Sh!t That Goes On In Our Heads

Some conversations can be course-corrected with feedback. Others cross a bright line and demand something more. In Part 2, G-Rex, Dirty Skittles, and Regent Cornell get even more practical about confrontation, emotional regulation, accountability, leadership, and what to do when the other person simply refuses to meet you halfway.

Awards & Downloads Line

Sh!t That Goes On In Our Heads is a 2024 People’s Choice Podcast Award Winner (Best Health), 2024 Women in Podcasting Award Winner (Best Mental Health Podcast), 2026 Podcast Tonight Award Winner (Best Mental Health Podcast), and 2026 NYC Podcast Award Audience Choice Winner (Best Hosts), with over 4.5 million downloads and listened to in over 160 countries.

Feedback Link Line

We’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave us written or voice feedback here:
https://castfeedback.com/67521f0bde0b101c7b10442a

Mental Health Quote

“People rarely need fewer confrontations. They need thousands more courageous everyday feedback conversations.” — Regent Cornell

Episode Description

How do you have a healthy conversation when the other person refuses to listen, take accountability, or change?
In Part 2, Regent Cornell returns with G-Rex and Dirty Skittles to push the conversation beyond basic communication skills and into the harder territory: bright lines, toxic leadership, broken trust, emotional triggers, and knowing when you have done everything you can.

Regent explains the difference between feedback and confrontation, including situations where a boundary has been crossed so clearly that feedback is no longer enough. He also explores why confrontation should never become an excuse to retaliate, humiliate, or emotionally punish another person. The temporary satisfaction of “winning” a fight can quickly turn into regret.

G-Rex asks what happens when leaders avoid conflict or when the person receiving feedback refuses to engage. Regent’s answer is clear: you cannot force someone to change. You can communicate, influence, set expectations, and choose what you are willing to tolerate, but accountability ultimately belongs to each individual.

The trio also talks about self-worth, curiosity, emotional regulation, and why avoidance can quietly destroy relationships. Regent leaves listeners with a challenge: choose one conversation. Not ten. One. Decide what needs daylight, get curious about the other person’s reality, and stop waiting for the “suddenly” that comes after months or years of avoidance.

Keywords: difficult conversations, courageous conversations, conflict resolution, mental health, emotional wellness, boundaries, leadership communication, workplace conflict, toxic leadership, self-worth, accountability, emotional regulation, healthy confrontation, relationship communication, Fierce Conversations

Meet Our Guest — Regent Cornell

Regent Cornell is a transformational leadership, talent-development, and organizational-growth expert with more than 33 years of experience helping leaders, teams, and individuals build the clarity, confidence, and capability to thrive. He serves as Vice President of Market Evolution & Strategic Growth at Fierce Conversations and owns Cornell Consulting, bringing expertise in executive coaching, strategic communication, organizational development, team building, diversity and inclusion, negotiation, and change management.
Regent is an HBDI Level III Master Facilitator through Herrmann International and holds a Professional Coaching Certification at the ICF-PCC level from the University of Miami. He is also certified in Fierce Conversations, Myers-Briggs, DiSC, Prosci Change Management, and Advanced Consulting.

Fierce Inc.:

https://www.fierceinc.com/

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/regent-cornell

Key Takeaways

Feedback is preventative care; confrontation is the intervention when a pattern becomes too important to ignore.

Some situations cross a “bright line” and require immediate accountability rather than gradual feedback.

You cannot force another person to change, no matter how well you communicate.

Entering a confrontation to prove you are right usually shuts down curiosity and learning.

The best time to give feedback is close enough to the moment to be useful and calm enough to be constructive.

Avoidance weakens relationships; curiosity strengthens them.

Actionable Items

Pick one conversation you have been postponing and put a date on when you will address it.

Before speaking, ask yourself: “Am I entering this conversation to prove something or to learn something?”

Use Regent’s standard for fierce feedback: candor with care, clarity with curiosity, and courage with respect.

References Mentioned

Fierce Inc.:
https://www.fierceinc.com/
Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott

Important Chapters

00:00:49 – Asking, “How Can I Show Up Better for You?”

00:01:31 – Feedback as Preventative Care

00:02:08 – When Someone Crosses a Bright Line

00:04:22 – Confrontation Is Not Revenge

00:06:58 – What Happens When Leaders Avoid Conflict?

00:10:52 – What If the Other Person Won’t Reciprocate?

