How does happiness really work?
In this episode of Happy Hour Podcast, Kim Strobel joins the show to discuss anxiety, mental health, and the Science of Happiness. She also shares her own battle of anxiety and panic disorder and how she got through the darkest days her life.
Some of Kim’s history
Kim Strobel is a former school teacher. She was also a literacy coordinator and a curriculum director. For 20 years, she has been studying the topic of happiness and in 2018 she decided to leave her directors job and launched her own business called Strobel Education. It provides professional development for teachers across the country. She is also a keynote and a motivational speaker, and within one year of launching her business, Kim became a nationally recognized motivational speaker in the education realm. And now, she is a happiness coach to women through her 90 day program.
We all have down days
For a Happiness Coach like Kim, it’s tempting to believe that she never has down days and she’s just always positive. But the truth is, people have to live through the darkness before they can thrive in the light. Kim spent her childhood up to her young adult years dealing with anxiety and panic attacks. She was diagnosed to have a seizure disorder and full panic disorder.
And it was not an easy Journey for Kim, she sought guidance and treatment from trusted medical and homeopathic doctors and began to make real progress in managing her anxiety and panic disorder. She also combined this with exposure therapy and read so many books and resources to help her manage her disorder. She had the biggest relapse in 20 years last 2018. And a great deal to her recovery was re-reading all her resources, continuous exposure therapy to retrain her brain.
Due to her relapse in 2018, Kim realized that there is so much more internal work to be done. She just learned to own and use it. She accepted that part of her, the weak, flawed Kim Strobel. And she decided to love that part of herself. That became the key in empowering herself to go after what she wants.
You have to be your own priority
And in order for you to see a progress in your life, you have to be willing to get uncomfortable and work on yourself, and advocate for yourself. Every day, make yourself a priority before others. Have time for yourself. Whether it’s doing yoga, getting massage, running etc. Don’t feel sorry for putting yourself first because you know it is what will keep you sane and healthy. Allow your true selves to be seen.
You also have to be your own advocate
If anyone of you listening can resonate to these stories and suffering through anxiety, panic, and other mental health disorders, it is important to go to the right people to seek for help. Go to a therapist, psychologist, psychiatrist, coaches and counselors who can understand all the facets and spectrums of your disorder. Your disorder is not something that a pill could make it go away. It is real and you need to be heard and listened to. Oftentimes, there are no physical symptoms attributed to anxiety and panic disorder, which is why it is crucial to seek from experts who are knowledgeable about it and understands that is more than just one symptoms, and can give you accurate diagnosis.
Anxiety & panic disorder can be very tricky. There is no fixing and getting rid of it but it’s about recognizing, embracing it as a part of yourself and working on yourself. It also becomes an opportunity for you get to know yourself really well, your strengths and flaws, and be empathetic towards people who go through the same.
Women have to start leading the way to have these kinds of conversations and understand that it is our darkness that creates the best versions of who we are today.
We all have a set baseline happiness level. We have this dopamine in our brain, and the happiness level goes up for a period of time but it also resets to the baseline. The same is true when we go through hard and difficult times, your happiness goes down for a period of time but it also resets to the baseline level. The baseline is like a pie chart- 50% of your long term happiness is genetic, 10% comes from our external circumstances, 40% Internal State of mind. One tip is to incorporate a daily gratitude practice. List 3 different things every day that you are grateful for, for 21 days. This is how we start to shift our negative brains to positive brains
Kim shares her free gratitude tracker with us in order to cultivate a mindset focused on real growth and a positive future.
Kim also shares the science behind happiness…you will be shocked to learn where happiness really comes from!
A lil about Kim:
Kim spent her childhood and teen and young adult years dealing with panic attacks and crippling fear. Diagnoses of a seizure disorder and full panic disorder followed, and with them a burgeoning fear that she would never be able to achieve my dreams. Not only does she achieve her dreams, but she is an expert public speaker that gets on a stage time and time again teaching the science of happiness. Learn more about Kim here.
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About The Show
Welcome to the Happy Hour Podcast! I’m Shannon Jamail, the host of this show, along with my friends Stefanie and Angie. I’m a therapist turned performance coach and an author. Here in Happy Hour, we talk about life, relationships, business and other stuff with the intention to help each other connect, grow and thrive.
About Stefanie – She is a yoga instructor and brings a passionate healing touch to all that she does. She’s also a certified birth and postpartum doula and a nurse. She lives in Newport Beach California with her husband and two beautiful kiddos.
About Angie – She is an incredible lawyer that brings her determined and feisty attitude to everything she does. She’s the momma of two cute-as-hell dogs and an adorable cranky cat. She lives in Savannah Georgia with her fiancé. She’s also starting her training as a yoga teacher.
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