After The Quiet

In Episode 31 of After the Quiet , a quiet but painful moment reveals how control can show up through ultimatums. After tension builds around a family dog, a forced choice leads to heartbreak and loss. This episode explores emotional control, coercive decision-making, and how “small” losses—like giving up something you love—can slowly erode autonomy over time. Through the story of letting go, I re...

In Episode 30 of After the Quiet , I share how September 2011 marked a quiet turning point. Starting fresh at a new school alongside my young children, I chose distance, silence, and invisibility as a way to cope with the tension at home. Avoiding leadership, connection, and social life, I slowly made myself smaller to maintain stability. This episode explores emotional withdrawal, survival throug...

In Episode 29 of After the Quiet , I share the devastating loss of my cousin on July 4, 2011, and how grief reshaped my inner world. On the day of his funeral, I experienced another panic attack before delivering a reading in French—one that would become my last for years. In the shadow of profound loss, I began minimizing my own struggles, convincing myself my problems at home no longer mattered....

In Episode 28 of After the Quiet , I share how fear and coercive control began quietly reshaping my future. As tension grew around my work, accusations and suspicion returned—this time targeting my professional growth. While opportunities for leadership emerged, anxiety and panic attacks intensified, forcing difficult decisions about career, family, and survival. This episode explores how emotiona...

In Episode 27 of After the Quiet , connection returns after a season of isolation. Rebuilding relationships with extended family brings laughter, support, and a deep friendship that feels safe and grounding. But beneath the warmth, a quieter struggle remains—minimizing personal pain by comparing it to others. This episode explores emotional survival, the comfort of connection, and how coercive con...

In Episode 26 of After the Quiet , a family conflict during Thanksgiving shatters the last sense of stability. After a violent altercation with a close family member, long-standing relationships fracture, and the small circle that once felt safe disappears. What follows is deep isolation, quiet loss, and the emotional impact of watching your support system slowly vanish. This episode explores how...

In Episode 25 of After the Quiet , life grows quieter—but smaller. After false accusations of infidelity, friendships fade and isolation deepens. Even as family life appears calm on the surface, suspicion lingers inside the home. Repeated claims, paternity doubts, and emotional pressure reveal how coercive control can continue long after a crisis has passed. This episode explores the impact of liv...

In Episode 24 of After the Quiet , a Christmas disaster triggers a chain reaction that changes everything. After a power outage floods the basement and black mold is discovered, what begins as a home repair quickly spirals into fear, paranoia, and emotional instability. Accusations, isolation, and a frightening escalation reveal how fragile the calm truly was. This episode explores the impact of c...

In Episode 23 of After the Quiet , I reflect on a season that felt peaceful—moving into a new home, enjoying summer outdoors, rebuilding routine, and believing life had finally stabilized. With two young children, a return to work, and moments of joy with friends and family, everything appeared calm on the surface. But sometimes calm is not safety—it’s the pause before everything changes. This epi...

In Episode 22 of After the Quiet , I share the chapter where life was uprooted once again. While still walking on eggshells and trying to keep peace at home, the decision was made to move—despite finally beginning to feel settled. With a newborn and a toddler, preparing a house for showings and searching for a new home became overwhelming. This episode explores instability, emotional control, and...

In Episode 21 of After the Quiet , I share a moment I kept secret for years out of shame and fear. On the night before Halloween, while exhausted, overwhelmed, and caring for two young children, a frustrated comment was taken out of context and used to involve the police. I was handcuffed, taken to the hospital for evaluation, and later told I could not tell anyone what happened. This episode expl...

In Episode 20 of After the Quiet , I share the birth of my second child and the exhausting postpartum season that followed. From a traumatic labor where the epidural failed and pain consumed my body, to nights alone in the hospital while my baby was treated for jaundice, this episode explores what happens when motherhood is shouldered without support. I talk about bringing home a colicky newborn,...

