How To Be a Terrible Daughter 021: Season 3: Now With 30% More Self-Awareness and 0% Parental Approval
Welcome back! It's time to hate your parents with us again!
This week, we're talking about how to take care of yourself while listening to hard things, like this podcast. Because when your childhood featured emotional dodgeball as a family sport, hearing about narcissistic dynamics can light up all the old circuitry.
We share the ways we each stay grounded while recording and listening, so you don't accidentally astral-project halfway through an episode. Think of it as nervous system hygiene for Terrible Daughters: practical, slightly feral ways to get back into your body when the trauma stories start hitting a little too close to home.
We also revisit Flying Monkeys, those eager little minions who help narcissists do their dirty work while pretending to be Switzerland.Then we look at what real repair and reconciliation look like in healthy relationships, versus the kind of "apologies" that come gift-wrapped in gaslighting and plausible deniability.
We're also launching our new Etsy shop, where you can grab official Terrible Daughter merch, support the show, and spot fellow survivors in the wild like some kind of emotionally literate bat signal.
And because the universe loves symmetry, we close with our first Crazy Mom-Off of the season. It features a literal scarlet letter, a masterclass in chaos, and just enough gallows humor to keep us from screaming into the void.
We wrap up with tools for finding a shred of peace in the wreckage, because listening to hard things is an act of courage, and a little dark humor helps the medicine go down.
Thank you for joining us here for a brand-new season of the podcast! If you haven't already, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or your favorite podcast app to make sure you get new episodes as soon as they drop. Unlike the narcissist in your life, we'd love to hear your stories and how they affected you. Email us or DM us on Instagram, @terribledaughterpod or at H2Bterrible@gmail.com!
Before you go, did you know we're also on YouTube? You can watch what we're up to HERE, or if TikTok or Instagram is your jam, we're there as well and would love for you to join us!
What We Cover In This Episode:
● How to practice self-care and establish a safe container for listening to triggering media [6:14]
● Tips we want to give you for consuming this podcast and our content, and specific things we each do to get back into our bodies when feeling triggered or dissociated [8:45
● A reminder on what a Flying Monkey is, where the term comes from how narcissists use them to carry out their "dirty work" while maintaining plausible deniability [16:46]
● What true repair and reconciliation looks like in a healthy relationship, and how this contrasts with a narcissist's apology that never leads to validation or change [24:26]
● Our thoughts on actively grieving the person you would have been had you not endured childhood abuse [25:42
● An exciting update on our brand-new Etsy store and how you can get branded merchandise and carry the badge of "being the villain" proudly [31:31]
● Our first "Crazy Mom-Off" of the new season: when Elizabeth's mother branded someone with the "Scarlett Letter" and how Megan's used constant change to destabilize her life growing up [35:16]
A rundown of tools we've discovered to get through our week with more peace and grace [50:09]
Links & Resources:
Get Merch – Etsy Shop Show is NOW OPEN!
Season 3 Trailer (in case you missed it)!
006: Grief: It's Not Just for the Dead Anymore!
011: Silent Night, Silent Treatment: A Holiday Survival Guide
018: Narcissist Escape Room—Just Kidding, You're Stuck
Flying Monkeys Attack Scene, Wizard of Oz (YouTube)
The Scarlett Letter (Nathanial Hawthorne book)