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Meg Harris's avatar

I read this and my first thought was, “Wow, this is someone I’d like to have as a friend.” Excited to get to know you better through your newsletter!

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Lizzie Langston's avatar

Colleen (you share my beloved grandmother’s name!) - it’s so good to find you here!! I TOTALLY geek out over polyvagal and anything nervous-system. If you haven’t discovered them already, here are some teachers who really incorporate this you might love!! You may already know of them!

Kate Northrup - nervous system + money healing. The Plenty Podcast

The Trauma Rewired Podcast! So good! Elizabeth the host , has a cert program for NS geeks like us!

Latest fave has been The Crappy Childhood Fairy podcast! Anna Runkle! She tells it straight and I love how she calls out the way the current therapy world just doesn’t cut it for CPTSD / childhood CPTSD adults like me!

Backstory on me. I found life coaching after sever depression and anxiety postpartum - it helped lead me to deeper and deeper context around my symptoms.

I also love Debbie Mirza! Her book “The Safest Place Possible” has helped me tremendously!

I’ve run The Postpartum Coach Podcast and brand as a trauma-informed coach for the past 6 years and am taking a break to re-assess how I approach work and life in general with my own nervous system.

Anyway. Overshare much? lol. Would love to be friends, maybe even do some cross-guest-posting or something! But if nothing else - hello!

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Colleen Krystyniak's avatar

Kate’s program is “Relaxed Money,”🤦‍♀️ Think her Podcast is called “Plenty.”😂

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Colleen Krystyniak's avatar

Hello!! Hello!!! Thank you for reaching out and this beautiful share!!! I Love your generosity and enthusiasm! Thank you for letting me know about sharing your Grandmother’s name.💕 How special, especially since it’s not all that common. It surely seems we share a lot in common!😃 So cool to connect!

I know Kate Northrup well!☺️ She is like a ray of sunshine isn’t she? But also full of brass … was gonna say tax😂 (I’m getting punchy)… She is whip smart, spiritual & practical too.

And I also love that she calls out some macro & systemic realities that often go overlooked in the positivity/manifestation spheres. As someone who has endured a few things, & walked alongside others who have & do, I feel it’s so harmful to not acknowledge 3D realities. Kate does, & she employees talented humans who do the same.

I’ve taken her Plenty program live twice now & the Nervous System coaching component has been life-saving. The last container just ended.

In fact, I just signed up for one of her Nervous System coach’s-(Sarah Tacey) 4 month “Resourced” program starting in a few days.😃

Sarah and her teachers and colleagues are next level for meeting the nervous system where it’s at, and I am Sooo in Need of this personally right now.

And I’m excited & hopeful that Sarah has the skill set & temperament I need right now.

What I mean by this is I think there is nuance in nervous system awareness, psycho-education & capacity building that, when left off (especially for CPTSD) or if misunderstood-can lead to harm on top of harm by way of shame, self-judgment, frustration, unrealistic expectations & so on.

Thank you for All of these resources!!! And yay you on the Podcast!! I took a whole thing a couple years ago aiming to launch one myself, but life had other plans for me. Lol (I’m going to screen shot all of this you’ve shared here and dig in tomorrow!!! I Realllllly appreciate this!!!

I’m Absolutely open to connecting in all the ways!!😃 Honored for the ask!

I love how you have framed what I think I am also doing myself : “reassessing how I approach work and life in general with my own nervous system.”

(This is Everything isn’t it?! How to direct our Energy; Notice, & Respect our current Capacities; Feel our Centered Self-Agency in all the available places to choose what’s best for us)

Full disclosure- I have been a bit overwhelmed in my personal life of late & working my way through a lot of grief & a few other big deal things -esp since the summer.

Although Ive been writing here & there in Notes and comments, & do a ton of reading, I haven’t been able to muster any kind of rhythm to get my own personal Stack going, or write about all the things that excited me; the things I set out to write about.

