This episode of Not Your F’n Therapist goes deeper than most people ever allow themselves to go. Our guest shares a lifetime’s worth of pain, survival, and resilience — beginning with growing up in a home shaped by addiction, instability, and strict religious expectations. What follows is a brutally honest journey through childhood chaos, early exposure to drugs, and using IV substances by age 13.

Tori has already survived more than most people face in a lifetime — including 11 overdoses, several near-death experiences, and the breaking point that finally led them to sobriety. But recovery wasn’t the end of the story. This conversation unpacks the realities of bipolar disorder, the devastating year-long mental health spiral that nearly ended their life, the medication battles, the psych episodes, the isolation, and the terrifying moments of wanting everything to just stop.

And yet — there’s hope. Real hope.

Through community, treatment, family, and their own relentless fight to stay alive for their daughter, our guest rebuilt their life from the inside out. We explore recovery, relapse, parenthood, faith, identity, sexuality, trauma, shame, and what it means to start again when your past keeps trying to pull you under.

This episode is raw, emotional, unfiltered, and deeply human. If you’ve ever questioned your worth, struggled with mental health, battled addiction, or loved someone who has — this conversation will stay with you long after it’s over.

The holidays aren’t always cookies, cozy lights, and Hallmark moments. For a lot of people, this season is heavy — full of pressure, guilt, and the same family expectations that already drain you the rest of the year.

In this episode, we get real about holiday anxiety, boundaries, and that awkward feeling of being expected to show up for people who don’t show up for you the rest of the year.

We talk about:
• Why “holiday dread” hits way before December
• The guilt that comes with keeping boundaries
• Feeling like a people pleaser even when you know better
• The stress of money, expectations, and family roles
• How to create small traditions that actually feel GOOD
• Remembering the parts of the holidays you love — not just the parts that hurt

This is an honest, warm, funny, messy conversation… exactly the way real family conversations sound when you stop pretending everything is fine and start telling the truth.

🎧 Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/not-your-fn-therapist/id1852285346
🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0lWMQh18ToeUqIj42WmHwj?si=74b8caed11f2407e
📺 YouTube: www.youtube.com/@NotYourFnTherapist

#NotYourFnTherapist #HolidayAnxiety #HolidayStress #FamilyBoundaries #PeoplePleaser #MentalHealthPodcast #HolidayPressure #HolidayTriggers #SurvivingTheHolidays #FamilyDynamics #NYFTPodcast #BoundariesMatter #RealTalkPodcast

In Part 2 of this conversation, Isaiah opens up in a way most people never do — not at 17, not at 27, not ever. We dig into the moments that shaped him, the ones that cracked him open, and the ones that almost broke him completely.

This episode gets heavy. We talk anxiety before he even knew the word for it, the first panic attack that changed everything, the pressure of being a “good kid,” the fear of disappointing the people who love you, and the near-death experience that forced him to make peace with life and death at the same time.

We also talk about what it means to grow up in a supportive family but still feel like you're drowning inside. What it's like to be surrounded by friends yet terrified of your own thoughts. And how the world teaches us to hide it instead of talk about it — even though conversations like this one are exactly what keep people alive.

This isn’t a soft or easy listen. It’s raw, honest, and uncomfortable in all the right ways. But if you’ve ever carried the weight of “I should be fine” while fighting battles no one sees… you’re going to hear yourself in this one.

As always, we’re not professionals — we’re just people talking about real shit. If anything in this episode hits close to home, please reach out to someone. And if you need immediate help, dial 988. You’re not alone.

🎧 Listen to Not Your F’n Therapist:

• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/not-your-fn-therapist/id1852285346

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0lWMQh18ToeUqIj42WmHwj?si=74b8caed11f2407e

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NotYourFnTherapist

#NotYourFnTherapist #MentalHealthMatters #AnxietyJourney #DepressionAwareness #FatherSonConvo #RealConversations #GrowingUp #BreakingTheSilence #YouAreNotAlone #988 #PodcastLife #HonestTalk #SurvivingTheHardStuff #NYFTPodcast #HealingJourney