The wellbeing event that changed my life…Eventually
With Watch Along With Me commentary by Powered By Diversity founder Cat Wildman.
We’ve got a treat for you this week — to celebrate next week’s Cultural Calendar Club event with expert Sophie Coulthard:
Blue Monday: Keep Calm-ish and Carry On
Monday 19 January 2026
12:00 13:00
Beat the Blue Monday slump with a practical, uplifting session focused on building real resilience and confidence for the year ahead.
Join wellbeing specialist Sophie Coulthard for an energising virtual workshop packed with simple strategies to help you reset, refocus, and feel more in control. You’ll explore how to manage pressure, shift unhelpful thinking, and support your own wellbeing, as well as those around you.
Whether you're already flagging in the new year or just want to start 2026 feeling steady and strong, this session is a great way to press pause and build momentum.
Not yet a member of Cultural Calendar Club? Join today or Contact Us.
For a limited time we’re showing an edit of one of the very first events we ever ran with Sophie Coulthard.
And I’ve done a “watch along with me” below because, while I didn’t know it at the time, I’m not exaggerating when I say this event changed my life… eventually.
Watch sophie’s limited edition event edit:
Watch along with me
Honestly? Before Sophie’s event, I sat firmly in the second camp she describes at the start of the session:
“Wellbeing sounds a bit wishy-washy and like something I probably don’t have the time or patience for.”
That was me.
What I didn’t realise then was that I was heading straight towards complete burnout — which arrived a couple of years after we first ran this event.
1m 51s — Four Steps for Success in Life & Sophie’s foundation of wellbeing
Here come my excuses.
1m51s: Four Steps for Success In Life and Sophie’s foundation of personal wellbeing.
At the time, I felt like I had Sophie’s Four Steps for Success in Life nailed.
I’d spent over a decade working on “know yourself” and “choose yourself” (a long road).
“Grow yourself” felt innate — learning and development are baked into who I am.
And “give yourself”? Well, I was doing that every single day.
“Nailed it,” I thought.
“This is Sophie’s foundation of personal wellbeing — and I am all over it.”
By 3m 40s, when Sophie shared the reality for most of us, I was still too busy congratulating myself to really hear the message: that you don’t complete these steps — you have to keep doing them. And that “grow yourself” includes taking your wellbeing seriously.
4m 19s — The Wedding Cake Exercise
7 min 49: Don’t be embarrassed if your wedding cake is upside down - 90% of people’s are
This is where it finally clicked.
I had a genuine “Ohhh — that’s wellbeing!” moment, quickly followed by:
“Blimey. If that’s wellbeing, it’s not wishy-washy at all. It’s vital.”
My wedding cake was not just upside down — it was exactly as Sophie describes at 7m 43s:
A toothpick supporting a brick.
Instead of scribbles, I’d written words in different sizes. At the top: kids, school stuff, family stuff, friends — and most notably, work.
As a founder, I’d turned my hobby (my “side hustle”) into my full-time job. What had previously been “me stuff” at the bottom had crept right to the top. I worked from home, hadn’t mastered shutting the laptop, and work quietly took over my life.
And because I felt guilty about working so much, I poured every other scrap of energy into my family.
7m 49s — “if your wedding cake is upside down”
In my bottom box?
One lonely word: pedicures.
The only thing I could think of that I did just for me — every couple of months.
Friends, I did nothing about my upside-down wedding cake.
I ignored it.
I was too busy.
My calendar was full.
I had three young kids.
My list of “shoulds” was endless.
And two years later — I burnt out.
Rewatching this event now, post-burnout, one line really landed:
“Now, don’t be embarrassed if your wedding cake wouldn’t support itself.”
Don’t be embarrassed.
And here’s the hard bit to admit:
I’d actually seen my spindly toothpick as a badge of honour.
“I’m powering through,” I thought.
“I don’t need yoga. I’m not going to down tools and wander in the woods. I’m not lazy or selfish. I’ve got kids to feed, a world to change, and an overflowing laundry basket.”
(That’s…quite embarrassing to write now.)
9m 21s — The second penny-drop moment
I didn’t recognise my burnout at first because it wasn’t dramatic.
9 min 21 - “Oh, this is why UK businesses are spending so much on wellbeing!”
It was gradual.
Joy quietly drained away.
Life became grey and functional.
Creativity disappeared — which, for my work, was devastating.
Then my resilience went.
Small setbacks felt enormous.
Fear, self-doubt, and hopelessness moved in and made themselves comfortable.
I left my favourite founder WhatsApp group, telling the organiser, “I’m skating close to burnout — I’ll be back.”
Months later, my brilliant friend and coach Virginia Mendez gently told me the truth:
“You’re not skating close. You burned out months ago. You’re like a zombie performing at being human.”
She was right.
12m 09s — The spiral Sophie warned about
12 min 09 “This is the exact spiral Sophie described would happen”. . . I thought to myself dully as I went down it.
Sophie’s research shows that 90% of people have an upside-down wedding cake. It’s no wonder poor mental health costs UK employers £51 billion a year, with presenteeism (aka “powering through” whilst not OK) the biggest driver.
The next penny-drop moment came when Sophie asked:
When you’ve got the wedding cake on the left, how do you perform at work?
I’m back from burnout now.
I know which version of me I’d rather employ — the zombie, or the creative, energised human.
And when Sophie asks, “Is it work stress — or is it the pressure we put on ourselves?” I know my answer.
My stress came from my own internal benchmark of what a “successful founder” (and human) should look like.
I was the one setting it.
15m 40s — The Demand, Control, Support model
This works. I tested it (unfortunately).
15 min 40 s the Demand, Control, Support model. I tested it - it works.
What helped me recover was, mind-bogglingly, exactly what I wrote down the first time I did that exercise (but didn’t act on at the time):
Coaching (Virginia Mendez) that helped me admit I needed to stop
A supportive team who said, “Go — we’ve got this”
Learning from our own Powered By Diversity experts (and actually applying it)
A strong network who understood
Redistributing the work that drained my spirit
The final exercise — icing on the cake
Remember my lonely “pedicures” toothpick?
Sophie’s final exercise helped me fill that bottom tier properly.
And watching this back, I realised — I now do so many of those things.
I paint.
I draw.
I sing karaoke in my kitchen between meetings.
I bake.
I go to sound baths for heaven’s sakes!
And yes — I down tools in the middle of the day and walk my dog in the woods.
My new out of office?
And sure enough something happened.
Joy came back.
The anxiety nightmares stopped.
Creativity returned.
I wake up each day, do that mental download of life — and smile!
I know.
So, I hope Sophie’s event helps you as much as it helped me.
And if you see my out-of-office on, you’ll know exactly where I am.
I hope you are too. 🍪 🌳 🐕 🔔 🎨 📝
JOIN US FOR Sophie’s NEXT event:
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Blue Monday: Keep Calm-ish and Carry On
Monday 19 January 2026
12:00 13:00
Beat the Blue Monday slump with a practical, uplifting session focused on building real resilience and confidence for the year ahead.
Join wellbeing specialist Sophie Coulthard for an energising virtual workshop packed with simple strategies to help you reset, refocus, and feel more in control. You’ll explore how to manage pressure, shift unhelpful thinking, and support your own wellbeing, as well as those around you.
Whether you're already flagging in the new year or just want to start 2026 feeling steady and strong, this session is a great way to press pause and build momentum.
Not yet a member of Cultural Calendar Club? Join today or Contact Us.