Welcome to Inner Stride. We’re so glad you’re here.
We don’t grow up in a vacuum. From childhood, we are shaped by systems that tell us who we should be—quiet, accommodating, self-sacrificing. These messages come from everywhere: parents, teachers, friends, media, workplaces. Over time, they mold how we see ourselves, what we believe we’re capable of, and where we get stuck.
For those who have experienced complex trauma, these messages can be even more pervasive and harmful, reinforcing patterns of self-doubt, distrust, and the sense that you must shrink yourself to survive.
People don’t just wake up exhausted and burned out—we are conditioned into it. From an early age, we are taught to be selfless, to please, to achieve, to endure. To be the “good person” at the expense of ourselves. But what happens when this conditioning collides with trauma? The weight of impossible expectations can manifest as inadequacy, worthlessness, or deep shame. And when we collapse under it all, we’re told to “take time for self-care” or “just make a list”—as if the problem was ever ours to begin with. But when we return, nothing has changed. The same system remains, demanding more.
The truth is, it was never about you failing.
The problem isn’t you—it’s the messages you were given, the ones that taught you to betray yourself for approval, to abandon your needs in the name of love, to survive by making yourself small.
For those with complex trauma, it can feel like you’re always fighting an uphill battle. Your nervous system may be stuck on high alert, or you might be exhausted from constantly managing emotional flashbacks and relational triggers. The exhaustion of never fully feeling safe, of never knowing rest. It can feel isolating, like a world you’ll never escape.
Healing is not about fixing what is broken—it is about returning to yourself. An unlearning, an excavation, a remembering of who you were before the world got its hands on you.
Finding yourself is not really how it works.
You aren’t a ten-dollar bill in last winter’s coat pocket.
You are also not lost.
You do not need to become someone new. Instead, together we will unravel the deep-seated patterns shaped by trauma and societal pressures—the ones that have convinced you that love must be earned through suffering, that boundaries make you unkind, that your worth is tied to what you do instead of who you are. You will stop playing by the unspoken rules that tell you to give until there’s nothing left. Instead of running on autopilot, you will move through life with awareness and intention—choosing what works for you instead of what was handed to you.
It is not about becoming. It is about returning.
Hi, I’m so glad you made it to this page. It’s the first step toward healing, and you don’t have to do it alone.
As I always say, “We will tend to the wounds of the past, so you can feel empowered to set boundaries, trust yourself, and finally experience peace in the present. Not because you have changed, but because you have remembered who you were all along.”
Let’s collaborate and work together, so you can reconnect with your true self and create the life you deserve.
– Yani Chu
That’s where I come in.
