Podcasts about i'm emily

Hi! I'm Emily, a bona fide control freak, or at least recovering control freak. Join me today as I talk about how big a factor control plays in our pain during IVF, how you can start to unclench, and spend your energy where it really counts- your personal power. 

Are ya overwhelmed? Anxious about ALL.THE.THINGS you're juggling? It's hard to have mental peace when surrounded by visual clutter and the many proverbial hats you're wearing. This is all happening because you're probably not asking yourself this #1 question. You need perspective! This episode will get you there! Today I chatted with my friend and podcaster Emily McDermott on how you can improve your mental health in college and mitigate decision fatigue. Check her out → MOMS OVERCOMING OVERWHELM, Decluttering, Decluttering Tips, Home Systems, Routines for Moms, Home Organization on Apple Podcasts P.S. Join the Facebook group --＞ Christian College Girl Community - Scholarships & Graduate Debt-Free | Facebook  Instagram --＞Kara Walker (@moneyandmentalpeace) • Instagram photos and videos Email --＞ info@moneyandmentalpeace.com   Related Episodes: 167 - Are You Overwhelmed and Anxious? Improve Mental Health in College Through Decluttering and Minimalism! - with Podcaster Emily McDermott 227 - How to Find Purpose in College & God's Calling for Your Future Career! 240 - Fighting Insomnia in College? Win a $1000 Sleep Scholarship HERE!!!   ***************************************** Emily's show →    Hey there, mama. Are you tired of all the STUFF crowding your home, calendar, and mind? Do you wish you could say goodbye to the endless to-do list running around in your head, while you're running around in the middle of the mess? Want to declutter but don't know where to start? Are your dreams buried under piles of toys and laundry?   Welcome to Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, where you will find proven and practical solutions to declutter your home, head, and heart. If you're ready to reclaim your precious resources of time, energy, attention, and focus and create the motherhood and life you want on YOUR terms - this podcast is for you.   Hi, I'm Emily - a wife, #boymom, and simplicity seeker. I struggled to get pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed - until I discovered decluttering could create the physical and emotional space I needed to become a mom.   Now, two kids later, I've transformed my life and motherhood by developing simple systems around decluttering, capsule wardrobes, kids stuff, cleaning and tidying, meal planning, time management, and more- and I can't wait to share them with you!   If you're ready to reclaim the time and energy you crave, be present with your kids, and finally enjoy the life and motherhood you SO deserve - let's kick overwhelm to the curb, shall we? Grab your lukewarm coffee, your notebook and pen, and clear off some counter space! Let's do this.   *********************************   My show →   Get scholarships and pay for college without student loans!   Are you worried about how to pay for college? Stressed because it's so expensive? Are you having trouble finding scholarships, or all you find don't apply to you? Overwhelmed with all things school and money?   Welcome fam! This podcast will help you find and get scholarships, avoid student loans and maybe even graduate college debt-free!   Hey! I'm Kara, a Christian entrepreneur, amateur snowboarder, and scholarship BEAST! I figured out how to not only finish college debt-free, but I even had $10k left over in the bank after graduation. (& btw, my parents weren't able to help me financially either!)   During school, I was worried about paying for next semester. I couldn't find scholarships that worked specifically for me, and didn't know how to get started while juggling homework and keeping up with ALL.THE.THINGS.   But dude, I learned there was a better way! With God's direction, I tested out of classes, and found the perfect scholarships, grants, internships, and weird budget hacks that helped me go from overwhelmed to debt-free with $10k in the bank–all with God on my side.   ... and I'm here to walk you through this, too.   If you are ready to find scholarships specific to you, learn to manage your money well, and have enough money to kill it at college, this pod is for you!   So grab your cold brew and TI-89, and listen in on the most stress-free and debt-free class you've ever attended: this is Money and Mental Peace.   Topics included in this podcast: money management, manage money, money, broke, waste of money, college, debt-free, overwhelmed, work life balance, Dave Ramsey, budget tips, student, find scholarships, financial peace, financial peace university, FPU, college degree online, minimalism, minimal, declutter, clutter

Hi! I'm Emily (or Em). Holistic Nutritionist, author & believer in creating vibrant health. Over six years ago I went through a chaotic health crisis with a vestibular condition that took me on a beautiful, and messy, healing journey. It cracked me open and inspired me to tap into my healer nature. Going through a health storm sparked my desire to help others heal using nutrition and a bio-individual approach. I believe that we should all be in the driver's seat when it comes to our health and wellness as we navigate the twists and turns of this human experience. I'm a believer in supporting healing from the inside out and addressing the root cause of the symptoms creating the chronic condition. My mission is to provide you with the nourishment, lifestyle medicine and confidence to fuel your health. I'm so happy to connect with you! You can learn more about me at vestibularwarrior.com I'd love to support you in your chronic wellness creation.

Do you have piles of paper that are constantly shuffled around from place to place?   Do you lack a system around all the paper coming into your home?   Today I'm sharing my no-fail paper processing routine around the three main categories of paper that my mamas struggle with the most - mail, kids' school papers, and kids' artwork.   Resources Mentioned (may include affiliate links):   The paper tray/inbox I use in my kitchen looks like this one I use the ScanSnap scanner. Mine works with Evernote but they make other models as well. Amazon Basics 12-sheet paper shredder   For mail:   To unsubscribe: For catalogs you don't want, use Catalog Choice. Dmachoice.org to unsubscribe from mailing lists Optoutprescreen.com for credit card solicitations yellowpagesoptout.com for phone books Magazines - depends on the magazine but the company needs to be contacted directly in most cases. If you don't want the physical copy, your local library may have access to magazines through Libby or Overdrive. Mine has 3,900 magazines available!    For kids' school papers:   I use Evernote (especially the Evernote app) to easily capture kids' school work and artwork I want to keep. Here's a short Reel showing you how I use it.   For kids' artwork and crafts:   If artwork doesn't go on my kids' corkboards in their rooms, I leave it in art purgatory for a few months. Then I go through it and will either take a photo using Evernote or throw it away.   I will keep a limited number of items (especially with handprints, etc.) in a physical file folder after I have taken a photo or scanned it.   Other ways to keep your kids artwork is using a system like Artkive and Keepy. They are apps that have paid and free versions that can take your kids' artwork and make art books or framed mosaics out of them.    ***   Have a question about decluttering, simplifying, systems, or anything else we talk about on the podcast? You can now leave me a voice message here. Look for the microphone that says START RECORDING. Who knows, your question may be answered on an upcoming episode!   Episodes Mentioned:    Episode 27: What Does Your Home Say About You? The Secret to Decorating Intentionally with Dani Watson from fig & farm at home   Episode 26: Loathe Laundry? Learn to Love it with my 20-Minute System    Episode 6: The EASIEST Way to Declutter Any Space in Your Home!   ***   I help moms declutter their homes, heads, and hearts.   Hey there, mama. Are you tired of all the STUFF crowding your home, calendar, and mind? Do you wish you could say goodbye to the endless to-do list running around in your head, while you're running around in the middle of the mess? Want to declutter but don't know where to start? Are your dreams buried under piles of toys and laundry?   Welcome to Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, where you will find proven and practical solutions to declutter your home, head, and heart.  If you're ready to reclaim your precious resources of time, energy, attention, and focus and create the motherhood and life you want on YOUR terms - this podcast is for you.   Hi, I'm Emily - a wife, #boymom, and simplicity seeker. I struggled to get pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed - until I discovered decluttering could create the physical and emotional space I needed to become a mom.   Now, two kids later, I've transformed my life and motherhood by developing simple systems around decluttering, capsule wardrobes, kids stuff, cleaning and tidying, meal planning, time management, and more- and I can't wait to share them with you!   If you're ready to reclaim the time and energy you crave, be present with your kids, and finally enjoy the life and motherhood you SO deserve - let's kick overwhelm to the curb, shall we? Grab your lukewarm coffee, your notebook and pen, and clear off some counter space! Let's do this.   Podcast -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/podcast   Learn -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/resources    Connect -＞ Join our free Facebook group Decluttering Tips and Support for Overwhelmed Moms   Instagram -＞ @simplebyemmy and @momsovercomingoverwhelm   *** Don't Know Where to Start? ***   5 Steps to Overcome Overwhelm -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/5steps/    5 Mindset Shifts for Decluttering -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/mindset/    Wanna work with me to kick overwhelm to the curb, mama? There are three options for you!   Step 1: Join a supportive community of moms plus decluttering challenges to keep you on track at the free Facebook group Decluttering Tips and Support for Overwhelmed Moms   Step 2: Grab a free 20-minute discovery call at https://calendly.com/simplebyemmy/discovery Step 3: Get more personalized support with one-on-one coaching! www.simplebyemmy.com/coaching   iSjhVyeYBrXwwCmEHC53

Today I am thrilled to bring you an interview with Dani Watson. Dani is a former first grade teacher turned home decorator. She describes herself as a daughter of the King, wife, boy mom and popcorn enthusiast. She's the host of the #1 ranked home design podcast, fig & farm at home.   What I love about Dani and why I invited her on the show is that she teaches busy moms with REAL homes and REAL budgets how to break free from the Pinterest perfect trap to create a home that tells their story with their style. She also grew up in a cluttered environment, and this really influenced her intentional approach to design and decorating.   As we are decluttering, we want to keep in mind what is most important to us. And that includes asking ourselves how we want our home to feel, and what story we want it to tell. Dani believes that homes are a canvas for storytelling, and learning how to intentionally decorate your home can help make it the restful haven you want it to be, not a cluttered, overwhelming place. And spoiler alert - the secret to intentional design is not buying every throw pillow you can find at Home Goods or Target!   Resources Mentioned:   Dani Watson's Podcast, fig & farm (at home)   Connect with Dani on Instagram or join her Design 101 Facebook Group   Dani's course, Design 101 will be open for enrollment March 16, 2023   My interview on Dani's podcast   Have a question about decluttering, simplifying, systems, or anything else we talk about on the podcast? You can now leave me a voice message here. Scroll to the bottom and look for the microphone and the bottom that says START RECORDING. Who knows, your question may be answered on an upcoming episode!   ***   I help moms declutter their homes, heads, and hearts.   Hey there, mama. Are you tired of all the STUFF crowding your home, calendar, and mind? Do you wish you could say goodbye to the endless to-do list running around in your head, while you're running around in the middle of the mess? Want to declutter but don't know where to start? Are your dreams buried under piles of toys and laundry?   Welcome to Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, where you will find proven and practical solutions to declutter your home, head, and heart.  If you're ready to reclaim your precious resources of time, energy, attention, and focus and create the motherhood and life you want on YOUR terms - this podcast is for you.   Hi, I'm Emily - a wife, #boymom, and simplicity seeker. I struggled to get pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed - until I discovered decluttering could create the physical and emotional space I needed to become a mom.   Now, two kids later, I've transformed my life and motherhood by developing simple systems around decluttering, capsule wardrobes, kids stuff, cleaning and tidying, meal planning, time management, and more- and I can't wait to share them with you!   If you're ready to reclaim the time and energy you crave, be present with your kids, and finally enjoy the life and motherhood you SO deserve - let's kick overwhelm to the curb, shall we? Grab your lukewarm coffee, your notebook and pen, and clear off some counter space! Let's do this.   Podcast -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/podcast   Learn -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/resources    Connect -＞ Join our free Facebook group Decluttering Tips and Support for Overwhelmed Moms   Instagram -＞ @simplebyemmy and @momsovercomingoverwhelm   *** Don't Know Where to Start? ***   5 Steps to Overcome Overwhelm -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/5steps/    5 Mindset Shifts for Decluttering -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/mindset/    Wanna work with me to kick overwhelm to the curb, mama? There are three options for you!   Step 1: Join a supportive community of moms plus decluttering challenges to keep you on track at the free Facebook group Decluttering Tips and Support for Overwhelmed Moms   Step 2: Grab a free 20-minute discovery call at https://calendly.com/simplebyemmy/discovery   Step 3: Get more personalized support with one-on-one coaching! www.simplebyemmy.com/coaching 

If you are an overwhelmed mama, most likely LAUNDRY is contributing to that. If you loathe it and piles of clothes are everywhere, and you have to start that same load (again) because you forgot about it and it's 6 hours later…well my friend, this episode is for you. My 20-minute laundry system will help you stay on top of laundry (rather than being buried in piles) once and for all!   Resources Mentioned:   Have a question about decluttering, simplifying, systems, or anything else we talk about on the podcast? You can now leave me a voice message here. Scroll to the bottom and look for the microphone and the bottom that says START RECORDING. Who knows, your question may be answered on an upcoming episode!   Episodes Mentioned:    Episode 2: 3 Major Causes of Overwhelm and How to Overcome Them   Episode 6: The EASIEST Way to Declutter Any Space in Your Home   Episode 19: Exhausted and Burnt Out with NO Energy to Declutter as a Busy Mom? You Probably Aren't Asking Yourself This Simple Question   Episode 20: The Overwhelmed Mom's Guide to a Capsule Wardrobe: 5 Steps to Calm Closet Chaos   Episode 25: From “I Don't Like it Here” to  Rediscovering Joy in Your Home and Motherhood - with Elyse Rooney from the Wholesome Mumma Show   ***   I help moms declutter their homes, heads, and hearts.   Hey there, mama. Are you tired of all the STUFF crowding your home, calendar, and mind? Do you wish you could say goodbye to the endless to-do list running around in your head, while you're running around in the middle of the mess? Want to declutter but don't know where to start? Are your dreams buried under piles of toys and laundry?   Welcome to Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, where you will find proven and practical solutions to declutter your home, head, and heart.  If you're ready to reclaim your precious resources of time, energy, attention, and focus and create the motherhood and life you want on YOUR terms - this podcast is for you.   Hi, I'm Emily - a wife, #boymom, and simplicity seeker. I struggled to get pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed - until I discovered decluttering could create the physical and emotional space I needed to become a mom.   Now, two kids later, I've transformed my life and motherhood by developing simple systems around decluttering, capsule wardrobes, kids stuff, cleaning and tidying, meal planning, time management, and more- and I can't wait to share them with you!   If you're ready to reclaim the time and energy you crave, be present with your kids, and finally enjoy the life and motherhood you SO deserve - let's kick overwhelm to the curb, shall we? Grab your lukewarm coffee, your notebook and pen, and clear off some counter space! Let's do this.   Podcast -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/podcast   Learn -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/resources    Connect -＞ Join our free Facebook group Decluttering Tips and Support for Overwhelmed Moms   Instagram -＞ @simplebyemmy and @momsovercomingoverwhelm   *** Don't Know Where to Start? ***   5 Steps to Overcome Overwhelm -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/5steps/    5 Mindset Shifts for Decluttering -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/mindset/    Wanna work with me to kick overwhelm to the curb, mama? There are two options for you!   Step 1: Grab a free 20-minute discovery call at https://calendly.com/simplebyemmy/discovery   Step 2: Get more personalized support with one-on-one coaching! www.simplebyemmy.com/coaching   

Have you ever looked around your house and thought to yourself, “I don't like it here?” Has your home ever felt like a prison filled with stuff, rather than a peaceful haven? If so, you're going to love my conversation today with my friend Elyse Rooney.   Elyse shares a powerful story of the moment she realized she didn't like being in her home, a moment that prompted her to grab the trash bags and start to ruthlessly declutter the things that weren't serving her and her family. If you have ever felt anxious and overwhelmed in your home and knew something needed to change, I know you're going to love her story.   Elyse lives in Australia with her husband and 3 children. She is a Christian Motherhood coach and chai latte enthusiast (something she and I have in common). Elyse helps moms, or “mums” as they say in Australia, of young kids to step into their calling of homemaking and raising their children. She is passionate about helping overwhelmed mums trade stress for peace and create flow in their home. Elyse also shares her journey of moving to a slow, simple way of living and why all mothers should embrace a more holistic, natural lifestyle. Elyse is the host of a top 1.5% global podcast, The Wholesome Mumma Show. She believes it is possible to spend quality time with your children, without the mum guilt of letting the home or the to do list go.   Resources Mentioned:   The Wholesome Mumma Show   Elyse's website   Elyse's course - The Home Detox Method   Connect with Elyse on Instagram   My interview on Elyse's podcast   ***   I help moms declutter their homes, heads, and hearts.   Hey there, mama. Are you tired of all the STUFF crowding your home, calendar, and mind? Do you wish you could say goodbye to the endless to-do list running around in your head, while you're running around in the middle of the mess? Want to declutter but don't know where to start? Are your dreams buried under piles of toys and laundry?   Welcome to Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, where you will find proven and practical solutions to declutter your home, head, and heart.  If you're ready to reclaim your precious resources of time, energy, attention, and focus and create the motherhood and life you want on YOUR terms - this podcast is for you.   Hi, I'm Emily - a wife, #boymom, and simplicity seeker. I struggled to get pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed - until I discovered decluttering could create the physical and emotional space I needed to become a mom.   Now, two kids later, I've transformed my life and motherhood by developing simple systems around decluttering, capsule wardrobes, kids stuff, cleaning and tidying, meal planning, time management, and more- and I can't wait to share them with you!   If you're ready to reclaim the time and energy you crave, be present with your kids, and finally enjoy the life and motherhood you SO deserve - let's kick overwhelm to the curb, shall we? Grab your lukewarm coffee, your notebook and pen, and clear off some counter space! Let's do this.   Podcast -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/podcast   Learn -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/resources    Connect -＞ Join our free Facebook group Decluttering Tips and Support for Overwhelmed Moms   Instagram -＞ @simplebyemmy and @momsovercomingoverwhelm   *** Don't Know Where to Start? ***   5 Steps to Overcome Overwhelm -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/5steps/    5 Mindset Shifts for Decluttering -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/mindset/    Wanna work with me to kick overwhelm to the curb, mama? There are three options for you!   Step 1: Grab a free 20-minute discovery call at https://calendly.com/simplebyemmy/discovery   Step 2: Kick overwhelm to the curb with 5 weeks of support at www.momsovercomingoverwhelm.com    Step 3: Get more personalized support with one-on-one coaching! www.simplebyemmy.com/coaching

When it comes to decluttering, you need to ask yourself some tough questions. Marie Kondo made this type of questioning popular with her favorite: “Does it spark joy?” While this may work for some items, I personally don't think it's a very helpful litmus test for deciding what to keep and what to toss. So today I'm sharing four lesser-known, but powerful questions that I use regularly in my own decluttering practice that will help you declutter more effectively.    GIVEAWAY ALERT! Between February 16, 2023 when this episode airs and February 20th at midnight Eastern time (EST), If you leave a rating and written review in Apple Podcasts, take a screen shot of it before you submit it and send it to me at @simplebyemmy either on Instagram or Facebook, you will be entered in a drawing for a free one-hour coaching session with me, valued at $47. You can find out more about what my coaching sessions include here.   Resources Mentioned:   50 Questions Minimalists Ask   5 Mindset Shifts to Help You Let Go of Clutter   Instead of “Does it Spark Joy?”, Ask This Question When Decluttering   Episodes Mentioned:    Episode 23: Drowning in Clutter? Stop Doing These 3 Things   Episode 10: The MOST Challenging Type of Clutter for Moms! 4 Kinds of Aspirational Clutter and How to Finally Let Go   Episode 9: Stop Holding Onto Stuff Because of What You Paid for It! 3 Tips to Overcome This Common Decluttering Roadblock   Episode 4: THIS is Why You Don't Have the Time to Declutter   Episode 14: Is Your Family Pressuring You Into Holding Onto Stuff You Don't Want? Say Goodbye to Guilt with These 3 Tips ***   I help moms declutter their homes, heads, and hearts.   Hey there, mama. Are you tired of all the STUFF crowding your home, calendar, and mind? Do you wish you could say goodbye to the endless to-do list running around in your head, while you're running around in the middle of the mess? Want to declutter but don't know where to start? Are your dreams buried under piles of toys and laundry?   Welcome to Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, where you will find proven and practical solutions to declutter your home, head, and heart.  If you're ready to reclaim your precious resources of time, energy, attention, and focus and create the motherhood and life you want on YOUR terms - this podcast is for you.   Hi, I'm Emily - a wife, #boymom, and simplicity seeker. I struggled to get pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed - until I discovered decluttering could create the physical and emotional space I needed to become a mom.   Now, two kids later, I've transformed my life and motherhood by developing simple systems around decluttering, capsule wardrobes, kids stuff, cleaning and tidying, meal planning, time management, and more- and I can't wait to share them with you!   If you're ready to reclaim the time and energy you crave, be present with your kids, and finally enjoy the life and motherhood you SO deserve - let's kick overwhelm to the curb, shall we? Grab your lukewarm coffee, your notebook and pen, and clear off some counter space! Let's do this.   Podcast -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/podcast   Learn -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/resources    Connect -＞ Join our free Facebook group Decluttering Tips and Support for Overwhelmed Moms   Instagram -＞ @simplebyemmy and @momsovercomingoverwhelm   *** Don't Know Where to Start? ***   5 Steps to Overcome Overwhelm -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/5steps/    5 Mindset Shifts for Decluttering -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/mindset/    Wanna work with me to kick overwhelm to the curb, mama? There are three options for you!   Step 1: Grab a free 20-minute discovery call at https://calendly.com/simplebyemmy/discovery   Step 2: Kick overwhelm to the curb with 5 weeks of support at www.momsovercomingoverwhelm.com    Step 3: Get more personalized support with one-on-one coaching! www.simplebyemmy.com/coaching 

If you search for decluttering tips in Pinterest, you will find hundreds of ideas, decluttering challenges, and the like. But what you won't find as much as is how to prevent excess stuff that becomes clutter from coming into your house in the first place. Recommending that people buy less is not supported by our consumerist culture.   The hard truth is that if you want to stop constantly decluttering, you have to be more intentional and, dare I say ruthless, with what you are bringing into your home. You have to be mindful of the still small voice that is questioning your purchases in the moment.    In today's episode, I share the three things you need to STOP doing in order to get out from under your clutter.    Resources Mentioned:   Toy Survey   Unroll.me   Buy Nothing Groups   Freecycle   Episodes Mentioned:    Episode 4: THIS is Why You Don't Have the Time to Declutter   Episode 19: Exhausted and Burnt Out with NO Energy to Declutter as a Busy Mom? You Probably Aren't Asking Yourself This Simple Question   Episode 6: The EASIEST Way to Declutter Any Space in Your Home!   ***   I help moms declutter their homes, heads, and hearts.   Hey there, mama. Are you tired of all the STUFF crowding your home, calendar, and mind? Do you wish you could say goodbye to the endless to-do list running around in your head, while you're running around in the middle of the mess? Want to declutter but don't know where to start? Are your dreams buried under piles of toys and laundry?   Welcome to Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, where you will find proven and practical solutions to declutter your home, head, and heart.  If you're ready to reclaim your precious resources of time, energy, attention, and focus and create the motherhood and life you want on YOUR terms - this podcast is for you.   Hi, I'm Emily - a wife, #boymom, and simplicity seeker. I struggled to get pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed - until I discovered decluttering could create the physical and emotional space I needed to become a mom.   Now, two kids later, I've transformed my life and motherhood by developing simple systems around decluttering, capsule wardrobes, kids stuff, cleaning and tidying, meal planning, time management, and more- and I can't wait to share them with you!   If you're ready to reclaim the time and energy you crave, be present with your kids, and finally enjoy the life and motherhood you SO deserve - let's kick overwhelm to the curb, shall we? Grab your lukewarm coffee, your notebook and pen, and clear off some counter space! Let's do this.   Podcast -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/podcast   Learn -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/resources    Connect -＞ Join our free Facebook group Decluttering Tips and Support for Overwhelmed Moms   Instagram -＞ @simplebyemmy and @momsovercomingoverwhelm   *** Don't Know Where to Start? ***   5 Steps to Overcome Overwhelm -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/5steps/    5 Mindset Shifts for Decluttering -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/mindset/    Wanna work with me to kick overwhelm to the curb, mama? There are three options for you!   Step 1: Grab a free 20-minute discovery call at https://calendly.com/simplebyemmy/discovery   Step 2: Kick overwhelm to the curb with 5 weeks of support at www.momsovercomingoverwhelm.com    Step 3: Get more personalized support with one-on-one coaching! www.simplebyemmy.com/coaching 

