Episode Description
Learn how to prepare for a hard conversation, set boundaries, and stop freezing up when someone crosses a line. In this trauma recovery podcast episode, trauma survivor Tracy Smaldino explains why you go blank in the moment, how to rehearse your boundary before you need it, and why you don't owe anyone an explanation.
Michael Bolton locked his green room door for 45 minutes before every show. It sounded terrible through the wall. Then he walked out and delivered one of the best performances I ever saw in that building.
Nobody good walks out cold.
In this episode:
✦ Why you freeze in the moment and think of the perfect response 20 minutes later
✦ What happens when you do healing work cold — the 11 pm journal, the unprepared therapy session
✦ How to prepare for a specific hard event you know is coming
✦ Why rehearsing one line out loud changes everything
✦ Why you don't owe anyone an explanation for your boundary
✦ How distance alone can say everything without a single word
✦ How to decide whose energy you keep close before you walk in the room
🎤 YOUR WARM-UP:
1️⃣ Pick the show — name what's coming
2️⃣ Decide what you need to leave with
3️⃣ Rehearse one line out loud
4️⃣ Decide the distance in advance
5️⃣ Plan your exit before you go in
6️⃣ Five minutes in the car before you walk through the door
⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 — The Green Room Next to My Office
3:00 — You Cannot Go From Zero to Full Output
6:30 — Warming Up for What You Know Is Coming
10:30 — Rehearse the Boundary Before You Need It
14:30 — Building the Ramp
18:00 — Your Rock Star Takeaway
🎵 SONGS THAT SAVED US — Healing Playlist:
For the car, before you go in. Send yours
and I'll add it:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0mQfkVQtw1eB1eNSsD9ZQy
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You are not bad at hard conversations. You have been going on cold.
You are not a groupie in someone else's story. You are the headliner of your own. Headliners warm up before they go on. 🎸