UNMUTED by The Lioness in the Darkness

Friends can make us laugh, help us feel included, and create some of our favorite memories. But sometimes friendships can be difficult. We may feel left out, hurt by someone's words, or blamed for something that wasn't our fault.In this episode of Unmuted: Families, we explore what it means to be a good friend, how to navigate friendship challenges, and why our value doesn't change based on someone else's choices.Together, we'll discover why the most important friend you'll ever have is the one who will be with you your entire life...yourself.Unmuted: Families is a place for families to listen, learn, and start meaningful conversations together.To support the mission of educating, healing, and protecting families and schools in the digital age, visit: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-the-lioness-in-the-darkness

Trigger Warning: This episode contains discussion of PTSD, death, grief, violence, and fears surrounding the sudden loss of loved ones.In this episode of UNMUTED, Brie reflects on the lasting impact of learning about the death of her online friend, Tomorrow, and how that loss awakened fears that had been quietly living beneath the surface for years. Through raw and honest reflection, she explores the reality of PTSD, the way traumatic loss can reshape a person's sense of safety, and the exhausting awareness that life can change without warning.The episode examines fears surrounding the people she loves most - her children, her husband, and her closest friends - and the unsettling realization that sometimes loss arrives without a goodbye, without an explanation, and sometimes without us even knowing until we unexpectedly stumble across the truth.A conversation about grief, hypervigilance, trauma, love, and the difficult task of continuing to live fully in a world where nothing is guaranteed.To support the mission of educating, healing, and protecting families and schools in the digital age, visit: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-the-lioness-in-the-darkness

A reflection on the adults who quietly change a child's life, and the heartbreaking reality that love is not always enough to overcome the barriers created by the people around them.In this episode of UNMUTED, Brie explores the "Miss Honey" phenomenon - those safe, caring adults who see a child clearly, encourage them, believe in them, and offer the kind of steady presence every young person deserves. She also speaks about the painful reality that sometimes those same adults become viewed as threats by the very families they are trying to support, leading to distance, separation, and endings that neither side wanted.Through personal reflection, this episode explores attachment, protection, loss, and the complicated emotions that arise when meaningful relationships are interrupted before either person is ready to say goodbye.A conversation about trust, caregiving, childhood, and the enduring truth that even when people are separated by time, distance, or circumstance, love and memories often remain long after the relationship itself has changed.To support the mission of educating, healing, and protecting families and schools in the digital age, visit: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-the-lioness-in-the-darkness

In this episode of Unmuted, Brie speaks about family, boundaries, accountability, and the grief that can follow when people choose replacement over repair.Many survivors are told that setting a boundary will heal a relationship. Sometimes it does. Sometimes it reveals something far more painful. That the people involved would rather fill the space you left than examine why you left it in the first place.This conversation explores the complicated emotions that can arise when accountability never comes, reconciliation remains out of reach, and life moves forward without the repair you hoped for. It is not a conversation about bitterness. It is a conversation about grief, acceptance, and learning how to keep walking when closure never arrives.Some relationships end with understanding. Others end with silence.This episode is for the people learning how to live with the difference. To support the mission of educating, healing, and protecting families and schools in the digital age, visit: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-the-lioness-in-the-darkness

A reflection on grief, resilience, healing, community, and the unexpected moments that remind us we are not carrying life alone.In this episode of UNMUTED, Brie speaks openly about the past two weeks, including reading court documents connected to a friend who is no longer here, processing the emotions that followed a meaningful letter being torn apart, navigating the temptation of relapse, and spending a day surrounded by children, laughter, and inflatable water slides at a school event.Through these experiences, she explores the reality of holding multiple truths at once. Grief can exist alongside joy. Anger can exist alongside gratitude. Healing does not always happen in quiet rooms or profound conversations. Sometimes it happens in ordinary moments when we realize how much has changed.This episode is a conversation about loss, recovery, service, connection, and the gradual realization that support can come from unexpected places. It is about discovering that being loved is not dependent on being understood by everyone, and that belonging does not require universal approval.Some forms of strength are loud.Others arrive quietly when you realize that no matter who stays, who leaves, who agrees, or who doesn't...you are no longer walking through life alone.To support the mission of educating, healing, and protecting families and schools in the digital age, visit: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-the-lioness-in-the-darkness

A reflection on childhood homes, family loyalty, betrayal, and the painful realization that some people never become who you hoped they would be.In this episode of UNMUTED, "Buttercup" shares what happened after discovering in February that a girl close to her own age is currently living in the house she called home from ages 10 to 14. What began as a simple piece of information quickly became something much larger - opening old wounds and raising questions about memory, safety, grief, and the strange reality of knowing that while one person carries the emotional imprint of a place, another person is actively building a life there.The episode also explores the loss of a future she once believed in. The hope that one day her brothers would grow up, see what happened, and stand beside the little girl they grew up with. Instead, Buttercup reflects on the painful realization that some people remain loyal to systems, stories, and comforts that require silence from those who were harmed.A conversation about truth, family systems, betrayal, visibility, and the emotional cost of telling a story that others would rather keep hidden.To support the mission of educating, healing, and protecting families and schools in the digital age, visit: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-the-lioness-in-the-darkness

