Live Immediately with mike campbell

You have that love of travel, always trying to grab every opportunity to get away and explore. Travel is part of your DNA. And then you start a family. You become a parent. You push that travelling spirit aside and try not to listen to it every time it starts to get a little restless. In this episode I am chatting to a couple, Megan and Peter Richardson, who didn’t push their adventurous spirit aside, they embraced it with their young family. Megan and Peter hopped on the plane for a yearlong family adventure through Europe and South East Asia with a 4 month old and a 2.5 year old. The majority of their planning for the trip happened while Megan was pregnant! Megan and Peter hit the road on a budget. They were frugal and saved before their trip, and to save money while travelling, they saved on accommodation by house and pet sitting. They talk about how your travels are so much richer when you house and pet sit, than simply saving money. We dive into their initial fears, how they overcame them, and moved from travelling being an idea or wish, to taking steps and planning their family adventure. And the big step of asking Peter’s boss for a year off. Megan and Peter are a beautiful example, that our kids don’t stop us from doing things, as parents, we get in our own way. Children are born with wonder. Lead them through an adventurous life. I hope you enjoy x www.liveimmediately.com

If you have a teenage girl, or a girl who will become a teenager, you definitely need to know about my beautifully fun guest today, Liv Phyland. The majority of my guests are parents, as the majority of you are parents. And we all know that doing something new or creating change in your life, is even more challenging when you add children into the mix. However, I wanted to chat to Liv today, because even though she isn’t a parent yet, Liv is such a wonderful role model for our young girls and is doing beautiful work through her Girls Who Glow workshops. Liv talks about how teenagers are being influenced by social media, feeling like they need to be someone different to who they are. Through her workshops, Liv helps girls to find their inner glow. The cornerstones of these workshops are nutrition, exercise, body image, social media, healthy relationships and mental health. Liv and I also chat about how a girl from the country finds herself as a presenter on channels 10’s music show “The Loop”. Being optimistic, saying yes, and learning as you go. Accepting who you are, being yourself, and owning it. The art of simply playing, dealing with self-doubt, and filling your day with things that make you happy. Liv is beautifully intense, passionate about life, full of play, and helping our girls to navigate an emotional part of life by starting a conversation full of love. I hope you enjoy x www.liveimmediately.com

What is the type of life you want to live? How do you want to raise your kids? What kind of community do you want to live in? What do you truly value? Have you ever sat down and spent the time to answer such questions? What do you think your answers would look like, and what changes would you need to make to the way you’re living now? I sat down with Sophie Brunton, a mother of three, who has dedicated the time to answer these questions, and take the courageous step to make changes to her life. After the initial idea two years ago, working through the ups and downs of change, Sophie and her family are about to relocate to the country town of Murwillumbah, 50 minutes north of Byron Bay, NSW, Australia. And it is not just a tree change that Sophie was looking for, it was a community that shared her values, where the schools took a holistic view, a community of connection and generosity, an environment where her boys could evolve into men with love, care, and surrounded by nature. Sophie and I dive deep into her philosophies around education, simple living and choosing family over things, parenting and Sophie’s deliberate choice to be a full-time mother, and technology. I admire Sophie as she is making changes to her life that aligns with her values—changes that aren’t always easy but are worth trying. I hope you enjoy x www.liveimmediately.com

Who were you before kids? It is an interesting question and one that I had never really thought about. But what did you want to achieve before you became mum or dad? Are there aspirations, hobbies, or things you truly enjoyed, that you have stopped since becoming a parent? Today I chat with the inspiring Lauren Branson, a fun mother of five and start-up business owner. I am fascinated by how Lauren manages to run her business and five kids under eight, while still making time for herself. There is often this parent’s guilt that we place on ourselves if we are spending time doing something for ourselves. But as I discuss with Lauren, you need to carve out time for yourself, so that you can look after others. And even with five kids and a business, Lauren still manages to do this. How? Lauren prioritise what is important and makes time for what she values. Lauren is passionate about eating healthy and local food. Her business, Your Food Collective, is an online farmers market that connects busy parents to local growers. And meal time with five kids was a hot topic on this episode, and Lauren explains how she is quite regimented when it comes to meal time. There are set times for meals with one option for everyone. Lauren explains that she needs to be strict like this so that she isn’t feeding little humans all day and has time to give to other areas of her life. As you would expect, Lauren has learnt a lot since child number one—to enjoy and not sweat the small stuff, that stress doesn’t change the outcome, and that you need time each day for yourself. I hope you enjoy x www.liveimmediately.com

