Am I too old to run?! Fearne on why movement is vital for mental health

There’s probably a bit too much pressure on reaching a definitive state of happiness isn’t there? It’s not realistic guys. So Fearne’s dropping into your feed every week for some honest chat about what’s making her (and you lot) feel great, and what’s making us all feel completely rubbish. This is a cosy little corner for all of us to explore what’s been on our minds, what’s been getting us down, inspiring us, and making us laugh. Want to join the chat? Send us a voicenote, DM, or comment on Instagram @happyplaceofficial! In this chat, Fearne explores: -Running – both the joy of it, and the sadness when you can’t because you’re injured -In a similar vein: why skipping is so fun... but also makes you pee yourself -The little interactions with strangers that make your day -‘Friends’ chatting behind your back -Whether we’ve started hibernating for winter a little too early Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 1:15Speaker 02

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• 1:47Fearne Cotton?

  Hey, everyone, it's Fern. This is Happy Place. I'm wearing a Pasha t-shirt. Let's go.

• 1:55Fearne Cotton?

  The Pasha t-shirt has nothing to do with anything. When I bought this t-shirt in Ibiza this year, I hadn't set foot in a nightclub. I actually haven't been to Pasha for about 18 years. But anyway, I'm giving off the vibe of a cool, clubby mum, which is the absolute opposite of who I truly am. Anyway, that is a small aside. We need to dive into the important subjects of looking at what is making all of us feel happy at the moment? And what is making us feel downright grumpy as hell? Let's get to our lovely listeners. Thank you so much for sending in your messages. It means the world. If you ever want to send in a little message to us of any sort, doesn't have to be connected to this,

• 2:37Fearne Cotton?

  you can DM us on Instagram, just follow at Happy Place Official and slide in to our DMs. Very exciting. I'm going to start with this one. Simon says, "Running." Simon, he literally put "running," full stop, no explanation. "I am deeply jealous because I used to love running." That, for me, is the perfect time to not only clear your head, but also listen to great podcasts. I used to listen to like a whole series on runs. I used to absolutely love it. But due to probably age and also age, my knee refuses to run. I can jump up and down, but I can't land on my right foot on its own.

• 3:22Fearne Cotton?

  It just buckles like a little weak Bambi leg. So I need to go and get it sorted and I will at some point because I miss it. And you know what I really miss is running at this time of year, when you're getting sort of slightly misty, slightly darker mornings and you get to watch the sunrise. I love it so much. So Simon, keep on running, my friend. So good for our heads. Just doing any, any kind of movement is the absolute best. So keep on running, my friend. Let's move on to Team Happy Place. Matilda on Team Happy Place works on the commercial team. So say when we have the Happy Place Festival, she's getting all the brilliant brands along to come and exhibit at the festival or brands that we as a brand, Happy Place, are working with throughout the year.

• 4:07Fearne Cotton?

  And everybody who works with Happy Place is like, oh, my God. Matilda and Marcia and Natasha, that team, they're all in love with them. They are like the nicest humans you've ever met. Matilda says, "There's a man who cleans the outside of an office block on my way into work, who every day without fail waves at me and says, 'Good morning.'" That is the cutest thing ever. I am so here for like interactions with strangers, nice, nice interactions. I love that. Just like even, you know, when you're walking down the street and you catch someone's eye and you smile. I love that. Or, I don't know, you're walking down the street and someone goes, "Oh, I love your cardie." I think those little moments go such a long way.

• 4:51Fearne Cotton?

  I would say if you walk past someone in the street and you like their outfit or their handbag or they've got cool hair, tell them, say it. It's like the nicest thing. But I love that there's a little routine there that they just say hi. There's definitely a couple of people that live in my local town that I always say morning to. I don't know their name. I've never been in their houses. I don't know anything about them, but it's just a nice little moment, isn't it? Morning, hi. Like you just feel part of this jolly little community. I love it. I'm here for that, Matilda. So on to my like this week. So at the Happy Place Festival, I interviewed Makita Oliver.

• 5:31Fearne Cotton?

  And we've got history and you will hear about that on this upcoming episode. I urge you to listen to for many, many reasons. I don't want to give too much away, but it was deeply powerful and healing. But that's not even my like. I mean, that was a big like for me. But I've taken so much from it, like so much from it that I'll talk about down the line once you've all had a chance to listen to it. But something that won't be a spoiler is skipping. So if you follow Makita, you'll know that she's really, really into skipping. She's got her own brand ropes that she's launching soon. And I've done a tiny bit of skipping when I've done boxing classes with my son,

• 6:13Fearne Cotton?

