Episode Details

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In this episode of The Art of Imperfect Adulting, Amy Stone speaks with Crissy Fishbane about using physical challenge as a tool for transformation during major life transitions. Based in Raleigh, North Carolina, Crissy shares how leaving her teaching career amid burnout led her to embark on the famed Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. The episode explores overcoming uncertainty, embracing change, and learning to accept what can’t be controlled.

About Crissy Fishbane:

Crissy Fishbane is a writer, speaker, and co-founder of HER+ Health Collective, a community and resource hub supporting mothers through connection and collaboration. A former high school teacher with a background in psychology, she now leads inclusive communities and conversations about belonging, uncertainty, and personal growth. Crissy is also the co-host of the award-winning podcast Mama Needs a Moment. She lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with her family and believes meaningful change often begins by letting go of certainty.

Main Topics Covered:

• Navigating burnout and discouragement in the U.S. education system
• The realities and emotional toll of being an educator: from overwhelming workloads to the pressures of IEPs and parent relationships.
• Taking bold action in life transitions
• The power of pilgrimage: travel without technology, deep self-reflection, and the lessons uncovered by disconnecting and stepping outside your comfort zone.
• Accepting uncertainty and redefining identity after career change: uncovering the difference between what can and can't be controlled.
• The ripple effects of transformation
• The importance of sharing stories: how vulnerability and openness foster healing and help others feel less alone.
• Creating mom-centered support networks in a disconnected world: why Crissy founded her + Health Collective and the value of intergenerational villages for modern parenting.

Quote from the Episode:

“There is so much outside of my control and I'm trying to manipulate and figure it all out and have all the answers and make everything look just so, because that's what society says it should be...and it was this moment of realizing that is all this stuff that I have no right trying to manipulate or control, because I can't. It's not about me. It's just what is. So I need to accept that and I need to focus on what I can control, which is this moment right in front of me.”—Crissy Fishbane

Timestamps:

[00:00:18] Crissy introduces herself and talks about calling Raleigh, NC home

[00:02:08] Decision point: Burnout in teaching and the emotional weight of the profession

[00:04:14] Teaching psychology in high school and why teens love self-discovery

[00:08:14] Detailing the stressors that drove Crissy to leave education

[00:14:39] The transition—how the idea to walk the Camino de Santiago emerged

[00:16:40] The pivotal moment: Crissy’s husband encourages her to quit and walk the full Camino

[00:19:32] Was the pilgrimage religious or secular, and what spiritual meaning did it hold?

[00:21:00] Walking the Camino: traveling with no technology, carrying everything, and the day-to-day experience

[00:24:11] Transformation on the Camino and a lesson in giving up control

[00:28:19] Facing adversity during travel: a separate story of losing everything in Costa Rica

[00:31:35] A moment of transformation: Accepting “what is” on a solo stretch of the Camino

[00:33:11] How the Camino transformed Crissy’s relationship with control, stress, and identity

[00:36:15] Practical ways gratitude and acceptance shape her daily life now

[00:38:01] Why C