What's Fear Got to Do With It | Fear, Growth & the Mind

In this special season finale, Anne and Jo pause together to reflect on Season 2's remarkable journey through fear, challenge, and transformation. They share personal insights from eleven powerful conversations, exploring how fear touches everyone's lives beneath our polished exteriors. From connecting the dots within our challenges to the transformative power of accepting help, they explore how e...

In this conversation, 21-year-old Lauren Jones shares her journey from shame and isolation to self-compassion and strength. At 17, a devastating betrayal by her best friend triggered years of self-loathing, anxiety, and depression. But her story isn't just about surviving those years. It's about discovering what lies on the other side. Lauren reveals how shame lived in her body as a physical weigh...

For over 40 years, Kylie Zeal was convinced something was fundamentally wrong with her brain. She masked. She tried to fit in. Then, three years ago, a diagnosis of neurodivergence, including ADHD and autism, changed everything. Not by fixing her, but by giving her permission to finally be herself. At 41, with no permanent home and no fixed address, Kylie discovered the kind of contentment most of...

In this conversation, Kim Hey shares her intimate journey through a diagnosis that forced her to confront not just her mortality, but her identity. When calcifications were discovered in both breasts, Kim faced a pivotal choice: a double mastectomy to prevent breast cancer. But this isn't just a story about loss. It's a story about what happens when you refuse to let fear paralyse you. As a nurse,...

In this conversation, John Hendry OAM reveals his journey from a stammering child to a decorated educator who spent decades teaching others about forgiveness, relationships and hope. From his earliest days at school, John discovered that the people who looked beyond his challenges changed everything. But the moment that became the blueprint for his entire life came through tragedy. On his seventee...

In this conversation, Sue Carr takes us back to a suburban dinner table in the 1970s, where a 17-year-old girl sat silently carrying a secret she had kept to herself for three months. Pregnant, terrified and frozen by fear, Sue describes waiting, hoping each day might somehow be different, until her mother asked one quiet question that changed everything. Sue shares how the unconditional love of h...

When Justin Robinson's 11-year-old son Sam was diagnosed with bone cancer in 2012, Sam spent 250 nights in hospital and the family faced a constantly unpredictable path forward. Despite being planners who valued control, Justin learned three pieces of wisdom that became lifelines: "Don't plan," "Don't Google," and always say yes when people offer help. Through vulnerability and honesty, Justin rev...

In this conversation, Georgina Banks shares her journey of writing a book to honour her great aunt Bud, an Australian army nurse killed in the Bangka Island Massacre during World War II. What began as an act of remembrance became far more challenging when Georgina discovered the full truth had been suppressed for decades. Georgina reveals how she navigated intergenerational silence that had shaped...

Louise Bedford shares her journey from a rebellious teenager to a thriving share market trader. When illness stripped away her corporate identity, she discovered her real worth. She opens up about her darkest moment, sitting alone during COVID lockdowns, unable to speak, questioning whether to keep going. In the silence, Louise learned that choosing life isn't always about grand epiphanies. It's a...

When Deanna Cooney's marriage ended, she walked away with $50,000 in debt, zero financial literacy, and two young children relying on her. Her nervous system in complete disarray, she spent two years terrified. Through vulnerability and honesty, Deanna shares how she learned to sit with her fear instead of avoiding it. She picked up 'The Barefoot Investor' and built practical financial skills. As...

Kerry Milligan opens up about one of life's most difficult decisions: placing her aging mother Emmie in residential care. After seven and a half years of caring for her mother at home, dementia forced an impossible choice that triggered massive guilt and forced her to confront lifelong patterns of self-sacrifice. Kerry explores the tension between her rational brain, which knew care was necessary,...

Alan Furlong shares his journey from high-achieving executive and entrepreneur to discovering authentic purpose. Throughout his successful career, including building and leading the team that scaled a business to £42 million in revenue, he admits he found himself living in shades of grey, successful on paper, but silently disconnected from what truly mattered. When burnout forced him to stop, hosp...

