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Say it Sister...
Lucy and Karen, two 40-somethings, are always chatting about life, and all that it has to throw at them, and now want to share their raw, honest conversations with you. Their journey of finding their own voices, self-discovery and healing is something many of us can relate to. We all possess a unique power within us, but life’s trials often knock us off course. They have the tools, the courage to speak up and simply say it as it is, so you might feel seen, and understood and gain practical tools and techniques for self-discovery and personal growth during the changes we experience.
Say it Sister...
The First Chapter: Celebrating Season One of Say It Sister
After nine months of powerful conversations that have reached listeners in 85% of Europe and across six continents, Lucy and Karen are taking a well-deserved summer break. In this reflective season finale, they celebrate the unexpected journey of Say It Sister and the global community they've built from Vancouver to Kuala Lumpur.
What started as friends having courageous conversations has evolved into a platform where both hosts and listeners process world events together. The hosts share how the podcast became their sanctuary during tumultuous times, allowing them to approach difficult topics with compassion and curiosity. Lucy reveals her evolution from considering herself apolitical to embracing her voice as a leader, while Karen discusses how these structured conversations helped temper her passionate perspectives without diminishing her truth.
Their decision to pause embodies one of the podcast's core principles - that rest is essential to the woman's way of leadership. Both hosts candidly discuss recognizing their bodies' signals for restoration and the courage it takes to honor those needs. They reminisce about favorite episodes, from discussions about 90s nostalgia to vulnerable conversations about women's safety, anger, and patriarchy. Personal milestones like being featured on BBC Downloads and openly discussing perimenopause struggles demonstrate how speaking truth aloud can catalyze positive change in our lives.
Before signing off until September, they leave listeners with a beautiful mantra: "I honor how far I've come and I give myself permission to rest, restore and rise again." Follow the podcast now to be notified when Season 2 begins, and share what topics you'd like them to explore next. This pause isn't an ending - it's a moment to breathe before the next chapter of authentic, empowering conversations begins.
Hello and welcome to the Say it Sister podcast.
Speaker 2:I'm Lucy and I'm Karen, and we're thrilled to have you here. Our paths crossed years ago on a shared journey of self-discovery, and what we found was an unshakable bond and a mutual desire to help others heal and live their very best lives.
Speaker 1:For years, we've had open, honest and courageous conversations, discussions that challenged us, lifted us and sometimes even brought us to tears. We want to share those conversations with you. We believe that by letting you into our world, you might find the courage to use your voice and say what really needs to be said in your own life.
Speaker 2:Whether you're a woman seeking empowerment, a self-improvement enthusiast or someone who craves thought-provoking dialogue, join us, as we promise to bring you real, unfiltered conversations that encourage self-reflection and growth.
Speaker 1:So join us as we explore, question and grow together. It's time to say say it, sister.
Speaker 2:Welcome everybody. Welcome to all our sisters who are listening to us from around the world.
Speaker 2:We are so happy to invite you back in to our world and today we're going to be wrapping up for the summer because myself and lucy both need a break, and I'm sure you do too, so we're going to be taking some time out and we'll be back in september. But first and foremost, we really wanted to acknowledge just how far we've traveled in such a short window. We've actually been listened to by 85 percent of people in europe. 85 percent of our listeners live in europe let's start with that one and 10 percent live in north america and we've been listened to in some wonderful places from honolulu, kuala lumpur, vancouver, nebraska, asia, africa, australia, north and south america. So we are um blown away by that.
Speaker 2:We've just had such a giggle like looking at all the different places where people, where you're listening to us. So thank you all so much for being part of our journey. We want to invite you in today just to have some time for reflection and to look at the ride that we've been on through this year, which has been actually a pretty wild year. There's been a lot happening throughout the world and I know it's impacted women in a huge way. So welcome, lucy. What do you want to add?
Speaker 1:I'm just really delighted. I'm actually really impressed with myself for having the routine to stick with this. But then, when we do look at the stats and see how far we've reached and, equally, the messages that we've had of people who've said love your podcast, or I've listened to this one, or that was a one that made me think differently about something, and I think that's the bit that I'm most proud of and the impact that we've had. So it was never really about, you know, an impact in the sense that we just wanted to connect with each other and share the, the messages, the learning, um. But as things went on, it but very consciously did become about impact of like, what is the key message that we want people to have? So, when there has been an impact, that has made me, yeah, really proud, really honored and also really motivated to keep on going.
