Creating Yourself

Tracey Wilson Goens life was jolted to a sudden stop 17 years ago when she got a call that her father, the patriarch of her family, had been robbed, beaten and left for dead. She rushed to the scene where her father was being life flied to the nearest hospital. After a few surgeries & week on life support, Tracey's father succumb to his injuries. Tracey & her entire family was devasted, they were determined to find the killer. Tune in to hear about the struggles Tracey faced during the case, even after the case was long over & how she is still facing difficulties 17 years later. Today she has made a beautiful life for herself & the family that she has created & she is compared to her father almost everywhere she goes but she faces the sadness of missing him being taken too soon everyday.   Watch Paula Zahn Cover Tracey's father case here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PoQkSvN_B4 (it ends at 43:35 mins)

Season 3 kicks off with Michelle, a woman who started her journey in life at just 17 years old by signing up for the Army Reserves in January 2001 not knowing what was to come that fateful September day. She learned how to grow up very quickly. When September 11th, 2001 happened and she got the call to report for duty, her life went from 0-60 mph & never slowed down. We discuss from struggles during the military, what those struggles led to after the military, & even the struggles she faces today. However, we talk about how she has taken those struggles & difficulties in her life and turned them into something positive & created a beautiful life.   Suicide hotline: https://988lifeline.org/ Veterans Affairs Health Care: https://www.va.gov/health-care/eligibility/

This weeks guest is Elizabeth & she has such a journey to take us on. Elizabeth had what she called an incredible childhood with a stepfather who "claimed" her as his after she peed in his car at 7 years old & a mother who loved her the best she could even though she had her own issues. As she got older she found her own demons & it took her a long time to face them. Once she decided to face them it took her longer to conquer them but once she did, she became someone that she is so proud to be. She know speaks to herself in a way that is positive and uplifting. She does a lot of self talk, forgiving of herself & she is just living "in the now"! Water Freezing Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUIJjiQCV34 Elizabeth on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@smilewithme75

The amazing Alexandria Eleta Minor joins me this week on the podcast to share all of her knowledge about breathwork. She shares her journey in life, the loss of her brother while in her first year of college, & how that led her down a dark path. Alex talks about what caused her to start breathe work & the incredible self love journey she has found herself on. Oh & Alex literally blows my mind when she reads my human design chart, you do not want to miss this!!! Find Alex here: https://www.instagram.com/theethereal.woman/ https://www.facebook.com/alexandria.minor https://www.tiktok.com/@theethereal.woman?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

Zoe is on this week and she is what being a badass woman is all about. She recently opened her very own mechanic shop in Manchester in the UK & she strives to provide an approachable space for other women to come & get their cars fixed as well as empower women to learn how to fix their own cars. When she had to move home to help take care of her ill mother her plans were never to open her garage but once she started working at her father's garage those plans quickly changed. Listen to see what made Zoe fall in love with cars & how she wants to change & create a more inviting space for women in the car industry.

As mothers we never plan to lose our children before ourselves. We have them with the expectations that they will one day bury us, not that we will have to bury them. Hallee Bridgeman & her husband, as well as their two oldest children had to do just that in April 2023 when their youngest son & brother was struck by a vehicle and tragically killed while walking home from Wal-Mart. Today Hallee talks about the accident that took her son & how the entire family is handling it. As well as how the video of the accident was drastically different from what the accident scene showed & how the police and long time accident scene experts were shocked.

Shae Boogie joins the podcast this week to share her TikTok journey. In late 2019 Shae lost her father & was his sole caregiver, so when she joined TikTok, like most of us it was a distraction for her. She never thought that within just 6 short months she would have a loyal following for her daily words of affirmation with "#ThatsWhatShaeSaid". She has come a long way since those early days, find out what all she has accomplished since then. Shae's Social Medias: https://linktr.ee/shae_boogie_  