A reflection on shame, childhood innocence, religious messaging, and the lasting impact of being taught that something natural about yourself is something to fear.In this episode of UNMUTED, Brie shares a childhood memory that became far more significant than she understood at the time. What began as a simple moment between friends was met with intense adult reactions, leaving behind questions about identity, morality, and what it meant to be "good."Through personal reflection, she explores how messages received in childhood can echo for years, shaping the way we view ourselves, our relationships, and our capacity for authenticity. The episode also examines the impact those early experiences had on a later relationship and the complicated process of separating inherited shame from personal truth.A conversation about childhood, belonging, fear, identity, and the ways old messages can continue speaking long after the people who taught them have gone quiet.To support the mission of educating, healing, and protecting families and schools in the digital age, visit: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-the-lioness-in-the-darkness

A raw audio recorded on the day Brie learned that an online friend known as Tomorrow had been listed deceased and that her ex-boyfriend had been arrested in connection with her murder.In this episode of UNMUTED, Brie reflects on the surreal emotional experience of receiving devastating news through a screen, the strange intimacy of online friendships, and the heavy silence that follows when someone who once existed in your daily digital world suddenly no longer does.This episode explores grief, shock, internet-era connection, emotional memory, and the difficult reality that relationships formed online can carry just as much emotional weight as the ones people see in person.To support the mission of educating, healing, and protecting families and schools in the digital age, visit: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-the-lioness-in-the-darkness

A raw reflection on postpartum depression, emotional survival, and the experience of entering a psych ward during one of the most vulnerable periods of life.In this episode of UNMUTED, Brie looks back on the overwhelming emotional weight that followed childbirth and the reality of navigating postpartum depression while trying to survive internally for the sake of the people she loved. Through memory and reflection, she speaks about the fear, disconnection, exhaustion, shame, and emotional confusion surrounding a trip to the psych ward during that time.This episode is not about sensationalizing crisis. It is about speaking honestly about the moments many people hide, the silent intensity of postpartum mental health struggles, and the complicated reality of trying to hold onto yourself while feeling like pieces of you are slipping away.A conversation about survival, motherhood, mental health, vulnerability, and the courage it sometimes takes just to stay.To support the mission of educating, healing, and protecting families and schools in the digital age, visit: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-the-lioness-in-the-darkness

A raw reflection on childbirth, family dynamics, generational patterns, and the complicated emotional instinct to continue protecting people who never truly protected you.In this episode of UNMUTED, Brie speaks openly about experiences surrounding birth across multiple pregnancies and the emotional realizations that can surface while becoming a parent yourself. Through memory and reflection, she explores the uncomfortable awareness that sometimes the people we feel most responsible for emotionally are the same people who failed to create safety for us when we needed it most.This episode is a conversation about loyalty, conditioning, motherhood, emotional survival, and the deeply human conflict between recognizing unhealthy dynamics while still feeling the urge to shield those connected to them.Some realizations do not arrive all at once.Sometimes they arrive quietly, years later, while holding your own children in your arms.To support the mission of educating, healing, and protecting families and schools in the digital age, visit: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-the-lioness-in-the-darkness

A reflection on fast labor, unmedicated birth, and the overwhelming emotional intensity of bringing a child into the world fully present for every moment of it.In this episode of UNMUTED, Brie shares the story of the birth of her youngest child - a rapid labor experience without pain medication, where fear, instinct, exhaustion, vulnerability, and strength all collided at once. Through raw reflection, she explores the surreal feeling of moving through birth so quickly there is barely time to emotionally catch up with what is happening.This episode is a conversation about motherhood, resilience, physical intensity, trust in the body, and the deeply human experience of meeting someone you already loved long before you ever saw their face.To support the mission of educating, healing, and protecting families and schools in the digital age, visit: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-the-lioness-in-the-darkness

A personal reflection on childbirth, survival, and the complicated emotional experience of becoming a parent while still carrying unresolved trauma from your own past.In this episode of UNMUTED, Brie shares the story of the birth of her oldest child and the emotional reality of bringing new life into the world while navigating fear, hypervigilance, old wounds, and the quiet hope of wanting to create something safer than what you once knew yourself.This episode explores motherhood, generational healing, vulnerability, protection, and the strange emotional contrast between carrying trauma and carrying love at the exact same time.A conversation about survival, beginnings, and the ways parenthood can awaken both grief and healing simultaneously.To support the mission of educating, healing, and protecting families and schools in the digital age, visit: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-the-lioness-in-the-darkness

