Your Stories Matter

Getting really personal this week and tracing a pattern I just recognized in myself: my instinct to go dismissive after a fallout, wipe the whole thing out, and "keep it moving" instead of actually processing it. I unpack where that pattern came from and why it's been costing me the chance to grieve and reconcile what I've lost.

I share two chapters of my story I needed to reconcile — ten years as a teacher I never fully loved, and years working in the service industry. I talk candidly about the shame I carried around both, and how I'm now able to see the actual skills and lessons I carried forward from each — community-building from the classroom, and a deep drive to help women reclaim their worthiness from my service industry years.

This episode is about the parts of my story I'd been dismissing, minimizing, or hiding, and why nothing I've lived was wasted once I was willing to find the thread.

In this episode:

• The dismissive pattern I just uncovered and why it's not the strength I thought it was
• Reconciling 10 years of a teaching career that I didn't love
• My years working in the seedier side of the service industry and the shame I carried around it
• How love and money wounds mirror each other
• What 12-step recovery taught me about surrender and rewriting old beliefs
• Why every experience I've lived — even the ones that feel shameful or unrelated — has a place in my story

If you're ready to start reconciling your stories — especially the ones that have kept you stuck in shame and dismissal — Rewritten is the program for you.

Start with a free Name the Narrative Session, and let's find the first thread together.

♥ Connect with me on Instagram: @jessicagraham.storycoach

♥ Sign up for the FREE monthly (non)networking gathering for ambitious female entrepreneurs, Stories in Action.  

♥ Book a call to discuss narrative coaching. 

About me: I help female entrepreneurs rewrite the stories that are keeping them stuck in outdated identities so they can stop overthinking, outsourcing decision-making, and playing small. I do this through my Beyond the Story Method and my signature program, Rewritten, which combines narrative therapeutic writing and community. 

This one's a shortie but still powerful AF.

This week I ran our first Rewriter's Collective meetup of the month, and it sparked something I couldn't not talk about: taking a story inventory.

If you've been around here for a minute, you know Rewritten is all about tracing your old stories back to where they started, reframing them, and rewriting them into something that actually reflects who you are. 

But the heavy lift isn't the awakening. It's the embodying. It's practicing the new story on repeat until it becomes who you are.

In this episode, I'm breaking down:

• What a "story inventory" actually is (and how I stole the concept straight from Al-Anon's Step Four)
• Why "keeping your side of the street clean" might be the most freeing mindset shift you adopt this year
• The daily inventory questions I ask myself — did I tell any lies today, did I say yes when I meant no, am I avoiding a conversation I know I need to have
• Why forgiveness journals deserve just as much real estate as gratitude journals
• The moment I stopped victimizing myself over my relationship with my mom, and what changed when I finally saw her as a human being who was struggling — not just "my mother who should have been ___"
• What I'm actually most proud of (and it’s not what you think)

This episode is a reminder that you can't control other people. You never could. 

But you can take radical ownership of your side of the street, and that ownership is where your power lives.

♥ Connect with me on Instagram: @jessicagraham.storycoach

♥ Sign up for the FREE monthly (non)networking gathering for ambitious female entrepreneurs, Stories in Action.  

♥ Book a call to discuss narrative coaching. 

About me: I help female entrepreneurs rewrite the stories that are keeping them stuck in outdated identities so they can stop overthinking, outsourcing decision-making, and playing small. I do this through my Beyond the Story Method and my signature program, Rewritten, which combines narrative therapeutic writing and community. 

For months, I chalked up my brain fog, low motivation, and low-grade depression to everything but the real thing. In this episode, I get honest about the middle-of-the-night epiphany that revealed the truth, the exact moment "I hope this happens" turned into "this is happening," and the wild string of manifestations that followed, including winning a ticket to see Cathy Heller in LA three days after I made the decision.

