The Taylor Made Podcast

We thought it might be fun to celebrate our 30th episode by going on another trip down memory lane, past when we first met to talk to our 18-year-old selves. What would we say to them? What wisdom would we pass on? And, what can our present selves learn for our 18-year-old selves? Listen in for a poignant and surprising reflection on our lives so far and for some ideas on how to reflect on how far you've come! Big thanks to Mikel & GameChops for making their amazing music available for use. You can check out their stuff here: https://music.gamechops.com/album/zelda-chill

We have the lovely Sam and Sarah with us again this week to give Adam & I our first Tarot reading! With no prior experience with Tarot, how will things turn out? Will us two sceptics find any truth in the reading or will we be pleasantly surprised to discover some fun advice and direction from our past, present and future? Listen in to find out! Big thanks to Mikel & GameChops for making their amazing music available for use. You can check out their stuff here: https://music.gamechops.com/album/zelda-chill

We're so happy to have kicked off our everyday Aussie interviews with the amazing Sam & Sarah. With 10 years together under their belts, they have a lot of wisdom to share with us and stories to tell. They take us on their journey from meeting at uni and falling in love, to what it takes to make a 21st-century relationship work and what brought them to where they are today. We had a blast recording this episode and can't imagine a better way to kick off our Everyday Aussie series! Thank you to Sam and Sarah and also our amazing listeners who keep us inspired every week! Big thanks to Mikel & GameChops for making their amazing music available for use. You can check out their stuff here: https://music.gamechops.com/album/zelda-chill

Last week we talked about our hang-ups around money and how we learned to deal with them in our relationship. This week we're building on that and talking about how we manage our money as a couple and what's worked for us to stop money being at the centre of every argument! Let us know if you have anything to add! IG: @thetaylormadepodcast & @danikkataylorwrites Big thanks to Mikel & GameChops for making their amazing music available for use. You can check out their stuff here: https://music.gamechops.com/album/zelda-chill

We've been talking about doing a money episode for a while and now we're finally sitting down to do it. This episode is split into two parts because there are two important discussions to have around money. Often, people forget that there are a lot of emotions and stories we tell ourselves about money. We call them our money hangups. I'm sure we got that from somewhere, just not sure where. So, this week we talk through how important knowing your money hangups and communicating them with your partner is, before you can develop any sustainable money management system. Let us know what you think! Big thanks to Mikel & GameChops for making their amazing music available for use. You can check out their stuff here: https://music.gamechops.com/album/zelda-chill

Living so closely together for most of 2020, as many of us are, it can be super easy to magnify the most annoying things about each other and lose sight of the best things about the person that we're with. So this week we did a little exercise to get some laughs and remember the best things about each other. Make sure you let us know how it goes for you with the people you're stuck inside with! P.S Misty makes her opinion known in this episode, too! Big thanks to Mikel & GameChops for making their amazing music available for use. You can check out their stuff here: https://music.gamechops.com/album/zelda-chill

It's no secret that 2020 has been a strange year. Our favourite recurring meme to come out of this is people making videos of themselves barely noticing an alien invasion - that's just 2020, right?! Whether we like it or not, we can't time travel out of this, so we gotta sit tight. And sitting tight is not something the modern human is very good at! We know we're not the only ones to be experiencing some sort of painful metamorphosis during this time, but this is just a little check-in to let you know what's been going on with us, and we hope you take some comfort from it and we'd love if you could reach out and let us know how you've been going as well. We're all here for each other. Big thanks to Mikel & GameChops for making their amazing music available for use. You can check out their stuff here: https://music.gamechops.com/album/zelda-chill

So, we have an idea based on our own experience and the experiences of multiple people we've talked to. Being with someone for over a year in a society with the average attention span of a toddler is no small feat, let alone reaching the three-year mark. But we've noticed something interesting - many modern relationships seem to crumble or almost-crumble when they reach this point! In this episode, we talk about what happened when we were around our three-year milestone, and what we think this trend could mean. Because, surprise surprise, we have a theory! Big thanks to Mikel & GameChops for making their amazing music available for use. You can check out their stuff here: https://music.gamechops.com/album/zelda-chill

