This episode I’m joined by Peter Bailey, author of The Epic of You: Reframe Your Past to Navigate Your Future, TEDx speaker, and president of the Prouty Project. Peter shares his journey from New York to Minnesota and how his work with urban youth, wilderness leadership, and community shaped his understanding of resilience, identity, and purpose.

Peter opens up about his childhood, growing up in a loving but deeply complicated family, and how early trauma shaped his people pleasing, sense of responsibility, and loneliness. We talk about childhood trauma, complex PTSD, and the survival strategies so many of us develop before we ever have language for them. Peter shares a powerful metaphor that stayed with me, explaining that when something grows in darkness, it adapts however it can to reach the light. Those adaptations aren’t flaws. They’re how we survived.

We also talk about the heroic journey and how our hardest chapters, addiction, grief, illness, divorce, and loss, don’t mean we failed. They’re part of the story that shaped who we are. We touch on boundaries, expectations, empathy, and what it means to give without attachment. This episode is about choosing connection, gratitude, and life, even when it feels heavy. If you’ve been struggling, feeling responsible for everyone else, or just need the reminder, I want you to hear this clearly. You are not finished. You matter. And there is still so much ahead for you.

Find out more about Peter on his site here: https://www.peter-bailey.com/ 

This podcast is a place for trauma survivors as well as their friends and family. This is a safe environment to be vulnerable but it's also a place for celebration and moving forward. Let's all start to embrace who we are becoming by #mentalhealth #selfcare #self #judgingothers #judgingmeghan #suicideawareness #suicideprevention #survivor #resilience #traumahealing #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealthmatters #podcasts #TheEpicOfYou #ChildhoodTraumaHealing #ComplexPTSDRecovery #TraumaSurvivalStrategies #HealingYourStory #ResilienceAndGrowth #ReframeYourPast #OvercomingAddictionAndLoss #BoundariesAndEmpathy #GratitudePractice #ConnectionAndCommunity #YouAreNotFinished #YourStoryMatters #FromSurvivalToThriving #HealingFromThePast #SelfDiscoveryJourney #TraumaToStrength #HopeAndHealing #EmotionalResilience

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices