Ep4 with Dr Anne Welsh: How to make sense of ambition after motherhood

What if ambition doesn’t mean climbing a ladder, but rather finding your own way across a web?

In this episode of Where Did I Go?, I talk to Dr. Anne Welsh — coach, consultant, writer, clinical psychologist, and mum of four — about how motherhood reshapes our relationship with ambition, identity, and success.

We explore what happens when the career ladder stops working for you, and why it’s okay — even powerful — to move sideways, pause, or choose a completely different path. Anne shares her brilliant metaphor of ambition as a web instead of a ladder, and how that small shift in perspective can bring massive relief, clarity, and energy.

We talk about why caregiving is inherently ambitious. How to redefine ambition as drive, not status. The mental health realities that often surface after returning to work. And how to let go of old expectations and start telling a new story about who you are and what you want.

Anne also shares a simple metaphor-based exercise to help unpack your identity after motherhood — one that might just change how you see yourself.

Whether you’re feeling stuck, questioning your career, or quietly wondering where did my ambition go?, this conversation will leave you feeling seen, supported, and more hopeful about what’s next.

Where Did I Go? is a podcast for women in the messy middle of modern motherhood — the part no one warned you about, where your identity starts to shift, your ambition gets complicated, and the old stories just don’t fit anymore. Connect with Dr Anne Welsh: Linkedin / Instagram / Website 

motherhood, mental health, ambition, postpartum, career, working moms, identity, coaching, personal growth, motherhood journey, work-life balance, women empowerment, career development, self-discovery, matrescence, caregiving, perinatal mental health, modern motherhood, redefining success