Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kristy Weeks. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Kristy, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
One of the biggest areas that I want to look at when dealing with imposter syndrome is how experiencing that serves me. Because if we can find the benefit of having imposter syndrome, that helps to be able to relieve the feelings. Usually, at least in my life, the root of the imposter syndrome is tied to safety. By that, I mean emotional safety. Doubting myself keeps me from making decisions that could lead to me being much more visible, and more exposed. Sometimes, that feels really vulnerable. On one hand, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. On the opposite side, there’s also no risk of failure or opening yourself up to judgment from yourself and others. Recognizing that that is usually the trigger for me has allowed me to identify where I’m feeling those feelings in my own body, Once I identify that, I can place my hand over that place where I’m feeling those feelings. And here’s the juicy secret. I then THANK those feelings for trying to keep me safe, but that I am a whole person and do not need them to keep me safe. Usually that by itself is enough to lessen the feelings to choose faith over fear. But unless we figure out the purpose imposter syndrome is serving in our life, it’s hard to reason with it. Feelings aren’t logical. And when safety buttons are pushed, you can’t reason with those feelings until you can somatically calm the nervous system activation. Deep belly breathing through this is also essential. That helps calm the nervous system.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I have been trained in a lot of different modalities. I’m a licensed mental health therapist, hypnotherapist, Neurolinguistic Programming Practitioner, Emotional Freedom Technique Practitioner (tapping), coach, reiki practitioner, and time techniques practitioner. I fuse many of these modalities into a holistic model of working with clients in my private practice. We are not separate systems. We are whole people and should be treated holistically–body, mind, energy, and soul. I work intensively with empath women who have experienced relationship trauma to deal with how that lack of emotional safety appears in the relationships they have as adults. Most of what I work with my clients on is holistic self-care, nervous system regulation, boundary setting, and eliminating limiting decisions and people-pleasing behavior.
I’m getting ready to launch a 12-week, online group coaching program regarding these issues that will also be involving workshops, activities, journaling, and hypnosis as well as individual sessions throughout the program. I’m super excited about this and have been working hard on the tech side to get it launched in September!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Ooh, a great question! First and foremost, empathy. I am extremely empathetic (I mean, I am an empath too) and have always been a person with whom people have told their deepest fears, secrets, and intimate details of their life. Holding space for people has always come easily for me. The part that I was missing earlier on, is boundaries. Over time (practice, lots of getting burned, and burnout), I learned that I could understand how people are feeling without needing to experience that with them in real time as if it were mine. I learned that I can support others without taking ownership of others’ things. I’m definitely not perfect with this, but I have come leaps and bounds from where I started. It’s an ongoing process that you have to be diligent about. But I know now that I cannot continue to do this work if I do not fill my own cup first.
I became a therapist so that I could reach a lot of people who are struggling to deal with everyday life. I wanted to make a difference in people’s ability to cope. And after getting my counseling license, I worked with the most disenfranchised populations to try and be more resourced than when they came to me. BUT….the system we have, both mental health and health care are not set up to promote health and wellness. The money is in sickness and DIS-ease. The approach that I take is that you are a whole person who seeks to reinforce holistic wellness. But the cost of working within this system drained me. My stress levels were skyrocketing, and although we preach self-care 24/7, having the space to actually put the effort into that was too much.
I learned that traditional models of talk therapy aren’t enough (at least for me). I decided that as a society, women are trained to put the needs of everyone else ahead of their own and subsist on the scraps of what is left over. We treat people in our system as separate parts–a doctor for the body, a counselor for mental health, spiritual leaders for connection to the divine, etc. However, I wanted something that took the whole into account. That’s when I found hypnosis and NLP. I love the idea of tapping into our subconscious (which controls 99.994% of everything we do, including limiting beliefs!) isn’t tapped in helping people make life changes. I have always, as an empath, learned to distinguish energies, and how to harness those energies to protect ourselves, as well as to change the belief that we don’t deserve to be a priority. Getting people to a place where they feel worth it, has become a passion of mine!
What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?
Hmm…is both an option? I tend to be more strengths-based in that I want to build upon what is working and going well. I strongly believe that where focus goes, energy flows. This means that if we look at things that are going well for us or utilize our skills for our best and highest good, we’re only going to draw more of those things toward us. However, one of my personal strengths is getting comfortable with being uncomfortable, so I look at areas that need strengthening as a challenge or opportunity instead of a problem. I’m big on being as well-rounded as I possibly can. Having a gratitude practice in my daily life has gone a long way towards making this an easier process. It trains my mind to look for the good. The other part that has helped a lot with this is learning (an ongoing process) to give myself grace when I struggle. Sometimes when I feel powerless in a situation, the only thing that I can change is my perspective. So I try to focus my energy on the trees I can control rather than being overwhelmed by the entire forest. That helps me feel more empowered and keeps my focus on the things I want to increase in my life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sacredselfhypnosis.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sacredselfllc/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sacredselfllc
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@holistic.healer (I definitely need to be more consistent creating content here though!)
Image Credits
Headshot by Lauren Lawson
