Today’s post is a book excerpt.
The Gift of Change: Shift Change
Excerpt from Indestructible: The Hidden Gifts of Trauma by Krista Nerestant
“Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.”
—John Maxwell
A disruption to my status quo keeps me accountable and responsible for my actions and decisions. A dark night of the soul, growing pains, or a wake-up call are factors for lasting change. The necessary ingredient—the foreign element—in transformation.
There were multiple new elements rapidly thrown at me within such a short amount of time, between nine years old and eleven years old. Everything was changing: new country, family, friends, culture, life, school, laws, and on and on. However, it didn’t spiral me into a depressive state, as one might have expected given my trauma-filled past.
I had developed a severely optimistic attitude—verging on delusional. It was imperative to my survival that I not let the atrocities of my life dictate my worldview.
There were three principles I grounded myself into and continue to exercise in my Self-ish Lifestyle Practice:
- My perspective is my reality.
- I am equipped with whatever I need to survive.
- I am a spiritual being having a human experience.
These all led me to ask the right questions when a foreign element was causing me chaos:
- What resources do I need to survive?
- How am I using these resources to overcome?
- Is this healthy?
I’d had so much practice from enduring trauma after trauma that I figured this all out mostly on my own. My goal was and will always be happiness. To feel the electricity of life, knowing that life is ultimately good, there are just some bad people in it.
As a coach, I wanted to reframe the terms “growing pains” and “tough love” to something more positive. But the truth is, change, good or bad, can be a painful and ugly process. Discomfort is always felt to some degree.
I continued to unravel the puzzle of how I somehow ended up okay after all I had been through. The discovery of a well-balanced attitude regarding my past was necessary. I wasn’t going to sugarcoat or water down the ugliness of my past. But I held on to the fact that my choice to shift, adapt, and proceed positively had brought me success.
My next steps were to make decisions about how to live with my mind, body, emotion, and spirit intact. To this end, I:
- Began yoga .
- Became conscious of my diet.
- Started a meditative practice.
- Came out of the spiritual closet as a spiritual medium.
- Sought therapy.
Invested in my mental well-being through coaching certifications and hypnosis, and applied what I learned to myself. All of these things changed me for the better. There were many roads to transformation. Mine were a multitude of scenic routes full of detours, bumpy roads, unglamorous pit stops, and dangerous cliffs. The secret was to keep going no matter how many times I diverted from the path. It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t a passive journey; it was one that required commitment and consistency.
Nothing is permanent. Everything changes. And isn’t that a wonderful thing? Did you know that every seven to eight years you are made—on a cellular level—brand-new? That fact alone should inspire anyone to welcome change.
The disruption of a foreign element may cause me to double down and hold on to my current state, or to accept the change it is proposing. The one thing I love about this process is that because of it, life is never boring. Wisdom is gained through experience, and I would not choose to live life any other way.
The Memoir That Will Disrupt Society’s Perspective On Trauma
Instead of wincing from pain, readers will be empowered in recognizing the hidden gifts of trauma
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Indestructible: The Hidden Gifts of Trauma is a child survivor’s shocking narrative expertly woven through the perspective of the adult self, who is ultimately healed. This is the fascinating personal story of a traumatized overachiever bound by the cultural and societal limitations of her home country, who endures multiple traumas as a child in the Philippines and as a young immigrant in the United States.
In this unique inspirational and teaching memoir, Krista weaves the past and the present seamlessly to incite many emotions—hurt, love, joy, excitement, empowerment, etc. She transforms each trauma into gifts—courage, resilience, forgiveness, and more—succeeding and healing throughout her journey, leading her to become a trauma coach and inspirational leader to her community.
In Indestructible, she shares how she learned to extract life-healing lessons while overcoming a violent past, with the hope of inspiring and teaching survivors to approach personal wounds as a gateway to unleashing their own self-actualization. Crossing over spirituality and self-help genres, Indestructible disrupts society’s chosen perspective on trauma. Instead of wincing from the pain, readers will be empowered in recognizing the gifts it will present.
Krista’s story will stimulate readers mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually―but most of all, it will lead them to start their own journey of self-discovery and uncover their very own hidden gifts of trauma.
AUTHOR BIO:
Krista Nerestant is a practicing life coach, educated and certified in Neuro-Linguistic Programming and The Satir Method of Transformational Systemic Therapy to heal family dynamics and trauma, and an advocate for women and children. She hosts a podcast, Self-Care Tuesdays, that is dedicated to encouraging, empowering and elevating the journey of self-care. She’s teaching women it’s OK to be “Self-ish”!
PRAISE:
“Her gift to readers: effective guidance to creating a healthier, more fulfilling life. A true story that may be useful to anyone seeking emotional healing.”―Kirkus Reviews
“Indestructible is a powerful memoir about resilience and forgiveness.”―Foreword Clarion Review, 4 stars
“In moving, unsparing prose, Krista shares the incredible, heroic journey of her life, and along the way turns her struggles into powerful lessons that can help anyone. Despite the unbelievable obstacles she’s faced, Krista shows that it’s possible not just to survive but to thrive, so long as you never stop nurturing compassion.”―Jeff Campbell, writing teacher, editor, and author of Daisy to the Rescue
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