Kenya Lee’s Journey to Emotional Greatness & Self-Love

Kenya had experienced many traumas, from physical, emotional and sexual abuse to a premature labor and stillbirth; but when she held her breathless child in her arms, she knew she had to make a change. With therapy, journaling, and affirmations she was able to turn her suffering into triumph and help others do the same. But where do you go when the trauma comes from within? Show Notes | Transcript We're here to live a good life, we're here to live a happy life. And whatever resources are there for us to do that, we have to take advantage of. - Kenya Lee Meet Kenya Lee, a multifaceted woman who has transformed her life through her experiences as a registered nurse, artist, and author. Kenya's passion for women's empowerment has led her to become an expert in guiding women through self-awareness and mental health challenges. Her book, The Path to Emotional Greatness Yielding to Personal Transformation, is a testament to her resilience and determination to help others. In conversation with Gloria Grace Rand, Kenya shares her trinity strategy in overcoming trauma and developing healthy coping mechanisms. In this episode, you will be able to: Triumph over trauma by harnessing the power of counseling and mental health resources. Discover the essential components of emotional, physical, and mental wellness balance. Shatter the stigma surrounding mental health and therapy and embrace self-care. Unleash the healing potential of personal stories for yourself and others. Master the Trinity Strategy to build a resilient coping toolbox. Related Live. Love. Engage. episodes you may enjoy: Lessons from Trauma Work with Sarah Brassard Sarah explains in this episode why we naturally deny our trauma, how to start facing your trauma, and practices that can help you in your recovery journey. Clutter, Trauma and Beliefs with Krystal Holm In this interview, Krystal shares how clutter affects your physical, mental & emotional well-being. Turn Post Traumatic Stress into Growth with Cathay Reta Cathay shares how her decision to walk the Camino at age 65 helped her overcome trauma. Resources: Connect with Kenya here Support Kenya's non-profit Faith In Girls here Join the Soulful Women's Network here Send me a message here ☕ Support the podcast here ❤ Love this episode? Leave us a review and rating here Connect with Gloria: LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Twitter TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 - Gloria Grace Rand - You're listening to the Live Love Engage podcast. On today's show, my guest shares three tools that can help you triumph over trauma. Stay tuned. 00:00:15 - Gloria Grace Rand - I am Gloria Grace Rand, founder of The Love Method and author of the number one Amazon bestseller, Live. Love Engage - How to Stop Doubting Yourself and Start Being Yourself. In this podcast, we share practical advice from a spiritual perspective on how to live fully, love deeply, and engage authentically so you can create a life and business with more impact, influence, and income. Welcome to live. Love Engage. 00:00:50 - Gloria Grace Rand - Namaste. I am so glad to be with you for another edition of Live. Love. Engage. And I'm looking forward to our discussion today with the wonderful Kenya Lee, who is joining us today. And I'm going to tell you all about her. She is a registered nurse, she's an artist, she's an author, she's a women's empowerment expert. And she assists many women to navigate their self-awareness and obtain optimal mental health. And she's got a story to tell, which we're going to get into in a moment, but she sort of documented her story in a new book called The Path to Emotional Greatness Yielding to Personal Transformation, or otherwise known as The Path to Egypt. And that all of that emotional greatness yielding is the word Egypt, which I love acronyms. And so I love that you did that. So first off, I want to welcome you, Kenya, to Live. Love. Engage. 00:01:56 - Kenya Lee - Thank you so much, Gloria. It's a pleasure being here. I'm so excited to talk about everything and have a great time with you. 00:02:06 - Gloria Grace Rand - Absolutely. Yeah, we are going to do that and we're going to be talking about a lot of stuff. She and I were discussing a little bit before we started recording the podcast today and just about some of the things we have in common. A shared, shall we say, of where we grew up similar. And she's also involved in all sorts of amazing things and projects. But I like to start off the podcast usually with asking our guests about what the journey that got you where you are today and in particular, starting off it sounds like I think nurse might have been your first part of your career, but what led you to eventually become a women's empowerment expert? 