Releasing Trauma; a Survivor's Podcast Tracey Osborne

Dream in a Suitcase from Domnica Radulescu is a fast-paced, true story of survival, resilience and the power of love, told from the perspective of a female Romanian-American survivor of the worst communist dictatorship behind the former Iron Curtain.

The story opens against the backdrop of 1983 Bucharest. The food lines are interminable, the secret police are omnipresent, and college student Domnica Radulescu is reluctantly preparing for a daring journey that will take her first to Rome, and eventually, the United States.

Domnica traces the defining moments in her life, beginning with her traumatic escape to Italy in 1983; back to several pivotal events in the her early childhood and adolescence in her native Romania; her arrival and first years as a fresh political refugee trying to adjust and survive in Chicago; and the saga of her resettlement in a small Southern town as a single working mother. 

With uncompromising irony, self-deprecating humor and unapologetic feminist rebelliousness that calls to mind Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, Dream in a Suitcase is a powerful memoir that immerses readers in the mind of a woman who makes the bold but heartbreaking decision to leave behind her family and country to pursue the illusory American Dream. 

More than 140,000 children in the United States have experienced the death of a parent or grandparent from COVID-19.

Many families have also lost jobs and had vital supports, such as school, health care services, and other community programs, interrupted and put on hold, putting a mental strain on children, whether or not they realize it.

According to research, 71% of parents said the pandemic had taken a toll on their child's mental health and 69% said the pandemic was the worst thing to happen to their child.

A national survey of 3,300 high schoolers conducted in spring 2020 found close to a third of students felt unhappy and depressed much more than usual.

Even after the pandemic subsides, its mental health effects on children will be around for much longer.

Stephanie Bolster McCannon is an author, teacher, self-development expert, and creator of the BolsterUP Method. She lives a life dedicated to helping people improve their productivity and happiness. 

Stephanie shares:

The reasons why children's mental health is suffering.

How to tell if your kid is suffering.

How to foster a social setting for your child, even as we feel more disconnected than ever.

Childhood abuse and trauma powered an alcoholism that would nearly defeat Jewels.

Yet Jewels assures us that even when we lose those things that give shape to our soul, such as belonging, the need for touch, and safety in our own home, we can go on to devise a new way of being that surpasses our childhood haunts.

Jewels was seven years old when her father attempted a family suicide, so her mother whisked her away to the arms and family of another man.

Ruled by her mother's delusional survival aspirations and the ignored evidence of her suffering at the hands of her new relatives, survival became a daily struggle for Jewels.

But when the truth could no longer be hidden, the family split, leaving Jewels to navigate a new world, not of her making.

Deciding to use her earlier trauma to enter recovery, sexually liberate herself, and enter the competitive world of professional bodybuilding, Jewels created a life that inspires others to push forward no matter the details.

In this uncommon ode to survival, Jewels creates a quite unexpected career from her truth-underscored by her complicated relationship with the allure of sexuality.

Through a tangle of forgiveness and understanding emerges an elevated journey of the mechanisms for survival, of pain and joy, and of discovering that family is what you make of it.

Motherhood is such a blessing. But it can come with pain and loss. The loss of a child is a pain no person should have to endure, especially the mother carrying that baby. 

But it happens, and we persevere. 

Charity Majors was called to create the "Meant For More" movement after going through the journey of losing a child...after journeying through the dark night of the soul and finding true healing.

Her mission is to impart that each of us are divine miracles, that we are each here on purpose for a purpose. 

Being a caregiver is tumultuous. There are many highs and lows. But being a caregiver for someone with Alzheimer's or dementia takes that to an entirely new level. And when that person is your mother, well there is nothing more rewarding and painful at the same time as being able to care for the woman who cared for you as a child. 

But along with that comes trauma. And so much of it. Watching someone you love turn into someone you don't know, and who doesn't know you is heartbreaking. 

Lisa Zawrotny's story —and the reason she does what she does now — started when she was a caregiver for her mom who had Alzheimer’s.

She moved her mom into her home when she was pregnant with her son and then had also had her daughter all while still caring for her mother.

What Lisa went through to keep her mom children safe (including her children safe from her) was something she didn’t label as trauma for years, but realizes now that's exactly what it was.

It impacted her physical and mental health and changed how she viewed the world. Those life lessons make Lisa the coach she is today.

As we settle into 2022, it becomes apparent that we are facing another year of the unknown.

But rather than focusing on what you cannot control, let’s flip the script and begin to discuss how to make 2022 an ethical and fulfilling year by making small simple choices.

Dr. Gilbert discusses:

3 simple, small and effective choices to make in your daily life to feel more fulfilled in 2022

The value of selflessness & how to incorporate tools into your daily routine

Why there is no right way to do the wrong thing – Easy ways to assess if a decision is worthwhile to pursue if you are feeling weary