Speaker 2:I feel like there was so much happening at one point. I'm not I don't know if it's calmed down as such, but it was like the news agenda was just so wild and we were sort of going from one. It felt like there was a crisis happening every single moment of the day to me, and so this podcast became a place to come and reconnect together to actually talk about what was going on in the world and talk about how it was impacting us personally and, um, I'm proud of that because I never saw myself as political as such. You know, I tend to sort of like try and think beyond politics, but I've realized that we live in a world where politics exists and actually where there are people, there's always politics. So maybe that was naive of me to think that I wasn't, I wasn't political.
Speaker 2:Um, now I'm sort of owning it in a different way and thinking well, actually, as a leader, I do need to have a view and I do need to have an opinion and I have things to say, and if that makes me political, then I'm welcome welcoming it. You know, I I think we should all have our own views and choose who we want to support, and, at the same time, I'm not shying away from the conversation anymore and I'm I'm certainly not staying quiet, quiet anymore, and and I'm so relieved for that, lucy and I want to thank you for you know, jumping into the ring with me and helping me to use my voice and speak out loud.
Speaker 1:And do you know what? I am very political and always have been, and I think through these conversations what I've really learned is In our approach we're able to share our thoughts, our feelings, our approaches, but also not making them right and other people wrong. And I think that's been really good for me, because in my private life I think I probably would have gone off on a lot of rants just from sheer frustration or shock and awe of everything that's been happening, and it's really helped me to process how do I feel about this and what is going on, and so that's been really powerful and a real gift, and I think even just listening to us have those conversations helps other people just feel like I'm not alone in this because, yeah, well, it's been a hell of a journey. I think when we started in September, we didn't really feel that pressure and it was like almost like from January onwards, it was like a new, new story was happening every single day.
Speaker 1:That was just mind bending and also our hearts were aching for some of the things that were actually happening in the world, and this helped me, in particular, really process a lot of the feelings that I had, so that when we showed up. We could do it with compassion and empathy and curiosity and understanding, um, so I'm really, I'm really pleased with the gift that the podcast has given to us as well, but I don't want it to sound like we're signing off forever. It's just a reflection of the last well, especially the last six crazy months that we've been through. Yeah, I mean we're signing off forever.
Speaker 2:it's just a reflection of the last well, especially the last six crazy months that we've been through yeah, I mean we know, at a point in the year we've gone past the halfway point of the year, which means that you know, in six months time we'll be at the end of the year and and I do like to have these moments, the pauses where I can go wow, this is where we're at like what do.
Speaker 2:I actually need now to make it to the end in the best possible light that I can. And I and I know that this is about pausing for me, and I know it's about taking space in a different way, and I know it's about resting and swimming in the ocean, you know, and spending time with, with my family, because to be on all the time actually feels like a trap these days and I am somebody who loves to work and I love to create things, so it's quite easy for me to stay constantly on, but it's not actually serving anything. Because we've just been talking, haven't we, about how we had, like, we had like naps this afternoon, this afternoon, this weekend. You know we both had actually went to bed and had sleep in the afternoon. So that's really, for me, like my body is sort of saying come on, now's time, and I'm looking forward to some time out and I know we're going to come back stronger.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think because obviously we were also launching our new business, wise Women Lead I think it got to the stage where both of us were like we've, we're doing a lot. And it was that it was almost when I said how about you know we've, we're doing a lot? And it was that it was almost when I said how about you know, we're going to have a crazy summer, the kids are going to be around, we're exhausted, how about we just take a pause? And I think initially it shocked you a little bit that I dared to say should we just pause and come back in September for a season two? But I think what's really important about that is that we are.
Speaker 1:We talk a lot about rest, we talk a lot about recovery, about having balance, and this is the woman's way and therefore, when we do it and we recognize it in ourselves, we're absolutely leading. We are being these wise women leaders, we are role modeling. That it's okay to take a pause. But I just wonder if you just speak to that for a moment, because I remember you were a little bit like take a pause it was interesting because there's a part of me that's like no, let's not pause, let's keep going.
