⚠️ CONTENT WARNING: This post and episode discuss depression, grief, suicidal ideation, and suicide. 📝 🎙️ HATE MYSELF 📝 These are the words I have been avoiding. For years, I sit behind the microphone and ask other people to share the hardest parts of their stories. This time, I give up the host’s chair. For the first time in the history of Other People’s Shoes, my friend Dr. Amy Watson takes the microphone, asks the difficult questions, and invites me to tell the truth about one of the darkest moments of my life. 📝 I return to the beginning of April, when one Sunday morning sends me into a spiral of depression, grief, and self-hatred. One week later, I sit in a hotel room in Portland and confess to my wife, Elizabeth, that I have made a plan to end my life. Those words are not easy to write. They are even harder to say out loud. 📝 The title Hate Myself is inspired by NF’s song because it gives language to something I do not want to admit: The hardest person on The List for me to forg…

| PARTY | EPISODE 400 🎉

I named this episode “Party” long before I realized it would become the 400th episode of Other People’s Shoes.

Funny how that worked out.

📝 Four hundred episodes are worth celebrating, but this conversation is about more than a number.

It is about the moments that stop us in our tracks.

The words we hear at exactly the right time.

The decision to grab a pen, find a napkin, and finally begin telling ourselves the truth.

📝 Shā Sparks shares how something she heard on the radio became the beginning of real change in her life.

What followed was not an overnight transformation. It was a journey toward reclaiming her voice, understanding her hurt, and learning to see anger differently.

Is anger poison?

Is anger a mirror?

Could anger actually become a teacher?

📝 This conversation reminds us that anger is not always the deepest emotion. Sometimes it is protecting pain we have never been willing to name.

And sometimes the first ste…

🔦 What if the most dangerous lie is the one convincing you it isn’t really that dark?
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🎙️FLASHLIGHT 🔦 ⚠️ CONTENT WARNING: This episode discusses depression, grief, suicidal ideation, and suicide.
📝 I start with a simple question: What is the best flashlight on the market? 🔦 According to Ava’s review, the LiteForce produces up to **20,000 lumens**, powerful enough to cut through darkness and help you see what is right in front of you.
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But this episode is not really about a flashlight. It is about recognizing when we need one.
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Patrick Lomantini describes himself as someone who became a great liar. He lies to others. He creates different versions of himself. And eventually, he begins believing his own lies. 😔 “I’m fine.” 🎭 “I have everything under control.” 🌑 “It isn’t that dark.” 💭 “It isn’t that bad.”
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Maybe that is what makes darkness so dangerous. We adjust to it. We hide what we are feeling. We keep walking as though we can still see clearly. Until we realize …

🧱 What happens when the person who is supposed to make you feel safe says, “I don’t know how to be your mom”? For Ann Oickle, that moment became more than words. It became a brick. 💔 A brick of confusion. 😔 A brick of hurt. 🛡️ A brick added to the wall around her heart.
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Her mother was carrying grief of her own. Ann Oickle was carrying the emotional weight of being the little girl sitting in front of her. So how do you forgive someone who was hurting... when their hurt also wounded you?
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Forgiveness does not erase the impact. It does not pretend the words did not matter. It means deciding the pain will not control the rest of your story.
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🎙️ In "Another Brick", Ann Oickle shares how grief, family pain, and difficult relationships shaped the walls she built... and what it took to begin tearing them down.
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🧱 One memory. ❤️ One choice. 🙏 One act of forgiveness. 🧱 One brick at a time.
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🎧 Walk in Ann’s shoes on this week’s episode of "Other People’s Shoes". #OtherP…

🎙 "POP"
Season 23: The List 📋👟
📝
🐏🩵🏀 WHAT IS A TAR HEEL? 🏀🩵🐏
After years of searching, we may have finally found someone qualified to answer the most impossible question of all time. 😂🤔
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Terrence Newby played four years at the University of North Carolina, competed in "three Final Fours", and shared the court with Carolina legends like Vince Carter, Ed Cota, and Antawn Jamison. 🏀🔥🏆
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That is a whole lot of Carolina blue. 🩵🐏🙌
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Terrence also played for one of the greatest coaches in basketball history, the legendary Dean Smith. 🐐🏀 He shares one lesson from Coach Smith that has stayed with him long after he left Chapel Hill:
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Four things you do when you make a mistake:
🧠💭
1️⃣ Recognize it 👀
2️⃣ Admit it 🙋‍♂️
3️⃣ Learn from it 📚
4️⃣ Forget it
➡️ Simple advice. ✅ Much harder to live out. 💯
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Because behind the Carolina jersey is a story that goes much deeper than basketball. 🩵👕❤️‍🩹
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Terrence opens up about growing up with a father who struggl…

