Rest and Recreation

Don't trust your love life to fate, take the scientific approach

A thought‑provoking episode of Rest and Recreation, sees host Michael Millward and Mila Smith, a Berkshire based science‑backed relationship consultant, about one of life’s most misunderstood transitions: how to go from being single to becoming part of a healthy, lasting couple.

Drawing on her journey of unhealthy relationships and divorce to nine years of stable, happy marriage – Mila explains how focusing on science rather than fate resulted in a revitalised love life. As Mila says, “I had a few unhealthy relationships… then one day I realized, it was not luck and it was not someone else's fault… I was the cause of the problem!”

Mila and Michael unpack:

• Why modern dating feels harder than ever, and how apps create an “illusion of abundance” that keeps people searching instead of connecting.
• The unrealistic expectations of partners. Can you be lover, friend, co‑parent, adventure buddy, therapist, and soulmate all at once.
• The three scientific pillars of a healthy relationship:
• Trust, not just in fidelity but in emotional safety.
• Shared key life values, from family and money to spirituality and politics.
• Constructive conflict resolution, including the “time‑out” technique to prevent arguments from escalating.
• Why love and relationship are not the same thing, and how passion inevitably evolves into companionate love rooted in friendship – “one of our fundamental evolutionary needs.”

Michael reflects on cultural differences, personal experiences, and the importance of learning how relationships really work – rather than assuming they should come naturally. Together, they highlight that successful coupledom isn’t about fate or chemistry alone, but about conscious choices, aligned values, and shared rules for navigating life together.

Warm, insightful, and refreshingly honest, this episode will make you not just to feel love, but to understand it.

Discover more about Mila Smith and Michael at Abeceder.co.uk

Audience Offers

Rest and Recreation is made on Zencastr, because it is so easy to use. Visit Zencastr.

Travel – at trade prices to anywhere in the world at trade prices as a member of The Ultimate Travel Club.

Health – The Annual Health Test from York Test is conducted by an experienced phlebotomist at your home or workplace. Hospital standard tests for 39 health markers.

A Personal Wellness Hub provides easy-to-understand results and guidance for effective lifestyle changes anytime.

Visit York Test and use this discount code REST25.

Tech Problems? – Visit Three for information about business and personal telecom solutions from Three, and the special offers available when you quote our referral code WPFNUQHU.

Be a Guest Visit Matchmaker.fm. Use code MILW10 for a discount on membership.

Take one of the podcasting guest training programmes available from Work Place Learning Centre.

Thank you to you for listening.

We appreciate every like, download, and subscription.

What happens when the job you worked so hard to achieve no longer fits the life you want to live?

A licensed clinical psychologist, life coach, and long‑time yoga teacher, Alise Murray joins host Michael Millward to discuss: What happens when your ideal job no longer fits the life you want to live?

Alise spent years building a career she loved — clinical work, teaching, and eventually a coveted assistant professorship — only to discover that the realities of academia were squeezing out the very parts of the work that once lit her up. As she puts it, “It’s like suddenly I’m wearing a size eight shoe when I have a size nine foot.”

Alise explains how she made the bold decision to focus on home and family, and talks candidly about the fear of leaving stability, the financial challenges that followed.

Yet she also shares how those difficult years taught her to align spending, time, and values — Your banking app can be a mirror of the life you’re actually living.

The episode explores:

• How to recognise when your “dream job” is no longer the dream
• The emotional and practical realities of walking away from a secure career
• Why boundaries matter — and what happens when institutions ignore them
• The role of self‑reflection in major life decisions
• How financial habits can reveal your true values
• The importance of designing a life that fits, rather than forcing yourself into one that doesn’t

Alise now runs a successful private practice built around, integrating psychology, coaching, and whole‑body wellness. Her story is not about abandoning ambition — it’s about redefining it

Discover more about Alise Murray and Michael at Abeceder.co.uk

Audience Offers

Rachael mentions the book: The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work, which is available from Amazon.

Rest and Recreation is made on Zencastr, because it is so easy to use. Visit Zencastr.

