All Episodes

July 10, 2025 24 mins

Rachel’s story isn’t your typical reinvention tale. After decades of leading, achieving, and people-pleasing her way through corporate life (while slowly burning herself out), she finally hit a wall. And instead of pushing through it like she always had… she walked away. 

From her job. 
Her home. 
Her whole identity.

She sold everything and moved to Peru with four suitcases and zero certainty - only the deep knowing that something had to change.

In this episode, we talk about what it really looks like to unravel. To surrender the script you were handed and write a new one. 

Rachel shares how she navigated burnout (again), why she stopped trying to fix herself, and how learning to honor her wiring - especially as a perceptive, driven, neurodivergent woman - changed everything.

She’s now helping other women do the same through her coaching work and her gorgeous new book, Perceptive, which is all about reclaiming your sensitivity, your strength, and the truth of who you are.

This conversation is full of gold if you've ever felt like you were "too much" or "not enough," if you’re curious about what it actually means to trust yourself in the middle of the unknown, or if you’ve been secretly wondering… “what if I just let it all go?”

You don’t need to burn it all down to begin again. But you do get to stop pretending, start listening, and live in a way that actually feels good.

✨ Find Rachel and her work at https://rachelradway.com
📖 Grab her book Perceptive here: https://rachelradway.com/book
📱Follow along on LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/reradway/

Thank you for spending time with me today on the Thrive After 45™ podcast! If this episode spoke to you, be sure to hit that follow button so you never miss one.

And if you loved it, I’d be so grateful if you left a review - it helps more amazing women like you find this show!

Your journey doesn’t stop here - let’s keep the conversation going! Connect with me at denisedrinkwalter.com, and follow @thethriveafter45podcast for daily insp, tips, and support.

Remember, midlife isn’t the end - it’s just the beginning of a new, exciting chapter! Keep thriving, keep shining, and I’ll see you next time!

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello and welcome to ThriveAfter 45, the podcast where we

(00:05):
redefine what's possible inmidlife.
I'm Denise.
Drink your Midlife renewal coachhere to help you embrace your
power, purpose, and potential.
This is your space to let go ofguilt.
Navigate transitions rediscoverjoy and thrive for you by you
because of you.
It is such an honor and aprivilege to welcome Rachel

(00:28):
Radway to Thrive after 5 45.
Show today, Rachel.
I.
Is not your averagetransformational coach.
She's a former corporatepowerhouse turned truth teller
for midlife women who are doneplaying small, done burning out
and done trying to twistthemselves to fit into spaces
that were never made for them.

(00:50):
I know the ears are perked upnow after 25 years in leadership
roles across a range ofindustries, overachieving.
Overdelivering and masking herway through environments that
didn't see her.
Rachel hit a breaking point.
What followed was a radicalreset.
She walked away from her job,said, sold everything, and moved

(01:14):
to rural Peru in search ofhealing.
That detour led her to Ecuador,Portugal, and ultimately back to
her herself.
Now as a leadership andexecutive coach, Rachel helps
perceptive.
Driven women, many of whom areneurodivergent, own their

(01:36):
strengths, find their voice, andcreate lives that actually feel
good.
She's also the author ofPerceptive, a powerful book
that's helping women recognizetheir unique wiring as a gift
not a flaw.
Rachel is the exact kind ofvoice we love bringing to thrive

(01:57):
after 45 because she's proofthat midlife isn't the end of
the story.
It's the moment we get to writea better one.
Welcome to the show today,Rachel.
It's so great to have you here.
Denise, thank you so much forthe, for, first of all, for
inviting me onto the show.
Second of all, for that amazingintroduction, it was better than

(02:19):
anything I've written for myselfand I wanna borrow it.
I was, I get that comment a lotand then people say, can I have
a copy?
Of course it's about you.
You can have that and use it inwhatever way that resonates for
you.
Love it.
It was beautiful.
So.
So you have lived a story ofextreme bold reinvention, but it

(02:45):
pro, I'm guessing it didn'tstart with a boldness.
It started with the burnout astalked about in the introduction
about like disconnection, like adeep need to heal.
But what did you actually haveto unlearn or even surrender?
In order to begin that journeyback to yourself,'cause this is

(03:05):
exactly what we are here to talkabout.
Such a perfect question to startwith Denise, because when I
experienced my burnout, itwasn't the first time.
I will say it was definitely themost severe and because this was
back in 2014 and.

