This is the character development deep dive that shows how love calls us into becoming who we're meant to be. The moment when you realize that fictional transformations mirror our own healing journeys and teach us profound truths about breaking free from toxic conditioning.

Here's what Empire of Storms teaches us about growth and purpose:

• Character redemption isn't about becoming someone new - it's about discovering the heart you always had
• How toxic family conditioning can make us believe we're heartless when we've been showing compassion all along
• The power of having people see your potential before you recognize it yourself (the 13 saw Manon's heart first)
• Breaking free from manipulation requires recognizing that cruelty isn't strength - it's learned behavior
• Ruthlessness as a survival tool versus ruthlessness as your entire identity
• How love and connection call us into our authentic selves (Manon with Dorian, Elide with Lorcan)
• The difference between fantasy romance intensity and actual emotional safety in relationships
• Why some character arcs feel more satisfying than others (earned growth versus told growth)

From Manon's transformation from "evil" witch to beloved character showing us how to reclaim our authentic selves, to Elide and Lorcan demonstrating what emotional care looks like in relationships, this episode explores how the best fantasy mirrors real psychological growth.

Major spoiler alert: We discuss plot points from Empire of Storms and reference the entire Throne of Glass series.

Content note: This episode includes discussion of adult themes and fantasy violence.

Get the Book: 📖 Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas

Because here's what we learned: the characters who resonate most deeply are those whose growth reflects our own journey of breaking cycles, healing from conditioning, and being called into purpose through love and authentic connection.

This is part one of our Empire of Storms analysis - part two coming next month!

About my bestie Priscilla:

Priscilla De Lara is originally from California now living in Milan, Italy working in international education. She is a lover of food, traveling, and reading! Fun fact: Priscilla was a college radio DJ.

Connect with Priscilla on TikTok @priscillainitaly

Subscribe. Share. Remember that character development mirrors personal development.

Small steps, big healing. Keep growing! ✨

Join the conversation! Which fictional character's transformation has taught you the most about your own healing journey? DM me your insights on Instagram @YourCoachMari

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This is the book lover's guide to understanding why solo healing has limits and connection is essential for deeper growth. The moment when you realize that fiction isn't just entertainment - it's medicine that shows us what healthy healing relationships actually look like.

Content note: This episode discusses themes of trauma and healing. The book contains content warnings for depression, stalking, sexual assault, forced pregnancy, miscarriage, and infant loss.

Here's what "Audiophile" by Emerie Hart teaches us about healing through connection:

• People pleasing is a learned behavior - through modeling (watching parents handle conflict), direct teaching ("don't make waves," "what will people think?"), and emotional reinforcement (conditional love based on good behavior)
• Trauma manifests similarly: isolation, pushing people away, avoidance, escapism, hopelessness about dreams and improvement
• How two hurt people can create healing space for each other without waiting to be "perfect" first
• What healthy partnership looks like: encouraging without pushing, respecting boundaries, enthusiastic consent, seeing each other as whole people
• Reed helps Petra come back to life by showing her windows of possibility and respecting her healing pace
• Petra helps Reed trust again by seeing him as a person (not just his persona) and consistently respecting his boundaries
• The beautiful truth that we are meant to heal in community, not isolation - there's a limit to solo healing

From characters who moved back home and gave up on dreams to those running from abusers with strict rules to keep everyone away, this book shows how genuine interest, boundary respect, and creating space for authentic expression can transform lives.

Because here's what I'm convinced of: we cannot fully heal without connection to others. We can heal to a certain extent by ourselves, but eventually we need relationships that call us into deeper growth. Fiction shows us templates for what that looks like.

Get the Book: 📖 "Audiophile" by Emerie Hart - Get the book here

Subscribe. Share. Remember that stories have the power to teach us about real healing.

Small steps, big healing. Keep growing! ✨

Join the conversation! What fiction book taught you something profound about healing or relationships? DM me your book recommendations on Instagram @YourCoachMari

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This is the hard truth about how your healing journey doesn't just change your life - it rewrites your family's entire story. The moment when you realize that the validation-seeking patterns causing you pain right now are the same ones you might be unconsciously teaching the next generation.

Here's what's really happening with intergenerational people pleasing:

• People pleasing is learned behavior - through modeling (watching parents handle conflict), direct teaching ("don't make waves," "what will people think?"), and emotional reinforcement (conditional love based on good behavior)
• Children absorb relationship templates from what they observe, creating emotional inheritance that intensifies with each generation
• Identity formation struggles when kids are constantly told to put others first instead of developing a strong sense of self
• Ineffective decision-making patterns where major life choices get deferred to others instead of considering your own needs
• The ripple effect: how your healing work impacts not just you but generations to come
• Practical strategies: modeling healthy boundaries, validating authentic expression even when inconvenient, normalizing disagreement, and making repair visible
• The beautiful truth that when you break these patterns, you create a completely different legacy

From buying my dog a $150 ice blanket while I don't have one (learned from watching my mom always put our needs first) to recognizing how cultural messages like "quieter equals prettier" shaped generations of women, this episode exposes how family patterns repeat until someone decides to break the cycle.

Because here's what I know: you can't model healthy behavior without embodying it yourself. But when you do the inner work to heal your own relationship with validation, the ramifications are wonderful and lasting.

The work you're doing today doesn't just benefit you - it benefits the children you may have, their children, and so many generations to come.

🎧 Related Episode: Embracing Disapproval - This is the gentle guide for when you've decided to stop people pleasing but that uncomfortable feeling has you frozen.

Subscribe. Share. Remember that breaking generational patterns starts with your own healing.

Small steps, big healing. Keep growing! ✨

Join the conversation! What people pleasing patterns do you see in your family across generations? DM me your reflections on Instagram @YourCoachMari

💬 LET'S CONNECT:

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Send in questions: [email protected]

We might just have the same taste in books. Check out my Book List.

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🌱 LET’S GROW TOGETHER

→ Schedule your discovery call

→ 1:1 Life Coaching Coaching

→ The Transformation Program

→ The Evolution Program

This is the gentle guide for when you've decided to stop people pleasing but that uncomfortable feeling has you frozen. The moment when you realize you no longer want to do backflips for everyone's approval but you're frozen because you don't know how to handle their disappointment without immediately backtracking.

Here's what's really happening when disapproval feels threatening:

1. Early conditioning: how childhood taught us that love was conditional on good behavior and performance
2. Social media amplification: why stranger approval online feels life-or-death important
3. The physical response: recognizing tight chest, stomach knots, and shallow breathing as normal reactions
4. The costs of continuing: loss of authenticity, decision paralysis, emotional exhaustion, and diminished boundaries
5. Why successful people inevitably disappoint some people - and that's actually okay
6. The power dynamic shift: how people get upset when they lose their ability to use you
7. Practical strategies: body awareness, questioning assumptions, and practicing your "disapproval muscle"
8. Diversifying approval sources instead of putting all your worth into one person's opinion

From the person who couldn't make decisions to save their life during narcissistic abuse to recognizing that healthy relationships still involve conflict, this episode exposes why disapproval feels so threatening and gives you tools to sit with the discomfort.

Because here's the truth: if someone only likes you when you're bending over backwards for them, that's not a relationship worth keeping. Your health, your peace, and your life are more important than any one person's approval.

You don't need to avoid disapproval - you need to learn to survive it.

Subscribe. Share. Remember that not everyone will like you anyway - and that's perfectly fine.

Small steps, big healing. Keep growing! ✨

Join the conversation! What does disapproval feel like in your body? DM me your experiences on Instagram @YourCoachMari

💬 LET'S CONNECT:

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→ Schedule your discovery call

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→ The Transformation Program

→ The Evolution Program

This is the identity wake-up call that shows you exactly how people pleasing is erasing who you really are. The moment when you stop thinking shape-shifting to fit in is harmless and start understanding how the chameleon effect is slowly making you unrecognizable to yourself.

Here's the real cost of being a social chameleon:

• Opinion shifting: how being agreeable erodes your actual beliefs until you don't know what you really think
• Decision paralysis: why you can't make choices without consulting others first (because you need to know what's "acceptable")
• The exhaustion effect: feeling drained after social interactions from constant self-monitoring and performance
• Identity fragmentation: becoming a different person with different groups until you lose track of who's real
• Validation addiction: that dopamine hit when your performance gets accepted by the in-group
• Relationship emptiness: why connections built on personas feel hollow even when you're surrounded by people
• How to reclaim your authentic self through small moments of genuine expression

From picking up accents while traveling (harmless) to twisting your values to meet others' expectations (identity-erasing), this episode exposes the difference between natural social mirroring and destructive shape-shifting.

Because here's the truth: when you build relationships based on performance instead of authenticity, you'll always feel like there's a metaphorical film between you and everyone else.

