Eps 225: Kristina Kuzmic is sharing her story of staying grounded on the wild ride of life

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Transcription

Casey O'Roarty 0:04
Hello and welcome. Welcome to the joyful courage podcast, a place where we tease apart what it means to be a conscious parent and aren't afraid of getting super messy with it. I'm your host, Casey awardee, positive discipline trainer, parent coach, and in the trenches of the parenting journey with my own two teenagers, each week, I come at you with a solo show or an interview. You can be sure that the guests on the podcast have something important to say, and I am honored to have you listen in as I pick their brains about what it is that they are passionate about. If you are a parent looking to grow while walking the path of parenting. If you're open to learning new things, if your relationship with yourself and your kids is something you are interested in diving deeper into, then this is the place for you. After you listen, I would love to hear from you. Head over to iTunes and leave a five star review, letting others know what you love about the show, or feel free to shoot me an email at Casey, at joyful courage.com, I love hearing from listeners, and I'm always quick to respond if you want to be sure not to miss any of the happenings going on with joyful courage. Join my list. You'll stay updated on the podcast and events that are happening for parents, both online and live. You can join the list at WWW dot joyful courage.com/join. Yay. So glad you're here. Enjoy the show. Hi listeners. I am so excited to welcome today's guest, Christina Kuzmich to the podcast today. 13 years ago, Christina was a broke and defeated mom of two, recently divorced, juggling jobs and sleeping on the floor next to her kids. She never imagined that a Lo Fi cooking show she pieced together to reach other moms in the trenches would get Oprah Winfrey's attention. Oh my gosh, we all want Oprah's attention. Today, she speaks directly to her 2.8 million Facebook followers in honest, funny parenting videos on topics from Mind Your Own motherhood to a satirical PSA for reasons why women should never breastfeed in public. Her star is rapidly rising, and she recently took her message of acceptance and resilience on the road to 22 sold out cities. Her witty, knowing and sympathetic voice is captured on the page in her first book. Hold on, but don't hold still hope and humor from my seriously flawed life. Christina, welcome. I'm so glad you're here. Thank

Kristina Kuzmic 2:42
you for having me. I'm excited.

Casey O'Roarty 2:44
Yeah, tell me a little bit about the title of your book. Where does that come from? Hold on, but don't hold still.

Kristina Kuzmic 2:50
So this is sort of become a mantra for me, whether I was going through a really rough life year or just a rough parenting moment, hold on meaning. Hold on to hope. Hold on to what is good. Because even if things are, you know, even on bad days, there are good things. But don't hold still. Don't wait for this or that to happen before you start living your life. Don't be passive. Don't be apathetic. Don't hold still. Keep moving forward and get feisty and proactive.

Casey O'Roarty 3:16
I love that. It really resonates with me. I like to I listen to a lot of law of attraction, and I'm on the manifesting journey all the time, and I really appreciate it when we remember that it's not just this is what I want, you know, and declaring it to the universe, but it's also the steps that we take moving in that direction. That's what I hear with.

Speaker 1 3:36
Don't hold still. So yeah, we I feel like that. Waste a lot of our life waiting.

Kristina Kuzmic 3:40
Now, when I find the right partner, I'll be happy, right? I can afford a house, then I'll pursue my career, my dream, or what, my hobby, whatever, and you're just gonna die waiting. Stop waiting and just do what you can now.

Casey O'Roarty 3:54
Yeah, I love that. Yesterday, I listened to an interview with you from a couple years back, talking about your journey and how you ended up with Oprah and all the opportunities that showed up because of that and that, the cooking show opportunity, will you talk a little bit about just that experience? Because it's kind of one of those, like, oh my god, that happened. That happens to people like,