(03:26):
Social media wasn't as popularas it is now.
Nothing.
I mean, we just didn't, wedidn't hear about burnout the
same way that we hear about itnow.
And it was not a concept that Iwas very familiar with.
Right.
So I didn't really know what wasgoing on with me.
Mm-hmm.
I knew that I was frustrated.
I knew that I was, um.

(03:51):
That I didn't have the capacitythat I, that I used to have.
Yes, but there was so much moreto it.
I had lost my sense of humor.
I had lost a lot of my empathyand compassion, both for myself
and for others.
It really, I was seeing myselfturn into someone that I didn't
like very much, and I didn'tunderstand why or what was going

(04:14):
on.
I knew that I was tired, but.
I didn't have any of theinformation that I have now, and
at that time I didn't knowanyone who took sabbaticals or
who left the corporate world togo do something different.
That's just not the world that Iwas in.

(04:35):
Right.
And one of the reasons that Iloved the idea of going to Peru
is because I was in.
I was in San Francisco, I was inSilicon Valley.
I was in a total tech bubble,and it really was a bubble that
I, in hindsight, so much morethan I even realized at the

(04:56):
time.
And so I had to unlearn, well,literally, pretty much
everything in my life.
First of all, that.
It's okay to put something down.
To put something away.
To leave something that you hadbeen in for a long time.
Mm-hmm.
That nobody else could write therules for your life.

(05:18):
Right.
I thought about just trying toget another job, and in fact, I
did even interview for otherjobs.
Right.
But I realized very quicklyanother job wasn't what I
needed.
I really needed that time toheal.
And in order to do that.
I couldn't be working in anotherjob and I couldn't pay the

(05:40):
mortgage on my condo in the SanFrancisco Bay area without
another job.
So I really had to deconstructmy life and everything that I
had been taught was the waywe're supposed to live it,
right.
So much there in terms of all ofthe components that exist within

(06:05):
that flip the, the script as itwere.
Absolutely.
So you literally, right, youliterally had to shut down your
Eunice that you knew at thattime and, and just.
Did you trust?
Like how, how on earth?
'cause I have so many peoplethat I support in my work that

(06:28):
are that fear of what's gonnahappen.
Like I don't know myself anyother way.
And yet you had the foresight toknow that you had to, you can't
do this and this at the sametime.
You can't put your toe in bothwaters and, and survive.
Mm-hmm.
This is not what was gonna workfor me.
So was it a trust?
Like what happened there?

(06:50):
Was it.
Step by step.
'cause it wasn't your firstburnout, but was it step by
step?
Or was it, how did that cometogether?
Is there something you can sharewith us that way?
Yeah, absolutely.
And, and I will say, even thoughI mentioned that it wasn't my
first burnout, I didn't learnthat until much later.
Ah, it was when I, I wasresearching and, and talking
with people and, and writing thebook that I was able to look

(07:13):
back and realize that some ofthe other.
Periods that I had experiencedwere also burnout, but in this
particular case, I, it wasn't.
I am not sure I would call ittrust.
I was terrified.
I really had no idea what I wasgonna do, how I was gonna

(07:34):
support myself.
Of course.
Um, you know, how, how this wasgonna play out or where I was
gonna be six months from thatpoint, or a year, or five years,
or 10 years.
From that point, I just knewthat life was not working the
way it was.
Right.
And I really had to take a giantleap of faith and.

