Dear Jordan…Letters to my Daughter | Personal Growth, Healing, and Motherhood

In this deeply personal episode of Dear Jordan, I reflect on a simple conversation with my seven-year-old daughter that uncovered something much bigger beneath the surface: the lifelong habit of making sure everyone else is okay before ever asking if I’m okay. What began as elementary school friendship drama turned into a conversation about emotional neglect, people-pleasing, self-worth, motherhoo...

In this episode of Dear Jordan, I talk about something I think a lot of people quietly wrestle with but rarely know how to explain: What happens when your capacity to love was shaped through loss, heartbreak, abandonment, grief, and survival? The world is quick to label deep love, compassion, and self-sacrifice as “trauma responses.” And sometimes… they are. Sometimes pain distorts the way we conn...

In this episode of Dear Jordan, I talk about something that started with a simple Mother’s Day card and unfolded into a much deeper conversation about emotional neglect, attachment wounds, grief, motherhood, and what it means to truly feel seen by another person. After Jordan told me that one of the things she loves most about me is that I “go looking” for her when she retreats into herself, I rea...

In this episode of Dear Jordan, I talk about emotional fulfillment, faithfulness, discernment, and what it means to choose a partner who protects your peace instead of destroying it. This letter explores the psychological and spiritual impact of constantly feeling compared, criticized, or emotionally unsafe inside of a relationship—and how repeated emotional wounds can slowly make someone question...

In this episode of  Dear Jordan , I’m sharing the story of a friendship that I never saw coming… and never expected to lose. What started as a date turned into one of the most meaningful connections of my life. We didn’t have a traditional relationship. It wasn’t loud or public. But it was real, consistent, and deeply impactful. This week, I lost my best friend in a tragic accident. And in trying...

We hear the word narcissist everywhere now. It’s become the go-to explanation for hurt, confusion, and difficult relationships. But what happens when a word that once carried real weight… starts to lose its meaning? In this episode of Dear Jordan , I take a deeper look at narcissism—not just as a label, but as a pattern. The difference between selfish behavior and something far more calculated. Th...

Not every lie is just a lie. In this episode, I talk about how lying can evolve into something much deeper—something that doesn’t just hide the truth, but distorts it. What happens when you’re no longer just being lied to… but are being made to question your own reality? This letter explores the psychological and emotional impact of gaslighting, a form of manipulation often misunderstood as just a...

In this episode of Dear Jordan… Letters to My Daughter , I talk about what it means to grow up without consistent peace—and how that experience can follow you into adulthood in ways you don’t always recognize. This letter reflects on childhood environments that looked “normal” on the outside but felt unstable on the inside, and how that can shape the way we cope, attach, and search for safety in r...

In this episode of Dear Jordan , I explore what it really means to set and maintain boundaries—especially in relationships where those boundaries were never respected to begin with. From childhood lessons about space and privacy… to navigating control, trauma, and co-parenting after a breakup… this letter walks through how boundaries are learned, unlearned, and rebuilt over time. Because boundarie...

In this letter, I talk about something the world will try to hand you early… and often. Your worth. Somewhere along the way, people begin forming opinions. About who you are. About what you should be. About what makes you valuable. And if you’re not careful, you can start measuring yourself against voices that were never meant to define you. But your value didn’t begin with me. It didn’t begin wit...

Some of the most important growth in life begins with a simple question: why? In this letter, Andrea reflects on the journey from unquestioning obedience to the courage it takes to ask difficult questions. Growing up, she trusted the voices of authority without hesitation. But life has a way of reshaping that trust, and when it breaks, the mind begins searching for truth. This episode explores wha...

In this letter to my daughter Jordan, I talk about a word that seems to be everywhere right now: narcissist. On social media, the term gets used to describe everything from rude behavior to difficult relationships. But narcissistic personality disorder is something much deeper than everyday selfishness, and understanding the difference can help us recognize patterns that might otherwise leave us c...

Loyalty is one of those words people love to promise — but far fewer know how to live. In this letter, I talk about what happens when trust is broken by someone you believed would protect it. Not just the pain of betrayal, but the deeper psychological and spiritual impact it can leave behind. Cheating is often discussed as a mistake, an impulse, or something that “just happens.” But the truth is m...

This week was marked by grief. After the passing of my aunt, I found myself sitting with emotions in a way I was never taught to growing up. Loss has a way of exposing what you’ve healed — and what you’ve suppressed. And in that reflection, I realized how different my relationship with pain looks today compared to the version of faith I inherited as a child. In this letter, I unpack the dangerous...

We live in a world that asks us to define ourselves early and often — through labels, diagnoses, roles, and categories. But identity is not meant to be fixed or reduced to a single definition. In this episode of Dear Jordan, I explore identity beyond labels and how psychological, cultural, and personal labels can shift from helpful tools into limitations that restrict growth. From ADHD and trauma-...

Before I was a mother, I was a wife. And I entered marriage believing my role was to be “good” — not safe, not cherished, and not protected. In this episode of Dear Jordan, I explore how early beliefs, religious conditioning, and past trauma shaped my understanding of marriage, submission, and self-worth. This letter breaks down the psychological impact of trauma bonding, negative identity labels,...

This letter began with a long week, a snowstorm, a broken wrist that never quite lets me forget it exists, and a moment in a restaurant that forced me to pause and look at myself through my children’s eyes. Motherhood is often described as a role. Something you step into. Something you’re expected to fulfill. Something defined by what you do. But motherhood is not just a role. It’s a relationship....

No year is ever wasted when purpose is at work. Even the ones that felt like they went nowhere. Even the ones you wish you could redo. Even the ones that didn’t look like progress at all. In this letter, I want to talk about time — and the way we measure it. Because it’s easy to look back at certain seasons of life and label them as wasted. Years spent in the wrong relationship. Years spent figuri...

Then comes a baby. That’s how the saying goes. Simple. Clean. Almost like everything just falls into place after that. But what doesn’t get said… is everything that comes with it. In this letter, I want to talk about motherhood in a way that isn’t filtered through expectations or picture-perfect moments. The emotional weight. The responsibility. The way your life shifts — not just physically, but...

Then comes marriage. At least… that’s how the story is usually told. Love first. Then marriage. Like one naturally leads into the other. But marriage is not just love with paperwork. And it’s not just a promise made on a good day. In this letter, I want to talk about what marriage actually is — beyond the expectations, beyond the roles people assume, and beyond the idea that love alone is enough t...

First comes love. At least… that’s what we’re told. In this letter, I want to talk about love in a way that doesn’t usually get said out loud. Not the version that sounds good in movies or looks good from the outside — but the kind you actually have to live inside of. Because not everything that feels like love is safe. And not everything that looks like love is real. This episode is about underst...

In this first letter, I explain why I'm writing these letters at all. Not as advice. Not as a how-to. But as a way of making sense of the things of the things I didn't understand while I was living them. This is where I begin again. Not from the beginning… but from everything that came after. In this first letter, I’m not trying to teach you something clean or packaged. I’m speaking from a place m...

Dear Jordan... is a letter-style podcast where I speak to my daughter about the lessons I learned the hard way — the truths I wish someone had told me before life, loss, and trauma did the teaching for me. This series is about honesty, healing, and the quiet wisdom that comes from surviving what you never thought you would. It’s for anyone who’s had to grow up too fast, rebuild themselves, or lear...