⚠️ LISTENER WARNING: Dr. Carron Silva talks openly about being sexually abused in this episode. This conversation also includes domestic violence, trauma, police brutality, and political violence. Please listen with care.
🤍 🎙 POSSIBLE
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Season 23: The List
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Is forgiveness possible when the cost is high?
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This week on Other People’s Shoes, Neil walks in the shoes of Dr. Carron Silva, whose story began in South Africa under Apartheid and includes deep childhood trauma, painful family separation, abuse, violence, and injustice.
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But this episode does not stay in the pain. It moves toward healing. 🌱 It moves toward freedom. 🕊️ It moves toward what is possible. 🙏
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Dr. Carron shares what it means to forgive when the wound is personal, why the word **“as”** in the Lord’s Prayer carries so much weight, and what being whole can look like when the past is still part of your story.
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Forgiveness is not pretending it did not happen. Forgiveness is not saying it was ok…

🎙 NEW EPISODE: UNFRIEND 👟
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We've all unfriended someone. 📱
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A classmate. An ex. That random person from high school you haven't talked to in years.
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But what if the hardest person to unfriend... ...isn't another person at all?
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This week on Other People's Shoes, I walk in the shoes of Willie Blake.
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📚 Willie grew up with dyslexia. For years, he believed it meant he was broken.
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😔 He tried to catch up. 😓 He tried to hide. 🙍 He tried to become someone he wasn't.
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Then everything changed. 💡 Willie realized he couldn't unfriend "dyslexia"... 🙌 But he "could" unfriend the lies it had taught him to believe.
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Today, Willie helps people trade self-doubt for confidence. ➡️ Overthinking for clarity. ➡️ Fear of forward momentum.
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❤️ This conversation isn't just for people with dyslexia. It's for anyone who's ever believed a lie about themselves.
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🎧 Give it a listen...opspodcast.com
📝 Then ask yourself one question:
📝 Who or what do I need to un…

🎙️ Have you ever been left completely speechless? Not because you didn't have words... But because what happened was bigger than words could ever explain.
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💔 A painful loss. 🙏 An unexpected act of grace. ❤️ A love that changes everything.
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In this week's episode of "Other People's Shoes", Cristina Simmons shares a moment that left her speechless and how that moment became a turning point in her life.
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Together, we talk about faith, healing, restoration, and the powerful truth that our pain doesn't have to be our prison.
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✨ What if the very thing that broke you became the thing that helped someone else heal?
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✨ What if your story isn't something to hide... but something to honor?
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✨ What if grace shows up when you least expect it?
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This conversation challenged me, encouraged me, and reminded me once again why I never get tired of hearing people's stories.
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Take a walk with us. 🎧 Listen now: opspodcast.com
#🎙️OtherPeoplesShoes #📝TheList #🩵Fa…

👻 GHOSTED. One day, they're there. The next day, they're gone. No explanation. No goodbye. No closure.
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Most of us have a name on our list connected to that kind of silence. A relationship. A friendship. A conversation that never happened.
💔 📝
This week, I sit down with Gareth Pickering from South Africa to explore what happens when someone disappears from our lives... and whether there's something we can learn from the experience.
🌍❤️
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Can we trust our intuition? Can a breakup become a breakthrough? Can every relationship teach us something about ourselves?
🤔
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And here's the question that surprised me the most...
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Is it possible to be grateful for being ghosted?
👻➡️🌱
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Sometimes the people who leave us behind also leave us with lessons we never expected to learn.
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🎧 Listen now: https://www.opspodcast.com
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#OtherPeoplesShoes #TheList #Ghosted #Podcast

🎙️ Episode: "Password" 📝 🔐

Who has the password to your life? Not everyone deserves access. Not everyone has earned a seat at your table. And forgiveness doesn't automatically mean handing someone the keys back. 🗝️

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This week on 🎙️ Other People's Shoes, Coach Nrgy Abrams joins me for a powerful conversation about forgiveness, trust, boundaries, and the people on our list. 📝
💭 What happens when someone hurts you?
💭 Can you forgive without restoring access?
💭 How do you protect your peace without closing your heart?
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In this episode, you'll discover: 🗝️ Why not everyone gets the password ❤️ The difference between forgiveness and access 🚪 Healthy boundaries that protect your future ⏳ The deeper meaning behind "Be patient. Have faith." 🌱 Why lasting change starts with self-identity
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One of the biggest takeaways:
✅ Self-identity must change before life can change.
✅ Want the change.
✅ Commit to the change.
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If you've ever wrestled with whether someone …