Speaker 2:Let's like push through. You know, and you know the sort of like the, the go-getter in me I'm gonna call it, you know, she's kind of she's yeah, she's on it pretty much all the time, but actually I've had to learn to turn the dial down on her a little bit and turn the volume down. And it does surprise me sometimes because I'll think, pause, no, why would we pause? It's amazing and I love our conversations, but my heart, it was my heart that that said yes, straight away. My heart immediately went into my head, was like oh god, no, no, no. And then my heart was like absolutely 100, and that was the voice that I listened to. And so then I was able to say, from a wholehearted place, you know, when you said that, I took a deep breath, something came into my body. That was like relief, I think not because I don't want to have the conversations, but because I know my body needs something different. And I think not because I don't want to have the conversations, but because I know my body needs something different.
Speaker 1:And I think, you know, giving myself permission to be like, yeah, okay, let's go for that, you know, and let's tune into our hearts and what our hearts need, which, let's face it, trying to ram things in when you've got children around is not, um, it's not the best experience for us to be having over the summer no, and and the thing is, we, we occupy lots of different roles in our lives and you know this is an opportunity to be really present with your family, you know, to be able to take six weeks and, and yeah, just activate a different part of yourself and through that you will learn and we will get new inspiration and we'll be able to take things, you know, to join some of the dots or to do some reading, all of those kind of things that in a busy state we just we almost consume. We don't give ourselves the time to just stop and think. And I think what I notice is a lot of people come in september with this new back to school mentality because, even if they're still working, it's a different rhythm. They may, you know, they're not doing the school run or they're not having to do that weekly load of washing all of this, you know, emotional and physical labor that us women tend to do and it gives us that that bit of a break. And then it means that September comes, we get the new shoes, the new shirts, the new skirts whatever it is new lunchboxes, and we come with a fresh, new attitude. So I'm excited to see this rejuvenated energy, because I think we've had the energy all the way through, but this is it feels like, yeah, we need this pause. But it's also quite nice to be able to have the pause and this is something that I share with a lot of leaders as well um is when you come to an end of something, so end of season one it's really important to be able to look back at the journey that you've been on, to mark it and celebrate it, which is why this episode is so important.
Speaker 1:And I was talking to Evie, my daughter, who does all of the editing, and she was saying how much she's learned over the last nine months, and I asked her which were some of your favorite episodes. Um, and she loved Jules Van Hepp. She was like because she's at an age where this is her world, the beauty industry is her world, and hearing that other perspective really struck a chord with her. Um, and she said she also really loved some of the early episodes where we were really brutally raw about some of the things that had happened to us, and it made her see me but also see generational curses almost being broken, and so that was beautiful, and so I went on the journey thinking, well, what some of my favorite episodes. So, before I share mine, which broken and so that was beautiful. And so I went on the journey thinking well, what are some of my favorite episodes?
Speaker 2:So, before I share mine which were yours or which ones profoundly touched you the most, I love the nineties one, because I love the nineties, and just listening to James's stories, which are always amazing, and then the similarities between the 90s and now and just how the 90s is. Just, you know, it's like a full takeover in a way. So I loved that and I loved the almost like the rebellious spirit. There's definitely something about the rebel that comes through when I, when we do like quite rebellious podcasts, something in me just like gets set alight. I think it's that. Oh yeah, you know I have got that side of me and I think the early ones as well, you know, when we're talking about safety and safety for women and sexual assault and you know, giving these names, they felt really bold and brave over the time of the journey of the podcast.
Speaker 2:It's almost like something's happened in me that's enabled me to be like of course you're going to talk about these things. Of course you're going to talk about these things, of course you're going to share it's your life and it's your life journey and it's going to help somebody else. But it wasn't like that in the start and so there's been a big shift for me, a big, a big sort of shift and change. Um, in celebrating that, you know that that story, that journey that we've been on together, where we've just sort of dived in not knowing what the impact would be, and then you know, now it feels much more comfortable and much more safe to talk um in comparison to the start. So, yeah, I'll go with Evie on that one um. For me it's been about the healing that's happened. I feel like that's been immense and listening back is always a joy.
Speaker 1:I think some of it for me, equally, has been about the things that I've spoken about in private, that I've never said out loud, um, and that's given me some like inner confidence that I can say these things out loud. So, um, the episodes around um the anger was really important for me, and the one talking about the witch wound, the sister wound, um, and patriarchy really I loved those episodes because it gave, like I said, gave me the confidence and the assurance that I can talk about these things without being mean or nasty or controversial. It was just a conversation, um, so that I, yeah, thank you to the listeners, thank you to you, karen, and this, uh, this podcast for allowing me to bear some of my truth wonderful.
