Growth In Progress

This week we discuss the word of the year (don’t worry, we hadn’t heard of it either!), Christmas in Japan and the joy of embracing diverse friendships. We’ve noticed in the past few years we’ve built more friendships with people who have had different careers, upbringings, and experience to us, who might be in a different life stage to us even though we’re similar ag...

We are back after an unexpected break which is also the longest we’ve gone without a call in our 11-year friendship! We’re explaining where we’ve been, what grief has (and hasn’t) made us do, the little joys we’re trying to find in day to day life and just having a good old catch up, which we’ve really missed being able to do for the last month! We’d love...

This week we’re discussing parasocial relationships, what they are and how this relatively new social phenomenon has shaped the interactions we have online. Maybe you feel a real affinity to Taylor, perhaps Kim feels like your bestie or you might be a committed member of the Beehive. It may be ebven closer to home than that, maybe you simply feel a lot closer to an old childhood friend than...

This week we’re diving into how accepting everything is temporary can be one of the best ways to live in the moment and make the most of where you are. It’s all temporary, the good and the bad. It’s fleeting and no matter how hard we try we can’t make anything last long or pass faster, so why are we so bad at living in the moment? It’s easy to get caught up in everyth...

This week we discuss *the* Netflix documentary of the moment, two books we can’t stop raving about and one of our favourite topics, nuance. We get into why nuance is so important, how it can sometimes be uncomfortable but why we need to embrace it. We’d love to hear from you, if you have any thoughts on this episode or any future topics please get in touch on the contact details below:...

TW: At the start of this episode we do have a brief conversation about grief, if this feels like something you don’t want to hear right now then skin ahead to 6:03 to dive straight into our recommendations. In this weeks episode we’re discussing why being the most confident person and becoming more self-assured doesn’t mean you have to be the loudest person in the room. We talk a...

What’s the latest “it-girl” aesthetic? It’s boring. No, seriously, being boring might just have become the new cool and the ultimate marker of success. If you can live a life that looks both boring and successful then you truly have it sussed. After a chaotic few years we’ve come to realise that really the most successful people out there are the ones with seemingly b...

We often talk about how we can use failure as a learning opportunity and there’s definitely more of a narrative in online content around growth coming from failure. But that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t feel horrible when something doesn’t go to plan and sometimes it can feel a bit toxic positivity-ish when someone is telling you to learn from a failure that still feels ver...

We’re back after a short summer break, Helena has turned 30 and Charlotte has a new addition to the Growth in Progress family! This week we’re chatting about the relatively new phenomenon of hate following – is it rooted in comparison? Is it for a moral ego boost? What’s the science behind it and why do we see it more in the female social media sphere? Hate following is dec...

Ageing is a privilege that not everyone gets. And while that might sound like just another cliché, in this episode we’re diving into why we’re so excited to be turning 30 and how we’ve switched our mindsets when it comes to ageing. We’re also discuss Helli’s birthday plans, Charlotte’s latest household obsession and what our plans are for our summer break. We&#8...

This week we start the conversation with some questions about the full moon and what NASA actually stands for! But our topic this week is about being content in your career and accepting where you are. We live in an ambitious and fast paced world where we (especially as women) feel the pressure to achieve a certain amount by a certain age. But when we’re constantly told and feel like we shou...

Helli is back in Vietnam after a tropical island getaway and of course we’re talking about the weather with the UK feeling more like autumn than summer! This week we want to chat about how we can cultivate mindfulness from a more practical perspective and what strategies can we actually use when things are feeling really hectic and we’re craving a bit more balance in life! Mindfulness...

In this week’s episode Helli is back from Cambodia, Charlotte has caught full Barbie-fever and we ask whether our obsession with self development is actually causing harm to our self worth? We love talking about self improvement, personal growth and anything that’s going to help you lead a happier life, but it’s fair to say that society has never been this keen to find that magic...

Comparison creeps up on us all and we’ve all experience it in some way but it rarely makes you feel better and it’s often coming from a place of scarcity – believing that there’s not enough success to go around. So as an antidote to comparison, we’re talking about the power of celebrating others and how we can all use this to support others, celebrate successes, raise...

Brene Brown talks about the courage it takes to be vulnerable. This week we’re discussing the power of vulnerability in creating and nurturing connections and how vulnerability can create shared experiences which normalise openness and honesty in relationships at work, romantic relationships, friendships and any human connection. But also that we can’t expect vulnerability or the same...

It can be easy to get wrapped up in the routine of life and what we “should” be doing, but how often do we actually think about what our passions are? What brings us fulfilment? In this episode we’re talking about finding your passion, how passions can change and what passions can mean for your wellbeing, free time, relationships and personal development. We also debunk the idea...

For most of us, screentime is unavoidable – it’s part of our work, our daily lives, our evening downtime and how we stay connected. So rather than just talking about the negatives of screentime, we’re chatting about how can we take steps to mitigate the impact on our mental health and wellbeing when screentime is such a huge part of our lives. Digital wellbeing isn’t a topi...

This week we’re tackling quite a big topic on toxic relationships, red flags and boundaries. We absolutely don’t expect to cover everything and this is as much us navigating our way through this rather than us talking about dos and don’ts, because everyone has toxic relationships in their lives, whether or not they’re aware of them yet, it could be family, friends, colleagu...

We’re back from our break and we’re diving straight into the big juicy topics this season, kicking off with the truth about body image and how we perceive ourselves. Let’s be honest, none of us are immune to the constant and pervasive talk of our bodies and how we look. In many cases it can leave us feeling sad, shameful and, at it’s worst, damage our own self worth. After...

Accountability is really important for motivating yourself and holding yourself to things, but if you’re using shame, guilt, negative self-talk or self-criticism as a motivator, that isn’t the right way to keep yourself accountable. In this episode, we’re talking about how easy it is to to fall into a habit of berating ourselves if we’ve let some of our good habits slip or...

We’re conditioned to believe that we should always say yes to any opportunity that comes our way. We should be grateful for it, whatever it may be, and say yes because of the other doors it could open in the future. But recently we’ve been thinking more about when saying yes to an opportunity isn’t actually the right thing for us. Maybe it’s not aligned to your longer term...

Backing down and stepping back might sound the same and they could often be used interchangeably. But are we’ve gotten older, we’ve realised that stepping back doesn’t mean defeat or that you’re giving in. Stepping back can mean enforcing boundaries, de-escalating a situation or protecting yourself. There’s a lot of nuance in conflicts with colleagues, family or frien...

We all want to be successful, and we want to be successful *right now*. But there’s a lot to be said for having some patience and holding yourself accountable to your goals over a longer period of time. There really is no thing as an overnight success, in reality it often takes years of hard work, growth and holding yourself accountable to achieve the things you want. We know it can feel so...

Shame and money are so closely intertwined. Whether you’re worried that you don’t have enough or you’re worried that you may be perceived badly for having more than you need, shame is often felt when money is discussed. There doesn’t need to be the association between shame and money though, and if we start to speak about it more then we can combat the shame we’ve all...

We’ve spoken about comparison before but this week we’re chatting specifically about where we thought we would be vs. where we actually are. A lot of these personal beliefs and expectations are based on life markers of what society says we should be doing or deems “successful”. But if you had a very specific idea of where you would be at this point in your life or what you...