🍰 Episode Summary: Eat Dessert First

In this week’s episode, Lisa flips the script on routine and explores the joy of “eating dessert first”—both literally and metaphorically. From the endless cycle of laundry and the quirks of adulting to the hilarious discovery that peas don’t actually need an hour to cook, she shares candid reflections on how we’re all just winging it through life.

Listeners will laugh along at relatable struggles (like day drinking done right and the eternal washing‑powder‑drawer mystery), while also being reminded of the freedoms adulthood brings: saying no, choosing chocolate éclairs for dinner, and starting new traditions with friends like tea nights and Saturday “Sunday Service” calls.

Lisa also highlights of retraining later in life, proving it’s never too late to chase your dreams. Her message is clear—life is short, tomorrow isn’t guaranteed, so mix up your routine, book that holiday, and do the things that make your heart happy.

✨ A warm, funny, and uplifting reminder that sometimes the best way to embrace adulthood is to break the rules, laugh at the chaos, and eat dessert first.

It's the Power of Positivity Podcast.

Welcome back.

This episode is all about adulting.

It can be really boring being an adult and it can be really hard work.

So this is about you being able to do fun things as an adult and remembering that you have power to eat dessert whenever you want.

So let's get into it.

Just a reminder before we get into things to follow me on Instagram missbrightside25 and you'll find a link in my bio to sign up to my emails.

But don't worry, I won't spam you.

I haven't got that much time to write emails.

So let's get into it.

Welcome back.

Today's episode is all about eating dessert first.

Now that's a weird concept if you're anybody who loves a bit of routine like me.

The thing is, I love a routine.

I love the routine of going to work, coming home, doing the same thing.

It brings me comfort.

But I think sometimes we forget adulting is bloody hard work.

Ah.

Literally my least favorite thing to do in the world is the washing.

I put the washing machine on and I can probably tell at least three times this week I have had to wash the same load of washing twice because I couldn't be bothered to take it out of the washing machine and dry.

It just seems like such a choreography to carry things upstairs and put them on the era like no, that's not for me.

But guess what, I've got to do it.

So I will do in the end.

Navigating.

Being an adult is really weird because when I was younger I used to look at my family, particularly my sister in law.

She'd died a young baby.

She was 33.

I was in my 20s and I thought to myself, oh my God, she's really got her stuff together.

She really seems to know what she's doing.

Same with my mum.

I look at her and I think, how does my mum know how to do that?

Then she seems to know she's got all her stuff together or reflection.

As you get older you realize every single one of us is winging it.

We wing it through life, especially as an adult.

Adulting is one of my least favourite things to do.

Sometimes I wish I could just not be an adult for the day and do something fun and not have to go to work or not have to go and do things.

But guess what?

We can, we can eat dessert first.

We can have a day off work using our annual leaf and do something a little bit different.

I'm such a stickler for a routine That I seem to forget that I can mix it up.

So this is me saying to you, mix up your routine a bit, do something fun.

Because to be honest with you, some of the funny things as an adult I think in Arduh are remembering which bit of the draw your washing powder goes into in your comfort.

I feel like it's a conundrum.

I will never know when you first move out as well.

I used to have hundreds of questions with my mother.

I would ring her a fair few times a day with things like, mam, there's a bee in the kitchen.

What do I do?

Mam, how long do I cook a whole chicken for?

Now, I'm very competent and I've always cooked, but it's little things like, my mother just seems to know these things.

How does she know how long to cook rice for?

And when you actually read a packet.

This is something we laugh about as a friendship group, particularly me and my best friend.

We always remember, especially on a Sunday dinner, our mother's cooking the peas and the cauliflower and the carrots.

And I'd be like, how long do they cook them for?

They'd be on for like at least an hour, maybe even two.

And one day when I moved out, I read the back of a packet of peas and realized it says four to five minutes.

I was like, what?

We're at the cooksies for half an hour.

We like squidgy veg in our house.

We don't like no al dente.

If you're a valley's cooked dinner girl with loads of gravy, we want mushy cauliflower with a bit of the greens in there like my nan used to make.

That is the best.

And they seem to put bicarbonate disorder and everything too.

Didn't even know that was a thing until I moved out.

I wondered why my dinner tasted disgusting because it didn't have any salt in it and it didn't have any bicarb.

These are things we learn as we go through life.

This is all about remembering the fun things you can do as an adult.

Like, we can go to bed whenever we want.

But if you're anything like me, I like going to bed early.

But you realize the power you have.

Little things like day drinking.

Me and the girls now do day drinking so much better than going at the night.

You never miss a train home.

You can go out at one o', clock, you can have a brunch, you can dance.

And guess what?

You can be home before 10 o' clock in the night and it is brilliant.

You've got your kebab in hand, you've got your cell phone job done.

And then your hangover doesn't start soon because you've managed to sleep it off a bit.

You've got longer sleep the next day, winning.

