BONUS EP 5: Melissa’s Listener Essay

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Speaker 10 Hey guys, it's Andrea Gunning.

Speaker 10 A few weeks ago, we put a call out for your listener essays. We wanted to hear from you about resilience after a devastating betrayal.
And we received so many incredible essay submissions.

Speaker 10 So for this episode, we're going to feature the first of two listener essays that really moved me.

Speaker 10 This one is written and read by a listener named Melissa.

Speaker 12 Pain has been both my burden and my teacher, breaking me open in ways I never wanted and shaping me into someone I never expected to become.

Speaker 16 As a teenager, my world fractured in an instant.

Speaker 18 My father, my anchor, was ripped away.

Speaker 4 not by death, but by his own betrayal.

Speaker 13 He was sent to prison for raping a teenage girl.

Speaker 19 The man I looked to for protection became the reason I no longer felt safe or sure of who I was.

Speaker 11 It wasn't just the act he committed.

Speaker 17 It was the way it shattered everything I thought I knew about love, trust, and family.

Speaker 18 That wound didn't heal.

Speaker 19 It seeped into the fabric of my life, dictating the person I became.

Speaker 12 The echoes of that betrayal followed me like shadows, coloring every decision I made, lingering lingering over my shoulder, and even scaring away some who learned the truth.

Speaker 12 In my desperate need to find stability, to build a life that felt whole, I married a man who was battling his own demons.

Speaker 12 He was a secret addict and an alcoholic, someone who hid his pain while drowning it in substances.

Speaker 17 When I learned of his struggle, I thought I could save him.

Speaker 12 I believed that what I went through early on would give me the strength to push through.

Speaker 16 Maybe, deep down, I thought saving him would somehow redeem the parts of my life I couldn't.

Speaker 12 But love cannot survive where it is consumed by unrelenting chaos.

Speaker 13 We bore a son together, my saving grace.

Speaker 13 I stayed with my husband until I couldn't anymore.

Speaker 12 The strength to leave didn't come all at once.

Speaker 16 It came in fragments.

Speaker 14 Small moments of clarity, of exhaustion.

Speaker 16 And finally, after a friend reminded me of my strength, I was given a new understanding that trying to save him would mean losing myself.

Speaker 21 Walking away was one of the hardest things I'd ever done.

Speaker 12 It meant accepting that I couldn't fix everything.

Speaker 16 It meant carrying the weight of yet another failure, another loss, another broken family.

Speaker 12 But leaving wasn't the end.

Speaker 21 It was the beginning.

Speaker 12 Pain has a way of carving you hollow, but it also creates space.

Speaker 22 Space to grow, to rebuild, to transform.

Speaker 16 Slowly, I began to see my pain for what it was.

Speaker 12 A relentless teacher showing me how to live with open eyes and an open heart.

Speaker 12 The wounds I carry, though deep, have given me something unexpected. The ability to see what others try to hide.

Speaker 12 I see the hurt in those around me, the silent struggles, the stories etched into their eyes.

Speaker 23 And when I meet someone who is carrying this pain, I've learned to love them through their own traumas, through their own burdens of guilt and feelings of unworthiness.

Speaker 12 Raising my son has been my greatest redemption.

Speaker 20 Every day, I strive to teach him the things life has taught me, to be kind even when it's hard, to be strong but never unfeeling.

Speaker 12 to hold compassion as his compass, and to walk through life in a way that brings light to to a dark world.

Speaker 24 He is my proof that something beautiful can rise from the ashes of a broken past.

Speaker 12 I've chosen to live with curiosity instead of judgment, to approach others not with condemnation but with a desire to understand.

Speaker 19 Everyone carries their own wounds, their own betrayals, their own burdens.

Speaker 21 I've found that sharing our traumas creates a mutual trust, allowing us to release the weight of that burden together.

Speaker 16 My pain has taught me to find beauty in the shattered pieces, to see the sunbeams that filter through the dark clouds.

Speaker 19 It has taught me that even in brokenness there is grace, and even in hurt, there is healing.

Speaker 22 The journey hasn't been easy.

