Welcome to The Authentic Social Club, a space for honest conversations. About life, about the things we’re figuring out, the things we’ve already messed up, and the things we’re slowly starting to understand. Sometimes it’ll be me on my own. Sometimes it’ll be me with a friend. People who are ready to sit down and have a conversation.

The whole idea behind this podcast is simple: someone has to go first. Someone has to be the one to open up, to say the thing, to be a little bit brave, so that other people feel like they can too.

Welcome back (and also, welcome for the first time)!

In this first solo episode, I’m sharing why I’m bringing the podcast back and why it looks a little different this time.

I talk about what happened to my first podcast (launched in 2022, then quietly dropped when life got overwhelming), and how passion projects are so often the first things we sacrifice when our plates get too full. I also get into the big topic I’ve been sitting with lately: ambition, and where it actually comes from.

For most of my life, my drive was fuelled by anger and a need to prove myself, a pattern I trace back to my years as a competitive athlete. It worked. But it also kept me stuck in a loop of tension, anxiety, and chasing a life I wasn’t even sure I wanted. This year, I decided to slow down, step back from freelancing, and ask myself an uncomfortable question a friend posed two years ago: Are you doing this because you want to, or just to prove something?

This episode is about what I found when I actually stopped to look.

Some questions to sit with after you listen:

* What is your ambition or drive fuelled by, and what does it feel like in your body?

* Are you moving towards something, or running away from something?

* What’s something you want to do just because it lights you up, no logic needed?

* What would you do differently if joy was the only reason you needed?

Loved this episode? Share it with someone who might need it, and leave a rating or comment. It helps this little community grow.

Find me on Instagram if something resonated! 👇

@theauthenticsocialclub

And here's the article I mentioned about aligned ambition!

My dear friends,

Welcome to The Authentic Social Club. A space for honest reflection, real talk and reconnection with yourself.

Today we're diving into fear and how to take action anyway. I share the story behind the pink post-it on my desk that says "I'm scared, but I'm doing it anyways," my journey from being the shyest kid in the room to doing things that scare me, and the tools that help me move forward when every part of me wants to hide.

This episode will leave you:

🌞 feeling less alone with your own fears and the ways you've been hiding

🌞 with practical tools to help you do the scary thing (even when your heart is racing)

🌞 inspired to write your own post-it note and take that next brave step

If this episode resonates, I'd love to hear from you.

You can get in touch with me via Instagram @caitlin_atknsn_ or here on Substack. Please don't hesitate to reach out. And I'd really appreciate your support, so hit like, leave a rating, share an episode. That would be the most impactful help.

Thank you 🫶🏼

My dear friends,

welcome to The Authentic Social Club. A space for honest reflection, real talk and reconnection with yourself.

Today we’re diving into this belief that everyone else has it figured out, but we don’t, and other lies we tell ourselves. I share my reflections, my own experiences and some small practices that help me shift my focus from looking for answers externally to zooming in on my internal world.

This episode will leave you

🌞 feeling a little less alone with your own challenges and the comparison traps you get stuck in,

🌞 with a good laugh and a "jep, I hear you" - feeling,🌞 and some practical tools and tips how to navigate your way through phases of comparison and doubts.

If this episode resonates, I’d love to hear from you.

You can get in touch with me via Instagram @caitlin_atknsn_ or here on Substack. Please don’t hesitate to reach out. And I’d really appreciate your support, so hit like, leave a rating, share an episode. That would be the most impactful help.

Thank you 🫶🏼.

My dear friends,

Welcome back to Caitlin, my life and I! ☀️

The past two weeks have been quite the rollercoaster, again. As usual nowadays 😅. But, times like these come with many learnings. And reminders! 

Which is what this episode is about. A reminder that 

- the grass is not always greener on the other side and
- to trust the process. 

Keeping it nice and short here to not spoil to much from the episode! :P 

Happy listening! 

If you value this podcast and the content in this episode, I kindly ask you for one massive favor: Please go ahead and leave a rating. More than anything this helps me and my little podcast to reach more people and create an even bigger platform to share thoughts and let people know “Hey, you’re not alone with this” <3.

Thank you for your support.