Mind you, one thing I have found out as being an adult is I've now found the love of red wine.

And oh my God, it gives you the devil.

Addicts literally feel like it dehydrates your veins, so you gotta keep hydrated.

And for anyone out there who does enjoy a tipple of alcohol, I'd like to share my newfound thing called milk thistle.

It's a tablet you can take which helps your liver recover after a night out.

Absolute genius.

Don't get me wrong, it doesn't care when hangover, follow what the doctor says because I'm not a trained expert, but they definitely seem to take the edge off.

As we get older as well, we have the power to say no.

If I don't want to go somewhere anymore, I'm like, nah, no thanks, I don't want to go there.

And one day I was walking through Tesco's after I'd moved into my own house and I was thinking to self aw, for the rest of my life, I've got to decide what I've got to eat for tea or for dinner from wherever you live.

And I'm like, oh, I don't know what I want.

And I walked past the Chocolatey Claire's and I was like, you know what?

I'm going to buy a four pack of Chocolatey Claires, I'm going to eat them all with a cup of tea.

That is going to be my highly nutritious tea.

I'd had such a stressful day in work and I was thinking to myself, yeah, this is going to save my soul.

So I came home, I ate four chocolate eclairs and a cup of tea, watched a bit Italian, went to bed.

And that's when I realized we have control over what we do.

There's lots of things we do in life that make us a little bit miserable too.

Maybe you're in a job you really don't love.

I'm going to do an episode soon about that.

It's never too late to go and retrain yourself.

So my mam, she did a degree, I think she was 56 when she did a degree as a clinical nurse specialist.

How amazing is that?

My brother's now retraining to be an electrician at the age of 43.

Now I'm guessing his age, I should know it, but guess what?

I don't.

And my sister in law, she qualified as a primary school teacher later on in life too in her 40s.

So this is my sign to you to not stay in a job you don't love.

So I'll do a special episode specifically on that to follow your dreams and don't get trapped in a job you don't love.

We seem to forget the power we have over things we can do.

Don't spend time around people don't make you happy.

Don't spend time in a job that makes you miserable.

Yeah, I understand we've got to pay bills and it might not be a quick fix but do some night classes, retrain yourself.

We have the power to change our lives.

So this is all about mixing up your routine.

Buck the annual leaf and do something you've been absolutely dying to do for ages.

Because the problem is we live a very short life.

And this may sound a little bit sad to end on but I think it's really important we remember it.

We always think tomorrow is guaranteed and it's not.

So if there's something you really want to do, don't wait until you retire.

Do that amazing journey now.

Book that a fantastic holiday.

Go and see that family and friends you've been waiting to see.

Book that weekend away with the girls, get it out to the group chat.

Basically do something that makes your heart happy even if it's something simple like me and my friends do this wonderful thing.

And the tradition that we created many years ago still goes on.

Today me and my friends do something called a tea night.

They are absolutely fabulous.

Whether there's one of us, which you can't really have a teenage on your own, but you know what I mean.

Whether there's two of us, six of us or 10 of us, it's an open invite to whoever is free that week to come along, sit down and chat about how your week has been, how your life has been.

And to be honest with you, we normally have a rant about our partners life and anything that's gone on, jobs, funny stories, just a little bit of gossip really which really makes the world go around.

It's a safe space and you know what?

We laugh so much.

That tradition is still going to this day.

37 we are now still goes on.

All the kids come along with the gadgets and the coloring in and we have a proper gig out.

This is my saying to you to start a tradition with your friends, do something nice.

We even have Something called Sunday service, which isn't Sunday because it's on a Saturday where one of the girls rings.

And we do a FaceTime every Saturday, well, mostly every Saturday.

And whoever can join, joins.

And it's a 15 minute to an hour chat and anyone could drop in and out if they're busy.

And we just have a quick chat to see what's been going on, if we have been able to have a tea night.

And.

And that recharges my soul the absolute best.

So this is my sign to you to eat dessert first.

Remember, being an adult can be super duper boring.

You've got to pay the bills, you've got to pay our mortgages, got to pay insurances who didn't even know you needed, who even knew you needed breakdown cover.

But let's see the positives of being an adult.

Start those new traditions.

Bail off the people you don't like.

Do something you've been wanted to do forever and find that kid in yourself.

And next time it snows, have a snowball fight.

Because life's a bit too serious sometimes.

Mind you, I don't know when it snowed last.

So do something nice, make some plans, do whatever you fancy doing.

Remember, there are really fun times to being an adult too, not just the bowling stuff.

So go and buy the birthday cake, even if it's not your birthday.

And have an absolutely amazing week.

Chat soon.

Thanks for listening.

If you've liked what you've listened to, do you fancy giving me a cheeky review on Podchaser?

Or if there's something you'd like me to discuss, Discuss.

Just write a comment under one of my posts on Instagram, just to finish up.

Remember, see the positives, even in the little things.

Have an absolutely amazing week.

Chat soon.