00:12:39 – The Cost of Waiting Too Long

00:16:08 – Self-Worth, Choice, and What You Will Tolerate

00:17:55 – Avoidance vs. Curiosity

00:19:57 – Stop Entering Conversations to Prove You’re Right

00:20:57 – Candor With Care

00:21:41 – Start With One Conversation

00:23:09 – Stop Waiting for the “Suddenly”

00:24:33 – A Message for Leaders

00:25:24 – How to Connect With Regent

Closing CTA

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Subscribe for more inspiring stories. Rate and review us on your favorite podcast platform, or visit our Website:

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#MentalHealthPodcast #MentalHealthAwareness #Grex #DirtySkittles #Podmatch #CourageousConversations #DifficultConversations #ConflictResolution #HealthyCommunication #LeadershipDevelopment #EmotionalWellness #BoundariesMatter #Accountability #ProtectYourPeace #WorkplaceMentalHealth #EmotionalRegulation #SelfWorth #FierceConversations #RelationshipAdvice #PersonalGrowth

***************************************************************************
If You Need Support, Reach Out
If you or someone you know is facing mental health challenges, please don’t hesitate to reach out to a crisis hotline in your area. Remember, it’s OK not to be OK—talking to someone can make all the difference.
United States: Call or Text 988 — 988lifeline.org
Canada: Call or Text 988 — 988.ca
Worldwide: Find a Helpline
Mental Health Resources and Tools: The Help Hub
Stay Connected with G-Rex and Dirty Skittles
Official Website: goesoninourheads.net
Facebook: @shltthatgoesoninourheads
Instagram: @grex_and_dirtyskittles
LinkedIn: G-Rex and Dirty Skittles
Join Our Newsletter: (https://grexanddirtyskittles.substack.com/)
Merch Store: goesoninourheads.shop
Audio Editing by NJz Audio

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What happens when the conversations you keep avoiding start costing you your peace, your relationships, or even your mental health? G-Rex and Dirty Skittles welcome back Regent Cornell for a powerful conversation about honest feedback, emotional courage, boundaries, and why saying the hard thing early can keep resentment from taking over.

Awards & Downloads Line

Sh!t That Goes On In Our Heads is a 2024 People’s Choice Podcast Award Winner (Best Health), 2024 Women in Podcasting Award Winner (Best Mental Health Podcast), 2026 Podcast Tonight Award Winner (Best Mental Health Podcast), and 2026 NYC Podcast Award Audience Choice Winner (Best Hosts), with over 4.5 million downloads and listened to in over 160 countries.

Feedback Link Line

We’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave us written or voice feedback here:
https://castfeedback.com/67521f0bde0b101c7b10442a

Mental Health Quote

“Silence does not remove the issue. It simply delays the conversation while allowing the impact to continue.” — Regent Cornell

Episode Description

Avoiding a hard conversation might feel easier in the moment, but what happens when silence starts becoming resentment, anxiety, or emotional exhaustion?
In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, G-Rex and Dirty Skittles welcome back leadership and communication expert Regent Cornell to talk about why courageous conversations matter long before things reach a breaking point. Regent shares how the principles of Fierce Conversations have changed his personal and professional life, and why feedback should feel less like criticism and more like a GPS helping us course-correct.

The conversation gets deeply personal as Regent opens up about quarterly relationship check-ins with his partner, navigating difficult family dynamics, and setting a painful boundary with a friend struggling with addiction. Dirty Skittles reflects on how avoiding hard conversations can turn into resentment, while G-Rex shares how she uses the principles of Fierce Conversations even when the person she needs to confront is herself.

Together, they unpack why confrontation does not have to mean conflict, cruelty, or emotional warfare. Healthy confrontation means facing the problem with honesty, curiosity, and respect before frustration becomes something bigger.

This episode reminds you that protecting your peace doesn't always mean walking away. Sometimes it means finally saying what needs to be said.

Keywords: courageous conversations, difficult conversations, mental health, emotional wellness, healthy communication, boundaries, feedback, confrontation, resentment, self-awareness, relationship communication, conflict resolution, Fierce Conversations, leadership communication, protecting your peace

Meet Our Guest — Regent Cornell

Regent Cornell is a transformational leadership, talent-development, and organizational-growth expert with more than 33 years of experience helping leaders, teams, and individuals build the clarity, confidence, and capability to thrive. As Vice President of Market Evolution & Strategic Growth at Fierce Conversations and owner of Cornell Consulting, Regent works at the intersection of leadership, strategy, human connection, and change, grounded in the belief that meaningful conversations create the conditions for learning, action, and transformation.
Fierce Inc.:

https://www.fierceinc.com/

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/regent-cornell

Key Takeaways

Avoidance does not solve conflict; it often gives resentment room to grow.

