Shamelessly Ambitious I Helping Ambitious Women Prevent Burnout + Create Nervous System First Success in Business, Motherhood

Ashley McDonald, Therapist & Nervous System First Business Mentor
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Shamelessly Ambitious is an honest, grounding, and vulnerable podcast for ambitious, emotionally intelligent women who are done proving themselves, tired of living in constant high-functioning burnout, and craving a life and business that actually feel good. Hosted by Ash McDonald—therapist, nervous-system-first business mentor, and speaker this show blends clinical expertise with lived experience to deliver nervous system tools, embodied strategies, and radical permission so you can expand your capacity, root into emotional steadiness, and build sustainable success that supports your whole life. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, stretched too thin, caught in productivity guilt, or stuck running on stress, this podcast meets you where you are—with therapeutic insights, embodied practices, and heartfelt stories that create real shifts. Whether you’re navigating motherhood, entrepreneurship, or the messy middle of redefining success, each episode helps you slow down, regulate, and return to a felt sense of safety in your body. With over a decade of experience at the intersection of therapy and leadership, Ash pulls back the curtain on what really works—offering grounded guidance you can apply in real life. What you’ll hear: Honest conversations about burnout recovery, nervous system regulation, and redefining successSomatic tools, meditations, and practices that build inner safety and capacityStories of motherhood, mom-life, ambition, and the courage to create a life and business that feel rich and realIf you’re asking the following questions, you’re in the right place: How do I stop tying my worth to productivity?How do I know if I’m experiencing high-functioning burnout and what do I do about it?How do I balance motherhood and leadership without losing myself?How do I calm my body when I feel overwhelmed or overstimulated?This is the podcast for when you’re ready to reclaim peace, expand what you can hold, and create success that doesn’t cost you yourself. Tune in and take the next step toward a regulated, rooted, and deeply fulfilling life.

  1. 4D AGO

    166. Reverse Engineering the Life You Want & Reclaiming Your Energy & Identity with Heather Chauvin (The Energy Is Everything Series | Part 1)

    Welcome to the very first episode of The Energy Is Everything Series — a six-part conversation series all about protecting your energy, expanding your capacity, and building a life and business that actually feel sustainable in your body. In this opening episode, I’m joined by the brilliant and wildly honest Heather Chauvin for a raw, grounded conversation about identity fatigue, impossible standards, and the invisible ways women are bleeding energy in the name of success, motherhood, and safety. This is not a “do more, try harder” conversation. It’s about reverse engineering the life you want by starting with how you want to feel, and letting that guide your choices, boundaries, and identity… even when it disrupts everything you’ve been taught. TOPICS & TANGENTS: • Why energy is the real currency behind success • Reverse engineering your life from how you want to feel • Identity fatigue and the cost of impossible standards • Survival mode vs. aliveness • How women enable their own exhaustion to stay safe • The hidden energy leaks in motherhood and ambition • Co-regulation, support, and learning how to be held • Why balance is a myth rooted in perfectionism • Emotional repair as a daily practice • Letting go of performative strength • Choosing embodiment over hustle • Reclaiming feminine power without bypassing reality POINT OF THE STORY: You don’t need to become someone new to create the life you want… you need to stop abandoning yourself to maintain an identity that’s draining you. When you reverse engineer your choices from how you want to feel, your energy returns, your boundaries clarify, and your life begins to align without force. MENTIONED: Dying to Be a Good Mother- BookFollow Heather ChauvinInstagramEmotionally Uncomfortable PodcastThis episode sets the tone for the entire Energy Is Everything Series. If you’ve been exhausted, over-functioning, or quietly wondering why success doesn’t feel the way you thought it would, then this conversation is your invitation Are you loving it? Send Ash a text! MORE ABOUT ASH I am the definition of duality — I swear like a sailor and break rules like it’s my job, but I also hold incredible space for my clients and work my ass off to help them achieve the success they’re after. But I'm also here for the non-preneur woman, too. My background in counseling gives me a unique perspective on what it means to show up, serve, & create connection for those who feel like they've never belonged before. LINKS: Become the Regulated Woman Get emails that feel like your best friend (if your best friend was a therapist and actually told you the truth). Use code BB20 to get The Burnout Breakthrough for only $7 Follow me on IG (dropping in once a quarter for updates & gossip) Website: ashmcdonaldmentoring.com Work with me 1:1 Therapeutic Mentorship Business Therapy (therapy + strategic mentorship) ...

