Free and Figuring It Out

Charelle and Verity discuss a marketing campaign that came out several years ago promoting weight loss products and asking if you are beach body ready? It caused huge controversy and sparked a debate; surely each and every body is beach body ready?

Verity talks about her own journey with her body and how age has helped her love herself a bit more.

Charelle discusses her red carpet ready woes and how her “pond weed” diet was part of her regime for her first ever girls holiday.

Do you spend more time on body maintenance when your single or in a relationship? Do you compare your body to women who have had children or plastic surgery?

It took 30 years for Verity to wear a bikini and Charelle talks about her younger years of not wearing skirts to to growth stretch marks. We then discuss the Cosmopolitan cover with a plus-sized model and whether it is empowering or unhealthy? Would we celebrate an anorexic woman on the cover of a magazine?

We need to empower the next generation to understand and love their bodies.

Protein world campaign https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jul/01/protein-world-beach-body-ready-ads-asa

Cosmopolitan cover https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/entertainment/a23004671/tess-holliday-response-criticism-cosmopolitan-cover/

Have some feedback, a question you would like us to answer or a topic suggestion?

Drop us an email at [email protected]

Follow us https://www.instagram.com/freeandfiguringitout/

Your hosts are...

Charelle Griffith, 30, is a marketing strategist and founder of PropelHer, a personal development blog and book club. She lives in London, dates men and has been single for 3.5 years (except for a summer romance). Connect with Charelle https://www.instagram.com/charellegriffith/

Verity Brown, 32, is a mindset coach and founder of the SEASALT plan currently living in Delhi, India. She is bisexual and after 3.5 years single has recently found love with a woman. Connect with Verity https://www.instagram.com/theseasaltplan/

A few months ago, Verity left singledom and found true love. In this episode she talks about how she manifested her life partner (and how you can too!).

She goes back to when she first became single 3.5 years ago and the steps she has taken since then to find her forever person. From reconnecting with the woman she left at 20, when she entered her 10 year relationship, through various different methods and so truly understanding who she was to know what she needed and wanted in a future partner.

Setting an intention of the person she wanted to spend her life with and how what she was looking for was totally different in her 20’s to her 30’s. Verity goes through the rules and magic of manifesting, and the sometimes frustrating divine timing that goes with it! On and off dating, figuring out what you really don’t want and a monumental Vedic astrology reading were all part of the journey; and the latter led to a surrendering that helped her find her true love.

Do you need to stop looking to find it? Do you believe our soulmate is out there? We discuss. And also cover the topic of self-love and why this cliche is so important to finding your true person. Verity discusses what it is like dating without a type (gender/ race/ religion/ culture etc) and how an open-mind is necessary to make sure the love of your life doesn’t pass you by.

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert 

https://amzn.to/2Rut7Ma

These are natural superpowers of women all over the world but for years we have been told they are irrational and unreliable. We explore their place in both the workplace and in your personal life and how it takes daily practice to strengthen these skills.

Ever had a gut feeling about something? This is the perfect example of using your instinct. We look at emotion within the workplace and how in the UK it can be condemned whereas in countries like New Zealand, it is celebrated (hi Prime Ministers). Many millionaires have said they have made their most important decisions on instinct or gut feeling.

We must not fear trusting our intuition. Maybe your instincts are stronger in certain scenarios or with particular areas in life? Or if you are risk adverse, is it harder to use your gut? Sometimes in life, we get so overwhelmed that the rational part of our mind simply fails and we have to rely on our more natural instincts. Sometimes the tiniest things are the most powerful in guiding you in the right direction.

Verity crushes on Einstein and admits how when decisions around money come in, she is sometimes forced to used her head, rather than gut. She also explains how you can start bringing it into your life more and start using it in the day to day.

Jack Canfield Somatic Decision Making https://www.jackcanfield.com/images/stories/Feb2011-Somatic-Decision-Making.pdf

It’s our 6 month anniversary!!! So we thought we would celebrate with a little get to know us better session. We tell you the story of how we met (and how many times we have actually met in person!), why we decided to start the podcast as two single women ( clue; someone announced she was giving up dating!!) and answer the juicy questions we ask to our guests!

We chat all about freedom, favourite thing to do alone, choice, orgasm manifesting (yes, it’s a thing!), advice for millennial women (we basically say the same beautiful snippet!), pensions and love.

