In this episode, we explore the five signs that indicate you've boarded the "crazy train" in relationships. From codependent behaviors to emotional reactions, we delve into scenarios and solutions to help you regain your balance.

Key Takeaways:

- Intense Emotions: Identify when you're trying to fill an emotional void through distractions like dating apps or overeating.

- Problem-Solving Frenzy: Recognize when you start planning excessively to cope with your feelings.

- Urgency in Fixing Others: Notice when you feel a disproportionate sense of urgency to solve someone else's problems.

- Deflecting True Feelings: Understand how rationalizing unacceptable behaviors in others can indicate a fear of addressing the real issue.

- Obsessive Thoughts: Be aware of when you're obsessing over someone else's actions or problems, which is a sign of being hooked.

Quotes:

"Part of jumping on the crazy train is when we can't tolerate what's happening inside of us." – Sarah

"We teach people how to treat us by the behavior we tolerate." – Finn

Listener Challenge:

This week, practice sitting with your feelings without acting on them and share your journey with us using #LeavingCrazyTown.

Connect with Us:

• Website: https://www.leavingcrazytown.com/
• YouTube: @leavingcrazytown
• Facebook: @leavingcrazytownfinnandsarah
• LCT on The Sober Curator

Leaving CrazyTown is a Podcast and YouTube channel dedicated to helping individuals navigate life's challenges, especially codependency. Created by Dr. Sarah Michaud and Finn Allen, they offer unfiltered insights and strategies from personal experiences and mental health expertise. The episodes cover anxiety, depression, relationships, and self-improvement to guide and motivate listeners toward better mental health and overall well-being. Join the Leaving CrazyTown community and take the first step towards a happier, healthier life.

Support the Show:

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Your feedback helps us improve and reach more listeners.

If you have a show idea, feedback, or just want to connect, email host Dr Sarah Michaud: smichaud113@comcast.net or Finn Allen: finntastic818@gmail.com

In this episode, Finn and Sarah explore the raw emotions of rage, especially as it relates to their children. They discuss personal experiences and offer tools to manage and understand these intense feelings, enhancing self-awareness and relationships.

Key Takeaways:

- Emotional Processing: Understand the importance of allowing yourself to fully experience and process emotions rather than suppressing them.

- Ownership of Feelings: Realize that you are responsible for your own emotional world and can't control others' actions or feelings.

- Communication: Learn the value of sharing feelings without blame to maintain and improve relationships.

Quotes:

"The more spaciousness you give to your experience and your feelings, the better off you are in your relationships." – Sarah

"I don't hate my kid; I hate how I feel." – Sarah

Listener Challenge:

This week, practice giving yourself the space to process your emotions fully before reacting, and share how it affected your interactions using #LeavingCrazyTown.

Connect with Us:

• Website: https://www.leavingcrazytown.com/
• YouTube: @leavingcrazytown
• Facebook: @leavingcrazytownfinnandsarah
• LCT on The Sober Curator

Leaving CrazyTown is a Podcast and YouTube channel dedicated to helping individuals navigate life's challenges, especially codependency. Created by Dr. Sarah Michaud and Finn Allen, they offer unfiltered insights and strategies from personal experiences and mental health expertise. The episodes cover anxiety, depression, relationships, and self-improvement to guide and motivate listeners toward better mental health and overall well-being. Join the Leaving CrazyTown community and take the first step towards a happier, healthier life.

Support the Show:

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Your feedback helps us improve and reach more listeners.

If you have a show idea, feedback, or just want to connect, email host Dr Sarah Michaud: smichaud113@comcast.net or Finn Allen: finntastic818@gmail.com

In this episode, we explore effective tools for dealing with anger, providing listeners with tangible strategies to recognize and manage their feelings. From pausing to setting boundaries, we discuss methods for addressing anger in healthy and constructive ways.

Key Takeaways:

- Pausing: Understand the importance of taking a moment to breathe and assess your emotions before reacting.

- Setting Boundaries: Learn how to communicate and establish personal boundaries to prevent resentment and manage anger.

- Turnaround: Discover the method of reflecting on the underlying emotions behind your anger, such as fear, sadness, or humiliation.

Quotes:

"Whatever comes out of someone else's mouth is about them, not us." – Sarah

"The options were to tell them how I felt and set a boundary or block them out of my life and hold onto the resentment." – Finn

Listener Challenge:

This week, practice pausing when you feel anger rising. Take deep breaths and reflect on what is truly causing your emotion. Share your experiences with us on social media using #LeavingCrazyTown.

