Life Matters - Separate stories podcast ABC listen

Watching your parents grow old can be challenging at times, but there can be some comfort in being the arm they use to steady themselves on as they age.

But what happens when you don't live in the same city, or even the same country? How are first-generation immigrants tackling long-distance caregiving? 

We might be spending less on luxuries now, but perfume is the exception. Sales are surging in 2024 for big brands and independent makers alike.

So, when times are tough, why are we still forking out for something sweet-smelling? And what do perfumes really do for our well-being and confidence?

The Germans have a word for anticipatory happiness: vorfreude.

It's the recognition that anticipating something good can be great for us. We know it has several benefits for our mental and physical health, so how can we build it into our lives, in both a big and small way daily?

You pick up a friend to go out for lunch, and are joined by their digital nomad millennial  house guest. Things are going well until the bill comes and the guest wants to calculate it down to the cent. 

As you're driving them back, the guest opens a big bottle of kombucha and spills it all over the back seat of your new car. 

You didn't ask for money but are now annoyed about it! What could you have done differently?

Guests:

Jenny Tian, comedian 

Suren Jayemanne, comedian, writer and actor

If you have a tricky life dilemma you need help with, write it up and email it to Ask Aunty, lifematters@abc.net.au 

When someone helps you out, it can really mean a lot. A load has been taken off you, both physically and mentally.

We like to help each other out,  and yet when it's our turn to ask for help it's not necessarily a comfortable experience. 

Here's some tips on how to do it well.

From the outside, the intense, hyper-commercial culture inside financial firms seems both fascinating and appalling, leading to works like The Wolf of Wall Street.

What's it like from the inside, especially if you'd already tried to step away from it, to try to find a new kind of balance?

In her new memoir, Private Equity, Carrie Sun details how she dived back into the belly of the beast, as personal assistant to the billionaire founder of one of the hottest investment firms in New York and found herself slowly starting to disappear.