Loving Your Life Again | Toxic Relationship Recovery & Nervous System Healing For Women Ready to Heal

 🌿 Free for you: The Self Trust Reset. If your reality has been questioned so many times that you second-guess everything, this is a gentle place to begin hearing your own voice again, at your own pace. Get it here: breathofrenewal.com/self-trust-reset 

What if the hardest part of healing isn’t surviving the hurt, but letting yourself receive the good when it finally comes?

My friend Shabana Knight was two years old when she was separated from her guardian in a crowded train station in India. An orphanage, an adoption, and a cross-country move later, she’s built a life full of love, but not without some very dark seasons.

Together we talk about:

• The years when everything felt like too much
• What it takes to rebuild after your self-worth has been stolen
• Why your body needs time to trust love after hurt

I also share the hospital bed where “one day at a time” became one moment, and then one breath, at a time.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• Why receiving love can feel unsafe, even when nothing is wrong
• How a strong no makes room for a confident yes to yourself
• The difference between consuming more and integrating what you already know
• What loving your life looks like when you learn to be present

Journal prompts:

• Where am I saying yes to others while saying no to myself?
• What would I ask for if I believed it was safe to ask?

Connect with Shabana:

• Intuitive energy readings: loveandlight.kit.com/products/intuitive-energy-readings
• Instagram: instagram.com/the_shabana_knight
• Organized Chaos: Permission Granted: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/organized-chaos-permission-granted/id1838536482

Stay connected with me:

• A Moment to Exhale, my weekly letter with a real story and one simple tool for your week: breathofrenewal.com/exhale
• Space to Exhale, a gentle conversation where you can be heard and witnessed, with no pressure and no rush: breathofrenewal.com/space-to-exhale

Until next time. One day, one moment, one breath at a time, back to loving your life. 🤍

#lovingyourlifeagain #breathofrenewal #healingjourney #selftrust #peoplepleasingrecovery #nervoussystemhealing #somatichealing #emotionalhealing #choosingmyself #receivinglove

Support the show

If something in this episode is still sitting with you — stay there a moment. You don't have to rush to the next thing. And when you're ready, I'm here.

The kindest thing you can do is share this with a woman who needs to hear she's not alone. And if you haven't yet — hit follow and leave a review. It helps more women find their way here.

🌐 Start here: www.breathofrenewal.com/start-here
📱 Instagram: @breath_of_renewal
✉️ [email protected]

Until next time — one day, one moment, one breath at a time back to loving your life. 🤍

🌿 Looking for a gentle place to land each week? A Moment to Exhale is my weekly letter. Each one brings you a real story, one simple tool for your nervous system, and a reminder that you’re not walking this road alone. Join here: breathofrenewal.com/exhale

You take care of everyone. The kids, the house, his moods, the never-ending to-do list. Then at the end of the day, standing in the kitchen, you reach for something even though you’re not hungry. What if that isn’t a willpower problem at all?

In this episode, I sit down with Amber Romaniuk, an Emotional Eating, Digestive, and Hormone Expert, to talk about what happens when a woman spends years overriding herself: her hunger, her feelings, her needs, her no. Amber shares her own journey through binge eating and restriction, and the moment she realized food was never the real problem. Together we explore why “just stop” never works, how judgment keeps the cycle going, and what it looks like to start listening to your body instead of fighting it.

What you’ll walk away with:

• Why the behavior is never the whole story, and the gentle question to ask instead of “how do I stop?”
• A simple way to tell physical hunger from emotional hunger
• Why shame becomes its own trigger, and how forgiveness gives you your power back
• One small, safe step you can begin today, on your own terms

Journal prompts:

• Where in my life am I saying yes when I really mean no?
• The next time I reach for something, can I pause and ask: What do I really need instead?
• What is one small thing I can do for myself this week, and how will I celebrate it?

A gentle note: this conversation includes honest discussion of binge eating and bulimia. Please listen in whatever way feels safe for you.

Connect with Amber

• Website: https://amberapproved.ca/
• Free Emotional Eating Quiz: https://amberapproved.ca/emotional-eating-quiz/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amberromaniuk
• The No Sugar Coating Podcast, available on all podcast apps

When You’re Ready

Space to Exhale, a gentle conversation with me about where you are and what you need: breathofrenewal.com/space-to-exhale

Until next time. One day, one moment, one breath at a time — back to loving your life. 🤍

#emotionaleating #peoplepleasing #selfabandonment #selftrust #nervoussystemhealing #somatichealing #toxicrelationshiprecovery #healingjourney #lovingyourlifeagain #breathofrenewal

Support the show

If something in this episode is still sitting with you — stay there a moment. You don't have to rush to the next thing. And when you're ready, I'm here.

