Have an episode suggestion? Text us!

The struggle is real, but it doesn’t have to control your life.

In this episode of Paige’s Perspective, Paige breaks down how everyday struggles like lack of motivation, emotional exhaustion, inconsistent routines, exercise resistance, comfort eating, and low energy can quietly become your identity if you let them. She shares practical mindset shifts that help you take action even when life feels hard.

This episode also speaks directly to spouses and partners of people struggling with addiction. Paige addresses hypervigilance, trauma responses, emotional burnout, carrying the mental load alone, and living in constant uncertainty in addiction-affected relationships. She explains why scanning for moods, checking for bottles, and staying in survival mode keeps you stuck, and how reclaiming personal agency is the first step toward healing.

This is not about toxic positivity or pretending everything is fine. It’s about resilience, self-trust, discipline over motivation, and learning how to stop surviving and start living again.

If you feel stuck, exhausted, or overwhelmed, this episode will help you reframe struggle, regain control, and make choices that align with your values.

Find video clips and full length video from this episode on YouTube and our other social media pages!

On the web:
www.twfo.com

Support the Show:
Buy Us a Coffee!

Online Program:
www.independentlystrong.com

Soberlink Device:
www.soberlink.com/wheels

Check out our blog:
https://twfo.com/blog

Follow us on TikTok:
https://tiktok.com/@twfo_couple

Follow us on Instagram:
https://instagram.com/twfo_couple/

Follow us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/TWFOCouple

Follow us on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@twfo_couple

Find Taylor Counseling Group:
https://taylorcounselinggroup.com/

Donate to Counseling for the Future Foundation:
Donate Here

Have an episode suggestion? Text us!

Trusting yourself sounds simple until you try to do it. If you grew up being told what to do, spent years in systems that trained you to follow rules, or lived in a relationship where you got second-guessed, criticized, or controlled, self-trust can feel impossible. So you outsource. You poll your friends. You Google. You ask the group chat. You ask ChatGPT. And little by little, you stop using the muscles that make you confident in your own decisions.

In this episode, Matt and Paige break down how self-trust is actually built. Not through hype, not through “just be confident” advice, but through tiny low-stakes choices that teach your brain, “I can handle this.” What to eat. What to wear. Whether to ask for reassurance. Whether you really need someone else to validate your instincts. They also talk about the hidden cost of outsourcing your thinking, why friction matters, and how tools like AI can be helpful without becoming a crutch that quietly erodes your confidence.

You will also hear the difference between validation and advice, and why validation can be necessary when you are rebuilding yourself after chaos, betrayal, or addiction affected dynamics. The goal is not to have someone hand you answers. The goal is to become the kind of person who can make decisions, live with the outcome, and trust yourself more because of it.

Challenge for the week: try 24 hours with no reassurance seeking. Gather information if you need it, but do not outsource the decision. Start small, build proof, and watch what changes.

Find video clips and full length video from this episode on YouTube and our other social media pages!

On the web:
www.twfo.com

Support the Show:
Buy Us a Coffee!

Online Program:
www.independentlystrong.com

Soberlink Device:
www.soberlink.com/wheels

Check out our blog:
https://twfo.com/blog

Follow us on TikTok:
https://tiktok.com/@twfo_couple

Follow us on Instagram:
https://instagram.com/twfo_couple/

Follow us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/TWFOCouple

Follow us on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@twfo_couple

Find Taylor Counseling Group:
https://taylorcounselinggroup.com/

Donate to Counseling for the Future Foundation:
Donate Here

Have an episode suggestion? Text us!

In this Mindset Monday, Matt drops a handful of hard-earned lessons from the last month, pulled straight from the notes app, the place where the real thoughts live before the world distracts you out of them.

He breaks down why boundaries are one of the most misunderstood concepts in relationships, and why they rarely fix an emotionally immature person, but often do deliver the clarity you have been avoiding. Then he tackles a brutal question for anyone stuck in justification mode. If the behavior is working, why do you keep trying to cut back, manage it, or quit in private?

