The first time, nobody believed something was wrong until I was bleeding through towels in a waiting room full of pregnant women. Almost twenty years later, a doctor on his very first day trusted a feeling over his textbook, and that’s the only reason I’m here.

Amber sat across from me for this one and listened. You’ll meet her on her own episode down the road.

Take what helps, and leave the rest.

Content notes: pregnancy loss, including a blunt description of a procedure; an ectopic pregnancy and a medical abortion; emergency surgery and nearly dying; suicidal thoughts and a mental health crisis. Also: doctors not believing me, hyperemesis, depression, a hysterectomy, military life, religion, and abortion law.

If you’re struggling, you’re not alone: Postpartum Support International covers loss too, call or text 1-800-944-4773. 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, call or text 988.

This week’s question: Who got it right when you were at your worst, and did you ever tell them? Tell me on Instagram at Anchor Moments Pod.

About a year later, her mother was on the phone. Jessica wanted her, and her mother pointed at the next room: sit there and wait quietly, and I'll come. Jessica did the math a child does. Be good, be quiet, get the attention.

She was in her forties before she could look at that pride and ask what else was holding it up.

Then her mother got sick, and the whole structure came apart.

Content notes. A parent's cancer diagnosis, terminal illness and death. Caregiving for a dying parent, and the medical decisions that come with it. Grief years afterward. A grandparent's death. The early COVID-19 pandemic. And a woman losing her business and her financial independence without being asked. Take what you need, including skipping this one.

Question for this week: what did you decide about yourself when you were small, that you've never gone back and checked? Come tell me on Instagram.

FIND JESSICA

- Still practicing law, and the founder of Swankey, the event planning software: swankey.com

- Instagram: @getswankey

IF YOU NEED SUPPORT

- CancerCare - cancercare.org - free counseling and support groups for patients, caregivers, and the bereaved

- Family Caregiver Alliance - caregiver.org - support for people caring for a seriously ill parent

- GriefShare - griefshare.org - grief recovery support groups, US and international

- 988 - Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, call or text, US, 24/7

- findahelpline.com - free, confidential support in over 100 countries

The stories and views shared on Anchor Moments belong to the people telling them. They aren't always mine, and that's the point. I'm not here to agree, correct, diagnose, or decide who's right. Take what helps, and leave the rest. This show is not medical advice.

Anchor Moments is a show about the moments that split a life into a before and an after, and who we're still becoming. New episodes every Wednesday.

If this one moved something in you, send it to the person you thought about while you were listening. And if you're not following yet, follow so the next one finds you.

For some people there's a second half.

Sabrina Fletcher was almost thirteen weeks pregnant with a baby she and her husband had lit a candle for the night she was conceived. A scan found something the doctor spent an hour explaining, turning the screen around so she could see it herself. She had seven days to decide, in a state that wouldn't let her.

She's a TFMR doula now - termination for medical reasons. If you've never heard the term, that's most of the problem, and we get into it.

I tell you about my first loss in this one, and near the end, about my sixth pregnancy. That story in full is the solo episode later this month.

A heads up: this episode is about losing a baby, and about ending a pregnancy that was wanted, after a diagnosis. There's a lot of medical trauma in it, including how she was treated during and after the procedure. There's postpartum with no baby. There's a death in the family. And near the end I talk about nearly dying in my sixth pregnancy. Take what you need, including skipping this one.

Find Sabrina: she's on Instagram at @thetfmrdoula. Her podcast is Our TFMR Stories. Her grief circle, her decision-support calls and her membership are on her site at thetfmrdoula.com.

Also mentioned: ARC - Antenatal Results and Choices (arc-uk.org), the UK organization Sabrina points people to. And Megan Devine's book, It's OK That You're Not OK.

If you're struggling, you're not alone: 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (call or text 988). Postpartum Support International, 1-800-944-4773.

If you're struggling, you're not alone: 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (call or text 988). Postpartum Support International, 1-800-944-4773.

This week's question: When have you known something before you could explain it -and did you listen? Come tell me on Instagram @AnchorMomentsPod.

Listen: pod.link/1884460039

A few years ago I was at a dinner with my closest friends, talking about something I genuinely love, and one of my best friends threw her head back and made a snoring noise at me. Everybody laughed. I laughed too.

And then I stopped talking about anything that mattered to me, for years.

This episode is my life in this body - what it actually costs to live in one that doesn't cooperate, and what it costs more than that to live with everybody's reactions to it.

In this one:

- Chronic Illness; AuDHD, Tourette's, OCD, dysautonomia, MDD, chronic fatigue, Ehlers-Danlos, GAD, visual processing disorder, body dysmorphia, moral scrupulosity, sensory processing...

If you have ever been called lazy by somebody who could not see what you were carrying, this one is for you. And if you have ever been the one doing the assuming, that's alright - I'd just like you to hold the conclusion a little longer next time.

The stories and views shared on Anchor Moments belong to the people telling them. They aren't always mine, and that's the point. I'm not here to agree, correct, diagnose, or decide who's right. Take what helps, and leave the rest.

Anchor Moments is a show about the moments that split a life into a before and an after, and who we became on the other side. New episodes every Wednesday.

Got a story? anchormomentspod.com

Instagram + TikTok: @anchormomentspod

Take what helps, and leave the rest.

He was bullied for years as a kid, some of it for being adopted, and learned early to smile while holding fear underneath. In the Marine Corps, an officer humiliated him on the parade deck when he was twenty-two. His answer wasn't to fight back - it was to become the best in every room, every time, so no one could touch him again. It worked, on the outside. Marine of the Year finalist. A business owner. An HOA president. None of it healed what was underneath.

In 1993, at the end of himself, he asked God to take his life and do whatever needed doing with the mess of it. The first thing he says he heard back: stop blaming.

In 2023, doctors found significant coronary artery disease, and he had a double bypass. Three decades after the night that changed the direction of everything, another valley he never would have picked.

In this episode:

• The night in 1993 that started everything, and the four words that began it
• The pastor who didn't know what to do with him, and the thirteen years it cost
• What the 2023 diagnosis asked of a man who thought he'd already done the hard part
• The dashboard-light reframe that changed how he holds his own anger
• Why he calls "everything happens for a reason" bad theology
• What his book, The Shadow, is actually about, and who he wrote it for
• What "God meets us in weakness, not just strength" means to him on an ordinary Tuesday

A heads up: bullying, his mother's difficult decision the week she found out she was pregnant with him in 1960, heart surgery described in detail, and a season of past domestic abuse mentioned briefly. Nothing here is medical advice.

This week's question: the first thing he says God told him was stop blaming. Who would you have to stop blaming? Come tell me on Instagram.

FIND MIKE
mikedysonauthor.com - The Shadow, available on Amazon

Facebook: Mike Dyson

IF YOU NEED SUPPORT
988 - Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, call or text, US, 24/7
findahelpline.com - free, confidential support in over 100 countries
thehotline.org - National Domestic Violence Hotline

The stories and views shared on Anchor Moments belong to the people telling them. They aren't always mine, and that's the point. I'm not here to agree, correct, diagnose, or decide who's right. Take what helps, and leave the rest. This show is not medical advice.

Anchor Moments is a show about the moments that split a life into a before and an after, and who we're still becoming because of them. New episodes every Wednesday.

If this one moved something in you, send it to the person you thought about while listening. And follow so the next one finds you.

