Episode 79

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Published on:

26th Feb 2026

Am I Allowed To Do This? Reinvention, Identity Death, and the Freedom on the Other Side — with Courtney Key Dalberg

Series: Coaching Masters (Student Side)

Guest: Courtney Key Dalberg — Coach Keren Eldad Client, real estate leader, mother of four, and emerging voice in coaching and podcasting


Tune in for a deeply personal conversation with Coach Keren Eldad client Courtney Key Dalberg about what happens when the life that looks “right” stops fitting — and you choose truth anyway.

In this Coaching Masters (Student Side) episode, Courtney shares her journey through private coaching with Coach Keren: the perfectionism, productivity-as-numbing, identity deaths, grief stages, “The Opposite” principle, and the moment desire became non-negotiable.

This is not a theory episode.

This is a lived transformation.

Key Themes We Cover

  1. Reinvention isn’t a personality trait; it’s a consequence of honesty. Courtney shares the shift from “I’m fine” to “I can’t undersell what I genuinely want anymore.”
  2. What happens inside coaching. The identity deaths, the bargaining, the anger-as-desire, and the moments when purgatory is no longer an option.
  3. Performance = control. Controlling work, body, image, approval — until surrender becomes the only path forward.
  4. The Opposite Principle (Costanza). How doing the opposite of your conditioned pattern becomes a spiritual discipline.
  5. Productivity as numbing. Why overachievers hide in busyness and how coaching interrupts that pattern.
  6. Radical honesty with family systems. “Conflict, no repair,” guilt and shame patterns, and how inner work creates real repair.
  7. Motherhood, ambition, and self-worth. What changes when worth becomes internal instead of earned.
  8. What emerges on the other side. A new relationship, a new sense of agency, a podcast, and a coaching path of her own.

Memorable Lines

  1. “There’s no arrival — just getting used to the ride.”
  2. “Anger is desire — when it moves you up, it’s the hand that pulls you out of shame.”
  3. “There is no box.”



Resources Mentioned

Books

  1. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People — Stephen R. Covey
  2. GILDED — Keren Eldad
  3. On Death and Dying — Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

Frameworks

  1. To Be Magnetic (TBM)
  2. Human Design
  3. Gene Keys
  4. Kabbalah



Connect with Courtney

  1. Bare & Brave Productions / Podcast: Am I Allowed To Do This? — COMING SOON https://www.instagram.com/bareandbrave.co/
  2. Bio / team page: https://sullivanhayes.com/team/courtney-dahlberg-key/
  3. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/courtney_dahlberg_key/?hl=en


Ready to Go Deeper?

If you’re in that in-between place — successful on paper, struggling in private, exhausted by performing, or quietly bargaining with your own truth — this episode shows what real coaching work looks like.

Book a Free Clarity Call:

https://calendly.com/kereneldad

Learn more:

https://www.KerenEldad.com

Mentioned in this episode:

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About the Podcast

COACHED with Coach Keren
Coaching mastery, personal transformation, leadership development, spiritual growth, burnout recovery, and business reinvention start here. Welcome to Season 5 of Coached: The Coaching Masters, where the world’s top teachers, coaches, spiritual guides, and conscious entrepreneurs share the real story behind transformation and leadership. Hosted by master coach Keren Eldad, this season explores the full arc of becoming a teacher and leader. Each episode explores coaching at its core, not as a polished highlight reel, but as a soul-centered journey. We go behind the scenes of coaching businesses, leadership breakthroughs, burnout recovery, and conscious entrepreneurship. You’ll discover how teachers turn personal pain into wisdom, purpose, and coaching mastery.

This season features transformative conversations with master teachers, bestselling authors and podcasters such as Byron Katie, founder of The Work, revealing how to break free from suffering. Dr. Kristin Neff, global authority on self-compassion, shares the truth behind inner kindness. Jessica Zweig opens up on collapse, rebirth, and her platform: The Spiritual Hustler. Danielle LaPorte speaks on softness, strength, and heart-centered leadership. Craig Siegel shares insights on business reinvention, financial success and transformation. Kurtis Lee Thomas dives into breathwork, burnout recovery, and becoming a true vessel for change.

What listeners will walk away with: personal transformation, leadership growth, spiritual insight, business breakthroughs — and all of the above. You’ll gain insight into your own journey through these role models. Reframe coaching leadership as a soulful, grounded path. Receive spiritual wisdom from teachers who embody what they teach. Discover business breakthroughs rooted in alignment, not hustle. And gain permission to evolve, unravel, and rebuild again and again.

In this season of Coached: The Coaching Masters, we explore emotional resilience, energetic alignment, spiritual awakening, business reinvention, leadership development, coaching business growth, and personal transformation. These honest conversations reveal the real work behind building coaching mastery and conscious entrepreneurship with integrity. Whether you're a coach, leader, entrepreneur, or in a season of reinvention, this podcast is your guide. You’ll gain insights from role models who’ve lived it, leadership development rooted in alignment, business reinvention strategies with purpose, spiritual growth grounded in wisdom, and burnout recovery guidance for rebuilding with intention.

Keren Eldad brings mastery, heart, and wisdom to each conversation, helping you evolve personally, spiritually, and professionally. If you are searching for coaching mastery, personal transformation, spiritual growth, leadership development, burnout recovery, business reinvention, coaching business growth, and conscious entrepreneurship, this season will be your essential companion. Join us for earned wisdom, deep transformation, and coaching that changes lives. Subscribe now to Coached: The Coaching Masters and begin your journey of conscious leadership, soulful business reinvention, and personal mastery.

About the Host: Keren Eldad (“Coach Keren”) is a top executive coach helping Founders, Olympic athletes and Fortune 500 leaders reach success. As the bestselling author of GILDED, she empowers individuals to redefine success and unlock their full potential. Recognized as a Top Ten Executive Coach by the ICF, Real Leaders, and Goop, Keren holds advanced degrees from The London School of Economics and the University of Jerusalem. With 500,000+ TEDx views and a global presence, her insights inspire leaders worldwide.


Resources
Website: https://www.kereneldad.com
Email: keren@kereneldad.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/coachkeren
Facebook: www.facebook.com/livewithenthusiasm

About your host

Profile picture for Keren Eldad

Keren Eldad

A thought leader in the coaching world, Keren Eldad (“Coach Keren”) specializes in taking high achievers out of the futility of constant pursuit and into the greatest levels of success and fulfillment. Her coaching clients include Olympic athletes, politicians, Hollywood stars, supermodels, Special Forces operatives and serial entrepreneurs, as well as renowned global organizations such as Estée Lauder, J.P. Morgan, and Nike… She is also the founder of THE CLUB, a community of leaders, entrepreneurs and coaches who encourage and support each other to reach their fullest potential and make their greatest contribution.
Recognized as a Top Ten Executive Coach by the International Coaching Federation (ICF), Real Leaders Magazine, & Goop, Keren maintains gold-standard coaching credentials on top of her advanced academic degrees from The London School of Economics and the University of Jerusalem. She is also a former C-suite executive, who has lived and worked in 17 countries and on four continents, and now coaches leaders all around the globe in four languages: English, Spanish, Hebrew and French. With half a million views on her TEDx talks, and speaking engagements all over the world, Keren’s message seems to transcend borders. She hopes it resonates with you.
Coach Keren resides in Austin, Texas, with her husband, Ryan, and many beloved pets.
For booking and coaching consultations, contact: Lee@KerenEldad.com