Unpacking Me

"I'm Not Mad at the Baby. I'm Mad That I Disappeared."

Unpacking Me: The Parts of Trauma No One Talks About
Episode: When Motherhood Turns to Rage — Postpartum Rage

Motherhood is often portrayed as soft, beautiful, and full of love—but what happens when it also comes with anger you barely recognize as your own?

In this episode of Unpacking Me, we’re talking about postpartum rage: the intense anger, irritability, overstimulation, resentment, and emotional overwhelm that can emerge after having a baby. We unpack the shame that can come with loving your child deeply while simultaneously feeling like you’re constantly on the verge of exploding.

We’ll explore what may be happening beneath the anger—from sleep deprivation and hormonal changes to nervous-system overload, loss of identity, unmet needs, relationship strain, and unresolved trauma that motherhood can unexpectedly bring to the surface.

Most importantly, this conversation isn’t about labeling mothers as angry or “bad moms.” It’s about getting curious about what the rage may be communicating. Sometimes anger is the emotion we see on the surface when underneath it is exhaustion, loneliness, fear, grief, resentment, or a desperate need for support.

Because sometimes postpartum rage isn’t saying, “I hate being a mother.”

Sometimes it’s saying, “I cannot keep carrying all of this by myself.”

Thank you for tuning in to Unpacking Me! We appreciate each and every one of our listeners. Your presence in our community is truly valued, and we're grateful for each and every listener.

If today's episode resonated with you, consider taking a moment to subscribe, rate, and share your thoughts with a review on your preferred podcast platform. Your feedback is an essential part of our journey, and we appreciate the support!

For those seeking a Therapist in the Broward County, FL area, explore the services at www.dare2emerge.com.

Unpacking Me: The Parts of Trauma No One Talks About
Episode: The Unspoken Reality of Postpartum — Postpartum Anxiety & Depression

Everyone prepares you for the baby—but who prepares you for what can happen to you after the baby arrives?

In this episode of Unpacking Me, we’re talking about the side of postpartum that often stays hidden behind newborn photos, congratulations, and expectations that this should be one of the happiest times of your life: postpartum anxiety and depression.

We unpack what it can feel like to love your baby deeply while struggling with overwhelming worry, intrusive thoughts, sadness, guilt, irritability, loneliness, emotional numbness, or the frightening feeling that you’ve somehow lost yourself. We also explore why some mothers may not immediately recognize what they’re experiencing, especially when everyone around them is focused on the baby.

This conversation challenges the pressure to simply be grateful, happy, and “enjoy every moment.” We’ll talk about the enormous physical, emotional, relational, and identity shifts that happen after becoming a mother—and why struggling during that transition does not determine how much you love your child.

Because sometimes the hardest part of postpartum isn’t taking care of the new life you brought into the world.

It’s realizing that the person you were before motherhood is changing too—and figuring out how to care for her while becoming someone new.

Thank you for tuning in to Unpacking Me! We appreciate each and every one of our listeners. Your presence in our community is truly valued, and we're grateful for each and every listener.

If today's episode resonated with you, consider taking a moment to subscribe, rate, and share your thoughts with a review on your preferred podcast platform. Your feedback is an essential part of our journey, and we appreciate the support!

For those seeking a Therapist in the Broward County, FL area, explore the services at www.dare2emerge.com.

UNPACKING ME: The Part of Trauma No One Talks About — Breaking the Cycle of Abuse This Father's Day

This Father's Day season, we're going deeper than greeting cards and barbecues.

On this episode of Unpacking Me, we're having the conversation most people are afraid to have — what does it actually take for a father to look at his own pain, his own upbringing, and choose to do things differently?

Breaking the cycle of generational abuse and trauma isn't just a decision. It's a daily, deliberate, and deeply courageous act. It means confronting what was done to you, taking ownership of your healing, and refusing to pass the pain down to your children — even when no one ever showed you how.

In this episode, we explore:

• 🔹 What breaking the cycle of abuse actually looks like in real life
• 🔹 Why so many fathers repeat patterns they swore they never would
• 🔹 The emotional work required to show up differently than your own father did
• 🔹 What it means to choose your children over your trauma responses
• 🔹 The part of fatherhood and healing that nobody talks about

Whether you grew up with an absent father, an abusive father, or one who simply didn't know how to show up — this episode is for you. And if you are a father walking the road of healing and trying to rewrite the story for your family, this one is especially for you.

Thank you for tuning in to Unpacking Me! We appreciate each and every one of our listeners. Your presence in our community is truly valued, and we're grateful for each and every listener.

If today's episode resonated with you, consider taking a moment to subscribe, rate, and share your thoughts with a review on your preferred podcast platform. Your feedback is an essential part of our journey, and we appreciate the support!

For those seeking a Therapist in the Broward County, FL area, explore the services at www.dare2emerge.com.

Father's Day can be one of the most emotionally complex holidays for those who have lost their fathers, are estranged, or never had a father figure at all. In this deeply moving episode, "Fatherless on Father's Day: Giving Yourself Permission to Feel All of It," we explore the often-unspoken grief that surfaces when the world celebrates a relationship you no longer have—or never had.