Travel – at trade prices to anywhere in the world at trade prices as a member of The Ultimate Travel Club.

Health – The Annual Health Test from York Test is conducted by an experienced phlebotomist at your home or workplace. Hospital standard tests for 39 health markers.

A Personal Wellness Hub provides easy-to-understand results and guidance for effective lifestyle changes anytime.

Visit York Test and use this discount code REST25.

Tech Problems? – Visit Three for information about business and personal telecom solutions from Three, and the special offers available when you quote our referral code WPFNUQHU.

Be a Guest Visit Matchmaker.fm. Use code MILW10 for a discount on membership.

We recommend that potential guests take one of the podcasting guest training programmes available from Work Place Learning Centre.

Thank you to you for listening.

We appreciate every like, download, and subscription.

Recruiting and managing a virtual assistant is more complex than you expect.

Michael Millward chats with Rachael Davila– founder of Extra Hands Virtual Assistants, VA mentor, and author of Do I Need a VA? – for a conversation that goes far deeper than the usual “hire a helper” advice. Drawing on more than 20 years in the virtual assistant industry, Rachael explains how small business owners can work out whether they truly need a VA, what kind of support will actually help them, and how to build a relationship that unlocks time, creativity, and strategic focus.

Across the episode, Rachael shares her accidental entry into the VA world, how she built a long‑running business, and why the biggest barrier for overwhelmed entrepreneurs isn’t delegation—it’s mindset. She breaks down the two core VA types (“doers” and “collaborators”), the internal identity shift required to hand off work, and the surprising ways a VA can become a sounding board, operational partner, and catalyst for growth.

Listeners will hear real examples of clients who transformed their businesses, learn why processes matter, and discover how to assess their own readiness – including the simple pre‑work that makes hiring support far less daunting.

If you’ve ever wondered whether a virtual assistant could help you reclaim time, reduce stress, or finally move those big ideas forward, this episode will make you think.

Discover more about Kate Hendrickson and Michael at Abeceder.co.uk

Audience Offers

Rachael mentions the book: The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work, which is available from Amazon.

Rest and Recreation is made on Zencastr, because it is so easy to use. Visit Zencastr.

Travel – at trade prices to anywhere in the world at trade prices as a member of The Ultimate Travel Club.

Health – The Annual Health Test from York Test is conducted by an experienced phlebotomist at your home or workplace. Hospital standard tests for 39 health markers.

A Personal Wellness Hub provides easy-to-understand results and guidance for effective lifestyle changes anytime.

Visit York Test and use this discount code REST25.

Tech Problems? – Visit Three for information about business and personal telecom solutions from Three, and the special offers available when you quote our referral code WPFNUQHU.

Be a Guest Visit Matchmaker.fm. Use code MILW10 for a discount on membership.

We recommend that potential guests take one of the podcasting guest training programmes available from Work Place Learning Centre.

Thank you to you for listening.

We appreciate every like, download, and subscription.

How to manage the conflicting demands of work, career ambitions and family aspirations and not be a burned out working Mom?

A raw, relatable, and quietly powerful episode of Rest and Recreation for anyone trying to juggle work, identity, and a brand‑new baby. In this conversation, licensed mental health counsellor Christi Gmyr shares with host Michael Millward the truth behind returning to work after “only 10 weeks [with her new born] before I was expected to be back at work” and the emotional whiplash of wanting a career while wanting to be home.

From midnight on‑call shifts to the guilt of daycare drop‑offs, Christi’s story captures the pressure modern parents face — and the courage it takes to redesign your life when the old version no longer fits. As she puts it, “what was working before maybe isn’t working now.”

Christi describes her journey from agency work and on‑call nights to the difficult decision to leave a nine‑year career and rebuild her professional life in a way that aligned with her values and the demands of parenthood. Along the way, she reflects on resentment, exhaustion, shifting identities, and the invisible work mothers often do; all while acknowledging the supportive role of her husband and the absence of a local extended family.

