The Tortoise with Brooke McAlary

The spotlight is on Ben in today’s episode, as Brooke interviews him all about his journey from working a stressful, corporate job to being self-employed, and how he continues to make choices to live a slower life. We’ve had a few listeners ask to hear more about Ben’s story, and we’re sure it will feel relevant to a lot of people. Ben describes himself as a couple of years behind Brooke in his slow living process, and reflects back on what life was like for him eight years ago, when Brooke was diagnosed with postnatal depression and first introduced to the idea of simplifying and slowing down. Ben was on a career trajectory that he valued, and it consumed almost all of him - time, energy and identity. Although he was happy for Brooke as she started to declutter and slow down (despite thinking she had joined some kind of cult), it wasn’t until he suffered from a panic attack on his morning commute that he realised this was what he needed too (the words of his GP telling him the same thing also carried a lot of weight). From there it was a series of deeper conversations that took place over months and years about what they both wanted life to look like, and how they could get there. Ben found himself really questioning his identity, as so much of him was tied up in his job. He talks about the some of the ways he started to slow down even when he was still working in corporate and commuting, which are a great place to start if that’s where you’re at. The process of getting from then to now has been messy and full of learning, stress and joy all rolled into one, and they’re both grateful to have shared it with each other. And it only continues, as Ben shares how he’s finding the year abroad with his work and clients being on a different continent. For him it’s all about presence and flexibility. Thank you for listening to this one - as Brooke and Ben say, it’s a little heavier and raw than the usual, but also really important to share the reality behind the changes they’ve made, their experiences as a couple and the time it has taken for them to get to where they now. To read more about the episode, head over to http://slowyourhome.com/242/ for all the links and resources mentioned, as well as the full blog post. ==== If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rating or a review in iTunes or head over to the Patreon page to help support the show financially. And thanks so much for listening! ===Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today’s episode, Brooke sits down for a chat with Rob Greenfield, a self-described ‘dude making a difference’. He’s an activist, environmentalist and legend - a guy who is very good at raising people’s awareness of an issue by doing big, bold things to grab your attention, like collecting the amount of rubbish the average American creates in a month, and strapping it to his body and wearing it like a trash suit. Talk about making a statement! Brooke and Rob talk about how he came to be where he is today, where he started and what’s next on his horizon. 10 years ago Rob was living what he calls a typical American life. He was driven by money and ideas of success, obsessed with his car and didn’t consider the impact of his choices on the planet or the people around him. Things started to shift as he began reading books and watching documentaries about the state of the world, and the more he learned, the more he realised he had to change his life. So he did. Slowly, one step at a time, he made changes. Rob talks about the fact that making positive changes in your life is a has a snowball effect, and he and Brooke agree that this slow steady approach might seem frustrating or overwhelming at first, but it really is the only way to go.  He breaks down the changes he made, and how these fed into his big, bold experiments and projects that he’s become known for. He talks about how he communicates these changes to the people around him, the idea of comfort zones and change and societal norms, as well as the need to practice compassion and get good it at, just like building any other muscle or skill. It’s incredibly inspiring to hear Rob share so honestly about his life, and is a much-needed reminder that we can all make choices in our daily lives to have a more positive impact on the world. We can’t wait to see how Rob goes with his next project - growing or foraging 100% of his food for a whole year. To read more about the episode and Rob, head over to http://slowyourhome.com/241/ for all the links and resources mentioned, as well as the full blog post. ==== If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rating or a review in iTunes or head over to the Patreon page to help support the show financially and join in on our live monthly video calls. And thanks so much for listening! ===Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today’s episode, Brooke and Ben sit down to wrap up the May creativity Slow Experiment, sharing what they’ve learned, how they’ve felt, changes they’ve noticed and some eye-opening research they’ve discovered about the benefits of creativity. They go deep and ask the tough questions, and encourage you to do the same if you’re reflecting on your month of creative living. First up they reflect on the week that’s been, with Brooke continuing to lean into playfulness (and challenge) and Ben enjoying shooting and editing and feeling a bit of fear around sharing his work. They talk about something wonderful they’ve noticed in the #slowexperiment posts being shared on Instagram - the idea of creativity as a gift, with so many people getting creative in order to share the outcome with their loved ones, a purpose the guys hadn’t given much consideration before now. They