I'm honored to have Brooke on this week to share her journey with her youngest daughter Everly who has a rare form of Epilepsy called Dravet Syndrome. Everly was diagnosed at only 4 months old with the condition & by age 7 months she had already had over 30 seizures. Brooke talks about the struggles of first finding out about the condition, what it meant for her daughter & her family as well as what her life was going to be like moving forward. Brooke and Everly have spent many many months in the hospital & she basically has a hospital within her home to keep Everly comfortable at home as long as possible. Brooke also talks about her hopes to keep her other 2 daughters with having the most normal life as they can while having a sister with such a rare medical condition. Brooke makes sure she takes her other daughters out for special days where it is just them as often as she can. We also discuss Brookes mental health and how this journey has effected her since it started.   Links for more information about Dravet Syndrome: https://dravetfoundation.org/ https://www.epilepsy.com/what-is-epilepsy/syndromes/dravet-syndrome https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/disorders/dravet-syndrome https://www.shineforwardwithdravet.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=23_ShineForward_DTC_Unbranded_Condition&utm_content=General_Exact&utm_term=dravet+syndrome&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA04arBhAkEiwAuNOsIoOktSUPxSjxgKtTYh0nAnnHM856ctiyDZIEynX_rlzVpf_7QGc6lRoCsMMQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds  

Part 2 from Tuesday! Dawn joins me this week on the podcast to share her incredible two-part journey. She talks about growing up in an abusive household where she was sexually assaulted, her father committed suicide & she later found out that he was homosexual. She also talks about her time in the military and the abuse she suffered while serving our country, along with the domestic abuse she dealt with during her first marriage. Dawn talks about how she feels like she has lived 15 different lifetimes. But she is not one to stay down for long, she has turned all of her tragedy and struggles into something other people can learn from. Dawn now helps her community in as many ways as she can, she works with domestic abuse outreach programs and she even started her own business called Dawn's Lyte. Please look her up. https://www.facebook.com/Dawnslyte https://www.facebook.com/LexStopDSV https://www.mhfirstresponse.org/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wAfI6IsiuE

Dawn joins me this week on the podcast to share her incredible two-part journey. She talks about growing up in an abusive household where she was sexually assaulted, her father committed suicide & she later found out that he was homosexual. She also talks about her time in the military and the abuse she suffered while serving our country, along with the domestic abuse she dealt with during her first marriage. Dawn talks about how she feels like she has lived 15 different lifetimes. But she is not one to stay down for long, she has turned all of her tragedy and struggles into something other people can learn from. Dawn now helps her community in as many ways as she can, she works with domestic abuse outreach programs and she even started her own business called Dawn's Lyte. Please look her up. https://www.facebook.com/Dawnslyte https://www.facebook.com/LexStopDSV https://www.mhfirstresponse.org/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wAfI6IsiuE

Amanda Rae Button never dreamed of burying her husband after just a few years of marriage, she never planned to be a widow or a single mom. But what she is doing with the tragedy that she has been given is what most could never do; she is creating a beautiful legacy for their daughter & so many more like her to have in the future. Lieutenant Christopher Button worked for the Waukesha Co Sheriff's Department in Wisconsin for almost 10 years but when he was forcefully resigned in April 2018, Amanda never thought that in just 2 short months her husband would make a decision that would impact her & their newborn daughter's life forever. She shares their story leading up to the day he was forced to resign, the fateful day Chris made his decision and every day since. Amanda is incredibly brave, strong & forever going to be changed but she is making this into something that will create change within and outside of first responders mental health care, their families being trained on awareness & much more.   Links to follow Amanda on social media & some of the organizations she is apart of: https://makingeverythinggood.org/ https://1sthelp.org/ https://www.facebook.com/unbuttonthestigma/

Eric sits down with me this week and we talk about all things men's mental health. Eric grew up in a household with an Irish mother & a father who wasn't always the best at communicating. He was taught that showing emotion and showing his feelings wasn't something that boys & men were supposed to do, like so many who grew up in the millennial generation and those who came before us. Eric carried those thoughts and beliefs into his adult life and relationships which caused him to have narcissist tendencies and be a cheater. However, now he has done a lot of self reflection & work on himself to become a better man & helps other men know that talking about their emotion's and feelings isn't so "taboo" anymore. And Eric strives to help others with their mental health through his TikTok page & TikTok live streams.  You can find him here: https://www.tiktok.com/@ez_stargaze Links for Men's Mental Health Help: 1. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/men-and-mental-health 2. https://www.mhanational.org/infographic-mental-health-men 3. https://adaa.org/find-help/by-demographics/mens-mental-health  