Feedback works best when it happens before frustration becomes confrontation.

Difficult conversations can strengthen both professional and personal relationships.

You can have a Fierce Conversation with yourself, but an outside perspective can help challenge the stories you tell yourself.

Setting a boundary does not mean you stopped caring about someone.

Honest communication should come from respect, not revenge or the need to prove you are right.

Actionable Items

Think of one conversation you have been avoiding and write down what you actually need the other person to understand.

Use Regent’s “experience, explore, explain” approach: share your experience, ask about theirs, explore the situation together, and clarify what happens next.

Before confronting someone, check your emotional temperature. If you are going in to punish, prove, or unload, give yourself time to regulate first.

References Mentioned

Fierce Conversations:
Fierce Inc.:

https://www.fierceinc.com/

Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott

Herrmann International / HBDI

Important Chapters

00:00:40 – Regent Returns to the Podcast

00:04:44 – You Don’t Have a “Work Self” and a “Personal Self”

00:09:49 – Why Common Sense Is Not Always Common Practice

00:10:33 – Feedback Before Confrontation

00:15:46 – How Avoidance Turns Into Resentment

00:18:34 – Having Fierce Conversations With Yourself

00:21:55 – When Loving Someone Requires a Boundary

00:27:20 – Why We Need Other Perspectives

00:29:36 – Confrontation Is Not a Brawl

00:31:24 – Experience, Explore, Explain

Closing CTA

Subscribe, Rate, and Review!
Subscribe for more inspiring stories. Rate and review us on your favorite podcast platform, or visit our Website:

https://goesoninourheads.net/add-your-podcast-reviews

#MentalHealthPodcast #MentalHealthAwareness #Grex #DirtySkittles #Podmatch #CourageousConversations #DifficultConversations #HealthyCommunication #EmotionalWellness #BoundariesMatter #ProtectYourPeace #ConflictResolution #RelationshipCommunication #SelfAwareness #LeadershipDevelopment #FierceConversations #EmotionalHealth #Resentment #PersonalGrowth #CommunicationSkills

***************************************************************************
If You Need Support, Reach Out
If you or someone you know is facing mental health challenges, please don’t hesitate to reach out to a crisis hotline in your area. Remember, it’s OK not to be OK—talking to someone can make all the difference.
United States: Call or Text 988 — 988lifeline.org
Canada: Call or Text 988 — 988.ca
Worldwide: Find a Helpline
Mental Health Resources and Tools: The Help Hub
Stay Connected with G-Rex and Dirty Skittles
Official Website: goesoninourheads.net
Facebook: @shltthatgoesoninourheads
Instagram: @grex_and_dirtyskittles
LinkedIn: G-Rex and Dirty Skittles
Join Our Newsletter: (https://grexanddirtyskittles.substack.com/)
Merch Store: goesoninourheads.shop
Audio Editing by NJz Audio

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What happens when betrayal forces you to stop fixing everyone else and finally start protecting yourself? G-Rex and Dirty Skittles sit down with Barbara Parker for a raw, funny, and deeply honest conversation about healthy boundaries, emotional safety, perfectionism, rebuilding self-worth, and learning that protecting your peace isn’t selfish—it’s necessary.

Awards & Downloads

Sh!t That Goes On In Our Heads is a 2024 People’s Choice Podcast Award Winner (Best Health), 2024 Women in Podcasting Award Winner (Best Mental Health Podcast), 2026 Podcast Tonight Award Winner (Best Mental Health Podcast), and 2026 NYC Podcast Award Audience Choice Winner (Best Hosts), with over 4.5 million downloads and listened to in over 160 countries.

Feedback

We’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave us written or voice feedback here:
https://castfeedback.com/67521f0bde0b101c7b10442a

Trigger Notice + 988 Crisis Reminder

This episode includes conversations about infidelity, toxic relationships, emotional trauma, alcohol misuse, suicidal thoughts, and intense emotional distress. Please listen with care.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, call or text 988 in the United States and Canada for immediate support. You don’t have to carry the heavy shit alone.

