve tips from Instagram

• Which ones felt useful, which felt weird, and which I’ll actually keep

Including:

• Humming & singing

• Breathing out longer than in

• Jaw and tongue relaxation

• Cold water on the face

• Slow movement instead of checking out

No ice baths. No candles. No pretending we live in a monastery.

Probably not.

Humans have always regulated themselves through:

• movement

• rhythm

• cold exposure

• shared calm

We just used to do it naturally — now we have to remember.

I’ll report back on whether any of this helped in real life, or whether it joined the long list of things that sounded promising and didn’t survive a weekday.

If you want help actually applying this stuff (without becoming insufferable):

👉 https://rosehoneymorgan.substack.com/subscribe

This month’s book:

Atomic Habits – James Clear

You’ll get:

• Weekly breakdowns you can actually use

• Private podcast episodes

• Cheat sheets & summaries

• Anti-brain-rot knowledge topics

You can also join free for the notes via email.

Follow along on Instagram:

• @rosehoneymorgan

• @field.notes.pod

And come back Friday for the field report.

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 month’s book:

👉 Atomic Habits by James Clear

You’ll get:

• Weekly breakdowns you can actually implement

• Private podcast episodes

• Cheat sheets & summaries

• Anti-brain-rot knowledge topics

Or sign up free for the notes part in your email.

This week’s Field Report is the follow-up to Monday’s episode on signs from the universe, mediumship, and whether humans secretly need meaning to function.

I promised to test it myself.

So naturally, I:

✔ Went to a celebrity psychic

✔ Asked the universe (and possibly my dead dad) for a very specific sign

✔ Emotionally spiralled slightly

✔ Learned an unexpectedly useful life lesson

This episode contains psychic predictions, Ocado logistics, grief anthropology, and the first ever Guru & Granny agony aunt segment — which immediately descends into curtain-related chaos.

You’ve been warned.

I revisit the psychic reading I had while pregnant and unpack:

• The eerily accurate pregnancy and birth prediction

• The very weird pocket watch story

• The food/content creation prediction that aged… suspiciously well

• The possibility my mum believes psychics just hire private investigators

• The big question: coincidence, cold reading, or something stranger?

I tested the theory properly by requesting one specific sign:

👉 The name “Tim”

👉 Offline only

👉 Within three days

The results include:

• Stick-based desperation

• Ocado driver Timothy (plum van edition)

• The Reticular Activating System explained in real life

• Why looking for signs made grief feel… louder, not lighter

Why deliberately searching for spiritual reassurance actually made my mental state worse — including:

• Emotional dwelling

• Grief resurfacing

• Incense-fuelled crying sessions

Not exactly the influencer wellness journey promised.

Turns out:

👉 Asking actual living humans for support works surprisingly well

Featuring:

• Asking Old Ma for help

• Adult children still wanting their mum to tidy their room

• The emotional science of support vs isolation

Our first listener dilemma arrives:

“How do I persuade my husband to fund bespoke home renovations without murdering him?”

Expect:

• Alarmingly traditional advice

• Weaponised porridge window insulation

• Manipulation strategies that should absolutely not be peer reviewed

Looking for signs might comfort some people.

But this experiment raised bigger questions about:

• Grief processing

• Pattern-seeking human brains

• Why meaning matters psychologically

• And when “self-help spirituality” quietly becomes avoidance

Send your dilemmas, chaos, or questionable life decisions via DM or to my instagram @rosehoneymorgan or @field.notes.pod

You can remain anonymous. Highly encouraged after this episode.

A self-improvement podcast for people who are:

• Chronically online

• Mildly overwhelmed

• Trying to improve their lives without becoming insufferable

Each week I test internet advice so you don’t have to.

Please follow, rate, and share with someone who has either:

• Googled angel numbers at 2am

• Booked a psychic once “just for fun”

• Or owns at least three types of incense

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.