Exceptionally Average
34 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 3 years ago -Sharing the real, raw & inspiring stories of everyday people
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Episodes
The guy that fell from the sky
December 15, 2020 19:30 - 1 hour - 72.6 MBOMG HOW IS IT THAT TIME ALREADY!? SEASON 3 FINALE LET'S GO! On Today's episode, Brad Guy shares his harrowing story of the day he fell from the sky and survived. In this chat, Brad talks openly about that fateful day, what it's like to survive a near death experience, his mental health journey as a result and his second chance at life. If you want more of Brad, you can find him @bradjguy on instagram. You can find me @exceptionallyaveragepodcast. Don't forget to click follow or subscribe ...
Worth beyond weight
December 08, 2020 19:30 - 1 hour - 57.4 MBClaire was diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa at just 15 years old. What followed was years of treatment & therapy, relapses & triumphs. But Claire's own personal experience found her wanting to do something far greater, which led her to doing her PHD in Eating Disorder research. Claire founded @_hersociety, which as you'll hear, has been many things. But ultimately, it's the chronicles of a late-twenty-something girl figuring shit out, and sharing it along the way. You can find Her Society...
A Mind Full of Wonder
December 01, 2020 19:30 - 1 hour - 63.5 MBOn today's episode, meet Matt Runnalls. Matt was just 12 years old when he lost his first friend to suicide. Yep, you heard that right; sadly, the first of several. He was 16 when he lost his second friend to suicide, and later that same year, his favourite teacher too. By the time he was 20, he'd lost his fourth friend to suicide, and over the course of the next 6 years, 4 more of his mates chose to end their own lives; all males. Through all of that, Matt was fighting his own battle with m...
Fair play
November 24, 2020 19:30 - 1 hour - 69.4 MBAngie Greene grew up in a successful football family, but it was that exposure to football culture that gave her a first hand experience of the discrimination towards the LGBTIQ+ community in sport. People from the LGBTIQ+ community are 4-5x more likely to commit suicide; a statistic that Angie is determined to reduce. After losing 4 male friends to suicide, she set about a path to fighting the inequality that exists in Australian sport. Angie founded Stand Up events, an organisation that ra...
True vision
November 17, 2020 19:30 - 1 hour - 65.2 MBI want you to close your eyes. Imagine you're 16 years old, and you wake up in a hospital bed. What you're currently seeing is all you'll ever see again. Your vision is now entirely made up of memories. You're blind. Yep, at just 16 years old, this was Ben Pettingill's reality. He lost 98% of his eyesight overnight to a rare genetic syndrome. Despite that though, Ben has achieved more since being blind that many people ever achieve in their lifetime. Ben's story is an extraordinary example o...
Setbacks & Comebacks
November 10, 2020 19:30 - 1 hour - 55.3 MBHappy Wednesday! This week, meet Eleni Kalimnios; a young elite rowing athlete from Tasmania, Australia. As you'll hear, Eleni's list of career highlights isn't a short one, and by the age of 21 she was on track for Olympic glory at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. What came next in Eleni's journey was not according to the roadmap. Eleni hurt her back, nothing untoward for an elite rower. But what ensued is a few years of chronic pain that forced her into having to stop the sport that she lo...
Struck by lightning... twice
November 03, 2020 19:30 - 1 hour - 55.4 MBHello & welcome back to another episode of Exceptionally Average. Today's episodes is one of my absolute favourites (picking a favourite poddy eps is like picking a favourite child... but let's be honest... we all have one). Meet Hugo Toovey; a captain in the Australian Army (no small feat on it's own), but Hugo is also one of the most inspiring, and resilient human beings that I've had the pleasure of meeting. At just 21, Hugo was diagnosed with testicular cancer, which he battled & defea...
Patience & Perseverance
October 27, 2020 19:30 - 42 minutes - 39.1 MBThis week, meet Steffi Patience. Steffi is a young author & volunteer from regional Victoria. In this episode, she shares her experience of being a young female, homeless on the streets of Melbourne, her battles with mental illness, and how using her experience to help others has saved her life. You can find Steffi on instagram @chihualpha (told you I wasn't going to try to pronounce that). As for me, come say hi @exceptionallyaveragepodcast. Don't forget to click follow or subscribe whe...
