169: The 'D' Word with Pete Hill - with guest Danielle Sax

169: The 'D' Word with Pete Hill - with guest Danielle Sax

What can we learn from those who have battled addiction? On The 'D' Word, Pete Hill sits down with fellow UK Health Radio presenter and stress specialist Danielle Sax for a wide-ranging chat that speaks straight to anyone feeling stretched to breaking point, especially dementia carers and the sandwich generation. Danielle shares how her show *From Stress to Authentic Success* grew out of decades as a physiotherapist and stress expert, and from her own collapse into illness.

She’s keen to move away from doom-heavy talk about stress: “People need… to start talking about what is and what can be and not always what is wrong.” That shift leads into her idea of “true wealth” – feeling rich in life force, freedom, fulfilment and financial flow, rather than chasing status and stuff. The conversation becomes deeply personal as Danielle talks about her mum’s dementia and recent death.

She explains how authenticity can seem to fade in dementia, yet also shine through in childlike innocence and music-filled memories from decades ago. Her key message for carers? Step into your loved one’s reality, but “don’t lose yourself because you’re caring for someone else.” Radical self-care isn’t selfish; it’s the only way your “life force” can sustain caring over the long haul.

Pete tests Danielle’s true wealth quiz on himself and reflects on how a past cancer diagnosis changed his scores and his outlook. Together, they unpack why carers try to be 100% perfect, how self-judgement adds extra stress, and why it helps to treat Danielle’s four accounts like emotional bank balances that need topping up before crisis hits. If you’re caring, recovering, or just exhausted by life’s demands, could checking your own “true wealth” be the pause that changes everything?