January 25, 2023

Bryony Gordon on the realisation that she is not her thoughts

52 minutes

There is so much to tell you about this fantastic conversation with Bryony Gordon. You will love it. I was gripped by her. She is a headlining journalist, with a column and features with notable public figures. She has written many brilliant books charting her life and in the process showing us what it is to be diagnosed with OCD, depression and addiction.

We discussed a feast of topics including:

The pressure of expectations. We are expected to live happily ever after, and that in itself can set us up for failure. We looked at an alternative view of expectations during our conversation.

The irony that successful people are often troubled, and how the push to succeed often means shrinking one’s true self. (I warned you we got deep!)

We discussed how our childhood’s shape us, but that is not the end of the story, and nor is blaming. With the right tools and attitude we really can change our response to our childhood and vitally the way we parent.

How hard it is to feel like you belong, how vital it is and how we can find our tribe in unexpected places.

The madness of trying to have control, and the peace that surrender brings in so many aspects of life, addiction being one.

The idea of perseverance is powerful. You fall, you get up you go again. It is in effect the definition of resilience, and acknowledges that piece we often forget, we all fall but it's the getting up and going again that’s difficult and vital.

And finally how baffling life is but we can find strength in knowing ourselves, and having the courage to turn to ourselves with kindness.

There are so many layers to this conversation and I’m sure everyone will take away something valuable from this conversation. I’d love to hear your thoughts so please message me on instagram @juliasamuel or email [email protected].

Support links:

OCD Action: https://ocdaction.org.uk/

Mental Health Mates: https://www.mentalhealthmates.co.uk/

Heads Together: https://www.headstogether.org.uk/

Beat: https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/

Find Bryony:

Column: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/b/bp-bt/bryony-gordon/

Books: https://www.waterstones.com/author/bryony-gordon/55496

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bryonygordon/?hl=en

Find Julia:

Website: https://juliasamuel.co.uk/

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

Produced by Georgie Rutherford

Edited by Nick Kingswell

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By Julia Samuel

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