This week’s guest is the content creator, @boundless_and_free. Boundless grew up in a good Christian home, attended a PCA church and believed all was well in her life. She would later learn the term CPTSD and understand that her “good Christian upbringing” was not quite what she’d thought.
In college, Ms. Free first experienced anxiety and depression but had no vocabulary for it. (The Church rarely discusses these things.) It wasn’t until the “perfect life” she’d been promised began to unravel that she realized she needed a different way to understand both “god” and herself .
Now, as a “parts work” therapist, she helps others on their own journeys. Her personal experience of the divine centers around the ways that humans are connected to one another and the universe.
Once again—whether someone leaves religion and becomes an atheist or continues on a spiritual journey—the real purpose in life comes from connecting with other people. We are all in this together, and we each get one life to leave this world better than we found it.
Links
Counseling Website
http://theempoweredselfcounseling.com/
Boundless and Free on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/boundless_and_free/
Religious Trauma Institute
https://www.religioustraumainstitute.com/
Secular Therapy Project
https://www.seculartherapy.org/
You are not broken, you are human
https://gracefulatheist.com/2016/12/06/you-are-not-broken-you-are-human/
Recommendations
Books
No Bad Parts by Richard Schwartz
CPTSD: From Surviving to Thriving by Pete Walker
Waking the Tiger by Peter Levine
A Course in Miracles by Foundation for Inner Peace
Instagram profiles
- @thejeffreymarsh
- @jystsaysk
- @aftergodsend
- @francescafemme
- @christenacleveland
- @thepracticeco
- @drlauraanderson
- @reclamationcollective
- @hillarymcbride
- @methodsofcontemplation
- @blackliturgies
- @stewartdantec
- @kevinjamesthornton
- @abraham.piper
Quotes
“I should have been being a teenager, and here I [was] thinking about predestination.”
“…because, of course, if you’re a Christian, you can’t get depressed!”
“I spent every morning praying. I had done all the devotionals…What did I have to be depressed about? I just couldn’t understand it.”
“I look back now at my sweet, young self and think, Honey, what do you mean you have nothing to be depressed about? Look at all the things!”
“So many people in the church don’t talk about mental health.”
“[Depression] has a strong connection to what’s happening inside your body. It’s not just something you can snap out of; it’s not just a mood.”
“[Anxiety and depression] are very connected. They’re often two sides of the same coin.”
“When my body was starting to break down…its way of telling me something was wrong. It was trying to get my attention.”
“My body is this big source of wisdom…this guide that can teach me.”
“We tried really hard to follow the rules [of purity culture], and it had a cost. It had a cost for a lot of people.”
“We were alienated from our bodies. We were told this home that we live in—this beautiful trustworthy home…was bad and wrong and would lead us astray.”
“…a lot of what was keeping me in church was the fear of leaving.”
“I hope I’ll always be in a place of curiosity and wonder for the rest of my life.”
Interact
Join the Deconversion Anonymous Facebook group!
Deconversion
https://gracefulatheist.com/2017/12/03/deconversion-how-to/
Secular Grace
https://gracefulatheist.com/2016/10/21/secular-grace/
Support the podcast
Patreon https://www.patreon.com/gracefulatheist
Paypal: paypal.me/gracefulatheist
Attribution
“Waves” track written and produced by Makaih Beats
gracefulatheist.com 