June 20, 2025 • 48 mins
In this powerful episode, Meg opens up about the unexpected journey of early motherhood, from birth trauma and postpartum depression to raising a neurodivergent child. She shares how her own childhood shaped the way she parents today and the healing that’s come through therapy, honesty, and embracing the hard parts. This conversation is full of truth, hope, and Meg’s deep belief in turning pain into purpose.
If you’ve ever felt alone in motherhood, struggled with unmet expectations, or are walking through your own healing journey, this one’s for you.
Key Takeaways from Meg’s Story
- Meg opens up about her birth trauma and the lasting impact it had on her.
- She shares her struggle with postpartum depression and undiagnosed PTSD.
- We talk honestly about the emotional weight of parenting a neurodivergent child.
- Meg reflects on how unrealistic expectations around motherhood can lead to deep feelings of failure and isolation.
- She speaks to the power of therapy and inner child work in healing generational trauma.
- Meg learned to parent differently ditching old patterns and making room for empathy, understanding, and unconditional love.
- We explore how support systems (or the lack of them) can shape a mom’s entire experience.
- She shares how resentment built when she felt unheard and unsupported—and how she’s learning to repair that through communication and grace.
- From discovering how her daughter learns to understanding her own divine purpose, Meg’s story is about transformation.
Connect with Megan:
Want to stay in touch with Meg or learn more about her work and her greeting card company? Check out all of her links and socials.
Portia and Pete Greeting Card Company: www.portiaandpete.etsy.com
Megan’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/meganmcglynn
Email: megan.c.mcglynn@gmail.com
Leave me a note-I'd love to hear from you!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Hidden Chapters (Genevi (00:00):
Welcome back to Hidden Chapters.
Today's episode is such aspecial one.
I had the absolute gift ofsitting down with my college
friend, Meg.
We recently reconnected afteryears of life happening, and I'm
just so thankful she said yesto sharing her story here.
Meg opens up with so muchhonesty and heart about birth
(00:21):
trauma, postpartum depression,PTSD, parenting a neurodivergent
child.
her career pivots, and doingthe deep, often unseen work of
healing generational wounds.
She talks about what it's takento let go of the life she once
pictured and find peace in theunexpected chapters instead.
I'm so proud of Meg, and I knowher story is going to land
(00:44):
deeply with those who need itmost.
I always think it's so powerfulto look back at the moments
that shift our stories.
So for you, that shift reallybegan during your first birth
story, right?
So that experience that changedyou.
So let's go back and let's talkabout that time, what you were
(01:07):
hoping for, what you envisioned,and what maybe actually
unfolded for
Megan McGlynn (01:11):
you.
Yeah.
Well, I really appreciate youhaving me today.
And I think it's my intentionto help break down the
expectations that we placearound challenging subjects like
birth trauma, postpartumdepression, parenting, PTSD, and
to really talk about theseevents and how we can bring a
(01:32):
place of healing and purpose outof these.
And for me, how all theseevents really provided me an
opportunity to be of service toothers.
And so, yeah, I guess let's goto my birth story.
I I knew I wanted to be a momat the age of three.
This was the year that I becamea big sister to Caitlin and
(01:55):
received my first baby doll, mybaby Susie.
I would sit next to my mom asshe would nurse my sister and
feed my baby with the littlebottles of the disappearing
milk.
Do you remember those?
Really?
Hidden Chapters (Genevieve) (02:07):
Oh, and the cabbage patch dolls.
I think I had the pound puppy.
So I had I had babies.
Megan McGlynn (02:11):
Oh, there you
Speaker 02 (02:11):
go.
Megan McGlynn (02:12):
Yeah, perfect.
You know, and I startedbabysitting at the age of 12.
Yeah.
And spent every weekend takingcare of the same family all the
way through college when I wouldcome back to visit.
And I always felt this reallydeep connection with my feminine
nature.
And just felt like I was madefor motherhood.
Brian and I got married when Iwas about 25.
(02:33):
And we knew we wanted to wait acouple years before having a
family.
So we waited about four and weactually got pregnant pretty
quickly.
And I just thought everythingwould go so smoothly.
You know, I was told my wholelife, you've got birth and hips
that you're gonna sneeze thatbaby's gonna fall right out, you
(02:53):
know.
And I so wish that that wastrue.
But pregnancy and parenting hastaught me that expectations can
be cruel at times.
And they're unrealistic andattachment in general keeps us
from being open to what and canbe.
And so I intuitively knew I waspregnant from a dream.
(03:16):
And I woke up that morning, Itook a test and it was negative.
And Brian said, I know you'repregnant.
I think you should go to the OBand get another test.
So I went and the next day andit happened to turn out
positive.
And I was just, you know,sobbing with tears of joy.
I was so excited for this nextstep and so ready for
motherhood.
(03:36):
And so based on my cycle, Ishould have been about six weeks
pregnant.
And so the next day we cameback for an ultrasound.
She said, we could probably seethe baby's heartbeat.
So we were really excited.
And We did the abdominalultrasound and she couldn't find
a heartbeat.
And she said, you know, I thinkyou have an ectopic pregnancy.
You need to go straight to thehospital.
(03:58):
And I had a friend who had justthe year before almost died
from an ectopic pregnancy.
It was very, very serious.
So I was very scared.
I cried the whole way to thehospital.
And when we got there, we didan additional ultrasound and
some blood tests and came backthat I was pregnant, but I was
like just pregnant, two weekspregnant.
So super fresh.
(04:18):
And so we started settling intothe idea of parenthood and
getting really, really excited.
And I began to construct awhole concept of how my
pregnancy would go.
Hidden Chapters (Genevi (04:29):
Mm-hmm.
Megan McGlynn (04:32):
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
And my pregnancy was reallytough.
I was diagnosed withgestational diabetes at 17
weeks.
I had to overhaul my diet and Itried the insulin shots.
(04:53):
In San Francisco, the Bay Area,we'd moved back to the area.
So I really didn't have likethis great support system.
I did have some greatconnections through some
networking that I was doing as Iwas a small business owner.
And they really did support mewhen I needed that.
But I had an OB with the worstbedside manner.
And I really couldn't imagineher delivering my babies and
(05:13):
being a part of this wholeexperience for us.
So I found a midwife who waswilling to take me on as a
patient with gestationaldiabetes and manage it with diet
and exercise.
And I had a real deep fear ofhospitals based on the
experience of watching mygrandmother pass away in one.
And so I really had this deepwant to have a baby at home.
And this midwife was, you know,specialized in, in home
(05:36):
birthing.
Um, our daughter who I'll callbear.
I want to respect her privacy.
So we'll use her nickname, butbear was breached until she was,
I was like 36 weeks along.
And so I actually had herflipped by a really well-known
OB and that went remarkably welland easy.
And she stayed in place.
(05:56):
So we because there was a homebirth, I allowed nature to take
its course.
So I went to 42 weeks and fourdays gestational gestation.
Yeah.
So I was two and a half weeksover what is typically
considered safe for, um, youknow, carrying your baby.
(06:18):
And at the last measurement,she was measuring about 11
pounds.
And my, my midwife would say,you can do this.
You can totally do this.
I'm like, yes, because I havebirthing hips.
I can totally do this.
And, um, You know, I was alittle nervous, but I really
believed my body could do it.
And I got things moving at homeand I went into labor and I
(06:42):
labored for two and a half daysat home.
I never progressed past fourcentimeters.
So, yeah, I went to transitionback twice.
And that's when you havecontractions like every two to
one to two minutes and you'resupposed to be pushing.
And, you know, it's reallyhard.
a godsend that I didn't pushbecause of her positioning.
(07:02):
And I was in labor for a reallylong time at home, two and a
half days.
And at some point I said, Ican't do this anymore.
I want to go to the hospitaland I want to have a cesarean,
which is a complete 180 fromeverything I had contrived in my
mind.
But I was exhausted.
And it was my mom who told me,This is okay.
(07:25):
Like this is now to a pointwhere it might not be safe for
you to stay at home.
So we transferred the closesthospital, which turned out to be
another poor decision andhindsight's always 20, 20, but
it was a public hospital.
And typically public hospitalsserve a lot of people who don't
have insurance.
And so there's hospitalpolicies in place that require a
(07:46):
woman to check off all theboxes of why she can't have a
vaginal birth before giving hera C-section.
And I just remember saying, butI have insurance.
I can pay for this.
I need a cesarean.
But I had to go through theprotocol.
And in hindsight, I can lookback and say, I should put my
clothes back on and walked outthe door and gone to the private
(08:06):
hospital around the corner,which ended up saving my life.
But I didn't know back then.
And I didn't know I had agency.
I didn't know I could say, thisis not the right choice for me.
And so I stayed and I...
I did another 18 hours of laborwith an epidural and Pitocin.
(08:34):
They wheeled me in and Brian'sout scrubbing up and my epidural
had actually come out acentimeter and they tried to put
it back in.
And of course I wasn't feelingthe effects of it anymore.
Hidden Chapters (Genevie (08:53):
Right.
Megan McGlynn (08:55):
So they laid me down on the table and they swab
your stomach with thedisinfectant.
I said, Oh, that's cold.
I said, you can feel that.
I said, don't cut me open.
And that's a very triggeringstatement for me to say for
myself.
And they said, no, you know,we're going to set her up.
So I sat up and they gave me aspinal block.
(09:15):
So kind of a, kind of epidural.
Hidden Chapters (Geneviev (09:18):
Yeah.
Megan McGlynn (09:20):
And they gave me too much and too high in the
spine.
And so as they lead me back andcreated the first incision,
Brian walked in the door, but Iwas gasping for air.
I could not feel my lungsworking.
And I My throat muscles weresore for two weeks after
delivery because I was justgasping for air.
(09:40):
And I had this littleanesthesiologist above me
tapping my face saying, youroxygen's at 97.
You're fine.
You're fine.
Just breathe.
But she couldn't understand.
I literally could not feel mylungs working.
And you feel the doctors movingthings around.
And I just remember a doctorsaying, I can't get my hand
around her head.
And then the other doctorsaying, I can't, yeah, I can't
(10:02):
get her out.
And so the panic starts to setin.