Kristina Kuzmic 4:20
I'm like, Wait, that happened? Yeah, there's a chapter my book called hot dogs with Oprah, and I write in it how I basically started putting some cooking videos out there. Didn't think much of it somehow got basically discovered by found out about the show that Oprah was having. Oprah searched for X TV star and entered. Thought nothing of it. There were over 15,000 people who entered. The producers called me. I ended up on this reality show, 10 people competing to get a show on the Oprah Winfrey Network. And weirdly enough, I end up winning. I was probably like the one person there who was convinced, you know, I shouldn't be there, and I end up winning. And I had a. Cooking Show on her first season of her network. So it was just crazy, because three years prior to this, I was sleeping on a floor and sharing a bedroom with my kids and, you know, on food stamps and broke and depressed, and so it's, it's amazing how life can change when you do get proactive, yeah,

Casey O'Roarty 5:16
well, and, you know, let's talk a little bit about that period of time. Because I think that's something that you know people are really attracted to, is your willingness to share about, you know, the dark times. And dark times not meaning. And listeners know me, dark times are not necessarily a thing of the past. They are things that you know show up because we're having a human experience, and we are interacting with other humans that are having their own human experience. So will you kind of paint a picture, a little bit about where you were, when you were in that place, prior to, kind of your star moment? Yeah.

Kristina Kuzmic 5:56
So after my divorce, I just sunk into a really deep depression, and like I said, I was, I couldn't even afford an apartment for my kids and I, so we rented one room, we had a roommate in another room, and we shared this little bedroom. And, you know, I was on food stamps, and I had a friend who worked at Starbucks and asked his manager, hey, when we throw away the food that's expired, it's it's still edible, it's a little stale, but could I bring it to my friend? And so every Friday, my friend Dave came over with a paper bag full of stale Starbucks goodies, and I would feed that to my children. I just felt like, you know, most parents would feel in that situation. I felt like a failure, I felt inadequate. I felt like my children deserved better than me. I hated myself, I hated my life. I had zero confidence, and it just really hit a low, and that's a point where I even had a list of pros and cons written down a piece of paper of how my suicide would affect my kids, and the list of pros, meaning my children will be better off without me, was longer. So now, everything I create, whether it's funny, whether it's serious, whether it's through my videos or book or touring, I just, I want to be for others what I needed when I was at my lowest. So that's where, that's where all of my passion and inspiration comes from. I love that.

Casey O'Roarty 7:09
I love that it's so pure, right? I love that. And, you know, so I've heard, because I told you yesterday, I did listen to all these videos and interviews with you, and what really, really landed with me was as you kind of were able to create more opportunities, right? Because, yes, you were noticed, but you had to put yourself out there to get noticed. So I just want to acknowledge, like, what you did in creating the opportunities in your life, but as they, as the people, kind of wanted to shine you up for this cooking show that you got with Oprah. Can you talk a little bit about, like, how it felt for the outside world to start to decide, like, well, we'll put you here, and it'll be, you know, this is what the food will look like, and this is what you'll look like. How did that feel for you.

Kristina Kuzmic 8:00
So it was really hard, because when I won that show, one of the things, you know, Oprah grabbed me by the shoulders, and then I tried not to pee myself, because Oprah, and I think I did pee myself, but she she, you know, she was like, I love your authenticity. Don't change that. I love your authenticity. Well, then she went off, and, you know, she was busy with her own projects, and I was stuck with TV execs who decided to make me a perfect mom in a perfect kitchen. And I was like, you know, sort of timidly raising my hand because I was on that, you know, I was so torn, because here I am with this amazing opportunity, so I don't want to seem ungrateful, and, you know, I have to be thankful and play along because I don't have any experience. But on the other hand, I'm trying to stand up for myself, and so I would say, hey, could we maybe do an episode where I'm making dinner and then my kid is throwing like a massive tantrum and pulling on me, and they're screaming, and I'm still just trying to put dinner on the table, because any parent who turns that on will be able to relate, and it will make them feel better. And the people in charge we're like, No, we've never seen that on TV. And I was like, I know, I know. That's why we need it on TV, because it's not on TV. They're like, No, that's not how it's done. And so all my ideas got shut down. And basically they made me, you know, just a really expert, amazing, perfect woman in a perfect kitchen that they rented, you know, and every time hair and makeup, oh yeah, we had a stylist and everything, and then every time I would spill something, they would, you know, cut and they would clean it up and make me do it again. And I just thought, Oh, this is so fake. And all I could think about was, if I had turned on the show back when I was struggling and seen this, it wouldn't have helped me. It wouldn't have made me feel better. It just would have been another thing that I can be intimidated by, because I will never live up to that, and I will never have a life like that. And so when that ended, I thought, you know, I actually had meetings with Food Network in different places, and everybody needed me to be an expert. Everyone was like, love your personality, but could you. Change this and this and this and this and this, you know, and so I sort of decided it's not worth it, because I don't want that feeling again. I don't want to feel again like I'm betraying that girl who was sleeping on the floor and felt inadequate. And then years later, when I decided to start making my parenting videos, I really made it a point to share real life and to get vulnerable and share the messy stuff. And again, just kept thinking about, what did I need to hear? What did I need to hear when I was struggling? That's my whole book is, you know, the whole time I was writing my book, I kept thinking, what did I need to read when I was struggling? Which stories would have helped me? So that's where my passion came from. And I went through that experience of that perfect reading show, because it just solidified for me how free, freeing it is to be authentic, and how just suffocating it feels to fake.

