Keep F*cking Going: Krista Ryan’s Framework for Turning Trauma Into Triumph

In this episode of the Changeology podcast, I sit down with Krista Ryan, a highly sought-after business coach, facilitator, speaker, and workplace performance expert. Krista is known for helping clients navigate uncertainty with confidence, collaboration, and communication. Her clients have included C-suite executives, entrepreneurs, performers, and elite athletes from around the world. You can connect with Krista at kristaryan.com or on LinkedIn.

Krista’s story is a powerful testament to resilience and transformation. She has faced two life-altering experiences—the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival mass shooting and a colorectal cancer diagnosis—that tested her in unimaginable ways. Instead of letting these tragedies define her, Krista created the KFG (Keep Freaking Going) framework, which has since become a guiding force for individuals and organizations navigating change.

Why should you listen to this episode? Because Krista’s journey is not just about surviving hardship—it’s about thriving in the face of it. She shares her raw, emotional, and ultimately inspiring story with honesty and humor, proving that no matter what life throws at us, we have the power to keep moving forward.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

🌟 How Krista turned personal tragedy into a powerful framework for resilience and change.

🌟 The role of mindset in navigating life’s biggest challenges.

🌟 Why seeking support is essential—and how to find the right people to uplift you.

🌟 How to stop making excuses and take control of your personal and professional growth.

Krista’s story is one of courage, transformation, and choosing to live boldly. Tune in to be inspired, empowered, and equipped with tools to take on big, bold changes in your own life.

Get in touch with Krista here:

https://www.kristaryan.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/krista-ryan-pcc-b91830164/

https://www.instagram.com/coachkristaryan/

If you want Meg's support during your significant change, you can apply to work with her here.

Want to learn more about the art, science, philosophy, and psychology of making significant life changes? Sign up HERE for my weekly newsletter and have the Changeology podcast delivered straight into your inbox!

Connect with Meg on--

LinkedIn

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Transcript

@0:07 - Meg Trucano 

Welcome to Changeology. My guest today is Krista Ryan, the human embodiment of resilience and perseverance in the face of unexpected change and difficulty.

Krista is a highly sought-after business coach, facilitator, speaker, and workplace performance expert known for helping clients effectively navigate uncertainty while promoting collaboration, communication, confidence.

Her clients have included C-suite executives, entrepreneurs, performers, even elite athletes from across the globe. And while all of that is extremely impressive, what is most unique about Krista is how she has transformed, not one, but two unspeakably difficult experiences into her proprietary KFG framework that

you how to keep going. So welcome to the changeology podcast, Krista.

@1:05 - Krista

Thank you, Meg. Thank you so much for having me. I love how you just throw it out there, right?

we're not gonna buffer any of this.

@1:14 - Meg Trucano 

There's really good things out here. Yeah.

@1:16 - Krista

No, we're keeping it real is what's going on. love it. I love it. I welcome it. And, you know, F G.

Yep. going, y'all. We can do this.

@1:26 - Meg Trucano 

Yes. And so I am going to start off with the heavy part of our conversation today. So yeah, in our previous conversations, you said before that the two most horrible experiences in your life so far have turned into the greatest gifts of your life.

So I'd love to start on that horrible evening in October of 2017.

@1:48 - Krista

So tell us what happened. Yeah. So I was actually four days post my graduation as an executive and workplace performance coach.

So I just completed a two-year program to get my certification, I was ready, you know, ready to rock and roll and support industries and employees.

It's really my passion and purpose. So as a celebration, my husband and I flew out to Las Vegas to celebrate, we are monstrous, huge country music fans.

We love outdoor music, outdoor festivals, anything to get ourselves outside enjoying embracing all music, all kinds. So we flew out there and we had tickets to the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival.

It was, I think, year three, maybe even four of this huge event taking place in Las Vegas. When I say huge, on average 22,000 is what the crowd is.

So it's a massive concert, know, everyone's there to connect and just sing and dance and really like find their similarities, you know, when you're in an environment like that, just, it's a beautiful thing.

So we were out there celebrating a, our kid back in school.

@2:58 - Meg Trucano 

It was October 1st.

@3:00 - Krista

You have to be my graduation of this new chapter in my life and see just each other, you know, spending time with each other and actually two close couples also came out with us.

So we were just enjoying the music and bracing all things. We did not know what was going to happen, how our lives would change the night of October 1, 2017.

You know, I call it the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival. Most of America remembers it as the Las Vegas mass shooting.

So that night, one individual made a catastrophic decision to unleash a barrage of bullets on the crowd of 22,000.