    55 min

  2. JAN 1 · BONUS

    165. [Bonus Episode] Integration Over Resolution: Breaking the Cycle of Masochistic Healing

    Happy New Year, my love. This bonus episode is a gentle but honest conversation about what so many of us unconsciously bring into a new year: intensity, pressure, and the belief that healing only counts if it hurts. In this episode, I’m naming something I’ve lived, witnessed, and had to unlearn myself… the tendency to create struggle in the name of growth. The idea that if it’s not hard, painful, or dramatic, it must not be real healing. I want to offer you a different path as we step into 2026. This is an invitation to choose integration over resolution, embodiment over force, and safety over intensity. Healing doesn’t have to break you to work. TOPICS & TANGENTS: • New Year energy and the addiction to intensity • Masochistic healing and why we believe struggle equals worthiness • The nervous system’s attachment to pain as proof • Why healing doesn’t only “count” if it hurts • Integration as the most powerful form of healing • Embodiment over endless learning and fixing • Self trust as the real root of transformation • Daily micro healing versus massive emotional overhauls • Seasonal wisdom and honoring winter energy • Slowing down without falling behind • Why burnout often comes from trying to heal “correctly” • Letting safety, not force, lead your growth POINT OF THE STORY: Healing isn’t meant to be punishing. The real work isn’t in how much you can endure, but in how deeply you can integrate what you already know. Transformation happens when your body feels safe enough to embody change… not when you push yourself to the edge trying to prove you’re worthy. MENTIONED: • Episode 164: My 2026 Planning Process (Structure That Creates Freedom) If you’re feeling the urge to sprint into this year, let this episode be your permission slip to slow down. You can’t rush what’s already meant for you. Integration is where the magic lives. Happy New Year 🤍 Are you loving it? Send Ash a text! MORE ABOUT ASH I am the definition of duality — I swear like a sailor and break rules like it’s my job, but I also hold incredible space for my clients and work my ass off to help them achieve the success they’re after. But I'm also here for the non-preneur woman, too. My background in counseling gives me a unique perspective on what it means to show up, serve, & create connection for those who feel like they've never belonged before. LINKS: Become the Regulated Woman Get emails that feel like your best friend (if your best friend was a therapist and actually told you the truth). Use code BB20 to get The Burnout Breakthrough for only $7 Follow me on IG (dropping in once a quarter for updates & gossip) Website: ashmcdonaldmentoring.com Work with me 1:1 Therapeutic Mentorship Business Therapy (therapy + strategic mentorship) ...

    10 min

  3. 12/30/2025

    164. My 2026 Planning Process (Structure That Creates Freedom)

    In this final episode of 2025, I’m sharing exactly how I plan for a new year in a way that feels grounded, supportive, and sustainable. This isn’t hustle planning or rigid goal setting. It’s the process I use to create structure that actually frees me. I walk you through my full end of year reflection ritual, how I set intentions across every area of my life, and why regulation, capacity, and self trust matter more than forcing motivation. If you want 2026 to feel different, this episode will show you how to plan in a way your nervous system can actually hold. TOPICS & TANGENTS: • My full end of year planning process from reflection to strategy • Monthly reviews and why I track the year as it’s happening • Celebrating what actually worked instead of rushing past it • Setting intentions for life, not just business • Script style intention setting and nervous system safety • Why structure creates freedom, not restriction • The difference between ease and avoidance • Planning with ADHD and limited capacity • Breaking goals into 15 minute or less tasks • Working backwards to avoid all or nothing burnout • Why consistency beats intensity every time • Taking things off your plate before adding more POINT OF THE STORY: Ease doesn’t come from doing less or avoiding effort. It comes from resourcing yourself before, during, and after the work. When your plans honor your capacity, structure becomes the thing that creates freedom instead of pressure. MENTIONED: • Episode 160: How I Plan Profit Without Burning Out • End of year reflection and intention setting practices • Nervous system regulation and capacity based planning If you’ve been craving more ease, more clarity, and more support heading into 2026, this episode is your invitation to slow down, reflect honestly, and build a plan that actually serves you. Are you loving it? Send Ash a text! MORE ABOUT ASH I am the definition of duality — I swear like a sailor and break rules like it’s my job, but I also hold incredible space for my clients and work my ass off to help them achieve the success they’re after. But I'm also here for the non-preneur woman, too. My background in counseling gives me a unique perspective on what it means to show up, serve, & create connection for those who feel like they've never belonged before. LINKS: Become the Regulated Woman Get emails that feel like your best friend (if your best friend was a therapist and actually told you the truth). Use code BB20 to get The Burnout Breakthrough for only $7 Follow me on IG (dropping in once a quarter for updates & gossip) Website: ashmcdonaldmentoring.com Work with me 1:1 Therapeutic Mentorship Business Therapy (therapy + strategic mentorship) ...

