Advice to get you through Christmas

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, but it can also be the most exhausting and stressful. Thank goodness I have my trusty podcasts to keep me sharp and power me through to the holidays.

As work winds down for the year, I’m finding it hard to stay committed, so I’m loving How’s Work? by relationship counsellor and psychotherapist Esther Perel.

Her first podcast Where Should We Begin is an intimate insight into couples’ therapy with live sessions recorded then edited into 45-minute episodes.

How’s Work? dissects the complex relationships between colleagues, business owners and co-founders across a variety of industries.

Perel’s foray into counselling professional relationships stems from the change that work has become a source of self-worth and a way to build our identity. In the podcast, Perel talks about relational habits as being part of the ‘‘unconscious and conscious forces’’ that influence how we work. It’s a fascinating listen and makes me appreciate the colleagues I’ve had whom I like!

This year, I’m co-hosting Christmas so I have been swotting up on all things etiquette with Were You Raised by Wolves?

It’s presented by journalist

Nick Leighton, who takes the lead on what constitutes polite behaviour, and stand-up comic Leah Bonnema, who positions herself as someone who needs to learn how to be more polite.

Each episode covers different forms of etiquette and manners, including the correct way to pop Champagne, which direction you should pass food at a dinner party, how to politely cancel plans, and even a trick to remembering names at a party.

There has already been a Thanksgiving etiquette special, and a Christmas special is planned for this week, so have a listen.

It would be rude not to.