You Keep Me Sane

Episode Overview Have you ever caught yourself snapping, shutting down, feeling flat, or reacting in a way that doesn’t feel like you? In this episode, we talk about how stress can make us feel like we’ve become a different person - less patient, less warm, less fun, more defensive, more resentful, or simply unable to enjoy things we usually would. We explore the difference between someone’s perso...

Episode Overview In this episode, we read a listener letter from Sarah, who describes something many women feel but rarely say out loud - the quiet sense of being “in between” versions of themselves. Life looks good on paper. Nothing is obviously wrong. But something doesn’t feel quite right either. We explore what happens when the roles we’ve held for years start to loosen, and instead of clarity...

Episode Overview In this episode, we’re joined by menopause practitioner Laura Lambe for a clear, reassuring conversation about what really happens to women during perimenopause, menopause and post-menopause. We talk about why so many women feel blindsided by this phase — the brain fog, fatigue, body changes, sleep issues, anxiety, low confidence, and the feeling that the old rules no longer work....

Episode Overview Why does joy feel harder to access in midlife - even when nothing is technically “wrong”? In this episode, we unpack that quiet heaviness so many of us carry and explore why joy can feel distant during this stage of life. What We Talk About Why joy doesn’t disappear-it just gets buried under responsibility and mental load How modern life (and being “always on”) keeps us stuck in s...

Episode Overview This week, we’re returning to something we haven’t done in a while - reading a listener letter. And this one stopped us in our tracks. Elsa writes about something so many of us quietly carry: doing well on paper, yet feeling like we’re one step away from being found out. The overthinking, the over-preparing, the constant questioning - it’s exhausting. In this conversation, we unpa...

Episode Overview In this episode, we explore something that’s been sitting underneath so many of our conversations lately… cortisol. What started as disrupted sleep and feeling constantly “on” quickly became something deeper. Because when you really look at cortisol, it’s not just about stress - it’s about how we live, what we carry, and what we believe about our own worth. This conversation moves...

Episode Overview This week, we explore the need to be chosen — at work, in friendships, in love, and in family roles. For years, being picked can feel like proof of worth… and not being picked can quietly unravel us. We unpack how midlife starts to loosen that wiring, and how the shift from “please choose me” to “I choose me” changes everything. Key Discussion Points Aileen notices she no longer n...

Episode Overview This week, we explore a quiet but powerful shift happening in midlife: the move from chasing traditional success to craving something far less flashy - peace. For years, achievement meant striving. Building. Proving. Being impressive. We grew up in a culture that celebrated ambition, hustle and visible markers of success. And in many ways, we embodied that - high achievers, big th...

This episode grew from a simple image we shared in a recent Sanity Check: two jars. One jar is full — kind words, encouragement, praise, moments where someone saw you and appreciated you. The other jar holds just one negative comment. And yet… it’s the second jar most of us carry. We explore why one raised eyebrow, one piece of criticism, one offhand remark can eclipse a hundred positive moments....

Episode Overview There’s a moment many women reach - often in midlife - where we stop and quietly think, Who am I actually? It doesn’t arrive with drama. It doesn’t happen overnight. It’s usually the result of years spent being reliable, capable, needed. Years of making decisions for the family, the partnership, the household unit. Years of choosing what works. And then one day, something pauses u...

Episode overview In this episode, we explore what it really means to live in an always-on world — and how that constant state of availability quietly keeps our stress response switched on. Cortisol has become a bit of a villain in wellness conversations, but we unpack why it’s not the problem in itself. Cortisol is essential. The issue is that modern life rarely gives our bodies the chance to swit...

Episode Overview In this episode, we explore the idea of wintering - not as a trend or aesthetic, but as a very real biological and emotional experience. Recording from opposite sides of the world - one of us in a UK winter, the other in an Australian summer - we reflect on how seasons, light, energy, and life demands shape the way we feel, move, and cope. We talk about slowing down without guilt,...

Episode Overview When a relationship ends, it can feel completely disorientating - like the ground has shifted beneath you and nothing quite makes sense anymore. In this episode, we talk honestly about heartbreak, obsession, rejection, and the deep vulnerability that comes with losing not just a partner, but a version of yourself. Drawing on our own experiences of breakups across different stages...

