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Momentum feels like success.
But it’s also where burnout often begins.

In this episode of Red Thread: The Fire Within, we talk about what happens after things start working — when opportunities grow, visibility increases, and forward motion starts asking for more than it gives back.

This conversation is especially for leaders, builders, and anyone creating something meaningful — a business, a brand, a new role, or a new version of themselves — who doesn’t want to recreate old patterns of overdrive, self-sacrifice, or exhaustion in the name of progress.

Drawing from lived leadership experience, reinvention seasons, and the realities of building momentum in both careers and creative work, this episode explores how to keep moving forward without losing yourself again.

This is not about slowing down for the sake of slowing down.
It’s about learning how to move sustainably.

What We Explore in This Episode

• Why momentum often turns into pressure instead of progress
• The difference between momentum as proof and momentum as practice
• How leadership burnout is often caused by over-responsibility, not overwork
• The hidden cost of visibility and constant availability when building a brand or business
• Why burnout is feedback — not failure
• How to redefine momentum as repeatable alignment instead of acceleration

Listener Invitations (Reflection + Integration)

As you listen, consider these questions:

• When momentum builds, do I feel grounded — or pressured to keep proving myself?
• Where have I confused being indispensable with being effective?
• Am I building something I want to live inside of — or something I feel obligated to keep feeding?
• What part of my momentum is asking me to override my own limits?
• What would sustainable success actually look like for me in this season?

These aren’t tasks.
They’re invitations to lead yourself differently.

Why This Matters (Research Foundations)

This episode is grounded in lived experience and supported by research on burnout, motivation, and leadership sustainability:

• Burnout & misalignment — Psychologist Christina Maslach, PhD, shows that burnout often begins not with failure or overload, but with success that requires misalignment between values and demands.
• Motivation & well-being — Psychologists Edward Deci, PhD, and Richard Ryan, PhD, creators of Self-Determination Theory, demonstrate that momentum driven by external validation increases output but decreases well-being over time.
• Leadership & systems — Research on leadership sustainability shows that managing energy, boundaries, and identity matters more than simply managing time.

Momentum doesn’t have to cost you your health, creativity, or presence.

You’re allowed to:

• Move forward without rushing
• Grow without self-sacrifice
• Build something that doesn’t consume you

If momentum is building in your life right now, this episode is your reminder to choose how it builds.

Support the show

Thank you for being here and for pulling on the thread with me.

Every download, share, review, and moment you spend listening helps this community grow into something real, grounded, and heart-led. If this episode spoke to you, please follow the show, leave a review, or support the podcast through Listener Support on Buzzsprout.

Your energy keeps this fire burning and I’m deeply grateful you’re part of this unfolding story.

Pull the thread. Your fire is waiting.

Send us a text

Clarity is powerful.
Commitment is quieter. 

In this episode of Red Thread: The Fire Within, we move into what often comes after the decision, the part no one glamorizes: staying. 

This conversation is about the stretch where motivation fades, novelty wears off, and the real work of reinvention begins. It’s about why commitment matters more than inspiration, and how consistency — not intensity — is what actually creates change. 

Drawing from my experience training for and completing a marathon, as well as seasons of leadership, growth, and reinvention, I share what it looks like to stay the course when the work feels repetitive, heavy, or unseen. 

This episode is for anyone who’s made a choice, and is now wondering how to keep showing up.  

Listener Invitations (Reflection + Action) 

As you listen, consider these questions: 

• Motivation vs. commitment
  What are you relying on motivation to sustain that actually requires commitment instead?
• Consistency over intensity
  What part of your life needs steady presence right now, not a burst of effort?
• Tired or misaligned?
  Ask yourself honestly: Am I tired — or am I misaligned?
• Reframing commitment
  What commitment in your life deserves to be honored instead of questioned?
• Redefining success
  What kind of success are you actually working toward — one you want to achieve, or one you want to live with?

These aren’t tasks — they’re invitations to listen more closely to yourself.
 
Why This Matters (Research Foundations)
 
This episode is grounded in lived experience and supported by research on perseverance and habit formation:

• Grit & perseverance
  Psychologist Angela Duckworth, PhD, shows that long-term success is driven less by talent or motivation and more by sustained effort over time (Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance).
• Habits & consistency
  Research by psychologists Wendy Wood, PhD, and David Neal, PhD, demonstrates that routines and identity-based habits — not fluctuating motivation — are what sustain behavior change over the long run.

