Identifying Green Flags: 7 Markers of a Healthy Relationship
The Audacious Life - Break Free
Identifying Green Flags: 7 Markers of a Healthy Relationship In this episode, Steph discusses the characteristics of healthy relationships, especially in the context of those who have experienced toxic or narcissistic dynamics who may not have a sense of what a "healthy relationship" even is. With Father's Day approaching, the importance of recognizing positive relationship markers is emphasized. Key traits such as calm and steady energy, respect for boundaries without punishment, consistency over time, emotional availability, shared power, and genuine interest in personal growth are...
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Was It Trauma...or a Brain Injury?
The Audacious Life - Break Free
Was It Trauma...or a Brain Injury? In this raw, in-the-car episode, I open up about something I’ve never fully talked about — the invisible symptoms of post-concussion syndrome and how they’ve affected my life and recovery. After overdoing it on a bike ride, I fell into a physical and cognitive relapse that left me confused, exhausted, and deeply frustrated. I now know it was a resurgence of TBI symptoms, something that often gets overlooked in women, especially those with a history of domestic abuse. This isn’t medical advice — it’s my personal story. But if any of this...
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Stop Talking About Narcissists - Why Celebrating YOUR Wins Is The Path To Healing
The Audacious Life - Break Free
Stop Talking About Narcissists - Why Celebrating YOUR Wins Is The Path To Healing After 10 years of podcasting about narcissistic abuse, I've realized something critical: we've been giving narcissists exactly what they want - attention. It's time for a movement where we stop obsessing over abusers and start celebrating ourselves! In this powerful episode, I explain why focusing on "red flags" and manipulation tactics can actually keep us stuck in hypervigilance and fear. Instead, I'm inviting you to share your wins - big or small - as we shift the spotlight onto YOUR healing...
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How I broke Free From Fear and Overwhelm with Prayer
The Audacious Life - Break Free
How I broke Free From Fear and Overwhelm with Prayer 🙏 Breaking free from overwhelming fear through the power of prayer transformed my life. Hear my journey of finding peace and spiritual strength. In this heartfelt video and audio, I share my transformative journey over the past few months, recounting a powerful spiritual awakening that reconnected me with God ✝️. I discuss how this 'come to Jesus' moment amid personal struggles, including my daughters' health, financial instability, and career changes, gave me the strength to push through tough times. I also reflect on...
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Massachusetts Passes Coercive Control Bill! What this Means for Survivors
The Audacious Life - Break Free
Massachusetts Passes Coercive Control Bill! What this Means for Survivors In this episode, I discuss the recent passing of the Coercive Control Bill in Massachusetts, the celebration I attended with many incredible survivors and advocates. And what the passing of the bill means for survivors of domestic abuse. Key Points: Massachusetts unanimously passed the Coercive Control Bill, becoming the 7th state to classify coercive control as a form of domestic violence. The bill (H4744) expands protections against abuse and exploitation, including laws against revenge porn. Coercive...
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24/7 Unlimited Legal Support - One Price with Kamerane Gatlin
The Audacious Life - Break Free
I'm excited to share this interview because this is a service that I wish I had years ago. Legal help without breaking the bank? Yes, it's possible! Ever wished you had a lawyer on speed dial, but thought it was way out of your budget? Think again! In this eye-opening combo episode of 'The Audacious Life and The Audacious Mama Show,' I sit down with Kamerane Gatlin to chat about a game-changing legal service that's shaking things up. Imagine having 24/7 access to top-notch law firms for less than your monthly coffee budget - just $29.95! Sounds too good to be true. But, Kamerane's...
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Break Free from Narcissistic Abuse with These 5 Books
The Audacious Life - Break Free
Healing is in the air! Ready to break free from narcissistic abuse? Discover these 5 essential books to help you heal, release the fear, and rebuild your life. Learn how to break free from toxic patterns, regain your self-esteem, and find inner peace. Steph discusses the need to focus on healing from narcissistic abuse through recommended resources, emphasizing the importance of moving beyond seeking validation through shared traumatic experiences. Book Recommendations: Focuses on healing from narcissistic abuse rather than discussing the abuser, providing...
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Warning: The Truth About Narcissistic Abuse Validation. Does it Help Heal?
The Audacious Life - Break Free
When we seek validation about narcissistic abuse, we think it's helping us heal. But be warned: The Truth About Narcissistic Abuse Validation is not what we think. We're drawn to memes and videos that validate our experience, comfort us, and maybe even help us feel seen...and sane. But is this the best thing for us to heal and grow beyond the abusive programming? In this episode, I'm sharing some thoughts about how we use content to validate our feelings and what can happen as as result. Here's the video with Lundy Bancroft that I mentioned at the beginning of this episode. Narists vs...
