Episode 50: Hearing Loss + Listening Inward with Melissa Platt
EPISODE OVERVIEW
In this episode, I’m joined by Melissa Platt as she shares the story of how her challenges with hearing loss taught her to truly listen. Melissa is a clinical psychologist and therapist who specializes in helping people heal through complex trauma so they can thrive, and has been living with progressively deteriorating hearing loss since 2010. Her health journey has taken her through many different shifts over the years, including the realization that the track she was on was no longer making her happy. Melissa decided to make a change and pursue her joy, leaving her job as a researcher to open a private practice where she has more space for the reflection and introspection she was craving.
As Melissa was going through these major shifts in her hearing loss journey, she started listening to the NWIO podcast and found a community and message she could really resonate with. I had the pleasure of connecting with Melissa through the Shine Your Light mastermind earlier this year, where she tapped into this community and found a place she belonged — a place where she could think creatively and be genuinely curious about her hearing loss. During our talk, Melissa shares how healing it can be to gather strength from media that you resonate with, whether that’s a podcast, guided meditations, books, or online videos. She also gives us a rundown of the Polyvagal theory and how it allows her to connect with and gain inspiration from those around her.
In this episode, we dive into just how complicated it can be to hold the desire to look at your health challenges in a positive light while also needing to feel the hard feelings that come with chronic illness. Melissa’s story is a study in how our health challenges can be a gift while also highlighting the relief in knowing it’s okay if we’re not ready to see our challenges in that light. In this episode, we talk about how Melissa has been working to integrate both sides of the conversation, as well as how different bodily responses can serve as indicators of resonance. By paying attention to our inner voice and the way our bodies respond, we can start accessing emotions that are harder to get to when we’re on the wrong track. She reminds us that our inner navigation system is always talking to us, and you don’t need perfect hearing to listen.
“WHAT My hearing loss has pushed me towards is listening to the moment to moment.”
— MELISSA PLATT, EPISODE 50
Highlights
For Melissa, the beginning of her health journey is when the magic really started. Her struggles with being the last to know about her hearing loss hit a powerful chord with me, and I think it’s something many of us with chronic illness can resonate with. She shares her perspective on how hard it is to work through our challenges when we don’t even know there’s a problem, and how she’s working to accept her symptoms as an opportunity to invite reflection and gather wisdom.
The biggest takeaway from my talk with Melissa is that our senses aren't the most important aspect of ourselves. Her hearing loss forced her to listen to her inner navigator and trust herself, which in turn helped her to stop listening to the outside world that was trying to tell her what path she should be on. Melissa’s story comes with a powerful message: how have you been listening to yourself lately? A few of my favorite moments with Melissa include:
The Polyvagal theory
Integrating our emotions
Indicators of resonance
How our bodies respond to emotions and stress
What our health challenges can teach us
Listening to our inner navigation systems
Why our senses aren’t everything
How to enjoy spending time with yourself
Asking your body what it needs right now
How our nervous systems are silently communicating with each other
The power of lingering in the moment
LINKS
MELISSA’S therapy practice
https://www.melissaplattphd.com/
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Sherry Espinosa: https://laurenselfridge.com/listen/49
Steve Porges: https://www.stephenporges.com/
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Lauren Selfridge, Licensed Marriage + Family Therapist
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