🐅
What if the most dangerous person in your life wasn't hiding in the shadows...
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What if they were sitting at the dinner table?
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What if they quoted Scripture? 🙏 What if everyone around you trusted them? 🤔
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And what if questioning them meant risking your marriage, your family, and even your sanity?
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This week on 🎙️ Other People's Shoes, Peter Young shares the unbelievable true story behind his book "Stop the Tall Man, Save the Tiger".
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What started as a love story slowly became a battle against manipulation, control, spiritual abuse, and the loss of his own voice.
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But this episode isn't just about a cult. It's about something much closer to home.
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🚩 How do you know when influence becomes control?
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🚩 How do you trust yourself when everyone tells you you're wrong?
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🚩 How do you forgive someone who never believes they did anything wrong?
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👟 Step into Peter's shoes.
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This conversation will stay with you long after it ends.
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🎧 L…

💔🥀 UNLOVEABLE FLOWER 🌿👣🎙️ 📝 What happens when betrayal doesn’t just break your heart… …but breaks the way you see yourself? 💭💔 📝 This week on Other People’s Shoes, Brooke Van Doren shares the moment her world completely collapsed after discovering her husband’s affair and how that pain forced her to confront wounds that started long before the marriage ever did. 🥀🪞 📝 This conversation is raw. Honest. Messy. Emotional. And deeply human. ❤️‍🩹 📝 We talk about: 📝 📜 The names we still struggle to forgive 🧠 How imagination can become emotional torture 💍 Whether a marriage can survive infidelity 😔 Feeling unwanted, rejected, and “unloveable” 🌱 Why healing is never clean or linear 📓 How journaling can help reconnect you to yourself 👣 Learning to sit with pain instead of running from it 📝 Sometimes the hardest part of healing isn’t forgiving someone else… 📝 It’s believing you’re still worthy of love after what happened to you. 💔➡️❤️ 📝 If you’ve ever wrestled with heartbreak… anger… trust… anxi…

🎙️ "OUTSIDE" 👟🔥
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What happens after the headlines fade? What happens when your worst mistake becomes the thing people remember most about you? 💭
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This week on Other People’s Shoes, Matthew Sisneros shares a story marked by regret, consequences, accountability, and the painful road toward redemption. 🕊️
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💔 One decision changed everything. ⚖️ One moment altered multiple lives. 🚔 One choice led to consequences that couldn’t be undone. 😔 And years later… the weight still remains.
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But this episode isn’t about glorifying crime.
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It’s about honesty. It’s about shame. It’s about facing the wreckage of your choices. And asking if grace can still meet you there. 🙏
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This conversation is raw. It’s uncomfortable. It’s emotional. And it might challenge the way you see forgiveness.
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Because sometimes the hardest person to forgive… is yourself. 🪞
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🎧 Listen now at opspodcast.com 👟 Step into Matthew’s shoes.
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#TheList #OtherPeoplesShoes #Forgiveness #Podcast

🎁 New Episode! "Staircase" 🪜

⚠️ CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains discussions about suicide, trauma, grief, and emotional loss.
🎙️
NEW EPISODE: STAIRCASE 🪜 Forgiveness isn’t a light switch. 💡 It’s a staircase. One painful step at a time.
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This week on Other People’s Shoes 👟, Heather Mylan-Mains shares a story marked by heartbreak 💔, loss, faith 🙏, and the difficult climb toward forgiveness after her husband took his own life. Some wounds don’t heal overnight.
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Some questions don’t have easy answers. ❓ And some names stay on “the list” longer than we’d like to admit.
📝✏️📓
But what if forgiveness isn’t about letting someone off the hook… What if it’s about finally freeing yourself?
🔓
This conversation is raw. Honest. Heavy at times. But also full of grace, hope 🌅, and the reminder that healing can still happen… one step at a time.
🕊️ 👟
Who’s still on your list?
📝
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Listen now at opspodcast.com
💠🎧
#OtherPeoplesShoes #TheList #Forgiveness #Podcast

