To have kids or not have kids? In a world where marriage and parenthood are still seen as the expected life path, what does it mean to defy convention and choose a different way?

 

This week, Jill talks to award-winning documentary filmmaker Therese Shechter about her revolutionary film, My So-Called Selfish Life and the unstoppable rise of the child-free movement.

 

In a world where reproductive rights are under attack, Therese explores how the freedom to choose whether or not to become a mother has never been more urgent.

 

She’s a child-free woman whose work delves deep into a subject that has often been shrouded in shame and stigma, and finds that for many women, there simply is no physiological or emotional imperative to have children.

 

Therese also drops some truth bombs about the “biological clock”, and the surprising number of women who regret becoming mothers, and finds that much of what we’ve been told about the drive to procreate is a social construct.

 

Just one quick content note: this episode was recorded last year, prior to the US election before we knew that J D Vance, that famous lover of childless cat ladies, would be Vice President, so keep that in mind while you’re listening.

 

You can follow Therese on Instagram @trixiefilms, find out more about her film, My So Called Selfish Life here or head to her website for information on her other work.

 

To stay in touch with Well Enough Alone, you can follow us on Instagram @wellenoughalonepod or follow Jill @jillstark__

 

Well Enough Alone is a Spare Room production. Our producers are Kieran Simpson and Trent Bartlett.

 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 

 

Get early access to new episodes by subscribing on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week’s guest is the very definition of thriving solo. Cindy Gallop is a trailblazer for single, child-free living. She’s torn up the rule book, rejected outdated societal expectations, and actively celebrates her solo life.

 

She’s also someone who is open about the fun she’s having as an older woman dating younger men casually for sex – a trend she says is the relationship model of the future.

 

In this episode, she talks to Jill about why she loves being unmarried and child-free and the liberation she finds in her own company.

 

An entrepreneur and a social disruptor, Cindy describes herself as the ‘Michael Bay of business’ because she likes to blow things up.

 

As the founder and CEO of MakeLoveNotPorn, Cindy’s visionary reimagining of the porn industry has challenged misogynistic and unrealistic depictions of sex.

 

It’s a movement that promotes healthy, consensual and authentic sexual behaviour that empowers women and prioritises connection and open communication.

 

Cindy also talks about her unique perspective on ageing and loving her body, and how she’s living life unapologetically on her own terms.

 

You can follow Cindy on Instagram @cindygallop or follow @makelovenotporn, and check out her website here.

 

To stay in touch with Well Enough Alone, you can follow us on Instagram @wellenoughalonepod or @jillstark__

 

Well

Enough Alone is a Spare Room production. Our producers are Kieran Simpson and

Trent Bartlett.

 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get early access to new episodes by subscribing on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What do death and dying have to teach us about getting comfortable with aloneness and living a good life?

 

It’s a subject that’s often taboo and shrouded in fear and secrecy, but it’s also something none of us can avoid.

 

But what does a good death look like? Is it a lonely and frightening experience? Or can it be something profound and beautiful, with as much to teach us about how to live as how to die?

 

This week, Jill talks to Annie Whitlocke about her work as a death doula, providing emotional, physical, spiritual and practical support to people in their final days.

 

Annie has had a fascinating life. She’s happily single after six marriages, and has experienced immense loss and hardship, giving her unique insights about how to find peace in aloneness.

 

Just as birth doulas provide non-medical support throughout the birthing process, Annie, a death doula, Buddhist chaplain and pastoral carer, is there at the other end of the cycle, acting as a nurturing companion in life’s last transition.

 

You can learn more about Annie’s work here and read about it in her own words here.

 

To stay in touch with Well Enough Alone, you can follow us on Instagram @wellenoughalonepod or @jillstark__

 

Well Enough Alone is a Spare Room production. Our producers are Kieran Simpson and Trent Bartlett.

 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 

Get early access to new episodes by subscribing on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you’ve ever been with a partner and asked, “Is this relationship going anywhere?” or been swept up in a romance without stopping to question if it’s really what you want, then you may already be familiar with the “relationship escalator.”

It’s a phrase coined by journalist, Amy Gahran, to describe the default set of steps society expects all intimate relationships to follow. She challenged the cookie cutter approach to modern love with her groundbreaking book, Stepping Off the Relationship Escalator.

This week, she chats to Jill about unconventional intimate relationships including consensual nonmonogamy, polyamory and asexuality, as well as her own experiences of solo polyamory, and what she’s learned from being in relationships that don’t follow the standard social script.

