Healing Codependency with Erika Wright Erika Wright

Healing Codependency is a six-part deeply personal podcast series that will offer you an intimate look at how and why I am the woman I am today. In this episode, I’ll share how letting go of relationships as fix-it projects allowed me to have the Big Love. I cannot think of a time where having faith in love wasn’t at the root of each of these episodes. 
The basis of my relationships before my husband were viewed as projects for me to fix. I thought my value was offering a way for someone to better themselves and earning love by being useful. Meeting my now-husband wasn’t a “love at first sight” moment. I thought he was an incredible guy –– that wasn’t my type. I illustrate our time in a ceremony where I witnessed him praying, a visceral shared connection in a Sweat Lodge… and the realization that I needed to end my current relationship. 
I share moments from our first date, including not feeling “good enough” for him, and how his emotional connection (to things I don’t agree with or understand), allowed me to open my heart up. I recognize a level of presence and truth that allows our relationship to expand, even as it shifts from day to day. My husband has supported my sobriety journey, the challenges I faced with my brother, and my decision to become a Codependency Counselor. He provides me with unwavering acceptance and a celebration of who I am. A true, Big Love.
I’ve learned that unconditional is my job to give to myself. We each have the capacity to know ourselves in order to clearly understand our own wants, needs, and experiences. In my codependency groups, I offer people some tools that may help them love themselves more and in turn receive more love in general…..which is the most glorious thing about being alive. 
All in together. All for love . All feelings are welcome. 
Thank you for listening and thank you to my podcast producer Media Midwife Ahri Golden for helping me bring my story to life. 
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, Player FM, or on your favorite podcast platform. 
Topics Covered: 
My initial reaction to my now-husbandThe experience of witnessing my husband pray My feelings around not being “good enough” for my husbandOur marriage practice to love each other and leave each other aloneIndividual agency to practice non codependency in every relationshipNon codependency as a personal healing job
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Sponsored by Supah Star Dark Chocolate Superfood Bars and a...

Healing Codependency is a six-part deeply personal podcast series that will offer you an intimate look at how and why I am the woman I am today. In this episode, I’ll tell the pivotal story of my relationship with my brother, and how letting go of a codependent relationship liberated both of us. This is the reason why I'm doing this work, and why this podcast exists.
The origin of my codependency story began the day I saved my 2 year old brother from drowning in our childhood pool. From then on, I assigned myself  my brother’s keeper. I detail how my codependent relationship was a high priority throughout my life, from intervention and rehab to being his accountability partner, all the way to relapsing in my home… around my husband and children. 
I share how clarity from sobriety provided a level of reality I was willing to acknowledge and accept, including having to make an intensely painful decision before the holidays. There was intense grief involved, but ultimately I knew I did the most loving thing for him and me. When a death in the family brought us back together, I felt peace about the situation, whether there was accountability on his side or not. 
I illustrate markers of being in a codependent relationship and share the two gifts I received from this experience. I now know that every person is capable and in charge of themselves and their own life. The codependency was simply the relationship I created between myself and my brother’s potential. Letting go of the cycle always outweighs the discomfort. 
Thank you for listening and thank you to my podcast producer Media Midwife Ahri Golden for helping me bring my story to life. 
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, Player FM, or on your favorite podcast platform. 
Topics Covered: 
The day my brother moved into my houseThe timeline of events relating to my brother’s addiction issues Codependent patterns I noticed about myself My internal struggle with the type of sister I wanted to beThe grief that surrounds making the hard, but right, decision Two significant gifts I received from this experience  
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Sponsored by Supah Star Dark Chocolate Superfood Bars and Godseye OilsPodcast Production by Media Midwife Ahri GoldenPodcast art by a...

Healing Codependency is a six-part deeply personal podcast series that will offer you an intimate look at how and why I am the woman I am today. In this episode, I’ll share how letting go of the position to get back at my dad allowed me to see the love that was always there.
I witnessed my parents get divorced over my dad’s infidelity. After that, I stopped speaking to my dad. I was determined to find a way to “get back at him.” Eventually, I shut it all down and became someone who labeled themselves as having “no dad.” It wasn’t until 2004 — 10 years later — that I started trying to remember what I was even mad about. 
I share the feeling of allegiance to my mom and how that pain caused me to express resentment and hate toward my dad, and suppress love in the process. I illustrate our first conversation in a decade during my brother’s wedding and how there was so much relief in that moment — I realized it took so much time and energy to be mad at him. I share how we began to heal our relationship, including him joining my whole family at my wedding. I also share the last conversation we had before he died, and how that created a beautiful shift in my perspective about our relationship. 
During the 10 years that I didn’t speak to my dad, I had to actively ignore the love and pretend it didn’t exist. I now understand that my allegiance to my mom was my codependent creation that I thought was love, but it was actually the opposite. While painful, my dad and I were able to open love back up. At one point, I didn’t actually believe it or feel it, but the love stays. Being right is an illusion. Love is all that matters. 
Thank you for listening and thank you to my podcast producer Media Midwife Ahri Golden for helping me bring my story to life. 
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, Player FM, or on your favorite podcast platform. 
Topics Covered: 
My allegiance to my mom after my parent’s breakup Seeing my dad again at my youngest brother’s rehearsal dinnerOur father-daughter reunion at my wedding The last conversation we had before my dad died Realizing that “the love stays” Gratitude for my blood dad’s contribution to my DNAMaturity about my parent’s marriage being none of my business 
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Credit:
Sponsored by Supah Star Dark Chocolate Superfood Bars and Godseye OilsPodcast Production by a...

