One of the hardest parts of healing after a breakup is knowing that your Ex is with someone new. Even if you were starting to heal and pull yourself back together emotionally, finding out that your Ex is moving on feels devastating… even if you know in your heart of heart that this relationship was not good for you. Yep. You’re not crazy — that emotional whiplash is real, and it’s exactly what we’re talking about in this episode of Love, Happiness, and Success. We’re diving deep into the biological, psychological, and emotional reasons why it hurts so much when your ex moves on — even if you were the one who ended things, even if you thought you were over it, and even if you know you don’t want them back.

I’m walking you through what’s really happening in your brain, body, and heart when that news hits and sharing some strategies you can use to take back your peace, rebuild your confidence, and help you move forward with strength.

Timestamps: 00:00 - Why seeing your ex move on hits like a gut punch 02:31 - What’s actually happening in your brain and body 05:37 - The science behind why you can’t stop thinking about them 08:21 - Obsessive thoughts vs. healing thoughts (and how to tell the difference) 21:34 - How to use self-awareness and mindfulness to calm the storm 33:14 - Shifting your thoughts: the key to peace 37:48 - Love as a drug: the biology of attachment and withdrawal 51:00 - What most therapists miss (and how to get the right kind of help) 53:59 - You will get through this — and grow because of it

Letting go of someone you once loved (or maybe still do) isn’t just about time passing — it’s about intentionally reclaiming your power, rebuilding your sense of self, and learning how to care for your heart in a whole new way. 

If listening to this episode stirred something in you — whether that’s grief, anger, confusion, or even clarity — that’s a sign. A sign that you’re ready to take the next step in your healing journey.

You might be further along than you think… or you might be missing a few key pieces that are keeping you emotionally tethered. Here’s where to start: 👉 Take my Heartbreak Recovery Quiz: How Over Your Ex Are You? — it’s quick, it’s insightful, and it’s designed to help you pinpoint exactly where you are in the healing process. More importantly, it will show you what you need to do next to get unstuck and start feeling like yourself again.

👉  If you’re ready for personalized support, you can schedule a free consultation with a breakup recovery expert here. You’ll be able to talk to someone who truly understands the messy, complicated, totally normal emotions you’re experiencing — and who knows how to help you move forward. 

No matter what your ex is doing, you still get to decide the story you write from here. You are worthy of love, joy, and a life that feels whole — with or without them in it.

And we’re here to walk with you every step of the way.

Xoxo Dr. Lisa Marie Bobby www.growingself.com

P.S. If you know someone who just found out about their ex’s new relationship, send them this podcast episode. Your support and encouragement could be exactly what they need to start their healing journey.

“I want a divorce.”   It’s one of the most alarming sentences a married person can hear. And — in one way or another — it means that your marriage is about to change. 

But it doesn’t always mean that your marriage is about to end.

When your spouse asks you for a divorce, it breaks one of two ways: it either leads to a “transformational crisis” where couples make positive and often long-overdue changes to their relationship, or it’s the beginning of the end.

I want you and your husband or wife to have the first outcome. That’s why I created this episode of the podcast for you. I wanted to give you some guidance for navigating this incredibly scary situation, based on my work with countless couples over the years who pulled their marriages back from the brink of divorce. I know from experience that it is often possible to stop a divorce and save your marriage, but only if you manage this relationship crisis effectively. My hope is that this episode of the podcast will help you do that. 

Later on, I’m joined by Rich Harris, a family law attorney in the Denver area who knows a lot about the other side of this issue. Rich is offering advice about where to begin if you aren’t able to save your marriage (although his team at the Harris Law Firm has seen many couples reconcile, even after their divorce cases were well underway). 

I hope this episode helps you find clarity, direction, and peace of mind. 

With love, 

Dr. Lisa Marie Bobby

www.growingself.com

Is untreated ADHD causing trouble in your relationship?

