In episode 10 of After the Quiet, I share what happened when I was accepted into a university program three and a half hours from home - and how my growth became a threat in a controlling relationship. This episode explores education as a source of conflict, family involvement, guilt around ambition, and the exhaustion of being allowed to move forward only with conditions, A reflective look at coercive control, emotional abuse, and how independence is often framed as danger rather than possibility.

In episode 9 of After the Quiet, I explore the moment when something inside begins to push back - not through escape, but through exhaustion, numbness, and quiet resistance. This episode reflects on emotional shutdown, fear of leaving, the relief and confusion of a breakup, and the pull of love-bombing that leads to reconciliation. A deeper look at coercive control, emotional abuse, trauma bonding, and how hope and commitment can keep the cycle going long before a breaking point is reached.

In episode 8 of After the Quiet, I explore how the effects of a coercive controlling relationship lingers long after the rules are no longer spoken. Through personal reflection, this episode examines the silence as habit, hypervigilance, anxiety and panic, loss of spontaneity, and the grief of giving up joy in the name of "compromise." A deeper look at emotional abuse, coercive control, nervous system survival, and why the quiet can follow you into every part of life.