Have you ever considered that your career can become part of your identity? What would happen if you decided to leave that career? Would it be like losing a part of yourself? Today's guest, Michelle, explains what it was like when her husband dealt with depression after retiring from the Army. She also describes what it's like to be a military spouse.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Being denied health care by the Veterans Affairs
• What the Transition Assistance Program is REALLY like for retiring servicemembers
• Her husband's first therapy experience - it didn't go well
• Finding out she was pregnant with their second child
• Living like two strangers under the same roof
• Why Michelle decided to put herself into therapy
• How things started to improve for their marriage
• Trauma bonding in the military
• The struggles of being a military spouse
• The importance of personal development
• Michelle's nonprofit and how they help veterans
• The importance of being a part of a supportive community

GUEST INFO:

Veteran Help Point website

Connect with Michelle on LinkedIn

Connect with Michelle on Instagram

MENTIONED RESOURCES:

More stories about VA failures

More info about the Veterans Health Care Freedom Act

Sign the form to pass the Veterans Health Care Freedom Act

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It's easy to criticize those who become addicted to drugs and alcohol when you have never been in a similar situation yourself. However, using these substances is just one of the many different coping strategies we humans use to numb the pain we feel inside. Today's guest, Craig, explains why he started using drugs and alcohol to numb his feelings. He also shares how his addiction became part of his identity, and how it ruined his relationships and almost took his life.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How his parents' divorce affected him
• Witnessing abusive behavior as a kid & mimicking it
• Becoming addicted to drugs at 18 years old
• Aggression, IV drug use, and jail
• How our environment affects the subconscious mind
• Ruining every relationship he ever had
• Hitting rock bottom
• What finally made Craig seek sobriety
• The deep inner work he finally had to do
• Why the healing process is messy
• Implementing practical and simple habit changes
• How he now helps others transform their lives

GUEST INFO:

Connect with Craig on Instagram

Schedule a call with Craig

SUPPORT THE SHOW:

• Please leave a review or rating so others can find the show!
• Grab a journal from my shop!
• Make a small donation (Buy me a Coffee link)

CONNECT WITH THE HOST:

Let's connect on LinkedIn!

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When it comes to relationship problems, it is easy to find blame in the other person. Not only do we easily blame our partner, but we often don't make the effort to even understand them in the first place. Today's guest, Matt, explains how his anxiety, drinking dependency, and overall trauma prevented him from being the husband and father his family needed him to be.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Relocating his family every year for a decade
• Dealing with intense social anxiety - even with loved ones
• Drinking everyday since adolescence
• Finding success in his career, but not at home
• Feeling completely lost after a personality collapse
• How his wife felt like she was doing everything alone
• The darkest time in his life
• How he arrived at his big moment of clarity
• How Matt's marriage turned into a beautiful relationship
• The connection between the mind and the heart
• Differences between the male and female brain
• Helping other men become stronger versions of themselves

Connect:

Connect with Matt on Instagram

More about Matt's Coaching

SUPPORT THE SHOW:

• Please leave a review or rating so others can find the show!
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When we are young, we often trust others very easily because we haven’t had enough life experiences yet to help us develop a discerning mind. We may think that being in a certain environment will be good for us and we may think that certain people have our back. Today’s guest, Jenna, explains that she joined the military for structure, stability, and a safe environment. Unfortunately, this is not what came out of her time in the service.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Joining the military right after high school instead of going to college
• How it's cheaper to buy alcohol on military bases
• Being assaulted by someone she trusted
• Drinking to cope with feelings of shame
• What it was like to see the person who assaulted her years later
• Finding out a friend went through a similar experience
• Being cheated on and contracting an STD
• Retiring from the Navy and starting a family
• Isolation and self-loathing
• Seeking out help for her trauma and helping others with similar issues
• Supporting the veteran community and advocating for mental health awareness

Connect:

Connect with Jenna on IG

Check out Jenna’s podcast

The Veteran Workbook on Amazon

SUPPORT THE SHOW:

• Please leave a review or rating so others can find the show!
• Grab a journal from my shop!
• Make a small donation (Buy me a Coffee link)

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Many of us hear stories of people who have addictions or dependencies to things like alcohol or smoking and think, “why would someone want to be dependent on things like that?” Well, before we jump to judging them, we should realize that many of us rely on certain things to help us cope with our emotional problems. There are all kinds of coping strategies that people use. Today's guest, Becky, shares her story of what it was like to struggle with an eating disorder and how she was able to finally stop engaging in this type of coping strategy.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Wanting to attain perfection and being the golden child
• How her family discovered her eating disorder
• Using her eating disorder as a way of controlling her weight
• Coping strategies - what they are and examples
• Positive ways to “self-medicate”
• Finding supportive people and ignoring the judgemental people
• Hypnotherapy - benefits and misconceptions
• Showing ourselves compassion
• Feeling a void inside and not knowing why
• Finally finding the root cause to her struggles
• How Becky helps her clients along their healing journey

Connect:

Check out Becky’s Website for more information on the work she does.

Connect with Becky on Instagram

Other resources mentioned:

APA Dictionary - Coping Strategy

Positive Psychology Coping Strategies

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If you have ever been through mental manipulation and brainwashing, you know just how confusing and scary it can be. You start to question whether you are the one with the problem. Today's guest, Rachelle, shares her story of what it was like experiencing this kind of manipulation from a narcissist parent, who controlled nearly every aspect of her teenage life.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Living in a constant fear
• Feeling like she had no voice
• Not being allowed to drive or go to college
• Having secret phone conversations in the bathroom
• Questioning herself and thinking she was the crazy one
• When she realized that enough was enough
• Having the freedom to finally do the things she wanted
• The crazy, dangerous stunt that her parent pulled that landed them in jail
• The different things she started doing along her healing journey
• Becoming aware of the emotions that get stored in our bodies and organs

Connect:

Check out Rachelle's website for more information on the work she does.

Connect with Rachelle on Instagram.

SUPPORT THE SHOW:

• Please leave a review or rating so others can find the show!
• Grab a journal from my shop!
• Make a small donation (Buy me a Coffee link)

CONNECT WITH THE HOST:

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It may be easy to simply blame our parents for our childhood pains and struggles, since we were directly affected by them. Have you ever stopped to think how the way they parented you, could be affected by the way they were raised by their parents? I recently learned that abuse can be passed from generation to generation, and it has made me take a second look at why I was raised the way I was.

In this episode, I will discuss the following:

• Realizing I was raised by a narcissistic parent
• Recognizing narcissistic traits in my grandmother
• Being hurt and confused as a kid
• Why certain people become narcissists
• Switching blame from my parent to my grandparent
• Learning that my great-grandmother would drown her children
• Why I never wanted to have children
• What I need to do in order to break cycles of abuse
• Healing ourselves so our future generations can be healthy

SUPPORT THE SHOW:

• Please leave a review or rating so others can find the show!
• Grab a journal from my shop!
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This is the first episode of the series "The street I grew up on."This series is not about the literal streets we grew up on. The phrase is figurative. In this series, I invite people to share what their experience was like during their childhood/youth.

In today's episode, I discuss:

• The street I (Lina La Rue) grew up on
• Trying not to fully blame my parents for my childhood trauma
• How my parents marriage was doomed from the start
• Being raised by two people who were both abused in their younger years
• Desperately wanting to please my father
• My parents divorce and the impact that had on me
• Trying to protect my mother
• Living in two stressful households
• The worst day of my life

SUPPORT THE SHOW:

• Please leave a review or rating so others can find the show!
• Grab a journal from my shop!
• Make a small donation (Buy me a Coffee link)

CONNECT WITH THE HOST:

Let's connect on LinkedIn!

Let's connect on Instagram!