“My partner doesn’t listen to me. He agrees to do something, and then he ‘forgets.’ I feel like he just doesn’t care. He didn’t even bother to get me a card for our anniversary…” 

Sound familiar? Many couples arrive in counseling with a list of issues like these, and no awareness of one likely culprit: ADHD. The condition not only creates setbacks at work and in school, it can cause all kinds of misunderstandings in relationships, particularly when ADHD is undiagnosed and unmanaged.

That’s why I created this episode of the podcast for you. I wanted to talk about the under-discussed impact of ADHD in relationships, so you can get the support you need if it’s becoming an issue for you and your partner. 

My Guest is Dori, a couples counselor, sex therapist, and ADHD coach on our team here at Growing Self. Funny enough, this topic hits close to home for both Dori and myself…like, extremely close. Tune in for more on that!

I hope our conversation gives you a new perspective on ADHD, and how you can manage it while keeping your relationship healthy and strong.

With love, 

Dr. Lisa Marie Bobby

GrowingSelf.com

Are there emotional vampires lurking all around you? 

Unfortunately, this isn’t a problem you can solve with a garlic necklace or some holy water. An “emotional vampire” (or “energy vampire”) is a very unscientific term for a person who stirs up strong emotional reactions in others — like anger, pity, discomfort, or annoyance. Not only do they not take accountability for this, they seem to feed off of it. They drain your time, energy, and emotional wherewithal, and give you little in exchange. 

If a relationship is feeling bad, it could be that you’re dealing with one of these exhausting personality types. But sometimes, it’s more about the ingredients that you’re bringing to the table (or not bringing to the table). Many people need some help telling the difference, and I created this episode about “warding off emotional vampires” to make it a little easier. You’ll learn why certain people trigger you (while other people get along with them just fine), and how you can prevent emotional vampires from bleeding you dry. 

Happy Halloween, 

Dr. Lisa Marie Bobby

GrowingSelf.com 

Learning how to face your fears productively can give you clarity, direction, and — ironically — peace of mind.

No one likes to feel afraid, but fear can be a powerful tool for living the life you want to live. Fear will alert you when you’re not living in alignment with your goals and your values. If you can face your fear and take wisdom from it, you can open doors that you wouldn’t otherwise have the clarity or the motivation to open. 

Today’s podcast is all about facing your fears. I’m talking about why we feel fear, how fear can illuminate what’s most important to us, and how you can take guidance from your fear to live more fully and more in alignment with your values. 

With love, 

Dr. Lisa Marie Bobby

GrowingSelf.com

Red flags in relationships aren’t always easy to spot. Even when we do pick up on them, they can be easy to dismiss. If you’re a hopeful, optimistic, generous person, you’re probably pretty good at making excuses for questionable behavior from others, and at thinking of opportunities to improve difficult situations when it would really be in your best interest to walk away. 

Furthermore, you may have a hard time spotting red flags in relationships because of your own personal history. Sometimes, our past experiences can distort our natural sense of what’s good for us and what’s not, which is a problem that working with a good therapist or a qualified life coach can help you resolve. By learning to trust your own instincts and recognize red flags, you can choose healthy relationships that add joy and love to your life. 

Tune into this episode to hear actionable advice on red flags in relationships, and how you can navigate them when they do arise. My guest is Dr. Paige M., a couples counselor and individual therapist on the team at Growing Self. Dr. Paige is sharing some insightful tips that can save you a lot of stress and heartache — you don’t want to miss this one. 

With love, 

Dr. Lisa Marie Bobby

www.growingself.com 

Over the past few decades, we’ve made some huge strides toward building equality in our relationships. It’s no longer rare for a woman to be her family’s primary breadwinner, or to see a dad perusing the produce aisle with a Baby Bjorn strapped to his chest. 

Yet, for many couples who arrive in couples counseling or relationship coaching, the division of household labor is still a perennial source of conflict and resentment. Many couples still fall into traditional gender roles when it comes to who’s doing the cleaning, the cooking, and the shopping, even though it’s now the norm for both partners to work full-time. 

