Betty: A Candid, Insightful Journey of One Woman's Path to Self Acceptance, Love and Hope

The Fear Addict Podcast

In this episode, Betty, who grew up in a household affected by generations of alcohol, substance abuse, gang activity and general dysfunction, coped with it by becoming a "scholastic perfectionist." To survive as a child and young adult in this emotionally chaotic household, she learned to have "zero needs." Betty talks bravely and candidly with Josh and Mark about how that belief system morphed into her making relationships, especially romantic ones her "drug of choice." Those relationship choices however were rooted in the distorted perception that love also had to be abusive to somehow be real. We go deep into this topic because the guys have both learned that equating love with pain makes it very difficult to learn self-love, because after all, how do you achieve unconditonal love of self by still attaching to pain? Betty talks about how a relationship like this, centered around a group of friends who committed a deep betrayal against her, led her into recovery in 12 Step rooms, particularly Alanon. She candidly expresses how she thought the program would help save a deeply dysfunctional relationship with a newly sober alcoholic, but she soon realized she was actually working a program to save her own life and for the first time, gain a true sense of self.