 

Amy is based in Boulder, Colorado, and also writes under the pen name Aggie Sez on her blog, Solo Poly.

 To stay in touch with Well Enough Alone, you can follow us on Instagram @wellenoughalonepod or @jillstark__ or support the show and get subscriber-only, early and ad-free episodes on Patreon.

 

Well Enough Alone is a Spare Room production. Our producers are Kieran Simpson and Trent Bartlett.

 

Get early access to new episodes by subscribing on Patreon.

 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get early access to new episodes by subscribing on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week’s episode is one we’re really honoured to bring to you.

 

Our guest is someone with boundless courage and compassion, who has shared some of her most vulnerable moments with the world so that others might feel less alone.

 

Rosie Batty is, as she says, the member of a club no mother wants to join. She lost her 11-year-old son, Luke, in 2014 when he was killed by his father that thrust her into the national spotlight as passionate campaigner on the issue of family violence.

 

In this raw and moving conversation, Rosie speaks with profound clarity about how she found hope in the darkest of places, and what she has learned about identity, solitude, the power of human connection, and cultivating a strong sense of self.

 

Rosie has spent the past ten years tirelessly advocating for social, cultural and legal change, on family violence inspiring millions not just in Australia but around the world.

 

In 2014, she won the Pride of Australia Award and in 2015 was named Australian of the Year.

 

Rosie is not on social media but you can read more about her memoirs, A Mother’s Story, and Hope here.

 

If you or someone you know is experiencing family violence, call or visit 1800RESPECT (in Australia) or contact your local support organisation.

 

To stay in touch with Well Enough Alone, you can follow us on Instagram @wellenoughalonepod or @jillstark__ or support the show and get subscriber-only, early and ad-free episodes on Patreon.

 

Well Enough Alone is a Spare Room production. Our producers are Kieran Simpson and Trent Bartlett.

 

Get early access to new episodes by subscribing on Patreon.

 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get early access to new episodes by subscribing on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Season 2: Episode Six

 

Jacinta Parsons: On reclaiming your forever self, the wisdom of older women and lessons from living with chronic illness

 

Reaching mid-life and reckoning with the ageing process can also be a time of invisibility and isolation, particularly for women.

 

Living with a chronic illness can also be a lonely place. It can feel like the world is moving on around you while you’re stuck in freeze frame.

 

But what if these experiences were actually the birthplace for bringing forth the greatest version of ourselves? One that is truly at peace and comfortable alone.

This week’s guest has lived and researched both these topics and has many lessons to impart about the importance of finding our ‘forever self.’

 

In a moving and intimate conversation, Jacinta and Jill get vulnerable as they dive into some of life’s biggest topics.

 

Jacinta Parsons is a broadcaster, public speaker, ABC Melbourne radio host and author of three books that delve into the complexities, frailties and wisdom of the human condition:

Unseen: The Secret World of Chronic Illness; A Question of Age; and the soon to be released,

A Wisdom of Age.

 

You can follow Jacinta on Instagram: @jacintaparsons or visit her website here.

 

To stay in touch with Well Enough Alone, you can follow us on Instagram @wellenoughalonepod or @jillstark__ or support the show and get subscriber-only, early and ad-free episodes on Patreon.

 

Well Enough Alone is a Spare Room production. Our producers are Kieran Simpson and Trent Bartlett.

 

Get early access to new episodes by subscribing on Patreon.

 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get early access to new episodes by subscribing on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week’s episode is a really juicy one so buckle up!

 

Can we have a fulfilling, safe and healthy sex life when we’re unpartnered? Is sex an essential part of the human experience or are there other ways to find intimacy?

 

Our guest this week is Cyndi Darnell, a certified clinical sexologist, psychotherapist and couple's counsellor based in New York.

 

She works with singles, traditional couples and people in open, polyamorous, kinky and consensual non monogamous relationships.

 

She walks us through what sex can look like if we’re not partnered, how our sexual appetites change through different seasons of our life, and the less conventional, but no less fulfilling, relationship structures available to us.

 

In an extremely candid episode, Jill shares experiences from own sex life, as Cyndi helps navigate a path through a topic that is often shrouded in shame and secrecy.

 

And Cyndi speaks about her rich and full child-free, single life and how she’s rejected social expectations and embraced ‘relationship anarchy’.

 

You can follow Cyndi on Instagram: @cyndi_darnell or visit her website here.

