The Becoming Podcast

About The Becoming Podcast

Welcome to The Becoming Podcast, where we talk about modern-day rites of passage, radical transformation, and other times of becoming in our lives...and how these times can be a catalyst to become more of who you are. Hosted by coach, doula + author Jessie Harrold.

Publisher

Jessie Harrold

Category

education · health & fitness

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

3 Sept 2019

Latest episode

21 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

63 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   21 Sept 2026

   The Becoming Podcast | Season 8; Episode 7 | Kate Washington on caregiving, midlife and swimming her way back to herself

   This episode of The Becoming Podcast is for anyone who has felt like they've lost themselves in caregiving, or in the demands of midlife.  This month, author Kate Washington joins me on the pod to talk about her commitment to do 50 wild swims before her 50th birthday, the deeper meaning that commitment held for her, and the book she wrote about the whole thing. Before I dive into what we talked about in our interview, let me tell you a bit more about Kate: Kate Washington is the author of Midstream: A Life Remade in 50 Swims and Already Toast: Caregiving and Burnout in America. A frequent speaker on the systemic challenges facing family caregivers, Washington is also a longtime freelance writer who formerly served as the dining critic for The Sacramento Bee and associate food editor at Sunset Magazine. Her creative nonfiction, essays, and longform work have appeared in The New York Times, TIME, HuffPost, and many other outlets. She holds a Ph.D. in Victorian literature from Stanford University and lives in Sacramento with her two daughters, one very friendly dog, and one very unfriendly cat. Here's some of what Kate and I talk about in this episode: ✔️ The back story of how she arrived at deciding to do 50 wild swims before her 50th birthday, following many years of caregiving for her husband who had become very ill.  Kate shares about the day she told her husband she wanted a divorce, and about how wild swimming helped her reclaim her time, energy and selfhood after so many years of supporting everyone else ✔️ The challenge of claiming time to oneself when everyone around you has gotten used to you being available to meet their needs ✔️ How caregiving often ends up on women's shoulders, because of both our personal and societal socialization ✔️ The moment she realized that she didn't want to model the version of midlife, motherhood, and womanhood that she was living for her daughters ✔️ How Kate found that coming back home to herself meant remembering the things that used to bring her joy when she was younger, and how important fun, playfulness and pleasure was to this part of her journey ✔️ My favourite quote from our interview?  Kate said: "The biggest task of my midlife has been to reintegrate all the selves that I have been."  YES!  May it be so for all of us. Show Notes Kate's Website (https://www.kawashington.com/) Kate's book, Midstream:  A Life Remade in 50 Swims (https://www.kawashington.com/midstream) Kate's first book, Already Toast:  Caregiving and Burnout in America (https://www.kawashington.com/already-toast) The November Caplit event Kate's book will be featured at, for those local to the Sacramento area (https://www.caplit.org/) While you're at it, if you enjoy The Becoming Podcast, I would be so grateful if you would take a moment to rate, review and even subscribe to it wherever you get your podcasts. That goes a long way toward helping more and more people find and benefit from hearing these interviews.  Thank you so much!

2. 

   24 Aug 2026

   The Becoming Podcast | Season 8; Episode 6 | Jane Hardwicke Collings on when two rites of passage overlap: The experience of perimenopause + matrescence at the same time

   Are you among the many mothers who are traversing both perimenopause and matrescence at the same time?  Going through two rites of passage simultaneously is no joke, and it's happening for more and more mothers. The worst part? Many of them don't realize that's what's happening, and so many of them blame themselves for how challenging it can feel. The only other person I've seen who is really looking this increasingly-common experience square in the eye is Jane Hardwicke Collings.  I reached out to her to see if she'd like to deepen the conversation around the overlap of matrescence with perimenopause and, as evidenced by this podcast episode, she agreed! First, let me tell you a little bit about Jane: Jane Hardwicke Collings is a grandmother, former homebirth midwife for 30 years, a teacher, writer and menstrual, childbirth and menopause educator.  She offers workshops on the spiritual practice of menstruation and the sacred dimensions of pregnancy, birth and menopause. Jane founded and runs The School of Shamanic Womancraft, an international Women's Mysteries School and an ongoing live teaching path called The Womancraft Way.  Jane has created the first holistic menstrual cycle charting app, called Spinning Wheels. Here's some of what Jane and I talk about in this episode: ✔️ The definition of "womb-to-tomb" midwifery, and its role in supporting women through the transition to motherhood and the transition out of their fertile years. ✔️ The way all our "portals of power," as Jane calls them (including menarche, childbirth, and menopause) have been "pathologized, medicalized, weaponized against us and monetized." ✔️ Why cycle awareness is so important, and how it holds the key to so much of what we need to know about both matrescence and perimenopause (hint: there are times in our lives when our bodies beg us to slow down, and we'll reap the consequences of not heeding that call). ✔️ What's happening, physiologically, in our bodies when matrescence and perimenopause overlap.  Jane makes all of the complex experiences and emotions and physical changes we have during these simultaneous rites of passage make sense! ✔️ Practical, doable steps new mothers who are also in perimenopause can take to support themselves.  Jane's wisdom here is absolute gold. Show Notes Jane's Website (https://janehardwickecollings.com/) Jane's Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/janehardwickecollings/) Jane's new offering, The Womancraft Way (https://thewomancraftway.framer.website/) Dr. Oscar Serrallach's book on Postnatal Depletion While you're at it, if you enjoy The Becoming Podcast, I would be so grateful if you would take a moment to rate, review and even subscribe to it wherever you get your podcasts. That goes a long way toward helping more and more people find and benefit from hearing these interviews.  Thank you so much!