And in doing so from the Mandalay Bay in doing so, he took the lives of 58 innocent people and over 500 plus were shot injured, you know, and 22,000 of us in the in the audience were impacted forever.

everyone's lives were changed. My husband and I right before the shots were fired actually got separated in the sea of people.

You know, I can laugh about this now because he was on a mission Meg to find like the world's largest belt buckle.

@4:18 - Meg Trucano 

He loved this part of the story.

@4:20 - Krista

He was on a mission to look for a belt buckle and I was like, okay, you go do that.

I'm going to find the world's largest hot dog because I was starving. You know, so we were both on our own little mini missions here and I remember the moment looking down at my cell phone and I don't know how many of your listeners can relate.

I'm sure there's a lot but my phone was on 2%. I am a very, very, I will own it.

I am irresponsible with my cellular device. It's always on red. Like I'm always walking around with that stupid thing on red.

Well, this was a bad night for it to be at 2%. So the last text message that went out that night said my phone is on 2%.

I'm very scared that it's going to die before we're connected and we're going to have a very hard time finding each other in the crowd of 22,000.

And I sent that off three minutes later the first shots were fired. So my phone did die. We were separated the entire shooting.

You we don't have enough time and space to talk through the events that took place, you know, but the moral of kind of the high bird's eyes version of it is I was gifted the opportunity to start to utilize the tools, the mindset tools of resilience that I had just been trained on.

A, not only for survival that night, which was keep going, you know, a lot of my clients and organizations that I was supporting when they heard this story they Krista, what were you thinking?

that night, what was going through your mind? And I started saying, you know, one thing, KFG, going, I was running, we all were running for our lives.

And I started to kind of witness how severe this was actually unfolding. Once once we understood, no, this is not fireworks from the main stage, no, this is not, you know, this thing that's planned, they turned on the lights.

And once they did that, we started to see everybody that was injured and hurt. And KFG, KFG, KFG, know, was in my head, but it was keep going, you know, keep going, keep going, keep going.

Really, everything kind of went black and white for me. I don't remember sounds other than the gunshots. Everything almost kind of turned into slow motion.

And legit, my three kids were the only thing in my head. I am going home, I'm doing whatever I can to get to them.

Now, I head that was that was how the night unfolded now fast forward so many things happened on the in between I actually wrote about it it's the intro in my book is me really vomiting everything out about how the night played out we did get reconnected my husband and I um some beautiful individuals supported me legit tackled me to the ground so I could not run back into the venue because once I got out my my flight in response kind of went reverse and I was like I got to go find my husband I know he's in there looking for me I have to go find him my KFG became look for him I know he's in there searching for me he may lose his life in doing so you have to find him so I was trying to get back into the venue and some beautiful angels tackled me would not allow that to happen we're holding me safe they actually called got connected we reunited and you would think

It was a beautiful reunite, you know, being reunited, but we were very scared. We had no idea what was going on.

So it wasn't until we got back to the hotel room hours later that we started seeing on the news reports what exactly had happened.

We didn't know where the shooter was coming from. We didn't know if he was in the audience. We didn't realize he was, you know, on the 30-something floor firing down at the crowd.

was a very bad situation. So after I came home from that event, I got stuck, Meg, for two years.

So for two years, I was a fraud to my own story. I became a victim in my story. started to self-sabotage.

Now keep in mind I had all the tools. I had these mindset tools and trainings. I was an expert on resilience.

And I was a complete fraud to myself because I was supporting organizations on a global scale. And I was teaching training, facilitating them how to navigate all these hard changes, how

to stay accountable, how to really set themselves up for success, and I was going home and self sabotaging. So if anyone believes in things that they are too qualified to feel a certain way, it's not true.

That's a false myth. We are human beings and we go through hard things. So what I did after that night, I started to use myself as a science turning point of when someone said like, okay, Krista, what was the moment that you decided to reclaim accountability for your life?

And I remember the aha moment was when I realized that in the best way to honor the 58 individuals that did not get the chance to go home to their loved ones, in order to honor their legacy and for their families and for everyone else in the crowd, if I allow the individual that did this the

the opportunity to destroy my life based on my own choices. Guess what? He still wins. And I was on this earth, I'm living this life.

And I decided in order for him to not be the victor in this story, I have to live my best damn life possible.

And I just anchored into that and I was like, no way. He's not gonna win. I'm on this earth.

I get to choose my story. It is a choice. No matter what we go through, it's a choice how we respond to it.

So everything changed, absolutely everything changed. way I communicated with my family, my friends, how I held myself accountable, setting my behaviors, my habits up for success.

