The Second Half

On this weeks episode Jane and Hazel have a good catch up about what they have been up to over the last few weeks. Including marathons, book writing, trips to Cornwall and Mallorca and a listener request to give some top tips on how to recover from a major operation.

Once they remembered the phrase of fail to prepare - prepare to fail your hosts got stuck into how they prepare or not for things.  

This episodes top tips include being realistic with your goals and playing the long game and how important acceptance is along the way through being compassionate during periods of discomfort.

As usual Hazel gives Jane some top tips and additional tools to add her toolbox which you might find helpful as well.

This weeks episode covers loads of topics including spontaneous calling, writing a book, running a marathon, being weird, lucky number 18, saying no and tapping into other peoples minds?   And all under 40 mins! 

Both Jane and Hazel have big goals on the horizon which they chat about and explain what keeps them on track towards these and what disrupts them.  

With a focus on the importance of choosing to stretch ourselves to build resilience for when life throws something in that you aren't expecting.

Enjoy the episode and please share with someone who you think needs a bit more energy!

How many times have you said to yourself that you want to do this or you want to do that?  But in reality do nothing? 

This is something we all do, sometimes because we make our goals unrealistic or the effort to make the change is too much.  Perhaps we don’t have the right support around us or we simply don’t know where to start?

But if we really do want to change then we must implement some change!

This episode kicks off with Hazel asking the following question - Jane, why am I feeling so squidgy?  So your hosts do a live coaching session to delve into why what Hazel was doing in her 20’s doesn’t seem to be working for her now? 

Listen to the episode to understand the impact of our narrative, our stress and energy levels, and the way we talk to ourselves contributes to how we are feeling about the squidge! 

There are some great top tips on small and simple changes that you can incorporate into your day which will result in giving you more energy which lets face it has a massive impact on how we are feeling.

This weeks episode gives a recap of Hazels four season half marathon and Jane’s drunken marathon before the two share stories of their best work failures.

Of course Jane struggles with the word failure and tries to put the positive slant on it claiming never to have failed anything except a minibus driving test at University... 

The chat goes on to Hazel opening up and talking about how a work failure for her turned into the best thing that could have ever happened.   Going from crying in the carpark to gathering her energy to do something to put her on a different pathway.

Most people might come up with 3 things they might tell a younger self but Hazel delves into 7 things!  

One key one being around doing the work on yourself, which links to how we all find more energy to deal with the rest of life.

Returning from the sense of failure is the skill we need to develop and this is only something we can do with some energy.   

We cover a lot of ground in this episode, we hope it helps in some small way.

Moving your body in fun ways is one of the key contributors to helping you find more Energy.  Which sounds a bit bonkers as often when we feel exhausted the mere thought of doing anything extra adds to the exhaustion.  

But believe it or not the more you do move the more energised you will feel.  In this episode Hazel and Jane talk about what they enjoy doing and why they do it.  Call it movement, exercise, physical activity it doesn’t really matter but what does matter is finding something that you will do.

This episode explores the benefits of movement for both your physical and mental wellness.  Getting started is often the biggest hurdle and so your hosts share some ideas on how to get started and what might help you to keep it going.  

With Hazel having a half marathon coming up Jane probes a bit deeper into her motivations and reasons why she has signed up to doing it.  

Following on from Jane having a great day earlier in the year, this episode hears Hazel and Jane debating positivity and when it can go toxic!  

Following a year of being buddies Hazel and Jane talk about what annoys them about one another (well Hazel tells Jane) and turns into a really open and honest chat about what we need from our friends at different times and what we don't.

Being comfortable with being uncomfortable has come up on previous episodes but on this one its focus is on those uncomfortable emotions and how to sit with them and respond rather than react.

Will this be the last episode after the honest feedback or will Hazel and Jane be back for more!!  

Of course they will...feedback is feedback after all.

Welcome to the first episode of 2024 in which Hazel and Jane review their festive frolics and chat about their 2024 me.

For many of us January kicks off with the introduction of big lofty goals which lets face it if we can keep them up past the middle of January its an absolute miracle.  

Food, weight loss and exercising usually appear near the top of many New Years resolution lists.  With this usually being about cut out this, stop doing this, labelling everything as good and bad and generally making life really challenging.

