Maybe you feel like this...
You’re capable. You’re driven. You’re full of ideas. You know how to work hard because you always have.
You were taught to push through. Maybe it was hustle culture. Maybe it was a religion that told you your body was something to override, that your doubts were dangerous, and that your worth was measured by your obedience and output.
Maybe it was both.
You learned: Don’t stop. Don’t question. You can’t trust yourself.
And it worked for a while. You kept up. You performed. You held it together.
But what used to work doesn’t anymore.
Your body is different now. You have more responsibilities than ever, but for some reason, you don’t have the bandwidth you used to have.
Still, you try what worked before: same driving and pushing. You make ambitious plans. You load your plate. You tell yourself: Just try harder. Work faster. Don’t stop.
And then: exhaustion. Or sickness. Or your nervous system simply says: No more.
But the fear of failure causes you to push again. And it costs you.
You’re tired of systems that only stick for a week. Of negotiating with yourself. Of feeling like your body is the enemy instead of a guide.
But there’s another kind of tired too. You’re tired of carrying beliefs that aren’t yours. Of hearing an old voice in your head (one that sounds like a pastor, a parent, a Sunday School lesson) telling you who you’re allowed to be. You’re tired of the guilt that floods in when you want something for yourself. Of the programming that says rest is lazy, self-love is selfish, and doubt means you’ve failed.
You don’t want to stop creating or caring. You want a way forward that doesn’t require burning yourself down to get there, and you want to stop dragging around the beliefs that keep hurting more than they’re helping.
Who I Work With
I work with creative, thoughtful women who are ready to leave their old programming behind and reclaim their creative voices.
Writers. Artists. Business owners. Big-picture thinkers. Noticers. Often neurodivergent. Almost always deep, capable, and perceptive.
Many of them were raised in high-control, fundamentalist, evangelical, religious environments. Some still carry that programming: the guilt, the perfectionism, the inner voice that questions whether they’re allowed to want what they want. Others have done significant work to deconstruct but still hit wall they can’t explain, especially when it comes to creativity, rest, and trust their own perception and judgment.
This work is for you if:
- •You were shaped by high-control religion and you’re ready to stop letting that programming run your life
- •You want to build a creative life you can actually sustain, not just sprint toward in cycles of burnout and recovery
- •You’re ready to start working with your body and nervous system instead of against them
- •You’re open to doing things differently than the hustle culture script: trading force for steadiness, building practices that work with your energy instead of against it.
This is probably not a fit if:
- •You’re looking for a productivity system that ignores your body, your season of life, or your limits.
- •You’re looking for clinical therapy or mental health treatment. Coaching supports clarity, forward motion, and sustainable practices, but it’s not a substitute for clinical care.
- •You’re looking for someone to tell you what to believe. I’m not here to replace one authority with another. I’m here to help you learn to hear and trust your own voice.
What We Do Together
We get honest about what you want.
We notice what’s really getting in the way.
We build rhythms, structures, and practices that respect your real life and real capacity.
The Untangling: We identify the old programming: the beliefs about yourself, your worth, your creativity, your body, your right to want things. And we name them clearly. We examine where they came from and whether they’re actually yours. Then we introduce your nervous system to new beliefs you get to choose that support the life you’re building.
The Building: We figure out what you want to make, build, become, and how to get there. We validate your needs, desires, and dreams. You begin to practice small ways you can support your nervous system by becoming the kind, loving parent you always wished you had. We normalize imperfection and a slow, steady, sustainable pace. We practice saying “no” in order to say “yes” to things that truly light us up. We learn how talk gently and kindly to ourselves. We build a creative practice that puts your passion and curiosity in the driver’s seat.
Meaningful results you can expect:
- •A clear direction and a simple, step-by-step plan tailored to your values, goals, and rhythms
- •Freedom from old beliefs that have been running the show without your permission
- •Tools to listen to and work with your nervous system so you can partner with your body
- •Concrete habits and systems that help you start, restart, and keep going in your creative practice
- •An increased sense of agency: more choices, more ownership of your creative life, and less stickiness
- •A kinder, more trusting relationship with yourself so your inner wisdom gets more space
How I Got Here
I became a coach because I believe creativity thrives in self-trust, not fear.
I was raised in high-control, evangelical, Western, fundamentalist Christianity. The kind where obedience was the highest virtue, doubt was dangerous, and your worth was tied to how well you performed for God and everyone watching.
