I’m currently wrapped up, snug as a bug in a rug, in my German bedroom, and I’m excited to share with you the final Rest Room episode of 2022.
This year has been the best one yet when it comes to this podcast. I’ve been working with an amazing producer (big shoutout to Philly Guillou!) which means we’ve been able to consistently release two episodes a month - and with her support I’ve been able to start working on the kind of content I always felt like I needed when I was younger and early on in my diagnosis.
I’ve learned so much from our guests, things I feel like I should have been taught by medical professionals over the years *cough* and we’ve shared stories, laughs, and a few tears along the way, too.
Instead of releasing something new, I wanted to take some time to look back and reflect on the year we’ve had.
There were simply too many brilliant moments from the show in 2022 to share them all (it would have been about 2.5 hours long if we had all the bits I actually wanted to include), but I’ve picked out just some of my favourites, which I hope you’ll enjoy.
They might even serve as a good reminder during a difficult time - I definitely benefitted from re-listening to some of the tips, tricks, and hopeful messages.
In this episode we look back on:
Recognising flare-ups
The importance of pacing - and some excellent practical tips for how to do it (that doesn’t require endless time just zonked out in a darkened room)
How to break the ‘boom & bust’ cycle
The problem with how we conceptualise “self-management”
What brain fog actually is
Becoming sick as a child, and how our relationship to our health can change over time
Navigating relationships with chronic illness
Listener experiences of navigating work with chronic illness
…and much, much more!
To listen, you can just click play at the top of this email, or you can listen on Apple, Spotify, Amazon and Google.
If you’d rather read the transcript of the episode, I’ve made that available on my blog.
Please note: if you receive this email within the first few hours of it being sent out, it might take a few hours for the podcast to filter through to some of the podcast platforms like Amazon or Spotify.
As always, a huge thanks to my brilliant producer Philly Guillou at OG Podcasts, to Lucy Dove for the episode art, various graphics (and generally just being my brilliant friend) and to Amit Rai for my intro music. This podcast is truly a team effort and it’s not an exaggeration to say that I would be unable to do this alone.
I have a lot of exciting plans for next year: including mini series and investigations. If there’s anything that you’d be interested in hearing about, my inbox is always open - feel free to respond to this email with any ideas that you have.
I want to take a moment to thank everyone who has listened, shared, and contributed to The Rest Room. Leaving my job, moving my writing to Substack, getting back into long-form again, and working on this podcast has been so much more than I expected - especially during a real rollercoaster of a year.
The community we have created here has been one of my biggest joys, and I am so beyond grateful that I get to work on this, and create things that (I hope) help us have nuanced conversations about what it means to live (and live well) with chronic illness.
If you’ve got anything from The Rest Room in 2022, please do consider becoming a paid subscriber. For £50 a year or £5 a month, you’ll receive an additional two posts in your inbox every month, access to commenting and our private subscriber chat (and I’m in the process of organising our first digital meet-up!), access to the full archive, and next year there will be early-access and premium episodes too. By becoming a paid subscriber, you’ll also be supporting my work as a writer and enabling me to spend more time creating free resources for our community.
And that’s all from me. I’ll be popping back next week with a reflection on resolutions for premium subscribers, but otherwise I want to say Merry Christmas to those who celebrate (we are not celebrating Chanukah here in Germany this year - sad) and I hope you’re able to find little moments of joy and comfort, no matter what.
Thank you again for being here and for your support. The Rest Room podcast will be back in 2022.
Lots of love,
Natasha
The Rest Room: A 2022 Wrap-Up