155. Discernment and the Art of Making Big Life Decisions (Stephanie Peirolo)

A woman describes what she feels in her own body to a doctor and is told she isn't a reliable narrator of her own experience. It happens so often that she stops noticing, and she carries that same distrust into every decision after. Executive coach Stephanie Peirolo has watched this pattern in her clients for a decade and named it in her book The Saint and the Drunk: A Guide to Making the Big Decisions in Your Life. On this episode of The Quiet Warrior Podcast, Peirolo joins Serena Low to unpack discernment, a decision-making practice she rebuilt from two unlikely sources, a sixteenth-century saint and a recovering alcoholic, into a framework anyone can use to reclaim their inner knowing. Questions Answered What is the discernment practice behind The Saint and the Drunk? How do St. Ignatius of Loyola and Alcoholics Anonymous connect to modern decision-making? Why do women and marginalized groups struggle to trust their own judgment? What's a practical way to start rebuilding trust in your inner knowing? How do you recognize the "superpowers" you take for granted in yourself? Why does everyone need someone who can mirror their strengths back to them? What's the difference between introversion and shyness? Key Takeaways The quiet damage of being told you're not a reliable narrator of your own life, and a practice for collecting evidence against it. Why doing something you're genuinely skilled at can restore your footing after a hard day spent doing something you're not. The vulnerability of asking your biggest fan what you do well, harder to sit with than asking for criticism. Peirolo's own reckoning with being read as outgoing on stage while quietly depleted underneath. The specific courage it takes to make a decision someone in your family doesn't get a vote on, but thinks they do. Chapters (approx.) 00:00 – Meet Stephanie Peirolo, author of The Saint and the Drunk 00:35 – From journalism and sales to executive coaching 02:01 – Why the path only makes sense in hindsight 02:51 – The saint: St. Ignatius of Loyola and the roots of discernment 05:21 – The drunk: Bill Wilson, AA, and a higher power for everyone 06:11 – Writing a book built to trust the reader's own inner knowing 09:54 – The narrative underneath every narrative: "you aren't right about what you want" 12:01 – A practice for rebuilding trust in your inner knowing 15:59 – The unrecognized superpowers hiding in plain sight 18:50 – Why every person needs someone who can mirror their strengths back 21:16 – Asking your biggest fan what you do well 22:52 – The courage every kind of change requires 23:52 – Introversion vs. shyness: where Stephanie really sits on the spectrum 26:03 – Stephanie's book, coaching, and where to find her work About Stephanie Peirolo Stephanie Peirolo is a board-certified executive coach with a BA from Stanford and an MA in Transformational Leadership from Seattle University. She is the author of The Saint and the Drunk: A Guide to Making the Big Decisions in Your Life, host of The Bad Boss Brief podcast, and writes Fierce Grace on Substack. Learn more at speirolo.com. About The Quiet Warrior Podcast The Quiet Warrior Podcast is a show for introverted professional women navigating visibility, leadership, and career growth. Host Serena Low is a trauma-informed coach and former lawyer who brings root-cause insight and permission-giving conversation to listeners still in the messy middle. If this conversation moved you, leave a five-star review and share it with someone who's making a big decision right now. At A Career Crossroads? Career Crossroads Counsel with your host Serena Low is a private 90-minute session for high-achieving introverted women deciding whether to stay  and rebuild, or leave and reinvent. Get underneath the overthinking. Identify what to preserve, release, and begin — and what your next chapter needs to honour. Book Career Crossroads Counsel: https://bit.ly/3VflRsJ Loved this episode? Leave a review to help other Quiet Warriors find the show. This episode was edited by Aura House Productions