then go on to reflect on the benefits they’ve felt after being creative every day this month. Ben feels like it’s too soon for him to say, but Brooke can already feel a change in her parenting, including increased empathy, more self-awareness, playfulness and spontaneity. For her it’s also tied in closely to courage, and she talks about the prep work she’s been doing in this area in the lead up to the book tour. To wrap up, they touch on some of the research that’s been done around the benefits and impacts of a being creative on physical, emotional and mental well-being, and get excited about continuing to learn more about this life-changing practice. We hope you’ve enjoyed playing along, and don’t forget to keep sharing your creative fun over on Instagram using the hashtag #slowexperiment. We’ll be back next week with a cracking interview with a super inspiring guest, so see you in your ears then. To read more about the episode and the May experiment, head over to http://slowyourhome.com/240/ for all the links and resources mentioned, as well as the full blog post. ==== If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rating or a review in iTunes or head over to the Patreon page to help support the show financially and join in on our live monthly video calls. And thanks so much for listening! ===  Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s the fourth week of the creativity Slow Experiment, and Brooke and Ben are feeling good. Today’s episode is all about play and creativity - forgetting about output and audience, and doing something just for the joy of it. It’s something that Brooke finds particularly challenging, and she and Ben explore why that is, before diving into perfectionism, ideas of worth, courage and more. They also spend some time answering a listener question around kids and creativity. Stick around to the end to hear an update on the North American book release and tour (with a full update coming soon! First up the guys reflect on the week that’s been, before launching into a discussion about the childlike joy of creating playfully. Brooke talks about the idea of rules in creativity - something as simple as lines on a page can hinder her from letting go and creating. She then shares the project she’s been working on, and how she’s brought an element of spontaneity and play into her process this week. Ben shares a question asked by a listener, who was wondering if their kids had been involved in the experiment so far. He and Brooke talk about this, and also bounce around some ideas about how they can be more creative together down the track (especially when they’re on the road for the book tour!) They finish up with a little challenge for the week - if you struggle with playfulness, try setting an alarm and spending 10 minutes doing something fun and playful. Let go of judgment and try to find the joy in the challenge. If you’re playing along at home, don’t forget to use the hashtag #slowexperiment on Instagram if you’d like to share, and stay tuned for next week’s episode wrapping up the experiment. To read more about the episode and the May experiment, head over to http://slowyourhome.com/239/ for all the links and resources mentioned, as well as the full blog post. ==== If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rating or a review in iTunes or head over to the Patreon page to help support the show financially and join in on our live monthly video calls. And thanks so much for listening! ===  Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Brooke and Ben are knee-deep in the May Slow Experiment, and in this episode they explore what daily creativity has looked like for them so far, ideas around challenge and play, as well as looking more closely at analog and digital when it comes to the creative process. Brooke shares the unexpected impact of the experiment so far - the shift in headspace she’s experienced, which sees her coming at things from a creative problem-solving angle, focusing on the process rather than the output. Questions she’s been pondering for months suddenly have clear solutions, and she’s also found herself being more empathetic in her parenting as her brain “opens up”. Ben’s challenge this week was to do something creative for himself, without an audience, and so he shares how he’s played with skiing switch, and reflects on the joy of truly sucking at something. Ben also identifies some different ways you can categorise creativity: cognitive v emotional, and deliberate v spontaneous. The guys share their experiences of these so far, before diving into the issue of analog v digital. While Brooke was hoping for a unanimous “analog rules” verdict in her research, what she found instead was that there is no right or wrong, that it’s closely tied to how we learn, and that everyone could benefit from dabbling in both means of creative expression. So if you’re getting creative with us this week, why not try mixing it up again? If you’re always in analog-land, why not try creating using digital this week. And vice versa - if you’re a tech-head, why not try something a little more tactile? Don’t forget to use the hashtag #slowexperiment on Instagram if you’d like to share, and stay tuned for next week’s episode all about letting go of ideas of “good” and “perfect” and getting back to creating, just for the sake of creating. To read more about the episode and the May experiment, head over to http://slowyourhome.com/238/ for all the links and resources mentioned, as well as the full blog post. ==== If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rating or a review in iTunes or head over to the Patreon page to help support the show financially and join in on our live monthly video calls. And thanks so much for