Mental Health Quote

“Anything that comes between you and your peace needs to be removed.” — Barbara Parker

Episode Description

Barbara Parker knows what it feels like to lose yourself while trying to hold a relationship together. After discovering repeated infidelity in her marriage, she found herself facing heartbreak, anger, financial instability, and one brutal realization: she had spent so much energy worrying about someone else’s happiness that she had stopped paying attention to her own.
In this powerful conversation with G-Rex and Dirty Skittles, Barbara shares how those painful experiences became the foundation for rebuilding her identity, strengthening her boundaries, and eventually helping others do the same. She explains why boundaries start with knowing what you want, why two perfectly good people can still be completely wrong for each other, and why protecting your peace sometimes means accepting that somebody simply isn’t headed where you’re headed.

Barbara also gets real about perfectionism, anxiety, emotional triggers, and the wounds that can sit beneath our awareness until something slams directly into the panic button. She shares her “good enough” approach when perfection falls apart, her tea-kettle analogy for bottled-up emotions, and how her POWER method helps people communicate more clearly, rediscover their confidence, and create lives aligned with what actually matters.

This isn’t about pretending heartbreak was some magical gift wrapped in a bow. It’s about realizing the shit that hurt you doesn’t get to own you forever. You can learn from it, rebuild from it, and become fiercely protective of the peace you worked so damn hard to find.

Keywords: healthy boundaries, self-worth, emotional safety, toxic relationships, relationship healing, betrayal trauma, divorce recovery, self-love, perfectionism, anxiety, emotional wellness, confidence building, personal growth, women’s empowerment, mental health podcast

Meet Our Guest — Barbara Parker

Barbara L. Parker, MA, LPCC-S, is the Founder and CEO of BF Empowerment Center, where she helps people build confidence, improve communication, set healthier boundaries, and move through emotional healing and major life transitions. Drawing from both professional expertise and her own experiences with heartbreak, divorce, financial hardship, and rebuilding her identity, Barbara brings a practical, empowering approach to helping people create healthier relationships with themselves and others.
Connect with Barbara:

Official Website:

https://www.bfempowerment.com/

Instagram — BF Empowerment:

https://www.instagram.com/bfempowerment/

Facebook — B F Empowerment Center:

https://www.facebook.com/bfempowerment/

LinkedIn — Barbara L. Parker:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/queenblparker

Key Takeaways

Healthy boundaries begin with knowing what you want before somebody else starts deciding it for you.

Two people can both be good humans and still be completely wrong for each other.

Protecting your peace sometimes requires walking away from situations that keep pulling you away from yourself.

Perfectionism can steal the joy from moments you worked incredibly hard to create.

Anger can be the surface reaction covering a much deeper emotional wound.

Rebuilding after betrayal means investing energy back into yourself instead of endlessly investigating somebody else.

Emotional safety, self-worth, and identity matter just as much as what a relationship looks like from the outside.

Actionable Items

Ask whether it’s on mission or off mission. Before saying yes to a relationship, commitment, opportunity, or another obligation, ask whether it supports the life you’re trying to build or pulls you away from it.

Practice the “good enough” reset. When perfectionism starts convincing you everything is ruined because something went wrong, remind yourself that successful doesn't have to mean flawless.

Empty the emotional tea kettle. Make regular space to talk, journal, rest, seek therapy, or process what you’re carrying before one small trigger sends everything boiling over.

Important Chapters

00:01:06 – Meet Barbara: Spunky, Sassy, and a Recovering Perfectionist

00:04:21 – What Healthy Boundaries Actually Look Like

00:06:29 – The Heartbreak That Taught Barbara Boundaries

00:08:53 – Facing Infidelity and Talking to Nine Mistresses

00:13:30 – Poor Boundaries, Lost Identity, and Inviting Chaos

00:15:15 – When Betrayal Made Barbara Disconnect From Herself

00:16:28 – Turning Pain Into Purpose

00:19:01 – Stop Investigating Them and Start Investing in You

00:21:53 – The POWER Method and Finding Yourself Again

00:23:51 – Anger, Old Wounds, and the Panic Button

00:25:26 – The Tea Kettle: What Happens When We Never Empty Out

00:30:22 – “This Is Going to Hurt, but It’s Going to Be Worth It”

