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Trauma, Healing & Learning to Trust Yourself

Today on the podcast I’m talking with a creative business and sales strategist Kerry Walsh about a topic that I personally feel is not talked about enough, normalized enough, or that enough entrepreneurs understand in order to implement in their lives and see the impact in their business. 

I like to think of it as the place where “woo” meets business, and the ways that holistic approaches to healing can have big ripple effects in your business and your life. 

Kerry talked with me about her journey in battling cancer as a youth and the way it affected how she approached business ownership, and the surprising ways holistic approaches affect our bottom lines. She specifically talks about the ways our nervous system regulation {or lack of} impacts our productivity, capacity, and our ability for growth. 

I share a lot about my own journey and the quote “mid-life break down” I had when I ended my marriage and the surprising modalities that brought both me and my business back to life. 

Tuning Into Your Body

One of the most fascinating things I’ve found about Kerry and what really connected me with her journey was the fact that not only is she an expert in business strategy and navigating the high-pressure sales side of the corporate world, but she has become really well versed in holistic health and wellness. We talked about things like:

• Nervous system regulation
• Understanding the stress cycle + tools/methods to expand your capacity 
• Embodiment and re-integration into our bodies
• Getting in tune with yourself and your body

Her journey into this realm really began when she was diagnosed with leukemia at a young age. She became very in tune with her own body and the process of checking in with herself. We talk about how so many of us are not in tune with our bodies or our emotions, and we don’t have healthy ways of regulating our nervous systems. 

We feel like we’re too busy, so we skip over our emotions or find ways to numb out. Sound familiar? Kerry shared some ways that you can break this cycle and start to regulate your nervous system by: 

1. Listening to your body. When you are triggered, pause. Take a breath. 
2. Identifying the emotion. What are you feeling? Is it anger, sadness? 
3. Moving through it. Create space to move through that emotion in the body, either in the moment or later in the day. 

Pathways to Healing

In addition to traditional talk therapy, there are so many other modalities that can help you heal and move through emotions, pain, and trauma. It’s possible to rewire your brain and change the neuro pathways that may be keeping you stuck. EMDR, hypnosis, myofascial release, and journaling are all things we talk about in this episode. 

I also share more about my own experiences with EMDR and how it has helped me move through trauma from my past. 

Integrating Our Whole Selves

As entrepreneurs, we wear so many hats. It’s tempting to try and fit ourselves into different roles and define separate areas of our lives, but the truth is – we can’t separate business life from our personal life. It’s all connected. 

We’re all looking to achieve that elusive balance, but what if balance is something that is always changing? Kerry shares her practice of checking in with herself each day and then working to meet her needs based on how she is feeling. This can look like a journaling practice or simply asking yourself how you are doing and saying that answer out loud. 

If you are a woman, it’s also important to recognize that you will have times when you have a lot more energy during the month. There is power when you acknowledge that and give yourself permission to take each day as it comes. Because the truth is, we are actually less productive when we are not in tune with our bodies. 

In this episode, we talk a lot about trauma, ways to heal, and the post-traumatic growth that comes after the fact. 

It’s messy right? Because so many of the painful parts of life lead to success and growth too. The important thing is learning to trust yourself so that you can take the leap and live a life in alignment with your true goals and passions. 

How to Connect with Kerry

I”m so thankful Kerry joined me on the podcast and shared so many amazing insights, tools, and resources. You can connect with Kerry on Instagram at @kerryannecoaching and on her website www.kerryannewalsh.com. You can also listen to the trailer for her new podcast In High Alignment coming out in March!

Here are some more of the resources we discussed in today’s episode: 

• Myofascial release video for a quick, soothing, vagus nerve regulation too
• Where to begin search for a trauma therapist: Psychology Today
• EMDR Study 
• Post Traumatic Growth Article
• Book recs: Burnout by Emily and Amelia Nagaski; The Emotion Code; The Body Keeps the Score
• Podcast recs: Feminist Wellness by Victoria Albina