    23 min

  4. 12/23/2025

    163. The Science of Becoming Her (and Why I Had to Break First)

    This episode is a behind-the-scenes look at what really happens when success comes faster than your nervous system knows how to hold. I’m sharing the full story of what unfolded after a wildly intuitive, expansive year in business and how unworthiness, perfectionism, and fear quietly took over once things felt “too easy.” What followed was burnout, over-efforting, identity collapse, and ultimately a five-month sabbatical that changed everything. We’re talking about the nervous system science behind becoming the woman you desire to be… not through force or mindset hacks, but through safety, practice, and embodiment. Why “acting as if” actually works, how success can feel threatening to the body, and why breaking was the doorway to everything I was trying to create. This is about becoming her from the inside out. TOPICS & TANGENTS:  • What happens when success outpaces nervous system capacity  • The hidden unworthiness that follows “too easy” wins  • Perfectionism as protection, not discipline  • Why success can feel unsafe to the body  • The be–do–have model vs. chasing outcomes  • Acting as if through nervous system rehearsal, not pretending  • Identity, safety, and practicing your future before it arrives  • Why abundance requires regulation, not effort  • Micro decisions that rewire who you’re becoming POINT OF THE STORY: You don’t become her by achieving more. You become her by teaching your body it’s safe to be who you already are. MENTIONED: • Microdosing as a nervous-system support for neuroplasticity and regulation • Golden Rule — including Superflow and Soul Gummies • Code ASH10 for 10% off If you’re setting goals for the next season of your life and wondering why they feel heavy instead of exciting, this episode is your reminder: becoming her starts with safety, not pressure. Are you loving it? Send Ash a text! MORE ABOUT ASH I am the definition of duality — I swear like a sailor and break rules like it’s my job, but I also hold incredible space for my clients and work my ass off to help them achieve the success they’re after. But I'm also here for the non-preneur woman, too. My background in counseling gives me a unique perspective on what it means to show up, serve, & create connection for those who feel like they've never belonged before. LINKS: Become the Regulated Woman Get emails that feel like your best friend (if your best friend was a therapist and actually told you the truth). Use code BB20 to get The Burnout Breakthrough for only $7 Follow me on IG (dropping in once a quarter for updates & gossip) Website: ashmcdonaldmentoring.com Work with me 1:1 Therapeutic Mentorship Business Therapy (therapy + strategic mentorship) ...

    30 min

  5. 12/18/2025 · BONUS

    162. [Bonus Episode] When Stress Gets Stuck in Your Body (And How to Release It)

    In this bonus episode, I’m sharing a behind-the-scenes audio from The Regulated Woman private podcast. It is one of my favorite micro-tools for releasing stress that gets trapped in the body throughout the day. We’re talking about emotional residue... the irritation, disappointment, pressure, or overwhelm your body absorbs when you don’t have time (or space) to fully process what you feel. Even when your mind has moved on, your nervous system might still be holding the weight. This episode walks you through a simple, 60-second somatic release you can use in real life TOPICS & TANGENTS: • What emotional residue is and why it drains your energy • How stress and emotion live in the body, not just the mind • Why “pushing through” costs more than you think • A simple three-step somatic release you can use anytime • How incomplete stress responses keep you exhausted • Reclaiming mental, emotional, and physical energy without effort POINT OF THE STORY: You’re tired because your body is holding too much. But there’s a way to change this because when you allow stress responses to complete, you get your energy back. MENTIONED: • My conversation with Alison Hardy on Six Figure Secrets — a raw discussion on success, burnout, and redefining what “enough” actually feels like If this episode lands for you and you want more support like this — short, effective, body-based tools you can actually use — The Regulated Woman might be exactly what your nervous system has been asking for. Are you loving it? Send Ash a text! MORE ABOUT ASH I am the definition of duality — I swear like a sailor and break rules like it’s my job, but I also hold incredible space for my clients and work my ass off to help them achieve the success they’re after. But I'm also here for the non-preneur woman, too. My background in counseling gives me a unique perspective on what it means to show up, serve, & create connection for those who feel like they've never belonged before. LINKS: Become the Regulated Woman Get emails that feel like your best friend (if your best friend was a therapist and actually told you the truth). Use code BB20 to get The Burnout Breakthrough for only $7 Follow me on IG (dropping in once a quarter for updates & gossip) Website: ashmcdonaldmentoring.com Work with me 1:1 Therapeutic Mentorship Business Therapy (therapy + strategic mentorship) ...