Stabbed Ego
October 20, 2020 19:30 - 59 minutes - 55 MBMeet Luke S. Kennedy, author & professional speaker. Luke had what he describes as a loving but difficult childhood; growing up poor in the outer suburbs of Sydney. He was in year 7 when he got into his first fight. Suddenly, he wasn't the fat kid getting bullied any more, he was 'the fighter', a nickname and an ego that shaped the next few years of his life. Luke has had some harrowing experiences; spending years in a street gang, he's been stabbed, witnessed a friend die, and almost killed...
Polished Woman
October 13, 2020 19:00 - 1 hour - 56.1 MB[Trigger Warning: This episode discusses family violence and abuse. If you, or someone you know needs help, head to 1800respect.org.au or call 1800 737 732] Naomi Holt is many things: clinical hypnotherapist, Psychology graduate, model, and small business owner. This year, Naomi is an ambassador for Polished Man; an incredible campaign that raises awareness and funds for child victims of family violence and abuse. Why? Because she was one of the 1 billion children worldwide that experience ...
Season 3 Trailer
October 10, 2020 20:00 - 2 minutes - 2.14 MBSeason 3 drops in T-3 days. Here's a sneak peek of all the goodness to come. See you soon!
Connection whilst distancing: Ziggy Razuki
April 07, 2020 23:20 - 35 minutes - 32.3 MBAnxious with isolation? Struggling with uncertainty? In this mini-podcast series I'm calling up some old friends from previous episodes to get their insight & experiences during the COVID-19 crisis. Today I chatted to Ziggy; who as always had a beautiful perspective to share with you all. If you'd like to hear more of Ziggy's wisdom, you can find his episode in Season 2 - Episode 1. You can also find him on instagram @ziggyrazuki. And as for me, you can find me @exceptionallyaveragepodcast o...
Connection whilst distancing: Ang Roan
April 03, 2020 01:30 - 30 minutes - 28 MBAng is always a bundle of positivity, and this chat was no exception. Her insight and perspective is well beyond her years ; a reflection of her upbringing, but also a credit to herself. At just 22 years of age, when most are concerned with not being able to go out or party, Ang talks about staying positive & connected whilst self-isolating. You can find Ang's original episode in season 1 "Fear Less" https://rss.whooshkaa.com/rss/podcast/id/7430 You can also find her on instagram @ang_foot...
Connection whilst distancing: Lucy Allen
March 30, 2020 07:00 - 23 minutes - 21.5 MBSocial distancing getting the better of you? Feeling overwhelmed? Anxious? Unsettled? You're not alone. I was feeling the same way, so called up an old friend Lucy Allen of the Graceful Collective from season 1 & got some practical tips for how to stay sane in these difficult times. You can find Lucy on instagram @the_graceful_collective. Want more of Lucy? Of course you do! You can listen to her original episode in Season 1 here: "Live like you mean it" https://rss.whooshkaa.com/rss/podca...
Connection whilst distancing: Vinh Le
March 25, 2020 05:00 - 22 minutes - 20.3 MBHello guys - I have something different for you today. In light of everything that's happening in our beautiful world right now, it didn't feel right to share the last few episodes I had planned for the rest of the season. Instead, what I think the world needs right now is a little more positivity & connection. So I reached out to some of my previous guests to see how they've been impacted, how they're staying grounded and hopeful, and what they're feeling grateful for when the world around ...
Wild thoughts
March 17, 2020 19:30 - 1 hour - 68.6 MBMeet Hannah; my colleague and close friend. Despite the fact that she can finish an entire bag of popcorn in one sitting, she's still a pretty average gal with a story all too familiar for any just about millennial female. In our society, we place such a glory on hustling constantly working, consistently bettering yourself; but at some point that grind will grind you down to dust. Hannah was your typical uni student; studying full time, working 5 jobs, taking every opportunity that was prese...
A sobering experience
March 10, 2020 19:30 - 1 hour - 68.4 MBHello & happy Wednesday! This week, I'd like for you to meet Leanne. Leanne was just 13 when she had her first alcoholic drink; the norm for kids her age, growing up in the UK. Some might say it's harmless experimentation, which for some, it may be. But for Leanne, what followed from that day was far from harmless. Leanne spent much of her teenage life binge drinking, which later in adulthood, became a dark and dangerous drinking problem too large to ignore. Leanne's story is a sobering one;...
