After three decades climbing the retail ladder, I did something I never thought I would — I quit. In this episode of Rock the Damn Boat, I share my story of building a career in retail leadership, the burnout that came with always saying yes, and the moment I realized it was time to start saying yes to myself instead.

If you’ve ever wondered who you’d be without the job title, paycheck, or approval of others — this one’s for you. We’ll talk about identity, courage, and what it really means to put yourself first after years of people-pleasing.

Keywords: retail burnout, career change, women in transition, people-pleasing recovery, self-worth, boundary setting, midlife reinvention, personal growth

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Welcome to Rock the Damn Boat — a podcast for women who’ve spent their lives keeping the peace, playing it safe, and putting everyone else first. I’m Christy Hughes — recovering people-pleaser, yoga teacher, and believer in doing the inner work that lets us live with more freedom and truth.

Around here, we talk about the things we’ve been taught to avoid — boundaries, guilt, burnout, self-worth — and how to find your voice again, even when it shakes a little. This is your permission slip to stop apologizing, start speaking up, and trust that rocking the boat might just be how you find your calm.

So take a deep breath, get grounded, and let’s rock the damn boat — together.

I was digging through some childhood mementos and found a Senior English essay on The Awakening by Kate Chopin. I was in awe of this book and its author because both were more progressive than their time permitted.

The book was banned for several decades and Chopin barely wrote after its scathing reviews. A half century later, the book was praised for its scenery and characters. Both the author and her main character were ahead of their time.

A boat rocker in every sense of the word, Kate Chopin wrote about extramarital affairs, the pursuit of creativity, and the less glamorous side of motherhood. In other words, any Real Housewives season.

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Welcome to Rock the Damn Boat — a podcast for women who’ve spent their lives keeping the peace, playing it safe, and putting everyone else first. I’m Christy Hughes — recovering people-pleaser, yoga teacher, and believer in doing the inner work that lets us live with more freedom and truth.

Around here, we talk about the things we’ve been taught to avoid — boundaries, guilt, burnout, self-worth — and how to find your voice again, even when it shakes a little. This is your permission slip to stop apologizing, start speaking up, and trust that rocking the boat might just be how you find your calm.

So take a deep breath, get grounded, and let’s rock the damn boat — together.

In today's episode, we're talking about the 15% minority club of which I'm a member: women without children. I talk about my own path to this ultimate outcome that I have zero regrets about. I also talk about how unfortunate it is when the 1 in 7 women we comprise are judged about how we spend our time, or the freedom we are perceived to have. It is not always by choice.

My hope is that everyone will think twice before uttering the phrase: "you don't have kids".

As a teenager of the 90's living a sheltered life, movies were an escape for me. Christian Slater's character in Pump Up the Volume represented exactly how I felt, shy and quiet to most, desperate to speak my truth. Watching that movie as an adult revealed a plot with more holes than Swiss cheese, but it did make me proud of how far I've come in breaking out of my shell.

I also rewatched Fried Green Tomatoes recently and resonated more with Kathy Bates than I did when the movie came out.

Who was your movie role model? Did you end up anything like them? Tawanda!

What motivated me to open a yoga studio in a conservative rural Texas town? I suppose the same thing that motivated Patrick Swayze to sashay through a small town in the movie To Wong Foo. Maybe not quite the same gumption, but the inner rebel in me didn't care that yoga might not be maintstream in Hamilton County.

After years of attending online yoga classes, I was ready to return to that sense of community that can only be found in a studio. It's been an uphill battle, but we have forged a small student base that is better together.

My "rock the damn boat" attitude really shines through when I teach that any body type can practice yoga. For one thing, what we do on the mat is only one limb of yoga: asana. And secondly, striving for physical perfection in yoga goes against the very idea of yogic philosophy.

This won't be the last you hear from me on this topic, but to understand my relationship with yoga is to understand my humble beginnings and how it has transformed me.

Between people pleasing and perfectionism, I have waged war on my body in more ways than I can count. As a naturally skinny teen, I gained the freshman 15 and then some in college. And the battles commenced:

• Weight Watchers in my twenties with a vicious cycle of bank the points, drink the points
• Macro Counting and a small notion of bodybuilding competitions, resulting in an indescribable shame cycle
• Intuitive Eating, which doesn't always work, but sure feels better than listening to a thousand experts give vastly different advice

While I haven't resigned myself to the fate of a "menopausal middle", I am learning to befriend my body, and to be a heckuva lot kinder to her. And also...less Blue Bell.

Quick Intro! If you were raised a Gen X-er in the Bible belt, you were likely taught to avoid conflict and adhere strictly to Christian ideals. Now, you are midlife and realize you've put everyone else first. How do you start to rock the boat?

Homework: Read Step Into Your Moxie by Alexia Vernon