This episode is a safe space for anyone struggling with grief, loss, and complicated emotions surrounding Father's Day. Whether your father passed away, you're dealing with estrangement, or you grew up without a paternal presence, this conversation reminds you that all of your feelings are valid.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

• Why Father's Day grief is real and deserves acknowledgment — Understanding that holiday grief is a legitimate emotional experience
• How to give yourself permission to feel — Embracing sadness, anger, longing, and even relief without judgment
• Coping strategies for navigating a fatherless Father's Day — Practical tools to protect your emotional well-being
• The difference between honoring memory and forcing positivity — Why you don't have to "look on the bright side"
• Creating new traditions and rituals — Honoring your journey in a way that feels authentic to you

"You don't have to perform happiness. You're allowed to feel all of it—the love, the loss, and everything in between."

This episode validates the grief, healing, and self-compassion journey for the fatherless community. It's a reminder that you are not alone in your experience.

Thank you for tuning in to Unpacking Me! We appreciate each and every one of our listeners. Your presence in our community is truly valued, and we're grateful for each and every listener.

If today's episode resonated with you, consider taking a moment to subscribe, rate, and share your thoughts with a review on your preferred podcast platform. Your feedback is an essential part of our journey, and we appreciate the support!

For those seeking a Therapist in the Broward County, FL area, explore the services at www.dare2emerge.com.

 Two Faces of Fatherhood: When Dad Saves the World But Can't Show Up at Home 

At work, he was dependable. At church, he was present. With friends, he was warm, funny, and generous. With neighbors, he was the first to help.

But at home — with you — he was somewhere else entirely.

On this raw and revealing episode of Unpacking Me, we're exploring one of the most painful and confusing dynamics a child can experience — the father who had more than enough to give to the world, but somehow ran out before he ever made it home to you.

This is about the man who lived in two worlds. The public world where he performed, charmed, and showed up with his whole chest. And the private world — your world — where he was emotionally checked out, distant, distracted, or simply unavailable.

And the most painful part? Watching him give strangers what you spent your whole childhood begging for.

This wasn't about capacity. This was about choice.

In this episode, we unpack:

• 🔹 The psychology behind fathers who perform publicly but disengage privately
• 🔹 Why some men save their best selves for everyone except their own children
• 🔹 How growing up with a two-world father shapes your identity, worth and relationships
• 🔹 The deep confusion of loving a father you also resented
• 🔹 What it means to grieve a father who was physically present but emotionally nowhere
• 🔹 How to begin healing when the world still celebrates the man who hurt you by absence

If you grew up watching your father perform for everyone around him while you sat in the audience of your own home waiting to be chosen — this conversation is long overdue.

You deserved his presence. You deserved his attention. You deserved more than a performance.

🎧 Listen now, share widely, and tag someone who has been waiting for someone to finally say this out loud.

Thank you for tuning in to Unpacking Me! We appreciate each and every one of our listeners. Your presence in our community is truly valued, and we're grateful for each and every listener.

If today's episode resonated with you, consider taking a moment to subscribe, rate, and share your thoughts with a review on your preferred podcast platform. Your feedback is an essential part of our journey, and we appreciate the support!

For those seeking a Therapist in the Broward County, FL area, explore the services at www.dare2emerge.com.

 He Was Everyone's Hero Except Mine — Growing Up With a Father the World Loved

Everyone cheered for him. The community adored him. The church celebrated him. The neighborhood looked up to him.

But you just wanted him to see you.

On this powerful episode of Unpacking Me, we're pulling back the curtain on one of the most isolating and misunderstood experiences a child can carry into adulthood — growing up with a father who was a hero to the world but emotionally absent, unavailable, or even harmful at home.

This is the wound that's hardest to explain. Because from the outside, everything looked fine. More than fine — it looked great. Your dad was loved, respected, even celebrated. Which made your pain feel invalid. Which made you question your own experience. Which made you feel like you had no right to grieve something everyone else saw as a gift.

But the applause the world gave him didn't reach your bedroom door.

In this episode, we unpack:

• 🔹 What it feels like to grow up in the shadow of a publicly celebrated father
• 🔹 Why this specific father wound is so difficult to name and heal
• 🔹 The confusion and shame of grieving a father the world told you to be grateful for
• 🔹 How emotional unavailability and neglect hide behind public personas
• 🔹 The long-term impact of growing up unseen by the one person whose gaze mattered most
• 🔹 What healing looks like when no one believes you were ever hurt

If you've ever sat in silence while the world sang your father's praises — while quietly carrying wounds only you knew existed — this episode was made for you.

Your pain is real. Your experience is valid. And your healing matters — even if no one else saw what happened behind closed doors.

🎧 Listen, share, and tag someone who finally needs to hear that their story is real.

Thank you for tuning in to Unpacking Me! We appreciate each and every one of our listeners. Your presence in our community is truly valued, and we're grateful for each and every listener.