Got a story? anchormomentspod.com
Instagram + TikTok: @anchormomentspod

What he did with that reason is the story. He started asking what health actually is, and then followed the question for twenty years - out of New York City, onto a farm, into the soil, and eventually into the work he does now, where he argues that metabolic health and mental health are not two subjects.

Somewhere in the middle of that, in his early twenties, he cut out gluten and then dairy and met a person he had never met before. Calmer. Easier to be around. The moody, cranky, hard-to-like kid he had always assumed he simply was turned out to be, in large part, a food allergy.

And then, right after a burnout he did not see coming, he found out he needed open heart surgery. It was supposed to be open and shut. It was not.

In this one:

- The line that started this whole episode for me: "I wonder how many years I lost"

- Why his cardiologist told a scared seventeen-year-old he was completely fine - and the very deliberate reason he said it that way

- What magnesium has to do with fungus, rocks, and the way we farm

- The 3am wake-up he tried to fix with chamomile, lavender, tart cherry, hot showers, cold showers, more exercise, less exercise - and what actually turned out to be causing it

- The moment control stopped being available to him, and what he found underneath it

A heads up: open heart surgery and a recovery that went badly wrong, burnout, my own mental health crisis and hospitalization, and chronic illness on both sides of the mic. There is also a brief mention of recreational drug use. Take what you need, including skipping this one.

Not medical advice. Mik is not a clinician and neither am I, and this conversation gets specific about food, supplements and diets. Nothing here is a recommendation for your body. Talk to your own person before you change anything.

FIND MIK

- feelsila.com - the company he is building, for people navigating burnout or going on mental health leave. Currently early access, so there may be a wait list.

- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mpozin - where he writes about metabolic psychiatry and burnout

IF YOU NEED SUPPORT

- 988 - Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, call or text, US, 24/7

- findahelpline.com - free, confidential support in over 100 countries

- Job Accommodation Network - askjan.org - free, confidential guidance on workplace accommodations and medical leave in the US

- US Department of Labor - FMLA - dol.gov/agencies/whd/fmla - what job-protected medical leave actually covers

- NAMI HelpLine - 1-800-950-6264 - free peer support and navigation for mental health

The stories and views shared on Anchor Moments belong to the people telling them. They aren't always mine, and that's the point. I'm not here to agree, correct, diagnose, or decide who's right. Take what helps, and leave the rest.

Anchor Moments is a show about the moments that split a life into a before and an after, and who we became on the other side. New episodes every Wednesday.

Got a story? anchormomentspod.com

Instagram + TikTok: @anchormomentspod

Then in February 2014, she and her husband lost their son. She describes what came next as sitting at the bottom of the ocean, wondering if she'd ever find the surface to breathe again.

What she found on the other side isn't a bounce-back story. It's a free trip she almost turned down, one sentence from a book that cracked something open at exactly the right moment, and a full rewrite of what she now believes resilience actually is. Niky is a women's resilience coach and speaker today - not the woman who went into that ocean.

In this one:

• The two real reasons she almost said no to a free trip that ended up changing everything
• Her own three-stage map of grief, starting with something she calls "whitewater rafting" - nothing like the five stages you've heard of
• The one sentence, from a book, that gave her permission to receive help
• What her husband was doing the day before the funeral that she almost judged him for
• The word she'd use for who she is now - it isn't "survivor"
• The buffet-plate metaphor for why building your capacity back up still isn't the whole answer

A heads up: this one is about the death of a child, and it doesn't look away from what that felt like in the body. Take what you need, including skipping this one.

Something to chew on this week: what's overloaded on your plate that you've been pretending you can still finish? Come tell me on Instagram.

FIND NIKY

• Website: nikyhamilton.com
• Book: Selfish Leadership: How to Lead Without Losing Yourself
• Facebook: facebook.com/nikyhamilton

MENTIONED

• Dr. John Demartini - the "worthy of love" quote she credits as a turning point

IF YOU NEED SUPPORT

• The Compassionate Friends - compassionatefriends.org - support for parents and families after the death of a child
• GriefShare - griefshare.org - grief recovery support groups, US and international
• 988 - Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, call or text, US, 24/7
• findahelpline.com - free, confidential support in over 100 countries

The stories and views shared on Anchor Moments belong to the people telling them. They aren't always mine, and that's the point. I'm not here to agree, correct, diagnose, or decide who's right. Take what helps, and leave the rest. This show is not medical advice.

Anchor Moments is a show about the moments that split a life into a before and an after, and who we became on the other side. New episodes every Wednesday.

This show grows by word of mouth. If this one moved something in you, send it to the person you thought about while you were listening. And if you're not following yet, follow so the next one finds you.

Got a story? anchormomentspod.com

Instagram + TikTok: @anchormomentspod

So she got good. Good at reading every room, good at being whoever the person in front of her needed her to be. Good enough to build a whole adult life on it: a marriage, a career as a therapist, a flawless performance of a woman who was fine.

Then it came apart - the marriage, the family, and finally the performance itself. What's left is who you'll meet here: a trauma therapist who calls herself God's favorite problem, and the author of a book that leaves nothing out.

In this one:

• Why a little girl crawled down the hallway at night to check that her parents were still in their beds
• The difference between estrangement and parental alienation - and why Amy is careful about which word she uses
• What setting a boundary feels like in your body when you've never set one (she has a very specific answer)
• Longing versus love, and how she finally learned to tell them apart
• Why she says she even healed as a good girl
• The sunset skydive, and what jumping out of a plane had to do with posting her first video
• Amy is a licensed professional counselor and trauma therapist in Philadelphia. A hundred thousand people follow her at gods.favorite.problem. Her book, Performing Normal, is out now - and she didn't leave anything out.

Warning - it's a heavy one: childhood sexual abuse (talked about honestly, not graphically), high-control religion, an affair, and estrangement and parental alienation - on both sides of the mic. Take what you need, including skipping this one. It'll be here when you're ready.

FIND AMY

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gods.favorite.problem/
• Performing Normal, her book - out now: https://www.amywatkinsstudio.com/book
• Everything else: https://linktr.ee/gods.favorite.problem

IF YOU NEED SUPPORT

• RAINN - National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673, or chat at online.rainn.org. Free, confidential, 24/7
• Recovering from Religion - recoveringfromreligion.org - free peer support for people questioning or leaving high-control religion
• National Domestic Violence Hotline - thehotline.org, 1-800-799-7233 - includes coercive control, not just physical abuse
• 988 - Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, call or text, US, 24/7
• findahelpline.com - free, confidential support in over 100 countries

The stories and views shared on Anchor Moments belong to the people telling them. They aren't always mine, and that's the point. I'm not here to agree, correct, diagnose, or decide who's right. Take what helps, and leave the rest.

Got a story? anchormomentspod.com

Instagram + TikTok: @anchormomentspod

This is what happened after, and what a man in authority said to me when I finally worked up the nerve to tell him about it.

I have never said all of this out loud. I was raised that these experiences are sacred, which is a word that does a lot of work when what it's actually doing is keeping you quiet.