(07:55):
I, I, it was trust in myself ina way because I had always
something that people tell methat I really, really hate.
And yet it's true is you alwaysland on your feet.
You're very resourceful.
And I know that about myself andI know that I'm resilient and I
had to trust in that because Ihad no other answers Of course.

(08:16):
And there was no way to getanswers.
Right, right.
I just, you said step by step.
It was, I knew that I had totake a step.
Right.
And get myself out of the lifethat I was living, and then
trust that something would workout.
Okay.
Okay.
So, so there's two things thatare coming up for me in that
one, um, that you didn't have apathway specifically other than

(08:41):
you knew what you didn't want.
Right.
Exactly.
Yeah.
I, I did because I am a planner.
Yep.
I did plan out a few things, ofcourse, but we're talking, you
know, a few months ahead.
We're not a year or anythinglike that.
Sure.
And it was all a giantexperiment.
I honestly said, you know, I, Isold my condo.

(09:03):
I put, I quit my job, obviously.
I put everything I owned instorage and I took four
suitcases with me to Peru, and Isaid, if it works out, great, if
it doesn't work out, I willfigure out what my next step is
at that point.
Perfect.
So you, you didn't just burneverything to the ground, right?

(09:26):
No, no, I didn't.
E even though that could havebeen one of the responses, like,
I, I'm moving and I, once I makethat decision, I'm not moving
back.
Right.
You had the curio lens ofcuriosity that I love so much.
That plus their, their belief inyou.
Now I do wanna dig a littlefurther and ask, you mentioned

(09:46):
that people said you always landon your feet and you don't
necessarily love that.
Mm-hmm.
Why?
Why, what, what is it about thatthat, so it to, that's a great
question because I didn'texpress it very well.
It's not that I don't love thatI have the ability to always
land on my feet.

(10:07):
Okay.
It's, what I don't love ishaving been in so many
challenging situations where Ihave to trust that I'm gonna
land on my feet, it's.
My life has been very, verytwisty and has lacked stability

(10:28):
and security since I was achild.
I mean, we moved all over theplace when I was a child.
Okay.
I had lived in, I think, fourstates in the United States
before I was eight years old, soI don't.
I don't love change, but I knowhow to navigate it.
Okay.
And I know that I'll be able to,it's just sometimes it would be

(10:52):
nice for things to just go sleepfor a while.
That's the part that I don'tlove.
I I would just like some, alittle bit of stability.
A little bit of security.
Of course, of course.
And, and I love what you'resaying because it has been your
path, and I don't know if you.

(11:14):
Feel this, believe this, knowthis.
But my experience and the peoplethat I support just continue to
make this experience more intoreality for me.
But I feel that your pathway, I.
Has already been pre-planned foryou.
I believe that in my soul.
And so with so manyopportunities to continue to

(11:37):
land on your feet, it's bringinga new strength within you that
you didn't know was evenpossible.
And having the multitude ofopportunities that present
themselves.
It could be that that's just whoyou get to be because that's
your powerhouse, that's yourability to pull it all together.

(12:01):
So I, I'd love that.
And I, and I wish for you.
That guiding light that doesn'thave the mountains and the peaks
for you at every turn.
Trust me that is coming.
Thank you.
I believe it.
I believe it in my soul becauseyou are who you are and the book
that you've written, like whydid you write?

(12:24):
Perceptive.
And what do you hope the readersare gonna take away from it?
'cause we'd like to dig intothis a little bit further.
Absolutely.
I'd love to.
And thank you for the wishes.
I, I will take those.
I wrote perceptive because everyday I meet super smart, strong,

(12:47):
creative, talented women who.
Grew up with messages that therewas something wrong with them,
that they were broken or weirdor crazy, or doing things the
wrong way, that they were toomuch or that they were not
enough.
Yeah.
And none of those things aretrue.

(13:09):
Mm-hmm.
And in every single case,regardless of the message, these
women feel like they're alone.
Yep.
And what I know is that everysingle one of them has
superpowers.
Yes.
And they often don't evenrecognize those as gifts because

(13:29):
the women that I work with tendto be humble and focused on the
group or the team or the, youknow, the unit not on
themselves.
Yeah.
And.
It's also human nature in a lotof cases, just to focus on the
challenges rather than thegifts.

