Kristen Jacobsen, LCPC - Cathartic Space Counseling

12/17/2025

Why do high-functioning adults still feel anxious, guilty, or stuck, even when they know better?

Because self-awareness isn’t enough when your subconscious is still following emotional rules from childhood.

In this post, I break down:
- What “reparenting” actually means
- Why subconscious beliefs often override logic or insight
- The hidden rules many people still live by:
“Be useful or you’ll be discarded.”
“Don’t speak up or you’ll make things worse.”
“Don’t have needs because they burden others.”
- What reparenting looks like in real life (tools, not theory)
- A 5-step process to begin shifting old emotional patterns today

This isn’t about blaming your past. It’s about giving your system something it never got: consistency, compassion, and emotional safety, on your terms.

Read the full post here: https://www.catharticspacecounseling.com/blog

And if this lands, it’s exactly what we’re working on inside Anxious to Anchored, my 12-week group coaching course for high-achieving adults who are done living in survival mode. Doors open in 2026.

You can get on the waitlist here → https://www.kristen-jacobsen.com/anxious-to-anchored

12/17/2025

If nothing ever feels like enough, it’s probably not about your to-do list.

It’s about an old emotional rule your subconscious still follows:
“If I stop proving myself, I lose connection.”

That rule didn’t start in adulthood.
And it won’t shift through willpower alone.

In this week’s post, I break down what reparenting actually looks like, and how to start giving your system something it never got.

12/16/2025

Heading into 2026, I've been reflecting a lot, and honestly….I’m still taking it all in.

Writing my book was one thing.
Watching people read it, talk about it, gift it, and see themselves in its pages? That’s something else entirely.

Thank you to everyone who’s picked up a copy of "Unpacked," shared it with a friend, left a review, or sent a message about what resonated.

Your support made this launch feel bigger and more meaningful than anything I could’ve imagined on my own.

If you haven’t grabbed it yet, "Unpacked: How to Detach from the Subconscious Beliefs That Are Sabotaging Your Life" is still available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble (links in bio).

And whether you’re reading it slowly, underlining every page, or letting it live on your nightstand until you’re ready, thank you for welcoming this book into your life.

This whole experience has reminded me that healing is personal, but it’s never isolated.
We change in community.
And I’m grateful to have you in mine.

Link in bio.

12/15/2025

You know what you should say.
You know the pattern.
But your body still reacts like you’re in trouble the second you set a boundary.

This isn’t about confidence.
It’s about emotional rules you learned before you could name them.
“Be helpful or be ignored.”
“Don’t need too much or you’ll lose them.”

Reparenting is how we shift those rules, without blowing up our lives.

I have a new blog and video dropping Wednesday that breaks it down in a grounded, practical way.

For now, this carousel walks you through one of the most common patterns I see in my high-functioning clients:
Why you still feel so uncomfortable saying "no"

12/12/2025

You learned to be helpful, low-maintenance, the one who holds it all together.
Not because it came naturally, because it felt safer than being needy.

That’s not your personality. It’s old wiring.

12/11/2025

You say yes when you mean no.
You overexplain.
You feel guilty resting.

That’s not just “how you are.”
It’s early emotional wiring, and often, unspoken grief.

12/10/2025

You’re successful.
Reliable.
Capable.

Logically, you know these things. But when was the last time you felt good enough?

High-functioning anxiety is easy to hide, especially when it shows up as overachievement, perfectionism, and people-pleasing.

But it comes at a cost: chronic stress, mental exhaustion, emotional disconnection.

That’s why I created Anxious to Anchored, a 12-week group program for high-achieving perfectionists who are tired of just coping with anxiety and finally ready to heal it.

✨ Therapist-designed. Intentionally small. Built for depth.
📩 Waitlist now open: https://www.kristen-jacobsen.com/anxious-to-anchored

You can have a full calendar, a successful career, a “good life”
and still feel like your brain won’t shut off.
Like taking time for yourself feels wrong.
Like you’re never really doing enough.

That’s not your personality.
That’s high-functioning anxiety.

If you’ve been silently dealing with perfectionism, burnout, and self-doubt while looking “fine” to everyone else, this is for you.

I’m opening the waitlist for Anxious to Anchored, a 12-week group program designed to help high-achievers stop managing anxiety….and actually heal the wounds beneath it.

👉 Spots are limited.

12/10/2025

Some adults aren’t grieving a person, they’re grieving what they never got.

Like being emotionally seen.
Comforted.
Accepted without needing to earn it.

This kind of grief hides under anxiety, overachievement, and chronic guilt around rest.
It’s not random. It’s programming.

12/10/2025

What if your drive to overachieve isn’t ambition, it’s grief?

A specific kind of grief that doesn’t get talked about enough:
Grieving the parent you didn’t have.

Not the parent you lost.
The one who never made you feel seen, heard, or validated.

In my latest post, I break down how this often-missed form of grief creates high-functioning anxiety, chronic burnout, and an exhausting need to stay “on.”

Here’s what I cover:
🔹 What it actually means to grieve a parent who’s still alive
🔹 Why this grief often hides behind perfectionism and over-functioning
🔹 How your subconscious still runs the same rules you learned as a kid
🔹 Why “they did their best” isn’t the same as “your needs were met”
🔹 The sentence that cracked something open for one of my clients
🔹 How to start naming what you never got, without blaming or minimizing it
🔹 A practical first step to begin the grief process (takes 3 minutes)

Have you ever realized you were grieving something you never received? Let’s talk about it, this kind of grief is more common than most people realize.

12/09/2025

Quick reminder, tomorrow night is the Bad Moms Holiday Bazaar and it’s going to be a great one. 🎉

Wednesday, December 10 | 6:00–9:00 PM at the DoubleTree Hotel in Skokie, IL.

Shop women-owned businesses, enjoy food and drinks, enter raffles, and I’ll be there selling and signing Unpacked if you’ve been meaning to grab a copy.

It’s the perfect midweek girls’ night reset.

🎟️ Tickets here: https://tinyurl.com/BadMoms2025

📍 DoubleTree Hotel, Skokie

Come say hi 👋

I’m so excited to be a vendor at the 2nd Annual Bad Moms Holiday Bazaar! 🎉

Join me on Wednesday, December 10 from 6:00–9:00 PM at the DoubleTree Hotel in Skokie, IL for a night of Girl Dinner, retail therapy, and pure fun.

This is the perfect excuse for a girls’ night out where you can:
✨ Shop local women-owned businesses
✨ Enjoy great food and drinks
✨ Win raffle prizes
✨ Connect with amazing women
✨ Treat yourself (because yes, you deserve it)

From ear piercing to lashes, jewelry to handbags, and I’ll also be there selling and signing my book Unpacked, this is your night to indulge.

All women are welcome, and you truly don’t want to miss this one.
🎟️ Tickets are required to shop: https://tinyurl.com/BadMoms2025

📅 December 10 | 6:00–9:00 PM
📍 DoubleTree Hotel, Skokie, IL

See you there 💃

12/08/2025

You can have a full calendar, a successful career, a “good life”
and still feel like your brain won’t shut off.
Like taking time for yourself feels wrong.
Like you’re never really doing enough.

That’s not your personality.
That’s high-functioning anxiety.

If you’ve been silently dealing with perfectionism, burnout, and self-doubt while looking “fine” to everyone else, this is for you.

I’m opening the waitlist for Anxious to Anchored, a 12-week group program designed to help high-achievers stop managing anxiety….and actually heal the wounds beneath it.

👉 Spots are limited.