What happens when the very qualities everyone praises you for are the same ones quietly taking you to the floor? Catherine Crestani lived exactly that. In this conversation with Jody Brooks, she traces her story from quietly abandoning herself all the way down to a breakdown on the floor, and the Courage it took to choose herself again.
Catherine Crestani is an author, Brainz magazine executive contributor, former speech therapist and inner authority guide who helps women reconnect with themselves after burnout, heartbreak and identity loss. She joins Jody Brooks from Australia to walk through three messy middles: giving up the music she loved to mould herself to her first husband, a seven-figure partnership that turned one-sided, and her own six-figure company built entirely around herself, where she answered a hundred emails a day and hid her insomnia behind delay-send at three in the morning.
Then came the collapse, staff resigning three at a time until she ended up on the floor, and the frightening numbness that spread from her finger to her face, all of which vanished the first day she stayed home. Along the way, Jody shares his own eighteen months carrying a salon single-handed. At the same time, everyone called him resilient, and together they ask whether it takes more Courage to leave than to endure. This is the Week Two guest episode of Messy Midlife with Jody Brooks, and it is a masterclass in understanding what a block costs the body when we refuse to listen. Catherine is the author of the novel My Virtual Obsession. Find her at www.willowhealing.org
In this episode
00:00 Welcome and Introductions
01:36 Time Travel Connection
02:10 Three Messy Middles
02:52 Losing Yourself in Marriage
04:38 Business Partnership Breakdown
05:41 Burnout and Insomnia Spiral
07:06 Dark Night and Collapse
09:34 Host Shares Similar Story
12:53 Selling the Business Aftermath
14:35 Body Warning Signs
19:16 Spirituality Explained
19:48 Intuition and HeartMath
24:52 Science of Energy and Grounding
29:25 Why Hire a Coach
31:46 Identity Shifts and Support
35:29 Coaching to Let Go
37:56 Courage Over Approval
39:10 Grieving Old Identities
41:10 Dreams Can Change
43:41 Answering the Call
44:24 Becoming a Writer
50:16 AI Without Losing Voice
56:37 Inside My Virtual Obsession
01:01:27 Coaching and Sovereignty
01:05:25 Choose Your Suffering
01:08:50 Where to Find Catherine
01:09:41 Final Seed and Farewell
About Catherine Crestani
Author, Brainz magazine executive contributor, former speech therapist and inner authority guide based in Australia. Author of the novel My Virtual Obsession. Website willowhealing.org, Instagram willowhealing.sh.
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