Cats and Tomato Plants: Recent Episodes
Stewart Gregory
Within moments of hearing him speak, I was struck by how disarmingly honest Andy was about his own experiences, and how quickly he can set a room at ease by sharing difficult subjects. Here we set some time aside to talk about the hand-in-hand relationship between authenticity and vulnerability, discussing the benefits of practicing them together (and the pitfalls of not) in work and personal life.
My therapist Sue and I round off a trio of podcasts centered around the work we did together. This time we talk about trauma and challenge in young life. How much is too much? What are the consequences when there's not enough? And what should the dynamic look like if you go on to repair the damage in later life?
As part of a men's mental health group at the company I work for, I hosted a chat with three colleagues about their experiences of fatherhood (and its additional pressures) during lockdown.
Picking up where we left off last time, my therapist Sue and I get into the specifics around our work on codependency. What is it? How do you know if you're caught up in it? What on earth can you do about it? And, most importantly, what does life look like once you're free of it?
In an attempt to understand the challenges of today's youth, I spoke to my mate Liam about the pressures and influences affecting his career choices after leaving school. His failure to get into the army and the untimely death of a friend sparked a re-jig of his goals, and he soon found himself on an accidental quest for meaning.
Three years on from my first ever lesson, my jujitsu mentor Theo and I discuss our mutual cruel mistress. Why do people do it? What makes them come back? And how many times can you bully Ashton Kutcher in one day?
I challenged a couple of old work mates to come to a podcast with one theme. We failed spectacularly, but in doing so I learned a little bit more about space travel, werewolves, axe restoration, bird watching, evil billionaires... and parenthood.
Among the many things that lockdown took away from us, one of the worst parts for me has been that jujitsu training has stopped dead. In the absence of being able to meet up properly, my training buddy Ross and I break the number one rule, and talk about fight club.
Sue has been my psychotherapist for the last three years. After some fantastic work on understanding (and subsequently recovering from) codependency, we wrap up with a chat about how the client/therapist relationship works, and what needs to be present to ensure it goes well.
My friend Stephen was diagnosed with autism in his early thirties. Here we talk about that process - what he's learned, how he came to terms with it, and what he wishes other people knew about it.
My friend Ben and I talk about stepping away from the norm - how it can free you up to find meaning, get in tune with yourself, and ultimately benefit society (if you can be arsed).
Is there any real alternative to dating apps these days? My friend Carley and I navigate the despair, the humour and the hope within this seemingly necessary evil... and eventually come up with the start of a plan about how it could perhaps be done a bit more authentically.
I had the great misfortune of having to remove Jodie from my Marketing team a while back for performance issues. Six years on, we are still (thankfully) friends, and having embraced what turned out to be dyslexia as an adult, he began a pretty inspiring journey.
Jenny is a colleague of mine. After a tragic family event, she found herself on a really interesting path that began with a need for healing and understanding. It soon shifted to self-discovery, and resulted in a very personal, highly individual take on what was to become her spirituality.