 

To stay in touch with Well Enough Alone, you can follow us on Instagram @wellenoughalonepod or @jillstark__ or support the show and get subscriber-only, early and ad-free episodes on Patreon.

 

Well Enough Alone is a Spare Room production. Our producers are Kieran Simpson and Trent Bartlett.

 

Get early access to new episodes by subscribing on Patreon.

 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get early access to new episodes by subscribing on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s episode is one that many of you asked us for – what does it take to have a child on your own?

 

Whether you’re sure you want kids, still trying to decide, or want to be child-free, this week’s guest has many life lessons that can help you figure out, or reaffirm, what’s right for you.

 

Alexandra Collier was 37 and living in Brooklyn with the man she loved when she woke up to a ravenous hunger to have a baby that unfortunately her younger partner didn't share.

 

What happened next is an extraordinary story of courage, hope, and what it means to start a family on your own terms.

 

Alexandra’s memoir Inconceivable: Heartbreak, Bad Dates and Finding Solo Motherhood is a moving account of that journey, and she shares with Jill the logistics, emotional complexity, financial implications and judgement she faced when she chose to become a single parent.

 

But she also speaks of the joy and empowerment she’s found in following her own path, and what life looks like for her now with a five-year-old.

 

Alexandra is an award-winning Melbourne writer who has written for theatre, screen and print. She lived and worked in New York for a decade where her plays were produced Off Broadway

 

You can follow Alexandra on Instagram: @alexandracollierwrites and learn more about her book, Inconceivable, here.

 

To stay in touch with Well Enough Alone, you can follow us on Instagram @wellenoughalonepod or @jillstark__ or support the show and get subscriber-only early and ad-free episodes on Patreon.

 

Well Enough Alone is a Spare Room production. Our producers are Kieran Simpson and Trent Bartlett.

 

Get early access to new episodes by subscribing on Patreon.

 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get early access to new episodes by subscribing on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 

We live in an age when we’re more connected than at any point in history. But in our terminally online timeline, many young people are feeling a profound sense of loneliness, isolation and pessimism about the future.

 

They are often disengaged from politics and less than hopeful about modern dating and relationships.

 

Our guest this week is someone who has tapped into that feeling of apathy and disconnection and created a powerful platform for social and political change.

 

Hannah Ferguson is the founder and CEO of Cheek Media, an independent news commentary platform that aims to educate and inform while at the same time making young people feel more engaged and less alone.

She talks candidly with Jill about the personal stories she shares in her new book Taboo: Conversations we never had about sex, body image, work and relationships, a vulnerable exploration of modern womanhood that exposes and celebrates the messy, honest and insular parts of ourselves.

 

Hannah is also the co-host of politics and pop culture podcast, Big Small Talk, and the author of two best-selling books, Bite Back and Taboo – all this by the age of 25!

 

To stay in touch with Well Enough Alone, you can follow us on Instagram @wellenoughalonepod or @jillstark__ or support the show and get subscriber-only, early and ad-free episodes on Patreon.

 

Well Enough Alone is a Spare Room production. Our producers are Kieran Simpson and Trent Bartlett.

 

Get early access to new episodes by subscribing on Patreon.

 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get early access to new episodes by subscribing on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Imagine being the star of a reality TV dating show as one of the most visible eligible bachelors in the country, and you find love in the full glare of the public eye only to have your life fall apart.

 

That’s what happened to Dr Matt Agnew, when he appeared on The Bachelor, fell in love, broke up, then felt himself slowly unravel.

 

In this week’s episode, Matt speaks with courage and candour about his battle with mental illness, living in the spotlight, how he’s found happiness alone, and why he’s passionate about dismantling patriarchy and modelling healthy forms of masculinity.

 

Matt is an author, an engineer, a data scientist and an astrophysicist, who has written two books, Is My Phone Reading My Mind: The Real Facts About Artificial Intelligence, and Dr Matt’s Guide to Life in Space.  

 

You can follow Matt on Instagram: @drmattagnew or visit his website here.

To stay in touch with Well Enough Alone, you can follow us on Instagram @wellenoughalonepod or @jillstark__ or support the show and get subscriber-only, early and ad-free episodes on Patreon.

 

Well Enough Alone is a Spare Room production. Our producers are Kieran Simpson and Trent Bartlett.

 

Get early access to new episodes by subscribing on Patreon.

 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Content warning: this episode discusses issues of mental illness and suicide. If you need support contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or your local crisis centre,

Get early access to new episodes by subscribing on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.