"It is absolutely brave and courageous to treat yourself with kindness and care in a world that rewards self extraction" - Alyssa Pressmann
In a world that teaches us to self extract (i.e. completely wear yourself out and leave nothing for yourself or relationships) Alyssa shares the importance of honoring your own capacity and living life beyond burnout.
It was with working with others in their grief and her own chronic illness in her 20's that led Alyssa to the deep wisdom of listening to her body. She shares her own story of self extraction, navigating chronic illness, grief, questioning her own mortality and quality of life. Through learning to be with her anger and grief she discovered the importance of "relational work."
To her relational work means meeting or coming together, relating to one another, and seeing what can come of it. This is true of the self, body, people in your life, the work that you do, and especially your relationship to your own life. Relational work allowed her the ability to create a perspective of what matters the most to her and how she most wanted to spend time...and it's not through self extraction. She recognizes it is being in relationship is "what makes life worth living. We need each other and that is what makes our lives rich."
Allysa says the thing that needs to be said and normalizes the things that people don't talk about. So today as part of a small series of "taboo topics", we dive into what it means to normalize grief, being a human, and talking about ALL the things society says we shouldn't talk about.
I wanted to call this episode "two girls shooting the shit" or "talking about heavy subjects in a lighthearted way". Although we are talking about chronic illness, grief, death, purity culture, and self extraction, we have a lot of fun. This is a fun conversation that normalizes being a human. And I hope that you have fun and gain insights for your own life.
Alyssa is a certified therapist and coach with a history of working with grief and relationships. She offers both 1:1 work and small group coaching. You can find her and reach out if you are interested in working with her: https://www.instagram.com/alyssa.m.pressman/
If you have questions for me or are interested in deeper 1:1 work with me you can find me at: https://www.instagram.com/lesha__nelson/
Please consider writing a review and/or sharing this with your friends and family if you love this podcast.