3. 

   30 Jun 2026

   The Becoming Podcast | Season 8; Episode 5 | Nicholetta Bokolas on cooking for two: food, identity and becoming an empty nester

   Hello my friends!  Welcome to this month's episode of The Becoming Podcast!  I'm really excited because although most of the episodes of this pod are with folks that I am just getting to know in the context of our interview, this one is with someone I've known for a really long time. Nicholetta and I met almost a decade ago, in what, for me at least, was another lifetime in which I was a food blogger.  Nic and I traveled in the same circles of food loving writers, and it was such a fun time.  While my writing and work took a turn away from the culinary world, hers only deepened.  I still love Nicholetta's writing, and when I read a post from her Substack, Story Salt, late last year, I knew I had to have her on the podcast. The piece that Nic wrote was a searingly tender account of her first days and weeks as an empty nester, and what it was like to transition into "mothering from a distance."  I know so many of you are anticipating or are in the midst of this transition yourselves, and so I just had to have Nic on the show to share her experience with you. But first, let me tell you a little bit about her! Nicholetta Bokolas is a wife, mother, recipe developer and writer from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her work sits at the intersection of food and story, exploring how recipes carry memory, family history, and identity. She completed her MFA in Creative Nonfiction at the University of King's College, where she began writing a culinary memoir about her Greek grandparents' journey to Canada, the restaurant they built from the ground up, and the recipes that continue to connect generations of her family.  Today, Nicholetta develops recipes and writes stories that celebrate everyday moments, family traditions, and the memories we make around the table. Here's some of what Nic and talk about in this episode: ✔️ Nic's experience of her first year of being an empty nester.  We talk about the difference between the identity shift into motherhood, or matrescence, and how it compares to the change in identity that occurs once our intensive mothering years are over. ✔️ We talk about the truth that "the days are long but the years are short," and how there's so much Nic couldn't fully appreciate about mothering until those long days were over.  We talk about not only wanting to return to those days to experience their sweetness, but also about all the things we might have done differently. ✔️ Nic shares that, ultimately, as she asked herself who she was becoming now that her intensive mothering years were behind her, she gave herself permission to follow dreams that she didn't have time for or didn't prioritize when her kids were younger.  This led her to her current work at and passion for the intersection of food, culture and identity as she explores the culinary roots of her family and shares amazing recipes with the world! ✔️ We have such an interesting conversation about how our identities can be wrapped up in the foods we eat (or don't eat). ✔️ Nic and I muse about what it means to nourish our loved ones, and that the food we feed ourselves and our children – along with the stories and connections that fosters – are such an important part of what it is to mother. Show Notes Nic's company, North House Social (https://www.northhousesocial.com/about) Nic's Substack, Story Salt (https://storysalt.substack.com/) The writing on being an empty nester that made me reach out to Nic to record this episode (https://storysalt.substack.com/p/cooking-for-two) Nic's Instagram (you're going to want to check this out!) (https://www.instagram.com/nicholettacooks/) The piece Nic wrote for Jenny magazine The pasta recipe I raved about on the show (https://www.instagram.com/p/DV-456BAIFv/) Andy's East Coast Kitchen (https://theeastcoastkitchen.com/) The Becoming Podcast episode with Estelle Thomson on fashion and identity shift

Who has been a guest on The Becoming Podcast

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Renée Hartleib
• Cindy DiTiberio
• Enfys J Book
• Ruth Allen
• Carmen Spagnola

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.8 / 5

14 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

10 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 55 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

77

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

85

Contact The Becoming Podcast

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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