Life’s a Blog: Rebuilding After Betrayal

Trina Stewart
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  • MENTAL HEALTH

Life doesn’t fall apart at 50. It gets real. After a 24-year marriage ended in betrayal, I found myself starting over in a way I never expected. This podcast is where I talk about that. The truth of it. The grief, the anger, the healing, and everything that comes with rebuilding a life when the one you knew is gone. I talk about relationships that look solid but aren’t. The disappointment when people don’t show up the way they said they would. The work it takes to stop chasing, set boundaries, and finally choose yourself. There’s a lot out there about dating, confidence, and “moving on.” This isn’t that. This is about doing the real work so you don’t repeat the same patterns. If you’re over 40, over 50, divorced, starting again, or just tired of pretending you’re fine, you’ll get it. We’ll get into:  betrayal and what it actually does to you  healing without shortcuts  dating later in life  learning to be on your own without feeling alone  recognizing red flags and trusting yourself again  building a life that finally feels like yours  Most episodes are just me. Some include conversations. All of it is honest. Because starting over isn’t the end of your story. It’s where you finally start living it. New episodes weekly.

  1. 3D AGO

    What Love On The Spectrum Teaches About Honest Connection

    Send us Fan Mail A reality dating show wasn’t supposed to hit this hard, but 'Love on the Spectrum' season 4 cracked something open for us.  What initially started as discomfort and scepticism about autism on TV turns into a surprising reset on what love can look like when there’s no game playing, no ego, and no performance. Watching neurodivergent dating up close brings the focus back to the basics most of us forget: clear communication, real effort, and the courage to say what you mean. We talk about why Tyler's thoughtful proposal can feel like a gut punch when your own history is full of “good enough,” and how healing changes what you notice. Once you stop romanticizing the bare minimum, you start recognizing intention, consistency, and presence. We also reflect on the powerful role of steady parenting and accountability, and how maturity can look like loving someone while admitting you are not aligned. From there, the conversation widens into dating after divorce, betrayal, and the moment you realise someone isn’t who they presented themselves to be. That kind of experience can make you guarded, and we wrestle with the line between healthy boundaries and shutting down. Along the way we connect the theme of change to David Bowie’s Changes, especially “turn and face the strange,” because growth is rarely loud. It’s subtle shifts, quieter choices, and learning to trust your intuition before your logic talks you out of it. If you’ve been questioning your patterns, letting go of what doesn’t fit, or trying to stay open without being naive, this one will meet you where you are. Subscribe for more honest conversations, share this with a friend who needs a reset, and leave a review with the biggest lesson you’ve learned about love. Support the show Just a quick note! I’m not a therapist, counsellor, or mental health professional. I’m simply sharing my personal experiences, reflections, and the things I’ve learned while navigating my own healing journey. Everything discussed on this podcast comes from my perspective and is meant for conversation and storytelling purposes. It should not be taken as professional advice. If you’re struggling or working through something difficult, I always encourage you to seek support from a qualified professional. This podcast is intended for entertainment, reflection, and shared human experience.

    29 min

  2. MAR 29

    Discovering Your Life's Purpose

    Send us Fan Mail Purpose feels simple when life is predictable. Then your kids grow up, a marriage ends, a home changes hands, and the role you built your identity around disappears. That’s when the fear shows up: “Did I lose my purpose?” I don’t believe you did. I think you outgrew a version of it, and now you need a new one that actually fits your life today.  I share stories from a week that made change impossible to ignore, from watching my adult kids live in their own routines to talking with a friend whose family life got flipped overnight. We get honest about grief, control, and what it really means to let grown children fly free. I also challenge one of the most common lies we tell ourselves: love conquers all. Love without capacity doesn’t fix anything, love without action doesn’t rebuild anything, and love without growth keeps you repeating the same cycle.  From there, we move into the practical side of finding purpose: entrepreneurship, money realities, loneliness, hobbies, boundaries, and building something that doesn’t rely on another person to exist. I bring in the idea of having many purposes across life seasons, then use Natasha Bedingfield’s “Unwritten” to underline the point: nobody is coming to hand you your next chapter, but you can write it with your voice, your standards, and your daily decisions. If this resonated, subscribe, share it with a friend who’s rebuilding, and leave a review. What would it look like to write your next chapter on your own terms? Support the show Just a quick note! I’m not a therapist, counsellor, or mental health professional. I’m simply sharing my personal experiences, reflections, and the things I’ve learned while navigating my own healing journey. Everything discussed on this podcast comes from my perspective and is meant for conversation and storytelling purposes. It should not be taken as professional advice. If you’re struggling or working through something difficult, I always encourage you to seek support from a qualified professional. This podcast is intended for entertainment, reflection, and shared human experience.

