Triumph After Trauma

This is my 50th episode of Triumph After Trauma, holy freaking crap!

I am so grateful to be here, have this opportunity to be a podcast host, and help change lives (in all sorts of ways) doing this! I wanted to first say thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I'm beyond grateful to be connected to you!

For my 50th episode friends, I decided we're going to have a chat about the difference between holding yourself accountable and being a bully to yourself. I feel this is an important topic because while I feel it's important for people  (including myself) to be responsible and be able to hold themselves responsible, from personal experience I have learned there are ways to do that without being mean to yourself or straight up bullying yourself. 

It's possible to be a responsible human being who knows how to take accountability for their actions/words while being kind to yourself when you do need to have a talk with yourself, or take a look inwards and do some growing. Not only is it possible, this will do you better than being a bully to yourself when that time for a self talk or inner work comes. 

If you resonate with this episode, feel free to DM me on Instagram (@thisiskaitey is my handle) so we can connect more! If you know someone who needs to hear this, share the episode on social media and tag me so I can thank you for spreading the word about Triumph After Trauma! I'm so grateful to be connected with you <3

Believe it or not, there is a version of me that was not the most kind or responsible. 

There is a time I lashed out when I was angry, cut people off the second I felt betrayed
in any way, isolated myself a lot, didn't prioritize my mental health, sabotaged myself,
self harmed, and didn't make an effort to be healthy/responsible/self-compassionate.

None of that was good for me or people around me, but I was drowning in my anxiety and depression (diagnosed officially in early 2012), and I had no freaking clue where to start in looking for help to try and work through any of my traumas and was terrified of looking internally to do work on myself.

I was a mess and struggled severely with my mental health until 2019, after I finally ran from an unhealthy relationship and got that ex to stop contacting me. What  I put up with in that relationship was the last straw for me - it made me realize all the ways not being a responsible person who could take accountability and set boundaries to keep me (and my mental health) safe was hurting me and affecting how I lived.

Since then, I have done a lot of work to be a more mature person and now, in October 2023, I'm proud to be a 31 year old woman who is responsible for her words/actions and can hold herself accountable. Since I have and still do so much work on myself, I thought this would be a good conversation for us to have, friends!

If this conversation resonates with you, DM me on Instagram (@thisiskaitey is my handle) so we can connect more! If you know someone who needs to hear this, share the episode on social media and tag me so I can thank you for spreading the word about Triumph After Trauma! I'm so grateful to be connected to you <3

HELLO PODCAST FRIENDS <3

After a full two month break that I didn't plan for, I am elated to be back!

This episode is short and sweet but I wanted to talk about what lead to that break, and share why I think breaks are important not bad. I felt a little squirrely brained here, but I hope (at least some of) what I said make sense, and resonates with some of you! If it does, feel free to message me on Instagram (@thisiskaitey is my handle), so we can connect better. And if you think someone you follow on social media or know could benefit from hearing this, please share it with them (tag me if you share this on social media so I can thank you personally)!

As of next week I will be back to weekly episodes talking about all things trauma, triumph, and life. I'm beyond excited to be back, and ready to keep growing with each of you!

Lastly, I just want to say how deeply grateful I am that even when I took a break from this podcast it continued to grow. Words cannot describe how thankful I feel for your love of Triumph After Trauma, or how blessed I feel having the opportunity to do something like this and change lives for the better. My heart is beyond full thanks to, and because of all of you. Again, thank you so much for being on this journey with me. I appreciate each of you who listen in, and am glad we're on this journey together <3

I hope you're ready for a good chat today friends, because we're diving into things about grief we could do with better understanding as a society. 

To be in 2023 and all over the world most countries (because of things like government, as one example) still not have truly helpful AND affordable mental health services is not surprising - especially here in North America - but it's also just not acceptable. 

We live in a world where too much is going on to cause every one of us grief for mental health services (both affordable and truly helpful) to NOT be available to every one of us. Unfortunately we also live in a world that is brutally unfair, unjust, and governments/world leaders/churches/police forces (in most of the world) hold the most power yet do the most damage instead of any good.
 
Grief (and let me remind you, ALL grief is valid) is something we will all experience, and probably more than we would like to in our life. However, because mental health services are not the most available and it's rare for companies to offer good mental health coverage through their insurance, grief many people feel alone in going through - and none of us actually deserve that. 

Because the people who could make the most difference don't make the right kind of difference with their power, connections, money etc I find things like mental health and grief are still not talked about and taken seriously the way they really could be. 

I want to share with you all today three things I feel we should better understand, as a society (and individuals if you're someone who doesn't understand much about mental health or take it seriously for any reason). I hope this helps someone who listens in!

If you resonate with this, DM me on Instagram (@thisiskaitey in my handle) so we can connect more! If you know someone who needs to hear this, share the episode on social media and tag me so I can thank you for spreading the word about Triumph After Trauma! I'm so grateful to be connected to you <3

Life is beautiful, precious, and incredibly fun in so many ways. 

It is also cruel, unfair, brutal, tragic, and traumatic unfortunately.

Before I go any further, I want to say I know life can be so tragic and traumatic that the hardest thing in the world to do is NOT give up on yourself - and I have been there myself. 

That being said, the last part of the above comment is actually the reason this is our topic of conversation today, friends. In some of my darkest times one of the things that I kept a mental reminder of (to help keep me going when I didn't care to) was what the cost of giving up completely could be. 

If you are in a rough enough place right now you don't think there would be a cost to giving up on yourself or in any way, shape, or form being mean/harmful to yourself, as someone who has been there I can tell you this - there is definitely a cost. Everything we do (or don't do) comes with costs/consequences. 

