In this episode of Turn the Lens Inward, I share my journey with dating during a really challenging season of life as a single mom supporting a child through mental health struggles.

I open up about the relationships I chose, the red flags I ignored, and how my lack of emotional availability impacted what I attracted. Even though I wanted connection, I wasn’t truly ready for it—and that showed.

Over time, I learned the importance of timing, self-worth, and trusting my intuition. I ultimately chose to stop dating and focus on healing, being present for my daughter, and reconnecting with myself.

This episode is a reminder that being alone isn’t something to fear—it can be where the most growth happens.

_________________________________

Episode Highlights: dating while healing, single mom dating journey, emotional availability in relationships, self worth in dating, intuition in relationships, unhealthy relationship patterns, dating after divorce, healing before relationships, choosing yourself first, personal growth and relationships, parenting and dating balance, learning from toxic relationships, being present in relationships

_________________________________

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why emotional availability matters more than desire when dating

• How your energy and circumstances impact the relationships you attract

• The importance of listening to your intuition early on

• How low self-worth can lead to unhealthy relationship dynamics

• Why timing is everything when it comes to love

• The power of choosing yourself and embracing solitude

• How stepping away from dating can lead to deep personal healing

• What it means to truly be ready for a healthy relationship
  

_________________________________

⭐If this episode resonated with you, I invite you to subscribe and continue this journey with me. In future episodes, I’ll share personal reflections, practical tools, and conversations with other parents who are walking a similar path.

You don’t have to do this alone. Let’s turn the lens inward, together.

_________________________________

Resources & Links Mentioned

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/lisa_taylor_ellet/

Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/lisa.taylor.ellet/

Website | https://www.glowingconfidence.com/

_________________________________

Chapters

00:00 Introduction: Let’s Talk About Dating

01:30 Dating as a Single Mom in Crisis

03:30 Emotional Availability & Energy in Relationships

05:00 Life After Divorce & Entering the Dating World

07:00 Red Flags & Letting the Wrong Person In

10:30 Struggles with Intimacy

12:30 Escaping Through Relationships

14:00 The Wake-Up Call: Lack of Support

16:00 Choosing Your Child Over Relationships

18:00 Dating Someone in the Same Situation

20:00 The Lesson: You Can’t Give What You Don’t Have

21:30 Choosing to Stop Dating

22:30 Learning to Love Being Alone

23:30 Rebuilding Self-Worth & Healing

24:00 Feeling Ready Again

In this episode of Turn the Lens Inward, I talk about one of the hardest things we can do in life: change.We often hear that people don’t change, but I believe they can. The challenge is that real change requires us to look at ourselves first. When my relationship with my daughter reached a breaking point, I realized that if anything was going to shift in our family dynamic, it had to start with me.In this episode, I share my experience navigating stress, financial struggles, and emotional chaos while learning how to regulate my nervous system, create boundaries, and communicate differently. I also talk about a powerful exercise my daughter and I used to rebuild trust and understanding between us.

If you feel stuck in painful patterns with your children or family, this episode is a reminder that meaningful change begins when we’re willing to turn the lens inward.

_________________________________

Episode Highlights: personal growth and change, breaking generational patterns, family dynamics and parenting, improving relationships with adult children, emotional regulation and nervous system healing, setting boundaries with family members, overcoming stress and anxiety, parenting through conflict, healing family trauma patterns, communication strategies in difficult relationships

_________________________________

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why real change in family dynamics starts with you

• How generational patterns can keep families stuck

• The role of nervous system regulation in emotional healing

• Why creating boundaries can be difficult but necessary

• How fear, stress, and anxiety influence our parenting and relationships

• A practical framework for calming emotional conflict (REST strategy)

• How clear communication can rebuild trust in strained relationships

• Why authenticity is essential for personal transformation
  

_________________________________

⭐If this episode resonated with you, I invite you to subscribe and continue this journey with me. In future episodes, I’ll share personal reflections, practical tools, and conversations with other parents who are walking a similar path.

You don’t have to do this alone. Let’s turn the lens inward, together.

_________________________________

Resources & Links Mentioned

Instagram | ⁠https://www.instagram.com/lisa_taylor_ellet/⁠

Facebook | ⁠https://www.facebook.com/lisa.taylor.ellet/⁠

Website | https://www.glowingconfidence.com/

_________________________________

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

01:00 The Myth That People Don’t Change

02:25 Why Change Starts With You

04:00 Living in Survival Mode

06:20 Regulating Your Nervous System

08:45 Facing Family Resistance

12:10 Setting Boundaries That Stick

19:00 The REST Strategy for Conflict

In this episode, I take you back to January 2021 — living in my parents’ basement during the pandemic, supporting my mother through stage four lung cancer, and struggling deeply in my relationship with my daughter.

I made a choice that felt selfish at the time: I left for three months to pet sit 40 minutes away. That space became transformational. During that season, I committed to personal growth, discovered the power of validation through Sash Bear’s Family Connections program, and began to see how conditional love and generational patterns were shaping our relationship.

This is a conversation about hard truths, healing family dynamics, and learning how to love without conditions.

