Danielle To You 's Podcast

Season 3 of I’m Talkin To You , I’m Talkin To Me Too opens with the tension I live with every day. People see strength where I feel only fragility. I’ve had to become unbreakable just to survive, turning pain into something beautiful for others while secretly wishing I didn’t have to.  This episode explores the exhausting duality of holding myself together and still fearing the next fall, the over...

In this  episode, I sit with the ache of my soul letting go. I left the family I created, the mirrors I looked into every day, the ones that reflected the newlywed me, the ambitious bartender, the young woman ready to take on the world. I miss the love, the transparency, the support I always craved, the pause when I was overstimulated, the hand that guided me when I couldn’t see. I stayed longer t...

On this episode grooming, power abuse, and the freeze response that kept me alive. The savior teacher who turns villain at night. The singer who sings in my ear. The one who makes me forget he’s dangerous because the help felt real. Predators know their prey. Poverty, no bio father, born to a teenage mom, broken home. Check, check, check, check. I was a walking target. At 15, I was homeless, no co...

In this episode, I explore the caged bird’s song, realizing my strength was never a choice but a survival instinct. People praise how I endure, but I never had options like leaving my kids or falling into addiction. I chose to sing, turning pain into purpose. My capacity to love, to try again, to find silver linings, once felt like a curse, making me angry at endless tests. Losing my son became my...

In this heartfelt episode of Season 2, I share the chaos of losing my business and money, raising three kids while terrified as a new manager. Then I met Desi, whose words, “We don’t have to live like this,” stopped me cold, offering a choice I never saw growing up in a world where you just survive. Her poise, like a steady trunk, showed me I could walk away from the fire. She taught me to listen,...

In this opening to season two, I dive into the heart-wrenching night my ex-husband assaulted me in our home, ignoring my desperate pleas to stop as he forced himself on me. The weight of childhood pain, where I learned to silence my voice, resurfaced as I froze, shielding my sleeping kids from the truth. His lingering shadow, watching me crumble, forced me to face my silenced voice and the roots t...

In this season finale, I dive deep into the soul-crushing betrayal that unfolded with DC, a friend I held close to my heart, whose whispered “I love you” turned into a hollow lie as he forced himself on me . That night didn’t just deepen the loss of my voice; it became a mirror forcing me to confront my own instincts, questioning why I failed to trust my choices and decisions when danger loomed. T...

In this episode, I recount opening the door to sheriff’s officers as a child, facing eviction. We sat on the curb, desperately waiting for help. Later we moved to a dissembled community in Chicago. My mom’s absence left me vulnerable, sent to the store where a man preyed on me, starting with “help in the back” and escalating to touching my feet, lifting my shirt, dropping my pants. I froze, lost m...

In this episode, I confront the anger that consumed me after giving birth, staring in the mirror at a woman who felt weak for not saying no , risking her baby’s life. I reflect on the mental escape during abuse, the silence that let him get away with it, and the shame of keeping peace. Through tears, I unpack pretending hurt was anger, fearing vulnerability in a world with no room for pain. I shar...

In this episode, I unravel the storm of 2017, starting with my son’s birth by C-section, a fragile three pounds, fighting in the NICU until he passed at home in May. By July, pregnant again, I buried my shame and rage, questioning God, terrified of losing another. Bed rest and weekly shots marked my anxious days, but an ex-husband’s insistence led to a reckless Thanksgiving night, forcing an emerg...

In this  deeply personal episode, I bare the unseen battle of birthing twins in a tub at home, a secret I’ve carried in silence. Discovering my pregnancy with lifeless twins after a quiet ultrasound, I hid my grief while bartending, pacing through labor until delivering them, and fainting from blood loss. The weight of losing Infinite and Divine crushed me, yet I showed up daily, masking my pain....

In this episode, I wrestle with the parts of me no one sees the silent struggle of no motivation and paralysis when faced with choice. Rooted in past trauma, I’ve lived in survival mode, moving only when the fire’s under me, but I’m tired of the chaos. Through tears, I unpack how my mother’s roots and ex-husband’s control shaped this freeze, pushing me to reclaim my voice. I reflect on rare days w...

Today I pour into myself, choosing subtraction by addition, letting go of the parts that crave attention from those who overlook me, and finding strength in my own worth. Join me as I unravel the pain of chasing unavailable love, confront my role in my own hurt, and learn to choose myself over fleeting connections. Watching him carry two water glasses, neither for me, stung deeply. I saw him choos...

