We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Krista Nerestant. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Krista below.

Alright, Krista thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

I’ve taken multiple risks beginning from when I was 17 years old in the verge of graduating Belleville High School NJ while also receiving a cosmetology license to risk it all; say no to a college education and instead pursue my entrepreneurial dream to become a salon owner. That required defying the elders in my traditional Filipino family whose desires were to have the younger generation be all college bound and academically driven offsprings. So when my college counselor called to ask if I was ever going to show up for my classes, I said. “No, I will be learning all about the beauty industry instead and open a salon. I cannot do that if i’m not focused at a 100%.” For a little background, I’m the second oldest of 5 and we were orphaned by the time I was 15 years old. When the opportunity rose for me to fulfill my promise to my dying mother that I will be the mother now, I took it. Becoming an entrepreneur enabled me to financially support myself and took full custody of my younger brothers at 21 years old. I opened my first salon at 25 years old and risked it all. The situation was blessed and it flourished for the next 15 years. By the time I was 32 years old, I took another risk to pursue and develop my ability as a spiritual medium/psychic. All my life I have always experienced the supernatural but dismissed it due to the enormity of my human experience as mother, sister, business owner, wife, and so much more. However, the experiences became more visceral and can no longer be ignored. So here I was, 18 years as a cosmetologist with a successful business, wonderful marriage, and at ease with life, and risked it all to come out of the spiritual closet. In my journey, I was also guided to heal and become a certified Neuro Linguistic Coach as well as a hypnotist trained under the Satir Method of Transformational Therapy. This allowed me to not only be in the world of spirit but also be able to work with the mental and emotional body of my clients. Self-ish Lifesyle LLC was born. In 2020, another risk was taken to write and publish my book–Indestructible: The Hidden Gifts of Trauma. A compelling memoir that inspires and encourages its readers to continue to pursue self-mastery and honor the human experience to live a fulfilling and blissful life through self-discovery and exercise their very own hidden gifts of trauma. Right after the publication of my book, we decided as a family to uproot ourselves from New Jersey (our home for over 20 years) and risked it all to move to Austin Texas. Not one risk was regretted and have allowed me to live truly in my authentic and genuine SELF.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Self-ish Lifestyle LLC is where I serve as a spiritual medium and teacher to demystify the world of spirit as well as a trauma healing coach and hypnotist to navigate the mental and emotional body throughout the session. The goal is always for the client to be in their best and highest good mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually after each session. The 3 pillars of SELF-ish is the following:

-You are a spiritual being having a human experience.
-You are equipped with everything you need to overcome and survive.
-Your perspective becomes your reality.

It involves and requires you to be accountable, responsible, and aware of your current, past, and future perspectives. Self-ish Lifestyle is indeed spirituality for the practical human.

I have always had these gifts since I was a child but having grown up in the Philippines, a heavily catholic driven culture, I was made to believe that this is not a practice to pursue and develop. However, later on in life, the experiences with the supernatural became hard to ignore and I decided to study under mentorships in the hope to find these abilities as gifts instead of as a curse. I studied and gained knowledge of this world which also guided me to pursue a certification as a Neuro Linguistic Coach and hypnotist trained under the Satir Method of Transformational Therapy to honor the mental and emotional bodies of a client so that all bodies are aligned soulfully.
My journey of coming out of the spiritual closet also led me to publish my debut memoir–Indestructible: The Hidden Gifts of Trauma–to inspire and encourage one’s journey of self-discovery and self-mastery by facing and honoring their life experiences and finding their very own hidden gifts of trauma.

My message has and will always be to recognize the fire within you. It’s yours and no one else’s. Not your parents, partners, friends, society, etc. It is yours to cultivate, manipulate, and transform so that you can live in your power and not be pushed around by the world outside of you. The power to exist and live in your highest and best good.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

The gift of resilience is woven within me throughout my life. I grew up in the Philippines born under a severely abusive father and victimized mother. Me and my 5 siblings were taken to the US without our knowledge and had to adapt quickly to the changes not only societally, but also emotionally when reunited with a mother we have not seen in over 4 years. Resilience was used again and again through the passing of my mother when I was only 14 years old (only 3 years after we reunited) leaving us 5 children orphaned. Resilience became a permanent resident within me through the first time I stood up to people who abused me throughout my childhood and eventually as an entrepreneur when I opened my first business and was sued by my old bosses in addition to overcoming 3 life threatening ectopic pregnancies, and losing the ability to have children naturally. I go in depth about the gift of resilience in my book Indestructible: The Hidden Gifts of Trauma at Chapter 16. Resilience is not about just surviving a traumatic experience; that’s only the first step. Resiliency is the ability to thrive harmoniously despite the experience without deflection or projection. Resilience is the ultimate hidden gift of trauma.

Steps to Resilience
1. Survive
2. Acceptance without attachment
3. Have Faith
4. Create Solutions
5. Thrive

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

To fill your cup up so much that you are serving from the overflow of your cup. Be so beautifully aligned and harmonious within yourself because your clients as well as yourself deserve the best version of you. Never underestimate checking in with yourself to make sure that you are at your best and highest good mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. That is how we work from the soul level of being.

Contact Info:

• Website: self-ishlifestyle.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/selfishlifestyleapproach
• Facebook: facebook.com/self-ishlifestyle