It's hard to write the show notes this week because we feel like we were talking about so many big things all at once. But in a nutshell, only you get to decide what success means in your life. Before, during, but especially post a pandemic (we're not there yet, unfortunately, but when we are...) we think we should all be letting go of the generalised 'success' checklist enforced on us and be focusing on creating our own. Come have a chat with us about that, because we, as always, have a lot of ideas! Big thanks to Mikel & GameChops for making their amazing music available for use. You can check out their stuff here: https://music.gamechops.com/album/zelda-chill

This episode we discuss our Enneagram results and what we think about our results and the test itself. We have a lot of fun pointing out the parts that we think are accurate for the other person and swallowing some harsh truths about our personalities - the truth really does hurt sometimes!! Here are the links to all the personality tests that we discussed in this episode, the Color Code is the one most similar in style to the Enneagram. The Enneagram Test: https://www.truity.com/test/enneagram-personality-test Myer's Briggs Personality Test: https://www.truity.com/test/type-finder-personality-test-new The Color Code: https://www.colorcode.com/choose_personality_test/ Shower thought of the week: Having a full meal at three in the afternoon feels completely different to having a full meal at three in the morning. Big thanks to Mikel & GameChops for making their amazing music available for use. You can check out their stuff here: https://music.gamechops.com/album/zelda-chill

We all laughed at Joey's antics and Chandlers quippy jokes, we rooted for Ross and Rachel and sighed when they finally ended up together. And we were so happy when Phoebe and Monica finally got their happy endings. And then not long after we said goodbye to 'Friends', a group of nerdy scientists appeared on the scene and wriggled their way into our hearts. 'The Big Bang Theory' is now one of the most-watched shows of all time. We thought we'd take our first stroll down pop-culture lane this week and maybe reveal a little too much about how seriously we take fictional shows. If you loved BBT and Friends, then you'll like this episode and we'd love to hear what you think as well! Shower thought this week: The number 'one thousand' is the first number to have the letter 'a' in it. Big thanks to Mikel & GameChops for making their amazing music available for use. You can check out their stuff here: https://music.gamechops.com/album/zelda-chill

After covering a little about how the tiny home dream de-railed us a little last week, we thought we would talk more in-depth about our decision-making process when it comes to big financial decisions and how we came to our decision this time - yes, but not yet. The whole reason we started this podcast was to learn about other couples while simultaneously sharing our story! So we hope that you enjoy a little peek this week into how we think through big decisions, and we really hope to hear from all of you what it's like for you to make big decisions, whether partnered, single or married, we want to know!! Shower thought of the week: Rice cookers are just hot-tubs for rice...Big thanks to Mikel & GameChops for making their amazing music available for use. You can check out their stuff here: https://music.gamechops.com/album/zelda-chill

Sometimes, things come up that distract us from what we’re doing. People, jobs, pets, houses, all when we’re not expecting them to. We had one such experience a couple of weeks ago, where a dream that we’d almost forgotten about suddenly became very possible, completely out of the blue. So this week’s episode, we talk you through the rabbit hole we jumped down that took us off the path of planned productivity - to convert an old school bus into a tiny home, or to keep going with what we’re doing now and say ‘yes, but not yet.’ We talk you through how the tiny dream came about, what it means for us and why we ultimately decided that now isn’t the time. And we want you to tell us what your dream is too! Shower thought of the week: She sells seashells by the sea shore. Big thanks to Mikel & GameChops for making their amazing music available for use. You can check out their stuff here: https://music.gamechops.com/album/zelda-chill

Growth is hard, from growing pains as your limbs grow to emotional pangs as you transition from one life lesson to the next. Then throw other people's life lessons and lessons in love and communication and you have what can only be described as a hot mess, but the best kind. This week we look not too far back, thinking about the challenges that we've faced when it comes to understanding our different persona's between home and work, when home is our work. We talk about our difficulties communicating and taking each other for granted. And the lessons we've learned from each other by being open and willing to face the hard fact that we can't do everything right. Shower thought of the week: We associate it with death and decay now, but a plague doctor mask was probably very comforting and reassuring back when it was used, as it meant a medic was nearby and ready to help. Big thanks to Mikel & GameChops for making their amazing music available for use. You can check out their stuff here: https://music.gamechops.com/album/zelda-chill

