Today we’d like to introduce you to Kayla Sweet

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?

My story started well before I was born, with the lived experiences of my parents, the love that brought them together, and the pain that tore them apart. My dad died by suicide when I was only four years old. I grew up with that absence where there was once love.

Although I don’t remember much from my beginnings, when I think about my story I always find myself reflecting on my dad. Growing up with the knowledge that people can become so sad, so helpless, so desperate that they choose to leave their earthly life prematurely creates an interesting internal dynamic. For me, it created a curious and compassionate outlook on life. I wanted to know and understand people. I wanted to understand mental health, healing, growth, and resilience. I also knew from a young age that while everyone deserved access to the tools and resources they needed to thrive in their lives, not everyone had equal access to those tools.

It was those beginnings, those thoughts, experiences, and desires that moved beneath the surface of all the things that have unfolded in my professional journey. It’s been a winding road, with many detours, pit stops, and road blocks.

Fast forward twenty three years after my father’s passing, and I had a degree in psychology and a desire to heal the world. I had the theoretical knowledge I thought I needed to heal others, and began working in community mental health. Within six months, I burned out and realized that I needed to learn to offer care, curiosity, and compassion to myself in the same measure I was offering it to others. My burnout was one of those pivotal life experiences that changed everything in my career trajectory. It took me down roads into myself and the world that I might never have stumbled on otherwise.

Now, I wear many professional hats. I work as a burnout resilience coach, podcaster, learning and development manager, and leadership consultant. How I came to all of these roles is less interesting than the fact that I’ve realized somewhere along the way that I don’t have to choose one thing I want to be when I grow up. I can experiment with all kinds of work that brings my life meaning and joy. I lead a very interesting and fulfilling life these days, and I carry my dad in my heart every step of the way.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?

It hasn’t been an easy journey, and honestly, I wouldn’t change a thing. It’s through the ups, downs, and unexpected twists that I’ve truly come to know myself.

Some of the most significant challenges I’ve faced include learning how to love myself, cultivating healthy relationships both at home and in my career, overcoming chronic stress and burnout, and finding the courage to step into my authentic voice.

For a long time, I hid parts of who I was. I worried about what others would think or say, and I allowed that fear to shape my choices. I stayed quiet when I wanted to speak up, neglected my own well-being, and struggled with anxiety and low self-esteem.

I had to learn some lessons the hard way. It took a lot of deep inner healing and personal development to reach a place where I could take full responsibility for my mindset, my actions, and the results in my life. I also had to learn how to embrace play, fun, and joy. My life started out so serious and, at times, filled with so much sadness that as an adult, I had to rediscover what joy really meant to me.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?

I do a lot of things these days. I host the Internally Guided Life podcast, which is made for high achieving women who want more joy and balance in their lives. I’m also a life coach for women specializing in burnout recovery and stress management. I bring a holistic approach to cultivating balance and teach evidence-based skills to help women reclaim their lives and their personal power. I also offer leadership consulting services and trainings on topics like transformational leadership, emotional intelligence, workplace wellness, change fatigue, cultivating resilience, and burnout prevention. Additionally, I work in the learning and organizational development realm.

I’m really proud of all of the work that I’m doing because regardless of the hat I’m wearing, I get to show up in service of healing, growth, leadership, and personal development. We need holistic approaches in all settings and I am privileged to work at a variety of levels to support in creating positive change.

What sets me apart is my unique educational background in psychology, consciousness, and transformative studies. I’ve also worked in mental health, education, HR, and learning and development environments. Because of all of this in addition to my personal lived experiences, I can hold a lot of space for complexity and ambiguity. I also have been exposed to a lot of research and evidence-based practice in the realms of growth, learning, and healing. So, I really have a diverse toolbox of transformative methodologies at my fingertips and can apply them based on what a given person or situation needs in the moment.

Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?

You don’t have to have it all figured out. Just follow the breadcrumbs of the things that light you up. You might find yourself in love with work that you didn’t even know existed. When we try to clearly map our paths forward too soon, I think we can miss those opportunities that are beyond our wildest dreams for ourselves.

My philosophy for life and work is to be caring, creative, playful, and experimental and see where it takes me. I continue to be pleasantly surprised and am so grateful for the work I get to do.

If something interests you or excites you, give yourself permission to open that door.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.internallyguidedleadership.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/internally_guided_coach/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/internallyguided/
• Other: https://linktr.ee/internallyguided

Image Credits

Jen Robison