Furthermore, tasks or roles associated with “women’s work” are often viewed as being less valuable and important than activities associated with traditional male roles. Even relationships between career-focused women and stay-at-home dads can have issues with power imbalances and inequality because we value these types of work differently based on our attitudes about gender.

Relationships that feel imbalanced and unfair are not only bad for the partner who’s doing most of the daily household tasks. They’re bad for the relationship itself, and for both partners inside of it. Becoming truly equal partners is often the path to creating a happier, more connected, and more fulfilling relationship (and, interestingly, a better sex life), and that’s what we’re discussing on today’s episode of the podcast. 

My guest is Kate Mangino, a gender expert, speaker, and the author of “Equal Partners: Improving Gender Equality at Home.” Kate is sharing wisdom from her extensive social science research, her two decades of work within the international development sector, as well her own life and relationship, to help you find more balance and create a truly equal partnership that feels fair and fulfilling. 

I hope you’ll tune in to this important conversation on equality in relationships, which not only applies to heterosexual couples, but to anyone who has some internalized gender scripts to interrogate (in other words, everyone!)

With love, 

Dr. Lisa Marie Bobby

www.GrowingSelf.com

When you become a step-parent, you’re walking into a tricky situation. You may have the warmest feelings for your step-kids and a heartfelt desire to be a positive figure in their lives, and still find yourself thrust into the role of “wicked step-mother” (or step-father), with the pain of their parents’ broken marriage heaped onto your back… while your partner stands by helplessly.

As a longtime marriage counselor, I know blended family problems like these are common, and incredibly challenging to overcome. It’s one of the reasons I advise couples to seek blended family counseling as a preventative measure, before problems arise. I also advise taking a very thoughtful approach to blending your families, and examining your expectations for what the role of step-parent will look and feel like. 

Listen to “the dos and don’ts of step-parenting” to get real-deal advice on how to avoid the most common step parenting mistakes, and learn an approach to step-parenting that helps you release unhelpful expectations so you can create a happy, harmonious blended family.

With love, 

Dr. Lisa Marie Bobby

GrowingSelf.com

What is your apology language? And, more importantly… what’s your partner’s? 

As an experienced marriage counselor and couples therapist, I know that apologizing is an essential skill for healthy relationships. 

But not all apologies are created equal. Just as partners must learn to speak each other’s love languages to help each other feel cared for, they must also learn to apologize in ways that feel meaningful to their partner and pave the way to genuine forgiveness.

Tune in to learn all about apology languages, the anatomy of a good apology, and how you can repair “relationship injuries” and get things back on track with the people you love the most. 

Xoxo, 

Dr. Lisa Marie Bobby

On today’s episode of the podcast, we’re covering a topic that doesn’t get nearly the attention it deserves: the unique challenges of maintaining a relationship when you or your partner are members of the military, and how you can keep your military relationship healthy and strong. 

If you or your partner (or both of you!) are service members, you know that the military can feel like a mistress, always meddling on the edges of your relationship… and sometimes high-jacking it completely. No matter how in love with each other you are, or how committed to your partnership you feel, it’s hard to be moved from place to place because of distant orders that you had little or no say in. It’s hard to have a career that takes you away from your partner and your children for extended periods of time. It’s hard to take care of everything on the home front by yourself, especially if you’re stationed far away from family and friends. 

And it can be especially hard to find a marriage counselor or a long-distance relationship counselor who understands these unique challenges, and how to help military couples overcome them. Luckily, we have just such an expert joining us on this episode of the podcast. Jesse S., M.S, LMFT, is a marriage counselor and relationship coach here at Growing Self. He’s also a member of the military with over two decades of service, currently serving in the Connecticut National Guard as a First Sergeant in the 141st Ground Ambulance Unit. In addition to treating bodily wounds, he’s passionate about helping other service members heal and grow as individuals, and within their relationships. Today, he’s sharing his insight and guidance with you. I hope you’ll join us!

With love, 

Dr. Lisa Marie Bobby