No more blaming and complaining about what I went through. I had to learn how to love myself again. I had to forgive myself because the night of the event, I'd always grown up with a mentality that I would be a helper.

If I'm ever in a situation, I'm gonna be... just now runs into the building on fire. I'm going to be a helper.

And Meg, I ran over the top of people that were crying out for help that were injured. I remember running them over because I was trying to get out.

You know, we were all like, it was the stampede. It was a chaotic stampede. We were trying to jump over the fence that was holding us in to keep us safe.

It was actually keeping us in danger because we couldn't get out. So I had to forgive myself for not pausing to help them.

And in doing so, I realized that if and it actually took a military person through my forgiveness and healing to come and tell me what you did was the greatest gift by just taking care of yourself and getting out because the helpers, the people that stayed in the venue to help oftentimes were trained in crisis moments.

So they were, you know, police officers, duty, EMTs, military trained. And he told me if I had made the choice,

to stay in and help, I may have lost my life or caused more commotion to, you know, if people, if so many people had stayed there, there'd be so many more casualties.

So he said, you did what you had to do. We thank you for doing that for getting out because those that needed to be cared for were.

So that helped me forgive myself too. But that was the pivotal moment that everything changed. And as I started to coach and facilitate and train people on this methodology, KFG.

So it didn't become the action step for survival anymore. Now it's the action step for living. It's the action step.

Keep freaking going. KFG breaks down as K is no, like nowhere you're at in your life. Know what you're going through.

honest and vulnerable with yourself. Not fake it till you make it. This is the real me. This is what's happening.

I'm not, you know, I'm not fine. Fine is my most dreaded four letter word. I hate it.

@12:59 - Meg Trucano 

Yeah. I. I hear that.

@13:00 - Krista

Mine is just just yeah.

@13:03 - Meg Trucano 

Oh, just do X, Y, Z.

@13:05 - Krista

Yeah. So K is no F is all about focus and that's the accountability of your response focus on your response.

You get to choose how to respond. And then G is go take the next best step to keep moving forward.

Keep going. Don't get stuck in the past. The past is in the rear view mirror. You're going to crash if you're looking there all the time.

So do not stay stuck in the past KFG. focus go. Keep freaking going. So that's, that's how this story unfolds.

And I can stand here today and say, I'm so grateful I went through that experience because it set me up for success for multiple breakdowns, you know, and which leads into my second one.

But I'll pause here because I've been talking not.

@13:47 - Meg Trucano 

I mean, it's such a compelling story. And I love several things about about your story. I actually really love this connection that you made between being

Like having a part of your what you perceived your identity to be a helper and in this moment. That's not you didn't That's not how you behaved, right?

Yes, but at the very end of this you come full circle and you realize that doing this authentic action which is running for your life Actually helped and it was the right thing to do right and I think that illustrates how especially when we're The press press of a big changer if we're going through something really hard it can feel like being our authentic selves is In income like an encumbering factor right a hindrance to Success or making it at the end but actually it's when we tuck into that and we accept it and we Move forward with this full understanding that we can that we can really grow and and achieve success after the fact So I I loved it out about

about it. Another thing that really struck me about your story is just the full circle moment of like you had an aha moment that allowed you to kind of alchemize this horrible, horrible experience into something deeply meaningful for you and for countless other people.

And what I can I understand what you say when you say it's a gift because it really is you turned this awful thing into a gift.

So let me be honest with you like it did not come through me.

@15:42 - Krista

I had to get to the point where I realized I can't do this alone. I did not figure this out alone.

I reached out. I have an executive coach. He I've been connected to him since the event. He still meets with me every two weeks.

He keeps me moving forward. which is me beyond my limits. I would not be where I'm at today without support from him.

I reached out to a therapist, I got into therapy immediately. I realized I need serious help. And then based on that therapy, I actually got into PTSD therapy.

So I had to work out some of the trauma that I was ill-prepared to witness. I had to, it was hard work.

But if I hadn't done that, Meg, I promise I'd be stuck. I would be sabotaging my life. I would not be where I'm at today.

We're not built to do this alone. There are people in this world, they're angels. They're waiting for you to say, I need some support, I need some help.

And I promise they will reach out their hand. They will give you that and you will become the best version that you could possibly be.

But you are not built to do it alone. And that is when people think they can, I got this, I can do this, I can do this, please don't.

Because you're delaying the grow. Please reach out. support. We are we are wired. Like we are actually wired to not be individual in this growth journey of life.

