Laurel Boivin at Flux + Flow Coaching

Laurel Boivin at Flux + Flow Coaching I coach high-performing professionals eliminate overwhelm. Leadership Coach * Podcaster * Speaker

What if disagreeing with someone didn't have to mean being disagreeable?For many of us, learning to disagree takes coura...
09/15/2026

What if disagreeing with someone didn't have to mean being disagreeable?

For many of us, learning to disagree takes courage.

It also takes inner work. Because before we can change how we respond to disagreement, we may need to understand why disagreement feels so uncomfortable in the first place.

What did you learn about disagreeing when you were growing up?

Were you encouraged to question, speak up, and have your own opinion?

Or did you learn that being “good” meant keeping the peace, respecting authority, or going along with what someone else wanted?

Over time, those messages can become beliefs and expectations we inherit or absorb and carry forward without questioning them.

And sometimes, they become self-limiting or even oppressive, keeping us quiet, encouraging us to defer to others, or making us question whether our own wants and opinions matter.

That's where the inner work comes in.

Noticing those patterns.
Questioning where they came from.
Knowing what you think, what you want, and what matters to you.
And learning to express those things while still respecting someone who sees things differently.

That's what Laurel Holland and I are talking about in this week's episode of Beautiful Work Beautiful Life, The Courage to Disagree.

Finding the courage to disagree requires knowing yourself well and trusting yourself enough, to speak up, even when it means disagreeing.

You're not disagreeable simply because you don't agree.

🎧 Listen in wherever you get your favorite podcasts
and let us know if you agree. 😉

“If anyone had told me that you and mom would be on vacation, bicycling around eastern Canada, I never would have believ...
09/12/2026

“If anyone had told me that you and mom would be on vacation, bicycling around eastern Canada, I never would have believed it.”

I didn’t hear much of the conversation between my daughter and my husband, but I heard that.

I guess our recent vacation surprised her.

She wasn’t alone.
It surprised me, too.

Why?

Well, neither my husband nor I are cyclists.
And yet, we rode our bikes nearly every day.
The shortest ride was 18 miles. The longest, 33.

I hadn’t taken a 17-day vacation in 23 years. Neither had my husband. We both have full plates, with plenty of responsibilities at work and at home.
And yet, nothing fell apart in our absence.

All of this has me thinking about how easily we create stories about who we are, and who other people are, based on who we’ve been.

I’m not a cyclist.
I don’t take long vacations.
I’m the person who needs to be there.

That’s just who I am.

But maybe it isn’t.

Different stages of life look different. Circumstances change. Priorities change. People change.

And when we expect ourselves, or others,
to keep being who we have always been, we can miss out on who we are becoming.

Maybe we even rob ourselves of the possibility of becoming someone we never imagined we could be.

When’s the last time you surprised yourself?

In this week's episode of Beautiful Work Beautiful Life, Laurel Holland and I explore Misusing Your Voice. Our conversa...
09/07/2026

In this week's episode of Beautiful Work Beautiful Life, Laurel Holland and I explore Misusing Your Voice. Our conversation touches on self-silencing, emotional regulation, nervous system safety, and what it takes to use our voices well.

When you hear the phrase “misusing your voice,” what comes to mind?

Until Laurel Holland suggested misusing your voice as a podcast topic, forcing me to really think about it, I assumed it meant speaking harshly, criticizing someone, or saying something you later wish you hadn't. And yes, it can be all of those things.

But as Laurel and I talked, I realized there’s another way we can misuse our voice:
We can choose not to use it at all.

Maybe we stay quiet when we have something to say. We don't ask for what we need. We hold back because we're worried about how someone will respond, whether we'll be judged, or whether speaking up will create conflict.

And sometimes we have good reason to be cautious, to take time before we say everything we're thinking without considering the impact of our words.

That's where the inner work comes in.

The inner work of using your voice well is learning not only when to speak but how to speak.

It's getting clear about what needs to be said, and how to say it in a way that feels aligned with who you are and what you value.

I'm curious: When you think about using your voice well, what does that mean to you?

🎧 Listen to Misusing Your Voice wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

After an amazing nine days on Prince Edward Island, we're heading south for our next stop on this adventure: New Brunswi...
09/01/2026

After an amazing nine days on Prince Edward Island, we're heading south for our next stop on this adventure: New Brunswick.

PEI has been amazing. At times, even better than I imagined it would be.

The bike trails. The beaches and sand dunes. The rolling pastures and farmland. The harbors and fishing villages. And the ocean water—so much warmer than I expected!