The kindest thing you can do is share this with a woman who needs to hear she's not alone. And if you haven't yet — hit follow and leave a review. It helps more women find their way here.

🌐 Start here: www.breathofrenewal.com/start-here
📱 Instagram: @breath_of_renewal
✉️ [email protected]

Until next time — one day, one moment, one breath at a time back to loving your life. 🤍

🌿 Craving a little more breathing room in your week? 

A Moment to Exhale is my weekly letter for women coming home to themselves. Each one brings a real story, a gentle tool you can use right away, and a reminder that you're not walking this road alone. Join here: breathofrenewal.com/exhale

You finally left. So why does it feel like your heart is breaking all over again?

In this episode, I sit down with Brenda L Balding to talk about the grief no one warns you about. Brenda is an author, a registered nurse, a Reiki energy healer, and the host of Love's Inner Voice. She has lived through the end of her marriage, the loss of two pregnancies, and the passing of both of her parents. Those losses taught her that grief can become a rebirth. She shares the acronym that came to her after her father passed, and the simple practices that help her come back into her body when fear and sadness rise.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why grief can show up even when you know leaving was right
• How grief and gratitude can live side by side
• Brenda's PAUSE practice for the moments when fear takes over
• The heart breath for dropping back into your body
• How to begin hearing your own inner voice again

Journal prompts to sit with:

• What ending in my life have I never given myself permission to grieve?
• In this season, what am I grateful for, and what am I still grieving?
• Where in my body am I feeling this, and what is here for me to learn?

Coming up:

• Clear Nervous System Noise Summit | October 13th–15th
  Nine practitioners offer nine different portals into your body. What we have in common is that none of us believes there's one right way to regulate. Each of us trusts that your body is a powerful doorway back into yourself. Over three days, you're invited to explore, notice what resonates, and find the path that feels like home to you.
  Save your seat for free here: https://summit.clearnervoussystemnoise.com/?utm_source=christina-sommers&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cnsn-2026
  Courage to Shine Your Light with Brenda L Balding | October 10th
  Join Brenda for her class: https://brendalbalding.com/courage-to-shine-your-light/

Connect with Brenda:

• Website, plus a free 30-minute conversation with Brenda: https://brendalbalding.com
• Free gift, Insight Out, her book of photos and poems: https://brendalbalding.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Insight-out-HD-1.pdf
• All of Brenda's social links: https://linktr.ee/winblb2

Walk this road with me:

• A Moment to Exhale newsletter: breathofrenewal.com/exhale
• Book a Space to Exhale session: breathofrenewal.com/space-to-exhale

Until next time. One day, one moment, one breath at a time — back to loving your life. 🤍

#griefafterdivorce #toxicrelationshiprecovery #nervoussystemhealing #lovingyourlifeagain #breathofrenewal #somatichealing #healingjourney #startingover

Support the show

If something in this episode is still sitting with you — stay there a moment. You don't have to rush to the next thing. And when you're ready, I'm here.

The kindest thing you can do is share this with a woman who needs to hear she's not alone. And if you haven't yet — hit follow and leave a review. It helps more women find their way here.

🌐 Start here: www.breathofrenewal.com/start-here
📱 Instagram: @breath_of_renewal
✉️ [email protected]

Until next time — one day, one moment, one breath at a time back to loving your life. 🤍

Before we dive in — this episode came from a conversation that started in my newsletter, A Moment to Exhale. If you want to be part of where these conversations go next, come subscribe: breathofrenewal.com/exhale

Sometimes isolation doesn't look like someone telling you, "You can't go."

Sometimes it sounds more like: But what about me?

Sometimes it's the tension you know will be waiting when you get home. The guilt that follows making plans without them. The questions about who you've been talking to when you start seeing things differently.

And little by little, it becomes easier to stay home, stop sharing, stop reaching out — and your world quietly gets smaller.

This week's episode wasn't the one I planned to record. After asking my community, "What part of an unhealthy or abusive relationship do you wish people talked more about openly?" one response stopped me in my tracks. She described the slow separation from family and friends that can happen when choosing anyone outside of the relationship comes with mental and emotional repercussions.