Hazel and Jane in this episode chat about their past relationships with food and how at times these have been challenging.  Rather than focussing on food being the enemy they discuss how their processes day on day have helped them to reconnect with food as fuel for their bodies.  Focussing more on what they are putting in and why.

They discuss the book Ultra Processed-People, Why Do We All Eat Stuff That Isn’t Food … and Why Can’t We Stop? 

By Chris van Tulleken

In this episode Hazel and Jane discuss what they’re looking forward to about Christmas, but what might stand in their way in the run-up to the big day. They also share some interesting insight around how putting so much expectation on one day can be unhelpful if left unchecked.

If you are feeling under pressure and work is stressful at this time of year due to things like year-end, this episode is for you! While holding it together and “keeping going” until the Christmas break might seem like the only option, often that can result in falling ill by the time you get there. So what can you do to redress the balance and have enough energy to enjoy the festive season?

Jane and Hazel discuss some ways in which you can take these next few weeks to save some of your energy, or even invest some for the future, so that you can actually enjoy Christmas and avoid the sluggish ’twixmas’ period. They suggest some simple ways to take it back to the basics to ensure you get the good quality recovery you need. Spoiler: crashing on the sofa watching tv and eating sweet treats isn’t going to cut it!

Jane also shares some insight into the role of dopamine - the hormone that is released in anticipation of a reward - and the impact of our modern ‘abundance’ society. With everything we want so immediately available, how can you reset your dopamine reward pathway, rather than slipping into over-indulgence and instant gratification?

Hazel and Jane return to the concept of paying it forward to ‘tomorrow you’ by keeping up your healthy habits and connecting to what’s important to you, throughout the Christmas period. 

If you are enjoying this podcast, please leave us a rating or review!

How comfortable are you with discomfort? In this episode Hazel and Jane tackle the topic of discomfort - particularly arising from the tension between rigidity and flexibility.

Hazel kicks off with an update on her recent holiday - and transition back to reality - including a chance meeting on her flight with one of Jane’s friends! This prompts Jane to share some of her personal journey, reflecting back on some of her unhealthy habits at uni (including beer, kebabs and radioactive cheese!) and how she fell in love with exercise and came to be the healthier, happier person she is now. Jane talks about how she started out at the gym and how she gradually built up her ability to run, culminating in a half marathon that kick-started her ‘running career' raising money for various charities. 

Jane and Hazel go on to explore healthy habits and how maintaining them can be hard in the face of day-to-day life. They discuss how Jane has benefited from the rules she has put in place to support her own healthy habits, but how control and rigidity around those rules present their own challenges. They discuss the value of self-compassion and reflection - and how ’normal’ it is to struggle when judging whether to flex a rule or not. Ultimately it’s about feeling comfortable with the discomfort that arises.

Where can you get unstuck by giving yourself permission to flex your rules and get comfortable with the discomfort around that? Drop Hazel and Jane a message and tell them what this episode has helped you uncover.

Burnout happens really slowly, and then really quickly, following a long period of chronic stress. But is it possible to prevent it? How can we watch out for the warning signs and take action to take care of ourselves?

In this episode, Hazel and Jane update us on their co-delivery of a fun and interesting away day for a group of NHS health professionals about burnout prevention, inspiring a fascinating discussion about the nature of burnout. Hazel shares her own story of burnout, following the birth of her daughter, feeling as if she had something to prove and putting immense pressure on herself to hold everything together. 

Often when we burn out, we have been ‘pushing through’ for a long period of time - and if we don’t listen to the warning signs our body can take the decision to stop out of our hands.  For Hazel this looked like getting criticised for something at work and crying in the toilet, then she wasn’t able to stop. When you’re on the road to burnout, you often close out things that are actually helpful, such as exercise, seeing friends, eating well. Work becomes more important than anything else. For Hazel her recovery was about remembering what she needed to do to be well. 

Hazel shares some of the warning signs of burnout and how to tune into them - for example disrupted sleep over a long period of time is a common initial indicator of burnout! She then shares how she moved on from her own burnout experience, trained as a coach and started her own business. 

Jane and Hazel discuss how burnout can occur due to stress in our personal lives as well as work and at all levels of responsibility.  They also discuss the importance of recharging at the end of the day - particularly if you are in a role where you are giving a lot of yourself - and how this can manifest as ‘compassion fatigue’. Finally, they discuss some ideas of how you can commit to one small change or healthy habit to increase your energy, every day.