In this episode of I Need You, Florence Ann Romano speaks directly to moms navigating the back to school season. She explains that while people often ask how the kids are feeling, very few people ask how the parents are feeling.

Florence talks about the mix of emotions that can come when children return to school. Parents may feel relief, peace, guilt, sadness, excitement, and anxiety all at once. She reminds listeners that more than one thing can be true at the same time, and that feeling happy for a quiet house does not make someone a bad parent.

A major focus of the episode is emotional transition. Florence explains that the biggest mistake people make during these moments is saying “I’m fine” when they are not. Pushing feelings down does not make them disappear. Instead, those emotions eventually show up somewhere

else.

Florence introduces the three R’s: recognize, reconnect, and reach out. Recognize what you are feeling. Reconnect with the people and parts of your life that may have been neglected during a busy season. Reach out by asking for help, accepting help, letting love in, and taking one small

step toward connection.

She also reflects on resilience and how her mom modeled it for her. Florence challenges listeners to tell someone in their life why they admire their resilience instead of saving kind words for the end.

In this episode:

● Why back to school affects moms too

● How multiple emotions can exist at once

● Why rest is not rejection

● Why saying “I’m fine” can hide real feelings

● How to use the three R’s during transition

● Why reconnection matters after a busy season

● How resilience can be modeled for others

● Why we should say good words while people are alive

This episode is a reminder that emotional transitions are not something to avoid. Florence invites listeners to name what they feel, give themselves grace, reconnect with safe people, and go through the season instead of trying to go around it.

In this episode of I Need You, Florence Ann Romano talks about the silent tests we give the people we love. We expect them to read our minds, notice our pain, understand our needs, and show up exactly right, even when we have never told them what is really going on.

Florence names the heart of the episode clearly: stop testing people with a test they do not know they are taking. Unspoken expectations become premeditated disappointments, and relationships cannot grow when they are built on guessing instead of honest communication.

She shares her own experience going through IVF and freezing her eggs at 35. Even though she had people around her and intentionally connected with others going through similar experiences, the process still felt deeply lonely. Instead of telling her friends and family what she

needed, she expected them to understand something they had never experienced themselves.

That silence became a test. Florence admits she was grading people on information they never had. She was waiting for them to know she was hurting, but she had not given them the chance to love her well.

The episode brings the lesson back to the ASK framework, especially the S: say what you need.

Florence gives simple phrases people can use when they do not want to carry something alone, including “I don’t need you to fix this, I just need someone to listen,” “Can I borrow your strength for a minute?” and “I need you.”

In this episode:

● Why people cannot read our minds

● How unspoken expectations become disappointment

● Why silence is not communication

● What IVF taught Florence about loneliness and control

● Why we grade people on information they never had

● How to say what you need clearly

● Why love grows when expectations become conversations

● Why the people who love you deserve the chance to show up

This episode is a reminder to stop testing people and start trusting them with the truth. The people who love you cannot meet needs they have never been invited to see.

In this episode of I Need You, Florence talks about why so many of us wait until we are completely falling apart before we ask for help. We tell ourselves it is not bad enough yet, but Florence challenges that idea by asking who gets to decide what “bad enough” really means.

The heart of the episode is about giving ourselves permission to need people before life becomes a tragedy. Florence reminds us that we do not have to earn the right to be cared for, and our village is not just for emergencies. It is for regular Tuesdays, the ordinary moments

when support, presence, and honesty can keep us from carrying everything alone.

Florence shares a painful story from a past relationship where she stayed silent for months. She did not tell her family or friends how much she was struggling, and she tried to hold everything together through two important weddings. Afterward, she finally broke down, called her mom,

and told the truth. Her mom and friends asked the question that revealed the deeper lesson: why didn’t you tell me sooner?

That moment became a reminder that silence can keep us stuck. Florence explains that keeping secrets can keep us sick, and sometimes saying the truth out loud to the right person is what wakes us up. Asking for permission is not about waiting until the pain is unbearable. It is about

allowing yourself to be supported while you are still in the middle of it.

She brings the conversation back to the ASK framework: ask the right person, say what you need, and know how they can help. Support does not always mean someone fixes the problem.

Sometimes support is simply someone being present, listening, offering perspective, or reminding you that you are not alone.