“What screws us up the most is that picture of what we believe it should be, and we’re not open to what it could be—but what it could be, could be infinitely better.” Katie Dean My guest this week is the courageous Katie Dean, and I love this chat with Katie as it is beautifully raw. Katie opens up about the challenges of being a solo Mumma and how she made the decision while being seven months pregnant and having a toddler. Katie talks about living with a low level of panic, the importance of internal observation, getting out of your head and into your body, and to “check yourself before you wreck yourself”. We also dive into the topic of fear and how you need to lean into fear to become brave, how there are no negative feeling, just uncomfortable ones, and the different, beautifully messy, phases of parenthood. I hope you enjoy x www.liveimmediately.com

Jeff Sandquist really needs no introduction to the Live Immediately family, as this is the third time I have had the privilege to interview Jeff. Jeff has become a close friend and he was the host of the brilliant Intentionally Wandering Podcast that literally changed my life. But over the past year, Jeff has been going through some changes in his own life, assessing what is improving his life, what isn’t, and what things in his life have simply run their course. This has lead Jeff to do something that many people might think about, but struggle to make the final decision. Jeff has deleted all of his social media accounts. He has also stopped his podcast and blog. In this episode I really dive deep into why Jeff felt the need to pull back from the digital world and how he feels about not being as connected anymore. And his answers might surprise you. This isn’t an episode about social media bashing, it is about knowing yourself, knowing when to quit, knowing when things in your life stop benefitting you, and the importance of experimenting in your life. Jeff allows his curiosity to lead his life. Sometimes it is through the unknown, and sometimes it is back to the beginning. I hope you enjoy x www.liveimmediately.com

This is an episode that demonstrates why I love long form interviews. Time allows me to penetrate deeper into the heart and mind of people I have the privilege of interviewing. My guest today, Abby Lewtas, is a world traveller and host of The Wanderlusters Mind Podcast. I imagined that our conversation would centre on travel and adventure. How travel is this wonderful teacher, as the lessons are taught before an adventure, during the adventure, and when you arrive home from your adventure. Abby and I do discuss such lessons like having the courage to leave a comfortable routine, being vulnerable and stepping out of your comfort zone, and becoming more open-minded and curious. Abby also talks about intuition and paying attention to the little, adventurous, voice inside you that tries to nudge you down new paths. That if you don’t listen to what your body is trying to communicate to you, then you will feel stuck and nothing will ever change. But where this conversation takes a beautiful turn is when I ask Abby what she is most fearful of in her life right now. I could feel Abby breathing into her heart. Abby lead with the rawness of her vulnerability, and her answer could be echoed through the soul of many people today—the struggle to find human connection with so much technology in our life. When our heads are down in the palm of our hands, how can we see the beautiful faces of the world trying to connect with us? I hope you enjoy x www.liveimmediately.com

How did you arrive to where you are today? How did you find yourself on this particular path? And is this path the one that you want to continue on? My guest today, Shannon Meyer, asked herself similar questions when she started to feel like she was managing her life, but not living it. Shannon was going through the daily admin and coordination of juggling family life and working mum. While Shannon was succeeding at work, it was pulling her away from her family and she started to worry that her three kids would look back on their childhood and not have many experiences with their mother. I guess the real questions Shannon was asking herself were—what is all this for, why am I doing what I am doing, and is this what I truly value? Shannon decided to make some courageous changes in her life that enabled her to spend more time with her family. Shannon left her corporate job, her family sold everything they owned, and they decided to travel around North America in an Airstream. But what I admire even more is how Shannon and her family decided to live after they got off the road. They opted for the smaller house, with a smaller mortgage, less rooms, and less possessions. They worried less about what other people thought and less comparisons. This gave them more time to spend as a family, more connection, and more experiences. You have to ask yourself the questions to create change. Sometimes something crazy like a family adventure is a small part of the solution, but the change you create to your daily life will have the greatest impact. I hope you enjoy x www.liveimmediately.com

