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In this week's episode, I’m talking to the inspiring Amy Key. 

Amy is a poet and author who lives in London. Her poetry collection, Luxe, was published in 2013. Her second collection, Isn’t Forever, was published in 2018 and was a Poetry Book Society Wild Card choice. Amy’s debut non-fiction book, Arrangements in Blue, was published in spring 2023. The book uses Joni Mitchell’s 1971 album, Blue, as a framework to investigate our cultural obsession with coupledom, and what it means to live a life in the absence of romantic love. 

Amy grew up in Kent and the North East, but has lived and worked in London since 2001.

 Topics that Amy & I cover are:

• how, when she broke up with her last boyfriend at the age of 22, she assumed her singleness would be temporary;
• how in her thirties she thought there was something uniquely wrong with her that was the reason she was alone;
• how putting romantic love at the centre of everything can be damaging to both singles and people in relationships;
• how Amy used to think of herself as a perpetual adolescent rather than a ‘proper’ adult;
• how Amy still feels lonely at times, but how she has learnt to embrace her solitude;
• her advice for singles about the importance of being intentional with their weekend time;
• why we should question the relative importance of romantic love;
• how Amy came up with the idea for her book, Arrangements in Blue;
• how Amy has spent a lifetime listening to Joni Mitchell, and how she is in her blood;
• how she used the songs from Joni’s album, Blue, to give the book a framework to reflect back the different elements of Amy’s single life;
• how the song, All I Want, resonated with Amy as soon as she heard it at the age of 14;
• the meaning behind, and Amy’s interpretation of, the songs Blue, A Case of You, and The Last Time I Saw Richard in the book;
• how the concept of having a ‘soulmate’ can make single people feel even more lonely;
• how other things in life can make you equally as happy as romantic love.

Check out Amy’s website:
https://amyvkey.com/

Buy Amy’s book:
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/447053/arrangements-in-blue-by-key-amy/9781787333895

Follow Amy on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/msamykey/ 

Follow Amy On Twitter:
https://twitter.com/msamykey

Follow Amy on Blue Sky:
https://bsky.app/profile/amykey.bsky.social

Amy’s Substack:

Support the show

• Buy my book, SHINY HAPPY SINGLES (UK) / THRIVE SOLO (US & Canada) at: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/book

• Join my membership community for single women, Thrive Solo: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/thrivesolo

• Download my FREE PDF 'Top 10 Comebacks for the Most
  Annoying Questions Single Women Get Asked'
• Go to: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/comebacks

• Check out my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thrivesolowithlucymeggeson

• Join my private Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1870817913309222/?ref=share

• Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thrivesolowithlucymeggeson/

• Email me: [email protected]

And thank you so much for listening!

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On today's minisode, I'm talking about the completely divine and brilliantly funny, Matthew Perry.

I felt called to do a minisode following his death because it seems to have hit me harder than any celebrity death in my lifetime so far - and I know I'm not alone.

I talk about his cult character, the one-and-only Chandler Bing - aka Chanandler Bong, Friends mania and the TV show that captured our hearts for 10 years, as well as Matthew Perry's well-documented struggle with addiction.

I also read out some of his own words about how he wanted to remembered after his death.

So long, Matty. We will love you forever.  

Support the show

• Buy my book, SHINY HAPPY SINGLES (UK) / THRIVE SOLO (US & Canada) at: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/book

• Join my membership community for single women, Thrive Solo: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/thrivesolo

• Download my FREE PDF 'Top 10 Comebacks for the Most
  Annoying Questions Single Women Get Asked'
• Go to: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/comebacks

• Check out my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thrivesolowithlucymeggeson

• Join my private Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1870817913309222/?ref=share

• Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thrivesolowithlucymeggeson/

• Email me: [email protected]

And thank you so much for listening!

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On this week’s Thursdays Thoughts, Polly and I talk about the importance of raising our vibration.

We are all 99.9% energy and are vibrating at different frequencies ranging from more high vibe states such as joy, appreciation and enthusiasm, to low vibe states such as fear, shame and anger.

