I'm Absolutely Fine! by The Midult

You will have heard of Hadley Freeman, The Sunday Times columnist who writes about feminism, the arts, politics and, she says, anything else that takes her fancy. She is also the author of several acclaimed books – including Good Girls: A Story and Study of Anorexia, just out in paperback. It’s a searing record of her own illness, illuminating the dark corners of this most brutal of mental health...

Happy Friday! Just slipping into your feed to let you know that the week is nearly over, and there’s only one more week to go before we have to get through the next week. Oh God. This week we talk about all the terrible things that happen to our faces and bodies in pictures: one huge eye bulging next to a normal-sized one; extra leg/hand/foot (who does that belong to?!?), limbs that look like hams...

Are you near burn out? Do you find yourself having the same arguments over and over again? Have you had therapy and still find yourself stuck down the same emotional cul-de-sac? In other words, what are you missing? Well, this week we are thrilled to welcome psychotherapist Emma Reed Turrell back to the podcast. She’s written another banger of a book, What Am I Missing?, about our blind spots and...

Happy Good Friday! Just slipping into your feed to let you know that the week is nearly over, and there’s only one more week to go before we have to get through the next week. Oh God. This podshot is all about the anti-bucket list: things we plan never to do again. Are we all moving from our “Yes please!” era to our “Are you f***ing joking?” era? Hell, yes. Ouzo (just hearing the word makes us gag...

"When you talk about women like me, there comes a whole host of other things: 'what religion is she? What caste is she? Does she eat pork? Why is she holding champagne? Why is she wearing those clothes?' Then come death threats. And if you're not wearing a headscarf, if you're not talking about religion, you're in no man's land. They say 'you're Asian and you're acting mainstream, what the heck's...

Happy Friday! Just slipping into your feed to let you know that the week is nearly over, and there’s only one more week to go before we have to get through the next week. Oh God. Anyway, needless to say, 2024 is kicking our arses…So what does fun even look like, these days? Sitting in the car outside the house? Going home to get ugly? Rubbing our cracked heels together like decrepit crickets? Send...

Ok guys, time to talk about sex. Are we doing it right/enough? Is the sex we’re having good/interesting/naughty enough? Are we good/interesting/naughty enough? And what to do when it feels as though it’s all gone wrong. THE PRESSURE. So we roped in a psychosexual therapist, and not just any psychosexual therapist: Kate Moyle is also the host of The Sexual Wellness Sessions Podcast and she’s writte...

Happy Friday! Just slipping into your feed to let you know that the week is nearly over, and there’s only one more week to go before we have to get through the next week. Oh God. This week we are asking: are you a kitchen criminal? Do you gouge the butter rather than scrape? Do you try to shove the rubbish down in to the bin again and again in order to avoid taking it out? Do you put the milk bott...

You’ve heard of the glass ceiling, of course. You may have bumped your head on it - or even smashed through it. But have you heard of the glass cliff? This is the phenomenon where female leaders are much more likely to be given the opportunity to step into leadership roles within businesses that are already in a prolonged period of poor performance. And therefore, set up for organisational failure...

Happy Friday! Just slipping into your feed to let you know that the week is nearly over, and there’s only one more week to go before we have to get through the next week. Oh God. Recently we asked for your best advice - in just four words. As usual you were amazing: “Arrange your alibi first”, said @samanthaddv, “I charge for that” said @duckettlist, “Try not to worry” said @laura_bradley…Tune in...

Annabel was talking to a friend the other day who - sounding improbably zen - confessed that she had given up complaining. Not coffee, not booze, not sugar. But complaining. And we could immediately see the point: imagine not relying on all the negativity and panic and self-doubt for conversation? Imagine…So move over manifesting, we’re sharing this hot tip, because we are bottomlessly kind. So ki...

Happy Friday! Just slipping into your feed to let you know that the week is nearly over, and there’s only one more week to go before we have to get through the next week. Oh God. This episode we are all about conversational responses for February. Mostly “No”. But also “Gosh” - for when a response is required but you don’t know what to say. And maybe “I don’t care”. Because, let’s face it…  Learn...

