breaking cycles

September 16, 2025

Breaking Down the Barriers to Love

“I spent almost half a decade looking into the mirror and seeing someone else. Who did I see? Someone who everyone else expected me to be. People-pleasing doesn’t give your true self the opportunity to be loved—and it doesn’t give someone else the opportunity to be loved by your true self.” Continue reading

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September 4, 2025

Understanding Fawning: Breaking Cycles of Survival-Based Relationships

Unlike fight, flight, or freeze responses that happen in the moment, fawning is different—it’s a survival pattern learned over time. Dr. Mary Catherine MacDonald explains how this trauma response develops through repeated experiences, creating adults who struggle to simply exist in relationships without constantly scanning for others’ needs. But understanding fawning is the first step… Continue reading

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August 23, 2025

The Stories We Tell Ourselves: Finding Truth Beyond Collective Narratives

We tell ourselves stories in order to live,” Joan Didion wrote. But what happens when those shared stories—our collective narratives—become barriers to the very connection they promise to create? Growing up with parents whose lives were like apple carts filled to capacity, I learned early how fragile our shared stories can be. One uncomfortable truth… Continue reading

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July 23, 2025

When Authority Becomes the Enemy of Truth

“Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth.” — Albert EinsteinThe ambulance lights cut through the darkness at the convenience store. Someone had played Russian roulette and lost. As I drove past that night, seventeen and heartbroken after my boyfriend left me for my best friend, I looked up at the empty sky… Continue reading

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July 8, 2025

Walking in Shadows: A Journey from Darkness to Light

The toxic faith I grew up with convinced me that looking inward was dangerous—that if I dug beneath the surface, I’d discover nothing but the rot of an irredeemably sinful heart. But what happens when someone already drowning in that internal darkness looks outward and sees nothing but more of the same? When it finally… Continue reading

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breaking cycles

Breaking Down the Barriers to Love

Understanding Fawning: Breaking Cycles of Survival-Based Relationships

The Stories We Tell Ourselves: Finding Truth Beyond Collective Narratives

When Authority Becomes the Enemy of Truth

Walking in Shadows: A Journey from Darkness to Light