From there, Matt offers a permission slip a lot of people need. There is a difference between processing your pain and keeping it alive. Healing matters, but constantly revisiting the same trauma can become its own kind of trap. And finally, he goes after a sacred cow, acceptance. Yes, acceptance can save your sanity and build resilience, but it can also turn into complacency and keep you tolerating chaos you should not have to survive.

If you are in recovery, in a relationship affected by addiction, or on the other side trying to rebuild your life, this episode is a gut check in the best way. Clarity over comfort, wisdom over coping, and growth that actually moves you forward.

Find video clips and full length video from this episode on YouTube and our other social media pages!

On the web:
www.twfo.com

Support the Show:
Buy Us a Coffee!

Online Program:
www.independentlystrong.com

Soberlink Device:
www.soberlink.com/wheels

Check out our blog:
https://twfo.com/blog

Follow us on TikTok:
https://tiktok.com/@twfo_couple

Follow us on Instagram:
https://instagram.com/twfo_couple/

Follow us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/TWFOCouple

Follow us on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@twfo_couple

Find Taylor Counseling Group:
https://taylorcounselinggroup.com/

Donate to Counseling for the Future Foundation:
Donate Here

Have an episode suggestion? Text us!

In Part 3 of our anger series, we talk about the kind of anger that shows up after the relationship ends, when there’s more space, more clarity, and for a lot of people, a brutal realization of what you actually lived through. This is the anger that confuses you because you wanted peace. You thought leaving would automatically bring closure. But instead, your mind starts connecting dots: the patterns, the lies, the lost time, the double standard, the aftermath, and the ways you had to shrink yourself just to survive.

We break down what’s happening neurologically and emotionally, why anger often comes later, and why it’s not a sign you’re stuck or doing it wrong. We also talk about the accountability trap, what happens when there’s no real justice, no apology, no repair, and how your healing can’t depend on the person who harmed you suddenly becoming self-aware.

This episode is about turning anger into something useful: truth, values, boundaries, and meaning, so it doesn’t own the next chapter of your life.

If you’ve left and thought, “Why am I still feeling this?” this one’s for you.

Find video clips and full length video from this episode on YouTube and our other social media pages!

On the web:
www.twfo.com

Support the Show:
Buy Us a Coffee!

Online Program:
www.independentlystrong.com

Soberlink Device:
www.soberlink.com/wheels

Check out our blog:
https://twfo.com/blog

Follow us on TikTok:
https://tiktok.com/@twfo_couple

Follow us on Instagram:
https://instagram.com/twfo_couple/

Follow us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/TWFOCouple

Follow us on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@twfo_couple

Find Taylor Counseling Group:
https://taylorcounselinggroup.com/

Donate to Counseling for the Future Foundation:
Donate Here

Have an episode suggestion? Text us!

Today’s episode is a re-release of one of Paige’s favorite Paige’s Perspective episodes, Even If - brought back with a new intro by Matt.

This conversation gets to the heart of something we talk about often at TWFO: the difference between living in “what if” and learning how to live in “even if.”

“What if” thinking keeps us stuck in fear, scanning the future for danger and trying to predict outcomes we can’t control. “Even if” shifts the focus back to self-trust, resilience, and knowing that no matter what happens, you will be okay.

In this episode, Paige breaks down how reframing “what if” thoughts into “even if” statements can calm the nervous system, reduce spiraling, and help you move forward without needing certainty. She shares real-life examples, practical mindset shifts, and simple exercises you can start using right away.

Whether you’re navigating addiction, recovery, a major life transition, or just the everyday uncertainty that comes with being human, this episode is a reminder that strength isn’t about avoiding hard things, it’s about trusting yourself to handle them.

Find video clips and full length video from this episode on YouTube and our other social media pages!

On the web:
www.twfo.com

Support the Show:
Buy Us a Coffee!

Online Program:
www.independentlystrong.com

Soberlink Device:
www.soberlink.com/wheels

Check out our blog:
https://twfo.com/blog

Follow us on TikTok:
https://tiktok.com/@twfo_couple

Follow us on Instagram:
https://instagram.com/twfo_couple/

Follow us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/TWFOCouple

Follow us on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@twfo_couple

Find Taylor Counseling Group:
https://taylorcounselinggroup.com/

Donate to Counseling for the Future Foundation:
Donate Here

Have an episode suggestion? Text us!

