A Thought I Kept

Motherhood is often talked about as something instinctive, natural, or inevitable. But what if the stories we've inherited about mothering tell only part of the story? In this episode of A Thought I Kept, I sit down with feminist cultural historian and bestselling author Elinor Cleghorn to explore the hidden history of motherhood and the women whose experiences have so often been left out of...

What happens when movement stops being something we measure, earn, optimise or squeeze into a busy day, and becomes something much simpler? In this episode, I’m talking to Wendy Welpton about the idea that everyday movement matters just as much as exercise. It’s a conversation that begins with movement, but quickly becomes one about trust, self-compassion, ageing, wellbeing, and our relationship w...

There are times in life when trying to be a good person can become exhausting. A good daughter. A good mother. A good friend. A good employee. A good partner. A good citizen. So much of our lives can be shaped by trying to meet expectations, keep the peace, and make other people comfortable. But what happens when being good starts pulling us away from ourselves? In this episode, I talk to Alice Br...

In a world that often feels noisy, fast-moving, and full of other people's expectations, how do we stay connected to ourselves? How do we know what's truly ours, what lifts us up, and what might be shifting us into someone we were never meant to be? This week, I’m joined by Claire Venus, writer, mentor, Substack strategist, and founder of Creatively Conscious. Claire is someone I turn to...

Burnout is often described as being too busy, working too hard, or having too much on our plates. But what if it has as much to do with how we relate to ourselves as it does with how much we do? In this episode of A Thought I Kept, I talk to Dr Jillian Bybee, a paediatric intensive care physician, certified coach, writer, and host of the Humans Leading podcast. Having experienced burnout twice her...

What happens when wanting something is reason enough? In this episode of A Thought I Kept, I’m joined by writer and journalist Rachel Hartigan to explore a thought that has stayed with her for years: “I do it because I want to.” This opens up some surprisingly big questions: How often do we feel the need to justify what we want? How do we separate our own desires from expectations, responsibilitie...

My guest this week Natalie Lue is known to many people for her groundbreaking work on people pleasing, boundaries, emotional baggage, and relationships through The Baggage Reclaim Sessions and her book The Joy of Saying No .  We talk about the emotional roots of perfectionism and over-responsibility, the pressure to keep proving yourself, and the exhausting belief that you have to “earn” permissio...

This week, I talk to Toni Jones about all things self-help. Toni is the founder of Shelf Help, the world’s first self-help book club and over the last decade she has read 1,000 self-help books while building a global community around reading, reflection and connection. We explore the difference between trying to optimise yourself and actually learning how to care for yourself. Toni shares why she...

In this episode of A Thought I Kept , I talk to Hiroko Yoda about grief, Japanese spirituality, uncertainty, ritual, belonging, and what it means to live somewhere between belief and doubt. We explore the idea of “half belief, half doubt” — the Japanese concept of hanshin hangi and how it can offer a more spacious way of relating to uncertainty, spirituality, and even ourselves. Hiroko shares how...

In this episode, I talk to Jacky Power about feelings — the ones we hide, the ones we soften, and the ones we’re not always sure we’re allowed to have. We explore what it means to be seen, and why that can feel both deeply wanted and quietly risky. There’s something here about the tension between expression and protection — how we might say things sideways, through poetry or humour or busyness, an...

There are days when you’re here, fully in your life, in your conversations, in the small, ordinary moments, and days when part of you feels somewhere else entirely. That's what I get into with Cathy Rentzenbrink this week. We explore what it means to live a life that feels both grounded and slightly unreal at the same time. We explore the tension between being present and being pulled elsewhe...

In this episode, I talk to Tanya Lynch about hope, resilience, and the ways we hold ourselves through change. We explore what it means to believe that things will be OK, not as a forced positive mindset, but as something lived and felt over time. Through stories of heartbreak, midlife, motherhood, and starting again, Tanya shares how this trust has been shaped not just by ease, but by everything s...

