The Oyster Sisters

One bright, sunny day in January, we three were enjoying brunch together following a delightful morning of boogie boarding. We left the cafe in our separate cars then, moments later, the planet seemed to stop rotating on its axis. Taryn spotted a nasty car crash, realised the crumpled car belonged to Mia, and jumped out of her moving car to be with her friend. Gemma received a call from Taz’s husband Tim, slammed on her brakes and raced to the scene. Police cars, fire engines and ambulances were called. Mia had sustained a serious spinal injury, and was taken by ambulance to hospital.  In this episode, we dive into what happened that morning, how it has impacted all of us, and share some of the pearls of wisdom that have emerged from the experience. Although the concept of post-traumatic stress is familiar to us, research by psychologists over the past 25 years has shown that negative experiences can result in *positive* changes, including recognising personal strengths, discovering new possibilities, improving relationships and appreciating life more fully. Post-traumatic growth is possible, and Mia’s experience is a wonderful case study.   At the time of recording this episode, Mia was in the early stages of recovering from her spinal fracture and deep in the messy middle of meaning-making. Despite that, you’ll hear us bring a healthy dose of healing humour to this episode, without any pretense about the fact that it has been a painful and disruptive time. Listen as we explore some of the golden highlights, including how Mia is learning to receive the support of friends and family, to see herself and value her life energy more fully, and to reframe her relationship with her body. Plus, if you’re wondering how to be an expert companion for others in the aftermath of adversity, you’ll definitely want to tune in to see how Gemma and Taryn encourage curiosity, listen actively, and offer compassionate feedback. Some gentle advice: this episode contains discussion of a traumatic event, including depictions of a car accident and resultant injuries, so you may wish to take care in choosing the most appropriate moment for you to listen. 

What lights you up? Gives you the tingles of pleasure and juicy feelings of joy?  With so much gritty-shit going down in the world, we wondered if it'd be inappropriate to talk about this topic. As if it were forbidden. Self-indulgent. Tone-deaf. So we delayed releasing it! Then, we realized; this is exactly the kind of guilt and shame-game that so many of us grew up playing with pleasure. All the more reason, amidst the heaviness, to shed some light on lightening our loads by investing in more play, and prioritizing pleasure.       In this enlightening episode, Mia opens up about how a message from a primary school teacher had her deferring delight until a re-education in her 40's. Taryn passionately proposes taking pleasure into our own hands by creating an everyday “sparkle list”, instead of deferring our heart's-desires onto a "bucket list" that often gets left until we’re too old to realize it. And, although red-rooms don’t rate a mention, Gemma confesses to once owning a red-book in which she noted daily sources of pleasure-tingles. Speaking of which, Gemma goes all the way by declaring that it’s time for women to reframe their relationship with self-pleasure, suggesting that we rename it, in order to reclaim it.   Yes...yes....yes! Is what you’ll be saying alot more after listening to this episode. But most of all, we hope you’ll be inspired to listen alot more to YOU. And to pursue what feels good and fills you with the joy and delight that you’re so deeply worthy of.

How many new year's past have you prescribed a set-in-stone plan for personal perfection that just ended up creating more pressure in your life?  If you’re anything like us, you’ll have had one too many of these, and really don’t relish the idea of another new year hangover! In this episode, we’re aiming to intercept you on the well-worn pathway to wearing yourself down and out as the new year rolls around, by inviting you to join us “freeballing” into 2024.   Although we fail to actually define "freeballing" (make of that what you will), we pose some powerful invitations to quit guilt-tripping yourself on the post-Christmas down-hill run, dispense with all-too-hard-and-fast goal setting, and instead experiment with getting curious and letting go, as far more loving practices for welcoming in a new year. 

What does eyebrow and ear-hair plucking, pimple popping and Covid lock-downs have to do with Christmas?  Nothing really. But somehow our conversation wound its way there in this episode. If you want to know how we got there, you’ll just have to listen. It’ll be like receiving an unexpected surprise on Christmas morning!    In this episode, we get real about our compulsive tendencies for overdoing in the lead up to and at Christmas. We unwrap our grit about being so damn exhausted by the time the day rolls around that we’re unable to give our loved ones the gift of our presence on Christmas Day. Or, we end up tangled in our tinsel with one another because we’re done like a turkey dinner. We also explore how each of us feel about the pressure to toe the commercial and societal line, and then tie the episode in a bow with some pearls of wisdom about how we could all do with doing less at Christmas.

Why do we drive ourselves beyond exhaustion and then wear it like a badge of honour? Ignore early-warning signs of depletion as if our bodies are machines? In this episode, we wade into a conversation about burning out. Mia and Gem talk about the times they’ve been there, done way too much of that. Taz grapples with whether she has, and how she feels about labeling busy-ness. Although one of us (i.e. Gemma) seems to have made a bit more progress on this front than the other two, we each reveal our wobbly bits about flipping the switch from hustle to flow in a world that rewards productivity over pausing and share some pearls of wisdom that have kept us afloat when we've found ourselves in the deep-end.

How many of us grew-up believing that our self-worth was tied up with pleasing others? Exhausting ourselves by being nice, toeing the line, and contorting ourselves so we never, ever hurt anyone else’s feelings. And to what end? We become depleted, disappointed and resentful.  In Episode 2 of The Oyster Sisters, we explore our wobbly bits around our experiences of FODO (the Fear Of Disappointing Others) and share some potent pearls of wisdom for dropping the pleasing and lifting our power for a more balanced and fulfilling life. 

Our very first episode, in which we reveal how we became The Oyster Sisters, why we’re called the Oyster Sisters (despite Taryn’s hatred of the slithery, salty wetness of our namesake), and what this podcast is all about. Plus a call to action that may surprise.