I'm Absolutely Fine! by The Midult

PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 36:

Fri, 22 Nov 2024 00:00:00 -0000

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. This week we talk about Emilie turning 50 and why transitions are weird. Speaking of weird transitions, this is the last episode of the podcast for now. After three million downloads, six years and 237 episodes, we are taking a break in order to focus on some other, exciting things. Please join us on Instagram, where we’ll still be posting, ranting and raving. Thank you to our gorgeous producer Chelsey for putting up with us week after week; all the lovely sponsors who believed in us; all the extraordinary guests who gave us free therapy, enlightened us, made us laugh and cry. It has been such a privilege to be part of the podverse - here’s to leaping off the edge and defying gravity. See you on the other side…

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 35:

Fri, 15 Nov 2024 11:32:33 -0000

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. Are you a functioning panic-aholic? Are we reaching our panic rock bottom? Or is it bottomless panic like bottomless brunch but very much less fun? We discuss this and why fairy lights might be the only things lighting our souls right now. Plus an eyeliner trick to make your eyes pop - in a good way…

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 34:

Fri, 08 Nov 2024 00:00:00 -0000

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. Anyway this week we talk about how we are almost unable to cope with the sheer volume of feedback/surveys/opinions demanded of us via email and text and phone: ‘TELL US HOW WE DID” they ask, then beg, then order us. Couldn’t they just wait for us to complain - which we can’t be bothered to do? To distract us we talk about the power of perfume to give us armour (Annabel wears fragrance every day) and to remind us of people, places, things…Starring Miller Harris, Cire Trudon, Chanel, Dyptique, Jo Malone London and Narciso Rodriguez. What are you guys wearing?

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 33:

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 00:00:00 -0000

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. This week we go retro and talk about Rivals: unashamedly joyful romp or uncomfortable reminder of the inequities of the 80s? How much has really changed? Also - are there any Midults out there not devoted to lip balm? Do you have one in every desk drawer, coat pocket, bottom of bag? Is it less a lip balm, more a balm for our frazzled synapses? Lip balms supporting our existential crises this week include By Terry Baume de Rose Lip Balm, Carmex Classic Lip Pot Balm, Vaseline Lip Therapy Tin in Rosy Lips, Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask in Mango and Ciate Watermelon Burst 2-in-1 Everyday Lip Mask & Balm… We’ve clearly gone balmy.

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PODCAST FROM THE VAULT: POETRY FOR THE SOUL

Thu, 24 Oct 2024 23:00:00 -0000

This week we’re taking a break from rifling through Annabel’s beauty drawers - instead we’ve gone to the vault and an episode we recorded last year about poetry. Because let’s face it, we are a little desperate for a corner of calm that we can tuck ourselves into; a mini-escape that is not demanding or exhausting or expensive. Our guest Allie Esiri found a way to calm the wild voices in her head; she is a poetry anthologist who harnesses our extraordinary literary resources to offer - if not a solution - then a balm for the soul. Of course, you might be thinking, ‘How is reading a poem a day going to make me feel less mad, vulnerable, sad, tired, stretched, defeated?’…Well, Allie came and talked about poetry. Read a few of her favourites. Recommended a few others. Does poetry have the power to make us feel a little less alone? Have a listen. Allie’s book 365 Poems for Life is out now…

Normal service will resume next week, and when we say ‘normal’, we mean that term loosely, obviously…

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 31:

Fri, 18 Oct 2024 08:31:00 -0000

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. Ok so Annabel is teaching Emilie to darn. YES, DARN. Because, MOTHS. But it’s not all rock ‘n roll. We also talk about parties (not dreading at all) and Annabel delivers a Midiot’s guide to blusher, so we don’t go out into the world looking like Victorian consumptives/Aunt Sally. She recommends Merit Flush Balm Cheek Colour in Cheeky; Charlotte Tilbury Matte Beauty Blush Wand in Pillow Talk and Jones Road Lip and Cheek Stick in Bright Coral…Check out our Instagram for the tutorials...

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 30:

Fri, 11 Oct 2024 08:41:19 -0000

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. This week we discuss little pick me ups - Emilie tried culottes and she can tell you right now that they did not pick her up. AVOID AVOID…Instead Annabel recommends lip gloss and lots of it (yes, very Rivals)…We talk about Ciate’s Glow Dewy Gloss, Clarins’ Lip Perfector and Chanel’s Rouge Coco Flash as well as Annabel’s prescription for an easy Sunday face: Charlotte Tilbury Unisex Healthy Glow, Guerlain Terracotta The Bronzing Powder and Jones Road Lip and Cheek Stick. Add jeans, a nice jumper and hoops. Of course, hoops...

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 29:

Thu, 03 Oct 2024 23:00:00 -0000

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. Emilie is just back from her 30 year university reunion. 30 years!!! We discuss ALL THE FEELINGS around that particular craziness. Plus the triggering nature of musicals *howls*. And the power of baths, particularly when powered by Olverum...

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 28:

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 23:00:00 -0000

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. Ok so it turns out that Annabel has been keeping secrets from Emilie… in the form of RapidBrow Eyebrow Enhancing Serum… Hey, a girl’s got to have her secrets, and also fantastic eyebrows… apparently this stuff really works!

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 27:

Thu, 19 Sep 2024 23:00:00 -0000

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. So guys, how are you doing? Are you enjoying our tweakment? This week we’re all about tinted moisturiser which Annabel is practically drinking and Emilie is predictably frightened of. Can she face her fear? Annabel attacks her with Charlotte Tilbury Unisex Healthy Glow, Summer Fridays Sheer Skin Tint, Ilia Super Serum Skin Tint SPF 30 and Kosas BB Burst Tinted Gel Cream…

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 26:

Thu, 12 Sep 2024 23:00:00 -0000

New term, same shit: Ok we’re back. But given how close to the edge we actually are, we are actually having a tweakment and making a change to Podcast from the Edge. Emilie is sick of staring at the howling horror of her face. Annabel is a beauty expert so she is going to talk us through one or two products a week: simple things that might make life a little easier and hopefully make us all feel a little more like a fully functioning human women…First up eye stuff! Starring Sali Hughes for Revolution Skincare Ringlight Creamy Illuminating Eye Balm, Erborian CC Eye and Hannah Martin X Ciaté brushes…

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Episode 200: THIS IS NOT A SELF-HELP PODCAST

Wed, 28 Aug 2024 23:00:00 -0000

We’re absolutely fine but…we might have a bit of September dread. Not that shiny new term feeling, with a fat pencil case and a fresh notebook, but more of a 'holy fuck it is only four months until 2025 and what have we achieved!?!’ kinda thing. Anyway to lessen the load we put together the best bits from two wise souls we talked to this year. Psychotherapist Emma Reed Turrell, whose book What Am I Missing? is about why, after years of therapy, we sometimes still find ourselves stuck. She unpicks some of the knottiness that holds us back through four blind spot profiles: Are you a rock, a hustler, a gladiator or a bridge? We warn you: they are horribly resonant. And next we have the lovely Cariad Lloyd. Sadly, her father died suddenly when she was 15 and, after years of floundering, she took her grief and turned it into a beautiful living thing: her award-winning podcast Griefcast and her wonderful book You Are Not Alone, which is out in paperback. We talk grief myths, why the process doesn’t happen in a straight line, how to support people who have lost someone and why all that really matters is showing up…Anyway, this is not a self-help podcast but we hope it helps. Let us know how you are doing. And we’ll see you in September…PS: It’s our 200th episode…thank you so much for listening.

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Episode 199: Just Another Manic Mash-up

Wed, 14 Aug 2024 23:00:00 -0000

Ok we’re back, August is in full flow and we have stitched together our favourite bits from Podcast from the Edge: remember the time we gave up complaining? Or all the alternative facts for Midults that serve us well? In this Frankenstein’s monster of an episode there are random acts of kindness, some unserious wisdom and rookie errors. We also talk about underwear and our beards, and why this year we fully embraced our CRONE ERA. Brat girl summer? Hot girl summer? Come on old girls, it’s a Midult summer special….

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Episode 198: The Summer Sessions

Wed, 31 Jul 2024 23:00:00 -0000

Hi everyone, it’s podcast mash-up time! We’re starting with two of our favourite guests from the past year. First up is the incomparable Sophie Williams: There are few people as fluent, compassionate and authoritative and she came on the podcast to talk about her latest book, The Glass Cliff: Why Women in Power are Undermined and How To Fight Back. She was of course sensational; making us a little angry and lot more informed. Brace yourselves and have a listen...

After Sophie Williams, there’s another friend of the pod. There aren’t many people who can go by just one name: Madonna, Cher, Beyonce and….Trinny. And we all need a Trinny in our lives, so here she is talking positivity and how she finds the confidence, hell, the energy to keep - well - flourishing so magnificently…plus her beauty must-haves. Obviously…

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 25:

Thu, 18 Jul 2024 23:00:00 -0000

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. So guys, how are you doing? Are you fiiiiiiiine or are you hurtling towards an inevitable pre-holiday collapse? Are you no longer able to reply to anything? Does every communication feel as if it is landing at 5:30pm on a Friday? Do you keep dropping things or bumping into things? Are you boring yourself every time you open your mouth? Do you feel hungover to hell even though you are not drinking? IS JULY BREAKING YOU? AAAARGH…

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 24:

Thu, 04 Jul 2024 23:00:00 -0000

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. THIS WEEK we’re all about the backhanded compliment… “You’re ageing gracefully”. Translation: your entire face is falling off and, oddly, you don't seem to mind. “It’s very you”. Translation: No one but you would be stupid enough to wear that. “I love how discerning you are”. Translation: God you’re a pain in the arse - just order from the menu like a normal person. Have you had a jaw-dropper recently? Or are you guilty of dishing them out? Let us know...

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 23:

Fri, 28 Jun 2024 01:09:00 -0000

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. THIS WEEK…Are you at the end of your tether? Do you keep making idle threats such as “Don’t make me say it again” or “I swear I will kill you if you…”? Do you keep setting boundaries (because we are so mentally healthy) and then watching as the boundary crumbles? Are you going to need a bigger boundary? Then this is the episode for you...

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Episode 197: Politics and Rabbits with Hugo Rifkind

Thu, 20 Jun 2024 07:37:00 -0000

We are delighted Hugo Rifkind found some space for us during this busy election time… because in between skewering politicians and offering searing commentary in both his Times column and radio show, Hugo Rifkind has written a novel, called Rabbits, which is out now. It’s been variously described as everything from Saltburn with kilts, Trainspotting meets The Secret History – it’s set in the 90s in Scotland and it’s really excellent, so order it now for your holiday. Sorry to be bossy. We talk about teenage kicks, the maddest bits of the election so far and why he’s SHOCK HORROR optimistic about the future...

PLUS This week’s episode is bravely brought to you by seasn, non-alcoholic aromatic bitters designed to give any drink something a little bit extra, which Emilie is putting on absolutely everything. seasn is the brainchild of Ben Branson, who is the founder of elegant non-alcoholic sprits Seedlip. He is also on this week’s podcast talking to us about creating a breakout category of his own and how he made his twin super powers of ADHD and autism work for him...seasn is available to buy online from seasnyourdrinks.com, and we have an offer for you guys - 15% off with the code MIDULTSEASN15.

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Episode 196: Love, loss and belonging with Clover Stroud

Wed, 12 Jun 2024 23:00:00 -0000

Here at The Midult we’re slightly obsessed with Clover Stroud and her beautiful, brutal (brutiful?) books. So we are thrilled to say she’s back on the podcast to talk about her latest, The Giant on The Skyline, which is about home, belonging and learning to let go. Clover’s writing is full of ghosts, memories, life and death, and we talk about all these big things, as well as what it’s like to uproot your family and move from Wiltshire to Washington, at the tender age of 48. Adventure or shitshow? Fun or frightening? Or like everything right now, is it a bit of both?

This episode is sponsored by Wild Nutrition who is offering Midults 50% off their first three months of orders, with the code MIDULT50 on wildnutrition.com/midult TS&CS apply.

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 22:

Thu, 06 Jun 2024 23:00:00 -0000

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 have decided to let go of hot girl summer and are celebrating OLD GIRL SUMMER. As in, wear a bikini or don’t, old girl. As in, be gentle with yourself. As in, who cares if your leg hair is making friends with the leg hair of the person next door to you on the commute. As in, you have never actually been hotter, old girl….

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 21:

Thu, 23 May 2024 23:00:00 -0000

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’re all about BIG CRONE ENERGY…Have we entered our crone era? Maybe…wisdom, inner knowing, intuition, perspective and a generally disagreeable manner? Let’s reclaim the crone…

PS: The book Emilie was talking about is A History of Women in 101 Objects by Annabelle Hirsch

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Episode 195: DIY with Katherine Ormerod (don't be scared)

Wed, 15 May 2024 23:00:00 -0000

Katherine Ormerod is a writer, journalist, content creator and influencer. If you’ve encountered her sharp bob and soigné style, it won’t surprise you that her home is also super slick. But it might surprise you to know that Katherine is a renter, and she has been decorating her rental homes with more zeal than we have come to expect even from owners. We’re talking DIY, upholstery, shelving, all with such elan that she’s written a book on it, Your Not Forever Home, out now. But it’s not just a book about the power of a scalloped shelf, it’s also a bit of a rental revolution (essential given the current financial climate), as well as a bit of a feminist manifesto. We talk about the power of vinyl, high/low purchases and why fuckups are the price you pay to learn skill that you’ll have forever…

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 20:

Thu, 09 May 2024 23:00:00 -0000

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 all the tiny, micro-traumas we experience that leave us feeling all wonky. You know, like when someone points a phone at you mid-Facetime. Or a ball lands at your feet in the park and you are clearly expected to kick it, or throw it or…sorry just passed out there for a second…or the doorbell ringing: is it a murderer? Is it the police telling you everyone is dead? Is it that book you ordered on positive thinking? And if that’s not enough tiny trauma, we’ve launched a Substack. Sorry. We’d love you to continue to sail with us on HMS Midulthood for this bumpy, occasionally nausea-inducing, disappointingly-hot-pirate-free voyage on Substack - you know that we believe: if we’re not in it together, we’re not in it at all…

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Episode 194: Brilliant Books by Esther Coren

Wed, 01 May 2024 23:00:00 -0000

OK Annabel is still OOO, so Emilie has roped in a friend of the pod, the marvellous Esther Coren to help. Esther has her own podcast, Giles Coren Has No Idea and a Substack called The Spike and she also gives excellent book recommendations. Given we’re all feeling mad, bad and dangerous to know (not in a swashbuckling-Byronic-way but in a teetering on The-Brink-kind-of-way) perhaps books can soothe us tiny bit: little umbrellas for the mind. We talk about The Paleo Life by Clare Foges (out June 6), Quint by Robert Lautner, The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (May 14), One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, The Egg & I by Betty MacDonald (out of print, but will be on World of Books, which, incidentally, is the preloved Amazon), Hugo Rifkind’s Rabbits (also June 6), and In Memoriam by Alice Winn. Plus there’s a cameo from Esther’s cat Iris.

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Episode 193: The Entrepreneurial Issue

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 23:00:00 -0000

Who doesn’t love a solution story? The tale of a grown-up woman who had a problem and thought, ‘You know what? I am not going to wait for some fucker to fix this – I am just going to do it myself’? This week we have two such stories from the podvault – first up is Sahar Hashemi who smashed through many a ceiling and is still busy opening lots of doors for women: she founded Coffee Republic - three years before Starbucks landed on our shores; for the past couple of years, she’s been putting her considerable energy into spotlighting women-owned businesses with her Buy Women Built movement; asking the question: why do we only hear about the men? Did you know that 81% of 11-18-year olds are unable to name one single female entrepreneur? She’s out to change all that.

Then we have some highlights from our interview with Joanna Jensen, who suffered from eczema as a child and, when her own children were born with the same condition, she decided ‘enough is enough.’ In 2010 she created Child’s Farm from her kitchen table and, by the end of the decade, it was the UK’s number one baby and child brand. She sold it to Cussons for £40 million in 2022. *does a little dance*. Anyway, it might sound like an enviably smooth ride but, like all of these stories, it is full of bumps, lumps, divorce and other crises. Why have one brilliant female entrepreneur when you can have two?

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Episode 192: Hadley Freeman

Wed, 17 Apr 2024 23:00:00 -0000

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 disorders, with her deft blend of forensic detail and humour. Please note we talk frankly about this devastating illness. It sounds “oof” (take this as your trigger warning) but Hadley is so generous both in the book and on the podcast that it feels like a ray of light rather than a trauma wallow...

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 19:

Thu, 11 Apr 2024 23:00:00 -0000

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 - is it because we’re terrible people? Also we’re announcing a change. Sorry. We hate change. But we have to change. Here’s the thing: For the past six years, we’ve been sending out our free newsletter. But if internet years were like dog years that would be (Jesus, MATHS now?) 42 years. It’s so nice to get things for free, isn’t it? Unfortunately, it’s no longer possible for us to do it for free, so we are going to have to change. And, by change, we mean charge. We’d love you to continue to sail with us on HMS Midulthood for this bumpy, occasionally nausea-inducing, disappointingly-hot-pirate-free voyage on Substack - you know we believe that, if we’re not in it together, we’re not in it at all. Link in bio…

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Episode 191: What Are You Missing? with Emma Reed Turrell

Wed, 03 Apr 2024 23:00:00 -0000

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 how they hold us back. We talk about whether we are Rocks, Gladiators, Hustlers or Bridges; about attachment styles and assumptions. Yikes…

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 18:

Fri, 29 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0000

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 a little), organised fun, bikini waxes, segways and more…

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Episode 190: Saira Khan

Thu, 21 Mar 2024 09:41:00 -0000

"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 that about?'"

This week on the podcast, the indomitable Saira Khan on the reality of being an Asian woman in the UK and why, with her skincare line, Saira Skin, she’s finally found her tribe. Please note there are themes of sexual abuse in this podcast.