We welcome any other questions you have for us, so send them over [email protected]

Charelle’s book club https://www.propelher.co.uk/bookclub/

Verity’s future self course https://behernow.org/meetyourfutureself

Women who run with the wolves https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/241823.Women_Who_Run_With_the_Wolves

Charelle’s breakdown of The Miracle Morning http://bit.ly/2Xa6KBa

Have some feedback, a question you would like us to answer or a topic suggestion?

Drop us an email at [email protected]

Follow us https://www.instagram.com/freeandfiguringitout/

Your hosts are...

Charelle Griffith, 30, is a marketing strategist and founder of PropelHer, a personal development blog and book club. She lives in London, dates men and has been single for 3.5 years (except for a summer romance). Connect with Charelle https://www.instagram.com/charellegriffith/

Verity Brown, 32, is a mindset coach and founder of the SEASALT plan currently living in Delhi, India. She is bisexual and after 3.5 years single has recently found love with a woman. Connect with Verity https://www.instagram.com/theseasaltplan/

We are delighted to welcome our very first guest to the podcast Gemma Scopes, founder of How to make friends. She discusses dealing with loneliness after moving back to her hometown, setting up a friend project (where she dedicated a year to making friends in lots of different ways) and openly discussing loneliness. We chat friendship apps, dating yourself and the extrovert/ introvert battle. Gemma opens up on the importance of letting go of friends that no longer serve you and getting rid of toxic people in your life! Is ghosting acceptable when it comes to friendship? We discuss.

Becoming your own best friend is vital. Nobody wants to be friends with a misery guts! Lots of juicy advice on becoming the best version of yourself. We explore our fave topics of moving online friends into real life friends (coz that’s what Charelle and Verity did!) and offer advice around this. Loneliness teaches so much about yourself, we know it can be tricky but try your very best to practice gratitude for it.

Please excuse some tiny sound issues towards the end of the recording.

Gemma’s blog https://www.howtomakefriends.co.uk/

Follow Gemma on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/howtomakefriends_/

Join her Make Friends Club membership https://www.makefriendsclub.com/

Love language test https://www.5lovelanguages.com/

Why men love bitches book https://amzn.to/2Ky9PnN

Verity has recently started dating a woman and in all honesty she is struggling to let go of her independent, single self. We decided to talk about if you can get so good at being single you either struggle to find someone or when you do, you struggle to mould into it.

Verity discusses how for over 3 years nobody has known her emotionally intimately and now she is struggling to allow her girlfriend to see her in full 360; the good and the bad. Charelle explains how her summer romance last year was with a very chivalrous man who she found it tricky to accept help from.

Is there a beauty in the vulnerability of having a partner? Verity questions why she is complaining more just because she now has someone to moan to and is it strange that she is more than happy living and being on her own.

Charelle talks about when people would ask her how long she had been single how they would state that she has got too good at it and she purposefully got a flatmate so she could practice living with someone else!

Are you too good at being single? What does too good at being single look like?

Regardless, we need to accept there is a transitional period from single to relationship and just respect our own process in this.

Apologies for some poor sound, this is due to Verity being in Delhi!

Have some feedback, a question you would like us to answer or a topic suggestion?

Drop us an email at [email protected]

Follow us https://www.instagram.com/freeandfiguringitout/

Your hosts are...

Charelle Griffith, 30, is a marketing strategist and founder of PropelHer, a personal development blog and book club. She lives in London, dates men and has been single for 3.5 years (except for a summer romance). Connect with Charelle https://www.instagram.com/charellegriffith/

Verity Brown, 32, is a mindset coach and founder of the SEASALT plan currently living in Delhi, India. She is bisexual and after 3.5 years single has recently found love with a woman. Connect with Verity https://www.instagram.com/theseasaltplan/

This week we are talking about one of Charelle’s favourite subjects - wedding season! Are you part of a friendship group where all of them are married and settled? Or is nobody rocking a band on that ring finger yet?

We discuss how the entire journey from the engagement is so full on; and possibly to the extreme sometimes. From the stress of organising hen-do’s to relentless WhatsApp groups to having to pay the single supplement for a grand hotel room that you barely see the inside of. How do you bring 10+ different women together, who don’t really know each other, for a weekend and keep everyone happy? Are shendo’s the new way forward? Or a double-hen in the LGBTQ+ world? And what about budget? Argh!

Verity asks if our hen do is something we want as an individual or should you do something neutral where everyone will be happy? Also is strict planning the way forward or do you just go with the flow? We chat about how hen do’s have lost their way and sometimes just become a very stressful way to spend lots of time and money doing something you don’t actually want to do!

