My Congenital Heart | Heart Defects and Heart Failure, Chronic Illness, Mental Health, EDS

Playing the Hand You're Dealt | Perseverance Through Pain, Congestive Heart Failure & Chronic Illness

In this episode of My Congenital Heart, we talk about the weight of stress, the reality of living with congestive heart failure along with post op reconstructive surgery, and how to keep pushing forward when life feels overwhelming. Chronic illness can test you mentally, physically, and emotionally—but it can also reveal a strength you didn’t know you had. We’ll explore ways to cope with daily challenges, manage stress in difficult moments, and find perseverance when the road feels heavy. If you’ve been feeling exhausted, discouraged, or stretched thin, this episode is a reminder that even in hard seasons, you are stronger than you think. Sometimes the greatest victories come from simply refusing to quit.

Facing Fear and Asking for Help | Concussions, Memory Loss, CHF and Chronic Illness

What happens when multiple concussions start affecting your memory—and then you’re told you need surgery? In this episode, we’re talking about fear, recovery, and the moment you realize you can’t do it alone.

The Cost of Living | Concussions, Chronic Illness, and Life With CHD & CHF

This episode quietly explores the moments of realization that catch up to us—when we finally see beyond our own world and feel the weight of what we’ve missed. It touches on the subtle arrival of aging, the sting of loneliness, and the complicated mix of guilt and shame that comes with deeper awareness. At its core, it’s also a reflection on the body keeping score—navigating chronic illness, past injuries, and the ongoing reality of living with heart conditions.

Finding Space in the Overwhelm

When life piles heavy on heavy on heavy, it can feel overwhelming—like there’s no space left to breathe. And for many of us, life feels like that more often than we’d like to admit. In this episode, I talk about those moments of feeling low, stretched thin, and emotionally overloaded. But I also explore something that sometimes shifts everything: perspective. Once in a while, if you can step outside of your own experience and see things through someone else’s eyes—even briefly—it can change the way you carry what you’re going through. Not to minimize your pain, but to help you understand it differently, soften it, or feel less alone in it. This is a conversation about heaviness, humanity, and the small mindset shifts that can help us keep going when life feels like too much.

Living with Heart Failure: The Struggle, the Isolation, and Finding Hope

In this episode, I share my experience of being diagnosed with heart failure after years of being dismissed and overlooked by doctors. Living with a chronic illness can be incredibly challenging, especially when the healthcare system doesn’t always listen or respond the way it should. I talk about what that journey was like for me—moving through uncertainty, frustration, and finally receiving a diagnosis that changed everything. I also share some grounding techniques and coping tools that have helped me manage the emotional and physical weight of chronic illness. If you’re living with a chronic illness or disability, you may find pieces of your own experience in this story. This episode is about validation, survival, and finding small ways to stay grounded when things feel overwhelming.