Let’s kick off 2024 with special guest… me!

Hi, it's Caroline here. This episode will be a little bit different. There's no guest. It's just me having a bit of a reflection.

There are many reasons for doing a look back, both for the podcast and  for the year that's just passed. I thought this would be a good opportunity for you to get to know me a bit and learn a bit more about Kindspace and its origins. I also really wanted to have a quiet Christmas without any pressure to create or have to do any work.

Ah, but isn't it funny, you know, when you give yourself some downtime, just be bored and potter around and that's actually when you can be your most creative.  I don't know if anyone else finds that but certainly my brain. seems to come alive with ideas. And I'm like, no, do nothing. Watch Netflix. So I hope you were able to switch off over the festive period and are feeling recharged and ready for 2024.

Timestamps:

00:00:40             Introduction to this slightly different episode

00:01:45             Did you miss our Tech the Halls bonus episode?

00:03:04             How did Kindspace come to be?

00:08:27             Why did I decide to start the podcast?

00:12:21             Who have we had on the show so far?

00:22:06             My feelings about the podcast for the year ahead

00:25:06             Do you have a word of the year for 2024?           

Links:

Website: https://www.createyourkindspace.com/

Transcript:

So they say in the podcast world that many podcasts Don't get past episode six. As it happens, this is episode seven. Well if you count only full episodes because I actually snuck in a little bonus episode just before Christmas to share my rendition of Deck the Halls.

So like Deck the Halls but with different words. So like “Tech the halls with LED lights, fa la la la la, la la la la”. Honestly, so much fun creating that, please go back and check it out as I guarantee it will make you smile, even though Christmas is obviously now long gone.

I'm not entirely sure how long I'm going to chat for, but if you like, you are welcome to press pause, go make yourself a cuppa, a cup of tea maybe, settle down, or grab your shoes, coat, get outside and get some fresh air while you listen, or clean the house, or whatever you're needing to do, because I am definitely a multitasker when it comes to listening to my podcasts.

So if you're new to Kindspace, let me start by taking you back to where it all began and what Kindspace actually is because you might not even know that. So I run a smart home business with my amazing husband, Thomas. We help people with their tech in their houses, and quite often, the tech is used as a way of helping people to be more independent or allowing family to support remotely. The majority of our work is actually through a housing association, and we support them with the design, installation, and maintenance of all the smart home hardware. And we also get involved with a lot of their R& D activities, which is super exciting, and it's really allowing us to kind of, diversify and be quite innovative.

But then along came the pandemic and we could not go to people's houses.  It was a really challenging time. Looking back on it now, it's actually quite surreal. We were genuinely worried.  Thomas has not got great health. Well, to be fair, his health is okay just now, but he has a history of strokes in the past, and we didn't really know how the virus might affect him with the medication and things that he's on.

So, we were at home. And we still really wanted to help people. We were worried about our customers feeling lonely. So we decided to go live on Facebook every week, teaching people how to use the Amazon Alexa smart speakers to video call their loved ones.  And that actually became a whole series where we expanded into more of the Alexa functionality. And then we realised that you can actually build your own apps for Alexa. So similar to how you get apps for smartphones, you get apps known as skills for the Alexa devices.  And so that's what we did. We decided to build our own. Alexa app, which is completely crazy. All at the same time as homeschooling our two children who were in, I think it was Primary Two and Primary Seven, just about to go up to the academy, to secondary school.

Yeah, it was, uh, That very surreal time. By the end of that year, 2020, we had built and launched Kindspace, our wellbeing voice application, that checks in with you and helps you to become more aware of your key wellbeing indicators. So asking that question of “how am I really doing?”, which a lot of people don't take the time to really reflect on and, and think about putting themselves first. So yeah, crazy, crazy journey. Since then, we've extended the library of tips and advice and we've also launched a small collection of audio activities, including things like journaling, breathing exercises and bedtime stories. And based on our experience and what we've learned building for Amazon Alexa we've now started building apps for other people as well. So we have a few other apps available. So yeah, it's just crazy to look back and reflect on how far we've come since then.

