Motherhood, bad habits, a confused sense of purpose, burnout and bikes.

How rekindling an old love of bikes formed a pivotal part of Janine's road to recovery after motherhood, bad habits and a confused sense of purpose lead to a complete physical and mental burnout.

This is what I chat about in today's episode with the wonderful, soulful Janine, who openly shares the path that lead her back to bikes at the young age of 40 something. The conversation flows and digresses to all sorts of wonderment but always comes back to bikes and the power held within them.

We chat about how she became completely burnt out, motherhood stripping her of her identity, alcohol weaving its way in and then her body finally reacting and stopping her in her tracks. A lot of soul searching and inner work later, Janine rediscovered her love of bikes, reconnected with that childlike joy we can all lose as adults and hasn’t looked back since.

Janine’s energy and giggle is infectious and if listening to this doesn’t make you grab for your bike, I don’t know what will.

The Guest:

Janine is a recovering burnt-out Mum of two girls who regained her passion for life through some challenging circumstances but ending with a return to her love of bikes!

After years of conforming to the ‘norm’ and essentially losing herself into a world she didn’t feel she’d signed up for, a little too much wine, an autoimmune skin condition and a bit of soul searching later and a recipe for play and fun was created.

Her rediscovery of her love of riding reignited whilst on a holiday just over a year ago and that coupled with a strange loss of fear and judgements, she’s throwing herself at it and is loving every second.

It’s enabled her to switch off her busy brain, reconnect with the outdoors, be with like-minded friends, meet new ones, travel and keep active.

It hasn’t been an easy or straight forward road to get there but it’s certainly been interesting and demanded the deepest digging to rediscover who she was always meant to be, a complete paradox in of herself.

You can follow Janine and her biking escapades on @janine_ngaio on Instagram

Take aways from the episode:

• There is absolutely no age limit for getting on a bike and just starting.

• Mountain biking enables you to connect with your inner child and experience that childlike delight we often lose as adults because we stop ‘playing’. Play is so important.

• We love bikes.

Links

If you were interested in sobriety a great account to follow for insight and education is https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/ and https://www.instagram.com/sobergirlsociety/

Another great resource about alcohol is https://alcoholchange.org.uk.

I used the app ‘try dry’ to help me give it up. It wasn’t hard for me as my ‘why’ was so strong. Best decision I ever made for my mental wellbeing and am happy to chat about it with anyone, just drop me a dm.

The healing point insta with Tracey Stevenson, getting to the emotional root of physical issues - https://www.instagram.com/thehealingpoint._/

If you are struggling with your mental health you can check out the following resources for ways you can get help:

https://www.thecalmzone.net/

https://www.mind.org.uk/

Reaching out for help may seem hard but it is the best thing you can do for yourself if you are struggling.

The Pod:

Don’t forget to head on over to the GOW website https://girlsonwheelspodcast.co.uk/ and subscribe to the newsletter, you’ll be updated on upcoming guests and episodes and get a chance to get involved, either by suggesting topics, guests, coming on to share your story, or joining the panel for random episodes.

If you liked what you heard please leave me a review on podchaser. It will help the show to grow and make me do a happy dance.

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Girls on wheels coming at yaaaaaaaaaa.

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