Let's Relieve Regret: A self-help podcast about forgiving yourself · Shadoe and Victoria

Breaking Free from ‘Should’: Healing Trauma and Reclaiming Your Life (with special guest Christine Burns)

·1 hr 29 min·5 clips
Christine says she was sexually assaulted by her biological brother for six or seven years.
Victoria Mir-Versia and Shadow Ball open the episode with a general warning about sexual assault discussion and point listeners toward crisis resources. They then welcome Christine Burns and keep the tone close and informal rather than polished or scripted. The first stretch circles regret, self-doubt, and the pressure to let go without ever really being taught how. Christine’s perspective moves the talk toward identity, especially for women over 40 who start asking who they are outside work. The episode keeps returning to that shift with patient repetition. It treats COVID as one of the moments that forced people to stop and look at themselves differently. That pause becomes a way to ask what remains when the work title falls away. The hosts and Christine keep pointing out how easy it is to love other people in full, including the annoying parts. They set that against the much harder work of giving the same patience inward. Small examples do a lot here. A dog that is still loved when it is annoying becomes a stand-in for the self that is still worthy when it is inconvenient. A partner who can be loved through irritation becomes another reminder that care does not require perfection. Christine’s brunch example pushes the idea further. The point is not to perform for guests. The point is to welcome people, enjoy the connection, and let them leave if it is not their scene. That becomes a larger refusal of expectation and debt. The episode keeps asking why so many people feel they owe strangers access to their time, energy, and identity. It frames that habit as learned rather than natural. As the conversation unfolds, the hosts let the thought breathe instead of rushing to a takeaway. They talk through expectations of self and others as linked pressures. By the end, the episode leaves a simple but useful shift in place: good enough is enough, and self-forgiveness can begin when that finally lands.

As heard by us

A reflective, conversational episode about letting go of regret, expectations, and self-judgment.

The episode settles into a thoughtful conversation about regret, self-doubt, self-shame, and identity. Victoria Mir-Versia, Shadow Ball, and guest Christine Burns keep circling the same pressure point: how to loosen old expectations around work, age, and the habit of measuring a…

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Why you'd press play

If shame has been running the room, this is a gentle place to start.

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