Is It Self-Care or Are We Just Avoiding Our Problems?

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!🎙️ Barely Thriving Podcast | Episode 58Would you trust AI more than your friends?This week, Amy and Aseah are talking about ChatGPT, relationship advice and just how much of our personal lives we're willing to hand over to AI. From analysing old WhatsApp messages to putting our previous girlie dilemmas to the test, we find out whether the algorithm actually gives better advice.Spoiler: we're still going to the girls first.Follow Barely Thriving for weekly episodes of chaotic girl talk, dating dilemmas and stories that probably should have stayed in the group chat.Submit your Barely Thriving Hotline stories:Email: [email protected] form: https://forms.gle/tZNotw9USSG1v1Dg7CHAPTERS00:00 He gave her his number, then said "I'm gay lol" 06:34 If I could marry a robot, I would 08:29 We pick our friends like we pick our AI 13:26 The woman who married a hologram 20:29 The conspiracy theory about why AI exists 22:46 We ran our old hotlines through ChatGPT 24:58 Round two: the situationship 29:19 Girls first, always

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!🎙️ Barely Thriving Podcast | Episode 57He told her he loved her. She froze and said “oh.” This week we try to help her, then admit we’re the last people who should. Our exes come out, including a letter from prison and a trip to “find myself”, and Taylor Swift’s Patient Zero makes us rethink who we ignored red flags for. We land on one rule about “my ex is crazy” that we’re not budging on. Then we end up at the Victoria’s Secret show, arguing about Kylie Jenner’s debut and how much money it would take to make us walk the runway.Welcome to another meeting of the Hot Mess Committee. 💅PSA - Apologies for the audio quality this week, but honestly... at least we're staying true to the name.Follow Barely Thriving for weekly episodes of chaotic girl talk, dating dilemmas and stories that probably should have stayed in the group chat.Submit your Barely Thriving Hotline stories:Email: [email protected] form: https://forms.gle/tZNotw9USSG1v1Dg7CHAPTERS0:00 "Oh"04:37 The men we've cried over05:55 The ex who wrote from prison08:25 Heartbreak and running away11:06 Patient Zero16:53 "My ex is crazy"18:29 Would you rather?19:38 Kylie Jenner and the Victoria's Secret show26:30 Motherhood and body confidence32:08 How much would you take?

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!🎙️ Barely Thriving Podcast | Episode 56He didn't invite his girlfriend to his birthday night out, even though the other girlfriends were invited. His reason? He didn't want to be in “protector mode” while getting drunk. Naturally, we have questions.This week, Amy & Aseah get into a relationship dilemma that has us asking whether this is a genuine excuse or a red flag. Then things take a turn as we test how well we actually know each other, discuss the people we've blocked, and share a story involving cranberry juice and a truly unfortunate misunderstanding.Because between questionable boyfriend behaviour and the things that come out of our mouths, there's always something to unpack.Welcome to another meeting of the Hot Mess Committee. 💅Follow Barely Thriving for weekly episodes of chaotic girl talk, dating dilemmas and stories that probably should have stayed in the group chat.Submit your Barely Thriving Hotline stories: Email: [email protected] form: https://forms.gle/tZNotw9USSG1v1Dg7CHAPTERS 00:00 He Didn't Invite Her to His Birthday 04:21 The Number Game Begins 08:03 The Number Is 69 12:35 The iPhone Debate 13:23 I'm in My Blocking Era 15:06 Cranberry Juice and a Very Bad Guess 18:04 Bye, Girlies

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!🎙️ Barely Thriving Podcast | Episode 55Is it self-care, or are we just avoiding our problems?This week on Barely Thriving, we're questioning our coping mechanisms, defending our cosy nights in and admitting the things we sometimes call healing when we're not actually okay.From ignoring WhatsApp while scrolling Instagram to letting a £3 tarot reading dictate your romantic future, we're asking where self-care ends and avoidance begins. Is cancelling plans protecting your peace, or are you just avoiding everyone? Is spending Sunday in bed exactly what you need, or are you putting off dealing with your life?We also get into whether you can be too focused on healing, the pressure to have your life together, and why having a bad day doesn't mean you've gone backwards.And one of us has a confession about looking like she was living her best life while actually being in the trenches. Because sometimes the attention, the distractions and the “I'm fine” act are doing a lot more work than we realise.Welcome to Barely Thriving, the chaotic comfort podcast about dating, friendships, identity and figuring out adulthood as we go.💌 Got a dilemma for the Barely Thriving Hotline? Send it in anonymously using the link in our show notes.Like and join the Hot Mess Committee for more unfiltered girl talk, questionable coping mechanisms and the chaos of trying to get your life together.Chapters 00:00 What even counts as girl therapy? 05:14 The ultimate cosy-night fantasy 09:13 Self-care or avoidance? Let's decide 14:11 Can you be too focused on healing? 18:28 I was so fine. Except I wasn't. 21:39 Bonus: Reviewing Aseah’s Tarot Reading

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!🎙️ Barely Thriving Podcast | Episode 54Does getting in the mood come naturally, or does it sometimes feel like a whole production?Amy and Aseah discuss how intimacy changes over time, mismatched expectations, foreplay and how much effort a partner should put into understanding what works for you. They also get into the pressure of trying for a baby, the unexpected things that make someone attractive, and the relationship habits that can either give you the ick or make you see someone differently.Expect strong opinions, questionable bedroom timing, plenty of laughs and a reminder that sometimes your friends are the ones who keep you grounded.Welcome to Barely Thriving, where we’re figuring it out as we go.Chapters 00:00 Do you have to be in the mood first? 00:55 How much sex are we supposed to be having? 06:10 Foreplay, timing and spirit fingers 08:55 Trying for a baby becomes a military operation 13:46 When does trying to initiate become pressure? 20:30 How long is too long? 21:55 The weird things that make someone attractive 28:10 He's got friends. He's normal.