We are wired through community. We are stronger when we're together, so please take a deep breath, acknowledge the fact that you're not supposed to be alone in this and reach out for support.

It is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself.

@17:23 - Meg Trucano 

Completely agree, especially, especially the part of, you know, um, some of my clients come in there like, you know, I really struggled with this for so long because I'm like, oh, you know, getting coaching and like, I just, I thought it would take too long and it's like, no, that's actually, that's going to propel you forward because you have someone to hold up a mirror to, and so you can clearly see where you're holding yourself back.

Even if it's still something you have to move forward through.

@18:00 - Krista

a hundred percent, a hundred percent. We're too close to ourselves. So we do not have the art gaps. We are unable to and we're not supposed to.

That's why we have a support squad with your parachute people who are going to pull the cord and help you, you know, gracefully land on the ground.

@18:15 - Meg Trucano 

You need those individuals in your life. Oh my gosh, I couldn't agree more. Yeah, couldn't more. I love parachute people.

@18:21 - Krista

That's, that's amazing to start using that frame.

@18:24 - Meg Trucano 

It's amazing. Okay, so we've we've had this horrible experience. You're starting to come out on the other other side of things.

You're pretty successful after this. You're like leaning into life and then May 2024. What happens?

@18:41 - Krista

It feels like five years ago. It's like nine months ago, right? It's crazy how life works. So yeah, I'm like, I'm like seeing my career take off.

I'm feeling so much gratitude. I'm embracing all things. know, you feel like, wow, click click click. I was just in flow and it felt amazing.

And then And all of a sudden, everything changed again, another KFG moment. Now, please understand, we all have KFG moments on the daily, right?

Every day, I have KFG moments. Like, oop, I didn't wake up from my alarm.

@19:11 - Meg Trucano 

KFG, what am I going to do?

@19:13 - Krista

you know, oop, I got a flat tire. Oop, you know, get to choose how to respond in this moment.

So KFG moments are not catastrophic breakdown always. They can be like, I have two teenage daughters. That's a KFG moment in my house, you know, like, it's all about, okay, how do I, how do I respond?

So another big one, and honestly, this one has been harder for me to navigate was May 22nd, It was four days before our 18-year-old son graduated high school.

I was sitting in this lawn chair, getting my hair done. If listeners could see, I'm a very dark brunette.

I used to be very, very bleach blonde. So I had all these foils all over in my hair, and I was getting my hair done, getting ready for the graduation ceremony.

And my cell phone rang and I looked down and I saw the phone call said Mayo Clinic. Now, I live just four miles from Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

So I'm very grateful to have some of the world's best medical facility and physicians in my backyard. And I had recently been in for some exam tests.

So I said the phone call come through and I got the same gut feeling that I received the night of Las Vegas, where I knew something was wrong.

You know, I just, I listened to my gut more than I listened to my head and my heart because my head and my heart can lead me astray.

My gut usually tells me, Krista, the something's going on. You got it. You got to take this phone call.

Listen to your gut. Listen to your intuition. So I stepped aside. I said, I need to take this in the bathroom.

And I went to the restroom and for the next 11 minutes, which is absolutely bizarre because that's how long the shots in Las Vegas were fired.

And my phone call was, I remember 1126 when I hung up the phone. So it had been 11 minutes and 26 seconds.

And I hung up the phone and my doctor had told me that I had colorectal cancer. So at that moment, it was, I legit anchored in the bathroom into KFG.

I immediately anchored into the KFG steps. I took three huge deep breaths. I said, okay, I was just told, and this is my internal narrative.

I was just told I have cancer. Okay, you know, right away, I started going that down the negative path, down the fear factor path, right?

Oh my gosh, you know, this is a bad one. I'm 44, I'm early diagnosis, this might be bad. know, like I went deep and I went dark and I did it really fast.

That is how we're wired. So once I realized I was going there, I had to KFG, know where I'm at.

Okay, diagnosed with cancer. F, I get to choose my response right now. Okay, I am not going negative because I have no idea right now.

There's a million unknowns. I'm not going to go negative. All I know is I can anchor in the facts, cancer diagnosis, and the fact that my husband, my children, ones do not know yet.

So my go K F go was, I got to get these coils out of my hair, and I have to go home and have a heart to heart with my husband and tell him what's I actually did not even shed a tear until we told our kids.

So I K F G, I K F G, you know, I was K F G. So the Las Vegas event built me a platform.

It built me a formula to support my next breakdown. And I K F G. So through the last, you know, nine months, now today it's been nine months, you know, since my first diagnosis.