And at other times, it hasn't quite met my expectations. Like the lack of vegetables on an island that grows so much food. (I will never take broccoli, asparagus, and Swiss chard for granted again.) But unmet expectations is part of travel, too.

And, as always seems to happen when I travel, I've learned a few things about myself.

For instance, I am apparently not built for 32 miles on a bicycle seat. 🚲

And spending all day, every day with another person isn't always easy for me—someone who is used to spending much of her time alone. Even when that person is someone I love and love to travel with. ❤️

Being away from our usual routines has a way of showing us things about ourselves that are not always easy to see in our everyday life. And once we see them, we can't unsee them.

Maybe that's one of the reasons I love traveling—and taking real time away—so much.

We get outside the routines and places that are familiar to us.

We see how other people live. We experience landscapes we've never seen before. We try things. We stretch ourselves. We change our minds.

We're surprised. Sometimes we're disappointed. Sometimes we're completely delighted.

And somewhere along the way, our perspective shifts. We see ourselves differently.

We come home different.
Yet the same.

For now, though, I’m not quite ready to be back at home (or at work, for that matter). There are still new places to experience.

When Laurel Holland and I began envisioning our sixth season of Beautiful Work Beautiful Life, we knew we wanted to brin...
08/31/2026

When Laurel Holland and I began envisioning our sixth season of Beautiful Work Beautiful Life, we knew we wanted to bring some of the biggest conversations happening in our world today to the podcast.

Conversations about oppression.
The patriarchy.
Sexism.

And ultimately, what all of this has to do with our inner work.
Because we believe beautiful work leads to a beautiful life.

So right out of the gate, we've been building the conversation one episode at a time.

We began the season by asking what freedom really means in The Road to Self-Liberation.

Then we explored Identifying Oppression, because before we can experience greater freedom, we have to recognize the systems, beliefs, and experiences that shape our lives.

From there, we looked more deeply at two examples:
• How the Patriarchy Hurts Everybody
• The Problem with Sexism

These conversations aren't about blame.
They're about increasing our awareness of the systems and messages that shape us, often in ways we don't even notice.

This week's episode, "Are You Guilty of Holding Yourself Back?" takes the conversation one step further by asking even more personal questions.

➡️ What happens when the external messages we've lived with become internal?
➡️ What if the beliefs you've absorbed and the patterns you've developed over a lifetime are quietly limiting your freedom?

Because awareness is where change begins.
And change creates the freedom to become more fully ourselves.

If you've been listening since the beginning, thank you for taking this journey with us.

If you're just joining us, welcome to our Beautiful Work Beautiful Life community. This is a wonderful time to jump in.

🎙️ New episodes of Beautiful Work Beautiful Life drop every Monday.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

I've been known to claim, "I don't relax well." And it's true. It usually takes me three days into a vacation before I c...
08/28/2026

I've been known to claim, "I don't relax well."

And it's true. It usually takes me three days into a vacation before I can disconnect and begin to unwind.

That's one of the reasons taking one week off might not be enough.

You know the drill...

➡️ Work extra hours to finish as much as possible at work so that you can go on vacation.
➡️ Spend the first three days trying to relax, disconnect, and unwind.
➡️ Enjoy two days.
➡️ Stress for the next two days because vacation is almost over and you have to go back to work.

I'm not doing that this time. No, this vacation feels different.

Maybe because I didn't expect it to be relaxing.

How could it be with 600 miles of bike trails on the island...and a riding partner who outpaces me by 5 to 10 mph?!

And, thanks to an abundance of trails, harbors, provincial parks, and beaches to explore, it hasn't been hard to disconnect.

Work will be there when I return.

For now, there are great blue herons on the bay and a setting sun that need watching.

**********

"Don't live the same year 75 times and call it a life." ~ Robin Sharma

Many people hear the word sexism and think the conversation isn't about them.But sexism isn't simply about individual at...
08/24/2026

Many people hear the word sexism and think the conversation isn't about them.

But sexism isn't simply about individual attitudes.
It's about the messages we've all inherited—women, men, and people of every gender.

Messages about strength.
Success.
Leadership.
Emotion.
Worth.
Who belongs.
Who speaks.
Who leads.
Who sacrifices.

Whether we've benefited from those messages or been limited by them, they've shaped all of us.

In this week's episode of Beautiful Work Beautiful Life, Laurel Holland and I explore sexism through the lens of inner work.

Because meaningful change is possible when we become aware of the beliefs we've absorbed and asking whether those beliefs are still serving us and everyone else.