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!🎙️ Barely Thriving Podcast | Episode 53We know a red flag when we see one. So why do we still ignore them?Amy & Aseah get into the messy reality of spotting red flags, explaining them away and giving people one more chance... and then one more.They talk about the relationships they stayed in despite knowing something wasn't right, the red flags they will never ignore again, whether you actually get better at spotting them with age, and the difference between a genuine red flag and something that's simply annoying.Plus, the girlies put friendship, dating and social-media behaviour to the ultimate red flag test. 🚩━━━━━━━━━━━━━━Chapters00:00 The Ex Who Faked His Own Accident05:20 At what point are we torturing ourselves? 09:30 If your engagement ring makes you cry... 11:50 What actually counts as a red flag?18:32 How Many Chances Are Too Many?20:00 Do We Get Better With Age?21:03 Girly Red Flag Tier List28:25 The Ultimate Red Flag

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!🎙️ Barely Thriving Podcast | Episode 52One year. 52 episodes. 153 subscribers. And absolutely no idea what we were doing.For our one-year episode, Amy & Aseah look back at the first year of Barely Thriving, from thinking they'd be at 10K subscribers by now to realising that simply making it through 52 weeks is something worth being proud of.We talk about how the podcast has changed alongside our lives, the moments that made us realise people were actually listening, the Barely Thriving Hotline, our biggest clips, what we've learned about putting ourselves online, and whether we'd still start the podcast if we could go back to the beginning.And, naturally, we finish where we started: did we make it?...kinda.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━Chapters00:00 One Year of Barely Thriving03:10 A Year of Absolute Nonsense09:14 153 Subscribers14:03 Finding Our Flow20:50 Our Favourite Podcast Moments27:44 Who We Were vs Who We Are Now32:20 What We've Learned42:21 Did We Make It?

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!🎙️ Barely Thriving Podcast | Episode 51Would you let your partner go through your phone?This week on Barely Thriving, Girls Court is officially in session as we argue over the unwritten rules of relationships. Should couples share their location? Should you still follow your ex? Are work wives and husbands ever acceptable? Does “we were on a break” excuse anything? And is secretly disliking your friend basically a crime?Then we get into a Hotline confession about the mental load of being the person who has to organise, remember and explain everything in a relationship.Two women in their 30s. Very different rules. Very little agreement. Court is open.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━💌 Send us your Barely Thriving Hotline dilemmas, confessions and chaotic stories:[email protected] click the link to submit anonymously - https://forms.gle/tZNotw9USSG1v1Dg7📲 Follow us:Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/barelythriving_pod/TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@barelythriving_pod━━━━━━━━━━━━━━Chapters00:00 Cold Open00:29 Location Sharing03:40 Following Your Ex05:33 Work Wives & Husbands08:34 “We Were On A Break”11:08 Secretly Disliking Your Friend15:27 Going Through Your Partner's Phone20:33 Barely Thriving Hotline27:49 Outro

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!🎙️ Barely Thriving Podcast | Episode 50Why is nobody kissing anymore? 😭This week on Barely Thriving, Amy and Aseah unpack the chaos of modern dating, starting with a date that ends with a man disappearing halfway through the evening.From there, they get into the apparent decline of kissing, whether you should kiss on a first date, first-kiss chemistry, terrible kissing experiences and the glory days of teenage club snogging.They also discuss what dating in your 30s is actually like and why the bare minimum has somehow become something to celebrate. Being on time? Amazing. Communicating consistently? Sexy. Cooking more than pasta? Apparently marriage material.Expect funny dating stories, modern relationship debates, chaotic girl talk, dating standards, first-date disasters and plenty of Amy & Aseah's usual disagreements.New episodes every week.💌 Send us your Barely Thriving Hotline dilemmas, confessions and chaotic stories:[email protected] click the link to submit anonymously - https://forms.gle/tZNotw9USSG1v1Dg7📲 Follow us:Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/barelythriving_pod/TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@barelythriving_pod━━━━━━━━━━━━━━CHAPTERS 00:00 Hotline: The Date Who Disappeared 10:04 Why Is Nobody Kissing Anymore? 13:28 First Kisses, Bad Kisses & The Kiss Test 18:15 The Glory Days of Club Snogging 22:24 Dating in Your 30s & The Bare Minimum

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!🎙️ Barely Thriving Podcast | Episode 49This week on Barely Thriving, Amy and Aseah kick things off with a chaotic Barely Thriving Hotline dilemma... a listener who thought she'd finally found a guy she was clicking with, only to discover he'd been casually seeing someone else too 😭From there, things get increasingly unhinged as they unpack contraception, the pill, the implant, fertility and what hormonal birth control can actually feel like. They also get into sexual health, cheating, pregnancy, parenting responsibilities, why women seem to carry so much of the responsibility, and the extremely chaotic story of Amy and Aseah attempting to do a sexual health test together🩸Expect dating disasters, contraception debates, fertility stories, relationship red flags, chaotic girl talk, strong opinions and plenty of laughs.New episodes every week.💌 Send us your Barely Thriving Hotline dilemmas, confessions and chaotic stories:[email protected] click the link to submit anonymously - https://forms.gle/tZNotw9USSG1v1Dg7📲 Follow us:Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/barelythriving_pod/TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@barelythriving_pod━━━━━━━━━━━━━━CHAPTERS 00:00 He Was Dating Someone Else 09:20 The Pill Is F*cking Awful 12:27 Fertility & The Pill 16:12 Why Do Women Take All The Risks? 21:11 We Test Together 26:26 Who Actually Raises The Kids? 31:37 I Never Knew My Normal Cycle