Commitment isn’t rigidity.
It’s integrity.
 
If you’re in a season where staying feels hard, uncelebrated, or lonely, this episode is for you.
 
The fire isn’t in the spark.
It’s in the staying.
 
Pull the thread.
 

Support the show

Thank you for being here and for pulling on the thread with me.

Every download, share, review, and moment you spend listening helps this community grow into something real, grounded, and heart-led. If this episode spoke to you, please follow the show, leave a review, or support the podcast through Listener Support on Buzzsprout.

Your energy keeps this fire burning and I’m deeply grateful you’re part of this unfolding story.

Pull the thread. Your fire is waiting.

Send us a text

Letting go creates space.
Discernment decides what fills it.

In this episode of Red Thread: The Fire Within, we move beyond release and into the quieter, more deliberate work of choosing what stays.

I’m recording this episode just after running the Chevron Houston Marathon — an experience that became a living metaphor for discernment. Marathon training required saying no to things I wanted to do, not because they weren’t good, but because they weren’t aligned with what I was choosing in that season. And that same principle shows up everywhere in life — relationships, careers, leadership, and personal growth.

In this episode, I share:

• How discernment showed up in my own life — from marathon training to stepping into people leadership
• Why saying yes to everything slowly drains what matters most
• How commitment and intentional choice create clarity, not restriction
• Why the goals that fulfill us often require letting other things fall away

This conversation isn’t about doing more.
 It’s about choosing with care.

Listener Invitations (Reflection + Action)

As you listen, you may want to pause and reflect on these questions:

• Notice your yes-es
  What are you currently saying yes to that quietly pulls energy away from what matters most?
• Pay attention to what you protect
  Finish this sentence: “The thing I am most protective of right now is ______ — and that tells me something important.”
• Consider the trade-offs
  If you fully committed to what matters most in this season, what would naturally fall away?
• Name what you’re choosing
  What are you willing to structure your life around right now — not out of pressure, but out of purpose?
• Practice discernment as self-trust
  Write down: “The next season of my life requires me to be more intentional about ______.”

These aren’t tasks — they’re invitations to listen more closely to yourself.

Why This Matters (Research Foundations)

This episode is grounded in lived experience and supported by research on motivation and choice:

• Intrinsic motivation & values-aligned goals
  Psychologists Edward Deci, PhD, and Richard Ryan, PhD, creators of Self-Determination Theory, show that goals rooted in personal values — rather than external approval — are more sustainable and fulfilling.
• Choice, commitment, and satisfaction
  Behavioral psychologist Barry Schwartz, PhD, author of The Paradox of Choice, explains how too many options and external pressures can disconnect us from satisfaction, while intentional constraints create clarity.

Discernment isn’t rigidity.
It’s honesty.

If you’re standing at a crossroads, deciding what stays and what goes, this episode is for you.

Pull the thread.
Your fire knows what matters.

Support the show

Thank you for being here and for pulling on the thread with me.

Every download, share, review, and moment you spend listening helps this community grow into something real, grounded, and heart-led. If this episode spoke to you, please follow the show, leave a review, or support the podcast through Listener Support on Buzzsprout.

Your energy keeps this fire burning and I’m deeply grateful you’re part of this unfolding story.

Pull the thread. Your fire is waiting.

Send us a text

Letting go isn’t a single decision — it’s a process. 

In this episode of Red Thread: The Fire Within, I return to a promise I made earlier in the season: to talk honestly about what it means to release the roles, identities, relationships, and expectations that no longer fit who we’re becoming. 

This conversation is personal. 

I share how letting go showed up in my own life: from ending long-term relationships and knowing when it was time to leave my first marriage, to stepping away from familiar, comfortable career roles and taking a leap into people leadership when I felt the quiet pull to lead and help others. 

We talk about why letting go is so hard, why familiarity can keep us stuck longer than we realize, and why clarity often comes after we release, not before. 

This episode isn’t about rushing forward.
It’s about making room.  

Listener Invitations (Reflection + Action) 

If you want to go deeper after listening, here are a few gentle invitations we explore throughout the episode: 

• Notice what you’re holding onto out of familiarity, not alignment
  Ask yourself: What feels known and safe, but no longer true?
• Acknowledge the version of yourself you may have outgrown
  Finish this sentence honestly:
  “The version of me that feels tired or resistant right now is trying to protect me from ______.”
• Allow space for grief, especially for imagined futures
  Consider whether there’s a life, identity, or future you need to acknowledge letting go of — even if nothing “went wrong.”
• Create intentional stillness
  Spend 10 minutes this week without fixing, planning, or scrolling.
  Ask: What wants to be released right now?
• Choose what you carry forward
  Write two simple lists:
  What I’m releasing and What I’m carrying forward.