In this episode:

• What I was taught to believe about experiences like this, and why "sacred, not secret" landed differently on a kid who needed to get everything exactly right
• The fork I was standing at in that dorm room, and the two-hour prayer where I asked for nothing
• The phone ringing in a room that didn't have a phone
• The woman on the window bench who sang me a song in a language she didn't understand, and what the temple told me years later when I went back to find her
• The seven words from my church leader that sent me into a faith transition I'm still in, and why I now think I needed them
• Heavy or light - the one question I taught my kids to use when nobody can tell them what's true
• Where I've actually landed, which is not where you'd expect and is not tidy

A heads up: this one is about the death of a parent and there is a lot of grief in it. It also covers being disbelieved by a religious authority, a past struggle with alcohol, and mental health. I name my religion in this episode. I'm not making a case for or against it, and this isn't the episode where I tell that whole story.

This week's question, and I mean it: has something happened to you that you couldn't explain, and you either never told anyone, or you did and they gave you their version of "that's not how it works"? And what's the thing you've never said out loud because of how you were raised? Come tell me on Instagram.

MENTIONED "Say It Anyway" by Rosi Golan, Mosiah 2:17-19

IF YOU NEED SUPPORT 988

- Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, call or text, US, 24/7 findahelpline.com - free, confidential support in over 100 countries dougy.org - The Dougy Center. Free peer grief support, and a worldwide directory of grief programs you can search by where you live reclamationcollective.com - religious-trauma-informed therapist directory and peer support groups, for people leaving a faith and for people staying in one

The stories and views shared on Anchor Moments belong to the people telling them. This week they're mine. I'm not asking anybody to take them on. Take what helps, and leave the rest.

Anchor Moments is a show about the moments that split a life into a before and an after, and who we became on the other side. New episodes every Wednesday.

If this one moved something in you, send it to the person you thought about while you were listening. And follow so the next one finds you.

Got a story? anchormomentspod.com Instagram + TikTok: @anchormomentspod

Reacting to formula at three months old. Celiac at twenty-seven. Four more years for the nausea, and then a two-hour appointment with a doctor his mother found, who listened to all of it and said he knew what it was and could fix it. Austin cried. Not because he was finally being helped - because for once, he wasn't interesting.

In this episode:

- The two diagnoses he calls the turning points of his life, and the twenty-seven years in between

- The gastroenterologist who answered him with "which one of us went to medical school," and the practice that wouldn't let him switch

- The one thing every doctor who actually helped him had in common, and it isn't credentials

- The man in the yellow hat, and why getting used to the hat never works

- What anxiety is actually made of - he says it's only ever two things

- The pill in his hand, and the sentence his OCD used to keep him from swallowing it

- Why he thinks people with OCD are the most courageous clients he works with

- The rug in my therapist's office, and what he told me to do about it

A heads up: chronic illness, medical dismissal, panic attacks, compulsions described in detail, a significant weight change on a medication, and one brief mention from me of a time I was suicidal. Austin also names several clinical OCD subtypes in passing. Nothing here is medical advice.

This week's question: what's your version of the rug? The small thing you can't leave alone that you already know isn't about the thing. Come tell me on Instagram.

FIND AUSTIN

AustinBridgesTherapy.com - info@austinbridgestherapy.com - Instagram @austinbridgestherapy

MENTIONED

IOCDF - iocdf.org - directory of OCD therapists

EMDRIA - emdria.org - directory of EMDR therapists

Stopping the Noise in Your Head by Reid Wilson

Gut Feelings by Douglas Drossman, MD - the doctor who diagnosed him

Celiac Disease Foundation - celiac.org

IF YOU NEED SUPPORT

988 - Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, call or text, US, 24/7

findahelpline.com - free, confidential support in over 100 countries

The stories and views shared on Anchor Moments belong to the people telling them. They aren't always mine, and that's the point. I'm not here to agree, correct, diagnose, or decide who's right. Take what helps, and leave the rest. This show is not medical advice.

Anchor Moments is a show about the moments that split a life into a before and an after, and who we became on the other side. New episodes every Wednesday.

If this one moved something in you, send it to the person you thought about while listening. And follow so the next one finds you.

Got a story? anchormomentspod.com

Instagram + TikTok: @anchormomentspod

Five months later she was admitted to hospice.

This is the story of what it costs to be the person who did everything right.

In this episode:

• The grandmother she was glued to from birth, and the grief she says she has never recovered from
• The regret question she asked her grandmother, and then years later asked her grandfather, and the identical answer they both gave
• The voicemail meant to reassure her about her husband, and what she heard underneath it
• Ten years of caregiving, and the closeness she says she'd never had in any other relationship
• The UTI her doctor said she would never normally have treated, and the prescription she got anyway
• The question she asked before she swallowed the first pill, and the answer she was given
• The ER doctor who named the drug before she could finish her sentence, told her he sees it often, and sent her home with ibuprofen
• The word a doctor finally handed her, and the single story she found when she searched it
• The friend who turned out to live 45 minutes down the road

A heads up on this one: medical trauma, medical dismissal, disability, hospice, and the death of a grandparent. Talia describes a rapid physical decline in real detail. Take care of yourself while you listen.

One more thing. Talia's microphone stopped recording partway through and neither of us knew. There is no backup. What you'll hear is the first part of a much longer conversation, and the part that's missing is the part she came to give. I explain it properly at the end, and I'd rather tell you than have you think she trailed off.

This week's question: Has there been a time you knew something about your own body, and you were told you were wrong? What did that cost you, and what would you do differently now? Come tell me on Instagram at Anchor Moments Pod.

FIND TALIA

• All her links: https://linktr.ee/finding.vulneraries
• Her site, This Is Floxed, and the support group she runs - both are on the linktree above

IF YOU NEED SUPPORT

• FDA MedWatch - report a reaction to a medication yourself: fda.gov/medwatch or 1-800-FDA-1088. You don't need anyone's permission.
• 988 - Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, call or text, US, 24/7
• findahelpline.com - free, confidential support in over 100 countries
• Caregiver Action Network - caregiveraction.org - support for family caregivers

The stories and views shared on Anchor Moments belong to the people telling them. They aren't always mine, and that's the point. I'm not here to agree, correct, diagnose, or decide who's right. Take what helps, and leave the rest. This show is not medical advice.

Anchor Moments is a show about the moments that split a life into a before and an after, and who we became on the other side. New episodes every Wednesday.

If this one moved something in you, send it to the person you thought about while you were listening. And if you're not following yet, follow so the next one finds you.

Got a story? anchormomentspod.com
Instagram + TikTok: @anchormomentspod

She told him he was a murderer and that he didn't dare come inside.

What happened after that is the part nobody prepared her for. Her family was embarrassed by her. Her friends wanted to go get a beer and she wanted to know what happens to us when we die. She turned to her husband's best friend, which made everything worse, and then she spent months being what she calls wild, because she had decided she was not going to be a widow and she was not going to mourn. And underneath all of it, the night before he died, she had started seeing things. A being. A message about an eagle's wing. She was certain she was losing her mind.

She was not losing her mind. She was becoming a mystic, and it would take her years to accept that.

A heads up on this one: we talk about the death of a spouse in war, grief, an affair, the death of a partner during surgery, cancer, divorce, and there's one brief moment where Ellen says that in the months after her husband died she didn't want to be alive.

Something to chew on this week: Was there ever a moment when you were told "that's not how it works," and some part of you knew better? Did you listen to them, or to yourself?