The people who love the real you are worth the temporary anxiety of potential disapproval.

Subscribe. Share. Remember that your authentic self is worth keeping - flaws and all.

Small steps, big healing. Keep growing! ✨

Join the conversation! Do you feel like a different person with different groups? DM me your stories on Instagram @YourCoachMari

💬 LET'S CONNECT:

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Send in questions: [email protected]

We might just have the same taste in books. Check out my Book List.

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→ Schedule your discovery call

→ 1:1 Life Coaching Coaching

→ The Transformation Program

→ The Evolution Program

This is the people-pleasing wake-up call that shows you exactly what saying yes is actually costing you. The moment when you stop thinking "just because I don't have plans doesn't mean I'm available" is just a nice idea and start understanding the real personal, professional, and emotional prices you pay when you can't say no.

Here's what nobody talks about when it comes to people pleasing:

1. The personal cost: time bankruptcy, physical exhaustion, and identity dilution from constantly prioritizing others
2. The professional cost: diminished work quality, reputation damage, and career stagnation from overcommitment
3. The emotional cost: resentment, validation addiction, and the depression that comes from living in an authenticity gap
4. Why saying no to others is actually saying yes to yourself and your priorities
5. Practical strategies: the pause technique, value alignment checks, and graceful ways to say no
6. How to reframe boundaries as necessary, not selfish

From the client whose people-pleasing contributed to depressive episodes to women who become their boyfriend's manager instead of pursuing their own careers, this episode exposes the hidden costs that no one talks about.

Because here's the truth: every time you betray yourself by saying yes when you want to say no, you're not just giving away time - you're giving away pieces of your life.

No is a complete sentence, but yes to yourself is a complete life.

🎧 Related Episode: Why Your Friend Group is Shrinking: The Burnout and Relationship Connection - Here's what nobody talks about when it comes to burnout - it's why your relationships suffer too. Three strategies for staying connected when you're barely surviving. 

Subscribe. Share. Remember that boundaries aren't selfish - they're necessary for sustainable relationships.

Small steps, big healing. Keep growing! 🌱

Join the conversation! What's the hidden cost of saying yes that you've experienced? DM me your stories on Instagram @YourCoachMari

💬 LET'S CONNECT:

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Buy Me a Cafecito

Send in questions: [email protected]

We might just have the same taste in books. Check out my Book List.

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→ Schedule your discovery call

→ 1:1 Life Coaching Coaching

→ The Transformation Program

→ The Evolution Program

This is the self-love reality check for anyone who thinks it's "cliche" to talk about. The moment when you stop believing that harsh self-criticism equals motivation and start understanding why loving yourself is actually the hardest work you'll ever do. In this episode, I break down exactly why self-love feels impossible and give you practical tools to build self-compassion from the ground up.

We're getting real about:

1. Why cultural conditioning taught us that being hard on ourselves equals progress
2. How our brains are literally wired for negativity after years of self-criticism
3. The perfectionism trap that makes you believe worthiness must be earned through achievement
4. Why comparison culture and fear of complacency keep you stuck in self-attack mode
5. The discomfort with positive feelings that makes you push away joy
6. My practical strategies: self-compassion pause, reframing techniques, boundary setting, and mindfulness practices
7. How to implement these tools into morning and evening routines that actually stick

From writing affirmations on bathroom mirrors to asking "would I let someone talk to my friend this way?" - this episode covers the daily practices that slowly rewire decades of negative self-talk.

Because here's the truth: if you've been practicing negativity for years, your brain has gotten really good at it. But you can train it to be just as good at self-compassion.

Self-love isn't selfish - it's necessary.

Subscribe. Share. Challenge yourself to respond to your inner critic like you would defend a friend. You deserve that protection too.

Small steps, big healing. Keep growing! ✨

Join the conversation! How has your inner critic been showing up lately? DM me your experiences on Instagram @YourCoachMari.

💬 LET'S CONNECT:

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Send in questions: [email protected]

We might just have the same taste in books. Check out my Book List.

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→ Schedule your discovery call

→ 1:1 Life Coaching Coaching

→ The Transformation Program

→ The Evolution Program

This is the burnout reality check that explains why your relationships are suffering. The moment when you stop wondering why you can't show up for friends and start understanding how exhaustion actually works. In this episode, I break down the real connection between burnout and relationship breakdown - plus three practical ways to maintain connections when you're running on empty.