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 17:

Fri, 15 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0000

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? Sending everyone masses of love…

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Episode 189: Let's Talk About Sex

Thu, 07 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0000

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 written a book called The Science of Sex: Every Question About Your Sex Life Answered. We discuss rhetorical predicaments couples can find themselves in; sexual anxiety; “should sex”; how to fix a sex drought; how to introduce kink and what to say to yourself if you are single, no longer 25 and haven’t had sex with someone new for a long time. Plus…. lube. LET’S GET DOWN TO IT…

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 16:

Fri, 01 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0000

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 bottle back in the fridge with a pointlessly minuscule amount left in it? Time to confess…

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Episode 188: Have You Fallen off the Glass Cliff? with Sophie Williams

Thu, 22 Feb 2024 00:00:00 -0000

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. Well, the wondrous Sophie Williams (author of Anti-Racist Ally and Millennial Black) is the global expert on this phenomenon and it’s what her latest book - The Glass Cliff: Why Women in Power are Undermined and How To Fight Back - is all about. She’s on the podcast this week being magnificent; making us a little angry and lot more informed. Brace yourselves and have a listen...

The Glass Cliff: Why Women in Power are Undermined and How To Fight Back out on March 7

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 15:

Fri, 16 Feb 2024 00:00:00 -0000

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 for more...

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Episode 187: Should We Stop Complaining?

Thu, 08 Feb 2024 00:00:00 -0000

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 kind that we scream at other drivers when we’re in our cars, to keep them safe and alert on the roads. So kind that we leave parties early as a way of giving other people permission to leave early too – like a shepherdess guiding the meek home. JUST SO KIND. We also talk about holiday fantasies – it’s that kind of episode…

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 14:

Fri, 02 Feb 2024 00:00:00 -0000

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…

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Episode 186: Grief Myths with Cariad Lloyd

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 00:00:00 -0000

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 the 1st February. She talks to people about their experience of grief and death and in doing so, has become a friend to hundreds of thousands, creating a gentle grief guide on how to navigate this most personal and painful of experiences. We talk grief myths, why the process doesn’t happen in a straight line, how to support people who have lost someone, and why all that really matters is showing up…

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 13:

Fri, 19 Jan 2024 00:00:00 -0000

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 always hurts (knee.. back… soul); fitted sheets are having a laugh and you know more and less at the same time…so where does that leave us?

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Episode 185: 2024 - Time to Celebrate Our Failings

Thu, 11 Jan 2024 00:00:00 -0000

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? When you eat a steak, these days, do you feel like you are a boa constrictor digesting a villager? How long ago was 1970 (obviously 30 years is the correct answer)? Hello 2024! Please bring us buns of steel and also buns of cinnamon; shoes that are secretly orthopaedic but look really slutty and the light at the end of the tunnel. Let’s unleash laughter, and also hell….

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 12:

Fri, 05 Jan 2024 00:00:00 -0000

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 omen? Or will you be taking up spiritual veganism? There’s everything to play for.

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Episode 184: How To Be Happier

Thu, 28 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0000

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 also an award-winning academic and social psychologist, who, nearly defeated by the grind, decided to learn how to have a more fulfilling existence. And - spoiler alert - it’s mostly about how we manage our time. Happily, she’s written a book about it called HAPPIER HOUR, full of practical tips and wisdom to help everyone find their happy hour. And guess what? It’s not about being richer or better looking. We talked about how paying attention, putting down our phones and thinking small rather than big are the keys to unlock happiness. Anyway, it seemed like an appropriate time to leave it here for anyone who needs it…Happy New Year, see you in 2024.

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Episode 183: Divorce & Flex Appeal with Anna Whitehouse

Thu, 21 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0000

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 person with whom she wrote these books is her soon-to-be ex-husband. And they are plotting a loving divorce. It can’t be easy writing, working, being an activist whilst also negotiating the dying embers of a marriage. So many plates spinning. We talk about why hers isn't the traditional happy ending, but there is happiness, there is Hinge and there is the realisation that what she has really been fighting for is choice. Happy Christmas everyone…see you on the other side...

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Episode 182: How To Fear Less with Trinny

Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0000

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 years, she has learnt to feel fearless - and now she’s written the book on it. We were thrilled that she is here to share some of that courageous wisdom and to talk to us about how she finds the confidence, hell, the energy to keep - well - flourishing so magnificently. She tells us why her house is the Ritz for mice, why she eats broccoli for breakfast, how she talks to her demons; as well as dispensing some hot, skincare tips to keep us looking fresh.

Fearless - a collection of everything Trinny has learnt throughout her life and career - is available to purchase in hardback, eBook and audio .

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 11:

Fri, 08 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0000

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…🤣❤️

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Episode 181: A History of Women and their...things!

Thu, 30 Nov 2023 00:00:00 -0000

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 everyday items: perfumed gloves, thumbscrews, sewing machines, the Brontës’ miniature books, the contraceptive pill and abortion testimony. Female life through the ages, ordinary and extraordinary is here. We talk to Annabelle about the power of doubt, horror and humour, and the amazing resilience, resourcefulness and strength that women have shown every single day since the dawn of time.

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 10:

Fri, 24 Nov 2023 00:00:00 -0000

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 the house so we end up in a muck sweat, wearing g-strings and being surprised that we spend the whole day “adjusting” and saying things like, “Don’t worry, I’ll remember that,” when we absolutely will not…

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Episode 180: Beauty Special

Thu, 16 Nov 2023 00:00:00 -0000

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 find that every woman needs a bit of Clarins, Charlotte Tilbury and Glossier in her arsenal. There’s budget beauty, a bust-the-bank mascara, a lot of wisdom (Annabel) and some idiocy (Emilie). Go from sickly, consumptive Victorian child to fully functioning woman in a flash…Plus if you head to Instagram (@themidult) we’re running a competition…

Starring…

REN Moroccan Rose Otto Body Wash

Nécessaire Body Wash Eucalyptus

Dr Bronner Eucalyptus Pure-Castille Liquid Soap

Beauty Pie Firewall Blend Bath & Shower Oil & Niacinamide Drops

Clarins L’Huile Tonique

Sol de Janeiro Beija Flor Elasti-Cream

CeraVe Body Lotion

Farmacy Green Clean Cleansing Balm

Trinny London Enzyme Balm Cleanser

Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant

Revolution X Sali Hughes Better in 5 Express Exfoliating Mask

Vichy Normaderm 3-in-1

Nivea Soft Moisturiser

RMS Beauty Primer

Glossier Future Dew & Stretch Balm Concealer & Boy Brow

SunBum Glow 30

Erborian CC Cream in Doré & Eye Cream in Doré

Charlotte Tilbury Healthy Glow & Invisible UV Flawless Primer

Drunk Elephant Sunshine Drops

Dr Hauschka Rose Day Cream & Translucent Bronzing Tint

Hourglass Veil Hydrating Skin Tint

Ilia Super Serum Skin Tint SPF 30 & True Skin Serum Concealer

Rose Inc Soft Light Skin Smoothing Liquid Foundation & Brow Renew & Lip/Cheek Colour in “hydrangea”

Merit Blusher

Hannah Martin & Ciaté brushes

Benefit They’re Real mascara

Westman Atelier mascara

Hermes Rosy lip enhancer

Hershesons Almost Everything Cream

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 9:

Fri, 10 Nov 2023 00:00:00 -0000

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 WOMAN”? The harridan? The banshee? Please send comforting examples…because if we’re not in it together, we’re not in it at all...

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Episode 179: Why is Everything a Scam?

Thu, 02 Nov 2023 00:00:00 -0000

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 to get back to sleep? Why is sleep such a scam? It turns out there are a lot of things that are scams in our lives: things that are supposed to be good for us but instead are brutal: like Christmas. And weekends. On the podcast this week we discuss these, why we are exhausted by life’s tiny dilemmas (let alone the big, hairy ones) and phrases we’d like to retire, such as, “I did a thing”. Anyway we did a thing, link in bio…

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 8:

Thu, 26 Oct 2023 23:00:00 -0000

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, it’s spooky season and we imagine some terrifying haunted house scenarios: a room where your WhatsApp groups have all come to life; another room where there’s a party and people keep saying ‘So, tell me about you…’; a hall of mirrors where each one reflects your mother back at you. And she’s always saying something dispiriting like ‘Your hair is much better like that.’ #shudders.

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Episode 178: Poetry for the Soul

Wed, 18 Oct 2023 23:00:00 -0000

Desperate for a little corner of calm that you can tuck yourself into? A mini-escape that is not demanding or exhausting or expensive? We are delighted that this week’s guest has found a way to calm the wild voices in her head… Poetry. Allie Esiri is a poetry anthologist and her wonderful new book 365 Poems for Life harnesses our extraordinary literary resources to offer - if not a solution - then a balm for the soul. Of course, you might be thinking, ‘How is reading a poem a day going to make me feel less mad, vulnerable, sad, tired, stretched, defeated?’…Well, Allie came and talked about poetry. Read a few of her favourites. Recommended a few others. Does poetry have the power to make us feel a little less alone? Have a listen...

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 7:

Thu, 12 Oct 2023 23:00:00 -0000

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 you have to get through the next week. Oh God. Anyway, this week we decide to become local legends. But how? By wearing cloaks? Adopting a treachery of ravens? Maybe a monkey? Emilie thinks replenishing everyone’s stock of recycling bags would do it. Annabel thinks more majesty is required…

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Episode 177: Politics on the Edge with Hugo Rifkind

Wed, 04 Oct 2023 23:00:00 -0000

Are you reaching the edge of reason? Do you find yourself shouting at the Today programme, slamming your laptop shut after reading the Sunday papers, cursing wildly at how insane the news cycle is: the politics, the fuckery, the backstabbing, and the actual stabbings. Our next guest is at the frontline of the news – he has to watch everything, listen to everything, talk about everything and try not to shout or lose his mind. We’re not sure how he does it. Hugo Rifkind, writer, broadcaster and all round good egg came back to give us a political update: we talk about party conferences, Suella Braverman standing on a guide dog’s tail and why the current Tories are making up things to be frightened of... Listen as Annabel & Emilie discover what HS2 stands for (yes, really) in real time as we analyse Labour’s strategy of boring everyone into voting for them. It’s politics but not as you know it…

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 6:

Thu, 28 Sep 2023 23:00:00 -0000

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 you have to get through the next week. Oh God. Anyway, in this episode, we get all nostalgic/nauseous about all the lies we told our parents when we were 15/16. All the shady places we went. The many dodgy vehicles we got into and the European waiters we kissed. How are we still alive? OOF…

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Episode 176: What Happens When Cancer Happens To You...

Wed, 20 Sep 2023 23:00:00 -0000

This is a very personal conversation with our friend Mandy Saligari where she allows us all the privilege of bearing witness to her experience of a recent stage 4 cancer diagnosis. Longtime listeners of the podcast will know Mandy is someone who we hold in extremely high regard: an addictions therapist, founder of Charter Harley Street, and all-round badass, who has given us and many others life-changing advice over the years. Five weeks ago, she was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and, last week, began her chemotherapy. Feelings are Mandy’s speciality - her TedTalk is called “Handle Your Feelings Before They Handle You” - and so she generously agreed to come on the podcast and share exactly what she has been feeling. It’s an emotional listen. To all of our listeners affected by cancer, we send you masses of love.

Mandy Saligari's Instagram

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 5:

Thu, 14 Sep 2023 23:00:00 -0000

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 you have to get through the next week. Oh God. Anyway, in this episode, Emilie has swapped oppressive cheerfulness for gnawing anxiety and Annabel is trying to cheer her up with three-word happy stories…So you can imagine how that went…

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Episode 175: New Term, Same Attitude

Wed, 06 Sep 2023 23:00:00 -0000

So we recorded this week’s podcast schvitzing in our stupid summer dresses, fretting about what we can bear to put on our bodies for Autumn. It’s like all the ghosts of our fashion past are out there: the return of the Sienna Miller-style coin belt; massive blazers and baggy jeans a la Eternal, as well kitten heels. How do we feel about wearing something with the word ‘kitten’ in it? They say hair is everything but it’s also everywhere - sprouting erratically, so Annabel pays homage to her epilator while Emilie bemoans her sparse and patchy body hair situation. We also solemnly swear to tend each other’s coma beards, should the occasion arise, and discuss ways to answer the phone that might make life more bearable. Plus your favourite three-word horror stories: Are you busy? Printer not found. Some assembly required. Is Pepsi okay? You are invited….

*Emilie gets the name of the character from Superstore wrong – it’s Jeff not Gregg.

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Episode 174: No Wonder You're Pissed Off

Wed, 23 Aug 2023 23:00:00 -0000

Sometimes we need reminding that we aren’t failing. The entire fucking system is against us. We have interviewed three brilliant American women who have dedicated their careers to looking at the patriarchy: Ada Calhoun with her Generation X defining book, Why We Can’t Sleep: Women’s New Midlife Crisis. Eve Rodsky’s manifest for female creativity: Find Your Unicorn Space. Elise Loehnen’s primal roar that is On Our Best Behaviour. Presumably you are already angry. Have a listen, get angrier and feel better. We could say empowered but we can’t quite bear it. Remember that you are not alone. After all, if we’re not in it together we’re not in it at all….Note: these are highlight, not new recordings

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Episode 173: This Might Make You Feel Less Weird

Wed, 16 Aug 2023 23:00:00 -0000

Hopefully you are fully engaged in a wonderful holiday, spending joyous time immersed in the glorious slipstream of your family dynamics. If so GOOD FOR YOU. If, however, you feel that you are on the brink, near the overwhelm or just unbelievably tired, have we got an episode to you… We’ve gathered together some self-preserving thoughts from therapy titans, Julia Samuel, Mandy Saligari and Sam Akbar, to talk you down off the emotional cliff. Note: these are highlights, not new recordings. PS: For further inspiration you might want to take a look at Julia Samuel’s Every Family Has A Story, MandySaligari.com and Sam Akbar’s Stressilient.

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Episode 172: The Really Useful Beauty Episode

Wed, 09 Aug 2023 23:00:00 -0000

Here at I’m Absolutely Fine we have gathered the finest beauty minds for a Beauty 101. Nadine Baggott brought us her Skincare SOS kit: she decodes the ingredients to look out for and keeps budget front of mind. Sali Hughes, who has launched her wildly successful skincare range with Revolution (Emilie is a devotee of her Daily Exfoliant), opened up her make-up bag, uncovering treasure, and Annabel rifled through her bathroom to share her summer sensations…NOTE: These are highlights not new recordings…

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Episode 171: Isn't Summer Relaxing?

Wed, 26 Jul 2023 23:00:00 -0000

Summer is here. Maybe you are leaping into August with the enthusiasm of a newborn deer or maybe you feel as if you are about to be culled and mounted on the living room wall. We are veering wildly from wanting to scamper and scurry the streets, eating snacks and generally channelling rat girl energy; and spending so long in the bath that we turn ourselves into broths. Either way we will not be replying to emails in a hurry: Sorry for the delayed response but….I’m Absolutely Fine podcast is taking a break (having a break-down). However we will be sending out some greatest hits to keep you company. See you in September….

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 4:

Thu, 20 Jul 2023 23:00:00 -0000

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 you have to get through the next week. Oh God. So this week we asked you the question: You’re a burglar…but you can only steal things that MILDLY INCONVENIENCE your victims. What are you taking? 700 of you responded with mildly inconveniencing horrors…Long story short, we are not the bigger person...

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Episode 170: With Anna Richardson

Wed, 19 Jul 2023 23:00:00 -0000

Our guest this week is Anna Richardson - host of Channel 4’s Naked Attraction and the recently-launched podcast It Can’t Just Be Me: a sex and relationships podcast where she answers all kinds of problems about anything from ‘Can you be friend with an ex?’ to ‘how do I cope partner’s depression?’. Anna has seen more naked people than anyone else we know, so we ask her about the dynamics of attraction and what she’s learned about bodies from looking at so many of them. She’s also making a documentary about Ozempic, the so-called skinny drug so we dive into that…is it a horror story or a fairy tale? Have a listen...

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 3:

Thu, 13 Jul 2023 23:00:00 -0000

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 you have to get through the next week. Oh God. This week we talk about JULY WEIRDNESS. July is the waiting room of summer, and waiting rooms are weird: you don’t know your life is about to change for the good or for the bad. As a result we find ourselves thinking the same thing over and over… ‘Disappointed, but not surprised’. And we have also discovered a good catch-all for when you don’t feel like explaining yourself…. Because, sometimes, it’s just none of their business.

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE 2:

Thu, 06 Jul 2023 23:00:00 -0000

Welcome to a Podcast From The Edge - I’m Absolutely Fine but…mini! Five-ish minutes, broadcast live from The Edge…The Brink… The Overwhelm…The Vortex - that slips into your feed every Friday. Not ‘That Friday Feeling' but, rather, all the fucking feelings. Just to let you know that the week is nearly over, and there’s only one more week to go before you have to get through the next week. Oh God. Here we go: This week we’ve chewed over some of the DANGEROUS ACTIVITIES FOR MIDULTS. Like... looking in the mirror - you never know what you may find. Which leads us on to this week’s burning question: Is a cheek hair worse than a chin hair? Discuss…

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Episode 169: Bodies Bodies Bodies (and books) With Daisy Buchanan

Wed, 05 Jul 2023 23:00:00 -0000

Our guest this week is novelist and all-round treasure Daisy Buchanan - who is no stranger to this podcast because now and again we ask her to come on and tell us what we need to be reading. She hosts the literary You’re Booked podcast and has just written another great novel - Limelight - which is about women and bodies and bodies and shame and sex and bodies and how we take up space in the world. We talk about how we are trained to look at ourselves and why things like sex and photographs are so complicated because sometimes we are not sure who we are doing it for...Plus brilliant book recommendations to help you get through Summer...

