June 2024 - Live True

Live your purpose and BE HAPPY

Do you ever feel like your list of criteria for an ideal career and lifestyle might be far-fetched or impossible to achieve?

If so, join me as I talk to a former client, Amy-Beth Mellor, who proves it is possible to identify and achieve your ideal, even with very specific, non-negotiable criteria!

Amy-Beth spent 20 years working in the NHS as a Dietician in pretty senior roles, whilst battling a number of physical health issues that she’d had since childhood, as well as an inexplicable level of exhaustion that left her unable to function during her time off.

Then, in 2020, she got a late-in-life diagnosis of Autism and ADHD, which finally shed some light on her long-held work struggle, and started her journey to understanding her own requirements for a right-fit career and lifestyle.

Come join us as we delve into Amy-Beth’s experience, the impact on her health of working in a role that wasn’t right for her, how she determined the criteria for her ideal career, and the path she navigated to her dream job, which she still can’t believe she gets paid to do every day! (HINT: puppies are involved).

In this episode we discuss

The specific role-based challenges Amy-Beth faced as a Registered Dietician working for the NHS, and the impact of those job requirements on her physically and mentally
The physical health issues Amy-Beth managed day-to-day, which initially clouded the signs that she was doing the wrong kind of work
How Amy-Beth’s Autism and ADHD diagnoses during the pandemic made a life changing difference to her, and what that meant in terms of her career criteria and choices
Amy-Beth’s experience in her first change of career (from NHS to IT) and how she learnt that this still wasn’t right
Her journey to discovering why dogs held the secret for her!
How Amy-Beth made the transition to self-employment and a role that is her undisputed “dream job”

Listening to Amy-Beth’s story might be really helpful for those who either recognise some of her struggle, or who see similar signs in someone they care about.

If that’s you, please do listen in and share this episode with others. Amy-Beth and I would be so delighted to think that our conversation might make a difference for you or a loved one ❤️

A bit more about Amy-Beth Mellor

Amy-Beth Mellor hails from a 20-year career working as a Registered Dietitian in the NHS service, which included the areas of Acute and Community Dietetics, and extensive experience in Home Enteral Feeding in both adults and children.

The pandemic in 2020 caused a big change for people worldwide and for Amy it kicked off her journey to discovering why she was so heavily fatigued every day and was not enjoying her work.

After a late-in-life autism and ADHD diagnosis and career coaching with Alison, Amy has now found her permanent adventure in happiness – working with dogs. She runs her own dog walking and pet sitting business called Furry Popins, based in the Wirral (UK), and is blissfully grateful to have found the thing that she is meant to be doing, that feels good, and that makes her happy.

If you would like to know more about Amy-Beth’s business or would like to connect with her please do go and visit her FurryPopins.com website and connect with her on Facebook or Instagram.

There is a community with this show

If you enjoy this podcast show, then you will definitely enjoy being part of the Dream Chasers Unite community.

Come and meet, learn from and be inspired by awesome, like-minded people who are on their own Dream Chaser journeys (at various stages).

Find out what’s possible, by seeing what other people are doing to determine and go after their ideal careers and lives.

Join the group here.

Curious about changing your career?

Book a call with me to chat about how I work with people just like you every day. Life shouldn’t be hard at work.

Finding what lights you up, brings you joy and gets you paid at the same time – well, that’s a eureka moment. Right?

Find out about my Career Change Programme and book a call with me.

Questioning your options to change careers?

You may like to wander over and check out my Work Wonderland™ Course. You can use this as a temperature check to make sure that what you are thinking of, in terms of changing your work or job, makes sense.

The course and web application are a low investment to help you to confirm what you are thinking, or give you some routes that you hadn’t considered possible. Read all about it here.

Ways to watch and listen

Listen on the go, on your mobile phone:

Click here to find the show on your favourite podcast app.

You can watch the episode in full colour here:

All full episodes are recorded in video as well, and are uploaded to the show’s playlist on my YouTube channel. (Click here to quickly subscribe to my channel to see future episodes).

If you want to watch with auto-generated captions – click the captions icon on the YouTube play bar menu at the bottom of the video.

Be brave, keeping pushing forwards

Do you have a dream, passion project or heartfelt goal that’s in your blood, but complications, disappointments or knock backs have got you questioning whether you can do it, and feeling like you should just give up?

If you’re in this place, come and listen to Claire’s story as she shares her pretty incredible journey to getting her first novel published.

Despite her experience as a journalist and freelance feature writer for publications like BBC Countryfile Magazine and Devon Life, and as a host blogger for The Huffington Post, Claire’s road to securing a publishing deal has been anything but easy.

She has faced monumental hurdles and setbacks, but she shares how she found the tenacity to continue working at it, and what helped her trust her instincts to make massive decisions that others would have considered too risky.

In our conversation, we talk about Claire’s very relatable experience of trying to make this dream of hers work, and we unpick how and why she didn’t give up, and how she ultimately landed a two-book publishing deal with One More Chapter, an imprint at Harper Collins, who publish “unputdownable fiction” 😊

In this episode we discuss

Claire’s early start to writing (she was 5 years old!) and how it made her feel
How she navigated studying and trying to find her way to the kind of writing she wanted to do
Her arduous and painful journey with book agents and the multitude of book drafts, and what it was like for her trying to write a book and balance having small children
The priceless learnings that she gained about how the world of book publishing works
What can happen when you just believe and you don’t give up

If you’re working on something that feels deep rooted and intrinsic to who you are, but it hasn’t been an easy ride, I really hope Claire’s story inspires you to keep going. If it’s in your heart, don’t give up on it!!

Quick ref to resources or links we mention

Claire’s book is now available for pre-order! It is now called To Hell With It, and you can find it here. With the warmth and charm of Bridget Jones and a main character as unforgettable as Eleanor Oliphant, this is an irresistible debut about a young woman navigating love, friendship and happiness in a world that doesn’t think like she does.

A bit more about Claire

Claire Frances has worked as a journalist and freelance feature writer for BBC Countryfile Magazine and Devon Life and has been a host blogger for The Huffington Post.

With a rich hands-on experience with professional writing, she also has a Masters in Professional Writing, specialising in fiction, a diploma in Print Journalism and Radio, and studied Creative Writing at university.

Claire’s first novel, Someone Like Pearl, is being published by One More Chapter, an imprint at Harper Collins.

She lives on Dartmoor with her family, and finds her ideas for books come most naturally when she’s out walking with her dogs.

If you would like to know more about Claire or would like to connect with her, please do follow her adventures in happiness on her X account, or join her on Instagram.