What if becoming more fully yourself isn’t about resolving your contradictions, but making room for all of them?

In the Season 3 premiere of Here Be Dragons, Rachel and Clair honor Dolly Parton by looking beyond the milestones of her extraordinary career and toward the lessons found in how she lived. Through stories about her early self-belief, her departure from The Porter Wagoner Show, the publishing rights to “I Will Always Love You,” Dollywood, the Imagination Library, and her deeply practical generosity, they return to one of Dragonhood’s central reframes: two things can be true.

You can be confident and nervous. Grateful and ready to leave. Kind and boundaried. Ambitious and generous. Rooted in where you came from and determined to build something new.

Whether you’re learning to trust yourself before the world catches up, protect the value of what you’ve created, or use your own success to create opportunity for others, this episode is an invitation to replace either/or with and—and to keep becoming more fully yourself.

Stay tuned for Part Two!

Action Item:

Where could your skills and compassion come together to create meaningful action?

Where are you treating two parts of yourself as contradictions when they might both be true?

Share your thoughts with us at [email protected] or join the conversation using #HereBeDragons.

Keep Soaring with Additional Resources:

• Dolly Parton: Here I Am (2019)
• Dolly Parton: A MusiCares Tribute (2021)
• Steel Magnolias
• 9 to 5 (1980)
• Dolly Parton's Imagination Library
• Buy the book! Dream More: Celebrate the Dreamer in You by Dolly Parton
• Buy the book! Run, Rose, Run by Dolly Parton & James Patterson

Related Here Be Dragons episodes:

• The Power of AND
• Make Room: The Practice of Letting Go
• Second Acts: The Art of Becoming
• Better Ways to Say Yes and No

Originally released June 28, 2024.

Clair and Rachel discuss the power of the word “AND” - and how that means we open ourselves up to more possibilities. We grant ourselves the capacity to acknowledge all of the incredible things we’re already doing while avoiding toxic positivity.

Action Item:

Is there something that is currently an “or” that can be an “and” for you?

Keep Soaring with Additional Resources:

• Buy the book! Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by Jim Collins and Jerry I. Porras
• Buy the book! The Lightmaker's Manifesto: How to Work for Change without Losing Your Joy by Karen Walrond
• Buy the book! Radiant Rebellion: Reclaim Aging, Practice Joy, and Raise a Little Hell by Karen Walrond
• Concept of “And” credited to Jim Collins: https://www.jimcollins.com/concepts/genius-of-the-and.html
• Dawna MacLean, Conscious Living Coach and Founder of Agents of Way: https://www.agentsofway.com
• Jack Gilbert, “A Brief for the Defense:” https://wordsfortheyear.com/2016/02/18/a-brief-for-the-defense-by-jack-gilbert/

In this deeply validating and practical episode, Rachel Inabinet and Clair Poletti explore the quiet, often invisible work of navigating the world with a brain that’s carrying a lot. Whether it’s neurodivergence, hormonal shifts, stress, or simply modern life, they unpack the power of tiny supports and gentle systems that make daily functioning more possible and more humane.

The conversation highlights:

• Why traditional productivity systems fail and who they leave out
• Gentle systems vs. rigid structures: designing support that works with your brain, not against it
• Tiny supports as “practical magic:” cues, rituals, and micro-adjustments that reduce friction
• Shame vs. support: moving from self-judgment to self-compassion
• Leadership implications: how teams and organizations can better support diverse brains

This episode is both a permission slip and a toolkit: you don’t need more discipline, rather, you need better support.

Reflection Prompts:

1. Where are you still using shame in places where support might work better?
2. What’s one small system or cue that genuinely helps your brain function better?
3. What’s one thing you could make easier instead of harder this week?
4. What support have you resisted because you thought you “shouldn’t need it?”

Keep Soaring with Additional Resources:

• Buy the book! ADHD, Unpacked by Alex Connor & James Brown
• Buy the book! How to Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis LPC
• Buy the book! How to ADHD by Jessica McCabe
• Sign up for Dragonhood Coaching or any of our other services! https://www.dragonhood.world

What if the storm has already passed — but you’re still bracing for it?

