The Squiggly Career: Claire Thomas on Burnout, Boundaries & Trusting Yourself | Mentors For Women скачать в хорошем качестве

The Squiggly Career: Claire Thomas on Burnout, Boundaries & Trusting Yourself | Mentors For Women

🚨 What if the belief that you need to say yes to everything — to be a good parent, to succeed at work, to be there for everyone — is the very thing that's been burning you out? Claire Thomas has spent over 25 years building what she calls a squiggly career: management consultant, telecoms analyst, interior designer, and now a mental fitness coach. After leaving the corporate world to run her own interior design practice, she returned to a structured role — and hit a wall. In her own words, that period was dark. It was also what led her to meditation, a skills reassessment, and a full retraining as a coach. Today she runs Reaching My Best, working with women who say yes to everyone, wear too many hats, and have lost sight of what they actually want. In this Mentors for Women interview, Claire shares what she found on the other side of burnout: that creativity was always the thread running through her career, that saying no is not a failure but a form of self-respect, and that a practice she calls "trust and surrender" — learning to work with how you feel each day rather than pushing against it — changes not only how you feel, but how much you actually get done. ⚡ IN THIS INTERVIEW: ↳ Why Claire calls her career squiggly and what creativity connects across all of it. ↳ Leaving corporate, building an interior design business, and what burnout actually taught her. ↳ Returning to corporate life and why the constraints felt so stifling after working for herself. ↳ What people pleasing really is underneath the surface — and why saying no changes everything. ↳ Trust and surrender in practice: building each day around how you feel, not just what's on the list. ↳ The coaching tools Claire has built, including The Splinter Method and Shine Your Light cards. ↳ How mindfulness and coaching work together to interrupt automatic behaviour before it takes hold. ↳ The 80-year-old self exercise and what you actually want someone to say about you. 💡 KEY INSIGHT: "When you have that space of saying no, you can show up to everything with more energy and more presence." 🎯 WHO THIS IS FOR: ✓ Women in corporate or running their own business who feel stretched across too many roles and want to pull back without everything falling apart. ✓ People pleasers who know something needs to change but can't quite see how to start. ✓ Women recovering from burnout or navigating a career transition who want to reconnect with what they actually value. ✓ Anyone drawn to a coaching approach that pairs mindfulness with genuine curiosity rather than a fixed method. ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Meet Claire Thomas 01:19 A Squiggly Career Thread 02:37 Hitting the Corporate Wall 04:11 People Pleasing to Boundaries 05:24 Creative Coaching Toolkit 06:21 Trust and Surrender Practice 09:40 Why She Mentors Women 11:01 Who She Helps Most 12:50 How Change Begins 14:27 Key Takeaways and Kindness 17:24 Closing Thanks 🌍 ABOUT MENTORS FOR WOMEN Mentors for Women is a global mentoring platform helping women find experienced mentors who truly understand their journey in career, business, and life. Whether you are just starting out, feeling stuck, or ready for your next step, you will find support, challenge, and confidence through meaningful mentoring relationships. Our mentors come from diverse industries, backgrounds, and countries, but share one purpose: helping women rise, thrive, and lead with impact. ​ 👉 Discover more at: https://mentorsforwomen.com/ 🎙️ ABOUT THE INTERVIEW SERIES Hosted by Dr Virpi Tervonen, this YouTube series features one Mentors for Women mentor at a time – their story, expertise, and mentoring style – so you can find the right mentor for your goals and personality. Expect honest conversations on leadership, career growth, resilience, and life transitions. 👉 Subscribe so you do not miss new episodes with visionary women leaders:    / @mentorsforwomen954   🧡 Meet Mentors for Women mentor in this episode: Claire Thomas – sharing real-world insights on burnout recovery, saying no without guilt, and a coaching practice grounded in mindfulness and creativity. 👉 Connect with Claire Thomas: MfW mentor profile: https://mentorsforwomen.com/community... LinkedIn:   / claire-thomas-stress-wellbeing-audit   ​ 👉 Connect with host Virpi Tervonen: MfW mentor profile: https://mentorsforwomen.com/community... Website: https://realrelevantresults.com/ YouTube:    / @virpitervonen   THANK YOU for watching "The Squiggly Career: Claire Thomas on Burnout, Boundaries & Trusting Yourself". #MentorsForWomen #ClaireThomas #Burnout #BurnoutRecovery #PeoplePleasing #SayingNo #MindfulnessCoaching #CareerTransition #WomenInBusiness #CoachingForWomen #CareerMentoring #WorkLifeBalance #MentalFitness #SelfCare #WomenLeaders