I'd love to hear what resonated with you after listening to this episode.

🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Let the fun begin! I’m leaving today for Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. Both are places I’ve never been.I’m ex...
08/22/2026

Let the fun begin!

I’m leaving today for Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. Both are places I’ve never been.

I’m excited. Looking forward to beaches, bike trails, lighthouses, seafood!

And I’m also feeling a little uncertain.

I don’t know what the weather will be like. I have lots of ideas about places I want to explore, but I’m trying not to overthink it or over plan. And that’s not always easy for me.

I’ll also be completely outside my normal routine for 13 days.

My everyday life includes a lot of time alone, and a lot of hours working.

I coach. I mentor, I write. I podcast. I lead workshops. I work on my business and in my business. I serve on two boards. And I spend a lot of time thinking about all of those things.

I love all of it. It’s meaningful to me and a big part of my life.

So I’m curious (and maybe a little anxious) about what it will feel like to step away from it for two weeks.

Will I be able to leave work, my clients, my Board responsibilities behind?

How long will it take me to settle into a completely different rhythm?

Will I enjoy having days without much structure, or will I find myself wanting to fill them?

And, if so, how long will it take me to do so?

I don’t know. But I’ll find out.

It’s kind of like an experiment! One that could be (yet another) growth opportunity for me!

And, I bet I’m not alone in this.

We spend a lot of time trying to eliminate uncertainty. We plan, prepare, anticipate and try to figure out what comes next. But sometimes we simply can’t know until we get there.

So that’s what I’m going to do.
Go. Pay attention. Stay curious. Be present. And see what happens.

Stay tuned. I’ll let you know how it goes!

I was coaching a client recently who has reached a point in his career where he is at capacity. He’s extremely experienc...
08/20/2026

I was coaching a client recently who has reached a point in his career where he is at capacity.

He’s extremely experienced, capable, and good at what he does. And, like so many of us, he’s spent years taking on more responsibility, more projects, more people to manage, more problems to solve, more clients to serve.

But he is a human and, given the limits on his time and energy, he simply cannot take on any more.

This dilemma made me think about the beliefs many of us have about work, progress, and success.

From a very early age, we’re taught to equate progress with advancement.

In school, if we do well, we advance. We get grades, make the honor roll, graduate, and move to the next level.

Year after year, we learn that success means moving forward. We also rely on someone or something outside of us will tell us whether we’re making progress.

Then we enter the workforce, where the markers aren’t nearly as clear.

So what do we do? We look to titles, compensation, promotions, and responsibility as evidence that we’re succeeding.

But advancement isn’t always available. So we begin looking for other ways to know that we’re making progress and that our contribution matters.

Often, how much we can handle becomes a measure of our progress and of how valuable or successful we are.

We take pride in being able to take on more, to do more.

Until, one day, we can’t handle more.

And yet, new clients, projects, assignments, and opportunities keep coming, and new meetings continue to show up on the calendar.

That’s when we may start questioning ourselves, our work, our value, and even whether we’re in the right role or the right place.

But what if reaching our capacity doesn’t necessarily mean we’ve stopped progressing? What if it doesn’t define our success?

I think it’s time to expand our definitions of progress and success beyond advancement.

Imagine measuring progress and success by your contribution, growth, impact, and fulfillment.

Rather than asking “What’s next for me?” ask yourself, “What does progress look like for me now?”

How has your definition of progress or success changed over the course of your career or life?

When you hear the word patriarchy, do you immediately assume the conversation is about men versus women?It is not.It's a...
08/17/2026

When you hear the word patriarchy, do you immediately assume the conversation is about men versus women?

It is not.

It's about a system.
➡️ A system that teaches men to disconnect from vulnerability (among other things).
➡️ A system that teaches women to question their authority (among other things).
➡️ A system that limits all of us by defining who we're "supposed" to be instead of allowing us to be and become who we truly are.

That's why this conversation matters.

Because liberation isn't only a women's issue.
It's a human issue.

In this episode of Beautiful Work Beautiful Life, Laurel Holland and I explore how patriarchal systems affect everyone—and why recognizing those patterns is an essential part of inner work.

The goal is awareness, not shame or blame.

When we become aware of the systems that have shaped us and the world we live in, we gain the freedom to decide what we want to carry forward and what we're ready to leave behind.

And with awareness comes the possibility of living, leading, and relating to one another with greater authenticity and freedom.

🎧 Listen to Beautiful Work Beautiful Life wherever you get your podcasts.
A new episode drops each and every Monday.

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