We would all like to think that we’re calm and reasonable people, and can ‘adult’ really well in trying situations. But sometimes, when things are just not going our way and are genuinely unfair, life likes to test that theory. We all have things that are our pet hates, our big triggers, things that bring us to boiling point quicker than others. For Adam, it’s money issues, for me it’s raised voices and ‘customer service’ representatives who do anything but help customers. This week, we were presented with both our triggers in one extremely frustrating situation when we found out the gym we haven’t been members of for nearly 6 months now has been overdrawing an empty account of ours, without notifying us that our account is overdue and simply allowing late fees and overdraft fees to build up for 3 months. So, for this week’s episode, we decided to talk through our thought process whilst dealing with this situation and how we tried to handle it without releasing our inner ‘Karen and Darren’ and trying to have empathy for the person at the other end of the phone, even though they were being extremely unhelpful! What calls your inner Karen or Darren to the surface? Make sure you message us on Facebook or Instagram and let us know! Shower thought of the week: Dog’s can’t understand how the laws of physics work because there is an upper limit to their intelligence. Similarly, humans also have an upper limit to their intelligence and so won’t be able to understand how other laws of the universe work.

If you have or haven’t read Gary Chapman’s book The Five Love Languages, you’ve probably no doubt heard of it. We thought it would be fun, since it’s such a long time since we did the quiz together, to do the quiz with you guys listening in and see if our love language has changed since we met. If you’re not familiar with the five love languages, don’t worry! We jump right into the quiz and you can listen along with us, and then before we reveal each of our love languages we go through all five again to remind ourselves and you. If you’d like to do the quiz for yourself and the people around you, there is a couples quiz, a singles quiz and a children’s quiz at https://www.5lovelanguages.com/. And I also read the definitions of each of the languages here https://www-self-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.self.com/story/love-languages-test What love language are you? Shower thought of the week: All soup is goop, but not all goop is soup.

In these times of uncertainty and upheaval, it's natural to try to seek security in your work and life. But sometimes, this might not be your calling. Whatever your body and subconscious self might be telling you. We spend some time with present-day Adam and Danikka this week, talking a bit about a leap we've taken into the unknown possibilities of our future, and how coaching, mindset shifts and our mental health have effected our journey so far. Living together, working together, creating together and just surviving 2020 is not just a challenge for us. In this episode, we talk a little about the challenges we've faced so far this year. We of course acknowledge that there a many worse of than us, and we don't seek to diminish their suffering at all. This is just a little peek into our 2020, and we hope you'll also reach out to us about yours, and let us know how you're going. Shower thought of the week: Designer brands like Calvin Klein have a wide range of bags and purses, so by not putting pockets in their dresses they're hoping you'll buy more of their purses.

Gaming is an ever increasingly popular hobby as technology becomes a bigger part of our lives. I feel like there are two companies in Australia that have experienced a kind of boom during the 2020 pandemic, Bunnings and Eb Games. If this isn’t an awesome example of two different kinds of people, I don’t know what is. While we all probably know at least one gamer, I’ve regularly come across non-gamers who say they will never date a gamer. Based on what we found out above, you could possibly be missing out on a lot of potentially great partners! But, I hear you. Gaming was a source of a lot of tension in our relationship until we worked out how to navigate Adam’s love of games and my love of attention hahaha! So, in this episode, we talk about what that was like for us and how we managed to find a way for us to both be happy. Hint: it has something to do with communication! Surprise, surprise. Do you have a gamer in your life, maybe you’ve dated one? Make sure you let us know! Shower thought of the week: When did I last wash my hair?

This episode is an extra special episode because we’re answering our first question from a listener and announcing the start of our collaboration on the Applaudible podcast network! So in celebration and partly because Adam got me talking about Brene Brown, this episode is a double-length episode! Coming together as a couple, in the beginning, is almost always super fun. You’re learning so much about the other person and you’re experiencing those firsts that make you feel all warm and fuzzy. But what about when that fun period is over? You are, after all, two people with different upbringings, hang-ups and quirks. How do you make all this fit together? Our question from a lovely listener this week, slightly paraphrased, is: Have Adam and I ever struggled with having different values, and how did we manage to grow together instead of apart? There is also a little explanation of what being apart of the Applaudible network means for you guys and how it will change the layout of our podcast a little moving forward. As always, make sure you send us in your story in relation to the question of the week: How did you change between the ages of 20 and 25? Do you think you changed a lot? Shower thought of the week: Have you ever thought about how if our voice sounds better to us in our head, what does Morgan Freeman sound like to himself?