True change starts within, and my guest today, Chelsea Pottenger, has gone through a complete life reboot that started when she dedicated time to her internal wellbeing. Chelsea was living the face-paced corporate life until her baby girl was born and Chelsea was slammed, hard, with severe Post Natal Depression. And as you will hear in the interview, sadly, Chelsea was just hanging on. Through her adversity though, Chelsea discovered the importance of working on her inside self. Her “post traumatic growth phase” as Chelsea calls it. Chelsea went back to university to study a Doctorate of Psychology & Neuroscience, a Diploma of Positive Psychology & Wellbeing, and became an internationally accredited mindfulness and meditation teacher. Through her experience and studies, Chelsea is now helping individuals and organisations to focus on their internal fitness and feel the beautiful benefits of mindfulness. This is such an important episode, as what Chelsea and I discuss can have such a fundamental impact on the quality of the life you live. And what I love is all the science and research that Chelsea has that support the benefits of mindfulness. Chelsea and I talk about reconnecting with life so you are really living and thriving, how burnout is not an indicator of success, creating boundaries in your life, and being connected as a parent. Chelsea also talks about constancy over intensity when it comes to meditation and how as little as three minutes per day can start anyone on a mindfulness path. Chelsea is also an ambassador for the Gidget Foundation, which is a not for profit organisation supporting the emotional wellbeing of expectant and new parents to ensure that those in need receive timely, appropriate and supportive care. It is an organisation that I know is very dear to Chelsea’s heart, and if you, or someone you know, are experiencing a challenging time emotionally since the birth of a child, then please reach out to the Gidget Foundation and their wonderful supportive and talented team. I hope you enjoy x www.liveimmediately.com

Today I’m chatting with a very special man, Matt Linnert, who is a thinker, a questioner, a listener, and a doer—who strives to make the world more compassionate by being a beautiful example through his work and daily actions. This entire conversation is quite deep, as Matt and I discuss some interesting topics that often left me with more questions than answers. Matt talks about creating change in his life that was guided by not what he was meant to be doing, but how he was meant to be living. We discuss the power of self-enquiry to release a lot of our ego and fear, letting go of our need for control, asking questions that encourage change, and living life with compassion as the driver. Matt also runs a wonderful charity called Collective Heart that brings ordinary people together to do extraordinary things within local communities and communities in need abroad. I hope you enjoy x www.liveimmediately.com

What does it take to cycle from Alaska to Argentina with your husband and twin ten year old boys? Well this is exactly what I chat about with Nancy Sathre-Vogel. I learnt it takes over 27,000 kilometres (over 17,000 miles), 1,018 days, and 15 countries. It takes pushing through snowstorms and waking at 3am to ride through the desert before the sun becomes unbearable. But more importantly, it takes the desire to want to do something different, the motivation to change, the willingness to fail, and the courage to live a life that you want to live. Nancy and I do talk about her family adventures, the countries she visited and schooling her boys on the road. However, we also dive into the challenges of finding your passion, the difficulties in doing something that is different to how you were raised, and the craziness in not trying. Nancy has a beautiful outlook on life where she lives each day while staying focussed on the bigger picture. I hope you enjoy x www.liveimmediately.com

