Resilience isn’t something you’re born with — it’s forged in fire. And while we don’t get to choose the life events that test us, we can choose how we rise from them. The truth is, life will hand you hardships. The real power comes from learning how to use those moments to grow stronger, wiser, and more unstoppable.
In this inspiring episode, Caraline Hickman opens up about her journey from childhood neglect to building a successful life — only to have it shattered in an instant by a devastating hit-and-run. What happened next is nothing short of remarkable.
Join Matt and Caraline as they dive deep into what it really takes to cultivate resilience, grit, and the kind of inner strength that carries you through life’s most brutal storms. You’ll walk away with a deeper understanding of how to face your own challenges with courage — and turn your pain into power.
0:00 Introduction
1:52 Resilience: A learned skill, not innate
6:26 Childhood trauma and its lasting impact
9:08 Chasing success to feel worthy of love
15:30 Life-altering accident on a perfect day
21:19 Finding strength through losing everything
27:56 Discovering inner resilience after trauma
31:18 The importance of sharing our burdens
34:50 Turning hardship into a beautiful adventure
Resources Mentioned:
https://caralinesadventure.com/
Instagram: @Caralinesadventure
https://www.instagram.com/caralinesadventure
Caraline's Adventure podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/caralines-adventure-incredible-true-stories-of/id1737493735
📚 "Always Looking Up" by Michael J. Fox
About the Guest
Caraline Hickman is the host of Caraline's Adventure podcast and a resilience expert who has overcome childhood neglect, abuse, and a life-altering accident. Through her journey, she's discovered the power of perseverance and the importance of sharing one's story to inspire others. Caraline's mission is to help people find the gifts hidden within their greatest challenges and live life as an extraordinary adventure.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.