5 Things You Don’t Know About Me

March 10, 2024

Hey,

Happiness isn’t something that comes naturally to me. I wasn’t born with a supernatural ability to just let the hard stuff roll right off my back.

I would be lying if I told you it’s easy for me to just be happy. That’s not how it works for me.

That’s actually not how it works at all for anyone.

Just being happy isn’t the goal we are working toward. We don’t want to shut down hard feelings. We want to develop the tools to work with them and through them so we don’t stay stuck in the hard and let it weigh down everything else.

I work through the hard just like you. I put in work on a daily basis (even still!) because life is hard… for everyone, Kim Strobel included.

It’s important to me that you don’t think my life is just happy-perfect all of the time. In fact, I have a feeling there are a few things you might not know about me that have come with quite the struggle and still do at times.

1️⃣ Drawing boundaries is hard for me, especially around certain people in my life. I find that when I implement boundaries, oftentimes, it seems like I am punished for it. And then I feel immense guilt. And the guilt feels so yucky that I wish I hadn’t drawn the boundary, even though I know it was the right thing to do to respect myself. Ugh.

2️⃣ When I was twenty-five, I was headed for divorce and ended up pregnant from a one-night fling with said husband. (Oh, what would we do without humor). When my sweet baby boy was two months old, I divorced my husband. Yes, I was a single and broke mom making $8.00 an hour and pretty darn scared. Not an ideal situation, but it was the right thing for me. That being said, talk about a baby who was Divine Intervention. I’m so lucky that night happened. 🤣🤣🤣

3️⃣ I developed panic disorder in my 20s, and it came with lots of intrusive thoughts. Both are something I still work through today with the help of medication, therapy, and my happiness habits.

4️⃣ There’s something else I really want to share because I want to show up authentically to you, but the repercussions of my sharing this could cause chaos from people who are somewhat still a part of my life. I actually wrote it in this email and then felt super scared that I would be attacked by the people involved. All this to say, there’s a deep hurt in my husband’s and my life that we are still trying to understand and deal with the grief and hurt that has come from it.

5️⃣ I seem to be one of those people who get attacked at the slightest misstep. It feels like people wait to pounce on me and I have a lot of haters, especially in my hometown. While I am not trying to play the victim here, all of this is to say that it puts me on pins and needles at times, trying to show up authentically, but knowing the slightest thing will create a mob-squad mentality. For example, when my USA Article was published, someone created a fake Facebook page and started making posts about transgressions they think I’ve had. When my book Teach Happy: Small Steps to Big Joy comes out, I expect the haters will surface. I am learning to stay steeped in who I know myself to be, but it’s hard to deal with at times.

I am sharing these struggles with you not to commiserate or talk poorly about certain times, people, or experiences in my life.

I am sharing, because I am real person with real struggles and I want you to know that. Yes, I’m a happiness coach who wrote a book on happiness, but I am not the happiness guru. I’m a practitioner of happiness and constantly working on myself.

Just because I walk on stage and have the privilege of pouring into hundreds of you doesn’t mean I am different than you are. We are the same. Our struggles just have different names.

You are not alone on this journey.

I would love to know if any of my struggles were news to you, but even more than that, I would love to hear about a struggle you’re currently facing if you’re feeling brave and open to sharing.

Either way, please know I love you, and I’m grateful to continue supporting you.

My first book, Teach Happy: Small Steps to Big Joy, comes out next month. 🤗 I’m putting the finishing touches on it before launching it into the world, and it makes me feel like a proud parent.

Head here to get on the waitlist!

I promise: you are NOT going to want to miss out on the keys to happiness this book has.