We're getting real about:

• Why burnout isn't just work stress (it's parenting, activism, economic hardship, and political chaos too)
• The signs you're burned out: exhaustion, irritability, apathy, and hopelessness
• How we're one system - you can't leave work stress at work
• Why your friend group keeps shrinking (hint: it might be burnout)
• The "three business months" response time we all joke about but actually experience
• How relationships provide the support, joy, and levity you desperately need right now
• And my three effective strategies for maintaining connections when you barely have energy to survive

I share my own burnout story from last year - how a minor podcast issue had me in tears because I was so maxed out, and share practical ways relationships actually support recovery - from emotional support to community financial help.

This isn't about forcing yourself to be social when you're depleted. This is about strategic connection that actually helps your recovery instead of draining you further.

Connection is the antidote to burnout.

Subscribe. Share. Show up for your people even when you don't feel like it. They need you and you need them.

Small steps, big healing. Keep growing! ✨

Join the conversation! How has burnout affected your relationships? DM me your experiences on Instagram @YourCoachMari.

💬 LET'S CONNECT:

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Buy Me a Cafecito

Send in questions: [email protected]

We might just have the same taste in books. Check out my Book List.

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→ Schedule your discovery call

→ 1:1 Life Coaching Coaching

→ The Transformation Program

→ The Evolution Program

This is the judgment-free midyear check-in you actually need. The moment when you stop beating yourself up about unmet goals and start making strategic moves for the rest of 2025. In this episode, I break down exactly how to assess your progress without the judgment and give you permission to pivot like the evolved human you are.

We're covering all the good stuff:

1. The judgment-free goal assessment that actually helps (no shame, just facts)
2. Why I'm 40% through my reading goal when we're 50% through the year (and why that's actually fine)
3. How to identify your real roadblocks vs the stories you tell yourself
4. The sunk cost fallacy trap that keeps you stuck in goals that no longer serve you
5. Why some goals deserve to be dropped and others just need better strategies
6. The art of recalibrating timelines without calling yourself a failure
7. And the radical permission to let priorities shift as you grow

This isn't about forcing yourself to stick with January's version of success. This is about honoring where you are now, working with your reality instead of against it, and making the second half of 2025 actually work for you.

Your goals should evolve as you do. Full stop.

Subscribe. Share. Give yourself permission to pivot. Growth isn't linear.

Small steps, big healing. Keep growing! 🌱

Join the conversation! How are your 2025 goals going? What's working and what needs to shift? DM me your midyear reflections on Instagram @YourCoachMari

💬 LET'S CONNECT:

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Send in questions: [email protected]

We might just have the same taste in books. Check out my Book List.

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→ Schedule your discovery call

→ 1:1 Life Coaching Coaching

→ The Transformation Program

→ The Evolution Program

This is your pocket guide to healing in 2025. As we move through this year, I wanted to share some of the most powerful healing insights from our conversations this past year.

Think of this as your roadmap for putting yourself first when everything feels overwhelming.

In this special compilation episode, I'm pulling together the wisdom that's transformed my clients' lives and will transform yours too.

We're covering all the good stuff:

1. Why asking for help is actually the strongest thing you can do
2. The one-thing-at-a-time approach that prevents burnout and overwhelm
3. How to build habits that actually stick (without the all-or-nothing mentality)
4. Simple ways to nourish your soul when you're running on empty
5. Why movement is medicine for breaking negative thought cycles
6. How to protect your energy on social media without feeling guilty
7. The self-care you're already doing (but not giving yourself credit for)

This isn't just a tips episode. This is a love letter to every woman who's tired of people-pleasing, exhausted from putting everyone else first, and ready to remember that small steps create the biggest changes. These insights came from my lowest moments and biggest breakthroughs - the real stuff that actually works when you're struggling.

If you're feeling overwhelmed by self-improvement culture or think healing has to be this huge dramatic thing, this episode will shift everything for you.

Subscribe. Share. Take one small step today. Your healing matters.

Small steps, big healing. Keep growing! ✨

💬 LET'S CONNECT:

My Insta

My TikTok

Growing with Sol Podcast

Buy Me a Cafecito

Send in questions: [email protected]

We might just have the same taste in books. Check out my Book List.

(Bookshop affiliate)

🌱 LET’S GROW TOGETHER

→ Schedule your discovery call

→ 1:1 Life Coaching Coaching

→ The Transformation Program

→ The Evolution Program