My Body My Story

#93 My Body My Story 45 Over 45 - Renae

In this episode, you will learn 10 FACTS about Renae, her challenges while bringing up 3 special needs children, and the main causes of body image issues. Also, we discuss what aging means to her and to her body.

Read the rest of this entry »

#92 My Body My Story 45 Over 45 - Anastasia Tyler

In this episode, you will learn 10 FACTS about a crime writer Anastasia Tyler and the story behind her first crime novel. We also talk about aging and the main causes of body image issues, how they come up and how she overcomes them.

 

10 Facts About Anastasia

(at the time of the project)

1. 53 years old.
2. Anastasia was born in Canada. She grew up in England and moved to Australia when she was 15.
3. But Anastasia is actually a seventh-generation Australian. She comes from convict stock. Her great great, great grandfather stole a pocket watch from somebody in London and got caught. He was sent to Australia for a term of seven years but never went back.
4. Anastasia was married twice and has one daughter, she's 25. She just took her for her 25th birthday on a safari to South Africa.
5. Anastasia has lived in lots of different places in Darwin, North Queensland, Brisbane, Tasmania, Sydney, the country, New South Wales, and Abu Dhabi
6. Anastasia has lived off the grid for a year at the Sydney skydiving Centre at the bottom of the cross strip with no power and no water.
7. Anastasia is a Hansard Editor at the Parliament House.
8. Anastasia has just recently had her debut crime novel published. And she’s just been on the road for about two weeks for her promotional tour. The name of the book is Survival Mode.
9. Apart from writing the novel, Anastasia has also written quite a few short stories and nonfiction.
10. In 2016, Anastasia was diagnosed with breast cancer. And that's one of the things that sort of propelled her to finish writing her book and do lots of other things that she really wanted to do.

Read the rest of this entry »

#91 My Body My Story 45 Over 45 - Jodie

In this episode, you will learn 10 FACTS about Jodie, what age she would like to go back to, and what advice she would give herself at that age! We also talk about the main causes of body image issues, how they come up, and how she overcomes them. And we discuss what aging means to her and to her body.

Read the rest of this entry »

#90 My Body My Story 45 Over 45 – Pamela | From 185 to 60 kilos

In this episode, you will learn how Pam went through 2 bariatric surgeries and 12.5-hour plastic surgery to get from 185 kilos to 60 kilos! We also talk about her childhood trauma that caused all that weight gain, and discuss the main causes of body image issues, how they come up, and how to overcome them. Finally, we discuss what aging means to Pam and to her body.

 

10 Facts About Pamela

(at the time of the project)

 

1. 53 years old.
2. Pamela was born in Rhodes, Greece.
3. She came to Australia in December 1974. Her parents migrated here in 1970. And she followed in 1974 in December.
4. Pamela is a mother of three children, two boys and a girl. She is also a grandmother of five with the eldest of 10 y.o. and the youngest being 40 days.
5. Pamela has been in the same job for 23 years.
6. Pamela’s hobbies are flipping furniture and travelling.
7. She absolutely loves Valencia in Spain and the regional part of Italy
8. Spanish tapas is Pam’s absolute favourite food.
9. Pamela is also a certified trauma coach. She has not stepped out into the coaching world as such. She is just building up the business.
10. Pamela struggled with large weight since she was young. She was 85 kilos up until 22 years old. After pregnancy she got to 185 kilos. And then in 1998, she decided to have what was then called the biliopancreatic diversion (bariatric surgery - editor). Pam has gone down to 100 kg. But in 2009 started putting back on weight. So she went and had the Lap band surgery. When she lost enough weight, she had plastic surgery to remove 12 kg of loose skin. She also did inner thighs, boobs, arms and Tummy Tuck. It was 12,5 hours of operation. Now Pamela fluctuates between 60 and 62 kilos and is very happy with that.
11. Pamela’s favorite personal quote is: “Confidence is the key that unlocks the door to your true self. And as a grounded woman, you stand tall, embracing the strength within and radiating the beauty that comes from knowing who you are”.

 

You can find Pamela here:

IG - createyournewidentity

FB - Pamela Kay

Tik Tok - Toulzz69

Read the rest of this entry »

#89 My Body My Story 45 Over 45 - Ursula

In this episode, you will learn 10 FACTS about Ursula, what age she would like to go back to and what advice she would give herself at that age! We also talk about the main causes of body image issues, how they come up and how she overcomes them. And we discuss what aging means to her and to her body.

10 Facts About Ursula

(at the time of the project)

1. 48 years old.
2. Ursula was born and lived most of her life in Canberra, except for a few years on the Sunshine Coast.
3. Ursula is the youngest of six children.
4. Ursula has a 24-year-old daughter. She has also been blessed with a granddaughter.
5. Ursula’s favourite colour changes and now it’s bright orange.
6. Ursula’s favourite food is Mediterranean and Japanese.
7. She has only ever read one entire book cover to cover and that book was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
8. Ursula has done extensive travel when she was younger. She was 15 when she did her first trip. She went to Thailand to see her dad, unaccompanied.
9. Ursula is the founder and managing director of a boutique executive support firm called Capital EA, it primarily upholds senior executives and their assistants.
10. Ursula’s passion aligns with what she does naturally. And that is uplifting people acknowledging their space and truly connecting to this spirit.

You can find Ursula here:

https://www.instagram.com/capitalcea/

Read the rest of this entry »

#88 My Body My Story 45 Over 45 - Jason

We invited Jason to be our first male Guest Speaker when he came to the studio to help his wife Kylie (Podcast Episode #87) with her bags. We had a chat about how men see aging and body image issues. We found it interesting to compare the view from a man’s side on this topic. Jason had some great insights and philosophy on aging.

Read the rest of this entry »

#87 My Body My Story 45 Over 45 – Kylie H

In this episode, you will learn 10 FACTS about Kylie, what age she would like to go back to and what advice she would give herself at that age! We also talk about the main causes of body image issues, how they come up and how she overcomes them. And we discuss what aging means to her and to her body.

 

10 Facts About Kylie H

(at the time of the project)

 

1. 53 years old.
2. Kylie has four children. Her eldest is a boy in his 30. Then a daughter who is 18 going on 19. And then she’s got identical twin boys who are 14.
3. Kylie is married to Jason (who is our guest speaker at the next Episode #88)
4. Kylie was born and grew up in Sydney. She moved up to the Central Coast in New South Wales when she was 27.
5. Kylie used to be a corporate and worked for disability. And then she left there and became a counsellor. And recently she decided to go back to her childhood dream of being a teacher so changed her career mid-year. She has a year one class and loves being a teacher.
6. So apart from her counselling, Kylie is also a Reiki practitioner, massage therapist, meditation teacher, so she has all those skills up her slave as well.
7. Kylie is quite a spiritual person, so she absolutely loves the colour purple. She thinks it sort of stems from her spiritual side a little bit.
8. Kylie is an absolute animal lover. At home she has lots of animals - three dogs and two cats.
9. Kylie’s favourite animal is a giraffe, and she collects them.
10. Kylie also used to rescue animals, Australian wildlife. She has raised eight orphaned baby possums and put them back out into the wild.

Read the rest of this entry »

#86 My Body My Story 45 Over 45 – Elly

In this episode, you will learn 10 FACTS about Elly and her family. We talk about how their family life has changed first after an accident with her husband, and then after her oldest child Jem’s transition to become a woman. We also discuss the main causes of body image issues, how they come up and how Elly overcomes them. And we discuss what aging means to her and to her body.

 

10 Facts About Elly

(at the time of the project)

 

1. 52 years old.
2. Elly has been married for almost 34 years. Elly’s husband Shane broke his neck in 2010 and got paralysed, which was a big change for her and her family world.
3. Elly has three kids and has a great relationship with all three of them. They're all very different.
4. Elly is an artist. She paints with acrylics and watercolours. Elly is also a carer for her husband.
5. Also, she loves gardening. Elly just started experimenting with different things in the garden and has developed a love for Bromeliads. She paints those as well.
6. Elly grew up on the South Coast and now lives in Coaldale, which is in the Northern Beaches area of Wollongong.
7. When Elly was 10, her family started living on a farm and she got a pony which was her lifelong dream, but she was violently allergic to him.
8. Elly has three Devon Rex cats that she can actually cuddle.
9. Elly’s household supports LGBTQ people a lot. Elly’s oldest child Jem has transitioned to become a woman. Jem tried to embrace her masculine side for a long time, but in the end, it was just too hard for her. Jem has embraced her female self, and she's a lot happier in herself now. Elly’s husband Shane and Jem have even done podcasts of her journey (see the link below).
10. Having a sense of humour is really important to Elly. At the end of the day, what is done is done. Adding up a bit of fun is not going to make it worse.

Link to The Change Podcast:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU6J0_BuMd6l3o5NhlQdpBA22drFK_Jq5

Read the rest of this entry »

#85 My Body My Story 45 Over 45 - Sabine

In this episode, you will learn 10 FACTS about Sabine, how she survived a nearly fatal accident after falling 20 meters and 3 weeks in a coma, and how this accident changed her! We also talk about the main causes of body image issues, how they come up, and how she overcomes them. And we discuss what aging means to her and to her body.

 

10 Facts About Sabine

(at the time of the project)

1. 51 years old.
2. Sabine was born in Switzerland. She speaks 2 languages – English and Swiss German but knows 4 languages. The other two are French and her local language spoken in Graubunden.
3. After school, she lived in England for a year. She went on an exchange and did some art and English there.
4. Then Sabine worked for six years as a teacher in Switzerland.
5. That time, she met her now ex-husband, he was from Australia, but he traveled through Europe. And he spent a snow season in Switzerland with Sabine. And that's when she decided to come to Australia. That was in 2001.
6. Sabine and her then husband lived in South Australia first. They wanted to travel around Australia and when they were traveling along the east coast, Sabine fell pregnant with twins. So they ended up staying in Bawley, which is near Batemans Bay on the South Coast of New South Wales.
7. Sabine is a mother of twins, a boy and a girl. At the end of the year they will be 16.
8. After Sabine’s kids were a little bit older, she started teaching at the local high school. She’s been working for over a decade with youth who are trauma affected, so in special need. Sabine really enjoys working with young people.
9. Sabine is really passionate about rock climbing. When she was 46, she had an accident and fell 20 meters. Sabine nearly died and was in a coma for two to three weeks.
10. In 2023 Sabine got a year off from work and Uni where she studied psychology and used it to start off this year to become a yoga teacher. She’s been doing yoga for over 20 years regularly. Now she specializes in people who have got Complex PTSD or complex trauma. Her business name is Shamatha yoga. @shamatha_yoga

Read the rest of this entry »

#84 My Body My Story 45 Over 45 - Mel

In this episode, you will learn 10 FACTS about Mel, what age she would like to go back to, and what advice she would give herself at that age! We also talk about the main causes of body image issues, how they come up, and how she overcomes them. And we discuss what aging means to her and to her body.

 

10 Facts About Mel

(at the time of the project)

1. 47 years old.
2. Mel has 3 daughters and 3 grandchildren. The oldest daughter is 29 and twins are 24. Her two granddaughters are 5 and 2, and her grandson is 10 months old. He is the first boy in the family for 65 years.
3. Mel was born in Queensland in Toowoomba and grew up around the Middle East Coast out on a farm and in Forster.
4. 17 years ago Mel injured her hands at work and was told she was unemployable. She decided to open her own business and started making dance costumes. That turned into opening a dance business, which turned into making school uniforms, gymnastics costumes, and circus costumes that go around Australia and overseas. And then that progressed into getting an embroidery machine and starting to work with corporate clients.
5. Mel now has 2 businesses. They are called Above and Beyond Embroidery and Mystic Soul Dancewear.
6. Mel is also launching the third one, an empowering women business in August. And this one's called Trashed. For all the women that are being treated like trash. That will be swimwear for all body shapes and sizes.
7. Recently Mel did a bull riding to raise money for Ronald McDonald House.
8. She also has rock climbing on her bucket list. She always wanted to do it, and then put it off because she injured her hands. Now she wants to find out whether she can actually physically do it or not.
9. Mel is loving her age now. Because she had kids young, she spent the last 30 years looking after kids, or after somebody. And now it's all about her. She can do what she wants when she wants.
10. Mel’s favorite saying is - Dare to dream because it's our dreams that motivate us to live.

 

You can find Mel here:

@ mystic_soul_dancewear

https://aboveandbeyondembroidery.com.au/

Read the rest of this entry »