She was told to die to herself, that her selfhood was the problem. NYT bestselling author Tia Levings returns with a survivor's guide to recovery after religious trauma.
Full Description:
What happens to your identity when the system that formed you was built to erase it? Tia Levings, New York Times bestselling author of A Well-Trained Wife, returns to A World of Difference with her new book: I Belong to Me: A Survivor's Guide to Recovery and Hope After Religious Trauma.In this conversation, Tia and Lori go deep on the mechanics of high-control religion: how "quiet is good, quiet is safe" becomes self-policing, why "no" is treated as defiance, how doctrine of suffering functions as control, and what the long road back to yourself actually looks like.
TIMESTAMPS ─
00:00 Introduction & Cold Open
01:07 Writing I Belong to Me — a different kind of book
03:22 When your personhood is the problem
06:25 "Quiet is good, quiet is safe" — two kinds of silencing
08:27 Relearning "no" after having consent conditioned out of you
11:30 Suffer well: doctrine as a control mechanism
14:20 Die to self, the JOY acronym, and the disappeared self
17:20 Why leaving isn't as simple as just leaving
20:01 What recovery actually looks like — the swamp and the car crash
23:55 Cult-hopping, fawning, and staying wary of gurus
31:23 "I had no self" — building identity and belonging to yourself
37:49 Outro and final reflections
FIND TIA LEVINGS ─────────────────────────────
Pre-order + gifts: tialevings.com/giftsSocial: @TiaLevingsWriter (all platforms)
A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE Website: https://www.aworldofdifferencepodcast.com
Reviews: https://www.aworldofdifferencepodcast.com/reviews/new/
Patreon: https://patreon.com/aworldadifference
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loriadamsbrown
Substack: https://loriadamsbrown.substack.com