And if you would like to share your thoughts or leave a comment on this episode: Please do so! I highly appreciate it. You can comment right below the podcast episode or send me a message on Instagram @caitlin_atknsn .

Forever grateful for you being here. Enjoy listening!

See you later alligator!
Caitlin

My dear friends,

Welcome back to Caitlin, my life and I! Or maybe I should rename it to Caitlin, my chaos life and I. 

Honestly, the beginning of this year has already felt like months!! So much has happened, emotional rollercoasters. Slightly overwhelming. 

Which is also why I’ve been behind with this podcast. But one thing I’ve noticed while recording this episode: I do still really enjoy doing this and will for sure prioritize doing the podcast again. It really helps me to reflect on things by speaking it out loud. And also listening to it again afterwards 😅.

So what’s this episode about: 
Well, I’ve been moving around a bit, turned my business upside down and ended up coming back to Portugal because I was in desperate need of a safe and chill place to be. To put it in a nutshell. 

With being in a completely new life situation a loooooot of learnings have happened, which I tried to reflect on a little in the pod. From reminding myself about the connection between myself and the people closest in my surroundings to visualizations of me and all my moving “life-fields” and why it’s difficult to latch on to them from the outside. Over creating a space space for myself to finding balance between not just two, but multiple personalities. 

As always, take what you need! I hope you can find some kind of inspiring thought in this episode. 

And, please do let me know if you enjoy these kind of things, so I can take that into consideration when planning this year’s episodes :)! <3 

If you value this podcast and the content in this episode, I kindly ask you for one massive favor: Please go ahead and leave a rating. More than anything this helps me and my little podcast to reach more people and create an even bigger platform to share thoughts and let people know “Hey, you’re not alone with this” <3.

Thank you for your support.

And if you would like to share your thoughts or leave a comment on this episode: Please do so! I highly appreciate it. You can comment right below the podcast episode or send me a message on Instagram @caitlin_atknsn .

Forever grateful for you being here. Enjoy listening!

See you later alligator!
Caitlin

My dear friends, 

Trying to be consistent with this is almost working. Let‘s see if I can uplevel myself in the next weeks :D ! 

At least I got my microphone working again, but I think I might have trashed it a little while traveling, so the quality is still not back to usual. But well, it‘s about the content and the message, right?

That being said, this weeks episode is about feeling lost and not knowing where you belong. When nothing is a reassuring YES, but just a „yeah, could be nice“. Working alone, traveling alone. Although I really don‘t mind being alone, I have been feeling lonely lately. 

The thing is though, this feeling is not going to just go away by moving to a new country again. It‘s something within me, that I need to work through and figure out for myself. How can I comfort myself. How can I give myself the security that I‘m craving so much. 

All of that and the usual random babble in this weeks episode! 

If you value this podcast and the content in this episode, I kindly ask you for one massive favor: Please go ahead and leave a rating. More than anything this helps me and my little podcast to reach more people and create an even bigger platform to share thoughts and let people know “Hey, you’re not alone with this” <3.

Thank you for your support.

And if you would like to share your thoughts or leave a comment on this episode: Please do so! I highly appreciate it. You can comment right below the podcast episode or send me a message on Instagram @caitlin_atknsn .

Forever grateful for you being here. Enjoy listening!

See you later alligator!
Caitlin

My dear friends ☀️,

 Welcome to 2024 and the first episode of the year! 

Honestly, this first week feels like it‘s been a month already 😅. 
The year is basically starting of with EVERYTHING new!!! 

New work environment, travelled to a new place, working fully remotely. Exciting and amazing, no question. Buuuut also some new frustrations, questions and topics have come up through this experience. Things, that sounds super simple, but I just did not have on my mind. Or at least didn‘t pay enough attention to. To now notice, how important these things actually are to me to be able to feel comfortable and work effectively.

But as everything, it‘s a journey. Many lessons to be learned along the way. And I will tell you more about it in the new podcast episode of Caitlin, my life and I! 

If you value this podcast and the content in this episode, I kindly ask you for one massive favor: Please go ahead and leave a rating. More than anything this helps me and my little podcast to reach more people and create an even bigger platform to share thoughts and let people know “Hey, you’re not alone with this” <3.

Thank you for your support.

