“Pain is inevitable. Suffering? A choice.”

That’s the hard-earned insight Allison Briggs brings to life in this raw and revelatory episode. A licensed therapist, writer, and mother, Allison turned a childhood of trauma, a marriage marked by survival, and the chaos of raising a neurodivergent child into her calling: helping women heal their nervous systems and reclaim their voice.

This isn’t a story of overnight success. It’s a journey of decades. Of picking up the dream again and again—and finally choosing to live without regrets.

Highlights:

-Pain is inevitable. Suffering? A choice.

-Allison’s chaotic childhood: kidnapping, custody, and trauma

-Defining codependency and developmental trauma

-How movies like Mommy Dearest and Rudy sparked hope

-Early dreams buried by instability and fear

-Teaching as a survival-based decision

-Choosing the Peace Corps—and confronting loneliness

-Buddhist wisdom: Pain happens. Suffering is resistance.

-Reverse culture shock and the myth of the American dream

-From counselor to mother of a medically fragile child

-Divorce, unemployment, and building life from the ashes

-Taking the leap into private practice -Reclaiming voice through brainspotting, writing, and self-trust

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