    23 min

  3. MAR 23

    What the Dark Knight of the Soul Actually Feels Like

    Send us Fan Mail We sit with the strange guilt that can hit when the chaos finally stops and the “right” choices still feel lonely.  We trace how old emotional wiring, family history, and familiar dysfunction shape our relationships, then land on practical ways to move through a dark night of the soul without running back to what hurt you.   • Naming spring seasonal depression and the weight of guilt without a clear cause  • How childhood emotional caretaking turns boundaries into shame  • Why solitude accelerates healing and exposes grief  • A mother’s alcoholism and the long shadow of generational pain  • The moment a parent admits pride and the cycle breaks  • “Friday Night Heartbreaker” as a story about red flags  • Why chaos can feel like chemistry and familiarity can masquerade as safety  • Steps that help during separation and grief, from thought awareness to daily structure  Always know that you can reach me and ask any questions you have about what you're going through because I will respond.  Til Next Time, T Support the show Just a quick note! I’m not a therapist, counsellor, or mental health professional. I’m simply sharing my personal experiences, reflections, and the things I’ve learned while navigating my own healing journey. Everything discussed on this podcast comes from my perspective and is meant for conversation and storytelling purposes. It should not be taken as professional advice. If you’re struggling or working through something difficult, I always encourage you to seek support from a qualified professional. This podcast is intended for entertainment, reflection, and shared human experience.

    25 min

  4. MAR 8

    Normal Is Overrated, But Dysfunction Is Exhausting

    Send us Fan Mail We explore how the HBO series 'Shameless' mirrors real family roles and why survival isn’t the same as healing. Solitude, music, and honest boundaries help us trade scripts for action and choose love without chaos. • letting a “normal” connection go and why it didn’t fit • Shameless as a lens on family dysfunction • Fiona’s survival strength and hidden cost • Frank’s chaos, choice, and human flashes • Monica’s returns, hope, and repeated rupture • Survival tools versus true healing • Solitude as a classroom for clarity • My trailer becoming home and sensing possibility • Music as memory and mirror for patterns • Control, power, and the relief of letting go • Boundaries with an adult child and action over scripts • Choosing partners beyond normal or dysfunction • Writing the next chapter with courage If there’s any situation or dream or person that you want to have in your life, fight for it. Change for it. Be the person that you were meant to be in your life, and never, ever give up because it’s so important Support the show Just a quick note! I’m not a therapist, counsellor, or mental health professional. I’m simply sharing my personal experiences, reflections, and the things I’ve learned while navigating my own healing journey. Everything discussed on this podcast comes from my perspective and is meant for conversation and storytelling purposes. It should not be taken as professional advice. If you’re struggling or working through something difficult, I always encourage you to seek support from a qualified professional. This podcast is intended for entertainment, reflection, and shared human experience.

