Well Enough Alone - A Guide To Thriving Solo
by Spare Room
Well Enough Alone is a celebration of solo living that tears up the “sad and lonely” single script and embraces a path that can be joyful and fulfilling. Because there is more to life than “partnered and happy” or “single and searching.” There is solo and thriving. Hosted by best-selling author and award-winning journalist, Jill Stark, this podcast is for anyone who’s ever been told that being single makes you incomplete. Or that life only begins when you find “the one”. To leave “well enough alone” means to stop trying to change something that’s already good enough. What if the one you’ve been looking for is you? Could embracing your single status rather than fearing it be the key to a happy life? Jill talks to inspiring guests, some who are single and some who aren’t, about what they’ve learned from time spent in their own company, and interviews experts in psychology, human behaviour, business, health and wellbeing, abou
Episodes
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SEASON FINALE: Heidi Clements: Single after 60 – the freedom, self-love and empowerment of age
If you want to know how to be happy alone and show up proudly and unapologetically as your authentic self, you need to listen to this episode. This is our season finale and what a way to close out season two! (Thank you all for listening!) Jill speaks with the incredible Heidi Clements, a social...
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Paul Dolan: Can you be truly happy alone? (Spoiler: single, child-free women are the happiest)
What do we actually need to live a happy life? Are marriage and children the pathway to fulfilment, or do they actually make you less happy? This week, Jill talks to someone who has studied these questions in depth and come up with some illuminating answers that not everyone wants to hear....
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Michelle McQuaid: the cost of being a ‘good girl’ – finding freedom from people-pleasing
How do we let go of perfectionism and people-pleasing and learn to put our own needs first? This week, Jill speaks with Dr Michelle McQuaid, an internationally recognised positive psychology expert, about how more women are breaking free from damaging people-pleasing patterns and living as their...
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Therese Shechter: ‘My so-called selfish life’ – how the child-free movement is reshaping the world
To have kids or not have kids? In a world where marriage and parenthood are still seen as the expected life path, what does it mean to defy convention and choose a different way? This week, Jill talks to award-winning documentary filmmaker Therese Shechter about her revolutionary film, My…
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Cindy Gallop: I’m unmarried, no kids, dating younger men casually for sex, and I’m blissfully ecstatic.
This week’s guest is the very definition of thriving solo. Cindy Gallop is a trailblazer for single, child-free living. She’s torn up the rule book, rejected outdated societal expectations, and actively celebrates her solo life. She’s also someone who is open about the fun she’s having as an…
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Annie Whitlocke: A death doula’s lessons on dying, aloneness and how to live well
What do death and dying have to teach us about getting comfortable with aloneness and living a good life? It’s a subject that’s often taboo and shrouded in fear and secrecy, but it’s also something none of us can avoid. But what does a good death look like? Is it a lonely and frightening...
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Amy Gahran: Solo polyamory and getting off the ‘relationship escalator’
If you’ve ever been with a partner and asked, “Is this relationship going anywhere?” or been swept up in a romance without stopping to question if it’s really what you want, then you may already be familiar with the “relationship escalator.” It’s a phrase coined by journalist, Amy Gahran, to...
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Rosie Batty: On hope, finding yourself amid trauma and grief, and building a life with meaning
This week’s episode is one we’re really honoured to bring to you. Our guest is someone with boundless courage and compassion, who has shared some of her most vulnerable moments with the world so that others might feel less alone. Rosie Batty is, as she says, the member of a club no mother wants…
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Jacinta Parsons: On reclaiming your forever self, the wisdom of older women and lessons from living with chronic illness
Season 2: Episode Six Jacinta Parsons: On reclaiming your forever self, the wisdom of older women and lessons from living with chronic illness Reaching mid-life and reckoning with the ageing process can also be a time of invisibility and isolation, particularly for women. Living with a chronic...
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Cyndi Darnell: Sex and the single life – intimacy, sexuality and non-traditional relationships
This week’s episode is a really juicy one so buckle up! Can we have a fulfilling, safe and healthy sex life when we’re unpartnered? Is sex an essential part of the human experience or are there other ways to find intimacy? Our guest this week is Cyndi Darnell, a certified clinical sexologist,...
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Alexandra Collier: Single motherhood by choice: the triumphs, challenges and secrets of solo parenting
Today’s episode is one that many of you asked us for – what does it take to have a child on your own? Whether you’re sure you want kids, still trying to decide, or want to be child-free, this week’s guest has many life lessons that can help you figure out, or reaffirm, what’s right for you....
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Hannah Ferguson: on modern womanhood, what’s driving loneliness in Gen Z, dismantling shame, and building political engagement in a broken world
We live in an age when we’re more connected than at any point in history. But in our terminally online timeline, many young people are feeling a profound sense of loneliness, isolation and pessimism about the future. They are often disengaged from politics and less than hopeful about modern…
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Matt Agnew: On life after The Bachelor, finding happiness alone, healthy masculinity and his life-long mental health journey
Imagine being the star of a reality TV dating show as one of the most visible eligible bachelors in the country, and you find love in the full glare of the public eye only to have your life fall apart. That’s what happened to Dr Matt Agnew, when he appeared on The Bachelor, fell in love, broke…
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Yumi Stynes: Rising strong, surviving the trolls, and finding freedom after divorce
We’re back for season two and what a way to kick off, with Australian broadcasting icon, Yumi Stynes – a fierce and fearless trailblazer who knows all about finding your strength when you are very much on your own. Yumi opens up about surviving some very public media pile-ons, and how she manages...
