What do you do when your life looks totally different than you think it should?
Judge yourself? Go to therapy? Start traveling around the world? Do deep inner work? Write a book about it? Dr. Melanie Hicks did all of those things.
In this episode of AMPstigator, Dr. Hicks shares more on her two failed marriages in her 20s, domestic abuse, a traumatic sexual assault in her 30s, and losing the ability to have children. She shares the deep inner work required to shrug off the weight of expectation and live her life, free of judgement, even though it looks totally different than the norm.
She shares her life lessons (many of which were learned while staring out airplane windows), exposing her deepest secrets while exploring countries both near and far. This is the conversation every 30-something woman wished they heard at age 19. But then again, would we have listened?
**Trigger Warning: if you've been a victim of assault or abuse, this conversation may be difficult to hear.**
๐ฅ This episode is for you if ๐ฅ
๐บ What you'll hear in this episode๐บ
The episode begins with host Lauren Lowrey asking Dr. Melanie Hicks why she chose to share such difficult experiences so publicly. Together, they weave through the most difficult story Melanie ever had to write: the one where she shared her sexual assault.
Plus, Dr. Mel shares how she developed a healthy romantic relationship with another healthy, whole person [51:50] and lays out her two rules in her own marriage.
๐ Chapters ๐
0:30 - Lauren's opening monologue
3:20 - Why share the hardest parts of your life in a book?
5:18 - Sexual assault and the trauma it caused Dr. Mel
11:57 - Host Lauren Lowrey & Dr. Mel both share their personal experiences with domestic abuse
17:15 - When Dr. Mel made the choice to share the traumas through the book
21:20 - The fallacy of searching for your 'other half'
24:12 - Arriving at 'surrender' (#openpalms)
27:16 - "No one can give you directions to places they've never been."
30:10 - How Mel helps people amplify the messages of other people
33:02 - The duality: professional life on fire, personal life in tatters
37:29 -
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