If you’ve been curious about what life might look like without alcohol, Sober October is the perfect time to do an experiment. I’m sharing this episode with you now so you have some time to prepare for a successful break from alcohol because it absolutely requires having a solid plan.

First, you’ll want to start examining your assumptions about alcohol, even before you stop drinking. Practically speaking, you’ll also need to decide what you’ll drink instead and how you’ll respond when people ask why you’re taking a break. I’ll also share why it’s critical that we track all the positives of not drinking and learn the science around how alcohol impacts our brains and body.

Lastly, I’ll talk about how doing this experiment with support can make this time of reflection so much more valuable. You can grab your Self-Guided 6-Week REWIND course (a Coach-Led Mindful Break from Alcohol) for $100USD off before October 15, 2023 using...

Between the countless memes, t-shirts, and dish towels, mommy wine culture is impossible to ignore. And before we get into it, let’s be clear: Mommy wine culture is not about a mother enjoying a glass of alcohol socially. What we’re talking about is promoting drinking as a culturally acceptable means to cope with the demands of motherhood. But have we ever stopped to really dig into why mom “needs” a glass of wine? 

In this episode, Coach Celeste Yvonne joins me to dive into the real reasons we are struggling to cope, all of which she thoughtfully identifies in her new book, “It’s Not About the Wine”. When we take a deeper look at the unrealistic demands placed on working moms, the lack of postpartum support, and the uneven distribution of labor, it’s pretty obvious that these layers of pressure are a huge piece of the problem and why so many moms are looking for a way to “numb out” or “escape” these...

Welcome back to Season 4 of Bite-Sized Balance! My lovely co-host Sarah joins me again to catch up on the summer, chat about the joys and challenges of being moms to independent kids, and what we are excited about most as we ease into new fall routines!

While you will still be hearing from me and my guests each week, the format of the show for Season 4 has changed slightly. Twice a month, I’m inviting expert guests for longer interviews to cover specific topics to support your health and balance in this season. Then the other two episodes will be just me tackling more bite-sized topics which will be much shorter episodes. So many of you shared how much you enjoyed those episodes that were practical and actionable. I love them too, so there’s lots to look forward to there. 

Sarah let us know that she was almost completely successful in her commitment to doing nothing this summer. Her kids were at camp this summer, so there were plenty of days that gave her a...

 Watch the podcast above, or listen below. 

Sarah and I are back again to wrap up season 3 of BSB and talk about the one impactful mindset shift we have made in the last couple of years that has led us to live with more compassion and way less judgment.

Drawing on a Brené Brown anecdote, we explain how everything changes when we start assuming that everyone (even the people who frustrate and disappoint us most) is “doing their best.” We can then decide how to respond from a place of empathy instead of criticism.

Everybody’s best looks different, and our “best” can change from day to day, but using the “what if they’re doing their best” lens helps you treat people with kindness and compassion and can also lead to you also being able to show yourself more of the same. 

Topics include: 

• How to get started with a practice of empathy
• Stepping into empathy while also setting boundaries
• Our goals for...

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below.

This is Part 2 of the “How to Do Less and Get More in Midlife” Episode with Dr. Sarah Baillie, N.D., and coach. In Part 1, Sarah and I discussed why so many women reach overwhelm and burnout in the care sandwich that is midlife.  We also shared our favourite coaching strategies and tools to help busy women scale back on their to-do lists and clear some space to bring in more of the things that serve them.

In this installment, we provide some concrete strategies for standing in personal responsibility and figuring out what you need more of in your life to create the next fulfilling joyful chapter because no one is coming to do it for you.

What matters to you about how you live the next 20 years of your life?

What do you need more of?

If you don’t know, how do you find out?

To contact Sarah Baillie about coaching services, email her at: [email protected]

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below.

In this episode Sarah and I talk about why so many of us reach overwhelm and burnout in the care sandwich that is midlife. 

We share our favourite coaching strategies and tools to help busy women scale back on their to-do lists and clear some space to bring in more of the things that serve them (listen to Part 2 of this episode, coming soon, for those strategies!)

Topics include:

• being v. doing
• how to say no more often
• how to care less
• how to figure out what’s no longer serving you (energy drains v. gains)
• people pleasing and why it’s a dishonest way to show up
• how it’s not serving you or the people you are pleasing

We also discuss the answer to the most common question we hear from the women we support: "Is this IT?" (Spoiler: Nope. There’s SO MUCH MORE great stuff to come.)

 For more on coaching with Sarah Baillie, email her at: [email protected]

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below.

My colleague Sarah Baillie and I discuss a 2011 article from The Atlantic (by author Sandra Tsing Loh) that is still a very relevant and hilarious read for women in midlife, no matter where they are when it comes to the hormonal transition of perimenopause and menopause.

We discuss what it would mean if fertility was actually the “Big Change” and menopause was just a “return to normal” and why this theory actually makes far more sense in our modern world.

Sarah talks about the value of living an “entitled life” and why this isn’t selfish, but instead well-earned for her as a woman in her 50s.

Sarah and I discuss the power of midlife women as a demographic and why we can consider menopause a major cultural event.

Sarah shares her Costco story and what she’s learned about her “inside voice”. 

We discuss the role of declining estrogen in midlife women’s diminishing drive...

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below.

In today’s episode, my regular co-host and bestie Dr. Sarah Baillie, N.D., joins me to talk all things teenagers. We are by no means parenting experts, but we have loads of collective experience when it comes to mothering teens. We share our top insights and tips including strategies to diffuse tension, improve communication, and re-frame the teenage years to increase the joy and decrease the common frustrations and stressors that often arise for women in midlife who are parenting young adults.

Topics include how to take it all less personally, how to de-escalate a disagreement, how to manage a moody teen, and how to worry less and love them more.

It’s an honest, raw, and funny conversation (as always!) between two moms who get it.

Don’t miss this one!

There's still time to join my January REWIND small group mindful break from alcohol!

The program starts Jan 6, 2023: www.wendymccallum.com/rewind

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below.

It’s the 100th episode of Bite-Sized Balance!

In today’s episode of ‘the little podcast that could’, my regular co-host and bestie Dr. Sarah Baillie, N.D., joins me to celebrate 100 episodes of Bite-Sized Balance, the “fake” podcast that I started over two years ago.

We each choose a handful of episodes that stand out for us from past seasons and discuss why you should give them a listen if you haven’t had the chance or are a new listener to the show.

We also talk about feeling “couchy”, the pitfalls of Daylight Savings Time, and Sarah’s newfound passion for coaching.

Here are our favourite episodes with the links to watch on my website (you can also listen to all of these on your preferred podcast platform):

Episode 1: The Meno Whisperer (Dr. Sarah Baillie, N.D.)

...

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below. 

Sara McElroy is a former hustle culture devotee, ex-chief marketing officer, the Wall Street Journal’s poster girl for pandemic career burnout, and a two-time member of the Great Resignation: class of 2021 and 2022.

Following a stress-induced shingles diagnosis in early 2021, Sara decided to hit the reset button on her life; she quit her hard-won CMO job and trekked to Peru's Sacred Valley to reset her frayed nervous system.

When she returned, she relocated from the buzzy metropolis of Atlanta to the beach in South Florida for a new job and a fresh start. But she once again encountered deeply ingrained cultural issues in her new role, and ultimately, she walked away again.

Finding herself in the company of millions of other women who also set unfulfilling jobs ablaze during the Great Resignation, she returned to her journalism roots and began to explore the stories, breaking points, and defining moments that led women to seek...