Speaker 12 There are still days when the weight of it all feels unbearable, when the memories rise like tides and threaten to drown me, when I'm reminded how the family I once had is no longer.

Speaker 13 But I've learned to let those waves come, to let them crash over me without pulling me under.

Speaker 16 I've learned to stand in the storm and let it pass.

Speaker 19 If pain has taught me anything, it's that we are all broken in some way.

Speaker 12 But brokenness is not the end of the story.

Speaker 16 It is in the cracks where the light shines through.

Speaker 12 It is in the healing that we find purpose.

Speaker 23 My pain has become my strength, my compass, my gift.

Speaker 19 It has taught me to love, to forgive, and to see beauty where others see ruin.

Speaker 16 I've transformed my hurt into healing, not just for myself, but for those who cross my path.

Speaker 23 I give my time to those who need it most, offering compassion and a listening ear to those who have also been broken by life.

Speaker 16 I share my story, not knowing how it will be received, but trusting in the power of vulnerability.

Speaker 12 Time and again, I've found that sharing creates a connection, a reminder that none of us walk this path alone.

Speaker 16 I've chosen to live with an open heart, welcoming the messiness of life and finding grace and peace within it.

Speaker 23 My pain will always be a part of me, etched into who I am, but it no longer holds me captive.

Speaker 24 Instead, it has shaped me into someone stronger, someone free, someone who can rise from the ashes and be an example and encouragement for others to do the same.

Speaker 10 When we come back, our producer talks with Melissa about her writing process. And stay tuned until the end of the episode when we'll be sharing the theme of our next listener essay.

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Speaker 6 It starts like any other night. The glass of red, the cozy blanket, then the the drop.
The stain so dark, so stubborn, it might as well have been a crime scene. But this isn't your average couch.

Speaker 6 This is Anna Bay. Fully washable, unspeakably comfortable, and ready for whatever your life, your kids, or your ex throws ahead it.
And here's the kicker.

Speaker 6 Starting at just $6.99, you can make sure your sofa isn't part of the problem. Fully washable, stain-resistant, and built to hide even the darkest offenses.

Speaker 6 Right now, get up to 60% off in Black Friday savings because no one should have to live with a stain that won't quit. Anna Bay, the only mystery you won't be losing sleep over.

Speaker 6 Shop washable sofas.com today. That's washable sofas.com.

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Speaker 10 I'm going to hand it over to our producer Mo, who talked with Melissa for this episode.

Speaker 1 Can you tell me a little bit about the process of writing this? What did that look like?

Speaker 26 I was listening to the podcast while I was sitting in the waiting room of the passport office, and I had about 45 minutes.

Speaker 12 I heard right at the beginning of the podcast that you guys were doing this essay submission.

Speaker 27 And I was like, you know what?

Speaker 23 I've got time.

Speaker 18 I'm going to do it now.

Speaker 27 And I just sat there and I just started thinking about

Speaker 15 my pain and thinking about how it's affected me in good ways and bad.

Speaker 27 And I just started writing in my notes on my phone and

Speaker 18 just kept rereading it and editing it, rereading it and editing it. Honestly, I wanted it to be more about the healing than the pain.

Speaker 16 Because I spent so much of my life focusing so much on what the trauma was.

Speaker 15 And I always thought, you know, there's going to be a light at the end of the tunnel.

Speaker 11 I'm going to look back in 20 years and I'm going to see how much good this did in my life.

Speaker 27 And honestly, that's not the case.

Speaker 27 More often than not, the trauma that I went through was just all-encompassing.

Speaker 21 And the pain was debilitating.

Speaker 4 a lot of times.

Speaker 21 That's definitely like the inner voice, right like every time i share it i'm like do i really need to share this does somebody really need want to hear this

Speaker 12 it really can mess with what you think about yourself and so i really wanted that to be what this essay was about

Speaker 14 it's really not about

Speaker 26 coming out on the other side and like oh the trauma's gone and we're all good and everything's fine.

Speaker 11 I mean, I'm sure you guys hear it a lot from people emailing you in like, wow, this story was incredible.

