Get Off The Bench Podcast

What if we could live our lives for ourselves, and not living to please the expectations of others? Do we even know what that would look like? The number one regret of the dying, according to author Bronnie Ware, is “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me”. When we know what we stand for and what values drive us, we have more confidence to stand in our space and assert and manage our own lives the way we want it to be. Ultimately we want to go to bed at night and sleep with ourselves and like who we are. This level of peace can only be found through authenticity and the courage to truly be ourselves.

We all have emotions and they are actually a great thing. Emotions are often labelled positive and negative because of the way they make us feel, but all emotions serve a wonderful purpose - to motivate us to take action to avoid or gain. All emotions come with a physical sensation, thoughts, and a behaviour. When we get an emotional charge, we can choose to suppress, react or respond. The good news is, we always have the choice.

Fear of failure is a very real thing and impacts almost all of us. But what if we pushed past that fear and took a risk to do something important to us? That’s where growth lives, and satisfaction, and confidence. We allow our beliefs and past experiences to determine what we try into the future and so many incredible dreams are never brought to life because of that fear. We miss grand opportunities and can end up chronically sick simply because we allow fear to paralyse us. But what if we put one foot in front of the other and tip toed in to see if we might actually succeed?

This week my partner and I went to Metung Hot Springs. We booked it couple of months ago thinking it would be great to go in winter as the outside temperature would be freezing but it would be lovely and warm in the hot pools. However, we didn’t take into account that it might bucket down rain, because it is winter, and that we might actually decide to sit in the car at Metung, chomping on a pie while watching the pelicans rather than immerse ourselves in the geo-thermal pools. What we needed was a big attitude change and a different story to tell ourselves.

Challenging behaviour is something we all face, not only due to another person’s behaviour, but also our own. None of us are perfect and we all produce triggers that set off other people’s hot buttons. But what’s under the behaviour? Before we go judging and criticising others, and pointing our fingers at them believing we are in the right and they are dysfunctional, maybe we need to understand what drives behaviour and how our own interpretations and perspectives assist us, rightly or wrongly, in determining if a behaviour os good or bad. Some great tips in this one as well as an empathy activity at the end.

Justin Jones, otherwise affectionately known as Jonesy, is one of Australia’s pre-eminent explorers, key­note speakers, adventure thinkers and storytellers.

Over the past 19 years he has made a career of undertaking huge, epic, record setting expeditions around the world and sharing these on the stage and on screen. To date he’s spoken to over 350,000 people in 20 countries around the world and millions have watched his award winning documentaries.

He’s kayaked across the Tasman Sea from Australia to New Zealand, become the first to ski to the South Pole and back and walked across the Australian Outback with his one year old daughter. He currently holds two Guinness World Records and holds a place as one of Australia’s 50 Greatest Explorers of all time, all achieved before his thirties!

A gloriously ordinary bloke… he is the perfect example of how determination, detailed planning and foresight can enable the most ‘normal’ of us to undertake the most extraordinary feats.

Socials

Website: https://justinjonesy.com/

Website: https://adventurethinking.com/

LinkedIn: Justin Jones

Insta: Jonesy @justonrjonesy

Youtube: Adventure Thinking

Vimeo: Justin Jonesy

Crossing the Outback: Expedition Parenthood - Documentary Trailer

Lessons from the edge - Day 7 Antarctica

The Justin Jonesy Presentation Experience

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Kellie Eddy is a Civil Celebrant of 6 and a half years, based in Gippsland. She specialises in weddings, funerals and MC’ing events. Kellie has developed a fresh approach to sharing stories celebrating both life and love. 

A mother to two little ones and a Step Mum to a teen. After a decade and a half of trying pursuing different career paths; from Education, Employment to a singing Pizza Van owner she has now settled into a full time career within the Celebrant industry.  

Socials:

Website: https://www.kellieeddy.com/

FB: Kellie Eddy Civil Marriage Celebrant

Insta - Weddings: Gippsland Marriage Celebrant @kellie.eddycc

Insta - Funerals: Kellie Eddy Funeral Celebrant @kellie.eddyfunerals

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Self-love is really hard for so many. But where do we start, and how can we start with something that is achievable and believable? Because if deep down we don’t believe we deserve it, we struggle to attain it. And what about affirmations? Do they work? Starting with setting boundaries is something most people can do and it can work.

Mitch Nivalis (they/them) is a filmmaker and photographer with a commitment to social change, particularly around inclusion and visibility for diverse communities. Their recently completed Master of Arts Photography was the impetus for the ground breaking feature documentary film Equal the Contest, the story of the Mt Alexander Falcon's fight for inclusion in community AFL. Mitch is part of the 2024 Change our Game women in sports media program. In their spare time they are a volunteer firefighter and play footy for the Mt Alexander Falcons on Djaara Country. 

Socials:

Website: https://equalthecontest.au/

Insta: equalthecontest

Insta: Mitch Nivalis @mdpphotovideo

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Karina Murray is the Founder & CEO Aunua Global/ Enterprise, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist. Humanitarian and Youth Advocate.

She’s an Ambassador, an Advocate, and an Innovator and these are the roles that she plays with great success. Her inspiration to bring Aunua to life was inspired by her own fears for her children’s future and the uncertainty that lies ahead for all children. Karina, has been working relentlessly to develop an entire ecosystem to help support young people on their personal development journey by offering them a roadmap to help navigate better as she believes they are the catalysts for change. Aunua are growing their community and with their innovative youth ambassadors and global tribe and together they thrive towards addressing many of our world challenges.  

Karina’s, culmination of a lifetime’s worth of experience kicked into place when she discovered her new sense of purpose in her mid-forties after a long 9-year career break whilst raising her two wonderful children, in her quest to discover a new path forward, she gave birth to her new baby AUNUA “meaning A New You in Irish” highlights of which include: - presenter and media personality on her own weekly Aunua show on Together FM. -Qualified and accredited NLP practitioner. -Scholarship winner and attendee at The Entrepreneurs’ Institute in Bali. -Founding member of the Genius School, affiliated with Roger James Hamilton’s movement aiming to ‘Ignite The Genius In Every Child’. - Ambassador with Belouga, a social learning platform that has been featured in Forbes and the BBC. - Executive director for the Impactoverse – Metaverse of Impact. - Board of experts for CELD- Centre for Economic & Leadership Development, empowering girls and women. - Board of experts for The Green Pillar – Climate change education.

Karina, is now on a crusade to expand and invigorate the Aunua Global community, and she welcomes new conversations with anyone interested in becoming part of her story.

Socials:

Website: https://aunuaglobal.org/

Website: https://aunuaenterprise.eu/

LinkedIn: Karina Murray

Youtube: Aunua Global

FB: Aunua Global

Insta: Aunua Global @aunuaglobal

Enjoy the visual here on Youtube