You're listening to the place we find ourselves, the podcast where we talk about all things,

story, trauma, therapy related, and also have the privilege of hearing some real life stories of

interview guests. I'm Adam Young and this is Episode 11. Why trauma makes it hard to trust your gut?

This is an important topic. In today's episode, my friend Janet shares a critical story from her life,

and anytime you do something vulnerable like this, you're taking the risk of not knowing what

people will do with your story. So as you listen, I'd simply ask you to consider what does it mean

to hold with honor, the story of another human being whom you do not know, and how can you receive

Janet's story with both a sense of sacredness and gratitude? I am glad you're listening to this

conversation with Janet. So I was the first time I started to wonder about a story. I was in my

late 30s. I was feeling very much overwhelmed by the circumstances of my life with my marriage.

We had young kids. We had just taken in to teenage foster kids from another culture,

and I was absolutely overwhelmed. I felt like I was going crazy. I remember feeling that and going,

like, I need help. That was the first time that I went to see a counselor, which was a big deal

for me because part of my story is just like seeing what counseling and specifically mental illness

and everything. I was profoundly affected by that as a young girl and really I would say all the way

up. Every part of me didn't want that to be me. It was a big deal that I went to see a counselor.

As we began to talk about these things that I thought were just, well, if I could just figure out

these external circumstances, everything would be okay. I began to see maybe there was something

about my family story that was continuing to impact me, that was worth looking at. I began the process

of both individual counseling, then being introduced to more story work in a group context,

and being asked to consider more of naming more of the reality. I remember that,

when you talk about obstacles, that for me was pretty significant because in my family,

...