What can I tell you about this episode? It might be the last one.

No plan, no script, no clue. I need someone to tell me whether I should keep going with this. I can’t concentrate for longer than the length of a TikTok, I am a reluctant helper to those who need assistance and I will thrive off gratitude I don’t even want for doing things I don’t even want to do.

This ‘episode’ is the inside of my head verbalised. I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t want to listen, but if you do…send help.

This week’s episode is a little different — no deep dive, no wrap-up, just a short, sweet dose of real life from the slightly foggy, slightly festive edge of midlife.

You know that feeling when your brain’s juggling twelve tabs at once and every ping, reminder, and WhatsApp message sends you over the edge? Same. In The Hat Trick, I talk about that creeping mental overload that comes with this time of year (and maybe with being this age), before revisiting a piece of writing from 2014 — back when life felt like one big game of “how many roles can you play before you combust?”

It’s about the hats we wear — parent, partner, worker, dreamer — and how to stop them from slipping down over your eyes. So, take ten minutes, take a breath, and take it easy on yourself. You’re doing f*cking brilliantly.

This week I’m talking about doing it all on my own — not the kind of “solo” you’re thinking of (behave), but the scary kind where you have no one to blame but yourself.

It’s about fear, freedom, and that weird middle ground where you want help… but also absolutely don’t touch anything.