This Is What I'm Here For

When you read your CV, do you recognise and believe in the person it describes? In this personal episode, I share how updating mine became a process of reconnecting with my professional identity and owning what my experience had taught me. We explore why the words on the page need to match how we see ourselves, so we can speak with integrity and conviction when we meet a hiring manager or future client.

Episode Summary:

You can look at your CV and know that everything on it is true, yet still find yourself struggling to fully own the professional identity it presents.

Over the summer, after ending a long-term client partnership, I sat down to update mine. What I expected to be a writing task became a much more personal process of recognising who I had become through the previous ten years of work, learning and experience.

In this episode, I share why it took several weeks and a number of attempts to reach a point where I could happily and proudly share that document. I needed to believe and own what it said about me, so that when I met a hiring manager or prospective client, I could speak from that understanding of myself.

Together, we explore:

• How reflecting on the work we’ve done helps us recognise the learning we’ve accumulated and what it means for who we are professionally.

• Why a change of role or direction can ask us to reconsider our identity, as well as update our CV.

• How AI can help us produce a beautifully worded document, while the work of believing and owning those words remains ours.

• Why integrity matters both in the accuracy of our CV and in the way we represent ourselves in conversation.

• How looking back at our experience can help us understand what we do best and with whom we work best.

If you’re preparing for a new role or client conversation, or finding that the way you see yourself hasn’t quite caught up with your experience, I hope you’ll find something familiar and useful here.

Listen Now:

Join me for an honest reflection on the person behind the CV, and why being able to say “Yes, this is who I am and what I bring” matters when we take that next step.

Connect with Lisa Birtles:

I’d love to continue this conversation with you on Substack at Lisa Birtles – Lit Up, where I share deeper insights, practical guidance and unfiltered stories.

If you’d like to explore how I can support you, your team or your organisation, you’ll find more at lisabirtles.com.

Website: lisabirtles.com
Instagram: @lisabthecoach

Substack: https://substack.com/@lisabirtles

What happens when you have the job, the relationship, the life that looks right on paper, but inside you feel completely disconnected?

In this deeply honest conversation, holistic psychotherapist and SoulPlanTM guide Gabrielle Cox shares the story of leaving her corporate career and her relationship in the same week, and what it really takes to rebuild your identity from the inside out.

Episode Summary

Have you ever done everything “right” and still found yourself on the bathroom floor wondering why you feel so lost?

In this episode, I sit down with Gabrielle Cox, whose life pivoted in 2018 when she left her senior corporate role and her long-term relationship in the same week. From the outside, everything looked successful. Inside, she was burnt out, dysregulated and deeply unfulfilled. After experiencing burnout twice and realising she had built her life around external expectations and validation, something had to change.

A meditation retreat with Dr Joe Dispenza became a powerful turning point, bringing a profound sense of connection andlove, but also a stark realisation when she returned home that she had no idea who she truly wanted to be. For the first time, there were no expectations driving her forward. Just space. And that space was both exhilarating and terrifying.

From painting and decorating to training in spiritual counselling and psychotherapy, Gabrielle shares how discovering SoulPlanTM felt like being truly seen for the first time. Not as ajob title,  not as someone’s partner, but as an energetic being with specific gifts, challenges and talents that could beconsciously activated.

This conversation covers a lot of ground:

• What it feels like to lose an external identity and sit with the discomfort of not knowing who you are next
• How burnout and dysregulation can be signals rather than failures
• The power of SoulPlanTM as an energetic blueprint and why it can feel so deeply affirming
• Why movement and embodiment are essential when we feel stuck, numb or overwhelmed
• How subtle language shifts can move us from struggle into challenge and possibility

This episode is perfect for anyone who feels disconnected from who they once were, unsure of who they are becoming, or feeling aware that the life they have built no longer feels right.

Listen Now:

Press play if you are somewhere in between who you were and who you know you are capable of becoming. Gaby's story is warm, grounded and completely without pretence, and this conversation is a genuine reminder that the disconnection you might be feeling right now is not a sign that something has gone wrong. It might just be the invitation you have been waiting for.

