Katherine May on burnout and why we all need a little more wonder in our lives

10 snips

Mar 7, 2023

Katherine May discusses burnout, wonder, and midlife reflections in the podcast. She shares insights on her autism diagnosis, burnout decade, and navigating societal pressures. The conversation touches on finding meaning, embracing nature, and personal growth. Recommendations for books, relationship advice, and unique superpowers are also shared.

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Introduction

00:00 • 2min

Navigating Burnout, Autism, and Midlife Reflections

01:42 • 19min

Rediscovering Enchantment and Stewardship in Adulthood

20:35 • 4min

Embracing Nature, Spirituality, and Personal Growth

24:41 • 16min

Reflections on Happiness, Book Recommendations, and Advice for Young Women

40:49 • 2min

Exploring Relationship Advice, Personal Role Models, and Unique Superpowers

42:50 • 3min

We’ve all had those moments in our lives when everything feels… darker, colder, a little (or a lot) less hopeful. Those emotional winters were perfectly encapsulated by today’s guest, Katherine May in her transatlantic bestseller, Wintering, the power of rest and retreat in difficult times. Her new book is another soothing antidote for the way we live now, Enchantment, Reawakening wonder in an exhausted age.

I don’t know if it’s the aftermath of the pandemic, our always on culture, or just… life, but this spoke to me in exactly the way Wintering did. So, that’s a thumbs up from me.

Katherine joined me from her home by her beloved seaside (hence the seagulls!) to talk about her midlife autism diagnosis, why she believes we’re living through the burnout decade and how to wrest back control of our lives from our work. She told me about entering perimenopause at 29 but still being absolutely livid in her mid-40s, how she’s fully over “white male gurus” and why she wants to open up the conversation about meaning.

* You can buy all the books mentioned in this podcast at The Shift bookshop on Bookshop.org, including Enchantment by Katherine May and the book that inspired this podcast, The Shift: how I lost and found myself after 40 - and you can too, by me.

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