Have you always been curious about manifesting or wanted to know how to manifest what you really want out of life? Well I have, and I have aways been curious about what all it truly involves. But when you get online to look up "how to manifest" it is an overwhelming feeling of where do I start. This week I have on Honor who is the host of another podcast "Manifestation Simplified" & her Instagram "The Rococo Empress". Honor has some incredible tips & tricks for simple ways to start your manifesting journey. She is also a tarot card reader & developed that skill from her mother. If you would like to reach out to Honor for a tarot card reading, questions regarding manifestation or you are looking for a life coach, which she is also very skilled at, then you can find her on Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/therococoempress/

Weslyn grew up in small town Alabama where she thought, like most who grew up in small town America, graduate high school, go to college, find your soulmate, get married and start your family. But Weslyn knew that wasn't what she wanted out of life. At the young age of 15 she had big dreams of being a country music singer & she was not shy about making those dreams a reality. She found herself messaging an up and coming artist on Facebook who became popular overnight & within a few years Weslyn was viral on TikTok for sharing the stage with that same artist during the biggest time in her career!! Listen as Weslyn not only shares her journey and love of wanting to be in country music but also facing the challenges of growing up & having the stigma of small town stereotypes & what she should've done but didn't.   See Weslyn's TikTok videos here: https://www.tiktok.com/@weslynw/video/7240541593080483114 https://www.tiktok.com/@weslynw/video/7238097079720037674 https://www.tiktok.com/@weslynw/video/7204238054914133290

Sarah joins me this week as we discuss her life growing up in a small town in Kentucky. She was raised with faith being a strong value, she saved herself for marriage & when she got to college she met the man of her dreams. They fell in love & like most southern couples quickly got married & started a family. But after 10 years Sarah realized that she was not happy in her marriage anymore & many things caused their marriage to fail so with a lot of thinking she decided to end it & find herself. She talks about her journey of becoming a single mom, finding you she is as a person, an independent woman & what the dating world is like in 2023. You do not want to miss this one, she is a hoot & I loved talking with her. 

This week I have on Jaybo (The Vanilla Gorilla) from TikTok to share his life story with me. He talks about what it was like growing up with just him and his dad. He shares things about his life that most of us who follow him on TikTok don't know. He also talks about the importance of men's mental health & what it was like for him through life with his struggles of the typical "toughen up" standard. He gives us an inside look as where he is now that he is married and has his second baby on the way with his wife!   https://www.tiktok.com/@jaybo817

I'm so excited to have Chelsie on this week as she shares her story with y'all. She is back from the Toxic Friendship episode in Season One. We learned a little bit about her in that episode but in this episode we dive deep into Chelsie's past & everything that she has been through in life. Chelsie grew up in Texas & found herself surrounded by what she thought was going to be a nice group of kids to play with. Sadly, she quickly found out otherwise when they turned playful games into something sinister. Tune into hear what all Chelsie had to endure. 1. Domestic Abuse Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 2. https://www.thehotline.org/ 3. https://ncadv.org/get-help  4. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/fysb/programs/family-violence-prevention-services/programs/ndvh

T'Quori is on this week to share her journey in love and happiness. She grew up with just her mother, brother and grandmother raising her. She met her husband in high school and they quickly fell in love but when he was shipped off for the miliary she made the decision to follow. She never dreamed that once in another country that she would eventually find her true soulmate and that it would be a woman. She is now the happiest she has ever been and thriving in life.

Ashley was like most of us in our early to mid-30's where she found herself in a marriage that she wasn't happy in, a job she did love and just living day to day without much hope for the future. She decided to end her marriage and make a change. She worked on rebuilding her life for herself and her daughter. While her daughters father hasn't always been the best father, she watched as her daughter struggled to learn how to handle that as well. Today, Ashley is in a happy and healthy relationship with someone who not only puts her first but all their kids, because he came into the relationship with 2 kids himself.

***TRIGGER WARNING*** This weeks episode contains conversations of addiction, suicide, domestic violence & death. If that could be triggering for you I would advise you to skip this episode. This week's episode is the conclusion to last week's episode, if you have not listened to it. I would suggest you go back and listen to it first.  My guest this and last week wanted to remain anonymous due her privacy and safety. Her story is incredible and inspiring. She has been through more in her 33 years of life than anyone should ever have to go through. However, the woman she has become is someone who nobody can match. I'm honored to now call her a friend.  1. Domestic Abuse Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 2. https://www.thehotline.org/ 3. https://ncadv.org/get-help 4. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/fysb/programs/family-violence-prevention-services/programs/ndvh