FIND ELLEN

• Website: https://ellenmlaura.com/
• Her podcast, Enter the Mystic's Garden (free): https://ellenmlaura.com/enter-the-mystics-garden-podcast/
• Blossom Joyfully: https://blossomjoyfully.com/
• Her Substack: Velvet Realms
• Her books, including The Shaman's Bulldog and her memoir Love in the Shadow of Saigon, are on Amazon

IF YOU NEED SUPPORT

• 988 - Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, call or text, US, 24/7
• findahelpline.com - free, confidential support in over 100 countries
• What's Your Grief - whatsyourgrief.com - grief resources for all kinds of loss
• The Dougy Center - dougy.org - grief support, including for young people
• Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) - taps.org - 800-959-TAPS - support for families grieving a military death

The stories and views shared on Anchor Moments belong to the people telling them. I'm not here to agree, correct, diagnose, or decide who's right. Take what helps, and leave the rest.

Anchor Moments is a show about the moments that split a life into a before and an after, and who we became on the other side. New episodes every Wednesday.

Got a story? anchormomentspod.com
Instagram + TikTok: @anchormomentspod

On paper, she already had the answer. A PhD in computer science, a professorship built perfectly around a growing family, work she was genuinely good at and genuinely loved. And still, a quiet pull kept telling her to leave it - with no plan, no safety net, and five kids counting on her.

This is the story of what happened when she followed that pull. Emily walks us through the reinvention that came next: leaving the career she loved, building a business from nothing, watching a lot of it come apart, and finding out what actually carried her through when the plan didn't. Her answer, again and again, was faith and a stubborn inner guidance she learned to trust - the belief that everything in life is happening for us, not to us, if we're willing to look at it from the light instead of the shadow.

She is, by her own description, an agent of change: a seven-figure founder, a former professor, a funeral singer, a mom of five. By the end of our conversation, Krista crowns her the Queen of Reframe. We get into how she found her faith, the identity work of shedding a lifetime of people-pleasing, why she believes a business can't grow past the capacity of its owner, and what it looks like to keep going when the numbers say stop.

If you've ever built the "right" life and felt like a stranger inside it, this one is for you.

This week's question: Emily's whole practice comes down to one reframe - that everything is happening for you, not to you. Think of the hardest thing you're carrying right now. What might shift if you looked at it as happening for you? Come tell us on Instagram.

Find Dr. Emily: Dr. Emily Hill holds a PhD in computer science and works at the intersection of business, tech, AI, and identity.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emhill07
emhill.com
https://elev8tek.com/

A little disclaimer: The stories and views you hear on this show belong to the people telling them. They aren't always mine, and that's kind of the point. I'm not here to agree, correct, diagnose, or decide who's right. My job is to listen, to hold space, and to let each person's experience stand as theirs. Take what helps you, and leave the rest.

Content warning: This episode includes honest discussion of business hardship and financial pressure - a business coming apart, debt, and hard decisions - alongside faith and matters of spirituality. Please take what helps and leave the rest.

If you're struggling, you're not alone:

US and Canada: Call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, available 24/7.

International: Find a helpline in 200+ countries at findahelpline.com.

Love the show? The best way to help Anchor Moments grow is to share this episode with the one person who came to mind while you listened, and to follow or subscribe so the next story finds you too. If you have a minute, a rating or review helps more than you'd think.

Come say hi:
Instagram: @anchormomentspod
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Web: anchormomentspod.com
Got a story to share? anchormomentspod.com or email hello@anchormomentspod.com

You're part of someone's story, so carry that with kindness.

It started at the lowest point of my life. I was seeing my therapist multiple times a week, seeing a psychiatrist for med management, and still struggling to get out of bed. I made peace with the end, and honestly, it was the first peace I'd felt in a long time. The only thing I couldn't reconcile was how to leave my husband and my kids. So I gave myself a five-year window and started writing down everything I needed to do first. A list of things to do so I could go.

Then every single item started teaching me something I didn't expect. "Don't eat out for 30 days" turned out to be the first time in my life I learned to say no. Taking my seven-year-old zorbing down a mountain, ending up underwater, and deciding I'd drown so he could live, then watching the GoPro and realizing I could've held him up with one hand the whole time, taught me I don't have to martyr myself to be a good mom. I call that the power of AND now.

I sat with every item the same way: hand on my chest, eyes closed, one breath, asking do I want this, and does it feel heavy or light. If it felt light, it stayed. That same list is how I ended up going away to heal, checking into inpatient treatment on my fortieth birthday, and it's why one of my daughters sat me down, turned up a Billy Joel song, and told me to put the phone down and go take care of myself.

Somewhere in the middle of all of it, the list to die quietly became my list to live. It was never really about the list.

I'm two years in, three to go, and I'm not going anywhere anymore. If you've ever been at the end of yourself, this one's for you.

What's one thing you'd put on a list to live? Not a bucket list. One small, honest thing that would keep you here. Tell me. @anchormomentspod on socials.

A note before you listen: These are my stories and my reflections. Take what helps and leave the rest. My stuff is my stuff, I've done the work, and I'm still here on purpose, so no one needs to carry any of this on my behalf.

Content note: This one is honest about a season when I wanted to die. It names suicidal thoughts and planning plainly, and it moves through getting help, inpatient treatment, and coming back. Nothing is graphic, but it's a heavier one. If today's not the day, that's okay. Take care of you and come back when you're ready.

Support resources (always here):

• US: Call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, 24/7.
• International: findahelpline.com (200+ countries) and Befrienders Worldwide at befrienders.org.

If this one resonated: Send it to the one person you thought of while listening. Then follow Anchor Moments wherever you're listening so the new episodes find you, and if you have a minute, leave a rating or review. Word of mouth is how this little show keeps going and I would greatly appreciate it.

Have a story to share? Everybody has one. Head to anchormomentspod.com, fill out the intake form, and get on the calendar. Or just say hi at hello@anchormomentspod.com.

Find the show:

• Instagram: @anchormomentspod
• TikTok: @anchormomentspod
• Web: anchormomentspod.com

You're part of someone's story, so carry that with kindness.

If you've ever performed a version of yourself so well that you lost the real one underneath, this one's for you.

Find Mike: In February 2025 he won an International Impact Book Award for speculative fiction for Saviour Machine, which hit bestseller status on Amazon in Canada. His fifth book, The Performed Man, is the one we get into here. Browse everything he's written: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Mike+Poliwoda&i=stripbooks

Substack (Beerbohmtastic): https://mikepoliwoda.substack.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mike.poliwoda LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-poliwoda-78a9459

A little disclaimer: The stories and views you hear on this show belong to the people telling them. They aren't always mine, and that's kind of the point. I'm not here to agree, correct, diagnose, or decide who's right. My job is to listen, to hold space, and to let each person's experience stand as theirs. Take what helps you, and leave the rest.

Content warning: This episode includes honest discussion of depression, hitting rock bottom, and suicidal thoughts, along with substance use, a relationship breakdown and separation, job loss and financial pressure, and the weight of young and single parenthood. Please take care of yourself however you need to.

If you're struggling, you're not alone:

US and Canada: Call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, available 24/7.

International: Find a helpline in 200+ countries at findahelpline.com, or reach Befrienders Worldwide at befrienders.org.

Love the show? The best way to help Anchor Moments grow is to share this episode with the one person who came to mind while you listened, and to follow or subscribe so the next story finds you too.

If you have a minute, a rating or review helps more than you'd think.

