Stella Bida on Identity, Alignment & External Validation

Eight years after our first conversation, Stella Bida returns to the podcast for a much deeper discussion around identity, emotional alignment, people-pleasing, external validation and the uncomfortable process of becoming who you really are. We discuss the moment Stella sold almost everything she owned in order to…

Episode overview

Eight years after our first conversation, Stella Bida returns to the podcast for a much deeper discussion around identity, emotional alignment, people-pleasing, external validation and the uncomfortable process of becoming who you really are. We discuss the moment Stella sold almost everything she owned in order to disconnect from an identity that no longer felt aligned, alongside boundaries, burnout, style, grounding rituals and the pressure many women feel to keep performing versions of themselves that no longer fit. In this episode, Stella reflects on the years between our original…

Key topics discussed

• The gap between external success and internal fulfillment
• Why many women ignore the feeling that something is “off”
• The pressure of expectations, politeness and performance
• Selling possessions and rebuilding identity from the inside out
• Boundaries, people
• pleasing and learning to say no
• Style as emotional grounding rather than performance
• Why linen became Stella’s grounding material