As a child, I struggled with OCD and panic disorder, real, clinical conditions that needed real, professional help. But I didn’t get that help. Instead, everything was spiritualized.
I was told my panic was either God refining me for His purposes or the result of sin I’d allowed into my life. Without the help I needed, I was left to manage on my own.
So I learned to adapt, to change my Authentic Self into someone who could survive.
I learned that obedience to authority meant safety. I learned over functioning and performing perfectly meant survival. Since my feelings often didn’t agree with the Church’s messaging, I tried to change them by shaming myself into alignment. When that didn’t work, I learned to fake it well. I learned to self-erase by fawning. I learned my own instincts and body couldn’t be trusted. Only the system could be trusted.
For years, I whipped myself into productivity, ignored my body’s pleas for rest, and felt guilty whenever I slowed down. I looked successful on the outside, but inside, I felt like I was failing, always falling behind my own crushing expectations.
Twenty years ago, I started my spiritual deconstruction.
I just stopped believing. It wasn’t a choice; I could no longer ignore the harm
high-control religion caused myself and others. I didn’t know then what I know now:
that even though you leave a religion behind, it stays buried in your brain and body.
As I got older, I got sick, and I could no longer trust my body to push through like it did before. But creativity still called to me, so I limped toward it, caught in a loop so many women know well: ambitious goal setting, overwhelm, shut down, repeat.
I started to see that the guilt, the over-performing, and the inability to trust myself were a programming problem, not a discipline problem. Decades of high-control religion had taught me that my own voice as untrustworthy, that rest was rebellion, and that my worth came from output. I had internalized a system designed to control me, and I was still living by its rules long after I’d walked away from it.
My conscious belief had left high-control religion behind decades before,
but my body and nervous system were still stuck in it.
Along the way, I also realized I’d been overfunctioning with undiagnosed ADHD and
masking, overcompensating, and burning out in cycles that looked like laziness
but were actually exhaustion.
Now, I help thoughtful, driven, often neurodivergent women work with their bodies
to untangle from religious programming so they can finally grow and express
their creative power, freedom, and identity.
What I Bring
Professional Training
- •Certified Life Coach & Certified Life Purpose Coach
iNLP Center
Tools That Support You (When They Fit)
I use a range of frameworks that help you understand yourself better and only if they resonate with you:
- •Internal Family Systems (IFS) aka "parts work"
- •The Enneagram (self-awareness)
- •The Artist's Way (creative rhythm & recovery)
- •Gentle nervous-system-aware planning
- •Practical habit design, chunking, and flow strategies
Human understanding I bring: Beyond certifications, I bring lived experience of being an artist myself, navigating my diagnosed ADHD and anxiety, creative overwhelm and burnout, doing my own nervous system work, and years of untangling the religious programming I absorbed growing up in high-control evangelical Christianity. I know what it’s like to rebuild from the inside out because I’ve done it and I’m still doing it.
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How I Work With You
- •YOU are an expert on YOU. If a tool doesn’t fit or feel right, we pivot
- •I trust your nervous system will communicate what it needs.
- •No shame. No one-size-fits-all rules.
- •Creative curiosity over pressure.
- •Support that meets you where you already are.
- •As a partner and a guide, not a new authority figure. You’re building your own compass.
A Little About Me
When I’m not coaching, I’m writing, sewing, and making things, spending time with my family, and living in the messy rhythms of creative work and real life.
I love good questions, real conversations, cozy rituals, and work that reminds me how good and wide and open this life can be.
And yes, I will absolutely ask you what you’re reading, what you’re making, and what you’re secretly longing to have more time for.
Your Questions, Answered
Coaching focuses on your current patterns and future goals, while therapy focuses on diagnosing and treating mental health conditions, often by working with past experiences and trauma.
I’m a certified life coach, not a therapist, and I don’t diagnose or treat mental health issues. If it seems like therapy would serve you better, I can help you find a therapist or share resources to support you in that process. Whether we do coaching alongside therapy is decided on a case-by-case basis. Some people benefit from both at the same time, and others need a season of therapy on its own before coaching is appropriate.
My practice is centered on women, especially creative, sensitive, often neurodivergent women as well as non-binary and gender-expansive folks who resonate with that space.
Carrie King Coaching is unapologetically and enthusiastically LGBTQIA+ welcoming and affirming, both now and always. 🏳️🌈 🏳️⚧️
Let's See If We're a Fit
Not sure what you need yet? That's okay. Let's figure it out together.