00:32:04 – Loyalty, Fidelity, and Emotional Safety

00:34:06 – Anxiety, Perfectionism, and Never Feeling Productive Enough

00:35:12 – Favorite Word, Least Favorite Word, and Why “Can’t” Gets No Love

Closing CTA

Subscribe, Rate, and Review!
Subscribe for more inspiring stories. Rate and review us on your favorite podcast platform, or visit our Website:

https://goesoninourheads.net/add-your-podcast-reviews

#MentalHealthPodcast #MentalHealthAwareness #Grex #DirtySkittles #Podmatch #HealthyBoundaries #ProtectYourPeace #SelfWorth #EmotionalSafety #ToxicRelationships #RelationshipHealing #DivorceRecovery #BetrayalTrauma #SelfLoveJourney #WomenEmpowerment #EmotionalWellness #PerfectionismRecovery #ConfidenceBuilding #PersonalGrowth #HealingAfterHeartbreak

***************************************************************************
If You Need Support, Reach Out
If you or someone you know is facing mental health challenges, please don’t hesitate to reach out to a crisis hotline in your area. Remember, it’s OK not to be OK—talking to someone can make all the difference.
United States: Call or Text 988 — 988lifeline.org
Canada: Call or Text 988 — 988.ca
Worldwide: Find a Helpline
Mental Health Resources and Tools: The Help Hub
Stay Connected with G-Rex and Dirty Skittles
Official Website: goesoninourheads.net
Facebook: @shltthatgoesoninourheads
Instagram: @grex_and_dirtyskittles
LinkedIn: G-Rex and Dirty Skittles
Join Our Newsletter: (https://grexanddirtyskittles.substack.com/)
Merch Store: goesoninourheads.shop
Audio Editing by NJz Audio

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What if binge eating isn’t proof that you lack discipline—but a learned pattern your brain can actually change? In this episode, G-Rex and Dirty Skittles sit down with binge-eating coach Amber Abila to unpack food obsession, restriction, cravings, shame, and what it can look like to rebuild trust with yourself around food.

Awards & Downloads

Sh!t That Goes On In Our Heads is a 2024 People’s Choice Podcast Award Winner (Best Health), 2024 Women in Podcasting Award Winner (Best Mental Health Podcast), 2026 Podcast Tonight Award Winner (Best Mental Health Podcast), and 2026 NYC Podcast Award Audience Choice Winner (Best Hosts), with over 4.5 million downloads and listened to in over 160 countries.

Feedback Link

We’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave us written or voice feedback here: https://castfeedback.com/67521f0bde0b101c7b10442a

Mental Health Quote

“You’re a lot less alone than you think you are.” — Amber Abila

Special Announcement

Amber shares a guided audio designed to help people slow down and “play the story forward” when an urge to binge hits. The direct resource link was not included in the transcript, but listeners can find Amber’s resources through: https://theconfidenteater.org/

Episode Description

Binge eating can feel like a battle between what you want to do and what your brain seems determined to make you do. Amber Abila knows that fight firsthand. After years of restriction, bingeing, bulimia, food guilt, and trying everything from calorie counting to willpower, she began searching for a different way forward.

In this raw and practical conversation, Amber joins G-Rex and Dirty Skittles to talk about how binge-eating patterns can develop, why shame often keeps people stuck, and why simply trying harder may not create lasting change. Amber explains her approach to separating the biology that may contribute to urges from the psychology that can reinforce them, while also challenging the belief that recovery has to take forever.

The conversation gets especially real around dieting, food noise, emotional eating, body image, and the endless mental tug-of-war between “I’ve been good all day” and “I deserve this.” Amber also shares how visualization, questioning automatic thoughts, noticing how food actually makes you feel, and celebrating small wins can help create new patterns.

G-Rex and Dirty Skittles bring their own complicated relationships with sugar, carbs, dieting, GLP-1 medications, and body changes into the conversation, making this episode less about perfection and more about curiosity, awareness, and self-trust.

Most importantly, Amber reminds listeners that shame doesn’t have to run the show. Change can begin when you stop treating yourself like the enemy and start paying attention to what your mind and body are actually telling you.

Keywords: binge eating, food addiction, emotional eating, binge eating recovery, food obsession, food guilt, eating habits, body image, diet culture, food cravings, mental health, emotional wellness, self-compassion, habit change, confident eating

Meet Our Guest — Amber Abila

Amber Abila is a binge-eating and overeating coach and the founder of The Confident Eater. Drawing from her own experience with binge eating and bulimia, Amber now helps people challenge learned food patterns, understand urges, question automatic thoughts, and build a more confident relationship with eating.