Come say hi: Instagram: @anchormomentspod TikTok: @anchormomentspod Web: anchormomentspod.com

Got a story to share? anchormomentspod.com or email hello@anchormomentspod.com

You're part of someone's story, so carry that with kindness.

Jennifer is an autism parent coach raising a neurodivergent daughter, and neurodivergent herself. Somewhere in the years of fighting for her kid, for the evaluation, off an eighteen-month waitlist, through school districts and IEPs, she figured out the thing that changed everything: you cannot regulate your child from an empty, frayed nervous system. So she starts with mom. Not as a bubble bath you earn, as the foundation the whole house sits on.

In this one she gives us the images I can't put down. Survival mode is a boat with a hole in it, and you're bailing water as fast as you can, and the answer was never to bail faster, it was to patch the hole. A child mid-meltdown has a prefrontal cortex that's gone offline, like a router unplugged, and you can't reason your way in, you can only help plug it back in. And her daughter's autism isn't a diagnosis she's afraid of, it's an insight.

We talk about the 160% she used to pour into the wrong rooms until it burned her out, and what it looks like now that she points that same energy at what actually fills her. We talk about losing your temper and coming back to repair it, about mom guilt, and about why regulating yourself isn't selfish, it's the whole job. I got called out, in the best way, and I shared more of my own story than I planned to.

If you're a parent white-knuckling the morning, or just a person running on empty and calling it strong, this one's for you.

Find Jennifer: She's The Autism Parent Coach on Instagram, @theautismparentcoach. She offers one-on-one coaching and a membership community for moms raising neurodivergent kids.

A little disclaimer: The stories and views you hear on this show belong to the people telling them. I'm not here to agree, correct, diagnose, or decide who's right. Take what helps you, and leave the rest.

Content warning: This episode includes discussion of parental burnout and survival mode, raising a neurodivergent child, meltdowns, losing your temper and repairing it, mom guilt and shame, mental-health treatment, and chronic illness.

If you're struggling, you're not alone:

US: Call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, available 24/7

International: Find a helpline in 200+ countries at findahelpline.com.

Autism and caregiver support: The Autism Society's National Helpline can help you find local services and navigate a diagnosis, autismsociety.org. And if you're the caregiver running on empty, that counts as a reason to reach out too.

Love the show? Share this episode and follow or subscribe so the next story finds you too. If you have a minute, a rating or review really helps too.

Say hi: Instagram: @anchormomentspod TikTok: @anchormomentspod Web: anchormomentspod.com Got a story to share? anchormomentspod.com or email hello@anchormomentspod.com

You're part of someone's story, so carry that with kindness.

The message she got - from every clinic appointment, every doctor, every parent - was: do your treatments, take your medications, do everything right, and you'll make it to the therapy that saves your life. She believed it completely. And she built an entire identity around believing it.

This episode is about what that does to a person over twenty years. How it keeps you alive and quietly shapes you into someone who can't tolerate what she can't control, who doesn't know how to have needs, and who checks every box because that's the only way she knows how to feel okay.

It's also about what happens when the therapy actually comes. When Tricafta arrives and within days you're breathing differently than you ever have. And then your mind gets a little quiet, and you look back and go: oh. That's why I'm this way.

If you've ever built your whole life around an if-then belief - if I do everything right, then I'll be okay - this one's for you.

This week's question:

Morgan and her sister had the exact same disease and completely opposite reactions to it. One followed every rule. One refused all of them. Which one would you have been? Come tell us at @anchormomentspod.

Find Morgan: Morgan's Instagram

Want to learn more about cystic fibrosis or support the research that made Tricafta possible? The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is at cff.org.

A little disclaimer: The stories and views on this show belong to the people telling them. They aren't always mine, and that's kind of the point. I'm not here to agree, correct, diagnose, or decide who's right. Take what helps you, and leave the rest.

Content warning: This episode touches on childhood illness and medical trauma, life expectancy and mortality, anxiety and mental health, and the death of a beloved childhood mentor.

If you need support, you're not alone:

• US: Call or text 988 (Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, 24/7)
• International: findahelpline.com (200+ countries) or befrienders.org
  
  Love the show? The best way to help Anchor Moments grow is to share this episode with the one person you thought about while you were listening, and to follow or subscribe so the next story finds you too.Instagram: @anchormomentspod | TikTok: @anchormomentspod | anchormomentspod.com Got a story? anchormomentspod.com or hello@anchormomentspod.com

  You're part of someone's story, so carry that with kindness.

I'm telling you about my two first loves. The first was a weird off-brand troll doll named Norfin that I got one Christmas instead of the troll I actually asked for, and then loved so hard he went grey, matted, and bandaged. He held me through every lonely night of a childhood where I felt unseen. The second was a blind prom date that started as a total disaster and turned into the man I've been married to for more than twenty years.

It's a story about the things and the people that hold us together when no one else sees us, and about the slow, stubborn realization that it was never about the doll being pretty or the start being perfect. It was about being chosen.

If you've ever had a blanket, a doll, or a person you couldn't let go of or never let go of you, you'll appreciate this feel good story.

This week's question (come answer on Instagram): What was your Norfin? The doll, blanket, or worn-out thing that held you when you couldn't hold yourself yet. Tell me what it was and whether you still have it. @anchormomentspod

A note before you listen: These are my stories and my reflections. Take what helps and leave the rest. My mom is an angel and did the best she could. My stuff is my stuff, and I've turned out pretty great, so no one needs to carry any of this on my behalf.

Content note: This one is warm and chill, but we do touch on childhood loneliness, feeling unseen, abandonment feelings, and the loss of my dad. Nothing graphic or explicit. If today's not the day, that's okay. Take care of you and come back when you're ready.

Support resources (always here):

• US: Call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, 24/7.
• International: findahelpline.com (200+ countries) and Befrienders Worldwide at befrienders.org.
  

Spread the word: Send this to the one person you thought of while listening. Then follow Anchor Moments wherever you're listening so the new episodes find you, and if you have a minute, leave a rating or review. Word of mouth is how this little show keeps going.

Have a story to share? Everybody has one. Head to anchormomentspod.com, fill out the intake form, and get on the calendar. Or just say hi at hello@anchormomentspod.com.

Find the show:

• Instagram: @anchormomentspod
• TikTok: @anchormomentspod
• Web: anchormomentspod.com
  

You're part of someone's story, so carry that with kindness.

In this episode, Jean takes us from a strict, loving childhood in Staten Island to a college pregnancy that got her kicked out of her family, to the slow and graceful loss of her mother, the fast and brutal loss of her father, and then the sudden death of her husband in a hotel room a few states away, on what was supposed to be one of the best days of her life.

What she found out after he was gone changed everything she thought she knew. There's grief here, there's a stretch that honestly plays like a crime show, and there's a red bird.

We talk about betrayal, what it means to pour love back into yourself, and why she protects her rituals fiercely.

This week's question: Jean had nothing left to lose, so she knocked on her late husband's drug dealers' doors and demanded her money back. No backup, no plan, just nerve. If you were that far past the edge, would you knock on the door, or find another way out? Come tell us on Instagram!

Find Jean: Instagram @thewokewidow (https://www.instagram.com/thewokewidow/). She's writing a book and offers sound baths, breath work, and Reiki.