We're talking about:

• Why chronic fatigue and brain fog can sometimes be a symptom of an unaddressed life misalignment, not just a hormone issue
• The difference between hoping for something and deciding it's happening, and why that shift changes your energy
• How codependency recovery reshaped the way I think about "making things happen"
• Why sisterhood and community outside your immediate family isn't optional, it's oxygen
• Why embodiment work needs a container (and a little BTS on The Rewriter’s Collective)

If you've been sitting on a hope you keep swatting away, this is your permission slip to decide instead.

♥ Connect with me on Instagram: @jessicagraham.storycoach

♥ Sign up for the FREE monthly (non)networking gathering for ambitious female entrepreneurs, Stories in Action.  

♥ Book a call to discuss narrative coaching. 

About me: I help female entrepreneurs rewrite the stories that are keeping them stuck in outdated identities so they can stop overthinking, outsourcing decision-making, and playing small. I do this through my Beyond the Story Method and my signature program, Rewritten, which combines narrative therapeutic writing and community. 

For the first time on the podcast, I'm inviting one of my Rewriters to share her rewrite with us. Cherie Faus-Smith, a clarity and confidence coach, memoirist, and domestic abuse and melanoma survivor, joins me to share what it was actually like to go through Rewritten after years of therapy that helped, but never quite got her unstuck.

We talk about the difference between processing in a 50-minute session versus having space to actually sit with a memory until it cracks open. Cherie shares how she rewrote her core story of "I'm not believed," how that shift changed her relationship with her parents and her marriage, and how naming her own narrative led directly to the birth of a business shift.

This is a real, unedited conversation about what it looks like when the work actually works. 

If any part of Cherie's story resonates, I'd love for you to take the next step: book a free Name the Narrative session, the first step into Rewritten, linked below.

HOW TO CONNECT WITH CHERIE:

Cherie Faus-Smith is a memoirist, survivor, and advocate for women reclaiming their voice. After years of self-abandonment and giving her power away, she found her way back to herself and now helps women in midlife speak up, take up space, and reconnect with who they truly are.

Connect with Cherie Faus-Smith here: https://linktr.ee/cherie.faus.smith

______________________________________

♥ Connect with me on Instagram: @jessicagraham.storycoach

♥ Sign up for the FREE monthly (non)networking gathering for ambitious female entrepreneurs, Stories in Action.  

♥ Book a call to discuss narrative coaching. 

About me: I help female entrepreneurs rewrite the stories that are keeping them stuck in outdated identities so they can stop overthinking, outsourcing decision-making, and playing small. I do this through my Beyond the Story Method and my signature program, Rewritten, which combines narrative therapeutic writing and community. 

Journaling is one of the most powerful tools in my narrative coaching practice, and in this episode, I'm going beyond the "just write in a journal" advice to talk about what's actually happening in your brain and body when you do it.

I've been a journaler since I was a kid. But it wasn't until I started working with women in my Rewritten program, and going through the Al-Anon 12-step process myself, that I really understood why it works, not just that it does.

In this episode, I cover:

• The neuroscience of journaling — what your amygdala and prefrontal cortex are actually doing when you write by hand
• Why handwriting (not typing) slows your thinking in a way that helps you process instead of outrun your thoughts
• How writing externalizes emotional triggers and creates measurable mental distance from painful experiences
• The journaling practices I use personally — including burning ceremonies, resentment writing, and end-of-year reflection
• Why so many women tell me they don't feel safe journaling in their own homes — and what to do about it
• Specific prompts I use with my 1:1 clients in Name The Narrative Sessions to help you identify charged patterns and trace them back to a story

Whether you're brand new to journaling or you've been at it for years and want to go deeper, this episode will change how you think about what's actually happening when you put pen to paper.

Journaling prompts mentioned in this episode:

• What’s been feeling emotionally charged, repetitive, or heavy lately?
• What feels familiar about this experience?
• Where do you see your own choice in this situation?
• What does staying in this loop protect you from?

If you want to explore your own narrative with me, a Name The Narrative Session is a 45-minute guided conversation where we identify what's activating you and trace it back to the story underneath. 

♥ Connect with me on Instagram: @jessicagraham.storycoach

♥ Sign up for the FREE monthly (non)networking gathering for ambitious female entrepreneurs, Stories in Action.  

