EP17: Escaping Abuse Natalie's Path to a New Beginning

Natalie Tallakson: Leaving Abuse, Rebuilding Life, and Trusting Your Intuition.On the Irene Podcast, Natalie Tallakson shares how she left a 19-year abusive relationship in 2018 after realizing the harm was affecting her children, then packed a small U-Haul and drove from southwest Georgia to her family in Southern Utah, where she was met with support. She discusses how fear, shame, trauma bonding, and hoping things would improve kept her stuck, especially within a military family nearing retirement and after repeated deployments. Natalie describes rebuilding through boundaries, self-healing, journaling “evidence” to strengthen intuition, and later meeting her current husband via online dating, emphasizing mutual respect, apologies, and freedom from control. The conversation highlights mindset, trusting gut instincts, finding support systems (including podcasts), and her advice to take the first “leap of faith” step, after which the next steps appear.00:00 Natalie’s Escape Story02:43 Why Leaving Is Hard04:09 Rebuilding After Abuse05:44 Kids Spark the Wake Up06:42 Military Life and False Hope10:05 Dating Yourself Then Dating Apps11:49 Co Parenting and Boundaries15:17 Fear Shame and Self Love16:50 Trust Your Body and Intuition20:12 No Is a Full Sentence22:15 Mother’s Intuition Connection24:27 Living by Intuition24:43 Book of Evidence Journal26:50 Grace and Shared Struggles28:08 Support Systems to Escape30:16 Breadcrumbs and Trauma Bonds32:41 Healing Takes Time33:33 Self Love and Green Flags35:36 Healthy Marriage Repair38:20 Empathy and Safe Spaces41:25 Reinventing After Survival43:31 Presence Over Anxiety45:30 Leap of Faith Advice46:55 Closing ThanksNatalie TallaksonCheck out Irene Cares on other platforms:- Irenegpt.ai- Instagram- TikTok- Youtube