Okay, so something else that people ask me about regularly is how my move to Sydney has been going. So I went to Canberra for uni and then, you know, what's ironic is that I'm talking about moving to a new city, realizing that I had that exact same feeling like almost two years ago and I did it. And now like I'm in that new place feeling like the need to move to another new place. But I moved to Sydney like a year and a half ago. And I talked about on the podcast a lot, like back at the start of my last life update, how difficult it was. And if you are someone who has moved far away from your community or your home or your hometown you will really I think understand that there is like a six month period when you first move somewhere new where it kind of just really sucks and you don't really have many friends yet you don't really have community yet literally like the basic needs for like human fulfillment and you're kind of just like grasping at straws for bringing like meaning into your life or even entertainment and the last time I spoke about this I was kind of stuck I think in a place of feeling like I'd made the wrong decision and that I needed to move back to where I was previously living but I'm happy to report that since then yes it has been a while but things have just like changed so much and I want to come and come on here and just really say like that six month theory of like you need six months to adjust to a new place is absolutely correct because I've now found that like I am feeling so at place I have the most incredible friendship group I have met the most incredible people I understand my neighborhood now I'm even friends with my neighbors, Stu and Andy. If you guys are listening, you guys are freaking legends. They literally lent me their, like, screwdrivers the other day, all of them, because I was, like, building a new bed frame. And it's just, like, I feel like I'm kind of living like the dream a little bit despite what I was saying about my restless fever like I I do truly feel like I've kind of come into my own in this new city and I'm really in like what I would say is my hosting era one of the things that I love doing so much as and I really like have to thank my mother for this thank you mom uh is like hosting people at my house and when I first moved to Sydney I like did not have the opportunity to do that because I didn't have any friends I knew like four people five people and they are not always available on the same night so like a dinner party with two people is kind of is a little bit sad like you know the wine can be flowing and it's still it's not the the thing that I was envisioning but something I've been doing so much recently is like hosting little barbecues or little dinner parties playing board games I've really entered like my soft hosting era where I spoke about this on the making the most out of my 20s episode which was like a couple weeks back you really need to be the one who makes the community that other people are going to be grateful for you if you want that friendship group if you want those connections you have to go out and get them you have to be the one who creates those memories for other people and kind of set a bit of an inspiration and so that's been something I've been really prioritizing as of late alongside all of my new work things as well we have a studio space if you've seen the video content on Instagram you will know it is stunning it is beautiful and also I just recently decided with the with like a bunch of other creators um these two girls who run two broke chicks they were on for an episode we've been friends for some time and a bunch of other creators that we were going to rent like a little office space because something about freelancing and working from home is that it is exhausting and incredibly lonely to have no one to talk to throughout the day until all your nine to five friends get off work. And so we rented this like adorable studio space. We go in two times a week and that is like the perfect amount to still feel connected to like a larger community of people doing the same things as you. And then also have that like flexibility and time to do the things that you need to do outside of like the workplace it has really honestly changed like changed my life at the moment it's been such a contributing factor to I would say my enjoyment and my happiness in this period of my life obviously other things as well but having like a space to go and like having people to chat to one of the biggest parts about my transition from full-time work was losing out on some of those like very convenient friendships and I feel like that has kind of restored things for me so all in all I feel like I'm doing super well and just in like a really happy space, a productive space, a lovely loved space. I want to do like a quick rapid fire Q&A. I asked if you guys had any questions and I was kind of debating whether to include this, but I feel like the questions are really good and maybe informative if you're feeling the same way. Alrighty, so question time, here we go. The first one is how am I? I feel like I've answered that I am feeling very happy very content very safe but then also a little bit uninspired at the moment looking for like some new challenges all in a day's work I think you can go on this bit of emotional roller coaster where like one time at like at some time you're feeling amazing and then you're feeling a little bit crappy and you're feeling a little bit down so just kind of rolling with the punches at the moment okay this next question was really cute what has been your favorite memory from the past few months so because I am a massive I think kind of silent fan of women's sport I have to include this here I went to the Matildas semi for those of you who've been following along with the FIFA World Cup it is finished now um Spain did win rest in peace the Matildas the Australian team but I went to that game and it was insane it was like the most attended female sporting game in Australian history it was and everyone was like an like it was an Aussie fan. It was so infectious, so contagious. Then we lost, oops, but, and I got stuck on the train on the way home. But you know what? All in all, it was a really beautiful memory. I also went to Jarengong recently, which is like a tiny country town in Australia, like on the New South Wales coast, would totally recommend it. Like summer is coming in Australia, you guys, you like US, European, like North, I don't know, North American girlies