F*ck, I’m Nearly 50!

🎙️ SEASON 2 · EPISODE 10 | CHARLIE PUCHALA

We can make decisions all day, then find ourselves explaining away someone’s behaviour because we love who they could become. Charlie Puchala and I talk about dating potential, knowing what we want and what changes when we ask, “Would I actually choose him?”

Charlie is a businesswoman, mother, pilot and the author of Sex Money Control. We get into learned expectations, independence and the difference between analysing ourselves and giving ourselves a hard time. There are strong opinions, a few uncomfortable questions and some much more personal moments: leaving home at 22, finding adventure, and recognising that shutting down can hurt the people we love. I bring my own yearbook stress into the conversation too.

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🎧 INSIDE OUR CONVERSATION

• Why we can fall for someone’s potential while overlooking the behaviour in front of us.
• Learning to question the expectations we grew up with, and getting clearer about our own boundaries.
• Charlie’s four pillars: emotional, mental, physical and financial, and how she uses them to reflect on her life.
• Analysing a behaviour without attacking your worth, and why an apology needs a change behind it.
• What Charlie’s research conversations with men actually involved, and the questions we ask in work but can overlook in relationships.
• Financial independence making life easier while introducing different challenges in love.
• A Greyhound trip, a love of adventure and Charlie’s admission that going quiet is something she wants to work on.
• Three questions to come back to: who are you, what do you want and why do you want it?

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💡 TAKE SOMETHING FROM THE CHAT INTO YOUR WEEK

Make a little time for those three questions. Then choose one small behaviour you would like to change in your own life, and think about what that could look like today.

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🔗 CONNECT WITH CHARLIE

Charlie’s website

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🧭 Where shall we go next?

• Vashti Whitfield on reframing your life - if the conversation about old patterns and what you want next stayed with you.
• Ash BG on the mental load - to keep exploring expectations, relationships and shared responsibility.

Let me know what you'd love to hear about next.

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🎙️ SEASON 2 · EPISODE 9 | CAMILLA THOMPSON

Another test, another tracker, another thing we’re apparently supposed to be doing. Have we made health too complicated? Camilla Thompson and I ask whether looking after ourselves has become another bloody job, and how we make room for a life we actually want to live.

Camilla is the founder of BioHackMe. I confess that the word biohacking gives me the ick, even as I find myself drawn to the data and experiments. We get into individual differences, the pressure to optimise, biological-age tests and what deserves our time, money and attention. Camilla also shares experiments she wouldn’t repeat. There’s room to disagree, change your mind and find a little more joy.

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🎧 INSIDE OUR CONVERSATION

• What Camilla means by biohacking, and why the same routine won’t suit everybody.
• Her experience of illness and the path that brought her to BioHackMe.
• When tracking helps us understand ourselves, and when the numbers become another source of pressure.
• Her “16 years younger” GlycanAge result, what that test measured and why another test gave her a different answer.
• Supplements, recovery tools and emerging treatments: personal experiments, unanswered questions and where caution matters.
• The experiments Camilla wouldn’t repeat, and giving ourselves permission to change our minds.
• Connection, joy and the small routines we can actually keep doing.

This conversation includes personal health experiences and discussion of emerging treatments. A biological-age test result is not proof of added lifespan, and a personal experience does not establish that a treatment is safe or effective. Discuss decisions about your own health with an appropriately qualified clinician.

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💡 TAKE SOMETHING FROM THE CHAT INTO YOUR WEEK

The free companion guide includes eight everyday tips, an optional AI-admin shortcut, four questions before buying and Camilla’s simple starting points. Choose one thing for a seven-day experiment. No sign-up needed.

Visit this episode’s website page for the conversation notes and guide.

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🧭 WHERE SHALL WE GO NEXT?

Karen Van Esveld on bones and strength - to keep exploring what we want our bodies to keep doing in the years ahead.

Dr Mark Williams on screens and attention - if our chat about tracking and the things competing for our attention stayed with you.