So much of life, what happens around us, is out of our control. The only part of life that is within our control is the attitude in which we approach it. My guest today, Talon Windwalker, is a wonderful man who approaches life with a caring soul and who lives by the motto of “no regrets”. I reached out to Talon, as I wanted to learn about his life as a single parent, travelling the world indefinitely with his adopted child. But as you’ll hear, the lessons and stories that Talon will tell are about so much more than travel. Talon is an author, writer, hospice chaplain, Zen monk, ultra runner, snowshoer, endurance cyclist, certified endurance running coach, scuba instructor, photographer, and lover of travelling, languages, and cultures. In our conversation, Talon talks about death and life as a hospice chaplain, being 300 pounds, losing weight and becoming an ultra marathon runner, being a single man and adopting a child, travelling to over 30 countries and world schooling his child, and the addictive experience of scuba diving. Talon also talks about the moment his son announced that he was transgender identifying as a female while they were in Budapest. A situation I am sure no parent is prepared for, but I admire and love the honest and beautiful way Talon responds and supports his daughter through this journey. Talon is a selfless, kind and compassionate father, who is making sure he packs as much living into his life as possible. I hope you enjoy x www.liveimmediately.com

Parenthood is more about the lessons we learn than the ones we teach. And ideally, when we enter the uncharted waters of parenthood, we do so with the love and support of a partner. Unfortunately for my guest today, Alex Brown, that wasn’t the case. Alex was only 20 when she became a mother, and her abusive partner of four years left when Alex wouldn’t terminate the pregnancy. Simultaneously, Alex needed to navigate motherhood and relearn how to take control of her life. This conversation takes many twists and turns, but when you’re trying to create a fresh start, perhaps that is exactly what you need to do. Alex is quite open as she talks about her abusive relationship, how she had no control over her time or money, and the moment when she thought becoming an escort was her only way out. Alex is learning to take control of her life by taking control of her money, and through the process Alex has learnt how her financial health is interlocked with her physical health and emotional health. I wanted to share Alex’s story as I admire her strength in trying, her willingness to change, and her love to be the best mother she can be. I hope you enjoy x www.liveimmediately.com

“I have more respect for someone who has tried and failed, than someone who has never tried.” – Nerida Bint There are some people in the world that lift you up and leave you in a better place than where you were before. My guest today, Nerida Bint, is definitely one of those beautiful people. What I love about Nerida is that she has taken all the knockdowns in her life, all the times she was pushed away, and every moment she wasn’t included and was forced to be alone, and turned them into a positive force that is helping countless women to change and grow. Nerida is the founder of Lissome, a women’s only gym that provides so much more than a space to exercise. Nerida is all about helping women to become the absolute best that they can be. Nerida has created a community that is welcoming, empowering, and calls bullshit on judgment. There is so much in this episode, as Nerida and I discuss dealing with shame and working through the struggle, the need to change if you want things to be different, learning through failure, burying the fearful phrase “I can’t”, and the importance of believing in yourself. Nerida is a giver and believes that everyone can change and improve their life—all you need to do is simply to try. I hope you enjoy x www.liveimmediately.com.au

Sometimes you can be on the conveyor belt of life and not realise it until it is too late. Or perhaps you’re heading down a life path because you feel it is what you’re supposed to do. We are told to get a good job, a 30 year mortgage, keep your head down, and then enjoy a handful of years when your hair is a little greyer and your body a little sorer. We push all the things we truly want to do, off to another day, later down the track—to a day that never arrives. My guest today, Pat Seyrak, has decided to try something different. He has turned his back on the old Australian dream of home ownership shackled with a 30 year mortgage, and is heading towards financial freedom and retirement before he is 40. The way Pat is doing this is through the stock market, but this podcast is not about shares and it is definitely not financial advice, so please do not take it as advice. Pat’s way, is simply one way. What I love about how Pat is living his life, and what this episode is all about, is that Pat is thinking about how to live his life. He has taken himself off that mindless conveyor belt, and is intentional with how he chooses to live. Pat beautifully describes money as simply your life force converted into a tangible physical thing. That we give our life energy in exchange for money. And when you look at money in this way, before you purchase something, even a house, you ask yourself, do I want to exchange my life energy for this item? What are you spending your life energy on, and does it align with your values? I hope you enjoy x www.liveimmediately.com