Originally Published September 1, 2018 under the Just Us Women podcast title.As with ALL episodes, there is an explicit label. That is because the topics may include discussions that can be triggering for people. This episode does have some difficult topics so, just be warned.I recently listened to a podcast by Rebecca Scritchfield, called Body Kindness. In an archived episode back in 2016, she talked about a book called The Upside of Stress by Kelly McGonigal. They talked about how fear can lead to courage. And for some people, after going through trauma, they can actually experience post-traumatic growth…after the trauma, life has more meaning.For most of this episode, Tracey tells her story about growing up with many challenges including a complicated family-of-origin history. She talks about education choices and career changes. She talks about being married to her 1st husband and the traumatic experience that was including experiencing violence and abuse.Tracey also shared about her daughter dealing with PTSD and about how the school system and so many adults do a poor job in standing up for children who have been bullied or abused. This was very triggering for me so at about the 49:10 min. mark, I had a 10 min breakdown which I mostly edited out. It really hit a nerve and I was surprised at my own emotions. This was because there have been multiple times that I have experienced and witnessed that so many adults do not really listen to (or protect) children who have been abused or bullied. And so, to hear yet another instance of this, the emotions just overflowed. We picked up the discussion talking about reasons why women end up staying in difficult marriages and the societal pressures put on women.We had to cut the discussion short at the end but will hopefully be able to pick up the topic in a future episode.Original Music Composition by Esther NicholsonDisclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the podcast guests do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the podcast host, Wendy Nicholson