Connect with Lisa Birtles

Substack: https://substack.com/@lisabirtles

Website: lisabirtles.com
Instagram: @lisabthecoach
Connect with Gabrielle Cox

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tuningintoyoursoul
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tuningintoyoursoul
Substack: https://substack.com/@gabriellecox

Book a connection call: https://calendly.com/tuning_soul/connection-call

Episode Summary

It's been a while since I've recorded a public episode. Not because I had nothing to say. Because I was listening, learning, and building something worth coming back for.

This episode is me coming back.

In this episode:

Why the retreat was by design, not failure, and what I've been doing in the in-between.

The decision I finally had the courage to honour, and why so many of us think we're still deciding something we've actually already decided.

And something I want to say directly to everyone who has been reading, listening and watching without ever commenting publicly: I see you. And this episode is for you.

Press play if:

• You've ever mistaken a necessary retreat for falling behind.
• You've been moved by someone's work without ever telling them. Y
• ou're standing at the edge of a decision you've already made in your heart.
• Or you just need permission to belong without having to perform it.

Sit with this after listening:

What decision have you already made that you're still waiting to fully honour?

Connect with Lisa Birtles

Find me on Substack at Lisa Birtles - Lit Up: https://substack.com/@lisabirtles

Website: www.lisabirtles.com

Reach out publicly or privately, both are equally welcome.

Episodes are released when something responds, not on a rigid schedule, because that's how this work is built.

Becoming who you truly are is not always straightforward. Sometimes it follows burnout, big life changes, or moments that make you stop and reassess.

In this episode, Lisa is joined by Carolyn Appleton to explore identity, emotional intelligence and the role of the bodyin recognising what is actually right for you.

Episode Summary:

Have you ever carried on with something because it made logical sense or met other people's expectations, even though something in you was saying otherwise?

In this conversation, I’m joined by Carolyn Appleton and we explore what it really means to become who you are through the choices you make and the life events that influence you.

Carolyn shares her experience of burnout, earlier changes in her family life, including when her mother became a priest, and how those experiences shifted her sense of identity and possibility.

We also explore the difference between change that happens to you and change you begin to choose for yourself. From burnout and external shifts, to more intentional decisions such as her move to Valencia and designing a four day working week.

Alongside this, we talk about how easy it is to rely on logic and experience, and how that can lead us to override emotional responses and physical signals that are often trying to guide us.

In this episode, we explore:

• What burnout can reveal when you can no longer push through
• The impact of significant life changes on identity
• The difference between reactive and intentional change
• How emotional and body signals can help guide decisions

This episode is perfect for you if you are starting to question what still fits and what no longer does.

Listen Now:

If you are ready to reflect on the changes in your own life and consider what you might choose next, this conversation willgive you a grounded place to start.

Connect with Lisa Birtles:

Website: lisabirtles.com
Instagram: @lisabthecoach

www.linkedin.com/in/lisabirtles

Connect with Carolyn Appleton:

Substack: carolynappleton.substack.com

LinkedIn: Carolyn Appleton

Website: carolynappleton.co.uk

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stories/carolynappletree/

Inspired Action:

Notice one moment today where something feelsoff or fully aligned.

Pause before you move past it, and pay attention to what your body is telling you.

If you enjoyed this episode, follow and subscribe to This Is What I’m Here For, share it with someone who would enjoy it and give a 5-star review.

Episode Summary

What does it really look like to leave a secure career, follow a creative calling, and discover that the dream is both wonderful and hard in ways no one talks about? In this episode, author Caroline Hulse joins Lisa Birtles for a warm, funny and deeply honest conversation about writing, waiting, money,purpose and life with a small controlling dog who has very strong views about working from home.

Have you ever pursued a dream thinking that once you got there, everything would finally fall into place, only to realise that you are still you, with the same doubts, fears and questions, just in a different setting?

In this episode of This Is What I’m Here For, Lisa is joined byManchester based author Caroline Hulse, former HR professional, novelist published in fourteen languages, and owner of Ziggy, a small and very controlling dog who plays an unexpected role in Caroline’s creative life. When Lisa asked about a pivotal career shift, Caroline’s honest response was “Aargh, no”, and that sets the tone for a conversation that refuses to romanticise big life changes.

