Unlearning Beautiful

What happens when trying to control your body—and your life—becomes the very thing keeping you stuck?In this episode, I’m talking with Alison about her experience with an eating disorder, and what began to change when she started questioning the beliefs that kept her trapped in control, fear, and rigidity.Alison shares what she’s learned about trusting her body, letting go of the need to have all the answers, making space for pleasure and rest, and discovering that she can live her life without needing to know exactly how everything will turn out.And you don’t need to have an eating disorder to relate to this conversation. If you’ve ever thought, “If I could just figure this out, then I’d finally be okay,” there’s something here for you.Want to feel more at peace in your body?→ Work with me 1:1: www.kristinabruce.com/private-coaching→ Get my free Guide to Body Peace: www.kristinabruce.com/guideCONNECT WITH KRISTINA🌐 Website: https://www.kristinabruce.com/📱 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristinabrucecoachThis podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice.

Do you feel like you have to get everything right?Your body. Your work. Your relationships. The way other people see you.For many of us, perfectionism isn't really about wanting to be perfect. It's about what we believe being “good enough” will give us: safety, love, acceptance, approval, and a sense of worth.And when that belief gets attached to our bodies, we can spend years trying to make our bodies “right”—without realizing that we're asking our bodies to prove something about us.In this episode, I explore:Why criticism and feedback can feel so much more threatening than they seemHow perfectionism can become a way of protecting ourselvesWhy our bodies can become a kind of armourWhy letting go of dieting and body control can feel surprisingly scaryHow the same perfectionism pattern can show up in our work, relationships, parenting and people-pleasingThe difference between receiving someone's feedback and making their opinion mean something about your worthWhy we don't need to prove that we're good enoughAnd what becomes possible when we stop asking our bodies—and our lives—to prove our valueAt the end of the episode, I'll guide you through a short reflection to help you notice where you might be trying to prove yourself in your own life.Want to go deeper?If you're recognizing yourself in this episode and want support untangling the beliefs underneath your body struggle, I work with women privately through 1:1 coaching.→ Learn about 1:1 coaching: www.kristinabruce.com/private-coachingNot ready for coaching? Start with my free Guide to Body Peace for a gentle introduction to building a more peaceful relationship with your body.→ Get the free Guide to Body Peace: www.kristinabruce.com/gudeCONNECT WITH KRISTINA🌐 Website: https://www.kristinabruce.com/📱 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristinabrucecoachThis podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice.

The Sydney Sweeney ad has sparked a lot of conversation about women, sexuality, empowerment, and objectification. But what does any of this have to do with the way we see our own bodies?In this episode, I’m using the controversy around the ad as a jumping-off point to explore something much deeper: what happens when we internalize the idea that being desirable makes us valuable.Because the message isn’t only “women should look a certain way.” Over time, it can become: If I look desirable, I’ll get attention. If I get attention, I’ll feel validated. And if I feel validated, maybe that means I’m valuable.And suddenly, your body becomes a job—something to maintain, monitor, improve, or hide.We’ll explore the difference between a woman having agency over her body and the cultural messages we absorb about what makes a woman valuable—and why even shifting from “my body needs to be beautiful” to “my body needs to be strong, capable, or impressive” can still leave us tying our worth to our bodies.Ultimately, this episode is about something much bigger than one ad: learning to experience yourself without constantly evaluating yourself through someone else’s eyes.And asking a very important question: When I look at my body, whose eyes am I looking through?If you want to explore this work more deeply, check out my Body Peace Video Series: www.kristinabruce.com/bodypeaceseriesCONNECT WITH KRISTINA🌐 Website: https://www.kristinabruce.com/📱 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristinabrucecoachThis podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice.

Caitlin had already done the work to heal her anxious relationship with food. But the anxiety didn’t go away.Instead, it started taking over more and more of her life — fueling constant overthinking, rumination, and a desperate search for reassurance and proof that everything was okay.For so many women, struggles with body image and food are intertwined with anxiety. Anxiety about how you look, what you eat, what other people think, and whether you’re “doing it right.” That’s part of what brought Caitlin to me for 1:1 coaching.In this honest conversation, Caitlin shares what changed when she stopped trying to think her way out of anxiety and began learning how to relate to it differently. She talks about how her life began to expand again — sleeping better, feeling more present, traveling, and doing things she had been putting off.But this isn’t a story about anxiety disappearing forever.Two years later, anxiety came back. Caitlin initially wondered if she was right back where she started. What she discovered instead was that she wasn’t. The work she had done had changed how she could meet anxiety, and she was able to move through it in a very different way.If you struggle with anxiety, overthinking, self-doubt, or constantly searching for reassurance and acceptance, I think you’ll relate to a lot of what Caitlin shares.Want support with your own relationship with your body and yourself?I work 1:1 with women who are ready to stop fighting with their bodies, quiet the constant mental noise, and build more trust, peace, and freedom.→ Learn more about 1:1 coaching here: www.kristinabruce.com/private-coachingConnect with Kristina:Instagram: @kristinabrucecoachWebsite: www.kristinabruce.comThis podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice.

Have you ever felt like you just can't trust yourself around food?Maybe you can't keep certain foods in the house without worrying you'll eat them. Maybe you feel like you need rules, restriction or constant control—or you fear that if you let go, you'll completely lose control.But what if the problem isn't that you can't trust yourself, but that you learned not to?In this episode, I explore where that distrust actually begins—and how childhood food rules, scarcity, dieting, restriction and the belief that something is wrong with your body can create a cycle that makes you feel increasingly out of control around food.I'll also share a moment from my own journey that showed me something had changed: the day I opened my desk drawer, saw a bag of Lindor chocolates, and realized I didn't feel compelled to eat them.That moment helped me understand that self-trust around food isn't about having more discipline or learning to control yourself better.It's about understanding the patterns that created the distrust in the first place—and learning that you don't have to live there forever.If you're tired of feeling like you need to manage yourself around food, this episode is for you.RESOURCES TO HELP YOU TRUST YOURSELF AGAIN:📕 Free Guide to Body Peace: For women tired of “fixing” their bodies, and ready to feel free  https://www.kristinabruce.com/guide🕊️ 1:1 Body Peace CoachingPersonalized support to help you stop obsessing about your body and feel more peace, trust, and freedom. 👉https://www.kristinabruce.com/private-coaching💗 Small Group Coaching:  https://kristina-bruce.kit.com/group-interestCONNECT WITH KRISTINA🌐 Website: https://www.kristinabruce.com/📱 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristinabrucecoachThis podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice.