In this episode, I get into something I think a lot of people carry around quietly: the relationship between self-awareness and the body. Specifically, my relationship with my skin, my relationship with exercise, and the moment I realised the patterns I had in one area were showing up everywhere else too.

From cystic acne and the all-or-nothing approach to skincare, to avoiding the gym because I couldn't bear to be seen not being good at something, I reflect on how much of what I was doing to "take care" of myself was actually about trying to earn something: desirability, validation, the right to take up space.

I also get into the beauty standards I absorbed growing up, from Disney Channel and Nickelodeon to early 2000s culture, and a conversation I came across online that made me realise the standard I'd been measuring myself against wasn't universal. It was constructed. And I'd never once questioned it.

This episode also introduces a new recurring segment, Uncomfortably Honest, where I say the thing I probably would have softened or talked around a few sentences ago.

If you've ever done all the right things for completely the wrong reasons, this one's for you.

Disclaimer: This episode discusses skin picking, body image, weight loss, fitness and appearance.

In this episode, I talk about the idea of being perceived, and how something as small as a throwaway comment can completely shape the way you see yourself.

From internalising being called “boring” to unknowingly building a personality around it, I reflect on how easy it is to adopt narratives that were never really ours to begin with. I get into confirmation bias, identity, social media, and the subtle ways we start performing versions of ourselves we think people expect.

If you’ve ever questioned whether you’re actually being yourself, or just living according to how you think you’re perceived, this one’s for you.

In this episode, I talk about why “cringe” is often just confidence we haven’t built yet. How secondhand embarrassment can be a reaction to visibility, vulnerability, or joy. And why so many of us stop ourselves from doing the things we want to do because we are worried about how they will look to other people.

This episode is about letting yourself be seen. About doing things without rehearsing every possible reaction. And about realising that free will is reason enough, especially when something brings you happiness and harms no one.