I Adapted Until I Slowly Stopped Being Me with Valerie Ritchie

I Adapted Until I Slowly Stopped Being Me with Valerie Ritchie

Have you ever looked around your life and quietly wondered: "When did I stop feeling like me?" In this deeply honest conversation, Debbie Thompson speaks with Valerie Ritchie — known as The Crone Goddess — about identity, silence, relationships and what happens when we spend years becoming who life asks us to be. Valerie shares the moments that slowly shaped her life: a childhood experience that taught her to become quieter, years of adapting to roles and expectations, and the unexpected feeling that surfaced when her marriage ended. Not heartbreak. Relief. Together they explore what it means to lose yourself gradually, the stories we carry for decades, and how midlife can become a return rather than an ending. This episode is for women who have spent years being: * the reliable one * the responsible one * the strong one * the woman who keeps everything together and are quietly wondering: "What's mine now?" Inside this conversation you'll hear: * how early experiences can quietly shape identity * the emotional cost of adapting yourself over time * people pleasing and self-abandonment patterns * recognising yourself inside life transitions * the difference between coping and truly living * what it means to return to yourself Maybe this isn't about becoming someone new. Maybe it's about remembering who was there all along. 👤 GUEST BIO Valerie Ritchie is a Midlife Empowerment Coach, speaker, and founder of The Crone Goddess. After more than 30 years in education, Valerie now supports women through midlife transitions, helping them reconnect with their identity, purpose, and inner power.  👤 GUEST LINKS Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/valerie.cronegoddess [https://www.facebook.com/valerie.cronegoddess] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/valerie.cronegoddess/ [https://www.instagram.com/valerie.cronegoddess/] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valeriej-cronegoddess [https://www.linkedin.com/in/valeriej-cronegoddess] Website: https://www.transformationinaction.co.uk [https://www.transformationinaction.co.uk/] 🌿 REWIRED & RADIANT LINKS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rewiredandradiant [https://www.instagram.com/rewiredandradiant] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rewiredandradiant [https://www.facebook.com/rewiredandradiant]

Performing Strength vs. Living Truthfully | Riham El Hawary on Burnout & Midlife

What happens when the role you’ve spent your whole life performing suddenly disappears? In this emotionally honest conversation, Riham El Hawary shares the quiet identity collapse that came after years of responsibility, performance, achievement, and caregiving. From being conditioned from childhood to become “the strong one,” to building success through survival and eventually experiencing emotional and physical burnout, this episode explores the deeper emotional cost of living through performance instead of truth. But beneath the responsibility, the success, and the coping mechanisms was a more confronting question: Who am I when nobody needs me anymore? This conversation explores the emotional reality many women experience during major life transitions — especially when identity has been built around being needed, useful, responsible, and emotionally available for everyone else. Together, Debbie and Riham explore: * emotional burnout from high functioning * identity shifts in midlife * intuition and self-abandonment * loneliness after caregiving * success versus fulfilment * learning to reconnect with yourself honestly * what happens when performance stops working * the emotional discomfort of sitting with yourself without distraction This episode is for women navigating: * emotional disconnection * people pleasing * burnout from coping * life transitions * internal conflict between external success and internal truth * midlife awakening and self-discovery Sometimes the hardest part of transformation isn’t changing your life. It’s finally asking yourself what you actually want underneath the role you’ve spent years performing. 👤 GUEST LINKS: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rihamelhawary.official [https://www.instagram.com/rihamelhawary.official/?utm_source=chatgpt.com] Website: https://www.personainternational.com [https://www.personainternational.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhawary [https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhawary?utm_source=chatgpt.com] YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/rihamelhawary [https://www.youtube.com/user/rihamelhawary?utm_source=chatgpt.com] 🌿 REWIRED & RADIANT: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rewiredandradiant [https://www.instagram.com/rewiredandradiant?utm_source=chatgpt.com] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rewiredandradiant [https://www.facebook.com/rewiredandradiant]