Her work centers on emotional eating, hunger and fullness cues, food mindset, body confidence, habit change, and helping people move away from cycles of restriction and shame.

Website: https://theconfidenteater.org/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theconfidenteater_/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/532434625387487

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@amberabila

Key Takeaways

Binge eating is not simply a matter of being “weak” or lacking willpower; Amber encourages people to look at the patterns underneath the behavior.

Restriction and food obsession can create a cycle in which cravings grow louder rather than quieter.

Shame makes it harder to ask for help, which is why talking openly about binge eating matters.

Learning to question automatic thoughts like “I deserve this because I’ve been good all day” can interrupt old habits.

Visualization can help you move beyond the first few seconds of an urge and imagine how each choice may feel afterward.

Celebrating small wins matters. Your brain needs reinforcement when you practice a new response instead of immediately moving on.

Actionable Items

Ask, “Is this true?” When a food-related thought shows up—“I need this,” “I deserve this,” or “I already blew it”—pause and question whether the thought is actually true or simply familiar.

Play the story forward. Imagine both paths: what happens physically and emotionally if you act on the urge, and what happens if you allow the urge to pass?

Celebrate the new behavior. When you make a choice that supports the relationship with food you want, consciously acknowledge it instead of brushing it off.

References Mentioned

The Confident Eater: https://theconfidenteater.org/

Become a Confident Eater Podcast: Amber mentions her weekly podcast during the episode. You can find it on The Confident Eater website.

DSM-5 / Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: Amber references diagnostic criteria for binge-eating disorder while discussing how binge eating is recognized clinically.

Important Chapters

00:01:12 – Amber’s Story and the Beginning of Binge Eating

00:02:22 – Restriction, Cravings, and Amber’s First Binge

00:05:17 – GLP-1s and Food Noise

00:06:38 – Why Amber Believes Binge Eating Starts

00:10:16 – Food Flavor, Cravings, and Hyperpalatable Foods

00:15:44 – The Pleasure-versus-Pain Teeter-Totter

00:23:46 – Visualization as a Tool for Urges

00:27:37 – Why You Should Celebrate Small Wins

00:30:02 – The Question That Can Change Your Thinking

00:32:59 – Can Change Really Happen Quickly?

00:37:22 – Restriction vs. Self-Care

00:40:25 – What Amber Wishes She Could Tell Her Younger Self

00:43:20 – The Hard Things Can Build Us

00:45:09 – Anxiety’s Theme Song and the Meaning of Confidence

00:47:00 – Where to Find Amber

Closing CTA

Subscribe, Rate, and Review!

Subscribe for more inspiring stories. Rate and review us on your favorite podcast platform, or visit our Website: https://goesoninourheads.net/add-your-podcast-reviews

#MentalHealthPodcast #MentalHealthAwareness #Grex #DirtySkittles #Podmatch #BingeEatingRecovery #BingeEatingAwareness #EmotionalEating #FoodAddiction #FoodFreedom #RelationshipWithFood #BodyImage #DietCulture #FoodGuilt #SelfCompassion #EatingHabits #EmotionalWellness #HabitChange #ConfidentEater #FoodObsession

***************************************************************************
If You Need Support, Reach Out
If you or someone you know is facing mental health challenges, please don’t hesitate to reach out to a crisis hotline in your area. Remember, it’s OK not to be OK—talking to someone can make all the difference.
United States: Call or Text 988 — 988lifeline.org
Canada: Call or Text 988 — 988.ca
Worldwide: Find a Helpline
Mental Health Resources and Tools: The Help Hub
Stay Connected with G-Rex and Dirty Skittles
Official Website: goesoninourheads.net
Facebook: @shltthatgoesoninourheads
Instagram: @grex_and_dirtyskittles
LinkedIn: G-Rex and Dirty Skittles
Join Our Newsletter: (https://grexanddirtyskittles.substack.com/)
Merch Store: goesoninourheads.shop
Audio Editing by NJz Audio

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What if healing was never supposed to become another full-time job? In Part 2, Mandi Lynne joins G-Rex and Dirty Skittles to talk about leaving survival mode, reconnecting with yourself, refusing to let mental health diagnoses become limitations, and giving yourself permission to live now—not someday when everything finally feels fixed.

Awards & Downloads Line

Sh!t That Goes On In Our Heads is a 2024 People’s Choice Podcast Award Winner (Best Health), 2024 Women in Podcasting Award Winner (Best Mental Health Podcast), 2026 Podcast Tonight Award Winner (Best Mental Health Podcast), and 2026 NYC Podcast Award Audience Choice Winner (Best Hosts), with over 4.5 million downloads and listened to in over 160 countries.