In this special season finale episode, we pause together as co-hosts to reflect on Season 1's remarkable journey through challenge, fear, and growth. We share our personal takeaways from eleven powerful conversations, exploring how each guest's story revealed unexpected gifts within life's challenges. From creating "3am friends" to embracing vulnerability, we discuss how these conversations have c...

What happens when shared learning challenges become an unexpected gift? In this powerful conversation, father and daughter Michael Grinder and Krista Grinder-Dettloff reveal how their early struggles with reading sparked a transformative journey. As a teacher who had taught himself to read after high school, Michael understood his daughter's challenges uniquely. Together, they discovered that diff...

What happens when your world crumbles to the point where you can't afford a ham sandwich? Martin Mileham shares his compelling journey from unstoppable success to standing at an ATM with just $2.40 to his name. When the Asian currency crisis hit, Martin lost everything society told him equalled success, but in this loss, he discovered an unexpected gift. With remarkable honesty, Martin reveals how...

International speaker Amanda Gore reveals how teaching others about joy led to an unexpected discovery: she had forgotten how to live it herself. When the pandemic halted her global speaking career, she was forced to confront the disconnect between teaching joy and experiencing it. Through exploring three life-changing events, including a courageous move overseas at 68, Amanda shares how childhood...

In this conversation, Nick Tsakiris shares his journey of discovering a different approach to life when the pandemic disrupted his hospitality career. Already questioning the sustainability of late nights and demanding schedules, he found himself facing an unexpected opportunity to reimagine success. Through reflection, Nick reveals how shifting from asking "What do I want to be?" to "How do I wan...

In this conversation, Emma McLarty shares her personal journey through a perfect storm: when menopause, her children moving out, and supporting her aging parents all converged. Despite careful planning for this life transition, she found herself blindsided by the physical, emotional, and psychological challenges that arrived unexpectedly. Through vulnerability and honesty, Emma reveals how her dri...

In this episode, Jill Currie shares what happened when her child Luna (they/them), who is autistic, told her they thought they had Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). "No you don't," was Jill's initial response. Fear of judgement led her down a path of denial that hurt them both. When Luna's distress reached a breaking point, Jill confronted a powerful truth: no-one was coming to save them. The...

In this episode, Katie Rose shares her journey through anxiety, serious health conditions, and the life-changing moment when she finally said "I'm not okay." Living as ‘an actor in a play,’ she pursued others' dreams while hiding both physical and emotional pain to avoid disappointing people. When thoughts of ending her suffering became overwhelming, Katie courageously told her family, a confessio...

In this episode, David Gregory, OAM, reveals how accepting fear as a daily companion shaped his extraordinary journey of service. From leaving home at fourteen to becoming a CEO and receiving an Order of Australia Medal, his philosophy of "if you can't beat fear, do it scared" has guided him through near bankruptcy to speaking at the United Nations. Ultimately, his journey reminds us that courage...

In this episode, Hollie Andrew shares her courageous journey from accomplished actor to entrepreneur, revealing what happens when achieving all career goals leaves you searching for deeper purpose. After meeting every milestone she'd set as a young person, Hollie made the bold decision to walk away from acting success and create a not-for-profit charity supporting actors with disabilities. She spe...

In this episode, Olympian Sarah Straton shares what it was like to achieve one of the highest honours in sport, only to realise it didn’t quiet the inner voice telling her she wasn’t enough. Sarah speaks openly about the emotional cost of chasing perfection, the identity struggles beneath the surface, and the inner work it took to finally feel at peace beyond performance. About our guest Sarah Str...

Simone Nabholz shares her raw journey from burnout to breakthrough, ignoring warning signs, wrestling with guilt, then finding healing through pottery and ocean swims. Her story reveals how setting boundaries and small daily practices can transform breakdown into profound self-discovery. About our guest Simone Nabholz is a designer, storyteller, and founder of Winterwares, a ceramics studio in Fre...

In this first episode, hosts Jo Wiese and Anne Wicking share the heart behind "What’s Fear Got to Do With It" a podcast created to explore life's challenges and how fear shapes our experiences. Underpinned by unfiltered conversations, Jo and Anne explore their guests' stories as they gently unfold, weaving between surface moments and deeper insights, so the story can be both felt and heard. With a...