listening! ===Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the second episode of this month’s Slow Experiment, all about daily creativity. The last week or so has been interesting for Brooke and Ben, and this episode sees them diving into the patterns they’ve noticed emerging and changes they’ve experienced, as well as the question of who we are creating for in our daily practice, and how that impacts the process. Brooke shares that so far the experiment has had more of an impact on her headspace than expected, as it’s opened her up to seeing more creative opportunities in her days. Ben shares an excerpt from an article he read this week that highlights the relationship between creativity and time, and the value of letting problem solving and questions sit in the back of your mind for days, weeks, months or even years until the solution reveals itself to you. A nice reminder that it’s not about the output, but the process. Brooke has been writing every day, but finding the habit of writing for an audience hard to shake as she embarks on this project that is solely for her. On the flip side, Ben has been creating video and writing all for an audience, whether listeners or friends and family. They talk about the challenge they’re both facing - being a creative worker with an audience in mind makes creativity without an agenda much more difficult. Which then brings them to dive in deeper into this question of ‘who are we creating for?’, and to the challenge they share for listeners playing along at home. This week, mix it up. If you’ve been creating just for you, try sharing your work - it doesn’t have to be online either, you can just show a loved one. Or, if you’ve been creating with an audience in mind, this week try doing something just for you. Notice if and how this impacts the process and let us know! Don’t forget to use the hashtag #slowexperiment on Instagram if you’d like to share, and stay tuned for next week’s episode all about analog v digital in creativity. To read more about the episode and the May experiment, head over to http://slowyourhome.com/237/ for all the links and resources mentioned, as well as the full blog post. ==== If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rating or a review in iTunes or head over to the Patreon page to help support the show financially and join in on our live monthly video calls. And thanks so much for listening! ===Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s time for the new #slowexperiment, and for the month of May it’s all about daily creativity. In today’s episode Brooke and Ben spend some time chatting about what creativity means for them, before diving into some ways the experiment might look for you, what their plans are and how they think creativity relates to slow living. To kick off, the guys talk about the relationship between creativity and slow living, and how even though at first glance they might seem unrelated, they actually have so much in common: making time to think and ponder, being intentional, following a process, problem solving. They’re counter-cultural and both tap into mindfulness, paying attention and self-awareness, and work pretty well hand-in-hand. They then dive into the theme for the episode - the difference between creative input and output. If you feel like you don’t have time to be creative, Brooke recommends doing an audit of your daily inputs (e.g. social media, news websites, podcasts etc) and asking yourself if they fuel creativity or not. Then pick one, and swap out the time you’d normally spend doing it with a form of creative output for the month, and see how you go. And now for the “rules” (more like guidelines) for the experiment. If you’re playing along at home, the aim is to do some kind of creative practice every day. It can be a specific creative project, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s more about approaching life through a more creative lens, rather than having an agenda or making anything for a specific audience (more on that next week). It might mean simply approaching an everyday task (like getting dressed or making dinner) as a creative act, rather than a chore. Or it might mean writing, sculpting, knitting, singing - whatever it is, it doesn’t have to look the same every day, it just has to happen. So how will you flex your creative muscle? We can’t wait to see - if you’re playing along and feel like sharing, don’t forget to use the hashtag #slowexperiment on Instagram. To read more about the episode and the May experiment, head over to http://slowyourhome.com/236/ for all the links and resources mentioned, as well as the full blog post. ==== If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rating or a review in iTunes or head over to the Patreon page to help support the show financially and join in on our live monthly video calls. And thanks so much for listening! ===Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Happy hostful! Today Brooke and Ben sit down to answer your burning questions, as well as update you on what’s been happening in their world, and the plans for the May Slow Experiment! It’s an epic episode, and the guys were excited to have the time to dive into the insightful questions you sent in. First up they reflect on their travels so far, and what they’ve learned about themselves and each other. They also talk about the rhythms that have developed in their day-to-day lives, how they’ve been travelling and what’s up next. Then it’s into the Q&A! It’s a mix of questions around slow living with kids and slow travel. One listener asked about slow living with really young kids, another about kids who always want to be on the go. Another listener asked about slow living when you have a child with special