These aren’t tasks — they’re invitations to listen more closely to yourself.
 
 
Why This Matters (Research Foundations)
 
While this episode is grounded in lived experience, it’s also supported by well-established research on change, identity, and growth:

• Loss aversion & familiarity — Our brains are wired to prefer what’s familiar, even when it no longer fits (Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow). This helps explain why we often stay longer than we should — in relationships, roles, and identities.
• Identity and reinvention — Leadership research shows that growth rarely begins with clarity; it begins with discomfort and experimentation as we outgrow old identities (Ibarra, Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader).
• Ambiguous loss & grief — We don’t only grieve what we lose physically; we also grieve imagined futures and identities, which deserve acknowledgment to move forward in a healthy way (Boss, Ambiguous Loss).

Letting go isn’t failure.
It’s refinement.
 
If you’re standing between who you were and who you’re becoming, this episode is for you.
 
Pull the thread.
Your fire is waiting.
 

Support the show

Thank you for being here and for pulling on the thread with me.

Every download, share, review, and moment you spend listening helps this community grow into something real, grounded, and heart-led. If this episode spoke to you, please follow the show, leave a review, or support the podcast through Listener Support on Buzzsprout.

Your energy keeps this fire burning and I’m deeply grateful you’re part of this unfolding story.

Pull the thread. Your fire is waiting.

Send us a text

This week’s episode wasn’t planned — and that’s the point. 

After my nephew Henry became critically ill and was hospitalized, everything else paused. What started as a routine virus escalated rapidly into a life-threatening infection that required emergency surgery, aggressive treatment, and constant vigilance. In the middle of that, I found myself living the very lessons this podcast is about: not through productivity or progress, but through presence, loyalty, and strength in unexpected forms. 

In this episode, I share: 

• What it means to lean into your strengths during crisis
• Why purpose sometimes shows up as steadiness, not success
• The power of intuition, advocacy, and speaking up
• How asking for help is not weakness, but resilience
• What a true support system looks like when the village shows up, every damn day

This is a story about love, community, reinvention, and remembering what matters when life interrupts the plan.
 
Thank you for giving this moment space. We’ll return to our regularly scheduled programming next week, but changed, in the best way.
 

Support the show

Thank you for being here and for pulling on the thread with me.

Every download, share, review, and moment you spend listening helps this community grow into something real, grounded, and heart-led. If this episode spoke to you, please follow the show, leave a review, or support the podcast through Listener Support on Buzzsprout.

Your energy keeps this fire burning and I’m deeply grateful you’re part of this unfolding story.

Pull the thread. Your fire is waiting.

Send us a text

What happens when the life you’ve built suddenly no longer fits?
In this cinematic and deeply personal episode, Katheryn shares the quiet moment she realized she couldn’t return to the old version of herself and the courage it took to begin choosing a new story.

Through raw storytelling, emotional honesty, and gentle research-backed insight, she explores the fear of wanting more, the discomfort of the in-between, and the small steps that help you move toward the life your soul has been whispering about.

Listeners will learn how to:
 • Recognize the moment a new story begins
 • Understand why fear shows up before clarity
 • Connect with their “future self” (inspired by Hershfield’s work on future-self continuity)
 • Create simple identity anchors that shift internal narratives
 • Release one belief, role, or expectation that no longer fits

This episode weaves together lived experience with insights from post-traumatic growth research (Tedeschi & Calhoun), status quo bias (Samuelson & Zeckhauser), and identity-based behavior science — all in a grounded, accessible way.

If you’re standing in the tender space between who you were and who you’re becoming, this episode is your reminder: You are allowed to want something different. And you are brave enough to choose it.

Tedeschi, R. G., & Calhoun, L. G. — Post-Traumatic Growth
Samuelson, W., & Zeckhauser, R. — Status Quo Bias
Oyserman, D. — Identity-Based Motivation
Hershfield, H. — Future Self Continuity
Neff, K. — Self-Compassion & Resilience
Baumeister, R., & Vohs, K. — Cognitive Load & Letting Go

Support the show

Thank you for being here and for pulling on the thread with me.

