Just like her grandmother, her great-grandmother, and her aunt, Helena gets depressed. She sits down with her mother Annika, to really talk about it. “It was as if your skin no longer fit,” her mother says. Together they unearth the painful moments that have shaped their relationship. After years of struggling with her mental health, Helena is left wondering what to do with the time she has left?
Hear all episodes of Personally: Creation Myth now, early and ad-free, on CBC Stories Premium on Apple Podcasts.
Episode 4: Freedom Form
24-02-2026 | 38 Min.
With her sterilization scheduled, Helena sits down with her new lover to explain her decision. But the conversation leads in an unexpected direction. More confused than ever, she reaches out to Alejandra, a woman who underwent the same procedure and doesn’t regret her decision—it confirmed her true identity. Helena is not so sure. The clock is ticking. What is she scared of?
Hear all episodes of Personally: Creation Myth now, early and ad-free, on CBC Stories Premium on Apple Podcasts.
Episode 3: Doors Do Close
17-02-2026 | 41 Min.
After her abortion, Helena’s marriage is at a tipping point. David still wants kids, and she wants her tubes tied. In a moment of despair, a conversation with Ama the poet shifts Helena's understanding of what a good life can look like. Maybe she can center her pleasure?
Hear all episodes of Personally: Creation Myth now, early and ad-free, on CBC Stories Premium on Apple Podcasts.
Episode 2: Pregnant
10-02-2026 | 36 Min.
Helena does not want kids. Her husband does. For years they’ve battled it out. Then, while he is on his way back from a surfing trip, she finds out she’s pregnant. What will she tell him? What should she do? She calls her dear friend Joshua for help: he’s wise, he’s a parent, he knows her well. But she doesn’t have a lot of time. Her husband will be home in an hour.
This episode was a 2025 Tribeca Official Selection.
Hear all episodes of Personally: Creation Myth now, early and ad-free, on CBC Stories Premium on Apple Podcasts.
Episode 1: Nothing Complicated
10-02-2026 | 39 Min.
Helena knows she doesn’t want kids. She’s sure of it. Almost. It was a constant topic of conversation with her friend Sigrid in her 20s. Sigrid would try to convince her, but having children was not what she wanted for her life. Then one day in Paris, she meets David.
Hear all episodes of Personally: Creation Myth now, early and ad-free, on CBC Stories Premium on Apple Podcasts.
Helena does not want kids. Her husband believes she’ll change her mind—she has so much love to give, she would be a perfect mother. That will never happen, she tells him. Again. And again. Until one day, he leaves. In the silence, doubt starts rushing in. So she asks her close friends, her mother, her sister, even a perfect stranger—did she make the right decision? What is the purpose of life? Center your pleasure, says one friend. Go for adventure, says another, and isn’t parenthood the biggest adventure of all? Be true to yourself, says a father who regrets his decision. But the voice she needs to hear is her own.Get lost in someone else’s life. From a mysterious childhood spent on the run, to a courageous escape from domestic violence, each season of Personally invites you to explore the human experience in all its complexity, one story — or season — at a time. This is what it sounds like to be human.Hear episodes early and ad-free on CBC Stories Premium on Apple Podcasts.Season 1 | Run, Hide, Repeat: a story of a childhood spent on the run.Season 2 | Welcome to Paradise: a courageous escape from domestic violence.Season 3 | Short Sighted: an attempt to explain what vision loss feels like by exploring how it sounds.Season 4 | Sorry About The Kid: an emotional, deeply personal meditation on the loss of a sibling.Season 5 | Toy Soldier: The unbelievable story of a Jewish boy amongst Nazis.Season 6 | Forever is a Long Time: Every living member of Ian Coss' family who has been married has gotten divorced. Can his marriage end differently?Season 7 | NO: Kaitlin Prest found herself wondering if the world forgot the lessons that shook 2017.Season 8 | Resurrection: The story of Dane Stewart, a Canadian playwright, and what he did with a cache of love letters by a playwright named Daryl Allen, who died in 1991 from HIV/AIDS.
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