People often ask me what my background is and how did I end up working in such an unusual tech company? Would you believe that I'm actually a qualified chemical engineer.  Thomas is an electrical engineer and he does, he loves, gadgets and coding. And the business really came from his hobby and his passion for all things tech and gadgets.  I love all things STEM. I am a STEM ambassador. I love inspiring young people to consider going into a STEM career because I think for me, becoming an engineer was a dream come true. It gave me opportunities in life to provide for my family and honestly was one of the, one of the best things I ever decided to do. When I went to university, that's actually where I met Thomas, which is so lovely. That story is maybe a story for another day.

But yeah, I think having that unusual background is not necessarily a bad thing as I have lots of transferable skills and I think I've been able to bring a lot of that sort of engineering discipline into entrepreneurship. I'm also a qualified project manager and so that's another thing that I've found to be very transferable when it comes to like how you manage a business and all those kind of aspects of communications, stakeholder management, and just being organised in general. So, so yes, it's, it may seem unusual, but I have found the skills I learned in university and in my career actually very useful for where I am today.  That said, it is not an easy job. There's always more to learn. And you have to develop a very thick skin for all the rejections and hurdles.  I am naturally very quiet and introverted.

If you're listening to me, then you'll know what I mean. When, when I edit these podcasts and when I have guests on, I'm always like trying to balance the sound levels, because I'm always super quiet compared to everyone else, which may make you ask Why on earth would I decide to start a podcast?

Well, the truth is I've always felt slightly invisible.  But I realised that this is actually my way of protecting myself.  I had to grow up so fast and I missed out on a huge part of my childhood due to all the family drama and trauma around me.  I would say I definitely stifled my creativity and fun side.I find it really difficult to relax and have fun  and throughout my life I've instead focused on what would give me stability and what kind of brings me peace and, and being organised is one thing I think that has really helped me. I love when I'm not feeling myself, I love to go tidy a drawer or get the hoover out, which is not what most people do for fun. Is it? Anyway, there, there are many things from my past that still weigh on my mind and experiences that I've had that give me a deeper empathy for others. So creating this positive path and trying to have a more positive mindset for myself, that's something that I really wanted in Kindspace to be able to help others and help as many people as possible to be able to see the good in life and be able to be grateful and try and, you know, if there is things that they're working through, help them to work through those situations,  and I'm really enjoying being more creative and learning new skills

On a practical side Kindspace is an audio experience so you listen to it on your smart speaker and so for me it made sense to focus on something like the podcast as that's also audio content instead of maybe looking at blogging or videos or other kind of social media outlets.

And another thing with the podcast I think is, you know, me showing up and sharing our journey. So since I started the business, I have been trying to do that on social media. I have had some really lovely experiences where people that I don't know, have come up to me and said that they've seen my videos on LinkedIn and that's so lovely. I think as a business owner, it is really important to  give people that kind of behind the scenes and build connection. The other reason I've tried to show up is that I am not your typical entrepreneur and I think people, especially young people, they need to see different role models.  And I do strongly believe that vulnerability and kindness is a huge strength and that the world could be a better place if we could be more open and honest, so yes, kindness is kind of like my superpower. And overall, I would say the podcast is helping me to feel like I have a voice. I'm not invisible, and I'm shining a light on topics that support wellbeing and that matter to me.

So I know we're only six episodes in to the podcast, but I have to say, honestly, it has been amazing how generous my guests have been with their time and wisdom. So I'm going to do a little bit of an overview for people. Perhaps you haven't been able to listen to the episodes. Maybe it will inspire you to go back and check out some of my guests so far.

We kicked off in June with the trailer and that was closely followed by Neil Bebber who is an award-winning writer. With Neil we discussed the creative crossover between tech and the arts and how they can promote wellbeing. Neil's been working on some really innovative, amazing projects, things that I didn't even know that he was working on. He's someone we've known for quite some time and has actually become very special to us at Kindspace because he's also the writer behind our collection of bedtime stories for stressed grown-ups. So yeah, definitely check that one out.

And at the end of July, I invited Pasna Sallis, who's an Occupational Therapist turned Community Builder, and she came to share her journey about creating the Weekday Wow Factor. Now Pasna, she is literally a ball of energy, and it's been such a pleasure to get to know her more. I'm also delighted to share that we will be working together, or we are working together, on a project funded by UKRI. called Generating Older Active Lives Digitally, which is, everyone loves an acronym in this, uh, research and development world, so it's actually called GOALD for short, G O A L D.  The project that we're working on, we're hoping to be able to create an Alexa version of the weekday wow factor. So that would be something for the community to be able to find out more about the events that are going on. And then hopefully we can build that over time and add more functionality to it. The community that Pasna has created is just so lovely. They have already, you know, within the design sessions and things that we've had, shared so many amazing ideas and the personality and the feel that they want, so we can't wait to get prototyping and see, see what we can build.