There are moments in life that change everything. For Joe Chris Rodriguez, that moment didn’t just alter his path… it split his life into "before" and "after". Serving in the United States Air Force, Joe Chris experienced a tragic encounter that left him in a wheelchair, but the physical battle was only part of the story.
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What followed was darker. Questions. 📝 Hopelessness. 📓 And thoughts he never thought he’d face.
✏️ In this episode of Other People’s Shoes, Joe Chris opens up about suicidal ideation, the fight to find hope again, and what it really takes to keep going when life no longer looks the way you planned. But this isn’t just a survival story. It’s about purpose.
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Today, Joe Chris is helping others get back in the game, providing wheelchairs so people can compete, belong, and live life fully again.
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And this season… we’re asking a bigger question: Who’s on your list? ✍️ 🎙 Episode: "The Moment" opspodcast.com 👟 Step into Joe Chris' story. #OtherPeoplesShoes…

🚪 SEASON FINALE 🚪 🚪 All season long, we’ve been asking one question… 🚪 Who’s there? 🚪 This week, we open the final door and behind it is a voice you need to hear. 🚪 🎙 Meet Vanessa Hankins, host of Tri-State Time Machine a storyteller who brings the history, mystery, and unforgettable people of Appalachia to life… but in this episode, she steps out from behind the mic and into her own story. 🚪 For the first time ever, Other People’s Shoes heads to West Virginia… a place that’s been on my list since day one. And somehow, it’s fitting that this story helps close out the season. 🚪 This episode is called “A Bag of Coal.” 🚪 Because not everything that feels heavy… stays that way. 🚪 Vanessa shares real moments—pressure, pain, and the kind of life experiences that don’t look valuable at first… but over time, turn into something strong, something meaningful… something that shines. 🚪 💭 What if the very thing you’ve been carrying… is actually becoming something more? 🚪 This isn’t just another ep…

🚪🚪 **KNOCK. KNOCK.** 🚪🚪 What if… that’s not just a question—but an invitation? 🎙 “What IF...” 🚪 Today, I’m joined by Jon Sheldon 🚪 A former Marine squad leader turned leadership and growth coach who now helps high-performers slow down, get honest, and actually align their lives with what matters most. 🚪 And this one… it doesn’t let you stay comfortable. 👟 🚪 What if the version of success you’re chasing isn’t actually yours? 🚪 What if you’ve been living in “next” so long that you’ve completely missed “now”? 🚪 What if being present isn’t just a nice idea—but the difference between connection and regret? 🚪 What if giving yourself grace for the past is the very thing that unlocks your future? 🚪 What if stepping back isn’t quitting… but preparing you to jump higher? 👟 Jon talks about discipline, clarity, and truth—but not in a surface-level way. This is about stripping away distractions, owning your reality, and choosing to show up fully in your life. 🚪 Because here’s the tension… Life is …

Lauren Pearlingi has built her life around helping people face what they’ve been through… and decide what to do with it. 👣✨ In this episode of "Other People’s Shoes", we step into her story and into a deeper conversation about healing, identity, and the weight we carry from our past. 🧠💭 We talk about what it means to step back and observe your story… like placing it on a shelf… and then having the courage to take it back down and really face it. 📚➡️❤️ And woven into the episode is a verse that I personally believe speaks to all of us: 🚪 “Look! I stand at the door and knock…” (Revelation 3:20) For me, that’s an invitation from Jesus. A reminder that He doesn’t force His way in He waits to be welcomed. 🙏 Now, Lauren may see that differently and that’s okay. That’s what makes this conversation honest. Real. Worth leaning into. 🤝 Because at the end of the day, people may not read the Bible first… they read us. 👀 🎧 This one will make you think about your story and what you’re doing with it…

🚪 "KNOCK KNOCK… WHO’S THERE?" 🚪 What if the thing on the other side of the door… isn’t something you can fix? 🚪 💔 Betrayal 😡 Anger 🤯 Confusion 🤝 Or the question you’ve been avoiding… 🚪 "Can I actually forgive this?" 🚪 This week on "Other People’s Shoes", I sit down with Dr. Bruce Chalmer and we go straight into the stuff most people try to avoid. 🚪 He’s spent 30+ years helping couples through the moments when everything falls apart… and somehow boiled it all down to 7 words: 🚪 👉 "Be kind. Don’t panic. Have faith." 🚪 Sounds simple… until life tests it. 🚪 We talk about: 🧠 The real steps to forgiveness ⚖️ When forgiveness actually "isn’t" the answer 💔 What to do when trust is shattered 🔍 And how to trust yourself again when everything feels off 🚪 This one isn’t surface-level. It’s honest. It’s uncomfortable. And it might hit closer to home than you expect. 🚪 So… are you answering this door? 🚪 🎧 Hit play: "Fix It" 🚪 #WhosThere #OtherPeoplesShoes #Forgiveness #Relationships #PodcastLife