So we're talking about it.

In this episode, we explore:

• How isolation can happen without anyone explicitly saying, "You can't see them"
• The difference between relationships naturally drifting and connection becoming emotionally expensive
• How isolation can function as part of coercive control
• Why outside perspectives can threaten a dynamic built on questioning your own perception
• The role identity, self-trust, people-pleasing, codependent patterns, and insecurity can play in making manipulation harder to recognize
• Why your patterns never make someone else's manipulation your fault
• The difference between what feels familiar and what is actually supportive or healthy
• Why healing isn't about using tools to make uncomfortable feelings disappear
• What it can look like to slowly reconnect — with yourself, with people you miss, or with new community

And perhaps most importantly, we come back to this: What if they didn't abandon you?

What if somewhere there's still a friend thinking, I miss her. A sister wondering, Does she know she can call me? Someone who would love to hear from you again.

You don't have to rebuild your entire world today. You can start with one small act of expansion.

UNBOUND: Founding Five
If this episode felt familiar because you're in the season of figuring out who you are after an unhealthy or abusive relationship, Unbound is now open for my Founding Five.

This is a deeper space for rebuilding the relationship with yourself — your voice, your choices, your self-trust, your connection with your body, and your freedom to begin choosing your life again.

If you already know you want deeper support, find more details here: 

https://www.breathofrenewal.com/loving-your-life-again

And if you know you want support but aren't sure what that looks like yet, A Space to Exhale is still here for you. You don't have to know exactly what you need before we talk: breathofrenewal.com/space-to-exhale

One Question to Take With You
Where has your world gotten smaller — and what would one tiny act of expansion look like?

And I really do want to hear from you. What part of an unhealthy or abusive relationship do you wish people talked about more openly? Your response might just change the podcast schedule again. 🤍

Until next time — one day, one moment, one breath at a time back to loving your life.

Support the show

If something in this episode is still sitting with you — stay there a moment. You don't have to rush to the next thing. And when you're ready, I'm here.

The kindest thing you can do is share this with a woman who needs to hear she's not alone. And if you haven't yet — hit follow and leave a review. It helps more women find their way here.

🌐 Start here: www.breathofrenewal.com/start-here
📱 Instagram: @breath_of_renewal
✉️ [email protected]

Until next time — one day, one moment, one breath at a time back to loving your life. 🤍

Before you dive in: this episode pairs perfectly with A Moment to Exhale — my weekly love note where we keep conversations like this one going. You can join us at breathofrenewal.com/exhale.

What happens when your circumstances have changed, you know you're safe now… and your body is still responding as though the danger never ended?

You left. You did the hardest thing. And somewhere in you, you thought — okay, I'm safe now. But then the pain showed up anyway. The stomach that won't settle. The sleep that won't come. And a small, tired voice starts asking: is this in my head?

It's not. For years, my guest Nora Rodden lived with chronic back pain, digestive symptoms, and insomnia. She tried treatment after treatment without finding lasting relief — until a clinical research study introduced her to a completely different way of understanding the connection between her brain, body, symptoms, and nervous system.

In this episode, Nora and I explore the mind-body connection, somatic awareness, chronic stress, and what can happen when your nervous system has spent years learning that it needs to protect you. We bring this conversation directly into the experience of healing after a toxic or abusive relationship — because leaving the relationship and being physically safe doesn't necessarily mean your body immediately knows the danger has passed. This is also the first of our guest conversations returning to the show, about once a month, bringing new voices and perspectives into this healing work.

Inside this conversation, we talk about:

• Nora's journey from chronic pain, digestive issues, and insomnia to discovering mind-body work through a Harvard clinical research study
• What "somatic" actually means, and how it differs from staying inside our thoughts
• Why curiosity toward a sensation can create a very different experience than immediately fearing or resisting it
• The connection between stress, fear, hypervigilance, and persistent symptoms
• Why chronic symptoms can have a structural or medical origin and still be influenced by the nervous system — and the importance of appropriate medical evaluation rather than trying to "breathe away" something that needs medical care
• How people-pleasing, perfectionism, lack of boundaries, past experiences, and ongoing stress can keep the nervous system on high alert
• Why you can leave an unhealthy relationship, logically know you're safe, and still experience a body that responds according to what it learned before
• The shift from believing your body has failed you to becoming curious about how it may have been trying to protect you

One of my favorite reminders from this conversation? Your body isn't necessarily working against you. It may have become incredibly good at protecting you based on what it has experienced. And healing can include giving it new experiences that show it something different is possible.

