#134 The moment that you are ready to hear it, the answer will come to you
Release Date: 11/14/2024
Another Door Stories
“No matter what you do in life, you’re gonna get judged. You may as well just embrace exactly what you want to do at that moment in time. Open that door. Go through it. You’ll be a bit scared. It’ll be new, it’ll be novel. You’ll definitely learn a lot about yourself. You will be challenged, you will be supported.” What happens when you choose to walk away from what society expects of you and step through a door that feels equal parts terrifying and right? In this episode, I speak to Lee Chambers, psychologist, entrepreneur, author, and leading voice in the male allyship...
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“If you look for them, glimmers, these little micro moments of joy, are everywhere.” What if being lost isn’t a problem to fix, but a path to joy and self-discovery? In this episode, I speak with Gavin Oattes author, speaker, creativity advocate, and former stand-up comedian for a conversation about closing doors, moving forward, and how letting go can be the bravest thing you do. Gavin shares his journey from a whirlwind comedy career (with stories of sold-out shows, almost-making-it, and friendship tensions) to running a business, writing uplifting books, and learning how to...
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"Start to not tolerate things, and the bigger things will become easier." What if the hardest (and most transformative) endings in our lives are the ones we choose ourselves? In this episode, I chat with Elizabeth Aldana, Breakup Artist, coach, and advocate for navigating change on your own terms. Elizabeth shares her story of moving across the world from LA to Singapore in a whirlwind week, not because she had to, but because a part of her just wouldn’t tolerate staying still any longer. It was the first major “breakup” she initiated not just from a partner, but from her old...
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“Change is messy, but it’s also fertile ground. Pause. Rest. Play. Try. Restart. The five steps aren’t a life ‘hack’ , they're a thinking space to get you through so that you can find joy, calm and opportunity amongst the chaos.” How good are you at navigating change? What happens when life throws you out of your comfort zone and into the unknown? How do you let go, rest, experiment, and eventually restart when you’re not sure what comes next? This special episode celebrates the launch of Another Door Opens: 5 steps for navigating change, my latest book guiding you through the...
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“If you look back on your life and see that you would have done something differently, that means you’re wiser now than you were then. And that means, by definition, the best thing you’ve ever done is ahead of you and will always be ahead of you.” What happens when you walk away from the thing that defined you, your job, your identity, your sense of success and step into a space of not knowing? In this episode, I speak to writer, entrepreneur, and all-around inspiring human, Dan Kieran. The co-founder of the pioneering publishing platform Unbound, Dan shares his...
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"Are you at least willing to push through the discomfort so that the team can win, so that your family can win, so that the mission can win and ultimately perhaps so that you can win?” Have you ever had life slam a door in your face maybe even in the most public way possible? What if, in that moment, you could hit pause, dig into the mess, and come out the other side with fresh lessons (and maybe even a laugh or two)? In this episode, I talk to executive coach and all-around inspiring human, Brandon Clift. Brandon shares his spectacular "door closed" moment on national TV as a contestant on...
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“When you're too comfortable, when you have space to overthink, then nothing happens... But when there’s fire under you, you have to move, or you die.” In this episode, we are joined by Mike Morrison, entrepreneur, founder of Membership Geeks, and a true veteran of life’s unexpected detours. Mike shares openly about the many doors that have closed throughout his career and personal life, including the literal locked door that ended his "secure" marketing job, relationship breakdowns, and the surprising, sudden departure of his co-founder. Each setback forced Mike to reimagine...
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“Resist that urge to jump right into job applications and start applying. You want to give yourself some space to process what you've been through and maybe avoid making any big decisions." In this episode, we have Steve Jaffe, author of The Layoff Journey: From Dismissal to Discovery. Steve has been laid off four times during his career each time making space for reflection, resilience, and ultimately, growth. We talk about the messy middle: what it really feels like to lose your job, how to process grief and anger, and why hope, connection, and self-care make all the difference....