And eventually they are able totake Bear out and the room is
quiet.
There's not a cry.
There's not a scream.
And I remember just looking atBrian saying, she's not crying.
She's not crying.
And he said, you know, it'sgonna be okay.
(10:24):
It's okay.
And they took her to the littletable on the side.
We had all these nurseshuddling around her.
And she came out with an Apgarscore of two, and she had
inhaled meconium.
So she had to be aspirated.
And finally, we heard thatlittle cry.
And, you know, you can'timagine a more amazing moment to
hear this little human comealive.
(10:45):
And I remember them wrappingher up and bringing her over and
seeing her little eyes blink acouple times.
And I kissed her mouth.
And then it went black.
I woke up three hours later ina recovery room by myself with a
gorgeous, young, handsomedoctor standing over me asking
how I was doing.
(11:06):
And the first words out of mymouth was, where's my baby?
Yeah.
I literally thought she haddied.
I was so...
overcome by the trauma that Icould not make any connections.
And I, I had no real memory atthat moment of her being alive.
And so they ended up taking meinto my, my postnatal recovery
(11:32):
room and my whole family waswaiting there and Brian was
holding her.
And it was, it was reallytough.
And I spent the next four daysin that space, uh, with nurses
coming in, forcing me tobreastfeed and without asking
permission, trying to teach mehow to do that and putting me on
(11:53):
a morphine drip, which I wouldfall in and out of
consciousness.
And, you know, my milk nevercame in.
It was really, reallydifficult.
I was going to ask you, goingback
Hidden Chapters (Genevieve) (12:01):
to where you were, the incision,
you said you had felt that.
What was triggering about don'tcut me open?
Megan McGlynn (12:07):
Yeah, I mean, I felt them swab my stomach.
And if you can feel that, youwould certainly feel someone
making an incision in yourabdomen and then removing
another human being from you.
It was that idea of like, oh myGod, they're going to cut me
open and I can feel everything.
I can look back now and say,I'm really proud of myself for
saying something, but I feltcompletely out of control.
(12:30):
So that's where the fear setsin is when you don't have any
control.
And that lack of controlcontinued for the next, couple
weeks because once we were senthome, I ended up with a massive
infection in my cesarean.
My incision came completelyundone.
I had infection running down mylegs.
It was very scary.
(12:50):
I had a high fever.
My baby had been screaming fordays upon days because she was
hungry.
She was literally starving.
My milk never came in.
I was just continuallyencouraged to breastfeed.
And so we ended up back in thehospital.
And my mom snuck upstairs tothe maternity ward and said, I
(13:11):
need a bottle.
This baby is starving.
And so she sucked down thatfirst bottle.
I cleaned out my incision.
They packed me up and theyreferred me to an OB and the
wound care clinic and sent me onmy way.
And we took her for her firstwell baby checkup.
And she certainly was not awell baby at the time.
And when they took hertemperature, she was 95 degrees,
(13:33):
which is hypothermic.
And she had lost more than 10%of her body weight.
And she was a 10 pound, threeounce baby.
She was huge.
So we were sent to the hospitalright away to help give her
treatment that she needed.
And while I was there, I wasreadmitted.
Now we were sent to actuallythe private hospital because
that's where our doctor hadpermission to work and which
(13:57):
really was a godsend, you know,so I was readmitted there and
they caught my infection beforeI went into septic shock.
I'd been really sick with E.
coli and group B strep.
So yeah, our first month oflife together was spent in
hospitals.
My mom moved in with us forfive months to take care of both
of us.
She took me to a wound careclinic every week for the first
(14:21):
five months.
And as my cesarean healed, shefed us, she bathed me and my
daughter.
And I really truly believe thatI'm here because of her.
And she was able to see thestruggle.
She was able to allow space forme to have all the feelings
(14:41):
that I needed to hear or tofeel.
And my husband is an amazinghusband.
I call him my number onefeminist.
He is really the backbone ofour family.
And when a couple goes throughthe same experience, they can be
in the same room experiencingall the same things, but come
(15:05):
out with a completely differentperspective.
Yes.
And that was something that wasreally hard for me to
understand and accept.
And it's really taken lots ofmarriage therapy for us to come
to that understanding of oneanother.
So, but yeah, there's so muchattachment that I had to this
(15:25):
birth story that I contrived.
And then when everything justwent to pot, I felt like, I lost
all control and lost all of thedecisions.
And I think control has beenlike a constant theme in my
life.
And when we feel like we're outof control, that's where the
trauma sets in.
(15:46):
That's where that connectionhappens.
Hidden Chapters (Geneviev (15:50):
Well, I'm remembering what you were
saying too.
You went straight from what youhad thought your birth was
going to be like.
And then after all of that, youended up having to switch and
having the cesarean.
And then even after having her,she, you were forced to do
certain things that you hadn'treally wanted to do.
So I can understand that.
Megan McGlynn (16:08):
Yeah.
It was a lot of change.
I mean, parenting in general isa huge change, right?
Like I always come with amanual.
They don't come with a manual.
It's like, it's like, you know,taking a road trip without a
map.
Hidden Chapters (Genevieve (16:22):
Yep.
Megan McGlynn (16:22):
And this little person's dropped in your lap and
you're trucking along the roadand you don't know where the
twists and turns are.
And it's filled withroundabouts and U-turns and
detours.
And you don't know where thebeautiful spots are along the
way.
You're just figuring it out asyou go along.
And I feel like once you figurethat out, you can show yourself
(16:42):
a little bit of grace.
Hidden Chapters (Geneviev (16:45):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Megan McGlynn (16:45):
Well, in all of that, first of all, thank you.
My goodness, I didn't evenknow.
I know that we had talked aftercollege, but I know that life
just kind of took its way and weall just kind of did what we
could do to survive, right?
But that quiet unraveling thatyou were talking about, so you
had that whole month back andforth into the hospital.
(17:05):
What was that doing to youmentally?
Gosh, I think I was just insurvival mode.
Hidden Chapters (Geneviev (17:13):
Yeah.
Megan McGlynn (17:14):
You know, I was really expecting my first month
of motherhood to be just filledwith joy and peaceful and easy.
And yeah, I just feel like Iwas in survival mode.
(17:35):
And I think I've lived insurvival mode for, gosh, 11
years before really gettingserious therapy.
That first year of parenthoodwas really lonely for me.
People who I considered my bestfriends, they shockingly, they
(17:55):
didn't reach out.
My phone had never been soquiet.
And it was really at a timewhere I needed people to reach
out and say, how are you doing?
And I could have said, I don'tknow.
I don't know how I'm doing.
My whole world had just beenreally turned upside down.
And maybe they didn't know whatto say.
Completely understandable.
But yeah, when I really neededfriends during that first year,
(18:18):
it was the people I'd met inbirthing and in my birthing
classes and some of thoseconnections to the small
business community who are alsomothers.
And they were just able to kindof hold that space for me.
Hidden Chapters (Geneviev (18:30):
Yeah.
When you were going through thatsurvival mode, you mentioned
postpartum depression hit it.
and PTSD from the birthingexperience.
Going a little deeper, kind ofstart from there.
When did you start realizingthat you had that postpartum
depression?
Because I went through thattoo.
I went through postpartum
Megan McGlynn (18:52):
very deeply.
10 to 20% of women actually dogo through postpartum.
And I think it's something thata lot of us don't talk about
because of the shame associatedwith it, right?
You know, when you're in thethick of it, I don't think you
know you have it, right?
Yeah.
You don't, you don't know howto look for the signs, but I
(19:13):
would say when the moms from mybirthing class would reach out
to me and they knew what hadhappened because all of our
babies were kind of born aroundthe same time.
And so ours was probably in themiddle towards the end of the
group.
Our daughter was born, but theywould reach out and include me
and get togethers.
And I had a really hard timegoing.
(19:35):
I would force myself to getdressed.
I felt horrible, you know, Iwas still swollen, and I
couldn't exercise, I certainlycouldn't get my pre pregnancy
pants on.
So I would get dressed up, Iwould dress my baby up, and we
would go and I would pretendeverything was okay.
And I would arrive and theywould just be glowing and
motherhood breastfeeding wasgoing easy.
(19:55):
Their babies were sleeping.
My baby didn't sleep throughthe night for five and a half
years.
Hidden Chapters (Genevieve) (20:01):
I'm with you, sister.
Megan McGlynn (20:02):
Yeah.
And I just I felt like I Therewas no space held for an
experience that was anydifferent than the narrative
that they were all experiencing.
You just couldn't deviate fromthat.
And when I did try to share myexperience, I felt pity.
(20:23):
And that could have just beenmy reaction to it, but I felt a
lot of pity and received thegeneric, like, it's going to get
better.
She'll sleep through the night.
Have you tried this?
I'm like, look, I've triedeverything.
The
Hidden Chapters (Ge (20:33):
unsolicited advice.
Megan McGlynn (20:35):
The unsolicited advice, which really no mom
wants.
And a first-time
Speaker 02 (20:40):
mom.
Megan McGlynn (20:40):
Oh, exactly.
Exactly.
And that's a time where likeblogs are really big parenting
blogs.
Um, you know, we didn't haveInstagram and Tik TOK at that
time.
Thank God, because I don't evenknow how I would have dealt
with all of that, but wecertainly had Facebook and we
were posting pictures of, youknow, of the baby.
And, but I would read theseblogs and I would just want to
(21:00):
throw my laptop against the wallbecause I'm like, my, how nice
for you.
Right.
Like I was drowning inresentment, uh, in jealousy and
anger and all this unprocessedtrauma.
And I just couldn't connect.
And I cried in the shower a lotbecause you just feel like
you're failing and there's somuch shame connected to all of
(21:24):
that.
But it's probably when my momleft to go back to the East
coast after being with us forfive months, I was home every
day with bear and Brian would goback to work and She barely
napped.
I rarely had a break.
We would go out on walks and Ialways joke, she's a Gemini.
So it was like every other daywas a good day.
And if we were in the houselonger than a day, she would
(21:46):
kind of like lose it.
So we would have to go out fora walk.
But I also had to pull myselftogether to take her for a walk,
right?
It was a lot of work.
And I never felt negativefeelings towards her.
I knew she had nothing to dowith this.
