# I Did All the Right Things and Still Felt Empty

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/making-change-with-your-money-6046388/i-did-all-the-right-things-and-still-felt-empty
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/making-change-with-your-money-6046388/i-did-all-the-right-things-and-still-felt-empty.md
Podcast: [Making Change with your Money](https://stenobird.com/podcast/making-change-with-your-money-6046388)
Published: 2026-07-25T17:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://api.riverside.com/hosting-analytics/media/4a95ed04a16b00d9b5569206fdee3cb55863aa2bb8c17e6174360b5aef1c89ad/eyJlcGlzb2RlSWQiOiJhN2RlNmI3Ny1lYzQ5LTQ3NTEtYWExNC01NmM0NzBjNTE2YjIiLCJwb2RjYXN0SWQiOiI3YTk3MWU4NS01MTAzLTQyMjUtOWM1MC0zNGUyOWFlMmYzODUiLCJhY2NvdW50SWQiOiI2OTJlMTFhYmZmYmExODU1NmI3ZTY1MTYiLCJwYXRoIjoibWVkaWEvY2xpcHMvNmE2MzhhMzJlNjI5YjhlNWU1MzEwNDA3L2xhdXJhLXJvdHRlcnMtc3R1ZGlvLWNvbXBvc2VyLTIwMjYtNy0yNF9fMTctNTItMTgubXAzIn0=.mp3
Audio file: https://api.riverside.com/hosting-analytics/media/4a95ed04a16b00d9b5569206fdee3cb55863aa2bb8c17e6174360b5aef1c89ad/eyJlcGlzb2RlSWQiOiJhN2RlNmI3Ny1lYzQ5LTQ3NTEtYWExNC01NmM0NzBjNTE2YjIiLCJwb2RjYXN0SWQiOiI3YTk3MWU4NS01MTAzLTQyMjUtOWM1MC0zNGUyOWFlMmYzODUiLCJhY2NvdW50SWQiOiI2OTJlMTFhYmZmYmExODU1NmI3ZTY1MTYiLCJwYXRoIjoibWVkaWEvY2xpcHMvNmE2MzhhMzJlNjI5YjhlNWU1MzEwNDA3L2xhdXJhLXJvdHRlcnMtc3R1ZGlvLWNvbXBvc2VyLTIwMjYtNy0yNF9fMTctNTItMTgubXAzIn0=.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/making-change-with-your-money-6046388/episodes/i-did-all-the-right-things-and-still-felt-empty
Duration seconds: 2198

## Resource

Imagine you've done everything right. Good grades, good job, good friend, good daughter. You followed every rule, checked every box, never gave anyone a reason to worry. And then one day you wake up in the middle of a global pandemic and realize: I feel completely empty. At some point you've probably heard yourself asking: Is this it? I worked so hard for this life — so why doesn't it feel like enough? And what do you do when the anxiety and perfectionism you've been running on finally runs out? Allie Brooke grew up with a father who was an accountant — money was always handled, never discussed. No allowances, no financial education, just a clean household where the adults took care of everything. It was comfortable. And it left her completely unprepared for adulthood. The only lesson that stuck: make sure you have good credit. By her mid-twenties she had the career, the commute, the New York City life. She was also burning out quietly, running on perfectionism and people-pleasing with no idea how empty she'd become. COVID stopped everything — and in that stillness, she finally heard the whisper she'd been drowning out: you are made for more. She bought a microphone off Amazon and started talking. Not to an audience — just to herself, processing what she was learning in therapy, from self-development books, from her own life. The Growth Mindset Gal podcast was born from a woman who needed to heal out loud. Then came a harder decision: leave New York City, take a pay cut, and move three and a half hours upstate to a slower life near her fiancé's family. Her therapist's verdict after the first session post-move: "You are a completely different person." Her commute went from ninety minutes to twelve. Her therapy sessions went from weekly to monthly. She never looked back.…

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## Transcript

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