Author: Sean

Tyler is a suicide survivor and has experienced the anomalous trauma of sequential ruptured patellar tendons. His first book, The Maniac with No Knees, is an exciting memoir that follows his journey with undiagnosed bipolar disorder through an eclectic series of mania-driven misadventures He is currently working on a second book, a composite novel called The Fables of Frog City. Tyler has pivoted his platform from standing up for people with mental illness to standing up for everyone who is oppressed. He shares the following nuggets of life wisdom:

• people with mental illness need community, goals and medication
• bipolar disorder can give you creativity, curiosity and empathy
• it’s liberating to be authentic

https://www.tylerkania.com

tags: Tyler Kania, rugby player, coach, cybersecurity salesman, cryptocurrency entrepreneur, stonemason, civil rights activist, independent journalist, writer, author, The Maniac with No Knees, story, stories, that, empower, empowering, empowerment, inspire, inspiring, inspiration, encourage, encouraging, encouragement, hope, light, podcast, Sean, https://storiesthatempower.com

Photo credit: Kimarie Martin Photography

Marty shares her memoir, a story of being raised by a mother in protracted mourning from the loss of her parents in an airline disaster. It explores Marty’s journey, from personal ways of coping as a child to the evolution of a mother-daughter relationship that matured over time. It is also about her longing to know her maternal grandmother and Marty’s own delivery from darkness into light. She shares the following nuggets of life wisdom:

• writing is a path to healing
• using creative techniques with words and with the writing process is a good way to break through, when you’re overwhelmed by the story and material
• through speculative writing, she imagined a relationship with her grandmother
• multi-generational trauma is real
• realizing the value of our ancestors’ letters

https://www.martyrossdolen.com

tags: Marty Ross-Dolen, writer, author, retired child and adolescent psychiatrist, Always There, Always Gone, a daughter’s search for truth, story, stories, that, empower, empowering, empowerment, inspire, inspiring, inspiration, encourage, encouraging, encouragement, hope, light, podcast, Sean, https://storiesthatempower.com

Despite her ability of helping others with feelings of not being good enough, Kristine felt unable to help herself. She reflected back on her childhood and recognized that the feeling was shame, which often begins in childhood. During this interview, Kristine dives into shame and how we can move to a point of empowerment. She shares the following nuggets of life wisdom:

• once you can name something, you can understand it and you have power over it
• shame can come from what is missing
• shame is an adaption of survival
• we are not broken, we adapted
• stop repeating our shame talk
• learn self compassion, to soothe and comfort ourselves
• be vulnerable in very small ways
• we’re never too old to heal the shame

https://kristine-jensen.com

tags: Kristine B. Jensen, Bruised Not Broken, Healing the shame of a troubled childhood, writer, author, licensed psychotherapist, story, stories, that, empower, empowering, empowerment, inspire, inspiring, inspiration, encourage, encouraging, encouragement, hope, light, podcast, Sean, https://storiesthatempower.com