And I really would enjoy likeour days and you know, pull from
that little babysitter's liketoolkit that I had for all those
(22:09):
years to take care of her andlove her and enjoy those
moments.
But you know, Brian would comehome from a long day of work,
and I would greet him at thedoor with the baby, I would hand
the baby over.
pour myself a huge glass ofwine and say, unless the two of
you are dying, do not unlockthis door.
And I would go into my bedroomand I would lock the door.
(22:30):
And now I can look back andsay, well, that was really an
unhealthy choice, you know,because there certainly became a
dependency on that behavior formany, many years.
But he didn't know how much Iwas struggling, right?
He just didn't know.
So everything was just so newfor him.
(22:51):
But his experience with Bear'sbirth was just this amazing,
joyful event.
And he had help along the way,right?
With the support from my mombeing there.
So again, his experience was alittle bit different.
And he didn't know untilrecently, about a year or so
(23:14):
ago, being in marriage therapy,that I was fighting really
intrusive thoughts about whatwould it be like to drive my car
into a tree?
What if I just drove off thehighway into the Pacific Ocean?
It would make things so mucheasier.
It would make the flashbacks goaway.
I wouldn't feel guilt anymore.
(23:35):
I wouldn't be suffering.
And of course, then I wouldthink about how my family would
suffer if I wasn't here.
And that's what would pull meback in.
But I didn't want anybody toknow how ashamed I felt of all
of these feelings that I didn'tfeel grateful for this beautiful
blessing before me, but I wasjust drowning.
(23:59):
I was drowning.
And it really wasn't until Imade really good friends with
another mom.
We met on the playground andshe was very open about being in
therapy and having postpartumdepression.
And I felt safe enough to say,yo, this sucks.
(24:20):
Motherhood is nothing like Iexpected it to be.
And she had no idea that I wassuffering because I was putting
on this facade of, oh, I have itall together.
And everything's hunky dory.
And with her, I was able toreally be raw.
(24:42):
And- But it was still at thattime that I didn't know I needed
professional help.
And it really wasn't untilthere was about three and we had
moved back to the East Coastthat my mom noticed that I
needed some help.
She could see the angerstirring and the lack of
patience and...
(25:02):
just the unhappiness that amother is able to see in their,
in their child.
So she referred me to someonewho does EFT tapping or
emotional freedom technique.
And it's where you, yeah, it'sa really great technique.
You, you tap on a series ofacupressure points on your face
and your chest and your arm, andyou say statements about how
(25:26):
you're feeling.
And then you replace them withtruthful and positive
statements.
And I, That helped for a while,but it didn't really help me
process the trauma and to gettools with the way that I would
react to situations and beingshort-tempered and dismissive
and passive-aggressive.
And that's all a reaction tounprocessed trauma.
(25:50):
So I really began therapy,intense therapy after COVID when
my daughter was about nineyears old.
My marriage was...
That long.
Yeah.
I went a good nine, 10 yearsbefore I really, truly addressed
the postpartum depression andthe PTSD.
(26:10):
And honestly, it was mymarriage was suffering.
I had an inability to reallyshow and accept and express love
and emotions constructively andin a healthy way.
And you
Hidden Chapters (Genevie (26:24):
buried it so deep.
Megan McGlynn (26:25):
I did.
And I had so much resentment.
Yes.
Yes.
So much resentment towardsBrian.
And that was just unspoken.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Hidden Chapters (Genevieve) (26:36):
I can relate to you so much, but
no, you're right.
There was a lot of where youjust get used to being in that
mode and you can easily justshove it down.
But that resentment for me too,I spent years.
And that is part of the reasonwhy I'm going through what I'm
going through.
I spent years.
And one of the counselors saidto me, she was like, this is
(26:56):
like an iceberg and all anyoneis ever seeing out of you your
family, your kids, some of yourfriends, is that you're angry
all the time for no reason.
You're angry for no reason.
I am angry.
I am angry, but for a very goodreason.
But then underneath thaticeberg, there's all of this
(27:17):
hurt, resentment.
There's just a lack of beingacknowledged.
All of these things wereunderneath.
I got really good, same as you,I got really good at just
burying it and dealing with it.
But I was never angry.
able to talk about it becausetalking about that with Chris at
the times during deploymentswas not an optimal time or
(27:37):
talking about it in the middleof a move or talk, you know,
whatever the transition of life.
So I did the same as you.
And
Megan McGlynn (27:43):
those are, those are patterns that were taught,
right?
Like we learned that from ourmothers and our grandmothers and
our aunts and to be the strongwoman to deal with it and to,
yeah.
And to not complain and
Hidden Chapters (Genevieve) (27:56):
be grateful
Megan McGlynn (27:57):
to be grateful.
Yeah.
But, Everyone deserves healingand space to understand their
patterns and to find tools tobreak these cycles and to find
ways to react in a moreconstructive way.
Speaker 02 (28:17):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So you said bear was nine andthis is when you finally were
able to just really recognizeyou realize you couldn't handle
this anymore.
Correct.
What was that like to processthat?
Megan McGlynn (28:32):
Yeah, it was tough.
I mean, I remember sitting in atherapy appointment after
having a just completebreakdown.
And my therapist said, Megan,you have PTSD.
And I was like, my dad hasPTSD.
I don't have PTSD.
And she's like, all thesethings that you're experiencing
(28:52):
is PTSD.
And that's tough to hear.
I think I'm just reallygrateful that our society is
having a shift and understandingtrauma, psychotherapy, that
there's more of a conversationaround psychotherapy and that
people are open to getting helpbecause that's the difference
(29:15):
between our generation and theseyounger generations who are
very open to therapy, which iswonderful.
I mean, sometimes I think youcan overdo therapy, right?
But the generations before us,they didn't have those tools.
They weren't No one went to aquote unquote shrink, right?
Like it was looked down upon ifyou needed help.
(29:36):
And I think there's now aconversation around the strength
that it takes to say, I'm notdoing okay.
I need some help right now.
And working with a professionalwho can hold that space for you
to allow you to yell andexpress that anger and all that
(29:58):
pent up frustration is that wecarry with us and carry in our
bodies.
And allowing yourself to havethat release creates a path for
freedom.
Hidden Chapters (Ge (30:08):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Megan McGlynn (30:10):
And there's a lot of grace that comes along
with that.
Hidden Chapters (Genevieve (30:12):
It's only been the very recent
couple of years that now morepeople are able to recognize,
look, this is not okay.
We're not doing well.
That I even remember when Chrisand I retired, I had a couple
of friends come to me and go, isthis normal?
Because all the husbands werehaving the exact same reaction
to just transitioning out ofbeing military all of these
(30:33):
years, going through the heightof the war.
They had experiences.
They had things.
But even then, we didn't talkabout them.
We didn't talk about thembecause they weren't the time to
talk about them.
And there's so many moreresources now than there has
ever been of all of these peoplefinally getting the help
because it doesn't label usanymore,
Megan McGlynn (30:49):
which I appreciate.
Yeah, there's a stigma aroundit, like there was for our dads.
Because, yeah, I mean, my daddid 26 years.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because I remember years, Imean, in the probably like early
(31:17):
2000s when our guys, you know,you and I both sent guys off to
war in our early 20s.
And we were sorority sisters atElon.
And, you know, when they cameback, that's when PTSD was
really starting to be discussedin the public forum.
And I remember my dad sayinglike, oh, like, what are they
(31:38):
talking about?
Like, you're supposed to suckit up.
You know, like, oh, I havePTSD.
Old school army.
But now the conversation is nowmuch more open.
Because they've seen theeffects of what's happened.
Absolutely.
When we have soldiers dying.
Hidden Chapters (Gen (31:53):
Committing suicide, having
Megan McGlynn (31:56):
all of these issues.
Dying by suicide.
I lost a friend last year.
He served in the Army.
And yeah, he died by suicide.
And it was really sad to seesomeone who I thought was really
happy.
There was that facade.
And we do that when we are...
living with unprocessed trauma.
We put this facade on and wepretend everything's okay.
(32:18):
And everything was all buttonedup.
And when inside the person'struly suffering, and
unfortunately, and I've hadsuicidal ideation, I know what
it's like to consider that.
And it's a really deep, darkplace to be.
And no one wants to talk aboutit.
But until we talk about it andput it out there, that's when
people are really going to startto feel seen and heard and
(32:40):
willing to go and get the helpthat They deserve.
They deserve to be happy.
You deserve to have purpose inyour life and reclaim your power
and have some of that agencyback in your life.
I talk about a lot about likeinner child work and the way we
(33:02):
react to things as adults is theway that we were taught how to
deal with it when we werechildren.
And there's no shame aroundwhat our parents do because they
were doing just the best thatthey knew how.
With the tools that they had.
So I think a lot of growth canhappen when you accept your
diagnosis and are willing to putin the hard work and recognize
(33:25):
that you're not going to healovernight.
And just when you think you arehealed, something's going to
trigger you.
Oh, yeah.
And it's a test.
And it's a test to say, are youusing the tools in your toolbox
now?
Right.
And that's hard work.
Hidden Chapters (Genevieve (33:43):
Wow.
Megan McGlynn (33:44):
That's why a lot of people don't do the work,
which is understandable.
Hidden Chapters (Genevieve) (33:47):
So nine years in, you're going
through therapy.
As your child started to grow,you had some more challenges
that you recognized.
How has now parenting aneurodivergent child shaped how
you show up as mom, wife,partner, person?
So...
That's a great question.
Take me to that one.
Megan McGlynn (34:07):
Sure.
Well, I feel like just like theexpectations I placed on this
whole birthing experience, Ialso placed them on parenthood.
Yeah.
I was traditionally raised in astructured household and my
husband was raised in a home notas rigid.
So I think we both came intoparenting with a different
(34:28):
expectation of what parentinglooks like.
Hidden Chapters (Geneviev (34:30):
Yeah.
Megan McGlynn (34:31):
And he wasn't raised within an authoritative
parenting style.
And there was this level ofmutual respect between the
parent and child in their home.
And his dad, also military, butnever cracked a belt, never
felt the need to instill fear tomake the boys behave or feel
respected.
