Roll With The Punches

This conversation hit a little differently.
Vicki Scott joined me to talk about slowing down, perspective, and what really changes when life punches you square in the face. After being diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer, Vicki found herself navigating not just treatment, surgery, and survival, but the unexpected emotional aftermath that nobody really prepares you for.
We talked about the pressure we put on ourselves to achieve, prove, and keep pushing, even after something life altering. About identity, perfectionism, and the uncomfortable realisation that sometimes the hardest thing isn’t fighting, it’s learning how to stop striving and actually live.
Vicki shared what cancer taught her about toughness, legacy, community, and why being kind and genuinely supporting others matters more than titles, achievements, or ticking boxes. This is a conversation about resilience without the shiny Instagram version. The messy middle. The quiet aftermath. And the courage it takes to choose presence over proving.

SPONSORED BY TESTART FAMILY LAWYERS
Website: www.testartfamilylawyers.com.au
TIFFANEE COOK
Linktree: linktr.ee/rollwiththepunches
Website: tiffcook.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tania Khazaal works in the family estrangement space, and she came in hot with a message a lot of people will hate at first… but probably need to hear.
Is today’s therapy language and our feeds flooded with social media buzzwords creating the perfect permission slip to cut people off before we’ve actually learned how our nervous system works, how to communicate properly, or how to stop making everyone else the villain in our story?
Tania shared her own story of cutting off her mum 'in the name of healing', then realising resentment without a path forward is a dead end. We went deep into one of my favourite conversations, the nuance between fault and responsibility, rupture and repair, why 'boundaries' are being used like brick walls instead of self-respect, and how being triggered is often a sign there’s more healing to do.
We also unpacked the long game of rewiring patterns, how repair happens when you stop defending yourself and start listening, and when estrangement is actually necessary.
Basically, this episode is for anyone who wants better relationships, less emotional fragility, and more personal power, without pretending any of it is easy. For some, it’ll be a game-changer. For others, it might feel confronting. Either way, it’s an epic, honest conversation about tough dynamics most people avoid.

SPONSORED BY TESTART FAMILY LAWYERS
Website: www.testartfamilylawyers.com.au
TANIA KHAZAAL
Website: taniakhazaal.com
TIFFANEE COOK
Linktree: linktr.ee/rollwiththepunches
Website: tiffcook.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I booked this chat thinking I'd be talking to an animal behaviour expert. Turns out, I was basically signing up for a gentle but very accurate psychological assessment via my pets.
Mark Vette and I talked dogs, cats, bonding, anxiety, routine, over-attachment, and why our animals know us better than most humans ever will. We went deep into why dogs feel like family, how cats absolutely train us without apology, and how so many behaviour “problems” are really mirrors we don’t always want to look at.
All things puppies, rescues, trauma, separation stress, why some dogs melt down when you leave, why some cats feel like emotionally intelligent sociopaths, and how animals live way more in the present than we do. There was science, evolution, Buddhism, oxytocin, teenage dogs, Whippet anxiety, boot eating Staffies, and the humbling realisation that none of us are top of the hierarchy in our own homes. (well, I'm sure bloody well not...)
This was funny, grounding, and wildly reassuring if you’ve ever wondered whether your animal chose you, shaped you, or both. Spoiler... yes.

SPONSORED BY TESTART FAMILY LAWYERS
Website: www.testartfamilylawyers.com.au
MARK VETTE
Website: dogzen.com/
TIFFANEE COOK
Linktree: linktr.ee/rollwiththepunches
Website: tiffcook.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A hearty chat with Alison Bowen escalates quickly... I mean you can't escalate a whole lot more than the Mount Everest Summit, hey!?
Quite an understated lass, Alison has been in the midst of her Seven Summits journey, which started not with Everest glory, but with joining a Rover group, doing weekend hikes, getting curious, and slowly chipping away at bigger and higher mountains over nearly two decades.
What I loved most about this chat was how unromanticised it was. This wasn’t about chasing adrenaline, making noise or proving anything. It was about curiosity, patience, commitment, and sticking with something long enough to see where it might take you. Even when that something eventually takes you to the highest bloody mountain on the planet. She's got two more to tick off the list this year and next... now she's opening the door for you to follow along, so go on get inspired!
Oh yeah… we also had a full tech meltdown mid-chat, which honestly felt on brand. Mountains are hard. Zoom is harder.

SPONSORED BY TESTART FAMILY LAWYERS
Website: www.testartfamilylawyers.com.au
ALISON BOWEN
Instagram: @sevensummits_hyker
TIFFANEE COOK
Linktree: linktr.ee/rollwiththepunches
Website: tiffcook.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Righto, Tony Pearce is back. And yep, he’s still head down, tail up, doing wildly wholesome and mildly unhinged things in the name of mental health.
We rewound to Tony’s Trek in 2023, when he looked at the brutal reality of mental injury and suicide risk in emergency services and basically went, nah, we can’t just keep talking about this and doing nothing. So he walked 1500km through fire-affected parts of northeast and east Victoria and raised serious money for early intervention wellbeing programs. The kind that step in early, before someone’s “clinically diagnosed” and completely cooked.
Then came Everest Base Camp in 2024. Casual. And now in 2026 he’s cranking the dial again, paddling 2400km down the Murray over 50 days. That’s 45 to 50km a day, about seven hours on the water, every day, to raise awareness and another 50k for more residential wellbeing programs.
What I loved most was the honesty. No platitudes, no tidy endings. Just real talk about emergency service workers, mental health, and how much still slips through the cracks. Tony doesn’t sugarcoat it. Sometimes people don’t make it, even with love, purpose, and community around them. And that’s hard to sit with. But it’s exactly why early intervention matters, and why these conversations matter.
SPONSORED BY TESTART FAMILY LAWYERS
Website: www.testartfamilylawyers.com.au
TONY PEARCE
Website: facebook.com
TIFFANEE COOK
Linktree: linktr.ee/rollwiththepunches
Website: tiffcook.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.