Kaitlin Vallin-Espinoza Kaitlin Vallin-Espinoza

Healing & Hustle Can Coexist

For most of my life, I believed I had to pick one thing.

For most of my life, I believed I had to pick one thing.
One career. One focus. One version of myself that others could easily define and accept.

Whether it was school, family, or just the unspoken rules of the world around me—I internalized the message that being “too many things” was somehow messy, confusing, or not serious enough.

So I did what a lot of us do: I tried to prove myself.
I earned the degrees. Took on the titles. Checked the boxes.
I invested myself deeply—not just in the work, but in becoming someone who looked legitimate.

But the turning point came when I realized:
I didn’t have to keep choosing.
I could be a therapist and an entrepreneur.
A mom and a student.
Ambitious and gentle.
Healing and hustling—at the same time.

That realization changed everything.
It gave me the freedom to build a life that feels real and honest and aligned.

Therapy taught me how to hold space for others.
Business taught me how to hold space for myself.

Motherhood showed me what matters most.
Marriage taught me how love can be safe, even if that’s not where you started.

And through it all, I’ve learned that the only limits I truly had were the ones I inherited—but no longer needed to carry.

If you’ve been told you’re too much—or not enough—this post (and episode) is for you.
You don’t have to simplify yourself to be taken seriously.
You get to take up space as a full, growing, learning human.

Healing and hustle aren’t at odds.
They are partners in the kind of life that honors all of you.

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Kaitlin Vallin-Espinoza Kaitlin Vallin-Espinoza

I’m Done Shapeshifting: The Moment I Took My Life Back

A deeper reflection on what it means to stop living for others and start living in alignment. This is the story behind The Feel-Good Fit.

There was a moment in Fall 2024 that changed everything for me.
I had just earned my master’s degree. I was working in a role I loved—but I knew in my gut that I was still saying yes to things out of fear, obligation, and the need to prove I could handle it all.

The truth? I was tired. Not just physically, but spiritually tired—from years of shapeshifting into what other people needed me to be.

And so, I stopped.

I left that role with love and stepped into the unknown—launching myself into my therapy career, my PhD program, and the early seeds of The Feel-Good Fit. Not because it looked good on paper, but because it felt right in my bones.

This post is for anyone who’s ever made themselves smaller to fit in. You are not too much. You are not too late. You’re exactly on time.

🎧
📓 Journal Prompt: What are you still doing for the wrong reasons?

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