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Bethenny's Mom Passed - what happened to the divorce videos?
The Audacious Life - Break Free
Bethenny's Mom Passed - what happened to the divorce videos? Bethenny Frankel was on a role sharing about her messy 10-year divorce and my last podcast was all about this. But what happened to Bethenny's divorce videos?" When she decided to share about her divorce, I was ecstatic and shared why I think she'll be a solid, outspoken catalyst for awareness around emotional abuse, coercive control, and more. Then I saw that her mom died just a few days after I posted the podcast. Heartbreaking and awful timing given the roll she was on and how great she reports she was feeling. Stating...
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Bethenny Frankel's Messy 10 Year Divorce - She's Sharing So We Can Learn
The Audacious Life - Break Free
Bethenny Frankel's Messy 10-Year Divorce - She's Sharing So We Can Learn As a longtime fan of Bethenny Frankel, I've been waiting for her to share more about her relationship with her former husband and father of their daughter, Bryn. As outspoken as she is, she clearly had a gag order in place for many years. And she now considers herself an "expert on Divorce" as she researched and dug deep to help her case. I caught a YouTube Live with Bethenny sharing that she's decided to share the details of her divorce. And she aims to help other women! Imagine what...
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In September of 2020, a reported 865K women left the workforce in the US. Many of these women are caregivers and moms who felt they had no choice but to step away from work to keep their children's education on track and keep their family intact. In this episode, I share some stats, helpful resources I've found for you to gain support, learn skills, and gain hope for starting over with the flexibility to care for yourself and your family.
The pressure on parents is off the charts right now, but the burden on women is far more significant as we fill the role of primary caregiver and often earn less than our male partners. America was not, is not, prepared to support working parents. We cannot send our children to school for a full day, and many child care centers have reduced service or shut down completely. And given the pandemic's precautions, it's that much more difficult and expensive to hire a qualified, healthy caregiver, babysitter, or nanny to support us at home.
Resources for women and moms searching for support ways to find flexible work
Four Times More Women Than Men Dropped Out of the Labor Force in September
The Mom Project - support for finding family-friendly jobs
The Mom Project's white paper on what women want and need at work
The Mom Project's UNITY Hour - webinar to support moms with topics from professionals who've navigated career changes and growth as mothers.
The Mom Project's RISE - no-cost scholarship for women of color to gain skills and job placement in as little as 3 months
The Mom Project's Resume Rev - build your new resume online with their helpful tool (FREE)
The UNITY Program - FREE coaching - for those impacted by COVID job loss, furloughs, etc.
WerkLabs The Future of Work - reports and details on what employees want from work and their employers
SKILLS AND ONLINE COURSES
General Assembly FREE Fridays - A collection of FREE 2-hour webinars to uplevel your digital and marketing skills and spark up a new career path
SAS for Women - divorce support, coaching, free articles, classes for greater perspective, sisterhood, and empowerment
ADDA - Attention Deficit Disorder Association - structure is gone, distractions are high. Whether you have kids with ADD, have it yourself, or feel distracted and unable to cope, this is a fantastic resource for creating some perspective and learning strategies that foster sanity and productivity. ADDA is giving access to their courses for free at this time. However, memberships are $50/year and it's been 1000% worth it for me.
https://add.org/
Parenting Complex Kids in Complex times - (a course) with Elaine Taylor-Klaus and Diane Dempster
There are some tried and true techniques and strategies that will help you support yourself and your family, whether you're in quarantine, navigating hybrid work and school, or figuring out how to start living "normally "in uncertain times. Learn some tricks to empower your kids (and even yourself) to make increasingly more confident decisions — not just in the weeks and months ahead, but for the long term.
PEP Parenting - support for families through education and enrichment. PEP offers support in the way of low priced courses and live webinars ($25) on specific parenting topics, many related to COVID, .
PEP's COVID related parenting courses
https://pepparentonline.org/courses/category/Coronavirus
Ghost.org - for simple websites that don't involve the headache of WordPress and plug-ins. Ghost sites load FAST, look beautiful, and are easy to modify. Working with Ghost is similar to writing for Medium.com. I'll have a tutorial soon showing you how to build your website or blog quickly. Note: I loved it so much I became an affiliate, so I will earn a few dollars if you decide to use it after the FREE trial period.
MINDSET AND SHIFTING YOUR PERSPECTIVE WHILE YOU SLEEP
If you're too exhausted and don't have time during the day to work on building hope, listening to 8-hour long affirmations while you sleep can work wonders. Kind of feels like magic! And I LOVE this woman's voice. :-)
Brief meditation to Remove ALL GUILT (4:52)