What if trying — in your work, your parenting, your creativity — was already enough? There are time when it can feel like you’re doing everything you can, and still wondering if it’s enough. The days where you’re holding work, parenting, and life all at once, trying to build something, care for others, and look after your own mental health in the middle of it all. In this episode, I talk to Imogen...

There’s something that changes when we stop doing life on our own. Maybe that's an idea that only makes sense once it’s shared, a feeling that softens when someone else is there to hear it, or the magic that comes from being a room of likeminded people singing Queen . In this episode, I talk to Laurence McCahill about connection in its most everyday form and what it means to gather, to listen...

In this episode, I talk to Rachel Hart-Phillips about grief, suicide, and what it means to be there for someone in the hardest moments of their life. We explore that quiet, often uncomfortable space where words feel inadequate and yet, where they can matter most. We talk about the fear of saying the wrong thing, the silence that can grow around loss and mental health, and how even the simplest ges...

In this episode, I talk to Dr MaryCatherine McDonald about what it means to make space for all that we feel, especially the emotions we’ve been taught to push away. We explore anxiety, grief, joy, and all the ways our nervous system tries to protect us, even when it leaves us bracing against life rather than living it. MaryCatherine shares how her understanding of emotions shifted from something t...

Sometimes the things we reach for to cope slowly become the things we feel trapped by. A glass of wine at the end of a long day. Something to take the edge off anxiety. Something that promises connection, relaxation, or a moment of relief from the noise of everyday life. In this week’s episode of A Thought I Kept , I talk to sober coach, sober mentor, and writer Ellie Nova about our relationship w...

What if the way to feel better isn’t about doing more but learning how to notice what’s already here? In this episode, I talk with occupational therapist Josephine Dolan-Dufourd about what it means to find beauty in everyday life, especially when you're not quite where you thought you'd be. We explore burnout, the pressure to keep producing, and the curious way our attention can get pull...

There are moments in life when everything looks fine on the outside, but something inside you is wondering, is this it? In this episode, I talk to Erica Moore about career change, rest, tea, and the small, pivotal moments that can shift the direction of a life. The bath before work. The cup of tea. The sudden clarity that life is short and this isn’t a dress rehearsal. Erica shares what happened w...

This week I’m joined by writer, ADHD coach and founder of The Quiet ADHD Club, Gabrielle Treanor. Together, we explore what it means to feel fully here in your own life, especially if you’re a quiet woman in midlife who has spent years trying to be smaller, more consistent, or more “together” than you actually feel inside. We talk openly about ADHD in midlife, including the experience of late diag...

What happens when the life you carefully built no longer feels like it fits? When the version of success you were chasing leaves you anxious, or strangely unfulfilled? In this episode, I sit down with Ray Martin to explore what it really means to live in surrender without losing yourself. Ray shares the story of a year that unravelled everything he thought he knew — his marriage, his business, eve...

Sometimes it isn’t a dramatic breaking point that tells us something needs to change. It can be quieter than that. Maybe just a sense of disconnect, or a feeling that the story we’re living no longer quite belongs to us. In this episode of A Thought I Kept , I talk to Hilary Salzman about what happens when you start to notice that misalignment — between who you are, how you’re seen, and the roles...

This week’s thought I kept comes from Edwina Jenner , and it’s one that fundamentally reshaped how she thinks about responsibility, self-trust, and the way we move through midlife. It’s a thought that can feel confronting at first but, when given some space, can open up a surprising sense of clarity and freedom. In this episode of A Thought I Kept , I talk with Edwina about what happens when we st...

In this episode of A Thought I Kept , I’m joined by Nicky Denson-Elliott for a conversation about the beliefs many women carry without ever consciously choosing them and what can shift when we begin to let those beliefs go. We talk about the emotional weight of comparison, competition, and feeling like we have to stay small or agreeable just to feel safe. About confidence not as a personality trai...

In this episode, I talk to Matthew Bellringer about what it can feel like to move through a world that doesn’t always seem to be made for you and how impactful it can be to realise that other people may be experiencing that same world in fundamentally different ways. We talk about neurodiversity, but always through lived experience rather than labels. About overwhelm, burnout, boredom, joy, and cu...