I sat down with best-selling author Timothy Caulfield to talk about his latest book Relax, Damit: A Users Guide to the Age of Anxiety. In this conversation we managed to cover everything from foreplay to how we can get people to wear masks to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

Welcome to the first episode of the Better Me Podcast for 2021. In this brief episode I talk about some upcoming guests and ponder the importance of remembering the good things that happen in the midst of dumpster fires.

In this final episode of 2020 I thank all of the guests who gave their time to be on the podcast this year, plus I talk about asking yourself "Did I do the best I could do, given the circumstances?", and remind listeners to stop beating themselves up about their answer to it.

Rachel Matlow's mom was diagnosed with Cancer, but refused conventional treatments. Rachel's boss at the CBC, Jian Ghomeshi, was a nightmare to work with. She took these two devastating experiences that were happening in tandem with each other, and wrote a touching and honest memoir about this time in her life. Rachel joined me to talk about her newly released first book Dead Mom Walking: A Memoir of Miracle Cures and Other Disasters.

Marianne Boucher went to Los Angeles in 1980 for a tryout with the Ice Capades. She never made it to her audition after being approached and recruited by two members of a cult. Marianne joined me to talk about her experience and her new book Talking to Strangers: A Memoir of My Escape From a Cult.

Historian Merle Massie joined me to talk about her latest book A Radiant Life: The Honourable Sylvia Fedoruk - Scientist, Sports Icon, and Statewoman.

Angela Erickson and Jackie Remieche, the women of the Happy Body Health Company joined me to talk about the role that fitness and nutrition played in improving their mental health, and the harm that the diet industry has on our mental and emotional wellbeing.

The Happy Body Health Company can be found at https://happybodyhealthco.com/

For this episode, my long-time friend Jennifer Diehr joined me again to catch up and talk about the books we've been reading since our previous podcast (episode 17) and what's in our ever-growing stack of "to-reads".

I also talked about the short film and book The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.

You can find the short film at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad3CMri3hOs&feature=youtu.be

While I received incredible support from my supervisors and colleagues through my own depression, that isn’t always the case. Professor George Siemens and I spoke about the struggles post-secondary instructors, but also others in their workplaces, who often don’t receive the same support and why depression and anxiety are such a big problem for so many in higher education.

Good leaders care for their teams, while also taking care of themselves. Mary Burgess, the Executive Director of BCcampus, and I chatted about her leadership style and the role that’s played in supporting her team through these tumultuous times.