I started at stage one, went to stage two. to stage three, had four surgeries, did four rounds of chemotherapy, did 448 oral chemotherapy pills.

My life has been very chaotic, you know, in the last nine months. But again, Meg, today I stand here and say I'm very grateful and thankful that I've had my second round of clean scans.

@23:24 - Meg Trucano 

I am, yes, thank you.

@23:26 - Krista

am, they no longer see cancer in my blood. I had it in my lymph nodes. It was angry. It was navigating my body.

know, I had quite a bit of my lower GI removed. So they did do an ostomy. I have my ostomy reversal.

So I like to say they're going to try to put Humpty Dumpty back together again in about a month.

So there's been so many things that have happened. But I never once, which is really bizarre, said F Cancer.

F cancer. I decided to embrace it with a mentality of I see you. I'm gonna honor you and I'm gonna fight like hell to knock the out of you.

not gonna say F you because guess what you just did. Cancer exposed the most beautiful humans I've ever had in my orbit.

Cancer showed me like Krista, you have the tools to do this. I want to see you put them in action and I did and cancer also I did not hide up behind the cancer curtain.

I lived out loud. I say L O L. I lived my journey out loud. We told our kids now granted our children our 18 16 14.

So we told them after my son's graduation because I wanted to keep that quiet let him celebrate let the family celebrate no one yet.

But then Sunday we sat them down and we said we're gonna live out loud. You're gonna know every report.

you're going to know every appointment. I'm not going to hide anything from you. I'm going to let you know exactly what's going on with the agreement that when you have questions, you'll ask.

And if you're scared, you'll say you're scared. And if you're excited, you'll say you're excited. If you're angry pissed off at the world, you'll say that.

So we can openly communicate and talk about it. Because if you're feeling that way, someone else in the family probably is too.

So we just decided to LOL because when someone is diagnosed with an illness in cancer or anything, it's not a self diagnosis.

Everybody that loves them and is connected to them and supports them, everybody receives that diagnosis. Everybody. So that was one of the large lesson learned too is it's not me again.

I'm not doing this alone. Like this infected my parents, my family, myself, I swear my dog knew.

@25:56 - Meg Trucano 

It's so bizarre.

@25:57 - Krista

I swear my dog could sense something. So it's an infection of the masses, but it also showed so much beauty in what we can do when we do it together.

And so many people have reached out and just said, you talk more openly about your cancer and your journey than anyone ever said.

And they're so thankful. And I said, know, and I add humor to it, Meg. We don't have to go through stuff that's really hard.

We can make laughter part of the medicine, right? We can, we can laugh together. I named my ostomy. So I have an ileostomy and I named her Blanche because I love the golden girl and Blanche is my favorite character because she doesn't take from anybody.

So I was like, all right, I'm naming my ostomy Blanche. So Blanche has been my girl and kept me safe through all my chemo treatments.

And I talk about her and we'll laugh and be like, oh, Blanche is acting up girl. Blanche is being a pain right now, whatever.

So there's so much joy in the journey. And again, I stand here today and I think and reflect and I think, you know, I'm a believer in the higher power.

So I think thank you to the creator for choosing me for this journey, because I feel more blessed. And I have a strong passion and for my purpose, and I'm more inspired now than ever to like, I'm gonna live my best and life.

And what that means is in the service of others. I want to help others learn and know that we can do hard things where I'll built for it.

And on the other side of it is the greatest blessing and gift ever. The harder the breakdown, the bigger the blessing.

I'm here to tell you. So it's been quite the journey and I'm so grateful for all of it.

@27:45 - Meg Trucano 

That is the most inspiring cancer related story I've ever heard because cancer sickens, know, I'm, I'm certain that every single listener has had.

cancer takes someone, right? Absolutely. Or, you know, it doesn't have to be cancer specifically, but another, you know, medical diagnosis or something else.

And the fact that we, as you mentioned before, lean into not only connection with one another and how it can actually create more connection.

Think about if you're talking with somebody else who's gone through a similar experience to you, you have this, like, bond that is, is, like, really strong, right?

But also, the KFG framework. And, you know, thank you so much for sharing those harrowing experiences with us, and I know that it's going to inspire so many others when things feel really tough.

@28:42 - Krista

But, well, let me be honest, know, like, the reason I do this, Meg, and I'm sharing these stories, and I'm doing so so, so vulnerably, is because we are connected through our stories.

100%. We are connected through our stories. The only reason I went and got tested. I'm four, I was 44 at diagnosis.

Now, you'll you'll your listeners probably know they recommend getting a colonoscopy at age 45. So I was before the age that they recommended and a lot of people that are over the age of 45 have not had one done.

