Badass Confidence Coach | Your Personal Trainer for Your Mind

264. When They Don't Show Up: Anger, Betrayal, and Family Disappointment

Anna Marcolin Episode 264

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There are moments when life cracks open, and someone has to step forward. A parent lands in the hospital. A sibling relapses. A marriage falls apart. And suddenly it becomes painfully clear who shows up and who disappears. The anger that follows is not mild frustration; it is rage, shock, grief, and a deep sense of betrayal that cuts into how family is understood.

Join Anna and Tim as they unpack what happens when family members fail to show up during crisis, especially around the holidays. They explore why these moments feel unrecoverable, how attachment and unspoken family contracts shape expectations, and why anger often masks something far more painful underneath.

This Episode Covers:

  • Why the holidays amplify family anger, disappointment, and old wounds.
  • The shock of realizing someone’s character does not match who you thought they were.
  • Attachment, unspoken family contracts, and expectations that go without saying.
  • Moral outrage and moral injury when family values are violated.
  • The loneliness and abandonment felt when you are the one who shows up.
  • Common family roles in crisis, including the hero, avoider, minimizer, and intellectualizer.
  • Fight, flight, freeze, and fawn responses during family emergencies.
  • How anger becomes a protective cover for grief, fear, and pain.

Ready to get out of your own way and finally feel grounded in who you are?

Join the Emotional Mastery Group Coaching Cohort this January and learn how to regulate your nervous system, stop second-guessing yourself, and move through life with more clarity and power.

 www.annamarcolin.com/coaching-packages/p/emotional-mastery-group-coaching-january-2026-cohort

Until next time, here's to deeper connections and personal growth.
Mad love!

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