needs, and the wonderful community on Facebook helped out with their answers based on their own experiences. Then there were also questions about slow living when you’re on the road, slow as a counter-cultural decision and how to know what changes to make when you set out to change the pace. And now for the May Slow Experiment - it’s all about daily creativity! Brooke and Ben will be committing to creativity every day in May, and encourage you to play along if you’re keen. It doesn’t have to be the same thing every day, or anything tricky at all. There will be more information over on the blog, but we can’t wait to see what you create. So there you go! As the guys said in the episode, if you’re in the US in one of the states they mention and have a hot lead on a bookshop or venue that might be keen to host a Slow Home Podcast event, please reach out to us at hello@slowyourhome.com. We really appreciate your help and support, and can’t wait to meet as many of you as possible on the tour. To read more about the episode and the May experiment, head over to http://slowyourhome.com/233/ for all the links and resources mentioned, as well as the full blog post. ==== If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rating or a review in iTunes or head over to the Patreon page to help support the show financially and join in on our live monthly video calls. And thanks so much for listening! ===Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s a podcast love-in today, as Brooke sits down with the awesome Jocelyn Glei, creator of the equally awesome podcast Hurry Slowly. Jocelyn’s podcast is also about slow living in a fast-paced world, but her guests tend to work in the extra-speedy realms of tech and entrepreneurialism, so their conversations often take place through the lens of work. This gives their chats a really relatable feel and begins to answer the question so many people ask themselves - “how can I work in my fast-paced industry but still live a slow life?” First up, Brooke asks Jocelyn what slow looks like for her, including her relationship with technology and the boundaries she sets. Jocelyn has actually written a book called Unsubscribe, all about how to manage email and prevent it from becoming all-consuming, so her insights into this and the references she makes are fascinating. Brooke and Jocelyn talk about the pleasure and power of introducing more analog into your life, as well as the relationship between mindfulness and creativity, and the importance of creating space for both rest and boredom. They also discuss the connections between technology and risk-taking and meaningful human connection, the way tech use impacts the way we form memories and more. It’s a really juicy episode, full of insight and interesting ideas to check out. Hungry for more? Head over to http://slowyourhome.com/234/ for all the links and resources mentioned, as well as the full blog post. And as mentioned in the intro, we’re bringing our email newsletter back! Be sure to head to http://slowyourhome.com/slowpost/ to get yourself on the list. We look forward to catching up in your inbox soon! ==== If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rating or a review in iTunes or head over to the Patreon page to help support the show financially and join in on our live monthly video calls. And thanks so much for listening! ===Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Want less mindless, more mindful? Join the club. Today Brooke chats to Dr Elise Bialylew, founder of Mindful in May and author of a brand new book, The Happiness Plan, about all things mindfulness, meditation and the science behind it. Coming from a background in psychiatry, as well as being a parent of a 2 year-old, Elise offers a blend of deep understanding of the science behind why mindfulness works with a real-world approach to practicing it in your daily life. Her passion for the topic shines through this conversation and her work, which is such a delight to hear. Elise talks about how and why she started meditating, and how interaction with scientists like Richie Davidson (doing groundbreaking work on mindfulness and its impact on the brain) as well as her own personal experience at a silence meditation retreat really flicked the switch for her. As a doctor, she felt like mindfulness was the missing piece in the well-being and brain health puzzle, and it’s been her life’s work to educate people about the nature of the mind ever since. She and Brooke go on to talk about her own personal practice (and how that’s changed since becoming a mother), the connection between mindfulness and compassion, the developments in brain science, how much meditation is enough and more. If you’re feeling inspired and excited to try creating (or continuing with) your own meditation or mindfulness practice, be sure to check out Elise’s Mindful in May program. It’s a wonderful way to dip your toe in and start (and stick to) a healthy habit, with a real sense of community, accountability and support as well as inspiration and experimentation. Confusing science is made accessible, and daily emails, guided meditations and interviews with experts will provide you with all the tools you need to find a practice that suits you and your life, as well as an understanding of what’s going on and why it’s so valuable. To read more, head over to http://slowyourhome.com/233/ for all the links and resources mentioned, as well as the full blog post. ==== If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rating or a review in iTunes or head over to the Patreon page to help support the show financially and join in on our live monthly video calls. And thanks so much for listening! ===Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.