the joy journals: Private Podcast

On seedlings, sheep poo, and embracing the slow

Joy First — Mon, 11 May 2026 17:20:52 GMT

Today: A talk and walk through the fields near our house. Pippa (my Frenchie) mayyyy have spent most of it eating sheep poo and rolling in whatever stinky things she could find, while we have a chat about paying for dirt and why any sane person would start from scratch what you can just go and buy.

I’m in a season of slow right now.

After years of build…

Confessions: Finally, the hormones!

Joy First — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 16:39:54 GMT

I’m recording this on a dog walk, straight off the back of a really good call with my doctor, and I just wanted to capture it while it’s still fresh because it was actually a surprisingly emotional chat.

I signed up with Newson Health about two years ago. It’s a specialist clinic for women going through perimenopause and menopause, and the reason I went …

Confessions: Getting Back to the Gym

Joy First — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 15:41:06 GMT

Confessions: The Gap Between Who You Want to Be and Who You're Being Right Now

Joy First — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 15:19:24 GMT

Why I was in the Telegraph

Joy First — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 13:42:13 GMT

I picked up a newspaper on Saturday for the first time in what feels like decades. A big fat Saturday paper, the kind my dad used to spread across the kitchen table when I was small.

I find it hilarious that I actually had to look up where to buy this newspaper, because I’ve literally never purchased one 😂

I walked the dog down to the local news agent…

A Dog Walk & A Joy First Exercise

Joy First — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 17:33:27 GMT

Today I’ve got a quick little ‘talk and walk’ for you.

I’ve been doing some visioning work lately (I’ve even pulled my husband into it too, which feels like a win). For years I’ve played around with a lot of the classic ‘visioning’ exercises, the vision board, the ideal day, the five year plan, the gratitude journaling from some future version of your life where everything you wanted has already arrived…

I’ve always really loved that last one especially.

There’s something about writing in the past tense from the future that just unlocks something. The feeling of it, not just the thinking.

Lately though I’ve been noticing my thinking has gotten a bit smaller. Not in a dramatic way, just... sort of, contracted. And I’ve had a few moments of catching myself and going, oh.

We could be thinking so much bigger than this.

Not bigger as in more, more, more.
Bigger as in: what’s actually possible here?
Where am I making assumptions about what I assume isn’t possible?

Over the past week or so I’ve been doing a specific version of this visioning work, one I’m calling my ‘Joy First Life’ exercise, so I wanted to walk you through it, because if you’re in any kind of planning or goal-setting headspace right now, I think you’ll find it useful.

Welcome to the Joy Journals

Joy First — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 21:41:03 GMT

A quick little intro to this space, and a personal welcome to the messy middle!