Connect with Us:

• Website: https://www.leavingcrazytown.com/
• YouTube: @leavingcrazytown
• Facebook: @leavingcrazytownfinnandsarah
• LCT on The Sober Curator

Leaving CrazyTown is a Podcast and YouTube channel dedicated to helping individuals navigate life's challenges, especially codependency. Created by Dr. Sarah Michaud and Finn Allen, they offer unfiltered insights and strategies from personal experiences and mental health expertise. The episodes cover anxiety, depression, relationships, and self-improvement to guide and motivate listeners toward better mental health and overall well-being. Join the Leaving CrazyTown community and take the first step towards a happier, healthier life.

Support the Show:

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Your feedback helps us improve and reach more listeners.

If you have a show idea, feedback, or just want to connect, email host Dr Sarah Michaud: smichaud113@comcast.net or Finn Allen: finntastic818@gmail.com

In this episode, we explore common codependency behaviors in relationships and how fear plays a role in controlling tendencies. Our guest, Mark Fedorov, shares personal experiences and discusses the importance of prayer and self-awareness in overcoming these patterns.

Key Takeaways:

- Fear of Abandonment: Understand how fear can lead to controlling behavior in relationships and the importance of identifying the root cause.

- The impact of Childhood Experiences: Learn how early experiences, such as frequently moving, can shape adult relationships.

- Importance of Prayer: Discover how prayer or speaking to a higher power can help quell anxiety and foster self-reliance.

Guest:

Mark Fedorov

Quotes:

"The fears, the reason it's so important, is because they operate from forever." – Sarah

"When you believe you have to be someone that you're not, it's out of a fear of not being loved, not being liked, rejected, abandonment." – Mark Fedorov

Listener Challenge:

This week, try using prayer or a form of asking the universe for help when you feel anxious in social situations. Share your experiences with us on social media using #LeavingCrazyTown.

In this episode, we explore the subtle ways in which people-pleasing behaviors can be a form of controlling others. We discuss the underlying fears and motivations that drive these actions and provide personal anecdotes to illustrate our points.

Key Takeaways:

- People-Pleasing as Control: Understanding how actions perceived as helpful can actually be a means of controlling others.

- Motivation and Fear: Recognizing fear as the underlying motivation behind the need to control through people-pleasing.

- Communication and Responsibility: Learning to communicate needs directly rather than manipulating situations to achieve a desired outcome.

Quotes:

"We can't tolerate someone in our life not being 72 and sunny." – Finn

"When we're trying to control someone else, the message is that we can't accept them the way they are." – Sarah

Listener Challenge:

This week, take note of the ways you try to control others through people-pleasing and how it feels when others do the same to you. Share your insights with us on social media using #LeavingCrazyTown.

Connect with Us:

• Website: https://www.leavingcrazytown.com/
• YouTube: @leavingcrazytown
• Facebook: @leavingcrazytownfinnandsarah
• LCT on The Sober Curator

Leaving CrazyTown is a Podcast and YouTube channel dedicated to helping individuals navigate life's challenges, especially codependency. Created by Dr. Sarah Michaud and Finn Allen, they offer unfiltered insights and strategies from personal experiences and mental health expertise. The episodes cover anxiety, depression, relationships, and self-improvement to guide and motivate listeners toward better mental health and overall well-being. Join the Leaving CrazyTown community and take the first step towards a happier, healthier life.

Support the Show:

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Your feedback helps us improve and reach more listeners.

If you have a show idea, feedback, or just want to connect, email host Dr Sarah Michaud: smichaud113@comcast.net or Finn Allen: finntastic818@gmail.com

In this episode, we explore the concept of rationalization and its crucial role in codependency recovery. By sharing personal experiences, we demonstrate how to identify and address rationalization to find freedom and truth in our lives.

Key Takeaways:

- Rationalization and Addiction: Understand how rationalization is used to justify harmful behaviors and its implications in addiction.

- Real-Life Examples: Sarah and Finn share personal stories to illustrate how rationalization manifests in everyday situations.

- Reality Check Tool: Learn the importance of seeking external validation to confront and dismantle false narratives.

- Connection to Codependency: Discover how rationalization relates to codependency, hindering personal growth and self-awareness.

Quotes:

"The longer you have to rationalize something, the bigger the fear gets." – Sarah

"Rationalization gone. I feel totally free." – Finn

Listener Challenge:

This week, identify a situation where you might be rationalizing your behavior. Perform a reality check by discussing it with someone you trust and share your insights with us using #LeavingCrazyTown.