(34:51):
There was a lot of room givento be independent and think for
themselves.
And whereas uh, that wasn'treally always the case for me.
And while I was raised in, uh,a really loving home with two
great parents, um, I was raisedto be a confident young woman,
but there was an expectation ofrespecting upwards and decorum
(35:16):
and, uh, doing as you're told,no questions asked.
I think that's our militarybackground.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And my dad's retired armyColonel.
So there's, um, there's alwaysthat instilling respect in one's
elder.
And there was little room tohave an opposing opinion.
And I was a very opinionatedchild.
(35:37):
Weren't we all?
Yes, very independent.
I kind of wanted to go my ownway.
But our child needed and stillneeds a softer kind of
parenting, which has been reallyhard to learn.
And I've spent...
the last 10 years raising myvoice so she can hear me.
(35:58):
And she could hear me, but shedidn't feel heard.
And that's just based on myupbringing.
And I really didn't know anydifferent.
And I felt like I was failingconstantly and not respected.
And it's because I wasn'tfeeling like I received respect
(36:24):
on command.
And that's what I was taught,right?
But Bear is this beautifullycreative, neurodivergent, free
spirit who sees the worldthrough a different lens.
I
Hidden Chapters (Genevieve (36:38):
love your pictures, by the way.
She
Megan McGlynn (36:39):
is beautiful.
Oh, thank you.
Yeah, she's my grunge punk kidwho subsists on rock music and
black eyeliner and combat bootsand anime.
Yeah, I always tell her like,How did you come out of my body?
Like, you could not be moredifferent from me.
You know, she's, she's justthis brilliant little being and
(37:00):
challenging at times, you know,she's not neurotypical.
And I think that makes herreally exceptional in our eyes.
And we always tell it's hersuperpower.
But, you know, with that comeslike a lot of challenges, right?
She has really, in particular,taught me that love is
unconditional.
Hidden Chapters (Geneviev (37:17):
Yeah.
Megan McGlynn (37:17):
And it's okay for a child to have an opinion.
It's okay for them to see theworld differently than I do.
And we really have to nurturetheir own God-given talents and
interests.
She's on her own personaljourney.
And I'm just here to supportand guide her.
And to relinquish that controlis, I think, the hardest
(37:42):
challenge for me as a parent.
But I always...
I think she knows that we haveher back and are advocates for
her in her school andactivities.
And I think she's taught methat it's necessary to ask our
kids for forgiveness.
And that's something I neverheard in our house was, I'm
(38:04):
really sorry.
I'm sorry I made you feel thator that you feel that my words
made you feel that way.
So we've had some really deepdiscussions now that she's
older.
She's turning 13 next month.
And It's
Hidden Chapters (Geneviev (38:15):
crazy we have 13-year-olds.
Megan McGlynn (38:17):
Gosh, I know.
It goes by so fast.
How do we have teens?
I know.
And the days are long, but theyears are really, really short.
That saying is so true.
And you look back and you'relike, oh my gosh, how are you a
teenager now?
And just really coming into herown.
But yeah, parenting is achallenge.
But I think when you start toopen yourself up to other ways
(38:42):
of parenting and not so stuckon, I'm doing this because this
is the way that I was taught.
You
Hidden Chapters (Geneviev (38:50):
know, some really wonderful things
come out of that growth.
Well, I'm going to shift us alittle bit.
So I know you've made a lot ofpivots in the years too with
careers.
And I'm excited to hear moreabout that because I have been
following you over the years.
What have you learned aboutpivoting, especially when the
outcome has always beenuncertain and we talk about
control.
So how has that been for you inthat personal journey?
Megan McGlynn (39:12):
Wow.
I could fill a hat rack withall the ones I've worn over the
year.
And this could probably be itsown podcast episode.
But yeah, I've worked innonprofit fundraising to selling
graphic design in New YorkCity, where I met my husband who
is based in California.
And that brought me out thatway.
I briefly worked in insurance.
(39:33):
I took a hiatus and worked fora bakery in Um, and then went to
grad school at NC state for ayear.
And then I went back toCalifornia and I sold furniture
to Silicon Valley startups andthen started my own home-based
wedding cake, high-end designwedding cake.
Hidden Chapters (Geneviev (39:49):
Which to all my listeners, you all
should have seen her cakes.
They were so yummy.
I just wanted to eat rightthrough your screen.
I
Megan McGlynn (39:55):
was like, well, it was a great creative outlet.
I do have to say that.
Um, it was a lot of workthough.
A lot of work.
Um, And COVID really shut downthat whole business because the
wedding industry came to a bighalt.
And honestly, that was like areally great blessing in
disguise because I was exhausteddoing that kind of work.
I was working 60, 80 hour weeksand making three wedding cakes
(40:20):
and 900 mini desserts out of mykitchen.
It was kind of this crazy timein our house.
And there was a lot of tensionin the house during that time.
But it really took mysister-in-law who I just love
dearly and we're very, veryclose.
She was diagnosed with stagefour non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in
2023, so a couple of years ago.
(40:41):
And it just shifted my wholelife.
And I really think it showed meor opened the door to my true
purpose.
which is helping people healtheir mind, body, and spirit
through massage therapy andReiki energy healing.
I'll be really honest.
(41:06):
I felt like a lost sheep from2005 to 2023.
I wondered why I never felttrue fulfillment in any of these
roles that I had taken on.
And I can look through allthese experiences now, the good,
(41:27):
bad, and the ugly.
And they really do create thisbeautiful tapestry of knowledge
and empathy that I pull fromevery day as I now serve others
in my practice.
And it's one of my greatestlife lessons is to allow
yourself to turn pain intopurpose.
(41:48):
I had to go through this reallydifficult time this birthing
experience with Bear.
And I had to know what it'slike to feel like moving away
from your family 3,000 miles andfeeling that loneliness and
that disconnect.
I had to go through some otherthings in my life.
(42:09):
And then there are these littlesnippets from each career that
I've had that have given me thiswide foundation of knowledge to
be able to converse with lotsof different people and really
kind of understand them in theplace that they are in.
I have people walking into myhealing room on a daily basis
looking so put together.
They look like they haveeverything.
(42:32):
You know, they're beautiful andthey've got this career and
they've got the kids and all thethings, but they sit on my
table and they fall apart.
And so many people are feelinglost and lacking connection and
and searching for meaning andpurpose in their life.
And they just need someone tohold this nonjudgmental loving
(42:55):
space for them to breathe andreflect and recenter.
So yeah, so my journey has beenfilled with a lot of tough
spots, but I've had to gothrough them to be prepared for
the work that I'm doing now.
Hidden Chapters (Ge (43:09):
Absolutely.
Megan McGlynn (43:10):
And I think that's oftentimes the part of a
healer's journey to be able tolook at everything from a bird's
eye view and do the hard workto find the tools and to be able
to deconstruct all of theseexperiences which are oftentimes
very painful but to rise abovethem and to shift that into a
(43:34):
purpose
Hidden Chapters (Genevieve (43:34):
yeah and i feel a lot of that too i
think as we've continued to growolder and all the things that
we've been through i think I'mmore purposeful and intentional
about what it is that I am doingbecause I want it to be
meaningful.
I want to have what it is thatI am doing that's serving a
purpose.
And so I love that you havethat heart because I think we're
(43:57):
all in this space now whereit's like we're a hurting world
and we need more real.
We need more of that healing.
from all the things that we'vebeen through and we need more
people to tell us we are notalone in this.
What do you hope someone who'squietly struggling might take
away from hearing your story?
Megan McGlynn (44:18):
Oh, I think my journey has taught me that
everything is interconnected.
Each person has a divinepurpose.
Every challenge in our journeycarries the opportunity to learn
something about yourself orothers.
And you never know when theselife lessons are going to come
back and provide insight in anew situation that requires some
(44:42):
wisdom and perspective.
And we don't really come intoour human experience with that
guidebook that we talked about.
And attachment to expectationcreates suffering.
So allowing yourself to be opento what can be and being kind
to others because we reallydon't know the burdens that
(45:05):
others are carrying.
When we open ourselves up tohealing and detach ourselves
from all these expectations, Ithink that's where living really
happens.
Hidden Chapters (Ge (45:19):
Absolutely.
I'm so excited we got to dothis.
Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
Of course.
Okay.
So before we wrap up, I want tomake sure that in the show
notes, I can link your business.
And I wanted to make sureeverybody knows the big thing
that you've created with yoursister-in-law.
Would you mind sharing whatthat is?
Speaker 00 (45:38):
Sure.
I'm so excited.
And thank you for highlightingthis.
Unknown (45:43):
My company called Portion Pete, my sister-in-law
that was diagnosed withnon-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2023,
we together during one of hertreatments
Megan McGlynn (45:51):
we often talked about how hard it was to find
cards that truly reflected theexperience of a person fighting
and living with cancer you knowwhether it's a moment of
gratitude for an infusion nurseor a dose of humor on a hard day
or encouragement for a fellowfighter so one afternoon we were
(46:11):
binging Gilmore Girls after achemo treatment and we looked at
each other and we were likelet's make her own because I
have a little bit of a designbackground and So that's how
Portia and Pete came togetherand Portia and Peter, the names
of her two chemo ports that welovingly named.
So together we come up with themessaging and I design them and
(46:32):
she handles all of our Etsyorders and shipping.
And that's a really, truly ateam effort, but it's really
provided a place and space forher to be able to turn that pain
into purpose.
And so we're really excitedabout the launch of Portion
Pete.
So thanks for highlighting it.
Of course.
And I will put all of that inthe show notes along with your
(46:54):
business in that.
Awesome.
All right, Meg, I appreciateyou being on with me and
allowing me to share your story.
I'm so excited.
And for everybody, this is mysorority sister.
Yes, sisters for life.
That's right.
Wow, it truly meant the worldto me that Meg trusted Hidden
Chapters and this space with herstory.
(47:15):
I'm so grateful for herhonesty, her heart, and the
friendship we've shared sincecollege.
We both lived a lot of lifesince those days, and hearing
how she transformed her paininto purpose, it truly is
inspiring.
One thing among many things shesaid has really stuck with me
is that healing takes time.
And sometimes it's not until wesay our stories out loud that
(47:39):
we realize how far we've come.