    7 min

  6. 12/16/2025

    161. When the Plan Falls Apart: Parenting, Values, and Asking the Hard Questions

    Sometimes the plan for the episode… totally sucks. In this conversation, I scrap my original idea mid-recording and bring you into what’s actually alive in my world right now: parenting an 11-year-old, navigating big emotions, asking scary questions, and coming back (over and over) to my values as a mom. We talk about what it means to hold space for your kids’ real struggles, why “because I said so” isn’t a value, and how to stay in the room when your child is wrestling with belonging, insecurity, and the very human fear of not being liked. It’s an honest peek into how I’m fumbling, regulating, repairing, and choosing relationship on purpose. TOPICS & TANGENTS: Life updates: Colorado snow, moving (again), and starting 2026 in a new homeParenting an 11-year-old: hormones, friendship dynamics, and fitting inThe conversation no parent wants to have: asking your child directly about self-harmWhy kids need us to ask the hard questions out loudCreating safety: therapy for boys, emotional literacy, and modeling vulnerabilityWhy “because I said so” is not a parenting valueMutual respect, consequences, and holding boundaries after a big emotional momentCuriosity as a parenting tool: better questions than “How was your day?”When your child’s biggest fear mirrors your own (and what to do with that)Remembering: you can’t be the parent you want to be from a dysregulated statePOINT OF THE STORY: You will never feel “ready” or fully qualified for the version of parenting you’re in, it’s all first-time territory. But when the plan falls apart, coming back to your core values, staying curious, and being brave enough to ask the hard questions builds the kind of relationship where your kids actually bring you their real life. Are you loving it? Send Ash a text! MORE ABOUT ASH I am the definition of duality — I swear like a sailor and break rules like it’s my job, but I also hold incredible space for my clients and work my ass off to help them achieve the success they’re after. But I'm also here for the non-preneur woman, too. My background in counseling gives me a unique perspective on what it means to show up, serve, & create connection for those who feel like they've never belonged before. LINKS: Become the Regulated Woman Get emails that feel like your best friend (if your best friend was a therapist and actually told you the truth). Use code BB20 to get The Burnout Breakthrough for only $7 Follow me on IG (dropping in once a quarter for updates & gossip) Website: ashmcdonaldmentoring.com Work with me 1:1 Therapeutic Mentorship Business Therapy (therapy + strategic mentorship) ...

    23 min

  7. 12/09/2025

    160. How I Plan Profit Without Burning Out: Quarterly Goals for a Regulated Business

    What if your business could feel steady instead of like a monthly rollercoaster? In this episode I walk you through my nervous-system-first profit planning, and how I map the year, choose what to sell (and when), and protect my creativity, energy, and peace while hitting my numbers. Today I’m sharing the exact quarterly profit planning process I use to grow my business and protect my nervous system. No more feast-or-famine energy. No more “I have to hit X this month or everything is falling apart.” We talk about why month-to-month planning keeps you dysregulated, how quarterly goals create actual ease, and the system I swear by — from mapping my annual intention down to quarterly numbers, to creating a 100-idea money list, to filtering everything through desire, capacity, and season. TOPICS & TANGENTS:  • Why month-to-month planning spikes anxiety  • The quarterly structure that keeps your business steady  • How I map my annual goal into spacious quarterly targets  • The 100-idea money list (possibility = regulation)  • Desire, capacity & season: my simple decision-making filter  • Building a business runway so you’re not creating from panic  • Planning in a way your body can actually hold POINT OF THE STORY: Strategy only works if your nervous system can hold it. Sustainable profit isn’t about perfect months… it’s about rhythm, regulation, and a plan that supports the life you actually want. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: Episode 158. The Money Myth That’s Draining Your Energy (start there for the energetics)The Surrender Retreat & therapeutic integration: recalibrate your relationship to success, safety, and expansion.Are you loving it? Send Ash a text! MORE ABOUT ASH I am the definition of duality — I swear like a sailor and break rules like it’s my job, but I also hold incredible space for my clients and work my ass off to help them achieve the success they’re after. But I'm also here for the non-preneur woman, too. My background in counseling gives me a unique perspective on what it means to show up, serve, & create connection for those who feel like they've never belonged before. LINKS: Become the Regulated Woman Get emails that feel like your best friend (if your best friend was a therapist and actually told you the truth). Use code BB20 to get The Burnout Breakthrough for only $7 Follow me on IG (dropping in once a quarter for updates & gossip) Website: ashmcdonaldmentoring.com Work with me 1:1 Therapeutic Mentorship Business Therapy (therapy + strategic mentorship) ...