  but I've always been really reluctant in case I piss myself in the boxing session, which my son would be traumatic, quite frankly. He's 13. I'm embarrassing that it's, it's an embarrassment to him that I even exist. So like pissing myself in a boxing class situation, it's a no go. But Makita gave me a few little tips of like really simple things, like holding my arms out wider to hold the skipping rope, which makes, like, it's a game changer. So after the Happy Place Festival, I thought, right, I'm going to start skipping every day. I'm just going to do like a few minutes and build myself up. So since then, I've been building up from like 30 seconds where I'm like really holding my pelvic floor

• 6:56Fearne Cotton?

  like you wouldn't believe, like my life depends on it. Build up to a minute and then three minutes. Now I'm doing like five to 10 with the odd little stop. Sometimes like trip over the ropes still. I'm still in like practice mode, but I get it. I get skipping. It's really meditative and there's something beautifully rhythmic about it. And, okay, this might be TMI. Sometimes a little bit of wee comes out, but I'm at home and my son's not there to witness it. So I'm just building up my pelvic floor strength and my tolerance to skipping in general. And I'm really enjoying it. So what I will say is thank you, Makita. And you must listen to that episode for so many reasons, for so many reasons.

• 7:42Fearne Cotton?

  Let's move on to our dislikes.

• 7:46Fearne Cotton?

  So first of all, from our lovely listenership, you beautiful people. Elaine says, "So-called friends being two-faced."

• 7:56Fearne Cotton?

  Yeah, that's rough. That is a rough one, Elaine.

• 8:00Fearne Cotton?

  What I would also say, and I can link this back to the Makita episode in hopefully a cryptic way, because I really want you to listen to it. Makita and I, and this is no secret, had this weird beef for years. I'm talking decades. And what we discovered and what you will hear on that podcast episode is that we just didn't get each other because we were basing the idea of each other on assumption only, literally assumption only. There was very little truth or fact to any of it. All the reasons why I thought she hated me or she thought she hated me

• 8:42Fearne Cotton?

  or I should be like, stay away from her and vice versa. So Elaine, I would say awful if you found out that you've got mates chatting shit behind your back. Nothing nice about that. And maybe there's a moment to go, right, do I really want to hang out with these people? Do I deserve better? But equally, is it an opportunity to have a really honest chat with someone? That's all the podcast is with me and Makita. It's not really an interview. It's just, we're just having a chat and trying to figure each other out and trying to be as honest with each other as possible. And maybe this is an opportunity for you to do that with the friend that's chatting shit about you or done something behind your back.

• 9:24Fearne Cotton?

  Maybe it's time to try and work out if you do still have common ground with that person or not. And then you might feel, I don't know, like slightly less frustrated or just like pissed off about it. But that does hurt your heart when friends betray you. So I get it and I'm sending you loads of love. My dislike at the moment is this seemingly premature state of hibernation that I've got into. Now, look, don't get me wrong. I love hibernating. Autumn and winter, the bit before Christmas, favorite time of year. I love nothing more than it getting dark at 4:00 PM so I can put my pajamas on and pretend that the day has ended.

• 10:08Fearne Cotton?

  But I feel like I've gone into it early. So I'm really, really struggling to find the energy to do anything. Yesterday, I was cooking dinner for my kids and one of my kids was asking me a question that required me to use my brain and create a sentence that would answer it. And I couldn't. I was so utterly like, I basically am in hibernation at this point. Just sort of like my brain would not function. I'm like, oh, my God, what? I've gone into like, it's dark at 4:00 PM when it's, you know, really not. It's not dark until like half six. Like my brain has already gone to sleep by about 4:00 PM.

• 10:51Fearne Cotton?

  And that at this time of year is not appropriate. I feel like a, I feel like a sloth, like a real slow chilled out sloth. Like I reckon if I lay my head back on our, these very fluffy Happy Place chairs right now. And I just dared to close my eyes for more than about two minutes. I would be out. I would be absolute. I feel like I could sleep for, well, quite like my tortoise George. If you don't know about my tortoise George, I've got a fifty-six-year-old tortoise who lives in the garden. And he puts himself to bed in a pile of mud. At the end of October, start of November, he just sleeps until late Feb.

• 11:34Fearne Cotton?

  The fucking dream. Like, imagine that. That is how much sleep my body feels like it needs at the moment. So I'm not loving that for myself because my to-do list is through the roof. Obviously, work and I'm a solo parent and just have to deal with like life stuff. I need energy. What am I gonna do about this early hibernation situation? It's not good, guys. It's not good. Anyway, we will plod on through together and at some point it will be Christmas, which I can't wait for because I'm gonna down tools, watch shit on TV, and consume all the chocolate in the world. And I can't wait. Until then, we shall truck on together with our sleepy little eyes, my little mole eyes.

• 12:18Fearne Cotton?

  We've got this team. Thank you so much for listening and also for sending in your messages to Happy Place. If you've got a message to send in, head to our Instagram, at Happy Place Official. Slide into our DMs and you may feature in one of these episodes. I'll see you soon.

• 12:41Speaker 04

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• 12:53Speaker 04

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