Please, if you're listening, go get yourself checked. I promise you will never regret it. I promise, promise, promise. So please take care of yourself even with no signs or symptoms.

So I was at a grill at a restaurant in my hometown and it heard whisper from someone else that that someone that worked there who I consider a friend was navigating colorectal cancer will happen to be that she was walking through the restaurant.

So I just reached out and just, you know, briefly touched her arm and I said her name's Trina. I said, Hey, Trina, you know, someone whispered that you've been navigating something challenging.

I just want you to know I'm here to support you. If you ever want to spend five minutes and just talk, I'm here for you.

She was like, Thanks, Krista. And she kept walking. She paused. and turned around and she said I have five minutes right now and I said great so she sat down in my husband and children went and waited for me in the car and we spent five minutes just talking and she told me her signs and symptoms and I had similar symptoms meaning a bubbly tummy I didn't have blood in my stool I didn't have any pain I didn't have any others I had a bubbly tummy where I thought I was like maybe I'm gluten sensitive maybe I have like weird digestion for you know dairy whatever so she was just kind of telling me a little bit of things and I heard a whisper I heard something telling me Kristick will get yourself chapped so I made an appointment the next day almost canceled because they got me in like two weeks later almost canceled because I started to tell myself the false narrative of like what am I doing I'm being so like paranoid like why am I going in and asking for blood work in a colonoscopy you know and like whatever I'll just go in I had advocate for myself because I was 44 and my doctor was like you don't need it you're good you're healthy

strong all your you know like but then oh okay let's just run blood we'll see the blood work came back really funky they scheduled me right away for colonoscopy and they found the tumor immediately which they think had been growing for seven to ten years so the only reason she actually my husband was the first person to know I told him and then I called her and I said he for sharing your story if you had not done that that night in the grill I never would have gotten tested and it would have probably been stage four pretty quick because it had been there for so long so I just said your story saved my life so five minutes of sharing a story can change or save someone's life it does happen miracles happen through stories that is absolutely incredible and I have I have goosebumps just sparing it and you know I think that is that is one of the reasons that I started

@32:00 - Meg Trucano 

this podcast as well, is because stories connect, again, back to this theme of connection with other people, this, this energy that arises from connection.

But story, as you said, just connects people so strongly, even across massive geographic distance, or socioeconomic status, gender, all of the things.

one of the reasons that I started the podcast was because I know so many people with incredible stories that, like yours, could save someone's life.

could completely change the way that they think about something that has just been bugging them for decades, whatever it is, right?

And to offer of yourself, vulnerably, to share something that is, could be interpreted as something deeply, deeply personal, but choosing to share it so that someone else might benefit from it.

Thank you to Trina. to change tax just a little bit if you're up for that. we both kind of specialize in supporting people, we're coaches that support people through change, right?

And I think we're kind of two sides of the same coin. So I work primarily with women who are really ready, on the precipice of making a big life offering change, they really want to move towards change.

And you work with more people who don't necessarily choose their change to, you know, they find themselves in a change state that they didn't choose, which I think can, as you know, can change everything.

So I don't think wanting to change makes the whole process of change easier, but is your clients tend to face when.

@35:00 - Krista

making some kind of a big change. Number one is most of those that I support know they're stuck, right?

They're stuck. But they're also very hesitant to acknowledge the fact that they want to change. They want to do something different.

They know they deserve the best life. know, you know, but number one, they're still telling themselves they're fine. And they're still saying like, no, I'm fine.

It's the day to day. I'm okay. No, the fine and the okay says that, give me some more. You're not acknowledging the fact that you have such an impact that you can make on yourself and this world.

And once you embrace the idea that, no, I'm not fine. No, I'm not fine. But Krista's helping me understand that vulnerability is the way vulnerability and

and in service of others, right? So that is the biggest challenge is the step, the first step is going, the K-step.

Knowing where they're at and being honest, aware, accountable, that is probably the hardest step. And it was for me too, Meg.

I got stuck, that's why two years I was stuck in the K-step because I was telling myself, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine.

And then I realized like, wow, my marriage is dissolving. Like my husband and I, we're moving and healing in two different paths, which is actually separating us.

It didn't, that event did not bring us together in 2017. I definitely, through my actions and my choices, I was doing a lot of blaming and complaining, and I can own that now.

I was saying like, well, he's not in therapy, he's not doing the hard work, he's not taking care of me, he's not Krista.

I remember my coach, I remember he coaches, he's military trained, I remember he was such a loving person, but he's okay to call out my bully.