This episode is bold, honest, and full of the kind of clarity that makes you rethink your own balance. Perfect for working parents, HR leaders, and anyone who’s ever felt stretched thin by competing priorities.

Discover more about Christi Gmyr and Michael at Abeceder.co.uk

Audience Offers

Rest and Recreation is made on Zencastr, because it is so easy to use. You can as well. Visit Zencastr.

Travel – at trade prices to anywhere in the world at trade prices as a member of The Ultimate Travel Club.

Health – The Annual Health Test from York Test is conducted by an experienced phlebotomist at your home or workplace. Hospital standard tests for 39 health markers.

A Personal Wellness Hub provides easy-to-understand results and guidance for effective lifestyle changes anytime.

Visit York Test and use this discount code REST25.

Tech Problems? – Visit Three for information about business and personal telecom solutions from Three, and the special offers available when you quote our referral code WPFNUQHU.

Be a Guest Visit Matchmaker.fm. Use code MILW10 for a discount on membership.

We recommend that potential guests take one of the podcasting guest training programmes available from Work Place Learning Centre.

Thank you to you for listening.

We appreciate every like, download, and subscription.

Kate Hendrickson is a business coach and author whose first novel Christmas Switch draws on her own experience to tell the story of Ali, a woman who experiences burnout and decides to switch life with Tommy, her husband to create a better life for herself and her family.

In this episode of the Abeceder work life balance podcast Rest and Recreation, Kate and host Michael Millward discuss burnout and Christmas Switch.

During their conversation Kate and Michael cover:

• How the industries and types of work that Kate decided to do increased her risk of experiencing burnout.
• Michael’s appearance in feature film The Magician
• Signs that someone is experiencing burnout
• How people stop feeling like themselves and become their job
• The power of little words like yes and no
• How to say no when the workload gets too big
• The similarities between work and home-based pressures
• Problems of putting the company first
• The lessons learnt from living through burnout

This episode of Rest and Recreation is ideal listening for anyone who wants to understand burnout so that they can avoid it or recover from it to build a new life.

Discover more about Kate Hendrickson and Michael at Abeceder.co.uk

Audience Offers

Rest and Recreation is made on Zencastr, because it is so easy to use. You can as well. Visit Zencastr.

Travel – at trade prices to anywhere in the world at trade prices as a member of The Ultimate Travel Club.

Health – The Annual Health Test from York Test is conducted by an experienced phlebotomist at your home or workplace. Hospital standard tests for 39 health markers.

A Personal Wellness Hub provides easy-to-understand results and guidance for effective lifestyle changes anytime.

Visit York Test and use this discount code REST25.

Tech Problems? – Visit Three for information about business and personal telecom solutions from Three, and the special offers available when you quote our referral code WPFNUQHU.

Be a Guest Visit Matchmaker.fm. Use code MILW10 for a discount on membership.

We recommend that potential guests take one of the podcasting guest training programmes available from Work Place Learning Centre.

Thank you to you for listening.

We appreciate every like, download, and subscription.

Reverend Sydney Francis provides trauma-informed spiritual healing who helps people transform emotional pain into spiritual purpose

In this episode of the Abeceder work life balance podcast Rest and Recreation, Rev Sydney and host Michael Millward discuss her latest book Activating Lunar Alchemy.

During their conversation Rev Sydney and Michael cover:

• Rev Sydney’s journey to ordination, and the founding of Soul Gardener
• Trauma informed spiritual healing
• What lunar alchemy is and how it can be applied most successfully
• The origins and applications of the Lakota Medicine Wheel.
• How modern life and the natural world conflict
• How Michael has subconsciously implemented these in his own approach to work life balance

This episode of Rest and Recreation is ideal listening for anyone who wants to live a life that is more in-tune with the way the natural world functions.

Discover more about Rev Sydney and Michael at Abeceder.co.uk

Audience Offers

Buy books by Sydney Francis at Amazon

Rest and Recreation is made on Zencastr, because it is so easy to use. You can as well. Visit Zencastr.

Travel – at trade prices to anywhere in the world at trade prices as a member of The Ultimate Travel Club.