And that is exactly what thispodcast is about.
Uncovering the hidden, tender,gritty, powerful chapters that
shape us into who we are today.
If Meg's story connected withyou, I know she would be so
touched to hear that.
If you enjoyed this episode,would you take a second to share
it with a friend or leave aquick review?
(48:01):
It's a small thing that helpsthis podcast reach more hearts
who need to know they're notalone either.
Before we go, a big shout outto Meg and her sister-in-law
Nikki for the beautiful workthey're doing through Portia and
Pete, a greeting card companythat blends humor and heart,
grown from Nikki's own cancerjourney.
I'll link it all in the shownotes along with how to connect
(48:23):
with Meg and explore theincredible work she's done as a
massage therapist and Reikienergy healer.
Until the next chapter.
Keep listening for whatconnects us the most.
Welcome back to Hidden Chapters.
Today's episode is such aspecial one.
I had the absolute gift ofsitting down with my college
friend, Meg.
We recently reconnected afteryears of life happening, and I'm
just so thankful she said yesto sharing her story here.
Meg opens up with so muchhonesty and heart about birth
(00:21):
trauma, postpartum depression,PTSD, parenting a neurodivergent
child.
her career pivots, and doingthe deep, often unseen work of
healing generational wounds.
She talks about what it's takento let go of the life she once
pictured and find peace in theunexpected chapters instead.
I'm so proud of Meg, and I knowher story is going to land
(00:44):
deeply with those who need itmost.
I always think it's so powerfulto look back at the moments
that shift our stories.
So for you, that shift reallybegan during your first birth
story, right?
So that experience that changedyou.
So let's go back and let's talkabout that time, what you were
(01:07):
hoping for, what you envisioned,and what maybe actually
unfolded for
Megan McGlynn (01:11):
you.
Yeah.
Well, I really appreciate youhaving me today.
And I think it's my intentionto help break down the
expectations that we placearound challenging subjects like
birth trauma, postpartumdepression, parenting, PTSD, and
to really talk about theseevents and how we can bring a
(01:32):
place of healing and purpose outof these.
And for me, how all theseevents really provided me an
opportunity to be of service toothers.
And so, yeah, I guess let's goto my birth story.
I I knew I wanted to be a momat the age of three.
This was the year that I becamea big sister to Caitlin and
(01:55):
received my first baby doll, mybaby Susie.
I would sit next to my mom asshe would nurse my sister and
feed my baby with the littlebottles of the disappearing
milk.
Do you remember those?
Really?
Hidden Chapters (Genevieve) (02:07):
Oh, and the cabbage patch dolls.
I think I had the pound puppy.
So I had I had babies.
Megan McGlynn (02:11):
Oh, there you
Speaker 02 (02:11):
go.
Megan McGlynn (02:12):
Yeah, perfect.
You know, and I startedbabysitting at the age of 12.
Yeah.
And spent every weekend takingcare of the same family all the
way through college when I wouldcome back to visit.
And I always felt this reallydeep connection with my feminine
nature.
And just felt like I was madefor motherhood.
Brian and I got married when Iwas about 25.
(02:33):
And we knew we wanted to wait acouple years before having a
family.
So we waited about four and weactually got pregnant pretty
quickly.
And I just thought everythingwould go so smoothly.
You know, I was told my wholelife, you've got birth and hips
that you're gonna sneeze thatbaby's gonna fall right out, you
(02:53):
know.
And I so wish that that wastrue.
But pregnancy and parenting hastaught me that expectations can
be cruel at times.
And they're unrealistic andattachment in general keeps us
from being open to what and canbe.
And so I intuitively knew I waspregnant from a dream.
(03:16):
And I woke up that morning, Itook a test and it was negative.
And Brian said, I know you'repregnant.
I think you should go to the OBand get another test.
So I went and the next day andit happened to turn out
positive.
And I was just, you know,sobbing with tears of joy.
I was so excited for this nextstep and so ready for
motherhood.
(03:36):
And so based on my cycle, Ishould have been about six weeks
pregnant.
And so the next day we cameback for an ultrasound.
She said, we could probably seethe baby's heartbeat.
So we were really excited.
And We did the abdominalultrasound and she couldn't find
a heartbeat.
And she said, you know, I thinkyou have an ectopic pregnancy.
You need to go straight to thehospital.
(03:58):
And I had a friend who had justthe year before almost died
from an ectopic pregnancy.
It was very, very serious.
So I was very scared.
I cried the whole way to thehospital.
And when we got there, we didan additional ultrasound and
some blood tests and came backthat I was pregnant, but I was
like just pregnant, two weekspregnant.
So super fresh.
(04:18):
And so we started settling intothe idea of parenthood and
getting really, really excited.
And I began to construct awhole concept of how my
pregnancy would go.
Hidden Chapters (Genevi (04:29):
Mm-hmm.
Megan McGlynn (04:32):
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
And my pregnancy was reallytough.
I was diagnosed withgestational diabetes at 17
weeks.
I had to overhaul my diet and Itried the insulin shots.
(04:53):
In San Francisco, the Bay Area,we'd moved back to the area.
So I really didn't have likethis great support system.
I did have some greatconnections through some
networking that I was doing as Iwas a small business owner.
And they really did support mewhen I needed that.
But I had an OB with the worstbedside manner.
And I really couldn't imagineher delivering my babies and
(05:13):
being a part of this wholeexperience for us.
So I found a midwife who waswilling to take me on as a
patient with gestationaldiabetes and manage it with diet
and exercise.
And I had a real deep fear ofhospitals based on the
experience of watching mygrandmother pass away in one.
And so I really had this deepwant to have a baby at home.
And this midwife was, you know,specialized in, in home
(05:36):
birthing.
Um, our daughter who I'll callbear.
I want to respect her privacy.
So we'll use her nickname, butbear was breached until she was,
I was like 36 weeks along.
And so I actually had herflipped by a really well-known
OB and that went remarkably welland easy.
And she stayed in place.
(05:56):
So we because there was a homebirth, I allowed nature to take
its course.
So I went to 42 weeks and fourdays gestational gestation.
Yeah.
So I was two and a half weeksover what is typically
considered safe for, um, youknow, carrying your baby.
(06:18):
And at the last measurement,she was measuring about 11
pounds.
And my, my midwife would say,you can do this.
You can totally do this.
I'm like, yes, because I havebirthing hips.
I can totally do this.
And, um, You know, I was alittle nervous, but I really
believed my body could do it.
And I got things moving at homeand I went into labor and I
(06:42):
labored for two and a half daysat home.
I never progressed past fourcentimeters.
So, yeah, I went to transitionback twice.
And that's when you havecontractions like every two to
one to two minutes and you'resupposed to be pushing.
And, you know, it's reallyhard.
a godsend that I didn't pushbecause of her positioning.
(07:02):
And I was in labor for a reallylong time at home, two and a
half days.
And at some point I said, Ican't do this anymore.
I want to go to the hospitaland I want to have a cesarean,
which is a complete 180 fromeverything I had contrived in my
mind.
But I was exhausted.
And it was my mom who told me,This is okay.
(07:25):
Like this is now to a pointwhere it might not be safe for
you to stay at home.
So we transferred the closesthospital, which turned out to be
another poor decision andhindsight's always 20, 20, but
it was a public hospital.
And typically public hospitalsserve a lot of people who don't
have insurance.
And so there's hospitalpolicies in place that require a
(07:46):
woman to check off all theboxes of why she can't have a
vaginal birth before giving hera C-section.
And I just remember saying, butI have insurance.
I can pay for this.
I need a cesarean.
But I had to go through theprotocol.
And in hindsight, I can lookback and say, I should put my
clothes back on and walked outthe door and gone to the private
(08:06):
hospital around the corner,which ended up saving my life.
But I didn't know back then.
And I didn't know I had agency.
I didn't know I could say, thisis not the right choice for me.
And so I stayed and I...
I did another 18 hours of laborwith an epidural and Pitocin.
(08:34):
They wheeled me in and Brian'sout scrubbing up and my epidural
had actually come out acentimeter and they tried to put
it back in.
And of course I wasn't feelingthe effects of it anymore.
Hidden Chapters (Genevie (08:53):
Right.
Megan McGlynn (08:55):
So they laid me down on the table and they swab
your stomach with thedisinfectant.
I said, Oh, that's cold.
I said, you can feel that.
I said, don't cut me open.
And that's a very triggeringstatement for me to say for
myself.
And they said, no, you know,we're going to set her up.
So I sat up and they gave me aspinal block.
(09:15):
So kind of a, kind of epidural.
Hidden Chapters (Geneviev (09:18):
Yeah.
Megan McGlynn (09:20):
And they gave me too much and too high in the
spine.
And so as they lead me back andcreated the first incision,
Brian walked in the door, but Iwas gasping for air.
I could not feel my lungsworking.
And I My throat muscles weresore for two weeks after
delivery because I was justgasping for air.
(09:40):
And I had this littleanesthesiologist above me
tapping my face saying, youroxygen's at 97.
You're fine.
You're fine.
Just breathe.
But she couldn't understand.
I literally could not feel mylungs working.
And you feel the doctors movingthings around.
And I just remember a doctorsaying, I can't get my hand
around her head.
And then the other doctorsaying, I can't, yeah, I can't
(10:02):
get her out.
And so the panic starts to setin.
And eventually they are able totake Bear out and the room is
quiet.
There's not a cry.
There's not a scream.
And I remember just looking atBrian saying, she's not crying.
She's not crying.
And he said, you know, it'sgonna be okay.
(10:24):
It's okay.
And they took her to the littletable on the side.
We had all these nurseshuddling around her.
And she came out with an Apgarscore of two, and she had
inhaled meconium.
So she had to be aspirated.
And finally, we heard thatlittle cry.
And, you know, you can'timagine a more amazing moment to
hear this little human comealive.
(10:45):
And I remember them wrappingher up and bringing her over and
seeing her little eyes blink acouple times.
And I kissed her mouth.
And then it went black.
I woke up three hours later ina recovery room by myself with a
gorgeous, young, handsomedoctor standing over me asking
how I was doing.
(11:06):
And the first words out of mymouth was, where's my baby?