On January 26th, 2023, a Washington Post article about Marie Kondo, the patron saint of decluttering and tidying, was anything anyone could talk about on my Facebook and Instagram feeds.   Was it true? Had Marie Kondo, whose career exploded because of her book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, truly “given up” on the very thing she said was life-changing now that she was a mom of three?   Reading the clickbait titles of online articles like these, it seemed to be true:   “Marie Kondo's House is Messy. Should You Give Up on Being Tidy, Too?” “Marie Kondo has Finally Realized What it Costs to Be Tidy - and Like Me, Has Decided to Chill the Hell Out”   But in reading the Washington Post article itself, and looking at Kondo's exact words, I'm not planning to let go of the decluttering and tidying systems in my home that help support my physical, emotional, and mental health. Kondo isn't giving up on tidying in the sense that her house is going to be in the next episode of Hoarders. On the contrary, she has given up on something far more important. She has given up on unrealistic expectations, and issue that plagues me and pretty much every mom I've ever met.    So in today's episode, we're going to see Marie Kondo's words for what they are and learn about the three things she can teach us about letting go of unrealistic expectations to live a life that truly sparks joy.   Resources Mentioned:   Washington Post Article about Marie Kondo   Episodes Mentioned:    Episode 17: Decluttering Our Self-Talk with Julia Ubbenga from Rich in What Matters   Episode 8: Is Clutter Stealing from You? 4 Things You Can Reclaim Now Even as a Busy Mom   ***   I help moms declutter their homes, heads, and hearts.   Hey there, mama. Are you tired of all the STUFF crowding your home, calendar, and mind? Do you wish you could say goodbye to the endless to-do list running around in your head, while you're running around in the middle of the mess? Want to declutter but don't know where to start? Are your dreams buried under piles of toys and laundry?   Welcome to Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, where you will find proven and practical solutions to declutter your home, head, and heart.  If you're ready to reclaim your precious resources of time, energy, attention, and focus and create the motherhood and life you want on YOUR terms - this podcast is for you.   Hi, I'm Emily - a wife, #boymom, and simplicity seeker. I struggled to get pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed - until I discovered decluttering could create the physical and emotional space I needed to become a mom.   Now, two kids later, I've transformed my life and motherhood by developing simple systems around decluttering, capsule wardrobes, kids stuff, cleaning and tidying, meal planning, time management, and more- and I can't wait to share them with you!   If you're ready to reclaim the time and energy you crave, be present with your kids, and finally enjoy the life and motherhood you SO deserve - let's kick overwhelm to the curb, shall we? Grab your lukewarm coffee, your notebook and pen, and clear off some counter space! Let's do this.   Podcast -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/podcast   Learn -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/resources    Connect -＞ Join our free Facebook group Decluttering Tips and Support for Overwhelmed Moms   Instagram -＞ @simplebyemmy and @momsovercomingoverwhelm   *** Don't Know Where to Start? ***   5 Steps to Overcome Overwhelm -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/5steps/    5 Mindset Shifts for Decluttering -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/mindset/    Wanna work with me to kick overwhelm to the curb, mama? There are three options for you!   Step 1: Grab a free 30-minute decluttering coaching session at www.calendly.com/simplebyemmy    Step 2: Kick overwhelm to the curb with 5 weeks of support at www.momsovercomingoverwhelm.com    Step 3: Get more personalized support with one-on-one coaching! info@simplebyemmy.com 

If your to-do list is never-ending, and you have no idea where to start, this episode is for you. Jessa Raye is a wife, mom, time management coach, and the host of the Caught Up in Motherhood Podcast. She shares how her son's medical complications caused her to re-evaluate her priorities and start living in alignment with what was most important. She also shares an eye-opening exercise which is the MOST effective way to see if you are living in alignment with YOUR values, as well as her top tips to tame that to-do list and give yourself heaps of grace in the process.    You can find out more about Jessa via her website, including her time management coaching services for overwhelmed moms. She is also active on Instagram and has a free Facebook community you can join!   ***   I help moms declutter their homes, heads, and hearts.   Hey there, mama. Are you tired of all the STUFF crowding your home, calendar, and mind? Do you wish you could say goodbye to the endless to-do list running around in your head, while you're running around in the middle of the mess? Want to declutter but don't know where to start? Are your dreams buried under piles of toys and laundry?   Welcome to Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, where you will find proven and practical solutions to declutter your home, head, and heart.  If you're ready to reclaim your precious resources of time, energy, attention, and focus and create the motherhood and life you want on YOUR terms - this podcast is for you.   Hi, I'm Emily - a wife, #boymom, and simplicity seeker. I struggled to get pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed - until I discovered decluttering could create the physical and emotional space I needed to become a mom.   Now, two kids later, I've transformed my life and motherhood by developing simple systems around decluttering, capsule wardrobes, kids stuff, cleaning and tidying, meal planning, time management, and more- and I can't wait to share them with you!   If you're ready to reclaim the time and energy you crave, be present with your kids, and finally enjoy the life and motherhood you SO deserve - let's kick overwhelm to the curb, shall we? Grab your lukewarm coffee, your notebook and pen, and clear off some counter space! Let's do this.   Podcast -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/podcast   Learn -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/resources    Connect -＞ Join our free Facebook group Decluttering Tips and Support for Overwhelmed Moms   Instagram -＞ @simplebyemmy and @momsovercomingoverwhelm   *** Don't Know Where to Start? ***   5 Steps to Overcome Overwhelm -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/5steps/    5 Mindset Shifts for Decluttering -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/mindset/    Wanna work with me to kick overwhelm to the curb, mama? There are three options for you!   Step 1: Grab a free 30-minute decluttering coaching session at www.calendly.com/simplebyemmy    Step 2: Kick overwhelm to the curb with 5 weeks of support at www.momsovercomingoverwhelm.com    Step 3: Get more personalized support with one-on-one coaching! info@simplebyemmy.com 

One of the main questions I get from moms is about how to simplify and streamline their wardrobe. We've all been there - our closets are stuffed with clothes and yet we have “nothing to wear”. As an overwhelmed mom, we don't want to spend a lot of time and energy on getting dressed, and oftentimes we leave our closets feeling frazzled and depressed.    Today I'm going to share my five best tips for curating your closet and saying goodbye to the chaos. Getting dressed is something we all need to do, but it does not need to drain your energy!   Resources Mentioned:   Your Color Guru (I don't have a discount code but I used the one from The Maximized Minimalist Podcast - “clutterfree” gets you 10% off as far as I know) Project 333 by Courtney Carver Everyday Style Capsule Guides by Jennifer Mackey Mary Momiform Style Society by Jammie Baker   Episodes Mentioned:    Episode 3: Before you declutter, you MUST do this first   Episode 10: The MOST Challenging Type of Clutter for Moms! 4 Kinds of Aspirational Clutter and How to Finally Let Go   Episode 9: Stop Holding Onto Stuff Because of What You Paid for It! 3 Tips to Overcome This Common Decluttering Roadblock   Episode 19: Exhausted and Burnt Out with NO Energy to Declutter as a Busy Mom? You Probably Aren't Asking Yourself This Simple Question   ***   I help moms declutter their homes, heads, and hearts.   Hey there, mama. Are you tired of all the STUFF crowding your home, calendar, and mind? Do you wish you could say goodbye to the endless to-do list running around in your head, while you're running around in the middle of the mess? Want to declutter but don't know where to start? Are your dreams buried under piles of toys and laundry?   Welcome to Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, where you will find proven and practical solutions to declutter your home, head, and heart.  If you're ready to reclaim your precious resources of time, energy, attention, and focus and create the motherhood and life you want on YOUR terms - this podcast is for you.   Hi, I'm Emily - a wife, #boymom, and simplicity seeker. I struggled to get pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed - until I discovered decluttering could create the physical and emotional space I needed to become a mom.   Now, two kids later, I've transformed my life and motherhood by developing simple systems around decluttering, capsule wardrobes, kids stuff, cleaning and tidying, meal planning, time management, and more- and I can't wait to share them with you!   If you're ready to reclaim the time and energy you crave, be present with your kids, and finally enjoy the life and motherhood you SO deserve - let's kick overwhelm to the curb, shall we? Grab your lukewarm coffee, your notebook and pen, and clear off some counter space! Let's do this.   Podcast -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/podcast   Learn -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/resources    Connect -＞ Join our free Facebook group Decluttering Tips and Support for Overwhelmed Moms   Instagram -＞ @simplebyemmy and @momsovercomingoverwhelm   *** Don't Know Where to Start? ***   5 Steps to Overcome Overwhelm -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/5steps/    5 Mindset Shifts for Decluttering -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/mindset/    Wanna work with me to kick overwhelm to the curb, mama? There are three options for you!   Step 1: Grab a free 30-minute decluttering coaching session at www.calendly.com/simplebyemmy    Step 2: Kick overwhelm to the curb with 5 weeks of support at www.momsovercomingoverwhelm.com    Step 3: Get more personalized support with one-on-one coaching! info@simplebyemmy.com 

Did you know that every day we supposedly make 35,000 decisions (although my guess is that it's higher for moms)? If you're going through your days exhausted, burnt out, and not sure how you're going to find an ounce of energy to declutter anything, I have an idea what the culprit may be. Too much stuff means too many choices and too many decisions, which causes decision fatigue! In today's episode I'm going to talk about the three reasons why unnecessary decisions are stealing your energy and what we can do about it.  Join the free Facebook group! I help you one-on-one with your decluttering journey with short, doable challenges!  ***   I help moms declutter their homes, heads, and hearts.   Hey there, mama. Are you tired of all the STUFF crowding your home, calendar, and mind? Do you wish you could say goodbye to the endless to-do list running around in your head, while you're running around in the middle of the mess? Want to declutter but don't know where to start? Are your dreams buried under piles of toys and laundry?   Welcome to Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, where you will find proven and practical solutions to declutter your home, head, and heart.  If you're ready to reclaim your precious resources of time, energy, attention, and focus and create the motherhood and life you want on YOUR terms - this podcast is for you.   Hi, I'm Emily - a wife, #boymom, and simplicity seeker. I struggled to get pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed - until I discovered decluttering could create the physical and emotional space I needed to become a mom.   Now, two kids later, I've transformed my life and motherhood by developing simple systems around decluttering, capsule wardrobes, kids stuff, cleaning and tidying, meal planning, time management, and more- and I can't wait to share them with you!   If you're ready to reclaim the time and energy you crave, be present with your kids, and finally enjoy the life and motherhood you SO deserve - let's kick overwhelm to the curb, shall we? Grab your lukewarm coffee, your notebook and pen, and clear off some counter space! Let's do this.   Podcast -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/podcast   Learn -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/resources    Connect -＞ Join our free Facebook group Decluttering Tips and Support for Overwhelmed Moms   Instagram -＞ @simplebyemmy and @momsovercomingoverwhelm   *** Don't Know Where to Start? ***   5 Steps to Overcome Overwhelm -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/5steps/    5 Mindset Shifts for Decluttering -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/mindset/    Wanna work with me to kick overwhelm to the curb, mama? There are three options for you!   Step 1: Grab a free 30-minute decluttering coaching session at www.calendly.com/simplebyemmy    Step 2: Kick overwhelm to the curb with 5 weeks of support at www.momsovercomingoverwhelm.com    Step 3: Get more personalized support with one-on-one coaching! info@simplebyemmy.com 

Do your kids want to keep EVERYTHING? Not sure how to even approach decluttering with them, but don't want to throw out everything when they're sleeping (no matter how much you're tempted). Today I share my best three tips about how to get your kids (yes YOUR kids) on board with decluttering.  There's still time to participate in the giveaway for Julia Ubbenga's course Declutter Your Life NOW. If you leave a written review on Apple Podcasts for this podcast between January 5 and January 11th at midnight EST, and send me a screen shot by Instagram or Facebook so I know who you are, you will be entered into a drawing to win ALL the videos. As a reminder, it includes all the teaching videos and an in-depth video tour of her minimalist home. But you have to send me the screenshot of your Apple Podcasts review because otherwise it's your Apple ID name like happymommy321 or fivekidsnonaps and I have no idea who you are! Resources Mentioned:   8 Minimalist Values to Pass Onto Your Kids - Instagram Post   Physical Boundaries in my Kids' Rooms - Instagram Reel   Kids Artwork Purgatory - Instagram Reel   Article: Are You Offering Your Children Too Many Choices?   Episodes Mentioned:    Episode 17: Decluttering Our Self-Talk with Julia Ubbenga from Rich in What Matters   Episode 16: “My Husband Doesn't Want to Get Rid of Anything!” How to Get Your Spouse on Board with Decluttering in 5 Simple Steps   Episode 6: The EASIEST Way to Declutter Any Space in Your Home!   ***   I help moms declutter their homes, heads, and hearts.   Hey there, mama. Are you tired of all the STUFF crowding your home, calendar, and mind? Do you wish you could say goodbye to the endless to-do list running around in your head, while you're running around in the middle of the mess? Want to declutter but don't know where to start? Are your dreams buried under piles of toys and laundry?   Welcome to Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, where you will find proven and practical solutions to declutter your home, head, and heart.  If you're ready to reclaim your precious resources of time, energy, attention, and focus and create the motherhood and life you want on YOUR terms - this podcast is for you.   Hi, I'm Emily - a wife, #boymom, and simplicity seeker. I struggled to get pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed - until I discovered decluttering could create the physical and emotional space I needed to become a mom.   Now, two kids later, I've transformed my life and motherhood by developing simple systems around decluttering, capsule wardrobes, kids stuff, cleaning and tidying, meal planning, time management, and more- and I can't wait to share them with you!   If you're ready to reclaim the time and energy you crave, be present with your kids, and finally enjoy the life and motherhood you SO deserve - let's kick overwhelm to the curb, shall we? Grab your lukewarm coffee, your notebook and pen, and clear off some counter space! Let's do this.   Podcast -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/podcast   Learn -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/resources    Connect -＞ Join our free Facebook group Decluttering Tips and Support for Overwhelmed Moms   Instagram -＞ @simplebyemmy and @momsovercomingoverwhelm   *** Don't Know Where to Start? ***   5 Steps to Overcome Overwhelm -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/5steps/    5 Mindset Shifts for Decluttering -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/mindset/    Wanna work with me to kick overwhelm to the curb, mama? There are three options for you!   Step 1: Grab a free 30-minute decluttering coaching session at www.calendly.com/simplebyemmy    Step 2: Kick overwhelm to the curb with 5 weeks of support at www.momsovercomingoverwhelm.com    Step 3: Get more personalized support with one-on-one coaching! info@simplebyemmy.com 

Decluttering our homes is important, but what about the negative thoughts cluttering our minds and hearts? How many times have you thought, “I'm a bad mom” or “I wish I could just get myself together”. Today on the podcast, I am thrilled to have Julia Ubbenga from Rich in What Matters. Julia shares her story of how she discovered simplifying and minimalism in the midst of postpartum depression and $40,000 of credit card debt. She then shares her best tips for decluttering self-talk for overwhelmed moms.    Julia Ubbenga is a freelance journalist whose teachings on minimalism, simplicity, and intentional living have reached thousands of people worldwide through her blog Rich in What Matters and her course Declutter Your Life NOW. Julia practices what she preaches in her Kansas City home with her husband, and four kiddos. You can connect with her on Instagram.   In addition to Julia's blog, which provides weekly inspiration to your inbox, she is also offering an exclusive giveaway to listeners of the Moms Overcoming Overwhelm Podcast! If you leave a written review on Apple Podcasts for this podcast between 5 AM EST on December 29 when this airs, until Wednesday, January 4 at midnight EST, you will be entered into a drawing to win ALL the videos to Julia's new course “Declutter Your Life NOW.” This course is launching in January 2023! It includes all of her teaching videos on how to rid your home and heart of clutter NOW and an in-depth video tour of her minimalist home. It is a $150 value - 32 videos, 4 hours of content.    Just take a screen shot of your review and message me at @simplebyemmy either on Instagram or Facebook to be entered in the drawing. The winner will be announced on the podcast episode airing January 5th, 2023.    Also it's not too late to join our 5- day decluttering challenge starting January 2. Just go to tinurl.com/momsovercomingoverwhelm to join the free Facebook group. I hope to see you there!   ***   I help moms declutter their homes, heads, and hearts.   Hey there, mama. Are you tired of all the STUFF crowding your home, calendar, and mind? Do you wish you could say goodbye to the endless to-do list running around in your head, while you're running around in the middle of the mess? Want to declutter but don't know where to start? Are your dreams buried under piles of toys and laundry?   Welcome to Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, where you will find proven and practical solutions to declutter your home, head, and heart.  If you're ready to reclaim your precious resources of time, energy, attention, and focus and create the motherhood and life you want on YOUR terms - this podcast is for you.   Hi, I'm Emily - a wife, #boymom, and simplicity seeker. I struggled to get pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed - until I discovered decluttering could create the physical and emotional space I needed to become a mom.   Now, two kids later, I've transformed my life and motherhood by developing simple systems around decluttering, capsule wardrobes, kids stuff, cleaning and tidying, meal planning, time management, and more- and I can't wait to share them with you!   If you're ready to reclaim the time and energy you crave, be present with your kids, and finally enjoy the life and motherhood you SO deserve - let's kick overwhelm to the curb, shall we? Grab your lukewarm coffee, your notebook and pen, and clear off some counter space! Let's do this.   Podcast -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/podcast   Learn -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/resources    Connect -＞ Join our free Facebook group Decluttering Tips and Support for Overwhelmed Moms   Instagram -＞ @simplebyemmy and @momsovercomingoverwhelm   *** Don't Know Where to Start? ***   5 Steps to Overcome Overwhelm -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/5steps/    5 Mindset Shifts for Decluttering -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/mindset/    Wanna work with me to kick overwhelm to the curb, mama? There are three options for you!   Step 1: Grab a free 30-minute decluttering coaching session at www.calendly.com/simplebyemmy    Step 2: Kick overwhelm to the curb with 5 weeks of support at www.momsovercomingoverwhelm.com    Step 3: Get more personalized support with one-on-one coaching! info@simplebyemmy.com 

Bio: Hi, I'm Emily. Growing up in suburban NJ, there were plenty of good bagels around. But when my father had business take him to the Upper West Side, he would stop by Zabar's for lox, sable, whitefish, and chive cream cheese, and H&H for bagels, which we would have as a special treat. These bagels were on a whole different level of unique deliciousness. After moving away, I would look forward to possibly having them when visiting home. And then one day I learned that they had gone out of business, and I was deeply upset. I took this news like the death of a loved one I just hadn't been in contact with in a long time, and grieved, and said I didn't want to let those bagels cease to exist. And so I embarked on what became my five-year quest, through trial and error, to create a bagel I longed to eat. (From the Boichik Bagel Website) Boichik Bagels https://boichikbagels.com/ _________________________________________________________ This episode is sponsored by Culinary Historians of Northern California, a Bay Area educational group dedicated to the study of food, drink, and culture in human history. To learn more about this organization and its work, please visit its website at www.chnorcal.org If you follow my podcast and enjoy it, I'm on @buymeacoffee. If you like my work, you can buy me a coffee and share your thoughts

What if you have done the hard work of shifting your mindset and finally feel ready to go full steam ahead on your decluttering journey, but your family isn't anywhere close?   The number one question I get when I speak to moms groups is: “How do I get my spouse on board with decluttering?” It's a tricky question for sure, but one that I'm happy to tackle! Based upon my own experience and the experience of others who have tread this path already, I have five simple steps to share.   Episodes Mentioned:   Episode 8: Is Clutter Stealing from You? 4 Things You Can Reclaim Now Even as a Busy Mom   ***   I help moms declutter their homes, heads, and hearts.   Hey there, mama. Are you tired of all the STUFF crowding your home, calendar, and mind? Do you wish you could say goodbye to the endless to-do list running around in your head, while you're running around in the middle of the mess? Want to declutter but don't know where to start? Are your dreams buried under piles of toys and laundry?   Welcome to Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, where you will find proven and practical solutions to declutter your home, head, and heart.  If you're ready to reclaim your precious resources of time, energy, attention, and focus and create the motherhood and life you want on YOUR terms - this podcast is for you.   Hi, I'm Emily - a wife, #boymom, and simplicity seeker. I struggled to get pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed - until I discovered decluttering could create the physical and emotional space I needed to become a mom.   Now, two kids later, I've transformed my life and motherhood by developing simple systems around decluttering, capsule wardrobes, kids stuff, cleaning and tidying, meal planning, time management, and more- and I can't wait to share them with you!   If you're ready to reclaim the time and energy you crave, be present with your kids, and finally enjoy the life and motherhood you SO deserve - let's kick overwhelm to the curb, shall we? Grab your lukewarm coffee, your notebook and pen, and clear off some counter space! Let's do this.   Podcast -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/podcast   Learn -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/resources    Connect -＞ Join our free Facebook group Decluttering Tips and Support for Overwhelmed Moms   Instagram -＞ @simplebyemmy and @momsovercomingoverwhelm   *** Don't Know Where to Start? ***   5 Steps to Overcome Overwhelm -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/5steps/    5 Mindset Shifts for Decluttering -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/mindset/    Wanna work with me to kick overwhelm to the curb, mama? There are three options for you!   Step 1: Grab a free 30-minute decluttering coaching session at www.calendly.com/simplebyemmy    Step 2: Kick overwhelm to the curb with 5 weeks of support at www.momsovercomingoverwhelm.com    Step 3: Get more personalized support with one-on-one coaching! info@simplebyemmy.com 

On this episode of Bad Associations Podcast Chev talks to Emily about the pressure of child baptism, moving out of the house in order to feel safe in leaving the cult, going to college while being a JW, the pressure of her leaving that fell on her parents and more. If you'd like to share your story you can send a voice memo by clicking HERE , by emailing me at badassociationspodcast@yahoo.com, DMing me on Instagram @badassociationspod or schedule time for us to chat by clicking HERE The views expressed on the Bad Associations Podcast are solely from the recollections of the guest themselves. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/badassociationspod/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/badassociationspod/support

There are so many roadblocks to decluttering that we've spoken about in previous episodes - how long we've owned something, how much we paid for it, thinking that we might use it “someday” or we “should” keep it because it's sentimental, or belonged to a family member.   But there is one huge roadblock that we're going to dive into today - something we tell ourselves over and over again. In fact, the two guys who call themselves The Minimalists say that these are the 3 most dangerous words in the English language. Can you guess what they are? We're going to chat about them and how we can shift our mindset to kickstart our decluttering efforts in a powerful way.    Episodes Mentioned:    Episode 10: The MOST Challenging Type of Clutter for Moms! 4 Kinds of Aspirational Clutter and How to Finally Let Go   Episode 9: Stop Holding Onto Stuff Because of What You Paid for It! 3 Tips to Overcome This Common Decluttering Roadblock   Episode 8: Is Clutter Stealing from You? 4 Things You Can Reclaim Now Even as a Busy Mom   ***   I help moms declutter their homes, heads, and hearts.   Hey there, mama. Are you tired of all the STUFF crowding your home, calendar, and mind? Do you wish you could say goodbye to the endless to-do list running around in your head, while you're running around in the middle of the mess? Want to declutter but don't know where to start? Are your dreams buried under piles of toys and laundry?   Welcome to Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, where you will find proven and practical solutions to declutter your home, head, and heart.  If you're ready to reclaim your precious resources of time, energy, attention, and focus and create the motherhood and life you want on YOUR terms - this podcast is for you.   Hi, I'm Emily - a wife, #boymom, and simplicity seeker. I struggled to get pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed - until I discovered decluttering could create the physical and emotional space I needed to become a mom.   Now, two kids later, I've transformed my life and motherhood by developing simple systems around decluttering, capsule wardrobes, kids stuff, cleaning and tidying, meal planning, time management, and more- and I can't wait to share them with you!   If you're ready to reclaim the time and energy you crave, be present with your kids, and finally enjoy the life and motherhood you SO deserve - let's kick overwhelm to the curb, shall we? Grab your lukewarm coffee, your notebook and pen, and clear off some counter space! Let's do this.   Podcast -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/podcast   Learn -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/resources    Connect -＞ Join our free Facebook group Decluttering Tips and Support for Overwhelmed Moms   Instagram -＞ @simplebyemmy and @momsovercomingoverwhelm   *** Don't Know Where to Start? ***   5 Steps to Overcome Overwhelm -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/5steps/    5 Mindset Shifts for Decluttering -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/mindset/    Wanna work with me to kick overwhelm to the curb, mama? There are three options for you!   Step 1: Grab a free 30-minute decluttering coaching session at www.calendly.com/simplebyemmy    Step 2: Kick overwhelm to the curb with 5 weeks of support at www.momsovercomingoverwhelm.com    Step 3: Get more personalized support with one-on-one coaching! info@simplebyemmy.com 