Casey O'Roarty 10:56
Yeah, well, and listeners of my show have been I've kind of been documenting my own parenting journey. Like I said, I'm a parent coach and I teach parenting classes, and that does not necessarily translate into no challenges and a perfect family. In fact, my podcast that went out today is all about my husband and I going to a mindfulness marriage workshop this weekend because we needed it, and we've had the a really tough season of parenting in the teen years. As you know, you're a parent of a teenager, we have no fucking control, and they're actually their own people, and they make decisions that aren't necessarily what might have been at the top of our list, right? And I just, I was so excited. I'm so excited to be talking to Christina, because that mission of authenticity and transparency, I think, is so powerful in a time where everything feels so curated, whether it's or it's either curated to perfection, or, you know, it's like some reality show that's a complete shit show, yeah, you know. And I don't think either of those things are really useful to real people that are just trying to live a good life, you know, put, like you said, put food on the table, make sure that we can show up for our family, you know, in a way that's helpful, not hurtful. So I just again, I'm really glad that there's voices like yours with a platform that you have to be able to stand up and say, this is messy, like this is messy. So one of the things that I pulled out of your book, there's a couple things that I really that really resonated with me. So the first is just the struggle, the parenting struggle. And I work with a lot of people who, as much as we know, it's not about perfection. Bumping up against the imperfection is really painful. So one of the quotes from your book that I really loved was beating myself up sometimes actually feels easier than cutting myself a break, easier because it's more familiar. And what is familiar tends to feel comfortable even when it's bad for us. Can you talk a little bit about that and what that means to you? Yeah,

Kristina Kuzmic 13:14
we, I think we humans just tend to go towards the negative. It's like a magnet for us. And so especially, you know, as children, even right, there's pressures put on us, whether it's to get good grades or behave a certain way, or maybe, you know, I talk in my book how when I was a kid, I was too much, I was too loud, I was too hyper, and so I was always like being asked to sort of shut down these certain parts of me. And we grow up, and what's familiar to us is criticizing ourselves and not giving us that was enough credit, and focusing on the things we did wrong or didn't accomplish. And it just it's like anything you know, you hear about those people who leave an abusive marriage and then they get married to another abuser, because it's familiar. Unfortunately, what's familiar becomes comfortable, and we need to get uncomfortable. We need to get uncomfortable and get out of that zone and go, Okay, what's healthy, though? And sometimes the healthy thing will feel uncomfortable at first, but it's the only way to get to a better place. So I started, I decided that I would start giving myself more credit than criticism and more grace than judgment. And every single day, the list of things I give myself credit for instead of the things I beat myself up for, has to be longer, and the things that I forgive myself for and give myself grace for, and realize, no, I'm not perfect. I'm not supposed to be perfect. I'm human. It be longer than the judgments I put on myself. And it's something that you know. It's not an act, it's a lifestyle, right? You have to choose to make that decision every day. I tell people all the time. You're so focused on your to do list, start writing a TA DA list like you actually did accomplish today. Because we overlook so many little things. I write in my book, how imagine if you disappeared like imagine if you just disappeared? How many things would fall apart, how many things wouldn't get done? But there are these little things we overlook. Because. We don't see them as meaningful work, but they are. They are all meaningful work. So start writing tadalists. I

