This past week marks exactly 3 years and 11 months since I escaped my abusive mother. To honor that milestone, I wanted to talk about a raw reality that so many cycle breakers live through, but rarely see talked about openly: what it actually means to have literally no one.

There is a massive difference between having a distant or complicated family and having zero safety net. In this episode, I’m unpacking the frustrating reality of people who say "I totally relate" when they actually still have a fallback plan. I talk about the daily anxiety of the "emergency contact" box at the doctor's office, carrying the full weight of life on your own shoulders, and how I finally started breaking through years of hyper-independence to let a chosen, healthy community in.

If you’ve ever felt entirely alo ...