#48 Getting closer to yourself and not taking it so seriously

<p>Gracie Brown - Gestalt therapist, musician and artist known as Kalakari - joins me for her first ever podcast. We talk about what it means to get closer to yourself: the parts you perform, the parts you protect and what starts to shift when you stop treating all of it like something to fix.</p><p>We get into calling yourself pathetic and what's actually underneath that - the strange kind of safety in staying small and what it costs to keep proving your own worst story about yourself right. We talk about the difference between managing your life and actually enjoying it and what it might mean if the opposite of anxiety isn't calm, but joy. </p><p>Grace opens up about carrying a "professional" version of herself separately from the real one for years and what it's taken to let that gap close. </p><p><strong>In this episode:</strong></p><ul><li>What it's like stepping into your first ever podcast conversation, nerves and all.</li><li>Why calling yourself pathetic can actually feel safer than the alternative.</li><li>The difference between managing your life and actually enjoying it.</li><li>Being an artist and a therapist without needing to pick one.</li><li>What years of group therapy training taught her about being seen.</li><li>Learning to loosen up on yourself instead of tightening the grip.</li></ul><p>If you've ever taken yourself way too seriously and wondered what would happen if you just... didn't, this one's for you.</p><p><strong>Find Gracie (Kalakari):</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/graciebrownthings_/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Insta</a> </p><p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/iamkalakari/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Kalakari Insta (music, writing)</a> </p><p><a href="https://kalakari.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Substack</a> </p><p><a href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/63XGgDnM53TgiBxCp1TBqz?si=Q17l7UpAQQyiMWjnTEN7dA" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Spotify</a></p><p><br /></p><p><strong>Connect with Rick:</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/rickwatson_/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Instagram </a></p><p><a href="https://www.rickwatson.com.au/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Website</a></p><p><br /></p><p></p>