00:02:54 - Kenya Lee - Well, Gloria, it's one of those situations after you are able to master something or you go through a tough time, you want to give back and you want to see the next person that is going through that same tough time have a positive outcome. So for me, I had went through so many challenges as being a young teen troubled, very low self-esteem. And so that landed me in a lot of pitfalls of life. And growing up in the Detroit area, as you're familiar with, can be pretty sticky in terms of urban culture. And I was able to thankfully navigate my way out of that from an emotional standpoint. And so me wanting to empower others is simply me wanting to give what I've learned over the years. Because there was a point that I thought that there was no coming out of this crazy mindset that I had of not feeling worthy, not being desirable, not being desirable of love, genuine love. So, my passion for giving to other women is due to having such a tough time coming out of it myself, and I know that it's possible. 00:04:25 - Gloria Grace Rand - Yeah, that seems to be a very common denominator in a lot of people's stories. When we do have the opportunity to overcome some challenge, it does then make us want, or at least for most people, I think they do want to be able to give back and to help others. So, can you share with us a little bit about what are some of the challenges that you faced specifically growing up that you did have to overcome? 00:04:55 - Kenya Lee - So I was a young lady that was raised by a single mom. My father was not existent in the household. He was outside of the home and really not there from a parental standpoint. Of course, I knew who he was and I would see him from time to time. But that void for me in terms of a father figure really impacted me in a negative way. So when I went on to have intimate relationships, boyfriends and that sort of thing, my concept of a man was completely distorted because I did not have a real mold and a real foundation of what that really was supposed to be. So, it led me into some pretty destructive relationships, one of which was pretty significant and lengthy, where there was domestic violence. So, I went through a lot of abuse emotionally, physically, sexually, and just not loving myself. When you come up sometimes and it affects people different ways, Gloria, some people say, oh, well, I didn't have my dad with me and I came out just fine. Well, that's wonderful for you, but in some instances it really has an impact on a woman's life. And for me, I was very, very sensitive to that and so it distorted how I looked, my outlook on things. So that is how the ball, so to speak, got rolling in terms of me not being at my maximum potential. And going on with having these sorts of relationships was due to my wanting a father figure in a distorted kind of way. So, I chose guys that were the possessive or man's men, the macho kind of guy, just because subconsciously and you don't know when you're going through it, you're looking for that father, that missing component to quench that thirst. And so, with that came a lot of trauma, as I said, the physical and emotional trauma of just not choosing the correct person. But aside from that, not putting myself as priority, I always was secondary in the equation. And that's because I chose to be that way out of inability of loving myself and having a real understanding of who I really was. 00:07:42 - Gloria Grace Rand - What happened to start leading you to be able to start valuing yourself and to start loving yourself? Because obviously you do now because you've written a book to be able to help others. So somehow you were able to find that recipe and to be able to turn things around. What was that for you? 00:07:59 - Kenya Lee - I'm glad you asked. That was the turning point for me. So, it was several years ago I became pregnant and I struggled with, do I want to have a child right now? I was pretty young, but yet grown. But my relationship in which the child was conceived under was less than ideal, to say the least. That's where all of the abuse was happening. And so I proceeded to go through the pregnancy. Okay, I'm going to make the best of this, looking forward to having this baby, and I'm going to figure out life as it goes. And what happened is in my 23rd week of pregnancy, I went into premature labor and my water broke and baby was so small. And at that time, back then, things are a little different now and medical science has evolved where it's a little more conducive for children to make it. But back then I was told, look, this is not going to be viable. She's not going to make it. And so, I had to give birth. I had to actually go through the entire motion of giving birth and holding a child that I love dearly and seeing her breathless. And I said, wow, okay, Kenya, I think it's time for you to wake up. I think you're not doing things correctly. And that was the turning point for me in recognizing wholeheartedly that I need to do something different for my life because I'm unhealthy in so many aspects. And this relationship that I'm involved in,...