We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kristin Sremba. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kristin below.
Kristin, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
I found my purpose on accident by doing things that scared the bajeezus out of me. If I can follow a breadcrumb trail back to the first piece, I think it would be my first solo camping trip while I lived in Colorado.
I had been in a dark space and had been doing the things you do to work on your mental health. I was going to therapy, working out, hanging out with friends, spending time outside, and journaling. I was doing all the things and getting increasingly exhausted. After another moment of darkness passed through my life, I threw up my li’l hands and had an epiphany. I realized I had been waiting to live my life. I was waiting for the friend group or the relationship or the opportunity to present itself to help me do the things I wanted to do; I was living in limbo and trying to fit in places I didn’t belong.
I decided to stop waiting and started to spend my time and energy on figuring out how to do the things I wanted to by myself; that’s when I planned my first solo camping trip. Solo camping became my thing for years to come. There’s something very literal about finding your own power in the woods by yourself. The act of choosing to do something simply because I wanted to was wild and revolutionary. The thoughts and actions that brought me on that first solo camping trip would move me closer to healing my mental health and ultimately would place me on this path of major changes in my life. It changed something in my brain! It showed me that I could do the things, I could make them happen for myself, and that I ultimately truly do have everything I need within myself. If you’re searching for your purpose, I’m pretty convinced it will be waiting just beyond that thing you’ve convinced yourself is outside your reach.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Hmm what do I do… it is shifting all the time, so I think what I do right now is dream big. I started a business back in August of ’21 and didn’t know what I was selling. While figuring it out, I brought handwritten Happy Thoughts with me wherever I’d sell. Happy Thoughts are thoughts I’ve been writing down for a over a decade to help me feel ok being me. It was an utter shock when handing out these Happy Thoughts turned into the business themselves.
I now sell a product I created for people to share Happy Thoughts with their own world. The Happy Thought deck I created is comprised of 365 pages for you to have every day or to give them away to your world. I’ve sold 2,000+ in a little over a year and handed out 100,000 free Happy Thoughts to strangers since the start of the business in August of ’21. This deck is designed to provide the healing that handing out those 100,000 Happy Thoughts has done for me. The most exciting thing about what I do is watching these Happy Thoughts grow and grow through their own authenticity. This entire thing is far bigger than me; I’m just trying my best to guide them toward what they can be. I now have a podcast (Happy Thoughts Podcast) where I talk with people I meet about their own dreams and Happy Thoughts lead us through a very human conversation. I’ve recently started facilitating groups I call Happy Hangs, where we gather and do activities to share Happy Thoughts and find community in finding more love for ourselves and the world. I have lived in a van with my cats while selling and sharing Happy Thoughts for years now and have proclaimed 2024 the ‘Happy Thoughts of America Tour.’ I am traveling across the country sharing Happy Thoughts and experiencing this nomadic life in a new way. I’ve had so many magical Happy Thought moments traveling; I’m blogging, tik toking and podcasting the journey and can’t wait to see where these seeds go in the next year.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Hmm, looking back I’d say the three qualities that impacted me most on this journey were some that I once resented and now find a lot of gratitude for: loneliness, mental healing, and flexibility within life’s changes have been the most impactful qualities on this journey.
I think we learn a lot, if not the most, about ourselves when we’re with ourselves and there is no time we are with ourselves more than when we are alone. I now credit most of this business to loneliness and finding purpose and joy within times of challenge and isolation. The foundation of this business, handwritten Happy Thoughts, started on my mirrors in expo marker when I was seeking purpose during challenging times. The most magical moment was in finding community through isolation. It’s a pretty cool moment when something I told myself, something that helped me feel loved and remember I matter, made someone else feel loved and remember they matter too. That thought still overwhelms me. There are certain moments of bravery that do not arrive unless they are the last resort and I truly believe loneliness is the last stop before the magic. My biggest bit of advice for finding your bravery is to spend time alone, spend time learning you, let yourself not know, and let yourself try, make mistakes, and learn. Encourage yourself every step of the way and let go of expectations frequently.
