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What I Didn't Know: Building the Life You Recovered For
In 2018—after years of checking boxes and chasing approval instead of truth—I found myself on a kitchen floor for the first time, finally facing everything in my life that wasn’t working.
That moment didn’t end the struggle; it started the rebuild.
Welcome to What I Didn’t Know: Building the Life You Recovered For—a podcast for the recovering soul who’s ready to move beyond surviving and into thriving. This is a space for getting better together and healing out loud.
We’re here for those who’ve built a foundation of recovery—whether from addiction, trauma, or a painful past—and are now ready to create a meaningful, aligned life on the other side. Using the principles of healing and growth, we intentionally rebuild and redesign every part of life.
Each episode explores the real-world challenges and breakthroughs of becoming your truest self, including:
• Purpose & Direction — building a future you genuinely desire
• Mindset & Patterns — rewriting limiting beliefs and old stories
• Conscious Relationships — boundaries, connection, and self-trust
• Creative Fulfillment — reclaiming passion and expression
This is a space for honest conversations—about letting go, courage, resilience, and the ongoing journey of becoming.
It’s my passion to share what I’ve learned so you can build the life you recovered for.
If you’re ready to thrive—not just survive—subscribe and share with someone who needs this.
Episodes
60 episodes
EP59: Long-Haul Friendships | Unspoken Expectations & The Cost of Keeping the Peace — with Emily Torkelson
At its core, recovering your life means setting down the masks, unlearning old scripts, and untangling who you are from who everyone else expected you to be. In this episode, I sit down with one of my oldest friends Emily Torkelson—who has know...
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EP58: Learning to Stay | Why Healthy Peace Feels Like Boredom — with Kristen Nealey
What happens when you take away the substance, only to realize the hardest part wasn't stopping—it was learning how to stay?In this powerful conversation, I sit down with Kristen Nealey to get real about what long-term recovery lo...
EP57: The Spiral Staircase | Meeting Old Lessons at a Higher Level — with Glenn Mealer
Healing isn’t about outrunning your past—it’s about finding the courage to stop, feel, and uncover who you were meant to be all along.In this hearteflt conversation, Glenn Mealer and I sit down to talk about the non-linear reality of rec...
EP56: Creating Forward | Permission to Pivot and the Courage to Rebuild — with Ethan Hansen
What happens when you stop digging in the wound and give yourself permission to start creating forward?In this week’s episode, Ethan Hansen and I sit down for an honest, grounded conversation about second chances, recovery, and what it a...
EP55: In the Messy Middle | Surrendering Control and Letting People In
What happens when life throws unexpected loss, change, and zero control your way? In this off-the-cuff episode, I’m breaking away from our usual routine to sit with you directly from the middle of a heavy week. Instead of waiting until things a...
EP54: Rebuilding Self-Trust | Creating a Life You Don't Need to Escape From — with Andy Walker
What does it truly take to rebuild a life from the inside out—and sustain it for the long haul? In this episode, my guest Andy Walker and I dive into what recovery and mental health actually look like outside the walls of a meeting. We open up ...
EP53: The Discomfort of Change | Giving Yourself Permission to Hate the Process — with Dayna DeHerrera-Smith
In this week’s episode, I sit down with Dayna DeHerrera-Smith to unpack what it really takes to unlearn inherited beliefs, reframe rest, and do the uncomfortable work of reinventing yourself. Dayna shares her journey of uncoupling her self-wort...
EP52: Version 2.0 | Healing the Wound of Self-Abandonment — with Carl Caldwell
How do we move from merely admitting our struggles to accepting them in our hearts? In this episode, Carl Caldwell joins me to explore the spiritual mechanics of recovery, unlearning self-reliance, and stepping from Version 1.0 survival into Ve...
EP51: Reclaiming Agency | The Shift from Reacting to Owning Your Choices — with Cale Yancey
What happens when life shifts from the self-centered loop of early recovery to a season where you barely have the bandwidth for your own reflection? In this episode, I sit down with Cale Yancey to pull back the curtain on modern adulthood, pare...
EP50: Getting a PhD in Me | Codependency, Boundaries, and Becoming — Netanya Interviewed by Reed Hendricks
What does it actually cost to dismantle the life you knew and rebuild yourself from the ground up?When I share how I’ve changed my life, it comes from knowing what it feels like to be completely broken and lost—and choosing, day after d...
EP49: When Logic Isn’t Enough | Self-Centered Fear, Ego, and the Illusion of Control — with Bob W.