If today's episode resonated with you, consider taking a moment to subscribe, rate, and share your thoughts with a review on your preferred podcast platform. Your feedback is an essential part of our journey, and we appreciate the support!

For those seeking a Therapist in the Broward County, FL area, explore the services at www.dare2emerge.com.

 What happens when you can hold compassion for your mother… and still feel deeply hurt by her?

In this episode, we explore the complexity of the mother wound—a deeply layered emotional experience that many people carry but rarely talk about openly. You can understand that she did the best she could with what she had, and still acknowledge the impact her limitations had on your nervous system, your sense of self, and your relationships.

This conversation moves beyond blame and into truth. We unpack what it means to grieve the mother you needed but didn’t fully receive, how unmet emotional needs show up in adulthood, and why healing isn’t about choosing between empathy and accountability—you get to hold both.

This episode is for anyone navigating complicated feelings toward their mother—love, grief, anger, longing—and trying to make sense of it all without minimizing their own pain.

You are allowed to honor her story… without abandoning your own.

Book Mentioned:
The Will To Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love  by Bell Hooks

Thank you for tuning in to Unpacking Me! We appreciate each and every one of our listeners. Your presence in our community is truly valued, and we're grateful for each and every listener.

If today's episode resonated with you, consider taking a moment to subscribe, rate, and share your thoughts with a review on your preferred podcast platform. Your feedback is an essential part of our journey, and we appreciate the support!

For those seeking a Therapist in the Broward County, FL area, explore the services at www.dare2emerge.com.

What does it mean to show up as a mother when you’re still carrying unhealed parts of yourself?

In this episode, we have an honest and necessary conversation about Black motherhood, trauma, and the emotional weight many Black mothers carry while raising children. So often, Black moms are expected to be strong, self-sacrificing, and resilient—while navigating their own unresolved pain, generational trauma, and lack of support.

We explore what it looks like to parent while triggered, overwhelmed, or emotionally exhausted, and the guilt that can come with knowing you want to do better while still struggling within yourself. This episode creates space for the truth: you can deeply love your children and still feel broken, stretched thin, or unsure of how to heal while parenting.

This episode is for Black mothers and marginalized mothers who feel like they have to hold everything together, even when they’re falling apart inside. It’s also for anyone seeking to better understand the intersection of trauma, mental health, and parenting within Black motherhood.

You are allowed to be a loving mother… and still need healing.

Thank you for tuning in to Unpacking Me! We appreciate each and every one of our listeners. Your presence in our community is truly valued, and we're grateful for each and every listener.

If today's episode resonated with you, consider taking a moment to subscribe, rate, and share your thoughts with a review on your preferred podcast platform. Your feedback is an essential part of our journey, and we appreciate the support!

For those seeking a Therapist in the Broward County, FL area, explore the services at www.dare2emerge.com.

Why do so many of us learn to hide our emotions, push things down, and carry everything alone?

In this episode, we explore emotional suppression—how it develops, why it feels like survival, and the long-term impact it has on your mental health, relationships, and sense of self. When expressing emotions didn’t feel safe, welcomed, or supported, many of us learned to stay quiet, be “strong,” and handle everything internally.

We unpack how suppressing emotions can show up in adulthood as anxiety, emotional numbness, irritability, burnout, and difficulty asking for help. You’ll also begin to understand why your body may still be holding onto emotions you were never given space to process—and how that can affect your nervous system over time.

This episode is for anyone who feels like they’ve had to be “the strong one,” struggles to express how they feel, or doesn’t even know what they’re feeling anymore.

You don’t have to keep holding everything in.

Thank you for tuning in to Unpacking Me! We appreciate each and every one of our listeners. Your presence in our community is truly valued, and we're grateful for each and every listener.

If today's episode resonated with you, consider taking a moment to subscribe, rate, and share your thoughts with a review on your preferred podcast platform. Your feedback is an essential part of our journey, and we appreciate the support!

For those seeking a Therapist in the Broward County, FL area, explore the services at www.dare2emerge.com.

The Real Reason You Overthink at Night

You’re exhausted, your body is ready for sleep… but your mind won’t stop racing. In this episode, we unpack why your thoughts get louder at night, especially for those navigating anxiety, trauma, and emotional overwhelm. We explore how the nervous system, unprocessed emotions, and daily suppression show up when everything gets quiet. You’ll also learn practical ways to calm your mind, regulate your body, and create a nighttime routine that supports rest instead of overthinking. If your nights feel like a mental loop you can’t escape, this episode will help you understand why—and what you can do about it.

Thank you for tuning in to Unpacking Me! We appreciate each and every one of our listeners. Your presence in our community is truly valued, and we're grateful for each and every listener.

If today's episode resonated with you, consider taking a moment to subscribe, rate, and share your thoughts with a review on your preferred podcast platform. Your feedback is an essential part of our journey, and we appreciate the support!

For those seeking a Therapist in the Broward County, FL area, explore the services at www.dare2emerge.com.