Together, Lisa and Caroline explore the long road from writing at night alongside a full time HR career to becoming a published author, the realities of turning a passion into a job, and the emotional weight of waiting, uncertainty and financial unpredictability. Caroline speaks candidly about money, privilege, security and why she still chooses this path, again and again, even when it feels uncomfortable.

In this episode, they talk about:

• Leaving a secure HR career to write full time, what no one warns you about, and why Caroline says she would not necessarily recommend her life shift, even though she would still choose it every day
• The everyday reality of a writing life, from spreadsheets and first drafts to waiting for emails that could change everything, and how uncertainty shows up in the body and the mind
• Purpose, including Caroline’s belief that she is here to entertain and be entertained, and how books, flawed characters and even a small controlling dog help her stay connected to the world

This episode is for anyone going through a transition, questioning whether the dream is worth the discomfort, or wondering if there is something more real and honest than the polished success stories we usually hear about on socialmedia.

Listen Now

Press play if you want a down-to-earth conversation about creativity, courage and choosing a life that makes sense to you, even when it is messy, uncertain and occasionally involves a dog who insists on being welded to your side.

Connect with Lisa Birtles:
Website: lisabirtles.com
Instagram: @lisabthecoach

Get your copy of Vivian Dies Again by C E Hulse: https://amzn.eu/d/086VvZvW

Episode Summary

Fresh from three powerful days at the Millionaire Mind Intensive TM event, Lisa records this spontaneous solo episode while the energy is still very much alive.

What began with hesitation turned into a weekend of unexpected learning, powerful insights, and one moment on the final day that revealed something important about how she responds when she feels pushed outside her comfort zone.

A warm and honest reflection on courage, values, and the patterns that shape how we show up in life.

Have you ever had one of those moments where something happens and suddenly you see yourself more clearly than you did before?

In this episode Lisa shares a very real and very fresh reflection after spending three intense days at a training event . When the invitation first arrived she wasn’t sure whether to go. It meant giving up an entire weekend and stepping into an environment that felt quite different from the spaces she usually learns in. But something about the invitation kept nudging her forward, and she decided to trust that instinct and say yes.

What followed was three days of high energy learning, connection with new people, and moments that challenged her in ways she hadn’t quite expected. By the end of the weekend she found herself feeling energised, inspired and full of ideas for what comes next.

But it was something that happened during the final hours of the event that really stayed with her.

A single exercise sparked a deeper realisation about how she responds when she feels pressure, when her values are triggered, and how easily we can slip into patterns we may not even realise are there.

And it brought one simple phrase back into focus:

"How you do anything is how you do everything".

In this episode Lisa reflects on the insight that landed for her in that moment and why it has prompted a new level of curiosity about the patterns that shape how we show up in our lives, our work and our relationships.

She explores:

• How the moments we resist and want to hide from can sometimes reveal the biggest personal insights

• What can happen when we step outside our comfort zone and stay curious about our reactions

• The powerful role our values play in shaping how we respond to challenge

• Why simply noticing our patterns can open the door to deeper growth. Awareness is the first step in creating change

This episode is perfect for anyone who is doing the work of personal growth and self awareness and who is open to learning more about subconscious patterns that can so powerfully influence how we show up in the world.

Listen Now

Press play if you enjoy honest reflections about personal growth and the kind of insights that only land when we’re willing to step outside our comfort zone and really look at what’s going on beneath the surface.

Connect with Lisa Birtles:

Website: lisabirtles.comInstagram: @lisabthecoach

Episode Summary

What if nothing is wrong with you? What if your mind is not broken, but powerful?

In this episode, I am joined by Cat Williams, known as The Stallion Mind Speaker, to explore how the subconscious mind shapes our confidence, fears and sense of identity. As we step into the Year of the Fire Horse, this conversation is an invitation to lead your mind with calm and clarity and to take the reins of your own potential.

Have you ever felt capable on paper and yet quietly doubtful underneath? Qualified, experienced and still questioning yourself?

In this conversation I sit down with Cat Williams, transformational hypnotherapist, author and confidence specialist, known as The Stallion Mind Speaker. Cat brings more than twenty five years of therapeutic experience to her work, alongside the lived experience of being a military wife navigating uncertainty, resilience and identity in real time.