A little disclaimer: The stories and views you hear on this show belong to the people telling them. They aren't always mine, and that's kind of the point. I'm not here to agree, correct, diagnose, or decide who's right. My job is to listen, to hold space, and to let each person's experience stand as theirs. Take what helps you, and leave the rest.

Content warning: This episode includes discussion of the death of a parent, terminal illness and hospice, the sudden loss of a spouse, infidelity, addiction and substance use, and heavy grief. Please take care of yourself however you need to.

If you're struggling, you're not alone:

US: Call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, available 24/7.

International: Find a helpline in 200+ countries at findahelpline.com, or reach Befrienders Worldwide at befrienders.org.

Love the show? The best way to help Anchor Moments grow is to share this episode with the one person who came to mind while you listened, and to follow or subscribe so the next story finds you too. If you have a minute, a rating or review helps more than you'd think.

Come say hi:

Instagram: @anchormomentspod

TikTok: @anchormomentspod

Web: anchormomentspod.com

Got a story to share? anchormomentspod.com or email hello@anchormomentspod.com

You're part of someone's story, so carry that with kindness.

Khushnum grew up believing she was only as good as what she could produce. She became a high achiever, a fixer, the one who reads the room before she had the words for any of it. And even with all the training, all the modalities, all the language for what she was doing, the pattern kept running underneath. It took her body stopping her - and a long stretch of sitting in the quiet she'd spent her whole life avoiding - to start asking who she was without the performance.

We talk about over-functioning, the difference between healing and just collecting more knowledge about yourself, what it actually looks like to give something to yourself instead of checking a box, and why she's not afraid to get in the muck with the people she works with.

Khushnum isn't standing at a tidy ending. She's still in it, a few steps further down the path. That's exactly what makes this one worth sitting with.

A few things we get into:

• Worth that's tied to producing, and where that starts
• Why "I exist, and I'm worthy" is harder to say than it sounds
• The one small non-negotiable you give to yourself every day
• Being in it with people instead of handing down answers

Find Khushnum: https://www.instagram.com/khushnum_stevens/

Resources relevant to what was shared:

If you're running on burnout or feeling like you've lost yourself somewhere in everything you do for everyone else, you don't have to sit in that alone.

For mental health support and finding a therapist: SAMHSA Helpline: 1-800-662-4357 (free, confidential, 24/7) Psychology Today therapist finder: psychologytoday.com

If you are in crisis or having thoughts of suicide: 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988 Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741

International listeners: findahelpline.com (200+ countries) befrienders.org

Have a story for Anchor Moments? hello@anchormomentspod.com | anchormomentspod.com

This is Part 3 - the finale. If you haven't listened from the beginning, start with Part 1 first. This story is worth hearing in order.

She left. She got out. Her son was in the seat next to her.

Part 3 is what happened after.

Freedom doesn't mean the hard stuff stops. Maggie still carried the fear in her body - still said sorry too many times, still flinched when she spilled something. Fifty years of survival doesn't pack up and leave just because the circumstances change.

But something else happened too. A man named Darrin showed up, patient in a way she had never experienced. Her son became someone she is endlessly proud of. And slowly, then all at once, Maggie started to find her way back to herself.

Part 3 covers: starting over and watching her son thrive - what it felt like to be loved without conditions for the first time - losing her mother and the last phone call she almost didn't take - the morning in 2019 when she had a stroke at work and was airlifted to the hospital - learning to walk, talk, and think again - the grief, the arthritis, the art she came back to - and what she found, at fifty years old: peace. A self she actually likes.

"I would do it all again to be where I am right now."

If you need support

Crisis/Suicide: 988 (US/CA) · Samaritans 116 123 (UK/IE) · Lifeline 13 11 14 (AU) · 0800 543 354 (NZ) | 988lifeline.org

Domestic Violence: 1-800-799-7233 (US) · 0808 2000 247 (UK) · sheltersafe.ca (CA) · 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732 (AU) · Women's Aid 1800 341 900 (IE) · Are You OK 0800 456 450 (NZ)

Stroke Recovery: stroke.org (US) · stroke.org.uk (UK) · heartandstroke.ca (CA) · strokefoundation.org.au (AU) · irishheart.ie (IE) · stroke.org.nz (NZ)

Mental Health: SAMHSA 1-800-662-4357 samhsa.gov (US) · Mind 0300 123 3393 mind.org.uk (UK) · crisisservicescanada.ca (CA) · Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636 (AU) · mentalhealthireland.ie (IE) · mentalhealth.org.nz (NZ)

Website: anchormomentspod.com

Instagram: @anchormomentspod

If Maggie's story moved you, share it. These stories only do their work when they travel.

This is Part 2 of a three-part series.

At the end of Part 1, Maggie was alive. Angry about it. Not yet knowing what was still ahead.

Part 2 is the long middle. And if you've ever lived through a long middle - the part where things are hard and slow and there's no obvious way out - you will recognize something of yourself in this episode.

Maggie stayed in a marriage for nearly twenty years that slowly took everything: her money, her confidence, her voice. She knew something was wrong. But she had been practicing survival since she was small.

And then her son was born. And everything shifted.

Part 2 covers: almost two decades of financial and emotional control - finding her voice at work because it was the only place she had one - her son's birth and the turning point he became - the moment her twelve-year-old said he couldn't watch her cry anymore - being fired and falsely accused of embezzling at the same time she was facing a cancer scare - the arrest, the mugshot on the front page, and $$$ in restitution ordered for something she didn't do - why she pleaded guilty - forgiving her dying father - and the morning she packed everything into a little car and drove away while her husband was at work.

He didn't even notice she was gone.

All parts available now. Subscribe so you don't miss our next great story.

Resources:

Crisis/Suicide: 988 (US/CA) · Samaritans 116 123 (UK/IE) · Lifeline 13 11 14 (AU) · 0800 543 354 (NZ) | 988lifeline.org

Domestic Violence: 1-800-799-7233 (US) · 0808 2000 247 (UK) · sheltersafe.ca (CA) · 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732 (AU) · Women's Aid 1800 341 900 (IE) · Are You OK 0800 456 450 (NZ)

Sexual Assault: RAINN 1-800-656-4673 (US) · Rape Crisis 0808 802 9999 (England/Wales) · 08088 01 03 02 (Scotland) · casac.ca (CA) · 1800RESPECT (AU) · DRCC 1800 778 888 (IE) · Safe to Talk 0800 044 334 (NZ)

Pregnancy & Infant Loss: nationalshare.org (US) · Sands 0808 164 3332 sands.org.uk (UK) · pailnetwork.ca (CA) · Sands 1300 072 637 sands.org.au (AU) · alittlelifetime.ie (IE) · sands.org.nz (NZ)

Mental Health: SAMHSA 1-800-662-4357 samhsa.gov (US) · Mind 0300 123 3393 mind.org.uk (UK) · crisisservicescanada.ca (CA) · Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636 (AU) · mentalhealthireland.ie (IE) · mentalhealth.org.nz (NZ)

Website: anchormomentspod.com

Instagram: @anchormomentspod

This is Part 1 of a three-part series.

Maggie has a thousand stories and we're just scratching the surface here.

Maggie grew up in a home ruled by fear. Her father was physically and emotionally abusive in ways that shaped everything that came after. Her childhood is mostly blank to her - not because nothing happened, but because her mind protected her from remembering too much of it. What she does remember, she shares here - unflinchingly, with humor and with grief.