We share how it’s possible to choose which frequency you vibrate on and some practical ways to raise your vibe.

Enjoy!

Polly & Lucy x

Support the show

• Buy my book, SHINY HAPPY SINGLES (UK) / THRIVE SOLO (US & Canada) at: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/book

• Join my membership community for single women, Thrive Solo: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/thrivesolo

• Download my FREE PDF 'Top 10 Comebacks for the Most
  Annoying Questions Single Women Get Asked'
• Go to: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/comebacks

• Check out my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thrivesolowithlucymeggeson

• Join my private Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1870817913309222/?ref=share

• Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thrivesolowithlucymeggeson/

• Email me: [email protected]

And thank you so much for listening!

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In this week's episode, I’m talking to the fabulous Julie Sondra Decker. 

Julie Sondra Decker, is an author from Tampa, Florida. She writes fiction for adults and children—usually speculative fiction, fantasy, and science fiction—and she is widely known for her nonfiction work in asexuality awareness activism. Her nonfiction title, The Invisible Orientation, was released in September 2014.

Julie is single and childfree, also asexual and aromantic, and she’s known as a very prominent voice for the asexual community. 

Topics that Julie & I cover are:

• what it was like to grow up as an asexual woman in the 80s and 90s;
• how Julie doesn’t experience either romantic, or sexual, attraction;
• how she isn’t drawn to either men or women, although asexuals who aren’t aromantic tend to have a gender preference;
• the ‘excuses’ that people used to made for Julie’s asexuality;
• how people can say hurtful things, even if they aren’t intending to;
• what motivated Julie to write her book, The Invisible Orientation;
• how she wanted to have a section in the book that de-bunked the common misconceptions about asexuality;
• how one such misconception is that asexuality is a temporary state;
• how other common myths are that ‘you just can’t find a partner and ‘you just haven’t met the right person’;
• how in Julie’s experience, there tend to be more asexuals who want relationships than those that don’t;
• how there are some asexuals who still enjoy sex, as well as those who still have a sex drive;
• the benefits of being asexual;
• how being asexual allows Julie to be more objective when it comes to judging other people;
• the wonderful freedoms that come with being a single woman.

Check out Julie’s website:
https://juliesondradecker.com/ 

Buy Julie’s’s book, The Invisible Orientation (UK Link):
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Invisible-Orientation-Introduction-Asexuality-Generation/dp/1634502434 

Buy Julie’s’s book, The Invisible Orientation (US Link):
https://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Orientation-Introduction-Asexuality-Generation/dp/1634502434 

Follow Julie's YouTube Channel:
swankivy

Follow Julie on Instagram:
@swankivy

Support the show

• Buy my book, SHINY HAPPY SINGLES (UK) / THRIVE SOLO (US & Canada) at: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/book

• Join my membership community for single women, Thrive Solo: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/thrivesolo

• Download my FREE PDF 'Top 10 Comebacks for the Most
  Annoying Questions Single Women Get Asked'
• Go to: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/comebacks

• Check out my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thrivesolowithlucymeggeson

• Join my private Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1870817913309222/?ref=share

• Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thrivesolowithlucymeggeson/

• Email me: [email protected]

And thank you so much for listening!

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In the words of Frank Sinatra...'regrets, I've had a few'. But I choose not to dwell on them.

How many times have you been asked "Aren't You Worried You'll Regret Not Having Kids?" On today's minisode, I talk about why this question irks me (to put it mildly) not least because I don't believe that it's the regret that trumps all others. 

I also talk more generally about regrets and why, unless we're actually going to do something about them, they truly are a waste of our time and our energy. 

Ultimately, regret is a choice. And we have it within our power to choose NOT to regret things we've either done, or haven't done. Instead, we can choose to embrace the choices we have made, and focus our energy on what we have in front of us, rather than what we've left behind. 