In this episode, Rachel and Clair explore what they call “storm mode” — that state of heightened awareness where we’re scanning, preparing, anticipating, and holding everything together. It’s an intelligent, necessary response to uncertainty and change… but one that isn’t meant to last forever.

Together, they unpack what storm mode looks like in our thoughts, bodies, and behaviors, why it can quietly become our baseline, and how to recognize when it’s time to stand down. From the subtle cost of prolonged vigilance to the practice of recalibrating your energy, this conversation offers a more sustainable way to care without carrying everything at full intensity.

Whether you’re navigating personal stress, leadership demands, or the constant hum of the world around you, this episode is an invitation to soften your stance, release the brace, and return to steadier ground.

Action Item:

What would it look like to care deeply without staying in constant vigilance?

Keep Soaring with Additional Resources:

• The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
• Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily & Amelia Nagoski
• Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mere Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
• Sign up for Dragonhood Coaching or any of our other services! https://www.dragonhood.world

Listener Call

We’d love to hear your reflections: [email protected]

#HereBeDragons

What if letting go isn’t about loss but about making room?

In this episode, Rachel and Clair explore the quiet, often complicated practice of release: not just letting go of what’s broken or obviously misaligned, but of what is still good, still useful, and still meaningful, yet no longer true for who we are in this season.

Together, they unpack the tension between usefulness and alignment, the role of gratitude in releasing without rejection, and the unexpected clarity that space can create. From physical belongings to emotional patterns, identities, and expectations, this conversation invites a more compassionate way of letting go — one that honors what has been while creating room for what’s next.

Whether you’re clearing a closet, shifting a role, or rethinking a version of yourself, this episode offers a gentle reminder:

Making room isn’t about having less. It’s about creating space for what matters now.

Action Items:

• What’s something in your life that still makes sense on paper, but doesn’t feel true anymore?
• What would it look like to thank something — and then let it go?
• Where have you created space and noticed something new emerge?
• What are you holding onto that isn’t a thing — but is still taking up space?

Keep Soaring with Additional Resources:

• Essentialism by Greg McKeown
• The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
• Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman
• Dragonhood paid memberships have access to the Founder Message Library, a compilation of A Time of Dragons (reflections on releasing “shoulds”)
• Sign up for Dragonhood Coaching or any of our other services! https://www.dragonhood.world

In this episode, Rachel and Clair explore strategic restraint — the practice of intentionally narrowing focus, conserving energy, and resisting the pressure to respond to everything. Not as disengagement, but as a leadership skill rooted in clarity, alignment, and care.

Together, they unpack why hustle culture confuses busyness with effectiveness, how “less is more” only works when it’s chosen on purpose, and what it looks like to lead — and live — without burning yourself out in the process.

Whether you’re navigating leadership, creative work, caregiving, or simply feeling stretched thin, this conversation invites you to rethink effort, redefine impact, and practice restraint as an act of integrity.

Action Item:

What would it look like to do less, but with more intention?

Keep Soaring with Additional Resources:

1. Dragonhood Empowerment Coaching to equip yourself with the skills to practice strategic restraint
2. Shop our Bookshop.org store for inspirational reads!

What if the problem isn’t that we can’t keep resolutions — but that resolutions were never built for who we actually are?

In this episode, Rachel and Clair explore why the annual pressure to reinvent ourselves so often collapses into self-critique, and how shifting from resolution to ritual offers a more compassionate, sustainable path to growth. Drawing inspiration from Suleika Jaouad’s Against Resolutions, the quiet power of daily practices, and Clair’s long-standing Word of the Year ritual, they unpack what it means to move from forcing change to creating conditions for becoming.

Whether you’re exhausted by self-improvement culture, craving a gentler way to evolve, or simply ready to meet yourself with more presence this year, this episode reminds you that becoming isn’t something you achieve — it’s something you continue.

