Rock the Damn Boat

What happens when you're succeeding on paper but falling apart on the inside? In Part 1 of this RTDB conversation, Christy sits down with Nicole Beaudin — alignment leadership coach, Reiki-trained facilitator, and author of the This Way to Lightness Substack — to talk about the corporate career that looked impressive from the outside and felt hollow from within.

Nicole shares her path from Williams-Sonoma and West Elm to Tory Burch, and the moment a psychic in Wisconsin handed her a piece of black tourmaline and changed everything. She opens up about discovering she's an empath, learning Reiki as an act of self-preservation, and what it felt like to look up at the women ahead of her in corporate and think: I don't want that life.

In this episode of RTDB, you'll hear:

• How Nicole's reference to an archaelogical dig reminded Christy of a transformative book
• Why high-achieving people pleasers are often the most disconnected from their own needs
• What empaths are (and the neuroscience behind why they experience the world differently)
• How Reiki became Nicole's entry point into intuitive healing
• The moment Nicole knew corporate retail wasn't her final chapter — and how she leaned into spiritual practice instead of pushing through

Learn more and work with Nicole at nicolebeaudin.com

Follow her Substack here: https://substack.com/@nicolebeaudin

Order your copy of Something More by Sarah Ban Breathnach from Thrift Books

Seven months into building a business from scratch, Christy Hughes gets honest about what entrepreneurship in this economy actually looks like — and why the disappointment so many women feel isn't a sign they didn't believe hard enough.

In this Sunday Shortie, she shares how a new corporate opportunity found her when she stopped forcing it, what it sounds like when intuition speaks up, and why The THRIVE Collective isn't going anywhere. If you're building something while wondering if you're doing it wrong, this one's for you.

What You'll Hear:

• Why business disappointment in this economy is normal — not a personal failing
• The manifesting myth: why you didn't think your way into struggle
• How Christy's new role landed when she listened to her gut instead of pushing harder
• What intuition actually sounds like in a job search
• Why The THRIVE Collective continues — and why going back to corporate makes it stronger
• The case for a life that holds both professional success and personal wholeness

Enjoyed this episode? Share it with a woman who's building something and wondering if she's failing.

Learn more about The Thrive Collective at thrivewithchristy.com

In this episode of RTDB, Christy sits down with Lori Wahl — a pet industry veteran with 15+ years in rescue and pet sales — to talk about the unexpected ways those two worlds overlap. Lori went from the corporate pet industry to serving as Development Director for Heidi's Village in Phoenix, one of the most meaningful pivots she's made.

Now, after relocating to Charlotte for her husband's career, Lori is navigating yet another reinvention — and she's honest about how hard it is to leave something you love. This one is for anyone who's ever had to close a chapter they weren't ready to close.

What You'll Hear:

• How Lori and Christy connected through the pet industry (shoutout to the Pet Firm in Phoenix)
• The surprising synergies between corporate pet work and animal rescue
• What led Lori to leave corporate for nonprofit — and what that transition actually looked like
• Her role as Development Director at Heidi's Village and what that work meant to her
• Relocating to Charlotte and stepping away from nonprofit life
• Why it's okay to change your mind — and how to stop apologizing for it
• Starting a new chapter even when the previous one wasn't "finished"
• How to find and get involved with your own local rescue — and why it matters more than you think

Resources/Links:

• Heidi's Village: heidisvillage.org
• National Rescue: aspca.org or bestfriends.org
• Connect with Lori: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lori-wahl/

Feeling inspired? Find your local rescue and show up — even in a small way. It adds up.

In this Sunday Shortie episode of RTDB, Christy explores Enneagram Type 9 — The Peacemaker — and what it really means to keep the peace at your own expense.

After testing equal parts Type 2 and Type 9, Christy digs into the 9's core patterns: avoiding conflict, numbing out, and the slow fade of self. She connects the 9's spiritual potential to the eight limbs of yoga as a grounding framework for growth — and gets honest about how the unhealthy 9's pull toward addiction showed up in her own life. Development tips sourced from the Enneagram Institute round out this bite-sized but powerful episode.

What You'll Hear in This Episode:

• Why Christy tested as both a Type 2 and Type 9 — and what the overlap reveals
• Core Type 9 traits: the peacemaker, the conflict-avoider, the one who disappears into the background
• What "not rocking the boat" actually costs you
• The healthy 9: becoming a spiritual seeker, grounded in contentment
• How the eight limbs of yoga support a 9's growth path
• The shadow side: how the 9's numbing tendency can fuel addiction (and Christy's personal connection to this)
• Growth tips for Type 9s from the Enneagram Institute

Resources Mentioned:

• Enneagram Institute — Type 9
• The Eight Limbs of Yoga

In this episode of RTDB, I sit down with Beckie Irvin to talk about the hidden cost of mission-driven work and why so many nonprofit leaders quietly struggle with burnout.

Beckie shares her personal experience navigating exhaustion, overwhelm, and the emotional weight that can come from constantly serving others without the systems and support needed to sustain the work. We discuss how nonprofits often rely on passionate people operating in survival mode — and why proper infrastructure, boundaries, leadership support, and sustainable operations matter just as much as the mission itself.

We also explore the healing side of burnout recovery: the small practices that helped Beckie reconnect with herself, the role creativity and photography played in restoring joy, and how building tiny, manageable habits can help people slowly find their footing again after a difficult season.

This conversation is a reminder that recovery doesn’t usually happen through dramatic overnight transformation. More often, it begins with small decisions, gentle routines, and giving yourself permission to rebuild one step at a time.

If you’re a nonprofit leader, entrepreneur, caregiver, helper, or high achiever who feels emotionally exhausted, this episode offers an honest look at burnout, healing, nervous system recovery, and the importance of creating a life that includes joy alongside responsibility.

• Burnout in nonprofit leadership and mission-driven careers
• Why passion alone cannot sustain unhealthy systems
• The importance of infrastructure and operational support
• Compassion fatigue and emotional exhaustion
• Recovering from burnout without shame
• Photography, creativity, and hobbies as healing tools
• Small daily habits that support mental wellness
• Lessons inspired by Atomic Habits by James Clear
• How to slowly rebuild motivation, energy, and hope

Beckie Irvin is passionate about helping organizations and individuals create more sustainable, healthy ways of working and living. Through her consulting work and creative pursuits, she advocates for balance, intentionality, and finding joy again after burnout.

Learn more at beckieirvin.com

For more about Christy's work or to apply to be on the show, visit thrivewithchristy.com

In this episode of RTDB, Christy dives into Enneagram Type 2 — The Helper. If you're a Two (or love one), this episode is your permission slip to stop giving from an empty cup.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

• Why Type 2s are the ultimate people pleasers — and what's really driving it
• The genuine strengths that make Twos magnetic, generous leaders
• The unhealthy patterns that can leave Twos burned out, resentful, and invisible to themselves
• 5 practical development tips for Type 2s ready to break the people-pleasing cycle

Strengths of the Enneagram Type 2

• Deeply empathetic and emotionally intuitive
• Natural connectors who make people feel seen and valued
• Generous, warm, and fiercely loyal
• Motivated by genuine love and care for others

Unhealthy Patterns to Watch

• Chronic self-sacrifice that leads to burnout
• Difficulty saying no — or even knowing what they want
• Seeking approval and validation through giving
• Resentment when help isn't reciprocated or recognized
• Suppressing their own needs to feel worthy of love

5 Personal Development Tips for Type 2s (as shared by the Enneagram Institute)

1. Notice the martyr pattern — Ask yourself if you're giving freely or keeping score unconsciously.
2. Practice receiving — Allow others to help you without deflecting or minimizing.
3. Name your own needs — Daily check-ins: What do I actually need right now?
4. Set boundaries without guilt — A "no" to others is often a "yes" to yourself.
5. Separate worth from helpfulness — You are enough without doing a single thing for anyone today.

👉 Learn more about the Enneagram Type 2 at The Enneagram Institute

Connect with Christy

• Join The THRIVE Collective: thrivewithchristy.com
• Follow on Instagram: @rockthedamnboat
• Subscribe & leave a review — it helps more women find the boat 🚤

If you'd like to be part of a community that supports this season of life, visit thrivewithchristy.com

In this episode of RTDB, Christy shares the unfiltered reality of 50 becoming one of the hardest — and most transformative — years of her life. What began as a season of exhaustion, brain fog, emotional overwhelm, and feeling like she was “falling behind” eventually led to deeper answers: menopause, hormonal shifts, an ADHD diagnosis, and a complete reevaluation of work, identity, and success.

Christy reflects on how her 8th year of sobriety felt like year one because of the chaos of perimenopause and post-menopausal changes that affected her focus, emotional regulation, confidence, and ability to perform in high-pressure corporate environments the way she always had before.

This episode is an honest conversation about what happens when high-achieving women suddenly realize they can no longer “push through” symptoms that are biological, neurological, and deeply intertwined.

Christy discusses the grief of leaving a career she worked hard to build, the fear and shame that can come with executive dysfunction and burnout, and why so many women are misdiagnosed, dismissed, or silently struggling during midlife transitions.

She also shares why seeking support matters — from hormone replacement therapy (HRT) conversations to finding qualified mental health and psychiatric care that understands the intersection of hormones, ADHD, anxiety, burnout, and women’s health.

If you’ve ever felt like you suddenly stopped recognizing yourself, this episode is a reminder that you are not lazy, broken, weak, or failing. Sometimes your brain, body, and nervous system are asking for support — not more pressure.