BUCHANAN'S BOOKS:

Lucy Vine's Seven Exes

Hema Sukumar's Minor Disturbances at Grand Life Apartments

Balli Kaur Jaswal’s Now You See Us

Lauren Bravo’s Preloved

And Limelight by the lady herself…from all good independent bookshops

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PODCAST FROM THE EDGE:

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 23:00:00 -0000

Welcome to a Podcast From The Edge - I’m Absolutely Fine but…mini! Five-ish minutes, broadcast live from The Edge…The Brink… The Overwhelm…The Vortex - that slips into your feed every Friday. Not ‘That Friday Feeling' but, rather, all the fucking feelings. Just to let you know that the week is nearly over, and there’s only one more week to go before you have to get through the next week. Oh God. Here we go: All the ways we’ve been undignified this week - revolving door panic, dribble (both ways), torch incontinence and why, if you see a cross-looking woman carrying a fan through the streets with the plug dragging behind her…it’s probably Annabel.

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Episode 168: Travels Around The UK With Melinda Stevens

Wed, 21 Jun 2023 23:00:00 -0000

We used to get on planes as though they were buses but, these days, that feels a bit more complicated, expensive and wrong. So what do you do if you long for adventure? Pine for discovery? But you feel grounded - and not in the good way? Well, we have our friend Melinda Stevens on the podcast this week – she’s about as expert as travel experts get. She edited Conde Nast Traveller UK and US for years and she’s just launched Loupe - a new initiative entirely designed to give us a new way to look at the UK. Perhaps there really is a whole world on our doorstep: new openings, rich regions, hotels, shops, villages, oh my. Anything interesting happening on this sceptred isle? She’s in the loop.

Loupe on Instagram

Loupe Website

LINKS TO ADVENTURE...

Bard

Rhug

The Green Cafe in Ludlow

Bayley & Sage

Settle

Unyolked

Cowley Manor Experimental

Aynhoe House

Hungerford Bookshop

Angela Knight Lingerie

Wylding

The Fife Arms

Florence Knight at Sessions Arts Club

Boath House

Three Horseshoes in Batcombe

Tillingham in Rye

Pollyanna Johnson

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Episode 167: What If We Stop Trying To Be Good? With Elise Loehnen

Wed, 07 Jun 2023 23:00:00 -0000

Envy, Gluttony, Anger, Greed, Sloth, Pride, Lust… Elise Loehnen has written On Our Best Behaviour: What Happens When We Stop Trying To Be Good? It’s about the way women have been caged by the patriarchy, by fake morality, by the seven deadly sins and by our feeling that if we are obedient enough, we will be protected. It is a fascinating, overwhelming read and she’s our sensational guest this week. Is it an uncomfortable truth that the more we try to be to the world, the less we can be there for ourselves? Are we denying ourselves a full existence? Buckle up, guys...

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Episode 166: The Success Myth With Emma Gannon

Wed, 24 May 2023 23:00:00 -0000

Do you feel a bit 'off' about work? A bit 'off’ about yourself? Perhaps - on paper - you seem successful enough, but you don’t feel successful? Are you chasing goals but, when you get there, you do not feel any better? Well, if this is you - and we think it’s a lot of us - then this week’s guest is just the tonic. Writer Emma Gannon became the poster girl for hustle culture when she released her bestselling business book The Multi-Hyphen Method. But things were not all they seemed: she was heading for burnout; miserable, exhausted and isolated. So she took all the wisdom she learned from interviewing successful people on her podcast CTRL ALT Delete (spoiler: successful people often do not feel successful either) and has written a brilliant book called The Success Myth about letting go of having it all and finding ways to make work work for you. We talk about how to deal with the negative voices in our head and why 'success theatre' is just that; an empty performance.

PS: This podcast was bravely brought to you by Symprove. Get your hands on 50% off the first three months at symprove.com/themidult, with the code MIDULT50. Symprove: For all your gut feelings…

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Episode 165: The Shame Game

Thu, 18 May 2023 07:14:00 -0000

Our guest this week is a campaigner, a warrior, an author, a one-woman dancing dynamo. Her mission? To free us from the shame that surrounds us: Body shame, sexual shame, you name, it we’ve been ashamed of it. You know her on Instagram as the sensational Style Me Sunday, and we talk to Natalie about all the big changes she made when she was at a emotional dead end, the heartbreak of friendship ruptures and the evil of WhatsApp.

PS: This podcast was bravely brought to you by Symprove. Get your hands on 50% off the first three months at symprove.com/themidult, with the code MIDULT50. Symprove: For all your gut feelings…

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Episode 164: Bring On The Glimmers

Thu, 04 May 2023 07:30:00 -0000

We often talk about triggers, don’t we? The tiny stabs that strike at the heart of a regret or a fear or a grief or a resentment. Sometimes we can pivot from merry to murderous in a nano-second and we are left angry and or sad but unable to identify the trigger that sent us there. It is, we think, why so many of us feel so irritable so much of the time. We stumbled, the other day, on the concept of glimmers. And even the idea of glimmers is gently soul-warming. Glimmers are the exact opposite of triggers. They are tiny moments of joy that spark an inner-calm. Micro-moments that – instead of sending us downwards or sideways – send us upwards. Perk us up. Pick us up. So on the pod we talk about embracing the glimmers. Aah. But DON’T WORRY it’s not all positivity. Who else falls into tiny episodes of hate? The kind of hate that harms no one: we talk about hate liking on Instagram, hate reading and hate watching….and we introduce the concept of emotional geometry: the regretangle or the oblonging…Welcome to Depressometry. Plus we talk snacks and mood food with nutritionist Imogen Wolsley.

PS: This podcast was bravely brought to you by Symprove. Get your hands on 50% off the first three months at symprove.com/themidult, with the code MIDULT50. Symprove: For all your gut feelings…

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Episode 163: Dress Porn With Isabel Spearman

Wed, 26 Apr 2023 23:00:00 -0000

Why are we all obsessed with dresses? SEPARATES scream the fashion pages. SUITS they howl. But the thing about dresses is - there’s only one thing to decide on in the morning. And once that decision is made then boots and belts and shoes and earrings are just fun and games. Considering we lean so hard on dresses, we are thrilled to have the dress queen on the podcast today: the authority, the grand fromage of frocks. Isabel Spearman styled fashion luminaries and worked for big, beautiful brands like Anya Hindmarch, before founding the addictive Daily Dress Edit in 2019. Championing sustainable, small businesses and showing us all sorts of swishy sensations across the price spectrum, she is a dress devotee. And she’s here to tell us where we need to look now for this summer’s low maintenance, high yield solutions. In other words, she’s here to tell us how to get dressed. Thank God. We talk about the joy of the denim dress, how to wear a floral and not look like it's 2017 and Isabel’s secret favourite dress designers...

PS: This podcast was bravely brought to you by Symprove. Get your hands on 50% off the first three months at symprove.com/themidult, with the code MIDULT50. Symprove: For all your gut feelings…

DDE loves….

@aligne

@wyse

@jigsaw

@emiliawickstead

@arket

@cos

@faithrowanleeves

@opioneers

@albaray

@boden

@cefinn

@iris

@brora

@ebay

@vestiaire

@dilligrey

@pinkcityprints

@shopdrawn

@monsoon

@johannasands_thelabel

@marte_marieforsberg

@cococonran

@solerlondon

@collagerie

@justine_tabak

Shoe Shoutout

@lkbennett

@russellbromley

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Episode 162: Are You Having A Midlife Crisis? You Probably Are...

Wed, 19 Apr 2023 23:00:00 -0000

Are you feeling a bit lost? A bit broken? A bit bored? Do you feel stuck? Trapped? Disconnected from any sense of joy? Do you yearn for change but feel terrified of it at the same time? Could you possibly be experiencing a midlife crisis? The midlife crisis gets a bad rap. It’s become a much-maligned term but that doesn’t make it any less real or any less painful. But maybe this identity storm is not a disaster…maybe it’s an opportunity? This is what psychologist Dr Julie Hannan, author of The Midlife Crisis Handbook, thinks. We talk to her about how we can increase our self-awareness and open the door to the future. OOF…

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Episode 161: Are You Disappearing Into The Things?

Wed, 05 Apr 2023 23:00:00 -0000

We recently received an email from someone who apologised for her delayed reply: she had ‘disappeared into the things’. HARD RELATE. We are constantly in danger of disappearing into the things: the sadness, the panic, the phone. So in this episode we talk about the strange things that are happening with our sense of self at the moment… plus all the mini identity shifts that send us from Diary Of An Edwardian Lady Lady (‘Gosh, is that a Golden Crested Bum Puncher?) to Bleeding Heart to Hard Man in a matter of seconds. And if that’s not disconcerting enough, run through Midult micro-downers….like staggering into your bedroom at 11pm and realising you stripped the bed earlier in the day. Bastards. And when metaphorical instability becomes literal instability. Oof.

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Episode 160: From Rage To Riches With Joanna Jensen

Thu, 23 Mar 2023 00:00:00 -0000

Who doesn’t love a solution story: the tale of a grown-up woman who had a problem and thought ‘You know what? I am not going to wait for some fucker to fix this – I am just going to do it myself’. This is true of today's guest. Joanna Jensen suffered from eczema as a child and, when her own children were born with the same condition, she decided ‘enough is enough’. In 2010 she created Child’s Farm from her kitchen table and, by the end of the decade, it was the UK’s number one baby and child brand. She sold it to Cussons for £40 million last year. *does a little dance*. Anyway, it might sound like an enviably smooth ride but, like all of these stories, it is full of bumps, lumps, divorce, undiagnosed menopause and other crises. Fasten your seatbelts, Midults...

PS: Speaking of solutions not problems, this episode is bravely brought to you by WomenWise, a new women’s healthcare company dedicated to improving women’s health as they go through the perimenopause, menopause and beyond. Go to WomenWise.Health for all the details. For once, it’s all about you.

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Episode 159: How Tired Are You?

Thu, 16 Mar 2023 00:00:00 -0000

Last night we slept so badly that Annabel put hairspray under her arms and Emilie put her contact lenses in twice. This week the podcast is dedicated to the recognition that so many of us are so exhausted. How many times - today - have you thought ‘I am so tired’? Did you wake up thinking, ‘I am so tired’? Did you spend ten minutes sitting on the side of the bed, wrapped in a towel, staring at the wall, thinking, ‘How am I going to manage?’ Did you think, just as you woke up, ‘I can’t wait to go to bed tonight’? And then, when you have finally limped to the end of the day, you are so adrenalised and panicked that a weird, exhausted, busy-ness kicks in. Let’s not call it a second wind because that would imply something useful. You feel compelled to find your passport, attack your chin hairs, buy a phone charger, research pensions, check your breasts, apply eye/neck/hand/foot creme (thanks again, the patriarchy), death/burglar proof the house, try on your entire wardrobe (now you hate clothes, self and everyone else)…GAH. The only consolation? We are not alone….Listen and weep (or sleep).

This podcast was bravely brought to you by Dreem Distillery. Because good sleep makes the difference between a good day and a mad day...

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Episode 158: Do You Know How To Behave?

Thu, 02 Mar 2023 00:00:00 -0000

Are you being rude? Do you even know any more? Do you even care? This week on the podcast we discuss when it’s acceptable to ignore people (airports, for a start); what to do when you forget someone’s name for the millionth time; the question you should never ask and whether diary invitations are helpful or just annoying. And, now that it’s March and the sun’s a little bit out, our wardrobes feel very unfresh. So we wonder about all the dangerous clothes we‘re hankering after… We used to be drawn to dangerous men, now we’re drawn to dangerous fashion….white heels and double denim anyone?

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Episode 157: With Sahar Hashemi

Thu, 16 Feb 2023 00:00:00 -0000

Regular listeners will know that we often slip ’the patriarchy’ into the conversation around what holds us back. From diet culture keeping us hungry while feeding our self-loathing; to medical misogyny. So it’s a privilege really to have entrepreneur Sahar Hashemi on the podcast this week. Sahar has smashed through many a ceiling and is still busy opening lots of doors for women: she founded Coffee Republic - three years before Starbucks landed on our shores; for the past couple of years, she’s been putting her considerable energy into spotlighting women-owned businesses with her Buy Women Built movement; asking the question: why do we only hear about the men? Did you know that a 81% of 11-18-year olds are unable to name one single female entrepreneur? She’s out to change all that. We talked about why women are natural entrepreneurs and how good it feels to be able to put our money where our mouth is and support the sisterhood….

www.buywomenbuilt.com

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Episode 156: Unleash Your Inner Weirdo

Thu, 02 Feb 2023 00:00:00 -0000

All those years trying to fit in. The energy wasted wondering if we were loveable enough. The box ticking: professional, ambitious, presentable. And yet here we find ourselves, at the sharp end of 2023, weirder than ever before. So, we did some…research, and it turns out you lot are up to all sorts of micro-weirdnesses. Maybe it’s time to unleash your inner weirdo on the world. She is bursting to be set free. We talk about the support groups we need: one for those who’ve been asked to ‘say a few words’ at a birthday party; another for those who live with people who leave the fridge door open. We lament how boring our fantasies have become and wonder if we have entered our Do Not Disturb Era. Anyway, it’s all appropriately weird.

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Episode 155: How To Be Happier

Thu, 19 Jan 2023 00:00:00 -0000

So…January. Only 2000 years of it left. Just a joy of a month isn’t? Everyone is feeling fantastic, right? Well if, like us, you are wading through quicksand, then this is the episode for you. This week’s guest is a happiness teacher. At UCLA. To MBAs. Professor Cassie Holmes is an award-winning academic and social psychologist, who, nearly defeated by the grind, decided to learn how to have a more fulfilling existence. And - spoiler alert - it’s mostly about how we manage our time. Happily, she’s written a book about it called HAPPIER HOUR, full of practical tips and wisdom to help everyone find their happy hour. And guess what? It’s not about being richer or better looking. We talk about how paying attention, putting down our phones and thinking small rather than big are the keys to unlock happiness.

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Episode 154: It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like F*** This

Thu, 22 Dec 2022 00:00:00 -0000

Not to be dramatic but it’s nearly fucking Christmas...Anyone else feeling exhausted/deranged/burnt-out? We thought we’d share some of the best advice (and weirdest) we’ve received from you guys, from ‘Nothing good comes from a drink you have set on fire’ to ’Never trust a man called Tim’. We talk about all the modes we might slip into during the perineum of the year, from Goblin Mode to Donkey Mode. And how we would decorate the perfect Midult Christmas tree: a tiny vortex to scream into and - obviously - tweezers . Goodbye 2022! Close the door on your way out. Merry Everything and a Happy Always to our Midults…see you on the other side!

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Episode 153: Happy Scummy Christmas

Thu, 15 Dec 2022 10:26:00 -0000

So buckle up for the best kind of Christmas chaos…with our friends and yours, The Scummy Mummies. Helen talks about navigating the single life while Ellie owns up to a Christmas loo brush (is it acceptable to clean it in the dishwasher?) and a hefty midlife crisis purchase. And here’s the burning Midult question this Christmas: Bublé or Tucci? Only a few more breakdowns ‘til Christmas guys...

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Episode 152: With Fran Littlewood

Thu, 08 Dec 2022 00:00:00 -0000

Do you feel as though you are about to explode with ALL THE THINGS? Ageing parents, health, money, a social life, trying to stay hydrated, sober and sane, and sleep for more than 45 minutes? Well someone else who understands the ferocity of the rush hour of life is novelist Fran Littlewood – she’s here with us today to talk about her brilliant book Amazing Grace Adams; the story of a perimenopausal woman going on a rampage. It’s a raging read, out in January and it’s already been optioned by the producers of Mare of Easttown. We talk about medical misogyny, double standards and what happens when women start saying 'no thanks' and go their own way...

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Episode 151: Books To Give You Hope With Daisy Buchanan

Thu, 01 Dec 2022 00:00:00 -0000

Everything in the world is making us want to retreat to our beds with a book right now. But what to read? Enter our guest this week, Daisy Buchanan. Daisy is a writer of naughty books and heartwarming books and books that can help us to look at ourselves with more generosity – from her hot novel Insatiable to the most recent Careering. She also has a mini-book out with The Pound Project called Burn Before Reading which is full of books to hold on to when you are in the emotional quicksand. We talk about how to read our way out of the slow-release burnout that so many of us are suffering from. It’s a heavenly listen as Dr Daisy prescribes books for all sorts of emotional ailments….

Here are Daisy’s literary prescriptions…

A book to make you feel like you’re 13 again

High Wages by Dorothy Whipple

A book to give you hope for 2023

When The Dust Settles by Lucy Easthope

A book for heartbreak

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

The book that changed my year – that celebrates vulnerability

We Are The Luckiest by Laura McKowen

A book to heal from dealings with a narcissist

The Exhibitionist by Charlotte Mendleson

A book for anyone grieving a complicated friendship

One Day I Shall Astonish The World by Nina Stibbe

A book for when you feel like no-one understands you

Fight Night by Miriam Toews

A book for grey days

Sunny by Sukh Ojla

You can also find Daisy interviewing writers on her brilliant podcast You’re Booked....

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Episode 150: With Bay Garnett

Thu, 24 Nov 2022 00:00:00 -0000

Bay Garnett is the woman who turned second hand into vintage. She is the person to talk to right now, when money is tight, fashion feels oppressive and we want to stop contributing to the fast fashion phenomenon that just feeds our greed for new…more…now. In this episode, the Queen Of Thrift talks to us about how to plug into the thrift circuit, how shopping can also be activism and why secondhand clothes can help us tell our own style stories. Rather than the ones that are just…sold to us.

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Episode 149: Welcome To The Midultverse

Thu, 17 Nov 2022 00:00:00 -0000

We all kind of agree that (despite the amazing skin elasticity and ability to metabolise alcohol) our 20s were the fucking trenches. So here we are in our 30s, 40s, 50s trying to decide which bits of our personalities to hold on to and which bits to let go of. Who to be, basically. Well maybe we could start with who we’d like to be in a very micro way. This week we start a campaign to be the people who…. organise 6:30pm dinners and no longer compliment people on losing weight. Tiny steps to world peace. But don’t worry we haven’t gone soft. There are also lot of things that we would sue, like printers, the patriarchy and Bryan Adam. We’re going to build a Midultverse where the lighting is fantastic, phone charge is infinite and sizing is universal. Come join us….