    22 min

  5. MAR 2

    The Road to Happiness: Boundaries and Peace

    Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I talk about happiness and what it really looks like after betrayal, grief, community conflict, and years of hard lessons. A weekend spent learning to make sourdough becomes the perfect metaphor for growth. You cannot rush the rise. You cannot resurrect what collapsed. You feed what’s healthy and discard what’s toxic. Living alone in my little house in the woods has brought loneliness, but it has also brought grounding, clarity, and the deepest happiness I’ve felt since 2019. I share why trusting yourself is the true road to happiness, and why forgiveness does not automatically mean giving someone access back into your life. We explore boundaries, emotional maturity, rebuilding after chaos, and the powerful imagery behind the country song “Burning House” by Cam. Sometimes you can care about someone and still refuse to rebuild the house that already burned. If you are navigating loneliness, personal growth, second chances, or learning how to protect your peace, this episode is about choosing steady happiness over familiar chaos. Support the show Just a quick note! I’m not a therapist, counsellor, or mental health professional. I’m simply sharing my personal experiences, reflections, and the things I’ve learned while navigating my own healing journey. Everything discussed on this podcast comes from my perspective and is meant for conversation and storytelling purposes. It should not be taken as professional advice. If you’re struggling or working through something difficult, I always encourage you to seek support from a qualified professional. This podcast is intended for entertainment, reflection, and shared human experience.

    28 min

  6. FEB 19

    The Power of Being Alone After a Breakup

    Send us Fan Mail The quiet after a breakup is not peaceful. It is loud. When the phone stops buzzing and the routines disappear, you are left with one uncomfortable question: am I enough without being chosen? In this solo episode, we break down what it really means to be alone after a breakup and why time alone is not a setback, it is strategy. This is a direct conversation about healing after heartbreak, rebuilding self worth, and learning how to stop repeating unhealthy relationship patterns. We talk about strategic solitude in real life. Making pancakes for one. Resisting the urge to text someone just to avoid the silence. Choosing journaling, long walks, music, creativity, and honest reflection instead of distraction. This is about emotional growth, not isolation. There is a difference between healthy independence and shutting down, and we unpack both. You will hear reflections on self worth, boundaries, and relationship standards. We sit with the truth behind Maya Angelou’s words, “You alone are enough,” and what that actually means when you are single and rebuilding. When you spend intentional time alone, red flags become clearer. Mixed signals lose their appeal. The need to be chosen loses its power. We also address overfunctioning in relationships, people pleasing, and the habit of feeling steady only when someone else validates you. If you have ever tolerated less than you deserved just to avoid being alone, this episode will land. This conversation focuses on:  • Healing after a breakup  • The benefits of being single  • Rebuilding confidence and self trust  • Setting nonnegotiables in relationships  • Recognizing red flags and green flags  • Emotional independence without emotional walls  • Breaking unhealthy relationship cycles The goal is not to find someone new. The goal is to become someone who will not settle. When you build yourself in the quiet, you choose differently. You move differently. You love differently. If you are in your alone season, this is your reminder that solitude can be formative, powerful, and clarifying. Press play and let’s build something unshakable. Follow the show for more conversations on betrayal trauma, boundaries, emotional healing, and rebuilding your life after loss. Share this episode with someone navigating heartbreak, and leave a review to help more people find strength in their alone season. Support the show Just a quick note! I’m not a therapist, counsellor, or mental health professional. I’m simply sharing my personal experiences, reflections, and the things I’ve learned while navigating my own healing journey. Everything discussed on this podcast comes from my perspective and is meant for conversation and storytelling purposes. It should not be taken as professional advice. If you’re struggling or working through something difficult, I always encourage you to seek support from a qualified professional. This podcast is intended for entertainment, reflection, and shared human experience.