I feel that talking openly about what the costs are of choosing yourself (even in your hardest times) versus giving up on yourself is important, and I hope talking about it on this podcast helps someone listening in! 

If you resonate with this or this conversation touches your heart, DM me on Instagram (@thisiskaitey is my handle) so we can connect more! If you know someone who needs to hear this, share the episode and tag me so I can thank you for sharing the word about Triumph After Trauma! I'm so grateful to be connected to you <3

First and foremost, HAPPY FEBRUARY EVERYONE! 
You survived the first month of 2023, and that is something to celebrate - no matter what your month looked and felt like. 

For some of you 2023 has started off great, which is wonderful! However, there are 7 billion+ people in the world so I know many of you have not had a great start to the year.

Maybe you came into this year knowing it would be rough, but January was even rougher than expected. Maybe you came into the year with big goals/dreams and January has already really tested you. Maybe the year started off well and over the last 31 days your world has been completely flipped upside down. If in any way, shape, or form January turned out rough and you're not feeling too hopeful going into a new month, this episode is for you!

In today's episode we're having a chat about what we can do (which are things I'm doing myself right now) to work through what we're going through, and not let those chatty minds win. 

If this episode resonates with you, feel free to message me on Instagram (@thisiskaitey is my handle) so we can talk and connect more! If you know someone who needs to hear this, send it to them or share it on social media and tag me so I can thank you for helping spread the word about my podcast Triumph After Trauma!

Thank you so much for your support over the last 45 episodes, it means the world to me. I'm grateful for you, more grateful to be on this journey called life with you <3

Sometime we have plans for our future that don't work out, and are not our choice. When you have specific plans with someone or think a person will be in your life for many more years and  your world gets flipped upside down, wondering what your life will be like when that person is no longer in your life (the way they once were) can be impossible to do. It can be quilt riddling to do, and make a person feel like crap. 

That's the situation I'm in right now. I wanted the person I'm with to be my life partner and we had started talking about what the first step of building a life together could look like, then out of nowhere the universe fucked us over. Up until April of 2022, I had an idea of what my future might look like and I was excited about how fun doing life with my partner could continue to be. 

Now, trying to picture what my future might look like is terrifying. I don't think my future life will be bad, not at all, but knowing it won't involve someone I thought I'd get many years with is painful. Trying to even wonder what life will look like when our time together comes to an end riddles me with guilt, and brings on heavy sadness. 

I wanted to share this part of my story and how I'm trying to work through all these emotions, because talking about how we feel (as hard/uncomfortable as it can be) does help but also because I know someone else in the world is hurting and needs to know they're not alone. To know not only are they not alone, they can get through a time that may feel impossible to get through. 

If you resonate with this, please don't hesitate to to message me on Instagram (@thisiskaitey is my handle) so we can chat and connect more! If you know someone who needs to hear this, share it on social media and tag me so I can thank you for helping spread the word about my podcast Triumph After Trauma!

I'm so grateful you're here, and to be on this wild journey called life with you! <3

Today we're having a conversation about those unwanted (and sometimes sadly life ending) feelings of being worthless, lost, and hopeless. I want to be open about times
I have felt these ways, and how feeling those ways affected me. 

Here are just a few of many services that are worth at least looking into:

https://www.wellnesstogether.ca/en-ca/

https://kidshelpphone.ca/

https://988lifeline.org/

https://www.dcogt.com/408-helpline/

Suicide Hotline - 1 833 456 4566

Also, there are crisis hotline numbers for different parts of the world. You can find them online and talk to someone in a matter of minutes, if you feel like you're in crisis and need help right away. 

And if you need a friend but feel like you don't have anyone in your corner, I'm just one DM away (@thisiskaitey is my handle) and I would love to be of support  to you!

If you know someone who needs to hear this please share the episode on social media and tag me so I can thank you for helping spread the word about my podcast!

Remember, you matter and you deserve to be here. Even on your worst days, even when you can't see that <3

Sometimes life throws such big curve balls that out of nowhere, your future becomes uncertain and it's beyond terrifying. Mental illnesses can be so debilitating getting out of bed can be an impossible task. How people treat you can greatly affect how you feel about, see, and show up for yourself. 

I could carry on but you get it, there are a range of things that can result in us feeling hopeless or worthless. It's a terrible way to feel I know, so I wanted to talk about it. In this episode I share some of what I went through when I experienced these feelings, and ways I overtime worked myself out of them.  I also talk about feeling lost, because that is where I'm at right now. 

I hope what this episode does is serve as a reminder that it's not impossible to get out of the rough feelings you're experiencing, or change your mindset and get in control of your mental health. It's hard to do. It's uncomfortable to do. It takes time to do. But it is possible. I promise, it really is.
 
If you connect or resonate with this, please feel free to message me on Instagram (@thisiskaitey is my handle) so we can have a real conversation and connect more! If you know someone who needs to hear any of this, share the episode on social media and tag me so I can thank you for helping spread the word about Triumph After Trauma! 

I'm so grateful to be connected with you, and that you are here! <3

HAPPY 2023 LOVELIES! 

For the first episode of the year, I wanted to share with you all what the name of my podcast 'Triumph After Trauma' and generally being triumphant in hard seasons means to me. How I view the meaning of being triumphant is different than many others might.

If you resonate with this episode, message me on Instagram (@thisiskaitey is my handle) so we can connect more! If you know someone who needs to hear this, share the episode and tag me so I can thank you for helping spread the word about Triumph After Trauma!

Thank you so much for your support and love my first full year podcasting, it truly means the world to me. I'm SO grateful for you all <3