Part 1 covers: a childhood with an unpredictable, abusive father - her brother leaving when she was nine - being sexually assaulted at thirteen and her reputation destroyed before she understood what had happened - moving twenty-two times - leaving home at seventeen - the loss of her daughter Emily Grace at thirty-six weeks - and the night, a week after the funeral, when she took a whole bottle of pills.

Maggie survived all of it. But in Part 1, she doesn't know yet what she's surviving toward.

Parts 2 & 3 available now. Subscribe so you don't miss the next great story.

If you need support

Crisis/Suicide: 988 (US/CA) · Samaritans 116 123 (UK/IE) · Lifeline 13 11 14 (AU) · 0800 543 354 (NZ) | 988lifeline.org

Sexual Assault: RAINN 1-800-656-4673 (US) · Rape Crisis 0808 802 9999 (England/Wales) · 08088 01 03 02 (Scotland) · casac.ca (CA) · 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732 (AU) · DRCC 1800 778 888 (IE) · Safe to Talk 0800 044 334 (NZ)

Domestic Violence: 1-800-799-7233 (US) · 0808 2000 247 (UK) · sheltersafe.ca (CA) · 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732 (AU) · Women's Aid 1800 341 900 (IE) · Are You OK 0800 456 450 (NZ)

Pregnancy & Infant Loss: nationalshare.org (US) · Sands 0808 164 3332 sands.org.uk (UK) · pailnetwork.ca (CA) · Sands 1300 072 637 sands.org.au (AU) · alittlelifetime.ie (IE) · sands.org.nz (NZ)

Mental Health: SAMHSA 1-800-662-4357 samhsa.gov (US) · Mind 0300 123 3393 mind.org.uk (UK) · crisisservicescanada.ca (CA) · Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636 beyondblue.org.au (AU) · mentalhealthireland.ie (IE) · mentalhealth.org.nz (NZ)

Connect with Anchor Moments

• Website: anchormomentspod.com
• Instagram: @anchormomentspod

No guest today. Just me answering the two questions that have come up more than anything else since we launched: why I say "who we are still becoming," and how we ended up homeless.

Both answers are longer than I expected, messier than I wanted, and still not fully over. But you asked.

A gentle heads-up: This episode includes mention of sexual assault, homelessness, a mental health crisis, family estrangement, and financial fraud. Resources are below. Please take care of yourself as you listen.

Resources

If anything in this episode touched something real for you, please reach out for support.

• RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline - 1-800-656-4673 or rainn.org (US)
• 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline - call or text 988 (US)
• Crisis Text Line - text HOME to 741741 (US)
• SAMHSA National Helpline (mental health and crisis support) - 1-800-662-4357 (US)
• National Homeless Shelter Directory - homelessshelterdirectory.org (US)
• Psychology Today therapist finder - psychologytoday.com (US and international listings)

If you're outside the US - findahelpline.com connects you to crisis support in more than 200 countries. Befrienders Worldwide offers free emotional support at befrienders.org.

If you don't feel ready to call anyone, even telling one safe person you're struggling counts.

If this episode stayed with you Please follow, rate, and share. One text to one person is the single biggest thing you can do for a show this size, and it might be exactly what someone in your life needs today.

Tag us on socials @anchormomentspod.

If you have a story you think belongs here, reach out at anchormomentspod.com or email hello@anchormomentspod.com.

I'm Krista Patrick. This is Anchor Moments. You are already part of someone's story. Carry that with kindness.

When we left off, Tara had just made a decision. She picked up her phone, got on TikTok, and posted a video about her husband cheating on her. Millions of people watched what came next.

In this episode: going viral without a plan, building a career from scratch with $500 and an in-home daycare, filing for divorce, dating after divorce, the shark-infested waters of healing in public, and what Tara means when she says she's learning to choose herself. She doesn't have a tidy ending. She is still in it. And that is exactly what makes this worth listening to.

Find Tara: Instagram: @tara.divorce.healing.unhinged | TikTok: @tara.r0se

Resources:

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 | Text START to 88788 | thehotline.org

Financial abuse resources: thehotline.org/resources/financial-abuse

Al-Anon (addiction, partners + families): al-anon.org

SAMHSA Helpline (substance use): 1-800-662-4357, free + confidential, 24/7 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988 Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741 International: findahelpline.com (200+ countries) | befrienders.org

Have a story for Anchor Moments? hello@anchormomentspod.com | anchormomentspod.com

Tara's story didn't start last year. It started with a dad who chose alcohol over her, and a pattern she repeated in every relationship that followed - choosing people she could change, staying longer than she should have, and telling herself it wasn't that bad.

In this episode, Tara walks through two marriages, infidelity, a partner's addiction she had no idea existed, the moment a therapist named what was actually happening in her home, and the financial trap that made leaving feel impossible.

Find Tara: Instagram: @tara.divorce.healing.unhinged | TikTok: @tara.r0se

Resources:

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 | Text START to 88788 | thehotline.org

Financial abuse resources: thehotline.org/resources/financial-abuse

Al-Anon (addiction, partners + families): al-anon.org

SAMHSA Helpline (substance use): 1-800-662-4357, free + confidential, 24/7

988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988 Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741 International: findahelpline.com (200+ countries) | befrienders.org

Have a story for Anchor Moments? hello@anchormomentspod.com | anchormomentspod.com

Anchor Moments is a storytelling podcast about those experiences. Real people. Real stories. The moments that made us who we are, and who we're still becoming because of them.

I believe it's impossible not to love someone once you know their story.

New episodes drop April 25, 2026. Follow now so you don't miss them.

When we left off, Grace had just hit the lowest point of her Cinderella story. The dresses were gone. Her mom's words were still hanging in the air. In Part 2, we pick up right there - and we talk about what happened next. A suicide attempt at nine years old. What God said to her in that moment. The vision that kept her here. And then years later, the slow and honest work of actually healing.

Grace also shares four of the most practical, grounded things I've heard anyone say about rebuilding yourself after a childhood like hers. I took notes. I think you will too.

In this episode:

• The hidden dress and what it meant to her in the darkest moments
• A suicide attempt at age nine and the experience that changed everything
• The vision of her future family that kept her here
• Meeting her husband at sixteen and knowing immediately
• The sexual abuse she experienced the night before her wedding
• Early marriage - the hard years and what it took to stay
• Holding her first daughter and realizing for the first time she didn't deserve what happened to her
• Going no contact with her entire family
• How the suicidal ideation finally stopped - and what actually made the difference
• Four things Grace wishes someone had told her sooner:
  • Thinking through hard things instead of toxic positivity
  • What it really means to love your neighbor as yourself
  • A daily practice for healing from body shame and sexual abuse
  • The new door - why healing doesn't feel good yet, and why that's okay

Trigger warnings:

This episode contains a suicide attempt, sexual abuse by a parent, religious trauma, descriptions of early marriage difficulty, and detailed discussion of suicidal ideation. Please take care of yourself as you listen.

Resources:

United States:

• Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988 | 988lifeline.org
• RAINN (sexual assault support): 1-800-656-4673 | rainn.org
• National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 | thehotline.org
• Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741

International:

• Crisis Text Line (UK, Canada, Ireland): Text HOME to 741741
• Samaritans (UK and Ireland): 116 123 | samaritans.org
• Befrienders Worldwide (international suicide prevention directory): befrienders.org
• International Association for Suicide Prevention (crisis center directory): iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres

Connect with Grace: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grace_filled.mama/

Keep an eye out for Grace's personal development journal for husbands - she mentioned it's dropping soon and I'm excited about it.