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🔗 CONNECT WITH CAMILLA

BioHackMe

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📺 WATCH THIS CONVERSATION

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVEsIelWOhM

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🎙️ SEASON 2 · EPISODE 8 | ASH BG

The milk, the school bags, the appointment nobody else remembered. If you’re tired of being the person who notices everything, come and have a listen. Ash BG and I talk about the work that happens in our heads before anyone sees a task, and why sharing the jobs is only part of the conversation.

Ash is the writer behind You Wanted This and the founder of Tether. We get into motherhood, resentment, whose career bends when family life needs something, and what our children learn by watching us. Ash asks men to take more responsibility; I ask what all of us can do differently. We don’t agree on every starting point, and that’s part of what makes this such a worthwhile chat.

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🎧 INSIDE OUR CONVERSATION

• Why having a baby can pull even progressive couples into traditional roles, and why “give me a list” leaves the thinking with the same person.
• Parental leave, workplace flexibility and the assumption that Mum’s career can absorb the disruption.
• The milk example, my before-7.30-am list, and how Tether makes cognitive and emotional labour visible.
• The manosphere, pornography, consent, healthy intimacy and the need for better male role models.
• Our discussion of reported sexual violence involving young people, victim blaming, school culture, consistent discipline and leadership.
• Why jokes about harm matter, the reluctance to speak up, and the barriers people describe around accountability.
• Making room for boys’ emotions, questioning inherited relationship patterns, and what “decentring men” means to Ash.
• The rapid-fire questions: apologising, shared responsibility, respect, hope and an honest conversation with yourself.

This conversation includes discussion of sexual violence and abuse.

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💡 TAKE SOMETHING FROM THE CHAT INTO YOUR WEEK

Get the free mental-load guide on the podcast website. Try the exercise or use the question to start a conversation.

Visit this episode’s website page for the guide, player and transcript.

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🧭 WHERE SHALL WE GO NEXT?

Vashti Whitfield on reframing your life: if our chat about old patterns and who you are beyond your roles stayed with you.

Dr Mark Williams on screens and attention: to keep exploring what our online habits model for our children.

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🔗 CONNECT WITH ASH

You Wanted This · Tether · Tether on Instagram · Tether on the App Store

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📺 WATCH THIS CONVERSATION

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0JFfbZYMms

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🎙️ SEASON 2 · EPISODE 7 | DAWID NAUDE

If AI feels like one more thing you’re supposed to understand already, you’re in good company. Dawid Naude and I talk about where to begin, what this change might mean for our work, and the experience we already bring to it. You don’t need a perfect prompt to have a go.

Dawid is the founder of Pathfindr. We move from AI as an adviser to tools that can carry out tasks, then get into small business, education, career changes and the human judgement that still matters. I share my 15-minutes-a-day learning plan and a very ordinary use for AI: sorting dinner from what’s in the fridge.

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🎧 INSIDE OUR CONVERSATION

• AI agents and computer use: Dawid’s insurance-refund story and turning ideas into prototypes.
• How professional services and jobs may change, and why trust, empathy and relationships matter.
• Opportunities for Australian small businesses, entrepreneurs and people changing direction.
• AI as a personalised tutor, and Dawid’s use of it for reflection, resilience and leadership.
• Education, degrees, attitude and work readiness, including what experience can bring in midlife.
• Subscriptions, privacy, data and questions to ask before choosing a tool.
• Three ways to give an AI tool useful context: use voice, let it ask five questions, and keep working through the answer together.

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💡 ONE THING TO TRY

Pick one real task. Ask the tool to ask you five questions before it suggests an answer, then talk through the context. Start with something you can check and learn as you go.

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💡 TAKE THE CONVERSATION WITH YOU

Get this episode’s free guide on the podcast website. Pick one idea to try this week.

Visit this episode’s website page for the guide and full conversation.

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🧭 WHERE SHALL WE GO NEXT?

Dr Mark Williams on screens and attention: if you’re wondering how to use technology while making room to think.

Lidia Ranieri on finding clarity: for the permission to be a beginner again.

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🔗 FROM THIS EPISODE

Pathfindr · Dawid on LinkedIn · Start Learning AI

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📺 WATCH THIS CONVERSATION

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzJrJdaBJ-I

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🎙️ SEASON 2 · EPISODE 6 | KAREN VAN ESVELD

For years, I thought eating well and exercising was enough. Then Karen asked whether I’d ever had a DEXA scan. That question took our chat somewhere quite different: what do I want my body to keep doing for the next 30 years?

Karen and I talk about bones, muscle, nutrition and understanding our own health information. We get into the difference between bone-density and body-composition scans, the changes around menopause, and why the answer isn’t simply another supplement. Carrying the bags, travelling, getting up off the floor. There’s a whole life behind the numbers.

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🎧 INSIDE OUR CONVERSATION

• Bone density, osteoporosis and osteopenia, and why menopause belongs in the conversation.
• Diagnostic bone-density scans versus body-composition scans: what question is a test meant to answer?
• Muscle, strength and everyday function, alongside weight and appearance.
• Protein, calcium, food choices and the limits of a quick fix.
• Blood tests, individual health information and interpreting results with professional help.
• Sleep, movement, hormones and nutrition as parts of a bigger picture.
• The health myths and supplement promises Karen questions.
• Organising your health information and making room for the questions you keep putting off.

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💡 ONE THING TO TRY

Write down one thing you want your body to keep doing, and one question you want to ask at your next health appointment. You don’t have to understand every number before asking for help.

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💡 TAKE THE CONVERSATION WITH YOU

Get this episode’s free guide on the podcast website. Pick one idea to try this week.

Visit this episode’s website page for the guide and full conversation.

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🧭 WHERE SHALL WE GO NEXT?

Amelia Phillips on inflammation and movement: to keep exploring strength and manageable health habits.

Dr Mary Revelas on longevity: for another conversation about your own health questions and the noise around ageing.

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🔗 FROM THIS EPISODE

Wellset Nutrition & Pilates · LinkedIn · Instagram

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📺 WATCH THIS CONVERSATION

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6pXsJeHNZA

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🎙️ SEASON 2 · EPISODE 5 | ELKIE HUGHES

Before signing up to be a “better version” of ourselves, shall we ask who decided the current version needed fixing? Elkie Hughes and I get into the expectations we pick up from family, work, society and that voice in our heads. This chat gave me plenty to question.

Elkie is the founder of Be Your Happy. She shares her perspective on the beliefs we carry, the moments that shape our sense of worth, and accepting the parts of ourselves that aren’t all neat and tidy. We talk about grief, joy, fear and the difference between analysing a feeling and allowing ourselves to feel it.

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🎧 INSIDE OUR CONVERSATION

• The childhood “backpack”: belonging, worth, old beliefs and seemingly small moments that stay with us.
• The pressure to improve ourselves and whose idea of the “best version” we are chasing.
• Accepting the light and the shade, rather than expecting life to feel positive all the time.
• Elkie’s perspective on trauma, and how she describes her PSYCH-K® and wellbeing work.
• Awareness, self-acceptance and pausing before reacting.
• Thinking about feelings versus feeling them, and making room for what is actually happening.
• Women’s strength, everyday reflection and the possibility of a brief pause or walk.
• What Elkie means by being whole, and her move from advertising into wellbeing work.

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💡 ONE THING TO TRY

Make a little space for a quiet moment or a walk. Notice one expectation you put on yourself and ask where it came from. You don’t have to turn the reflection into another performance.

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💡 TAKE THE CONVERSATION WITH YOU

Get this episode’s free guide on the podcast website. Pick one idea to try this week.

Visit this episode’s website page for the guide and full conversation.

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🧭 WHERE SHALL WE GO NEXT?

Vashti Whitfield on reframing your life: to explore familiar patterns and the feelings underneath them.