Whether overt or perceived, guilt is a major reason why we hold onto what we don't need. And family guilt is particularly tricky, because relationships are involved which (as we know) can be very complex. We have to tread lightly while still holding our boundaries around what comes across the threshold of our front door.   In today's episode I'm going to give you three tips on how to deal with the guilt you may feel, so that you stop saying yes to stuff you don't want or need out of guilt, and can let go of what you may already have in your home that isn't serving you or your family.  Resources Mentioned:   Your Spacious Self by Stephanie Bennett Vogt   *Note - affiliate links may be included which means that I get a small commission from any qualifying purchases you make from the link. Thanks!*   Episodes Mentioned:    Episode 3: Before You Declutter, You MUST Do This First   Episode 8: Is Clutter Stealing From You? The 4 Things You Can Reclaim Now Even As a Busy Mom   Episode 11: Holding onto EVERYTHING Sentimental? 3 Decluttering Hacks You HAVE to Try   ***   I help moms declutter their homes, heads, and hearts.   Hey there, mama. Are you tired of all the STUFF crowding your home, calendar, and mind? Do you wish you could say goodbye to the endless to-do list running around in your head, while you're running around in the middle of the mess? Want to declutter but don't know where to start? Are your dreams buried under piles of toys and laundry?   Welcome to Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, where you will find proven and practical solutions to declutter your home, head, and heart.  If you're ready to reclaim your precious resources of time, energy, attention, and focus and create the motherhood and life you want on YOUR terms - this podcast is for you.   Hi, I'm Emily - a wife, #boymom, and simplicity seeker. I struggled to get pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed - until I discovered decluttering could create the physical and emotional space I needed to become a mom.   Now, two kids later, I've transformed my life and motherhood by developing simple systems around decluttering, capsule wardrobes, kids stuff, cleaning and tidying, meal planning, time management, and more- and I can't wait to share them with you!   If you're ready to reclaim the time and energy you crave, be present with your kids, and finally enjoy the life and motherhood you SO deserve - let's kick overwhelm to the curb, shall we? Grab your lukewarm coffee, your notebook and pen, and clear off some counter space! Let's do this.   Podcast -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/podcast   Learn -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/resources    Connect -＞ Join our free Facebook group Decluttering Tips and Support for Overwhelmed Moms   Instagram -＞ @simplebyemmy and @momsovercomingoverwhelm   *** Don't Know Where to Start? ***   5 Steps to Overcome Overwhelm -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/5steps/    5 Mindset Shifts for Decluttering -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/mindset/    Wanna work with me to kick overwhelm to the curb, mama? There are three options for you!   Step 1: Grab a free 30-minute decluttering coaching session at www.calendly.com/simplebyemmy    Step 2: Kick overwhelm to the curb with 5 weeks of support at www.momsovercomingoverwhelm.com    Step 3: Get more personalized support with one-on-one coaching! info@simplebyemmy.com   

If you're drowning in toys and dreading the influx of even more after the holidays, don't despair! You can limit the toys without sacrificing holiday cheer. In today's episode, I give you four powerful tips to make sure you're starting the new year with all the joy and none of the clutter.    Don't forget to join the Facebook group for decluttering support and free coaching!    Episodes Mentioned:    Episode 6: The EASIEST Way to Declutter Any Space in Your Home!   ***   I help moms declutter their homes, heads, and hearts.   Hey there, mama. Are you tired of all the STUFF crowding your home, calendar, and mind? Do you wish you could say goodbye to the endless to-do list running around in your head, while you're running around in the middle of the mess? Want to declutter but don't know where to start? Are your dreams buried under piles of toys and laundry?   Welcome to Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, where you will find proven and practical solutions to declutter your home, head, and heart.  If you're ready to reclaim your precious resources of time, energy, attention, and focus and create the motherhood and life you want on YOUR terms - this podcast is for you.   Hi, I'm Emily - a wife, #boymom, and simplicity seeker. I struggled to get pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed - until I discovered decluttering could create the physical and emotional space I needed to become a mom.   Now, two kids later, I've transformed my life and motherhood by developing simple systems around decluttering, capsule wardrobes, kids stuff, cleaning and tidying, meal planning, time management, and more- and I can't wait to share them with you!   If you're ready to reclaim the time and energy you crave, be present with your kids, and finally enjoy the life and motherhood you SO deserve - let's kick overwhelm to the curb, shall we? Grab your lukewarm coffee, your notebook and pen, and clear off some counter space! Let's do this.   Podcast -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/podcast   Learn -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/resources    Connect -＞ Join our free Facebook group Decluttering Tips and Support for Overwhelmed Moms   Instagram -＞ @simplebyemmy and @momsovercomingoverwhelm   *** Don't Know Where to Start? ***   5 Steps to Overcome Overwhelm -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/5steps/    5 Mindset Shifts for Decluttering -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/mindset/    Wanna work with me to kick overwhelm to the curb, mama? There are three options for you!   Step 1: Grab a free 30-minute decluttering coaching session at www.calendly.com/simplebyemmy    Step 2: Kick overwhelm to the curb with 5 weeks of support at www.momsovercomingoverwhelm.com    Step 3: Get more personalized support with one-on-one coaching! info@simplebyemmy.com 

Today I'm thrilled to bring you my first interview on the podcast. Once a month I will introduce you to a mom who has overcome overwhelm through decluttering and simplifying. Today I chat with Sarah from Simple + Intentional. Sarah is a full-time teacher, mom + wife who is passionate about helping women change their lives through decluttering.    After a cancer diagnosis in 2014, she discovered her perfectionism + people pleasing were holding her back + creating a lot of overwhelm. This was also the year she first discovered minimalism and slowly started getting rid of things.   Fast forward to 2018 and becoming a mom. The overwhelm forced Sarah to start examining her relationship with stuff and the big purge began. And she hasn't looked back!    Now Sarah helps other moms deal with their clutter, get organized and create systems + routines to make life easier.   You can find her on Instagram, her website or in the simple + intentional Facebook community   ***   I help moms declutter their homes, heads, and hearts.   Hey there, mama. Are you tired of all the STUFF crowding your home, calendar, and mind? Do you wish you could say goodbye to the endless to-do list running around in your head, while you're running around in the middle of the mess? Want to declutter but don't know where to start? Are your dreams buried under piles of toys and laundry?   Welcome to Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, where you will find proven and practical solutions to declutter your home, head, and heart.  If you're ready to reclaim your precious resources of time, energy, attention, and focus and create the motherhood and life you want on YOUR terms - this podcast is for you.   Hi, I'm Emily - a wife, #boymom, and simplicity seeker. I struggled to get pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed - until I discovered decluttering could create the physical and emotional space I needed to become a mom.   Now, two kids later, I've transformed my life and motherhood by developing simple systems around decluttering, capsule wardrobes, kids stuff, cleaning and tidying, meal planning, time management, and more- and I can't wait to share them with you!   If you're ready to reclaim the time and energy you crave, be present with your kids, and finally enjoy the life and motherhood you SO deserve - let's kick overwhelm to the curb, shall we? Grab your lukewarm coffee, your notebook and pen, and clear off some counter space! Let's do this.   Podcast -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/podcast   Learn -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/resources    Connect -＞ Join our free Facebook group Decluttering Tips and Support for Overwhelmed Moms   Instagram -＞ @simplebyemmy and @momsovercomingoverwhelm   *** Don't Know Where to Start? ***   5 Steps to Overcome Overwhelm -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/5steps/    5 Mindset Shifts for Decluttering -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/mindset/    Wanna work with me to kick overwhelm to the curb, mama? There are three options for you!   Step 1: Grab a free 30-minute decluttering coaching session at www.calendly.com/simplebyemmy    Step 2: Kick overwhelm to the curb with 5 weeks of support at www.momsovercomingoverwhelm.com    Step 3: Get more personalized support with one-on-one coaching! info@simplebyemmy.com 

Sentimental items. They are the things we keep because they have meaning to us. They are imbued with memories. Or perhaps they don't mean a lot to us, but they belonged to a family member and remind us of that person.    Of course we should surround ourselves with things that have meaning to us, but when sentimental items become clutter because of how much we're keeping (and where we're keeping it- typically in dusty boxes), we need to really evaluate what we have any why.    Today we chat about 3 mindset hacks that will help make decluttering sentimental items easier. If you need help with yours, make sure to join us in our free Facebook group! We are doing a 30-day decluttering challenge to help you declutter before the end of 2022.   GIVEAWAY! Leave a written review on Apple Podcasts between now and November 30 at 11:59 PM EST to be entered into a drawing for a free decluttering book of your choice! Just take a screen shot and send it to me via Instagram or Facebook to be entered!   Resources Mentioned:   I Give You Permission to Throw Away Your Yearbook Instead of "Does it Spark Joy", Ask This Question When Decluttering A Sensory Approach to Decluttering Sentimental Items Sentimental Item Worksheet   Episodes Mentioned:    Episode 10: The MOST Challenging Type of Clutter for Moms! 4 Kinds of Aspirational Clutter and How to Finally Let Go    ***   I help moms declutter their homes, heads, and hearts.   Hey there, mama. Are you tired of all the STUFF crowding your home, calendar, and mind? Do you wish you could say goodbye to the endless to-do list running around in your head, while you're running around in the middle of the mess? Want to declutter but don't know where to start? Are your dreams buried under piles of toys and laundry?   Welcome to Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, where you will find proven and practical solutions to declutter your home, head, and heart.  If you're ready to reclaim your precious resources of time, energy, attention, and focus and create the motherhood and life you want on YOUR terms - this podcast is for you.   Hi, I'm Emily - a wife, #boymom, and simplicity seeker. I struggled to get pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed - until I discovered decluttering could create the physical and emotional space I needed to become a mom.   Now, two kids later, I've transformed my life and motherhood by developing simple systems around decluttering, capsule wardrobes, kids stuff, cleaning and tidying, meal planning, time management, and more- and I can't wait to share them with you!   If you're ready to reclaim the time and energy you crave, be present with your kids, and finally enjoy the life and motherhood you SO deserve - let's kick overwhelm to the curb, shall we? Grab your lukewarm coffee, your notebook and pen, and clear off some counter space! Let's do this.   Podcast -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/podcast   Learn -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/resources    Connect -＞ Join our free Facebook group Decluttering Tips and Support for Overwhelmed Moms   Instagram -＞ @simplebyemmy and @momsovercomingoverwhelm   *** Don't Know Where to Start? ***   5 Steps to Overcome Overwhelm -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/5steps/    5 Mindset Shifts for Decluttering -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/mindset/    Wanna work with me to kick overwhelm to the curb, mama? There are three options for you!   Step 1: Grab a free 30-minute decluttering coaching session at www.calendly.com/simplebyemmy    Step 2: Kick overwhelm to the curb with 5 weeks of support at www.momsovercomingoverwhelm.com    Step 3: Get more personalized support with one-on-one coaching! info@simplebyemmy.com 

Aspirational clutter is the clutter that surrounds us that tell us that who we are and what we are doing in THIS season of motherhood isn't enough. Stop surrounding yourself with stuff that makes you feel bad about yourself! In today's episode we dive into what aspirational clutter is, four examples that are especially challenging for moms, and what to do about it.    Additional Resources:   Blog Post: The Dangers of “Should” and Someday”   Blog Post: The Me That Could Be: 5 Steps to Deal With Aspirational Clutter   Episodes Mentioned:    Episode 9: Stop Holding Onto Stuff Because of What You Paid for It! 3 Tips to Overcome This Common Decluttering Roadblock   Episode 6: The EASIEST Way to Declutter Any Space in Your Home!   ***   I help moms declutter their homes, heads, and hearts.   Hey there, mama. Are you tired of all the STUFF crowding your home, calendar, and mind? Do you wish you could say goodbye to the endless to-do list running around in your head, while you're running around in the middle of the mess? Want to declutter but don't know where to start? Are your dreams buried under piles of toys and laundry?   Welcome to Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, where you will find proven and practical solutions to declutter your home, head, and heart.  If you're ready to reclaim your precious resources of time, energy, attention, and focus and create the motherhood and life you want on YOUR terms - this podcast is for you.   Hi, I'm Emily - a wife, #boymom, and simplicity seeker. I struggled to get pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed - until I discovered decluttering could create the physical and emotional space I needed to become a mom.   Now, two kids later, I've transformed my life and motherhood by developing simple systems around decluttering, capsule wardrobes, kids stuff, cleaning and tidying, meal planning, time management, and more- and I can't wait to share them with you!   If you're ready to reclaim the time and energy you crave, be present with your kids, and finally enjoy the life and motherhood you SO deserve - let's kick overwhelm to the curb, shall we? Grab your lukewarm coffee, your notebook and pen, and clear off some counter space! Let's do this.   Podcast -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/podcast   Learn -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/resources    Connect -＞ Join our free Facebook group Decluttering Tips and Support for Overwhelmed Moms   Instagram -＞ @simplebyemmy and @momsovercomingoverwhelm   *** Don't Know Where to Start? ***   5 Steps to Overcome Overwhelm -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/5steps/    5 Mindset Shifts for Decluttering -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/mindset/    Wanna work with me to kick overwhelm to the curb, mama? There are three options for you!   Step 1: Grab a free 30-minute decluttering coaching session at www.calendly.com/simplebyemmy    Step 2: Kick overwhelm to the curb with 5 weeks of support at www.momsovercomingoverwhelm.com    Step 3: Get more personalized support with one-on-one coaching! info@simplebyemmy.com   

“I can't get rid of this because I paid so much for it" is one of the most common roadblocks to decluttering. In today's episode, I give three tips on how to overcome it so that you can remove what is no longer serving you - regardless of its monetary value. Ready to take action? Join the  free Facebook group here! Episodes Mentioned:  Episode 5: Don't Know Where to Start Decluttering? The Answer May Surprise You Episode 8: Is Clutter Stealing from You? 4 Things You Can Reclaim Now Even as a Busy Mom Episode 4: THIS is Why You Don't Have the Time To Declutter *** I help moms declutter their homes, heads, and hearts.   Hey there, mama. Are you tired of all the STUFF crowding your home, calendar, and mind? Do you wish you could say goodbye to the endless to-do list running around in your head, while you're running around in the middle of the mess? Want to declutter but don't know where to start? Are your dreams buried under piles of toys and laundry?   Welcome to Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, where you will find proven and practical solutions to declutter your home, head, and heart.  If you're ready to reclaim your precious resources of time, energy, attention, and focus and create the motherhood and life you want on YOUR terms - this podcast is for you.   Hi, I'm Emily - a wife, #boymom, and simplicity seeker. I struggled to get pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed - until I discovered decluttering could create the physical and emotional space I needed to become a mom.   Now, two kids later, I've transformed my life and motherhood by developing simple systems around decluttering, capsule wardrobes, kids stuff, cleaning and tidying, meal planning, time management, and more- and I can't wait to share them with you!   If you're ready to reclaim the time and energy you crave, be present with your kids, and finally enjoy the life and motherhood you SO deserve - let's kick overwhelm to the curb, shall we? Grab your lukewarm coffee, your notebook and pen, and clear off some counter space! Let's do this.   Podcast -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/podcast   Learn -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/resources    Connect -＞ Join our free Facebook group Decluttering Tips and Support for Overwhelmed Moms   Instagram -＞ @simplebyemmy and @momsovercomingoverwhelm   *** Don't Know Where to Start? ***   5 Steps to Overcome Overwhelm -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/5steps/    5 Mindset Shifts for Decluttering -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/mindset/    Wanna work with me to kick overwhelm to the curb, mama? There are three options for you!   Step 1: Grab a free 30-minute decluttering coaching session at www.calendly.com/simplebyemmy    Step 2: Kick overwhelm to the curb with 5 weeks of support at www.momsovercomingoverwhelm.com    Step 3: Get more personalized support with one-on-one coaching! info@simplebyemmy.com     

Real talk: clutter is not neutral. It is stealing four things from you - four things that are preventing you from having the motherhood and life you so deserve. Ready to take action? Join the  free Facebook group here!   Resources Mentioned:   Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids is one of my favorite parenting books ever!   *Note - affiliate links may be included which means that I get a small commission from any qualifying purchases you make from the link. Thanks!*   Episodes Mentioned:   Episode 7: Stop Wasting Time Looking for Stuff in Your Home! Follow This Simple Rule Instead   Episode 1: My Story of Overcoming Overwhelm ***   I help moms declutter their homes, heads, and hearts.   Hey there, mama. Are you tired of all the STUFF crowding your home, calendar, and mind? Do you wish you could say goodbye to the endless to-do list running around in your head, while you're running around in the middle of the mess? Want to declutter but don't know where to start? Are your dreams buried under piles of toys and laundry?   Welcome to Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, where you will find proven and practical solutions to declutter your home, head, and heart.  If you're ready to reclaim your precious resources of time, energy, attention, and focus and create the motherhood and life you want on YOUR terms - this podcast is for you.   Hi, I'm Emily - a wife, #boymom, and simplicity seeker. I struggled to get pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed - until I discovered decluttering could create the physical and emotional space I needed to become a mom.   Now, two kids later, I've transformed my life and motherhood by developing simple systems around decluttering, capsule wardrobes, kids stuff, cleaning and tidying, meal planning, time management, and more- and I can't wait to share them with you!   If you're ready to reclaim the time and energy you crave, be present with your kids, and finally enjoy the life and motherhood you SO deserve - let's kick overwhelm to the curb, shall we? Grab your lukewarm coffee, your notebook and pen, and clear off some counter space! Let's do this.   Podcast -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/podcast   Learn -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/resources    Connect -＞ Join our free Facebook group Decluttering Tips and Support for Overwhelmed Moms   Instagram -＞ @simplebyemmy and @momsovercomingoverwhelm   *** Don't Know Where to Start? ***   5 Steps to Overcome Overwhelm -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/5steps/    5 Mindset Shifts for Decluttering -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/mindset/    Wanna work with me to kick overwhelm to the curb, mama? There are three options for you!   Step 1: Grab a free 30-minute decluttering coaching session at www.calendly.com/simplebyemmy    Step 2: Kick overwhelm to the curb with 5 weeks of support at www.momsovercomingoverwhelm.com    Step 3: Get more personalized support with one-on-one coaching! info@simplebyemmy.com 

Today we talk about a simple rule that will help make sure you don't spend your precious resources of money, time, energy, focus, and attention on finding stuff in your home! I give you three reasons why having a place for everything in your home is SO important. Resources Mentioned: My blog post about how clutter affects our well-being includes all the studies I mention in today's episode. ***   I help moms declutter their homes, heads, and hearts.   Hey there, mama. Are you tired of all the STUFF crowding your home, calendar, and mind? Do you wish you could say goodbye to the endless to-do list running around in your head, while you're running around in the middle of the mess? Want to declutter but don't know where to start? Are your dreams buried under piles of toys and laundry?   Welcome to Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, where you will find proven and practical solutions to declutter your home, head, and heart.  If you're ready to reclaim your precious resources of time, energy, attention, and focus and create the motherhood and life you want on YOUR terms - this podcast is for you.   Hi, I'm Emily - a wife, #boymom, and simplicity seeker. I struggled to get pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed - until I discovered decluttering could create the physical and emotional space I needed to become a mom.   Now, two kids later, I've transformed my life and motherhood by developing simple systems around decluttering, capsule wardrobes, kids stuff, cleaning and tidying, meal planning, time management, and more- and I can't wait to share them with you!   If you're ready to reclaim the time and energy you crave, be present with your kids, and finally enjoy the life and motherhood you SO deserve - let's kick overwhelm to the curb, shall we? Grab your lukewarm coffee, your notebook and pen, and clear off some counter space! Let's do this.   Podcast -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/podcast   Learn -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/resources    Connect -＞ Join our free Facebook group Decluttering Tips and Support for Overwhelmed Moms   Instagram -＞ @simplebyemmy and @momsovercomingoverwhelm   *** Don't Know Where to Start? ***   5 Steps to Overcome Overwhelm -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/5steps/    5 Mindset Shifts for Decluttering -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/mindset/    Wanna work with me to kick overwhelm to the curb, mama? There are three options for you!   Step 1: Grab a free 30-minute decluttering coaching session at www.calendly.com/simplebyemmy    Step 2: Kick overwhelm to the curb with 5 weeks of support at www.momsovercomingoverwhelm.com    Step 3: Get more personalized support with one-on-one coaching! info@simplebyemmy.com 

