Advertise on podcast: The Unhooked Podcast

The Unhooked Podcast! “Cognitive Tunneling, Misery Stabilizers and WHAT is an Emotional Meridian?” When our thoughts RULE us, even if for good reasons. Tools and tips for stabilizing misery and moodiness. Finding our emotional balance on the tight-rope walk that can be our life and circumstances. Have you ever noticed how we con at times seem to live between two extremes?  When things are good, they’re REALLY good. Everything is wonderful, possibilities are endless, and life feels almost euphoric. But when something goes wrong, everything falls apart. One disappointment becomes five. One difficult conversation becomes a crisis. One person’s behavior can derail an entire day. High highs and low lows.Feeling wonderful one minute and defeated the next.Allowing other people’s behavior to determine our emotional temperature.Becoming attached to the excitement of a high and overwhelmed by the discomfort of a low. What if the goal of recovery isn’t to feel good all the time? What if the goal is to become stable enough that we don’t need everything around us to be good in order for us to be okay? A good life isn’t necessarily an emotionally exciting life. Sometimes a good life is a peaceful, predictable, disciplined, healthy life. Listen to this week’s episode here, on the AnnieHighwater website or wherever you download podcasts! Audio Editing by 2C Film Co

The Unhooked Podcast! "King Baby Syndrome, Recovery & Boundaries" Have you ever known someone who expects understanding but offers very little in return? Someone who wants forgiveness without accountability, help without responsibility, and loyalty without reciprocity? In recovery rooms, you may hear the term "King Baby Syndrome" This is an informal expression describing emotional immaturity, entitlement, wild immaturity and difficulty accepting responsibility.  It can show up in addiction, family relationships, marriages, workplaces, and, if we’re honest, sometimes in ourselves. Understanding someone’s patterns and even their wounds doesn’t mean excusing their behavior. Childhood trauma, addiction, and painful experiences may help explain unhealthy patterns, but healing requires accountability and a willingness to change. So how do we navigate these relationships without losing ourselves? Listen to this week's episode for tools and tips from the rooms of recovery. Check it out! Editing by 2C Film Co

The Unhooked Podcast! Splitters and Splitting In this week's episode we take a look at Splitting behavior as it occurs with those who have Borderline Personality Disorder, High Conflict Personality Disorder as well as people struggling with chemical dependencies. Many people are affected by splitting behaviors without realizing that's what they're dealing with.  Pulling information from a work class, years in the rooms of recovery and my own personal life and family...I hope this will be eye opening as well as encouraging information for how to handle and respond when you find yourself the villain in the story or in the cross hairs of someone operating with splitting. Listen in to check it out! (Email: [email protected])

The Unhooked Podcast by Annie Highwater "When my mind is my Bully" There are times when thoughts of fear, embarrassment, dread...self-loathing etc., keep me up at night. Or...WAKE me up at night. Or...paralyze me when the alarm goes off in the morning and getting up to face the day is a battle. It happens.  No one is immune.  I'm better at navigating it, but it does happen.  When it does, I have to dig deep into the reserves to find my way forward. Listen in to this week's episodes to hear those experiences along with tools and tips from the paths of recovery. Check it out!! (Edited by: 2CFilmCo)

For much of my life, I carried what I now understand as a Mother wound. As the youngest of six, I longed for the kind of Mother I saw other children have. I remember looking at Moms on elementary-school field trips and feeling something deeper and more wholesome than jealousy or anger. It was a painful longing. A quiet, aching wish for someone who felt safe, steady, nurturing, truthful, and strong. That wound followed me into adulthood and affected how I saw myself, my relationships, and even my years as a young Mother myself. But recently, while riding my bike, a question occurred to me: If I could choose any Mom in the world for myself, who would I choose? Listen in for experience, strength and hope from the rooms of recovery and my own journey out of dysfunction and misery. Doing our inner recovery work...works. Listen in here or wherever you download your podcasts.  Check it out! (Edited by 2C Film Co)

The Unhooked Podcast! “Chaos has a Pattern: Navigating the Madness of it” For me this is familiar territory—especially theidea that chaos can feel random while actually following recognizable patterns. I learned this from a recovery specialist…I called her and these were her words that calmed me… "What's happening isn't random, chaos has a pattern."   There is, however, distinction between chaos we create, chaos we inherit, and chaos that simply happens   Whatever the case it’s worth asking: How doI become steady when my circumstances aren’t? The goal isn’t to eliminate chaos. It’s learning to recognize it, not to feed it, and to develop enough internal stability that you don’t have to participate in every storm around you. Listen in for tools and tips in this week's Unhooked episode. Check it out!