Episode overview A line from Jon Bon Jovi that genuinely stopped Aileen in her tracks: “We’re all just here trying to figure it out.” Coming from someone who looks like he’s “made it”, it lands differently - like an equaliser and a hand on your shoulder. This one is about humility, rebuilding, and the midlife unravel - the kind that can feel frightening… but might actually be the start of coming h...

Episode Overview In this episode, we explore a tension many of us feel deeply — the pull between wanting space and craving connection. When does protecting our peace start to feel like shutting people out? And why can setting boundaries trigger so much guilt, fear, or worry about losing belonging? We reflect on how our early conditioning shapes the way we relate, why many of us learned that belong...

Episode overview In this episode, we unpack why so many of us learn to play it small — not because we lack confidence or ambition, but because at some point it felt safer to do so. Following the huge response to our Don’t Hide Your Shine sanity check, we explore how hiding your shine shows up in everyday life, where it comes from, and why it’s so closely tied to self-worth. We talk about school, f...

Episode Overview New Year’s Eve often sits in a strange in-between space - part reflection, part expectation. In this conversation, we gently unpack why this moment can feel heavy with pressure, and how New Year’s resolutions so often become another way we tell ourselves we’re not enough yet. We talk honestly about where resolutions really come from, how self-worth gets tangled up in performance a...

Episode Overview It’s Christmas Eve, and today we’re sitting with one word that has shown up again and again this year: connection. Not the glossy, picture-perfect kind we see in adverts, but the quiet, truthful kind that grounds us - especially when the season feels full, loud, or lonely. In this short episode, we explore why connection becomes harder to access at the very moment we need it most,...

Episode overview In this episode, we pause on one simple line that stopped us in our tracks: “We’ll know our children as adults far longer than we’ll know them as children.” We take a trip down memory lane talk about how quickly the “little years” pass, why those toddler days feel so vivid, and what it’s like to suddenly realise we’re parenting almost-adults. From Peppa Pig pyjamas and Iggle Piggl...

Episode overview In this episode, we explore a sneaky belief many of us absorbed young: that the loudest person in the room is the strongest one - and that being quieter, reflective or sensitive somehow makes you weaker. We talk about loudness as a shield, teenage friendship dynamics, being labelled “weak” for not being the loud one, and how that seeps into adult life - careers, friendships, paren...

Episode Overview This week we’re joined by Monica Maldonado - the voice behind @thepowerofgoodenough - for a raw, hopeful conversation about how low self-worth can quietly shape our lives even when we’ve had a “stable” upbringing. Monica shares how being the youngest of four, people-pleasing, and staying “small” became an identity she had to unlearn in adulthood. We talk about awakening moments, i...

Episode Overview We talk about the “always on” culture - phones, pings, and pressure to reply instantly - and how it hijacks presence, deep focus, and self-worth. From family group chats and school apps to work Slack and late-night DMs, we explore why constant accessibility feels normal (and even “kind”), how it fuels anxiety and perfectionism, and simple, compassionate boundaries that let you cho...

Episode Overview We dive into that sticky space between empathy and exhaustion—the moment a caring friend becomes the “emotional sponge” (hello, emotional vampires 👀). We talk about invisible emotional labour, midlife capacity, Catholic/learned guilt, and why stepping back isn’t selfish—it’s self-respect. We share how chronic one-way “offloading” keeps both people stuck, and how gentle, clear bou...

Episode Overview Feeling stretched thin, foggy, or quietly burning out? You’re not alone. In this episode, we get honest about that midlife feeling of running on empty - when hormones, deadlines, and daily demands leave you wondering how it’s all sustainable. Inspired by Dame Patricia Routledge’s beautiful reflection before her 95th birthday, we talk about what it really means to bloom again . Fro...

Episode Overview In this episode we sit down with Kate Daly, co-founder of Amicable , to explore how self-worth, identity, and personal growth are intertwined with relationships - and what happens when those relationships end. Kate shares her wisdom from years of supporting couples through separation and co-parenting, offering a compassionate reframe: divorce isn’t a failure - it’s a change in how...