(13:49):
It's just, it's, it's the waythat most of us are wired,
right?
So uniformly, I have found thatthese women are amazing leaders,
have huge leadership gifts andassets.
Sometimes they recognize them,often they don't.

(14:10):
Mm-hmm.
They rarely embrace them andleverage them and use them to,
to lead more effectively intheir lives and in their work.
And one of the things that Italk about in the book is.
The gifts and the challenges arereally two sides of the same
coin.

(14:30):
And this goes back to what youwere saying about my journey and
my strengths and the, the peaksand the valleys and the it real
you.
You can't have the gifts withouthaving the challenges there.
They're there for each other.
Right.
And there is, I am gonna, I'mgonna backstep a second.

(14:52):
Yeah.
So the women that I work with.
Once they learn about theirwiring mm-hmm.
And the fact that they do havegifts that not everyone else
has, right.
They start to bloom and blossomand they start to rebuild their
confidence and to step into apower that they've always had

(15:17):
Yes.
But often had never claimed, uh,to find their voice.
Many of them have challengesspeaking up because they have
been, you know, given all of themessages that I, that I
mentioned earlier.
Right.
So you asked me another questionin addition to, oh, what, what I

(15:38):
hope from the book, from writingthe book, right, is I really
want everyone to be able toaccept the fact that.
They have gifts and they havesuperpowers.
And I also, I'm gonna make aside note.
There are a lot of people thatobject to the word superpower,

(16:00):
and I've had a lot ofdiscussions about this.
Some people feel that using thatword negates or ignores the
challenges or means that we, youknow, can leap over buildings in
a single bound and fly withcapes and can do everything
perfectly.
But that's not what it means atall.

(16:20):
Nobody has that.
Nobody can do that.
It does mean that there arethings that we can do better
than a lot of the people aroundus or than all of the people
around us.
And when we start to recognizethose things.
First of all, it does rebuildour, our confidence and allow us
to step back into our power.

(16:41):
But second, it also helps us todeal more effectively with the
things that are the challenges.
Right.
And getting that perspective iswhy I wrote Perceptive, because,
um, I just wanna get this, thatmessage out there that every one
of us is wired differently.

(17:02):
Mm-hmm.
And that's what makes.
Special and important.
And needed.
Right.
And that worth has been presentever since the first day.
And I like what you're saying interms of how we, we've been
pushed to keep inside the boxes.

(17:23):
Mm-hmm.
And who, who created the boxes?
Right.
And it's like, wait just aminute here.
And because we've been soconditioned over the years to
stay within in order to succeedmm-hmm.
We've lost our way.
We've lost that superpowerconnection.

(17:45):
And I really love the idea thatyou're sharing in terms of the
superpower component being.
If you look at it in that way,but everybody has superpower.
It's not exactly you have it andI don't Exactly.
It's how do we align our giftsin such a way that we.

(18:05):
All boats rise.
Right, exactly.
I love the way you put that,Denise.
It's, it is not separatingpeople from each other.
Yeah.
It's actually bringing us alltogether.
And there are so many researchstudies, for example, out there
that talk about how diverseteams are more innovative and

(18:28):
more effective than teams thatare more homogeneous.
What is often not considered iswhat does that diversity
encompass?
So, right.
The first things that we oftengo to are race and nationality
and gender, and other thingsthat are a little bit more
visible and more obvious.

(18:49):
We don't.
Always consider things about theway our brains are wired, the
way we think, the way we feel,the way we reflect on things and
the behaviors that come out ofthose.
And that kind of diversityneurodiversity is just as
important and does help us allsucceed 1000% plus.

(19:13):
Absolutely.
Because when we come to thetable with our, um, gifts.
Through what you just shared interms of our ways we think, the
ways we see things, the waysthat we operate that isn't quote
unquote the norm, but can be soempowering for the collective.

