I want to fill you in on what’s happening in my life, AND I want to give you fair warning: it’s a LOT.

Since the last time I’ve written, I laid my mom to rest and my dad has been diagnosed with the same cancer that my mom just died from.

You aren’t required to know what to say to these circumstances, because WHAT DO YOU EVEN SAY TO THAT? I don’t know what to say to it, and I’M LIVING IT.

While I don’t know exactly what this year’s work will look like because I’ve been thrown into Grief and Cancer Navigation Mode, I *do* want to keep talking to you.

We are trained to go quiet with grief, to go to our therapists with grief, and to move on quickly from grief. I intend to be loud and tell everyone and take as long as it takes. 😉

PODCAST EPISODES CREATED WHILE RIDING THE WAVES OF WHATEVER MY LIFE IS RN:

👉🏻 In ‘Internals and putting mom in the ground,’ I talk about why the day I laid my Mom to rest was NOT as difficult as ANY day of my late twenties. (I swear to you, it’s true, and I’ll tell you why when you listen.)

👉🏻 In ‘Doom and Gloom,’ I tell a story about my Dad that both makes me laugh and shows you exactly where I deeply censor myself in my work. (As always, I’m sharing because the odds of you censoring yourself in the same place are quite high.)

WHAT YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW:

First: you don’t have to know what to say. Permission to not have a clue, granted.

Second: snail mail always, always helps. Just shoot me an email and I’ll send you my snail mail address.

Letters, cards, artworks by small children or pets, letters, magazine clippings, pieces of art, and general nonsense are deeply welcome.

If you wanna go next level, here is a list of things you can send me that will delight me at the moment.

Some are quite small and frivolous, some are enormous. Some are just Doordash to get through this time. I’ve included the full range so that you can see what making an effort to delineate my desires looks like, even from a space of pain. Perhaps it can inspire you to share your desires with others when you find yourself in a season of merde.

Finally: I love you, please don’t send platitudes.

So long as you’re not sending me the ol’ ‘everything happens for a reason’ or other vague lines to explain away my feelings of loss, you’re giving me space to grieve. I appreciate that so very much.

Thanks for reading, for listening, and for being one of my peeps. I treasure your presence in my life more than you could possibly know at this moment.

Hugs,
K

These podcasts are 150% an experiment.

What happens if I don’t have a meticulous plan with bullet points and a perfect transcript before I begin talking? 

What happens if I’m FAR more honest and revealing than is strictly comfortable, trusting that I’ll be well held by those who listen? 

What if I can, by revealing the most inward emotions and thoughts of my being at this moment, find those EXACT emotions and thoughts in you, thereby helping you feel far less alone? 

What if I tell you what I’m wrestling with, and what I’ve been keeping hidden from myself (and therefore you), and what I’m working on before it’s 100% done? 

And what if it’s all recorded while I’m pulled over to the side of the road in my car in a single take? 

THAT’S THE CONFESSIONS SERIES OF PODCASTS.

This is the most vulnerable series of podcasts I’ve ever created.

In this series, we walk from OMG I’M MAKING A THING!!!! to starting the thing, to freaking out about doing the thing, to having completed the thing, week by week.

These are the spaces created by beginning with the word “Confession” and going from there.

They are not ‘useful’ in the sense of having been plotted, tweaked, and carefully crafted. 

They are DEEPLY ‘useful’ if you value honesty, want to feel less alone, or have been numbing, muting, or martyring yourself throughout these pandemic years.

Confessions! Starving Souls & Lotto Tickets

Confessions! On Crying & Joy Infections

Confessions! The Tumor & The Witness

Confessions! The Shame and The Not-Useful

Confessions! The Damage and the Dare

Confessions! Weak Ties & The Everything Bagel 🥯

Confessions! The Urgency of Now and CRUSHING it

Confessions! The Social Media Sermon

Confessions! The Worst Advice I’ve Ever Taken

Confessions! What if I’m NOT an expert?

I hope these episodes shake the dust from your soul, affirm your feelings, and sweep away your loneliness.

👉🏻Let me know what you think by shooting an email to k@kristenkalp.com — or send me a note right here.

P.S. If you feel compelled to work with me, HOLY HELL TALK TO ME ON THE PHONE.  Yes, I *do* have secret offerings only available to those who talk to me! 😉

The Imaginarium is coming up this Fall in Philly, details here!

It’s so WEIRD to be alive, isn’t it?

You think you’ve got something figured out, and then WHAM JUST KIDDING, something new appears and you’re rethinking everything.

I’m seven years in to making the That’s What She Said podcast. What I’ve noticed, over time, is that I’m less and less free, more and more sticking to a carefully created transcript as I create each episode.

In my head I’m all, BUT THEY HAVE SO LITTLE TIME!!! HOW CAN I WASTE A SINGLE SECOND TAKING UP SPACE WITHOUT A CLEAR OBJECTIVE AND FOCUS!!??

::existential wringing of hands::

AND! What I want and need from other creators I love is to share NOT ONLY their most ‘expert,’ cis-het-white-passive-income-friendly selves. I want to go behind the scenes, hear the questions they’re wrestling with, know about what’s ACTUALLY going on with them, and feel into their struggles alongside them.

Because it’s easy to pretend everyone else has it all figured out. Everyone else is on Easy Street, sipping $7 beverages and spending five hours a day sunning by the pool, says asshole brain. Everyone else has more time, money, and energy than you. Everyone else has it all under control.

I’m choosing to try something different (and defeat asshole brain) by sharing the places where I’m caught up in my head, unsure, pissed off, full of questions, or trying to process ENORMOUS WORLD EVENTS in real time and out loud.

I sincerely hope this confessional episode is a service to your heart and spirit.

It’s a pulled-over-on-the-side-of-the-road confessional in which I share big, little, existential, and petty thoughts about where we are at this moment in time, and in which I share the big huge questions rattling around in my brain, too!

Listen in to Confessions: Covid and the 💩 Birthday Party if you want to hear what I’m working on, what I’m wrestling with, and why this whole Covid thing is a lot like a birthday party gone off the rails. 😉

P.S. Overachiever, Enneagram type 3, or Hyper-competent Human Who Needs Help From No One? If you haven’t yet, I recommend listening to: Lower the Bar.