Meet 'MacYoda' Heather Hadden: on everything from empaths to anxiety to raunchy reads & turning Kincraig tribal!

*Please note this episode contains adult themes so it’s not for little ears (or big ears that get offended easily!)*

I only have one house next to mine in my wee Scottish Highland village of Kincraig and today’s guest, Heather Hadden, has the mixed blessing of living in it.

As an empath who loves people and caring for them, but also gets exhausted by them, Heather has taught me a lot about how difficult this can be in our always-on, noisy, extrovert world.

She’s helped me understand how extroverts (like me) can sometimes misinterpret ways of being in the world that don’t match our own. She’s also taught me about the importance - even for extroverts - of protecting our energy and being intentional with our time.

Because Heather is wise beyond her years, I affectionately call her ‘MacYoda’.

This podcast is a perfect pick-me-up and I found it incredibly hard to edit as loads of it made me chuckle, and because we are constantly going off on random, often hilarious (well, I think so!) tangents. Some of which are a wee bit racy, from her raunchy reading to wild hot tub parties…

But please don’t let the length of this podcast put you off - I’ve time-stamped this one, so you can identify if there are any topics in particular you want to tune into…. Which also gives you an idea of the eclectic mix of this conversation!

Timings in minutes:

06:30: the profound impact of her grannies on her perspectives

08.00: maternal instinct

10.00: love of learning, but not at school

12.00 love of living in a village

13.00 being an empath

18:00 when I turned up on her doorstep having a panic attack/anxiety

21.00 where she gets her acerbic sense of humour (reading her whatsapps)

28.15 why we were less anxious in lockdown

29.30 true crime

31.00 the judgmental world of parenting

36.00 how most people mask how they really feel

43.00 I apologise for taking Heather’s behaviour the wrong way once

49.00 why she wants to live in an Amazonian tribe

51.00 how we can bring the tribe vibe to Kincraig

53.30 the 5 love languages and community

1 hour: stepping away from the supermarkets

1.05.30 sparking joy - jammies or g-strings?

1.10.00 hot tub parties

1.16.00 Heather makes her trademark cow sound

1.20.00 odd socks & tupperware lids

01:21:30 romantic raunchy fiction

01.24.30 our plans to go the Maldives in our 80s

Do say hello to Heather if you see her out and about (afterall, there is surely some common ground you can find from the list above?!).

And if you have any other suggestions of characters in Kincraig to interview on this podcast, please email me on ⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠

Kincraig Cares podcast is being made on a shoe string out of love, so is very grateful for free resources which make this possible, like the intro and out music which is called 'Holiday Ukulele' by MaxKoMusic, promoted by www.chosic.com/free-music/all/ and part of the Creative Commons Attributions-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)

The podcast all about the colourful characters and community of Kincraig Village in the Cairngorms National Park in the Scottish Highlands. It's a tribute to, and celebration of, the people and places on our doorsteps and an exploration of the power of community spirit and why it's more important than ever today.

• No. of episodes: 13
• Latest episode: 2025-04-24
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