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Season Finale: Claire Mason: on sobriety as a path to single freedom, self-love and happiness
Claire Mason: on sobriety as a path to single freedom, self-love and happiness Can quitting drinking be the key to a happy, single life? This week, Jill talks to podcaster, body positivity advocate and digital creator, Claire Mason about her journey from party girl to sober queen. They share...
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Gyan Yankovich: on building a shared future with friends, and why friendship should be treated with the same respect as marriage
Our friends are some of the most important people in our lives. They’re the people we can be 100% ourselves with. And for many single people, they are our family. So why are friendships seen as lesser than romantic or blood family relationships? This week, Jill talks to journalist and author…
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Megan Waters: Self-love and growing strong through the struggles
This week, Jill talks to TV presenter, public speaker and proud Warumungu/Yawuru woman, Megan Waters about growing and healing through times of struggle and why time alone is an essential part of her self-care toolkit. She also talks about her deep connection to her Indigenous culture and how...
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Emma Edwards: Budgeting for one, and understanding emotional spending
One of the best things about solo life is the freedom to live life your own, without having to run decisions past anyone else. But one of the more challenging things is how expensive it can be to live alone. You have the same household costs as couples but only one income. Whether it’s booking a...
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Lauren Beckman on the voting power of “childless cat ladies”, and the politics of being single
Why are single people often ignored by policy makers? And is that about to change? This week, Jill is joined by writer and political commentator, Lauren Beckman, to dissect Vice Presidential candidate J.D. Vance’s attack on “miserable, childless cat ladies” and how this group is becoming a potent...
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Alita Brydon: on surviving the dating scene, body positivity, and how to stop being a people pleaser
If a romantic connection is something you see in your future – whether for one night or forever – then you do not want to miss this week’s episode. Jill speaks to Alita Brydon – dating expert, body positivity champion and creator of the cult social media phenomenon, Bad Dates of Melbourne on...
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Danni Duncan: on choosing not to have children, and the rise of the child-free movement
Danni Duncan: on choosing not to have children, and the rise of the child-free movement. The pressure to couple up starts early in life, but it’s not just a pressure to be partnered, it often comes with an expectation that you will also want to have children. In a world where the nuclear family…
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Stuart Henshall: When the honeymoon’s over – marriage, divorce and the journey to self-acceptance,
From an early age we’re told that that the dream is to find our soulmate, have the big wedding, and then live happily ever after. But for a long time, that fairytale was one only straight people could aspire to. On the day same-sex marriage was finally legalised in Australia, Stuart Henshall was...
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Dr Ahona Guha: the psychology of being alone – navigating loneliness and learning to love your own company
In a world obsessed with partnering up and settling down, it can sometimes feel like you’re a square peg in a round hole if you’re on your own. So how can you learn to not just accept your own company but actually love it? Is loneliness something we can banish, or is it a necessary part of the...
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Jess King: rebuilding after betrayal, and not being defined by having a partner
What happens when the life you planned comes crashing down around you? Jess King faced a major betrayal that changed everything. But in rebuilding herself from the ashes of that crisis, she found freedom and strength in her own company. Jess is one of Australia’s leading curve models, a body...
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Dr Bella DePaulo: Single at heart: the art of thriving solo
As single people, we’re often pitied or seen as living half a life. We’re just incomplete puzzles desperately searching for the missing piece to make us whole. But what if the risk is not what we’ll miss out on if we don’t organise our lives around a romantic partner, but what we’ll miss out on…
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Yvie Jones: Taking back the power and defining your own worth
Fearless and fabulous at 51, Yvie Jones is one of Australia’s most well-loved TV personalities and a proud and unapologetic long-term single woman. In this raw and candid conversation, she talks about love, grief, body image, self-worth, and how she’s built connection and community while doing…
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An Introduction To Jill Stark & Well Enough Alone
This is a podcast for anyone who’s ever been told that being single makes you incomplete, or life will only begin when you find “the one.” I wanted to make it because I was tired of outdated cultural narratives that told me there were only two life paths available to us – “partnered and happy” or...
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An Introduction To Well Enough Alone
Well Enough Alone is a celebration of solo living that tears up the “sad and lonely” single script and embraces a path that can be joyful, expansive and fulfilling. Because there is more to life than “partnered and happy” or “single and searching.” There is solo and thriving. Hosted by…
more
About this show
Well Enough Alone is a celebration of solo living that tears up the “sad and lonely” single script and embraces a path that can be joyful and fulfilling.
Because there is more to life than “partnered and happy” or “single and searching.”
There is solo and thriving.
Hosted by best-selling author and award-winning journalist, Jill Stark, this podcast is for anyone who’s ever been told that being single makes you incomplete. Or that life only begins when you find “the one”.
To leave “well enough alone” means to stop trying to change something that’s already good enough.
What if the one you’ve been looking for is you? Could embracing your single status rather than fearing it be the key to a happy life?
Jill talks to inspiring guests, some who are single and some who aren’t, about what they’ve learned from time spent in their own company, and interviews experts in psychology, human behaviour, business, health and wellbeing, abou
Hosted by
Spare Room
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