Truthbook – Détails, épisodes et analyse

My guest is ultra runner, Jamie Aarons. On 26th June, 2023, Jamie became the fastest person to self propel herself round all 282 Munros (mountains over 3, 000 feet in Scotland) cycling and kayaking between them. She did it in 31 days, 10 hours and 27 minutes (12 hours faster than the previous record holder, Donnie Campbell). But her achievement has become so much more than the world record that she now holds.

Back at work as a Social Work advisor for the Scottish Government, I talk to Jamie today about the community spirit created around this event, the challenges she faced and the legacy she has created. I also speak to her friend Jenny and partner Andy who played key roles in the success of this challenge.

Read all about the challenge and sponsors at Jamie's Munro Challenge
And here: Fiona Outdoors
Follow Jamie on
Instagram
Facebook
Youtube
Donate to World Bike Relief on her Just Giving Page
Cover photo courtesy of  Stark Images

I asked Maria Leijerstam Edy to come on because, as someone I met many years ago through Adventure Racing (pre-kids), I look up to – she has taken on extreme challenges (first person to cycle to the South Pole and fastest human powered coast to South Pole traverse in 10 days, 14hrs and 56 minutes being the craziest, as well as cycled the length of NZ, run the marathon de sable, and been the first woman to compete in the Siberian Black Ice Race, cycling across Lake Baikal)! She is also mum to two girls, 5 & 7years old.  I was keen to hear behind the scenes of that image of a polar explorer with her frozen hair and red nose and how the challenges she has put herself through have equipped her for being a parent. After our chat I felt even more connected and inspired, as Maria shared the challenges of just getting from 7am to 7pm with kids and we shared a giggle at our incontinence issues, post giving  birth to two kids…

Maria's book- Cycling to the South Poll: A World First
Maria's business- Burns Series Family Adventure Racing
Book recommendation- The Accidental Adventurer by Nahla Summers

Rosie Butler shares her truthbook about what really went on behind the scenes of what looked like an idyllic family camping trip, being a third culture child, having a natural affinity with swans and the desire to be independent from her family, just for a week...

Rosie is a fellow Brit in Penguin, Tasmania, hence we became instant friends. I asked Rosie to come on Truthbook after she shared a photo of a family camping trip, that looked awesome but later over a coffee, she told me what really happened...

Rosie also has a lot going on behind the scenes. At the age of 16 after, she decided to leave her parent’s home in Dubai and go to boarding school in Durham, England, to repatriate her roots.  After some colourful boarding school and uni antics she passed Occupational Therapy with a 1st. At the age of 21, she decided she was going to live in Australia. Tasmania offered the best job & visa opportunities, so she found herself living in a wee town called Penguin, (that we both now call home). Shortly after arriving in Tassie, she met Andrew, her now husband, who she has two children with, aged 5 and 3. Having had enough of working for health services, and with her ability to make bold decisions, in 2018 she set up her own OT private practice; Penguin OT. And her physio husband has recently joined this business- Penguin Physio! ( folk from Penguin love their town name and name everything after it!). 

Links;
 https://www.penguinot.com.au

Like this episode...

• Share with a friend 📢
• Write a review 💬
• Subscribe ✅
• Come on Truthbook 🎧
• Like 👍 Truthbook on Face book
• Get in touch📧 Email me

On this episode, we have a clinical psychologist interviewing a clinical psychologist both of whom are a little bit daunted by this prospect, hoping that our mutual feeling of ‘imposter syndrome’ is somewhat reassuring…

Louise, brings her infectious passion and wisdom to talking about step parenting, the grief when a family is separated, the difficult emotions that come with facing climate change and how we help our kids take action and not become overly anxious. And we ponder what it would be like to swap roles and be a man for the day…until we got lost and neither of us wanted to ask for ‘directions”…

Louise Shepherd is an experienced Clinical Psychologist and director of The Sydney ACT Centre (ACT-Acceptance and Commitment Therapy more info on below).  She is also a mum and step mum to three girls aged 16, 9 and 7. It is her girls that have driven her passion for improving support and knowledge about step families and an active interest in climate action, acutely aware of the world they are growing up in. When I was put in touch with Louise, through a psychologist in Brisbane, she was keen to come on Truthbook, to share her experience in the hope that it will resonate with and help others. It has been a pleasure getting to know Louise as we have prepared for this podcast.

Links…
The Sydney ACT Centre
Podcast on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy- Psychologists Off The Clock Top Five Regrets of the Dying Blog by Bronnie Ware
Outrage + Optimism- How to Face the Mess we’re in without going Crazy with Joanna Macy
Project Drawdown-The World’s Leading Resource for Climate Solutions
2040 Film

Like this episode...

• Share with a friend 📢
• Write a review 💬
• Subscribe ✅
• Come on Truthbook 🎧
• Like 👍 Truthbook on Face book
• Get in touch📧 Email me

My ‘Truthbook’ conversation with this episode’s guest, Peter, started over a few beers at our kids class get together at the local bowls club. I mentioned my podcast to Peter as we regaled how toxic social media had been during lock down. Peter was immediately engaged, eager to share his behind the scenes, in the hope that his ‘Truthbook’ would reach out and help others. Peter works in Risk Assessment- an asset when it came to preparing for a pandemic, a hinderance when it came to managing feelings he had no control over. Peter and his wife Miledy (which can also sound like he’s saying ‘My Lady’!) have three kids spanning 8 to 13 years. 

We launch straight into conversation about when he first realised all was not well emotionally and that he needed professional help…Peter got his confession in early so he was let off the hook at the end! 