A deeply personal reflection on pregnancy loss, grief, memory, and the emotional reality of loving someone whose life ended before the world ever had the chance to meet them.In this episode of UNMUTED, Brie speaks openly about the loss of her child, Brevin, after learning during the ninth week of pregnancy that there was no heartbeat. Through raw reflection and memory, she explores the surreal emotional experience of carrying both love and grief at the same time, and the lasting impact of a loss that many people struggle to speak about openly.This episode is a conversation about mourning, motherhood, attachment, silence, and the quiet ways grief can continue living inside a person long after the moment itself has passed.To support the mission of educating, healing, and protecting families and schools in the digital age, visit: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-the-lioness-in-the-darkness

A reflection on the quiet moments that stay with us - even when the other person may not remember them at all.In this episode of UNMUTED, Brie explores the idea that many of the memories shaping us are not dramatic events, but small moments charged with emotional meaning from one perspective and almost invisible from another. A sentence. A reaction. A look. An extended moment of silence. Tiny interactions that quietly become part of someone’s internal world.The episode also touches on living as a system, the reality of carrying multiple internal perspectives, and the strange emotional weight of understanding that while many parts may exist internally, the outside world will ultimately remember one shared name.A conversation about memory, identity, emotional imprinting, multiplicity, and the deeply human desire to feel understood before time runs out.To support the mission of educating, healing, and protecting families and schools in the digital age, visit: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-the-lioness-in-the-darkness

A raw and deeply personal reflection on childhood roleplay, emotional confusion, silence, and the things children sometimes normalize because nobody around them stops to ask questions.In this episode of UNMUTED, Brie speaks openly about memories from childhood involving family-style roleplaying games, being assigned adult roles because of size and appearance, and a moment involving a childhood friend that was discovered by an adult and quietly pushed aside rather than addressed.This episode is not about graphic detail. It is about the emotional aftermath of growing up without language, guidance, or understanding for experiences that felt confusing long before they felt explainable.A conversation about memory, normalization, discomfort, childhood perception, and the quiet ways some experiences continue echoing years later.To support the mission of educating, healing, and protecting families and schools in the digital age, visit: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-the-lioness-in-the-darkness

An exploration of the difference between silence and quiet - and the internal battle that can exist between them.In this episode of UNMUTED, Brie reflects on the feeling of carrying two conflicting parts inside herself: one desperate to survive, speak, create, and leave something meaningful behind… and another deeply afraid that her words are not important, powerful, or “enough” to truly matter.Through personal reflection, this episode explores the emotional tension between self-expression and self-erasure, and the quiet ways many survivors learn to question the value of their own voice.Brie also shares her personal perspective on the difference between silence and quiet - and why, for some people, they are not the same thing at all.To support the mission of educating, healing, and protecting families and schools in the digital age, visit: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-the-lioness-in-the-darkness

A memory about long drives, talk radio, and the quiet moment a child realizes being heard is not the same thing as being listened to.In this episode of UNMUTED, Brie reflects on riding with her mother to run errands over an hour away, listening to Dr. Laura together as a form of bonding and routine. What once felt comforting slowly shifted into something more complicated - being pressured to keep the conversation going to help her mother stay awake, only to realize the things she wanted to share were considered too boring to hold attention for long.This episode explores emotional inconsistency, childhood performance, conversational survival, and the subtle ways some children learn to monitor whether their voice is “interesting enough” to deserve space.To support the mission of educating, healing, and protecting families and schools in the digital age, visit: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-the-lioness-in-the-darkness

A reflection on how certain trending sounds online can reopen emotional memories we thought we had already moved past.In this episode of UNMUTED, Brie talks about a current TikTok audio that unexpectedly pulled her back into memories of uncertainty, isolation, emotional numbness, and the strange feeling of watching the world become quieter almost overnight.Not every trigger looks obvious.Sometimes it sounds like a trend repeating through your phone speaker late at night.This episode explores digital memory, emotional association, internet culture, and the way certain sounds can reconnect us to versions of ourselves that still haven’t fully processed what they lived through.To support the mission of educating, healing, and protecting families and schools in the digital age, visit: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-the-lioness-in-the-darkness

A quiet introduction to UNMUTED.Some spaces are built for performance.This one was built for honesty.Hello is the beginning of an audio archive for the thoughts people were taught to swallow - the quiet realizations, survivor thoughts, late-night reflections, and emotions that often live underneath the surface of everyday life.Thank you for being here.To support the mission of educating, healing, and protecting families and schools in the digital age, visit: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-the-lioness-in-the-darkness