#39 - Can't You Smell The Smoke? with Sydney Koh
Can't You Smell the Smoke: https://a.co/d/04dMejCY [https://a.co/d/04dMejCY]
Dealing with the Unavoidable Narcissist In Your Life: https://a.co/d/07AGnwBJ [https://a.co/d/07AGnwBJ ]
Sydney's Website: https://authorsydneykoh.com/ [https://authorsydneykoh.com/]
Sydney's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorsydneykoh/ [https://www.instagram.com/authorsydneykoh/]
Sydney's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TrilliumSage/ [https://www.facebook.com/TrilliumSage/]
Connect with Kimberly: roomatthetableforyou@gmail.com
The Heart Posture Collective → https://theheartposturecollective.com/?via=kimberly [https://theheartposturecollective.com/?via=kimberly]
Have you ever felt like something was wrong but couldn't quite name it? Like you were walking on eggshells in your own home, or slowly losing yourself in a relationship that looked fine from the outside?
Sydney Koh spent nearly 15 years married to a man who was charming, brilliant, and funny to everyone around them, while behind closed doors, she was navigating emotional abuse, unmedicated bipolar disorder, and narcissistic personality. It wasn't until her body literally started signaling distress, a rare condition called phantosmia, where she smelled smoke that wasn't there, that she began to connect the dots. Her journey out of that marriage, as a Christian mom of three boys, became the award-winning book Can't You Smell the Smoke?, winner of the 2025 International Impact Award in Christian Memoirs and Testimonies.
In this conversation they cover:
- What narcissistic personality disorder actually looks like inside a marriage, and why it's so easy to miss early on
- How bipolar disorder and NPD overlapped in her husband's behavior and what changed when he stopped his medication
- The physical toll chronic stress and emotional abuse took on Sydney's body
- What complex PTSD is and how EMDR therapy helped her heal
- Why she refused to speak badly about her boys' father, even as they lived through it
- The moment a Christian counselor told her she needed to leave, and what finally made her listen
-How God showed up in specific, undeniable ways throughout the hardest years of her life
- What her sons said when they found out their father had died, and the heartbreak behind those words
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There is always room at His table
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