Post 30, is wedding table talk all now babies and labour stories? Are childfree weddings ok to request? And how much do you put in the joint present fund if you are single? Start saying no, start offering compromises and stop feeling guilty!

Wine Country on Netflix https://www.netflix.com/title/80194950

Have some feedback, a question you would like us to answer or a topic suggestion?

Drop us an email at [email protected]

Follow us https://www.instagram.com/freeandfiguringitout/

Your hosts are...

Charelle Griffith, 30, is a marketing strategist and founder of PropelHer, a personal development blog and book club. She lives in London, dates men and has been single for 3.5 years (except for a summer romance). Connect with Charelle https://www.instagram.com/charellegriffith/

Verity Brown, 32, is a mindset coach and founder of the SEASALT plan currently living in Delhi, India. She is bisexual and after 3.5 years single has recently found love with a woman. Connect with Verity https://www.instagram.com/theseasaltplan/

This episode is all about the things that become trickier when you are on your own. From working in a cafe, to travelling on a train and feeling safer. And being poorly! We touch on the sensitive subject of being British and offering and accepting help and how generally we are not great at either. Who do you allow yourself to be vulnerable with? And what about the beach dilemma?!?! Let’s all moonwalk into the sea...

Is life easier when you have someone by your side? We also look at the perks of being on your own from snatching a hot theatre ticket to...well that’s all we came up with this time #keepinitreal

Verity also touches on being solo in a different country (India) whilst Charelle discusses her uni town that turned the street lamps off after midnight!

We admit how there are moments in life where it is just useful to have someone there and how we need to get better at asking for and accepting support!

Apologies for some poor sound issues during this episode, we had a fair few tech issues on this particular recording!

Have some feedback, a question you would like us to answer or a topic suggestion?

Drop us an email at [email protected]

Follow us https://www.instagram.com/freeandfiguringitout/

Your hosts are...

Charelle Griffith, 30, is a marketing strategist and founder of PropelHer, a personal development blog and book club. She lives in London, dates men and has been single for 3.5 years (except for a summer romance). Connect with Charelle https://www.instagram.com/charellegriffith/

Verity Brown, 32, is a mindset coach and founder of the SEASALT plan currently living in Delhi, India. She is bisexual and after 3.5 years single has recently found love with a woman. Connect with Verity https://www.instagram.com/theseasaltplan/

Have you got your food situation down? We all know as busy, working women we need stable, nutritional diets, but it’s a lot easier said than done! Have you bossed the weekly shop or are you more of a corner shop everyday girl? We chat batch cooking, slow eaters, the benefits of eating out alone and the non-existent cooking habits of the SATC women.

Verity talks about how moving to India has so far been a journey of healthy take-outs and home-cooked eggs on toast whilst Charelle highlights the issue around food waste and the battle of buying in and eating fresh food whilst having a social life!

Alice aka Ali Lou Food https://www.instagram.com/ali_lou_food/

Have some feedback, a question you would like us to answer or a topic suggestion?

Drop us an email at [email protected]

Follow us https://www.instagram.com/freeandfiguringitout/

Your hosts are...

Charelle Griffith, 30, is a marketing strategist and founder of PropelHer, a personal development blog and book club. She lives in London, dates men and has been single for 3.5 years (except for a summer romance). Connect with Charelle https://www.instagram.com/charellegriffith/

Verity Brown, 32, is a mindset coach and founder of the SEASALT plan currently living in Delhi, India. She is bisexual and after 3.5 years single has recently found love with a woman. Connect with Verity https://www.instagram.com/theseasaltplan/

Verity and Charelle discuss the importance of dialling down the clutter in our lives as women in our 30’s.

Do you still hold onto your school exercise books? Has moving house helped you shred material items? Have you jumped onto the “it must spark joy” clearance train?

The ladies share their own experiences around these subjects and offer some little tips if it is something that you would like to introduce into your life.

Verity delves into the woo-woo side of things and discusses the energy issues and manifestation blocks that comes with having too much ‘stuff’ and how she moved to India with just 23kg of luggage!

Charelle talks about the kindness of receiving unwanted items from friends (it’s books!!!), her extensive denim short wardrobe and her top recommendation for starting on the minimalism path.

Tidying Up With Marie Kondo on Netflix https://www.netflix.com/title/80209379

The Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo - https://amzn.to/2Lksrd2

Book Fairies https://ibelieveinbookfairies.com/

Minimalism on Netflix https://www.netflix.com/title/80114460