As you probably notice, this month, we're bringing you our Life of Purpose series and revisiting

some of our most transformative episodes. Tune in to explore expert insights and practical

strategies on help, performance, and community well-being, all aimed at helping you achieve

personal and professional fulfillment. If you sign up for the newsletter, you'll not only get

recaps of the key ideas in each interview, but at the end of the series, you'll receive our free Life of Purpose ebook.

What you have to do is go to UnmistakableCreative.com slash LifePurpose. Again, that's

unmistakablecreative.com slash life purpose.

I'm Sreeny Rao, and this is the Unmistakable Creative Podcast, where you get a window into the stories and insights of the most innovative and creative minds who started movements, built thriving businesses, written bestselling books, and created insanely interesting art.

For more, check out our 500 episode archive at UnmistakableCreative.com.

Kristen, welcome to the Unmistakable Creative. Thanks so much for taking the time to join us. Oh, I'm sure. Happy to be here. Yeah. This is my pleasure to have you here. So I actually just finished reading your book, A Self-Compassion, The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself. And it's a book that I do. Your work had been referenced in so many of the hundreds of books that I've read. And you'd have been on my list for a long time to talk to when I thought, given everything that's going on in the world right now, this was just really a relevant subject to actually talk about. But before we get into your work, I want to start asking what I think is a really fitting question your background. And that is what social group we are part of in high school. And how did that influence in shape who you've become and what you've ended up doing

with your life? That's a really interesting question. Okay. So I am a California girl,

grew up in, with a high school in the early 80s when New Wave hit.

So I was part of the New Wave group. I had teased hair that stuck up. I wore lots of makeup.

And so I wasn't one of the popular girls, but I was in a click of about five girls and we were

the alternative

new wave girls.

So how did that influence my work?

I suppose it influenced it in the sense that I've never really considered myself part of

the mainstream.

And I've almost had a slightly, not the new wave was so radical, really, but back in

1980, it was radical. And so I suppose in that way, I've never really considered myself part of

the mainstream doing things a standard way. And perhaps that influenced my willingness to look at

...