Action Item:

What would it look like to let this year unfold without demanding a version of yourself you haven't met yet?

Keep Soaring with Additional Resources:

1. "Against Resolutions" article in the Isolation Journals substack by Suleika Jaouad
2. The Book of Alchemy by Suleika Jaouad
3. Join the Dragonhood for access to the Time of Dragons reflections
4. Sign up for Dragonhood Coaching or any of our other services! https://www.dragonhood.world
5. "Hold on Loosely" song by 38 Special

Listener Call

We’d love to hear your rituals, your words, or the ways you’re letting yourself become this year.

Share your reflections with us at [email protected] or tag us with #HereBeDragons.

Who decided we only get one version of ourselves?

In this episode, Rachel and Clair explore the art of second acts — how we evolve not by starting over, but by becoming more fully who we already are. Drawing inspiration from Arthur Brooks’ From Strength to Strength, the concept of Wisdomnomics, and the idea of Ancient Grandmother Energy, they unpack what it means to move from proving to being, from speed to depth, from noise to meaning.

Whether you’re shifting careers, identities, or simply rhythms, this episode reminds you that transformation doesn’t belong to one age — it belongs to all of us.

Action Item:

What’s your second act — or the one whispering to you right now?

Share your reflections with us at [email protected] or tag us on social media with #HereBeDragons.

Keep Soaring with Additional Resources:

1. From Strength to Strength — Arthur C. Brooks
2. The concept of Wisdomnomics — Oleg Konovalov
3. Ancient Grandmother Owl Wisdom - Katherine Skaggs
4. In Defense of Witches — Mona Chollet
5. Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe - children’s book by Jo Watson Hackl
6. Chip Conley's Modern Elder Academy
7. Sign up for Dragonhood Membership and Services

Clair and Rachel explore Bruce Lee’s famous quote, “Be water, my friend,” and how it applies to leadership, adaptability, and emotional resilience. The conversation dives into what it means to stay flexible without losing form — to move with change rather than against it — especially in high-pressure or uncertain environments.

Together they unpack:

• Fluid leadership — how adaptability and boundaries can coexist.
• Resilience through softness — why strength isn’t rigidity, but responsiveness.
• Flow in action — tools for recognizing when to push, when to pause, and when to pivot.
• Cultural and emotional lessons from Bruce Lee’s philosophy as applied to modern workplaces.

The takeaway? Water is powerful not because it resists, but because it moves — and that’s the art of sustainable leadership.

Action Item:

Where in your life are you being asked to “be water”? Where could you use more fluidity (and strength)?

Share your reflections or flow stories with us at [email protected]

Keep Soaring with Additional Resources:

• Dragonhood's Thunder of Dragons Ecomap: map your people, places, and anchors for when the water gets rough
• Buy mentioned books from our Bookshop.org shop!  Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life by Susan David
• Where "Be Water, My Friend" originated: Tao of Jeet Kune Do by Bruce Lee
• Harvard Business Review's "5 Principles to Guide Adaptive Leadership"
• The Power of the Pause
• The Pivot Year
• SHIFT
• Sign up for Dragonhood Coaching or any of our other services!

Saying “yes” often feels like the right thing to do—being a team player, stepping up, helping out. But automatic yeses can cost us time, focus, and energy. In this episode, Rachel and Clair explore better ways to say yes (and no) using three practices: curiosity, connection, and prioritization lenses.

Together we talk about how to pause before responding, how to support others without overloading yourself, and how to align your yeses with what truly matters.

This week’s takeaway: you don’t have to choose between clarity and connection—say yes wisely, not reflexively.

Action Item:

What’s one curiosity question, one connection, or one lens you’ll try this week?

Keep Soaring with Additional Resources:

• Working Genius assessment, part of our transformative Dragon Dossier toolkit.
• Listen to the Chronic Apologizing episode for my easy swaps at work!
• Paid memberships have access to webinar recordings (both video and audio here on the podcast stream). Join today! Listen to The Balancing Act episode for more great information!