As my husband and I shouted at each other, I felt myself become a fly on the wall, asking myself, “how did it come to this?”. My mum and dad never raised their voices at each other – throughout my childhood, I genuinely don’t ever remember a time when they argued. Of course, that’s not to say that avoiding conflict altogether is healthy.   But my husband and I don’t usually argue. We both tend to be ‘minimisers’ rather than ‘maximisers’ when it comes to our frustration. At that moment, it didn’t feel good to shout at each other in frustration. I’m constantly curious about human behav ..read more

You’re probably aware of the Gender Pay Gap. But are you familiar with the Gender Wellbeing Gap? The statistics on the Gender Wellbeing Gap are alarming. We are seeing a stark difference in the wellbeing experiences of men and women in both their work and personal lives. According to Gallup, the gender burnout gap has more than doubled since 2019. And in their Women in The Workplace Report, McKinsey & Co share that women are even more burned out than they were a year ago, and burnout is escalating faster among women than men. After the onset of the pandemic and during the first covid wave ..read more

If you were to get a front-row seat in any of my coaching sessions, at some point, you’ll hear me support my clients to unhook from The Good Girl Complex. The Good Girl Complex is the result of the social behaviours internalised by girls from childhood to please others – often at the cost of their own wellbeing or needs. The Good Girl Complex leads us to: Become people pleasers at the cost of knowing our own needs. Experience difficulty in saying no. Not wanting to ruffle feathers or upset people. Being afraid of failing.  Unhooking from The Good Girl Complex can feel challenging ..read more

In case you missed it, I launched the Empow-Her® Experience last week. This has literally been a DECADE in the making. Empow-Her® is the only wellbeing programme designed specifically for career-driven women that provides a full and unique picture of what’s sustaining or detracting from your wellbeing and identifies key focus areas to create a practical and individualised action plan to thrive in your life and work. If you’ve been hanging out in my community for a while waiting for the right time to find a way to thrive as a working mum – then now is the time. There are only 12 places availabl ..read more

This Christmas I’ve been reflecting on my journey as a mother. One of the things that inspires me to do the work that I do, is that my children deserve more than a tired and grumpy mummy. Too many times I’ve felt distracted by my mind racing with thoughts of everything I need to do today, forgot to do yesterday, and “should” do for my career, home and family……oh and not to forget to squeeze in some ‘me-time’. Too often, I’ve wished away bath and bedtime as I didn’t have enough energy left to truly connect with them. Too often I’ve woken early when the sun hasn’t even come up yet — but already ..read more

  After my burnout experience, I got fiercely curious about how it happened. When did it begin? When did I go from just being tired to becoming a burnout casualty? In this blog, I’m exploring the twelve stages of burnout and how you can distinguish between situational tiredness and burnout. Most burnout victims don’t realise they are in burnout until it hits crisis point. But many symptoms start to appear way before it escalates to those extremes. As a higher achiever, it’s common to have a high tolerance for stress. As a result, you can place unrealistic burdens on your body’s capacity t ..read more

Denial is a process which can start so subtly that it becomes insidious. In terms of burnout, it usually starts with an unconscious need to shut out a specific thought or feeling regarding overextending your energy. When initially confronted with a situation where you’re pushing yourself past your limits, your mind resists it, and it says ‘no!’ which then acts as a barrier between you and your perception of the reality of the situation. Over time, the resistance has a cumulative effect and is transformed into a habit of denial. This then develops into more sophisticated and acceptable techniqu ..read more

Just when does burnout begin? How can you tell if burnout is what you’re experiencing – after all, everyone feels pressured and overstressed at times, right? These are the questions I asked myself over and over again after I burnt out. How did it happen? When did it begin? How did I not see it coming? I’m a smart, self-aware woman – how could this possibly have happened? The issue is that ongoing stress camouflages itself with its own familiarity. “This is the way I’ve lived for so long.” But the other issue is that denial is a prime feature of burnout. High achievers have a high tolerance for ..read more

In my 20s, I started to build a successful career that I could have only dreamed about when I was younger. I had it all on paper.⁠ The big corporate global job.⁠⁠ The company car.⁠⁠ The house in the country.⁠⁠ The share options.⁠⁠ But inside, I was unhappy.⁠  ⁠ I began to feel like a corporate prisoner. I felt like I was trapped in the big salary and the corporate benefits.  But in hindsight, I wasn’t a prisoner.   I’d become a hostage of my own success.  I felt like the only way I could prove I was good enough for this big job was to work harder and longer than o ..read more

In 2007 a powerful social experiment took place. A famous Grammy-winning violinist was asked to pose as an everyday busker in an American subway station. His task was to play a 45-minute performance. The results were sad but probably not surprising. Only 7 people stopped what they were doing to listen for at least a minute Only 27 people threw money into his violin case – most of them tossing the money in as they walked by Over 1000 people hurried past entirely oblivious to the award-winning performance taking place right in front of them The vast majority of people completely missed one of ..read more