Back in November 2022, I invited my very good friend, author and journalist Kim Willis, onto the pod.

At the time I was 37 and she was 41 and we were DEEP in the question about children. Whether we wanted them, whether we could/would/should have them, and crucially what a life would like without them. Were we ready to ‘quit’ the idea of having children?

The episode was shared widely and we were inundated with messages from people thanking us for having such a frank conversation, and sharing their stories too.

3.5 years on, we’ve decided to have a follow up conversation.

I’m now 40 and Kim is 44, and life has changed quite dramatically for both of us.

In this conversation we share:

* What it was like listening back to a time capsule of ourselves from 2022 and noticing what we were longing for back then.

* The big reveal - do we now have children..?

* How much grief, uncertainty and loneliness we were carrying in our late 30s and early 40s, and how different life feels today.

* How we’ve met our needs for ‘family’ and ‘purpose’ in unexpected and beautiful ways:

* Kim shares what happened when she stopped waiting for a particular version of the future and followed an unexpected creative calling.

* I talk about finding the connection, belonging and family I was longing for in ways I never could have predicted.

* Together, we celebrate becoming the role models we most needed a few years ago.

Enjoy the episode!

Buy Kim's book - No Fair Maidens: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/468042/no-fair-maidens-by-willis-kim/9781529947847

Kim's website - https://www.kim-willis.com/

Kim's IG - @_kimwillis

Sarah's website - www.sarahweiler.com

Sarah's IG - @sarahweilermusic

Podcast Art - Tom Paulin

Edited by Sarah Weiler

Music composed by Sarah Weiler

Today, I'm speaking to the wonderful Zahra Davidson about her process of letting go of being CEO of her organisation, Huddlecraft.

Zahra spent 8 years founding and developing Huddlecraft, a social enterprise specialising in peer-to-peer learning, action and change. In spring this year Zahra stepped back after a 15 month transition process, handing over navigation of Huddlecraft to Dan Ford and Anna Garlands.

Zahra has been sharing her letting go journey with me via voice notes, and we've shared this journey publicly through a Substack series called 'Snakeskin' (link at bottom).

Zahra continues to support Huddlecraft as a non exec director and associate, and is currently working independently with the Collective Imagination Practice Community, Thirty Percy Foundation, the Transformational Governance Collective and the Many-to-Many Governance Learning Network.

Zahra’s work asks how people can be more than the sum of their parts, together.

Huddlecraft - https://www.huddlecraft.com/

Zahra's Substack 'Snakeskin' - https://zahradavidson.substack.com/

Knowing When to Quit - Instagram - @knowingwhentoquit

Podcast homepage - www.sarahweiler.com/podcast/

Editor - Johnny Hall / Music - Sarah Weiler / Artwork - Tom Pauling

This was recorded in October 2024 in Brighton

WANT TO SUPPORT THIS PODCAST? You can buy me a coffee here: https://ko-fi.com/sarahweiler

Today we're talking to Sieske Valk about the difficult, and often avoided part of pet ownership - the end of their life.

Sieske is an End of Life Doula and an advocate for ageing pets; She guides pet guardians through the autumn of their best friend's life.

Combining a background in veterinary medicine and the social sciences, she has set up Autumn Animals to support people in maintaining a good quality of life for both their pets and themselves and to hold space for celebrating the human-animal bond until the end and beyond.

In this episode we discuss:

• Why it is so hard for people to end the life of their pets
• What happens when we give attention to the end of a pet’s life?
• What can be done to support the guardian of the pet who is about to die?
• How do we know when it’s time? What signs should you look for?
• Sieske attitude towards death , being Dutch and coming from a Hindu background
• Beautiful stories about letting go of pets - how can a pet have a really good autumn?
• What the process is once people have made the decision to euthanise their pet, and how can it be done in a dignified way
• What are the different ways you can honour the pet after they’ve died?

Sieske and I also met 8 months after the recording with an update on Autumn Animals - I wanted to include this as it's a really interesting discussion about taking a pause from a business venture in order to recharge. This doesn't mean the project is over, it is actually the opposite!

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Sieske's IG: https://www.instagram.com/autumnanimalslondon/

Knowing When to Quit - Instagram - @knowingwhentoquit

Podcast homepage - www.sarahweiler.com/podcast/

Editor - Johnny Hall / Music - Sarah Weiler / Artwork - Tom Pauling

This was recorded in

WANT TO SUPPORT THIS PODCAST? You can buy me a coffee here: https://ko-fi.com/sarahweiler