Christy Freddo

Life on the surface radiated success and envy, but harbored deep and painful secrets, for Christy Freddo. From the glitz of corporate travel to the shadows of domestic abuse and battling addiction, Christy's journey is one of awakening, resilience, and transformation. She emphasizes the importance of authenticity and the belief that it's never too late to make a change. Christy hopes her candid story inspires others to confront their own battles, seek help, and embark on their path to self-discovery. Join Search and Replace to explore one woman's triumph from the depths of despair to the pinnacle of renewed life.

A note of caution: This episode contains descriptions of domestic violence that may be disturbing to some listeners. For assistance, please reach out to the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE, or visit on the web at thehotline.org.

To view full transcript and expanded show notes: https://bit.ly/45ApVD7

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Support for the following podcast is providedby the user experienced specialists at Johnson Taylor.
More information follows this episode. Thisepisode contains descriptions of domestic violence that
some listeners may find disturbing. Ifyou, or if someone you care about
is in danger, contact the NationalDomestic Violence Hotline at one eight hundred seven

(00:22):
nine nine safe. That's one eighthundred seven nine nine seven two three three,
or visit on the web at thehotline dot org. What if you're
the life of the party and yourealize that you hate the party. I'm
Joe Taylor Junior. This is Searchand Replace. Everyone Christy Fredo Knew seemed

(00:52):
to envy her life, especially thelifestyle it afforded her. I was married
for over a decade to a guythat everybody thought was the life of the
party and everyone loved. I hada small child. I was working in
corporate America in a very glamorous,high paying job that traveled internationally all the
time to really cool places. Gotto go to six out of seven continents

(01:15):
before I was thirty six. Was, you know, having the time of
my life in some respects, butnot seeing my kiddo at all, and
was drinking a lot. My lifelooked amazing on paper. People thought my
life was the greatest thing imaginable,and I was dying inside. I was
really miserable. Feeling miserable on theinside soon escalated to questioning everything going on

(01:42):
in Christie's outside world. I gotto a place where I was just to
the point of I can't do thisanymore, and I decided first that I
would leave my job. That wasthe first breaking point. I think I
was in denial about my personal issues, so I was blaming my job for
all of my unhappiness, So thatwas the first thing to go. There

(02:04):
was no plan because I didn't evenrealize or want to admit that my personal
life was a disaster. After Ileft my job after a couple months,
I realized I'm still miserable, andthen had a wake up call literally one
night where my husband was hitting meand saying terrible things to me and telling

(02:25):
me he was going to kill me, and I started reaching on the nightstand
for my phone, and he grabbedmy hand and said, is that what
you're going to do? You're goingto call the police and have your child's
father hauled away. Is that thekind of mom you are? It was
terrifying, and I realized in thatmoment that if my child came in I

(02:46):
couldn't protect her, and I didn'tknow what would happen. So the next
day I woke up and immediately wentto the marriage counselor's office and made a
plan with her about how to getout of this marriage in a safe way.
And that was the second step inmy journey Christy's Reckoning Letter to an
epiphany. I realized I am asingle parent. My child is going through

(03:08):
charents, divorcing and a lot ofchange, and I am not present.
I am not the best mom Ican be. I also got sober because
I realized there wasn't just the mostfun person at the party. I was
really an alcoholic And so then Idecided to get checked into an intensive outpatient
treatment for eight weeks and get thattaken care of and out of the way

(03:31):
so that I could be the momthat she really deserved. One of the
hardest parts was that I was doingit all alone. I was afraid to
tell anybody about any of it.I felt a lot of shame and a
lot of guilt for not getting mykiddo out of that situation. Sooner.
There's a lot of stigma involved withboth being in an abusive relationship and with

(03:53):
alcoholism and addiction, and I didnot want to tell anyone that was what
was going on. Bit by bitreplaced the habits from her old life with
new routines and explorations. Within twoyears time, I had made all of
the other changes, and I startedto rebuild my life and started stumbling upon
different strategies that would help me learnhow to rebuild my life. So I

(04:17):
started meditating, I started using manifestationtechniques. I started using positive affirmations to
rebuild my self esteem. I startedreally exploring who I was authentically, who
I was, what I believed in, what my core values were, and
thinking about what would it look likeif I aligned my new life with those
core values, If I could reallybe my authentic self, How amazing would

(04:40):
that be? After years of pretendingand so, I pretty much cut ties
with most of the people that Iknew at that time to get just a
really fresh start, made new friends, ended up moving cities, met a
very wonderful man who I later marriedand blended a family with. Bought a
business that allowed me to have flexibilityand be able to spend all the time

(05:02):
that I wanted to with my kiddo. It has been such an amazing time.
But I didn't tell anybody about whatI went through. I didn't tell
anyone about my true journey to gethere. Part of why I've decided to
tell this story now because for tenyears I was living my best life in
many ways, but I was notliving a life in coortance with my authentic
self because I was hiding something.And you're only as sick as your secrets.

(05:26):
I want to be able to helppeople and be some small part of
the movement I feel like is happeningnow with mental health becoming something that does
not have as big of a stigma, something where people can get help,
which would really change the world.And I hope that that truth helps set
other people free. Christy reminds usthat it's taken twelve years for her to
achieve the security and the stability ofher new life, and she has advice

(05:50):
if you think you'd never pull offthe same kind of massive change. First
of all, it's never too lateto make the change. Don't double down
just because you been doing something fora long time. You can get help,
you can make a change, nomatter what the issue is. Most
people's issues probably aren't as extreme asmine. Things are making them unhappy.

(06:11):
But no matter what the case is, there is a way, there is
support out there. If you canjust take the first step, which is
to make that change, you willbe led. You will be led and
you will find a way. Thereare so many different ways and strategies and
support out there. Everyone can getsober, can get out of an abusive
relationship. It's not easy, butit's possible. It's not insurmountable. You

(06:38):
just have to commit to it andmove forward every single day. And you
don't have to know exactly where you'regoing in the beginning, and you don't
have to know exactly how you're goingto do it in the beginning. Just
get moving. That's author and certifiedcoach Christy Fredo. We've got links to
Christy's work in our show notes andon our website at Search and Replace not
Show. Today's episodes produced by NicoleHubbard with help from the entire podcast Taxi

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team. I'm Joe Taylor Jr.This has been a podcast Taxi Radio production
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(07:28):
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