The Story I'm Telling Myself

Are you showing up to work physically, but sitting at your desk running on total mental empty? In this episode of The Story I'm Telling Myself , host Rita Ernst welcomes consultant psychologist Tabby Kerwin to unpack the silent crisis of presenteeism and how we navigate loss in both life and career. Grab the episode companion activitation guide Tabby shares her deeply personal transformation a...

Are you exhausted from feeling like you have to be the all-knowing expert with every answer? Rita Ernst welcomes UK Chartered Occupational Psychologist and co-host of Truth, Lies and Work , Leanne Elliott. Together, they unpack why our childhood conditioning to "have the right answer" triggers the expert trap in modern business—and why AI is making raw knowledge work obsolete. Grab the c...

When life pulls the rug out from under you, do you sink into the struggle or choose how you rise? Grab the companion episode Activation Guide . In this powerful episode of The Story I'm Telling Myself , host Rita Ernst sits down with inspiration specialist Russ Hedge. After spending years as a caregiver for his parents through Alzheimer’s and cancer, Russ received his own Stage 4 melanoma diag...

Are you secretly terrified of public speaking, hiding behind slides, scripts, and numbers, hoping nobody notices your hands shaking? You are not alone. In this episode of The Story I'm Telling Myself , host Rita Ernst sits down with storytelling expert John Elbing to dismantle the crippling anxiety that keeps so many of us standing in our own way. Grab the companion episode activation guide he...

Is your inner critic running—or ruining—your life? Grab the companion episode activation guide. Welcome to a transformative episode of The Story I'm Telling Myself , the go-to mindset podcast and positivity podcast hosted by Rita Ernst. In this episode, we sit down with 10-time Emmy Award-winning television producer turned storytelling strategist Valerie Gordon. As the author of Fire Your Narr...

Are you exhausted from shape-shifting to meet everyone else’s expectations? On this episode of The Story I’m Telling Myself, host Rita sits down with Humaira Akhter, a transformational coach who shares her powerful journey from growing up in Bangladesh to navigating the corporate validation trap. Grab the episode activation guide. If you are searching for a mindset podcast or positivity podcast th...

Stop micromanaging and start thriving in a culture of commitment. Grab the episode activation guide In this episode of The Story I’m Telling Myself , host Rita Ernst sits down with Sabrina Parsons, CEO of Palo Alto Software , to dismantle the myth of the "perfect resume." After people with the "perfect resume" were leaving while other new hires were thriving, Sabrina and her leadership team got cu...

Are you "checking the boxes" of self-care while your nervous system is actually in a state of freeze? Grab the companion episode activation guide In this episode of The Story I’m Telling Myself , Elsa Valentine—an entrepreneur, artist, and coach—shares her personal transformation from scaling a high-growth nutrition brand to experiencing a total physical shutdown at the height of her suc...

Are you allowing a single moment of shame from your childhood to dictate the rest of your life? Grab the companion episode activation guide In this episode of our personal growth podcast, Rita is joined by Alexia Georghiou, a retired mental health therapist and the founder of the Knoxville Happiness Coalition, to discuss her radical journey from selective mutism to global advocacy. In this mindset...

Are you following the loneliness script of grief? Grab the episode activation guide to reset your relationship with grief . In this powerful episode of The Story I’m Telling Myself , host Rita Ernst welcomes writer and storyteller Dimple Dhabalia , the founder of Roots in the Clouds. In this mindset podcast episode, Dimple shares her transformative frameworks, including the "Ministry of Prese...

Stop predicting what will make you happy and start reflecting instead. Grab the episode companion activation guide with prompts from Suneet Bhatt. Most of us treat happiness as a future destination—a prediction or a projection of "I’ll be happy when..."—but our guest, Suneet Bhatt, argues that we have it completely backward. In this episode of our mindset podcast, Suneet, a Rutgers Unive...

Is it time to commit "professional suicide"? If you’ve ever felt like your career identity is a noose instead of a safety net, this episode is your wake-up call. ⁠Grab the episode activation guide here⁠ Host Rita Ernst sits down with Tiffany Ramos-Cardwell , an HR powerhouse with over 30 years of experience, to discuss the terrifying and transformative shift from the corporate "grind" to a life of...

