What happens when stress doesn’t just affect individuals—but entire communities?

In this episode of Restored, I sit down with sociologist Dr. Seth Abrutyn, whose research explores how collective stress, cultural trauma, and social pain shape mental health, belonging, and the survival of communities over time.

Drawing from his book Life Under Pressure and his work on collective and cultural trauma, Seth helps us understand why communities under prolonged pressure—whether schools, neighborhoods, minority groups, or institutions—can begin to fracture, lose trust, and struggle to care for their people.

Seth's article that inspired this episode: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21568693231213088

More about Seth: https://sethabrutyn.com/

If this episode stirred something in you, you’re invited to share your story.

Music: $50 to Breathe & I Am a Man Who Will Fight for Your Honor by Chris Zabriskie

What if the discomfort we’re trying to escape is actually trying to teach us?

In this solo episode of Restored, Corie Weathers explores cognitive dissonance—the inner tension we feel when our beliefs, values, and lived experiences no longer align. Rather than rushing to certainty or easy answers, this episode invites listeners to slow down and learn how to listen to inner conflict as a source of wisdom.

Drawing on insights from Viktor Frankl, psychology, history, and cultural observation, Corie examines why we struggle to sit with the “messy middle,” how individuals and cultures often resolve tension by avoiding responsibility, and what becomes possible when we stay present long enough for meaning to emerge.

This episode includes a guided reflective practice, helping listeners notice where inner conflict is showing up in their own lives—and how to engage it without fear, rigidity, or avoidance.

This is not an episode about having the right answers.

If this episode stirred something in you, you’re invited to share your story.

What does healing actually require — in a marriage, in a community, or in a culture stretched thin by conflict?

We’re living in a time when tension feels everywhere — in our homes, online, within institutions, and across the nation. The emotional strain we feel collectively often mirrors what happens inside relationships: disconnection, mistrust, stuck narratives, and the fear that things may never return to peace.

That’s why today’s conversation with Dr. Mike Sytsma is so compelling.

For more than 30 years, Mike has worked with couples facing some of the most painful relational fractures imaginable — and he’s learned something stunningly consistent: two things must be present for healing to even begin:

—a genuine willingness to acknowledge harm and soften defensiveness.

—creating space for change without erasing boundaries, truth, or accountability.

These two human capacities, he says, are just as essential for restoring marriages as they are for healing communities and cultures under strain.

In this episode, Mike and Corie explore:

Why deep conflict (personal or societal) emerges when pain goes unaddressed

What makes a contrite heart so transformative — and so rare

How grace functions as an active force in reconciliation, not passive acceptance

The difference between forgiveness, safety, and rebuilding trust

Why some relationships — and some communities — recover while others fracture

How humility, grit, and emotional regulation allow peace to take root again

What healing looks like when it’s slow, nonlinear, and imperfect

The inner work required of both individuals before reconciliation can occur

Corie reflects on how these insights reach far beyond intimate relationships:

Do you have a story of conflict, healing, or peace?

📩 https://intimatemarriage.org/.

Past Episodes with Dr. Mike:

Secrets of Sex with Dr. Michael Sytsma: https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-xc6gm-13cde55

Sexual Intimacy & Post-Affair:

https://www.podbean.com/ep/pb-yettc-97de7e

Restoring Trust: 

https://vimeo.com/117354250?fl=pl&fe=sh

What happens when a community is stretched past its limits?

Military spouses live in a unique tension: deeply tied to the institution, yet often left without a voice in its decisions. Their wellness reflects not just individual resilience, but the health of the entire military community.

In this episode of Restored, Corie Weathers speaks with Evie King, president of InDependent, about groundbreaking research she co-led with the University of Texas on military spouse wellness. Their findings reveal the cost of compounding stress, the reality of isolation, and the essential role of community in healing.

But this conversation doesn’t stop at the data. Evie later came back to re-answer two questions — more honestly, more vulnerably — and issued a sobering warning: if cultural dynamics don’t change, the system risks collapse.

Together, Corie and Evie explore what it takes for individuals, families, and institutions to find peace in the midst of ongoing conflict. And why community is not optional — it is the key to survival and restoration.

Find out more about. Independent, their research, and programming here: https://in-dependent.org/

If you have a story of your own about reconciliation, transition, or choosing peace, record a short voice memo and send it to [email protected] or find all links here: https://linktr.ee/corieweathers

In this episode of Restored, Corie Weathers speaks with author and filmmaker Victoria Kelly, and producer/director Beatrice "B" Becette, the creators of the documentary Atomic Echoes: Untold Stories of World War II.

Their journey began when Karin Tanabe and Victoria discovered that their families were connected by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki — one as an American medic sent into the ruins, the other as a Japanese educator helping rebuild after the war. Together with producer Beatrice Becette, they set out to uncover the forgotten voices of the Japanese atomic bomb survivors and the American atomic veterans who lived in the aftermath.

Through shared storytelling, their work explores how reconciliation begins — not through politics, but through listening, empathy, and remembering.

This conversation reminds us that peace isn’t just the absence of war — it’s the hard, human work of facing history, honoring grief, and choosing hope.

The surprising connection that brought Karin and Victoria together

What it means to reconcile personal and national histories

The unseen legacy of America’s atomic veterans

How Beatrice helped translate pain into purpose through filmmaking

Why remembering is an act of peace

Click HERE for "Atomic Echoes" Trailer

Click HERE for Victoria Kelly and Karin Tanabe’s Bios

Click HERE for a Photo of Karin Tanabe and Victoria Kelly with the Flag worn by a Japanese Soldier, courtesy of Beatrice Becette for Blue Chalk Media

Click HERE for Karin Tanabe's Website

Click HERE for Victoria Kelly's Website

Their documentary Atomic Echoes brings together voices from Japan and the United States to reveal how the human stories of World War II still echo today.