Speaker 2:What are the milestones um that you, you know, see as being like crucial for you?
Speaker 1:um. So actually I shared that one with you, that a milestone that I can show up every week and commit, and that was a big deal, because I've done podcasts before and a lot of them were during the coverage years when, let's face it, we I didn't have much else to do and they were really good, but they they took a lot of energy because I was doing it on my own, um. So the milestones are definitely completing series one, um, and loving the experience of every single one and I think that co-leadership piece that we've done, um, you and I showing up together, it's really been an anchor in my life and I'm so grateful, um, to you, to us, for for showing up and we are on the same path but we are very different people, so just learning from one another has been amazing, um. But yeah, definitely getting to the end of this year and consistency is, yeah, that's a milestone. What about yourself?
Speaker 2:oh, there was two things really for me. I feel like BBC downloads was amazing. Oh yeah, I forgot about that. No, just listening back and just being like, wow, we're on BBC downloads, that's amazing. So that was a super exciting moment for me.
Speaker 2:And then there was a moment when I said something like perimenopause is kicking my ass at the moment, because I I realized that where I was at was becoming harder, like it was under control, and I was like you know what? I've got it, I've got my, I've got my symptoms under control, I'm in a good space and I'm, you know, I'm really out in the world and I'm really sort of in the right place. And then I dipped, so I felt like a second secondary dip coming in. As I'm now nearly 50, I was like, yeah, I'm getting older. You know, of course, it's gonna. It's gonna ramp up, it's going to ramp up and it has ramped up, not going, it's actually happening right now. And it was really powerful for me because it was like I heard, I heard myself say it, I acknowledged it and then I was like, right, I'm going back to the doctors, but this time going back to the doctors, I know exactly what to say, I know exactly how to phrase it and I'm very much in control of the conversation. I'm not, you know, floundering around wondering what it is and why. You know, is it this, is it that? Is it the other? It's like no, it's absolutely this. This is a situation. This is how old I am. I need some more. Can you up my dose?
Speaker 2:You know, and we had a great, I had such a great conversation with the, with the doctor, about it all, and you know, I left and I was like, wow, that's such a shift from the beginning of my perimenopause journey when I finally was like I definitely need something now. This is not sustainable, you know, and it was just, it was saying it out loud on the podcast with you. That was the moment for me. That was like I need to do something about this. It's been it's maybe been three months of me struggling on and that's too long. So I'm really, really grateful for that.
Speaker 2:You know, it's so important and I think when we have these conversations with like minded individuals and we hear ourselves say something, sometimes it's the seed of change that then gets planted, that makes us take a step into the action. So I want to encourage anyone who is listening to me talking here and might be feeling the same. Wherever you are on your, you know your journey as a woman. If there's something that's not right, please don't suffer in silence and speak it out loud and then do something say it, sister, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And so I just want to, um, yeah, just publicly announce that we're going on summer break. Feels quite American, doesn't it? Um? But yeah, we're going on summer break, and so what's next? Well, I have a request, and my request is that, um, everybody that listens to the pod just goes and hits that follow button. Um, because that means that when we come back in september, we'll just appear in your um podcast, um, viewer, whatever we call it, and so please go and follow. And do you know what?
Speaker 1:What is also really helpful about when you do that is the more people that actually hit that follow button. It means that it's then shared or posted to other people, so other women can come and join us, and so that is my request, please. But also just to say a big heartfelt thank you and for everybody being part of our Say it, sister family. We hope that you will connect with us either on social media or you can find us on LinkedIn, whatever you want to do how you connect with us, but we'd love to hear your thoughts, any topics that you want us to share. So your summer homework, your project, dear listeners, is tell us what you want us to talk about, and we will add it in what about yourself, karen? Any thoughts before we close for the summer?
Speaker 2:I think it's just time out for me. I can can recognize and feel the call of you know, almost like the void of nothingness. Of course there's going on, there is going to be things happening. It's not like. It's not like the olden days when I go on holiday and literally a book and a book, me and the sea. It's not going to be like that. However, I celebrate that too, but I want to leave us with a little mantra, and it is I honor how far I've come and I give myself permission to rest, restore and rise again, and I think if we can all keep that one close to our hearts, then it's going to be a great summer beautiful thank you.
Speaker 1:So thanks for listening, and we can't wait to welcome you next time.
Speaker 2:Until then, use your voice, journal, speak or sing out loud. However you do it, we hope you join us in saying it's a star.