Support the show

• Buy my book, SHINY HAPPY SINGLES (UK) / THRIVE SOLO (US & Canada) at: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/book

• Join my membership community for single women, Thrive Solo: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/thrivesolo

• Download my FREE PDF 'Top 10 Comebacks for the Most
  Annoying Questions Single Women Get Asked'
• Go to: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/comebacks

• Check out my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thrivesolowithlucymeggeson

• Join my private Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1870817913309222/?ref=share

• Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thrivesolowithlucymeggeson/

• Email me: [email protected]

And thank you so much for listening!

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On today’s Thursday Thoughts, Polly & I are talking about fear.

The thing about fear is that it’s always going to be there. Whether it’s fear about handing your notice in at work, or fear about ending a relationship, fear isn’t going anywhere. So the question is: how do we face it, deal with it, and move through it?

Polly & I talk about our own relationships with fear, and share what we do to ensure that it doesn’t hold us back from pursuing the things we desire.

We hope you’ll find something useful in here.

Love,
Polly & Lucy x

Support the show

• Buy my book, SHINY HAPPY SINGLES (UK) / THRIVE SOLO (US & Canada) at: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/book

• Join my membership community for single women, Thrive Solo: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/thrivesolo

• Download my FREE PDF 'Top 10 Comebacks for the Most
  Annoying Questions Single Women Get Asked'
• Go to: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/comebacks

• Check out my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thrivesolowithlucymeggeson

• Join my private Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1870817913309222/?ref=share

• Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thrivesolowithlucymeggeson/

• Email me: [email protected]

And thank you so much for listening!

Send us a text

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In this week's episode, I’m talking to the inspirational Laura Waters. 

Laura is a travel writer, speaker, author and presenter who lives near Melbourne, Australia. She is the author of ‘Bewildered’, a book about her solo journey hiking New Zealand’s Te Araroa trail, 3000 kilometres of raw, wild, mountainous trail winding from the top of the North Island to the tip of the South Island. Originally, Laura was meant to walk the 5 month trail with her friend, but when the friend decided to drop out on day two, Laura made the decision to continue on alone.

Laura is single, childfree, and is a member of the Australian Society of Travel Writers and the Adventure Travel Trade Association. She has written for numerous publications including Escape (Newscorp), NZ Herald, Australian Traveller, Geographical UK, RAC, Jetstar, Virgin, Outdoor, Wild, Great Walks, Action Diver, Active Retirees and many more. 

Topics that Laura & I cover are:

• the story of what prompted her to walk the Te Araroa trail;
• her decision to continue alone when her friend dropped out on Day 2;
• how the trek involved hiking thick forests, volcanic terrain, mountains, as well as rafting down rivers;
• how Laura loved the simplicity of ‘no makeup, no mirrors, no media’;
• how although she was alone, Laura would sometimes walk with other people on the trail;
• how getting caught in a snow storm taught Laura that she was capable of doing it on her own;
• how Laura found the physical strength required for the trip more difficult than the mental strength;
• how the anxiety and depression that Laura was suffering from before she left, completely lifted within a couple of weeks on the trail;
• the transformative power of nature, and how Laura felt totally connected to the nature around her;
• how the trip freed up her mind and she felt a lightness of being;
• how her trip gave her the courage to go after her dreams of being a writer;
• how passion is a great compass to tell you if you’re on the right track in life;
• Laura’s book, BeWILDered, and how it was even harder than her 5 month hike;
• how Laura would love a partner to share her life’s journey with.

Check out Laura’s website:
https://soultrekkers.com.au/ 

Buy Laura’s book, Bewildered:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bewildered-Laura-Waters/dp/0369334442 

Follow Laura on Instagram:
@laurawaters_writer

Support the show

• Buy my book, SHINY HAPPY SINGLES (UK) / THRIVE SOLO (US & Canada) at: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/book

• Join my membership community for single women, Thrive Solo: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/thrivesolo

• Download my FREE PDF 'Top 10 Comebacks for the Most
  Annoying Questions Single Women Get Asked'
• Go to: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/comebacks

• Check out my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thrivesolowithlucymeggeson

• Join my private Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1870817913309222/?ref=share

• Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thrivesolowithlucymeggeson/

• Email me: [email protected]

And thank you so much for listening!

