How To Be Sad with Helen Russell Helen Russell

To celebrate the publication of How to Raise a Viking and as a special thank you to listeners of the podcast we are delighted to share this exclusive extract from the audiobook. 
What do Vikings know about raising children? Turns out, quite a lot…After a decade of living in Denmark and raising a family there, Helen Russell noticed that Nordic children are different. They eat differently. They learn differently. They run, jump and climb out in nature for hours a day, even though the weather is terrible and it's dark October to March. And then they grow up to be some of the happiest adults on the planet. Her question was: how?In How to Raise a Viking, Russell takes a deep dive into the parenting culture of Denmark and the other Nordic nations, from parental leave policies to school structure, screen time, and the surprising customs that lead to happy, well-adjusted humans. This fascinating peek behind the cultural curtain allows readers a glimpse of another world, where babies sleep outside in their prams up to -20°C and pre-schoolers wield axes.Refreshingly funny and unfailingly optimistic about the new generation of humans growing up in the world right now, this is a heart-warming love letter to Russell’s adopted homeland and proof that we could all use a bit more Viking in our lives.
Follow Helen on X, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook @MsHelenRussell
Read more about Helen’s new book, How to Raise a Viking, and get your copy here.
Get in touch with the show at howtobesadpodcast@gmail.com

Julia Samuel MBE is a psychotherapist, grief counsellor, and author of the bestsellers Griefworks, This Too Shall Pass. She was also one of my favourite interviewees for my book, How To Be Sad when we talked about family and relationships. With four children of her own and nine grandchildren, Julia began exploring her own family stories in adulthood and looking at how Every Family Has A Story – the title of her new book. Here, we talk about:
 
Inherited trauma and why family stories matter
Bias and how to overcome it
why pain is an agent of change
how family teaches us about love
attachment theory
rupture and repair
The pros and cons of Zoom therapy
Every Family Has A Story is out now, and you can follow Julia @juliasamuelmbe
How To Be Sad, the key to a happier life is out in paperback and as an audiobook, read by me – and if you enjoyed this episode, give it 5 stars and I’ll love you forever.
Thanks as ever to Matt Clacher at HarperCollins and Joel Grove for production.

Rosie Wilby is a comedian, podcaster and author of The Breakup Monologues – about the unexpected joy of heartbreak and all we can learn from it. BBC Radio 4 described her as the ‘queen of breakups’ (what an accolade!) so she was the perfect guest for a chat about how to be sad, well. Here, we talk about:
 
- Break up grief
- …but how we get over it twice as quickly as we predict
- Friendship breakups
- Why divorce rates for gay women are so high
- Boredom in long-term relationships
- Cheating blackbirds…
- SSRIs and ‘anti-love drugs’
- Hormones and attraction
- Separate bed stigma
- Monogamy: pros and cons
- Finding love – and getting married!
 
Follow Rosie on Twitter @and Instagram @breakupmonologues and check out The Breakup Monologues here. And for more on my own long (long) and illustrious history of disastrous breakups, may I nudge you towards chapters 4 and 6 of How To Be Sad…! As ever, I so appreciate your feedback and reviews so keep them coming. Until next time x
 

At a time when many of us are rethinking our work, searching for meaning and connection post pandemic, I wanted to speak to someone about the part work plays in our emotional life. So today we explore the connection between love and work with Marcus Buckingham, a leading expert in the world of work. British born, US bases, Marcus shares his research into how school can stifle our emotions and idioyncracies as well as his personal journey (plus his experience of the US college admissions scandal).  We talk about:
 
Why work is making us ‘bad’ sad
What to do about it
Finding our ‘red threads’
Why feedback is overrated
Public speaking as an introvert
The dangers of pathologising
How we are all a category of one.
Marcus’s new book, Love + Work is out now, and you can follow Marcus @marcusbuckingham
How To Be Sad, the key to a happier life is out in paperback and as an audiobook, read by me – and if you enjoyed this episode, give it 5 stars and I’ll love you forever.
Thanks as ever to Matt Clacher at HarperCollins and Joel Grove for production.

 
Cally Beaton was working as a senior TV exec until she was 45, when the late great Joan Rivers told her she should try stand-up. So she did. Now a successful comedian – you’ll have seen her on shows like QI and on The Apprentice You’re Fired – Cally’s nonetheless out to challenge the ageism she sees around her in the industry…an industry Cally admits she was a part of creating. She worked on MTV’s The Real World, one of the first reality shows, back in the early 90s and then later on Geordie Shore and Ex on the Beach in previous life as a television executive. She says now: ‘It’s fair to say I was a big part of the problem now biting me in the arse.’ Here, we talk about:
 
- Ageism
- Profound change
- Breaking down and building back up
- The u-shaped happiness curve
- Invisibility
- Imposter-offs
- Asking for help
- …and how there’s no prizes for styling it out
 
For more of the brilliant Cally, check out her live dates http://callybeaton.com/ and follow her @callybeaton
 
In this episode, I bang on about Robin Ince’s books again. They’re all brilliant (and he’s interviewed in my latest book, How To Be Sad but the one I’m talking about here is I’m A Joke And So Are You – highly recommend!

My guest today began performing at Oxford with Stewart Lee and Richard Herring. She trained as a solicitor before moving into writing, presenting, acting, stand up and…pretty much everything. She’s won a Chortle Award, she was ‘Fun’ Editor at Tatler, Celebrity Masterchef Champion and – most importantly –runner up at the World Conker championship. Described in the Independent as TV’s Swiss army knife - Emma Kennedy is also the author of a remarkable new book, Letters from Brenda - a painful, funny record of Emma’s relationship with her complex, charismatic mum, Brenda, who died of breast cancer. Revisiting her mother’s letters has also allowed Emma to process a difficult childhood and the letters chart her mother’s struggles with mental health.
 
TW: suicide, cancer
In this episode we talk about:
mental health
generational trauma
acts of service
the power of dogs
…and Lego
…and comedy
Letters From Brenda is out now, and you can follow Emma @EmmaKennedy
My book, How To Be Sad, the key to a happier life is out in paperback and as an audiobook – and if you enjoyed this episode, give it 5 stars and leave a review and I’ll love you forever.