Episode 50 - Khetnu Nefer on Healing, Self-Care & Community

In this soulful episode, wellness educator and healer Khetnu Nefer shares the beauty of her Gullah Geechee roots and the wisdom passed down through generations—from the power of compound living to the importance of staying close to family and community.

She opens up about managing disappointment through grounded expectations, embracing self-care as a non-negotiable, and why asking for help is one of the most powerful things we can do for ourselves.

Khetnu reminds us that strength isn’t in doing it all alone—it’s in staying rooted, connected, and unafraid to lean on each other.

Quote from interviewee for callout box: “You can live days without water, but you can't live too long without air. So, focusing on the breath and utilizing the breath to, you know, just still yourself. Like I love that meditation moment, just taking the time to take a few breaths, deep breaths, you know, it doesn't have to be anything labour intensive.”

Biggest Takeaways You Don’t Want to Miss:

• We have lofty expectations, and we don't articulate those lofty expectations. So, we get disappointed, but that person didn't even know that that was a criteria of what you were expecting from them. 
• To manage your expectations is to take control of your disappointment
• Your breath is the strongest thing you have in your body besides your heart and practicing how to manage it can transform your mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing.

Check Out These Highlights: 

• Khetnu shares how managing her expectations is what helped her deal with disappointment and goes into detail on where disappointment stems from. (26:50)
• Khetnu explains the power of breathing and how small starting is the key. Self-improvement habits such as breathing could be a key in saving your mental health. (22:21) 
• Khetnu encourages that everyone is worthy enough to ask for help. She explains that you don't have to do it all, you don't have to suffer in silence, you don't have to overburden yourself when there's resources literally at your fingertip.  (33:04)

Quotes:

• “I mean, people are mirrors. They reflect how you treat yourself. So you've got to get your own stuff together before you can go look for anything else. You have to treat yourself kindly. You have to treat yourself amazingly because you're going to attract people who treat you the same way. Thank you so much for joining me.”
• I know something that has helped me is thinking that hurt people hurt people. So whenever someone hurts you, likely they're also hurt, yeah? And so they are coming from a hurt place, and so you hopping to respond and be negative – Kritian
• “I've learned the power of asking a question. Don't, again, the issue with assumption. Oh, I think they're too busy. They won't be able to do it. Ask them. They might say they can, but you assumed that they couldn't. Now you didn't get it done for yourself.”