The Life Of Bryony - The Life of You – Charley Webb on Friendship, Meditation & the Art of Doing Absolutely Nothing

Episode Date: January 30, 2026

Lovely people, Charley Webb is back. In the main episode, Charley talked about being a mum of three, navigating her mum’s Alzheimer’s and trying to stay afloat in the middle of it all. In this bonus conversation, she lifts the lid on the three non‑negotiables she leans on to keep going – the everyday things that help her feel connected, calm and vaguely human. We talk about the power of real friendship, why small rituals matter when life feels overwhelming, and how giving yourself permission to do “nothing” can actually be the most productive choice of all. If you are part of the exhausted sandwich generation, or just craving a few simple ideas to make your own days feel more manageable, this one is for you.LINKS TO SUPPORT GROUPSIf Charley’s story of her mother’s illness resonated with you and you would like support, please consider the following charities:Dementia UK:https://www.dementiauk.org/information-and-support/looking-after-yourself-as-a-carer/Alzheimer’s UK:https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/get-support/help-dementia-care/getting-supportWE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOUGot something to share? Message us on @lifeofbryonypod on Instagram.If this episode resonated with you, please share it with someone who might need it – it really helps! Bryony xxCREDITS:Host: Bryony GordonGuest: Charley WebbProducer: Laura Elwood-CraigAssistant Producer: Sam RhodesStudio Manager: Sam ChisholmEditor: Luke ShelleyExec Producer: Jamie East A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, lovely people, and welcome to the bonus edition of The Life of Brienney. Today, Charlie Webb is lifting the lid on the things that are absolutely non-negotiable for her right now. And you'll know from listening to the main episode, Charlie's in the thick of it as a mum of three and the daughter of someone with Alzheimer's. So her tips are absolutely essential. Sometimes I get so overstimulated with so much that's going on that I'm like, if I know I can just have one day where I'm just at home and I don't need to think about, anything, then I really will take that and love it. My chat with Charlie coming up right after this.

Charlie, welcome to the life of you, which is our bonus episode. Brilliant. Where we talk about the things that enable us to just keep going, to keep going. Our non-negotiables for another day. Another day in the life. Another day on this hard planet. Yeah, that is true. So what, Charlie, are your, what's your first non-negotiable?

My first non-negotiable is definitely speaking to a friend every day. Okay. And I can be really bad at just not texting people back or bringing people back, but I make sure I speak to at least one friend a day. So just keep me sane and like checking on them, they're checking on me. And I think it's really important. I honestly could not live without my friends. Like they are, I don't know how people live without friends.

I'm sorry people aren't bothered. They're honestly like my lifeline. Do you think when we're younger and we're growing up, we think that the most important relationship in our life is going to be a romantic one? You know, the husband, the whatever, the boyfriend. And as I get older, I realise actually, no, it's my girlfriends. Without a doubt. Your friends are, it's a different sort of love with your friends.

And it's an unconditional love. Like my friends could ring me and tell me the worst thing that they've done and like that I just would never feel like I was going to judge them because I know who they are and I know fundamentally. I feel so lucky to have the friends that I've got and have had them for over 20 years, the most of them. I just feel so lucky. I just honestly hit the jackpot with my friends

and I definitely couldn't life without them. Love that. What's number two? Number two, which is such an obvious one, to say, but meditation. It's not an obvious one to say. Do you not think? I don't think so.

I think people... Maybe it's the people that I follow on Instagram that feel like it's very obvious to say. Yeah. It's everywhere on my page. Yeah, but that's your algorithm. I try meditating, but it's not for me right now. It's only for me if it's guided.

Yeah. I went somewhere recently. I'm not going to say where or why, and hopefully they never listened to this podcast, but it was the worst experience of my life. So my friend, said, let's go to this Buddhist centre and do a meditation. And I was like, amazing.

Because obviously, I'm meditating. Right. So you go to the Buddhist centre. Yeah. I feel so bad talking about this. But I'm going to anyway, because I'm started now. An enormous Buddhist centre. Yeah. And we go in and instantly I'm uncomfortable. And I'm like, I hate it.

And she obviously looks at me and she knows what I'm thinking. So she can't look at me for the rest of the time when this woman's talking to us. And I was like, I mean, the conversation that we had afterwards is just I wish someone had recorded it. But anyway, so we go up into this room and, you know, she's talked to us all through like a bit about Buddhism, etc. And, you know, I know a lot about it anyway, but it was really interesting what she was talking about. And apparently this is a thing I didn't know. So she sits us down in this room and she was like, okay, I'll see you in half an hour. And I was like, where the hell is she going? Because surely she's doing the meditation. Like, that's why I'm here.

It was just silence for 30 minutes. Now, apparently that's normal. Well, to me, it's not. I don't, I can't do anything other than think about everything that I don't want to think about in that 30 minutes because it's silence, which I don't want to be in silence. So I was, I mean, I was going up the wall. I was like a teenager. I couldn't sit still. My feet were everywhere. I was looking around. I was making noises. I thought, I'm going to, I just was awful. And then so obviously I was like, thank you, you know, at the end, thank you so much, amazing, because what else are you going to say? And when we got back into the car, my friend, honestly, I thought she was going to die of a hashtag.

She was laughing so much because she knew. I was like, of all, I was like, you cannot hear him. Why have you brought me here? So guided meditation is essential. But just sitting in silence is a not. Well, no, because I'd rather do that at home on my sofa and sit in your room that I don't want to be in with wooden chairs and a few tarts and blankets. I don't want to be here.

I mean, that's the true Buddhist experience. There are monks that go off for months and never say a word. And that's great, but that's not how I can't meditate like that. It's really. good for you, very pleased for you, but I don't want any amount of silence when I meditate. I need the whole experience and then I can really relax. Yeah, I can do that. So what, so is there a guided meditation that you like in particular? Is there an app you use? I use a few different apps, actually. Do you use Insight Timer? I love Insight Timer. I said I'm not into meditation, but I'm

banging. You're a liar. You've lied. You love it. I love Insight Timer. It's great, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. And I listen to the Thunder sounds at night. If anyone gets in bed with me, they're like, are you joking? They're like, I feel like I'm in a rainforest. I'm like, just enjoy it because it's so loud. And I have it like, it just makes me go to sleep. Is there anyone on, is there a specific person on Insight Timer? No, there isn't actually.

I have one that I'd like to recommend. Oh, please do. Her name is Sarah Blondin. Oh, I'll remember that. Insanely brilliant guided meditations. They'll have you weeping. Oh my God, I can't wait for this. I love how you were like, I'm not into this.

And now you're telling me who I should listen to. This is brilliant. you'll be like, dear one, come sit with me in this, you know, what is your fear of trying to tell you? Oh, wow. Yeah, so I can do that meditation. That's what I mean. But sitting in a cold room with a tartan blanket with no own thoughts. I don't want to discriminate because obviously, like, it's great for people that really like that.

But if it's going to be silence, I'd just rather be on my sofa. Yeah. I'd rather be asleep, to be honest. I'd rather be asleep. I'd rather be watching shit TV. So, not doing that again. Rather be watching Netflix. Oh, 100%.

Sorry. Number. What else? What else, Charlie? I've forgotten the third one because my memory is so shit. What was the third one? Hold on. Let me just think. Is it your phone? Well, the phone, yeah, I do. I couldn't live without my phone. I don't care what anyone says. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to pretend. Like, I do like the idea of going somewhere and putting my phone away,

but I like the idea of coming back to my phone. Like, let's just be honest. I'm sorry, but all these people are like, I'm going to go and you go because I need my phone. But I ain't coming with you. not going. I need to talk to people a lot. Like that is a thing. I've been like very conscious about my screen time.

Yeah. Because just before Christmas, my screen time told me. Oh gosh. I just wrote my column about this the other way. I really hope it's not anything that I've done. It told me that I was on Instagram on average about eight hours a day. Wow. That was bad.

I was like shit. This is like addiction. So I deleted Instagram for three weeks over Christmas. How did that feel? Really lovely. Like, I felt really good. I really realized how much I use Instagram as like a stick to beat myself with. Oh.

So I use it to compare and despair. And I very much also get sucked in by the algorithm, which is like, this reel that you've made hasn't done as well as your last five reels and all of that. And that is... Switch that off. Well, I kind of can't. And as an addict, as someone in recovery from alcoholism and who's very upset. I have to be very careful of that. Okay.

So, but yeah, my phone otherwise, like, it can be useful for, I don't know, paying for things. I mean, I can go a day, but as I said, I make sure that I do. But I really, I like the idea of being able to get in touch with my friends if I want to. So I don't want to just throw my phone to the ocean. Like, I would really love to be that person. And I think if you cannot have your phone, you know, a phone very much, then great, but that's not me.

Yeah. Oh, I remembered what my third, very important thing was. It is a day at home going nowhere, absolutely nowhere. I will step out for air, but that's it. Just don't want to move out of my house. Yeah. And I love my house so much. It's my favourite place in the whole world.

So are you in your pyjamas all day? Well, I've got a thing about that because I have to like shower. If I was going to stay in my pyjamas all day, I'd have to put clean pyjamas on. Okay, that's fair enough. Yeah, I could never stay in, like I have to shower twice a day. But, yeah, I don't mind getting into, well, actually, if I'm at home, I really wear comfy clothes, like disgusting. Don't knock on my door if I don't know you come in because I will look. My outfit will be awful.

I really wear scruffy clothes at the house. I love it. So comfy. Not leaving the house, I think, is, I would definitely, in my mind, that's a nice thing. And then in reality, it's bed rot. No, I just go. I just love it. I mean, you know, if I need air, I will step out of the back door.

Yeah. But other than that, into the garden. But, like, it's a full day of absolutely not going anywhere. And what are you doing? Like, watching TV scrolling on my phone, reading, tidying, chatting to people. Just having a day, I think it's a feeling for me a day of reset because I think sometimes I get so overstimulated with so much that's going on that I'm like, if I know, I mean, it's not once a week, let's face it, but if I,

know I can just have one day a month where I'm just at home and I don't need to think about anything, then I really will take that and love it so much. Charlie, I'm going to send you home now. Okay, thank you. I'm going to send you home. Back to my sofa. Back to your sofa. Great.

I want you to go and have a lovely rest and relax and reset. I will. You have given it your all for the life of briny. Thank you. A massive thanks to Charlie. of any of what she shared chimed with you. And if you've got any tips for surviving as one of the sandwich generation, please just DM me on Instagram at Life of Brianie Pod.

And if you found this episode helpful, you can always leave us a review or give us a follow. Most importantly, take care of yourself and I'll see you next time.