What's Really Holding You Back?

Quiz Questions

1.
It's Sunday evening. What's actually going through your head?
- A.
  I'm already mentally running through tomorrow's to-do list.
- B.
  I'm dreading Monday, but I know I'll push through like I always do.
- C.
  I'm genuinely worried I can't keep all of this up much longer.
- D.
  I'm wondering whether any of this is actually what I want.
2.
When someone asks how you're doing, you say "fine" or "busy" because...
- A.
  Showing any cracks at work is not an option — I've seen what happens to the ones who do.
- B.
  The honest answer is too complicated, and nothing would change anyway.
- C.
  I genuinely don't have the bandwidth right now. I'm just trying to get through the week.
- D.
  I'm not sure I know what the honest answer is anymore.
3.
I'm not sure I know what the honest answer is anymore
- A.
  I look like I have it together. I do not have it together.
- B.
  The paycheck makes it hard to walk away, even when I want to.
- C.
  Something has shifted recently and the wheels are starting to wobble.
- D.
  I need to make a big decision and I keep putting it off.
4.
What does "the mental load" mean to you?
- A.
  It never comes off. Not at dinner, not on weekends, not when I'm supposed to be off.
- B.
  It's the price of admission. I accepted that a long time ago.
- C.
  It recently got heavier and I don't know how to set any of it down.
- D.
  It's so loud right now I can't hear what I actually want underneath it.
5.
When you think about your career in five years, you feel...
- A.
  Anxious. I'm holding it together now but I don't know if this is sustainable.
- B.
  Trapped. I need the money and I'm not sure I have other options.
- C.
  Overwhelmed. I can't see five years from here — I'm just trying to get through this month.
- D.
  Unsettled. I want to be intentional about what comes next but I haven't made the call.
6.
The thing that's draining you most right now is...
- A.
  Performing "fine" when I'm not, and the loneliness of not being able to say so.
- B.
  The gap between what I'm earning and what my life actually feels like.
- C.
  The feeling that I'm not fully succeeding at anything because I'm stretched across everything.
- D.
  Going through the motions on a path I'm no longer sure I chose.
7.
Which sentence makes you want to cry a little?
- A.
  "I'm not my best at work. I'm definitely not my best at home."
- B.
  If I quit, I'm a loser. I couldn't cut it. Why is it so easy for everyone else?"
- C.
  "I don't know how much longer I can keep this up."
- D.
  "I don't want to look up in five years and realize I just let it happen to me."
8.
If you could have one thing from coaching, it would be...
- A.
  Somewhere I can finally put the performance down — and someone who won't flinch at what's underneath it.
- B.
  Clarity on whether I'm staying because I want this — or because I'm afraid of what leaving means.
- C.
  Someone in my corner before I hit a wall. I'm closer than I'd like to admit.
- D.
  A structured space to finally make a real decision — and someone to hold me to it.

Quiz Outcomes

1.
The High-Functioning Hider
You look like you have it together. You do not have it together.You are, by all appearances, doing fine. Your work is excellent, your family is cared for, and no one at the office would guess how much you're carrying. That's by design — you know better than to show any cracks in a world where someone is always watching. You've seen what happens to the ones who do.But the cost of performing "fine" is real. The mental load never comes off. The loneliness isn't just the hours or the pressure — it's that no one actually knows. Not your colleagues, not always even the people at home. You are good at this. And it is exhausting in a way that's hard to admit even to yourself.You don't need to blow anything up. You need somewhere to put the performance down — with someone who won't flinch at what's underneath it, and who understands exactly the world you're operating in.What this means for you: Coaching is the one place where none of that is required. You can fall apart in here — and then we build something that doesn't require you to hold it all alone anymore. Women who work with me often say they didn't realize how much they needed somewhere to tell the full truth until they finally had it. Sometimes we crack something open right in the first session. Always, you leave with more clarity than you came in with.
2.
The Golden Captive
The money makes it hard to leave. But it stopped making it easy to stay a while ago.You've built a career that pays well — really well. The lifestyle it funds is real. The school fees, the financial security, the life you've built around this income — you're not naïve about what walking away would mean. So you stay. And you tell yourself it's a choice.But here's the thing: you're not sure you'd choose this if you were starting over. The handcuffs are golden and they are also real — and the longer you wear them without examining why, the harder the questions get. At a certain point, "I stay because of the money" stops being a reason and starts being a story. And underneath that story, usually, is something worth looking at.It might be fear of what leaving actually means — not just financially, but what it would say about you. It might be that you've tied so much of your identity to this career that you're not sure who you are outside of it. It might be that you actually want to stay — but something has to change for it to be sustainable.This isn't about blowing up your career. It's about making whatever comes next a real choice, not a default.What this means for you: Coaching helps you get honest — with yourself, in private — about what you actually want and why you're really staying. Not to convince you to leave. Not to convince you to stay. To help you figure out what's true, and build from there. The women I work with at this crossroads consistently say the same thing: they didn't realize how much energy they were spending avoiding the question until they finally asked it.
3.
The Strained Partner
You've been managing. And something just shifted.You've been doing this for years — holding it together, keeping all the plates spinning, showing up. And for a while, that worked. But recently something changed. A new pressure at work. A shift at home. A moment where you looked up and thought: I don't know if I can keep absorbing this.The red lights are flashing. And the scary part isn't the workload — you've handled heavy workloads before. It's that you've run out of margin. There's no buffer left between what's demanded of you and what you actually have to give. So everything feels like a crisis — not because everything is a crisis, but because you have nothing left to absorb the normal turbulence of a demanding career and a full life.This isn't weakness. It's a signal. And the worst thing you can do right now is push harder and hope it resets. It won't reset on its own.What this means for you: Coaching right now is both a lifeline and a strategy. Someone in your corner to help you figure out what actually has to give — and build something more sustainable before you hit a wall. Not adding to your plate. Helping you figure out what to take off it. That's a very different thing than what most people think coaching is.
4.
The Discerning Circler
You're not in crisis. You're in discernment. And that's a harder place to be than it sounds.You're not falling apart. By most measures you're doing well — maybe even really well. But you've reached a point where the next move matters, and you're self-aware enough to know you don't want to make it by default, by exhaustion, or because leaving felt like failure and staying felt like the only option.Stay or go? This role or a different one? This version of your career or something else entirely? You keep circling the questions. The day-to-day keeps getting in the way of thinking clearly about them. And the stakes feel high enough that you'd rather keep circling than risk landing somewhere wrong.Here's what I've noticed about women at this crossroads: the circling itself has a cost. Not making a decision is still a decision. Every day in the circling place is a day of choosing the status quo by default. And default choices have a way of compounding — until one day you look up and realize the window for a different path has quietly closed.You don't need someone to tell you what to do. You need a structured space to finally hear yourself think — and someone to hold you accountable to acting on what you find.What this means for you: Coaching at this stage isn't crisis management. It's clarity and strategy — the two things the day-to-day keeps crowding out. You've spent your whole career being strategic for other people's outcomes. This is what it looks like to do it for your own.