Lost in Eros Book III: The Return, part 5Experiencing Sexbots as an amusement park attraction.By BradentonLarry for Literotica -  Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories.After yet another trip to the showers and over breakfast, they discussed what to do next. They told Liu and Jimmy the abbreviated story of how they were trying to get up the mountain to the tower and how the gate wouldn't let them leave the resort until they really enjoyed themselves. Although they all admitted that they had thoroughly enjoyed themselves there in the Temple of Venus & Aphrodite, they suspected that the gate would not think they'd given the resort enough of a chance to impress them. It was Nicole who set the gears in motion for the day when she asked Liu, “What's that Clockwork Club like?”“Well, there are fun games and sexbots…” Liu began.“Wait,” Toshia said cut in. “Did you just say ‘sexbots'?”So, if only to satisfy Toshia, Nicole and Don's curiosity, they agreed to try the Clockwork Club next. They gathered their belongings from the Temple locker room. Jimmy, who preferred to spend the day by the pool, walked with them most of the way, and the remaining seven headed over to their next stop.The Clockwork Club was less imposing than the Temple, and had a much more complicated motif. Don thought the general structure looked as if someone had begun with a rather large, staid Victorian or Edwardian building, and then tried to make it some sort of steam punk. Strange weather-vane-ish instruments protruded at odd places, and there were quite a few smoke stacks poking up out of the roof all of which seemed to be producing steady quantities of steam and various colored smokes. There were many windows, all of them a deep emerald green.Stepping through the fancy, over-large wooden doors, they found themselves in what was at first glance an ordinary casino. There were flashing lights, row upon row of old-fashioned-looking slot machines with people cranking their levers, occasional ringing bells proclaiming winners, the happy sound of tokens spilling into waiting trays, and gleeful exclamations of delight. Of course, the people were all naked and seemed to be deriving some of their delight from sexual contact with their machines. And, then there was also the bulky gold robot trundling up to them; that was different.“Hello ladies and gentlemen!” said the robot. “Welcome to the Clockwork Club!” The machine had a box-like head with a pair of “eyes” and a mesh-covered speaker mouth. It had two arms with crude hands at the ends, but no legs, only what seemed to be wheels at its base. Don was particularly amused by the top hat that was perched over its green-lensed camera eyes. “I'm George. Is this your first visit to our Club?”“Not mine, George,” Liu said with a smile and a wave for the robot.“The rest of us are new,” Don answered.“I hope you enjoy our fine establishment. As a welcoming gift, please accept these complimentary tokens to get you started in our casino.” There was a whirring sound, then the unmistakable sound of tokens cascading into a metal bucket, and a door opened in George's front. When a silvery bucket slid out, Don had to move quickly to keep it from spilling out on the floor. “If you would like more buckets, you may get those at the guest service desk over there.” One of George's arms pointed in the general direction of a large wooden counter behind which were several other robots. “Most of our guests prefer to enjoy the Club without their clothing. We have convenient lockers available for your use, at a low, low cost of one token each. Would you like me to show you to the locker room?”“I can do that, George,” Liu offered.“Thank you, sir or madam,” George said cheerfully. “Would you like to purchase a tour of the Club for the low, low cost…”“I'll do that too, George,” Liu said.“Thank you, sir or madam. If there is anything else you need please do not hesitate to ask myself or one of our many other servicebots. Have a great time everyone!” And, George promptly backed away from them.Although he was eager to explore this weird casino, Don knew this group, so he suggested, “Maybe we should visit that locker room first.”Once they were all once again happily naked, Liu led the way back out to the main room. She pointed out that “The slot machines are divided into men's and women's.” She led them over to one for a woman and showed them the saddle that sat in front of the machine. There was a thick dildo jutting up from the middle of the saddle. Liu explained, “Some of them don't have dildos, some have ones for asses, and some have both regular and ass dildos. You sit on them like this, put in a token, pull the lever down, and if the right combination of symbols comes up … oh!”The strange symbols that clicked into place in the machine's display must have been a winning combination, because Liu trembled all over as the saddle and/or dildo did something obviously pleasurable to her. After a moment, she said, “Um, most of the time that doesn't happen; sometimes you just get a little tease, and sometimes you get much more. Oh, and sometimes you win a bunch of tokens, and there's the grand prize which is AMAZING and you get a lot of tokens too.”Nicole said, “I think we're going to need our own buckets.”As they went back to the customer service counter to get six more buckets and then divide up the tokens evenly, except for Liu who got one less, Don asked, “What are the tokens good for, besides more turns at the machines?”“Oh, well, you can trade them in for sessions with the sexbots,” she smiled.“And those are good?” Toshia asked.“Not everyone likes them, but I think they're a lot of fun. You know how sometimes they'll say 'he fucks like a machine'? Well, I've never met a man who can fuck like these machines.”“Hmm,” Toshia mused, to Don's great amusement.“If you win really big, there's the orgasmatron, for women, and a special sexbot for the men,” Liu went on. “I've never seen her, but they say she's incredible. There are other things to do here, too. Some people play games to exchange tokens between each other, and there are some rooms where people can use some of the Club's toys to play with each other.”Don was more interested in the odd economics of this casino than actually using the machines to get off, but he cheerfully watched as everyone else moved to give the slot machines a try. At this point Don wasn't surprised to see that Toshia stopped by an automated lube dispenser and then selected a slot machine with a combination vaginal and anal set of dildos. He was too distracted watching Toshia, though, to see what the other girls selected. As it so happened, it was Toshia who had the first payout. On her fifth attempt, she got a small prize of eighteen tokens. Shortly after this, Amy won what seemed to be about ten seconds of stimulation that made her shriek in surprise and then carry on depositing tokens and pulling the handle with more determination. Then from the other side of the aisle, Victor said, “Oh wow! That's nice!”Don looked to see that the big man seemed to have found a machine with a sleeve for his cock, a cup for his balls, and a small dildo for up his butt. Apparently these mechanisms were able to give Victor the equivalent of what Amy's machine had done for her, because he continued to play with similar enthusiasm.Seeing that everyone, including the self-appointed tour guide Liu, was quite content to stay there and enjoy the slot machines for a while, Don decided to do a bit of exploring on his own. Taking his bucket and tokens, he moved off, down long aisles of flashing, vibrating machines and past many eager “gamblers”. He paused to watch a lithe naked girl gasping and grinding as she won a minor jackpot, but then moved on. Toward the back of the main room on the ground floor Don came upon an area dominated by three large roulette tables. He expected to find everyone plugged into devices around the tables, but it seemed that everyone was actually just playing roulette. Well, there was at least one woman playing as she leaned forward over the edge of the table and a strapping young man screwed her from behind. For the most part, though, these tables just seemed to be a way for players to try to increase their number of tokens.At the very rear of the large room, there was a large, upright “wheel of fortune” device. Don stood by for several moments, trying to work out what was going on for himself. After depositing several tokens in a slot near a bright orange gate, which opened when the appropriate amount had been deposited, each player stepped up to the wheel and gave it an energetic spin. Naturally, there was a variety of spin results: several different token prize amounts, delivered with flashing lights and alarms via a chute to the side of the wheel; a couple of spin-agains; a few flat out losers; some wedges that Don couldn't make out, and didn't see demonstrated; and one result he thought was particularly interesting. If a player got that result he or she received only a colored ticket and proceeded off to a little lounge area off to the side. If anyone else was there with a matching-color ticket, the two people commenced playing together. If not, the ticket bearer was apparently obliged to wait there until someone turned up with the right ticket. Don wondered if anyone wound up spending hours just sitting there.Don decided to give the wheel a spin. He found that he had to deposit five tokens, which he did. The orange gate swung up and Don stepped up to the wheel. Setting his little silver bucket on a conveniently placed pedestal, he took a firm hold of two of the little handles and gave the wheel a mighty spin. It seemed to take a very long time to begin to slow down, and Don noticed that he was caught up in the excitement of the game. The wheel came to a stop on a wedge that was simply yellow, and a yellow ticket promptly popped out of the little slot next to the prize-token chute.As he took his ticket, Don thought this was a very clever device. Although he had not won anything; was, in fact, five tokens down; Don still felt like he'd won something and was still actively involved in the game, all for the price of a paper-ticket, if such things had a price here.Picking up his bucket and turning to the lounge/play area, he saw that another person was already there with a yellow ticket; a rather young looking, thin East Asian guy with long hair. Don wasn't particularly interested in playing with this young man, and he sensed a bit of reluctance on the other side of the handshake they shared. “I'm Don,” he smiled calmly.“Steve,” was the apparently nervous reply.“Steve?” Don repeated, a bit surprised at the very non-Asian name, but got nothing but a blank nod from Steve.“Are we allowed to wait until a woman wins a yellow ticket?” Don asked with a smile.“Oh,” Steve grinned, “I suppose we could. Good idea.”Don chuckled to himself, and looked around the lounge. There was an attractive woman holding a red ticket sitting nearby, watching the wheel spinners, and a male-female couple who had matched blue tickets a bit before Don had gotten his ticket. The man was lying back along a couch, while the woman knelt in front of him and gave him what looked like a quite satisfactory blowjob from where Don was sitting.The next person to join them was a woman, but she scored a blue ticket, and promptly took a seat next to the woman who had the red one. Don thought he and Steve ought to suggest ditching this game to the two un-partnered women, but realized this was hardly in the spirit of the Clockwork Club. They didn't have to wait long, though, before someone else won a ticket. This time it was a woman with a red ticket who obviously had no compunction about a bit of same-sex play. Soon the two women were engaged in an enthusiastic 69 within arm's reach of Steve, who was extremely distracted, and visibly excited, by watching them. The first couple; with the blue tickets; had finished and wandered off to the rest of the casino, before another player joined them: a very pretty young woman with another red ticket. Finally, after a string of out-right loser spins on the wheel, a cute little woman with long, straight, brown hair, small breasts and long legs won herself a yellow ticket.She grinned as she saw that there were two men waiting for her in the lounge area. She stuck out her hand and said, “Hi, I'm Emily! Were you boys waiting for little ol' me?”“We certainly were,” Don smiled back, and Steve nodded enthusiastically.“Well, that was sweet of you,” Emily continued to grin. “Let's go back over here and see how I can thank you for waiting so patiently.”Before they could make it to the couch, though, Emily stopped them, dropped to her knees and was soon taking turns sucking on first Steve and then Don. As she went down on them, she looked up at them with her cheerful brown eyes, which Don thought was the sexiest thing he'd seen all day. Soon lovely Emily was on her hands and knees between Don and Steve, sucking the former and fucking the latter. Steve, who had been getting riled up for a while, didn't take too long to come, shoving forward into Emily and groaning loudly. As soon as he was done, he smiled at Don and headed back into the casino.Kids, Don thought to himself as he coaxed Emily up and over to the couch. She pushed him down on his back, and immediately climbed up over him, planting her feet on the firm couch by his hips. He smiled back up at her as she lowered herself down onto his straining cock. As Don felt her tight, wet embrace taking hold of his shaft, Emily leaned forward to rest her hands on his shoulders. Don reached under to support her butt in his hands as she began to ride up and down. Her hair was hanging down around her face and she never stopped looking him in the eye or smiling as she fucked him.“Damn, that feels so good,” Emily said. “You're going so deep!” They continued on in this position for quite a while, but as she began to get tired, Don suggested they change things up a bit. She lay on top of him as he twisted around and then sat up with her still mounted on him. Then, holding her up on him, Don stood up. Emily put her feet down on the couch behind Don and held onto his shoulders. He bent his knees, pistoning his cock up into her as she flexed herself in front of him. This position was easy to maintain, provided lots of clitoral stimulus, and put them face to face. Soon he was watching her cheerful face scrunching up as she gasped and shuddered with an intense orgasm. Before she was done, she leaned in and kissed him; hard and long! This was the final straw for Don and he felt himself boiling over up inside her, filling her with his hot cum.Emily thanked him for their mutual “winnings”, as she laughingly called it, kissed him again, and headed off into the casino. Watching her petite frame walk away, Don decided it was time to head back and check up on the rest of the group. He was unsurprised to see that everyone was still there. Both Toshia and Liu noticed Don's return and gave him brief waves from their adjoining machines.Although he'd been gone for almost an hour, Don was back in time to see the first really big win. Naturally enough, the first one to win more than a brief titillation or a small pot of tokens was Toshia. As soon as the last symbol clicked into place, she said, “Ha! I won!” Then she stopped and her mouth just gaped open for a moment. “Oh my God!” she gasped. “That's … oh fuck! Oh fuck!!”Don watched as she held on to the front of her machine and shook as the saddle and both the dildos did a combination of vibrating, pulsing and thrusting things that transported Toshia into a shaking trembling orgasm like nothing he'd ever seen. She cried out inarticulately as the machine carried her into another orgasm and then another.As she came down, she leaned forward on the machine and breathed, “Oh wow.”Liu came over with a broad grin and said, “That's what the sexbots do for you, only more.”“More would kill me,” Toshia said weakly. Then, after a moment, she looked up at Don and said, “I want to try one!”Don laughed and said, “OK. How many tokens do we need?”“One thousand,” Liu answered quickly.“And how many do we get with a jackpot on one of these machines?” Don asked as he crossed the aisle to an unoccupied unit.“It varies, but you hardly ever win a jackpot.”Don deposited a token, but did not mount the machine's saddle. As he pulled the handle down, Don looked over his shoulder to Liu and Toshia and said, “You mean 'hardly anyone ever wins a jackpot', not that I hardly ever do.”Don held his bucket under the prize bin expectantly, even before the second symbol clicked into place. Sure enough, Don hit the jackpot. Flashing lights, a siren and a truly deafening barrage of ringing bells accompanied a flood of tokens pouring into the bin, Don's bucket and onto the floor. The display on the front of the machine indicated that he had just won 750 tokens.“That's amazing!” Liu gaped from over his shoulder. She had abandoned her own machine. “You just played one token.”“I'm just lucky, I guess,” Don shrugged. He knew however that he had merely applied his technique of focused expectation that he had used so successfully here in Eros, in finding the Manor's exit and in fighting the Sisterhood. He expected to get a jackpot, so he got a jackpot.He passed his now heavy bucket of tokens to Toshia, who had joined him and Liu. Don took Toshia's bucket, dumped her pile into the nearly full bucket of his that she was holding and moved to another machine. In a few moments, there was another blaring claxon, another barrage of bright, flashing lights, and another cascade of tokens.“How do you do that?” Liu asked amazed.“Magic,” Don smiled smugly at her. “You promised to give us a tour of the club, Liu. Can you do that and show us to the sexbots?”“Sure,” the pretty young woman said. “Anyone else want to come along?”“I want to get one of those jackpots!” Amy said.Victor, Shelonda and Nicole all seemed to agree with Amy. So, Liu led just Toshia and Don off toward the back of the main room, where she showed them the roulette tables and the “Wheel of Chance.”“It's fun,” Don assured Toshia, briefly telling her what he'd been doing while she played the slots.“We should come back and give it a spin,” Toshia smiled, “if I survive the sexbot, that is.”Liu led them up a circular staircase to the second floor, where they passed a number of small rooms which she said were, “Remote play rooms.” As they went down the long corridor lined with doors, Liu explained: “You go into a room and get into the chair, and then you wait. On the third floor, someone deposits some tokens and they get to control a dildo, or two, or an artificial pussy that moves into you, or on you, Don. They get to watch you on a screen, but you don't get to see them. You can talk to each other, though. Oh, and the room you get when you go upstairs is random, so you never know who you're going to be playing with.”“That sounds very interesting,” Toshia mused.“Another thing to try out, eh?” Don winked at her.Following Liu's delectable backside up two more flights of stairs, they came to the fourth floor, where they were greeted by a robot that looked just like George downstairs, except that it was silver and had no top hat. This one addressed them with a woman's voice and said, “Welcome, sir or madam. My name is Dolores and I am your hostess here in the sexbot rooms. Please deposit your … one thousand … tokens in the bin to my left.”This project took several minutes, because Toshia didn't want to give up any extra of “her” tokens. Once they had deposited exactly one thousand tokens into the bin, Dolores said, “Thank you. Please follow me, sir or madam.”The hostess robot trundled down the hallway, turned a corner, and led them to a door, which clicked open as she approached. Dolores gestured vaguely at the now open room, and said, “Here you go. Please enjoy yourself thoroughly.”“We'll wait out here,” Don suggested.“Oh no you don't!” Toshia said with feeling. “I'm not letting a robot have its way with me without someone there to pull its plug, or whatever, if necessary.”“Oh, it will respond to your commands,” Liu assured her.“Yeah, sure,” Toshia said.“OK,” Don laughed. “We'll come watch. You don't have to twist my arm.”The softly lit room they entered had warm carpeting and wood-paneled walls. In the center of the room was something that looked like a modified old-fashioned dentist's chair. A number of attachments, including a pair of stirrups that Don presumed looked like those found in a gynecologist's office, piqued Don's curiosity. In the corner of the room, was a barrel-bodied robot straight out of a 1950s B-movie. It seemed to have a soft black rubber or latex coating covering almost all of its body.“You get up on the chair,” Liu was saying, as if Toshia and Don wouldn't be preoccupied with the robot. “It will adjust for you, and you can push it into any position you want.”Toshia looked over the chair and the stirrups skeptically, but then shrugged and hopped up onto the small seat. It was shallow so that she was already scooted forward. As soon as her butt hit the padding, the sexbot in the corner clicked to life. Lights blinked on its dome covered head and it took several steps forward toward the chair. There was a whirring sound followed by a series of clacks.“Good day, ma'am,” the robot said, in a voice that was a cross between a comically kitschy metallic stereotype and a soulful bass. Both Don and Toshia chuckled at the weird combination. “Please relax. Giving you the ultimate sexual experience is my only purpose. Let me know if you want me to do anything differently. Believe me, I am extremely responsive.”“OK,” Toshia said as she put her feet in the stirrups and pushed them apart, spreading her legs wide for the sexbot. With a grin Don could tell was nervous, she said, “Show me what you got, big guy.”The bot lumbered forward a few more steps. Then it reached out with a big, black, three fingered hand and touched Toshia's leg. There was more of that whirring sound and more clacking, and then a panel opened in the front of the machine's torso and a prodigious cock-shaped dildo extended.Don moved to Toshia's left, where she reached out and caught his hand, pulling him close. Liu took up a position her right. The sexbot meanwhile moved in closer, moving his large hand up the inside of her leg with surprising gentleness. When that hand reached her crotch, the sexbot paused, covering her pussy. Don heard a low buzzing sound, and Toshia gave a little shriek and squeezed Don's hand. He watched as she pushed herself further forward against the vibrating hand. She whimpered a little when the bot pulled its hand away and moved in between her legs.The fat head of the dildo aimed itself unerringly between Toshia's lips, and she moaned, “Oh yeah, that feels good,” as it entered her. The machine inched closer to Toshia until its front was pressed against her. Don heard the sound of pistons and hydraulics, and Toshia gasped, “Damn, it's fucking me!”Don was transfixed watching Toshia's slender body arching back on the odd chair while the bulky black robot pumped her steadily with its hard dildo.“Damn!” Toshia said. “It's getting bigger, and faster!” Don could hear the bot's mechanisms cycling faster. “Uh huh; yeah, fuck me faster!”The mechanical man obliged, and Toshia let go of Don's hand so she could grab both of the chair's handles and pull herself forward into the robot. Don found himself grinning as Toshia grunted and began to moan. Don reached out to brush Toshia's hair with his right hand and cupped her left breast with his left hand. Seeing what he was up to, Liu imitated Don on the other side. The two of them proceeded to pinch and twist at Toshia's nipples as the sexbot continued to pump its thick dildo-cock in and out of Toshia's pussy.Don realized then that for some time there had been a slowly rising hum; some part or parts of the sexbot were vibrating against Toshia. Then Toshia was coming; loud and hard. Gasping and shaking, she shoved herself back onto the machine as it fucked her. The bot continued to piston and vibrate in and against Toshia as she writhed. When she came down a little, Don leaned over and lowered his mouth onto the breast he had been tormenting with his fingers. Again, Liu followed his lead, and the two of them got cozy over Toshia's tits, sucking and pulling on her nipples.The pace of the bot's fucking and the pitch of the humming seemed to continue to gradually increase, and soon enough Toshia threw her head back and shrieked as she began to come again, and again. She shook and twisted between the sexbot, Liu and Don. After several minutes of this, Toshia groaned and called out, “No, no! Stop!”Don and Liu lifted their heads and looked at Toshia, who was sagging back against the chair. The robot quickly decreased its various functions until it was still inside and against Toshia's body.“That was a-MA-zing!” Toshia finally managed.“Have you had enough already?” Liu asked.“Enough? Already?” Toshia laughed, a bit deliriously. “There's more?”“He's yours until you leave the room,” Liu nodded.“Oh my!” Toshia giggled.About ten minutes later, after Toshia had rolled over, while the sexbot fucked both her pussy and ass like, well, a machine, Don had the pleasure of having his very hard, flesh and blood cock sucked by Toshia, who seemed to have hit a feverish plateau of orgasmic ecstasy. When Toshia finally collapsed, spent, Liu and Don caressed and kissed her until she was ready to be helped out of the room.Don had no interest in sampling the mechanical pleasures available in the clockwork club. He was very much aware of the fact that for him sex was almost entirely about the woman, or women, he was with. He got off on getting them off; without that element, he felt it would just be a complicated form of masturbating, and that hardly seemed appealing, given the wealth of more, shall we say, collaborative options available to him. This, however, was before he met Galatea, but that is a story for another time.To be continued..By BradentonLarry for Literotica