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“Sympathy is rushing to turn the light on into someone’s darkness so that we feel better, whereas empathy is being prepared to sit with somebody in their darkness and connect with them and just be there for them.” In this episode, I’m joined by June Hogan. June helps organisations to do redundancy and layoffs well! So of course I’m a fan. It’s never easy or simple when companies have to let people go, but it can be done well, and with empathy and fairness. This is what June’s work is all about. We talk about the difference between empathy and sympathy when you are leading...
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"You can have a bad day, some days, that's fine. But then at some point, you've got to go, all right, I've got to take a little bit of responsibility now and get on with this." In this ‘epic’ (long!) episode, I sit down with Chris Hirst, author known for his “no bullsh*t” approach to leadership and work. We go deep, wide and around the block talking about the realities and myths of career progression, change, redundancy, and what it really means to be a leader. Chris shares transformative moments in his career, including going to Harvard and facing redundancy, and how...
info_outline"The whole time I could have left but I just wanted to believe so much that it was the right thing for me."
What happens when you don’t get joy from your job anymore? I’m talking to Claire Fitzsimmons, co-founder of ‘If lost start here’. She shares her journey of closing a door on what was perceived as a ‘dream job’ in the art world and following her heart into the well-being world. We also talk about her Mum’s struggle with mental health and how it led Claire to starting a business where they create a unique "well-being prescription" designed to navigate life with creativity and joy. She also opens up about her struggles fitting into traditional roles and redefining what is important. Her story offers us invaluable lessons on embracing change and finding fulfilment.
“I just love the feeling of walking through a gallery and then being around the art and I still love that. I think that's why it was so hard to let go of because it felt really good, but what I hadn't understood was what my role in it would be, and who I had to be in that environment.”
Here are the highlights:
05:41 The struggle of leaving a beloved art world job
12:12 Monetising passions can diminish the joy
13:39 Prioritising personal curiosity over external expectations
17:57 Exploring my mother’s story to understand my own
23:53 Navigating external advice vs. internal connection
27:54 Creative spaces make therapy accessible and engaging
34:42 Different needs: nature connection, and a spiritual practice
37:09 Create your own life guide with support
Claire Fitzwilliam’s Another Door go-tos
The things that helped Claire navigate change.
Book: "Tiny Beautiful Things", by Cheryl Strayed
Music: "My Favourite Coffee House" playlist on Spotify
The one piece of advice: “Feel your way through change and I say that because I often do work around emotions with people and it's often the missing piece.”
About Claire Fitzsimmons:
Claire Fitzsimmons helps people to have more good days by developing an everyday life practice that meets them wherever they are, with whatever it is they need. Claire draws from positive psychology, transactional analysis, somatics, neuroscience, Positive Intelligence, emotions coaching, and the science of well-being to help people understand what it means to be a person in this world, and how we can possibly do life with all that life now needs to contain. Claire also works with women in mid-life, particularly negotiating shifts associated with (peri)menopause. She is one of the world’s first certified Emotions Coaching Practitioners (with In Good Company), an ICF Associate Certified Coach (ACC), and earned her Certificate in Counseling and Psychotherapy from London’s CCPE.
Find out more: https://www.ifloststarthere.com/
Connect with Claire:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claire-fitzsimmons
Substack: https://moregooddays.substack.com/
About your host Eleanor Tweddell:
Eleanor supports individuals, teams and organisations through change. Whether it’s 121 coaching or large scale organisational change through communications and training. Eleanor’s work centres around how we, as humans, work through change, embracing the messy bits, the role of playing, with the aim to see opportunity. “Too often we get stuck in the change happening to us, when just through that next door is an exciting next chapter.”
Eleanor is the founder of Another Door, and Get-Recommended.com and the author of Why losing your job could be the best thing that ever happened to you.
Connect with Eleanor:
Instagram:instagram/anotherdooruk
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/eleanor-tweddell/
Website: eleanortweddell.com
Produced by winteraudio.co.uk