_________________________________

Episode Highlights: conditional love vs unconditional love, validation in parenting, emotional dysregulation, borderline personality disorder in families, DBT for parents, Sash Bear Foundation, pandemic parenting struggles, codependent relationships with adult children, generational trauma patterns, healing family dynamics, turning the lens inward, personal growth for parents, 75 Hard challenge during pandemic, breaking emotional conditioning, supporting adult children without rescuing

_________________________________

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why stepping away can sometimes strengthen a parent-child relationship

• What validation truly means (and how it transforms communication)

• The difference between conditional and unconditional love

• How to support an adult child without enabling them

• Why emotional growth requires uncomfortable reflection

• The power of allowing your child to sit in their own consequences

• How guilt can become a doorway to growth

• Why healing starts with loving yourself first
  

_________________________________

Chapters

00:00 – Welcome Back

01:15 – Living in the Basement During the Pandemic

03:50 – Leaving for Three Months (Choosing Myself)

06:20 – Codependency & Control

08:05 – Discovering Sash Bear & DBT

10:40 – The Power of Validation

14:50 – Conditional vs. Unconditional Love

19:30 – My Own University Story

24:00 – Generational Patterns & Emotional Conditioning

27:45 – Guilt, Growth & Spiritual Perspective

30:50 – Letting Her Sit in Her Decisions

31:45 – Loving Without Conditions

33:00 – Final Reflections & What’s Next

_________________________________

⭐If this episode resonated with you, I invite you to subscribe and continue this journey with me. In future episodes, I’ll share personal reflections, practical tools, and conversations with other parents who are walking a similar path.

You don’t have to do this alone. Let’s turn the lens inward, together.

_________________________________

Resources & Links MentionedSash Bear Foundation (Family Connections Program)The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan HolidaySash Bear Annual Walk

In this episode, I’m speaking directly to the parent who is quietly struggling while their teen or adult child is in crisis. Whether it’s mental illness, self-harm, substance use, dropping out of school, or emotional instability, I know how heavy this can feel.

We talk about the guilt, shame, exhaustion, and overwhelm that often go unspoken. I share my own experience navigating this season of life and why the first real shift doesn’t start with fixing your child — it starts with turning the lens inward.

This episode is about self-compassion, recognizing the ego and fear that protect us from uncomfortable truths, and becoming aware of the inner dialogue running in the background. When we begin there, we build the steadiness we need to support our children without losing ourselves in the process.

_________________________________

Episode Highlights: parenting a teen with mental illness, adult child mental health crisis, parent guilt and shame, parenting through self-harm, suicidal teen support for parents, overwhelmed parent, parenting burnout, emotional dysregulation in parents, conscious parenting, turning the lens inward, letting go of parent guilt, supporting a struggling child

_________________________________

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why guilt and self-blame show up so strongly when your child is struggling

• How ego and fear can keep you stuck in avoidance or denial

• Why your child is not choosing to suffer for attention

• The importance of recognizing the “programming” running in the background of your own mind

• How self-compassion and awareness are the foundation for helping your child

• Why internal work must come before external solutions

_________________________________

Chapters

00:00 – Speaking Parent to Parent

01:57 – You’re Not the Only One

03:08 – You Matter Too

05:14 – When Parents Become Resentful

07:43 – Choosing the Long Haul

08:28 – The Weight of Shame and Exhaustion

10:40 – Understanding the Ego

12:11 – Releasing Guilt

13:36 – They Aren’t Choosing to Suffer

15:33 – The Programming in the Background

18:22 – Changing the Inner Narrative

22:52 – Internal First, External Second

_________________________________

⭐If this episode resonated with you, I invite you to subscribe and continue this journey with me. In future episodes, I’ll share personal reflections, practical tools, and conversations with other parents who are walking a similar path.

You don’t have to do this alone. Let’s turn the lens inward, together.

Welcome to the very first episode of Turn the Lens Inward. I’m Lisa Taylor, and in this episode I share why I felt called to create this podcast and who it’s truly for.I open up about my journey as a mother, a professional, and a woman who once felt completely overwhelmed by her relationship with her teenage daughter. I talk honestly about divorce, emotional dysregulation, mental health diagnoses, navigating limited resources, and the shame that so many parents carry silently.For years, I searched for solutions outside of myself. Eventually, I realized the most powerful work I could do was to turn the lens inward.

This episode is about what that shift looked like, what it taught me, and why I believe change is possible even when things feel hopeless.If you’re feeling exhausted, scared, or unsure how to help your teenage or young adult child, this podcast is for you.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why I created Turn the Lens Inward

• How divorce and family disruption impacted my relationship with my daughter

• What emotional dysregulation looked like in our home

• My experience navigating the mental health system

• How labels can help without defining your child

• The difference between control and true support

• What turning the lens inward actually means

• Why healing myself changed everything
  

Chapters

• 00:00 – Welcome and Why This Podcast Exists

• 02:00 – When Life Looked Fine but Felt Empty

• 04:45 – Choosing Change and Its Impact

• 07:45 – Watching My Child Struggle

• 10:30 – Navigating the Mental Health System

• 13:45 – Labels, Diagnosis, and Fear

• 16:30 – Losing Control and Hitting Bottom

• 18:45 – Turning the Lens Inward

• 21:15 – Boundaries, Growth, and Healing

• 24:30 – Who This Podcast Is For and What’s Ahead
  

⭐ If this episode resonated with you, I invite you to subscribe and continue this journey with me. In future episodes, I’ll share personal reflections, practical tools, and conversations with other parents who are walking a similar path.

You don’t have to do this alone. Let’s turn the lens inward, together.