This Year's Word with Courtney Symes

Have you ever arrived somewhere and realised you can barely remember the journey?

Perhaps you’ve driven to work, followed the same route you’ve taken hundreds of times, and suddenly found yourself in the car park thinking, How did I get here already?

Or maybe you’ve sat down for dinner with your family, but your mind has been somewhere else entirely — thinking about tomorrow’s schedule, replying to a m...

Have you ever stopped and asked yourself a question that sounds simple, but is actually surprisingly difficult to answer?

What do I really want?

Not what do I need to do.

Not what should I want.

Not what would make everyone else happy.

But what do I actually want?

For many of us, that question becomes harder to answer as life gets busier. We become very good at knowing what other people need from us. We know what needs to happen at...

Have you ever had one of those moments when you suddenly realise that you've been moving through your life on autopilot?

You're getting up, going to work, looking after the people you love, answering emails, doing the shopping, making plans, ticking things off your list… and before you know it, another week has passed.

Another month.

Another year.

And then, every now and then, something makes you stop and think…

Is th...

Have you ever had one of those moments where you suddenly realise that the life you’re living doesn’t quite match the life you thought you were creating?

Perhaps nothing is terribly wrong. Your work is going well, your relationships are okay, your calendar is full, and from the outside, everything looks perfectly fine.

And yet, somewhere underneath it all, there’s a quiet sense that something needs to shift.

Maybe...

Have you ever looked at your life and thought, “On paper, everything is fine… so why doesn’t it feel quite right?”

Maybe you have a good job, people you love, a busy calendar and plenty to be grateful for, and yet somewhere underneath it all, there’s a persistent feeling that something is out of sync.

Perhaps you’re spending your time in ways that don’t reflect what you say matters most. M...

When was the last time you stopped and asked yourself what you actually want?

Not what you should want.

Not what your family needs from you, or what your workplace expects, or what would make other people happy.

Not even what you wanted five, ten or twenty years ago.

But what you want now.

It’s an interesting question, isn’t it?

Because most of us are very good at knowing what needs to be done. We know the appointments ...

Have you ever had one of those seasons in life where, on the outside, everything looks pretty good?

Perhaps you're doing all the things you're supposed to be doing. You're working hard, looking after the people you love, meeting your commitments, ticking things off your list and generally keeping everything moving.

And yet, somewhere underneath all of that, there's this quiet feeling that something isn't quite right.

Nothing is nec...

Hope is an interesting thing because we often don't realise we've lost some of it until we notice ourselves simply going through the motions.

Life still carries on. We keep showing up to work. We make dinners. We answer emails. We care for the people around us. On the outside, everything can look much the same.

But inside, something feels quieter.

Perhaps we've become disappointed by things not turning out as we imagined. Maybe lif...

Relationships shape so much of our lives. They have the ability to bring us incredible joy, comfort and belonging, but they can also become one of the greatest sources of stress, disappointment and emotional exhaustion.

Whether we're talking about our partners, children, parents, friends, colleagues or even the relationship we have with ourselves, every relationship requires care.

Just like a garden, they don't stay healthy simply ...

A lot of us are tired.

Not just the kind of tired that comes from one late night.

I mean the deeper kind of tired.

The kind where you wake up after a full night's sleep and still don't feel refreshed.

The kind where your body feels heavy, your mind won't stop racing, and even the smallest tasks seem to require more energy than they used to.

Can you relate?

In the last episode, we began exploring what restoration really means. We ta...

Have you ever noticed that sometimes you can take a whole weekend off... sleep in, watch your favourite shows, maybe even go away for a few days... and yet by Monday morning, you still feel exhausted?

I've certainly experienced that.

And it makes you wonder whether what we're craving isn't actually more rest... but something deeper.

This month, our word is Restore.

At first glance, it seems like a simple word. We restore furniture....

Persistence is never just about achieving goals.

It's about transformation.

It's about who we become while pursuing them.

Over the last few episodes, we've explored what persistence means, where life asks it of us, and how it shows up in our relationships.

Today, I'd like to explore perhaps the most profound question of all:

How has persistence shaped the person I am becoming?

If the content of today’s episode has piqued you...

One of the most common misconceptions about relationships is that healthy relationships should be easy.

That if we find the right people, everything should flow effortlessly.

But the longer we live, the more we learn that's not quite how relationships work.

Because relationships are living things.

They grow.

They change.

They evolve.

And just like gardens, they require tending.

Today, I want to explore the role persistence plays in...

The great thing about persistence is that we don’t have to wait very long before life offers up an opportunity to practice it!

In our last episode, we explored what persistence actually means.

Not persistence as hustle. Not persistence as pushing ourselves relentlessly. But persistence as the quiet decision to keep showing up for what matters.

Today, I'd like to take that conversation a little deeper.

Because once we understa...

If you've ever started something with enthusiasm only to find your motivation fading a few weeks later, you're not alone.

Most of us love the feeling of beginnings. New goals. New plans. Fresh energy. We enjoy the excitement of possibility.

But persistence?

Persistence lives in a different part of the journey.

Persistence is what carries us forward after the excitement wears off.

It's what keeps us taking small steps when progress ...

This calming guided meditation invites you to reconnect with your inner resilience through the imagery of late autumn. As the landscape quiets and the leaves fall, you’ll be guided to ground yourself like a tree—rooted, steady, and quietly strong.

Through gentle breathwork and visualisation, you’ll explore the balance between letting go and staying grounded, releasing what no longer serves you while reconnecting w...

Autumn has a very particular feeling, doesn’t it?

The trees are bare. The landscape feels quieter… simpler. There’s less colour, less movement, less noise.

At first glance, it can almost feel like something has been lost.

But if you look a little closer… you begin to realise that nothing essential is gone.

Beneath the surface, life is still present. The roots are still strong. The tree is not dying —...

One place where our resilience is often tested the most…is in our relationships.

Because if there’s one place in life where things don’t stay predictable… it’s here.

Relationships shift. People change. Expectations evolve. And emotions… well, they move like weather.

And just like the autumn season we’re sitting in right now, those changes can feel subtle one moment… and quite stro...

Resilience is not built in the moments that everyone sees. It’s not built in the breakthrough, the milestone, or the big visible win.

Resilience is built in the quiet. In the repetition. In the ordinary, often unnoticed moments of your life.

And I think this is one of the most important — and often overlooked — parts of resilience.

Over the last episode, we began to gently reframe what resilience really means &mda...