We explore how the subconscious mind is largely formed in the first seven years of life and how those early experiences can shape everything from people pleasing and perfectionism to fear of public speaking and imposter syndrome. Cat explains that the subconscious is not trying to sabotage us. Its only job is to keep us safe and alive. When we understand that, shame begins to soften.

We also talk about her journey from physiotherapist to therapist, the moment she realised she needed to understand what was happening in the mind rather than just the body, and how standing in her kitchen while her husband was deployed to Afghanistan led to the writing of her first book, Stay Calm and Content No Matter What Life Throws at You.

In this episode we explore:

• How early subconscious programming influences adult confidence and visibility
• 
  
• The three core fears of not being good enough, being rejected and believing what we want is not available to us
  Why confidence is something we reclaim rather than something we learn
• What it means to become a calm, competent leader of your own mind

Cat speaks powerfully about discovering your incredible potential and practising what you preach. She shares her belief that we are here to ride into the sunset of our own potential and keep going, not alone, but taking others with us.

This episode is perfect for anyone who senses there is more available to them, but knows that fear or old conditioning has been quietly holding the reins.

Listen Now

If you are ready to see your fears with more compassion and your potential with more courage, this conversation will meet you exactly where you are. Press play and take the reins of your potential.

Connect with Lisa Birtles

Website: lisabirtles.com
Instagram: @lisabthecoach

Connect with Cat Williams

Website: https://www.buildingyourconfidence.com
Instagram: @catwithconfidence
YouTube: Cat Williams
LinkedIn: Cat Williams

Change is everywhere right now, and it is landing in very different ways for each of us. In this solo episode, Lisa explores the human experience of change, whether it is chosen, unexpected, or something we are being asked to lead, and offers a grounded, compassionate perspective on finding a way forward.

Have you been feeling unsettled, restless, or quietly aware that something is shifting, even if you cannot quite name what it is yet? Or perhaps change has already arrived in your life in a way you did not expect, and you are still finding your footing.

In this solo episode, Lisa returns to the microphone after a short break to explore change in all its forms. Drawing on her own lived experience and many years of working with people and leaders through complex transitions, she reflects on why change feels particularly intense right now and why it cannot be reduced to strategy or plans alone.

Lisa introduces three lenses through which change often shows up in our lives. The change we choose, the change that happens to us without warning, and the change we are asked to lead on behalf of others. Through personal reflection, real examples, and gentle but practical guidance, this episode invites you to slow down, recognise where you are in relation to change, and approach what is unfolding with greater honesty, care, and self compassion.

Throughout the episode, Lisa speaks openly about the emotional and physical impact of change, why unplanned change can feel deeply personal, and how leaders can handle change in ways that preserve dignity, trust, and humanity. This is not a conversation about fixing or forcing change, but about understanding it, humanising it, and finding a way forward one step at a time.

In this episode, Lisa explores:

• Why change feels so overwhelming right now, both personally and collectively

• The three different ways change shows up in our lives and why they require different responses

• How to work with the feeling that change is needed, even when clarity feels elusive

• The emotional reality of unplanned change and why it can mirror grief

• What truly makes change succeed or fail when you are leading others through it

This episode is especially for you if you are in a season of transition, feeling the stirrings of change, navigating something unexpected, or holding responsibility for guiding others through uncertainty.

Listen Now

If you are living through change, sensing it on the horizon, or supporting others through it, this episode will help you feel less alone, more grounded, and more able to take the next right step forward.

Connect with Lisa Birtles

Website: lisabirtles.com
Instagram: @lisabthecoach

Episode Summary

A deeply moving Christmas-season conversation about love, hope, and the power of never giving up.

How one mother, Kate Markland, transformed just one hour a week with her son into stories that are now changing children’s lives around the world.

Two days before Christmas, this episode feels like a gift.

A reminder that even in the hardest moments, love finds a way to express itself, sometimesthrough stories, sometimes through courage, and sometimes through an unexpectedhug.

In this episode of This Is What I’m Here For, Lisa sits down with Kate Markland, mother, storyteller and creator of StoryQuest™, to share a story that is both deeply personal and profoundly important. For 23 months, Kate was allowed just one hour a week of contact with her son Gabriel, via FaceTime. What could have broken them instead became their lifeline.