Here’s a slightly fuller version that keeps your voice but gives it a little more weight 👇 --- What we were taught about sex… wasn’t really the full story. This week on *Other People’s Shoes*, I sit down with Xanet Pailet to talk about the things most of us were never taught… intimacy, connection, and what it actually means to feel. Most of us learned just enough to be uncomfortable… but not enough to truly understand ourselves or the people we’re with. From a 26-year sexless marriage to a complete personal awakening, this conversation goes deeper than you expect. We talk about disconnection, desire, and the question most people never stop to ask: *What do I actually believe about sex?* Because sometimes the hardest conversations… are the ones we need the most. 🎧 Listen now: [https://www.opspodcast.com](https://www.opspodcast.com)

🗣 What if the thing you’ve been trying to fix… was never the real problem? 🚪 For most of his life, Byron Athene believed his stutter was holding him back. It shaped how he saw himself, how he showed up in the world, and the path he believed was available to him. 🚪 Even though he felt drawn to philosophy and psychology, he convinced himself that becoming a therapist wasn’t realistic. His voice, in his mind, disqualified him. 🚪 So he stayed safe. 😶 Holding back in conversations 🛑 Avoiding opportunities 📉 Choosing a life that felt smaller than what he knew was possible 🚪 But the knock never stopped. 🚪 Over time, Byron began to question the belief he had carried for years. What if the limitation wasn’t his speech… but the meaning he attached to it? 🚪 That shift from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset changed everything. 🧠✨ 🚪 In this episode, we talk about how identity is often built around the stories we tell ourselves—and what happens when we finally decide to rewrite them. 🚪 🌱 From sil…

🚪 GOODBYE… but what if it’s the last one? 🚪 We say it all the time… “See ya.” “Talk soon.” “Goodbye.” 🚪 But what if that moment… was the moment? 🚪 This week on "Other People’s Shoes", I sit down with Kelly Weaver, someone who has stood at life’s doorstep and knows just how real that final goodbye can be. After facing cancer, loss, and a near-death experience, she brings a perspective most of us avoid… but desperately need. 🚪 💭 Are you ready to say goodbye? 💭 Are you living in a way that honors the moments that matter? 💭 Or are you assuming you’ll always get another chance? 🚪 Inspired by The Breath You Take by George Strait… 🚪 Life isn’t about the breaths we take… It’s about the moments that take our breath away. 🚪 This episode might change the way you walk through your next door. 🚪 🎧 Hit play. Reflect. And maybe… reach out to someone before it’s too late.

📱 NEW EPISODE: “SMS” 🚪 How many of us have texted while driving? 🚪 Be honest. 🚪 Maybe it’s a quick reply. Maybe you’re changing a song. Maybe you glance down for just a second. 🚪 But what if that second changes someone’s life forever? 🚪 This week on Other People’s Shoes, I sit down with Dave Booth, whose life changed in an instant when a teenage driver slammed into him at nearly 75 mph while traffic was backed up. 🚪 This conversation gets real. 🚪 We talk about phone addiction, distracted driving, and the hard question most of us avoid asking ourselves: 🚪 Is that text message worth someone’s life? 🚪 Dave shares his story of survival, forgiveness, and why he now uses his experience to educate others about the dangers of distracted driving. 🚪 We also talk about: 🚪 🚗 The crash that changed everything ⚖️ Oregon’s hands-free driving law 🤝 The power of forgiveness after tragedy 🎖️ How something as simple as a duty belt helped hold life together 🐱 And yes… how the song “Soft Kitty” played a s…

What happens when life knocks on your door in the most painful way imaginable? 🚪 In this episode of Other People’s Shoes, I sit down with Tiffaney Childers, author of The Rise Back: Reclaiming Life after Suicide Loss, Pain and Silence and a passionate suicide loss advocate. After losing both of her parents to suicide, enduring chronic pain from a failed surgery, and walking through years of silence and emotional survival, Tiffaney found herself at a crossroads. Instead of continuing to numb the pain, she chose to face it. 🚪 🌅 What followed was not a quick recovery, but a slow and courageous rise toward healing. 🚪 In our conversation, Tiffaney speaks openly about the silence surrounding suicide, the complicated weight carried by those left behind, and the importance of learning how to truly sit with grief. She shares the powerful reality that suicide loss survivors are seven times more likely to struggle with suicidal thoughts themselves, making compassion, understanding, and open conv…