Casey O'Roarty 15:05
love that, and I love the writing it down. And it's funny because whenever I lead a class or start a coaching call with a client, my first question is, what are you celebrating? And it's so interesting, how that you know, depending on the 10 minutes prior to the call, that is either an easy question to answer or difficult question to answer. But I think that especially in the parenting journey, you know, even when we're thinking about our kids and what are the skills that our kids are displaying like we're not necessarily thinking about, okay, you've Wow. You navigated that challenge. Well, like the little things that our kids are doing all the time, showing their developing skills are not quite as obvious as those moments of challenge, or when they're, you know, not their best selves, or they're struggling emotionally or having a hard time or discouraged, and so I think, you know, even when it feels like, well, there, you know, we feel like celebration should be like, I'm gonna throw myself this huge party for this amazing thing I did. Well, how about the fact that you got up and you made breakfast and you gave him a kiss goodbye, and it was pretty mellow, you know, like it wasn't a song and dance it, but it was just mellow. It was just connected, and it wasn't a lot of effort. You know, I talk a lot with parents about, as we get into the mode and become more consciously competent in being the parent we want to be, we kind of move towards even unconsciously competent, and then we're not noticing that we're doing such so many amazing things. So I love the invitation of taking stock. Is that a daily practice for you? Has that been a daily

Kristina Kuzmic 16:49
now? It's become like a habit, you know? Right? I compared to working out, right? Nothing pisses me off more than the fact that one sit up won't give me a six pack, right? I'm very angry about it, no, but I turned 40 last year, and I finally decided to start working out. And I was like, oh, oh, I'm supposed to do this regularly. That's how that works, and that's how I think of any kind of emotional growth, right? It's, it's training, it's something you have to do regularly. Doing it. I hear so many this frustrates me so much. I hear so many people say, you know, I tried that thing. You suggested Christina, like giving myself more credit or whatever. And after a week, Nope, didn't see a difference. And I thought, okay, so work out for a week and tell me how much you know, weight you lost, or how in shape you are, whatever your goals were, right? You're not going to see much difference in a week. Make it a lifestyle, yeah, and just decide, you know, I, have a chapter in my book called recovering pessimists, because I used to be incredibly negative person. I still I call myself a recovering pessimist because I'm still working on it. I'm working on it daily. I will work on it until the day I die. But it's worth it. It is worth the work. And eventually it does become a habit where now you know when I feel inadequate, I don't have all the answers with my kid, or I screw up, which I do all the time. Instead of going, oh my gosh, I'm still loser, I can't believe I didn't know how to handle that, or I can't believe I handled that badly, I can say, Christina, you're human. You're gonna make mistakes. Let's focus on what you did, right? You know? Let's focus on how fiercely you love your family and how much you care. That's a main give yourself credit for that.

Casey O'Roarty 18:22
I her. Hi all. I know you are loving this interview with Christina, so I'm going to make this quick. I just want to be sure that you know about the upcoming sex ed for parents of teens, mini summit brought to you by yours truly joyful courage. It is an offer that I am super proud of, because I know without a doubt that it will be incredibly useful to you as you navigate your teens developing sexuality. I know, I know who wants to think about that, but here's the deal, your teens are thinking about sex. They're exploring relationships. They're being influenced by their peers and popular culture. Don't you want your voice and your values in the mix there the sex ed for parents of teens Summit is five powerful interviews with five of my favorite experts, and the content will leave you feeling confident and ready to have those important conversations that you need to be having with your teens. And I'm not talking about the this is where babies come from, conversation we all should be way past that. I'm talking about conversations about your values and rules, about consent and contraception, about how to create healthy boundaries and relationship about porn, sexting, digital relationships, about being supportive of LGBTQ, IQ, AP, youth. Yes, this is it, people. This summit is what you need for all of that. Enrollment is now open. The price is $29 for the entire summit. And. That is the price point, until we start on April 6. After that, the price will jump up to $39 so register now to lock in the savings. I cannot wait to hold space for all of our learning, for more information about speakers and to register, go to www dot joyful courage.com/s. E M S, that's joyful courage.com/s. E M S, you won't be sorry. So another thing that cracked me up in your book, and I could so relate, is around in your chapter on being controlling, like woo, woo, I see you specifically when you were talking about school projects, yep, oh, my God, I know that I am not the only one in my community of joyful courage that has completely taken over a school project.

