🎧 Episode Summary:

The holidays are a time for connection but for many couples, they also bring stress, especially when it comes to navigating in-law relationships. In this episode, Keana W. Mitchell, trauma-informed relationship coach and emotional strategist, explores how to maintain your peace, protect your partnership, and set healthy boundaries with in-laws during the holiday season.

You’ll learn how unresolved family dynamics, emotional expectations, and generational patterns can resurface during this time and how to respond with clarity, compassion, and confidence. Keana introduces the powerful Let Them Theory popularized by Mel Robbins and offers a deeper lens: Let Them… Let Me. This mindset shift helps you release control, reclaim your emotional space, and choose peace over performance.

🧠 What You’ll Learn:

• Why in-law conflict intensifies during the holidays
• How unresolved tension and boundary violations affect your relationship
• Why couples must be on the same page to protect emotional safety
• How the Let Them Theory can help you detach with dignity
• The importance of emotional sovereignty and nervous system regulation
• How music therapy can support healing and clarity

🛠️ Healing Exercises Included:

1. Let Them, Let Me Reflection – A journaling practice to separate your triggers from your truth
2. Emotional Distance Visualization – A grounding technique to protect your peace
3. Trigger Journal – A nightly reflection to build emotional awareness
4. Boundary Rehearsal Practice – Script and practice calm, confident boundary phrases
5. Lyric Mapping for Emotional Clarity – A music therapy exercise using song lyrics to process and reframe emotional experiences

🎧 Suggested Track: “I Wish You Were Here” by Emory Rose

📝 Homework Assignment: Let Them, Let Me

• Identify one recurring in-law conflict
• Journal: “What do I need to let them do and what do I need to let myself do?”
• Practice one boundary phrase this week
• Listen to your grounding song daily
• Reflect: “What does emotional freedom look like for me this holiday season?”

📥 Download the full healing guide with exercises and journaling prompts in the show notes.

🔗 Resources & Links:

• 🎶 Watch the lyric video for “I Wish You Were Here” by Emory Rose

Link for YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/_mF8VI6WKZY

• 📄 Download the Healing Exercises PDF

Link for Healing Exercises PDF: 🧘Navigating in laws relationship for the holidays.pdf

💬 Connect with Keana:

• Instagram: @musicandtherapykwm
• Website: www.keanawmitchell.com

✨ If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone navigating family dynamics this season. And remember: You don’t have to lose your peace to keep the family together. Let them be who they are and let you be who you are.

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