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Episode 148: Politics! Politics! Politics! With Hugo Rifkind

Thu, 10 Nov 2022 00:00:00 -0000

If you are anything like us, you will have been driven half mad tracking the chaos - the sheer wildness - of the last few months in politics. So have we got a treat for you. This week our guest is the sensational Hugo Rifkind, Times star columnist and radio presenter - his Saturday morning show on Times Radio is a must-listen. He unpacks his red box of weirdness for us as we talk about the maddest things that have happened in this Autumn term of politics. Given we are in fast moving times, Gavin Williamson (his dickishness is one of Hugo’s talk points) has resigned, since the recording of this podcast. Bye then Gavin.

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Episode 147: Hair Loss & Beyond With Jo Jones

Thu, 03 Nov 2022 00:00:00 -0000

Here we all are, wrestling with the shifting sands of our identity. Who are we? What are we doing? Is this what we wanted? And alongside these panickings, there are times when our physical selves change and challenge us in ways that can make us feel desperate. Today’s guest opened the floodgates for people to take about their experience of hair loss when she started documenting her own situation. And the solutions she sought. Because Jo Jones is a woman of action – she co-founded Beauty Banks, an incredible charity and initiative that supports people living in hygiene poverty. She also co-hosts Instagram's Beauty Hags series. We talk about why hair is everything, Jo gives us her best beauty buys and tells us how we can help with the cost-of-clean crisis…

Links...

Beauty Banks Instagram

My Instagram

DropPoint

P2Bus

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Episode 146: Do You Have A Happy Vagina?

Wed, 26 Oct 2022 23:00:00 -0000

Do you have a happy vagina? Do you even know what would make it happy? Content? Perhaps equal pay and a health industry that prioritises its well-being? This is why activist and advocate Mika Simmons wrote her book, The Happy Vagina, to empower us to talk openly about health, relationships and pleasure. In this episode we talk to her about why vulvas need a rebrand, medical gaslighting, the stupid term ‘hysteria’ and get a bit fucking furious and a tiny bit hopeful.

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Episode 145: Live Laugh Leave

Wed, 19 Oct 2022 23:00:00 -0000

So last week we posted a Gemma Collins meme about those motivational slogans - printed and framed - that are somehow too much to bear. You lot shared all of your love-to-hate motivational sayings and now we’ve done a podcast about it. As well as Emilie’s most recent undignified moment, how late-onset rudeness has crept on us and why you should never EVER look in a lift mirror. Also we chat to the fabulous founder of Blink Brow Bar, Vanita Parti, about why brows are everything...

PS: This podcast was bravely brought to you by Blink Brow Bar and their new supercharging Brow Boost serum. This is practically a public service announcement. Get your hands on Blink's Brow Boost Serum. Because it’s all about the brows, people. And you know it.

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Episode 144: With Nadine Baggott

Wed, 12 Oct 2022 23:00:00 -0000

Are you scared of mascara? Bruised by blusher? Disconcerted by dark circles? Do you want to look like you know what you’re doing with makeup? Or maybe you’ve set the bar lower, and you just want to look a little less corpse-like as Winter beds in. This week we called in our friend and general sensation, Nadine Baggott, to talk all things make up. Because Nadine – who seamlessly transitioned from veteran health and beauty journalist to YouTuber with 23 million views - is a proper expert. We talk about CBA (Can’t Be Arsed) Make-up, and why we all need a magnifying mirror. Oh God.

PPS: Here is a list of all the products discussed...

Olay Whips moisturisers

L'Oreal Paris True Match Foundation

Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturiser

Chantecaille Future Skin

Beauty Pie One Powder Wonder

Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Finish

Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer

Nars Pure Radiance Tinted Moisturiser

Clarins Everlasting Compact Foundation

Blink Brow Bar

Josh Wood Colour

Mac Powder Blusher in Peaches

Ciate Dewy Stix Highlighter

Westman Atelier Lit Up Highlight Stick

Perricone MD Face Finishing & Firming Tinted Moisturiser

Chanel Les Beiges Bronzing Cream

Nars Laguna Bronzing Cream

Revolution Cream Bronzer

MAC eyeliner pencil soft brown

Bobbi Brown eyeshadow

Max Factor 2000 Calorie

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Episode 143: Fashion Issues With Lucinda Chambers and Serena Hood

Wed, 05 Oct 2022 23:00:00 -0000

Most of us live in a constant state of despair around how to get dressed. Office clothes now feel like fancy dress. Trying to look a little bit swishy for a night out feels like a Sisyphian struggle. We want to look together but casual at the weekends but mostly we look like pile of old laundry. So the question is: how to look relevant and comfortable - and even a little bit dangerous - when you’ve slightly lost your way? This week we’ve brought in some heavy hitters. Ex-Vogue fashion editors and celebrated stylists who set up a website, Collagerie, to solve exactly this problem: finding one thing over every thing. We talk to Lucinda Chambers and Serena Hood about where to find the best boots, jeans, shirts, coats, earrings and the rest. They style Annabel in a pink mohair jumper. Beware, listening could be a bit perilous for your wallet…

collagerie.com

jigsaw-online.com/collagerie

PS: This episode is bravely brought to you by Readly – your one-stop shop for thousands of magazines and newspapers, from Grazia and New York Magazine to The Guardian and World of Interiors. Readly are offering I’m Absolutely Fine listeners a free two-month trial at gb.readly.com/midult. Read it all. With Readly.

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Episode 142: How's Your Social Battery?

Wed, 28 Sep 2022 23:00:00 -0000

Is your social battery dead? The Social Battery is the latest excuse-slash-label-slash-diagnosis for why we are so tired and can hardly bear to see anyone, do anything. So this week we discuss all the different batteries we could use and what would happen if we actually became fully-charged human women. WHAT THE HELL THEN? We also offer some translations for every day sayings like "I’ve had a bit of day" (I have just had the most intensely terrible experience of my life) and "Have you seen the news?” (I don’t want to tell you what is in the news in case you are too fragile. But another terrible thing has happened). Because have you seen the news? Oof. Link in bio.

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Episode 141: With Donna Lancaster

Wed, 21 Sep 2022 23:00:00 -0000

Paralysing grief, collective dread, crushing anxiety, acute self-loathing, debilitating panic - are you feeling it all right now? Well, we have an authority on the podcast this week. Donna Lancaster is a therapist, facilitator and healer. She has 30 years of experience in her back pocket: she was head of teaching at the Hoffman Institute and is a co-creator of the Bridge Retreat, a six-day personal development experience where you can overcome grief and loss and step into wholehearted living. Now she’s a written a book, The Bridge, which is a gift for people seeking peace. A guide to help us to return to the person we were before our hearts were broken one too many times. Oof.

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Episode 140: With Alex Light

Wed, 14 Sep 2022 23:00:00 -0000

How do you feel about your body? Can you celebrate its wondrous function? Do you high five yourself every time you tie your shoelaces or carry a heavy thing? Do you admire your favourite bits and embrace your other bits? Are you happy with your size and shape or do you often see yourself as a …before picture "If only I were thinner, more toned, had bigger/smaller/perkier boobs?”

We have run the daily gamut of diet culture for years, a happiness-threatening - hell, life-threatening - obsession with thinness and food. It’s exhausting, isn’t it? But help is at hand. Alex Light is dedicated to helping people separate reality from the air-brushed, patriarchal diet pressure that makes so many of us hate ourselves. She promotes body confidence and self-acceptance by talking about her own eating disorder struggles and pointing out the dangerous hypocrisies and downright lies in the media and fashion world surrounding women’s bodies. She co-hosts the number one podcast called Should I Delete That? and now she’s written a book, You are Not A Before Picture, and frankly we are little bit obsessed with her. We talk about all of this and more. Plus there’s a bolt-on with Abbie Miranda, the co-founder of Beija London, the sensational lingerie brand that has bravely sponsored this week’s episode.

PS: Visit www.beija.london for a look at their beautiful modern classics, from a AA up to a 36H. They also offer a free 20-minute online bra fitting if you are unsure about your size. Beija London are giving I’m Absolutely Fine listeners a 15% discount – just enter ‘themidult' at checkout…

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Episode 139: The September Issues

Wed, 07 Sep 2022 23:00:00 -0000

We’re back. And we’re fine *laughs for days*. So fine. This new term does not have that hopeful September flavour, does it? What with The Great Exhaustion, raw sewage in our seas, Truss & Trump, energy bills, war, floods and all the other global horror. The unnamed dread we’ve been pointlessly carrying around for years has now become very much named dread. Oof. Anyway, to celebrate our return, we have made a desperate attempt to put some good energy into the world to combat the collective dread and found some small reasons to be happy that it’s Autumn. We also talk about things we are just going to have to accept (politicians are awful and no matter how much sleep we get we are still going to be tired) and why maybe it’s time to dive into a gentle Midult crisis….another piercing, anyone?

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Episode 138: Blame It On The Circumstances

Thu, 28 Jul 2022 00:05:00 -0000

Maybe we should just refer to this period in history as "The Circumstances". Because, let’s face it, we have been around the block a few times (!) and we have never experienced a time when there have been so many “circumstances”. Doesn’t seem much point in listing all the things – personal, financial, ecological, socio-economic, cultural, political. Doesn’t seem much point in breaking them all down and having to absorb the horror and understand the nuances and process the feelings. Maybe we should just sleepwalk through the next year or so, occasionally muttering about The Circumstances. Anyway, on the podcast this week we talk about all the things that seem like a good idea for 20 seconds; why we were always destined to be adults with anxiety and brilliant ways to turn down invitations. With a little help from @lettersofnote. We’re off for a little break,…due to the circumstances. See you on the other side. Love, A&E x

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Episode 137: The Big Quit With Anniki Sommerville

Wed, 20 Jul 2022 23:00:00 -0000

Maybe you love your job. Or maybe you spend an alarming amount of time crying in the loo/working in the evenings to meet deadlines/feeling under-appreciated and trapped/hoping meditation will sort it all out. If you are constantly teetering on the brink or staring into the overwhelm – well we have a guest for you. Anniki Sommerville is an author and journalist, podcaster and woman familiar with… the edge. She ditched her toxic work environment, set about finding that elusive life-work balance and has written a book, The Big Quit, to help us all do the same. We talk about how to tame your inner arsehole, why ‘dream jobs’ might not exist and the perils of anti-chafing pants...

Click Here for The Big Quit

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Episode 136: It's A Beauty Special

Wed, 13 Jul 2022 23:00:00 -0000

Listen, it's all pretty hideous/hopeless out there. But buying beauty bits can be properly feel good. Annabel rifles through her drawers to find her current beauty stars - some are new, some are classics. Some are budget, others are treats. All will blur, blend and burnish where we need them to. Head to TheMidult.com for all the shoppable links, but we discuss:

Botanico Vida Omega Oil
Kopari Deodorant
Oskia Renaissance Mask
Naked Sundays Collagen Glow 100% Mineral Sunscreen
Rose Inc. Blush Divine Radiant Lip and Cheek Colour
Guerlain Terracotta Matter Powder
Maybelline Lash Sensational Sky High Mascara
Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Setting Spray
Sol De Janeiro Coco Cabana Cream
Nars Pure Radiance Tinted Moisturiser

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Episode 135: How To Be Stressilient With Sam Akbar

Wed, 06 Jul 2022 23:00:00 -0000

We all feel stressed, right? We feel dread-full. We’ve done Pilates and lit a candle and had a bath and, in Annabel’s case, fallen asleep in it. But still. The panic. WE NEED SOLUTIONS. So this week we’re thrilled to have Dr Sam Akbar on the podcast. She's at the frontline of serious, heart-breaking stress; a clinical psychologist who treats refugees and survivors of torture with post-traumatic stress disorder. Now Sam is applying those hard-won skills to our everyday flavours of stress with her excellent new book, Stressilient. We talk about how to be psychologically prosperous, how to stop being afraid of our feelings and why mindfulness should sack its PR team - plus there are lots of exercises to give us all a little of bit of space…have a listen and feel a bit better. We did.

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Episode 134: With Sali Hughes

Wed, 29 Jun 2022 23:00:00 -0000

Are you worried about the wreckage that is your face? We are. This week we have one of the country’s foremost beauty experts on the podcast…. whether it's writing her unmissable Guardian beauty columns, building the charitable initiative Beauty Banks or breaking the internet with her decision to go fully grey, Sali Hughes is honest and outspoken about beauty standards and how the beauty industry makes us feel about ourselves. She’s just launched her own brand in partnership with Revolution which keeps selling out. We talk about how things have changed since we were teenagers, the terror of trolling... and of course we delved inside her make-up bag, uncovering treasure which include…

Tinted Moisturiser - budget and brilliant

L'Oreal Paris Tinted Serum

Rimmel Kind and Free

Cream Blush

Elf

Planet Revolution

Hourglass

Cle de Peau

Bobbi Brown

Highlighter - of sorts...

Charlotte Tillbury Hollywood Flawless Filter

Bronzer

Hourglass

Fenty

Chanel

Milk

Eye Shadow Crayon - idiot-proof

Bobbi Brown

Nars

Elf

Beauty Pie

Tubing Mascara - for those prone to the smudge

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Mascara

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L'Oreal

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Mac Mineralise Skinfinish Natural Powder

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Episode 133: With Veronica Dearly

Wed, 22 Jun 2022 23:00:00 -0000

Regular listeners of the podcast will know how totally demotivating we find motivational quotes – however there is one exception to this rule… Veronica Dearly, whose whole-hearted warmth and empathy is at the cornerstone of her illustrations. Veronica's funny blend of stress and self-awareness is a lovely corner of the internet - she stares into the abyss and finds a little bit of hope there. Her new book How to Do Hard Things is out now: an illustrated guide to embracing change and challenging self-limiting beliefs. We talk Anxiety! Panic! Procrastination! Sometimes all at once...

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Episode 132: With Thomasina Miers

Wed, 15 Jun 2022 23:00:00 -0000

Are you so bored of cooking that you’d quite happily throw all the utensils out of the window? Have you abandoned any attempt at culinary imagination? Are you worried about how to feed everybody, let alone with any kind of flair, without going insane and bankrupting yourself? Well, we are delighted to welcome the delicious Thomasina Miers to the podcast. She won Masterchef (FFS!) before founding Wahaca and her latest book, Meat-Free Mexican is an absolute goldmine. We talk about anxiety, cooking as meditation and how to spice up your lunch…cheaply.

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Episode 131: With Abi Morgan

Wed, 08 Jun 2022 23:00:00 -0000

We are slightly awestruck by our guest this week – she’s a BAFTA and Emmy award-winning screenwriter of such magnificences as The Hour, The Split, Iron Lady and Suffragette. But she’s soon to be famous for her bestseller This is Not A Pity Memoir. Ok, so we should warn you that this is a book about a series of heart-breaking events: her husband had a catastrophic reaction to MS drugs; he woke up from a six months’ long coma and she was the only person he didn’t recognise. Then, while caring for him and supporting the family, she got breast cancer. This is an incredible conversation with an incredible woman about life, love, death - all the big guns - and how you survive the unimaginable...

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Episode 130: Bonus Bank Holiday Episode

Fri, 03 Jun 2022 15:42:55 -0000

Recently someone said to us – as they do – just go with the flow. Our first thought – obviously – was…’Have you ever met us?’ Swiftly followed by, ‘What time does the flow start?’ And ‘What do we wear?' We have never knowingly or unknowingly gone with the flow. Anyway, we are unlikely to tell anyone to go with the flow, but there are a lot of things we are currently saying to people who have annoyed us like, ‘I’m just going to leave that with you’ and ‘Wow, you have given that a lot of thought.’ We also talk about ways to punch up a social situation (‘Who do you hate here?’) and all the childhood fantasies that turn out to be adult nightmares….like making decisions and taking responsibility and being able to watch whatever we like. Plus Emilie’s improbably intense relationship with her soft-closing drawers and, stay tuned for a ten-minute chat with Symprove's founder, the brilliant Barry Smith...

PS: This podcast was bravely brought to you by Symprove. You can sign up for a 12-week introductory programme – and here’s your code for a 15% discount MIDULT15 at symprove.com. Follow your gut feelings...

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Episode 129: With Steph McGovern

Wed, 25 May 2022 23:00:00 -0000

This week we’ve got a veritable powerhouse of a guest. Maybe you started needlepointing during lockdown? Or baked a dodgy sourdough loaf or two? But if you’re Steph McGovern, you started a whole television show…. from your front room. In fact, Steph’s Packed Lunch, was just nominated for a BAFTA. We talk about our dire knicker situation, dealing with IBS and what it’s like to be a northerner who doesn't like tea.

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Episode 128: With Em Clarkson

Wed, 18 May 2022 23:00:00 -0000

If you are ever depressed about the chilly perfection of Instagram then we have the antidote…. Em Clarkson, who uses this platform to call out the constant cultural undermining of women and to smash our own internalised misogyny one awkward-yet-joyful post at a time. We talk about the power of changing your mind, what will happen if we just keep letting ourselves be coated in shame and judgement, and why we shouldn’t try to be liked by everyone. Warning: Contains ranting. Link in bio.

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Episode 127: Is It Just Our Horrible Personalities?

Thu, 12 May 2022 10:26:00 -0000

We have a question: at what point does your ‘manner’ become your horrible personality? Because – somewhere – we all have a horrible personality. Even Emilie. This week we discuss why we need to own our anger, and why all our inner people - Inner Warrior, Child and Diva - are malfunctioning at the moment. Plus lots of ways to get Midult high AND ways to say no without saying no - because we are, after all, only here to help…tune in for Big Midult Energy….