    24 min

  7. FEB 15

    How Trusting My Instincts Reshaped Leadership And Love

    Send us Fan Mail Betrayal does not just break your heart. It messes with your reality. This episode starts at that moment when you finally stop questioning yourself and start trusting what you know. I talk about when a shiny partnership lost its shine. The therapy sessions that called out the imbalance. The decision to take full ownership of the magazine, not to control it, but to protect it. Equal pay for equal work. Facts over emotion. No chasing the last word. Just closure and forward motion. We get clear on what partnership actually means in business and in love. Shared vision. Shared risk. Shared responsibility. You can divide tasks. You cannot divide integrity. If you are overexplaining, overfunctioning, or constantly cleaning up, that is not partnership. That is imbalance. And that realization changed how I lead, how I set boundaries, and how I protect the advertisers, retailers, and readers who trust us. I also share what rebuilding looks like. A tighter team. My daughter stepping into social and marketing. A designer who owns the visual direction. The work is heavier, but it feels cleaner because the responsibility and the vision sit in the same place. This one is about leadership, love, and refusing to shrink to keep the peace. If you have been carrying more than your share or ignoring what your gut keeps telling you, this conversation will meet you right there. Support the show Just a quick note! I’m not a therapist, counsellor, or mental health professional. I’m simply sharing my personal experiences, reflections, and the things I’ve learned while navigating my own healing journey. Everything discussed on this podcast comes from my perspective and is meant for conversation and storytelling purposes. It should not be taken as professional advice. If you’re struggling or working through something difficult, I always encourage you to seek support from a qualified professional. This podcast is intended for entertainment, reflection, and shared human experience.

    23 min

  8. FEB 6

    Choose Yourself: Building A Deeper Well Of Joy

    Send us Fan Mail A quiet house in the woods can change everything. We arrive in Lambton Shores sore, stressed, and carrying months of noise, then watch how stillness, light, and a few small rituals turn chaos into clarity. From hot lemon water to running the stairs without a limp, the week becomes proof that the body keeps score and peace can help settle it. The boxes get unpacked, the windows flood the rooms, and a grounded routine makes space for decisions that serve a future we actually want. We don’t shy away from the hard parts. A birthday stirs grief for an ex-husband and the ache of what our children and grandson lost. We name the anger at silence, the weight of unhealed trauma, and the complicated truth about who knew and who chose not to act. Speaking plainly matters. It won’t rewrite the past, but it can safeguard the future and break patterns that keep families stuck. Boundaries show up here as love in action—declining a date to protect focus, refusing to carry others’ choices at the cost of our own well-being, and choosing to build a deeper well of strength and joy. This conversation is a roadmap for anyone ready to get unstuck: choose the environment that steadies you, stack small habits that lower stress, tell the truth without flinching, and make room for dreams that are yours. We talk healing, accountability, resilience, and the fierce commitment to not fail even when money is tight and outcomes are uncertain. If you’re craving a reset, or a nudge to put your oxygen mask on first, this is your sign to start. Listen, share with someone who needs it, and if this resonates, subscribe and leave a review so more people can find the show. What boundary will you set this week? Support the show Just a quick note! I’m not a therapist, counsellor, or mental health professional. I’m simply sharing my personal experiences, reflections, and the things I’ve learned while navigating my own healing journey. Everything discussed on this podcast comes from my perspective and is meant for conversation and storytelling purposes. It should not be taken as professional advice. If you’re struggling or working through something difficult, I always encourage you to seek support from a qualified professional. This podcast is intended for entertainment, reflection, and shared human experience.

    24 min
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About

Life doesn’t fall apart at 50. It gets real. After a 24-year marriage ended in betrayal, I found myself starting over in a way I never expected. This podcast is where I talk about that. The truth of it. The grief, the anger, the healing, and everything that comes with rebuilding a life when the one you knew is gone. I talk about relationships that look solid but aren’t. The disappointment when people don’t show up the way they said they would. The work it takes to stop chasing, set boundaries, and finally choose yourself. There’s a lot out there about dating, confidence, and “moving on.” This isn’t that. This is about doing the real work so you don’t repeat the same patterns. If you’re over 40, over 50, divorced, starting again, or just tired of pretending you’re fine, you’ll get it. We’ll get into:  betrayal and what it actually does to you  healing without shortcuts  dating later in life  learning to be on your own without feeling alone  recognizing red flags and trusting yourself again  building a life that finally feels like yours  Most episodes are just me. Some include conversations. All of it is honest. Because starting over isn’t the end of your story. It’s where you finally start living it. New episodes weekly.

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