In this deeply intimate and soul-opening episode, we explore grief, self-trust, journaling, and the quiet courage it takes to return to yourself after unimaginable loss.

In this profoundly moving conversation, Kelly sits down with Marie Cruz, a coach, speaker, and retreat facilitator whose life has been shaped by resilience, reinvention, and radical self-honesty. Marie's story is not one of bypassing pain, but of learning how to sit with it, listen to it, and allow it to transform her from the inside out.

Raised in poverty in rural Louisiana, Marie became a young single mother and later built a successful corporate career. But her life shifted forever after the sudden loss of her mother, followed by the devastating loss of her son just two years later. What followed was not a search for answers outside herself, but a return inward.

Through years of journaling, spiritual inquiry, and deep emotional work, Marie developed what would become her signature process, The Nautilus Way, a guided journaling and self-inquiry method that helps women uncover truth, heal trauma, and reconnect with their essence.

In this episode of Broken Beautiful Me, Marie and Kelly speak openly about grief that rearranges everything, the loneliness of loss, and the power of creating spaces where women no longer have to protect others from their pain.

In this episode, Marie shares:

• 🌿 How grief reshapes identity and simplifies what truly matters

• 💔 Why losing a child changes the nervous system, the soul, and the way we see the world

• 📖 How journaling became a sacred portal for healing and self-connection

• 🌀 The four stages of her journaling process: reveal, review, rewrite, and rewire

• 🤍 Why women struggle to love themselves and how self-abandonment is learned early

• ✨ How intuition and inner guidance emerge when we stop silencing ourselves

• 🕊️ Why healing is layered and why we never "arrive" at the end

• 🌊 The power of women-only spaces, especially for bereaved mothers, to exhale fully

Marie also speaks candidly about her women's retreats, her work with grieving mothers, and why holding space without fixing is often the most powerful form of healing. She reflects on the courage it takes to trust inner wisdom, to stop editing ourselves, and to choose self-love even when it feels unfamiliar.

This is not a conversation about getting over grief.

It is about learning how to live alongside it with grace, truth, and presence.

A compassionate, grounding, and deeply human episode about loss, journaling, intuition, and the beauty that can emerge when we honor the cracks instead of hiding them.

Follow Marie Cruz

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/marieeurecrews

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/mariecrewsempowers

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@empowermentandgriefguide

Book – Even When She Rose (Amazon):

https://a.co/d/dayGabK

In this powerful and reflective episode, we explore loss, achievement, identity, and the courage it takes to stop measuring life from the outside in.

In this episode of Broken Beautiful Me, Kelly sits down with Alan Lazaros, CEO and co-founder of Next Level University, a globally ranked Top 100 podcast with over 2,300 episodes listened to in more than 180 countries.

Alan's story begins with profound loss. His father died when Alan was just two years old. Years later, his stepfather left, taking with him an entire extended family and financial stability. What followed was a childhood shaped by abandonment, pressure, and an unspoken belief that achievement could replace safety.

Driven to prove his worth, Alan became a high achiever. He excelled academically, rose quickly in corporate America, and achieved financial success at a young age. From the outside, his life looked like the definition of success. Inside, something was missing.

A near-fatal car accident at age 26 became a turning point. It forced Alan to confront a question many avoid: If this were the end, would I be proud of the life I lived? That moment cracked open a deeper journey, one focused not on external validation, but on meaning, alignment, and internal fulfillment.

In this deeply honest conversation, Alan shares how achievement without purpose can become another form of avoidance, and how personal growth, self-awareness, and meaning must come before lasting success.

In this episode, Alan shares:

• 🌱 How early loss shaped his drive, ambition, and fear of abandonment

• 💔 Why achievement can become a survival strategy rather than a source of fulfillment

• 🧠 The difference between external success and internal alignment

• 🔄 The Four Buckets of Life and why most people get stuck in the wrong one

• ⚖️ How to balance health, wealth, love, and purpose without burning out

• 🧩 Why inaccurate self-perception keeps people stuck, even when they work hard

• 🎯 The "glass and rubber balls" metaphor for focus, boundaries, and leadership

• ✨ Why meaning, not status, is the true driver of long-term fulfillment

Alan also speaks candidly about coaching, humility, and the uncomfortable truth that growth requires seeing ourselves clearly. He challenges listeners to rethink what they chase, why they chase it, and whether their success actually reflects who they are.

This episode is a reminder that healing doesn't always look like slowing down. Sometimes it looks like realigning. Letting go of who you thought you had to be. And choosing a life built from meaning, not expectation.

A grounded, insightful, and deeply human conversation about loss, ambition, self-awareness, and the courage it takes to build a life that feels true.

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Follow Alan Lazaros

Website: https://www.nextleveluniverse.com

Podcast – Next Level University:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/next-level-university/id1227858278

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alanlazarosllc

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanlazarosllc

Welcome to Season Four of Broken Beautiful Me.

In this deeply grounding and compassionate episode, we explore healing not through willpower or escape, but through presence, surrender, and learning to feel safe inside your own body.

In this intimate conversation, Kelly sits down with Hans Andreas Weygoldt, a transformational coach and breathwork facilitator whose journey from addiction to emotional freedom reshaped not only his life, but his understanding of what true healing requires.

After spending eight years caught in opioid addiction, Hans learned that what he was really trying to numb were unexpressed emotions, unresolved trauma, and a nervous system stuck in survival mode. His healing began not with force or discipline, but with surrender, curiosity, and breath.

Through his work today, Hans helps high-performing leaders and individuals uncover the hidden emotional patterns beneath stress, success, and self-sabotage. His approach blends neuroscience, breathwork, and consciousness-based coaching to support emotional regulation, presence, and authentic leadership.

In this thoughtful and heart-centered episode of Broken Beautiful Me, Hans and Kelly explore how healing unfolds when we stop running from discomfort and learn how to stay.

In this episode, Hans shares:

• 🌿 How suppressed emotions live in the nervous system, not the mind

• 🧠 Why success and achievement can become a form of emotional avoidance

• 💔 How generational trauma quietly shapes our relationship with anger, grief, and vulnerability

• 🌬️ Why breathwork creates safety for emotional release without substances

• 🤍 How shame begins to dissolve when it is witnessed without judgment

• 🔁 Why healing is not about fixing yourself, but learning to trust your inner experience

• ✨ How gratitude can transform guilt, regret, and pain into purpose

• 🕊️ Simple breath practices that can be used anytime to return to calm and presence

Hans also reflects on the importance of community, sharing, and connection in the healing process. He explains why healing is not meant to be done alone and how safe spaces allow the nervous system to finally let go of what it has been holding for years.

This is a gentle, powerful conversation about addiction, emotional liberation, breath, and the courage it takes to feel deeply in a world that often teaches us to shut down.

A compassionate, grounding, and deeply human episode about healing the nervous system, breaking generational cycles, and discovering peace through presence.

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Follow Hans Andreas Weygoldt

LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/hans-andreas-weygoldt-151777356/

Website

https://pneumorphosis.com

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/hans.andreas.weygoldt

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/hansandreasweygoldt