Health – The Annual Health Test from York Test is conducted by an experienced phlebotomist at your home or workplace. Hospital standard tests for 39 health markers.

A Personal Wellness Hub provides easy-to-understand results and guidance for effective lifestyle changes anytime.

Visit York Test and use this discount code REST25.

Tech Problems? – Visit Three for information about business and personal telecom solutions from Three, and the special offers available when you quote our referral code WPFNUQHU.

Be a Guest Visit Matchmaker.fm. Use code MILW10 for a discount on membership.

We recommend that potential guests take one of the podcasting guest training programmes available from Work Place Learning Centre.

Thank you to you for listening.

We appreciate every like, download, and subscription.

Numa, defined as the singer of SELF EMPOWERMENT, is a multifaceted and eclectic artist engaged in humanitarian and animal rights activities.

Singer, songwriter, producer and artistic director, she has released several successful musical singles, (in Italian, Spanish and English) and, in combination with the message of "positive thinking", promotes her music all over the world.

In this episode of the Abeceder work life balance podcast Rest and Recreation, Numa and host Michael Millward discuss how Numa started her career and how it has developed to include collaborations with major artists.

Numa also discusses the inspiration for her ‘I Choose Love campaign which encourages people to think and act positively and gain self-empowerment by living authentically.

This episode of Rest and Recreation is ideal listening for anyone who is interested in a more positive way of thinking or just needs a burst of positivity in their life.

Discover more about Numa and Michael at Abeceder.co.uk

Audience Offers

Rest and Recreation is made on Zencastr, because it is so easy to use. You can as well. Visit Zencastr.

Travel – at trade prices to anywhere in the world at trade prices as a member of The Ultimate Travel Club.

Health – The Annual Health Test from York Test is conducted by an experienced phlebotomist at your home or workplace. Hospital standard tests for 39 health markers.

A Personal Wellness Hub provides easy-to-understand results and guidance for effective lifestyle changes anytime.

Visit York Test and use this discount code REST25.

Tech Problems? – Visit Three for information about business and personal telecom solutions from Three, and the special offers available when you quote our referral code WPFNUQHU.

Be a Guest Visit Matchmaker.fm. Use code MILW10 for a discount on membership.

We recommend that potential guests take one of the podcasting guest training programmes available from Work Place Learning Centre.

Thank you to you for listening.

We appreciate every like, download, and subscription.

Mark Steven Porro’s Multi-Tasking Adventures of Caring for Mom. And How He Survived to Tell the Tale

Mark Steven Porro is an entrepreneur, actor and writer, who gave it all up to become the full-time carer for his mother.

What do writers do when they have a life-changing experience? They write about it!

That is exactly what he did and created A Cup of Tea on the Commode. My Multi-Tasking Adventures of Caring for Mom. And How I Survived to Tell the Tale, an award-winning bestseller.

In this at times humorous and yet also poignant episode of the Abeceder work life balance podcast Rest and Recreation, Mark and host Michael Millward discuss their individual experiences of being a carer for older relatives.

They discuss how life changes for both carers and their relative; the change in relationship dynamic; adapting to their different perception of the world; the new skills a carer must develop; and the new experiences, and many more issues associated with being a carer.

This episode of Rest and Recreation is ideal listening for anyone who has or is about to have a care responsibility for an older relative.

Discover more about Mark Steven and Michael at Abeceder.co.uk

Audience Offers

Buy A Cup of Tea on the Commode. My Multi-Tasking Adventures of Caring for Mom. And How I Survived to Tell the Tale

On Amazon

On Bookshop.org

Rest and Recreation is made on Zencastr, because it is so easy to use. You can as well. Visit Zencastr.

Travel – at trade prices to anywhere in the world at trade prices as a member of The Ultimate Travel Club.

Health – The Annual Health Test from York Test is conducted by an experienced phlebotomist at your home or workplace. Hospital standard tests for 39 health markers.

A Personal Wellness Hub provides easy-to-understand results and guidance for effective lifestyle changes anytime.

Visit York Test and use this discount code REST25.

Tech Problems? – Visit Three for information about business and personal telecom solutions from Three, and the special offers available when you quote our referral code WPFNUQHU.

Be a Guest Visit Matchmaker.fm. Use code MILW10 for a discount on membership.

We recommend that potential guests take one of the podcasting guest training programmes available from Work Place Learning Centre.

Thank you to you for listening.

We appreciate every like, download, and subscription. 

The mental health benefits of Jigsaws.

Bethany Ofosuhene is passionate about jigsaws. Not just as a fascinating hobby, but also as a tool for improving mental health and well-being.

In this episode of the Abeceder work life balance podcast Rest and Recreation, Bethany describes to host Michael Millward how the ideas for her business Jigsaw and Gist developed.

During their conversation Bethany explains

• Some of the history of jigsaws
• The community, events and competitions that jigsaw fans participate in
• How and why jigsaws can help people with their mental health and general well-being
• How jigsaws can help with organisational and personal development

This episode of Rest and Recreation is ideal listening for

• Anyone looking for new ways to manage their mental health and general well-being
• Managers looking for interesting ways to develop their people.
• Business leaders looking for ways to grow their organisations

Discover more about Bethany and Michael at Abeceder.co.uk

Audience Offers

Jigsaws – Buy jigsaws from Amazon

Rest and Recreation is made on Zencastr, because it is so easy to use. You can as well. Visit Zencastr.

Travel – at trade prices to anywhere in the world at trade prices as a member of The Ultimate Travel Club.

Health – The Annual Health Test from York Test is conducted by an experienced phlebotomist at your home or workplace. Hospital standard tests for 39 health markers.

A Personal Wellness Hub provides easy-to-understand results and guidance for effective lifestyle changes anytime.

Visit York Test and use this discount code REST25.

Tech Problems? – Visit Three for information about business and personal telecom solutions from Three, and the special offers available when you quote our referral code WPFNUQHU.

Be a Guest Visit Matchmaker.fm. Use code MILW10 for a discount on membership.

We recommend that potential guests take one of the podcasting guest training programmes available from Work Place Learning Centre.

Thank you to you for listening.

We appreciate every like, download, and subscription.

Understanding stress is the first step to achieving balance in your life?

Noel McDermott is a psychotherapist, founder of Mental Health Works a comprehensive mental health service and host of The Well Being Show a weekly live video-based podcast available on YouTube and Facebook.

In this episode of the Abeceder work life balance podcast Rest and Recreation, Noel explains to host Michael Millward what psychotherapists do all day, with examples from his career which started by assisting people to leave long-term institutional care.

Noel also explains how well being is something that can we achieved by everyone regardless of what health condition or disability they live with.

Their conversation continues with a discussion of the four corners of well-being with a focus on how anyone can learn how to manage their own fight, flight, or freeze reactions to stressful situations.

They conclude with a discussion about breathing techniques and the truth behind the maxim, ‘a trouble shared is a trouble halved’.

This episode of Rest and Recreation is ideal listening for anyone trying to understand how to manage their reactions to difficult situations.

Discover more about Noel and Michael at Abeceder.co.uk

Audience Offers

Rest and Recreation is made on Zencastr, because it is so easy to use. You can as well. Visit Zencastr.

Travel – at trade prices to anywhere in the world at trade prices as a member of The Ultimate Travel Club.

Health – The Annual Health Test from York Test is conducted by an experienced phlebotomist at your home or workplace. Hospital standard tests for 39 health markers.

A Personal Wellness Hub provides easy-to-understand results and guidance for effective lifestyle changes anytime.

Visit York Test and use this discount code REST25.

Tech Problems? – Visit Three for information about business and personal telecom solutions from Three, and the special offers available when you quote our referral code WPFNUQHU.

Be a Guest Visit Matchmaker.fm. Use code MILW10 for a discount on membership.

We recommend that potential guests take one of the podcasting guest training programmes available from Work Place Learning Centre.

Thank you to you for listening.

We appreciate every like, download, and subscription.