Kristina Kuzmic 21:01
So I write in the book how my son was supposed to make, you know, a project for school with all the planets. And I was like, Oh, I have all these crazy ideas. And I love baking. So I was like, we can make a cake. We can do this, we can do that. And he was like, no, no, no. And he just wanted to do the standard Styrofoam thing that every other kid was gonna do and what I had to and then when he even when he was building it, I was like, oh, I should fix it. I should make Oh, yeah. And what I realized is that it was about my ego. It was all about me, and what the message I was sending to my kid is, your way is not good enough. You are not creative enough. You can't do this. And that's a horrible message. I never want to send that message to my kid, so I learned to step back, land the helicopter and just go, I'm gonna let him do it his way. And will it be different than mine? Yes, will it maybe not be as spectacular as I think mine can be, maybe, but that's okay. But will it send him the message that you I'm cheering you on to do the best you can do at your age, and that's amazing. And that's, I mean, that is so, so, so important. You know, my kids would, I would teach them how to make the bed, and then they would make it, and I'd go back in there and fix it, and I'm like, What am I? What am I telling that kid by fixing it? You know, I'm just sending a negative message. So this is, you know, we talk about the negative things we say to ourselves. We can spare our kids from some of that if we stop sending them the message that their way isn't good enough, right? And also always put our egos in the backseat, we just have to Yeah,

Casey O'Roarty 22:30
man, and it and wow, and it's so interesting. I mean, have you had the experience? So I feel like, you know, I love personal growth and development. I am, like, the best therapy client there is. I'm all in. I'm super excited to talk it all out, dig into my shit, and I'm still being a mom especially. I don't know what your parenting teens experience is, but I feel like the teen years have really, it's like, picked these scabs, like, peeled back these layers that I didn't realize were still there, and I'm like, Oh, wow, this is another place for me to get to know myself. Yeah, in a deeper way, what's been your experience with the teen years?

Kristina Kuzmic 23:17
I mean, it's excruciating. I feel like when they're little, you know, when kids are little, parenting is challenging, physically, right? You gotta wipe somebody, you gotta things are spilled, you gotta breastfeed, or whatever. It's a lot physically. And I feel like when they're teenagers, it's emotionally drained. So one thing that's helped me is just realizing in the moment when they're really struggling is that the only thing harder than raising a teenager is being a teenager. And that helped me have some compassion and go, you know, I remember what that was like that sucked, like all those changes and all the confusion and complication that goes in being a teen. It sucks. But I also think, you know, we think of childhood as full of growing pains. And I think parenthood is full of growing pains. So there's been so many times where I've told my kids, you know, especially my oldest, I'll say, Listen, you've never been 16 before and dealt with this stuff, and I've never raised a 16 year old who's dealt with this stuff. So we got to learn together, and just that sort of puts both of us at ease, instead of me being this expert and a parent who's just going to parent out of fear, because we tend to parent out of fear when they're teenagers. It sort of puts both of us at ease at Let's grow together, and let's, let's, I'll learn how to parent you correctly and guide you, and you'll learn how to get through these teen years.

Casey O'Roarty 24:41
Have you bumped up against any conditioning? Because you grew up in Croatia, right? Well, when did you come? What's your tell me your life story in a nutshell, under a full moon.

Kristina Kuzmic 24:54
It was a very long, painful birth. I was born and raised in Croatia, and then. Moved to the US at 14 freshman in high school.