Justine Armour on success: for an honest chat about making choices that honour who you are.

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🔗 FROM THIS EPISODE

Website · Instagram · LinkedIn

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📺 WATCH THIS CONVERSATION

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRE7Qodl_u4

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🎙️ SEASON 2 · EPISODE 4 | VASHTI WHITFIELD

Vashti and I have been doing some work together, and I’ve had a few “shit, I’ve been doing that for years” moments. In this chat we get curious about the patterns we fall into, the feelings underneath them and whether they still fit the life we want.

Vashti shares the story behind Radical Reframe and Be Here Now, and what grief, motherhood and losing her husband Andy brought into focus. We talk about life in chapters, the messy middle of change, and the difference between keeping busy and allowing ourselves to feel what is happening.

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🎧 INSIDE OUR CONVERSATION

• Inherited beliefs, behaviour and the patterns we don’t always see in ourselves.
• Autopilot in midlife, familiar roles and what “doing the work” actually means.
• Attachment versus commitment, and replacing “should” with “could”.
• The Bucket List and the Fuck It List: what do we want to make room for or let go of?
• The inner characters that show up under stress, fear and uncertainty.
• Pausing, breathing, recognising feelings and choosing a response.
• Grief, resilience, raising children after loss and the Be Here Now documentary.
• Presence, living intentionally and a small shift that doesn’t require changing your whole life.

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💡 ONE THING TO TRY

Notice one familiar reaction this week. Pause and ask what you are feeling, what you are assuming and what other response is available. Curiosity is a place to start.

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💡 TAKE THE CONVERSATION WITH YOU

Get this episode’s free guide on the podcast website. Pick one idea to try this week.

Visit this episode’s website page for the guide and full conversation.

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🧭 WHERE SHALL WE GO NEXT?

Elkie Hughes on self-acceptance: to keep questioning the expectations we carry.

Shannah Kennedy on life planning: when you want to put what matters into the shape of your next chapter.

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🔗 FROM THIS EPISODE

https://www.vashti-whitfield.com · https://www.beherenowfilm.com · Radical Reframe Podcast · Vashti on insta · Vashti on LinkedIn

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📺 WATCH THIS CONVERSATION

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWf8PaRFqJA

Let me know what you'd love to hear about next.

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🎙️ SEASON 2 · EPISODE 3 | DR MARK WILLIAMS

The room you walk into and forget why. The phone you reach for without thinking. Mark Williams and I talk about screens, attention and whether the way we use technology is leaving enough room for the rest of life. I had questions about my own habits, and plenty about my kids’ too.

Mark is a neuroscientist and the author of Screen Smart Children. We get into notifications, switching between tasks, classroom technology and the people in front of us. We also question where AI and smart glasses might take us, and what we lose when every spare moment gets filled.

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🎧 INSIDE OUR CONVERSATION

• Different screens and different uses: why the conversation is more nuanced than a single screen-time number.
• Attention, working memory, stress and Mark’s concerns about children’s developing brains.
• Phones, educational technology, schools and the social-media age debate.
• Task switching, notifications and modelling the habits we ask our children to change.
• Real-life conversation, nature, boredom, play and unstructured time.
• Phones at the table, in bedrooms and in bathrooms, and the everyday boundaries we discuss.
• AI, smart glasses and Mark’s perspective on the next wave of technology.
• Mark’s discussion of creatine, alongside volunteering, community and making time for a good chat.

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💡 ONE THING TO TRY

Choose one notification you don’t need, or one catch-up where your phone can stay away. Notice how it feels to give the person or task in front of you your attention.

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💡 TAKE THE CONVERSATION WITH YOU

Get this episode’s free guide on the podcast website. Pick one idea to try this week.

Visit this episode’s website page for the guide and full conversation.

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🧭 WHERE SHALL WE GO NEXT?

Dawid Naude on practical AI: for another perspective on using new tools thoughtfully.

Maddie Marsh on friendship: to make room for the real-life connection we talk about here.