@37:00 - Meg Trucano 

, right? that's really a good coach.

@37:02 - Krista

And I remember him saying to me, Krista, what gives you the right to tell someone else how they should live or choose to heal their life?

That's none of your business. And I was like, but it's my husband, know, he's like, the only person you should be accountable for is yourself and you're avoiding yourself.

You're looking at him, you're blaming, you're complaining, you know, blah, blah, blah, which in essence is avoidance of myself.

And that was a aha moment. And a lot of people I support, they're stuck in that same thing, know, blaming, complaining their organization, blaming their boss, blaming their, you know, like, oh, I'm not happy in my job because I keep piling on the work.

No, stop that . It's you're accountable. It is up to you to live a fulfilled, happy, joyous life. You're able to do it.

You have all the tools to do it.

@37:54 - Meg Trucano 

You just have to access them and get out of your own damn way, right? Yeah, exactly. And That's interesting.

That that is one of the the biggest struggles that my clients have too is this Initial understanding and admission that what they want is not what they've been conditioned to want right and so they they have They have this I should be so grateful for all the things that you know everything's fine like I really I I really want more and You know or different right and This permission to to let yourself again not be okay with this the like yeah, status quo, right?

Yeah, it's not working for you change it.

@38:42 - Krista

Yeah, I think I think too like most of my clients Meg are I See from a lot of stages So most of my clients are teams of organizations not necessarily one-on-one And I'd say 90% of what I do is teams organizations

And it's really interesting because a lot of people they hear what I'm going talk about, they, you know, know the framework, you know, but they're in the audience thinking like, well, this isn't for me.

No, this is for this person, and this is for that person that stuck, and this is for, and then through the framework through the conversation through the learning, they're like, oh .

@39:19 - Meg Trucano 

This for me.

@39:22 - Krista

Oh, God. And I love like the higher you climb in the corporate ladder. Sometimes the more you're avoiding yourself and you're like, oh, man, guess what?

This KFG. I need to access these tools.

@39:35 - Meg Trucano 

Like this is for me too.

@39:36 - Krista

You know, for all of us.

@39:38 - Meg Trucano 

Yeah. Yeah. And it doesn't have to be work related. You know, my clients, it's not necessarily work related, but same.

Same things underpin every area of your life, I think. So absolutely. I want to ask you. I at the end of my interviews, I like to ask.

ask kind of a deep question that could have many different responses. So I want to warm you up by saying, by asking you, what advice would you give to pre-shooting Krista?

@40:22 - Krista

What advice to give pre-shooting Krista? Hmm, I think, oh I think just I think I would say stop coasting.

Okay, I was I was mega so comfortable pre-shooting. I was living a life of comfort. I had a loving family.

I grew up at a home that was so loving and caring. My parents, you know, are so loving, caring, supportive.

I was, you know, blessed with a beautiful family, beautiful home, safe environment. I was I was thing, I was like, I'm living my best life, you know, and I was coasting.

I didn't realize what kind of life I could be living until I was forced to do so. So I think my advice to pre shooting Krista would be, don't wait for a frickin breakdown, girl, stop coasting and understand like you can choose to live the most courageous and impactful life without waiting.

Like, I wasn't necessarily waiting for a breakdown, but I was comfortably coasting. And I think a lot of us are in the world.

And that's okay. That's okay. But when you step into courage, and you start to do the things that make you uncomfortable.

Oh, there's energy. And there is some stuff on the other side, even if it doesn't work out, it's like, Holy , I just tried that that was crazy.

@41:53 - Meg Trucano 

know, yeah, and that's that's living.

@41:56 - Krista

That's living.

@41:56 - Meg Trucano 

That's the spark of life that I think a lot of People are missing is like this, you know, things don't always go great as an entrepreneur in your business.

They just don't like that's just, you know, but I can truthfully say that every single piece of this whole journey for me, post corporate to starting man business and all of this has been so juicy and so interesting and I'm alive with this.

And I want that for other people and that's, that is absolutely why I'm here on this planet.

@42:31 - Krista

Yeah, I feel the rush.

@42:32 - Meg Trucano 

Don't be afraid to feel rush. Do the thing.

@42:36 - Krista

I love jumping. Yeah, I love to say that one of my passions and one of my purposes is to unlock untapped potential and others and myself, like in myself, I even know right now I have untapped potential.

And I love to think like fast forward when I am no longer on this earth and I have like a memorial or like a grave or something.

I want it. a like, tapped out. Like, I want the end of my journey. I want the end of my journey for me to reflect back and be like, I frickin tapped into everything I could like, I am tapped out.