Lost in Eros Book III: The Return, part 5Experiencing Sexbots as an amusement park attraction.By BradentonLarry for Literotica -  Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories.After yet another trip to the showers and over breakfast, they discussed what to do next. They told Liu and Jimmy the abbreviated story of how they were trying to get up the mountain to the tower and how the gate wouldn't let them leave the resort until they really enjoyed themselves. Although they all admitted that they had thoroughly enjoyed themselves there in the Temple of Venus & Aphrodite, they suspected that the gate would not think they'd given the resort enough of a chance to impress them. It was Nicole who set the gears in motion for the day when she asked Liu, “What's that Clockwork Club like?”“Well, there are fun games and sexbots…” Liu began.“Wait,” Toshia said cut in. “Did you just say ‘sexbots'?”So, if only to satisfy Toshia, Nicole and Don's curiosity, they agreed to try the Clockwork Club next. They gathered their belongings from the Temple locker room. Jimmy, who preferred to spend the day by the pool, walked with them most of the way, and the remaining seven headed over to their next stop.The Clockwork Club was less imposing than the Temple, and had a much more complicated motif. Don thought the general structure looked as if someone had begun with a rather large, staid Victorian or Edwardian building, and then tried to make it some sort of steam punk. Strange weather-vane-ish instruments protruded at odd places, and there were quite a few smoke stacks poking up out of the roof all of which seemed to be producing steady quantities of steam and various colored smokes. There were many windows, all of them a deep emerald green.Stepping through the fancy, over-large wooden doors, they found themselves in what was at first glance an ordinary casino. There were flashing lights, row upon row of old-fashioned-looking slot machines with people cranking their levers, occasional ringing bells proclaiming winners, the happy sound of tokens spilling into waiting trays, and gleeful exclamations of delight. Of course, the people were all naked and seemed to be deriving some of their delight from sexual contact with their machines. And, then there was also the bulky gold robot trundling up to them; that was different.“Hello ladies and gentlemen!” said the robot. “Welcome to the Clockwork Club!” The machine had a box-like head with a pair of “eyes” and a mesh-covered speaker mouth. It had two arms with crude hands at the ends, but no legs, only what seemed to be wheels at its base. Don was particularly amused by the top hat that was perched over its green-lensed camera eyes. “I'm George. Is this your first visit to our Club?”“Not mine, George,” Liu said with a smile and a wave for the robot.“The rest of us are new,” Don answered.“I hope you enjoy our fine establishment. As a welcoming gift, please accept these complimentary tokens to get you started in our casino.” There was a whirring sound, then the unmistakable sound of tokens cascading into a metal bucket, and a door opened in George's front. When a silvery bucket slid out, Don had to move quickly to keep it from spilling out on the floor. “If you would like more buckets, you may get those at the guest service desk over there.” One of George's arms pointed in the general direction of a large wooden counter behind which were several other robots. “Most of our guests prefer to enjoy the Club without their clothing. We have convenient lockers available for your use, at a low, low cost of one token each. Would you like me to show you to the locker room?”“I can do that, George,” Liu offered.“Thank you, sir or madam,” George said cheerfully. “Would you like to purchase a tour of the Club for the low, low cost…”“I'll do that too, George,” Liu said.“Thank you, sir or madam. If there is anything else you need please do not hesitate to ask myself or one of our many other servicebots. Have a great time everyone!” And, George promptly backed away from them.Although he was eager to explore this weird casino, Don knew this group, so he suggested, “Maybe we should visit that locker room first.”Once they were all once again happily naked, Liu led the way back out to the main room. She pointed out that “The slot machines are divided into men's and women's.” She led them over to one for a woman and showed them the saddle that sat in front of the machine. There was a thick dildo jutting up from the middle of the saddle. Liu explained, “Some of them don't have dildos, some have ones for asses, and some have both regular and ass dildos. You sit on them like this, put in a token, pull the lever down, and if the right combination of symbols comes up … oh!”The strange symbols that clicked into place in the machine's display must have been a winning combination, because Liu trembled all over as the saddle and/or dildo did something obviously pleasurable to her. After a moment, she said, “Um, most of the time that doesn't happen; sometimes you just get a little tease, and sometimes you get much more. Oh, and sometimes you win a bunch of tokens, and there's the grand prize which is AMAZING and you get a lot of tokens too.”Nicole said, “I think we're going to need our own buckets.”As they went back to the customer service counter to get six more buckets and then divide up the tokens evenly, except for Liu who got one less, Don asked, “What are the tokens good for, besides more turns at the machines?”“Oh, well, you can trade them in for sessions with the sexbots,” she smiled.“And those are good?” Toshia asked.“Not everyone likes them, but I think they're a lot of fun. You know how sometimes they'll say 'he fucks like a machine'? Well, I've never met a man who can fuck like these machines.”“Hmm,” Toshia mused, to Don's great amusement.“If you win really big, there's the orgasmatron, for women, and a special sexbot for the men,” Liu went on. “I've never seen her, but they say she's incredible. There are other things to do here, too. Some people play games to exchange tokens between each other, and there are some rooms where people can use some of the Club's toys to play with each other.”Don was more interested in the odd economics of this casino than actually using the machines to get off, but he cheerfully watched as everyone else moved to give the slot machines a try. At this point Don wasn't surprised to see that Toshia stopped by an automated lube dispenser and then selected a slot machine with a combination vaginal and anal set of dildos. He was too distracted watching Toshia, though, to see what the other girls selected. As it so happened, it was Toshia who had the first payout. On her fifth attempt, she got a small prize of eighteen tokens. Shortly after this, Amy won what seemed to be about ten seconds of stimulation that made her shriek in surprise and then carry on depositing tokens and pulling the handle with more determination. Then from the other side of the aisle, Victor said, “Oh wow! That's nice!”Don looked to see that the big man seemed to have found a machine with a sleeve for his cock, a cup for his balls, and a small dildo for up his butt. Apparently these mechanisms were able to give Victor the equivalent of what Amy's machine had done for her, because he continued to play with similar enthusiasm.Seeing that everyone, including the self-appointed tour guide Liu, was quite content to stay there and enjoy the slot machines for a while, Don decided to do a bit of exploring on his own. Taking his bucket and tokens, he moved off, down long aisles of flashing, vibrating machines and past many eager “gamblers”. He paused to watch a lithe naked girl gasping and grinding as she won a minor jackpot, but then moved on. Toward the back of the main room on the ground floor Don came upon an area dominated by three large roulette tables. He expected to find everyone plugged into devices around the tables, but it seemed that everyone was actually just playing roulette. Well, there was at least one woman playing as she leaned forward over the edge of the table and a strapping young man screwed her from behind. For the most part, though, these tables just seemed to be a way for players to try to increase their number of tokens.At the very rear of the large room, there was a large, upright “wheel of fortune” device. Don stood by for several moments, trying to work out what was going on for himself. After depositing several tokens in a slot near a bright orange gate, which opened when the appropriate amount had been deposited, each player stepped up to the wheel and gave it an energetic spin. Naturally, there was a variety of spin results: several different token prize amounts, delivered with flashing lights and alarms via a chute to the side of the wheel; a couple of spin-agains; a few flat out losers; some wedges that Don couldn't make out, and didn't see demonstrated; and one result he thought was particularly interesting. If a player got that result he or she received only a colored ticket and proceeded off to a little lounge area off to the side. If anyone else was there with a matching-color ticket, the two people commenced playing together. If not, the ticket bearer was apparently obliged to wait there until someone turned up with the right ticket. Don wondered if anyone wound up spending hours just sitting there.Don decided to give the wheel a spin. He found that he had to deposit five tokens, which he did. The orange gate swung up and Don stepped up to the wheel. Setting his little silver bucket on a conveniently placed pedestal, he took a firm hold of two of the little handles and gave the wheel a mighty spin. It seemed to take a very long time to begin to slow down, and Don noticed that he was caught up in the excitement of the game. The wheel came to a stop on a wedge that was simply yellow, and a yellow ticket promptly popped out of the little slot next to the prize-token chute.As he took his ticket, Don thought this was a very clever device. Although he had not won anything; was, in fact, five tokens down; Don still felt like he'd won something and was still actively involved in the game, all for the price of a paper-ticket, if such things had a price here.Picking up his bucket and turning to the lounge/play area, he saw that another person was already there with a yellow ticket; a rather young looking, thin East Asian guy with long hair. Don wasn't particularly interested in playing with this young man, and he sensed a bit of reluctance on the other side of the handshake they shared. “I'm Don,” he smiled calmly.“Steve,” was the apparently nervous reply.“Steve?” Don repeated, a bit surprised at the very non-Asian name, but got nothing but a blank nod from Steve.“Are we allowed to wait until a woman wins a yellow ticket?” Don asked with a smile.“Oh,” Steve grinned, “I suppose we could. Good idea.”Don chuckled to himself, and looked around the lounge. There was an attractive woman holding a red ticket sitting nearby, watching the wheel spinners, and a male-female couple who had matched blue tickets a bit before Don had gotten his ticket. The man was lying back along a couch, while the woman knelt in front of him and gave him what looked like a quite satisfactory blowjob from where Don was sitting.The next person to join them was a woman, but she scored a blue ticket, and promptly took a seat next to the woman who had the red one. Don thought he and Steve ought to suggest ditching this game to the two un-partnered women, but realized this was hardly in the spirit of the Clockwork Club. They didn't have to wait long, though, before someone else won a ticket. This time it was a woman with a red ticket who obviously had no compunction about a bit of same-sex play. Soon the two women were engaged in an enthusiastic 69 within arm's reach of Steve, who was extremely distracted, and visibly excited, by watching them. The first couple; with the blue tickets; had finished and wandered off to the rest of the casino, before another player joined them: a very pretty young woman with another red ticket. Finally, after a string of out-right loser spins on the wheel, a cute little woman with long, straight, brown hair, small breasts and long legs won herself a yellow ticket.She grinned as she saw that there were two men waiting for her in the lounge area. She stuck out her hand and said, “Hi, I'm Emily! Were you boys waiting for little ol' me?”“We certainly were,” Don smiled back, and Steve nodded enthusiastically.“Well, that was sweet of you,” Emily continued to grin. “Let's go back over here and see how I can thank you for waiting so patiently.”Before they could make it to the couch, though, Emily stopped them, dropped to her knees and was soon taking turns sucking on first Steve and then Don. As she went down on them, she looked up at them with her cheerful brown eyes, which Don thought was the sexiest thing he'd seen all day. Soon lovely Emily was on her hands and knees between Don and Steve, sucking the former and fucking the latter. Steve, who had been getting riled up for a while, didn't take too long to come, shoving forward into Emily and groaning loudly. As soon as he was done, he smiled at Don and headed back into the casino.Kids, Don thought to himself as he coaxed Emily up and over to the couch. She pushed him down on his back, and immediately climbed up over him, planting her feet on the firm couch by his hips. He smiled back up at her as she lowered herself down onto his straining cock. As Don felt her tight, wet embrace taking hold of his shaft, Emily leaned forward to rest her hands on his shoulders. Don reached under to support her butt in his hands as she began to ride up and down. Her hair was hanging down around her face and she never stopped looking him in the eye or smiling as she fucked him.“Damn, that feels so good,” Emily said. “You're going so deep!” They continued on in this position for quite a while, but as she began to get tired, Don suggested they change things up a bit. She lay on top of him as he twisted around and then sat up with her still mounted on him. Then, holding her up on him, Don stood up. Emily put her feet down on the couch behind Don and held onto his shoulders. He bent his knees, pistoning his cock up into her as she flexed herself in front of him. This position was easy to maintain, provided lots of clitoral stimulus, and put them face to face. Soon he was watching her cheerful face scrunching up as she gasped and shuddered with an intense orgasm. Before she was done, she leaned in and kissed him; hard and long! This was the final straw for Don and he felt himself boiling over up inside her, filling her with his hot cum.Emily thanked him for their mutual “winnings”, as she laughingly called it, kissed him again, and headed off into the casino. Watching her petite frame walk away, Don decided it was time to head back and check up on the rest of the group. He was unsurprised to see that everyone was still there. Both Toshia and Liu noticed Don's return and gave him brief waves from their adjoining machines.Although he'd been gone for almost an hour, Don was back in time to see the first really big win. Naturally enough, the first one to win more than a brief titillation or a small pot of tokens was Toshia. As soon as the last symbol clicked into place, she said, “Ha! I won!” Then she stopped and her mouth just gaped open for a moment. “Oh my God!” she gasped. “That's … oh fuck! Oh fuck!!”Don watched as she held on to the front of her machine and shook as the saddle and both the dildos did a combination of vibrating, pulsing and thrusting things that transported Toshia into a shaking trembling orgasm like nothing he'd ever seen. She cried out inarticulately as the machine carried her into another orgasm and then another.As she came down, she leaned forward on the machine and breathed, “Oh wow.”Liu came over with a broad grin and said, “That's what the sexbots do for you, only more.”“More would kill me,” Toshia said weakly. Then, after a moment, she looked up at Don and said, “I want to try one!”Don laughed and said, “OK. How many tokens do we need?”“One thousand,” Liu answered quickly.“And how many do we get with a jackpot on one of these machines?” Don asked as he crossed the aisle to an unoccupied unit.“It varies, but you hardly ever win a jackpot.”Don deposited a token, but did not mount the machine's saddle. As he pulled the handle down, Don looked over his shoulder to Liu and Toshia and said, “You mean 'hardly anyone ever wins a jackpot', not that I hardly ever do.”Don held his bucket under the prize bin expectantly, even before the second symbol clicked into place. Sure enough, Don hit the jackpot. Flashing lights, a siren and a truly deafening barrage of ringing bells accompanied a flood of tokens pouring into the bin, Don's bucket and onto the floor. The display on the front of the machine indicated that he had just won 750 tokens.“That's amazing!” Liu gaped from over his shoulder. She had abandoned her own machine. “You just played one token.”“I'm just lucky, I guess,” Don shrugged. He knew however that he had merely applied his technique of focused expectation that he had used so successfully here in Eros, in finding the Manor's exit and in fighting the Sisterhood. He expected to get a jackpot, so he got a jackpot.He passed his now heavy bucket of tokens to Toshia, who had joined him and Liu. Don took Toshia's bucket, dumped her pile into the nearly full bucket of his that she was holding and moved to another machine. In a few moments, there was another blaring claxon, another barrage of bright, flashing lights, and another cascade of tokens.“How do you do that?” Liu asked amazed.“Magic,” Don smiled smugly at her. “You promised to give us a tour of the club, Liu. Can you do that and show us to the sexbots?”“Sure,” the pretty young woman said. “Anyone else want to come along?”“I want to get one of those jackpots!” Amy said.Victor, Shelonda and Nicole all seemed to agree with Amy. So, Liu led just Toshia and Don off toward the back of the main room, where she showed them the roulette tables and the “Wheel of Chance.”“It's fun,” Don assured Toshia, briefly telling her what he'd been doing while she played the slots.“We should come back and give it a spin,” Toshia smiled, “if I survive the sexbot, that is.”Liu led them up a circular staircase to the second floor, where they passed a number of small rooms which she said were, “Remote play rooms.” As they went down the long corridor lined with doors, Liu explained: “You go into a room and get into the chair, and then you wait. On the third floor, someone deposits some tokens and they get to control a dildo, or two, or an artificial pussy that moves into you, or on you, Don. They get to watch you on a screen, but you don't get to see them. You can talk to each other, though. Oh, and the room you get when you go upstairs is random, so you never know who you're going to be playing with.”“That sounds very interesting,” Toshia mused.“Another thing to try out, eh?” Don winked at her.Following Liu's delectable backside up two more flights of stairs, they came to the fourth floor, where they were greeted by a robot that looked just like George downstairs, except that it was silver and had no top hat. This one addressed them with a woman's voice and said, “Welcome, sir or madam. My name is Dolores and I am your hostess here in the sexbot rooms. Please deposit your … one thousand … tokens in the bin to my left.”This project took several minutes, because Toshia didn't want to give up any extra of “her” tokens. Once they had deposited exactly one thousand tokens into the bin, Dolores said, “Thank you. Please follow me, sir or madam.”The hostess robot trundled down the hallway, turned a corner, and led them to a door, which clicked open as she approached. Dolores gestured vaguely at the now open room, and said, “Here you go. Please enjoy yourself thoroughly.”“We'll wait out here,” Don suggested.“Oh no you don't!” Toshia said with feeling. “I'm not letting a robot have its way with me without someone there to pull its plug, or whatever, if necessary.”“Oh, it will respond to your commands,” Liu assured her.“Yeah, sure,” Toshia said.“OK,” Don laughed. “We'll come watch. You don't have to twist my arm.”The softly lit room they entered had warm carpeting and wood-paneled walls. In the center of the room was something that looked like a modified old-fashioned dentist's chair. A number of attachments, including a pair of stirrups that Don presumed looked like those found in a gynecologist's office, piqued Don's curiosity. In the corner of the room, was a barrel-bodied robot straight out of a 1950s B-movie. It seemed to have a soft black rubber or latex coating covering almost all of its body.“You get up on the chair,” Liu was saying, as if Toshia and Don wouldn't be preoccupied with the robot. “It will adjust for you, and you can push it into any position you want.”Toshia looked over the chair and the stirrups skeptically, but then shrugged and hopped up onto the small seat. It was shallow so that she was already scooted forward. As soon as her butt hit the padding, the sexbot in the corner clicked to life. Lights blinked on its dome covered head and it took several steps forward toward the chair. There was a whirring sound followed by a series of clacks.“Good day, ma'am,” the robot said, in a voice that was a cross between a comically kitschy metallic stereotype and a soulful bass. Both Don and Toshia chuckled at the weird combination. “Please relax. Giving you the ultimate sexual experience is my only purpose. Let me know if you want me to do anything differently. Believe me, I am extremely responsive.”“OK,” Toshia said as she put her feet in the stirrups and pushed them apart, spreading her legs wide for the sexbot. With a grin Don could tell was nervous, she said, “Show me what you got, big guy.”The bot lumbered forward a few more steps. Then it reached out with a big, black, three fingered hand and touched Toshia's leg. There was more of that whirring sound and more clacking, and then a panel opened in the front of the machine's torso and a prodigious cock-shaped dildo extended.Don moved to Toshia's left, where she reached out and caught his hand, pulling him close. Liu took up a position her right. The sexbot meanwhile moved in closer, moving his large hand up the inside of her leg with surprising gentleness. When that hand reached her crotch, the sexbot paused, covering her pussy. Don heard a low buzzing sound, and Toshia gave a little shriek and squeezed Don's hand. He watched as she pushed herself further forward against the vibrating hand. She whimpered a little when the bot pulled its hand away and moved in between her legs.The fat head of the dildo aimed itself unerringly between Toshia's lips, and she moaned, “Oh yeah, that feels good,” as it entered her. The machine inched closer to Toshia until its front was pressed against her. Don heard the sound of pistons and hydraulics, and Toshia gasped, “Damn, it's fucking me!”Don was transfixed watching Toshia's slender body arching back on the odd chair while the bulky black robot pumped her steadily with its hard dildo.“Damn!” Toshia said. “It's getting bigger, and faster!” Don could hear the bot's mechanisms cycling faster. “Uh huh; yeah, fuck me faster!”The mechanical man obliged, and Toshia let go of Don's hand so she could grab both of the chair's handles and pull herself forward into the robot. Don found himself grinning as Toshia grunted and began to moan. Don reached out to brush Toshia's hair with his right hand and cupped her left breast with his left hand. Seeing what he was up to, Liu imitated Don on the other side. The two of them proceeded to pinch and twist at Toshia's nipples as the sexbot continued to pump its thick dildo-cock in and out of Toshia's pussy.Don realized then that for some time there had been a slowly rising hum; some part or parts of the sexbot were vibrating against Toshia. Then Toshia was coming; loud and hard. Gasping and shaking, she shoved herself back onto the machine as it fucked her. The bot continued to piston and vibrate in and against Toshia as she writhed. When she came down a little, Don leaned over and lowered his mouth onto the breast he had been tormenting with his fingers. Again, Liu followed his lead, and the two of them got cozy over Toshia's tits, sucking and pulling on her nipples.The pace of the bot's fucking and the pitch of the humming seemed to continue to gradually increase, and soon enough Toshia threw her head back and shrieked as she began to come again, and again. She shook and twisted between the sexbot, Liu and Don. After several minutes of this, Toshia groaned and called out, “No, no! Stop!”Don and Liu lifted their heads and looked at Toshia, who was sagging back against the chair. The robot quickly decreased its various functions until it was still inside and against Toshia's body.“That was a-MA-zing!” Toshia finally managed.“Have you had enough already?” Liu asked.“Enough? Already?” Toshia laughed, a bit deliriously. “There's more?”“He's yours until you leave the room,” Liu nodded.“Oh my!” Toshia giggled.About ten minutes later, after Toshia had rolled over, while the sexbot fucked both her pussy and ass like, well, a machine, Don had the pleasure of having his very hard, flesh and blood cock sucked by Toshia, who seemed to have hit a feverish plateau of orgasmic ecstasy. When Toshia finally collapsed, spent, Liu and Don caressed and kissed her until she was ready to be helped out of the room.Don had no interest in sampling the mechanical pleasures available in the clockwork club. He was very much aware of the fact that for him sex was almost entirely about the woman, or women, he was with. He got off on getting them off; without that element, he felt it would just be a complicated form of masturbating, and that hardly seemed appealing, given the wealth of more, shall we say, collaborative options available to him. This, however, was before he met Galatea, but that is a story for another time.To be continued..By BradentonLarry for Literotica

Today I take you through the EASIEST way to declutter any space in your home - using the power of the artificial boundaries and containers. We go step-by-step through decluttering your medicine cabinet and how I use the container rule for our library books! You don't want to miss this one. Be sure to share your progress with me on Instagram (tag @simplebyemmy) or join the  free Facebook group here!   Resources Mentioned:   Decluttering At the Speed of Life by Dana K. White is an excellent book about decluttering!   DEA's Drug Take Back Days are a great way to get rid of unused medication safely.    *Note - affiliate links may be included which means that I get a small commission from any qualifying purchases you make from the link. Thanks!*   Episodes Mentioned:   Episode 5: Don't Know Where to Declutter? The Answer May Surprise You   Episode 4: THIS is Why You Don't Have the Time to Declutter   ***   I help moms declutter their homes, heads, and hearts.   Hey there, mama. Are you tired of all the STUFF crowding your home, calendar, and mind? Do you wish you could say goodbye to the endless to-do list running around in your head, while you're running around in the middle of the mess? Want to declutter but don't know where to start? Are your dreams buried under piles of toys and laundry?   Welcome to Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, where you will find proven and practical solutions to declutter your home, head, and heart.  If you're ready to reclaim your precious resources of time, energy, attention, and focus and create the motherhood and life you want on YOUR terms - this podcast is for you.   Hi, I'm Emily - a wife, #boymom, and simplicity seeker. I struggled to get pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed - until I discovered decluttering could create the physical and emotional space I needed to become a mom.   Now, two kids later, I've transformed my life and motherhood by developing simple systems around decluttering, capsule wardrobes, kids stuff, cleaning and tidying, meal planning, time management, and more- and I can't wait to share them with you!   If you're ready to reclaim the time and energy you crave, be present with your kids, and finally enjoy the life and motherhood you SO deserve - let's kick overwhelm to the curb, shall we? Grab your lukewarm coffee, your notebook and pen, and clear off some counter space! Let's do this.   Podcast -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/podcast   Learn -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/resources    Connect -＞ Join our free Facebook group Decluttering Tips and Support for Overwhelmed Moms   Instagram -＞ @simplebyemmy and @momsovercomingoverwhelm   *** Don't Know Where to Start? ***   5 Steps to Overcome Overwhelm -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/5steps/    5 Mindset Shifts for Decluttering -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/mindset/    Wanna work with me to kick overwhelm to the curb, mama? There are three options for you!   Step 1: Grab a free 30-minute decluttering coaching session at www.calendly.com/simplebyemmy    Step 2: Kick overwhelm to the curb with 5 weeks of support at www.momsovercomingoverwhelm.com    Step 3: Get more personalized support with one-on-one coaching! info@simplebyemmy.com 

Hello guys. I'm Emily. I'm fifteen years old. It makes me sad to think about what happened over the past year but I'm still going to tell you about everything I've been through. I hope people can learn from my experience and not have regrets like me.

The first place I recommend you start decluttering isn't your home at all...it's your home away from home! (No, not Target or Starbucks!) It's your vehicle. Today I explain WHY to start here and walk you step-by-step through the process! Join the FREE Facebook group here. The first ten people to join get a free goodie from me! *** I help moms declutter their homes, heads, and hearts.   Hey there, mama. Are you tired of all the STUFF crowding your home, calendar, and mind? Do you wish you could say goodbye to the endless to-do list running around in your head, while you're running around in the middle of the mess? Want to declutter but don't know where to start? Are your dreams buried under piles of toys and laundry?   Welcome to Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, where you will find proven and practical solutions to declutter your home, head, and heart.  If you're ready to reclaim your precious resources of time, energy, attention, and focus and create the motherhood and life you want on YOUR terms - this podcast is for you.   Hi, I'm Emily - a wife, #boymom, and simplicity seeker. I struggled to get pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed - until I discovered decluttering could create the physical and emotional space I needed to become a mom.   Now, two kids later, I've transformed my life and motherhood by developing simple systems around decluttering, capsule wardrobes, kids stuff, cleaning and tidying, meal planning, time management, and more- and I can't wait to share them with you!   If you're ready to reclaim the time and energy you crave, be present with your kids, and finally enjoy the life and motherhood you SO deserve - let's kick overwhelm to the curb, shall we? Grab your lukewarm coffee, your notebook and pen, and clear off some counter space! Let's do this.   Podcast -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/podcast   Learn -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/resources    Connect -＞ Join our free Facebook group Decluttering Tips and Support for Overwhelmed Moms   Instagram -＞ @simplebyemmy and @momsovercomingoverwhelm   *** Don't Know Where to Start? ***   5 Steps to Overcome Overwhelm -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/5steps/    5 Mindset Shifts for Decluttering -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/mindset/    Wanna work with me to kick overwhelm to the curb, mama? There are three options for you!   Step 1: Grab a free 30-minute decluttering coaching session at www.calendly.com/simplebyemmy    Step 2: Kick overwhelm to the curb with 5 weeks of support at www.momsovercomingoverwhelm.com    Step 3: Get more personalized support with one-on-one coaching! info@simplebyemmy.com   

Where do I start and when do I find the time? When I coach other moms, these are the same two questions I get time and time again. And I get it. When you're overwhelmed, it's hard to look at something as daunting as decluttering and think that something that requires so much energy and focus is something you can handle when you're so inundated already. It's one more thing to do on a never ending to-do list. And when it comes to time, it's hard to even remember if you ate breakfast today, let alone whether you can squeeze in the time to declutter a junk drawer. Today I talk about why we feel so overwhelmed by the idea of decluttering, which causes us to avoid it altogether. Here is the recent Instagram post I mention about the three layers of stuff. Come join our free Facebook Group: Decluttering Tips and Support for Overwhelmed Moms *** Hey there, mama. Are you tired of all the STUFF crowding your home, calendar, and mind? Do you wish you could say goodbye to the endless to-do list running around in your head, while you're running around in the middle of the mess? Want to declutter but don't know where to start? Are your dreams buried under piles of toys and laundry?   Welcome to Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, where you will find proven and practical solutions to declutter your home, head, and heart.  If you're ready to reclaim your precious resources of time, energy, attention, and focus and create the motherhood and life you want on YOUR terms - this podcast is for you.   Hi, I'm Emily - a wife, #boymom, and simplicity seeker. I struggled to get pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed - until I discovered decluttering could create the physical and emotional space I needed to become a mom.   Now, two kids later, I've transformed my life and motherhood by developing simple systems around decluttering, capsule wardrobes, kids stuff, cleaning and tidying, meal planning, time management, and more- and I can't wait to share them with you!   If you're ready to reclaim the time and energy you crave, be present with your kids, and finally enjoy the life and motherhood you SO deserve - let's kick overwhelm to the curb, shall we? Grab your lukewarm coffee, your notebook and pen, and clear off some counter space! Let's do this.   Podcast -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/podcast   Learn -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/resources    Connect -＞ Join our free Facebook group Decluttering Tips and Support for Overwhelmed Moms   Instagram -＞ @simplebyemmy and @momsovercomingoverwhelm   *** Don't Know Where to Start? ***   5 Steps to Overcome Overwhelm -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/5steps/    5 Mindset Shifts for Decluttering -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/mindset/    Wanna work with me to kick overwhelm to the curb, mama? There are three options for you!   Step 1: Grab a free 30-minute decluttering coaching session at www.calendly.com/simplebyemmy    Step 2: Kick overwhelm to the curb with 5 weeks of support at www.momsovercomingoverwhelm.com    Step 3: Get more personalized support with one-on-one coaching! info@simplebyemmy.com   

Now that you know what overwhelms you, you may be tempted to go around your house like a madwoman wielding a garbage bag. Not so fast! There is ONE thing you MUST do before you start decluttering. Today I'll take you through a short episode that can help you focus on what truly matters before you start your decluttering journey. Here is the Instagram Post about my laundry method. *** Hey there, mama. Are you tired of all the STUFF crowding your home, calendar, and mind? Do you wish you could say goodbye to the endless to-do list running around in your head, while you're running around in the middle of the mess? Want to declutter but don't know where to start? Are your dreams buried under piles of toys and laundry?   Welcome to Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, where you will find proven and practical solutions to declutter your home, head, and heart.  If you're ready to reclaim your precious resources of time, energy, attention, and focus and create the motherhood and life you want on YOUR terms - this podcast is for you.   Hi, I'm Emily - a wife, #boymom, and simplicity seeker. I struggled to get pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed - until I discovered decluttering could create the physical and emotional space I needed to become a mom.   Now, two kids later, I've transformed my life and motherhood by developing simple systems around decluttering, capsule wardrobes, kids stuff, cleaning and tidying, meal planning, time management, and more- and I can't wait to share them with you!   If you're ready to reclaim the time and energy you crave, be present with your kids, and finally enjoy the life and motherhood you SO deserve - let's kick overwhelm to the curb, shall we?   Grab your lukewarm coffee, your notebook and pen, and clear off some counter space! Let's do this.   Podcast -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/podcast   Learn -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/resources    Connect -＞ info@simplebyemmy.com    Instagram -＞ @simplebyemmy and @momsovercomingoverwhelm   *** Don't Know Where to Start? ***   5 Steps to Overcome Overwhelm -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/5steps/    5 Mindset Shifts for Decluttering -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/mindset/    Wanna work with me to kick overwhelm to the curb, mama? There are three options for you!   Step 1: Grab a free 30-minute decluttering coaching session at www.calendly.com/simplebyemmy    Step 2: Kick overwhelm to the curb with 5 weeks of support at www.momsovercomingoverwhelm.com    Step 3: Get more personalized support with one-on-one coaching! info@simplebyemmy.com 

If the podcast is named Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, then we need to define overwhelm to know what we're dealing with, right? In today's episode I discuss what I see are the three major causes of overwhelm and how we can combat them - together. Don't forget to take a screen shot of the episode and share it to Instagram! You can tag me at @simplebyemmy. *** Hey there, mama. Are you tired of all the STUFF crowding your home, calendar, and mind? Do you wish you could say goodbye to the endless to-do list running around in your head, while you're running around in the middle of the mess? Want to declutter but don't know where to start? Are your dreams buried under piles of toys and laundry?   Welcome to Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, where you will find proven and practical solutions to declutter your home, head, and heart.  If you're ready to reclaim your precious resources of time, energy, attention, and focus and create the motherhood and life you want on YOUR terms - this podcast is for you.   Hi, I'm Emily - a wife, #boymom, and simplicity seeker. I struggled to get pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed - until I discovered decluttering could create the physical and emotional space I needed to become a mom.   Now, two kids later, I've transformed my life and motherhood by developing simple systems around decluttering, capsule wardrobes, kids stuff, cleaning and tidying, meal planning, time management, and more- and I can't wait to share them with you!   If you're ready to reclaim the time and energy you crave, be present with your kids, and finally enjoy the life and motherhood you SO deserve - let's kick overwhelm to the curb, shall we?   Grab your lukewarm coffee, your notebook and pen, and clear off some counter space! Let's do this. Podcast -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/  Learn -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/resources  Connect -＞ info@simplebyemmy.com  Instagram -＞ @simplebyemmy and @momsovercomingoverwhelm   *** Don't Know Where to Start? ***   5 Steps to Overcome Overwhelm -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/5steps/  5 Mindset Shifts for Decluttering -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/mindset/    Wanna work with me to kick overwhelm to the curb, mama? There are three options for you!   Step 1: Grab a free 30-minute decluttering coaching session at www.calendly.com/simplebyemmy  Step 2: Kick overwhelm to the curb with 5 weeks of support at www.momsovercomingoverwhelm.com  Step 3: Get more personalized support with one-on-one coaching! info@simplebyemmy.com 

In today's episode I talk about my journey from miscarriage, to infertility, to discovering how decluttering and simplifying could help me make room for the baby - and life - I so desired. *** Hey there, mama. Are you tired of all the STUFF crowding your home, calendar, and mind? Do you wish you could say goodbye to the endless to-do list running around in your head, while you're running around in the middle of the mess? Want to declutter but don't know where to start? Are your dreams buried under piles of toys and laundry? Welcome to Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, where you will find proven and practical solutions to declutter your home, head, and heart.  If you're ready to reclaim your precious resources of time, energy, attention, and focus and create the motherhood and life you want on YOUR terms - this podcast is for you. Hi, I'm Emily - a wife, #boymom, and simplicity seeker. I struggled to get pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed - until I discovered decluttering could create the physical and emotional space I needed to become a mom. Now, two kids later, I've transformed my life and motherhood by developing simple systems around decluttering, capsule wardrobes, kids stuff, cleaning and tidying, meal planning, time management, and more- and I can't wait to share them with you! If you're ready to reclaim the time and energy you crave, be present with your kids, and finally enjoy the life and motherhood you SO deserve - let's kick overwhelm to the curb, shall we? Grab your lukewarm coffee, your notebook and pen, and clear off some counter space! Let's do this. Podcast -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/ Learn -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/resources Connect -＞ info@simplebyemmy.com Instagram -＞ @simplebyemmy and @momsovercomingoverwhelm   *** Don't Know Where to Start? ***   5 Steps to Overcome Overwhelm -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/5steps/  5 Mindset Shifts for Decluttering -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/mindset/    Wanna work with me to kick overwhelm to the curb, mama? There are three options for you!   Step 1: Grab a free 30-minute decluttering coaching session at www.calendly.com/simplebyemmy    Step 2: Kick overwhelm to the curb with 5 weeks of support at www.momsovercomingoverwhelm.com    Step 3: Get more personalized support with one-on-one coaching! info@simplebyemmy.com   

Hey there, mama. Are you tired of all the STUFF crowding your home, calendar, and mind? Do you wish you could say goodbye to the endless to-do list running around in your head, while you're running around in the middle of the mess? Want to declutter but don't know where to start? Are your dreams buried under piles of toys and laundry? Welcome to Moms Overcoming Overwhelm, where you will find proven and practical solutions to declutter your home, head, and heart.  If you're ready to reclaim your precious resources of time, energy, attention, and focus and create the motherhood and life you want on YOUR terms - this podcast is for you. Hi, I'm Emily - a wife, #boymom, and simplicity seeker. I struggled to get pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed - until I discovered decluttering could create the physical and emotional space I needed to become a mom. Now, two kids later, I've transformed my life and motherhood by developing simple systems around decluttering, capsule wardrobes, kids stuff, cleaning and tidying, meal planning, time management, and more- and I can't wait to share them with you! If you're ready to reclaim the time and energy you crave, be present with your kids, and finally enjoy the life and motherhood you SO deserve - let's kick overwhelm to the curb, shall we? Grab your lukewarm coffee, your notebook and pen, and clear off some counter space! Let's do this. Podcast -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/ Learn -＞ www.simplebyemmy.com/resources Connect -＞ info@simplebyemmy.com Instagram -＞ @simplebyemmy and @momsovercomingoverwhelm   *** Don't Know Where to Start? *** 5 Steps to Overcome Overwhelm -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/5steps/  5 Mindset Shifts for Decluttering -＞ https://simplebyemmy.com/mindset/    Wanna work with me to kick overwhelm to the curb, mama? There are three options for you!   Step 1: Grab a free 30-minute decluttering coaching session at www.calendly.com/simplebyemmy    Step 2: Kick overwhelm to the curb with 5 weeks of support at www.momsovercomingoverwhelm.com    Step 3: Get more personalized support with one-on-one coaching! info@simplebyemmy.com 

Welcome to the Project: Mom Podcast,  where we share the unedited journeys of new moms as they navigate motherhood and the call to entrepreneurship! I'm Emily - a Mom, a wife, a sister, a friend, a woman with a passion or two or three, who challenges the status quo.Today's episode is about my story. The first year of my daughter's life was raw and challenging. I didn't experience the instant Mama/Baby connection. I had a rough post-delivery experience. It was a rude awakening when my life didn't find its way back into the normal rhythm I once had. But I discovered there's so much hope and inspiration on the other side. It's time to break down the walls that keep us from one another. We can find our identity within. We can listen to our own truth and follow our dreams and passions and trust that they'll come to fruition when the time is right.  Can we surrender to this journey? I welcome you to listen alongside me every week as we hear the stories of strangers that are very eerily similar to our own. As you fold laundry or walk that sweet baby around the block or do dishes for the millionth time, I hope you'll join me.Notable Quote from Emily“The Mama - Baby connection took a lot of time. I wasn't prepared for the body shifts, the hormone shifts, the mental, emotional shifts, and it wasn't talked about or shared with me ahead of time.”Resources & LinksWhat topics would you love for me to explore on Project: Mom next? Or do you want to share your story? Email me at projectmompod@gmail.com. Learn more about Project: Mom and follow us on Instagram at @projectmompodcast.

Hi! I'm Emily. I'm a proud mama, disillusioned organizational consultant, aspiring change maker, yoga lover and total geek. I'm currently working as a personal consultant, offering a hybrid service of expert advice, mentoring and coaching, in order to help facilitate conscious change in women's lives. Social media and contact information: My links: www.theselfhealingconsultant.com Fb group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1181523802209424/?ref=share IG: http://www.instagram.com/the.self.healing.consultant --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/damagedparents/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/damagedparents/support

Emily Winston Bio (From the website) Hi, I'm Emily. Growing up in suburban NJ, there were plenty of good bagels around. But when my father had business take him to the Upper West Side, he would stop by Zabar's for lox, sable, whitefish, and chive cream cheese, and H&H for bagels, which we would have as a special treat. These bagels were on a whole different level of unique deliciousness. After moving away, I would look forward to possibly having them when visiting home. And then one day I learned that they had gone out of business, and was deeply upset. I took this news like the death of a loved one I just hadn't been in contact with in a long time, and grieved, and said I didn't want to let those bagels cease to exist. And so I embarked on what became my five year quest, through trial and error, to create a bagel I longed to eat. ​ On the name (Of the Bagel Bakery) boychik (plural boychiks) Noun (chiefly Jewish/Yiddish) Term of endearment for a young boy or a young man. A few years before she died, I went to visit my grandmother, having recently "gone butch." "Oy, such a boychik!", she cried, "Tell me, will you be having your Bar Mitzvah soon?" Followed by a discussion about my spectator shoes and how my grandfather once had similar shoes which she had loved. I'm pretty sure she'd tell you that my bagels are the best! Boichick Bagel Website https://boichikbagels.com/ (For Menu and ordering online) _______________________- If you follow my podcast and enjoy it, I'm on @buymeacoffee. If you like my work, you can buy me a coffee and share your thoughts