Yeah.
I literally thought she haddied.
I was so...
overcome by the trauma that Icould not make any connections.
And I, I had no real memory atthat moment of her being alive.
And so they ended up taking meinto my, my postnatal recovery
(11:32):
room and my whole family waswaiting there and Brian was
holding her.
And it was, it was reallytough.
And I spent the next four daysin that space, uh, with nurses
coming in, forcing me tobreastfeed and without asking
permission, trying to teach mehow to do that and putting me on
(11:53):
a morphine drip, which I wouldfall in and out of
consciousness.
And, you know, my milk nevercame in.
It was really, reallydifficult.
I was going to ask you, goingback
Hidden Chapters (Genevieve) (12:01):
to where you were, the incision,
you said you had felt that.
What was triggering about don'tcut me open?
Megan McGlynn (12:07):
Yeah, I mean, I felt them swab my stomach.
And if you can feel that, youwould certainly feel someone
making an incision in yourabdomen and then removing
another human being from you.
It was that idea of like, oh myGod, they're going to cut me
open and I can feel everything.
I can look back now and say,I'm really proud of myself for
saying something, but I feltcompletely out of control.
(12:30):
So that's where the fear setsin is when you don't have any
control.
And that lack of controlcontinued for the next, couple
weeks because once we were senthome, I ended up with a massive
infection in my cesarean.
My incision came completelyundone.
I had infection running down mylegs.
It was very scary.
(12:50):
I had a high fever.
My baby had been screaming fordays upon days because she was
hungry.
She was literally starving.
My milk never came in.
I was just continuallyencouraged to breastfeed.
And so we ended up back in thehospital.
And my mom snuck upstairs tothe maternity ward and said, I
(13:11):
need a bottle.
This baby is starving.
And so she sucked down thatfirst bottle.
I cleaned out my incision.
They packed me up and theyreferred me to an OB and the
wound care clinic and sent me onmy way.
And we took her for her firstwell baby checkup.
And she certainly was not awell baby at the time.
And when they took hertemperature, she was 95 degrees,
(13:33):
which is hypothermic.
And she had lost more than 10%of her body weight.
And she was a 10 pound, threeounce baby.
She was huge.
So we were sent to the hospitalright away to help give her
treatment that she needed.
And while I was there, I wasreadmitted.
Now we were sent to actuallythe private hospital because
that's where our doctor hadpermission to work and which
(13:57):
really was a godsend, you know,so I was readmitted there and
they caught my infection beforeI went into septic shock.
I'd been really sick with E.
coli and group B strep.
So yeah, our first month oflife together was spent in
hospitals.
My mom moved in with us forfive months to take care of both
of us.
She took me to a wound careclinic every week for the first
(14:21):
five months.
And as my cesarean healed, shefed us, she bathed me and my
daughter.
And I really truly believe thatI'm here because of her.
And she was able to see thestruggle.
She was able to allow space forme to have all the feelings
(14:41):
that I needed to hear or tofeel.
And my husband is an amazinghusband.
I call him my number onefeminist.
He is really the backbone ofour family.
And when a couple goes throughthe same experience, they can be
in the same room experiencingall the same things, but come
(15:05):
out with a completely differentperspective.
Yes.
And that was something that wasreally hard for me to
understand and accept.
And it's really taken lots ofmarriage therapy for us to come
to that understanding of oneanother.
So, but yeah, there's so muchattachment that I had to this
(15:25):
birth story that I contrived.
And then when everything justwent to pot, I felt like, I lost
all control and lost all of thedecisions.
And I think control has beenlike a constant theme in my
life.
And when we feel like we're outof control, that's where the
trauma sets in.
(15:46):
That's where that connectionhappens.
Hidden Chapters (Geneviev (15:50):
Well, I'm remembering what you were
saying too.
You went straight from what youhad thought your birth was
going to be like.
And then after all of that, youended up having to switch and
having the cesarean.
And then even after having her,she, you were forced to do
certain things that you hadn'treally wanted to do.
So I can understand that.
Megan McGlynn (16:08):
Yeah.
It was a lot of change.
I mean, parenting in general isa huge change, right?
Like I always come with amanual.
They don't come with a manual.
It's like, it's like, you know,taking a road trip without a
map.
Hidden Chapters (Genevieve (16:22):
Yep.
Megan McGlynn (16:22):
And this little person's dropped in your lap and
you're trucking along the roadand you don't know where the
twists and turns are.
And it's filled withroundabouts and U-turns and
detours.
And you don't know where thebeautiful spots are along the
way.
You're just figuring it out asyou go along.
And I feel like once you figurethat out, you can show yourself
(16:42):
a little bit of grace.
Hidden Chapters (Geneviev (16:45):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Megan McGlynn (16:45):
Well, in all of that, first of all, thank you.
My goodness, I didn't evenknow.
I know that we had talked aftercollege, but I know that life
just kind of took its way and weall just kind of did what we
could do to survive, right?
But that quiet unraveling thatyou were talking about, so you
had that whole month back andforth into the hospital.
(17:05):
What was that doing to youmentally?
Gosh, I think I was just insurvival mode.
Hidden Chapters (Geneviev (17:13):
Yeah.
Megan McGlynn (17:14):
You know, I was really expecting my first month
of motherhood to be just filledwith joy and peaceful and easy.
And yeah, I just feel like Iwas in survival mode.
(17:35):
And I think I've lived insurvival mode for, gosh, 11
years before really gettingserious therapy.
That first year of parenthoodwas really lonely for me.
People who I considered my bestfriends, they shockingly, they
(17:55):
didn't reach out.
My phone had never been soquiet.
And it was really at a timewhere I needed people to reach
out and say, how are you doing?
And I could have said, I don'tknow.
I don't know how I'm doing.
My whole world had just beenreally turned upside down.
And maybe they didn't know whatto say.
Completely understandable.
But yeah, when I really neededfriends during that first year,
(18:18):
it was the people I'd met inbirthing and in my birthing
classes and some of thoseconnections to the small
business community who are alsomothers.
And they were just able to kindof hold that space for me.
Hidden Chapters (Geneviev (18:30):
Yeah.
When you were going through thatsurvival mode, you mentioned
postpartum depression hit it.
and PTSD from the birthingexperience.
Going a little deeper, kind ofstart from there.
When did you start realizingthat you had that postpartum
depression?
Because I went through thattoo.
I went through postpartum
Megan McGlynn (18:52):
very deeply.
10 to 20% of women actually dogo through postpartum.
And I think it's something thata lot of us don't talk about
because of the shame associatedwith it, right?
You know, when you're in thethick of it, I don't think you
know you have it, right?
Yeah.
You don't, you don't know howto look for the signs, but I
(19:13):
would say when the moms from mybirthing class would reach out
to me and they knew what hadhappened because all of our
babies were kind of born aroundthe same time.
And so ours was probably in themiddle towards the end of the
group.
Our daughter was born, but theywould reach out and include me
and get togethers.
And I had a really hard timegoing.
(19:35):
I would force myself to getdressed.
I felt horrible, you know, Iwas still swollen, and I
couldn't exercise, I certainlycouldn't get my pre pregnancy
pants on.
So I would get dressed up, Iwould dress my baby up, and we
would go and I would pretendeverything was okay.
And I would arrive and theywould just be glowing and
motherhood breastfeeding wasgoing easy.
(19:55):
Their babies were sleeping.
My baby didn't sleep throughthe night for five and a half
years.
Hidden Chapters (Genevieve) (20:01):
I'm with you, sister.
Megan McGlynn (20:02):
Yeah.
And I just I felt like I Therewas no space held for an
experience that was anydifferent than the narrative
that they were all experiencing.
You just couldn't deviate fromthat.
And when I did try to share myexperience, I felt pity.
(20:23):
And that could have just beenmy reaction to it, but I felt a
lot of pity and received thegeneric, like, it's going to get
better.
She'll sleep through the night.
Have you tried this?
I'm like, look, I've triedeverything.
The
Hidden Chapters (Ge (20:33):
unsolicited advice.
Megan McGlynn (20:35):
The unsolicited advice, which really no mom
wants.
And a first-time
Speaker 02 (20:40):
mom.
Megan McGlynn (20:40):
Oh, exactly.
Exactly.
And that's a time where likeblogs are really big parenting
blogs.
Um, you know, we didn't haveInstagram and Tik TOK at that
time.
Thank God, because I don't evenknow how I would have dealt
with all of that, but wecertainly had Facebook and we
were posting pictures of, youknow, of the baby.
And, but I would read theseblogs and I would just want to
(21:00):
throw my laptop against the wallbecause I'm like, my, how nice
for you.
Right.
Like I was drowning inresentment, uh, in jealousy and
anger and all this unprocessedtrauma.
And I just couldn't connect.
And I cried in the shower a lotbecause you just feel like
you're failing and there's somuch shame connected to all of
(21:24):
that.
But it's probably when my momleft to go back to the East
coast after being with us forfive months, I was home every
day with bear and Brian would goback to work and She barely
napped.
I rarely had a break.
We would go out on walks and Ialways joke, she's a Gemini.
So it was like every other daywas a good day.
And if we were in the houselonger than a day, she would
(21:46):
kind of like lose it.
So we would have to go out fora walk.
But I also had to pull myselftogether to take her for a walk,
right?
It was a lot of work.
And I never felt negativefeelings towards her.
I knew she had nothing to dowith this.
And I really would enjoy likeour days and you know, pull from
that little babysitter's liketoolkit that I had for all those
(22:09):
years to take care of her andlove her and enjoy those
moments.
But you know, Brian would comehome from a long day of work,
and I would greet him at thedoor with the baby, I would hand
the baby over.
pour myself a huge glass ofwine and say, unless the two of
you are dying, do not unlockthis door.
And I would go into my bedroomand I would lock the door.
(22:30):
And now I can look back andsay, well, that was really an
unhealthy choice, you know,because there certainly became a
dependency on that behavior formany, many years.
But he didn't know how much Iwas struggling, right?
He just didn't know.
So everything was just so newfor him.
(22:51):
But his experience with Bear'sbirth was just this amazing,
joyful event.
And he had help along the way,right?
With the support from my mombeing there.