Healing Codependency is a six-part deeply personal podcast series that will offer you an intimate look at how and why I am the woman I am today. In this episode, I’ll get personal about my journey from feeling completely unsafe and female relationships to leaning into and trusting the totality of Sacred Sisterhood. 
I spent over 20 years finding female friendships very confusing and very scary. The moment I learned about my biological dad changed the way I saw the world. Mix that with feeling “too much” — too loud, too big, too over the top — I chose to surround myself with men. 
I share the feeling of experiencing my first entry point into female friendship, and how finding female community and union in different spaces allowed me to open up to others and experience love. When I met my sister soulmate (of 20 years), it was a launch pad for true, unconditional love. But in my decision to get sober, I was afraid that everything I attached to would be gone. I was worried that if I stopped drinking the fun would be over and somehow the love would leave. . What I learned is that choosing my health and happiness didn’t take away from our love or relationship. This was Sacred Sisterhood.
In the framework of codependency, being “too much” means that someone doesn’t know what to do in the presence of you. The opposite of that is realizing that there is space for all of us to be exactly who we are. Unconditional love is present, regardless. 
Thank you for listening and thank you to my podcast producer Media Midwife Ahri Golden for helping me bring my story to life. 
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, Player FM, or on your favorite podcast platform. 
Topics Covered: 
How learning about my biological dad changed the way I saw the worldSurvival mechanisms when caretakers aren’t emotionally regulated The change I experienced from surrounding myself with true female community How female relationships in my teens reflected that I was “too much”The reassurance of intertwined, beautiful, platonic sisterhood How the “Too Much” twins allowed me to become the female friend I always wanted to bePregnancy, sobriety, and realizing I could still choose and give love The lesson that there is space for everybody to be fully themselves 
Get in touch: 
Connect on Instagram Learn more on my website Be the first to know about upcoming workshops
Credit:
Sponsored by Supah Star Dark Chocolate Superfood Bars and Godseye...

Healing Codependency is a six-part deeply personal podcast series that will offer you an intimate look at how and why I am the woman I am today. In this episode, I’ll share how living a lie, and eventually learning the truth, became the foundation of my life and work. The journey to the truth is where all the good stuff is.
The beginning of the lies — well, the embodiment and normalization of the lies — began in 3rd grade when I learned that I had a different biological dad. The big hovering secret my parents held onto was in fact, related to me feeling slightly disconnected from my family structure. 
I share how I held on to this lie for 12 years until the day my stepdad left my mom. The eruption of emotion from my parents and myself, allowed space for the lie about my biological dad to unveil itself. I can’t deny that it came from a place of punishment and an inability to process my feelings at the time, but I was on a trajectory of the truth. I illustrate how connecting with my paternal family was a visceral homecoming of love — the truth set me free into the warmth of a family waiting to meet me. I have gratitude for every emotion that moves through me in the process, and I learned that love is available at all times. 
Because of these feelings, I am now committed to a life of truth. I can’t fool myself like I used to — I am way more invested in the feeling of satisfaction and alignment that truth offers me. Regardless of who you are in this world, you can always change course. Curiosity and discovery of the truth are wonderful places to start. 
Thank you for listening and thank you to my podcast producer Media Midwife Ahri Golden for helping me bring my story to life. 
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, Player FM, or on your favorite podcast platform. 
Topics Covered: 
The memory of asking my mom if I was adopted Going through childhood and teen years holding on to a lieUnveiling the lie in the face of my stepdad leaving Seeing photos of my biological father for the first time The visceral feeling of connecting with my paternal grandmotherGratitude for the beautiful, strange, and remarkable story of mineHow we each have the ability to choose truth at any time 
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Credit:
Sponsored by Supah Star Dark Chocolate Superfood Bars and Godseye OilsPodcast Production by a href="http://www.ahrigolden.com"...

Healing Codependency is a six-part deeply personal podcast series that will offer you an intimate look at how and why I am the woman I am today. In this episode, I share how getting sober woke me up to the power of taking responsibility for my life. I know that raising my children is a moment-to-moment, second-to-second practice of non-codependency, and my sobriety gave me the clarity to even be able to try. If I can do it, anyone can do it. 
The first step in my sobriety was agency. The next step was choosing motherhood. And the last step was the choice to stop lying to myself, and then to everybody else. I explain the illusion of alcohol as your authentic self, and how I’ve learned that true love and intimacy actually comes from being present. As a human being and mother, I now strive to allow space for all my feelings, as raw and uncomfortable as that may be, so I can also make space for theirs. 
What I’ve found so beautiful about evolution is the choice of what to keep and what no longer comes forward — after all, choice involves discernment. I’m actively seeking the truth and to feel into what is true for me. I offer you the same. Thank you for listening and thank you to my podcast producer Media Midwife Ahri Golden for helping me bring my story to life. 
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, Player FM, or on your favorite podcast platform. 
Topics Covered: 
How sobriety awakened me to responsibility and agency over my lifeThe evolution of wanting a better childhood for my children without negating mineA story about how my acupuncturist called out my alcoholism The illusion of alcohol as intimacy and presence as love The opposing truths between the power of choice and suffering within my lineage Truth as a habit and seeking truth on an individualistic level 
Get in touch: 
Connect on Instagram Learn more on my website Be the first to know about upcoming workshops
Credit:
Sponsored by Supah Star Dark Chocolate Superfood Bars and Godseye OilsPodcast Production by Media Midwife Ahri GoldenPodcast art by Megan Schiller