No Shrinking Violets Podcast for Women
No Shrinking Violets is all about what it truly means for women to take up their space in the world – mind, body and spirit. Mary Rothwell, licensed therapist and certified integrative mental health practitioner, has seen women “stay small” and fit into the space in life that they have been conditioned to believe they deserve. Drawing on 35 years in the mental health field and from her perspective as a woman who was often told to "stay in your lane," Mary discusses how early experiences, society and sometimes our own limiting beliefs can convince us that living inside guardrails is the best -- or only -- option. She'll explore how to recognize our unique essential nature and how to use that to empower a new narrative.Through topics that span psychology, friendships, nature and even gut-brain health, Mary creates a space that is inspiring and authentic - where she celebrates the intuition and power of women who want to chart their own course and program their own GPS.
Mary's topics will include sleep and supplements and nutrition and how to live like a plant. (Yes, you read that right - the example of plants is often the most insightful path to knowing what we truly need to feel fulfilled). She’ll talk about setting boundaries, communicating, and relationships, and explore mental health and wellness: trauma and resilience, how our food impacts our mood and the power of simple daily habits. And so much more!
As a gardener, Mary knows that violets have been misjudged for centuries and are actually one of the most resilient and ecologically important plants in her native garden. Like violets, women are often underestimated, and they can even mistake their unique gifts for weaknesses. Join Mary to explore all the ways the vibrant and strong violet is an example for finding fulfillment in our own lives.
Episodes
165 episodes
Getting Unstuck: Using Scaling to Create Change
Stuck can look like a hundred different things, but it usually feels the same: spinning, second-guessing, and waiting for clarity that never arrives. I share a simple tool I use when life feels mired, a 1 to 10 rating scale that turns a vague p...
Seeing The Pattern: Love Bombing and the Abuse Cycle
Someone can tell you they love you while quietly teaching you to doubt your own mind. That is the part we wanted to name out loud, without buzzwords and without blame.I sit down with artist, author, and speaker Carine Van Hee to ...
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Breaking the Negative Thought Loop: Find The Exception
Your mind can turn one bad moment into a whole worldview, and it usually starts with two words: always and never. Today I’m sharing a simple way to interrupt that spiral by looking for “exceptions,” the real-life moments that prove the harsh st...
People-Pleasing "Nice Girls": How High-Functioning Women Learn To Abandon Themselves
You can be confident, competent, and deeply self-aware and still find yourself saying yes when you mean no, smoothing things over, and quietly disappearing in your own life. That contradiction is exactly what Mary Rothwell explores with Ludovic...
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Shake It Off: What Nature Teaches Us About Nervous System Reset
Your body is carrying more than you think, and a puppy can prove it. After seven weeks of raising Alfie and trying to decode his signals, I noticed something that changed how I look at stress: the full-body “doggy shake.” Yes, dogs shake to dry...
Emotional Regulation Doesn't Mean "Calm": The Path through Burnout, Anxiety and Shame
Emotional regulation isn’t “stay calm and never fall apart.” It’s being able to feel anger, grief, joy, fear, and everything in between while staying connected to your body and in control of what you do next. That single shift changes how we un...
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When We Stop Shrinking: Staying Strong through Vulnerability
One anonymous one-star rating on Amazon threw me off for days and the weird part is how fast it made me forget the real, thoughtful reviews from people who actually read the book. That moment turned into a sharp lesson about negativity bias, vi...
Barriers to Promotion: Addressing the Articulation Gap at Work
If you’ve ever watched a less qualified coworker get promoted while you quietly held everything together, you’re not imagining it and you’re not alone. We dig into the real reason high-performing women get overlooked even when they’re deliverin...
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Zoom In: The Power of "Right Now" in Taming Anxiety and Building Success
Your brain loves to leap ahead and ask the scariest question possible: “If I’m struggling right now, what does that mean about the future?” I’m sharing a small but powerful reset that helps me cut through anxiety fast: zoom in on the challenge ...