    19 min

  8. 12/04/2025

    159. [Bonus Episode] Life After Letting Go: A Story about Motherhood & Capacity

    Today, I’m pulling back the curtain on what happens after a retreat, when life gets lifey and the work has to live in your body, your kitchen, your calendar, and your conversations. I’m joined by my dear friend and longtime client, Em, a single mom to twin girls, homeschooler, full-time student, and retired Marine officer, who shares how somatic work, breathwork, and real integration reshaped her capacity, boundaries, and motherhood. TOPICS & TANGENTS • From intellectualizing to embodiment: why “thinking about healing” kept Em stuck • Hypervigilance, military conditioning, and the nervous system after a high-tempo life • Somatic tools that moved the needle: breathwork, pacing, and structured downtime • Motherhood in real life: anger as a wise signal, mess-friendly kitchens, laughing more • “All-access pass” no more: boundaries that protect energy, home, and kids • Capacity vs. control: living by rhythms instead of wrangling every minute • Integration that actually sticks: what to do before and after a retreat • Generational impact: modeling regulation so kids don’t carry adult emotions POINT OF THE STORY Life won’t stop life-ing. Capacity isn’t about doing more—it’s about holding more with less tension. When you center yourself (not everyone else), the whole house gets healthier. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE • Surrender Retreat (Tulum) — an immersive recalibration of success, safety, and self through somatic practices, ceremony, and integration (details in show notes) • The Regulated Woman — private podcast & library for ongoing, nervous-system-first support Are you loving it? Send Ash a text! MORE ABOUT ASH I am the definition of duality — I swear like a sailor and break rules like it’s my job, but I also hold incredible space for my clients and work my ass off to help them achieve the success they’re after. But I'm also here for the non-preneur woman, too. My background in counseling gives me a unique perspective on what it means to show up, serve, & create connection for those who feel like they've never belonged before. LINKS: Become the Regulated Woman Get emails that feel like your best friend (if your best friend was a therapist and actually told you the truth). Use code BB20 to get The Burnout Breakthrough for only $7 Follow me on IG (dropping in once a quarter for updates & gossip) Website: ashmcdonaldmentoring.com Work with me 1:1 Therapeutic Mentorship Business Therapy (therapy + strategic mentorship) ...

    34 min
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About

Shamelessly Ambitious is an honest, grounding, and vulnerable podcast for ambitious, emotionally intelligent women who are done proving themselves, tired of living in constant high-functioning burnout, and craving a life and business that actually feel good. Hosted by Ash McDonald—therapist, nervous-system-first business mentor, and speaker this show blends clinical expertise with lived experience to deliver nervous system tools, embodied strategies, and radical permission so you can expand your capacity, root into emotional steadiness, and build sustainable success that supports your whole life. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, stretched too thin, caught in productivity guilt, or stuck running on stress, this podcast meets you where you are—with therapeutic insights, embodied practices, and heartfelt stories that create real shifts. Whether you’re navigating motherhood, entrepreneurship, or the messy middle of redefining success, each episode helps you slow down, regulate, and return to a felt sense of safety in your body. With over a decade of experience at the intersection of therapy and leadership, Ash pulls back the curtain on what really works—offering grounded guidance you can apply in real life. What you’ll hear: Honest conversations about burnout recovery, nervous system regulation, and redefining successSomatic tools, meditations, and practices that build inner safety and capacityStories of motherhood, mom-life, ambition, and the courage to create a life and business that feel rich and realIf you’re asking the following questions, you’re in the right place: How do I stop tying my worth to productivity?How do I know if I’m experiencing high-functioning burnout and what do I do about it?How do I balance motherhood and leadership without losing myself?How do I calm my body when I feel overwhelmed or overstimulated?This is the podcast for when you’re ready to reclaim peace, expand what you can hold, and create success that doesn’t cost you yourself. Tune in and take the next step toward a regulated, rooted, and deeply fulfilling life.

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