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Episode 126: Let's Talk About Consent, Baby

Wed, 04 May 2022 23:00:00 -0000

Has there ever been a better time to talk about sex education? Girls, women and their bodies are under siege. Supposed protectors of laws and rights are watching porn in the Commons. Young people are deluged with mixed messages about what they should and shouldn’t expect. There’s an orgasm gap, along with all the other gaps FFS. It’s enough to make you want to start burning everything down. So this week we are thrilled to welcome journalist Sophia Smith Galer to the podcast to talk about her new book, Losing, which proposes a new template for sex education for the 21st Century - starting with the absurd mythologising of virginity. It will make you angry about the sexual untruths peddled at girls and boys for generations. It’s time for a sex reset...

PS: This podcast is bravely brought to you by sex-positive start-up, HANX. They are offering listeners a HANX Free Set, which includes two of their best-selling, vegan, biodegradable condoms and two samples of their water-based, toy and condom friendly, gentle lube. Plus a discount for their next order at HANX – you just need to pay £3.50 for P&P. Just go to hanxofficial.com/midult and get it on…

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Episode 125: What Was I Saying?

Wed, 27 Apr 2022 23:00:00 -0000

What’s the word for when you’re very clever but can’t remember anything and know literally nothing…? Because that’s where we live now. This week on the podcast we talk about why we need entire essay prompts to remember anything; all the stuff we shall never understand (like why does watching documentaries about serial killers help us to relax); and why we are low-level suspicious of anyone who looks forward to a long weekend. Plus there’s a chat with Doctor Seaweed himself…

PS: This episode is bravely brought to you by Doctor Seaweed. Discover the wonder of seaweed with 20% off using the code midult20 at checkout as well as an additional 15% off if you subscribe and save. Cancel and pause anytime free of charge! Doctor Seaweed is so confident you’ll notice a difference that there is also a 30-day money back guarantee. www.doctorseaweed.com

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Episode 124: Mid-Life Mayhem With Karen Arthur

Wed, 20 Apr 2022 23:00:00 -0000

Sometimes it’s hard to even feel like ourselves. Pressure. Confusion. Exhaustion. And then we wonder about menopause and how we are going to handle the storms ahead… so this week we asked Karen Arthur to join us, to talk to us about those choppy waters. Karen was a teacher until menopause floored her, robbed her of her sense of self and led her down a path of anxiety and depression. She left her job, her relationship and, after a ton of therapy, found her new life - as a speaker, podcaster, model and fashion designer as well as an advocate for women and menopause. We talk about what happens when you tumble down the hole - and why there can be so much joy once you climb out….

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Episode 123: How To Get Dressed With Kat Farmer

Wed, 06 Apr 2022 23:00:00 -0000

All this 'going out’ business…well, we are sorely out of practice and in danger of falling at the first hurdle: what to wear. Half of the exhaustion of 'going out' is the bit before. The getting ready. *shudders* So we are delighted that our old friend Kat Farmer has written Get Changed, a book about how to leave the house without leaving your sanity. We talk about bags, belts, budgets and if you are feeling lost, where to begin. Spoiler alert - never start with going shopping….

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Episode 122: How To Crack Your Creativity With Eve Rodsky

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 23:00:00 -0000

If someone asked you what you did for fun, would you have a full body panic? Are you living at the intersection where overwhelm meets boredom? Well, LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE OF THE PODCAST with writer and revolutionary, Eve Rodsky. With her latest book, Find Your Unicorn Space, Eve is helping us reclaim time, reclaim energy and reconnect with our creativity. No small task. But this is a woman undaunted by such things. We talk about daily flourishing, martyr syndrome, why chasing happiness all the time is a trap and why the concept of multi-tasking is a conspiracy by the patriarchy to keep us doing it all. Enough? Let’s all go find our unicorn spaces...

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Episode 121: Why Is Money So Hard?

Thu, 24 Mar 2022 00:00:00 -0000

This week’s podcast is all about how and why money makes us crazy. Rising costs are crunching us and we know that financial planning is sensible, so why are we resistant? Can’t afford to do the roof and yet still addicted to athleisurewear that will never witness any athleticism. We talk about money regret: waxing, the futile hunt for the perfect capsule wardrobe, highlights. And, at the end, there is a 10 minute chat with Pension Bee’s Clare Reilly about how to…get started.

PS: This podcast is bravely sponsored by PensionBee – pension planning without the panic. Head to Pensionbee.com for more information. Capital is at risk.

PPS: Thanks to recording this financial mini-series, Emilie has finally got herself a pension. With PensionBee.

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Episode 120: With Julia Samuel

Thu, 17 Mar 2022 00:00:00 -0000

We don’t think anyone was prepared for the idea that 2022 might be worse than all the rest put together. So, seeing as so many of us are feeling terrible and guilty and frightened, we are thrilled (and a little relieved ) to welcome Julia Samuel back to the podcast. Julia is a psychotherapist specialising in bereavement and a bestselling author. Her warmth and wisdom has helped thousands. Her latest book, Every Family Has a Story, is an examination - built around case studies - into how families work, or don’t.

PS: This podcast is bravely sponsored by PensionBee – pension planning without the panic. Head to Pensionbee.com for more information. Capital is at risk.

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Episode 119: Money Madness

Thu, 10 Mar 2022 00:00:00 -0000

One of the areas where we feel we could be more grown-up is... money. Some people are unemotional, practical and organised when it comes to money. Not us. So we are delighted that our guest this week is a money grown-up. Georgie Frost is an award-winning financial journalist and she’s here to tell us how to initiate a financial MOT…and maybe help us calm the money madness in our minds. We talk about pensions, savings and how the best thing to do is just get started. Gulp.

PS: This podcast is bravely sponsored by PensionBee – pension planning without the pain. Head to Pensionbee.com for more information. Capital is at risk.

Instagram - @pensionbee

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Episode 118: What Does It All Mean?

Thu, 03 Mar 2022 00:00:00 -0000

Listen, all things considered, we weren’t sure whether to record a podcast this week. But we did…so APOLOGIES IN ADVANCE for all the weirdness. We talk about Spider Ma’am and other reluctant superheroes who might not actually be prepared to pull on the spandex. We talk about all the flare-ups - from emotional incontinence to accessorising. And we wonder what the fuck Meatloaf wouldn’t do for love... Who knows? Who knows anything anymore? It’s all very frightening, so go easy… xxx

Click Here for a list of charities to donate to, and other ways you can aid Ukraine.

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Episode 117: Clover Stroud

Thu, 24 Feb 2022 00:00:00 -0000

This week we are delighted to welcome a true voyager to the podcast – Clover Stroud travels to the very sharpest edges of human emotion in her writing, taking us with her through the dark woods of grief, loss and what it means to love. You are going to be hearing so much about her book, The Red of My Blood (which is about the death of her sister - out on March 10th) because it is brilliant, truthful, unflinching and devastating – the sort of writing that is sparklingly easy to read and very hard to think about. Today’s podcast is a tearful conversation about some of the things that make us human.

PS: This episode is bravely sponsored by Leapfrog Immune. If you don’t have time to get ill, get Leapfrog…and there’s 15% off for listeners with the code MIDULT15 at leapfrogremedies.com. Stay tuned after our conversation with Clover for a chat with Leapfrog’s founder Stephanie Drax…

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Episode 116: Books To Bring You Back To Life

Thu, 17 Feb 2022 00:00:00 -0000

Our guest this week is the sensational Daisy Buchanan; novelist, journalist. podcaster and an authority on both books and sex. She writes brilliantly sexy books and her latest is called Careering about magazines, millennials and masturbation. Sometimes at once. But today she’s Doctor Daisy – giving us her book prescriptions for all our emotional ailments. Because, wow, do we need them…

A book for when you need to be soothed, unravelled and made sense of - These Precious Days by Ann Patchett

Books for when you’d love to spend time with friends but don’t have the energy for your actual friends - Asking For A Friend by Andi Osho and Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton

A book for when you need love in your life - Here Again Now by Okechukwu Nzelu

A book for when you’re suffering from career envy - The Other Side Of The Story by Marian Keyes

A book for when you have no time to read - 4000 Hours by Oliver Burkeman

A book for when the world is going to hell in a handcart – The Movement by Ayisha Malik

A book to break a reading drought - Dear Reader by Cathy Rentzenbrink

Pre-order Daisy’s book Careering https://www.waterstones.com/book/careering/daisy-buchanan/9781408725931

PS: This podcast was calmly brought to you by OTO CBD Sleep Drops. Give yourself the best chance of a good night – and there’s 20% off for listeners with the code Midult20 https://bit.ly/3r25v50

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Episode 115: How To Heal A Broken Heart

Thu, 10 Feb 2022 00:00:00 -0000

If you’ve ever been heartbroken you will remember the agony. It can be enough to stop you from embarking on new relationships. ‘Can I survive that again?’ you wonder. We very much hope that no one listening to the podcast is going through this right now, but if you are, there is a resource. Our guests this week are psychologist Alice Haddon and writer Ruth Field who founded The Heartbreak Hotel, a retreat where you can go and put yourself back together. We talk about power, possibility and a few little tricks to get the heartbroken on the road to recovery.

PS: This podcast was calmly brought to you by OTO CBD Sleep Drops. Give yourself the best chance of a good night – and there’s 20% off for listeners with the code Midult20

OTO CBD Sleep Drops: https://bit.ly/3r25v50

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Episode 114: Welcome To... The Panicdemic

Thu, 03 Feb 2022 00:00:00 -0000

We’re not being dramatic but… we're under threat from… The Panic Variant. This week we talk about how we are navigating the panicdemic; essential conversations we have with our friends (burial or cremation? Big knickers or bigger knickers?) and whether we are meant to feel bad because Downing Street has hosted more parties in the last two years than we have been to in our entire lives… plus the Midult Eighties Kitchen Disco Playlist, designed to take you from empty, to euphoric.

PS: This podcast was bravely brought to you by OTO CBD Power Drops. They are offering listeners a 20% discount with the code MIDULT20 – https://bit.ly/3o0hBtn. Discover the power of your inner calm with OTO

PPS: THE MIDULT EIGHTIES KITCHEN DISCO PLAYLIST

Let’s Dance by David Bowie

I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston

Faith by George Michael

(I’ve had) The Time of My Life by Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes

Push It by Salt-N-Pepa

Theme from S’Express by S’Express

Footloose by Kenny Loggins

Buffalo Stance by Neneh Cherry

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Episode 113: How To Get A Pay Rise (And The Rest) With Helena Morrissey

Thu, 27 Jan 2022 00:00:00 -0000

If anyone can shake us out of our January torpor it’s our guest this week. Is there anything that Helena Morrissey can’t do? She runs banks, advocates for women in business, writes books, and has nine children. She’s also a Dame and only 55. Maybe you need a lie down now? Anyway, Helena talks movingly about how the menopause ambushed her and rocked her confidence; how to ask for a pay-rise and why fitting-in doesn’t matter but finding allies does…

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Episode 112: Don't Panic, It's Only Insert As Appropriate

Thu, 20 Jan 2022 00:00:00 -0000

Not sure we know a Midult who isn’t currently experiencing that heady mix of exhaustion and panic - what will this year look like? Can I be bothered to care? Am I up to it? Do I look good in high-waisted jeans? Have I turned the gas off? Have I? So this podcast is about all the myriad Januarys we are having and why adulthood is currently not recommended. Yes we’re capable grown-ups (*coughs*) but sometimes even putting your phone down so you can focus on the telly feels like a major win. Getting anything done when you feel the way everyone feels at the moment should be a source of great pride. So we’re giving you all a medal xxx

PS: This podcast was bravely sponsored by LYMA, but Annabel has been taking it for two years and asked them to come on board because she’s a genuine fan…

PPS: Is your face falling off? We hate to cast aspersions but, if you are looking less than peachy, why not enter our lovely LYMA competition to win a facial with world-renowned facialist Nichola Joss? Click Here. T&Cs apply.

LYMA's Website

LYMA's Instagram

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Episode 111: Supplements...The Truth! With Lucy Goff

Thu, 13 Jan 2022 00:00:00 -0000

What happens if you are on the floor, dreaming of a padded cell, a noise-cancelled life and as little interaction with the world as possible? Well, you can consult an expert on how to feel human again. This magical creature does actually have a human form, her name is Lucy Goff and she is the founder of super supplement LYMA. She came on the podcast to tell us where to spend and where to scrimp, what works and what doesn’t….Also we are hosting an Insta live with Lucy next Monday (the 17th) at 6pm so she can deal with all your confusions and questions about which supplements work, which don't, the ingredients to look out for and how not to get ripped off. So please DM us with your questions….

PS: This podcast was bravely sponsored by LYMA, but Annabel has been taking it for two years and asked them to come on board because she’s a genuine fan….

PPS: Why not enter our lovely competition in association with LYMA? Win a facial with world-renowned facialist Nichola Joss? Click Here To Enter T&Cs apply

LYMA's Instagram

LYMA's Website

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Episode 110: Manifest That Shit With Cherry Healey

Thu, 06 Jan 2022 00:00:00 -0000

We can’t think of a better way to start the year than with a dose of sunshine in the form of telly’s Cherry Healey. She presents Inside the Factory, makes everyone cry on 10 Years Younger and is on a mission to help us all get our heart’s desire with her straight-talking manifesting course: Manifest That Shit, created with Instagram sensation @StyleMeSunday aka Natalie Lee. We talk about finding out what we really want, quietening all the interference and how manifesting changed Cherry’s life...

PS: Why not enter our lovely competition in association with LYMA? Win a facial with world-renowned facialist Nichola Joss? Click Here To Enter T&Cs apply

LYMA's Website

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Episode 109: The Perineum of The Year!

Sun, 26 Dec 2021 00:00:00 -0000

Maybe you feel like the human equivalent of tangled fairy lights? If only we paused for thought as much as we pause for cheese. This week we talk about acts of selfishness transforming into acts of service: if I eat all the biscuits I am saying to everyone else in the house: "I love you. I alone am taking the sugar hit." Plus how raging in the car is our civic duty, to keep sleepy drivers safe and alert. Then there are all the different flavours of headache plus a few Midult mantras to chew on. In case you’re bored of cheese. #never

This podcast was bravely brought to you by To Better Days - because life doesn’t have to be such a pain. To Better Days are offering I’m Absolutely Fine listeners a 10% discount and free shipping until the end of January with the code BOXING DAY at tobetterdays.co.uk

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Episode 108: Happy Christmess

Thu, 09 Dec 2021 00:00:00 -0000

Sure, we’re supposed to be happy, shiny, excited, horny at this time of year. But what if we’re actually tired, angry, lonely, psychotic? Christmas is like a box of chocolates - you never know which feeling you are going to get. We talk about aggressive carols (Deck The Halls? Too bossy - stop telling us what to do); why we may never forgive Alan Rickman for breaking Emma Thompson’s heart in Love Actually AND why, when it comes to Christmas invitations, everyone needs a ‘soft no’ in their arsenal.

PS: This podcast was bravely brought to you by Hairstory – go to hairstory.com if you want a better life for your hair…

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Episode 107: Have We Got News For You With Hugo Rifkind

Thu, 02 Dec 2021 00:00:00 -0000

Maybe you’re super well-informed, when it comes to all the political action. Or maybe you’ve been too tired holding the world up and haven’t got a clue any more. So, we called an old friend with a brilliant brain to come and tell his favourite news stories of the year. Hugo Rifkind is the hugely popular Times columnist and he takes us through his 2021 highlights including Dylan Johnson’s balls and Rishi Sunak’s tendresse for Mexican Coke. It’s Mock The Year 2021...

PS: Here’s Rishi’s Mexican moment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO_fXajyzek

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Episode 106: Why Men Win At Work

Thu, 25 Nov 2021 00:00:00 -0000

We should probably apologise in advance because this podcast might make you a bit angry. But maybe that’s a good thing. Last week was Equal Pay Day - which marks the day in the year where women stop earning relative to men - because of the gender pay gap. Yes, we are all mostly working for free until the end of the year, on top of every other thing. So we asked Gill Whitty Collins, career coach and author of ‘Why Men Win At Work’ to come and coach the hell out of us all. We talk about confidence, culture and why women should sometimes just walk away….PS: another apology for the quality of the audio in places…not blaming the patriarchy but...

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Episode 105: From Crazed To Catatonic...And Back Again

Thu, 18 Nov 2021 00:00:00 -0000

Life is a journey, right? Trust the process, ok? Resilience is everything, apparently. This week we talk about why the current self-help buzzwords make us feel like we’re failing. So we decide to add injury to insult and set a series of challenges for grown-ups - introducing Squidult Games. We also discuss why we are constantly vacillating between frenzied hyperworkmode and a near-catatonic state of existential dread and avoidance. Oh, and we interview the delightful Simon Gaisford, Professor of Pharmaceutics at UCL about bacteria and why we need to look after our gut - so that it will look after us.

This podcast was bravely brought to you by Symprove - the water-based supplement that carries live and active bacteria to your gut in order to start to multiply and produce food for the bugs we already have. Be gut to yourself…You can sign up for a 12-week introductory programme – and here’s your code for 15% discount: MIDULT15 at symprove.com.

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Episode 104: Skincare SOS With Nadine Baggott

Thu, 11 Nov 2021 00:00:00 -0000

OUR FACES. WTAF!?! So we had an emergency meeting with the incomparable Nadine Baggott. Now Nadine has been a titan among beauty editors for many years, but in 2016 she launched a YouTube channel with the specific intention of talking to grown-up women about beauty…. beauty with no bull, no facetune and no filters. Five years in she’s got hundreds of thousands of devoted followers who have entrusted her with all their beauty decisions. Because what Nadine doesn’t know about skin and make-up isn’t worth knowing. We talk about the creep of the crepe, decode the ingredients to look out for and look at our beauty budgets.

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Episode 103: Hormone Havoc With Lisa Snowdon

Thu, 04 Nov 2021 00:00:00 -0000

So. The hormones. The horror. The havoc. The what the hell is going on? Well this week we are thrilled to welcome broadcaster and general sensation Lisa Snowdon on the podcast to walk us through the fuckery of our forties - from peri-menopausal symptoms to imposter syndrome and everything in between…We talk about how Lisa found love second time around, why Emilie is having night panics and why you should always head to the doctor armed with a list of symptoms and a bucketload of research. Ok ladies, let’s get busy…

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Episode 102: Halloween Hysterics

Wed, 27 Oct 2021 23:00:00 -0000

Obviously we’re all absolutely fine…but…isn’t everything a bit nuts right now? This week we imagine a Midult House of Horrors where we are assaulted by voice notes and chin hairs. Apps that we actually need – like ones that warn us we are about to be the arsehole or let us know when an ex-boyfriend is going to appear. And we wonder if it’s nearly time to switch from our regular anxiety to our shiny Christmas anxiety…. Oh God.