Our guest this week is a member of the DDC – the Dead Dad Club. Just like us. Sadly, Cariad Lloyd has been a member since she was 15, when her father died suddenly. After years of floundering, she took her grief and turned it into a beautiful living thing – by talking about it on her award-winning podcast Griefcast and writing about it in her wonderful book You Are Not Alone, out in paperback on t...

Happy Friday! Just slipping into your feed to let you know that the week is nearly over, and there’s only one more week to go before we have to get through the next week. Oh God. This week we talk about THINGS YOU KNOW IF YOU’RE A GROWN-UP. Like: You should never buy the smallest size you can squeeze into (it is not the victory it once seemed to be); moths and leaks make you panic; something alway...

New Year's Resolutions seem to have criticism and judgement woven through them? How can I be better? Do better? How can I improve myself? Eurgh. So instead in 2024 we are going to aim for self-acceptance, rather than self-improvement. Let’s celebrate our bits of disgustingness and our flaws and our failings. In this episode we ask all the deep questions, such as: How often do you wash your bra? Wh...

Happy Friday! Just slipping into your feed to let you know that the week is nearly over, and there’s only one more week to go before we have to get through the next week. Oh God. In this weird opening-of-the-year week, we talk about what to say when people ask you about your New Year’s Resolutions. An intolerable question. Perhaps you plan to be slightly worse this year? Become a dark force? A bad...

Hi everyone!! We’re coming to you direct from the perineum of the year…So that’s nice…Don’t know what day it is…Don’t know what to eat next but I’m sure we’ll be eating something imminently. We just wanted to pop up and share with you one of our most popular episodes of 2023, clearly because it’s called How To Be Happier. Professor Cassie Holmes is a happiness teacher. At UCLA. To MBAs. She is als...

2023 has been huge for Anna Whitehouse, also known as Mother Pukka. She’s been fighting for flexible working rights for eight years and last week it was announced that her bill will become law in 2024. Her Heart FM radio show is going from strength to strength with over 11 million listeners. She’s also written a pair of books about childcare and flexible working called Divide and Conquer - and the...

Does today’s guest really need an introduction? After all, who didn’t watch What Not To Wear in the early Noughties and cry and laugh with the women Trinny and Susannah transformed? Who hasn’t marvelled at the success of her beauty brand Trinny London, and the way she's made Instagram her own? This is a woman who has made a career out of trying to help women feel better about themselves. Over the...

Happy Friday! Just slipping into your feed to let you know that the week is nearly over, and there’s only one more week to go before we have to get through the next week. Oh God. This week we talk about party season. Are you dreading it? Do you have the energy for it? If so, how? Incidentally we recorded this podcast lying on the floor…nearly there…🤣❤️ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit mega...

Regular listeners of the podcast will know that we absolutely love a book that revolves around women’s stories; that reclaims/wrestles the narrative from the petty patriarchal posturers of history. So we were delighted when Annabelle Hirsch’s 'A History of Women in 101 Objects' landed on our doormats. The book tells stories of female history through ‘things’; through the quiet power of their every...

Happy Friday! Just slipping into your feed to let you know that the week is nearly over, and there’s only one more week to go before we have to get through the next week. Oh God. This week it’s all about the rookie errors. Yes we are seasoned, experienced, wise, broken in, been around (WILL YOU STOP NOW) but we are still making basic balls ups. Like putting on our coats ten minutes before we leave...

How to look like a fully-functioning woman? The odds are against us BUT…'tis the season of miracles after all. So, Annabel has a rummage through her drawers to put together a beauty box selection of old favourites and new wonders to try and fix our faces. And bodies. And spirits. Emilie falls in love with Sun Bum’s Glow 30. We get transported back to our late 20s by REN’s Moroccan Rose Otto, and f...

Happy Friday! Just slipping into your feed to let you know that the week is nearly over, and there’s only one more week to go before we have to get through the next week. Oh God. Ok so Emilie was on the tube when a nice young man politely offered her his seat. IT’S HAPPENING… Annabel got into a swearing match with a much older woman, both from the comfort of their cars. Are you turning into “THAT...

Water. Water is meant to give us good skin, improved mental health and more energy. What does it actually give us? Pee. We all know we’re supposed to get eight hours sleep a night or - they tell us again and again - we may go mad and die. How many of us manage? How many times in the past week, month, year have you woken up at 2am, 3am, 4am and then started the useless, desperate process of trying...