I’m at war with myself, holding onto a life that doesn’t satisfy, where shame and anxiety grow when I ignore what I know. My therapist’s words bring back a rainy drive with my dad, when he taught me to keep driving through the storm, not to stop. That lesson guides me now as I face the familiar pain I’ve called safe, the parts of me that thrived in chaos but can’t follow me into the peace I’m chas...

On Father’s Day I reflect on the father who raised me, the father I lost, and the daughter I shield from my truth. Join me as I navigate family lore, betrayal, and the silence I’m learning to break. For 26 years I believed my father was a man named Gus. My grandmother swore I looked just like his sister, my aunt. But at 26 my mother revealed the truth. My father was Dino, a man tied to my family’s...

In this tender episode of I’m Talkin to You, I’m Talkin to Me Too , I share a day drawn to the water, where a walk with a sandwich and a chocolate cookie sparked deep reflections. Seeing a young mom with her one-year-old, I was transported back to my days as a teenage mom at 17, unsure but determined to raise my son right. Despite fears of not being enough, I always believed in his greatness shini...

In this raw and powerful episode of I’m Talkin to You, I’m Talkin to Me Too , I confront the pain of staying silent after surviving abuse. Triggered by a courtroom moment with my ex-husband, I revisit the night I went numb, wrestling with whether to scream, fight, or protect my kids from the truth. Choosing silence to shield them, I ran, sacrificing my voice for their sake. Now, years later, I’m h...

In this heartfelt episode of I’m Talkin to You, I’m Talkin to Me Too , I unpack why the thrill of dating has faded into a daunting task. As a single mom of three, the effort of getting ready, hours on hair, makeup, and travel, feels like another job, piled onto work and parenting. Anxiety creeps in as I juggle tasks, sacrificing time and energy for a date that doesn’t spark joy. I reflect on a mea...

In this episode of I’m Talkin to You, I’m Talkin to Me Too , I confront the shame of neglecting myself when my kids are away. I preach to them about eating fruit and drinking water, yet I’m sipping from their half-empty bottles and surviving on a half-can of Alani. Fired from my job, I’m juggling applications, resumes, and schedules, overwhelmed but oddly calm, staring at an empty fridge and a lif...

In this raw and emotional episode of I’m Talkin to You, I’m Talkin to Me Too ,  I dive into a haunting memory that still lingers: the night my sister caught my ex staring through my bedroom window, fixated on me, unaware of her presence.  It’s a story of unease, uncertainty, and the fear that followed, as I lay awake wondering what he saw, what he knew, and what might come next. This moment opens...

In this raw and heartfelt episode, I dive into the whirlwind of a connection that lit up my world with late-night laughs, quiet glances, and unexpected gestures—like a smoothie sent to brighten a tough day. But beneath the joy, I wrestle with confusion and anger as his sudden disappearances mirror the all-too-familiar absences of my mother. I unpack how her inconsistent presence, like branches on...

In this raw episode,  I dive into the tangled branches of a tree rooted in my mother’s wounds. I opened my heart to someone new,a chance meeting that sparked laughter, late-night talks, and a night that felt like a fresh start. We texted, FaceTimed, and fell asleep on the phone, bridging the distance between us. I told him I liked him, but his unavailability echoed the patterns I’ve known too well...

I made the hardest choice—I cut my mother off. I’ve been stuck in this cycle, aching for her support, especially now, with my kids leaving for the summer with their dad. I asked her to help this last week, but her response, demanding money and laughing it off, broke me. I’m done expecting her to be what she can’t. It’s a painful truth, but it’s mine. I see now how her roots grew into the tree of m...

In this raw and emotional episode, I confront the struggle of masking my anger, sadness, and overwhelm from my kids, who see it all despite my efforts to hide. , a call hit me hard: my brother was sentenced to four years. Chicago’s hidden struggles, beyond its skyline, have torn my siblings apart—one in jail, another barely getting by, my sister in the services to escape, and me, a teenage mom at...

In this unflinching episode, I dive into the tangled roots of my marriage, built not on love but on the absence of it—a pattern I mistook for familiarity. Growing up, I learned love through trauma, shaped by my mother’s harsh discipline, including the day she hit me in the eye with a broomstick, leaving me legally blind for years. I hid the truth behind a dog-bite story, carrying that silence into...