Hey friends — welcome back to Dismissed True Stories.
I’m your host, Elissa, and you’re probably already clocking that this episode sounds a little different.
No intro music.
No disclaimer.
Just me and you.
In the spirit of keeping it quick and honest, here’s the update:
Sarah won’t be joining us today —
but that’s actually for all the best reasons.
She’s safe.
She’s happy.
And she’s officially relocated.
Which, if you’ve been following along since episode one,
you know how huge that is.
It means she’s out of immediate danger,
and finally has the chance to start settling into her next chapter.
So today, instead of a full episode,
I just want to take a minute to say thank you.
Thank you for coming back week after week.
Thank you for listening to Sarah’s story,
for sharing it,
for donating,
and for showing up for her in ways that truly made a difference.
Because of that support — your support — Sarah gets to breathe again.
And that’s what this work is all about.
Now, life is lifing — as it does —
so I’m going to give her a little space to get settled and grounded.
But hopefully, next week, we’ll be back with that girl chat we talked about in the last episode —
a real conversation about how she’s feeling now that she’s safe,
and what this next season of her life might look like.
Until then,
thank you for being here,
thank you for caring,
and thank you for helping us do what we set out to do from the very beginning —
help survivors feel seen, heard, and supported.
I’m Elissa,
and this is Dismissed True Stories.
I’ll talk to you soon.
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Episode Transcript
Hey, and welcome back to Dismiss True Stories.
I'm your host, Elissa.
Thank you so much for comingback for six episodes of Sarah's
story.
And this episode soundsdifferent because Sarah will not
be with us today.
Um, but in the best waypossible, Sarah is safe.
(00:24):
Sarah is happy.
I wanted to just take a secondto say I know that looking back
on this season, it wasn'tperfect.
Everything was done on the fly,um, interviewing, writing,
(00:46):
editing.
We were taking it week by week,trying to live around each
other's lives and schedules andtime differences.
And even though it may, at leastto me, feel a little messy, I
(01:08):
looking back on this time thatSarah and I have spent together,
am so proud of how much I havepersonally grown, but how much I
have also seen Sarah grow as asurvivor, as someone who is
(01:29):
self-aware enough to be like, Iam so ready to end this.
This ends with us.
It's been beautiful.
So I know that this seasonwasn't perfect, but it was real.
It was messy, it was honest, itwas full of heart.
(01:52):
And I think that that's whattrue advocacy looks like.
Because yes, I may be a podcasthost, but above all else, I'm an
advocate.
And I'm a survivor.
And I do the work because Icare.
I do the work because I trulybelieve that healing happens in
(02:15):
community.
And I truly believe that wereally begin to heal when we are
finally heard.
So thank you for making the timeto hear Sarah.
And to Sarah, thank you fortrusting me with your story.
(02:37):
I am now a better podcaster, abetter interviewer, a better
human, a better advocate.
Because you trusted me with themost vulnerable points of your
life.
And to every other survivor whohas come on this podcast, thank
(02:58):
you.
We're all learning and healingand growing together.
And sometimes it hurts and itsucks, but then other times
you're like, damn, this isbeautiful.
This is beautiful work.
I was at a women's summit today,and somebody was talking about
(03:22):
wood.
They were putting wood floorsin, and they were looking at a
certain wood plank.
And the salesperson came overand was like, Yeah, that's
great.
I love that for you.
I want to bring your attentionto this other wood plank.
And he goes on describing howthe wood has been through a
(03:47):
hurricane.
It's been through flooding, it'sbeen through this and that.
And it was a beautiful plankbecause you could see all the
rings in it and all the details.
And to me, listening to that, Iwas like, wow.
(04:09):
We don't treat ourselves likethat.
We have all been through somuch.
But do we ever look at our storyand be like, you know what?
I have been through so much.
And that made me even morebeautiful.
(04:29):
Like you may feel so fucked up.
And I used to tell myself that alot.
So if you're in that stage ofyour healing, I totally get it.
But you won't be that wayforever.
But now I I do feel like I'm I'mat a place where I can look at
that and say, wow, she's beenthrough flooding.
(04:55):
She's been through a hurricane.
And she is beautiful.
Tonight I just wanted to saythank you.
Thank you for coming along forthe ride.
Thank you for listening.
Thank you for sharing.
(05:17):
Thank you for donating if you ifyou did.
Thank you for making space.
Thank you for learning with me.
Thank you for giving me thespace.
I really do want to be able tocheck in with Sarah and see how
she's doing, but I cannot make apromise on a timeline for that
(05:41):
right now.
Um, her life is life.
And I want to give her the spacethat she needs to life.
We have all probably relocatedto start over.
And that's just not easy.
(06:01):
But I do want to see how shefeels since putting all of this
out into the world eventually.
Thank you so much.
And I am so glad that we had thebest, the best outcome that we
could have possibly asked forthrough us working together.
(06:27):
I hope all of this made sensebecause I didn't write for this.
I love you.
I hope you appreciate the messyass update I just gave you.
And remember we are breaking thesilence, one story, one
(06:49):
sentence, and one episode at atime.
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