@43:11 - Meg Trucano 

Like, I love that so much.

@43:15 - Krista

So much like a mic drop at the end of my life where I'm like, I am gonna reflect and maybe like, Holy , did that just happen?

I tapped into everything. And I am tapped out and thank you, you know, yeah.

@43:28 - Meg Trucano 

Thank you.

@43:29 - Krista

And good night.

@43:31 - Meg Trucano 

my gosh. Okay, so that that's an awesome piece of advice for appreciating Krista. Now, what advice would you give to those listeners who want to make a change?

But they feel like they can't because of blah, blah, any any external reason.

@43:50 - Krista

Yeah, advice, it's kind of more feedback is stop making excuses for your life stop making excuses. The the And you say in your head that internal narrative, can't, I won't, I just, you know, blah, blah, because because because understand that that is an excuse to allow you to not show up.

So there's always like, well, I can't write out because of X, Y, or Z, that's different than saying I can't, and there's a period behind it, right?

So I can't with a comma means today's not the right moment, but I'm going to frickin do it. Like, I'm going to look into this.

I'm going to explore this as an option. If you're putting a period behind it, you're somewhat holding yourself back.

So I would say do not make excuses that hold you back from who you can become. Keep growing. Keep keep going.

@44:47 - Meg Trucano 

Keep going.

@44:49 - Krista

Yes. If you think you're at, you know, I'm at my max, you know, I'm killing it. Keep going. just, if you think you're at the top of the mountain, you're actually

@45:00 - Meg Trucano 

the base of a brand new mountain.

@45:01 - Krista

So start a new climb, get new tools around yourself with new individuals that will help build you up. Like you're always at the base of a brand new summit.

So keep freaking going.

@45:11 - Meg Trucano 

Yes. And to piggyback on all of that wonderful advice, get the help you need. And there is always help available to you always, always, there's always somebody who can help you reframe something or if you ask for it.

know, and I think that's that's a huge thing for a lot of people is asking for help.

@45:34 - Krista

But let me make a distinction here, because this help keep me stuck as well. The help you need is not always the help you are getting right now.

So I was at for a long time, I was surrounding myself with individuals that would agree with me and say, yeah, I know it's terrible.

Oh my God, I know, you know, like, they would agree with me. is not the help you need. That is someone that is either if you're climbing this mountain, you're reaching is trying to get to this next summit.

And the people that have the tools that you're bringing with you are like, you know, this is hard. Let's just stop or, you know, like, oh, you're right.

This is terrible. Oh my goodness. holding you back from becoming that best version of yourself. They may not be the support squad that you need.

You need someone in your orbit. You need your parachute person to be like, you frickin are in your way.

You can do hard things. Stop making excuses and get your up here. Like, I'm here holding my handout. Reach it out.

Well, I'm going to help you build up here, but no more warning. No more blaming your boss. No more blaming your husband and spouse.

No more. No more complaining about the things that are happening in the political world. No more none of that that's holding you back.

So if they're agreeing with you, they're not your squad. Find the people that are not afraid to push you beyond your comfort in a caring and loving way.

That's who's going to help you get stronger and more resilient and they will help you get to the next summit.

@46:54 - Meg Trucano 

Oh, I love that so much. Such great advice. Such a good conversation and Thank you so much, Krista, for sharing your experience and your expertise with us today.

It's been truly a privilege to speak with you and your story is so inspiring and you have again literally turned personal tragedy into something that helps others thrive.

@47:16 - Krista

And I thank you so much for sharing.

@47:19 - Meg Trucano 

Thank you. So we have all of your contact information. We'll put it all in the show notes and I'll look to your book, Keep Going, a step-by-step guide to successfully navigating change and the show notes, of course, but where can people connect with you immediately?

@47:34 - Krista

I would say find me on LinkedIn. I'm very active on LinkedIn. I live everything out loud there. then also through my website, christirion.com.

I keep it simple and easy. I've got an e-blast. send out a motivational Monday. You can stay connected. I spill all the tea to all my supporters and community on those e-blast.

find me on my website and connect with me. please, I am your support squad. I'm a parachute. person, if you would need to talk, if you want to reach out, if you have anything, I got your back.

We're in this together.

@48:06 - Meg Trucano 

Oh, so beautiful. I love that. Thank you so much, Krista. And I hope this episode of Changeology has inspired and empowered you, the listener, to take on big, bold, badass change in your own life.

That's it for me today, but I'll see you on the next episode of Changeology. Thanks again so much, Krista.