Choosing to Stay

Choosing to Stay is a podcast about what we do when something we love has also hurt us. Life can hurt in so many ways—our faith, our bodies, our marriages, our families, and sometimes the very places we once believed would be safe. But even in the middle of pain, people find reasons to hope, to heal, to believe, and sometimes, simply, to choose one more day. In each episode, I share real stories from real people who have been hurt—and who chose to stay. Some have experienced deep wounds within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and wrestled with whether there was still a place for them there. Others have faced the unimaginable pain of living in bodies, circumstances, or seasons they desperately wanted to escape. And others have experienced heartbreak within their marriages and had to decide whether their love, commitment, and hope were strong enough to keep choosing each other. These aren’t stories about pretending the pain didn’t happen. They’re stories about what happens when we acknowledge the hurt and still ask, What if there is something worth staying for? Choosing to Stay is a place for honest conversations about faith, healing, marriage, resilience, and the complicated spaces in between. Real people. Hard stories. Lasting hope. Because sometimes staying isn’t about being strong enough to endure. Sometimes it’s about believing there might still be something beautiful on the other side of the pain.