Fired To Inspired: Rejection as Motivation
Getting fired can feel like public failure, private grief, and a full-body identity crisis all at once. I know that kind of rupture, and that’s why this conversation lands so deeply. In this episode, Merry Korn, founder of Pearl Interactive Net...
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Tough Love & Consequences: Raising Resilient Children
We sit with the messy truth of tough love and why letting natural consequences happen can be the most loving path to resilience. We also face parenting guilt head-on and separate what we can influence from what is shaped by DNA, boundaries, and...
Notes From a Madwoman: Transforming Survival Adaptations to Healthy Coping
Survival can make you brilliant at coping and it can also quietly steal your identity. We sit down with writer and trauma educator Lisa Lacy to talk about the gap between looking “high-functioning” and actually feeling well, especially for wome...
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Emotional Regulation through Nature
City life can be brutally loud, and sometimes the stress isn’t a personality flaw, it’s a nervous system response to an environment that never powers down. After a weekend at BookFest and a bunch of conversations with readers, we keep coming ba...
Cycle Syncing: Using Your Natural Rhythm to Bust Burnout and Optimize Energy
Hustle culture has a nasty way of sounding like wisdom until you’re exhausted, snapping at everyone you love, and wondering why you can’t “just be consistent.” We sit with that tension head-on and ask a better question: what if the problem isn’...
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Being Resilient: Lessons from Puppy Parenting
We bring home a new puppy and quickly realize our biggest problem is not Alfie, it is how much we are trying to manage and control every moment. We connect puppy behavior struggles to helicopter parenting and resilience, then decide to give him...
Discernment: How to Make Life's Big Decisions
A pro and con list can’t tell you why a choice feels right in your bones. We start with a deceptively simple question: why would two frequent travelers in a small city townhome with three cats decide to get a dog? That “on paper it makes no sen...
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Using Immediacy To Facilitate and Deepen Communication
We’re running on puppy time and talking about why a new dog can upend your routine fast. Then we share a therapy tool called immediacy and show how naming what’s happening right now can break through shutdowns, jokes, and stalemates in relation...
Emotional Restoration: Overcoming Fear through Rest and Reflection
Fear can be quiet, rational-sounding, and incredibly persuasive. It tells us to stay small, keep the peace, hustle harder, and accept “good enough” because change feels risky. I sit down with Gilza Fort-Martinez, a licensed marriage and family ...
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Flashbulb Moments: How Memories Shape your Life
In this mini-episode, I talk about• defining flashbulb moments as memories that stand out in bold relief • noticing how siblings can remember the same event differently • sharing a childhood story about breaking an elbow a...
Transformation Through Action: Rebuilding Confidence in Midlife
You know that moment when you catch your reflection and realize you’ve been getting through life instead of really living it? That’s where this conversation begins, and it’s where a lot of real change starts. Mary shares a vivid memory from the...
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Expand Your Life: Ignoring the "Yeah, Buts"
The “yeah, but” voice can sound sensible, even caring, but it can quietly shrink your life. Today we’re pulling that voice into the light and asking a bigger question: what would you do if you truly believed it’s not too late?As we're scramblin...
Single Parenting With A Plan
Single parenting can feel like you are carrying a whole household on your back and getting judged at the same time. We wanted to cut through the noise and talk about what actually helps, so we brought on Pat Hankin, author of The Field Guide fo...
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What If Your Life Vision is Limiting What's Possible?
Your biggest goals can quietly turn into blinders and you might not even notice until you feel stuck. We’re sharing a mindset shift that hit hard after reading Austin Kleon’s “Don’t Call It Art”: when we grip our visions too tightly, we can mis...
Forest Bathing: The Health Benefits in Your Own Backyard
Your body already knows how to relax, it just might be waiting for you to step outside. We sit down with Kim Little Hoover, a mindful outdoor guide certified through the Kripalu School of Mindful Outdoor Leadership, to talk about forest bathing...
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Communication: Clarity and Self-Awareness are Key
A question: why does communication break down so easily when we have so many ways to connect? We talk through how silence, softened needs, and rushed messages create confusion, then lay out simple ways to speak clearly in relationships and prof...