Speaker 4 And this was so helpful for me.

Speaker 11 But there's so many people that are not writing in that are feeling the same thing.

Speaker 4 So as I was sitting and writing it, it was very important to me that I focus on the aspect of

Speaker 4 using this trauma for good.

Speaker 11 And yeah, when you do share it with other people, it really does.

Speaker 15 create this amazing connection.

Speaker 4 Like I feel like as humans, if we did a lot more of this sharing, that it would heal a lot of very broken people.

Speaker 1 I wonder what your encouragement would be for people who are listening who might want to share their story.

Speaker 4 Yeah.

Speaker 4 I think in my experience, both in my professional career and in my personal life, I've come across so many people who feel that they're not able to do something that they want to do.

Speaker 22 A lot of it, like with imposter syndrome, is just like, you know, you don't think you're good enough or people aren't going to take it the right way or it's not, I'm not going to say you have the right words.

Speaker 15 And honestly, the only way that I was able to do this was just to spit it all out on paper and send it.

Speaker 18 I probably spent less than an hour in total in writing, editing, and then just hitting the send button.

Speaker 22 And some of that for me was just getting the words out on paper and wanting to get rid of them.

Speaker 21 You know, like I've put this down and I need it to be out of my hands.

Speaker 1 Wow. Our whole team is really grateful that you wrote in and shared this with us and shared everything you've learned in this essay.

Speaker 4 It really means a lot that you guys asked me to do it.

Speaker 22 I was honestly very shocked when I saw the email.

Speaker 26 I was like, oh my gosh, not only did they read it, but they want me to.

Speaker 4 But I am very, very, I'm very, very thankful to your team and everything that you guys do because it really is important.

Speaker 15 So please don't stop.

Speaker 10 Thank you so much for listening and thank you to the incredible listeners who wrote in to share their essays on the theme of resilience.

Speaker 10 We were so moved by your submissions that we're bringing you more of these listener essays.

Speaker 11 And our next theme will be the moment everything changed.

Speaker 10 Set the scene.

Speaker 24 Take us back to that memory.

Speaker 11 Describe the feelings and thoughts you had in the moment when everything changed for you.

Speaker 12 The limit is a thousand words.

Speaker 10 If your story stands out, it might be featured in a bonus episode. Please save your submission as a PDF and email it to betrayalpod at gmail.com.

Speaker 10 If you would like to reach out to the betrayal team or want to tell us your betrayal story, email us at betrayalpod at gmail.com. That's betrayalpod at gmail.com.
We're grateful for your support.

Speaker 16 One way to show support is by subscribing to our show on Apple Podcasts.

Speaker 12 And don't forget to rate and review Betrayal. Five-star reviews go a long way.

Speaker 16 A big thank you to all of our listeners. Betrayal is a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group in partnership with iHeart Podcasts.

Speaker 10 The show is executive produced by Nancy Glass and Jennifer Faison.

Speaker 16 Hosted and produced by me, Andrea Gunning.

Speaker 12 Written and produced by Monique Laborde.

Speaker 10 Also produced by Ben Fetterman.

Speaker 12 Associate producers are Kristen Melcurie and Caitlin Golden.

Speaker 10 Our iHeart team is Allie Perry and Jessica Kreinchek.

Speaker 10 Audio editing and mixing by Matt Delvecchio.

Speaker 16 Additional editing support from Tanner Robbins.

Speaker 10 Betrayals theme composed by Oliver Baines.

Speaker 12 Music library provided by MIBE Music.

Speaker 4 And for more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 2 Then the space hamster flew his hot air balloon all the way to the bottom of the ocean.

Speaker 3 Where did that story come from?

Speaker 4 Book?

Speaker 3 Dream? Nope, it came from a conversation. Meet Miko Mini Plus, the AI companion that co-creates personalized story adventures with your child in real time.

Speaker 2 What color was the hamster's cape? And what did he pack for lunch?

Speaker 3 Unlock your child's imagination. Discover Miko Mini Plus and the magic of AI exclusively at Costco.

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Speaker 1 This is an iHeart podcast.