So again, his experience was alittle bit different.
And he didn't know untilrecently, about a year or so
(23:14):
ago, being in marriage therapy,that I was fighting really
intrusive thoughts about whatwould it be like to drive my car
into a tree?
What if I just drove off thehighway into the Pacific Ocean?
It would make things so mucheasier.
It would make the flashbacks goaway.
I wouldn't feel guilt anymore.
(23:35):
I wouldn't be suffering.
And of course, then I wouldthink about how my family would
suffer if I wasn't here.
And that's what would pull meback in.
But I didn't want anybody toknow how ashamed I felt of all
of these feelings that I didn'tfeel grateful for this beautiful
blessing before me, but I wasjust drowning.
(23:59):
I was drowning.
And it really wasn't until Imade really good friends with
another mom.
We met on the playground andshe was very open about being in
therapy and having postpartumdepression.
And I felt safe enough to say,yo, this sucks.
(24:20):
Motherhood is nothing like Iexpected it to be.
And she had no idea that I wassuffering because I was putting
on this facade of, oh, I have itall together.
And everything's hunky dory.
And with her, I was able toreally be raw.
(24:42):
And- But it was still at thattime that I didn't know I needed
professional help.
And it really wasn't untilthere was about three and we had
moved back to the East Coastthat my mom noticed that I
needed some help.
She could see the angerstirring and the lack of
patience and...
(25:02):
just the unhappiness that amother is able to see in their,
in their child.
So she referred me to someonewho does EFT tapping or
emotional freedom technique.
And it's where you, yeah, it'sa really great technique.
You, you tap on a series ofacupressure points on your face
and your chest and your arm, andyou say statements about how
(25:26):
you're feeling.
And then you replace them withtruthful and positive
statements.
And I, That helped for a while,but it didn't really help me
process the trauma and to gettools with the way that I would
react to situations and beingshort-tempered and dismissive
and passive-aggressive.
And that's all a reaction tounprocessed trauma.
(25:50):
So I really began therapy,intense therapy after COVID when
my daughter was about nineyears old.
My marriage was...
That long.
Yeah.
I went a good nine, 10 yearsbefore I really, truly addressed
the postpartum depression andthe PTSD.
(26:10):
And honestly, it was mymarriage was suffering.
I had an inability to reallyshow and accept and express love
and emotions constructively andin a healthy way.
And you
Hidden Chapters (Genevie (26:24):
buried it so deep.
Megan McGlynn (26:25):
I did.
And I had so much resentment.
Yes.
Yes.
So much resentment towardsBrian.
And that was just unspoken.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Hidden Chapters (Genevieve) (26:36):
I can relate to you so much, but
no, you're right.
There was a lot of where youjust get used to being in that
mode and you can easily justshove it down.
But that resentment for me too,I spent years.
And that is part of the reasonwhy I'm going through what I'm
going through.
I spent years.
And one of the counselors saidto me, she was like, this is
(26:56):
like an iceberg and all anyoneis ever seeing out of you your
family, your kids, some of yourfriends, is that you're angry
all the time for no reason.
You're angry for no reason.
I am angry.
I am angry, but for a very goodreason.
But then underneath thaticeberg, there's all of this
(27:17):
hurt, resentment.
There's just a lack of beingacknowledged.
All of these things wereunderneath.
I got really good, same as you,I got really good at just
burying it and dealing with it.
But I was never angry.
able to talk about it becausetalking about that with Chris at
the times during deploymentswas not an optimal time or
(27:37):
talking about it in the middleof a move or talk, you know,
whatever the transition of life.
So I did the same as you.
And
Megan McGlynn (27:43):
those are, those are patterns that were taught,
right?
Like we learned that from ourmothers and our grandmothers and
our aunts and to be the strongwoman to deal with it and to,
yeah.
And to not complain and
Hidden Chapters (Genevieve) (27:56):
be grateful
Megan McGlynn (27:57):
to be grateful.
Yeah.
But, Everyone deserves healingand space to understand their
patterns and to find tools tobreak these cycles and to find
ways to react in a moreconstructive way.
Speaker 02 (28:17):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So you said bear was nine andthis is when you finally were
able to just really recognizeyou realize you couldn't handle
this anymore.
Correct.
What was that like to processthat?
Megan McGlynn (28:32):
Yeah, it was tough.
I mean, I remember sitting in atherapy appointment after
having a just completebreakdown.
And my therapist said, Megan,you have PTSD.
And I was like, my dad hasPTSD.
I don't have PTSD.
And she's like, all thesethings that you're experiencing
(28:52):
is PTSD.
And that's tough to hear.
I think I'm just reallygrateful that our society is
having a shift and understandingtrauma, psychotherapy, that
there's more of a conversationaround psychotherapy and that
people are open to getting helpbecause that's the difference
(29:15):
between our generation and theseyounger generations who are
very open to therapy, which iswonderful.
I mean, sometimes I think youcan overdo therapy, right?
But the generations before us,they didn't have those tools.
They weren't No one went to aquote unquote shrink, right?
Like it was looked down upon ifyou needed help.
(29:36):
And I think there's now aconversation around the strength
that it takes to say, I'm notdoing okay.
I need some help right now.
And working with a professionalwho can hold that space for you
to allow you to yell andexpress that anger and all that
(29:58):
pent up frustration is that wecarry with us and carry in our
bodies.
And allowing yourself to havethat release creates a path for
freedom.
Hidden Chapters (Ge (30:08):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Megan McGlynn (30:10):
And there's a lot of grace that comes along
with that.
Hidden Chapters (Genevieve (30:12):
It's only been the very recent
couple of years that now morepeople are able to recognize,
look, this is not okay.
We're not doing well.
That I even remember when Chrisand I retired, I had a couple
of friends come to me and go, isthis normal?
Because all the husbands werehaving the exact same reaction
to just transitioning out ofbeing military all of these
(30:33):
years, going through the heightof the war.
They had experiences.
They had things.
But even then, we didn't talkabout them.
We didn't talk about thembecause they weren't the time to
talk about them.
And there's so many moreresources now than there has
ever been of all of these peoplefinally getting the help
because it doesn't label usanymore,
Megan McGlynn (30:49):
which I appreciate.
Yeah, there's a stigma aroundit, like there was for our dads.
Because, yeah, I mean, my daddid 26 years.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because I remember years, Imean, in the probably like early
(31:17):
2000s when our guys, you know,you and I both sent guys off to
war in our early 20s.
And we were sorority sisters atElon.
And, you know, when they cameback, that's when PTSD was
really starting to be discussedin the public forum.
And I remember my dad sayinglike, oh, like, what are they
(31:38):
talking about?
Like, you're supposed to suckit up.
You know, like, oh, I havePTSD.
Old school army.
But now the conversation is nowmuch more open.
Because they've seen theeffects of what's happened.
Absolutely.
When we have soldiers dying.
Hidden Chapters (Gen (31:53):
Committing suicide, having
Megan McGlynn (31:56):
all of these issues.
Dying by suicide.
I lost a friend last year.
He served in the Army.
And yeah, he died by suicide.
And it was really sad to seesomeone who I thought was really
happy.
There was that facade.
And we do that when we are...
living with unprocessed trauma.
We put this facade on and wepretend everything's okay.
(32:18):
And everything was all buttonedup.
And when inside the person'struly suffering, and
unfortunately, and I've hadsuicidal ideation, I know what
it's like to consider that.
And it's a really deep, darkplace to be.
And no one wants to talk aboutit.
But until we talk about it andput it out there, that's when
people are really going to startto feel seen and heard and
(32:40):
willing to go and get the helpthat They deserve.
They deserve to be happy.
You deserve to have purpose inyour life and reclaim your power
and have some of that agencyback in your life.
I talk about a lot about likeinner child work and the way we
(33:02):
react to things as adults is theway that we were taught how to
deal with it when we werechildren.
And there's no shame aroundwhat our parents do because they
were doing just the best thatthey knew how.
With the tools that they had.
So I think a lot of growth canhappen when you accept your
diagnosis and are willing to putin the hard work and recognize
(33:25):
that you're not going to healovernight.
And just when you think you arehealed, something's going to
trigger you.
Oh, yeah.
And it's a test.
And it's a test to say, are youusing the tools in your toolbox
now?
Right.
And that's hard work.
Hidden Chapters (Genevieve (33:43):
Wow.
Megan McGlynn (33:44):
That's why a lot of people don't do the work,
which is understandable.
Hidden Chapters (Genevieve) (33:47):
So nine years in, you're going
through therapy.
As your child started to grow,you had some more challenges
that you recognized.
How has now parenting aneurodivergent child shaped how
you show up as mom, wife,partner, person?
So...
That's a great question.
Take me to that one.
Megan McGlynn (34:07):
Sure.
Well, I feel like just like theexpectations I placed on this
whole birthing experience, Ialso placed them on parenthood.
Yeah.
I was traditionally raised in astructured household and my
husband was raised in a home notas rigid.
So I think we both came intoparenting with a different
(34:28):
expectation of what parentinglooks like.
Hidden Chapters (Geneviev (34:30):
Yeah.
Megan McGlynn (34:31):
And he wasn't raised within an authoritative
parenting style.
And there was this level ofmutual respect between the
parent and child in their home.
And his dad, also military, butnever cracked a belt, never
felt the need to instill fear tomake the boys behave or feel
respected.
(34:51):
There was a lot of room givento be independent and think for
themselves.
And whereas uh, that wasn'treally always the case for me.
And while I was raised in, uh,a really loving home with two
great parents, um, I was raisedto be a confident young woman,
but there was an expectation ofrespecting upwards and decorum
(35:16):
and, uh, doing as you're told,no questions asked.
I think that's our militarybackground.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And my dad's retired armyColonel.
So there's, um, there's alwaysthat instilling respect in one's
elder.
And there was little room tohave an opposing opinion.
And I was a very opinionatedchild.
(35:37):
Weren't we all?
Yes, very independent.
I kind of wanted to go my ownway.
But our child needed and stillneeds a softer kind of
parenting, which has been reallyhard to learn.
And I've spent...
the last 10 years raising myvoice so she can hear me.
(35:58):
And she could hear me, but shedidn't feel heard.
