Do you believe you have to suffer to heal?

In this episode of This Tree & Me, Cory J Riggs explores the belief that pain and suffering are required for growth—and challenges the idea that holding onto your past is what proves you’ve changed.

This conversation breaks down the difference between feeling pain and living in it, and how identity can become tied to guilt, past actions, and self-imposed punishment.

You are not your past.

You are not required to live in suffering to prove your growth.

This episode invites you to question what you’re holding onto—and why.

You think you’re building a life.

But what if you’re not?

In this episode, Cory J Riggs explores a shift that reframes everything: life isn’t built in the future—it’s built in the present, one day at a time.

Drawing from real journal insights and lived experience, this conversation breaks down how ego-driven urgency for results pulls you out of the process, and why most people stay stuck in cycles of starting, stopping, and waiting for something to happen.

This episode explores:

• the difference between building and waiting

• how ego creates the “why try” narrative

• why daily patterns matter more than long-term goals

• the illusion of success without internal alignment

• how to begin building your life—today

The work is not in the outcome.

It’s in the day.

What if the parts of your life you thought were behind you… were never actually repaired?

In this episode, Cory J Riggs explores the difference between moving forward and truly healing.

Using the metaphor of a damaged road, he breaks down how most people learn to patch over pain, create detours around difficult experiences, and continue forward without ever addressing what’s underneath.

But what isn’t repaired doesn’t disappear.

It resurfaces.

This episode challenges the idea that progress means resolution and offers a deeper perspective:

Healing is not about avoiding damage.

It’s about learning how to rebuild.

Key Insights

• Why survival strategies are not the same as healing

• How avoidance shows up as progress

• The danger of “patching” emotional wounds

• What it means to “close the road” and rebuild

• Why healing builds the capacity to handle future challenges

• How to begin recognizing what still hasn’t been repaired

Closing Reflection

What in your life have you moved past… but never truly fixed?

Show Identity

This is This Tree & Me, a podcast exploring self-awareness, inner dialogue, and the ongoing process of becoming who you are.

Hosted by Cory J Riggs.