I Ignored Every Red Flag in a Toxic Relationship | Andrea Gonzales

At 19, Andrea Gonzales ignored the feeling that something wasn’t right. What began as a relationship that felt exciting and intense slowly became controlling, emotionally abusive, and eventually violent. In this deeply honest conversation, Andrea shares theexperience that changed the course of her life — including being kidnapped by her boyfriend after trying to end the relationship. But this episode goes far beyond the story itself. It explores the quiet ways women disconnect from their instincts, override their intuition, minimise red flags, and slowlylose themselves while trying to keep love, peace, or approval. Andrea speaks openly about self-worth, emotional conditioning, toxic relationship dynamics, intuition, healing, andthe long journey back to trusting herself again. This conversation is for women who: *          keep overriding what they feel *          struggle to trust their intuition *             people please to keep relationships safe *             feel disconnected from themselves *             have ignored red flags hoping things wouldchange *             are navigating identity shifts and emotionalexhaustion In this episode, we explore: ·      emotional abuse and coercive control ·      trusting your gut instinct ·      why women ignore red flags ·      toxic relationship patterns ·      self-worth and subconscious beliefs ·      family conditioning and relationship dynamics ·      healing after trauma ·      learning to trust yourself again ·      emotional survival and resilience ·      breaking generational patterns Some experiences change how you see relationships forever. Others change how you see yourself. And sometimes healing begins the moment you finally stop abandoning what you already know inside. 👤 GUEST LINKS: Instagram: Andrea Gonzales Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/andreagonzaleztv?utm_source=chatgpt.com] Facebook: Andrea Gonzales Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/AndreaGonzalezOficial/?utm_source=chatgpt.com] 🌿 REWIRED & RADIANT: Instagram: Rewired & Radiant Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/rewiredandradiant?utm_source=chatgpt.com] Facebook: Rewired & Radiant Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61579968982281&utm_source=chatgpt.com]

Why I started this Podcast. Midlife Crisis or Midlife Awakening?

In this episode, I’m in conversation with Rory Callaghan, where I share the story behind why I created The Stone in My Shoe. There wasn’t a big moment. Nothing fell apart. From the outside, my life worked. I was achieving, building, doing everything that looked “right.” But underneath it… there was a quiet feeling I couldn’t really explain.Something just didn’t feel like me anymore. It wasn’t strong enough to force change.But it also wasn’t something I could fully ignore. And for a while, I did what so many of us do.I stayed busy. I kept going. I carried on doing what I thought I was meant to do. But that feeling didn’t go away. That was my stone. Not a crisis.Not a breakdown.Just something sitting there… asking to be noticed. And eventually I realised — this isn’t something to push past.This is something to actually look at. This conversation with Rory explores that moment — and how it led me to create The Stone in My Shoe. Because I know how many women are living lives that look fine on the outside…while quietly knowing something doesn’t feel true anymore. How easy it is to override that feeling.To stay busy.To not ask the deeper question. This episode is about that space.The moment where something feels off… and you decide whether to ignore it or explore it. This is for you if: • your life looks good… but feels flat• you’ve been doing what’s expected of you for years• you feel a quiet sense that something isn’t fully aligned• you’re starting to question what you actually want In this episode, you’ll hear: • what my “stone” really was • how these moments show up quietly, not dramatically • why women trusting their intuition often starts with something small • the moment I realised I couldn’t keep overriding what I felt And maybe most importantly… This isn’t about changing everything. It’s about being honest…with what you already know. Rewired & Radiant Links: https://www.instagram.com/rewiredandradiant [https://www.instagram.com/rewiredandradiant] https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61579968982281 [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61579968982281] Links to Rory Callagan Instagram — @rorykchttps://www.instagram.com/rorykc [https://www.instagram.com/rorykc]

The Pressure to Do Everything as a Woman

There’s a version of success many women quietly try to live up to. Being present at home. Building something meaningful. Holding everything together without anything slipping. In this conversation with Disha Solanki, that expectation is gently unravelled. She shares what it really looked like to pursue ambition while raising a family — not as a polished story, but through the moments that stayed with her. Missing something that mattered. Carrying guilt for longer than she expected. Realising the pressure she was holding wasn’t sustainable. The turning point wasn’t one big decision. It was the slow recognition that the standard she was trying to meet — being everything to everyone — didn’t actually exist. And that continuing to push through it was costing her more than she realised. This conversation opens up the reality behind ambition, motherhood, and identity — and what happens when you begin to question how much you’re holding. This episode is for you if: • You feel the pressure to do everything well — and still feel like it’s not enough • You’re trying to balance ambition with being present at home • You’ve started to question the expectations you’ve been carrying In this episode, you’ll learn: • Why the idea of “doing it all” is often unrealistic • How internal pressure builds without being noticed • What happens when you push beyond your capacity for too long • Why there is no perfect time — and what that really means If something in this conversation feels familiar, it’s might be because it reflects a pressure many women carry quietly. And sometimes, simply recognising that is where things begin to shift. 👤 GUEST LINKS: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetrailblazehers [https://www.instagram.com/thetrailblazehers] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedishasolanki [https://www.instagram.com/thedishasolanki] Website: https://www.thetrailblazehers.com [https://www.thetrailblazehers.com/] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dishasolanki/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/dishasolanki/] 🌿 REWIRED & RADIANT: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rewiredandradiant [https://www.instagram.com/rewiredandradiant] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61579968982281 [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61579968982281]