Feedback Link Line

We’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave us written or voice feedback here:
https://castfeedback.com/67521f0bde0b101c7b10442a

Trigger Notice + 988 Crisis Reminder

This episode includes conversations about trauma, depression, suicidal crisis, and suicide. Please listen in whatever way feels safest for you.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis in the United States, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline:

https://988lifeline.org/

For crisis resources outside the United States:

https://findahelpline.com/

Mental Health Quote

“I kept postponing living until I was done healing.” — Mandi Lynne

Episode Description

What if you stopped treating healing like the admission ticket you have to earn before you are allowed to enjoy your own life?
In Part 2, Mandi Lynne joins G-Rex and Dirty Skittles to explore the philosophy behind ONE | Life and the shift from simply understanding mental health to figuring out how the hell we actually live with everything we know.

After years of helping build MedCircle, Mandi began noticing something important. Mental health education was becoming easier to access, but people still needed help answering the next question: now what?

She talks about going beneath the crisis of the moment to understand the beliefs underneath it, including how her former husband’s infidelity activated old wounds around worth. The conversation expands into boundaries, relationships, self-abandonment, caregiving, personal agency, labels, diagnoses, and why caring about other people should not require disappearing from your own life.

Then things get wonderfully weird.

There are raccoon videos, ADHD superpowers, favorite swear words, Joan Jett, Led Zeppelin, joy folders, squirrels eating McDonald’s cheeseburgers, funeral menus, tequila, mofongo, espresso martinis, glow sticks, and enough inappropriate laughter to keep the USS Shit Show afloat.

Underneath all of it is a powerful reminder: joy belongs in recovery too.

You do not need to become fully healed before you deserve connection, purpose, laughter, and a life that feels like yours.

Keywords: Mandi Lynne, ONE Life, survival mode, trauma recovery, living while healing, mental health recovery, self-worth, boundaries, self-abandonment, CPTSD, anxiety, ADHD, emotional wellness, personal growth, healing journey

Meet Our Guest — Mandi Lynne

Mandi Lynne is the Founder and CEO of ONE | Life and a former executive at MedCircle, where she helped scale one of the world's most recognized mental health education platforms.
A former educator and nonprofit leader with a background in science, education, and leadership, Mandi also holds certifications in Health & Wellness Coaching, Hypnotherapy, NLP, Somatic practices, and Global Leadership & Social Innovation through the United Nations University for Peace.

Her perspective is shaped not only by her professional experience but by rebuilding her own life through trauma, chronic illness, job loss, bankruptcy, divorce, financial hardship, miscarriage, single parenting, OCD, anxiety, CPTSD, and a past eating disorder.

Today, she helps people move out of survival mode and into a life of clarity, confidence, and direction.

Not someday. Now.

Website: https://onelifelivenow.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onelifebymedcircle

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MedCircle

Key Takeaways

You do not need to finish healing before you are allowed to start living.

Constantly triaging external problems can keep us from examining the deeper beliefs those problems activate.

Caring for other people should not require abandoning yourself.

Mental health diagnoses can provide information and direction without becoming your identity or limitation.

Healing is allowed to include joy, laughter, music, nature, friendship, and ridiculous moments.

Asking for help does not diminish your strength.

Sometimes one person reminding you of your worth can change the direction of your life.

Actionable Items

Build five minutes of living into your day. Choose something that genuinely makes you feel alive—music, nature, coffee, laughter, animals, creativity—and make space for it before everything feels “fixed.”

Create a joy folder. Whenever something sparks a moment of happiness, take a picture. On the days you feel disconnected from yourself, use that folder as evidence of what still lights you up.

Identify your support people. Write down the names of the people you can contact when you are struggling so you do not have to figure out who to call in the middle of a hard moment.

References Mentioned

ONE | Life: https://onelifelivenow.com/
MedCircle: https://www.youtube.com/@MedCircle

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: https://988lifeline.org/

 

 

Important Chapters

00:00:46 — What is ONE | Life? Mandi explains her eight years with MedCircle and how mental health education evolved into a bigger question: once we understand what is happening, how do we actually live better?

00:02:31 — When all the distractions disappeared, Mandi reflects on COVID and how suddenly being left alone with ourselves changed the broader conversation around mental health.