Moving Sobriety from the Brain to the HeartWhen high achievement and overthinking can no longer protect us, what does real surrender actually look like?In this episode, I sit down with Bob—a retired attorney in lon...
EP48: The Practice of Repair | Surprising Grace in Saying "I Was Wrong" — with Dan Thatcher
We’ve all lived in that exhausting space of trying to look like we have it all together—hiding our mistakes, dodging our shortcomings, and hoping no one notices. But what changes when we stop pretending we have it all together?In ...
EP47: Hidden Sexuality | Surviving the Secrets and Stepping into True Identity — with Chuck Paetz
What happens when you are told to tell the truth, but never actually taught how?In this episode, I sit down with Chuck Paetz for a raw, necessary conversation about what it takes to dismantle a lifetime of hiding. Growing up in ...
EP46: Fierce Devotion | Breaking the Old Stories Holding You Hostage — with Amber Dodd
What happens when you realize you’ve been fiercely devoted to all the wrong things—to toxicity, negative self-talk, and the old rules that keep you small?In this powerful episode, I sit down with Amber Dodd to unpack how we break negativ...
EP45: The Space Between Loss and Living | Permission to Change Your Life — with Matthew Hillman
There is a strange, quiet gravity that shifts when you lose the anchors of your family tree. Suddenly, you aren’t just looking back at your roots—you’re looking at what you're leaving behind.We often treat grief like a linear checklist. ...
EP44: Beyond Domestic Violence | Breaking the Cycle, Reclaiming Self-Worth, and Choosing Peace — with Haven Thomas
In this deeply moving and vital episode, I sit down with my friend Haven Thomas to open up a transparent, empowering conversation about surviving domestic violence, breaking the cycle of trauma bonding, and finding the road to true freedom
EP43: Untelling Old Stories | Releasing Forced Timelines and Learning to Receive — with Elizabeth Bee
What happens when you finally decide to change your life, but the divine timeline doesn't match the grand vision you’ve mapped out for yourself?In this episode, local Nashville musician Elizabeth Bee and I unpack the messy reality of rec...
EP42: The Cost of Staying the Same | Secondary Gain & The Process of Change
"What are you getting out of staying stuck?"It’s an uncomfortable question, but it’s the one that finally forced me to look at my own blind spots. Shifting out of old habits and deeply ingrained behaviors requires a massive internal lift...
EP41: The Masterpiece of Contrast | Honoring the Dark Spaces of Our Past — with Chad Wilkerson
What happens when the armor you build to protect yourself from the world becomes the very cage that traps you?In this episode, I sat down with Chad Wilkerson to explore the exact turning point where his defense mechanisms became too heav...
EP40: Rebuilding from Scratch | Felonies, Judgment, and the Boxes That Define Us — with Megan Haushulz
How do you rewrite your future when the world keeps dragging you back to a single page of your past?In this candid conversation, Megan Hauschulz joins me to pull back the curtain on rebuilding a life from scratch—from navigating the corr...
EP39: Breaking the Silence | Building a New Legacy by Design — with Frankie Seeney
"Give yourself the opportunity to get it wrong."In this episode, I sit down with Frankie Seeney for an unfiltered look at growing up in the "School of Hard Knocks" and what it actually takes to rebuild a life from the ground up. We dive ...
EP38: The Art of Rebirth | Surrender, Bravery, and the Power of Choosing Yourself — with Savannah Kirkland
“My first drug of choice was validation.”In this episode, I sit down with Savannah Kirkland for a soul-baring conversation about the beautiful reality of the "Second Chance." We talk about how our first birth is handed to us, but ...
EP37: On the Day Before | Trusting the Invisible Process
What if today is just the 'Day Before' everything changes?Have you ever felt like you’re doing all the work, making the changes, and showing up—but nothing is actually moving? No phone call, no new door opening, just… silence?...
EP36: Brick by Brick | The Bravery of Vulnerability — with Mike White
What does it actually mean to be vulnerable? In this episode, I sit down with Mike White to discuss the messy, courageous "practice" of becoming new again. From navigating the dating world after decades of marriage to dismantling de...
EP35: The Next Divine Stitch | Persistence, Humility, and the Healing Power of Joy — with Marty Quinn
What if the goal isn't to get it all right, but simply to find the courage to make the next divine stitch?In this episode, I’m joined by Nashville comedian Marty Quinn for a conversation that explores the magic of long-term recovery. Aft...