Disclaimer for this episode: We definitely recommend you go to the doctor when you have a concussion. Don’t be an Adam in this instance. But, we realised that we covered two years of relationship in only 10 episodes and it was pointed out to us recently that who farted first is in the podcast description but we were yet to cover it! So this episode is just a strange combination of funny stories and a weird trip down the rabbit hole of weird things we think and do. There isn’t really any rhyme or reason to this episode, so let us know if you like this style or prefer the more structured episodes we’ve been doing to date. And as always, don’t forget to send in any stories just listening to us chat makes you think of. We have an episode coming soon inspired by a listener, can’t wait! Shower thought of the week: Have you ever thought about the fact that Anakin was denied the rank of master, because Ahsoka left and he had to prove he could train a Padawan to be a master?

The wedding day is a special day for every couple that chooses to tie the knot, and most of the time it makes all the blood, sweat and tears worth it. Everyone has a good time, and there is usually some family drama thrown in. So while we nearly gave the cake away last episode, this episode is where we actually talk about the wedding. The lead up to the big day, the day itself and what we loved and didn’t love. And the little talked about days following. We also have a special treat for you this week, we’ll be reading our wedding vows to each other for the first time since our wedding day. Fair warning, there are tears. Don’t forget to send us your stories! We love reading them and when we start to get a good collection we’ll start sharing our favourites on the Podcast! Shower thought of the week: Have you ever thought about the fact grated cheese becomes significantly more appealing after midnight?

What was it we said a couple of episodes ago about commitment phobia? Did we not mention that includes committing to any sort of decision? Not just each other? Wedding’s are amazing on the day, but I’m sure if you’ve ever planned a wedding you know the blood, sweat and tears that go into making it happen. Not to mention the money. And something no one ever tells you is that the wedding is not entirely about you. There are expectations, opinions and traditions that all need to be expertly navigated to avoid disaster. And I haven’t met anyone yet who has completely managed that. In this episode, we talk about the roller coaster of planning our wedding, and we’re sure that anyone who has ever planned a wedding will relate on some level! And you can also enjoy shaking your heads at how indecisive we were. Don’t forget to send us your stories! We love reading them and when we start to get a good collection we’ll start sharing our favourites on the Podcast! Shower thought of the week: Have you ever thought about the fact that Bill Nye has probably had a bigger impact on the internet than he has on science?

Is it possible to be both married and not married? Adam certainly thought so when we first started talking about getting engaged. Our engagement story is certainly not the romantic story you often see posted on social media, with the proposer surprising and delighting the ‘proposee’ with a special moment their whole relationship has led up to. Ours was more an agreement we made to ensure our relationship could continue in peace. With religion, childhood shame and fear of commitment all distracting us from the joy of what was happening, it took a trip to pick out the perfect ring to remind us of what we were doing and why we were doing it. In this episode, we talk about what led to our strange and sudden engagement and what was going through our minds throughout the process. As usual, we’re discussing things we’ve never really talked about before, so there are surprises here for all of us! Don’t forget to send us your stories! We love reading them and when we start to get a good collection we’ll start sharing our favourites on the Podcast! Shower thought of the week: Have you ever thought about the fact that in Disney’s Cars universe, tyre brands such as Michelen and Goodyear probably have the same status as sneaker brands such as Nike and Adidas?

I’m not sure if anyone else has experienced this, but I relate super hard to that Iliza Schlezinger joke ‘the best part is, the new boyfriend… has no idea… what you’re hauling. And he welcomes you. Yes, he welcomes you to the new union. Come on in. You seem pretty cool and well-adjusted. And you’re, like, “Oh, I am! Yes, this seems like a safe place for me to… unpack my shit!’ Because Adam and I often joke together that this is how it happened with us. We settled into living together and my mental health took a sudden sharp downturn. Not because I was unhappy in the relationship, no, the opposite. Looking back, I think I was finally transitioning out of the survival mode I had been living in for as long as I could remember. This episode talks about the start of my journey with mental health as I travel it now, seeking awareness and healing rather than trying to suppress and keeping moving to avoid my pain. We also hear from Adam how he felt, having had no real experience dealing with mental health in a relationship and how he learned to best support me. If you are struggling and can’t find the light at the end of the tunnel, please feel free to reach out to us, we’re always happy to lend a helping hand where we can. I have also linked some additional resources for Australia and New Zealand to help you seek professional support. Remember, depression is a chemical flaw, not a personality one. Australian Support Information: https://www.beyondblue.org.au/ https://www.lifeline.org.au/get-help/facts-and-information New Zealand Support Information: https://www.health.govt.nz/your-health/services-and-support/health-care-services/mental-health-services/mental-health-services-where-get-help https://www.mentalhealth.org.nz/get-help/in-crisis/helplines/ Shower thought of the week: Have you ever thought about the fact that water tastes better when you’re thirsty or dehydrated?

