Shift With Beth

But what if those reactions aren’t about what’s happening right now? What if they are echoes from a younger version of you who is still trying to feel safe?

In the latest episode of the podcast, we dive deep into a concept that often feels abstract or even a little “woo-woo” until you actually experience it: Inner Child Work.

If you are a high-achieving woman, a solopreneur, or someone who is constantly holding it all together, this episode is specifically for you. We explore why understanding your inner child is often the missing key to healing the anxiety, burnout, and perfectionism that keeps you stuck.

Let’s demystify this term right away. Inner child work isn’t about blaming your parents or dwelling on a terrible childhood. In fact, many people—myself included—avoid this work because they feel their childhood was “good enough.” We tell ourselves, “I had food, I had a home, my family loved me. I shouldn’t be complaining.”

But your nervous system doesn’t deal in logic; it deals in safety.

Inner child work is simply recognizing that parts of you learned how to survive when you were younger. Those parts—whether they are five, ten, or fifteen years old—developed strategies to stay safe, connected, and loved. And those strategies, which served you well back then, are often the very patterns causing you stress today.

When we talk about the inner child, we are talking about the younger parts of you that learned what the world felt like and what you had to do to survive in it.

We tend to think of trauma only as the big, obvious events—abuse, severe loss, or violence. But there is also what we call “little t” trauma. These are the subtle, consistent moments that taught your nervous system that it wasn’t safe to be fully you.

Maybe you learned that:

Your body remembers these lessons. Even if you’ve built a successful business and a beautiful life, your nervous system might still be operating on outdated software, scanning for danger where there isn’t any.

In this episode, I share my personal story of growing up in Southern California with terrifying earthquakes. My body learned early on that danger could strike at any moment, especially when I was resting. Years later, as a mother and entrepreneur, that same survival mechanism kicked in when life got overwhelming, manifesting as severe anxiety and insomnia.

It wasn’t until I connected the dots back to that frightened little girl that I could finally heal the anxiety instead of just managing it.

As driven women, we are excellent at “managing” things. We manage our businesses, our households, and yes, our anxiety. We might use medication, exercise, or sheer willpower to push through the discomfort.

I did this for years. I managed my anxiety. I managed my insomnia. I kept showing up, coaching, and parenting while internally I was exhausted and wired.

But managing isn’t healing.

Healing requires us to stop fighting the anxiety and start listening to it. When you feel triggered or overwhelmed,...

Episode Highlights & Timestamps

• [05:40] Why your body stays “on guard” even when there is no immediate danger.
• [14:20] The hidden link between chronic stress and “low-maintenance” people-pleasing.
• [23:15] How to identify your “tells”—the physical signals that you’ve left your window of tolerance.
• [34:50] Guided Practice: A simple sequence to reset your system.

Mentioned in This Episode

– Internal Family Systems (IFS) / Parts Work
– Book: No Bad Parts by Richard Schwartz

About Beth

Beth is a somatic coach, breathwork facilitator, and speaker who helps women and leaders move from survival mode into safety, self-trust, and authentic expression. She bridges nervous system science and spirituality in a grounded, practical way so healing happens beyond mindset.

Connect with Beth:

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If this episode resonated, follow and subscribe so you don’t miss what’s next. Share it with someone who’s been living under pressure, pushing through life, or stuck in survival mode.Learn more about working with Beth at shiftwithbeth.com

Have you ever found yourself saying “yes” to a commitment while your entire body was screaming “no”? Or perhaps you’ve become so good at sensing what other people need that you’ve completely lost touch with what you want.

In this episode of Shift with Beth, we are pulling back the curtain on a behavior that many of us mistake for “being nice” or “being easy-going”: Self-Abandonment.

Self-abandonment is the act of rejecting your own feelings, needs, or boundaries in order to maintain a connection with someone else. It often starts as a survival strategy in childhood or high-demand environments where “fitting in” was a requirement for safety.

Over time, this survival strategy becomes a default setting. We become high-capacity, low-maintenance individuals who are “successful” on the outside but feel increasingly hollow on the inside.

From a somatic perspective, people-pleasing is often a “fawn” response. When our nervous system senses a threat—like potential conflict or disapproval—it tries to appease the threat to stay safe.

Common “tells” that you are in a cycle of self-abandonment include:

Healing from self-abandonment isn’t about becoming “selfish”; it’s about becoming self-led. It’s the process of rebuilding the capacity to be honest with yourself and others, even when it causes “natural friction.”

“We’ve been taught that success requires at least some amount of self-abandonment. But true success—and true intimacy—can only happen when you are actually present in the room.” — Beth Schild

Subscribe: Follow on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to continue your journey.

Join the Community: Visit shiftwithbeth.com to access resources and coaching.

Have you ever had a moment where you realized the life you were living wasn’t actually yours?

In this debut episode of Shift with Beth, I’m sharing the raw, honest story of how I found my own voice after decades of self-silencing. For years, I lived a life defined by a high-demand religion, a 20-year marriage, and the constant pressure to be “good” and “easy-going.”

But everything changed in the most unexpected place: at the gym, with a pair of headphones on.

In this episode, I share the “lightning bolt” moment I experienced while listening to a podcast. It was the first time I felt truly seen by a stranger’s voice. That moment sparked a series of intentional shifts that led me away from religious dogma and toward somatic healing, self-love, and eventually, the creation of this show.

We often think that change has to be explosive or overnight. But a shift is different. A shift is an intentional, slight adjustment in perspective or physiology that changes your entire trajectory.

On this podcast, we will explore the shifts required to:

This isn’t just a podcast about theory; it’s about practice. Moving forward, we will dive into:

“Change is inevitable, but a shift is intentional. I’m here to help you make the shifts that bring you back home to yourself.” — Beth Schild