Together, they told stories. Those stories grew into The Adventures of Gabriel, a #1 Amazon bestselling children’s book series, and into a storytelling methodology now used in schools across the UK and beyond, achieving 100 percent engagement across hundreds of children.

At the heart of this conversation is a mother’s unwavering love for her child, and a refusal to give up even when the system feels immovable. Kate speaks with extraordinary honesty about the moment her son was taken, the daily discipline it took to keep going, and the choice she made not to become a victim, but tocreate something meaningful from pain.

Just days before this recording, Kate and Gabriel unexpectedly crossed paths and shared a long, warm hug. A moment that carries the spirit of Christmas so powerfully. A reminder that hope does not disappear, even when it has been waiting a longtime.

As the conversation unfolds, Kate shares how their private storytelling ritual became StoryQuest™, a framework that gives children a voice, removes fear of getting things wrong, and allows imagination, confidence and collaboration to flourish.From inner-city Bradford classrooms to international interest across Europe, North America and Asia, this work shows what becomes possible when children are invited to be creators, not consumers.

This episode is about love. About trust. About never giving up on your child or yourself. And about the quiet, determined belief that stories can change lives, and sometimes systems too.

This episode contains references to family separation and may be tender for some listeners. Please take care while listening.

Connect with Lisa

Lisa is an intuitive strategist, coach and mentor supporting women and values-led leaders to reconnect with purpose, self-worth and impact, and find the power of their voice, especially during moments of transition.

If this episode resonated with you and you’d like to explore Lisa’s work further:

🌍 Website: ⁠⁠https://lisabirtles.com⁠⁠

📸 Instagram: ⁠⁠https://instagram.com/lisabirtles⁠

💼 LinkedIn: ⁠⁠https://linkedin.com/in/lisabirtles⁠⁠

Connect with Kate Markland

You can learn more about Kate and Gabriel’s work, explore their books, and discover StoryQuest™ here:

🌍 Website: ⁠https://theadventuresofgabriel.com⁠

📚 The Adventures of Gabriel (available via Amazon and the website)

🎓 StoryQuest™: Resources and information for schools, educators and communities

Sharing Kate and Gabriel’s story helps amplify work that is already changing children’s lives and giving voice to those who are too often unheard.

Episode Summary

There is a moment in almost every purpose journey when you realise that the direction you feel drawn toward makes no sense on paper. It does not match your childhood conditioning or the career path you once imagined or the expectations you absorbed from the people around you. And yet, something in you knows it is the next true step.

In this episode I sit down with NLP pioneer Fran Burgess, who grew up in a deeply scientific family and was expected to follow a familiar, logical route into the world of academia. Instead, she found herself pulled toward the study of people, perception and meaning, which eventually led her to become one of the most respected figures in NLP modelling and therapeutic transformation.

Fran shares how curiosity became her compass, how intuition gently challenged her early assumptions and how spirit began to weave itself quietly into her work long before she fully recognised it. We explore the difference between a life shaped by expectation and a life shaped by inner truth, and how purpose often grows slowly, revealing itself through lived experience rather than a single defining moment.

Inside this conversation we explore:

• The expectations that shaped Fran’s early life and the moment she realised her true path lay elsewhere

• How curiosity opened the doorway to NLP, human modelling and a deeper understanding of behaviour

• The gradual and powerful emergence of spirit within her work

• Why purpose is rarely linear and instead unfolds through resonance, experience and intuition

• What it feels like to follow a call that does not look sensible to others but feels unmistakably right to you

This episode is perfect for anyone who senses they are being guided somewhere new and needs reassurance that purpose often arrives quietly, grows slowly and becomes clearest when we stop trying to control it.

Listen Now

Press play to hear how Fran followed the call that made little sense to the outside world yet became the truest foundation of her life’s work.

Connect with Lisa Birtles:
Website: lisabirtles.com
Instagram: @lisabthecoach

Buy Fran's Books on Amazon:

The Bumper Book of Modelling by Fran Burgess;

https://amzn.eu/d/3KHnoRR