♥ Book a call to discuss narrative coaching. 

About me: I help female entrepreneurs rewrite the stories that are keeping them stuck in outdated identities so they can stop overthinking, outsourcing decision-making, and playing small. I do this through my Beyond the Story Method and my signature program, Rewritten, which combines narrative therapeutic writing and community. 

Have you ever made a decision by committee — polling your friends, hiring a coach, following the blueprint — because you just couldn't trust yourself to get it right? Same.

In this episode, I'm getting into the thing that's been coming up again and again in my Rewritten cohort: decision-making. Specifically, why it feels so heavy, and why the answer isn't a better framework — it's a stronger trust muscle.

I talk about:

• Why decisions feel so high-stakes
• The difference between needing advice and outsourcing your self-trust
• Why discernment matters and what it actually means
• Why feeling overwhelmed by a decision is usually a capacity problem, not a discernment problem
• How spaciousness, not productivity, builds the clarity to move forward
• The Elizabeth Gilbert "Big Magic" idea that changed how I think about inspiration
• Why trust is built through messy decisions, not perfect ones 
• What to do with the regret when things don't go as planned

This one is for the woman who is circling a decision right now and needs permission to stop waiting for certainty.

You already know more than you think you do. Let's talk about it.

♥ Connect with me on Instagram: @jessicagraham.storycoach

♥ Sign up for the FREE monthly (non)networking gathering for ambitious female entrepreneurs, Stories in Action.  

♥ Book a call to discuss narrative coaching. 

About me: I help female entrepreneurs rewrite the stories that are keeping them stuck in outdated identities so they can stop overthinking, outsourcing decision-making, and playing small. I do this through my Beyond the Story Method and my signature program, Rewritten, which combines narrative therapeutic writing and community. 

We don't just carry old stories. We follow their instructions.

In this episode, I unpack one of the most persistent patterns I see in myself and in my clients: the stories we form to save ourselves that end up keeping us stuck. I get into how my background in history, narrative therapy, and my experience navigating a first marriage, to show you how these stories get created, what they're protecting us from, and what it actually takes to rewrite them.

In this episode:

• Why old stories feel like facts — and how to start questioning that
• The "I'm not enough" root story and how it directs your decisions and relationships
• What the hidden payoff of a painful story actually looks like (and why this question requires radical honesty)
• The difference between finding a positive spin vs. finding a truer story
• How to use your own personal history as evidence for the alternative narrative
• Why the deepest wounds are usually the last to heal — and what intentionality actually looks like in practice
• What it means to strip back to who you actually are vs. who you've been conditioned to be

Honorable mentions in this episode:

• Name the Narrative Sessions: A free 45-minute session to identify the dominant story shaping your reactions, relationships, and decisions.
• Rewritten: The 8-week narrative practice built around the Beyond the Story Method

♥ Connect with me on Instagram: @jessicagraham.storycoach

♥ Sign up for the FREE monthly (non)networking gathering for ambitious female entrepreneurs, Stories in Action.  

♥ Book a call to discuss narrative coaching. 

About me: I help female entrepreneurs rewrite the stories that are keeping them stuck in outdated identities so they can stop overthinking, outsourcing decision-making, and playing small. I do this through my Beyond the Story Method and my signature program, Rewritten, which combines narrative therapeutic writing and community. 

What does it actually look like to build something before you feel ready? In this episode, I’m, pulling back the curtain on the messy, nonlinear origin story behind Rewritten — my eight-week narrative coaching program — and why I almost never acted on the idea at all.

From a one-time free workshop that got incredible feedback and then just…sat there, to a masterclass that cracked something open, to joining a business coaching program I thought was about launching (spoiler: it wasn't), I reflect on the breadcrumbs that led me to create a methodology that I didn't have a name for yet.

In this episode:

• Why awareness alone isn't enough — and where the real work of story change actually happens
• How a throwaway workshop became the seed of an entire coaching methodology
• What narrative therapy is, and how I’ve based my work around it
• The Human Design insight that helped me stop using "not ready" as a reason to stall
• What Rewritten is evolving into next
• The one action step you can take this week toward an idea you've been sitting on

If you've been noodling on an idea you keep putting off because the timing isn't right, the money isn't there, or you just don't feel qualified yet — this episode is for you.

♥ Connect with me on Instagram: @jessicagraham.storycoach

♥ Sign up for the FREE monthly (non)networking gathering for ambitious female entrepreneurs, Stories in Action.  

♥ Book a call to discuss narrative coaching. 

About me: I help female entrepreneurs rewrite the stories that are keeping them stuck in outdated identities so they can stop overthinking, outsourcing decision-making, and playing small. I do this through my Beyond the Story Method and my signature program, Rewritten, which combines narrative therapeutic writing and community. 

You did the hard part. You became aware. You named the pattern, traced it back, connected the dots. And then your nervous system completely lost the plot.

So now what?

In this episode — the follow-up to last week's pandemic PTSD story — I get into what actually happens after awareness hits and why digging into old stories often triggers nervous system dysregulation before it brings relief. I’m sharing exactly what I do when I feel activated, and why getting regulated first isn't optional — it's literally life.

In this episode:

• How nervous system activation physically shows up (and what it feels like when you're basically a scared dog in a shelter kennel)
• Why you cannot make a trustworthy decision from a dysregulated state — and what to do instead
• The difference between surrendering and avoiding (they are not the same thing)
• How the first three steps of Al-Anon apply to literally everyone, not just people in recovery
• Possibility vs. probability — and why blind faith might be your most powerful tool
• The smile file practice I use with my Rewritten clients from week one

This episode is for the woman who is doing the work, feeling all the feelings, and desperately googling "why does healing feel worse before it feels better."

Topics: nervous system dysregulation, nervous system regulation, healing old stories, surrendering control, inner child healing, trauma awareness, limiting beliefs, codependency recovery, Al-Anon, faith and healing, women's personal growth, identity work, narrative therapy

♥ Connect with me on Instagram: @jessicagraham.storycoach

♥ Sign up for the FREE monthly (non)networking gathering for ambitious female entrepreneurs, Stories in Action.  

♥ Book a call to discuss narrative coaching. 

About me: I help female entrepreneurs rewrite the stories that are keeping them stuck in outdated identities so they can stop overthinking, outsourcing decision-making, and playing small. I do this through my Beyond the Story Method and my signature program, Rewritten, which combines narrative therapeutic writing and community. 

Have you ever thought you moved on from something — only to have your body tell you otherwise? In this episode, I’m opening up about the pandemic chaos that led to PTSD: losing my job in China, living out of a backpack for 10 months across Vietnam, the Philippines, Liechtenstein, and Abu Dhabi — and what happened when I finally stopped moving long enough to feel it.

From nervous system dysregulation and cortisol overload to shaking on the drive to a line dancing class, I share the real signs of stored trauma I didn't recognize as PTSD — and the nervous system regulation, inner child work, and healing practices that helped me release it without years of formal therapy.

This episode is for anyone who:

• Has experienced trauma, anxiety, or uncertainty and pushed through instead of processing
• Is curious about nervous system healing, PTSD recovery, or somatic approaches to emotional release
• Needs permission to just be witnessed — without fixing, advice, or toxic positivity

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

00:56 Navigating life changes: Divorce and relocation

03:53 The Impact of the COVID Pandemic on Personal Identity

18:50 Coping with Uncertainty

30:56 The Journey of Healing: Recognizing PTSD Symptoms

37:03 Empathy and Understanding: The Power of Listening

♥ Connect with me on Instagram: @jessicagraham.storycoach

♥ Sign up for the FREE monthly (non)networking gathering for ambitious female entrepreneurs, Stories in Action.  

♥ Book a call to discuss narrative coaching. 

About me: I help female entrepreneurs rewrite the stories that are keeping them stuck in outdated identities so they can stop overthinking, outsourcing decision-making, and playing small. I do this through my Beyond the Story Method and my signature program, Rewritten, which combines narrative therapeutic writing and community.