Moving in together is a super exciting step when you’re a new couple, from finding the right home to bringing everything in and deciding what works together and what doesn’t. And surely you’re not considering moving in together without the obligatory trip to IKEA (Or probably KMART or Target, if not all three!). Hopefully, the biggest challenge that you face moving in with your significant other is working out how everything is going to look together! And boy was it eye-opening for both of us. In this episode we take you on our first trip to IKEA and our most recent trip to IKEA, to show you how much things can change in a few short years and hopefully give you a good laugh along the way. Story-time this week: What is your go-to shop when you’re moving into a new place? Do you have an IKEA horror story with a current or ex-partner? Let us know on Instagram! Shower thought of the week: Have you ever thought about the fact that if you were to dig a hole all the way through the centre of the earth, the planet would then change from being in the shape of a sphere to being a doughnut?

Honesty is so important in relationships, and the first big challenge in our relationship is evidence that we’d still not completely figured out how to tell each other how we really felt. After being made redundant in my job and receiving a generous redundancy package, I decided to use the money to go visit my Mum living in the UK for an indefinite amount of time...just after moving in with Adam. This episode we talk about things we’ve never actually talked to each other about before. What we were both thinking and feeling up to me leaving and what it was really like to be apart at arguably the time in our relationship when we were just hitting our stride. Long-distance brought its own challenges and fears that we weren’t ready to discuss. Until now. Shower thought of the week: Have you ever thought about the fact that if you skip a rock into a lake, you’re probably the last person to ever touch it?

We all hate that weird period early on in relationships when we don't know if the other person is as ready as we are to move on to the next stage. Sometimes that limbo land can drag on for months, or sometimes it just takes one little push to finally take the step. 'Are we official?' can go either way, but in this episode, we talk about how one grand romantic gesture changed the course of our relationship from ‘let’s just be friends’ to ‘let’s give this a go’. We also touch on how our personalities help us communicate during times of tension and how being too hyper objective can cause decision paralysis and confusion. Shower thought of the week: Have you ever thought about the fact that watering a lake makes it grow?

While we all have some expectations of how the people around us should act, thanks to popular culture (and opinion!) these expectations are heightened when it comes to romantic relationships. Meaning we can sometimes have a 'script' in our head that we expect our relationships to play out on. And this inevitably doesn't work! In this episode, we talk about my reaction when Adam didn’t follow the script of the tinder playboy and Adam’s reaction to my subsequent shutdown. And how we managed to work our way through it for our relationship to continue to progress. Meanwhile, in the present day, the Coronavirus continues to impact us all and we briefly talk about what life is looking like at the moment and how we’re being impacted. Shower thought of the week: Have you ever thought about the fact that sitting outside can feel more productive and more relaxing, even though you’re doing the same thing?

All about how we met. Adam was in town for one day to do an interview and swiped right on me, and believe it or not I remember almost swiping left on him an unknown amount of time later. But I didn’t, and his opening line was ‘Are you a robot?’ Not the romantic meet-cute we usually picture but it’s becoming more and more how people meet these days as social anxiety and ever increasingly busy lives makes it harder to meet people IRL. In this episode, we talk through our two different experiences of online dating and how ‘Are you a robot?’ turned into ‘I love you’. This week’s shower thought: Have you ever thought about the fact that great minds don’t think alike, if they did, they’d be average minds.

Our first episode ever is a quick peek into who we are and what has pushed us to finally start the podcast we’ve been talking about making for too long! We talk getting stood down due to COVID-19, meeting online, and how you can be featured on our podcast. With Adam’s ever bright outlook and my grounded (sometimes cynical) perspective coming head to head, I think it’s safe to declare death to small talk! Listen in if you’d like to get to know a relatable 20 something couple living through this period in time right along side you. This week’s shower thought: Have you considered that your adult personality is just your child personality filtered through society?