Casey O'Roarty 25:03
Okay, dang, I know. How was that transition move

Kristina Kuzmic 25:07
to a completely different culture, plus we moved because the war in Croatia. So a lot of you know, I didn't speak the language well, I didn't know the culture. I was a dork. I had survival guilt, because my friends were at home, you know, in basements, trying to stay alive. And I was here picking out what dress I was going to wear the school dance. And, you know, a lot of crazy emotions,

Casey O'Roarty 25:28
yeah, and so as you move, do you feel because, well, do you feel like the way that you were parented? So that's a really unique story, right? But I'm just curious, because I know, for me, as the mom of teens, I'm noticing the places where the way that I was raised is coming to the surface, even as I know that I there's certain things that I want to do differently and navigate differently. It's really interesting the way that my conditioning is showing up and really getting in the way. Do you notice that as you're navigating the teen years?

Kristina Kuzmic 26:08
Oh yeah, I'll notice, you know myself approaching one of my I have two teens now approaching in a certain way and going, hold on, I'm doing this because this is how I was approached. And did it help me in the moment? Did it actually help me? And it didn't one thing that I've really struggled with. I'm obviously a talker. It's my favorite part. And I found myself yapping at my kids and and, you know, they would start to tell I'd ask them a question, and before they could even finish telling me the story, the fear kicked in. It was me. It was immediately like, Wait, who were you with? Where were you what happened, you know, and what I realized is, if I don't shut up, they're gonna shut down. And that's one thing I didn't feel like I had as a teenager. I didn't feel like I had, you know, this space where I could just say it all and not worry about the reaction. And so, you know, I'm not saying we should just let our teenagers get away with whatever, but you can't help someone if you don't know the problem, and you'll never know the problem if you're not paying attention. Yeah, so that's been huge for me. It's just trying to go, Okay, I want my kids to feel really heard, and then we can discuss after but I don't want to keep interrupting them. I don't want to talk at them. I want to talk with them, and just continually reminding myself, shut up. Just let him. Let let him get it out. Let him get it out, or he's gonna shut down.

Casey O'Roarty 27:25
Yeah, and that, what you said about when the fear kicks in is so huge, right, especially during this time because, and like you said, like getting their story. Because I think we, and I say this a lot on the podcast, we're always making assumptions we were teenagers, so we know how it feels to be a teenager, and that is so dismissive of them. So I really, I really appreciate that.

Tell me, if you don't mind, tell me about just because this is fresh from my own experience. Tell me about staying connected to your husband as you navigate all there is to navigate while parenting three kids and having a career. I mean, you're traveling all around. Tell me about that.

Kristina Kuzmic 28:08
It's hard. So I've shared in the video, and then I share my book, how I met my husband, you know, as a single mom, and it's like, this really sweet, romantic story, and he's really one of the best people I know. But then, you know, as I shared that story in the book, I was like, uh, you know, I don't want people think like that. Everything is always just perfect, and he's perfect together. And so I write in it how, yes, it's how we met and how we fell in love. Is a beautiful story. But there are other stories from a marriage. There are married. There are stories of disagreements and stories of arguments and stories of holding grudges and stories of, you know, times when we should have stuck together, and instead we completely pulled apart. And I think that's so important, because people don't talk about this enough, and I didn't talk about it during my first marriage. I kept everything hidden in my mind. The way I thought is, I'm never gonna I thought I was never gonna leave my first marriage because I didn't want my kids to grow up in a divorce home. So I thought home. So I thought, if I'm never gonna leave, then what's the point of opening up about the struggles? I'm just gonna pretend it's all great. And I think a lot of people do that. And so now I found it more important to just talk about it. You know, I write in my book how getting married does not mean that the search for love is over. The search for the person love is over, but the search for how to love that person is just beginning. And that's so true,

Casey O'Roarty 29:27
because it's so true. It's so true. We change,

Kristina Kuzmic 29:31
you know, we grow, right? So we're not exactly the same person we were when we got married and then also having children, changes us and changes our circumstances, and then life comes and throws some bombs at us that we didn't expect, and that changes us. And it's like you have to continually choose to love. It's important, you know, I don't believe in the whole, um, just in love all the time. I feel like it's a choice. You have to choose to love this person, and you have to. To learn how to love this person, because, you know, the way you think they need to be loved, or the way they used to need to be loved, might be very different this year than it was last year. And so it's exhausting. It's exhausting. It is so much work. So the perfect marriage, I'm like, either you are in denial or you are the biggest liar. And I'm not buying it. I mean, I think marriage, I think just realizing the marriage is supposed to be hard kind of makes me feel like I can breathe better. You know what I mean? Like, oh, it's supposed to be hard. Oh, okay, I'm not crazy. We're not crazy. It's supposed to be this

