In this solo episode, I share my personal journey about working in the world of international development and sustainability, and the challenges I faced along the way. I explore how my drive to "save the world" and a deep-seated belief that "I wasn’t good enough" shaped my experience and the impact that heavy, existential emotions tied to climate awareness and the struggle of not living in alignment with my values, had on me. I share the real pivotal “AHA” moments that transformed my perspective and set me on a new path to find my own inner freedom that has led me on this path to support other changemakers who might be feeling disheartened, disillusioned and tired to find more joy, fulfillment, and create deeper systemic impact.
Having spent a decade working in the impact space and living through the struggles that many others are going through. I know how it feels to swing between the highs of feeling like you’re making a difference and the lows of feeling disillusioned, burnt out, and overwhelmed by the state of the world. This episode is for anyone who’s ever questioned if what they’re doing is enough, who feels the weight of the world's challenges, and who seeks to find inner peace and contentment, to live a life that feels aligned - where you are doing what you love and it aligns with whats important to you and what change you want to see in the world. You’re not alone in this, there’s many of us going through these experiences and I hope my story can offer some encouragement, insight and hope as you navigate your own journey.
To sign post you to other episodes where I explore more of the themes I touch on in this episode:
On aligning with your values and the challenges of working in sustainability - see the episode with Amelia Cookson
On the systems thinking course and the iceberg model - the episode with Sean Andrew
On how transformational being present and having a more mindful approach to life is - the episode with Catherine Nasskau
On understanding and managing climate emotions - upcoming episode with Emily Buchanan
On understanding what’s behind the saviour/rescue complex - upcoming episode with Marta Abramska
On understanding the root causes of the global crises and how to have a meaningful impact - upcoming episode with Benjamin Casteillo
On what it means to be regenerative and find happiness whilst contributing to systemic challenges - upcoming episode with Paul Pivcevic
Here is the Burgs Mt Wolf song that I mention which inspired the ‘what are you noticing and appreciating today’ question
I wanted to share a few resources that helped me on my journey, though I would emphasise that I believe the positive shifts in my life came from coaching and therapy conversations and developing a mindfulness practice where I was able to explore my own inner world, as well as some excellent in-depth courses I’ve shared below. Reading and listening to podcasts have been helpful aids alongside that journey so here are a few I would recommend depending on your interests:
Courses I’ve taken:
Happy Leadership Course
Climate Change Coaches course
Transformative Coach Diploma - Animas
Neuro-Linguistic Programming Practitioner Course - NLP School
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction - hosted by Catherine from Mindful Surrey
The PowerUp Program - by Martin Coburn
Embodied Regeneration course - by Benjamin Casteillo, New World Together and Maja Michalewska, Elevated Leadership
Books I’ve read:
Zen and the art of saving the planet, The art of living, The miracle of mindfulness, How to love - Thich Nhat Hanh
Power of Now and New Earth - Eckhart Tolle
Indirect work - Carol Sandford
Untamed - Glennon Doyle
4000 weeks - Oliver Burkeman
The untethered soul - Michael Singer
Active Hope, Greening of the Self - Joanna Macy
Less is More - Jason Hickel
The future we choose - Christiana Figueres
If Women Rose Rooted - Sharon Blackie
101 essays to change the way you think - Brianna Wiest
The gifts of imperfection - Brene Brown
The Yamas & Niyamas - Yoga’s ethical guidelines - Deborah Adele
The Ultimate Happiness Prescription - Deepak Chopra
Change your thoughts, Change your life - Wayne Dyer
Climate Change Coaching - Charly Cox and Sarah Flynn
Other resources:
Podcasts: The Way out is in, Eckhart Tolle, On Being with Krista Tippett, Feel better, Live More with Rangan Chatterjee, On Purpose with Jay Shetty, Ayla Nova - Yoga Nidra
Instagram accounts: Peter Crone, Brianna Wiest, Ryan Tyack, meditateandlove, newhappyco, conscious_collective, howmental
I am definitely missing some so will add any others I remember here. If you have any resources or recommendations that touch on the themes of this podcast then please do comment.
A few updates from me:
Our group coaching programme for sustainability professionals is officially LIVE and people are signing up! Starting on the 8th of November, for 1.5 hours every Friday lunchtime for 4 weeks, we’ll be bringing together a supportive group of sustainability professionals to collectively work through the common challenges in a sustainability role. Through coaching techniques and peer support, you’ll learn how to process your emotions, build confidence, communicate effectively, and connect with others to collectively overcome challenges. By the end, you’ll feel re-energised and better equipped to create meaningful impact in your work. Find out more below and please share it with anyone you think might be interested:
And some related, and very exciting, news about our research - our research was covered in an IEMA article in Transform about ‘Breaking Point for CSOs’ - David Burrows explores the challenges sustainability leads face. Our research is quoted and they share how our research is being used to inform their competency framework review happening next year to bring in more soft, intra-personal and resilience skills that are needed. We also shared our research results and facilitated a discussion as part of the IEMA Connect Conference yesterday and had a really engaged group of 20 people talking about the challenges they face and what skills they think are needed for the role. Find the findings from our research project here.
1:1 Coaching - If you are interested in exploring how coaching could support you on your journey to living a more alive and aligned life, you can book a free discovery call with me here.
Events coming up:
Conscious Changemakers walk - I host a relaxed, mindful walk in the beautiful Surrey Hills to reconnect to nature and have heart-felt discussions with like-minded people. The next walk dates are Sunday 20th October and 24th November, 10am, Reigate, Surrey. You can sign up here.
Conscious Evolution Collage - A transformative workshop exploring new ways of thinking and being to create a sustainable and desirable future for all - I’m facilitating this online workshop on Tuesday 26th November 6-9pm - you can sign up here. I am co-facilitating an in-person one in Putney, London on the 29th October 6-9pm, you can sign up here.
People, Planet, Pint East Surrey is back - come and join us for a casual drink with people who care about people and the planet on Tuesday 22nd October - sign up here
I had a wonderful weekend at the Embodied Regeneration immersion, hosted by Nikki Kapp, last weekend. It was wonderful to spend time with like-minded people, in nature, connecting over how to live more regeneratively. I co-facilitated the Conscious Evolution Collage and we really went on a journey together to explore the roots of the meta crisis and what a better future looks like. I’d recommend joining the Embodied Regeneration community if you are looking for a lovely and fun group of women to explore living regeneratively with.
The next episode of On Becoming the Change will be released next Thursday. It will be with Emily Buchanan from Climate Change Coaches about ‘How to be well in a climate crisis’. Subscribe below to hear when it’s released.
Thank you for listening and reading. If any of what we talked about in the podcast resonated with you, I would love to hear your thoughts. Please do share it with anyone else you think might be interested.
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