In this Mindset Monday, Matt talks about a gap in the recovery world that almost nobody wants to name: families are expected to learn everything about addiction, but addicts are rarely required to learn the same depth about the damage addiction causes on the other side.

This episode breaks down what “support” actually looks like when trust has been destroyed by lying, gaslighting, hidden use, infidelity, or financial chaos. Matt explains why empathy is not a zero-sum game, why “leave the past in the past” doesn’t work in real life, and how betrayal trauma changes the brain and nervous system in ways most recovery programs don’t teach.

If you’re a man in recovery who wants to rebuild a relationship, this is a roadmap. If you love someone in recovery and feel like the system keeps asking more of you, this episode will put language to what you’ve been carrying.

Find video clips and full length video from this episode on YouTube and our other social media pages!

On the web:
www.twfo.com

Support the Show:
Buy Us a Coffee!

Online Program:
www.independentlystrong.com

Soberlink Device:
www.soberlink.com/wheels

Check out our blog:
https://twfo.com/blog

Follow us on TikTok:
https://tiktok.com/@twfo_couple

Follow us on Instagram:
https://instagram.com/twfo_couple/

Follow us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/TWFOCouple

Follow us on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@twfo_couple

Find Taylor Counseling Group:
https://taylorcounselinggroup.com/

Donate to Counseling for the Future Foundation:
Donate Here

Have an episode suggestion? Text us!

Many partners expect relief when sobriety begins.
Instead, they may feel confused, guilty, and angry when everything is finally going well.

In this episode, Matt and Paige explore why anger often surfaces months or even years into recovery, not during the chaos itself. They break down how survival mode suppresses emotion, why the brain protects relationships through betrayal blindness, and how safety is often what allows buried feelings to finally emerge.

They also talk about the guilt partners feel for being angry once their loved one is doing everything right, why being grateful and angry can coexist, and how avoiding the past in the name of moving forward often creates more damage long term.

If you have ever asked yourself, “Why am I angry now?” this conversation will help you understand what is happening and what to do with it.

Find video clips and full length video from this episode on YouTube and our other social media pages!

On the web:
www.twfo.com

Support the Show:
Buy Us a Coffee!

Online Program:
www.independentlystrong.com

Soberlink Device:
www.soberlink.com/wheels

Check out our blog:
https://twfo.com/blog

Follow us on TikTok:
https://tiktok.com/@twfo_couple

Follow us on Instagram:
https://instagram.com/twfo_couple/

Follow us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/TWFOCouple

Follow us on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@twfo_couple

Find Taylor Counseling Group:
https://taylorcounselinggroup.com/

Donate to Counseling for the Future Foundation:
Donate Here

Have an episode suggestion? Text us!

Most partners think they’re “holding someone accountable,” but what they’re really doing is chasing accountability, forcing awareness, and slipping into shaming without realizing it. This episode cuts through all of that.

Paige breaks down the difference between identity attacks and behavior statements, why shame can be a driver for change but shaming never works, and how to communicate in a way that aligns with your values even when the person you’re talking to doesn’t change.

If you’ve ever wondered why your conversations escalate instead of resolve, or why “explaining it better” doesn’t help, this episode will give you the clarity you’ve been missing.

Find video clips and full length video from this episode on YouTube and our other social media pages!

On the web:
www.twfo.com

Support the Show:
Buy Us a Coffee!

Online Program:
www.independentlystrong.com

Soberlink Device:
www.soberlink.com/wheels

Check out our blog:
https://twfo.com/blog

Follow us on TikTok:
https://tiktok.com/@twfo_couple

Follow us on Instagram:
https://instagram.com/twfo_couple/

Follow us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/TWFOCouple

Follow us on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@twfo_couple

Find Taylor Counseling Group:
https://taylorcounselinggroup.com/

Donate to Counseling for the Future Foundation:
Donate Here