MEET NORA

Nora Rodden is the Founder and CEO of Nervana, a digital health company making research-backed mind-body treatment more accessible for people with chronic symptoms. Nervana combines AI-guided support with access to human mind-body coaching to help people understand and change patterns that may be contributing to persistent symptoms.

Nora holds an MS in Biotechnology and an MBA from Harvard, and previously worked in strategy and operations across the biotech industry. After recovering from chronic pain, insomnia, and digestive issues herself, she became passionate about helping more people access credible, non-drug approaches to recovery.

Connect with Nora and learn more about Nervana at trynervana.com, where you can also start a 7-day free trial. 

Find her @trynervana on 

http://www.instagram.com/trynervana/

https://www.tiktok.com/@trynervana

https://www.facebook.com/TryNervana/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/trynervana/

https://www.youtube.com/@trynervana

READY FOR YOUR OWN SPACE TO EXHALE?

If you've left a toxic or abusive relationship and you're beginning to realize that leaving was only one part of becoming free, I invite you to book a complimentary Space to Exhale conversation. This is a place to talk about where you are, what you're navigating, and whether deeper support may be the right next step for you.

Book Your A Space to Exhale Session Now

Not ready for a conversation yet? Join me for A Moment to Exhale, my weekly love note with reflections, practices, podcast conversations, and reminders to come back home to yourself, at breathofrenewal.com/exhale.

Because leaving may have created freedom around you. Now you get to discover what it feels like to experience that freedom within you, too.

#toxicrelationshiprecovery #nervoussystemhealing #loveyourlifeagain #breathofrenewal #somatichealing #healingjourney #mindbodyconnection #emotionalabuse #survivalmode #startingover

Support the show

If something in this episode is still sitting with you — stay there a moment. You don't have to rush to the next thing. And when you're ready, I'm here.

The kindest thing you can do is share this with a woman who needs to hear she's not alone. And if you haven't yet — hit follow and leave a review. It helps more women find their way here.

🌐 Start here: www.breathofrenewal.com/start-here
📱 Instagram: @breath_of_renewal
✉️ [email protected]

Until next time — one day, one moment, one breath at a time back to loving your life. 🤍

What if the relationship doesn't look abusive from the outside — and that's part of what makes it so hard to name?

Before you dive in: this episode pairs perfectly with A Moment to Exhale, my weekly newsletter where we go even deeper into moments like this one. Get it delivered every Wednesday → breathofrenewal.com/exhale.

In this episode of Loving Your Life Again, I'm beginning a new series called You Are Not Broken, where we're exploring the patterns, adaptations, and experiences that can leave women questioning themselves after unhealthy or abusive relationships.

We're starting with covert narcissism — sometimes described as vulnerable narcissism — and the moment I first found language that helped me understand pieces of my own experience.

This isn't about diagnosing your partner, your ex, or anyone else. 

It's about awareness. 

Because sometimes the most important question isn't:

"Is this person a narcissist?"

It's:

"What is happening to me inside this relationship?"

In this episode, we talk about:

• Why covert narcissistic patterns can be harder to recognize
• The difference between noticing narcissistic traits and diagnosing Narcissistic Personality Disorder
• What it can look like to become the fixer, peacekeeper, translator, or excuse-maker in a relationship
• Walking on eggshells, rehearsing conversations, and slowly losing touch with your own wants and needs
• Why someone can seem completely different to the outside world than they do inside the relationship
• The awareness checklist that helped me begin seeing my own adaptations
• The complicated overlap between addiction, manipulation, and narcissistic tendencies in my own marriage
• Why "just leave" completely misses the reality of many abusive relationships
• My experience of leaving more than once before leaving for good
• The emotional, financial, relational, and faith-based "hooks" that can make leaving complicated
• How my beliefs about God, marriage, forgiveness, and responsibility became part of my own struggle
• Why awareness doesn't force you into action — it gives you access to choice

One of the biggest realizations in my own healing was this:

I wasn't only recognizing his behavior. I was recognizing mine.

The ways I had adapted. 

The ways I had minimized. 

The ways I had learned to manage another person's emotions while becoming disconnected from my own voice.

And that's where this series is going. 

