Roll With The Punches

I waited eight months to get Scotty Douglas strapped into the hot seat here at RWTP HQ, and doesn't he have some stories to tell! We went from Paris kitchens where he got dressed down by French chefs, to running a café with brown paper bag accounting and zero tax literacy, to cooking breakfast for the Dean who took a chance on him and changed the trajectory of his life. Scott’s story is a wild and rambunctious ride. Chef to advanced life support paramedic. Service industry to service industry. From plating swordfish with beef cheek sauce to doing CPR in suburban lounge rooms. We talked about ego and humility. About the shock of discovering not everyone in your dream profession is exceptional. About loving the chaos. About failure when failure means someone dies. We unpacked the assault that changed everything for him. The moment confidence turned into hypervigilance. The reality that helping comes at a cost. And that desire to 'win' a resus. This one isn’t just about paramedicine. It’s about identity, purpose, and what happens when the thing you love also wounds you. If he plays his cards right, we might just get him back to share some of the wilder stories I've heard... SPONSORED BY TESTART FAMILY LAWYERS Website: www.testartfamilylawyers.com.au SCOTT DOUGLAS Website: horatio-jones.com.au TIFFANEE COOK Linktree: linktr.ee/rollwiththepunches Website: tiffcook.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

This one is basically me and Harps doing what we do best. Taking the piss, accidentally saying something deeply meaningful, then laughing so it doesn’t get too serious. We talked about goals, plans, and why ticking boxes doesn’t always fix how you feel. That weird moment where you get the thing you thought you wanted and realise it wasn’t the antidote. Identity, perceived value, and the stuff we chase without really checking the cost. Then we went down a rabbit hole on perception. Same wine, different label, different brain response. Which is equal parts fascinating and mildly terrifying. Because it turns out we’re not just living our lives, we’re interpreting them. The hill doesn’t change. We do. And apparently the solution is either adaptation… or a glass of wine. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nicole Liddell is doing her PhD on coercive control, specifically how technology gets used to keep the control going even after someone leaves. And honestly, the examples are equal parts terrifying and ridiculously sneaky. Bank transfers with threats in the reference line. Smart home systems taken over remotely. A bloody robovac being used like a creepy little spy cam on wheels. But the part that really landed was the human cost of researching this stuff when you’ve lived it. Nicole talks about going in 'eyes wide open', thinking she had it handled… then realising she didn’t. The immersion, the algorithms, the constant exposure, the nervous system never switching off. And then her body basically calling time on the whole thing. From there, it turned into this really honest convo about hypervigilance, dating after dodgy history, rigidity, and learning to live in the messy middle instead of either fawning or fleeing. We talked self-respect, boundaries, communicating needs, and why 'fun' is not a cute extra, it’s medicine. And Nicole’s 2026 word is stewardship, which feels like the most grown-up, grounded way to say, I’m not sacrificing myself to the mission anymore. BOOM!! 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.

'Big Dog' Jason Blyth is BACK! An origin story so massive I didn't even attempt to cover it all in our first chat in episode 967... In our second chat (as we dart off in multiple directions along the way) we essentially came together to talk about Jason's biological father... what it was like seeking him out and meeting him, and the way trauma can shape identity like a shadow you didn’t ask for. We talk forgiveness and launch into the hero’s journey stuff, choice points, the dark cave, the dragon, the moment where you either change or repeat the pattern until it eats you alive. Jason is a weapon of a human and one I'm blessed to have met last year and call a friend.. you loved the first ep with him and I know you're gonna love this one too! SPONSORED BY TESTART FAMILY LAWYERS Website: www.testartfamilylawyers.com.au JASON BLYTH Website: jasonblyth.com TIFFANEE COOK Linktree: linktr.ee/rollwiththepunches Website: tiffcook.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mick Harrington is back, aka the Mower Man, and honestly I could listen to that bloke sing the phone book and still get emotional. But this time round we are getting fired up on all things bushfires... Funding. Public land management. The gap between decisions made in Spring Street and the reality on the ground when your town is literally on fire. Mick talked about communities being left vulnerable, old trucks, not enough fuel reduction, not enough basic roadside slashing, and the mental toll that sits in people’s bodies for years after the flames are gone. And the part that hit hardest was the “doers” story. People being told “no resources, you’re on your own” and still saving farms, neighbours, and half a town with sheer grit, old gear, and guts. 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.

