Your acne isn't a mystery or a moral failing. It's a stack of small fixable things. Stop asking what's causing it... ask what you changed.

I've struggled with adult acne for a decade. Deep, cystic, painful acne all over my cheeks and jaw. The kind you can't cover, because you can hide the redness but you can't hide the texture. I'd avoid certain lighting. Some mornings I'd go to put my makeup on and it hurt so much I'd just cry.

I've spent thousands trying to fix it. Skin clinics, facials, peels, antibiotics, Roaccutane, expensive skincare, cheap skincare. If someone promised me clear skin, I tried it.

And a few weeks ago I woke up, looked in the mirror, and went: hell no. Not this again. But this time I knew what to look for. And the fix was so simple I couldn't believe it.

This week's episode is everything I wish I'd known years ago. The biggest shift was realising adult acne is almost never one thing... it's a stack of small things pouring gasoline on the fire. So now, instead of asking "what's causing my acne," I ask: "what have I changed?"

This is for you if:

• You've tried everything for your adult acne and it still keeps coming back
• You're sick of "just drink more water" advice
• You want the real, unsexy stuff that actually clears skin

In this episode:

• Adult acne is a stacking problem: ask "what have I changed?" not "what's causing it?"
• Pore-clogging ingredients hiding in your skincare, haircare, and washing powder
• Skin barrier damage: why burning your acne off makes it worse
• Blood sugar and hormonal acne: the breakfast mistake that broke me out
• My simple skincare routine and the one thing to start with today

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Follow Stephing Up

I’m Steph Pase, your (somewhat) organised bestie in your ears. This podcast is about growth that’s messy, building a life that actually fits you, and what happens when life doesn’t go to plan. We’ll talk mental health, motherhood, business, ADHD and how to stop being such an asshole to yourself.

New episodes drop every Monday morning.
So set your reminder. Pop in your headphones. Because we’re Stephing Up together.

If today's episode helped, leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify is honestly the best thing you can do to help us reach more women.

…

Let’s Hang:

Submit your Hot Mess Hotline question here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeUnWTcPntVMCQrdu2wSFqFHEnQkggznr_23Ux9zDBNvlh78g/viewform?usp=publish-editor

Stephing Up on Instagram: @stephing.up

Steph Pase on Instagram: @stephpase_

Steph Pase on Youtube: @stephpase.

Shop Planners + Organisation: Steph Pase Planners

Shop Steph’s book “Mastering my Messy Life”: Penguin Books Australia

Steph’s Amazon Storefront: https://www.amazon.com.au/shop/justanothermummyblog/list/17TTU785IMM53

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nobody knows what they’re doing, and that’s the good news. This is the story of how I started a business backwards. I launched Steph Pase Planners from a camp table with postnatal depression and no business plan.

If you'd told seven-year-old me, the one sewing Pokemon toys out of old bed sheets and selling them on the street, that she'd one day run a stationery brand, she'd have believed you (she had range). If you'd told twenty-five-year-old me, sitting in a one-bedroom unit covered in breast milk with postnatal depression, she'd have laughed in your face.

This is the story of how it actually happened. Not the highlights reel. The real one.

This episode is for you if:

• You've ever had an idea but talked yourself out of it because you "didn't know how"
• You're the multi-passionate one who's been called a jack of all trades like it's an insult
• You're tired of business stories that skip the embarrassing, 3am, crying-over-spilt-ink bits

In this episode I break down:

• Starting a business with no experience: why nobody, not even the founders you look up to, knows what they're doing
• Doing it scared: how you achieve things by doing, not planning
• Postnatal depression and the lounge-room blog that became Steph Pase Planners
• The camp table, 10,000 planners, and 3am shipping labels printed one by one
• ADHD, being a jack of all trades, and why the multi-passionate messes are winning now
• Why the mess Steph spent her life hiding turned out to be the map

…

Episode Links:

Shop Business Planners: https://www.stephpaseplanners.com.au/collections/financial-year-business-planners

Shop Steph’s book “Mastering my Messy Life”: Penguin Books Australia

…

Follow Stephing Up

I’m Steph Pase, your (somewhat) organised bestie in your ears. This podcast is about growth that’s messy, building a life that actually fits you, and what happens when life doesn’t go to plan. We’ll talk mental health, motherhood, business, ADHD and how to stop being such an asshole to yourself.

New episodes drop every Monday morning.
So set your reminder. Pop in your headphones. Because we’re Stephing Up together.

If today's episode helped, leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify is honestly the best thing you can do to help us reach more women.

…

Let’s Hang:

Submit your Hot Mess Hotline question here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeUnWTcPntVMCQrdu2wSFqFHEnQkggznr_23Ux9zDBNvlh78g/viewform?usp=publish-editor

Stephing Up on Instagram: @stephing.up

Steph Pase on Instagram: @stephpase_

Steph Pase on Youtube: @stephpase.

Shop Planners + Organisation: Steph Pase Planners

Steph’s Amazon Storefront: https://www.amazon.com.au/shop/justanothermummyblog/list/17TTU785IMM53

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Do the hard thing first: why you're not lazy, you're avoiding a feeling. The hardest part of any task isn't the middle. It's the start. That's the wall. I’m a chronic task avoider, and in this episode I’m sharing my tried and tested ADHD guide to beating procrastination and the avoidance loop.

This episode is for you if:

• You'll dread one tiny email and somehow clean the whole house to avoid it
• You've called yourself lazy your whole life despite having a full, busy, can't-sit-still life
• You've tried every new planner and schedule and still can't make yourself start

Here's what I break down in this episode:

• Procrastination is emotion management, not time management: why you're avoiding the feeling, not the task
• The avoidance loop: how "being busy" is actually how you dodge the thing that matters
• Open tabs: why unfinished tasks drain your battery all day (the 1920s study)
• Do the hard thing first: how to beat your own excuses to the door
• Three hacks to start: the doable start, name the feeling, and the 2-minute timer

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Episode Links:

Weekly Planner Notepad: https://www.stephpaseplanners.com.au/products/weekly-planner-notepad-undated

2026 Planners: https://www.stephpaseplanners.com.au/collections/planners

…

Follow Stephing Up

I’m Steph Pase, your (somewhat) organised bestie in your ears. This podcast is about growth that’s messy, building a life that actually fits you, and what happens when life doesn’t go to plan. We’ll talk mental health, motherhood, business, ADHD and how to stop being such an asshole to yourself.

New episodes drop every Monday morning.
So set your reminder. Pop in your headphones. Because we’re Stephing Up together.

…

Let’s Hang:

Submit your Hot Mess Hotline question here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeUnWTcPntVMCQrdu2wSFqFHEnQkggznr_23Ux9zDBNvlh78g/viewform?usp=publish-editor

Stephing Up on Instagram: @stephing.up

Steph Pase on Instagram: @stephpase_

Steph Pase on Youtube: @stephpase.

Shop Planners + Organisation: Steph Pase Planners

Shop Steph’s book “Mastering my Messy Life”: Penguin Books Australia

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.