Not so average, but quite exceptional
March 03, 2020 19:30 - 1 hour - 60.6 MBNow... this name might sound familiar. Meet Chloe Molloy. If you're not familiar with her name, she's a current AFLW player for Collingwood; and a bloody good one at that. But her path to footy wasn't so straight forward. In her younger years, Chloe was an elite basketballer. She competed at National championships in the U20 squad, represented Victoria 6 times, was Melbourne Boomers Rookie of the Year and a member of the Australian Gems Squad in 2015. When she finished school, she signed a c...
A Lil' bit of self love
February 25, 2020 19:30 - 1 hour - 63.9 MBMeet Lil Wisher. At just 3 years old, she rode her first horse & fell in love. Very quickly, they became her escape. But at 15, Lil's body was changing; and when she noticed she wasn't as "skinny" as some of her friends, she began throwing her lunch out at school; the tip of an iceberg that hid a tumultuous relationship with herself and her body. In this episode, Lil shares her story of how her mental health and eating disorder ruled her life, and how she fought to overcome it. If you want...
Run, Damien, Run
February 18, 2020 19:30 - 1 hour - 68.9 MBMeet Damien - A "non-runner" who's decided to run 270km to raise money for the Peter Mac Foundation in honour of his father Joey. At just 19, Damien became a full-time carer for his dad; then in his early 20s, shortly after his dad passed away, he had to give up his dream career of being an AFL footballer due to a bad run of injuries. What followed was a pretty dark 6 months, but with the love and support from family & friends around him, he pulled through, and is now attempting to pull off ...
Freedom fighter
February 11, 2020 19:30 - 57 minutes - 52.7 MB“FEMINISM ISN’T ABOUT MAKING WOMEN STRONG. WOMEN ARE ALREADY STRONG. IT’S ABOUT CHANGING THE WAY THE WORLD PERCEIVES THAT STRENGTH" - G.D ANDERSON Meet Geena "G.D" Anderson, the woman behind one of Vogue's Greatest Feminist quotes of 2016-17. In 2006, Geena went on her first trip to Africa on a family safari and fell in love. In 2015, she marched into a doctors office ready to announce "I'm moving to Africa", but he beat her the punch and told her she has Lyme Disease. She had been battling...
Rising from the ashes
February 04, 2020 19:30 - 1 hour - 68.4 MBThey say when major events happen in your life that you remember where you were the moment you first heard about them. They're called flashbulb memories, and I remember exactly where I was on February 7th, 2009; at a friend's house for his birthday, jumping in the pool because the weather was so hot. That day, the mercury in Melbourne soared above 46 degrees, and over 400 fires burned across the state resulting in what would be known as one of Victoria's worst ever bushfire tragedies; Black ...
The meaning of life & other stuff
January 27, 2020 19:30 - 1 hour - 64.5 MBWe are back with a brand new season of Exceptionally Average. Meet Ziggy - a legend of a human with a passion for empowering other humans. He's a writer, yogi & meditation teacher who's stumbled across the meaning of life. Well... his life anyway. In this episode I chat to Ziggy about spirituality, happiness, and what it means to live a life of purpose. Want more of Ziggy? Of course you do! You can follow his adventures @ziggyrazuki. You can also find more information on stillspace from http...
Little dreamer. Big dreams.
November 12, 2019 22:00 - 1 hour - 85.1 MBMaddy grew up caring for her little brother who was very ill, and her mother who was diagnosed with breast cancer. While most kids were learning to ride a bike without training wheels, Maddy was learning how to administer life saving medication. Maddy was just nine years old when she told her parents she wanted to start a charity for other young kids like herself, and what started as some fundraising stalls culminated into a business plan for Little Dreamers Australia. 10 years later, Litt...
Live like you mean it
November 05, 2019 22:00 - 1 hour - 65.5 MBLucy was living her best life in a high flying corporate career, until one day her world was flipped upside down. Lucy's mother lost her battle with chronic illness, and Lucy's world went dark. In today's episode Lucy shares how losing your mum in your late 20s changes everything, and why happiness isn't nearly as important as "success". You can find more of Lucy online @the_graceful_collective or https://www.thegracefulcollective.com/ And as always, if you loved this episode take a screen...