Imagine what its like growing up in a religious cult... Cait managed to wriggle herself free from the Christian Patriarchy in her mid 20's... breaking free from a rigid belief system and an emotionally abusive father.. Cait was homeschooled, isolated, taught that obedience was love and silence was safety. No choices. No agency. No room for anger, desire, or even curiosity. We talked about courtship instead of dating, emotional purity instead of emotional literacy, and what it does to a person when their inner voice is systematically shut down. We went into leaving family, losing community, rebuilding identity from scratch, and learning how to feel again without apologising for it. Trauma, therapy, trust, boundaries, anger, grief, and the slow reclamation of self all showed up. I loved this conversation around how our upbringing and environments in childhood shapes who we are and how we function as grown-ups.Cait is one hell of a brave human in my opinion... she didn't agree with that label for herself, which in itself was an interesting part of the conversation. 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.

In this chat with Andrea Gullick gets right into the uncomfortable stuff. Loss, identity, control, and the stories we tell ourselves just to keep functioning. Andrea shared what it was like losing her husband suddenly, navigating a baby with cancer, and becoming a young widow while still trying to look like she was coping. We talked about the mask of being strong, how long you can wear it for, and what happens when it finally cracks. We dug into worry, intuition, anxiety, and the difference between sensing life versus trying to control it. How much of who we think we are is actually conditioning. And what happens when the identities you build your life around get taken away. She also walked through the tools that helped her understand her patterns instead of being run by them. Human Design, Gene Keys, and the Enneagram. Not as labels or woowoo, but as mirrors. Ways to see what drives your behaviour when you’re stressed, scared, or trying to belong. This episode isn’t about fixing anything. It’s about noticing. About what’s left when you stop running, stop performing, and actually sit with yourself. SPONSORED BY TESTART FAMILY LAWYERS Website: www.testartfamilylawyers.com.au ANDREA GULLICK Website: andreagullick.com TIFFANEE COOK Linktree: linktr.ee/rollwiththepunches Website: tiffcook.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Alright, so this one is basically Harps and I coming in hot for 2026 like, hello fresh page, who dis. We riff hard on the weird psychology of dates, New Year’s resolutions, and why humans act like January 1 is some magical portal when it’s literally just a number on a calendar... not to mention the thing nobody wants to admit, that most people want the reward without the work, and we keep trying to find the outcome without the discomfort. Fresh year, real talk, and a reminder that you don’t need a new calendar to start. You need truth, consistency, and a willingness to do the boring hard stuff when nobody’s clapping. 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.