So yes, Pasna's work, if you're based near Glasgow, you can get involved as well. Her group, Weekday Wow Factor, they do amazing things like discos in the daytime, and different activities that help to promote, positive relationships, and help to address loneliness, it also helps with people's you know, kind of physical and mental health aspects. So just amazing. Definitely check out the Weekday Wow Factor episode.

And then over the summer, I took a bit of a break because we were in Shetland with family. So we got back into podcasting in the September. That episode is a really lovely one as well. So I had, a wonderful person called Siobhan Jaffray come over and we actually recorded the podcast in person, which was so nice. Siobhan's a nutritionist and I've known her for a while through LinkedIn, but I actually, I love to follow her Instagram because she does some really good videos with a really nice down to earth approach when it comes to food. It's just, she just busts myths and it's so approachable and it's so easy to be like, yeah, that totally makes sense. And why are we overcomplicating all of these things about what we eat? She introduced me to a whole new concept actually called food neutrality. And that's where you, you don't label foods as good or bad. You don't call yourself naughty for having what you perceive as a bad food. So a lot of the work that she does with her clients is around mindset. So it's a really powerful discussion that we have around that. And she shares lots of tips. We also got into talking about cooking on a budget and the rise of food banks and, you know, all the issues around the cost of living crisis and how difficult and challenging it is for people to make nutritious meals. So definitely check that out if you're looking for some tips, with your weekly meal planning. And thank you to Siobhan for being on the show because it was really, really, really lovely discussion.

Then in October we met Birgit Itse who has become a very dear friend to me. Her story of relocating to Scotland is phenomenal. This episode is like a mini writing course where we learn about how to tap into our inner writing genius and how we can use that to capture our life stories or maybe the life stories of a loved one. Birgit's writing is so powerful and in our discussion, she shared so many powerful, quotes, but towards the end of the discussion, she summed it up so beautifully. She said, “if we want to have perfect, let's be more like nature. Let's have our opposites. Let's have time to rest. Let's have time to sprout, blossom, fall and winter”.  It gave me goosebumps, honestly, so beautiful. And I'm excited because Birgit and I are off to Edinburgh in March for the European chatbots and conversational AI summit. And I can't wait to get to spend some more time together.

My next guest was in November and is one of the most inspirational people I've ever met. And I think she's the only person that I could have asked to help me discuss this very sensitive and personal topic of suicide. We lost Thomas's brother to suicide almost 13 years ago now. And anyone who's been through a similar situation will know how devastating that is and how much it impacts you as, you know, as time goes on that loss is still there. So Holly's work, raising awareness and sharing simple steps that we can take to look out for those around us is just amazing. It's so beautiful. If you go back and listen to it or if you don't have time to listen to it, my one takeaway from this conversation was that you can never ask the wrong person if they're thinking about suicide. And while it's hard to have these conversations, they are so vitally needed. So please reach out to those around you. Look for changes. Don't be afraid to ask because it could make all the difference.

And then before I knew it, it was December. I wanted to do a special episode in the lead up to Christmas, and so I shared something that is very dear to me, and that is the power of singing. My whole life has been supported by music. It is something that literally is part of me, and I honestly don't know what I would do. Like, if I was ever to lose my voice, I don't know what I would do because it, it does feed my soul. It is what I do when I need a wellbeing boost and I feel really blessed through my entrepreneurial activities and all the people that, you know, I meet that I've met this amazing. Tech startup founder called Xann Schwinn and she has created this really innovative app called Biiah, which is designed to be used in the workplace and it helps to improve wellbeing and productivity and the kind of teamwork aspects and that cohesiveness in the workplace and reduce stress. It's just such a wonderful tool. I think what I really love about is that it opens up singing to everyone. So in our conversation, we talk about, you know, various different myths and kind of barriers when it comes to using our voices and Xann did a great job of sharing her tips and like, if you're someone who's nervous about using your voice or feel quite vulnerable about using your voice, then there's some really great tips in there about how to get started.