• What 8 years of sobriety has taught Christy about resilience and self-awareness
• The unexpected ways menopause impacted focus, mood, motivation, and emotional regulation
• How ADHD symptoms became impossible to ignore during hormonal changes
• The reality of struggling professionally after years of high performance
• Why leaving a corporate role can feel both devastating and freeing
• The connection between hormones, executive function, anxiety, and burnout
• Why women deserve informed conversations about HRT and psychiatric support
• How midlife can become a starting line instead of an ending

• Felt like your brain changed overnight
• Wondered if menopause was affecting your mental health
• Struggled to keep up at work despite trying harder
• Been diagnosed with ADHD later in life
• Felt ashamed of burnout or emotional overwhelm
• Questioned your identity after leaving a career
• Needed permission to ask for help

Because sometimes “This is 50” isn’t about slowing down — it’s about finally understanding yourself clearly for the first time.

Resources:

Dr. Mary Claire Haver, thepauselife.com

Ashleigh Auth (FL only), Pausitive Women's Care

Hormones by Design (TX only), https://hormonesbydesign.com/

She Recovers, https://sherecovers.org/

I drove to San Antonio for the NAWBO conference specifically to hear Jess Ekstrom speak.

As someone navigating entrepreneurship, visibility, podcasting, and leadership after corporate life, I deeply wanted to learn from women who are already standing confidently in rooms I’m still growing into.

But despite intentionally putting myself in that room, despite years of leadership experience, I still caught myself saying something so many women say automatically when I asked for a photo:

“Can I bug you…”

The moment itself was harmless. But the language behind it revealed something bigger.

Why do so many women instinctively apologize before taking up space? Why do we minimize ourselves before making even the smallest request? Why do capable, accomplished women still feel like they’re inconveniencing people simply by existing in the conversation?

In this episode of RTDB, we unpack the subtle language patterns that expose deeper conditioning around people-pleasing, self-worth, visibility, and confidence.

We talk about:

• How phrases like “sorry to bother you” quietly diminish our presence
• The hidden ways people-pleasing shows up in professional settings
• Why women often place others on pedestals instead of seeing themselves as equals
• The connection between language, nervous system safety, and confidence
• How to replace minimizing language with grounded, empowering communication
• Why visibility starts long before the stage, microphone, or business launch
• Remembering that every successful person is still just another human being

This conversation is about more than wording. It’s about identity. Confidence isn’t always built through giant leaps.
Sometimes it’s built by simply removing unnecessary apologies from our everyday language.

If you’ve ever overexplained yourself, softened your needs, apologized for asking questions, or felt intimidated in rooms you worked hard to enter — this episode will resonate deeply.

Follow Jess at jessekstrom.com

Join The THRIVE Collective at thrivewithchristy.com

In this episode of RTDB, Christy sits down with Danni Carr of iquitalcohol.com.au — and this one starts with a full-circle moment: back in 2022, Danni had Christy on her podcast when Christy first published her sobriety memoir. Now the tables have turned, and the conversation is just as good the second time around.

Danni shares her own sobriety journey — one she walked alongside her husband, musician Ash Grunwald — and the book they wrote together about it. She opens up about a year spent studying Compassionate Inquiry under the legendary Gabor Maté, and how that training reshaped everything she thought she knew about healing.

Now she's layering mindfulness and retreats onto her sobriety coaching, and this conversation is a masterclass in what it looks like to do the inner work and build something meaningful from it.

What you'll hear in this episode:

• The full-circle moment — Danni hosted Christy in 2022 when her sobriety memoir first published
• Danni and Ash Grunwald's sobriety journey and the book they wrote together
• What a year studying Compassionate Inquiry under Gabor Maté actually looks like — and how it changed her
• How manifestation guided hers and Ash's sobriety journey
• What sobriety, self-compassion, and safe spaces have in common

Connect with Danni:

• iquitalcohol.com.au
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/howiquitalcohol/
• Learn more about Christy's retreats and community at: thrivewithchristy.com

• Share this episode with someone quietly reconsidering their relationship with alcohol
• Please follow, subscribe and leave a review if you are loving this podcast

What if the anxiety, exhaustion, or low-grade frustration you've been feeling isn't a discipline problem — it's an alignment problem?

In this Monday Mini, Christy breaks down all nine Enneagram types and what they can teach us about why we're wired the way we are. More importantly, she explores what happens in our bodies and nervous systems when we spend too much time performing a version of ourselves that doesn't fit — and how coming back to your actual type can be one of the most grounding, regulating things you do.

Whether you're a Type 2 who's burned out from giving or a Type 8 who's been told to soften, this episode is permission to stop working against yourself.

In this episode of RTDB:

• A quick breakdown of all 9 Enneagram types
• How your type connects to nervous system regulation
• The real cost of "type masking" — and how to come home to yourself

Perfect for: women in transition, overthinkers, anyone who's ever been told they're "too much" or "not enough"

Learn more at theenneagraminstitute.com

Join The THRIVE Collective at thrivewithchristy.com