00:03:20 — Stop spending every therapy session triaging the surface. Mandi explains how repeatedly focusing only on external crises can keep us from reaching the deeper beliefs those situations trigger.

00:04:00 — Infidelity, self-worth, and getting to the root. Mandi shares how her former husband’s affairs hurt so deeply because they reinforced something she already feared about her own worth.

00:05:05 — Stop postponing your life until you are healed. Mandi describes realizing that she had turned healing into a prerequisite for living and why that needed to change.

00:05:49 — Raccoon videos count as mental health care around here G-Rex explains the therapeutic value of starting the day with ridiculous raccoon videos, and somehow it makes perfect sense.

00:06:46 — Service without self-abandonment. Mandi talks about caring for others while recognizing that giving should not constantly come at your own expense.

00:07:16 — Relationships without betraying yourself. Mandi explores healthy connection, attachment wounds, authenticity, and finding people who cherish you for being who you actually are.

00:08:57 — G-Rex on masking depression: G-Rex reflects on how completely she hid her depression while caring for everyone around her and why she refuses to put that mask back on.

00:10:05 — Humor as a mental health pressure valve Mandi, G-Rex, and Dirty Skittles explain why sometimes the thing that keeps heavy experiences bearable is laughing at shit you probably should not laugh at.

00:11:47 — Living while you are still healing: G-Rex talks about traveling, setting boundaries, and continuing to experience life even while recovery was still unfolding.

00:14:42 — Introverts confess they kind of loved lockdown. Dirty Skittles and Mandi bond over the unexpected freedom of canceled obligations, while G-Rex, the extrovert, strongly disagrees.

00:16:32 — The evolution from MedCircle to ONE | Life Mandi describes creating a more experiential, inclusive approach focused on practical living rather than only diagnosis and education.

00:18:26 — Your diagnosis is not your personality. Mandi explains why labels should provide information and direction—not become evidence that you cannot do something.

00:20:32 — ADHD as a superpower: G-Rex talks about working with her ADHD instead of treating it solely as a limitation.

00:22:06 — What Mandi would tell her seven-year-old self: Mandi returns to the childhood trauma discussed in Part 1 and gives her younger self the message she needed most: it was not your fault.

00:23:49 — The hardest lesson: You do not have to do everything yourself. Mandi talks about responsibility, caregiving, parenting, enabling, and the value of letting others learn to stand on their own.

00:26:03 — If anxiety had a theme song, Joan Jett and Led Zeppelin enter the chat as Mandi shares the music that helps her interrupt anxiety and release control.

00:27:19 — Mandi’s favorite word is exactly what you think it is. The versatility and emotional range of the word “fuck” receive the appreciation it deserves.

00:30:38 — Mandi turns the questions on G-Rex and Dirty Skittles. The conversation shifts as Mandi asks the hosts about the life-changing realizations that altered their own mental health journeys.

00:31:01 — Dirty Skittles realizes she has been living in fight mode. Dirty Skittles shares how therapy helped her recognize chronic hypervigilance and begin discovering what peace actually felt like.

00:32:10 — The 988 call that changed G-Rex’s life. G-Rex describes the crisis call that reminded her of her worth, helped her ask for help, and became a pivotal moment in her survival.

00:33:10 — Kevin Hines and the power of human connection: Mandi reflects on conversations with Golden Gate Bridge survivor Kevin Hines and why acknowledging another human being can matter more than we realize.

00:35:02 — Healing outside therapy: Nature, joy folders, photography, and small moments of happiness become examples of tools that can help us reconnect with ourselves.

00:37:41 — When caregiving disconnects you from yourself: Mandi and Dirty Skittles talk about losing pieces of identity inside roles like parent, partner, and caregiver.

00:38:40 — The squirrel, the cheeseburger, and unexpected joy. Mandi shares one of those completely ridiculous moments that instantly remind you of how healing laughter can be.

00:39:14 — Music and activating the experience of being alive: Mandi discusses using playlists, sensory experiences, nature, and emotion to reconnect with what it feels like to be fully present.

00:40:25 — Planning the ultimate funeral party: Tequila, mofongo, meatloaf, espresso martinis, glow sticks, walkers, and Depends close the conversation in exactly the way you would expect from this crew.

00:42:04 — Where to find Mandi and ONE | Life Mandi shares how listeners can connect with ONE | Life and MedCircle and reminds everyone to find the approach that works for them.

Closing CTA

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