So yeah, definitely check that one out. Yeah. And that was. 2023. It was truly an extraordinary year and I am so grateful to have started this podcast and hoping that 2024 is just as amazing.

But one thing I have been reflecting on recently was whether there is enough of me sharing my unique perspective. And I guess it's because, like, most people, I am uncomfortable being in the spotlight and saying things. And I say things to myself, like, “why would anyone want to listen to you?” And “you are so boring”. And “your voice is too whiny”. And all of those negative things that I would never say to someone else. So, I realise that I have more work to do when it comes to getting comfortable in this space. Starting the podcast, that in itself pushed me way out of my comfort zone.  It is so hard taking these big leaps and I'm not gonna beat myself up because I know I am on the right path and now I see this year's focus being on making incremental improvements and maybe just,  I guess my analogy would be a bit like a jigsaw, I start sharing a bit more with  you in each episode. So sharing a bit more about me and my views and using the conversations to open up and be a bit more vulnerable. It would also really help me immensely if you let me know what you think about this episode, so this style of episode, would you like me to do another one like this where it's just me chatting to you? Maybe that's another thing that I could do in between interviews. I already actually have some really amazing guests lined up for you to meet this year, which I'm so excited about. And I think this opportunity of being able to share the things that I love and meet these amazing people that I can introduce you to. You know, people who are genuinely changing lives and helping us to live better, age better, find some joy and some peace in our lives. I really want that for you, so that's kind of why I do this.

I think one of the other things that had been weighing on my mind as well was, I'd been feeling a bit of pressure to increase the frequency of the episodes, because I guess that's what I've seen other people doing, so like every two weeks instead of every month. But I know this wouldn't be sustainable for me, and it would turn something that I'm enjoying into something that felt stressful. So I think my decision is that I will be sticking to once a month and continuing to be creative and have fun with it rather than like put pressure on myself.

And then one of the last things that I've been thinking about, and this is something I've done for the last few years, is I've had a word of the year. So I'm still reflecting on this for 2024. I think I found my word.  I will mull it over. As I work on the editing for the podcast and getting this ready to go out. Christmas, whilst it's been nice to be off, it has thrown up some things I wasn't expecting. Some old trauma has resurfaced and it has made me kind of reevaluate things and kind of look at things in a slightly different light. I got so distracted on, on Christmas day with a phone call. I ended up slightly overcooking the accompaniments to the Christmas dinner. Not to the point where it was inedible, but it, yeah, my, my head has been a little bit not, not in a good place. And it's, it's so hard.

I have made peace with a lot of things. And actually, one of the things that helps me the most, and this is something that Brené Brown says, which has really helped me, so she says, So this is when you're thinking about someone else's actions “what if they're just doing the best they can?”  And reframing in that way, I feel, is so helpful. And it also has made me really reflect on accepting that I, I can't fix other people. I can't fix other people's messes. I might sometimes just have to let things be and that's really hard. Yeah, so what if they're just doing the best they can? So with that in mind, I'm feeling drawn towards the word Grace. I feel like that is a word that's applicable to myself as well, showing myself grace.

I'd love to know if you have a word of the year or if this is a new concept for you. Would it be useful for me to share a bit more about how I pick my word of the year? Or maybe some inspiration for words that you could try on and see how they feel. I find it really useful, I think it gives me a focus and an opportunity to reflect as well, like I say, like reflecting back on, on the previous year and the previous year's word, uh, which ironically was Connection. Anyway, that's another, that's a story for another time as well perhaps. Or not. Yeah, so let me know, do you have a word of the year, I would love to know what that word is and what it means to you.

Thank you to those of you who have stayed to the end.  I hope you enjoyed your cuppa, or your walk, or whatever you decided to do as you were listening. As I said, I'm so grateful for Kindspace and the little community we're building.  It's such a delight to create this content and our Alexa app as well. And I really hope that it helps.

We have some new things planned for 2024 as well, which I'm excited to share, including our new journaling feature. So just watch this space and we shall reveal soon. And then some of the other projects that we've been working on as well. So the work with the Weekday Wow Factor, cannot wait to share the updates on that.

So, thank you so much, and yes, all the best for 2024.

If you’d like to be a guest on the show or collaborate on content, I would love to hear from you! Pop me an email at caroline@tltechsmart.com or message me on social media @createyourkindspace

It would also mean a lot to me if you could rate and review this podcast as it helps other people to discover our content.