And if you would like to share your thoughts or leave a comment on this episode: Please do so! I highly appreciate it. You can comment right below the podcast episode or send me a message on Instagram @caitlin_atknsn .

Forever grateful for you being here. Enjoy listening!

See you later alligator!
Caitlin

My dear friends,

the podcast has not died. Don’t you worry! 😅 But I have had some technical issues the past weeks and my time management is completely off. I am very sorry about that.

The technical set up is still not the best and out of emergency I recorded this episode with my phone. So please bear with me and excuse that the episode is not up to usual standards 🙊. 

I feel like this episode is all over the place. Although it actually has a script! For once. But well, scripts and a bad time management don’t work well for me. 

Anyhow, as it’s the last day of the year I guess it’s the perfect time for a little 2023 reflection. And also an outlook into 2024! I‘m honestly quite excited. 

Aaaand the podcast is 1 year old now!! 🥳 A year ago, while I was in beautiful Barcelona I released the podcast. It was one of the most amazing moments and feelings ever. Honestly! 

I thank you all very much, from the bottom of my heart for your support with this podcast. I know there is still so much room for improvement, but no matter what, you take the time to listen in. And I always get so excited when one of you sends me a message regarding an episode or a topic!! So I’m truly very grateful for that ❤️. 

That being said, I will do my best to release episodes more regularly in the upcoming yea . And I of course hope that you will tune in again ☺️. 

Happy New Year!!!

If you value this podcast and the content in this episode, I kindly ask you for one massive favor: Please go ahead and leave a rating. More than anything this helps me and my little podcast to reach more people and create an even bigger platform to share thoughts and let people know “Hey, you’re not alone with this” <3.

Thank you for your support.

And if you would like to share your thoughts or leave a comment on this episode: Please do so! I highly appreciate it. You can comment right below the podcast episode or send me a message on Instagram @caitlin_atknsn .

Forever grateful for you being here. Enjoy listening!

See you later alligator!
Caitlin

My dear friends,

time for a November recap! Maybe I'll make this a regular thing, to have a little monthly reflection on learnings. 

November was a time for a lot of changes, a lot of reflection. And some learnings are definitely nothing new, but just a reminder to re-focus on myself. Who knows, perhaps these learnings can also be of some help to you, too.

So here we go, my 5 learnings in November. From accepting change to protecting my energy, make sure to tune into the podcast to find out more about what's been going on this past month and my take aways from it.

If you value this podcast and the content in this episode, I kindly ask you for one massive favor: Please go ahead and leave a rating. More than anything this helps me and my little podcast to reach more people and create an even bigger platform to share thoughts and let people know “Hey, you’re not alone with this” <3.

Thank you for your support.

And if you would like to share your thoughts or leave a comment on this episode: Please do so! I highly appreciate it. You can comment right below the podcast episode or send me a message on Instagram @caitlin_atknsn .

Forever grateful for you being here. Enjoy listening!

See you later alligator!
Caitlin

My dear friends,

this weeks topic, don't we all love it: Change.

Do you avoid it or accept it?

The past two weeks have brought up a lot from the past 6 months. Things feel aligned/not aligned anymore. People are in my life/not anymore. Feeling more at home in the city/close to nature. And so on and on and on. At the end of the day, all these situations have one thing in common for me: It's about change. Something has changed.

And I've been struggling a little with accepting some of these changes. I end up dwelling on the past and instead of accepting and moving on, I end up thinking about why certain things aren't as they used to be anymore. Which, let's be honest, is not getting me anywhere! 

So, lesson learned. Again. Some things are best kept in the past. Let's see change as something positive, that opens up new doors in life, brings new experiences, new people and places. Who knows what else is out there! 

Enjoy the ride!

If you value this podcast and the content in this episode, I kindly ask you for one massive favor: Please go ahead and leave a rating. More than anything this helps me and my little podcast to reach more people and create an even bigger platform to share thoughts and let people know “Hey, you’re not alone with this” <3.

Thank you for your support.

And if you would like to share your thoughts or leave a comment on this episode: Please do so! I highly appreciate it. You can comment right below the podcast episode or send me a message on Instagram @caitlin_atknsn .

Forever grateful for you being here. Enjoy listening!

See you later alligator!
Caitlin