P.S. This week’s podcast is bravely sponsored by carbon neutral jewellery sensation @AnaLuisa. Go to https://shop.analuisa.com/absolutelyfine and use the code ABSOLUTELYFINE for a 10% discount. It doesn’t cost the earth… or the planet. #analuisany

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Episode 101: Solo Motherhood With Liv Thorne

Wed, 20 Oct 2021 23:00:00 -0000

We don’t normally talk about babies or children on the podcast. But what happens when things get interesting? When you get to 37 and you're single, and being a mother is the only thing you’ve ever really wanted to be? Our guest this week is Liv Thorne who made the increasingly popular and brave decision to go it alone. She bought some Danish sperm and off she went. Simple? Not really. Liv has charted her journey to motherhood in her brilliant book, Liv’s Alone. We talk everything you’ve always wanted to know about solo parenting but were afraid to ask…

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Episode 100: Are We Having Fun Yet?

Thu, 14 Oct 2021 07:55:57 -0000

We’ve shamelessly stolen the title of this week's podcast from our guest, writer and columnist Lucy Mangan whose book Are We Having Fun Yet? is out today. You will have read her TV column in The Guardian, you will have nodded in vehement recognition at her columns in Weekend and Stylist, and now here’s her first novel, a frank and fizzy look at family life – it’s funny, heartfelt writing with sharp corners that you bump into and go ouch, yes! That’s me! We talk about the female load, feminism, all the FFSs…we had fun and got furious…just the way we like it.

PLUS There’s some bonus pelvic floor wisdom from psychologist Dr Meg Aroll

PS: This podcast was bravely brought to you by pelvic floor trainer Innovo. They are offering listeners £55 off the full kit using the code MIDULT55. Time to give ‘Inner Strength’ a whole new meaning.... https://www.myinnovo.com/uk/the-midults/

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Episode 99: The Horror

Wed, 06 Oct 2021 23:00:00 -0000

Since we started recording this podcast we have always zoned in on the little worries. No tiny worry stone has gone unturned. But, just as there is a difference between being Big Tired and Little Tired, there is a difference, isn't there, between Big Worried and Little Worried? And isn’t there a fuck-load to worry about? So, this week, in our 99th episode, we worry about peeing. And women. And life. We talk about Halloween costumes for 2021, which turned out to be a rich seam to plunder. Because almost everything is HORRIFYING…

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Episode 98: Let's Talk About Sex

Wed, 29 Sep 2021 23:00:00 -0000

Are you getting enough sex? What even is enough sex? Are you having good sex? How good is good enough? Are you intimidated by sex? Do you want more sex? Less sex? Any sex? Sex, sex, sex. This week we get down to business with Suzi Godson, one of the country’s best-loved sex columnists and talk about how to spice up your sex life or even just raise it from the dead….Plus some bonus wisdom from pelvic floor expert Dr Ruth Maher.

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Episode 97: The Panic Point

Wed, 22 Sep 2021 23:00:00 -0000

In this episode, we're 90% panicking, About energy: mental energy, emotional energy, physical energy. Will we ever have any again? About temperature. About everything breaking. About the new rhythm of life and we're meant to be dancing to the beat of what drum exactly? *cue Darth Vader theme tune*

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Episode 96: Autumn Beauty Special

Wed, 15 Sep 2021 23:00:00 -0000

This week it’s all about stuff to make life feel a little…easier. How about that? Annabel rifles around in her beauty drawers to talk about what might give you that bit of up, up and away as we step (stagger?) into Autumn...featuring:

Hairstory

Living Proof Advanced Clean

Batiste Dry Shampoo and Volume

Klorane Dry Shampoo

Kristen Ess Working Texture and Loose Styling Powder

Saltee Daily Protection Formula SPF 50

La Roche Posay Anthelios Age Correct

Amanda Harrington The Face Set

Oskia Adaptive Tan Mist

Clarins Radiance Plus Golden Glow Booster

Jones Road Miracle Balm

Charlotte Tilbury Nudegasm

Drunk Elephant O-Bloos Rosi Drops!

Christian Dior Forever Cushion Powder

Shiseido Micro Liner Ink

Charlotte Tilbury Bigger, Brighter Supermodel Eyes Liner Duo

Hourglass Curator Palette

Nars Soft Matte Tinted Lip Balm in ‘Brief Encounter’

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Episode 95: It's September! WTF?!?

Wed, 08 Sep 2021 23:00:00 -0000

Welcome back to your life. Oh God. This week we talk about what we need in our Back to Life pencil cases (a rubber to erase all the times you were a dick?), the weird ways we receive compliments (This old thing? I found it in the skip) and the little domestic fantasies that keep us going. We take our thrills where we can find them...

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Episode 94: Having a Break(down)?

Wed, 28 Jul 2021 23:00:00 -0000

We are going on holiday. We think. But as we prepare to leave the building/consciousness we wonder if we are grown-ups? Or teenagers? About the little lies we tell every day and our own, personal pingdemic. This episode is so mad that our delightful producer @chesleyxmoore emailed us to asked if we were OK. Who knows? See you in September you lovely lot…

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Episode 93: Hannah Martin

Thu, 22 Jul 2021 12:33:55 -0000

Everyone we talk to is exhausted - desperate for a holiday/a break/a month lying down in a darkened room. And we are all sick of looking at our faces: newly etched and grey from all the WFH: Worrying from Home. So we are delighted that the renowned make-up artist Hannah Martin came on the podcast with a ton of tips and tricks for make-up to make us look like we’re having a break. Not a break down.

PS: She’s developed the perfect lip oil for My Beauty Brand - and there’s 30% all her products on My Beauty Brand with the code HANNAHMARTIN

HANNAH'S SUMMER SAVERS

Superdrug Control Papers

Shiseido Oil-Control Blotting Paper

Beauty Pie Sheer Tinted Oil Free SPF 20 (we have a code, MIDULTSENTME)

Tarte Shape Tape

L’Oreal Infallible

Iconic London Sheer Bronze

Nars Tinted Moisturiser

By Terry Hyaluronic Hydra Powder

Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Flawless

Westmann Atelier Peau de Peche

Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick

Tata Harper Cream Blush

Jillian Dempsey Cheek Tint

Ciaté London Glow-To Illuminating Blush in Baby Doll

Trish McEvoy Cream Eyeshadow

Bobbi Brown Cream Shadow stick in Golden Bronze

Victoria Beckham Future Lash

Trish McEvoy High Volume Tubular Mascara

Urban Decay 24-7 Eyeliner in Tiger Eye

Max Factor Kohl Pencil

Victoria Beckham Satin Kajal Liner

Hannah Martin x My Beauty Brand Perfect Pink Lip oil

Charlotte Tilbury Red Carpet Red

Mac in Ruby Woo or Lady Danger

Max Factor Infinity

Huda Beauty Liquid Matte Lip

Kylie Jenner Lip Kit

Urban Decay All-Nighter

Hourglass Veil Setting Spray

Charlotte Tilbury Setting Spray

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Episode 92: Appy ever after?

Thu, 15 Jul 2021 10:23:00 -0000

Dating apps. Minefield or smorgasbord? Necessary evil or delicious distraction? Our guest today is writer Phoebe Luckhurst, a seasoned dater with her fingers on the swipe button. We tell tales from the dating frontline, ask whether punctuation is a deal breaker and why digital connection can end up meaning personal disconnection. Phoebe’s first novel The Lock In is out next week.

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Episode 91: Stacey Duguid

Wed, 07 Jul 2021 23:00:00 -0000

Some resets you plan, some ambush you. What happens when you are 47, you get divorced, you lose your house, you lose your dog and you get an unexpected diagnosis? Maybe you spend the next few years in a darkened room. Or if are our guest this week, fashion editor and columnist Stacey Duguid, you look life right in the eye and decide you want to embrace the second half with, as she puts it, "the kind of high-level enthusiasm you might find on centre court during the finals.” And that includes dating, a lot of dating. But you also spend a hell of the time in that darkened room. In this episode we talk about how she coped when the universe decided to reset almost every area of her life. It’s a tough one...

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Episode 90: Unlocking for some

Wed, 23 Jun 2021 23:00:24 -0000

Is anyone else finding that doing the things we used to do feels 1000 times more exhausting than before the pandemic? How is that possible? This week, on the podcast, we wonder if we are doing anything right and why sometimes it feels as if our lives are at the mercy of some evil writers who keep shouting PLOT TWIST…. Plus all the ways we feel 90 years-old: Annabel’s head torch makes a comeback and Emilie embraces the sturdy (orthopaedic) shoe. #rockstars This podcast is bravely brought to you by @readly. Heard about Readly? It’s a digital subscription service for magazines and newspapers, a kind of Spotify for thousands of national and international titles available at a touch on your smartphone or tablet. Readly is offering you lovely lot 2 months free if you sign up today using our link readly.com/themidult. Then it's £7.99 a month for over 5000 titles and you can cancel anytime. Remember staggering around, weighed down with three tonnes of mags that cost a million pounds? Not any more. It couldn’t be simpler and… boom? Suddenly the world is at your fingertips. It’s a joy actually. We’re really into it.

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Episode 89: Helen Thorn

Wed, 16 Jun 2021 23:00:51 -0000

Everyone in the world had a bit of a shocker in March 2020. But few more so than our guest, Helen Thorn whose marriage suddenly ended 3 weeks before lockdown. So, what happens when you find that you’ve fallen out of marriage and fallen in love with being single via dating, drinking, lawyers, video sexting, single parenting, wanking and female friendship? Not all at the same time. She’s one half of the brilliant Scummy Mummies comedy duo and her book Get Divorced, Be Happy is out next month - a testament to the fact that there can sometimes be treasure in the horror. This podcast is bravely brought to you by @readly. Heard about Readly? It’s a digital subscription service for magazines and newspapers, a kind of Spotify for thousands of national and international titles available at a touch on your smartphone or tablet. Readly is offering you lovely lot 2 months free if you sign up today using our link readly.com/themidult. Then it's £7.99 a month for over 5000 titles and you can cancel anytime. Remember staggering around, weighed down with three tonnes of mags that cost a million pounds? Not any more. It couldn’t be simpler and…boom? Suddenly the world is at your fingertips. It’s a joy actually. We’re really into it.

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Episode 88: Esther Coren

Thu, 10 Jun 2021 11:00:17 -0000

Are you out in the world, attacking the day or do you just want to lie in bed staring at the wall? Well, the brilliant Esther Coren is here this week, armed with a book list to get through this languishing low. She’s a writer, podcaster and voracious reader who has an arsenal of brilliant books for our every wild and crazy thought… of which there are MANY... This podcast is bravely brought to you by @readly. Heard about Readly? It’s a digital subscription service for magazines and newspapers, a kind of Spotify for thousands of national and international titles available at a touch on your smartphone or tablet. Readly is offering you lovely lot 2 months free if you sign up today using our link readly.com/themidult. Then it's £7.99 a month for over 5000 titles and you can cancel anytime. Remember staggering around, weighed down with three tonnes of mags that cost a million pounds? Not any more. It couldn’t be simpler and… boom? Suddenly the world is at your fingertips. It’s a joy actually. We’re really into it. Esther recommends…. Wintering by Katharine May How to Talk so Kids Will Listen and Listen so Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason Wow No Thank You by Samantha Irby Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny Cobble Hill by Cecily Von Ziegsar A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles A Bit of a Stretch by Chris Atkins

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Episode 87: Navigating the unlocking with Julia Samuel

Wed, 26 May 2021 23:00:21 -0000

Don’t know about you, but we are trying to find some even footing in a year where we’ve alternated between stagnation and panic - sometimes both at the same time. And now we are expected to deal with more change - to rise to meet the re-opening of the world. But we are still…stuck. So this week we asked our old friend Julia Samuel to come and talk to us because she wrote the book on change - literally. She’s a bereavement psychotherapist whose book, This Too Shall Pass, is out in paperback. She is also launching an app, http://www.griefworks.app/, to support people through grief - helping to navigate that most devastating emotion. We talk about living losses, the fear of the unlocking and why small steps might mean big leaps - eventually...

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Episode 86: Going Out - of our minds

Wed, 19 May 2021 23:00:19 -0000

This week things are meant to be near-normal. laughs hysterically Not this end. We talk about how we no longer understand diaries; the things you shouldn’t say when you are finally exposed to fellow humans - and we ask you: are you languishing? Because we sure as hell are...

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Episode 85: It's time to go woo woo

Wed, 12 May 2021 23:00:47 -0000

Haven’t you found that, over the past year or so, your old tricks have stopped working? Your trusted emotional fallbacks have fallen short. You have become a stranger to yourself and to others. Yes… it's been heavy. And many of us are wondering if it might be time to… go another way. So this week we are delighted to welcome a little light into the studio. Estelle Bingham has been described as ‘The Heart Whisperer’ and she has been helping people find love, purpose and connection for over 20 years. Her flavour of energetic and psychic healing is all about embracing the joy and potential in our lives - and welcoming in all the possibility. Are you listening?

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Episode 84: Anya Hindmarch

Thu, 06 May 2021 09:36:33 -0000

Are you suffering from an acute case of doubt? Then, according to this week’s guest, it’s time to wash your hair. Anya Hindmarch is the poster girl for kindness in an industry not renowned for its compassion. A leader in her field and a few others - Anya is brilliance in human form: creative, generous, innovative, organised. She has written a book called If In Doubt, Wash Your Hair, a guide to being kind to yourself and living a little more boldly. And who doesn’t need a dose of that?

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Episode 83: Beauty bits to make you feel better

Wed, 28 Apr 2021 23:00:57 -0000

This week we’re broadcasting from the edge… the brink… the overwhelm. Sometimes when you are feeling truly weird, a bit of a beauty tip can help. So Annabel has a rummage around in her drawers again to help you face the world. All products listed below… Cinema Secrets Professional Make Up Brush Cleaner, 473ml, £21.99 CeraVe Hydrating Cleanser for Normal to Dry Skin, 473ml, £15.00 CeraVe Moisturising Cream, 177ml, £9.00 Beauty Pie Super Healthy Skin Deep Purifying Cleanser, 100ml, £7.97 (we have a code MIDULTSENTME) Bliss That's Incredi-peel Glycolic Acid Pads (15pk), £21.99 Dr Dennis Gross Skincare Alpha Beta Universal Daily Peel (30pk), £89.00 SkinCeuticals Ultra Facial UV Defense SPF50, 30ml, £41.00 Ren Ready Steady Glow Daily AHA Tonic, 100ml, £15.00 Frank Body Caffeinated Scalp Scrub, 125ml, £13.95 Wildsmith Toning Body Serum, 150ml, £65.00 This Works Perfect Legs Skin Miracle, 120ml, £38.00 Braun Silk-épil 5 5-820 Epilator for Women for Gentle Hair Removal, £109.99 Boots Exfoliating Gloves, £1.50 NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturiser SPF30, 50ml, £33.00 Laura Mercier Pure Canvas Primer Perfecting, 50ml, £34.00 Sensai Silky Bronze Natural Veil Compact, £45.00 Clarins Everlasting Compact Foundation SPF9, £32.00 Trinny London Just a Touch Foundation-Concealer, £28.00 Ciaté London Dewy Blush Glossy Cheek Tint, 10ml, £19.00 Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Skin Protectant, 50ml, £27.99 Laura Mercier Blush Colour Infusion Blusher, £24.00 Chanel Les Beiges Healthy Glow Luminous Colour, £43.00 Guerlain Terracotta The Bronzing Powder, £39.00 Marc Jacobs Beauty O!Mega X Three Powder Blush-Bronze-Highlight Palette, £42.00 Bambrows Organic Caster Oil, 10ml, £12.00 Charlotte Tilbury Brow Cheat, £22.00 Glossier Boy Brow, £14.00 Trinny London Eye2Eye, £18.00 NYX Professional Makeup Epic Wear Long Lasting Liner Stick, £7.00 Maybelline Lash Sensational Sky High Mascara, £9.99 L'Oreal Paris X Elie Saab Bridal Collection Limited Edition Paradise Mascara, £12.99 Chanel Rouge Coco Bloom Hydrating and Plumping Lipstick, £33.00 Victoria Beckham Bitten Lip Tint, £32.00 Charlotte Tilbury Tinted Love, £25.00 Morphe Luminous Setting Spray, 125g, £16 Johnson’s Baby Lotion, 500ml, £1.50

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Episode 82: How to stop people pleasing with Emma Reed Turrell

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 23:00:19 -0000

These are turbulent times, aren’t they? We have bent ourselves in all sorts of shapes over the last year and not in a fun way. Now that we are slowly blinking in the sunlight we are not sure who we are anymore and - in particular - who we are in relation to everyone else. Thankfully our guest this week is Emma Reed Turrell, a psychotherapist who has written the definitive book on people pleasing, called Please Yourself, which is out now. Are you a people pleaser? There are few different types you know - even some bolshy ones. So whether you have fallen down a people pleasing hole in lockdown, to whether you suspect that you’ve held yourself hostage to other people’s feelings, this is for you…

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Episode 81: How mental are we anyway?

