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Shamelessly Ambitious I Helping Ambitious Women Prevent Burnout + Create Nervous System First Success in Business, Motherhood, & Life
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 success
- Somatic tools, meditations, and practices that build inner safety and capacity
- Stories of motherhood, mom-life, ambition, and the courage to create a life and business that feel rich and real
If 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.
Shamelessly Ambitious I Helping Ambitious Women Prevent Burnout + Create Nervous System First Success in Business, Motherhood, & Life
150. Cortisol Addiction Explained (and How to Break the Cycle)
Are you loving it? Send Ash a text!
Even after I slowed down, healed, lost 40 pounds, and felt like a brand-new human, the old patterns still tiptoed back in. Not the dramatic face-down-on-the-floor kind of burnout, just the sneaky version that makes you pause and say, “Oh, interesting… you again?” It was enough to make me curious.
This part-two debrief is me pulling back the curtain on why urgency creeps in even after rest, how cortisol becomes our go-to fuel source, and the small, doable resets that actually change the pattern without blowing up your entire life. Think of it as the gentle, real-life guide to breaking the burnout cycle… and all the tiny daily shifts that we all need.
TOPICS & TANGENTS:
• When old patterns creep back after rest
• Cortisol addiction and why stress starts to feel like energy
• How “busy” becomes an identity we get praised for
• Childhood wiring: control, chaos, and early responsibility
• Relational fawning: regulating everyone but yourself
• The urgency we learn young (and why I still watch our mornings)
• Tiny resets that help: the 90-second nothing timer, sense grounding, and vagus-nerve hums
• Values vs. ideals: hearing your life tell the truth
• The Somatic Wealth Framework: Regulate, Reflect, Rewire
POINT OF THE STORY:
You can’t out-sabbatical a nervous system pattern. The shift isn’t a life overhaul; it’s honest values + tiny, embodied resets repeated today.
RELAUNCH GIVEAWAY (10/29 – 10/31):
Free Access to The Energy Advantage (Mini - less than 15 minutes!) Training where I reveal the exact framework I used to double my energy, work less frantically, and actually end my days with something left in the tank.
Here’s how to get instant access:
- Leave a review for Shamelessly Ambitious on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
- Screenshot your review.
- Upload it using this short form.
Once you do, you’ll get immediate access to the mini-webinar, From constant exhaustion to overflowing energy: the fastest way high-achieving women can reclaim their capacity in 2025.
Rooting for you, your way, always 🖤
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) ...