have had your summertime. It's our time now. It's time for an Australian summer, the best kind of summer. And I can like really feel it coming in. So having those like small joyous moments where I've been enjoying the outdoors and enjoying the beach have been beautiful. Okay, the next question, biggest life lesson from this year? I, oh my goodness, I need to think about that. I would say I have two here and they kind of relate, but the first one is to say yes to everything. So much about my life has changed this year because I've been willing to put myself out of my comfort zone, even when sometimes it doesn't work out. But the majority of times I think that some force has rewarded me for my courage. So saying yes to everything. And my second lesson is that you cannot try and plan too much for the future and you cannot kind of plan the most beautiful things that life has in store for you. And I think that relates to why you should say yes more, because it really opens you up to those experiences. And, you know, like a big thing we've spoken about is my new relationship. Obviously, that was a surprise that came from me saying yes. there was so many like invisible there was such an invisible string that's been like tied between meeting this person and then also all these things in my past but I really do think that that's a part of my my new philosophy and also you know we're more than halfway through the year I hope it's one that I carry through into 2024. Okay next question what is my attachment style and have I become more secure? So really relates to the first half. I think that sometimes we get confused with attachment style by thinking that it's like something that we can decide and thinking that it's something that is very, I don't know, like negligible and movableable or flexible I would say that I've always been a securely attached person given my understanding that attachment style really does come from like parental influences and my parents were an amazing are an amazing set of people who have really guided me to find good love but then also there is the acknowledgement that events in our early teens and also in our early adulthood, certain relationships, certain betrayals, certain instances of abandonment can really shape us into becoming people who are perhaps more anxiously attached. So I would say that the past two years have been one that has been defined by a lot of anxiously attached symptoms or signs when this quite the second part of this question is like how do you become more secure and I think I can speak to that more and it's around I would say making deliberate decisions around who gets to love you in the sense that if you want to cure your, or cure, if you want to heal your anxious or ambivalent or dismissive attachment style, I think that is hard to do without having practice and without having people challenge you. we are anxiously attached or people who become anxiously attached that can lead or even someone who's you know avoid it that can lead to a lot of anxiety and sometimes a lot of avoidance or emotional insecurity around entering into new relationships if you find someone who is going to meet you in the middle and who you can tell will really attempt to understand you and understand where perhaps some of these responses or triggers or reactions are coming from I do truly believe that it's one of the most healing things we can experience when it comes to our attachment style but also it comes it also you know requires action and agency from you as well you really need to kind of at times over communicate your needs and you need to ask for reassurance when you are in a situation that may be challenging for you and have the courage to be vulnerable because I think that if you are with with the right person and you communicate to them perhaps why you're feeling a certain way why you're behaving a certain way if they are a good person if they're meant to be in your life, they will understand and reciprocate that back. So there is my advice on that. Do I receive criticisms and how do I deal with these? Yes, 100%. All the time, actually. Oh, not all the time. Sometimes. Actually, if you look at my like reviews in China, this is so random, but there's like this one person who has been like spamming the podcast with negative reviews because they for some reason cannot listen to certain episodes and I think it's just like a them problem and when I first saw that I was like oh my god they hate me how do I fix this for them I like tried to get in contact with them and then I was like Gemma you cannot control internet access in China just to make someone like you more. So I think that that kind of answers how do I respond or deal with these. You know, I think sometimes people are always, people always like to have opinions about things. That's a beautiful part about being human. I've noticed and realized that some people are not always nice about that. They will find things that they don't like about anything but I think it comes to like recognizing that that comes from a place of insecurity from them or because of a deep opinion neither of which you can change so as long as you have people around you whose opinions you do trust and who you know will say if perhaps you've said the wrong thing or if something you've done is maybe not up to scratch that is really important and you just realizing everything's temporary like I've gotten some pretty mean messages that have like hurt me for a few days and then if you ask me what they were now I probably couldn't tell you so it all comes to pass it's just part of the territory all right last question because this episode has gone on for way longer than I wanted it to it's like 30 minutes now so um this one was a really beautiful one and I want to finish here are you at a point in your growth where you 100% love yourself? When I read this question, it actually made me do a double take because I, my initial answer was like, yes, like, yes, of course. And then I really thought about it. And I think that we can never be at a point where we 100% love ourselves. And maybe that's a little bit controversial, but I think that it's important to always have things that you're working towards and you can always love yourself more. So think in terms of am I at a point where I've loved myself more than I ever have before the answer to that is yes I've really come to two things I want to say about this because I was talking to my boyfriend about it around what I was like during my like late teens, early twenties.