Feel Better

Some days you just hit the wall. The noise, the need, the relentlessness of it. You love your kids and you are completely done.

This episode is for you.

I'm joined by Zazi, a speech and language therapist, child development expert, MMA fighter, and mum who gets it. Zazi has built a community of parents who are done pretending they've got it all together, and she brings the kind of practical, no-guilt wisdom that actually helps.

We go deep on why overwhelm isn't a character flaw. It's a nervous system response. Why your child melting down after school isn't bad behaviour. Why so many women are reaching their 30s and 40s and finally understanding their own brains for the first time. And what you can actually do when you're at the end of yourself and your child still needs you.

We cover:

The 8 senses and why the three you've never heard of are driving your overwhelm and your child's meltdowns

Interoception, proprioception, and the vestibular system explained simply and why they matter more than emotions for nervous system regulation

Postpartum rage, sensory overload, and the mental health struggles that don't look like depression or anxiety

ADHD in women, why it gets missed, what diagnosis can offer, and what you don't need a diagnosis to give yourself

Neurodivergent parenting strategies that work whether or not anyone has a formal label

Why your child isn't being naughty.

Every behaviour is communication, including the meltdown at the checkout

Screen time, sensory regulation, and what to actually replace screens with

The "blame your systems, not yourself" reframe that will stay with you

What to do in the moments when you're completely over it and your child still needs you

This one is for you if:

You find yourself ragey more than sad
You're touched out, noise-sensitive, and visually overwhelmed by the state of your house
You've wondered whether you might be neurodivergent and you're not sure what to do with thatYou're holding it together on the outside and quietly burning on the inside
You just need someone to say: this is hard, you're not failing, and here's something that might actually help

"Every behaviour is communication.""Blame your systems, not yourself.""You've got this, even when you quite clearly haven't."

Find Zazi:🌐 zazi.co.nz📱 @zaziplays on Instagram🎙️ You've Got This podcast

Find me:🌐 charlottecummings.nzIf this felt like it was for you, share it with the Mum who needs it today. And subscribe so you don't miss what's next

Do you feel off but can't explain why? Flat, disengaged, not quite yourself but you don't know where to start?
In this episode of Ask Charlotte, I'm responding to a listener who's feeling flat and disconnected, and walking you through exactly where to begin when something just doesn't feel right.
I break down a practical, no-fluff framework for understanding why you feel off and what to actually do about it.

In this episode I cover:
Why feeling flat and disengaged is information, not a flaw
How to check your physical wellbeing first (sleep, nutrition, movement, blood work)
The role of unresolved decisions and avoided conversations
How misalignment with your values quietly drains your energy
Saying yes when you mean no, and the toll it takes
What "too much on your plate" really looks like
How to read and reset your nervous system
Making a practical plan to find your spark again

Whether you're burnt out, emotionally exhausted, going through a life transition, or just can't put your finger on what's wrong, this episode is for you.

Send me your question: charlottecummings.nz
If this episode helped you, I'd love you to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who needs it.

Do you look capable on the outside but feel held back by self-doubt on the inside? You're not alone, and you're not failing. You might just be living with a confidence gap.
In this episode, I'm digging into one of the most common and costly patterns I see in high-functioning women: being far more capable than you believe yourself to be. Research shows women tend to underrate their competence, wait until they feel 120% ready before going for opportunities, and carry a five-year lag in their professional self-concept. The result? Missed promotions, missed pay, and a life lived smaller than it needs to be.
But confidence isn't a personality trait you either have or you don't. It's a behaviour, and it can be built.
I'm sharing my most practical, honest advice for closing the confidence gap, including:
Why your self-concept is behind your actual capabilities and how to update it
The power of acting ahead of your identity (and the Mel Robbins technique that makes it easier)
How what you wear can genuinely shift how you show up
The language patterns that quietly undermine your authority and what to say instead
How to use evidence, not feelings, to build a more accurate picture of who you are
Practical tools for interrupting overthinking and moving towards action
How to channel a confident role model and up-regulate your mood before high-stakes moments
Whether you're navigating career decisions, relationship pressures, or simply tired of holding yourself back, this episode will help you carry things differently.

In this bonus episode, clinical hypnotherapist Bec Marshall guides a short self-hypnosis exercise to help you reduce stress, ease anxiety, and settle into a calm, resourceful state.
This exercise is a portable practice you can return to anytime you need to come back to yourself.
For the full conversation on hypnotherapy, the subconscious mind, and how we can rewire stress patterns, listen to the full conversation with Bec. Bec would also like to acknowledge her mentor, Tracey, whose work shaped this exercise.
Please listen somewhere safe and still.

What if the heaviness you're carrying isn't a personality trait — it's your nervous system asking for something different?
Clinical hypnotherapist Bec Marshall joins Charlotte to unpack hypnotherapy, the fawn response, functional freeze, and how high-functioning women can start feeling safe in their own bodies again.
If you've been pushing through, performing capable, and quietly wondering why everything feels heavier than it should, this episode of The Feel Better Podcast is for you.
Bec is a clinical hypnotherapist, trainer and nervous system educator with a rare gift for making the science of the subconscious mind feel both fascinating and genuinely useful. Together we explore hypnotherapy, nervous system regulation, and why understanding your stress response is the foundation for feeling better in your body, your motherhood, and your everyday life.
Inside this episode:
What hypnotherapy actually is (and what it isn't)
The conscious vs subconscious mind, and why willpower keeps failing you
Fight, flight, freeze and fawn — and why so many women are stuck in fawn
Functional freeze: how high-functioning women run on empty
Why feeling safe in your body is the foundation for nervous system regulation
How birth, motherhood and grief reshaped Bec's own nervous system
A simple three-step framework for moving out of stress: interrupt → anchor → practice
Why food is a signal of safety to your nervous system, not a moral test
The link between long-held emotion, trauma and chronic pain
Plus a bonus self-hypnosis practice you can come back to
If you've been searching for a gentler, more grounded approach to anxiety, burnout, perfectionism, and the quiet weight of high-functioning life — this is the conversation you didn't know you needed.
Find Bec Marshall at behypnotherapy.co.nz, and more support, tools and ways to work with me at charlottecummings.nz.
The Feel Better Podcast helps high-functioning women carry things differently. New episodes weekly.