Flip Flops and Freedom: Hope and Light for Estranged Parents

The holidays hit differently when there's an empty chair. In this episode, Susan shares three practical ideas for estranged parents: how to make your decisions before the day makes them for you, how to handle the people (real and imagined), and why you're allowed to feel the ache and the joy at the same time. One decision made. One permission accepted. That's the goal.

Susan Metzger helps estranged parents get unstuck and live unbroken. New episodes every week covering estrangement, identity, emotional health, faith, and freedom.

📖 Rejected Yet Redeemed book and small group study: susanmetzger.org/rejected-yet-redeemed-book

Ever sit in the waiting room of estrangement and think — I must be the only one this is happening to? If so, this conversation is for you.

Susan’s guest is Candi Morris, a voice for estranged parents and author of When They Walk Away. She also runs a Facebook support group by the same name. Candi was the first person Susan found online who talked openly about estrangement — and watching her find her voice helped Susan find hers.

In this episode:

If you have been carrying this quietly, you are not alone. Take one small brave step. Tell one safe person what you are walking through.

🔗 Find Candi’s resources: estrangedandrearranged.com

Susan Metzger helps estranged parents get unstuck and live unbroken. New episodes every week covering estrangement, identity, emotional health, faith, and freedom.

📖 Rejected Yet Redeemed book and small group study: susanmetzger.org/rejected-yet-redeemed-book

What does estrangement look like when you are living it and helping others heal from it at the same time?

In this episode Susan sits down with Nancy Wagner — a Transformational Life Coach, estranged parent, and grandparent — for an honest conversation about estrangement from adult children and what it actually takes to keep moving forward.

Nancy brings both her personal story and her coaching lens to the table, including a look at her newest program, A Seat at the Table, built specifically for estranged parents and children working toward reconciliation.

In this episode:

If you are in a season with no clear end date, this episode is for you. Nancy’s story is proof that healing does not have to wait for reconciliation to begin.

🔗 Learn more about A Seat at the Table: virtualgirlfriendroadtrip.kit.com/81e44d1634

Susan Metzger helps estranged parents get unstuck and live unbroken. New episodes every week covering estrangement, identity, emotional health, faith, and freedom.

📖 Rejected Yet Redeemed book and small group study: susanmetzger.org/rejected-yet-redeemed-book

Fine is not the same as free. And you deserve more than fine.

What does freedom actually look like when the relationship is still broken? In this episode Susan Metzger closes out the estrangement series with the distinction at the center of her own journey — and shows what it means to live unbroken even while a relationship remains unresolved.

This finale brings together everything the series has named and lands on what it actually looks like to build a full, ordinary life again.

In this episode:

If this series has walked with you through something hard, this episode closes it out with what freedom can actually look like from here.

Susan Metzger helps estranged parents get unstuck and live unbroken. New episodes every week covering estrangement, identity, emotional health, faith, and freedom.

📖 Rejected Yet Redeemed book and small group study: susanmetzger.org/rejected-yet-redeemed-book

What do you do when someone else starts telling a completely different story about who you are?

In this episode Susan Metzger names a layer of estrangement grief that rarely gets talked about — losing your child not just to silence, but to another narrative. A spouse, an ex, or even a well-meaning counselor becoming the voice that reshapes how your child sees you.

This episode is about reclaiming your identity when someone else has picked up the pen. And about why you were never meant to carry that alone.

In this episode:

If someone else’s version of your story has started to feel more real than your own, this episode is for you.

Susan Metzger helps estranged parents get unstuck and live unbroken. New episodes every week covering estrangement, identity, emotional health, faith, and freedom.

📖 Rejected Yet Redeemed book and small group study: susanmetzger.org/rejected-yet-redeemed-book

What do you do when someone you trusted turns on you overnight — after years of closeness?

In this episode Susan Metzger tells the story of how jealousy fractured David’s closest relationship, and teaches his response — a practice she calls Strategic Silence. Choosing peace over forcing a resolution someone else is not ready to give.

This episode closes with one simple actionable step for anyone waiting on a relationship they cannot control.

In this episode:

If you are waiting on a relationship you cannot force to change, this episode offers a way to sit in that wait without it consuming you.

Susan Metzger helps estranged parents get unstuck and live unbroken. New episodes every week covering estrangement, identity, emotional health, faith, and freedom.

📖 Rejected Yet Redeemed book and small group study: susanmetzger.org/rejected-yet-redeemed-book

What do you do when the love you gave your child gets met with silence instead?

In this episode Susan Metzger sits with the specific ache of parental estrangement — the kind of grief that most people around you were never taught to understand.

Drawing on national research alongside her own twenty-three years walking this road, Susan gives listeners language for a loss that rarely gets a funeral, a casserole, or a card. And shows why that silence does not make the grief any less real.

In this episode:

If you are an estranged parent carrying grief no one around you seems to understand, this episode is for you.

Susan Metzger helps estranged parents get unstuck and live unbroken. New episodes every week covering estrangement, identity, emotional health, faith, and freedom.

📖 Rejected Yet Redeemed book and small group study: susanmetzger.org/rejected-yet-redeemed-book

Do you feel stuck in life — even though you know you need to make a change?

In this episode Susan Metzger explores why so many people struggle to move forward and the surprising difference between pain-driven motivation and desire-driven transformation.

Pain can push you to take the first step. But it rarely keeps you moving. Real lasting change happens when your desire for a better future becomes stronger than your comfort with the present.

In this episode:

Whether you are navigating a major life transition, rebuilding after disappointment, pursuing personal growth, or simply feeling stuck — this episode will encourage you to stop waiting for the perfect moment and start creating the life you truly want.

Susan Metzger helps estranged parents get unstuck and live unbroken. New episodes every week covering estrangement, identity, emotional health, faith, and freedom.

📖 Rejected Yet Redeemed book and small group study: susanmetzger.org/rejected-yet-redeemed-book

What if the secret to better mornings has nothing to do with your morning?

Most of us wake up already behind — hitting snooze, scrambling to make decisions, skipping healthy habits, and wondering why we never seem to get ahead. But what if tomorrow’s success is determined by the choices you make tonight?

In this episode Susan Metzger shares the simple mindset shift that has transformed her own routine. Backed by science and practical wisdom you will learn how your evening habits influence your energy, stress levels, productivity, and even your ability to make good decisions the next day.

In this episode:

You do not need a perfect morning routine. You need a plan that helps tomorrow’s version of you succeed.

Susan Metzger helps estranged parents get unstuck and live unbroken. New episodes every week covering estrangement, identity, emotional health, faith, and freedom.

📖 Rejected Yet Redeemed book and small group study: susanmetzger.org/rejected-yet-redeemed-book

Who are you when everything else is stripped away?

Most of us answer that question without even realizing it. We build our identity on our roles, relationships, accomplishments, or even our pain. But what happens when those things change?

In this episode Susan Metzger explores why your identity is the foundation of everything else in your life. Blending biblical truth with insights from psychology, she explains how the lens you see yourself through shapes your decisions, relationships, resilience, and future.

If you have ever wondered who you are apart from what you do, what you have survived, or what other people think of you, this episode will help you begin uncovering the identity God has given you all along.

In this episode:

🎁 Free companion worksheet — Identity Lens: DOWNLOAD HERE

Susan Metzger helps estranged parents get unstuck and live unbroken. New episodes every week covering estrangement, identity, emotional health, faith, and freedom.

📖 Rejected Yet Redeemed book and small group study: susanmetzger.org/rejected-yet-redeemed-book