In this episode:

● Why we wait too long to ask for help

● What it means to give yourself permission to need people

● Why support is not only for emergencies

● How shame and embarrassment keep us silent

● Why saying the truth out loud can wake us up

● How the ASK framework helps us reach out

● Why presence can be enough

● Why your village is for Tuesdays, not just tragedies

This episode is a reminder that the people who love us do not need proof that we are struggling. They simply need the opportunity to show up.

What happens when one person hurts you so deeply that everyone who comes after has to pay for it?

In this episode of I Need You, Florence Ann Romano talks about betrayal, friendship wounds, discernment, and the difficult work of learning how to trust wisely again.

Florence shares the story of a friendship that once felt like sisterhood. This was someone she trusted deeply, confided in, and considered a safe place. But when that friendship ended, the pain changed how she showed up in every relationship that followed.

She explains how betrayal does not just break your heart. It can change the way you see vulnerability, honesty, friendship, and love. One person’s actions can become the lens through which you judge everyone else, even the people who are actually trying to show up for you.

But healing does not mean trusting everyone again. It means learning to trust wisely.

Florence reminds listeners that discernment protects the heart, while fear imprisons it. The goal is not to give everyone access to your life, but to recognize the people who have consistently earned the privilege of your trust.

Using the ASK framework, Florence walks listeners through how to identify the right person, say what they need, and know how that person can help. She also challenges listeners to ask whether they are protecting their heart or hiding it.

In this episode:

● How betrayal changes the way we trust

● Why one person’s actions can affect every relationship after

● Florence’s personal story of friendship heartbreak

● Why self-blame often follows betrayal

● The difference between protection and emotional imprisonment

● Why discernment protects the heart

● Why fear leads to isolation

● Why trust needs to be earned

● How to use the ASK framework after betrayal

● Why safe relationships require courage

If you have ever been hurt by someone you trusted, this episode is a reminder that your job is not to trust everyone. Your job is to recognize the people who have earned the privilege of your trust.

You can be surrounded by people and still feel completely alone when no one truly knows what’s happening beneath the surface.

In this episode, Florence Ann Romano gets personal about the ways we hide, even from the people we love most. After catching herself masking a difficult day from one of her best friends, Florence asks a bigger question: Are we letting people truly know us, or are we only letting them know about us?

She explores why being admired isn’t the same as being known, why asking for support can feel so uncomfortable, and how vulnerability with the right person can become the beginning of deeper connection.

In this episode:

• Why surface-level conversations create surface-level relationships
• How to choose the right person to trust with what’s really going on
• Florence’s ASK framework: Ask the right person. Say what you need. Know how they can help.

You don’t need everyone to know everything. You just need the courage to let the right person know the real you. This week, choose one safe person and say one honest thing out loud.

Connect with Florence:
Instagram: @florenceann.romano
LinkedIn: Florence Ann Romano

What if the bravest thing you could say is also the thing that changes your life?

In this first episode of I Need You, Florence Ann Romano opens up about the fear, discomfort, and power behind three simple words: “I need you.”

Florence explains why those words can feel so difficult to say. Once they are spoken, there is no hiding from the truth. You have to be honest, vulnerable, and willing to admit that you cannot carry everything alone.

She also shares the meaning behind her work in Build Your Village and introduces the idea of the accepting villager — the person you can be honest with, vulnerable with, messy with, and fully seen by. In a time where loneliness, friendship recession, and mental health struggles are

so common, Florence reminds listeners that healing starts with letting the right people in.

Through a personal story about finally calling a close friend and saying “I need you,” Florence reflects on what it means to stop always being the rescuer and allow someone else to show up for you.

This episode also introduces the ASK framework:

A — Ask the right person

S — Say what you need

K — Know how they can help you

Florence reminds us that people are not mind readers. Clarity is kindness, and the more honest and specific we are, the easier it becomes for the right people to support us.

In this episode:

● Why “I need you” can feel so hard to say

● What the accepting villager means

● Why neediness deserves to be rebranded

● Florence’s story of finally asking for help

● How to use the ASK framework

● Why clarity helps people show up for you

● Why we may not need more people, just more honesty

If you have become so good at being strong that you have forgotten how to receive, this episode is an invitation to say the quiet part out loud.

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