If anything in this podcast has led you to think you may also benefit from help managing sad or depressed feelings or thoughts of not wanting to be here, reach out to friends and family or seek advice from your GP or a mental health trained professional. You may also find these apps helpful…

Headspace

Smiling mind

Enjoyed this episode? Share it with a friend and subscribe for more. 

Made you think? If you have comments you’d like to share- pop them in a review, facebook or email. I love hearing from you. 

Or even better, come on Truthbook- your story of how you have navigated family life, will inspire and become part of someone else’s family survival guide. 

Tasmanian author, mother and all round country girl, Rachael Treasure, tells her story of being launched from a toxic patriarchal society into single parenting, how she deals with anxiety and maternal guilt and connects with mother nature. Heads up, Rachael doesn’t hold back with her truthbook confession

If Rachael’s reference to numnuts confuses you, check out the first episode where my husband explains all…

Check out the links from the show...

 BSc in Regenerative Agriculture

 Rachael Treasure

 Down the Dirt Road

The Artists Way, Julie Cameron

Mama Gena

Here we are, with Christmas only a few sleeps away only it looks a little bit different this year. Thank goodness Santa is an essential worker and is COVID safe to deliver presents!

So, with many of us not spending Christmas how we normally would, with family & friends, I’d like to try & connect through shared stories.  Thank you so much for sharing your words on what Christmas means to you, Santa stories and the Elf on the Shelf antics, Christmas mishaps and what Christmas will be like for you this year…

This podcast is accompanied by the wonderful Pippa Reid Foster, playing a Christmas Medley on harp. Pippa is an acclaimed musician and teacher based in my home town, Helensburgh, Scotland. She has embraced lock down teaching on line (I have been getting whistle lessons in Oz over facetime!) and writing music. Here's  Pippa’s website and links to where you can buy her music...

http://pippareidfoster.com

Merry Christmas and I look forward to bringing more Turthbook episodes in 2021...

Here I am chatting to Suzy- a friend and fellow podcaster. Like my audio on this occasion, we talk about how you don’t get it right every time and life is about trial and error.  And I made a promise to Suzy, when we are back in our homeland….

Suzy became a friend when we met on a ski holiday and threw ourselves straight into honest conversations about mental health, as well as down the ski slopes!.  Suzy is an acclaimed writer, speaker, performer, podcaster. She is the women behind Big Juicy Creative Podcast, author of Wondering Woman; a true story of one struggling mum’s search for her inner superhero and wrote her own play ‘Ecoanxiety”.  She is also mum to Torrin 9 and Toby 12, married to Phil (a Muay Thai fighter; not Suzy’s favourite sport to watch, but she’ll take the 6 pack that comes with it!). She is an everything outdoor lover and has the lochs and hills on her doorstep living in the Cairngorms in Scotland.  Meeting Suzy is like opening a big craft box; loads going on and you can’t help but feel excited and inspired.

Suzy was full of fantastic tips, good reads and listens...

• Suzy'sPodcast: Big Juicy Creative
• Suzy's Book: Wondering Woman: a true story of one struggling mum’s search for her inner superhero
• That film! Dead Poet Society
• Poem: On Joy and Sorry by Kahil Gibran
• Suzy's son's Podcast: Blood Thirsty Battles Podcast, Toby Haworth
• Creativity in Schools: Ken Robinson, Do Schools Kill Creativity
• Mindfullness Bible: Full Catastrophe Living, Jon Kabat Zinn
• Morning Pages: The Artists Way, Julia Cameron

And for those that want to read Wordsworth to their children, here we are…

I wondered lonely as a Cloud, by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

 For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

I'm chatting to Kate who lived in Helensburgh in Scotland for two years back in 2017, the town I call my home. And now I live in Brisbane, the city Kate calls her home! Kate is a midwife, working with aboriginal families, mother to James (who is a proper grown up now and a semi-professional musician!), Zala her teenager and Xavier her rapidly growing up 8 year old. Her husband, Clint, had me in stitches as the first person to say ‘g’day mate’ whilst flipping a burger on the BBQ.

We chat about moving your family to other side of the world, bouncing back from failure, working with aboriginal mothers and how being compassionate can help to restore us when we are feeling stretched. As well as a good dose of laughter…Although Kate, was a little worried that her dark sense of humour might not be everyone’s cup of tea! 

Susie Ranford, is multi-faceted; a PhD physicist who has naturally found herself in management roles in the engineering and renewable energy sectors. She is also passionate about running and adventure; she was the chief scientist with the British Exploring Society on expeditions to Svalbard, Greenland and Arctic Norway and has written a book ‘Scottish Trail Runs’ now in its second edition. We met ski touring, where a conversation about Susie needing some desk space led to her joining my husband’s design engineering team, 4c, and going on to manage it when we moved to Australia. She has since moved on from that role and is now a Business and Technology Development Consultant. Susie is also mum to Nina 4, and Eric 6, and married to Dougal, whose is one of the only people I know who does kite skiing, in Scotland! 

In my chat with Susie, we talk about her experience pf providing 24/7 care when her sone broke his femus (whilst he sat back and enjoyed hospital food, with no veggies), finding a new joy in getting outdoors with kids and the never ending disruptions that come wth parenting. You’ll also here passionate words about achieving equity rather than equality between men and women. And how Susie gets in touch with her inner child…

Check out these links… 

Susie’s book: Scottish Trail Running

Company she took over management of: 4c Design

What took Susie to amazing places in the world: British Exploring Society

Share this episode with a friend and help me create a Truthbook community