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🔗 FROM THIS EPISODE

https://www.drmarkwilliams.com/

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📺 WATCH THIS CONVERSATION

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKD-TeObTJE

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🎙️ SEASON 2 · EPISODE 2 | PASCALE HELYAR-MORAY

“I should probably understand my super.” If that thought keeps coming round and you keep putting it off, come and have a listen. Pascale Helyar-Moray and I get into the money questions we don’t always ask, and the choices we want our future to include.

We talk about what super is, the gaps in everyday financial education, and how paid work, caring responsibilities and career breaks shape the picture for women. Pascale brings the conversation back to understanding our own position. There’s room to begin with a question, even if the whole subject feels unfamiliar.

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🎧 INSIDE OUR CONVERSATION

• Superannuation, contributions and compounding, explained through Pascale’s examples.
• The retirement-savings gap and the effects of career breaks, part-time work, caring and menopause.
• Confidence with money, financial overwhelm and the cost of leaving it in the too-hard basket.
• Knowing your own super account and the questions to ask about it.
• The mortgage-versus-super discussion and why individual circumstances matter.
• Our conversation about super in divorce and the importance of getting advice for your situation.
• The changing picture of women’s wealth and Pascale’s Rich Woman, Poor Woman.
• Money as freedom, independence and the ability to make choices now and later.

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💡 ONE THING TO TRY

Find your latest super statement and write down what you understand and what you want explained. Take those questions to your fund or a qualified adviser before making changes.

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💡 TAKE THE CONVERSATION WITH YOU

Get this episode’s free guide on the podcast website. Pick one idea to try this week.

Visit this episode’s website page for the guide and full conversation.

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🧭 WHERE SHALL WE GO NEXT?

Shannah Kennedy on life planning: to explore what you want your future choices to make possible.

Tracy Hall on rebuilding: for a personal story about recovering after financial betrayal and finding support.

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🔗 FROM THIS EPISODE

Learn more · https://www.amazon.com.au/Rich-Woman-Poor-overwhelm-financial/dp/192318623X

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📺 WATCH THIS CONVERSATION

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXKbB2ouODI

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🎙️ SEASON 2 · EPISODE 1 | DR MARY REVELAS

There’s a lot of noise about living longer, isn’t there? Mary Revelas and I talk about how we’re actually living, the questions behind the promises, and remembering that our own health deserves an appointment too. I wanted to understand my next decade, rather than keep collecting things I “should” be doing.

Mary shares the gap she noticed between researching longevity and her own late nights, caffeine and lack of movement. We get into genes, hormones, environment and the everyday routines around them. Her story gave me a useful question: does the way I’m spending my days actually work for me?

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🎧 INSIDE OUR CONVERSATION

• Genes, biology, environment and Mary’s perspective on ageing.
• Hormones, energy, sleep and the changes people notice in midlife.
• Looking at the whole health picture instead of chasing a quick fix.
• The difference between having information and putting useful habits into practice.
• Longevity claims, social-media health advice and asking what sits behind a promise.
• Mary’s own changes to work, movement and daily routines.
• Family history, personal concerns and making enough room to ask questions in an appointment.
• Looking after ourselves while looking after everyone else, and what to focus on as the next decade approaches.

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💡 ONE THING TO TRY

Write down the health question you keep putting off. Make room to ask it at an appointment, and bring the information or family history you want to talk through.

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💡 TAKE THE CONVERSATION WITH YOU

Get this episode’s free guide on the podcast website. Pick one idea to try this week.

Visit this episode’s website page for the guide and full conversation.

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🧭 WHERE SHALL WE GO NEXT?

Karen Van Esveld on bones and strength: to think about what you want your body to keep doing.

Zoe Bingley-Pullin on nourishment: for a conversation about food, sleep and looking after ourselves in midlife.

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🔗 FROM THIS EPISODE

Learn more · Follow

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📺 WATCH THIS CONVERSATION

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asBhSsglNM0

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