(Ep. 64) Uncovering Shame: Reclaiming Your True Self (Part 2)

What if the shame you've spent your whole life outrunning traces back to something as simple as being a sensitive kid who felt too small?In this episode of Triggered & True, Laura Duncan and co-host Brian Freise follow up on their last conversation ("Uncovering Shame, Reclaiming Your True Self") by getting deeply personal — Brian opens up the actual roots of his own shame, and lets it be walked through in real time. It's a vulnerable, illustrative companion to the previous episode's teaching, showing what tracing shame back to early childhood actually looks like.Brian shares that the thing that eventually "blew up" in his life traced back to something surprisingly simple: two childhood sources of shame, both tied to not feeling like "a man." He was a sensitive boy who felt deeply and cried easily in a stoic family that didn't have a grid for it — so he came to believe he was a "crybaby" — and he was very small (4'10" and about 90 pounds as a high school freshman), which the world constantly pointed out. Laura connects it back to the Garden: just as Adam and Eve covered themselves, Brian spent years covering the "crater" of not feeling enough with protectors — the need to be cool, relentless work, performance, and eventually even his Christian faith turned into a work to cover himself. The hope is in the tracing: naming where shame comes from, and comforting that child rather than compensating for him, is where the healing finally begins.In this episode: 🔹 Brian's authentic story: two childhood roots of shame, both tied to not feeling like "a man" 🔹 The sensitive boy in a stoic family — how "crybaby" became a shame identity 🔹 Being small in a world that wouldn't stop pointing it out — shame over something you can't change 🔹 The Garden connection: how protectors (coolness, work, performance) become the "leaves" we cover ourselves with 🔹 When even faith becomes a "work" to cover shame — and where real healing starts instead📩 Get your free Weekly Dose of Compassion — two short notes in your inbox every week. One to speak over yourself. One from Laura: https://www.lauraduncan.com/pl/2148814868🔗 Learn more: https://triggeredandtrue.comhttps://lauraduncan.com