Today’s the day! My latest podcast interview, Breaking Free: Healing from Religious Trauma and Fundamentalist Beliefs, just went live, and I couldn’t be more excited to share it with you. It’s filled with practical advice, encouragement, and warmth for anyone healing from religious trauma and sexual shame. I got pretty personal in this one, opening up about my journey from a life entirely centered around religious faith, through the challenging process of healing trauma, and finding my way to a place of deep self-connection and empowerment.
This episode has some really heartfelt moments and here are a couple of excerpts I love:
“Whether you’ve come out of religion or even a difficult family life, the most healing thing we can do is learn to trust, listen to, and connect with ourselves. Our quality of life will be so much better if we’re living from the inside out. Through connecting with ourselves first and then moving out from there. That’s how I enjoy living my life. I’m not saying everybody has to do that, but it’s pretty meaningful to connect with something inside of you and then create it in the world. It’s a cool invitation to people to just imagine what life could be like. To find their inner compass and then live from there.”
Then, when asked if I could go back to talk with myself as I child what I would say and I responded “I’d go back to age 6, because that’s when I chose to be a Christian. I would let him know that it’s okay if he wants to choose that, but there’s nothing wrong with him. That he’s not actually bad, or sinful, or shameful, or that anything’s wrong with him. And even if the church, or this belief system, or the Bible is saying that about him, that he’s really good inside; that it’s beautiful inside of him. And also just that he can be himself. And that it’s going to get better. Right now, maybe Jesus is saving him, but I’m going to get to save him soon, too, and he’s going to be safe with me after he gets through some really hard stuff. But I would love for him to just know in his heart that he’s good. That he’s not bad, or sinful, or wrong, or broken. That he’s just good deep down. I just feel like that would have made a big difference for him to see himself that way.“
I also shared in depth about my unexpected journey leaving Christianity and the process I went through to heal sexual shame (with advice for others on a similar path). Shea’s insights were really insightful as well, as a woman raised in the church who also has changed her beliefs.
Whether you’re on a similar journey or just curious about exploring who you are deep down, I truly believe there’s something here for you. As always, my invitation through every piece of content is for you to dive deeper into discovering who you are inside. To me, that’s the most incredible journey any of us can take.
So, if you’re looking for hope, inspiration, advice, or just a bit of encouraging conversation, I invite you to listen (on Spotify or Apple). I hope it uplifts and encourages you, as much as it meant for me to share. Thanks for being here, for reading, and for listening. Enjoy!
In compassionate support,
For more articles on self-connection, codependency, religious trauma, CPTSD, IFS, connection, healing, and beyond, I invite you to check out my blog and follow for future posts here.
*This blog created with the help of AI
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