{"podcast":{"title":"The Scenic Route with Victoria Steward","slug":"the-scenic-route-with-victoria-steward-7782802","podcast_index_feed_id":7782802,"rss_url":"https://api.riverside.fm/hosting/S6ZcgSiO.rss","website_url":"www.victoria-steward.com","image_url":"https://hosting-media.riverside.com/media/podcasts/951714c0-7b4d-4675-bd36-b3bd278f8546/logos/46260bbc-d587-4fc0-b414-b393efa55bf4.png","author":"Victoria Steward","episode_count":19,"summary":"What if the detour was never a wrong turn? We get handed one map early on: the superhighway. Pick the career, hit the milestones, stay in the fast lane somebody else drew for us. And one day a lot of us look up and realize it's been heading somewhere we never actually chose. This is a show about the people who got off it. I'm Victoria Steward. I spent 20 years as a federal civilian engineer/project manager before I left on a gut feeling and started taking my own scenic route. Every week I sit down with interesting people who made a change, sometimes sudden, sometimes so gradual they almost missed it, that sent their life somewhere they never saw coming. The kind of stories that inspire you to start dreaming into your own. If you've started to wonder whether there's a different road available to you, you're in exactly the right place. ✨ New episodes every week. Subscribe so you don't miss one.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-22T22:19:55.428806+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-scenic-route-with-victoria-steward-7782802"},"episode":{"title":"Breaking the Good Girl Pattern: How High Achievers Finally Feel Safe with Coco Duan","slug":"breaking-the-good-girl-pattern-how-high-achievers-finally-feel-safe-with-coco-duan","published_at":"2026-05-13T15:21:22+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-scenic-route-with-victoria-steward-7782802/breaking-the-good-girl-pattern-how-high-achievers-finally-feel-safe-with-coco-duan","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-scenic-route-with-victoria-steward-7782802","url":"https://api.riverside.com/hosting-analytics/media/dfcf123d3b4840f7028477421806ef579bf18baf56a2ce9a566b4257d0d88500/eyJlcGlzb2RlSWQiOiJlNTYxODU2ZC03ZDAzLTQwNGItOWJjNS02NzhkNDQzZDYyZGQiLCJwb2RjYXN0SWQiOiI5NTE3MTRjMC03YjRkLTQ2NzUtYmQzNi1iM2JkMjc4Zjg1NDYiLCJhY2NvdW50SWQiOiI2OTlmNjIyYzM1MDAxYzBlOWJlNGFlNGIiLCJwYXRoIjoibWVkaWEvY2xpcHMvNjlmY2M3ZGQ4ZDQwOTlmZjU4Y2RjNTMyL3ZpY3Rvcmlhcy1zdHVkaW8tUGhZZDAtY29tcG9zZXItMjAyNi01LTdfXzE5LTExLTU3Lm1wMyJ9.mp3","audio_url":"https://api.riverside.com/hosting-analytics/media/dfcf123d3b4840f7028477421806ef579bf18baf56a2ce9a566b4257d0d88500/eyJlcGlzb2RlSWQiOiJlNTYxODU2ZC03ZDAzLTQwNGItOWJjNS02NzhkNDQzZDYyZGQiLCJwb2RjYXN0SWQiOiI5NTE3MTRjMC03YjRkLTQ2NzUtYmQzNi1iM2JkMjc4Zjg1NDYiLCJhY2NvdW50SWQiOiI2OTlmNjIyYzM1MDAxYzBlOWJlNGFlNGIiLCJwYXRoIjoibWVkaWEvY2xpcHMvNjlmY2M3ZGQ4ZDQwOTlmZjU4Y2RjNTMyL3ZpY3Rvcmlhcy1zdHVkaW8tUGhZZDAtY29tcG9zZXItMjAyNi01LTdfXzE5LTExLTU3Lm1wMyJ9.mp3","summary":"What does it feel like to check every box, reach every milestone, and still feel like something is deeply wrong? Coco Duan was a senior leader at a Fortune 500 company, earning over $400k a year, doing everything she was supposed to do. On the outside, high performance. On the inside, running on empty, living in low-grade anxiety she didn't even have a name for, and giving everything to everyone except herself. COVID stopped the superhighway. And for the first time, the whisper she had been outrunning for years got loud enough to hear. In this conversation, Coco and Victoria talk about what actually happens after you get off the highway: why the anxiety doesn't automatically stop, why high achievers keep chasing the next goal to feel safe even when they know better, and why the nervous system work has to come before the strategy. Coco also talks about Argentine Tango as nervous system regulation, dancing five nights a week in Shanghai, and going to Buenos Aires for three weeks because joy is not a luxury. It is the fuel. Her book Unchecking the Boxes is out now. Her podcast is The Badass Leader. And this conversation is for anyone who has ever felt like a beautiful Porsche running on a broken engine. CHAPTERS 00:00 Welcome and Introducing Coco Duan 00:38 Who Coco Is Now: Breaking Good Girl Patterns and Becoming Badass 01:52 The Inciting Incident: When Did the Whisper Start? 02:27 From Whisper to Shout: How COVID Made the Voice Impossible to Ignore 04:42 Life on the Corporate Superhighway: Urgent, Urgent, Urgent 05:28 Driving 100 Miles an Hour While Running Completely Empty 07:24 The Turning Point: Seeking Professional Help for the First Time 10:54 How She Found Coaching: The Glimmer That Changed Everything 14:45 Zone of Excellence vs Zone of Genius: Why Good at It Is N…","meta_description":"What does it feel like to check every box, reach every milestone, and still feel like something is deeply wrong? Coco Duan was a senior leader at a Fortun…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2724,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-scenic-route-with-victoria-steward-7782802/episodes/breaking-the-good-girl-pattern-how-high-achievers-finally-feel-safe-with-coco-duan/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-scenic-route-with-victoria-steward-7782802/breaking-the-good-girl-pattern-how-high-achievers-finally-feel-safe-with-coco-duan.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}