Are you just starting out with qualitative research? Or perhaps you have experience in other forms of qualitative research but want to learn a bit more about Thematic Analysis specifically? You've come to the right place. In this podcast we (three early career researchers) talk about our understanding and experiences of conducting Thematic Analysis (TA) with the help of NVivo Software. We delve under the umbrella term of TA to ask, what is TA? Why did it appeal to our different research projects? And, of course, no research project is complete without a few stumbling blocks along the way, so we talk about those as well.   To polish off and add a little extra shine to the podcast we include a short interview with Dr. Katherine Ashbullby, Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Exeter, who shares her knowledge and experience of TA with the benefit of her experience in the field.   Resources NVivo QSR International (2021) For more information about NVivo and a range of training resources visit the NVivo website: https://www.qsrinternational.com/nvivo-qualitative-data-analysis-software/home/   Sandelowski M, Barroso J. (2003) Classifying the findings in qualitative studies. Qual Health Res. 13(7):905–923.   Braun V, Clarke, V (2019) Reflecting on reflexive thematic analysis, Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 11:4, 589-597, DOI 10.1080/2159676X.2019.1628806  [this paper was referred to as ‘the 2016 one' by Emily in the podcast]   Braun V, Clarke V. (2021) Can I use TA? Should I use TA? Should I not use TA? Comparing reflexive thematic analysis and other pattern-based qualitative analytic approaches. Couns Psychother Res.;21:37–47. https://doi.org/10.1002/capr.12360   Victoria Clarke has tweeted a useful twitter thread on the Big Q/small q qualitative distinction, which be accessed through the following link:  https://twitter.com/drvicclarke/status/1444258228439764993?s=20    YouTube videos by Victoria Clarke on Thematic Analysis: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLBw6Qig8KBId9YuIMzAg7w   Kiger M.E., Varpio L. (2020) Thematic analysis of qualitative data: AMEE Guide No. 131, Medical Teacher, 42:8, 846-854, DOI: 10.1080/0142159X.2020.1755030   Contact and Feedback This podcast is supported by the GW4 institutions – Bristol, Bath, Cardiff, and Exeter – as part of their NVivo Resource Development project, a pool of resources for researchers wishing to get started with NVivo software.   We hope that you enjoyed our podcast. We'd love to hear how you found it. Share your feedback with any of the GW4 doctoral college Twitter accounts: @ExeterDoctoral              @DoctoralBath                   @bristoldc   Thank you for listening! A big thank you from us, Ailsa Naismith, Merve Mollaahmetoglu and Emily Taylor, for listening and we wish you all the best in your research endeavours.   Podcast transcript: 1 00:00:09,210 --> 00:00:20,730 Hello and welcome to R, D and the In Betweens, a fortnightly podcast where we talk to guests about research, development and everything in between. 2 00:00:20,730 --> 00:00:31,380 This week is a special episode with three guest hosts, Ailsa Merve and Emily from the University of Bristol and Exeter. 3 00:00:31,380 --> 00:00:39,050 You're listening to a podcast on thematic analysis and how to tease meaning from qualitative data. 4 00:00:39,050 --> 00:00:41,960 If you're interested about thematic analysis, 5 00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:50,480 keep listening for some insights from three researchers from the University of Exeter and Bristol who have been through the process. 6 00:00:50,480 --> 00:00:58,160 We're also going to hear a little bit from an expert on thematic analysis who shares their key tips on the process. 7 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:03,380 I'm Ailsa and I work at Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol. 8 00:01:03,380 --> 00:01:13,400 I'm here with Merve working in psychology and Emily, who works in the College of Medicine and Health, and both are at the University of Exeter. 9 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:17,940 Hi there. Hi. Great. 10 00:01:17,940 --> 00:01:24,230 So lovely to chat today. And let's make some introductions. 11 00:01:24,230 --> 00:01:33,590 I myself am a volcanologist, and I started using thematic analysis to study how people remember past volcanic eruptions. 12 00:01:33,590 --> 00:01:41,930 How did both of you get into the topic from what backgrounds? Yes, my name is Merve and I'm in the psychology department. 13 00:01:41,930 --> 00:01:48,560 So I started using thematic analysis to understand experiences of people who were being ketamine for the treatment, 14 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:52,790 who were being given ketamine for the treatment of alcohol use disorders. 15 00:01:52,790 --> 00:02:02,240 Yeah. How about you? I'm Emily and I use thematic analysis for my project looking at independent and older people. 16 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:07,370 And this was a mixed method analysis. So I was using quantitative and qualitative data. 17 00:02:07,370 --> 00:02:13,860 So I found thematic analysis with some of its flexibility was really quite helpful for that. 18 00:02:13,860 --> 00:02:21,690 That's really interesting. It sounds like we're coming from very different backgrounds and using thematic analysis in different ways, 19 00:02:21,690 --> 00:02:35,220 but for those people who for those listeners who are not so familiar with thematic analysis, how would we define that message to them? 20 00:02:35,220 --> 00:02:36,480 That's a really good question. 21 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:45,420 And I think one thing to understand is that thematic analysis is not a single method, but it's used as an umbrella term for a family of methods. 22 00:02:45,420 --> 00:02:52,980 And as Emily mentioned, it can be flexible in both theoretically, but also in the way that it can be used with inductive. 23 00:02:52,980 --> 00:02:59,400 So data driven and deductive, so theory driven approaches and approaches to coding. 24 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:06,150 And it can also capture both semantics, explicit or latent implicit meanings and data. 25 00:03:06,150 --> 00:03:07,860 So what is actually thematic analysis? 26 00:03:07,860 --> 00:03:17,760 So it is a pattern based qualitative method and it's considered to belong to the phenomenological or experiential qualitative research tradition. 27 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:25,410 So it tries to understand exploration of participants subjective experiences and making sense of their. 28 00:03:25,410 --> 00:03:34,410 I think the only thing I can think to add is some people would say it's sort of in the middle in terms of descriptive vs. interpretive. 29 00:03:34,410 --> 00:03:38,830 Some people would argue it can go any place on the scale depending on how you use it. 30 00:03:38,830 --> 00:03:44,730 But I think it can you sort of sit in the middle? Yeah, and I definitely agree with that. 31 00:03:44,730 --> 00:03:51,570 And I think that ties in with what Merve says about it could be an inductive or deductive 32 00:03:51,570 --> 00:03:59,160 approach that you kind of start with a you start with a theory of what you're expecting to see. 33 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:03,990 And you might find that in your research you confirm that, or conversely, 34 00:04:03,990 --> 00:04:11,040 you might start with almost kind of no expectations of what you're going to find in your research. 35 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:15,900 And then you build up your themes as you as you go along. 36 00:04:15,900 --> 00:04:23,340 And I think that that is one of the really good things about thematic analysis, 37 00:04:23,340 --> 00:04:32,100 the flexibility that you mention, Emily and Merve, you use this term of pattern based methods. 38 00:04:32,100 --> 00:04:39,710 I'm kind of interested in that. How could you elaborate on that pattern based, similar pattern based? 39 00:04:39,710 --> 00:04:45,150 I'm referring to qualitative analysis methods that focus on analysing patterns 40 00:04:45,150 --> 00:04:50,170 of meaning across data items or cases and a qualitative qualitative data set. 41 00:04:50,170 --> 00:04:54,510 So what I mean by data items are cases. I'm referring to participants. 42 00:04:54,510 --> 00:05:03,960 So call it a thematic analysis is one approach, one pattern based approach that others, such as qualitative content analysis, 43 00:05:03,960 --> 00:05:12,960 IPA, grounded theory, reflexive thematic analysis, the one I just mentioned, and also a pattern based discourse analysis. 44 00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:19,590 I guess pattern based methods are different than other qualitative methods that examine, 45 00:05:19,590 --> 00:05:25,110 for example, the more fine grained or interactional work of speech, 46 00:05:25,110 --> 00:05:33,390 such as conversation, analysis, or it's also different from methods that focus on biographies or stories such as narrative analysis. 47 00:05:33,390 --> 00:05:40,980 So that's how we can distinguish thematic analysis from other types of qualitative analysis approaches. 48 00:05:40,980 --> 00:05:46,080 Emily, did you have anything to add? No. Again, I think you've put it really well. 49 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:58,320 I think one of the things about it being pattern based, so it also lends to it being a useful foundational tool for for other qualitative methods. 50 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:08,280 So grounded theory and an IPA, I think both kind of expand on and of some of the concepts of thematic analysis, 51 00:06:08,280 --> 00:06:14,320 although thematic analysis is definitelu argued as a standalone method in itself. 52 00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:19,130 I just realised we haven't quite defined what it is, and for me, I initially forgot, 53 00:06:19,130 --> 00:06:24,850 well, not forgot, but it's quite a long road, so we should probably specify that. 54 00:06:24,850 --> 00:06:30,650 I think it's interpretative phenomenological analysis, just as a note to the listener. 55 00:06:30,650 --> 00:06:38,530 Yeah, good point. Very nicely pronounced. I'm always like shying away from saying it because it's such a long one. 56 00:06:38,530 --> 00:06:47,400 But yet when we say IPA, that's what we're referring to. Got you got you, not the IPA beer 57 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:52,240 That would be a great type of uh. I'd be very interested. Yeah. 58 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:58,150 Emily, I really liked what you picked up on in that thematic analysis can be kind of standalone, 59 00:06:58,150 --> 00:07:04,030 but it also is the foundation for a lot of different other types of analysis. 60 00:07:04,030 --> 00:07:10,990 I think that's really key and that for me in my research was something I instinctively felt. 61 00:07:10,990 --> 00:07:21,730 So I haven't done any other types of qualitative analysis than the analysis, but it kind of feels when you're doing it that it's so, 62 00:07:21,730 --> 00:07:27,970 so powerful and so flexible that you could really use it for and other other methods. 63 00:07:27,970 --> 00:07:35,500 And yeah, I wondered I mean, like I've said, I haven't done anything else apart from thematic analysis. 64 00:07:35,500 --> 00:07:47,350 But I wondered if you had both worked on some of these other methods that that you mentioned Merve and whether you wanted to kind of 65 00:07:47,350 --> 00:07:57,070 briefly elaborate on on how perhaps whether you liked them and whether thematic analysis itself really informed those other methods. 66 00:07:57,070 --> 00:08:06,820 So I will I am I have only really used thematic analysis, although I didn't really realise that it was counted as thematic analysis, 67 00:08:06,820 --> 00:08:10,570 because going back to the comment you made earlier is an umbrella term. 68 00:08:10,570 --> 00:08:18,340 So I actually use framework analysis, which if you go by and Clarke's definition, 69 00:08:18,340 --> 00:08:22,840 that would be counted as sort of a code book type of thematic analysis. 70 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:30,280 And so that's just it's not as rigid as another form, which is coding reliability, 71 00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:40,660 which is very keen on having accurate codes that are repeatable and have different researchers. 72 00:08:40,660 --> 00:08:48,760 So that's kind of the key quality of coding reliability. And then you've got the bottom part version of reflexive analysis, 73 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:56,830 which is much more recognising the generation and and sending of the researcher and the impact to the researcher on things. 74 00:08:56,830 --> 00:09:02,530 So a code book, which is where mine sits this framework is sort of in between those two, 75 00:09:02,530 --> 00:09:09,220 because it does have a framework which has some sort of deductive codes coming in to start with. 76 00:09:09,220 --> 00:09:16,040 And for me that was useful because that related to the mixed methods sort of side of my project that I, 77 00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:24,700 I did want to explore and sort of the more abstract and deeper kind of meanings within my studies. 78 00:09:24,700 --> 00:09:30,910 But I also needed to relate it to the quantitative work as well. So then use the deductive side for that. 79 00:09:30,910 --> 00:09:38,230 Mm hmm. That's so interesting, Emily. And I think that kind of brings us to a point that I wanted to mention about this, 80 00:09:38,230 --> 00:09:44,950 because we defined we said that thematic analysis is an umbrella term, but we haven't really quite defined what sits under that. 81 00:09:44,950 --> 00:09:51,280 And you refer to these sort of three main approaches within themantic analysis that Braun and Clark mentioned. 82 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:53,860 So, you know, you said the coding reliability approaches, 83 00:09:53,860 --> 00:10:03,870 the reflexive approaches and the codebook approaches with that continuum from coding reliability to reflexive themantic analysis. 84 00:10:03,870 --> 00:10:08,080 And, yeah, I think that's an important distinction to make. 85 00:10:08,080 --> 00:10:13,930 And I think what I would add to that is that Braun and Clark refer to coding reliability. 86 00:10:13,930 --> 00:10:17,710 Thematic analysis is what's called a small q qualitative research. 87 00:10:17,710 --> 00:10:24,410 So when you use qualitative tools and techniques with a post positivist research values 88 00:10:24,410 --> 00:10:33,910 so sort of the research values that underpin quantitative research and emphasise sort of the objective and replicable knowledge as ideal, 89 00:10:33,910 --> 00:10:39,850 whereas the reflexive thematic analysis sits more within the big Q qualitative research 90 00:10:39,850 --> 00:10:45,640 which where qualitative research is not simply conceptualised as tools and techniques, 91 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:49,350 what that means is qualitative, both in terms of techniques but also values. 92 00:10:49,350 --> 00:10:55,150 So I think that's a really interesting discussion. Yeah, that is an interesting discussion, rather. 93 00:10:55,150 --> 00:11:01,120 And I wanted to ask you a bit more about that, because I still find some of these terms a bit confusing. 94 00:11:01,120 --> 00:11:07,570 So you kind of said that the small q qualitative research is use qualitative tools, 95 00:11:07,570 --> 00:11:15,610 but you have values of, I'm guessing, understanding that there's maybe a objective truth out. 96 00:11:15,610 --> 00:11:16,750 There are things to learn, 97 00:11:16,750 --> 00:11:25,840 whereas the big Q qualitative would be both that you use the qualitative tools but also have a qualitative approach in that you say, 98 00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:30,910 well, the truth is subjective and this is my interpretation of what you said, 99 00:11:30,910 --> 00:11:36,350 but perhaps you can elaborate because it's always it's good to hear in your own words. 100 00:11:36,350 --> 00:11:42,220 I've just got a note here that the big Q is around encompassing the philosophy and procedure. 101 00:11:42,220 --> 00:11:51,460 And so sort of what you were saying. Yeah, I guess the point to make here is that there's the what is referred to as small q qualitative research, 102 00:11:51,460 --> 00:11:56,830 which uses maybe the quantitative research values within a qualitative method. 103 00:11:56,830 --> 00:12:04,870 And then there's the big Q qualitative research which where the methods and the values are aligned in qualitative research. 104 00:12:04,870 --> 00:12:08,320 Yeah, that's a really good way of putting it actually. 105 00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:15,670 And I guess you can see where you sit within this continuum of thematic analysis or qualitative research more generally, 106 00:12:15,670 --> 00:12:20,170 depending on what the needs of the research that you're conducting are. 107 00:12:20,170 --> 00:12:25,120 And I think the reference for that is from Sandelowski and Barroso in 2003, 108 00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:29,200 just from reading this morning that we might be able to put that in the notes. 109 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:31,720 And you've also both mentioned Braun and Clarke. 110 00:12:31,720 --> 00:12:39,190 So I think this would be this is a really key article to it, kind of in reference for people to be able to look back on. 111 00:12:39,190 --> 00:12:45,910 It seems that I think all of us have found that a really useful resource from our very different backgrounds. 112 00:12:45,910 --> 00:12:51,820 I think one of the really interesting things about Braun and Clark is that they do they have the original paper in 2006, 113 00:12:51,820 --> 00:12:56,610 but they have done lots of papers since and encourage you to read those papers because they. 114 00:12:56,610 --> 00:13:05,790 You reflect on what how they've learnt to learn from teaching about as well, and I think that makes and is really helpful, 115 00:13:05,790 --> 00:13:15,420 but also quite informative for a new researcher to realise actually there was all this reflection and all of this has gone before. 116 00:13:15,420 --> 00:13:22,710 Yeah, definitely, if you're just starting with qualitative research, don't just go and read their paper from 2006, that was 15 years ago. 117 00:13:22,710 --> 00:13:28,650 And there they have so many more papers come out since then that are really informative. 118 00:13:28,650 --> 00:13:33,210 So I think that's one of the most referenced papers in the whole world. 119 00:13:33,210 --> 00:13:35,580 I'm not entirely sure it's about hundred thousand times. 120 00:13:35,580 --> 00:13:43,540 But, you know, I think they also emphasise that things have moved on from the their understanding at that time. 121 00:13:43,540 --> 00:13:51,470 So I would definitely recommend reading some of their most recent papers, which we can link in the show notes as well. 122 00:13:51,470 --> 00:13:57,710 This is a mad numbers of references. Yeah, it's crazy, but it's also, I think, 123 00:13:57,710 --> 00:14:07,220 confidence building that these people who have written such a seminal resource have also shown that in their subsequent papers, 124 00:14:07,220 --> 00:14:09,260 they've been pretty reflexive. 125 00:14:09,260 --> 00:14:21,890 The because this is kind of a theme or a common feature of thematic analysis itself that's kind of going over and and refining looking back on. 126 00:14:21,890 --> 00:14:29,070 So to have some of the most prominent practitioners of it do it in their own work and in their own understanding, 127 00:14:29,070 --> 00:14:37,910 that's pretty, pretty great, I think. 128 00:14:37,910 --> 00:14:48,770 I just want to say one other aspect perhaps that we haven't discussed in terms of thematic analysis is, is the issue of method versus methodology. 129 00:14:48,770 --> 00:14:55,700 And I think before I started doing qualitative research, before I started being involved with qualitative research, 130 00:14:55,700 --> 00:14:59,210 I kind of assumed method and methodology were the same thing. 131 00:14:59,210 --> 00:15:07,110 So I kind of used interchangeably. But they actually refer to different things and I think it would be really useful for people to know. 132 00:15:07,110 --> 00:15:15,690 And so the way methodology is defined is that methodology refers to theoretically informed frameworks for research. 133 00:15:15,690 --> 00:15:21,470 So this include things like IPA discourse, analysis, and on the other hand, 134 00:15:21,470 --> 00:15:29,000 method refers to technically it's sort of not technically, theoretically independent tools and techniques such as thematic analysis. 135 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:38,630 So, you know, from the examples that we've given earlier about pattern based methods from pattern based methods and methodologies, 136 00:15:38,630 --> 00:15:45,140 thematic analysis and qualitative content analysis are are considered pattern based methods. 137 00:15:45,140 --> 00:15:54,020 So these offer people, researchers, tools and techniques that are either a theoretical or theoretically flexible in the case of thematic analysis, 138 00:15:54,020 --> 00:16:01,610 for example, and things like IPA, grounded theory, discourse, analysis, these are considered methodology. 139 00:16:01,610 --> 00:16:09,230 So these have theoretically informed framework's research. That's an important distinction to clarify for people. 140 00:16:09,230 --> 00:16:18,590 Yeah, Merve I think you nailed it. I mean, I, I still struggle with method versus methodology, but I think that's that's quite clear. 141 00:16:18,590 --> 00:16:22,630 And for me, it's kind of useful, you know, like what's in an ology 142 00:16:22,630 --> 00:16:34,700 Like, what's the difference that I think I think I mean, one one one thing that's just occurred to me as as you describe that Merve is that, 143 00:16:34,700 --> 00:16:40,010 you know, the set method, as I understand it, is theory. 144 00:16:40,010 --> 00:16:45,510 So you said it's the theoretically independent. So I could approach that with different research philosophies. 145 00:16:45,510 --> 00:16:53,240 Yes. And the methodology is is informed by a particular research philosophy. 146 00:16:53,240 --> 00:17:00,290 I think in a way like what Emily said was really helpful in understanding that themantic analysis is theoretically flexible because, you know, 147 00:17:00,290 --> 00:17:06,290 she said how she adapted it to suit the needs of her research project in the 148 00:17:06,290 --> 00:17:11,330 sense that she still needed things to be reliable and replicable in a sense. 149 00:17:11,330 --> 00:17:18,740 So she didn't use perhaps the reflexive thematic analysis, which doesn't necessarily concern itself with reliability. 150 00:17:18,740 --> 00:17:26,750 And it understands that themes are quite subjective. So it doesn't try to reduce that research researcher bias. 151 00:17:26,750 --> 00:17:33,360 So, you know, she's adopted the thematic analysis to her research values and philosophy. 152 00:17:33,360 --> 00:17:35,430 Yeah. 153 00:17:35,430 --> 00:17:45,270 Yeah, yeah, I really I keep coming back to that that that thing you said the start, I believe, how you liked the flexibility of thematic analysis. 154 00:17:45,270 --> 00:17:52,030 And I also in my research, that was a really big pool for me because I had this this. 155 00:17:52,030 --> 00:17:56,580 Yeah, I just I just wanted to have a powerful tool that could do what I wanted it to do. 156 00:17:56,580 --> 00:18:08,760 So, yeah. And I wanted to ask if there were other other appeals of thematic analysis that really led you to choose it to to analyse your research. 157 00:18:08,760 --> 00:18:16,830 That's a good question, I think. It sort of led me on to think of something else, which may not be quite answering the question, 158 00:18:16,830 --> 00:18:25,770 but I think it's sort of relevant and I don't want to ask again, I think it's a 2016 paper. 159 00:18:25,770 --> 00:18:32,970 They talk about and using it as a tool to be used flexibly, but also with knowingness. 160 00:18:32,970 --> 00:18:38,190 So and thinking about although it can be flexible with the very thinking about 161 00:18:38,190 --> 00:18:42,750 what I still think about what's underpinning it and how you're using that. 162 00:18:42,750 --> 00:18:46,650 And for me, this it just worked. 163 00:18:46,650 --> 00:18:52,470 And I think the conversation it was having going on in my research is looking 164 00:18:52,470 --> 00:18:58,440 at the quantitative and qualitative and how they speak to each other or not, 165 00:18:58,440 --> 00:19:05,610 and the fact that I could use a guess sort of deductive and inductive within that analysis. 166 00:19:05,610 --> 00:19:09,150 And also the fact is looking at patterns so I can only see other patterns 167 00:19:09,150 --> 00:19:16,440 between the two types of data and what a contrast and just works well for me, 168 00:19:16,440 --> 00:19:25,200 I think. Mm hmm. I think what I wanted to also say is something that Emily said is that it can do both. 169 00:19:25,200 --> 00:19:33,930 It sort of sits between descriptive and analytical approaches. And again, that fits within more descriptive, more themantic approach, 170 00:19:33,930 --> 00:19:44,010 a systematic analysis versus more light and versus approaches that try to on the cover more detail and implicit meanings. 171 00:19:44,010 --> 00:19:49,410 So I think that's some other benefit of thematic analysis that you can sort of do both of those things with it. 172 00:19:49,410 --> 00:19:51,430 Yeah, yeah, I like that. 173 00:19:51,430 --> 00:19:59,790 So I imagine that if you're under covering a theme, a theme could be something that someone's kind of one of your, let's say, an interview. 174 00:19:59,790 --> 00:20:06,660 He says something that you say, well, this can't this text can be taken as read a descriptive theme or it's kind of 175 00:20:06,660 --> 00:20:11,850 the meaning behind the words is the kind of latent thing that you pick up. 176 00:20:11,850 --> 00:20:12,900 And yeah. 177 00:20:12,900 --> 00:20:21,510 Emily, from your your what you described, it sounds like you like the flexibility, but there was also some kind of structure underpinning it. 178 00:20:21,510 --> 00:20:25,710 So you didn't kind of just jump in and say, oh, I'm going to do whatever, 179 00:20:25,710 --> 00:20:31,350 but that you use thematci analysis to kind of marry that quantitative and qualitative analysis. 180 00:20:31,350 --> 00:20:46,860 And I really like that. I think that's. Yeah, a really, really positive thing of thematic analysis. 181 00:20:46,860 --> 00:20:56,440 So one thing I was going to go on to after that was that I think that we all use the software NVivo, for for thematic analysis. 182 00:20:56,440 --> 00:21:07,530 And I wondered if you felt that it was easy to kind of marry the analysis of the different qualitative and quantitative data in NVivo 183 00:21:07,530 --> 00:21:14,980 And that's also a good question. It certainly works well, I think can be very for me, it works how I think. 184 00:21:14,980 --> 00:21:23,640 So if I had a word my interview transcripts in paper form, I would probably be highlighting and then putting little notes in the margin. 185 00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:29,040 And actually, NVivo allows me to do that because I can highlight it and then make annotations. 186 00:21:29,040 --> 00:21:33,540 Or if I'm actually thinking about organising it, I can highlight to encode it. 187 00:21:33,540 --> 00:21:39,130 And that works. I believe it's a quantitative code or a qualitative code. 188 00:21:39,130 --> 00:21:46,020 Yeah. So it just works for me. And the benefit of and we believe we're doing that on paper is that I can then 189 00:21:46,020 --> 00:21:50,340 take those bits that I've coded and move them around and look at them together. 190 00:21:50,340 --> 00:21:59,010 Hmm. I mean, it's a great tool, isn't it, because, you know, before computers and NVivo, I imagine people had to do this by hand. 191 00:21:59,010 --> 00:22:09,270 And I think they would print out the interviews and they would highlight cut and paste, move around, you know, the whole floor being covered by paper. 192 00:22:09,270 --> 00:22:14,460 And, you know, I guess in a way you might become more involved with your data, 193 00:22:14,460 --> 00:22:20,640 but it also is very difficult to manage and share with other people and also very prone to getting lost. 194 00:22:20,640 --> 00:22:24,540 So and we were kind of does all of that in a computer system. 195 00:22:24,540 --> 00:22:31,710 And I think it's really helpful in terms of collaborating with people, because we know that, you know, in most qualitative research, 196 00:22:31,710 --> 00:22:36,780 interviews are coded by more than one people one person, one researcher, 197 00:22:36,780 --> 00:22:42,870 or even if it is just coded by you, you still probably want to share it with other people. 198 00:22:42,870 --> 00:22:46,410 So it's a great tool for facilitating facilitating that. 199 00:22:46,410 --> 00:22:49,500 Yeah. So there's a lot of tools around how to work with other people. 200 00:22:49,500 --> 00:22:57,970 And this is one of the tools that we've created for the for the enviable resources as part of the GW4 network. 201 00:22:57,970 --> 00:23:00,300 So if you are in one of those institutions, 202 00:23:00,300 --> 00:23:07,170 you will be able to access access some information about how to facilitate collaboration on NVivo as well, which we will link to at the end. 203 00:23:07,170 --> 00:23:08,190 Yeah, I love that. 204 00:23:08,190 --> 00:23:17,830 My personal experience I remember the first my very first getting into thematic analysis and having only three interviews to analyse, 205 00:23:17,830 --> 00:23:25,020 but the transcripts werfe each like 20 pages long. And before I got to use NVivo, I was just like, you know, writing down texts and stuff. 206 00:23:25,020 --> 00:23:32,190 And I had I think I had interesting themes, but it was like impossible to organise that or to get a sense of, 207 00:23:32,190 --> 00:23:40,290 you know, what was significant or what was just, you know, a kind of small idea, what could be descriptive. 208 00:23:40,290 --> 00:23:41,930 And I think in particular, 209 00:23:41,930 --> 00:23:52,530 the kind of latent themes for me were much harder to to to tease out and to understand when I just had big stacks of paper coming. 210 00:23:52,530 --> 00:24:06,090 And for me, uploading these transcripts into and being able to organise themes through notes and kind of linked them was like really a game changer. 211 00:24:06,090 --> 00:24:12,900 Yeah. Was it the same for you? Every. Yeah, yeah, there's a couple of things you said that it made me think I mean, 212 00:24:12,900 --> 00:24:16,510 I find it really helpful that you can sort of have everything in one place. 213 00:24:16,510 --> 00:24:25,710 You can have you can use memos to be to maybe reflexive memos or so you can have a project log, as almost, maybe your diary. 214 00:24:25,710 --> 00:24:27,630 And because I don't know if you're anything like me, 215 00:24:27,630 --> 00:24:34,440 but we have bits of paper everywhere that have little notes that you can have it all on and NVivo, which is quite handy. 216 00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:44,310 And also, um, I'm a very visual thinker. So some of the visualisation tools, that computer has had been really helpful, I think. 217 00:24:44,310 --> 00:24:46,560 Mm hmm. Yeah, I was just about to mention that. 218 00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:52,530 And I think another really cool tool is if you're using thematic analysis with a more quantitative approach, 219 00:24:52,530 --> 00:24:56,670 let's say you can run coding comparison a query. 220 00:24:56,670 --> 00:25:04,800 So if you have multiple people coding on the same project, you can automatically compare how much do they agree in terms of their coding? 221 00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:08,850 And you can highlight differences and you can highlight areas where they disagree. 222 00:25:08,850 --> 00:25:15,060 But it can be really useful tool to enable comparisons of integrated reliability and things like that. 223 00:25:15,060 --> 00:25:22,710 That's really useful to know because I have only ever coded as a I've only ever 224 00:25:22,710 --> 00:25:29,940 coded so low that going forward it could be a really useful thing to be able to, 225 00:25:29,940 --> 00:25:38,880 again, kind of reflect on whether these systems are robust, if other researchers involved are kind of seeing those who are picking them out. 226 00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:44,490 And if not, then there's an interesting dialogue to be had there with other researchers. 227 00:25:44,490 --> 00:25:48,600 And yeah, but I have I have also used the visualisation tools. 228 00:25:48,600 --> 00:26:00,020 I don't know if both of you use, but I'm a particular fan of the word clouds. 229 00:26:00,020 --> 00:26:06,470 I mean, talking about, you know, we've talked a lot about all the benefits of thematic analysis, 230 00:26:06,470 --> 00:26:15,140 and I think listeners will be able to tell that we're all fans. But I know that with everything there comes some challenges. 231 00:26:15,140 --> 00:26:26,330 And for instance, I found initially that it was quite difficult to know how much significance to ascribe to a theme that was emerging in my data. 232 00:26:26,330 --> 00:26:34,400 And I wanted to ask you both, you know, any particular challenges that you've come across while doing thematic analysis? 233 00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:43,340 Yeah, I think that's a good point about describing how much weight to ascribe to the different bits of coding, 234 00:26:43,340 --> 00:26:48,620 and especially where we've talked about coming from Quantitative maybe a more quantitative background where 235 00:26:48,620 --> 00:26:54,200 you may be looking at Frequency's and things like that and actually realising that in thematic analysis, 236 00:26:54,200 --> 00:27:01,490 actually some of the very important and possibly the richest themes can be ones that don't appear all that often. 237 00:27:01,490 --> 00:27:03,860 But they they're really potent when they do. 238 00:27:03,860 --> 00:27:11,540 And they might also encourage you to explore a bit more into the other of the transcripts as well to see whether it does actually come up. 239 00:27:11,540 --> 00:27:16,760 It might just have been a bit more subtle than some of the others. That's really interesting. 240 00:27:16,760 --> 00:27:27,050 I guess for me, one of the challenges was getting my head around sort of this distinction between what's referred to as themes and domain summaries, 241 00:27:27,050 --> 00:27:34,640 especially within reflexive thematic analysis. So now now I do understand what domain summaries are. 242 00:27:34,640 --> 00:27:41,840 So domain summaries are basically a summary of what's been said, everything that's been said about a particular topic. 243 00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:46,670 So, for example, if I asked the participants a question, I might have asked something like, 244 00:27:46,670 --> 00:27:50,660 what are some of the negative experiences you've had with this treatment? 245 00:27:50,660 --> 00:27:55,280 And if I just summarise everything that said, that would be a domain summary, 246 00:27:55,280 --> 00:28:00,080 but it doesn't actually uncover the latents meanings behind what they've said. 247 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:05,360 So the themes now I understand within reflect systematic analysis. 248 00:28:05,360 --> 00:28:14,780 The themes are sort of uniting the more implicit and or latent meanings behind what people have said, not just summarising what everyone has said. 249 00:28:14,780 --> 00:28:20,810 So, for example, a list of people have reported these as negative effects of the treatment sort of thing. 250 00:28:20,810 --> 00:28:31,460 So initially that was quite a challenge for me. But again, there are some useful resources around this as well, which we can link to. 251 00:28:31,460 --> 00:28:34,640 We're going to have so many links in the show. Great. 252 00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:49,190 Yeah, I think one other challenge I had starting off with is that I had some research questions that I think were led by my my certain approach, 253 00:28:49,190 --> 00:29:00,860 feeling that I feeling that I when I was coding my data, I wasn't actually getting answers that matched particularly well to the questions. 254 00:29:00,860 --> 00:29:06,380 And so initially that that felt quite worrisome. 255 00:29:06,380 --> 00:29:16,580 And then I think that what was helpful was understanding that the the themes that were emerging could then inform the questions. 256 00:29:16,580 --> 00:29:23,410 And in my case, I was able to do more interviews to then kind of revise the question. 257 00:29:23,410 --> 00:29:26,180 So, again, it was that thing that, you know, 258 00:29:26,180 --> 00:29:34,850 just because the things didn't necessarily answer exactly the questions that I had posed, that didn't mean that they're wrong. 259 00:29:34,850 --> 00:29:40,850 It was a case of of kind of recasting things, you know, re re. 260 00:29:40,850 --> 00:29:46,460 Yeah, recreating things and reflecting to understand that things could change. 261 00:29:46,460 --> 00:29:54,170 So I'd say moving from a kind of fixed mindset of, you know, the my hypothesis is wrong, 262 00:29:54,170 --> 00:29:58,970 which as a as a natural scientist, that is kind of that is the approach that we take. 263 00:29:58,970 --> 00:30:04,010 And it's like a very ingrained thing that we don't really reflect on research philosophy at 264 00:30:04,010 --> 00:30:10,190 all to meeting something that was like a lot more reflective and a lot more understanding 265 00:30:10,190 --> 00:30:20,030 of the subjectivity of meaning and of experience that I think is really key to thematic 266 00:30:20,030 --> 00:30:27,260 analysis and for me and maybe for you guys too really attractive to this kind of research. 267 00:30:27,260 --> 00:30:34,400 And I think in a way, what you're saying is that your research questions were informed by your data as well, 268 00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:38,570 rather than the other way around, which usually is the case with quantitative research. 269 00:30:38,570 --> 00:30:44,360 You have a theory which informs the research questions and then you get the data to support or not supported, 270 00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:50,490 whereas here you got some data and that led you to revise your research questions. 271 00:30:50,490 --> 00:31:01,200 Yes, exactly. Nail on the head. And that is a really exciting for me everything exciting new ways to do research. 272 00:31:01,200 --> 00:31:09,020 Yeah. I think one one interesting thing about qualitative research generally is that it can generate a lot of hypotheses. 273 00:31:09,020 --> 00:31:17,240 Right. So I think that's one of the things that I've enjoyed so much about being involved in qualitative research is that you get such a deep insight 274 00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:26,450 into a topic and it can sort of generate more questions for research that either you answer with qualitative or with quantitative research. 275 00:31:26,450 --> 00:31:36,170 Yeah, I think, you know, so your example was sort of just thinking about deductive and inductive that the deductive is it can be very useful 276 00:31:36,170 --> 00:31:42,080 sometimes to kind of if you really need to pinpoint a particular aspect and you've got that in your question. 277 00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:50,090 But actually the inductive has that place to explore a bit further and may deviate from actually what that initial question was. 278 00:31:50,090 --> 00:31:52,580 But as you say, it's just that much more informative. 279 00:31:52,580 --> 00:32:01,610 And it's one of the I think one of the as it if it was one of the joys of qualitative research and how it can be really informative. 280 00:32:01,610 --> 00:32:06,560 You're so right. And it's it's cool to think of OK to think of it as an ongoing process. 281 00:32:06,560 --> 00:32:17,180 I think that that it's not kind of done and dusted it can kind of continually we can continually learn more and ascribe more meaning. 282 00:32:17,180 --> 00:32:23,570 Absolutely. I think there's several cases where it's been, you know, actually, although there might be steps, 283 00:32:23,570 --> 00:32:33,020 I think one of the papers we're looking at gets six steps to to or I think it's the reflectivity. 284 00:32:33,020 --> 00:32:38,660 But actually, although it might be presented as six steps, though, things are very much you kind of go cyclical, 285 00:32:38,660 --> 00:32:47,750 you might get to step two and then have to go back to that one and you might just kind of keep reinforcing or learning more so it develops as you go, 286 00:32:47,750 --> 00:32:55,130 which I think is very important as well. And that is part of the adding depth and richness to to your data as well. 287 00:32:55,130 --> 00:33:01,670 Definitely, yeah. I think before we wrap up, I just wanted to add something that might be reassuring to people. 288 00:33:01,670 --> 00:33:09,380 You know, if you're sort of thinking, is thematic analysis the right choice for me or, you know, how do I choose a type of analysis? 289 00:33:09,380 --> 00:33:14,090 I think what I found really interesting reading in one of Braun and Clark's paper, 290 00:33:14,090 --> 00:33:17,730 they're basically that they have a wealth of knowledge in this area. 291 00:33:17,730 --> 00:33:24,740 So we refer to them a lot. But I think they say that considering and choosing an analytical approach is sort of more like 292 00:33:24,740 --> 00:33:29,810 deciding between which type of fruit you will choose to eat rather than deciding whether 293 00:33:29,810 --> 00:33:32,220 to have fruit a slice of cake or a burger. 294 00:33:32,220 --> 00:33:41,330 So they kind of emphasise that a lot of different pattern based methods for examples, for example, can have very similar outputs. 295 00:33:41,330 --> 00:33:47,690 So it is an important decision, but it's not choosing between an apple and a burger, 296 00:33:47,690 --> 00:33:53,940 but it's more choosing between the types of fruits, which I find quite a reassuring analogy. 297 00:33:53,940 --> 00:33:58,460 Yeah, I like that one. Yeah, great. For someone is indecisive as me. 298 00:33:58,460 --> 00:34:01,700 That's very helpful. Yeah. And I guess yeah. 299 00:34:01,700 --> 00:34:08,840 There's a lot of resources around how to choose between different types of different types of pattern based methodology, 300 00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:12,010 methods or methodologies, and there are similarities and differences. 301 00:34:12,010 --> 00:34:21,560 So I think one of their papers was comparing thematic analysis to different types of other types of pattern based methods or methodology, 302 00:34:21,560 --> 00:34:26,800 which can be quite useful for some people to read. So we will link that as well. 303 00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:36,640 Definitely, we'll we'll put that in the show notes, and so I think we'll wrap up there because it's been a really lovely and informative 304 00:34:36,640 --> 00:34:42,460 discussion and we've talked around various aspects of thematic analysis, 305 00:34:42,460 --> 00:34:48,820 how we first came to you to join it or how we first came to use it in our research and the the 306 00:34:48,820 --> 00:34:55,600 benefits and some of its challenges and also some of the definitions of thematic analysis. 307 00:34:55,600 --> 00:35:02,860 And for me, it's been a real pleasure to to host this and to share with you guys a really great discussion. 308 00:35:02,860 --> 00:35:09,960 So I'd like to thank both of you. Oh, thank you. Yeah, it's been really interesting talking to you both about this. 309 00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:13,430 I really enjoyed it. Thank you. Oh, it's lovely. 310 00:35:13,430 --> 00:35:20,420 And, yeah, we've we've learnt a huge well, I personally learnt a huge amount and hope the listeners have to. 311 00:35:20,420 --> 00:35:25,940 But as we've said at various points through the podcast we have, 312 00:35:25,940 --> 00:35:32,810 we will include a link in links in the show, notes to all of the resources that we've mentioned. 313 00:35:32,810 --> 00:35:44,680 So, again, a huge thanks to Merve and Emily for our conversation. 314 00:35:44,680 --> 00:35:50,980 I have Dr. Kat Ashbullby with me right now. She's a lecturer in psychology at the University of Exeter. 315 00:35:50,980 --> 00:35:55,990 Kat, would you like to tell us a little bit about yourself? Hi, thank you so much for having me. 316 00:35:55,990 --> 00:36:02,770 So, yeah, so I'm a lecturer in psychology at the university and I did all my training at Exeter as well. 317 00:36:02,770 --> 00:36:05,830 And I'm really interested in qualitative methods. 318 00:36:05,830 --> 00:36:13,180 A lot of my research has involved qualitative work and my background is in something called economic psychology, 319 00:36:13,180 --> 00:36:17,830 which is how people make decisions about everyday financial life. 320 00:36:17,830 --> 00:36:22,150 So things like spending behaviour, saving behaviour, money and relationships. 321 00:36:22,150 --> 00:36:29,530 And then after my PhD, I worked in outside academia in a charity as well, doing research about health and wellbeing at work. 322 00:36:29,530 --> 00:36:34,360 So I've had an opportunity to work in different areas using qualitative research. 323 00:36:34,360 --> 00:36:39,520 Yeah, great. And the way we know each other is obviously you've been really helpful in our qualitative 324 00:36:39,520 --> 00:36:47,140 project and you have a lot more expertise in this topic than I do or any of us do. 325 00:36:47,140 --> 00:36:56,170 And so we have this we're having this podcast to give a bit of our resource to postgraduate researchers who want to get into qualitative research, 326 00:36:56,170 --> 00:37:02,680 specifically thematic analysis. And so we have had some definitions of thematic analysis. 327 00:37:02,680 --> 00:37:06,280 But I wonder if you could give us like a brief definition in your own words? 328 00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:16,450 Yeah, of course. A thematic analysis is perhaps best understood as like an umbrella term for different approaches to making sense of qualitative data. 329 00:37:16,450 --> 00:37:22,900 So there's some really nice resources that you can find online, actually, through Victoria Clarke, like on YouTube, for example, 330 00:37:22,900 --> 00:37:29,350 where she talks about the different types of thematic analysis that might be helpful for some of your sort of listeners to go to. 331 00:37:29,350 --> 00:37:37,330 But really, it's just the idea that you're making sense of qualitative data through identifying themes is the very sort of base level. 332 00:37:37,330 --> 00:37:40,600 But then when you go into it, that's kind of different ways of doing that, 333 00:37:40,600 --> 00:37:45,280 whether you're doing it in terms of like what you might have heard of a code book, 334 00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:49,180 thematic analysis, where you've got kind of the more a description already, 335 00:37:49,180 --> 00:37:57,160 even before you've looked at your data of what you might want to find or like what is this more reflexive organic approach where 336 00:37:57,160 --> 00:38:03,880 you're much more open to the data when you're going through is on a line by line basis looking at what the people are saying. 337 00:38:03,880 --> 00:38:09,160 So you've got no idea before you start what your what your findings will be. 338 00:38:09,160 --> 00:38:14,770 And that's quite different to the kind of code book approach where you might already have an idea of what your themes would look like. 339 00:38:14,770 --> 00:38:20,290 So there are these kind of differences within it. But yes, it's all about making sense of qualitative data. 340 00:38:20,290 --> 00:38:29,440 So whether that be from interviews or focus groups or an online source, yeah, that's reassuring that it matches up with what we discussed. 341 00:38:29,440 --> 00:38:36,610 Yeah, that's great. Thank you. And I guess our perspective in this podcast has been from three researchers have mainly trained in 342 00:38:36,610 --> 00:38:43,240 quantitative research methods and coming into qualitative research methods later on in our research journeys. 343 00:38:43,240 --> 00:38:45,370 So I wondered, in your experience, 344 00:38:45,370 --> 00:38:52,370 what are some of the common mistakes people might make when they're using thematic analysis, for example, in our position? 345 00:38:52,370 --> 00:38:56,950 Yeah. So I guess like from a positive starting point that is accessible, 346 00:38:56,950 --> 00:39:01,840 the masterclasses people from different backgrounds, I suppose there are like common, I guess, 347 00:39:01,840 --> 00:39:06,280 mistakes people make in the it's getting used to like working in a completely different way, 348 00:39:06,280 --> 00:39:08,980 isn't it, with the different kinds of language of research. 349 00:39:08,980 --> 00:39:16,870 So you're moving away from talking about kind of variables and control to talking about people's lived experiences. 350 00:39:16,870 --> 00:39:21,160 So I guess that's something that just people not aren't necessarily always used to, you know, 351 00:39:21,160 --> 00:39:29,260 moving away from the research tradition that they've been in to kind of open their eyes to a new way of doing research in terms of make mistakes. 352 00:39:29,260 --> 00:39:33,940 I guess maybe, you know, like we've just talked about, that definition of thematic analysis, 353 00:39:33,940 --> 00:39:38,290 I guess sometimes is some lack of understanding that it can actually be this umbrella term, 354 00:39:38,290 --> 00:39:42,340 that there are quite different things that you can do as kind of one thing. 355 00:39:42,340 --> 00:39:47,530 So I guess familiarise yourself with the different approaches to try and doing a bit more reading around. 356 00:39:47,530 --> 00:39:55,420 It's really helpful, I guess, as well. Also, sometimes people maybe underestimate the amount of work involved. 357 00:39:55,420 --> 00:40:00,730 So and I guess you know yourself from having done it, some people think it's just quite, very quick that you just, 358 00:40:00,730 --> 00:40:05,950 you know, suddenly have these themes, whereas in reality, it's actually quite a lot of work, isn't it? 359 00:40:05,950 --> 00:40:11,230 First we'll get the transcription and then code the data and then this kind of intrusive nature that 360 00:40:11,230 --> 00:40:16,210 you're going back between the data and your codes and developing it and the work that goes into that. 361 00:40:16,210 --> 00:40:25,390 People might underestimate Definitely And I think especially with the reflexive analysis, there's a lot of interpretative work that's involved. 362 00:40:25,390 --> 00:40:29,470 And yeah, and perhaps I might have made the same mistake in that thinking. 363 00:40:29,470 --> 00:40:33,640 It was a lot more descriptive than. Yeah, it really is. 364 00:40:33,640 --> 00:40:37,780 Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So definitely. So I guess that's another one isn't it, that that kind of take. 365 00:40:37,780 --> 00:40:42,680 So people get to the stage where they kind of got this descriptive sort of piece about their. 366 00:40:42,680 --> 00:40:47,380 That it's taking at the next level of them, putting those things together to say, first of all, my key findings, 367 00:40:47,380 --> 00:40:55,220 what does this mean in relation to my research question and Braun and Braun and Clark talk about the like, storybook theme. 368 00:40:55,220 --> 00:41:00,700 So that idea that you're really telling a story with your research first is kind of the bucket themes, 369 00:41:00,700 --> 00:41:04,270 which is more like just shoving everything in there that, you know. 370 00:41:04,270 --> 00:41:11,470 So it's kind of a storybook thing where you're trying to say, you know, what's really going on here with my with my findings. 371 00:41:11,470 --> 00:41:16,390 That's really interesting. It reminds me of something that we discussed when we were doing the qualitative 372 00:41:16,390 --> 00:41:21,490 analysis together about the difference between the domain summaries and the themes 373 00:41:21,490 --> 00:41:27,220 And I did mention this as one of the difficulties that I initially found with thematic in the podcast. 374 00:41:27,220 --> 00:41:33,370 But I wondered maybe if you can sort of give a more elaborate description of what that means. 375 00:41:33,370 --> 00:41:37,080 Yeah, I can try. Now, you did a really good job, though, with your paper, didn't you? 376 00:41:37,080 --> 00:41:45,520 And so I think it was more like, you know, say with the Ketamine paper, you had, like, for example, all the different things that people experienced. 377 00:41:45,520 --> 00:41:51,670 And and that's kind of if you're just writing that all down, that's kind of like what some people call like a domain summary. 378 00:41:51,670 --> 00:41:53,830 It's like all different things that happened. 379 00:41:53,830 --> 00:42:00,040 But then taking that next level was then looking at, OK, so maybe these were really contradictory things. 380 00:42:00,040 --> 00:42:05,380 These are about transformation. So it's like then those labels of like contradiction or transformation, 381 00:42:05,380 --> 00:42:09,300 which then become your themes in themselves rather than the list of experiences. 382 00:42:09,300 --> 00:42:12,550 It's like taking in the next level. That makes sense. Yeah, yeah. 383 00:42:12,550 --> 00:42:16,360 That's a really good description. And so what would you advise? 384 00:42:16,360 --> 00:42:23,560 I think you sort of answered this, but what would you advise quantitatively, researchers who are new to qualitative methods or thematic analysis? 385 00:42:23,560 --> 00:42:29,680 Yeah, what I think doing some like, you know, more study or more reading, like I said, there's some really good online resources. 386 00:42:29,680 --> 00:42:38,090 So Victoria Clarke has been really influential in, like, kind of defining and delineating what thematic analysis is. 387 00:42:38,090 --> 00:42:41,140 And she's got some really nice YouTube videos that are quite straightforward 388 00:42:41,140 --> 00:42:45,020 just to watch to introduce you to some of these things about thematic analysis. 389 00:42:45,020 --> 00:42:48,670 And there's also a lot of like papers around that as well that they've done recently, 390 00:42:48,670 --> 00:42:53,090 just talking about different stages of their analysis, I guess, as well. 391 00:42:53,090 --> 00:42:57,700 It's just about being open to a new way of working and a new kind of language 392 00:42:57,700 --> 00:43:03,100 of research where you're more interested in different people's viewpoints, different people's lived experiences. 393 00:43:03,100 --> 00:43:10,120 And it's not necessarily about the number of times somebody says something and trying to get out of that purely quantitative mindset. 394 00:43:10,120 --> 00:43:15,460 It's as well as about, you know, the different range of experiences people are having and whether that's something that is 395 00:43:15,460 --> 00:43:19,810 interesting and meaningful to your research and could be taken forward to explore more. 396 00:43:19,810 --> 00:43:25,540 Certainly. I was just going to say it's hard to get out of the quantitative mindset initially because, you know, 397 00:43:25,540 --> 00:43:31,540 when we were first approaching it, we were trying to define how many times or how many participants have said a certain thing. 398 00:43:31,540 --> 00:43:39,220 But then you've explained to us, you know, actually that's not very useful way of approaching things in qualitative research, 399 00:43:39,220 --> 00:43:44,950 because just because half of the people in this interview said this doesn't mean that half of the 400 00:43:44,950 --> 00:43:51,670 people in the general public would say this or we're not approaching generalisability in the same way. 401 00:43:51,670 --> 00:43:56,530 Yeah, exactly. And the other thing that's really tricky, because obviously, if you use and say an in-depth interview, 402 00:43:56,530 --> 00:44:02,950 it might be that because obviously with a certain of certainly structured interviews, you don't always follow exactly the same interview questions. 403 00:44:02,950 --> 00:44:09,760 So it might be that some people had the opportunity because they were asked or it just went down the avenue to talk about their views on something. 404 00:44:09,760 --> 00:44:14,500 So they expressed it, whereas the other people in the other half of interviews might have had the opportunity, say, 405 00:44:14,500 --> 00:44:17,950 rather than them not necessarily agreeing or bringing up as meaningful, 406 00:44:17,950 --> 00:44:21,850 it might not have just been part of the questions, whereas it was a questionnaire. 407 00:44:21,850 --> 00:44:25,780 Everybody's getting exactly the same things that you can kind of compare it. 408 00:44:25,780 --> 00:44:29,050 So I it's just getting used to that different way of thinking about things. 409 00:44:29,050 --> 00:44:36,250 But it is tricky because, you know, it can sometimes be interesting that every single person thinks something versus nobody. 410 00:44:36,250 --> 00:44:40,150 But, yeah, it's just getting that balance, isn't it, and thinking about it in a new way. 411 00:44:40,150 --> 00:44:41,950 Yeah, yeah, definitely. 412 00:44:41,950 --> 00:44:51,910 So if we were to think a little bit about our philosophical position before approaching a qualitative research or more specifically thematic analysis, 413 00:44:51,910 --> 00:44:56,440 do you think it's important to define this before starting with analysis? 414 00:44:56,440 --> 00:45:02,350 And what how would you define your philosophical position? That's really difficult question to ask. 415 00:45:02,350 --> 00:45:05,860 That's a very good yeah. So I think in terms of yeah, there's all these different words, 416 00:45:05,860 --> 00:45:11,560 people can get quite confused about the symbology and ontology and philosophy, philosophical positions. 417 00:45:11,560 --> 00:45:17,800 But I think a lot of it's about thinking about, OK, so what am I trying to find, am I like inductive? 418 00:45:17,800 --> 00:45:21,550 So am I really driven by my data and what people are saying? 419 00:45:21,550 --> 00:45:26,750 The participants are saying and I'm quite open or am I more deductive and more theory based? 420 00:45:26,750 --> 00:45:34,420 So, for example, if I was doing a search, this is a nice paper that looks at social identity approach to food banks and social psychology. 421 00:45:34,420 --> 00:45:42,490 And so that would be very much like a theoretical theoretical basis where you you're very much looking for social identity that would help explain it. 422 00:45:42,490 --> 00:45:49,660 So I think they're having this different theoretical position, whether you're very much data driven or theory driven, 423 00:45:49,660 --> 00:45:53,350 can influence as well the questions that you ask people in your interview. 424 00:45:53,350 --> 00:46:00,880 So in some cases, you know, defining that in advance can be important, but it kind of depends on the stage that you get the data, 425 00:46:00,880 --> 00:46:06,330 if you see what I mean, and other people, you know, use different kind of methods. 426 00:46:06,330 --> 00:46:12,640 So if you're using like this, we're talking about thematic analysis, for example, discourse analysis. 427 00:46:12,640 --> 00:46:16,480 If you're looking at the way things are constructed in language versus you've got 428 00:46:16,480 --> 00:46:20,980 like a more straightforward view of what the language is and what people say. 429 00:46:20,980 --> 00:46:28,240 And that's a more like essentialist position. I guess in the past that I've had more essentialist realist one and more inductive approach. 430 00:46:28,240 --> 00:46:31,660 So it's kind of you're just open to what the people are saying. 431 00:46:31,660 --> 00:46:37,520 And that's kind of a straightforward relationship between what they say and what you're writing. 432 00:46:37,520 --> 00:46:43,750 But, yeah, I think just being aware that it's more complex than the being one type of thematic analysis of them, 433 00:46:43,750 --> 00:46:50,140 all these different positions that people take that can lead to quite different analyses and quite different results, 434 00:46:50,140 --> 00:46:53,570 I think is is beneficial really when you're doing the work. 435 00:46:53,570 --> 00:47:01,600 So and we talk specifically about small q and big Q, which feeds into these kind of debates as well. 436 00:47:01,600 --> 00:47:05,800 So yeah, I was about to ask that. So yeah, that was something that we discussed. 437 00:47:05,800 --> 00:47:12,500 And some are reading this idea between the big Q qualitative research versus small qq ualitative research. 438 00:47:12,500 --> 00:47:16,540 So I wondered, yeah. If you can tell us a little bit more about that. 439 00:47:16,540 --> 00:47:24,280 So that I think was Killoran Fine. And that comes into the idea that you're doing like a project from a so if you're doing a big key, 440 00:47:24,280 --> 00:47:29,590 one is from like a qualitative background, a qualitative like philosophy. 441 00:47:29,590 --> 00:47:36,460 And your it's what broaden out talk about the organic reflexive one is like a big key one because you're just very 442 00:47:36,460 --> 00:47:42,190 open to all the participants are saying you don't think that you have to count the number of times things happen. 443 00:47:42,190 --> 00:47:51,370 It's very iterative. Your you know, you're recognising that the researcher as an analyst is very involved in interpreting the data, 444 00:47:51,370 --> 00:47:59,980 whereas like a small q one is much more in line with, like quantitative thinking, thinking that you'd have to maybe, you know, 445 00:47:59,980 --> 00:48:05,110 like a kind of more like a kind of qualitative content analysis where you were counting the number of times something 446 00:48:05,110 --> 00:48:11,440 happened that you had like an idea beforehand of what exactly you were going to count before you even saw the data. 447 00:48:11,440 --> 00:48:14,290 You'd know what you were going to count or not, and then you'd count that thing. 448 00:48:14,290 --> 00:48:21,130 And that would be a much more small, cute sample because you're not really doing the research from a very qualitative philosophy in the sense that, 449 00:48:21,130 --> 00:48:26,440 you know, it's not so much about the participants lived experiences or being open to interpreting the findings. 450 00:48:26,440 --> 00:48:28,180 It's much more like closed off, 451 00:48:28,180 --> 00:48:33,760 like a questionnaire would be something that is much it's like a much more quantitative way to do qualitative research. 452 00:48:33,760 --> 00:48:43,420 So that's kind of part of the divide, I think within and it's not necessarily bad to do small q that could be exactly what you need in a study, 453 00:48:43,420 --> 00:48:52,240 but it is recognising that it is a very different approach from having much more open questions in your interviews and be much more 454 00:48:52,240 --> 00:49:00,850 open to following kind of lines of enquiry from the participant versus is this much more kind of closed off way of of doing it? 455 00:49:00,850 --> 00:49:05,890 And I guess this kind of shows in terms of thematic analysis, different approach, 456 00:49:05,890 --> 00:49:12,190 a thematic analysis kind of set along different ends of this continuum from big Q to small q research, is that right? 457 00:49:12,190 --> 00:49:14,200 Yeah, yeah, that's right. That's what they talk about. 458 00:49:14,200 --> 00:49:22,820 Some of the papers, this kind of codebook one or the more kind of content analysis or their reflexive organic one, which is like the big Q So it does. 459 00:49:22,820 --> 00:49:29,710 And that kind of middle that big ish q in the middle where you are some maybe predefined ideas in mind, 460 00:49:29,710 --> 00:49:36,400 but also you're open to what the participants are saying as well, which is kind of where I think the keramine paper sits in the middle. 461 00:49:36,400 --> 00:49:45,580 Yeah, I guess. Before we wrap up, do you have any other final thoughts or tips that you'd have for me, such as approaching qualitative research? 462 00:49:45,580 --> 00:49:48,220 Yeah, I guess just to be open to qualitative research, 463 00:49:48,220 --> 00:49:52,880 if you haven't done it before as a it's just I think most people that even if they haven't done it before, 464 00:49:52,880 --> 00:49:58,150 they're going to say to do find it intrinsically really interesting finding out more about their experiences, 465 00:49:58,150 --> 00:50:02,680 because it you know, compared to the questionnaire studies where you just really can't get much information 466 00:50:02,680 --> 00:5