In Episode 19 of After the Quiet , I share the chapter where my body spoke before I could. During my seventh month of pregnancy, after returning home following a frightening escalation, I experienced my first panic attack at work. With the pressure of home life, end-of-year school demands, pregnancy, and unspoken fear, a simple parent letter became the final push my nervous system could handle. Th...

In Episode 18 of After the Quiet , I share the moment coercive control escalated into something I could no longer explain away. During my second pregnancy, while caring for a toddler and battling severe all-day sickness, a harmless Facebook friend request triggered an explosive outburst that left me terrified and unsafe. This episode explores emotional abuse, intimidation, property destruction, an...

In Episode 17 of After the Quiet , I share what it was like returning to work as a new mom while still living inside a coercive controlling relationship. As I went back to teaching just before my son’s first birthday, I was still breastfeeding, still managing night wake-ups alone, and carrying the pressure to do everything perfectly. With my parents providing childcare, I was expected to rush home...

In Episode 16 of After the Quiet , I share what the year after my son was born really looked like inside a coercive controlling relationship. On the surface, things felt calmer — we had a routine, a beautiful baby, and a life that looked picture-perfect to everyone else. But behind closed doors, control still shaped my choices as a new mom. From feeling trapped at home, to being criticized for bre...

In Episode 15 of After the Quiet , I share what pregnancy and early motherhood were really like inside a coercive controlling relationship. From Christmas 2004 in Cuba to finding out I was pregnant with my first child, I believed this chapter would bring more love and stability—but instead, the criticism, pressure, and control followed me into pregnancy, labour, and postpartum recovery. I open up...

In Episode 14 of After the Quiet , I share what early marriage really looked like behind closed doors—and the “rules” I was expected to follow without ever agreeing to them. This episode explores coercive control in marriage, including sexual coercion, emotional manipulation, isolation from family, and constant monitoring of my time. I open up about the pressure to never say no, the shame and conf...

In Episode 13 of After the Quiet , I share what it was really like living through home renovations as a newly married woman—where the stress wasn’t just the dust and chaos, but the growing emotional control behind closed doors. From spending Friday nights alone while he went out, to being mocked for not knowing how to cook, to feeling pressure to become a “proper wife,” this episode explores how c...

In Episode 12 of After the Quiet, I share what happened during my honeymoon in Mexico — and how the cracks in a controlling relationship didn’t disappear after marriage. From feeling alone during excursions to Mayan ruins, to fear and anxiety when my husband left to search for drugs in another country, this episode explores coercive control, emotional isolation, and the pressure to manage someone...

In Episode 11 of After the Quiet, I share what it was like to move toward marriage after a long-term controlling relationship that never truly healed. From a first engagement at age 20, to a wedding planned without a second proposal, this episode explores relationship momentum, emotional loneliness, and the warning signs hidden in plain sight. I reflect on church marriage classes, the pressure to...

In Episode 10 of After the Quiet, I share what happened when I was accepted into a university program three and a half hours from home — and how my growth became a threat in a controlling relationship. This episode explores education as a source of conflict, family involvement, guilt around ambition, and the exhaustion of being allowed to move forward only with conditions. A reflective look at coe...

In Episode 9 of After the Quiet, I explore the moment when something inside begins to push back — not through escape, but through exhaustion, numbness, and quiet resistance. This episode reflects on emotional shutdown, fear of leaving, the relief and confusion of a breakup, and the pull of love-bombing that leads to reconciliation. A deeper look at coercive control, emotional abuse, trauma bonding...

In Episode 8 of After the Quiet, I explore how the effects of a coercive controlling relationship linger long after the rules are no longer spoken. Through personal reflection, this episode examines silence as habit, hypervigilance, anxiety and panic, loss of spontaneity, and the grief of giving up joy in the name of “compromise.” A deeper look at emotional abuse, coercive control, nervous system...

In Episode 7 of After the Quiet, I reflect on the early moments of awareness in a coercive controlling relationship — when patterns begin to emerge but clarity still feels out of reach. Through personal experiences around major life events, shifting dreams, and outside concern I minimized, this episode explores emotional abuse, coercive control, and the tension between seeing what’s happening and...