Not obsessing over them. 

Not fixing them. 

Not diagnosing them.

Understanding you. 

What you've carried. 

How you've adapted. 

What you need now. 

And how you begin finding your way back to yourself.

Because you are not broken.

 Stay Connected 

If something in this episode made you think, “Oh… that’s what I’ve been experiencing,” you don’t have to immediately know what to do with that awareness.

You can simply let it land.

Join me for A Moment to Exhale, my weekly love note for the woman learning how to come home to herself again:

breathofrenewal.com/exhale

 Ready for Deeper Support? 

If you know you want support — whether that's deeper work or simply a space to process where you are right now — you can book a no-pressure conversation with me. You don't have to show up with everything figured out. We can simply talk about where you are, what you're navigating, and what might feel supportive from here: breathofrenewal.com/space-to-exhale

Coming Up in the You Are Not Broken Series

We'll continue exploring trauma bonding, functional freeze, codependency, why women stay, nervous system responses, the overlap between addiction and narcissistic behaviors, and what it really looks like to rebuild trust with yourself. Guest conversations will also continue to be woven throughout Loving Your Life Again, bringing in stories and perspectives around healing, identity, faith, relationships, and rebuilding.

One day, one moment, one breath at a time — back to loving your life.

#toxicrelationshiprecovery #narcissisticabuse #nervousystemhealing #covertnarcissism #loveyourlifeagain #breathofrenewal #christianwomenhealing #emotionalabuse #selftrustjourney #startingover

Support the show

If something in this episode is still sitting with you — stay there a moment. You don't have to rush to the next thing. And when you're ready, I'm here.

The kindest thing you can do is share this with a woman who needs to hear she's not alone. And if you haven't yet — hit follow and leave a review. It helps more women find their way here.

🌐 Start here: www.breathofrenewal.com/start-here
📱 Instagram: @breath_of_renewal
✉️ [email protected]

Until next time — one day, one moment, one breath at a time back to loving your life. 🤍

🌿 Before you dive in: this episode pairs perfectly with A Moment to Exhale, my weekly newsletter where we go even deeper into moments like this one. Get it delivered every Wednesday → breathofrenewal.com/exhale

Have you ever looked back at your week and thought, I didn't really do anything?

That was me this week.

My energy was low. My body was asking for rest. And instead of pushing through simply because there were things I could be doing, I listened.

In this episode, I'm talking about what it looks like to honor the seasons when your body, energy, and intuition are asking you to slow down — and why that can be so uncomfortable when you've spent years overriding yourself.

I share some of the ways understanding my own rhythms, including through Human Design and being a Manifestor, has given me permission to stop treating every low-energy season like a problem that needs to be fixed.

And we go deeper than rest.

Because when you've spent years questioning your own needs, instincts, feelings, or knowing, choosing to listen to yourself again becomes part of rebuilding self-trust.

Maybe you don't need to push through.

Maybe you don't need to turn your rest into a breakthrough or prove that it made you more productive afterward.

Maybe you needed rest simply because you needed rest.

In this episode, we explore:

• The pressure to always be doing, producing, or moving forward
• What it can look like to honor your body's natural rhythms
• How constantly overriding yourself can disconnect you from your own knowing
• The connection between rest, self-trust, and reclaiming your voice and choice
• Giving yourself permission to have seasons where less really is enough

Show Notes:

• 0:00 — Intro: Almost Skipping This Episode
• 1:37 — This Week's Honest Story
• 2:40 — The Pull to Rest & Human Design
• 4:01 — Checking In: What Rest Actually Looked Like
• 6:12 — The Old Voice of "Should Haves"
• 8:23 — Rest as a Practice
• 10:06 — Rebuilding Trust With Yourself
• 11:18 — Rest Doesn't Need to Produce Anything
• 12:25 — Closing Thoughts & Where to Connect

If you've been telling yourself you should be doing more, consider this your invitation to ask a different question: What is my body actually asking of me right now?

Journal Prompts:

• Where are you waiting for a "big enough" reason to rest?
• What would it feel like to trust a "not now" from your body without guilt?
• What's one small way you can check in with yourself today — and actually honor what you hear?

🤍 Ready to go deeper? Book a Space to Exhale — a no-agenda conversation, just for you → breathofrenewal.com/space-to-exhale

Support the show

If something in this episode is still sitting with you — stay there a moment. You don't have to rush to the next thing. And when you're ready, I'm here.

