Bouncing Back with James Middleton

Cold water therapy has suddenly become the new health craze...why you may be wondering? Because what it does to you is quite something, and I'm fully on board with it. I'm currently in a pretty militant routine but have never felt happier and cold exposure is a part of that routine, every single morning. I discuss how I got into cold water therapy, the best way of starting, the unbelievable physical and mental benefits around it and a few other top tips worth knowing before you turn that shower cold or dive into an ice bath.

"Alcohol is the only drug you have to justify not using"...having spent the large part of the last 14 years drinking alcohol, 6 months ago I decided to become sober curious and significantly cut down the amount of alcohol I consumed, to now hardly any. Today I feel the best I have ever felt in my life for it. I take you through my relationship with alcohol growing up as a high level rugby player and the pressures of drinking working in the city in my mid 20s. I discuss the physiological effects that drinking alcohol has on the brain and body and run through the pros vs the cons of drinking. The aim of this episode is to encourage people to make informed decisions about their alcohol consumption in order to benefit their physical and mental health, and to open people's eyes up to becoming more sober curious. 

Social media is everywhere. You can't escape it. It's how we connect with people, follow our idols, retrieve information, stalk our ex's and show off the best bits of our own lives. But is it becoming all consuming? Is it taking away from our own reality? Are we living vicariously through others without even realising? Should we be using it more intentionally? How can we use it more intentionally? What are the positives? Listen in and explore the depths of it all with me in this episode. 

The world of pornography is huge and it's more readily available than ever. But do you know the implications it can have on you in a number of different ways? I discuss how watching porn can impact our mood, sex life and relationships and how it can be detrimental on the developing brain. I also discuss what good sex is and isn't, and how it can be influenced by porn. Strap in for this one, it's a good'un.

When someone asks "What is happiness?" I don't believe there is a single definition. It's different for everyone. But I do believe there are methods we can apply and definitions we can explore to open up our minds as to what happiness is and isn't. I take a look at some key components of happiness: what being in a flow state is, having inner peace, why being fully present is fundamental and also why things are only perfect or imperfect based on what we desire. 

I am a firm believer that we are most happiest when we are our true selves. Living on our own terms, doing things we want to do not because someone else says we should and being true to ourselves. I explore why self-acceptance is a crucial component of achieving this. I discuss why embracing death can be liberating and give our life meaning and I finish with why prioritising your physical health creates so many opportunities in other areas of life, including that of which is being yourself. 

A huge part of feeling comfortable with yourself and not relying on external factors for your own self-worth is the love you show yourself without anyone else around. I delve into why self-love is so important and some of the things we can do to grow it. I also discuss how it links into codependency, what that is and how to identify if you are codependent or not and solutions to resolving it if you are. 

In this episode I discuss decision making, what decision fatigue is and how it affects us and how we can manage making better decisions in our life. I talk through how it impacts our impulse control and why it leads to procrastinating and how we can prevent this. I finish by addressing the importance of structure, routine and habits in our life to allow for better decision making and what cognitive ease is and how it influences us on a daily basis. 

I discuss some of the key ways and reasons why I believe so many people fall short in their own personal development. From factors such as thinking about things for too long rather than doing, to asking for too many people's opinions, to blaming everything and everyone around you to being scared of failure. 

I look into some of the best methods which I have found to be proven useful when it comes to dealing with anxiety, based on personal experience and from my own research that I have done. I also discuss how things like alcohol, caffeine and social media can be anxiety inducing and why simple things like getting enough sleep and fresh air can help alleviate feelings of anxiousness.