Transcript
A (0:00)
Hello, warriors, and welcome to another episode of the Love youe Life Show. I have a great one for you today. I am your host, Susie Pettit, and I come on every week bringing you tips and tools to help you learn how to live your best life. And today's guest is someone I'm so excited to introduce you to. It's Dr. Zoe Shaw. She is a licensed psychotherapist, life and relationship coach. She's a podcast host, and she is the author of a wonderful book called titled Stronger in the difficult places. Dr. Zoe specializes in helping women heal from complex shame and codependency so they can experience more freedom, healthier relationships, and a stronger relationship with themselves. Sounds good, right? Let's be honest. Many of us need this conversation. If you've ever felt weighed down by guilt or thought to yourself, I'm being too selfish, or you've noticed yourself always taking care of other people at the expense of yourself, raising my hand to all those things, this episode is for you. We dive into how shame shows up in life, specifically in midlife, what codependency really looks like, and most importantly, how to begin to break free, free from these patterns. So grab your cup of water or tea, take a deep breath, and let's dig into this amazing, wonderful Dr. Zoe Shaw. Hi. This is the Love youe Life show with Susie Pettit, certified life and wellness coach. Join Susie as she helps you with your wellness and mindset. Susan can live a life you love. Let's go, warriors. And welcome to the Love youe Life Show. Dr. Zoe Shy. I'm so glad to have you here. Thank you for taking your time to come today.
B (2:02)
Thank you, Susie, for having me on. I'm so thrilled to be on here and I was so thrilled to connect with you on Instagram because we. We kind of share the same audience.
A (2:11)
We sure do. We share the same. And we share, as we were just talking before we came on, we share a lot of the. The same shame background. So really been there, done that, are still doing it. And I'm so glad to have you on. And I guess let's start there with your podcast, which I'm a big fan of, and Stronger in the Difficult Places, which is also the name of your book, which we will discuss. But you say that you help listeners with their most difficult relationships, one of which might be the one with themselves, and how, like your tagline of we're not fixing them, we're fixing you, and that changes everything. Can you tell us a little more about what you mean by that?
B (2:59)
Yes, I will. And I'm so. I'm so thrilled that you have me on to talk about shame, because shame is one of those things that nobody really wants to talk about. And I feel like. And in some ways I'm like, you know, this grim reaper. So I try to bring hope and some joy to the concept of shame, because in talking about it, we get to experience so much freedom. So the title of my book is Stronger in the Difficult Places. The title of my podcast is that as well. And the reason why I titled it that actually my publishers decided on the title of the book. I wanted to title my book Reckon with Her. But the reason why I titled my podcast that is because we women especially, but really everyone, I just had a male text me and tell me how meaningful this. He said, I know I'm not your target audience, but this book is. I'm literally has brought me to tears. We go through, all of us have something in our life that we're struggling with. And me being a therapist for over a couple of decades, I've been a therapist to celebrities and to people who seem like their lives are perfect to everyday normal people. And every single one of us of them is struggling with something. And usually that something is attached to shame, deeply attached to shame. And, you know, it's great to be strong, and it's great to try to be strong, but what I love is the concept that our difficult places are actually the places where our power lies. And the reason why is because when we are able to overcome those difficulties and everybody has a different one, we are able to not over. Not just find our own personal freedom, but we can help other people find their personal freedom. And, you know, my. My accountant, of all people, sat with me one day when I was. I was in his office and he was asking me how I was. And I asked him, you know, how he was doing. And he said, you know, Zoe, he said, it's amazing that a cracked cup is. Can still hold water. And for some reason, that was so profound to me because it reminds us the fact that just because we're broken sometimes, just because we're cracked sometimes doesn't mean we aren't still functional, doesn't mean we can't do all the things that we were put on this earth here to do. So that was a long way of saying that's why I named the book and the podcast Stronger in the Difficult Places. And yes, the other thing is that I am a relationship specialist. I am a codependency and shame specialist. But what I found is that most people coming to me are trying to fix other people in their lives, and most people in their relationships are trying to fix the other person. Right. And what I know is that when we work instead on the most important relationship we have in this world, and that is the one with ourselves, and it's the most important because it sets the lens and the tone for every single relationship, even our relationship with God. It sets the tone. And so when we're able to focus on healing ourselves, then the ripple effect is that everything else. Right. Changes. Woohoo.
