Here's the truth. Nobody tells you that healing gets worse before it gets better. Like actually worse. You start digging, you start going to therapy, you start facing the things you've tucked away for years and for a minute it feels like everything is falling apart. That's not you doing it wrong. That is literally just how it works.

In Episode 3 I'm getting into the stuff the self-help books skip over. The real, messy, uncomfortable truth about what healing actually looks like. I'm talking about learning to lower your expectations for people who have proven they're not capable of meeting them. I'm talking about staying put during hard conversations when every part of you wants to run. About outgrowing friendships you never thought you'd lose. About forgiving people who never said sorry. And about why your triggers in your marriage today are almost always rooted in something that happened when you were a kid.

I share the moment in couples therapy that broke my heart and then put it back together. The story of my dad running after our car at McDonald's when I was four years old. What my therapist showed me about my body language and why it was making my husband feel like he didn't matter to me. And how I had to stop praying for healing and start actually participating in it.

This episode is for anyone in the middle of it. The hard, unglamorous middle of doing the work. I promise you it's worth it.

The healed version of you is going to look back at the younger version of you and say, we did it. 💜

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0:00 Welcome back — Episode 3 intro

0:26 The truth about healing nobody talks about

1:47 It gets worse before it gets better — and that's okay

3:13 Healing is like peeling an onion — layer by layer

4:42 The first step she took — reading her Bible and starting therapy

5:12 The wrong therapist — and why you need to vet yours

6:21 Starting couples therapy with Casey

7:06 The therapist said: you each need to heal separately first

7:36 The biggest lesson from therapy — expectations

9:27 Lowering your expectations for broken people

11:02 Find a spicy marriage counselor who tells you the truth

11:43 If your marriage isn't hard, you're not going deep enough

14:26 The therapy session that broke her heart — the trash story

19:48 Body language as a trauma response

22:16 Learning to stay put when you want to run

23:11 The McDonald's memory — age 4, her parents divorced

25:40 What healing actually looks like step by step

28:04 Stop praying for healing and start participating in it

29:16 Friendships have expiration dates

30:37 Trauma bonding friendships and what happens when you heal

32:07 Daddy issues — forgiving what you never had

36:32 Therapy gives you the tools — real life is where you use them

37:31 Grieving friendships that no longer serve you

38:07 Forgiveness is a part of every layer of healing

40:10 Forgiving without an apology — how to actually do it

42:05 How to have hard conversations and keep the friendship

44:22 What healthy boundaries actually look like in real life

45:46 You teach people how to treat you

47:21 If your friends talk badly about their spouse, that is the enemy

49:11 The healed version of you is going to look back and say well done

50:07 Where to start if you don't know how to begin healing

53:42 Healing your trauma is the best weapon against the enemy

54:40 Thank you and closing

healing gets worse before it gets better | childhood trauma therapy | toxic friendships | marriage counseling | forgiveness healing | personal growth podcast women | Christian healing | generational trauma

#takinglifebytheraines #brandiraines #healingjourney #childhoodtrauma #marriagecounseling #toxicfriendships #christianwomen #millennialmom #personalgrowth #faithjourney

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