(19:35):
And when we circumvent and inorder to fit in.
Then we lose not only that, butwe pull everybody else back into
that same spot, and we don't allgrow as a result.
So I, I love what you do.
I love what you do.
Thank you for this.
Um, you're talking, I mean, Iknew we were gonna have an

(19:56):
incredible conversation becausewhen we met, I always, as I
shared this morning in a live, Ialways meet my guests.
I don't go in blind because wehave to be a match.
I have to.
To, um, know that everyone inthe audience who listens gets
nuggets of gold, and there's somany nuggets in this

(20:16):
conversation.
Um, Rachel, thank you for yourtime.
Is there anything you'd love toshare with our audience as we
wrap up our conversation today?
And we probably will have youback again to go deeper into
some of the pieces aftereverything's settled for you.
So love to come back, Denise.

(20:37):
It's so much fun talking withyou.
Um, and I think, and we're soaligned on our, on our goals and
our visions.
I think what I would love toleave listeners with is you have
gifts, you have superpowers.
You just need to look a littledeeper and, you know, embrace

(20:58):
them and, and, and show themdon't, yeah.
So many of us are, are afraidthat showing our gifts or using
our gifts in a visible way meansthat we're boasting or bragging,
and that is so not the truth.
What you were saying before isabsolutely true.

(21:19):
If, if we are not sharing thosethings, we are not.
Not only are we, are we doingourselves a disservice, we're
doing everyone around us adisservice as well.
Yeah.
So, and I, I, I love what you'resaying and I'm gonna flip it on,
it's, I'm gonna do the coin onthe other side because it's
exactly what we talk about inour show is when you take time

(21:40):
for you, by you, because of youand you do this work with
perceptive with Rachel, if youdo this work when you, not if.
When you do this work, when youdo this discovery, when you do
this uncovering and find outmore about who you are as a
person without the boundaries,um, you give back to yourself in

(22:04):
ways that were never possiblewithout the work that you get to
do to create that energy and.
When you do that, not only yourworld changes, but your sphere
of influence for those closestaround you will change.
I've seen it in myself.
I know you've seen it inyourself.
I know your clients witness thesame thing, and I probably,

(22:27):
without a doubt.
Sure.
They say, I can't believe whathappened in that meeting because
this is how I showed up.
Is that true or I'm am I justimagining it is?
No, it's absolutely true andit's what I love hearing from my
clients, and I'm sure that yourclients say the same thing.
Totally.
Totally.
Yeah.
I wouldn't have had a clue thatme doing this for me would have

(22:50):
an impact for others.
And in a way that doesn't forceto try and figure out how to
make this work.
Just go and do it for you by youbecause of you.
So.
Go and figure out yoursuperpowers because they're deep
within you, and Rachel is aqueen in that.
So make sure you reach out, findher, check her book out.

(23:12):
Let's get this going.
I'm so excited.
So excited for thisconversation.
Thank you so much for yourgifts.
Your superpowers, your voice,your book, everything you bring
to the world.
Thank you for continuing to landon your feet and your pathway

(23:34):
will find its way to you.
It's, it's coming.
It's already, I'm alreadyfeeling it's, it's on its way.
The smooth is coming.
Denise.
Oh, get the sales out.
Thank you so much, Denise.
It's been such a pleasure, and,uh, this conversation has made
my week.
So thank you for having Yay.

(23:55):
It's an honor and a privilege.
And if you are not following uson Thrive after 45.
You can find us on all theplatforms, all the PO podcast
streaming platforms you canthink of.
Of course, apple and Spotify,and you can find me.
Just look for me anywhere.
Denise drink Walter, you'll findme.

(24:17):
I'm on social media like crazy,and we wish all of you the best
and make sure you take time foryou by you because of you.
Go find out your superpowers,and by all means, use them for
your benefit and those aroundyou.
Take care everyone.
See you again.
Bye.
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know
Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

The Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Club

The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.