Have a story of conflict, healing, or peace in your own life?

What do you do when two things you love pull you in opposite directions?

In this episode of Restored, Corie Weathers sits down with Joe Byerly, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and founder of From the Green Notebook, and Clint Boling, a former NFL player for the Cincinnati Bengals. Both men faced defining crossroads in their careers — moments where they could push for one more tour, one more play, one more shot at glory. But each realized the cost was too high.

Joe’s decision came after 20 years in uniform, leading through wars, deployments, and the heavy responsibility of command. Clint’s came in the form of a life-threatening blood clot that forced him to consider whether football was worth risking his future.

Their stories reveal a universal truth: the hardest battles are often inside us. Choosing between ambition and family, career and health, identity and transformation can feel impossible. Yet, as Joe and Clint show, choosing peace is not surrender. It’s courage. It’s the decision to align your values with your life and to finish one story well enough to begin another.

Join us for a conversation about conflict within ourselves, the cost of relentless striving, and the grit it takes to pivot toward what matters most.

If you have a story of your own about reconciliation, transition, or choosing peace, record a short voice memo and send it to [email protected] or find all links here: https://linktr.ee/corieweathers

What does it take to feel whole again — especially after conflict?

In a world where conflict feels inescapable — at home, in our culture, and across the globe — Restored invites you to pause and ask: how do we work through it in a way that leads to peace?

Hosted by Corie Weathers, author of Military Culture Shift, Restored explores the hard, human work of peace. Each episode weaves together personal stories, expert insights, and cultural perspectives to uncover what it means to heal, reconcile, and grow stronger — as individuals and as communities.

From military life to everyday relationships, these are stories that remind us peace isn’t just the absence of conflict — it’s something we build, one choice at a time.

Be the first to hear Restored: Stories of Conflict, Healing, and Peace when it launches.

There were several ways I could have ended this series and many interviews I could have done, however, when Matt mentioned that I should end it with him interviewing me, it felt right. So... here I am. Here we are. We share my reflections on the project, where things go from here, and most importantly, the power of championing others- especially your spouse. 

The Final credits song is "Thank You" by veteran and friend James Corbin. 

This podcast is based on the book Military Culture Shift by clinical consultant and SME on military family culture, Corie Weathers. 

Order your copy of Military Culture Shift https://militaryfamilybooks.com/products/military-culture-shift-by-corie-weathers

Listen to Corie's Lifegiver Podcast https://corieweathers.podbean.com/

Find out more about how you can work with and contact Corie https://www.corieweathers.com

In the final chapter of Military Culture Shift, I reference a theory of reconstitution written by Stoney Portis, after he commanded the 3-61 CAV troops that survived the now historic Battle of COP Keating and needed to somehow become mission-ready again. Reading his reflection on what it took to wholistically serve the battle-weary troops who had earned every right to hang up the one tattered uniform they had left, I knew it was a case study on what it would take to reconstitute an entire culture as well. So I invited now LT COL Stoney Portis to join Matt and me in a discussion about their shared sacred space in hopes it could validate the sacred spaces in your own life, but also inspire the healing of us all.

Read Stoney's Paper on Reconstitution: https://www.corieweathers.com/wp-content/uploads/Stoneys-Paper.-full-1.pdf

Read about the Battle of Cop Keating here

Watch the movie "The Outpost": https://www.netflix.com/title/81276140?source=35

This podcast is based on the book Military Culture Shift by clinical consultant and SME on military family culture, Corie Weathers. 

Order your copy of Military Culture Shift https://militaryfamilybooks.com/products/military-culture-shift-by-corie-weathers

Listen to Corie's Lifegiver Podcast https://corieweathers.podbean.com/

Find out more about how you can work with and contact Corie https://www.corieweathers.com

Final Credits song is "The Hard Way" by Moda Spira https://modaspira.bandcamp.com/track/the-hard-way

Over the course of writing Military Culture Shift and especially present in the last three episodes, the phrase “moral injury” has come up again and again. Brought into mainstream awareness by Jonathan Shay in the 90s and early 2000s, his first book Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character introduced moral injury as a distinct second syndrome from PTSD. 

As progress continues to evolve on the individualized treatment modalities for PTSD and moral injury, the Afghanistan exit, and its eerily similar characteristics with Vietnam, brings up the question of "How does an entire culture heal when it feels betrayed and morally injured?"

Surely the Afghanistan veterans and families that came out of two decades of war are not destined to carry similar burdens as our recent Vietnam veterans have.

I asked our good friend and mentor, Dr. Timothy Mallard, Chaplain, and Assistant Professor and Director of Ethical Development at The United States Army War College, and subject matter expert on moral injury to sit down with me just 60 days out from his own retirement. Still on his own journey of healing from his response to the 9/11 attack at the Pentagon, he has been a pillar of strength, wisdom, and comfort for many over the last several decades.

Final Credits Song: "There Is Always Hope" by Human Is Alive, Kieldfal, Silent Travelers

Arch Bishop Tutu Forgiveness Project: https://youtu.be/-M8wrQXIZmQ?si=od2rKrmquYXoJbZj

Recommended resources from Dr. Mallard: 

Veteran's Association: https://www.mirecc.va.gov/visn17/moralinjury.asp

Jonathan Shay: Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character: https://a.co/d/e9eOpf3

The (Twin) Wounds of War, by Timothy Mallard: https://providencemag.com/2017/02/twin-wounds-war-spiritual-injury-moral-injury/

The Moral Injury of the Cross, by Timothy Mallard: https://providencemag.com/2024/03/the-moral-injury-of-the-cross/