RESOURCES FOR VESTIBULAR WARRIORS: VESTIBULAR MIGRAINE WELLNESS: https://www.bliss-out.co/vestibular-migraine-wellness.html VESTIBULAR MIGRAINE DIET: https://www.bliss-out.co/vestibular-migraine-diet-plan.html EM'S BOOKS FOR VESTIBULAR WARRIORS: https://www.bliss-out.co/the-books.html ESSENTIAL OILS FOR HEALTH: https://www.bliss-out.co/essential-oils.html NUTRITION CONSULTATION OR WELLNESS COACHING WITH EM (VIA ZOOM): https://www.bliss-out.co/work-with-em.html LET'S CONNECT: INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/vestibular_warrior/ BLISS OUT VIBES PODCAST: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bliss-out-vibes-podcast/id1479306918 CONTACT: bliss.out.co@gmail.com WHO I AM: ​Hi out there and welcome! I'm Emily, Founder of Bliss Out Holistic Wellness, Certified Plant-Based Holistic Nutritionist and Health Advocate for Vestibular Warriors. I'm so happy to connect with you! This space was inspired by my journey as a Vestibular Warrior (in my case, recovering my health from vestibular neuritis and vestibular migraines). In November 2019, I published my book Uncovering Bliss: A Journey With A Vestibular Condition and Beyond to shine a light on the mind and body experience, what it felt like in the darkness of my vestibular something and my journey through healing. I created bliss-out.co as I was healing from a vestibular condition and knew I wanted to share the nourishing diet and holistic toolkit that had nourished and supported my mind and body every step of the way (and continue to!). I believe that we should be empowered when it comes to our wellness as we navigate the twists and turns of life. Sending light + love your way. -Em

Today, John discusses how to deal with critics, aka: haters, wannabes, pretend friends, frenemies...you get it! The big take aways: 1- "turn your critics into coaches" 2- Be careful of seeking the approval of people who want to bring you down to their expectations. Instead, surround yourself with those who want whats best for you and who want to see you grow! For example, in marriage a couple has to grow together and they have to give each other permission to grow as individuals while working to strengthen the relationship with one another. 3- If critics teach us anything, the way we process a critic is a direct indicator of the condition of our own heart. Do I become angry, embittered, or fearful over the voice of a critic? If I do, chances are, I have an unhealthy sense of the meaning of that relationship. If I mull over things a critic may say for too long and it starts negatively impacting my thought processes, then chances are I'm placing an inappropriate amount of value on what they say of me. One of the most core desires for humans is that we are accepted by others. We are all looking for a "place in this world" (Michael W. Smith). John's encouragement: Stand strong. Fail forward. Surround yourself with those who sincerely want the best for you. As always, if something about this has sparked imagination, a sense of hope, or is of some practical help in your life, drop us a line at info@lifethatcounts.org. For more like this, subscribe to our video feed at youtube.com/lifethatcounts We always appreciate the follow on Facebook, Facebook.com/lifethatcounts. Till next time, I'm Emily at Life that Counts. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/lifethatcountsinc/message

Thank you for joining me today. I'm Emily, also know as AndersMillknits on IG and Ravelry. Please leave a review on Apple Podcast! Today's Segments include 1)administrative, 2) Raise a Cuppa, 3) on the Shelf, 4) on the couch, 5) Personal Skills Set, 6) A Time for Hygge and 7) On a positive note. Show notes will be found on our website (currently under construction).

In this episode, John discusses the importance of practicing self awareness when facing the everyday, ordinary challenges of life. Self awareness is a big piece in every area of life from navigating a sales contract to getting your kids out the door for school in the morning. Three big take aways in this presentation: 1- Learning to listen to yourself (and others) 2- Identifying stressors, as they occur, for maintaining equilibrium 3- A practical tip for lowering your blood pressure and realigning your horizon If you find this or any other piece of content we've produced useful, we would invite you to share your feedback in a comment below. You can find more content like this on youtube.com/lifethatcounts If you haven't already, we sure would appreciate that facebook page like at facebook.com/lifethatcounts As always, if something about this has sparked imagination, a sense of hope, or is of some practical help in your life, drop us a line at info@lifethatcounts.org. For more like this, subscribe to our video feed at youtube.com/lifethatcounts We always appreciate the follow on Facebook, Facebook.com/lifethatcounts. Till next time, I'm Emily at Life that Counts. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/lifethatcountsinc/message

Hey what's up everyone I'm Emily and in today's episode I'm going to be Reviewing YouTubers/Musers/Artists. A lot of this people are people that I watch, and listen to, and just a disclaimer I'm not trying to give hate or shade towards some of these people. These are just my opinions, and my thoughts. I hope you guys listen and I'll see you guys in the next episode. Love you ❤️ hopefully next episode we will be talking about my new music and my love for Jake Miller. I enjoyed making this episode for you guys and I hope you guys enjoy listening to it. Until next time peace out ❤️❤️❤️

In today's episode, I'm talking with Emily Richman, who lost 60lbs using a ketogenic diet, and is now able to run half marathons! Link to her Instagram: https://instagram.com/thisisketolife Hi Everyone, I'm Emily. I'm 33 years old living in Austin, TX. I struggled with my weight for almost 15 years. I tried every weight loss method I could find and never thought I'd get off the diet roller coaster. After reaching my heaviest weight of 180lbs in March, 2017, I had almost resigned myself to a life of being overweight. But I decided to make one last attempt and started Keto. Keto made me feel satisfied in a way that no other diet had. The way the diet regulated my insulin and blood sugar made me feel like my days weren't controlled by food for the first time I could remember. My new energy allowed me to incorporate exercise into my life, not as punishment, but as something I truly enjoyed that made me feel great. Since starting Keto, I lost 60 pounds, went from 42% to 21% body fat, and ran my first half marathon! My experience with Keto not only led to physical changes but more dramatically, it changed me mentally and emotionally. Realizing I had the power to change my life and become the person I always wanted to be has given me a confidence I've never had before.

节目名称：Screen Age 节目主题：Cast Away节目监制：毕鑫屹编辑：王雪莹播音：刘甜（B） 李一泓（E）整合上传：陈子扬审核：侯泓锾B: Hello my dear audience, it's time for Screen Age. I'm your old friend, Bella.E: Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Emily.B: Hey, Emily. During this week, which film have you seen?E: I was so busy a few days ago, so I didn't have time to see the new one. Have you seen one?B: Yes. I have seen a film named Cast Away in the school auditorium.E: Wow. I have ever seen it before.B: What a coincidence! Let's talk about it today.E: OK.E: Cast Away is a 2000 adventure film directed by Robert Zemeckis and starred by Tom Hanks. It awarded many prizes and was also nominated for an Oscar. B: The leading actor Hanks was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the 73rd Academy Awards for his critically acclaimed performance.E: The film describes an engineer named Chuck who worked in FedEx suffered in a storm through one assignment. He was trapped in an uninhabited island, losing everything about his contemporary life.B: Then, he initially tried to signal for rescue and made an escape attempt with the remnants of his life-raft, but he couldn't pass the powerful surf. He searched for food, water, shelter, and opened the packages, finding a number of potentially useful items. E: He left one package, with a pair of wings painted on it, unopened. His sole purpose is tobe alive. He lost everything but had his "friend" Wilson through his rough days. He tried to escape the island day by day, year by year. Thanks to his belief, at last, he survived and had his own outlook on life and on love.B: It is so moving! After seeing it, I have also been deeply touched.E: Sure. If you are interested in this film, I think you are interested in what's behind the scenes look too. B: You can talk some.E: For example, the volleyball in the film was under the hammer which cost 18400 dollars and contrary to the public's opinions. However, FedEx didn&`&t pay the movie for one dollar.B: 哈哈. That's amusing. E: It is really a wonderful film. It tells us so many truths as well as life enlightenments.B: Yeah. When I saw this movie, I&`&m deeply moved. I suppose it teaches us three truths. The first one is “There&`&s life, there&`&s hope”.E: After he strands on a desert island, he feels scared and hopeless. But he doesn&`&t give up. Instead, he searches for every possibility to escape from it and get the rescue. Eventually, he makes it. Because there&`&s life, there&`&s hope. B: The second one is “Use all resources around you”. He uses trunks to make a word “Help”, uses bud silk skirt of express which drops out of the lost plane, drills wood to make fire, catches crabs in the ocean and drinks coconut milk. SH: It has to say that he is a wise man. He almost uses everything around him to live.E: The third one and the most important one is “You should have a belief which can help you insist”. On the lonely island, his belief is his girlfriend. Every time he feels despairing, he will look at her photo. Then, he will be full of hope. B: In addition, he draws a smiling face on a volleyball and views it as his best friend. Also, he gives it a name “Wilson”. He talks with it day and night, so that he will not feel lonely.SH: But the film also leaves us some regrets. When Chuck returns home four years later, his girlfriend has been someone else&`&s wife and mother. That is to say: Time waits for no one.E: Like Chuck says: "I&`&ve lost her all over again".B: Maybe it is life, filled with challenges and unknowns. We must have belief and courage to “encounter” it.E: Bella, which line touches you the most? B: “The tide came in gave me a sail. I gotta keep breathing. Because tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows tide could bring?”SH: It has no reason not to become a classic film. I think we should be like it. Whatever the difficulties we meet with, we will never give up and try everything, because who knows what tide could bring?B: Although I have seen it once, it will always be in my mind.E: Sure. It is so moving.B: How time flies! It's the ending of this programme.E: If you want to hear something about your favourite film, you can recommend to us. See you next time.B: Bye.

We discussed being diagnosed with stage IV metastatic breast cancer at the age of 32, right after her son turned two and she celebrated her 5th wedding anniversary. She was also trying to get pregnant which she learned would never be an option. As a matter of fact, she had a complete hysterectomy 2 1/2 weeks prior to our interview. In her words: I'm Emily, a lawyer, wife, mother, and cat lady, living outside of New York City. I was a collegiate swimmer and completed the 2011 New York City Marathon. Professionally, I am an elder law and special needs attorney, whose practice focused primarily on adult guardianships, capacity issues, care management, and public benefits. When my son was born, I left law practice to stay home with him. In the same week that I celebrated my fifth wedding anniversary and my son turned two, I was diagnosed with metastatic (stage IV) breast cancer at age 32. I am documenting this new life from my diagnosis to treatment, through all of the emotions and logistics of life with a young child and a metastatic cancer diagnosis, because I believe in education, empowerment, and the creation of community so that no one feels alone even in the darkest corners of this diagnosis and cancer life. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-naked-podcaster/message Support this podcast