133. Building and designing your life at every age and stage with Kerri-Ann Hooper

What happens after you finally do the thing you’ve dreamed about, worked towards, and poured everything you have into? In this episode, I take you behind the scenes of what happened after one of my biggest dreams, my Someday to TODAY event, became real, and what I discovered when I finally came back down to earth. Because there’s a side to doing big things we don’t talk about nearly enough. I walk through the incredible high, the physical and emotional crash that followed, and how my inner critic turned a handful of tiny logistical comments into a reason to question the entire thing. I share what happens when adrenaline disappears and why high achievers and perfectionists can be particularly vulnerable to the post-achievement crash. And why the moments immediately after doing something courageous may NOT be the best time to critique how you went. And once you’ve rested, recalibrated, and allowed yourself to appreciate what you’ve achieved... how are you going to leverage it? Whether you’ve run an event, finished a huge project, launched something, stepped onto a stage, shared something vulnerable, or finally done something you’ve been putting off, this episode invites you to think differently about what comes next. Because doing the big thing might not be the finish line, instead it might just be the starting point.

How much of who you are today has been shaped by things that happened years, or even decades, ago? A throwaway comment from childhood. Years of being criticised or second-guessed. A relationship where you gradually became less of yourself. Or an experience that left you afraid to go after what you want. In this episode, I chat with life and leadership coach and Author of Life After Divorce, Claire Adamou, to explore how these experiences can shape our confidence, identity and choices…often without us even realising it. Claire shares what it took to leave a marriage in which she'd lost herself, and how, after 40, she rebuilt her life and took her career in a completely different direction. We also explore the fears that can sit underneath even the most confident exterior and what can happen when you uncover where those fears really began. And why courage isn't always about saying yes, sometimes, it’s knowing when to say no.

What happens when you stop saying you’ll do something someday… and finally do it? Recorded just two days before my first Someday to Today event, this episode is a very real look at what it feels like to be in the messy middle of bringing a big idea to life, before I know how the story ends. I share the nerves and excitement, the mistakes and unexpected wins, and the lessons I didn’t see coming. From confronting my discomfort with asking, to a rather spectacular ticket-selling blunder, to a photoshoot that revealed a side of myself I rarely see, this experience has stretched me in ways I never expected. And as I watch nine other women say yes to doing something that scares them too, I’m seeing firsthand what can happen after you’ve said yes…when there’s nowhere left to hide, and you have to do the thing.

Have you ever wished someone in your life would change, only to be disappointed when they don't? Or held on to a relationship, a version of yourself, or something from your past, even when you know it's time to move on? In this episode, I sit down with psychotherapist, relationship coach, and entrepreneur Jo Woods for a conversation that takes us into some personal territory. We cover difficult family relationships and hidden insecurities, changing friendships, breaking old habits, and finding the courage to start something completely new in your 50s. Jo shares the moment she finally stood up for herself and what she discovered in the years that followed, including a fascinating perspective on the expectations we place on the people closest to us and what happens when those expectations aren't met. We explore why we can appear confident and capable on the outside while feeling completely different on the inside, what happens to our relationships as we grow and make different choices, and why knowing what we need to change and changing it are two very different things. And at 58, Jo is putting much of what she's learned into practice. Having just launched a new product business, Claridi, she shares what she's discovering about herself as she navigates the challenges, uncertainty, and vulnerability that come with putting something new into the world. It's a conversation about the courage it takes to change and the choices we make about what comes next.

What would you do if you knew you could fail? If you knew there was a chance it might not work, you might not be brilliant at it, or things might turn out completely differently than you hoped, would you still want to do it? In this episode, I explore how that one question has changed my relationship with failure, risk, and courage, particularly after spending much of my life as a high-achieving perfectionist who would sometimes rather not try at all than risk not being good enough. I share some of the experiences that have challenged that thinking, including the freedom that comes from doing your best rather than being the best, writing my book, and now creating my first full-day event, Someday to Today. I also cover what perfectionism may really be protecting us from, why self-doubt and imposter syndrome show up, and what changes when we stop needing all the ducks lined up before we move. For me, the bigger question isn't whether something might fail. It's whether the cost of never finding out has become greater than the risk of giving it a go.