Do You F*cking Mind?

Stop waiting for January to get started. This end-of-year goal audit helps you pick what matters, make the time for it, and finish the year feeling in control. You will learn to stay motivated during the holidays, time managment tips to feel like you have momentum to start next year already strong.
Key takeaways
Don’t wait for New Year to start your goals. The weeks before Christmas, with plans on the calendar and everyone in a good mood, are a better time to lock in than a winter lull. Sociologists call this shared buzz “collective effervescence,” and you can use it to build momentum.
How to do an end-of-year goal audit. List every goal you set or picked up this year. Drop the ones that no longer feel right. For each one left, ask what actually stops you starting before January. Few goals truly have to wait, and health and fitness goals almost never do.
Choose goals that are realistic, in your control, and startable now. Pick one goal each for health or fitness, career, and self. Each should be something you can start with the time and money you already have. “Post weekly” is in your control, while “100K followers” isn’t.
Plan the time, the celebration and the feeling. Decide how many hours a week the goal needs, and whether it fits better in the morning or the evening. Book a celebration night with a friend for when you get there, and picture how it will feel to have started.
Scrolling and other ways of soothing yourself often pass for self-care. What actually drains people is wasted time, indecision and inner conflict. Doing the things that matter is what pulls you out of the slump

how to end the year strong:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can you truly love someone and still cheat? Honest advice on infidelity, setting boundaries with a mother-in-law and why a best friend might ghost you.

Key takeaways
Can you truly love someone and still cheat on them? My honest take on whether love and infidelity can exist together, and what that says about the kind of love you’re offering.
Do you want your ex back, or just their forgiveness? Learn how guilt, insecurity and the need for validation can feel like love after a breakup, and how to tell the difference.
The two questions every healthy relationship depends on. Discover a simple test for whether your relationship is built to last, and why I believes good relationships shouldn’t feel hard.
How to handle an overbearing mother-in-law. Find out who’s really responsible for setting boundaries with a clingy in-law, and the one conversation that will show you whether things can change.
Why do people ghost their friends when they’re depressed? Understand what might be behind a friend’s silence, what to make of their social media activity, and how to find closure when someone you love goes quiet.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

**How to Feed Your Brain for a Happier, Healthier You**
In today's world, it's easy to get caught up in the habit of mindless scrolling and doom scrolling, but what if you could turn those "dead" moments into something more enriching?
In this episode I go into the importance of consuming a balanced diet of information, including education, entertainment, and comfort. Our brains are wired to respond to stories and how this can be a powerful tool for retaining information and making it more enjoyable.
This ep will teach your how to turn "dead time" into something more productive where you feel more fulfilled at the end of the day.
Thank you so much to the episode sponsor Audible for working together with me to bring you this piece. (and for providing me with my favourite audio books)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Struggling to decide between staying home or moving overseas? In this ep I give you 9 questions to ask yourself to get the clarity you need. Then I answer 3 listener questions. Key themes covered are indecision after moving, what changing locations does to personal growth and how to plan ahead for the difficult times that moving can bring.
Takeaways -
Are you after adventure or permanent change? A year abroad for adventure means saying yes to everything, not settling into a dull nine-to-five. A move for permanent change comes from dissatisfaction, so be clear about which one it is. If money is what’s holding you back, booking a non-refundable flight can turn a dream into a plan.
Are you running away or chasing something? You take yourself with you wherever you go. Moving fixes problems with your town or city, but not your habits or motivation. A sunny city won’t make you a morning person. A new place is a strong fresh start, but only if you do the work.
Plan for everyday life, not the holiday version. Think about what a normal Monday will look like, how you cope with being alone, and whether you can afford to come home if things go wrong. Then ask which you’d regret more in five years: going or staying.
Loneliness after emigrating keeps your brain in survival mode. Long stretches without safety or belonging keep the brain in a stressed, reactive state, which wears down confidence and self-esteem. The main fix is building a sense of belonging. That can start small: run clubs, volunteering, learning your barista’s name, getting to know your neighbours.
Being alone abroad isn’t a failure, and moving for love needs a fair plan. Travelling solo builds self-trust and resilience, even when it doesn’t feel that way. If you keep moving for a partner’s career, talk honestly about a long-term plan before the sacrifices turn into resentment.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What you can walk to shapes your mental health. Having shops, cafés and friends within a 10-minute walk means you leave home more often and have more small interactions. Long drives make you batch your errands into one trip, which is more isolating.
Other Takeaways
Living close to friends makes you happier because it allows spontaneous catch-ups. Living nearby turns a quick text into a coffee or a dog walk together. A 40-minute drive means every catch-up has to be planned, so you see good friends far less often.
Chrono-urbanism: time-based living lowers chronic stress. This urban planning idea measures a place by how quickly you can reach what you need. Short trips and good public transport cut the daily stress of traffic, parking and long drives.
The “big house, small life” problem: more space can mean less connection. Many families move further out for a yard and extra rooms, then end up feeling isolated. Choosing location over space often makes for a bigger social life.
Social connection protects your health, and small interactions count. Research comparing the health impact of loneliness to smoking about 15 cigarettes a day. Chatting with neighbours and strangers builds a sense of belonging, which supports mental health, immunity and healthy years of life.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.