The Unhooked podcast! If you have ever been told you are, "Too sensitive," this episode is for you. Being highly sensitive isn't about being emotional. It's about having an acute awareness, a strong sense of intuition, a sharp eye for detail and catching behavior patterns quick, many times before anyone else. This can lead to others dismissing your thoughts, invalidating what you are sensing, and sometimes becoming aggravated and even angry with you over it. It doesn't have to be pain point or a reason to shrink back or feel condemned over what you know you are catching onto. Being highly sensitive (hyper aware) is actually a protection and even a power tool when cultivated and used with wisdom. I share a few situations in my own life when I felt the scorch of disagreement from others when I knew what I knew was a true and real thing. I (Note: t's smart to realize we can always get something wrong, it's good to observe versus hurrying to speak to a thing, I have been stung a time or two making that mistake. You live and learn!) Listen in to this week's episode for experiences as well as tools and tips when it comes to navigating your own experiences with hyper sensitivity, discernment and awareness. Check it out!

The Unhooked Podcast! "Quick Tips for Moms, Dads, Partners, Relatives and any other entourage of a Loved One in active use" “Until we heal the family system, there is no hope for the person struggling.” ~Ken Seeley I am the family member of someone who suffers with addiction.  I have also been through an addiction adjacent experience up close and very personal. I know the ups and downs, the misery in the midnight hour, the high hopes and hopes dashed that one goes through when they love someone caught in the death grip of a substance dependency. That’s why I now openly share our story, our pain and our processes of recovery. Thank goodness for our recovery. In the midst (as well as the aftermath), of some of the worst days of our life as a family, I gathered great strength and wisdom along the way from those who carried me through to a healthier, stronger place. I write and share not as one in recovery from a substance, but as one in recovery from the obsession with someone battling a substance. The goal of my heart as I continue my path to wellness is to share my experience, strength and hope with others who are walking the same bewildering road.  I believe it to be crucial; to quote Ram Dass, “We are all just walking each other home.” Check it out!

THE Unhooked Podcast! “Principles Over Personalities: Stop Letting People Pull Your Strings” Have you ever had somebody ruin your entire day? Sometimes without even being in the room... They said something. They didn’t say something. They criticized, insulted or ridiculed you. They ignored and dismissed you. They lied about you. They misunderstood you. They pushed a button—and suddenly you’re reacting instead of responding. It happens to us all. Listen in for tools and tips from the Rooms of Recovery!

The Unhooked Podcast! "When You Don’t Know What to Do" This is a really strong topic to me… because “I don’t know what to do” is often how we feel and can be the exact place where recovery, faith, and emotional regulation intersect. “What do you do when you don't know what to do?” Sometimes it's a crisis. Sometimes it's a relationship. Sometimes it's a decision you have to make. Sometimes you've done everything you know to do—and nothing seems to be working. And sometimes the hardest thing is that we desperately want an answer right now. Listen in for tools and tips from the rooms of recovery!

The Unhooked Podcast!  “What I Did in the Dark” I know what anguish feels like.  I have lived through seasons of it.   Listen in for tools and tips from the rooms of recovery and hear what anguish taught me about surrender, resilience, and truth. Check it out!

The Unhooked Podcast! Listen in this week as Debbie, my friend from many years in the Rooms, shares her story and so much wisdom from Recovery. We combine our best practices for dealing with the madness (especially our own!)... Check it out!

The UNHOOKED Podcast!  “The Victim, the Villain & the Hero: Getting out of the Drama Triangle”  There is a pattern I have observed in many dysfunctional groups where someone creates a storyline that presents them as the victim and another as a villain, but it’s often not true or at the very least…exaggerated for a purpose.  Example: We knew someone who has needed a lot of favors over the years and so many people were glad to oblige, until it became too much or it was time to pay back…then a smear campaign began and that person was turned into someone evil.   This happens in broken and dysfunctional families, friendship groups, coworkers, Mom groups etc.  You don’t have to accept the role someone assigns you in the story.  Listen in for tools and tips from the rooms! Check it out!

The Unhooked Podcast!  “Fire Starters and Chaos Creators”  The People Who Light the Match and Walk Away  The Emotional Arsonists in Our Lives   Many of us have known people who create a problem, trigger an argument, make a reckless decision, spread gossip, stir conflict, or disrupt an entire family system—and then act as if nothing happened.  When others react to the damage, suddenly the focus shifts from what they did to how everyone else responded. The fire starter becomes the victim. The people cleaning up the mess become the problem.  We are not just talking about difficult people—you’re talking about a pattern that many survivors of dysfunctional families, addiction, trauma, and unhealthy relationships recognize immediately.  This episode is about learning how to recognize these patterns and stop getting hooked into them.   Check it out!

The Unhooked Podcast! Sometimes our reactions aren't simply emotional, mental or even hormonal! Sometimes they are coming from a nervous system wired for threat! When that's the case, we need a different approach. Sometimes people, places and things (even texts and emails at first glance) can light my nervousness up like I'm in trouble! Listen in to this week's tools and tips from the rooms of recovery along with my own experience, strength and hope. Check it out!