Every download, share, review, and moment you spend listening helps this community grow into something real, grounded, and heart-led. If this episode spoke to you, please follow the show, leave a review, or support the podcast through Listener Support on Buzzsprout.

Your energy keeps this fire burning and I’m deeply grateful you’re part of this unfolding story.

Pull the thread. Your fire is waiting.

Send us a text

The Middle is the most overlooked part of every transformation, the space between the life you’ve outgrown and the life you’re building next. 

In this episode, Katheryn explores what it feels like to be in that in-between season where nothing is fully clear, but everything is quietly shifting. Through honest storytelling and grounded insight, she shares her own experience of navigating the uncertainty after a major career change and discovering why this messy, uncomfortable, directionless stage is actually where the deepest becoming happens. 

If you feel stuck, floating, or unsure of your next chapter, this episode will help you see The Middle not as a setback, but as sacred preparation for what’s coming. 

Support the show

Thank you for being here and for pulling on the thread with me.

Every download, share, review, and moment you spend listening helps this community grow into something real, grounded, and heart-led. If this episode spoke to you, please follow the show, leave a review, or support the podcast through Listener Support on Buzzsprout.

Your energy keeps this fire burning and I’m deeply grateful you’re part of this unfolding story.

Pull the thread. Your fire is waiting.

Send us a text

Quiet confidence isn’t about being the loudest voice in the room — it’s about learning to hear your own voice again. 

In this episode, Katheryn shares what it feels like to rebuild your inner strength after years of being the fixer, the leader, the therapist friend, and the one everyone depends on. Through personal stories, honest reflection, and simple practices, she explores how to reconnect with your intuition and reclaim the calm, grounded confidence that comes from within. 

If you’re in a season of reinvention, this episode will help you return to yourself — one quiet moment at a time. 

Support the show

Thank you for being here and for pulling on the thread with me.

Every download, share, review, and moment you spend listening helps this community grow into something real, grounded, and heart-led. If this episode spoke to you, please follow the show, leave a review, or support the podcast through Listener Support on Buzzsprout.

Your energy keeps this fire burning and I’m deeply grateful you’re part of this unfolding story.

Pull the thread. Your fire is waiting.

Send us a text

What happens when the life you planned… suddenly isn’t your life anymore? 

In this honest and grounding episode, Katheryn shares what it really feels like when the plan you’ve worked so hard to build begins to unravel, not all at once, but thread by thread. From the unexpected layoff that ended her 20-year career in Oil & Gas and IT to the loss of identity, control, and certainty, she explores the quiet collapse that forces you to reevaluate everything. 

This episode dives into: 

• The subtle signs your plan is no longer aligned
• What it’s like to lose the structure you relied on
• The fear and freedom that come with the unknown
• Why our attachment to “the plan” runs so deep
• How clarity begins only after the dust settles

If you’re standing in the in-between, grieving what ended while trying to trust what’s next, this episode reminds you:
 
You’re not lost.
You’re being redirected.
 

Support the show

Thank you for being here and for pulling on the thread with me.

Every download, share, review, and moment you spend listening helps this community grow into something real, grounded, and heart-led. If this episode spoke to you, please follow the show, leave a review, or support the podcast through Listener Support on Buzzsprout.

Your energy keeps this fire burning and I’m deeply grateful you’re part of this unfolding story.

Pull the thread. Your fire is waiting.

Send us a text

“You Are Not Behind”

You are not behind. You are becoming.

In this deeply personal first episode, host Katheryn Meek opens up about the unexpected layoff that put a pause to her 20-year career in Oil & Gas and IT — and the emotional unraveling that followed. As a mom of four boys, a wife, a leader in a male-dominated industry, a mentor, and the “therapist friend,” Katheryn shares the raw truth about grief, identity loss, and rebuilding confidence after your life shifts overnight.

If you’ve ever felt behind or unsure of who you are without a title or a plan, this episode will remind you:

You are not late.
 You are not lost.
 You are becoming.

Support the show

Thank you for being here and for pulling on the thread with me.

Every download, share, review, and moment you spend listening helps this community grow into something real, grounded, and heart-led. If this episode spoke to you, please follow the show, leave a review, or support the podcast through Listener Support on Buzzsprout.

Your energy keeps this fire burning and I’m deeply grateful you’re part of this unfolding story.

Pull the thread. Your fire is waiting.