Casey O'Roarty 30:33
hard. Well, and I think that was a huge piece, right? You the the search to on how to love, yeah, isn't over just because you found the person to love. I just think

Kristina Kuzmic 30:44
for be over 50 years of marriage, you might have to relearn how to love this person and learn how to communicate the way you need to be loved. Oh, yeah,

Casey O'Roarty 30:52
absolutely. We're coming on 25 years since we met my husband and I, and you know, like I already mentioned, we spent last weekend at a couple's workshop. He wasn't so excited to go. But

Kristina Kuzmic 31:07
I think a lot of people are scared to ask for help, and they're like, oh, I don't want to be those couple, that couple that's in marriage therapy or whatever. I mean, do it

Casey O'Roarty 31:16
are you do it? It's the best thing ever. It is the best thing ever

Kristina Kuzmic 31:21
helps. Sometimes we all do, all of us, every human being, and asking for help isn't a sign of weakness. It's a sign of strength. It means you care and you're and you're trying to build something stronger. You should never, you know feel weird about that. You should give yourself a pat on the back for

Casey O'Roarty 31:35
that. Yeah, I'm feeling like a champion. Thank you.

So Christina, you know, the name of my business is joyful courage. And I always end my interviews asking, you know, in the context of all we've talked about, in the context of your work with holding on and not holding still, what does when you hear the words joyful courage? What does that mean to you?

Kristina Kuzmic 32:04
To me, it means being willing to be uncomfortable. We kind of touched on it earlier, yeah, and just dipping your toe and maybe even jumping in to something that seems so scary, but you're doing it because you know it will lead to something better. So often, you know, we're we're we're waiting for somebody to send us joy. We're waiting for someone to knock on our door and give us joy, and really, to reach Joy, I think it does take courage. So I love the name of your podcast, because to me, Courage leads to joy.

Casey O'Roarty 32:37
Thank you. Where can listeners find you and follow your work and find your book. Is your book out. It's out.

Kristina Kuzmic 32:45
So proud of it. The book is, hold on, but don't hold still. I am on Facebook and Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, at Christina with a K, last name, K, U, Z, M, i, c, and my website is same. Christina kuzmich.com,

Casey O'Roarty 33:00
thank you so much for coming on and talking with me today, and thank you for the impact, because I know just watching the comments flood in as you do your lives on your page, you are making such a huge impact on parents and on the world and on their children. So thank you so much for your work.

Kristina Kuzmic 33:21
Thank you so much. I appreciate that.

Casey O'Roarty 33:26
Thank you so much for listening. It is my great honor to create this show for all of you. Big thanks to my producer, Chris Mann at pod shaper, for his work in making the podcast sound oh so good if you're interested in continuing these powerful conversations that start on the podcast, become a patron by heading to www.patreon.com/joyful courage. That's www dot, P, A, T, R, E, O n.com/joyful, courage. For $5 a month, you will have access to a private Facebook group where I do weekly Facebook lives on Mondays and interview recaps on Fridays. Plus it's a great way to give back to the show that gives you so much. Be sure to subscribe to the show. Head to Apple podcast, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Google Play, wherever you are listening to podcasts, and simply search for the joyful courage podcast and hit that subscribe button. Join our communities on Facebook, the live and love with joyful courage group and the joyful courage of parents of teens groups are both safe, supportive communities of like minded parents walking the path with you. If you're looking for even bigger, deeper support, please consider checking out my coaching offer. Www dot joyful courage.com/coaching. Is where to go to book a free explore. Call with me and we can see if we're a good fit. I'll be back next week. Can't wait. Until then. Big Love to you. Remember to find your breath, ride it into your body, take the balcony seat and trust that everything is going to be okay.

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