It’s so ironic really!😂 (I need to use the very tools I wanted to write about in order to be able to even write🤪🙃😂- at least anything anyone else would find useful or interesting. 😂

This said, I’m trying to end the year easy on myself; with ‘compassionate witnessing’ of where I am, how I feel, what I need, all my perceived failings and so on. It’s a tall order! But if anything, makes me a much more humble counselor, I think.

Happy 2025!! Talk again soon!

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Lizzie Langston's avatar

Yes I’m in Relaxed Money!

GIRL, I totally have zero judgement on the consistency of your stack. And it isn’t a pre-req. I think we should celebrate how we show up, bc we are freaking champs every day. Happy 2025!

Also grief is big and just takes time.

And yes Kate keeps it so real. I agree. It’s one of the things I really love about her.

Happy to chat in the DM’s, and take all the space you need.

Xo

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Colleen Krystyniak's avatar

🥰🥰🥰

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Lizzie Langston's avatar

Oh! I’m sure you already know of her, but Irene Lyon, MSC - her YouTube is so amazing and her courses too! For nervous system work

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Prajna O'Hara's avatar

Beautiful work.

Monica, I’m glad you returned to writing and righting.

I am familiar with many things that you speak about and look forward to reading more.

Sorry about your losses, and I also agree that we can heal so much through writing and discover much more about who we are.

Congrats on your heroine journey!

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Monica Edwards's avatar

I can so relate to this: the series of major life happenings (for me, also including illness and loss and a major car accident) that lead to questions and wonderings about how we want to live our lives, and a push towards creativity in the process. Can’t wait to read more! Glad I found your work via WITD.

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Colleen Krystyniak's avatar

Oh Monica! This makes me So happy!!! It is one of those days where everything feels upside down & not in that good, creative way🤦‍♀️😂. I’m sorry to hear of your illness, loss & car accident, but also so grateful WITD connected us.🥰

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Phyllis Unterschuetz's avatar

A year or so ago I wrote a fable and shared it on my writing group's Facebook page, and one of the moderators asked if I was familiar with Internal Family Systems. Turns out my therapist daughter had told me about it months before, but I hadn't been able to hear her. So at that point, I became utterly fascinated by IFS and read a ton of stuff. I'm hoping you'll be writing about it here.

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Colleen Krystyniak's avatar

I want to for sure!!! My aim is to make good on all of my promises. (Although I’m not a trained IFS therapist, I have studied this framework enough to believe it to be so helpful- especially for working with trauma, self-sabotage, & addictions ).

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Thalia Toha's avatar

Colleen- Thanks for sharing this story. I'm sorry about your mother and your kids' house-fire. Your question on: "Are we really just supposed to sacrifice, complain & then die?” really captures the age-old human spirit of the unbroken. Your writing is a great reminder of this.

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Colleen Krystyniak's avatar

Wow! Thank you for taking the time to read & comment.☺️ I so appreciate it! And glad you got something from my post.

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Colleen Krystyniak's avatar

Aweee☺️ What a sweet comment to find!!! Grateful have you & will likely be sharing a more vulnerable post on grief today or Monday. 😬

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Colleen Krystyniak's avatar

Thank You!!! So grateful to have you!!!!!

My words are all over the place, everywhere these days…

I am trying to coax them kindly, find a way to both share on my own Substack, keep my promises, keep reading all the brilliant writers here on SS; especially those in WITD.

Reading there, and learning craft from Jeannine has become a bit of an obsession of late. I’ve been working today on something to share.

If only pasting some mosaic of 9 different beginnings, & 6 middles would make for more than mayhem, I’d have this newsletter thing in the bag! 🤦‍♀️🤣 😂

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Rita Ott Ramstad's avatar

Colleen, I don't know how it is that I've never clicked through to your work here, but I am so glad that I did. I finally found a doctor who shared with me all of the things you're writing about here, and then she left my HMO and I could no longer access her care. She was the first person who made it all make sense! So looking forward to exploring your past posts and following future ones.

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Neil Shooter's avatar

You're so weird in the best kind of way! My kind of weird! Authentic, vulnerable, open, curious, genuine. Great to meet you :)

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