Part two with Dr. Carrie Jones and yet again, this one hit the mark. We talked about the part of perimenopause no one prepares you for, the motivation drop, the mood shifts, the weight gain that shows up even when you 'haven’t changed anything,' and the identity wobble that makes you question your own operating system. Carrie broke down what’s actually happening under the hood. Hormones influencing energy, fat loss, recovery, brain chemistry, sleep, joints, even why frozen shoulder seems to love menopausal women. We unpacked intermittent fasting, why so many women burn out chasing male health advice, and how stress, underfueling, and overtraining quietly wreck us in midlife. We also got practical. HRT, testosterone, longevity, labs to ask for, iron being criminally overlooked, and why you’re not broken or weak for struggling. This episode is equal parts science, permission, and a reminder that your body isn’t failing you, it’s asking you to play by new rules. SPONSORED BY TESTART FAMILY LAWYERS Website: www.testartfamilylawyers.com.au DR. CARRIE JONES Website: drcarriejones.com TIFFANEE COOK Linktree: linktr.ee/rollwiththepunches Website: tiffcook.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Seven years ago Jay Stevens was in a helicopter that plummeted from the sky at Uluru. He fell out of the sky from about 120 metres, shattered his body, ended up with a spinal cord injury, and spent months in hospital and rehab. And instead of making peace with 'that’s it,' he went full mad scientist on his own recovery, obsessively training, visualising, rebuilding pathways, and stacking tiny process wins until he took his first steps FOUR years later. We talk chosen suffering, the hard we pick vs the hard that picks us, and why comfort is the sneaky little thief of progress. We get into the emotional side too, the grief he buried, the PTSD, EMDR, and how he learned to talk himself through the worst memories. This is one of those chats that makes you sit up and go, 'Yeah righto… I’ve been negotiating with myself a bit too much.' SPONSORED BY TESTART FAMILY LAWYERS Website: testartfamilylawyers.com.au JAY STEVENS Website: jaystevenskeynote.org/ TIFFANEE COOK Linktree: linktr.ee/rollwiththepunches/ Website: tiffcook.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tiffaneecook/ Facebook: facebook.com/rollwiththepunchespodcast/ Instagram: instagram.com/rollwiththepunches_podcast/ Instagram: instagram.com/tiffaneeandco See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After Bruce recently joined me for another ah-mazing chat, I thought ya'll might appreciate a throwback to our first conversation on the show... So, here ya go... Enjoy! Is dissociation actually a superpower that's been given a bad rap? Why does trauma make some memories so vivid, yet lock others away in a seemingly inaccessible vault? Can how we view our story determine whether we experience post-traumatic growth vs post-traumatic stress disorder? Did you know it takes as little as a 10-minute traumatic experience at a very young age to permanently change brain biology? Meaning those babies turn into adults whose brains function very differently when it comes to processing stress and trauma. So many incredibly important questions, insight and perspectives and I'm still pinching myself to say that I got to delve into this conversation with the holy grail when it comes to the research around the impact of childhood abuse, neglect and trauma and the developmental effect it has on the brain, Dr. Bruce Perry. Over the last thirty years, Dr. Perry has been an active teacher, clinician and researcher in children’s mental health and the neurosciences holding a variety of academic positions. His work on the impact of abuse, neglect and trauma on the developing brain has impacted clinical practice, programs and policy across the world. Dr. Perry and Oprah Winfrey's recently released book 'What Happened To You' has had over 1 million sales and is one that I've read several times myself. Do yourself a favour and grab a copy after listening to this ep. Enjoy! SPONSORED BY TESTART FAMILY LAWYERS Website: www.testartfamilylawyers.com.au DR. BRUCE PERRY Website: https://www.bdperry.com TIFFANEE COOK Linktree: linktr.ee/rollwiththepunches Website: tiffcook.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this chat, Harps and I are talking about how we absorb people without realising it... just by being around them. Their moods, their outlook, their weird little phrases, their emotional vibe (there's an actual term for that... it's called emotional contagion), and how all this stuff seeps straight into our system. No consent form. No conscious effort. Old mate Harps call it 'social osmosis'. It’s basically emotional second-hand smoke. Sometimes it’s toxic, sometimes it’s a deep breath you didn’t know you needed. Have you noticed how some people make you feel better just by existing near you? Even in silence? Yeah, that’s not nothing. Something is happening there. This convo is one of those. One of our all-time favorite Harps-'n'-me chats. Hope it hits you the way it hit us. SPONSORED BY TESTART FAMILY LAWYERS Website: testartfamilylawyers.com.au TIFFANEE COOK Linktree: linktr.ee/rollwiththepunches Website: tiffcook.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this one I drag our mate Patrick Bonello back in for what starts as a chat about planes and paragliders and in no time at all turns into a masterclass on fear, instinct and why our brains are absolute freaks of nature as we riff on fight or flight, muscle memory and the 'physics engine' in your brain that calculates traffic, balance and punches faster than you could ever think. SPONSORED BY TESTART FAMILY LAWYERS Website: testartfamilylawyers.com.au TIFFANEE COOK Linktree: linktr.ee/rollwiththepunches Website: tiffcook.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After Stephen recently revisited the show for our second ah-mazing conversation it reminded me what a hit this first chat we had was with myself and listeners... so in the spirit of dishing up some great content to prompt you to reflect deeply on life, I dare say this one might be just the thing for wrapping up this time of year... 'We're all dying from the moment we are born.' It's the truth, but a truth we never really acknowledge or contemplate. I never could have imagined how much I was going to love this conversation with Stephen Jenkinson. He's a philosopher and a wordsmith, a deep-thinker and an articulate communicator, and he has a way of weaving linguistic magic that took my mind into places it loves to go. We talk about death and what it means to die. How we wrestle with fear of it and thus in the process of which, do we truly live? As humans we are tiny, fleeting and somewhat insignificant on this earth... What happens if and when we make peace with this concept? Or can we make peace with it at all? SPONSORED BY TESTART FAMILY LAWYERS Website: testartfamilylawyers.com.au STEPHEN JENKINSON Website: orphanwisdom.com TIFFANEE COOK Linktree: linktr.ee/rollwiththepunches Website: tiffcook.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

G’day team, this one’s me, myself, and my end of year brain dump. A little Christmas wrap-up where I’m basically talking to the void and hoping it talks back in downloads. I unpack what’s actually shifted this year, not just the highlight reel stuff. The Himalayas still has my heart in a chokehold, the Dandenongs became my weekly nervous system defrag, and jumping into Jacq’s speaking world cracked my routine wide open and handed me a whole new room of people, craft, and courage. I also tell on myself, hard. How I can preach 'white belt energy' and 'you might have to get worse before you get better', then the second it’s go time I’m like... hell no, delete my calendar, fake my death. I went anyway... nearly pulled the pin, got terrified, did it scared, and reminded myself for the millionth time that the fear doesn’t go away because it matters. Then it gets real real. I share the gut-punch of loss, and the strange, brutal beauty of letting grief exist without sprinting away from it. That reminder I keep coming back to in the philosophy that perhaps the good matches the bad in equal measure (and vice versa). We don’t get to numb one without numbing the other. So, I’m trying be conscious to stay present for the whole messy thing. SPONSORED BY TESTART FAMILY LAWYERS Website: testartfamilylawyers.com.au TIFFANEE COOK Linktree: linktr.ee/rollwiththepunches Website: tiffcook.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.