If this episode meant something to you, share it, leave a review, or tell one person. That is how people who need this find it. Thank you for being here.

In Part 1, Grace takes us all the way back. We talk about what it felt like to grow up invisible in a crowded house, to be pulled out of her own education at age six, and to find ways to survive from the shadows. And then the packages started arriving - beautiful, mysterious dresses that kept showing up on her porch - and everything got more complicated from there.

This is one of the most honest conversations I've had on this podcast. I think you'll feel that.

In this episode:

• Growing up as the seventh child and the weight that came with that
• Her mom losing the ability to walk and how that shaped the family's dynamic
• Being pulled from her education at age six and learning to read on her own
• Moving herself into the basement to take up less space
• The first mystery package - and the pure joy that came with it
• How her parents responded to the dresses, and what that taught her about herself
• Childhood sexual abuse
• Suicidal ideation beginning around age seven

Trigger warnings:

This episode contains childhood emotional abuse and neglect, childhood sexual abuse, suicidal ideation in a child, religious trauma, and descriptions of parental manipulation. Please take care of yourself as you listen.

Resources:

If anything in this episode brought something up for you, please reach out. You don't have to sit with it alone.

United States:

• Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988 | 988lifeline.org
• RAINN (sexual assault support): 1-800-656-4673 | rainn.org
• Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline: 1-800-422-4453 | childhelp.org
• Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741

International:

• Crisis Text Line (UK, Canada, Ireland): Text HOME to 741741
• Samaritans (UK and Ireland): 116 123 | samaritans.org
• Befrienders Worldwide (international suicide prevention directory): befrienders.org
• International Association for Suicide Prevention (crisis center directory): iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres

Connect with Grace: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grace_filled.mama/

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If this episode meant something to you, share it. That is how people who need it find it.

What follows is thirty-something years of figuring out how to love yourself when the people who were supposed to show you how... couldn't.

Taryn grew up with a mother deep in addiction and a father who was emotionally absent, and she spent most of her adult life not knowing how to be okay.

Panic attacks in high school. A baby at 19. Weeks without electricity. A broken engagement that became her first real rock bottom. And a diagnosis of OCD and CPTSD that finally gave language to what she'd been living with all along.

But this episode isn't about surviving. It's about what Taryn built on the other side of all of it. She runs a healing practice called The Happy Human. She's building a local community space called the Regulation Room, where anyone who's overwhelmed can walk in and just breathe.

She got engaged in February 2026 to someone who waited six years for her. And she'll tell you herself - she still pulls over on the side of the road sometimes because a panic attack took the feeling out of her legs. She's still healing. She just knows now that healing doesn't mean it stops. It means you know how to stay.

Taryn's anchor moment isn't one thing. It's a slow accumulation of choosing herself, over and over, until one day she named her business "The Happy Human" and realized: that's actually true.

Trigger warnings: childhood neglect, parental substance abuse, abandonment, poverty, grief and loss, OCD, CPTSD, panic disorder, alcohol use, and family estrangement.

The stories of what happened to us, and who we became because of it.

When Rohmel was fourteen, his mother died of cancer three months after her diagnosis. A week after that, the family friends who'd taken them in said it was time to go. He and his father - a once-celebrated chef who had simply shut down - ended up on a street with the highest murder rate in the country. Eight months. No car, no shelter, no plan. The only white kid on a block where Crips, Bloods, and the Mexican Mafia all wanted him gone. He had a knife fight his first full day.

He's sixty-something now, starting a company named after his autistic stepson, training young entrepreneurs in honor of a friend's little boy who died running a lemonade stand. He says he doesn't feel fear. He also can't fully forgive himself for the divorce that cost him three years of his daughter's childhood. Both of those things are true at the same time.

A gentle heads-up: This episode includes discussion of parental loss, childhood homelessness, gang violence and near-death experiences, and a parent's grief over time missed with their child. Faith is also woven throughout - as it was for Rohmel, then and now. Resources are below. Please take care of yourself as you listen.

On faith in this episode

Rohmel's faith isn't peripheral to his story - it's the lens he uses to look at everything in it. He names God directly and often. If that's not your language, his story still belongs to you. This show holds every guest's experience as their own, not as a prescription for anyone else. What I keep coming back to isn't the theology - it's the fact that a boy who should have died every day for eight months came home carrying both a fearlessness most of us will never know and a regret he still won't release. Both shaped who he is. And - not but - he's still becoming.

Resources

If anything in this episode touched something real for you, please reach out for support.

• 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline - call or text 988
• Crisis Text Line - text HOME to 741741
• Psychology Today therapist finder - psychologytoday.com
• National Homeless Shelter Directory - homelessshelterdirectory.org
• SAMHSA National Helpline (grief, mental health, substance use) - 1-800-662-4357

If you don't feel ready to call anyone, even telling one safe person you're struggling counts.

If this episode stayed with you

Please follow, rate, and share. One text to one person is the single biggest thing you can do for a show this size, and it might be exactly what someone in your life needs today. Tag us on socials @anchormomentspod.

If you have a story you think belongs here, reach out at hello@anchormomentspod.com.

I'm Krista Patrick. This is Anchor Moments.

You are already part of someone's story. Carry that with kindness.

The step work she put down a hundred times. The words she finally let herself mean.

When you first meet Teresa, you get warmth. You get someone who will talk to absolutely anyone, who FaceTimes her sister every single morning, who moves her body every day because she knows what happens when she doesn't. What you don't see is the years she spent just surviving - going to work, keeping the lights on, showing up in all the ways that looked right from the outside while quietly disappearing on the inside. She was a functioning addict for years while raising her girls. Nobody knew. She barely knew. The version of herself she was becoming in private was starting to show up in places she did not want it to, and the fear of rejection she had carried her entire life made it almost impossible to say that to anyone out loud.

Near the end of our conversation, she told me she is a damn good mom. She said it like she had finally earned the right to believe it. She has.

A gentle heads-up: This episode includes discussion of addiction and recovery, childhood family dynamics, parenting through an identity you are still figuring out, and the kind of guilt that does not leave just because you have changed. Resources are below. Please take care of yourself as you listen.

Resources If anything in this episode touched something real for you, please reach out for support.

• 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline - call or text 988 (US)
• Crisis Text Line - text HOME to 741741 (US)
• SAMHSA National Helpline (substance use, mental health) - 1-800-662-4357 (US)
• Narcotics Anonymous meeting finder - na.org (international)
• SMART Recovery (science-based alternative to 12-step, online meetings worldwide) - smartrecovery.org
• Psychology Today therapist finder - psychologytoday.com (US and international listings)

If you're outside the US - findahelpline.com connects you to crisis support in more than 200 countries. Befrienders Worldwide offers free emotional support at befrienders.org.

If you don't feel ready to call anyone, even telling one safe person you're struggling counts.

If this episode stayed with you Please follow, rate, and share. One text to one person is the single biggest thing you can do for a show this size, and it might be exactly what someone in your life needs today. Tag us on socials @anchormomentspod. If you have a story you think belongs here, reach out at hello@anchormomentspod.com.

I'm Krista Patrick. This is Anchor Moments.

You are already part of someone's story. Carry that with kindness.