And that's just based on myupbringing.
And I really didn't know anydifferent.
And I felt like I was failingconstantly and not respected.
And it's because I wasn'tfeeling like I received respect
(36:24):
on command.
And that's what I was taught,right?
But Bear is this beautifullycreative, neurodivergent, free
spirit who sees the worldthrough a different lens.
I
Hidden Chapters (Genevieve (36:38):
love your pictures, by the way.
She
Megan McGlynn (36:39):
is beautiful.
Oh, thank you.
Yeah, she's my grunge punk kidwho subsists on rock music and
black eyeliner and combat bootsand anime.
Yeah, I always tell her like,How did you come out of my body?
Like, you could not be moredifferent from me.
You know, she's, she's justthis brilliant little being and
(37:00):
challenging at times, you know,she's not neurotypical.
And I think that makes herreally exceptional in our eyes.
And we always tell it's hersuperpower.
But, you know, with that comeslike a lot of challenges, right?
She has really, in particular,taught me that love is
unconditional.
Hidden Chapters (Geneviev (37:17):
Yeah.
Megan McGlynn (37:17):
And it's okay for a child to have an opinion.
It's okay for them to see theworld differently than I do.
And we really have to nurturetheir own God-given talents and
interests.
She's on her own personaljourney.
And I'm just here to supportand guide her.
And to relinquish that controlis, I think, the hardest
(37:42):
challenge for me as a parent.
But I always...
I think she knows that we haveher back and are advocates for
her in her school andactivities.
And I think she's taught methat it's necessary to ask our
kids for forgiveness.
And that's something I neverheard in our house was, I'm
(38:04):
really sorry.
I'm sorry I made you feel thator that you feel that my words
made you feel that way.
So we've had some really deepdiscussions now that she's
older.
She's turning 13 next month.
And It's
Hidden Chapters (Geneviev (38:15):
crazy we have 13-year-olds.
Megan McGlynn (38:17):
Gosh, I know.
It goes by so fast.
How do we have teens?
I know.
And the days are long, but theyears are really, really short.
That saying is so true.
And you look back and you'relike, oh my gosh, how are you a
teenager now?
And just really coming into herown.
But yeah, parenting is achallenge.
But I think when you start toopen yourself up to other ways
(38:42):
of parenting and not so stuckon, I'm doing this because this
is the way that I was taught.
You
Hidden Chapters (Geneviev (38:50):
know, some really wonderful things
come out of that growth.
Well, I'm going to shift us alittle bit.
So I know you've made a lot ofpivots in the years too with
careers.
And I'm excited to hear moreabout that because I have been
following you over the years.
What have you learned aboutpivoting, especially when the
outcome has always beenuncertain and we talk about
control.
So how has that been for you inthat personal journey?
Megan McGlynn (39:12):
Wow.
I could fill a hat rack withall the ones I've worn over the
year.
And this could probably be itsown podcast episode.
But yeah, I've worked innonprofit fundraising to selling
graphic design in New YorkCity, where I met my husband who
is based in California.
And that brought me out thatway.
I briefly worked in insurance.
(39:33):
I took a hiatus and worked fora bakery in Um, and then went to
grad school at NC state for ayear.
And then I went back toCalifornia and I sold furniture
to Silicon Valley startups andthen started my own home-based
wedding cake, high-end designwedding cake.
Hidden Chapters (Geneviev (39:49):
Which to all my listeners, you all
should have seen her cakes.
They were so yummy.
I just wanted to eat rightthrough your screen.
I
Megan McGlynn (39:55):
was like, well, it was a great creative outlet.
I do have to say that.
Um, it was a lot of workthough.
A lot of work.
Um, And COVID really shut downthat whole business because the
wedding industry came to a bighalt.
And honestly, that was like areally great blessing in
disguise because I was exhausteddoing that kind of work.
I was working 60, 80 hour weeksand making three wedding cakes
(40:20):
and 900 mini desserts out of mykitchen.
It was kind of this crazy timein our house.
And there was a lot of tensionin the house during that time.
But it really took mysister-in-law who I just love
dearly and we're very, veryclose.
She was diagnosed with stagefour non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in
2023, so a couple of years ago.
(40:41):
And it just shifted my wholelife.
And I really think it showed meor opened the door to my true
purpose.
which is helping people healtheir mind, body, and spirit
through massage therapy andReiki energy healing.
I'll be really honest.
(41:06):
I felt like a lost sheep from2005 to 2023.
I wondered why I never felttrue fulfillment in any of these
roles that I had taken on.
And I can look through allthese experiences now, the good,
(41:27):
bad, and the ugly.
And they really do create thisbeautiful tapestry of knowledge
and empathy that I pull fromevery day as I now serve others
in my practice.
And it's one of my greatestlife lessons is to allow
yourself to turn pain intopurpose.
(41:48):
I had to go through this reallydifficult time this birthing
experience with Bear.
And I had to know what it'slike to feel like moving away
from your family 3,000 miles andfeeling that loneliness and
that disconnect.
I had to go through some otherthings in my life.
(42:09):
And then there are these littlesnippets from each career that
I've had that have given me thiswide foundation of knowledge to
be able to converse with lotsof different people and really
kind of understand them in theplace that they are in.
I have people walking into myhealing room on a daily basis
looking so put together.
They look like they haveeverything.
(42:32):
You know, they're beautiful andthey've got this career and
they've got the kids and all thethings, but they sit on my
table and they fall apart.
And so many people are feelinglost and lacking connection and
and searching for meaning andpurpose in their life.
And they just need someone tohold this nonjudgmental loving
(42:55):
space for them to breathe andreflect and recenter.
So yeah, so my journey has beenfilled with a lot of tough
spots, but I've had to gothrough them to be prepared for
the work that I'm doing now.
Hidden Chapters (Ge (43:09):
Absolutely.
Megan McGlynn (43:10):
And I think that's oftentimes the part of a
healer's journey to be able tolook at everything from a bird's
eye view and do the hard workto find the tools and to be able
to deconstruct all of theseexperiences which are oftentimes
very painful but to rise abovethem and to shift that into a
(43:34):
purpose
Hidden Chapters (Genevieve (43:34):
yeah and i feel a lot of that too i
think as we've continued to growolder and all the things that
we've been through i think I'mmore purposeful and intentional
about what it is that I am doingbecause I want it to be
meaningful.
I want to have what it is thatI am doing that's serving a
purpose.
And so I love that you havethat heart because I think we're
(43:57):
all in this space now whereit's like we're a hurting world
and we need more real.
We need more of that healing.
from all the things that we'vebeen through and we need more
people to tell us we are notalone in this.
What do you hope someone who'squietly struggling might take
away from hearing your story?
Megan McGlynn (44:18):
Oh, I think my journey has taught me that
everything is interconnected.
Each person has a divinepurpose.
Every challenge in our journeycarries the opportunity to learn
something about yourself orothers.
And you never know when theselife lessons are going to come
back and provide insight in anew situation that requires some
(44:42):
wisdom and perspective.
And we don't really come intoour human experience with that
guidebook that we talked about.
And attachment to expectationcreates suffering.
So allowing yourself to be opento what can be and being kind
to others because we reallydon't know the burdens that
(45:05):
others are carrying.
When we open ourselves up tohealing and detach ourselves
from all these expectations, Ithink that's where living really
happens.
Hidden Chapters (Ge (45:19):
Absolutely.
I'm so excited we got to dothis.
Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
Of course.
Okay.
So before we wrap up, I want tomake sure that in the show
notes, I can link your business.
And I wanted to make sureeverybody knows the big thing
that you've created with yoursister-in-law.
Would you mind sharing whatthat is?
Speaker 00 (45:38):
Sure.
I'm so excited.
And thank you for highlightingthis.
Unknown (45:43):
My company called Portion Pete, my sister-in-law
that was diagnosed withnon-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2023,
we together during one of hertreatments
Megan McGlynn (45:51):
we often talked about how hard it was to find
cards that truly reflected theexperience of a person fighting
and living with cancer you knowwhether it's a moment of
gratitude for an infusion nurseor a dose of humor on a hard day
or encouragement for a fellowfighter so one afternoon we were
(46:11):
binging Gilmore Girls after achemo treatment and we looked at
each other and we were likelet's make her own because I
have a little bit of a designbackground and So that's how
Portia and Pete came togetherand Portia and Peter, the names
of her two chemo ports that welovingly named.
So together we come up with themessaging and I design them and
(46:32):
she handles all of our Etsyorders and shipping.
And that's a really, truly ateam effort, but it's really
provided a place and space forher to be able to turn that pain
into purpose.
And so we're really excitedabout the launch of Portion
Pete.
So thanks for highlighting it.
Of course.
And I will put all of that inthe show notes along with your
(46:54):
business in that.
Awesome.
All right, Meg, I appreciateyou being on with me and
allowing me to share your story.
I'm so excited.
And for everybody, this is mysorority sister.
Yes, sisters for life.
That's right.
Wow, it truly meant the worldto me that Meg trusted Hidden
Chapters and this space with herstory.
(47:15):
I'm so grateful for herhonesty, her heart, and the
friendship we've shared sincecollege.
We both lived a lot of lifesince those days, and hearing
how she transformed her paininto purpose, it truly is
inspiring.
One thing among many things shesaid has really stuck with me
is that healing takes time.
And sometimes it's not until wesay our stories out loud that
(47:39):
we realize how far we've come.
And that is exactly what thispodcast is about.
Uncovering the hidden, tender,gritty, powerful chapters that
shape us into who we are today.
If Meg's story connected withyou, I know she would be so
touched to hear that.
If you enjoyed this episode,would you take a second to share
it with a friend or leave aquick review?
(48:01):
It's a small thing that helpsthis podcast reach more hearts
who need to know they're notalone either.
Before we go, a big shout outto Meg and her sister-in-law
Nikki for the beautiful workthey're doing through Portia and
Pete, a greeting card companythat blends humor and heart,
grown from Nikki's own cancerjourney.
I'll link it all in the shownotes along with how to connect
(48:23):
with Meg and explore theincredible work she's done as a
massage therapist and Reikienergy healer.
Until the next chapter.
Keep listening for whatconnects us the most.
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