#iamenough
October 29, 2019 19:30 - 1 hour - 62.3 MBHave you ever had felt that sinking feeling of being inadequate? Have you ever had that little voice in your head tell you that you're not enough? Today I'm chatting to Samrat Karki, a chef-turned-yogi who, last year, started a movement that empowered people to challenge that little voice in their head. On this episode, Samrat shares his own experiences with not feeling "good enough", and I'm sure after listening to this, you'll want to pay a little more attention to what that little voice i...
Life, death, & everything in between
October 22, 2019 19:30 - 1 hour - 78.1 MBOn Saturday August 12th 2018, Kate's 32nd birthday, she died. She was desperately ill and in need of a transplant, and went into cardiac arrest. She was clinically dead for 15 minutes before paramedics brought her back to life, but she knew the odds of living much longer were still stacked against her. By a stroke of luck, or fate perhaps, Kate received the call she'd been waiting 7 years for. She sat down with me to share her incredible story of survival, and what it's like to be dying to l...
Fear Less.
October 15, 2019 19:30 - 1 hour - 78.5 MBMeet Ang Roan. At just 22 years old, she's visited 22 countries and raised $22k for charity. She started her own food truck business from scratch, she won a boxing match after just 10 weeks of training, and she made it into the VFLW after just a few games of footy. There's one common thread amongst all of Ang's achievements; she's doesn't let the fear of failure stop her from trying. And on top of all that, she's such a delight to be around. Head to Ang's instagram @ang_foot (yes... foot) ...
Man Up.
October 08, 2019 19:00 - 1 hour - 63.9 MBMeet one of my closest friends, Ben. In this episode, Ben talks candidly about his struggles with mental health from a young age and his experience of coming out as gay in a male dominated football culture. We unpack toxic masculinity, male mental health, and how men's stereotypes are literally killing them. There's some fantastic organisations doing incredible work in this space - @livinorg and @beyondblueofficial just to name a couple. If you loved this episode, please share it with a ma...
Two wheels, one heart, and no looking back
October 01, 2019 20:30 - 48 minutes - 44.4 MBMeet Christy Glenn, a woman of many talents. She's an athlete, Pilates instructor, run coach, radiation therapist and nutrition student. Just over two years ago, Christy's dad was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. Determined to do something, Christy hit the road cycling from Melbourne to Sydney and raising $18k and a whole lot of awareness along the way. On today's episode, we talk about what it's like growing up in the country with a dad who's unwell, what inspires her to do what she doe...
Noun; a person who survives.
September 24, 2019 20:30 - 1 hour - 83.8 MBKatie is a registered nurse, a PHD student, and a kick-arse artist & writer. Her journey has not been an easy one though. In 2013, she was raped by a Tinder date. Years later, she attempted to end her own life. Born with an anxious predisposition, mental illness has always been a part of her story, and today, Katie shares that story with us. This episode discusses themes of mental illness, suicide, and sexual assault. If this conversation brings up anything for you, please call lifeline on...
A pretty incredible woman on a mission
September 17, 2019 20:00 - 51 minutes - 47.3 MBWelcome back to another episode of Exceptionally Average; the podcast that shares the real and inspiring stories of "normal", everyday people. Today I'd like you to meet Merissa Forsyth; a woman on an incredible mission. She's the inspirational founder & CEO of the Pretty Foundation, and today she wants to share her story with you. In 2012, Merissa quit her high-flying corporate career in marketing to launch a charity that focussed on the early education and prevention of body image issues...
The Man in the Arena
September 10, 2019 21:00 - 1 hour - 62.3 MB*disclaimer* This was my first ever recording, so the sound quality isnt quite up to scratch with the standard I set for myself. If you're starting here and the sound is annoying you, feel free to start at episode 2* Welcome to the first ever *official* episode of Exceptionally Average. Today I want you to meet Vinh Le. He's a fighter (although he would never call himself that), he's a business owner, he's technically a Physio, and he's a friend. On today's episode, Vinh talks about how th...
An Exceptionally Average Introduction
September 01, 2019 09:00 - 16 minutes - 15.2 MBHave you ever wanted an insight into the lives of the people around you? Welcome to Exceptionally Average, the podcast that shares the real & inspiring stories of "normal" everyday people. Instead of just sitting down & explaining what this podcast is all about, I got my partner in crime & self-appointed "Exceptionally Average GM", Nick to put me in the hot seat. In this episode I explain what Exceptionally Average is, where it came from, and why you need to listen. Stay tuned for the firs...