Last week I sat down with my friend Joe Brummer for his podcast, and we talked.
Not just about the exgay chapter of my life — though that’s part of the story and always will be. We talked about surviving abuse and having PTSD. About healing. About what EMDR actually is and how it helped me. About what it means to go from simply surviving to genuinely, honestly thriving — and how you know the difference.
Joe wrote this in his episode description, and I’ll be honest: I read it over again…and again.
“What happens when the very system meant to save you becomes the source of your deepest wound?”
That sentence lives in my chest. Because I spent a long time not being able to answer it. Now I can.
I’m proud of this conversation. It’s brave in the way that only honesty can be brave — not because I was performing courage, but because Joe asked real questions and I gave real answers. We talked about being diagnosed with PTSD. About therapy. About the signs that you’re finally on the right path to being authentically yourself.
If you’ve ever wondered what the path from religious trauma to authentic selfhood actually looks like — not the cleaned-up version, but the real one — I think this episode is for you.
Go listen. I’d love to know what resonates.
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