Starfish Diaries
The Starfish Diaries is a podcast hosted by Liz McKean; coach, consultant, yoga teacher, recovery & mental health advocate, and lover of metaphors.
Inspired by "The Starfish Story," you can expect to hear personal stories, insightful reflections, and gentle reminders that you are not doing it wrong. Your joy, your work, your healing, and your desire for something more matters.
This is an invitation to make your life a place you want to be. Tools to envision what that even looks like. And permission to want it!
A better world begins with people who believe it's possible. And I promise, my sweet Starfish, that it IS possible.
Starfish Diaries
Your inner button-pusher is not the enemy!
In this episode, I dive into one of my favorite topics: coping mechanisms. These are the things we do, in spite of efforts to stop, to get through the hard parts of being human. We talk about the shame that gets layered on top of our coping, why it feels so heavy, and why the shame makes it so much harder to make changes.
I share some of my own patterns, the things I’ve reached for over the years, and why I’ve stopped moralizing them altogether. At the core of every coping behavior is a wise, albeit under-resourced, part that’s just trying to help us feel safe, soothed, and okay. When we look at our coping through that lens, so much softens. Judgment cracks open into compassion. And suddenly, coping becomes less about failure and more about resilience.
The truth is: everyone copes. You cope. I cope. And those instincts are signs of creativity, resourcefulness, and survival, not weakness.
At the end of today's chat I share news I’m so excited about- my new website is officially live! Please check it out using the link below.
Learn more at LizMcKean.com. Sign up for my newsletter for all the latest here!
You can also connect with me on Instagram @starfishyoga, or send me an email at Liz@LizMckean.com. I'd love to hear from you!
All my love and gratitude for this podcast's beautiful cover design, created by the very best & most magical Mo Houston of JoyScout Studio
And podcast production/editing masterfully done by Sean Gritters. You can reach Sean by emailing seangritters@gmail.com