Connect with Us:

• Website: https://www.leavingcrazytown.com/
• YouTube: @leavingcrazytown
• Facebook: @leavingcrazytownfinnandsarah
• LCT on The Sober Curator

Leaving CrazyTown is a Podcast and YouTube channel dedicated to helping individuals navigate life's challenges, especially codependency. Created by Dr. Sarah Michaud and Finn Allen, they offer unfiltered insights and strategies from personal experiences and mental health expertise. The episodes cover anxiety, depression, relationships, and self-improvement to guide and motivate listeners toward better mental health and overall well-being. Join the Leaving CrazyTown community and take the first step towards a happier, healthier life.

Support the Show:

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Your feedback helps us improve and reach more listeners.

If you have a show idea, feedback, or just want to connect, email host Dr Sarah Michaud: smichaud113@comcast.net or Finn Allen: finntastic818@gmail.com

In this episode, Finn and Sarah explore the concept of codependency with our pets and how we often project our own emotions onto them. Through personal anecdotes, they discuss the importance of recognizing and managing these feelings to maintain a healthy relationship with our furry friends.

Key Takeaways:

- Projecting Emotions: Understand how we often project our own feelings onto our pets and the impact it can have on both us and them.

- Managing Discomfort: Learn to tolerate the uncomfortable feelings we might assume our pets are having without reacting impulsively.

- Healthy Boundaries: Discover why setting boundaries, like not overfeeding or overindulging pets due to our own emotional needs, is crucial for their well-being.

Quotes:

"We're telling people to do nothing because sometimes doing nothing is the best way to manage our misguided emotions about our pets." – Sarah

"Maybe we have to tolerate these feelings that we've created in our head, that we don't really know they're having." – Finn

Listener Challenge:

This week, observe your emotional responses to your pet's behavior and practice not reacting immediately. Share your experiences with us on social media using #CrazyWithPets.

Connect with Us:

• Website: https://www.leavingcrazytown.com/
• YouTube: @leavingcrazytown
• Facebook: @leavingcrazytownfinnandsarah
• LCT on The Sober Curator

Leaving CrazyTown is a Podcast and YouTube channel dedicated to helping individuals navigate life's challenges, especially codependency. Created by Dr. Sarah Michaud and Finn Allen, they offer unfiltered insights and strategies from personal experiences and mental health expertise. The episodes cover anxiety, depression, relationships, and self-improvement to guide and motivate listeners toward better mental health and overall well-being. Join the Leaving CrazyTown community and take the first step towards a happier, healthier life.

Support the Show:

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Your feedback helps us improve and reach more listeners.

If you have a show idea, feedback, or just want to connect, email host Dr Sarah Michaud: smichaud113@comcast.net or Finn Allen: finntastic818@gmail.com

In this episode, we discuss the importance of distinguishing between thoughts and facts to avoid living in "Fantasyland." Our guest Amanda shares personal experiences and strategies for sticking to reality and avoiding the pitfalls of overthinking and assumptions.

Key Takeaways:

- Recognize Your Thoughts: Understand that your thoughts are just thoughts and do not always reflect reality.

- Clarify with Communication: When in doubt, ask the person involved to understand the actual facts rather than making assumptions.

- Write it Down: List out what happened, what you’re telling yourself, and what you actually know to separate facts from fiction.

Guest:

Amanda, sharing her experiences and insights into maintaining a clear perspective.

Quotes:

"The facts could be just two things, two items. The feelings very often aren't the same as the facts." – Sarah

"Stick to what you know, not what they think, they feel, they believe." – Finn

Listener Challenge:

This week, try writing down the facts versus your thoughts about a specific situation and share your insights with us on social media using #LeavingCrazyTown.

Connect with Us:

• Website: https://www.leavingcrazytown.com/
• YouTube: @leavingcrazytown
• Facebook: @leavingcrazytownfinnandsarah
• LCT on The Sober Curator

Leaving CrazyTown is a Podcast and YouTube channel dedicated to helping individuals navigate life's challenges, especially codependency. Created by Dr. Sarah Michaud and Finn Allen, they offer unfiltered insights and strategies from personal experiences and mental health expertise. The episodes cover anxiety, depression, relationships, and self-improvement to guide and motivate listeners toward better mental health and overall well-being. Join the Leaving CrazyTown community and take the first step towards a happier, healthier life.

Support the Show:

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Your feedback helps us improve and reach more listeners.

If you have a show idea, feedback, or just want to connect, email host Dr Sarah Michaud: smichaud113@comcast.net or Finn Allen: finntastic818@gmail.com