When Life Breaks You Open: The Unexpected Gifts of Pain | Ep #35

This show is the kick-off to some really vulnerable and heart-felt episodes about MY real life. In this episode, I revealed some very vulnerable moments of my life, and I am giving you a glimpse into the deeper and more healing episodes coming up. If you have ever experienced one of the following, you will want to tune in!

1. Divorce - Definitely a plot twist in my life plan!
2. Miscarriage - How it differs from other losses.
3. Losing Someone to Suicide - Another blow in my life plan, and the incredibly difficult grief that follows.
4. Parenting Our Parents - Changing roles as our parents grow old. We will also cover topics such as elder abuse, scams, and when a guardianship and/or conservatorship are necessary.
5. Caring for a Terminally Ill Family Member - Depending on the illness, there are moments that are sacred and there are moments of sadness. It is definitely a journey I didn’t want to be on, but found many gifts along the way.
6. Caring for a Family Member with Dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease - This was probably the hardest journey of all. In this episode I will share some of the most challenging moments, along with some funny stories about this ever so cruel disease.
7. When Both Parents Are Gone - No matter how old you are, you might feel so much older once you don’t have a parent anymore. It’s easy to experience an identity shift. I felt lost at sea for almost a year. Looking for ways to navigate myself.  I will share tips on how to move forward through grief.
8. Substance Use and Mood Disorders - As you will hear in each episode, most of what I experienced as difficult were the things I never saw coming. Facing the challenges of mental health issues, along with substance use issues, was never on my radar. Yet this has been the longest and hardest of my healing journey. I vulnerably share how I missed the importance of learning all I could and then doing a better job navigating and advocating for my children.
9. The Opioid Crisis and Addiction - Learning to walk the tightrope between enabling and supporting someone who is struggling with an addiction was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. This one is raw. This one will be quite candid about the lengths a mother will go to in order to protect her child, no matter how old they are. This one touches all of us in some way.
10. Estrangement - What a plot twist this one was! When my daughter walked away from our family 13 years ago, I never would have imagined it would last this long. I grieved. I begged. I mourned. I prayed. And then I realized that I wasn’t going to get what I wanted, but I sure was getting what I needed. I needed to learn how to unhook from codependency (again). I had to learn to be whole and complete… on my own… and not give my power away so easily. Tune in. This one is a big one too!
11. Narcissism - What it looks like. How it sneaks in and pulls the rug out from under you before you could ever see it coming. What to do if you find yourself dealing with a narcissist.
12. Living with Chronic Pain - Physical pain, the chronic kind of pain, is something I never thought about. I had compassion bu