Why is a glass of wine the answer we hand every stressed mum?

Gillian Brown was doing everything she could to feel better. Exercise, meditation, starting again and again. But her anxiety kept getting worse, and she felt stuck in a constant cycle of failure, still reaching for the one thing everyone told her would help her relax.

In this episode of Stories Worth Telling, Gillian shares her story and speaks honestly about alcohol, anxiety, motherhood and the “mummy wine culture” so many of us have quietly accepted as normal.

We talk about the line she heard for years, “Have a glass of wine. Calm down.”, what alcohol really does to the body and the brain, and how one decision created a ripple effect across every area of her life. Today, she helps other mums break the cycle too.

But this isn’t a lecture about drinking. There is honesty, humour, hope, and a moment in a supermarket aisle with her wee boy that says it all.

At its heart, this is a conversation about choosing yourself, even when the whole culture around you is telling you otherwise.

Listen with an open mind. You might look at that glass a little differently.

Connect with Gillian: https://our-circle.co.uk/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/ourcircle_alcoholfreecoaching

How can we have the world at our fingertips and still know so little about each other?

Tabitha Nyariki grew up in Kenya, surrounded by people who looked like her. So when she first experienced racism, she struggled to even understand it.

In this episode of Stories Worth Telling, Tabitha shares her story and speaks passionately about racism, identity, belonging, education and the Africa she knows, beyond the poverty, stereotypes and assumptions through which the continent is too often seen.

We talk about the seemingly innocent question, “Where do you really come from?”, why ignorance survives even in the age of unlimited information, and what it means to simply be a decent human being.

But this isn't a heavy conversation from beginning to end. There is laughter, warmth, Africa, food, joy and plenty of personality too.

At its heart, this is a conversation about seeing people beyond what we have been told about them.

Listen with an open mind. You might leave questioning something you thought you knew.

He gave his father his kidney. Then he lost over £1 million from a cryptocurrency scam.

But those are just two chapters of Dr Kevin Kit’s story.

Known as “Many Things,” Kevin takes us through a deeply personal journey of family, sacrifice, loss, love, money, pain, laughter and reinvention and the questions that emerge when life forces you to see yourself differently.

We talk about wabi-sabi, empathy, purpose, love and light, and how some of our most difficult experiences can ultimately become the raw material for the life we’re meant to create.

Kevin is the founder of House Of Ikigai in Dunfermline, Scotland and one of the most fascinating people I’ve met in a long time.

A conversation about what we lose, what we give, what we discover and who we become along the way.

Some stories are worth telling. This one is impossible to forget.

Everyone has a story worth telling. In the first episode of Stories Worth Telling, I share my own story as well as why I started this podcast and why I believe the most meaningful stories can come from ordinary people and everyday lives.