Are you standing in your own way, or are you ready to finally bet on yourself? Grab the episode companion activation guide. In this powerful episode of The Story I’m Telling Myself , we sit down with Ann Njoroge, a Nairobi-based creative who made the radical leap from the "safe" world of accounting to the freedom of podcast and social media management. If you’ve been searching for a mind...

Are you the architect of your own unwellness? . Grab the episode companion self-reflection guide here . Many high-achieving women are trapped in a cycle of "Human Doing" rather than "Human Being," believing their worth is strictly tied to their productivity. In this personal growth episode of our podcast, we sit down with Monique Helstrom , former Chief of Staff to the legendar...

Is your career success outrunning your own biography? Grab your complimentary episode self-reflection guide here If you’ve ever found yourself sitting in a high-level meeting—maybe you have the degree, the signing authority, and the title—yet you feel like the outsider who doesn't belong, this episode of The Story I’m Telling Myself is for you. In this powerful installment of our mindset podca...

Are you an active participant in your life, or are you waiting for a "tap on the shoulder" that might never come?. Grab the episode companion journal here In this personal growth episode, host Rita Ernst is joined by Nancy Griffin, founder of Women Worth and Wellness, to explore her journey from a corporate clerk to a community leader. Nancy shares her story of rising through the ranks a...

My brother was making $90,000 a year shooting videos on "auto-settings" while I was a "cliché starving artist" with a film degree. Grab the epiosde companion self-reflection guide here In this episode of The Story I’m Telling Myself , host Rita Ernst sits down with filmmaker and agency owner Jake Isham to dismantle the myth that technical perfection equals professional success....

“I looked in the mirror, and I said: Where are you? I miss you.” Have you ever reached the pinnacle of success only to realize you’ve become a stranger to yourself? Grab the episode companion self-reflection guide In this raw and transformative episode, Rita Ernst sits down with Jane Bond , a Naples-based multimillion-dollar real estate broker and Identity Strategist, to discuss the high cost of &...

In this moving episode, Rita Ernst sits down with integrated health and wellness coach Kathy Yavari to explore a journey that spans continents, revolutions, and radical self-discovery. Grab the episode companion self-reflection guide Kathy shares her harrowing "Big T" childhood traumas—from witnessing her mother’s stroke at Disney World to fleeing the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the sire...

Is your "head trash" standing in the way of your next big move? Grab the episode companion self-reflection guide We all carry a certain amount of mental slop—those reflexive, negative judgments we make about ourselves and the world around us. In this episode of The Story I’m Telling Myself , host Rita Ernst sits down with business owner, public speaker, and author Maggie Harlow to discus...

Are you hiding your flaws? Grab the episode self-reflection guide here Host Rita Ernst sits down with Nicole Angai Galindo (Nic) , founder of Guiding Brilliant Writers Publishing House, for a raw conversation on reclaiming identity from the shadows of stigma. For decades, Nick navigated a high-pressure career while managing a Bipolar diagnosis, often facing professional pressure to "shut up&q...

Is your physical appearance part of your "not good enough" story that is holding you back? Grab the companion self-reflection guide for this episode In this vulnerable episode of The Story I'm Telling Myself , host Rita Ernst sits down with Jacqueline Strominger , a high-performance success strategist and author, to discuss the journey from feeling "duck ugly" to becoming a...

From Overachieving to Authentic Self-Care with Gerri Sapinoso Hudson Grab the complimentary self-reflection guide for this episode. In this episode of The Story I'm Telling Myself , host Rita sits down with Gerri Sapinoso Hudson , a self-care coach and the founder of Vision Bridge Leadership, to discuss the high cost of the "hyperachiever" lifestyle and the journey to reclaiming pers...

Beyond the "One Story" Trap: Overcoming Burnout and Reclaiming Your Identity with Dr. Tasha Golden Grab the complimentary self-reflection episode guide In this transformative episode of The Story I’m Telling Myself , host Rita Ernst sits down with Dr. Tasha Golden —a former chart-topping singer-songwriter turned PhD researcher—to explore the invisible "walls" of the stories we...

Breaking the Habit of Unworthiness Grab your complimentary companion self-reflection guide Are you constantly "racing through time," feeling like you’re stuck in a whirlpool of overwhelm? You might tell yourself you just have bad time management , but the truth is often much deeper. In this episode of The Story I’m Telling Myself , host Rita Ernst welcomes Coach Nadine Zeinoun to explore...