Send us a text

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On today's minisode, I'm talking about why it's not a problem when someone doesn't like us.

Much as we'd all love everybody to think we're bloody fabulous, that simply isn't how life works. Unfortunately, there will always be people for whom we're just not their cup of tea.

But is it really 'unfortunate'? Or is there actually a compelling reason why we should be happy that some people love us and others, well, hate us?! 

Press 'Play' to find out the answer!

Support the show

• Buy my book, SHINY HAPPY SINGLES (UK) / THRIVE SOLO (US & Canada) at: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/book

• Join my membership community for single women, Thrive Solo: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/thrivesolo

• Download my FREE PDF 'Top 10 Comebacks for the Most
  Annoying Questions Single Women Get Asked'
• Go to: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/comebacks

• Check out my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thrivesolowithlucymeggeson

• Join my private Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1870817913309222/?ref=share

• Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thrivesolowithlucymeggeson/

• Email me: [email protected]

And thank you so much for listening!

Send us a text

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On this week’s Thursday Thoughts, Polly & I are talking about time.

We often feel like we don’t have enough time to do the things we want to do, yet we all have the same 24 hours in a day, so it’s how we prioritise our time that’s important.

We hope you’ll find something useful in this conversation!

Love,
Polly & Lucy x

Support the show

• Buy my book, SHINY HAPPY SINGLES (UK) / THRIVE SOLO (US & Canada) at: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/book

• Join my membership community for single women, Thrive Solo: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/thrivesolo

• Download my FREE PDF 'Top 10 Comebacks for the Most
  Annoying Questions Single Women Get Asked'
• Go to: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/comebacks

• Check out my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thrivesolowithlucymeggeson

• Join my private Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1870817913309222/?ref=share

• Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thrivesolowithlucymeggeson/

• Email me: [email protected]

And thank you so much for listening!

Send us a text

Support the show

In this week's episode, I’m talking to the gorgeous Pip Brown who owns her own dog walking business on the Isle of Wight. She is also happily single and childfree, a listener to the podcast, and a member of my Thrive Solo membership!

Pip is passionate about letting other single women know that it is ok to be alone, and has a social media journal on Instagram, @onesinglewoman, where she aims to empower other women like herself to embrace their single, childfree lives.

Topics that Pip & I cover are:

• Pip’s story of going through premature menopause at just 15 years old;
• how she knew from a young age that she didn’t want kids;
• the concept of being single at heart, and how Pip & I both relate to it;
• how she always felt like an alien because she wasn’t particularly bothered about getting into a relationship;
• how she is an extroverted introvert who relishes her alone time;
• how Pip always used to feel a sense of relief at the end of a relationship;
• how Pip has realised that it’s not her job to worry about the stigma she has faced around her singlehood;
• how she cried when she discovered the podcast because it validated her place in the world;
• how she feels called to help other single women who are feeling the same way she used to feel;
• how writing down her story and sharing it on social media was like therapy;
• Pip’s love of animals and how her two rescue dogs are her world;
• how she feels about any future relationship, and how Pip is not willing to compromise on the big things;
• Pip’s thoughts on the best things about being a single woman;
• how both mine and Pip’s idea of a nightmare is having to take a child to sports matches on a Saturday!

Follow Pip on Instagram:
@onesinglewoman

Follow Pip’s other Instagram account:
@muddydogiw 

Support the show

• Buy my book, SHINY HAPPY SINGLES (UK) / THRIVE SOLO (US & Canada) at: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/book

• Join my membership community for single women, Thrive Solo: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/thrivesolo

• Download my FREE PDF 'Top 10 Comebacks for the Most
  Annoying Questions Single Women Get Asked'
• Go to: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/comebacks

• Check out my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thrivesolowithlucymeggeson

• Join my private Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1870817913309222/?ref=share

• Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thrivesolowithlucymeggeson/

• Email me: [email protected]

And thank you so much for listening!