The kindest thing you can do is share this with a woman who needs to hear she's not alone. And if you haven't yet — hit follow and leave a review. It helps more women find their way here.

🌐 Start here: www.breathofrenewal.com/start-here
📱 Instagram: @breath_of_renewal
✉️ [email protected]

Until next time — one day, one moment, one breath at a time back to loving your life. 🤍

🌿 Before we dive in — if this episode resonates, the quiet space to stay close to this work is my newsletter, A Moment to Exhale. Every week you'll get a story, a somatic practice you can actually use, and a peek at what's coming next. Sign up at breathofrenewal.com/exhale.

How did I not know?

That question knocked on my door again this week — when a new piece of my daughter's story came to light, years after the fact. Not the first time. And I have a feeling I'm not the only mom who's asked herself that.

In this episode, I'm sitting in the messy middle with you — processing mom guilt in real time. Not from a place of having it figured out, but from inside it. There are pieces of this that belong to my daughter, and those stay hers to tell. What I can share is what happens on my side when new information changes the way I see the past.

You'll walk away with:

• The difference between guilt that invites repair and guilt that just keeps you trapped
• Why hindsight convinces us we "should have known" — and why that's a lie worth questioning
• A handful of questions to help you separate grief from shame, and start setting down what was never yours to carry

🌱 Journal Prompts from This Episode

• Where are you judging your past self through today's awareness?
• What responsibility are you carrying that was never yours?
• Is your guilt inviting growth, or keeping you imprisoned?
• What would compassion toward your younger self sound like today?

If you've ever looked back and thought I should have known — this one's for you. 

🤍 If you're ready to talk it through, there's a no-agenda conversation waiting at breathofrenewal.com/space-to-exhale.

Timestamped Show Notes

0:00 — Introduction
Christina welcomes listeners to Loving Your Life Again and introduces the episode topic: mom guilt and the courage it takes to process it.

3:59 — What Is Mom Guilt?
Defining mom guilt as the experience of believing you failed your child — even when the situation was outside your control, or when you're judging yourself with information you didn't have at the time.

4:57 — Healthy vs. Toxic Guilt
The key distinction between healthy guilt (which invites repair and growth) and chronic, toxic guilt (which keeps us trapped in self-condemnation).

7:32 — Where Does Mom Guilt Come From?
Exploring the roots: deep attachment, cultural messaging, comparison, perfectionism, and the people-pleasing patterns many of us brought into motherhood long before our children arrived.

12:09 — Hindsight Bias
Why we can't judge our past selves through today's awareness — and how "shoulding" all over yourself keeps you stuck. Christina shares her own story of seeing things clearly only after years of personal work.

19:14 — What Healing Has Looked Like
Healing isn't convincing yourself you did everything right. It's grief, honesty, authentic conversation with your kids, and recognizing you were a different person then.

21:57 — Journal Reflection & Closing
A grounding breathwork moment followed by four journal prompts to help you separate grief from shame and begin releasing what was never yours to carry.

#momguilt #nervoussystemhealing #lovingyourlifeagain #breathofrenewal #somatichealing #healingjourney #selftrustjourney #hindsightbias #motherhoodhealing #startingover

Support the show

If something in this episode is still sitting with you — stay there a moment. You don't have to rush to the next thing. And when you're ready, I'm here.

The kindest thing you can do is share this with a woman who needs to hear she's not alone. And if you haven't yet — hit follow and leave a review. It helps more women find their way here.

🌐 Start here: www.breathofrenewal.com/start-here
📱 Instagram: @breath_of_renewal
✉️ [email protected]

Until next time — one day, one moment, one breath at a time back to loving your life. 🤍

Before you dive in — every week I send A Moment to Exhale, a short note with one real story and one small tool you can actually use, so healing doesn't feel like one more thing you have to figure out alone. Join at breathofrenewal.com/exhale.

What if the fact that you can't remember the last time something felt fun isn't a small thing — it's information?

In this episode, Christina shares a personal pattern she's been caught in: setting intentions around fun, falling back into old routines, and what she's finally learned about why that cycle isn't failure. Drawing from a real moment in an advanced facilitation call and a somatic experiencing session, she explores why fun doesn't just reappear after a hard season — and why your nervous system may actually be the thing standing in the way.

If you've done the work, healed, rebuilt, and something still feels flat, this episode is for you.

