Watch the podcast, above, or listen below. 

This week, I am joined again by my friend and colleague Sarah Baillie, N.D. to talk about the practical steps women can take to avoid hitting an emotional rock bottom in midlife. Research suggests that most people are at their unhappiest in their forties, but that this continues to improve as they age.

Sarah and I believe there are ways to speed that process up!

As more of our clients come to us looking for support in pro-actively making their midlife easier and happier, we have identified five key areas women can address to help create space for themselves during the time in their life when their energy and happiness are statistically at their lowest. 

Whether you’re preparing to head into the bottom of the u-curve of happiness, or if you’re already there, these suggestions can help you and the people around you create more peace and joy in your life.

Topics include how to cut back on your to-do list,...

 Watch the podcast, above, or listen below. 

Today I talk with Jay Fields, an educator, coach, and author who has taught the principles of embodied social and emotional intelligence to individuals and organizations for twenty years.

If you’ve ever wondered how to get better at sitting with your emotions, instead of drinking, eating, or scrolling to escape them, Jay’s got the practical three-step solution.

We discuss the importance of feeling your emotions instead of “fixing” them, and how learning to do this using Jay’s approach allows us to respond instead of react, which in turn leads to deeper, more meaningful connections and personal relationships.

Topics include:

- how people-pleasing arises from a common childhood blueprint (“never make anyone else feel uncomfortable”)

- how trying to “fix” an emotion instead feeling and accepting it can lead to overwhelm and burnout

-...

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below.

Tabbin Almond is a certified coach living in Devon, England, who is passionate about removing the stigma and creating meaningful employee support around alcohol use disorder. She is committed to changing the corporate wellness conversation to include alcohol as an important factor in employees’ physical and mental health.

Tabbin has a book in the works called The Wellness Conversation We’re Not Having, where she explores the corporate world’s failure to address the role that over-drinking is playing in many cases of employee burnout, depression, and anxiety. Employees are often hesitant to ask for help with their drinking because of the stigma and fear of career reprisals. If they do ask for help, the help is often woefully inadequate and misguided.

Tabbin shares her personal alcohol story, including how she found her “drinking boots” during her years as a successful advertising exec, how hypnotherapy led her...

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below.

In episode 101, I talk to Mary Byers, an author, speaker, and coach who helps organizations and individuals set priorities and develop winning focus. Mary shares her experience with her “One Word Year” experiment. She has let one word guide her each year for the last decade, and she explains how that’s helped her to concentrate on what’s most important, simplify her focus, and improve her life.

Mary and I discuss the power of this practice and Mary provides guidance on how to pick a word, how to let it guide you, and when to abandon it. I explain the impact of feelings-based goals v. behaviour-based goals and the importance of flexibility when it comes to permanently changing habits and thinking. I also share my “one word” for the new year and how it came to me after I became an empty nester earlier this fall.

The “One Word Year” is a wonderful alternative to making a laundry list...

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below.

In the Season 2 closer, Sarah and I revisit our favourite guests and episodes from the last year, and what we’ve learned from hosting Bite-Sized Balance and from each other. I provide my favourite definition of the “meaning of life”, and we consider how it jives with our own approach to midlife. Sarah shares two recent moments of self-discovery and her decision to explore coach training, and I provide an update on my impending empty nest situation. We consider the patriarchal social norms around self-care for women and how those aren’t serving us, along with the problem with women’s overuse of the words “I’m fine" (us included.)

Join Sarah and me for a spirited, fun conversation with an important undercurrent: it’s totally OK to start focussing on you again as you move into your midlife.

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below.

Dr. L. Carol Scott, PhD. (Psychology) is a TEDx speaker, author, and coach who uses a unique model to help women succeed in their business and personal lives through self-aware emotional and social intelligence.

Carol mixes hundreds of years of child development theory with 21st Century brain imaging research, decades of her own experience with hundreds of developing humans of all ages, and her own lived experience of recovery from childhood trauma and Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

In this episode of BBB, Carol and I have a fascinating conversation about how the first seven years of our lives impact all aspects of our adulthood, including our business competence, parenting, and personal relationships.

Carol explains the seven assets that we are meant to develop as kids (trust, independence, faith, negotiation, vision, compromise, and acceptance) and how easy it is for us to be missing some of these as adults because of...

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below.

As an experienced Burnout & Alcohol Coach, I share some of my best advice on how to worry less and manage your anxiety better. My strategies range from small daily practices that build resilience and calm to simple yet effective tools you can use in a moment of overwhelm to ground and centre yourself. You can apply everything in this episode to any area of your life where you might find yourself worrying: career, parenting or relationships!

FREE 5-Day Drink Less REWIND Challenge: www.wendymccallum.com/challenge

For free tools and resources for making change around alcohol, burnout, or midlife, visit: www.wendymccallum.com/learn-with-wendy

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below.

I chat with Mitch Cobb, Co-Founder and CEO of Upstreet Brewing and Libra Non-Alcoholic Craft Beer about the alcohol-free drink market, the sober curious movement, and our shared mission to normalize socializing without alcohol.

Mitch shares how he came to start a craft brewery on Prince Edward Island, Canada, and soon after began exploring his own relationship with alcohol, as well some fascinating behind-the-scenes details on how alcohol-free beer is made and marketed.

This is a fun and light conversation around what it means to find your balance and how having a great alcohol-free alternative on hand can make that easier. 

For free tools and resources for making change around alcohol, burnout, or midlife, visit: www.wendymccallum.com/learn-with-wendy

Libra Alcohol-Free Craft Beer: www.drinklibra.ca

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below.

In today's episode, I share some of my best advice around how to make positive change (in any area of your life or wellness) when it feels too hard.

Our default is to just try harder, but that almost always leads to failure, because we are trying the wrong way. 

I provide five specific strategies for how to “try different, not harder”, including how to identify and replace the beliefs that are keeping you stuck, how to remind your brain and body it can do hard things, and how the easy days can provide the lessons you need to get through the tough ones better. You can apply everything in this episode to any area of personal growth you’re working on, from your parenting style to social media habits to your relationship with alcohol! 

For free tools and resources for making changes around alcohol, burnout, or midlife, visit: www.wendymccallum.com/learn-with-wendy

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below.

Sarah and I share our favourite stories, strategies, and tips for taking back the holidays – after all, you deserve a break and some fun too! Our suggestions include:

  setting an intention around what really matters to you about the holidays this year and then taking the steps to make that happen, 

  saying no to plans and events that don’t serve you,

  getting better at outsourcing and delegation,

  creating new traditions that serve you better,

  taking shortcuts that make things easier, and

  setting and enforcing boundaries to protect your own wellness and joy.

It’s the perfect pre-Holiday conversation, join us!

For free tools and resources for making change around alcohol, burnout, or midlife, visit: www.wendymccallum.com/learn-with-wendy