Wed, 14 Apr 2021 23:00:55 -0000

Hasn’t this been a huge week? Have we finally lost it? Will we ever get off the emotional Coronacoaster? Now that we are expected to put on our human suits and go out into the world again, we talk about the weird behaviours, the paranoias and the terrible conversational habits we’ve picked up… Are we ready? Doesn’t look like it…

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Episode 80: How to get dressed with Kat Farmer

Wed, 07 Apr 2021 23:00:10 -0000

Anyone else forgotten how to get dressed? Having spent a year in elasticated waists, we felt the need to call our friend Kat Farmer, also known as Does My Bum Look 40, an authority on wearable, affordable clothes. We talk about why this is not the time to reinvent ourselves and find that there is a halfway house between troll who hasn’t left the house for a year and fully functioning fashion-aware female. This podcast was bravely sponsored by Meg&Bee - beautiful bags for all the women that you are. The bags are classic, affordable and fantastic quality as well as being designed by an all-women team - and it takes a woman to know how to handle a handbag. You can change up the straps and play with tassels and charms depending on how you’re feeling. Annabel is wearing the navy suede classic with the disco strap, Emilie is wearing the suede classic with the camo strap. Meg & Bee are offering Midults a 15% discount until the end of April using the code MIDULT15

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Episode 79: Talking dirty with Lynsey Queen of Clean

Wed, 31 Mar 2021 23:00:33 -0000

At the tail end of lockdown, we’ve never been so grimly aware of the dust, dirt and clutter in our homes. So we are thrilled that our guest this week is Lynsey Crombie, also known as Lynsey Queen of Clean. We get filthy about cleaning and why it both drives us mad and keeps us sane. Lynsey’s latest book The 15 Minute Clean is out today…

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Episode 78: The end is nigh!

Thu, 25 Mar 2021 00:00:05 -0000

After a year of panicking about lockdown, we are now deranged with panic about post-lockdown. I mean who even are we anymore and what on earth happens next… #AD This podcast was brought to you by Diet Coke. They have teamed up with magazine app Readly to give you two months FREE subscription to lots of amazing magazines! Pick up a Diet Coke and unlock your free two-month Readly subscription code via the ring pull… Grab #YourDietCokeBreak…@dietcokegb @readly

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Episode 77: WTF's for dinner with Skye Gyngell

Thu, 18 Mar 2021 01:00:46 -0000

Anyone else eating the same thing every night? We can’t remember a time when we’ve been more obsessed yet exhausted by food - so thank goodness our guest this week is the sensational chef and restaurateur Skye Gyngell. We beg for her help… Warning: may cause hunger.

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Episode 76: What's normal anyway?

Thu, 11 Mar 2021 00:00:37 -0000

This week we talk about the panic/excitement/panic around the return to our old lives: Eye contact? Packing? Restaurants? Oh my... We think about the mood-loop of the past year and how it’s messed with our sense of identity. Who even are we?

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Episode 75: We haven't got this

Thu, 04 Mar 2021 00:12:00 -0000

Are we slowly grinding to a halt? This week we talk about all the terrible conversations we’ve been having (favourite pasta shapes, the state of our feet); why you must never overthink a loo brush; all the lockdown phases we’ve been through and why we might just be a week away from doing something dramatic to our hair and/or never getting out of bed again...

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Episode 74: How to be an anti-racist ally

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 00:00:11 -0000

This week we are thrilled to have Sophie Williams on the podcast. Sophie is a leading anti-racism advocate, activist and the author of Anti-Racist Ally and the upcoming Millennial Black (out in April). We talk to her about what we can do to be authentic allies and how perfection isn’t the aim, but progress is...

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Episode 73: The Vagina Dialogues

Thu, 11 Feb 2021 00:00:42 -0000

It’s amazing how little we know about our vaginas. We may have had sex, we may have had babies, we may have had scares, but there remains a kind of insidious ignorance and confusion about our own anatomy. This week we thought we’d take a deep dive with our guest, the fearless Dr Hedieh Asadi. What she doesn’t know about female bits and pieces is not worth knowing so we tackle vulva myths, how to look after vaginal health, to lube or not to lube and why a happy vagina means a happy woman. This podcast is sponsored by DeoDoc, beautiful products for beautiful bits.

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Episode 72: Lockdown rage

Thu, 04 Feb 2021 00:00:05 -0000

This week we talk about the tiny things threatening to tip us over the edge, virtual micro-aggressions and why Sunday carbs and Thursday vodka don't count… They just don’t.

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Episode 71: Are we nearly mad yet?

Thu, 28 Jan 2021 00:00:24 -0000

This week we talk about box sets in the bath (party for one), Zoom panic and spiralling social anxiety. On the plus side, we haven’t had to deal with a missed delivery slip for months…

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Episode 70: Podcast from the edge

Thu, 21 Jan 2021 00:00:45 -0000

Anyone else feeling full-on feral? This week we talk about bed jumpers; run through the technicolour spectrum of walks we are taking and roll around in the ways we’ve aged since March 2020.

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Episode 69: Mandy Saligari

Thu, 14 Jan 2021 01:10:02 -0000

This time last year, we recorded a podcast with phenomenal therapist Mandy Saligari about self-esteem and how we can meet the demands that life throws at us without constantly running on empty. Little did we bloody know! Anyway now that we have nothing left to give - and yet more and more is asked of us - we thought we’d bring Mandy back. Because she’s a badass who helps people untangle their demons. We talk about how to feel your feelings, conquer that insidious personal isolation and why this is yet another f***ing growth opportunity...

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Episode 68: Post-Christmess Special with A&E

Sat, 26 Dec 2020 00:07:25 -0000

As we enter the perineum of the year, we talk about all the things we’ve learned in 2020, ineffective stress busters and why we are all still rockstars on the inside - despite the 9pm bedtimes…. Thank you for all your wonderfulness this year… see you on the other side. P.S. This episode is bravely sponsored by Skin + Me - personalised skincare, prescribed just for you, delivered to your door. Skin + Me are offering listeners their first month for free using the code MIDULT1220 (minus a £3.50 prescription charge). Check it out...

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Episode 67: Happy Stressmas beauty special

Thu, 10 Dec 2020 03:30:31 -0000

It’s beginning to look a lot like… Stressmas and we are acting out in all sorts of strange and uninteresting ways. So Annabel has rifled through her drawers (oh yes she has) to unearth some bath, skin and make-up discoveries to brighten up the most ruthless time of year. Finds include… Chanel No.5 Le Deodorant Soaper Duper Nourishing Coconut Body Wash Aroma Active Laboratories Muscle Recovery Soak Neighbourhood Botanicals Face Off Cleanser Facial Oil Dr Dennis Gross All-in-One Cleanser with Toner Beauty Pie Dr Glycolic Pore Purifying Glow Toner (we have a Beauty Pie code MIDULTSENTME) Laura Mercier Blurring Pure Canvas Primer Vieve The Essential Eye Palette and Modern Matte Lipstick in Treasure Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat Lip Liner

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Episode 66: Daisy Buchanan

Thu, 03 Dec 2020 11:15:19 -0000

This week we have the glorious Daisy Buchanan with us - a woman we trust with everything but most particularly books. Daisy is a wonderful author and host of the hugely popular literary podcast You're Booked and is a bit of an expert of the high brow and the low brow and the everything in between brow. And, right now, what do we need more than little, affordable portals of escape? A book - the most joyful way to think outside of yourself. Even when you’re stuck inside contemplating the end of the world as we know it. P.S. Her shockingly sexy book Insatiable is out in February For when you have misplaced all hope - The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare For any kind of grief – The Consequences Of Love by Gavanndra Hodge For all your party needs - Eve’s Hollywood by Eve Babitz For when you’re on the brink of joining a cult – Untamed by Glennon Doyle For missing friends – Happy All The Time by Laurie Colwin For when you have forgotten how to get dressed – Fabulous Nobodies by Lee Tulloch/How To Be Yourself by Simon Doonan For romance to warm your cynical heart – Good Riddance by Elinor Lipman For when all you need is love – Leonard and Hungry Paul by Roman Hession

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Episode 65: Claudia Winkleman

Thu, 26 Nov 2020 00:00:17 -0000

In this week’s episode of I’m Absolutely Fine!, we talk guilt, girlfriends and gravy with the incomparable Claudia Winkleman.

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Episode 64: Andrea McLean

Thu, 19 Nov 2020 00:00:09 -0000

This week we get personal about the panic. Our guest is the magnificent Andrea McLean, Loose Woman, award-winning broadcaster and writer of bestsellers. She talks to us with shattering honesty about the very dark place she went to last year and why it led her to write her book, This Girl Is On Fire. If anyone listening to this episode is experiencing any of the feelings discussed please reach out and get help. You are not alone and you are worth it.

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Episode 63: Marcia Kilgore

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 00:00:34 -0000

This week our guest is the extraordinary entrepreneur Marcia Kilgore, founder of beauty brand after beauty brand. Her most recent incarnation is Beauty Pie, the disruptive buyer’s club that changed the way we think about beauty shopping. We talk self-doubt, skin and why this might actually be the best time to unleash your creativity… P.S. Beauty Pie is offering you lovely lot your first month's membership free. Your code is MIDULTSENTME* *T&Cs apply

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Episode 62: Anna Mathur

Thu, 05 Nov 2020 09:18:03 -0000

This week we are going to have a little light lockdown therapy: our guest Anna Mathur is a psychotherapist, bestselling author and podcaster. We talk about all the fucking feelings, micro needs, big anxiety and small panics and why it is so hard to wade through it all at the moment.

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Episode 61: Scummy Mummies

Thu, 29 Oct 2020 00:00:35 -0000

This week it’s the superb Scummy Mummies - and it's chaos! We had them round Annabel’s kitchen table one evening - back when such things were allowed - to talk terrible sex injuries and why we’re all feeling so insane. They are properly funny stand-ups, properly famous podcasters and properly brilliant human beings: we love Helen Thorn and Ellie Gibson so excuse the swearing, the snorting and the general mayhem of this recording. It was just bliss to do.

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Episode 60: Samantha Cameron

Wed, 21 Oct 2020 23:00:22 -0000

On the podcast this week we have a guest with a unique perspective on the horrors of getting dressed in the morning. It’s hard enough when you only have yourself to answer to. Imagine, if you can bear it, knowing that the eyes of the world will be on you, poised to criticise your figure and your fashion choices. Well, Samantha Cameron had years of those terrifying camera flashes and, since then, she has amalgamated her experience and channelled it into her own label, Cefinn, renowned for its solution-oriented elegance. So if anyone can give us some tricks to get out the door looking like a fully functional human woman even when our minds and bodies are betraying us, it's her. P.S. We’re very happy that this podcast is brought to you by Label/Mix. They’ve collaborated with new, exciting brands and designers to bring you hot fashion at slightly more accessible prices. Have a look...

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Episode 59: Anna Murphy

Wed, 14 Oct 2020 23:00:10 -0000

Today we are delighted to have a real fashion authority with us. Anna Murphy is Fashion Director of The Times and renowned for her stylish, real life approach to getting dressed; drawing our attention to wearable, relevant clothes as well as new and interesting brands with all sorts of creative, sustainable, ethical and fantastical stories to tell. Thanks to her we might all find it a little less traumatic to get dressed this winter… P.S. We’re very happy that this podcast is brought to you by Label/Mix. They’ve collaborated with new, exciting brands and designers to bring you hot fashion at slightly more accessible prices. In fact, this podcast includes a little chat with the force behind Label/Mix, the sensational Gemma Metheringham. Have a listen...

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Episode 58: Caroline Issa

Wed, 07 Oct 2020 23:00:06 -0000

In these strange times, when we are so unsure, it’s reassuring to talk to experts. So, taking a break from weeping into our wardrobes, we talked to the peerless Caroline Issa: fashion super force, publisher of Tank magazine, consultant for beautiful brand after beautiful brand, street-style queen, on every best dressed list for ever. Because if anyone can navigate us through these choppy wardrobe waters it is this lady. P.S. We’re very happy that this podcast is brought to you by Label/Mix. They’ve collaborated with new, exciting brands and designers to bring you hot fashion at slightly more accessible prices. Have a look...

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Episode 57: Loud Black Girls with Yomi Adegoke and Elizabeth Uviebinene

Thu, 01 Oct 2020 08:47:18 -0000

Way back in the mists of time - 2018 - the authors of the bestselling Slay in Your Lane: The Black Girl’s Bible, came on our podcast. It opened our eyes. So, as soon as there was a whisper of a new book, we booked them in. So yes, Yomi Adegoke and Elizabeth Uviebinene are back with Loud Black Girls, an anthology of 20 black British women writers asking what’s next…

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Episode 56: Dr Suha Kersh

Thu, 24 Sep 2020 00:00:42 -0000

Do you suspect that you may have aged 1000 years in the last six months? Well you probably have…. stress + environment + everything = skinpocalypse. So we talked to one of London’s leading cosmetic doctors Dr Suha Kersh about life, lines and how to get your face back on track.

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Episode 55: Sophia Money-Coutts

Wed, 16 Sep 2020 23:00:33 -0000

Today's guest is the sensational Sophia Money-Coutts who is an actual person and a writer, not a made-up character. She is the author of best-selling, sexy novels; a journalist and now the host of a new podcast about freezing her eggs called Freezing Time. We probed her on every single detail - legs in stirrups please.

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Episode 54: September beauty special

Wed, 09 Sep 2020 23:00:17 -0000

We’re back! Are we though? Oh God. Everything is so crazy. So... to counter the moaning, the madness, the uncertainty, the sheer precariousness of everything, Annabel takes us for a romp around her bathroom cupboard. This week we are all about September Beauty Heroes from a soothing cleanser to a sensational new mascara via the best bath oil and glowy skin stuff... @drunkelephant @oskiaskincare @katesomervilleskincare @afrohairandskinco @weledauk @skinceuticals_uki @malinandgoetz @suqqu_europe @ctilburymakeup @narsissist @olverum @colorwowhair

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Episode 53: Ada Calhoun

Wed, 29 Jul 2020 23:00:05 -0000

Are you a bit miserable? Do you feel as though you’re failing? As though you’ve missed the life you could have had. Because most grown-up women are finding themselves living in a total shit show. But – as we always say – if we’re not in it together, we’re not in it at all. So, it’s very exciting that just before we fully surrender to our nervous breakdowns, we have a real authority on the line. Ada Calhoun has written the definitive analysis about why Generation X women feel so close to the abyss: In Why We Can’t Sleep – Women’s New Midlife Crisis she looked at housing costs, employment trends, debt, divorce, perimenopause and at every turn she saw a pattern – Gen X women were in crisis. See? It’s never just you… P.S. The podcast is taking a break, see you in September. Love, A&E x

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Episode 52: Jules von Hep

Wed, 22 Jul 2020 23:00:37 -0000

This week our guest is sunshine in man form. Jules Von Hep has worked in the tanning industry for over 10 years, bronzing up Hollywood’s finest, getting models golden backstage at fashion week, always on and off TV sets, including Strictly and The X Factor – you name it, he’s seen them naked and at their most vulnerable. So it’s no surprise that he is also obsessed with body positivity, inclusivity and making people feel really good about themselves… ENJOY

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Episode 51: Eve Kalinik

Wed, 15 Jul 2020 23:00:34 -0000

We all have a super weird relationship with food, don’t we? Well, this week we’ve got a rosé-drinking, no-nonsense nutritional therapist, the wonderful Eve Kalinik on the line. With her realistic approach to gut health and food fads, she talks sugar, gluten, caffeine - all the big guns - and what the perfect poo should look like. It’s a gut ‘un…

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Episode 50: The rubbish new normal with Hugo Rifkind

Wed, 08 Jul 2020 23:00:40 -0000

This week we talk to the brilliant columnist, satirist and broadcaster Hugo Rifkind about the rubbish new normal - from the threat of 'space weather' to Donald Trump sex dreams, via our old friend Brexit (remember him?) and our even older friend impostor syndrome. P.S. This week’s episode is sponsored by the fun-fact-filled magazine, The Week Junior. You know how when you are a kid you think, 'I can’t wait to be an adult and then I will know everything'? Obviously, that didn’t pan out, but The Week Junior can help the young people in your life make sense of the world. The Week Junior is the current affairs magazine for 8-14 year olds. Its pages are packed with the latest news, animals, nature, science, books, sport, technology, films, recipes and puzzles to stimulate and inform those curious minds. It might even give you some help working out what the hell is going on! I’m Absolutely Fine! listeners can visit theweekjunior.co.uk/themidult to try their first 6 issues of The Week Junior absolutely FREE, with home delivery included.

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Episode 49: Coky Giedroyc

Wed, 01 Jul 2020 23:00:46 -0000

This week we have a real, live female film director here. The magnificent Coky Giedroyc is known as the queen of costume drama: she’s made Wuthering Heights, Oliver Twist, The Virgin Queen, all with Tom Hardy coughs. Also Harlots and The Hour to name but a few… Her latest film is How to Build A Girl, an adaptation of Caitlin Moran’s book, which lands on Amazon Prime on the 24th July. In lockdown she’s also been Zooming with Take That because she’s making Greatest Days, a film about their fans. We talk corsets, heartthrobs and dealing with so many men in a male dominated industry - gripping.

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Episode 48: Beauty Special with Emma Guns

Wed, 24 Jun 2020 23:00:26 -0000

This week we talk to a proper beauty expert, the delightful Emma Guns, about everything from our terrible toes to our terrible hair, via stretch marks and beards. P.S. This was recorded remotely so please forgive us if it’s a bit rough and mad. Here are all her top tip products... Boots Foot File https://bit.ly/3euumWD Philips Lumea https://amzn.to/318ewgd Braun Silk-Epil https://amzn.to/2V80vva Body Brush https://bit.ly/383HyiD No7 Hydration Masks https://bit.ly/2B55wxW Kate Somerville ExfoliKate https://bit.ly/2YysLtn Kate Somerville DeliKate https://bit.ly/2YysLtn Parissa Hot Wax https://amzn.to/2BuTMEM Brain over Binge by Kathryn Hansen https://amzn.to/37Y7e0f

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Episode 47: The new abnormal

Wed, 17 Jun 2020 23:00:03 -0000

This week we talk about quicksand, office a***holes and daily malpractices - from Manifestering to adopting a Positively Mental Attitude...

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Episode 46: Are you wearing your Big Girl Pants?

