Welcome. This is A Glimpse Inside. I’m Wendy Perrotti. You’re listening to episode two of our four-part series, this is my year. I cannot tell you all how many times I made that declaration just before climbing back into my snug little life and filling my days with what I now see as busywork. And by that, I mean work that never really moved me to where I wanted to go.
As we discussed in episode one of this series, a new life requires new action and it requires something else. It requires trusting yourself, trusting your intuition. You’re going to love today’s coaching guest. She is ready to shout this is my year from the rooftops, and she knows that she’s going to have to lean in and trust herself to get there. Before we meet Claudia, I want to give you all a quick reminder of how we roll here on A Glimpse Inside coaching episodes.

As always, this is a no advice, no-judgment zone. We’re all about creating a space where we can examine the unexamined, all of those wants and yearnings that we’re afraid to admit out loud, sometimes even to ourselves, the fears that fly in and out of our mind, not fully defined, and the stories that we tell ourselves about what is and isn’t good, or what is and isn’t possible. We’re not here to fix Claudia. We’re not here to fix you. None of us need fixing. We’re all perfectly fine the way we are, but sometimes we’re yearning for more. Sometimes something feels hollow. And when we have that feeling, it means we’re ready to grow. And unlike change, growth sticks, growth only happens in one direction. Nothing in nature ungrows and neither will you. Welcome, Claudia. Are you ready to start trusting your intuition?
Yes, I am, Wendy. Thank you so much.
Thank you for agreeing to do this work on the show so that other people can benefit from your own exploration. It’s really so helpful to hear what’s in other people’s heads because we’re all the same on the inside.
Absolutely.
Before we start coaching, what’s important for us to know about you?
I am 54 years old and I’ve had a career in corporate communications for as long as I can remember. And I will say that it’s something I fell into. It’s not something I actually chose for myself. I went into undergraduate university wanting to be a doctor, and my main motivation really was to make money. And I quickly found out that I couldn’t do organic chemistry or pre-calculus. So I had a big meeting of the minds with my dad and my mom and they were very supportive and they said, “Do what you love.” So I switched majors to French and Spanish literature simply because I love to read, I love to write, and I love traveling and the whole French and Spanish culture.
And after I graduated, I was pretty clueless as far as what I wanted to do. I had a really obnoxious boyfriend at the time who was just pushing me to “get my act together”. So just to get him off my back, I just took a job as a receptionist at a technology company. And during the interview, the HR manager told me, “You would be really great in marketing. The receptionist job is yours and in three months when the marketing position opens up if you want it, go for it.” That’s how I sort of fell into this field, but deep inside, I’ve always, always, always wanted to be a writer. Ever since I was really little people told me, “You’re a great writer.” Then in high school, the same thing. “I hope you do something with your writing.”
And then after college and during my career, I dabbled in different creative writing courses. I’ve written short stories, I’ve written personal essays, but there’s something that tells me not to pursue that path because it’s not something that’s going to pay my bills or allow me to save for a comfortable retirement. So I’ve pretty much shelved that dream. I’m looking at it as really a hobby and I’ve gotten to the point right now where I am working at a fortune five company and I really, I just dread going in. I just literally make myself sick about the thought of going in every morning. I wake up and I just don’t feel joyful about what I’m doing.
At this stage in my life and in my career, I just really feel like I need to trust myself. Always ignore the voice that just does the writing thing, just to take that leap and see how it goes. But I always kind of say, “No, no, no, that’s crazy. I need to go with what is secure and what people typically do at my age and with my background.” That’s kind of where I am.