Christina closes with a gentle somatic practice to help your body remember what fun even feels like.

Timestamped Show Notes

• 0:00 — Introduction
• 0:41 — Welcome & Show Overview
• 1:42 — When Did Fun Disappear?
• 2:40 — The Cycle of Falling Back Into Old Patterns
• 5:20 — A Seed is Planted: Fun at Work
• 6:16 — Somatic Exploration: Where Did Fun Go?
• 8:47 — Childhood Stories & the Guard We Built
• 13:46 — Fun as a Nervous System Signal
• 14:51 — Why Fun Feels Unsafe After Survival Mode
• 16:19 — Somatic Practice: Let Your Body Express Fun
• 21:45 — Closing & Call to Action

🤍 If you're ready for support putting this into your own life, you can book a conversation with me here: breathofrenewal.com/space-to-exhale

#toxicrelationshiprecovery #nervoussystemhealing #loveyourlifeagain #breathofrenewal #somatichealing #healingjourney #christianwomen #joyafterhealing #whatisyourbodytellingyou #startingover

Support the show

If something in this episode is still sitting with you — stay there a moment. You don't have to rush to the next thing. And when you're ready, I'm here.

The kindest thing you can do is share this with a woman who needs to hear she's not alone. And if you haven't yet — hit follow and leave a review. It helps more women find their way here.

🌐 Start here: www.breathofrenewal.com/start-here
📱 Instagram: @breath_of_renewal
✉️ [email protected]

Until next time — one day, one moment, one breath at a time back to loving your life. 🤍

🤍 A Moment to Exhale: If you've ever loved someone with an addiction, this is a quiet place to keep going between episodes — one story, one nervous system tool, and a reminder every week that you're not carrying this alone. Join at breathofrenewal.com/exhale

Loving an Addict: When Enabling Feels Like Devotion

In this deeply personal episode, I open up about what it actually means to love someone with an addiction — and the quiet, gradual way that love can cause you to disappear. I break down the difference between devotion and self-abandonment, explain enabling and codependency without shame or clinical labels, and share some raw moments from my own story I haven't told this directly before.

This one's for the woman who has given everything trying to love someone back to life — and is finally ready to turn some of that love back toward herself.

What You'll Hear
🌿 Why enabling almost never feels like enabling while you're in it
🌿 The real difference between devotion and self-abandonment
🌿 What codependency actually is — without the shame or the clinical language
🌿 One small, somatic way to start choosing yourself again

Timestamped Show Notes

• 0:00 – Introduction — the theme of the episode: what happens when deep love slowly makes you disappear
• 2:21 – What Is Enabling? — why it doesn't look like weakness from the inside, it looks like love
• 6:00 – My Story — covering, managing two versions of reality, and the moment I realized how deep in it I actually was
• 15:02 – Understanding Codependency — what it really means, how it develops, and why it doesn't end when the relationship does
• 18:51 – Gaslighting & Self-Abandonment — how not pushing back on an untrue version of events was also enabling, and why that was survival, not weakness
• 21:16 – Why the Patterns Don't Stop — the grooved pathways in your nervous system that persist after the relationship ends, and why that's something to get curious about, not ashamed of
• 22:45 – Turning Love Back Toward Yourself — practical, grounded ways to begin redirecting love inward
• 26:45 – Breathwork & Grounding Practice — a guided moment to come back into your body
• 29:14 – Closing

If this episode named something you've been carrying quietly, you don't have to sort through it alone.

•  Book a no-agenda conversation: A Space to Exhale

 🌿 Ready to go deeper into unwinding these patterns for good? Join the UNBOUND waitlist, no pressure, simply to receive information as it becomes available: https://www.breathofrenewal.com/loving-your-life-again

#toxicrelationshiprecovery #nervoussystemhealing #loveyourlifeagain #breathofrenewal #codependencyrecovery #healingjourney #christianwomen #lovinganaddict #selftrustjourney #startingover

Support the show

If something in this episode is still sitting with you — stay there a moment. You don't have to rush to the next thing. And when you're ready, I'm here.

The kindest thing you can do is share this with a woman who needs to hear she's not alone. And if you haven't yet — hit follow and leave a review. It helps more women find their way here.

🌐 Start here: www.breathofrenewal.com/start-here
📱 Instagram: @breath_of_renewal
✉️ [email protected]

Until next time — one day, one moment, one breath at a time back to loving your life. 🤍