Wed, 10 Jun 2020 23:00:34 -0000

From suspender belts to knee supports, this week’s episode of I’m Absolutely Fine! is all about the multiple personalities of our knicker drawers. Bravely sponsored by Stripe & Stare - who are offering all of you 20% off with the code FINE10 (until 31st July)

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Episode 45: Lockdown special 9

Thu, 28 May 2020 01:43:34 -0000

This week we discuss living in The Overwhelm, on The Brink, in Denial, deckchair panic and how we've forgotten how to be civilised members of society. P.S. All these episodes are recorded remotely so please forgive us if they are a bit rough and mad. Love A&E x

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Episode 44: Lockdown special 8

Wed, 20 May 2020 23:00:18 -0000

This week we talk about what would happen if Midults did Love Island, Locktail hour, and all the therapy we are going to need when this madness is over. P.S. All these episodes are recorded remotely so please forgive us if they are a bit rough and mad. Love, A&E x

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Episode 43: Lockdown special 7 with Gavanndra Hodge

Wed, 13 May 2020 23:00:04 -0000

This week we are deranged with joy to welcome our very dear friend Gavanndra Hodge to the podcast. Her new book, The Consequences of Love, is about love, addiction, trauma, parties, grief and the eventual understanding that, if we are brave enough to look at long ago loss, we can change our lives. Listen to her. Then read the book. Trust us x

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Episode 42: Lockdown special 6

Wed, 06 May 2020 23:00:16 -0000

This week we’re back on the Corona-coaster talking about all the different flavours of panic, insomnia and some of the times we disgraced ourselves… P.S. All these episodes are recorded remotely so please forgive us if they are a bit rough and mad

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Episode 41: Lockdown special 5

Wed, 29 Apr 2020 23:00:57 -0000

This week Annabel and Emilie talk about The Tiredness, micro horror stories and games you can play to keep the madness at bay. Sort of…

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Episode 40: Lockdown special 4

Wed, 22 Apr 2020 23:00:53 -0000

This week Annabel and Emilie comb through the remnants of their former lives, from past-their-sell-by-date condoms to hair balls to secret copies of The Rules...

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Episode 39: Lockdown special 3

Thu, 16 Apr 2020 08:21:35 -0000

It’s Episode 3 from reality 2020. This week we discuss the erosion of our sense of self and how our fantasy life is getting out of control - in all directions

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Episode 38: Lockdown special 2

Wed, 08 Apr 2020 23:00:19 -0000

We’re absolutely fine but… we’ve gone lockdown loco. It’s our second dispatch from the new normal. We talk about the magimix of feelings, the terrible sex dreams and how it’s possible to feel lonely and claustrophobic AT THE SAME TIME. Love A&E x

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Episode 37: Lockdown special

Wed, 01 Apr 2020 23:00:11 -0000

We’re absolutely fine but…. we’re in lockdown. This is our first episode from Reality 2.0. Join us as we share some of our wildest thoughts in these strange times… P.S. This was recorded remotely, on our phones - which are now actually fused to our hands - so forgive the glitches…

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Episode 36: Mandy Saligari

Thu, 26 Mar 2020 00:00:30 -0000

Mandy Saligari is complete badass: an addictions therapist whose TedTalk is titled 'Handle feelings before they handle you'. She is a multi-hyphenate who has helped thousands untangle their demons in order to learn to live a fuller life. She looks at self-esteem, the frightening areas of vulnerability, fear and how we can meet the demands that life throws at us without constantly running on empty. Sound familiar? She is wisdom in motion… this is an important 40 minutes. P.S. This podcast was recorded before life turned upside down. Love A&E x

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Episode 35: Kat Farmer

Thu, 19 Mar 2020 00:00:30 -0000

If you haven’t heard of @DoesMyBumLook40 then you’re about to. For years she’s been a badly-kept fashion secret: doling out tips and tricks on Instagram. She combs through the tat and shares the treasures. Now she is leaping from your iPhone screen to your TV screen in BBC1’s Prime Time show You Are What You Wear next Thursday. We are so grateful to you Kat Farmer, for helping us get dressed in the most human way. P.S. This episode was recorded two weeks ago when the world was a little different. Stay safe everyone ❤

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Episode 34: Kate Silverton

Thu, 12 Mar 2020 00:00:09 -0000

This week Annabel and Emilie are dazzled by Kate Silverton. One of our most popular and versatile journalists, this woman is BRAVE. So versatile that she has been a war reporter, competed in 2018’s Strictly Come Dancing and tackled some of the UK’s most perilous rivers by kayak. She’s clearly a maniac. But she also looks inwards and her Panorama about childhood trauma and toxic stress is out later this month. Warning: this podcast made us cry.

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Episode 33: Julia Samuel

Thu, 05 Mar 2020 16:10:31 -0000

This week’s guest is Julia Samuel, one of Britain’s leading psychotherapists - she is also one those people who changes the temperature of the room, who makes it a kinder, safer space. Her speciality is grief - can you imagine the things she has seen and heard? The feelings she has witnessed? The pain that she has had to process? Known for her whole-heartedness, she helped to launch the remarkable charity, Child Bereavement UK and has worked both with the NHS and in private practice for over thirty years. Her first book, Grief Works, came out in 2017 and her latest book - This Too Shall Pass - is out now. She is pearls of wisdom bound together by kindness and we are honoured to have her on the podcast…

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Episode 32: Dr Martin Galy

Thu, 27 Feb 2020 00:00:17 -0000

Hormones. Hormones. Hormones. The horror. The magic. The conspiracy of silence. The almost institutionalised ignorance. Lady chemicals. It’s time to take back some hormonal power. This week on I’m Absolutely Fine!, Annabel and Emilie chat to Doctor Martin Galy - the renowned hormones specialist. Women who have been treated by him call him The Magician. He has helped thousands of women to take back control of their bodies And if anyone can blow away some of the myth and mystery - and downright terror - that often infuses our thinking around hormones, it’s Martin. So listen on and listen hard, because when rogue hormones are the boss, life can feel pretty rough. But, as ever, knowledge is power.

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Episode 31: Grace Woodward

Thu, 20 Feb 2020 00:00:00 -0000

This week Annabel and Emilie get naked with Grace Woodward. The former Britain’s Next Top Model judge and X-Factor stylist talks about the toxic fashion world and how it nearly broke her. But she staged a comeback to ask the question: why as women do we feel so terrible about ourselves?

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Episode 30: Galentine's Day with A&E

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 00:00:01 -0000

Annabel Rivkin and Emilie McMeekan, authors of the best-selling book I’m Absolutely Fine!, are now here weekly. Happy Galentine’s Day - this week Annabel and Emilie get romantic about friendship, tears, identity and all the different kinds of Midult porn. From property porn to cancel porn: cancel me, cancel me, cancel me harder! Oh God, that’s good….

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Episode 29: Josh Wood

Thu, 06 Feb 2020 00:00:14 -0000

Annabel Rivkin and Emilie McMeekan, authors of the best-selling book I’m Absolutely Fine!, are now here weekly. This week we hop into Josh Wood’s chair. We talk to the world’s most famous hair colourist about how women feel when they look in the mirror and cope with the ever-evolving creature that looks back at them.

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Episode 28: Deborah James

Thu, 30 Jan 2020 00:00:38 -0000

Annabel Rivkin and Emilie McMeekan, authors of the best-selling book I’m Absolutely Fine!, are now here weekly. This week we meet a bit of a super hero… Because not all heroes wear capes. Sometimes they wear very short skirts. They get cancer and instead of hiding away they film and photograph themselves at all their lowest, most brutally intimate moments. They show the world how you can live, love, dance, cry, suffer and survive. Thank goodness for Deborah James…

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Episode 27: Sophie Heawood

Thu, 23 Jan 2020 00:00:21 -0000

Annabel Rivkin and Emilie McMeekan, authors of the best-selling book I’m Absolutely Fine!, are now here weekly. This week we are on the frontline of solo parenting with writer Sophie Heawood. talking about what it feels like to exist outside the nuclear narrative…

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Episode 26: Daisy Buchanan

Thu, 16 Jan 2020 00:00:22 -0000

Annabel Rivkin and Emilie McMeekan, authors of the best-selling book I’m Absolutely Fine!, are now here weekly. This week we’ve made an appointment with the book doctor. We talk to writer, podcaster and professional bookworm Daisy Buchanan about her literary prescriptions for heartbreak, trauma, envy, loneliness and money panic. P.S. Here are all the books we talked about… ENVY Adults by Emma Jane Unsworth Crazy Salad & Scribble Scribble by Nora Ephron Little Women by Louisa May Alcott GRUMPINESS The whole of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend Diary Of A Nobody by George Grossmith HEARTBREAK Imogen by Jilly Cooper Wedding Toasts I’ll Never Give by Ada Calhoun LONELINESS The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter Carson McCullers MONEY WORRIES The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild OPTIMISM Almost Everything: Notes On Hope by Anne Lamott Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes TRAUMA The Lark by E Nesbit Man At The Helm by Nina Stibbe

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Episode 25: Steph Douglas

Thu, 09 Jan 2020 00:00:38 -0000

Annabel Rivkin and Emilie McMeekan, authors of the best-selling book I’m Absolutely Fine!, are now here weekly. This week we are rifling through the emotional knicker drawer and talking house moves, growing businesses and seizing every napportunity with Steph Douglas, founder of Don't Buy Her Flowers.

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Episode 24: Anna Whitehouse a.k.a Mother Pukka

Thu, 02 Jan 2020 00:00:04 -0000

Annabel Rivkin and Emilie McMeekan, authors of the best-selling book I’m Absolutely Fine!, are now here weekly. This week we are rifling through the emotional knicker drawer and getting lubed up with the brilliant Anna Whitehouse a.k.a Mother Pukka. This podcast is bravely sponsored by Habito, on a mission to make mortgages easier.

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Episode 23: In bed with A&E

Thu, 26 Dec 2019 00:00:01 -0000

Welcome to the perineum of the year. Join Annabel Rivkin and Emilie McMeekan, authors of the best-selling book I’m Absolutely Fine!, in bed. This podcast is bravely sponsored by Habito, on a mission to make mortgages easier.

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Episode 22: Hugo Rifkind

Thu, 19 Dec 2019 00:00:53 -0000

Annabel Rivkin and Emilie McMeekan, authors of the best-selling book I’m Absolutely Fine!, are now here weekly. This episode they are joined by the sensational satirist Hugo Rifkind, talking about the personal and political chaos of the last week.

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Episode 21: A&E are not talking about the election

Thu, 12 Dec 2019 00:00:57 -0000

Annabel Rivkin and Emilie McMeekan, authors of the best-selling book I’m Absolutely Fine!, are now here weekly! This week they are not talking about the election.

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Series 3 Episode 3: Clemmie Telford

Thu, 05 Dec 2019 00:00:51 -0000

Annabel Rivkin and Emilie McMeekan, authors of the best-selling book I’m Absolutely Fine!, are back with a mini series about marriage, divorce and all the mess in between! Join them for the final episode where they talk to Clemmie Telford about how she brought her marriage back from the brink...

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Series 3 Episode 2: Sandra Davis

Thu, 28 Nov 2019 00:00:25 -0000

Annabel Rivkin and Emilie McMeekan, authors of the best-selling book I’m Absolutely Fine!, are back with a mini series about marriage, divorce and all the mess in between! Join them for the second episode where they do a deep, dirty dive into divorce with the legendary lawyer, Mishcon de Reya’s Sandra Davis. Notebooks at the ready!

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Series 3 Episode 1: Giles & Esther Coren

Thu, 21 Nov 2019 00:00:55 -0000

Annabel Rivkin and Emilie McMeekan, authors of the best-selling book I’m Absolutely Fine!, are back with a mini series about marriage, divorce and all the mess in between! Join them for the first episode where they rifle through the lively marriage of Giles and Esther Coren…

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Series 2 Episode 8: The Guilty Feminist

Wed, 17 Apr 2019 23:00:03 -0000

Annabel Rivkin and Emilie McMeekan, authors of the best-selling book I'm Absolutely Fine!, are back with a second series. Join them for the final episode of Season 2 where they rifle through the brain and handbag of the heroic Deborah Frances-White, the woman behind the game-changing Guilty Feminist podcast.

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Series 2 Episode 7: Mother of Daughters

Wed, 10 Apr 2019 23:00:51 -0000

Annabel Rivkin and Emilie McMeekan, authors of the best-selling book I'm Absolutely Fine!, are back with a second series. Join them for episode seven where they rifle through the emotional knicker drawer and handbag of midwife, author and mother of all influencers, Clemmie Hooper, a.k.a Mother of Daughters.

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Series 2 Episode 6: Emma Gannon

Wed, 03 Apr 2019 23:00:00 -0000

Annabel Rivkin and Emilie McMeekan, authors of the best-selling book I'm Absolutely Fine!, are back with a second series. Join them for episode six where they rifle through the emotional knicker drawer and handbag of the ultimate multi-hyphenate Emma Gannon. Plus how we get dressed, with the Creative Director of Hush.

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Series 2 Episode 5: Rita Konig

Thu, 28 Mar 2019 00:00:31 -0000

Annabel Rivkin and Emilie McMeekan, authors of the best-selling book I'm Absolutely Fine!, are back with a second series. Join them for episode five where they rifle through the emotional knicker drawer and handbag of interiors sorceress Rita Konig.

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Series 2 Episode 4: Slay In Your Lane

Thu, 21 Mar 2019 00:00:02 -0000

Annabel Rivkin and Emilie McMeekan, authors of the best-selling book I'm Absolutely Fine!, are back with a second series. Join them for episode four where they rifle through the emotional knicker drawer and handbags of Yomi Adegoke and Elizabeth Uviebinené, the game-changing authors of Slay In Your Line: The Black Girl Bible.

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Series 2 Episode 3: Thomasina Miers

Thu, 14 Mar 2019 00:00:37 -0000

Annabel Rivkin and Emilie McMeekan, authors of the best-selling book I'm Absolutely Fine!, are back with a second series. Join them for episode three where they rifle through the emotional knicker drawer and handbag of Masterchef winner, restaurateur and all-round sensation Thomasina Miers.

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Series 2 Episode 2: Cherry Healey

Thu, 07 Mar 2019 00:00:59 -0000

Annabel Rivkin and Emilie McMeekan, authors of the best-selling book I'm Absolutely Fine!, are back with a second series. Join them for episode two where they rifle through the emotional knicker drawer and handbag of television presenter and wonderwoman Cherry Healey.

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Series 2 Episode 1: Welcome to Midulthood

Thu, 28 Feb 2019 05:00:40 -0000

Annabel Rivkin and Emilie McMeekan, authors of the best-selling book I'm Absolutely Fine!, are back with a second series. Join them for episode one where they rifle through their emotional knicker drawers, their handbags and their murky pasts.

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Series 1 Boxing Day Special - Bryony Gordon

Wed, 26 Dec 2018 06:00:05 -0000

In this Boxing Day Special we talk to Bryony Gordon about addiction, the trouble with huge boobs and the never-ending chaos in our heads. Plus all the things we didn't get for Christmas...

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Series 1 Episode 8 - Girl Stole London

Thu, 22 Nov 2018 05:00:57 -0000

For the last episode of this series, we talk to the amazing badass Lauren Mahon a.k.a influencer Girl Stole London. On her podcast, You, Me & The Big C, Lauren and her co-hosts turned a cancer diagnosis into a game-changing conversation. We also talk about sex, mothers and make-up. So there.

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Series 1 Episode 7 - Martha Lane Fox

Thu, 15 Nov 2018 05:00:10 -0000

Not all heroes wear capes. Some are never without false eyelashes. In episode 7 of our podcast we meet the utterly inspirational Martha Lane Fox to talk CONFIDENCE. Because we could all learn a thing or two from her...

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Series 1 Episode 6 - Katherine Ormerod

Thu, 08 Nov 2018 05:00:03 -0000

I'm Absolutely Fine but is social media ruining my life? Hmmmm. On this week's podcast we talk to the whipsmart Katherine Ormerod about this thorny issue - because she wrote the actual book. Plus some useful beauty tips - because who DOESN'T need those?

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Series 1 Episode 5 - Style Me Sunday

Thu, 01 Nov 2018 05:00:54 -0000

Do you ever feel perfection is being pedalled at you from every platform? This week, Annabel Rivkin and Emilie McMeekan of The Midult sit down with diversity and body confidence champion Natalie Lee, a.k.a the influencer Style Me Sunday.

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Series 1 Episode 4 - Bella Freud

Thu, 25 Oct 2018 04:00:53 -0000

Ever feel as though dry shampoo and concealer are the only things making you feel like a fully-functioning human woman? Annabel Rivkin and Emilie McMeekan look at all the glamour and indignity of being a grown-up. In this episode, they talk to the designer Bella Freud about mood, identity and gratitude.

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Series 1 Episode 3 - Scummy Mummies

Wed, 17 Oct 2018 04:00:40 -0000

Things get real when Annabel Rivkin and Emilie McMeekan of The Midult get down and dirty with comedians Ellie Gibson and Helen Thorn (a.k.a. the Scummy Mummies). You don't have to be crazy to listen, but it helps.

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Series 1 Episode 2 - Anya Hindmarch

Thu, 11 Oct 2018 04:00:33 -0000

Annabel Rivkin and Emilie McMeekan of The Midult talk to designer Anya Hindmarch about how she grew into her face and body: the triumphs, the disasters and how she got organised.

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Series 1 Episode 1 - Welcome to Midulthood

Wed, 03 Oct 2018 16:06:19 -0000

Annabel Rivkin and Emilie McMeekan, authors of the best-selling book I'm Absolutely Fine!, rifle through their emotional knicker drawers, their make-up bags and their murky pasts.

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Series 1 Trailer

Mon, 24 Sep 2018 09:32:11 -0000

Do you feel like a fully-functional human woman? Annabel Rivkin and Emilie McMeekan of The Midult look at all the glamour and indignity of being a grown-up. With glorious guests talking about how they grew into their faces, their bodies and their lives. Plus some properly useful beauty tips. Because who doesn’t need those?

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