What if the quiet feeling that you're not enough isn't a character flaw — but something your nervous system learned long ago just to keep you safe? In episode 266 of Joy Found Here, psychotherapist and author Kristine B. Jensen unpacks one of the most misunderstood and under-named emotions we carry: shame — and how the stories we've been telling ourselves for decades may finally be ready to be set free.

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

(4:45) Kristine's decades as a psychotherapist couldn't shake her own unnamed inner struggle

(6:27) Retiring forced her to face herself — and what that revealed

(9:53) The moment she named her feeling as shame for the first time

(13:00) Shame as a survival instinct — and why we never choose it

(15:42) Where "shame speak" comes from and why it once protected us

(19:33) How childhood emotional nourishment shapes our nervous system and self-worth

(29:23) The client who sparked a book that almost didn't get written

(32:55) Compassion for our younger selves and seeing our parents differently

(35:23) Forgiveness as an inside job — and the freedom it brings

(44:48) First steps: self-talk awareness, journaling, and breaking the cycle of old stories

Kristine B. Jensen is a speaker, author, and licensed psychotherapist with over four decades of experience helping people understand the hidden roots of self-doubt. She reframes shame not as a personal flaw but as a survival response — and knows this territory from the inside out. She is the author of Bruised Not Broken: Healing the Shame of a Troubled Childhood.

In this episode, Kristine shares how — despite decades as a successful psychotherapist — she carried a feeling she couldn't name until retirement forced her to sit with herself and she finally identified it as shame. She explains that shame is not a character flaw but a survival instinct the nervous system triggers automatically, often rooted in childhoods where feelings didn't matter or approval had to be earned. Healing, she offers, means speaking to our younger selves with compassion, doing the work of forgiveness as an inside job, and noticing our self-talk — because what's waiting on the other side is freedom.

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Book: Kristine B. Jensen - Bruised Not Broken

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What happens when a woman who spent decades holding everyone else together finally has no choice but to let go? In episode 265 of Joy Found Here, Florence Acosta — former Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, healthcare executive, and the person everyone leaned on — shares how a stroke at 50 became the moment that shattered her old identity and cracked her wide open. Her story is a powerful reminder that sometimes the body says stop long before we ever will.

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

(3:46) How Florence went from holding everything together to having a stroke at 50

(6:05) Why chronic givers struggle to receive — and the mindset keeping them stuck

(7:43) The sisterhood circle that cracked open her awareness around control and letting go

(11:51) The childhood moment at age three that silently took her voice for decades

(13:17) How writing on Substack became an unexpected act of reclaiming her voice

(20:54) How the Miracle Morning helps Florence create space and stay grounded in recovery

(23:04) The "Question of the Day" ritual she runs for her Substack subscribers

(24:15) Florence's new business venture with her sister — and why she broke her own rule

(26:41) Her "C-cubed" self-care approach: cooking, crocheting, and creative writing

(31:03) Why people want to help — and how telling them how changes everything

Florence Acosta spent nearly 30 years in healthcare — first as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, then as executive director of a surgical center — carrying the weight of patients, teams, and everyone around her without ever pausing to fill her own cup. At 50, a stroke caused by an undetected arteriovenous malformation forced her to stop, and through the slow road of recovery, a women's sisterhood circle, and the discovery of writing, she found the voice she had quietly lost decades before. Today she writes about intentional living, mindset, and personal development through her Substack publication Becoming You with Florence Acosta.

In this episode, Florence shares how decades of over-giving as both a healthcare professional and the person everyone leaned on ultimately led to her stroke — and how that rupture became the catalyst for rebuilding on her own terms. She traces her lifelong silence back to a childhood moment at age three, and how Substack became the unexpected place where she finally reclaimed her voice. Florence also opens up about her Miracle Morning practice, a new business venture with her sister, and her "C-cubed" self-care approach — cooking, crocheting, and creative writing — while delivering a powerful message to fellow chronic givers: open your hands and let people in before life forces you to.

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What if burnout isn't a sign you're doing too much — but a sign you've forgotten who you are? In episode 264 of Joy Found Here, Dr. Rebecca Hubbard, licensed clinical psychologist and TEDx speaker, brings her own hard-won burnout story to the table — from a thyroid diagnosis to burning out again despite doing all the "right" things — and reveals why the real fix isn't another self-care routine. It's an identity shift.

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

(03:15) How a basketball scholarship brought Rebecca from Berlin to the U.S. — and planted the seeds of burnout

(05:30) The thyroid diagnosis that forced her first real recalibration

(07:03) Why self-care alone wasn't enough — and burning out again during the pandemic

(08:46) The identity shift at the heart of burnout recovery

(10:48) How social, cultural, and professional identities intersect to fuel over-functioning

(13:15) Why slowing down is medicine — and what comedic yoga taught her about it

(22:32) Micro self-care in action: three practical strategies for overwhelmed moms

(26:00) The real definition of burnout — and why interrupting chronic stress is the key

(38:01) Why reading for pleasure (not self-improvement) is a radical act against hustle culture

(42:38) The shift from proving to choosing — and what that looks like in real life

Dr. Rebecca Hubbard is a licensed clinical psychologist, burnout prevention specialist, and TEDx speaker based in Chicago, Illinois. With over a decade of clinical practice, she works with high-responsibility professionals navigating chronic stress, identity pressure, and performance expectations, drawing on research in race and resilience and a mindfulness-integrated approach. She is also an award-winning comedic yoga instructor who offers individual therapy, virtual workshops, and small-group sessions to help people break burnout cycles for good.

In this episode, Dr. Rebecca Hubbard reframes burnout not as a self-care or time management problem, but as an identity issue rooted in the stories we've absorbed about our worth — from family, culture, and profession. Drawing on her own burnout journey (including a thyroid diagnosis and burning out again during the pandemic despite having all the "right" boundaries in place), she introduces the concept of micro self-care: mindful everyday tasks, maximizing actual breaks, and reducing stress in daily transitions. She and Stephanie also explore motherhood, perfectionism, and the systemic barriers that make rest harder to access — closing with a powerful reminder to move from proving to choosing who you want to become.

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Medium

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