Ep. 13 "Enough: I Exist, and I am Worthy" - Khushnum's Story

In this episode, I talk with Khushnum - a therapist and mentor - about what happens when your worth gets wired to your performance before you're old enough to know it's happening.Khushnum grew up believing she was only as good as what she could produce. She became a high achiever, a fixer, the one who reads the room before she had the words for any of it. And even with all the training, all the modalities, all the language for what she was doing, the pattern kept running underneath. It took her body stopping her - and a long stretch of sitting in the quiet she'd spent her whole life avoiding - to start asking who she was without the performance.We talk about over-functioning, the difference between healing and just collecting more knowledge about yourself, what it actually looks like to give something to yourself instead of checking a box, and why she's not afraid to get in the muck with the people she works with.Khushnum isn't standing at a tidy ending. She's still in it, a few steps further down the path. That's exactly what makes this one worth sitting with.A few things we get into:Worth that's tied to producing, and where that startsWhy "I exist, and I'm worthy" is harder to say than it soundsThe one small non-negotiable you give to yourself every dayBeing in it with people instead of handing down answersFind Khushnum: https://www.instagram.com/khushnum_stevens/Resources relevant to what was shared:If you're running on burnout or feeling like you've lost yourself somewhere in everything you do for everyone else, you don't have to sit in that alone.For mental health support and finding a therapist: SAMHSA Helpline: 1-800-662-4357 (free, confidential, 24/7) Psychology Today therapist finder: psychologytoday.comIf you are in crisis or having thoughts of suicide: 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988 Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741International listeners: findahelpline.com (200+ countries) befrienders.orgHave a story for Anchor Moments? [email protected] | anchormomentspod.com