I’m one of many that has struggled with my mental health. There are so many of us and I just want to give everyone a hug who is feeling heavy, scattered, scared, confused, or anything in between. One of the Happy Thoughts by Rupi Kaur, says “How you love yourself is how you teach others to love you.” My map of pain points over the years always comes down to needing more self-love. We can only meet others at the level they’ve met themselves; when I needed people to meet me in places they hadn’t been, it felt quite destructive and lonely. One of my favorite Happy Thoughts is “Every act of creation is first of all an act of destruction,” by Pablo Picasso. Destruction is painful, scary, and often isolating, but it allows creation that would never exist without the space the destruction created. Watching strangers read Happy Thoughts that say things like “You are the best thing that has ever happened to you” (Andrea Gibson) or “Take time to do what makes your soul happy” (Paulo Coelho) and smile, I am immediately connected with the part of them that has both doubted that thought and also wants to believe in it. Happy Thoughts are a direct line of connection to the heart! I am constantly faced with the version of me that started writing these Happy Thoughts in a moment of destruction, when I doubted I mattered, when I didn’t love myself, and when I was seeking connection in challenging spaces. Without those original Happy Thoughts on my mirrors, I would have never known their comfort and never have found connection with so many strangers who’ve struggled with the same feelings. My biggest advice for anyone struggling with their mental health is to spend time doing the weird little things your heart loves. When it feels heavy, what feels like a sigh of relief; find that and do that. Release any shame that doing what you want to do is not productive or important. When in doubt, create something, anything.
I have moved many many times in my life and changed jobs like it was my job. Flexibility, it turns out, is crucial for the wandering soul who can’t figure out where they belong. I’d been inadvertently strengthening my flexibility for years before I really needed it and it’s gotten a real workout recently. After I quit my career to start a business without a plan, I spent many months going through the painful transition of exiting my old life and creating space for a new one. Pretty immediately after I found my footing to start the business, I lost my apartment and ended up living in a van with my cats and have never needed flexibility more in my life. In order to find more flexibility in our lives, I think the most effective way is practicing letting go. A question I used to wrestle with is “how do you know when you’re letting go vs. giving up?” I’m certain everyone has a different answer to that question, but I think our only true answer comes from knowing ourselves and loving ourselves. Once we get to know ourselves, we know what to hold onto and when to let go. When we love the person we know, we find what we truly value. It’s much easier to be flexible when were hanging onto less!
Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
In the past 12 months, these Happy Thoughts have gone wild! We’ve gone from a budding product into a Happy Thought brand. So much has changed since last year; I learned how much I didn’t know and once I learned what I needed, the information showed up. I figured out printing, trademarks, copyrights, etc., and was able to create a product I’d dreamt of. I have no business background and knew nothing about printing before I started making a print product. There is nothing that has confirmed my belief in Happy Thoughts more than how they are showing up in this business. I’m now traveling across the country on the Happy Thoughts of America Tour. I’m on Season 2 of the Happy Thoughts Podcast, am running groups called Happy Hangs, and am figuring out the logistics to make my next order of Happy Thoughts on the road.
I’m still catching up and getting myself in position. The biggest lesson I’ve learned through all of these things is that having heart matters and the weird thing you want to do matters. There’s no way to know how or when it will manifest; one of the Happy Thoughts says “Success will only be within your reach when you start reaching out for it” (Stephen Richards). We have to try for the things we want and we have to equally know that we are already whole as we are. We truly have everything we need; the more we believe that, the more shows up.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kristitchin.com
- Instagram: @happythoughtsbykristin
- Facebook: Kristitchin
- Linkedin: Kristin Sremba
- Other: Spotify: Happy Thoughts Podcast TikTok: The Happy Thought Project
Image Credits
Jonas Carrera
