Finding Your Voice After Grief, Divorce, and Emotional Abuse | Hella Rader

What if the thing you start to help other women ends up giving you your own voice back? After divorce, loss, and years of emotional abuse, Hella Rader sat by her bird feeder for three months, then started a podcast she could barely speak on, and drove across the country recording women's stories.

Content note: this episode includes discussion of domestic violence and emotional abuse. If you need support, the National Domestic Violence Hotline is available 24/7 at 1-800-799-7233, or text START to 88788.

Want more conversations like this in your inbox? Join the weekly Sunday Ops email: https://lindspaulson.myflodesk.com/messtomission

IN THIS EPISODE

Recognizing emotional abuse two years after a 20-year marriage endedWriting a memoir as the first step in telling her storyLetting yourself not be okay: three months of just sitting with itStarting a podcast when she couldn't finish her sentencesA 30-day road trip from Virginia to Denver to record 18 women's stories, no Sprinter van requiredLetting go of what it's "supposed" to look likeHow the body holds what the mind hasn't processed yet, and how somatic work helpedMoving from hypervigilance to trusting herselfWhy stories about menopause, shame, and grief still need to be told

ABOUT HELLA

Hella Rader hosts Stories That Sparkle, long-form conversations with women navigating grief, starting over, reclaiming their voices, and building community. As a somatic coach at Embody & Create, she helps women build lives they love from the inside out. Her studio is fully mobile by design: she goes where the story is.

CONNECT WITH HELLA

Website: https://www.hellarader.com

Somatic coaching: https://www.embodyandcreate.com

Substack: https://hellarader.substack.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/hellarader