"There Is No One Right Way to Be" — Alice Thompson-Boyd
Shownotes
What if the problem isn’t that you haven’t found the right way to live, work or be but that there isn’t one?
My guest this week is Alice Thompson-Boyd, therapeutic coach, podcaster, psychotherapist-in-training and co-founder of the social enterprise Social Bite. Alice spent her twenties helping build an organisation that went on to have an extraordinary impact on homelessness in Scotland. But alongside the success, awards and recognition, she was struggling with anxiety, burnout, panic attacks and a growing sense of disconnection from herself.
After leaving Social Bite, Alice discovered the Enneagram, a system for understanding the different patterns, motivations and internal worlds that shape how we move through life. For Alice, it offered something she had been searching for: a way to understand herself without making herself wrong.
This is a conversation about understanding the patterns we get caught in and finding a little more freedom to be ourselves within them.
In this episode, we explore:
- What the Enneagram can teach us about ourselves and other people
- Why Alice left Social Bite after a decade of building it
- Burnout, anxiety and losing yourself inside meaningful work
- People-pleasing, resentment and the hidden expectations behind giving
- Why self-knowledge isn’t the same as self-improvement
- Letting go of the idea that we need to “fix” ourselves
- Purpose, fulfilment and Alice’s desire for a smaller life
- Finding conviction instead of constantly looking for external validation
- Why Alice believes doing less can sometimes give us more
Show notes & things Alice mentions
- The Enneagram Institute
- Truity
- The Wisdom of the Enneagram, Don Richard Riso & Russ Hudson
- Sarah Cumings episode of How To Be
- How To Be
- Social Bite
Alice Thompson-Boyd co-founded Social Bite, the social enterprise cafe chain supporting the homelessness community and implementing housing policy reform in Scotland, attracting the likes of George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Harry & Meghan as celebrity ambassadors.
But behind the public story was a harder one: burnout that led to a severe breakdown, including a mental health crisis that reshaped how she understands behaviour, motivation and healing. She tells her story warts and all.
Today Alice is a certified Purpose Coach & Enneagram Facilitator with over 2000 hours of experience, working with individuals and teams through periods of change, crossroads, and burnout. Her Deep Work Coaching Programme blends the Enneagram, cognitive behavioural coaching, neurobiology, breathwork, and Internal Family Systems.
She's certified in Applied Neurobiology and Brené Brown's Dare to Lead, and is training as a psychotherapist deepening her expertise in helping people to do shadow work, find meaning, and create positive change.
This is A Thought I Kept — Weekly conversations about the ideas that stay. Listen every Monday morning for a new thought to hold onto this week.
About Claire Fitzsimmons
Claire is the host of A Thought I Kept, a wellbeing writer, author and the co-founder of If Lost Start Here. As a Certified Coach and Emotions Coach Practitioner, Claire helps people navigate the everyday lost moments and all the feelings, from anxiety to grief, overwhelm to disconnection.
Buy Claire's first book, If Lost Start Here: Wellbeing for the Anxious, Disconnected or Uncertain here.
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The music for all episodes from August 10th was made by Leon in the Wilderness.