Episode 38: Steph Douglas on marriage, body image and pulling up the drawbridge

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In this week’s episode, I am joined by the amazing Steph Douglas. Steph owns the highly successful thoughtful gift company dontbuyherflowers.com, and has recently returned to work after having her third child.

We cover:

• How and why she started her business. Learn how Steph started with a blog, and how the main inspiration for this was the anger she felt after giving birth.

• How she keeps her marriage healthy and communication levels strong. Hear how she benefitted from pre-baby couple’s therapy and the importance of sharing small events in your daily life with your partner.

• Steph’s well-being and self-care routine. Steph shares the transformative effect writing has had on her well-being. We also gain an insight into how Steph went from an unhealthy relationship with food to a healthy and happy one.

• Living with a partner who has Cancer. Discover the impact Steph’s husband’s Cancer diagnosis had on her, her husband and their relationship.

Steph can be found at:

@steph_dontbuyherflowers (Instagram)

dontbuyherflowers.com

An article relating to ‘Emotional Labour’ (as mentioned by Steph) written by Gemma Hartley can be found here: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a12063822/emotional-labor-gender-equality/

Timestamps

04:08 Steph’s journey to starting her business

09:07 Equality and how we still copy our parents in some ways

15:05 Arguments in couples and why bickering isn’t always a bad thing

17:20 Steph’s experience of pre-baby couples’ therapy

19:06 The benefits of sharing everyday events with your partner

21:30 What Steph would say to someone who’s newly married?

26:44 How Steph looks after her well-being

27:45 Steph’s relationship with food

28:40 Body image and accepting your body

37:10 What Steph is working on personally

40:45 The challenges that Steph’s husbands’ Cancer diagnosis brought

50:30 What’s next for Steph’s business?

55:13 If you could give one gift to all the mums in the world, what would it be and why?