Today's guest is Allie Bailey, a phenomenal athlete, adventurer and mindset coach, who has survived alcoholism, depression and suicide attempts. It's such a powerful, inspirational and raw chat.

Allie has run over 200 marathons and 80 ultra marathons. She's crossed deserts and run the length of the Panama Canal amongst her many challenges. She says, from experience, running won't save you, but might give you the time to survive yourself and will change your life.

It's an honest and compelling interview from Allie who now reaches out to others to help teach them how brilliant they can be. The interview with Allie is emotional, recorded just days after completing Dragon's Back, a 6 day ultra journey through Wales considered one of the toughest mountain races in the world. She feels completely broken and terrible as she does this podcast but she believes in a few weeks she'll look back on it as one of the greatest achievements of her life.

She says alcohol and alcoholism is everywhere. From the most extreme sports to musicians on stage. Allie had a dream job working in the music industry and recognised she had 20 years as an alcoholic. She hit rock bottom in 2021 before she sought help and has been sober since then.

Allie is a great Be Braver guest and passes on advice about living to your values and being yourself.

If you want to find out more about Allie, she has a book titled There is no Wall.

We'd love to hear from you - find us at @bebraverpod

Be Braver is back! Annie Emmerson and Dr Josie Perry return to help you discover how to find courage, stretch your comfort zone, and live with more confidence.

We hope you've had a good summer! And in this episode we catch up on the last few weeks. Annie has been globe-trotting commentating on triathlon and the World Games in China. She talks about how she was introduced to lots of new sports from Dragon Boat Racing to Marathon Canoe. She's candid about her self-doubts and fears and how she coped. She also talks about grappling with motherhood and the desire to be ambitious with her career.

Josie shares her holiday experiences and what she learnt from watch her daughter's blossoming confidence and how nurturing environments. help bravery in the young.

Together, they emphasise that bravery is not merely the absence of fear but the courage to act despite it.

As the episode draws to a close, Josie reveals how a hairdressing appointment proved more drastic than she thought and the consequences it had when picking up her daughter from summer school.

We'd love it if you could spare a few moments to like, follow and review and also follow us on instagram at @bebraverpod

Season One Done!

Well, we actually did it — Season One of The Be Braver Podcast is wrapped! We started this little adventure three months ago and 13 amazing guests later we have learnt such a lot about being braver.

We've heard from people who’ve climbed mountains (literally), beaten the odds, changed careers, reinvented themselves, and found bravery in the everyday. And somewhere in all that, we (Josie and Annie) have learned a thing or two ourselves — like bravery isn’t about being fearless, it’s about doing the scary stuff anyway (Josie's gearing up for gymnastics shows and piano exams and singing in public).

We've learned how important it is to have the right people around you, how powerful it can be to start from the top and work backwards (cheers, John the magician), and how some of the most life-changing lessons come from the quietest acts of courage.

We’ve also faced our own fears — Josie’s got five bold goals before turning 50 and Annie’s on a mission to ditch the “I’m too old” voice in her head and keep showing up bravely in work, life, and on the world’s biggest water slides.

So thank you — for listening, for messaging, for being part of this brave little community. We’ll be back next month with Season Two.

Insta: @bebraverpod

The Be Braver Podcast is presented by Dr Josie Perry and Annie Emmerson and produced by Mark Shardlow.