Welcome back to Beyond the Darkness, episode 13! (I can't believe we're here) 🎉

In this episode, Jon and Cristina get honest about what it really takes to stay in a relationship when love gets tested by fear, differences, and the need to control what we cannot control. So often, we think control will give us peace, but in reality, it usually creates more distance, more tension, and less freedom for both people. This conversation is about learning how to love in a way that feels safe, honest, and free. Where commitment is not about holding on tightly, but about choosing each other with trust, patience, sacrificial love. We’ll talk about the quiet work of letting someone be who they are, even when it challenges us, and how true love grows when we stop demanding and start supporting with love without expecting anything in return.

We want to hear from you!

Submit questions / share your own experience for us to read and bring up during our next episode. Email us at:

beyondthedarknesspod@gmail.com

Love you mean it!

Jon and Cristina

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When love feels heavy, confusing, or just plain hard, most of us slip into survival mode—shutting down, lashing out, or pretending everything is “fine.” In this episode, Jon and Cristina talk honestly about what to do when connection feels out of reach, the same arguments keep looping, or you’re questioning how much more you can give.

You’ll learn simple, practical ways to regulate your nervous system in the middle of conflict, communicate your needs without starting a war, and tell the difference between a rough season and a deeper pattern that needs attention. We’ll explore how unhealed wounds, triggers, and defense mechanisms show up in your most important relationships, and how to respond with more clarity, compassion, and grounded self-respect.

Whether you’re in a long-term partnership, dating, or re-evaluating your patterns in close friendships, this conversation will help you move from reacting on autopilot to responding from a place of inner safety, so you can navigate hard moments without abandoning yourself.

We want to hear from you!

Submit questions / share your own experience for us to read and bring up during our next episode. Email us at:

beyondthedarknesspod@gmail.com

Love you mean it!

Cristina and Jon

Support the show

In this episode, Cristy and Jon get real about what it means to feel your emotions without letting them take over. They open up about how easy it is to react out of fear, anger, or hurt, and how choosing to pause, and respond from truth can change everything.

This talk isn’t about ignoring your feelings or staying “positive.” It’s about learning to sit with your emotions, understand who you are, and move through relationships with honesty and security. If you’ve ever felt stuck in a cycle of overthinking, snapping, or shutting down, this conversation will be your new best friend.

We want to hear from you!

Submit questions / share your own experience for us to read and bring up during our next episode. Email us at:

beyondthedarknesspod@gmail.com

Love you mean it!

Cristy and Jon

Support the show

They’re back 🎉 Starting 2026 strong! In this week’s tenth episode, Jon and Cristy open up about what it really takes to break free from familial expectations and choose your own path...even when fear shows up every step of the way.

Why is it so hard to step away from what’s “expected” of us and choose the life that truly feels honest? This week, Jon and Cristy open up about their personal experiences, sharing how fear was constant as they began owning their unique journeys, moving away from what their families envisioned for them. They explore how fear often keeps us stuck in the norm, why it’s so uncomfortable to defy tradition, and what it looks like to carve out a life that feels authentic.

They also discuss different family dynamics and the deep emotional challenge many parents face when letting go and allowing their children to have their own experiences, even when it terrifies them.

Tune in for this honest conversation about fear, identity, and the beauty of choosing yourself, not out of rebellion, but out of authenticity. If you’ve ever questioned the path laid out for you, this episode will feel like home.

We want to hear from you!

Submit questions / share your own experience for us to read and bring up during our next episode. Email us at:

beyondthedarknesspod@gmail.com

Love you mean it!

Cristy and Jon

Guess who's back at the table? Chris! Remember him from episode 6?

In this deeply personal episode, Chris breaks down the transformative journey of separating our identity from our pain. What happens when we stop defining ourselves by what we've survived? What if the truest version of who we are has been waiting beneath the stories of hurt, our upbringing, and what we were told?

This is a conversation about remembering - not who the world told us we were, but who we’ve always been beneath the suffering. It’s about releasing shame, reclaiming our voice, and learning how to live from a place of truth instead of trauma.

Whether you're in the thick of healing or standing on the other side of something heavy, this episode invites you to take a breath, reflect, and begin (or continue) the deep work of becoming who you truly are - not what happened to you.

We would love to hear from you! Please take a moment to drop questions and contact us with your own personal experience of reclaiming who you are beyond the suffering. Email us at - emotionalmasterycoaching@gmail.com and title it "My Story"

With love and admiration,

Cristina

Welcome back to Beyond the Darkness! In this episode, Cristy and Jon discuss change and what it asks of us. Often more than we feel ready to give. In this episode, they share personal stories and unique perspectives on the fear that lives quietly beneath transition, uncertainty, and growth. It’s the fear that whispers, stay where it’s safe, even when something deeper within us knows we’re being called to make the change and move forward.

Together, they unpack why discomfort shows up when we’re on the edge of transformation, how to recognize the difference between resistance and fear-based avoidance, and what it truly means to choose growth over comfort. If you’re in a season of change or learning to let go, this one’s for you!

If you are in need of a mental health provider:

Talk with a NAMI HelpLine Specialist, please call 800-950-NAMI (6264). The NAMI HelpLine is a free, nationwide peer-support service providing information, resource referrals, and support to people living with a mental health condition, their family members and caregivers, mental health providers, and the public.

Text the NAMI Helpline

Text "HelpLine" to 62640.
Connect with a HelpLine Specialist when you need support, information and resources via text message.

In this week’s seventh episode, Jon and Cristina dove into the complex and often confusing attraction to emotionally unavailable people. Why do we sometimes find ourselves drawn to people who are distant, closed off, or incapable of offering the emotional connection we crave? Is it a pattern rooted in past experiences, or are we simply wired to chase what we can't have?

Welcome BACK to the Beyond the Darkness podcast. My name Is Cristina and I am your host alongside my dear friend Jon. Jon and I unpacked our own experience with past relationships, being suck in the cycle of emotional unavailability, and the impact it has on our self-worth.

Tune in for our EPIC conversation about how to recognize this pattern in your own life, break free from the cycle, and build healthier, more fulfilling connections. Whether you’ve been there or are just curious, this episode is all about understanding why we fall for the people who can’t (or won’t) give us what we need and how we become resentful in return.

If you’re ready to break the cycle and find a lasting emotional connection, this is the episode for you.

If you are in need of a mental health provider:

Talk with a NAMI HelpLine Specialist, please call 800-950-NAMI (6264). The NAMI HelpLine is a free, nationwide peer-support service providing information, resource referrals, and support to people living with a mental health condition, their family members and caregivers, mental health providers, and the public.

Text the NAMI Helpline

Text "HelpLine" to 62640.
Connect with a HelpLine Specialist when you need support, information and resources via text message.

Support the show

Welcome back to Beyond the Darkness- Episode 6!

Chris joined us this week and what an unbelievable story he shares. He talked about his childhood, the cycle of suffering from addiction, how he came to believe in God and the journey to complete transformation. This is a very special episode and we hope you enjoy it as much as we did!





If you are in need of a mental health provider:

Talk with a NAMI HelpLine Specialist, please call 800-950-NAMI (6264). The NAMI HelpLine is a free, nationwide peer-support service providing information, resource referrals, and support to people living with a mental health condition, their family members and caregivers, mental health providers, and the public.

Text the NAMI Helpline

Text "HelpLine" to 62640.
Connect with a HelpLine Specialist when you need support, information and resources via text message.