In this raw, unfiltered conversation, Karen Paolicelli shares the reality of survival mode inside a long-term abusive marriage — not just the “big moments,” but the daily performance, the masking, and the quiet psychological gymnastics that keep you functioning while everything is falling apart.

Karen opens up about being a single mom navigating divorce and custody, surviving deep financial and emotional betrayal, and rebuilding from almost nothing — all while still in the middle of legal constraints.

We talk about how abuse makes you hyper-organized in the worst way (keeping track of what you told who), how caregiving can blur the lines of danger, and what happens when the person who harmed you leaves… and empties the bank accounts on the way out.

Highlights include:

🎭 Survival mode as performance + “looking okay”

📦 The hidden labor of abuse: tracking lies, covering, compartmentalizing

💔 Grief stacked on grief: loss, illness, and no room to process

💣 Escalation + fear when it starts happening in front of her son

💸 The financial wipeout: left with less than $5

🎾 Healing in real life: therapy, “Let Them,” and a healthy obsession (tennis + movement)

1. What survival mode actually looks like (masking, performance, “I’m fine”)
2. The hypervigilance and “OCD” coping that can develop when you’re constantly covering
3. How grief, miscarriage loss, and caregiving can collide into chronic shutdown
4. When illness doesn’t excuse abuse — and how women rationalize what’s happening
5. The moment she realized the danger was escalating (and the aftermath of covering it up)
6. What happens when abuse starts happening in front of your child
7. The “exhale” moment — and why leaving doesn’t instantly mean safety
8. Financial betrayal: emptied accounts, credit cards drained, starting over
9. Healing tools that helped: therapy support, Mel Robbins’ “Let Them,” and movement as medicine
10. Creating the space you wish you had: community, storytelling, and breaking stigma

Because so many women aren’t “doing okay” — they’re performing okay.

This episode exposes the parts of abuse people rarely talk about: the mental labor, the shame, the isolation, the financial sabotage, and the parenting fear when it spills in front of your child.

Karen’s story is a reminder that leaving isn’t always a clean break — sometimes it’s an exhale followed by survival-level rebuilding.

And if you needed permission to choose yourself before everything is wrapped up with a bow… this is it.

Blog: She’sNotDoneYetBlog.com

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In this powerful episode of Survival Mode Disrupted, Juanae Crockwell shares how survival mode began for her at just 15 years old after a sexual assault she didn’t even recognize as assault for two decades.

What followed looked like success: scholarships, leadership roles, church involvement, academic excellence. But beneath the performance was addiction, depression, criminal charges, and a relentless need to prove she wasn’t “a bad person.”

Juanae opens up about living behind a mask, managing shame through overachievement, and how grief, therapy, 12-step recovery, and mentorship finally disrupted the cycle. Together, she and Leticia unpack identity, acceptance, self-trust, and the daily choice to show up aligned with your values instead of external validation.

Highlights include:

🧠 Survival mode as “doing without clear intention”

🎭 Performance vs. authenticity

🩹 Naming trauma 20 years later

🔐 Self-created prisons of shame

🔥 Acceptance as liberation

👑 Agency as a daily practice

1. Sexual assault at 15 and delayed recognition
2. Survival mode as autopilot and performance
3. Addiction and 12-step recovery
4. Court cases, public shame, and overcompensation
5. The exhaustion of wearing a mask
6. Identity outside of relationships and roles
7. Depression hidden behind success
8. The power of therapy and mentorship
9. Acceptance vs. self-condemnation
10. Reclaiming agency and values
11. Making decisions based on what feels aligned

Because too many high-achieving women are surviving in plain sight.

Juanae’s story exposes the lie that success equals healing.

This conversation names the hidden exhaustion of performance, the weight of shame, and the freedom that comes from acceptance.

If you’ve built a life that looks good but doesn’t feel good, this episode is your invitation to take the mask off.

Instagram & TikTok: @juanae.crockwell

Facebook: Juanae Crockwell

In this powerful episode of Survival Mode Disrupted, Kristell Miles shares her extraordinary story of living in survival mode for decades — including spending more than 10 years as a fugitive while building a self-sustaining brand, raising children, and holding onto unwavering faith.

Kristell opens up about identity fragmentation, living a dual life, and what it means to survive by never fully being seen. She reflects on her exoneration, the relief of finally being free, and the unexpected collapse that followed when her body realized it was finally safe.

Together, Leticia and Kristell unpack survival mode as success, cultural conditioning around emotional suppression, Black women and masculinity for survival, and why healing often begins after the danger ends.

Highlights include:

🧠 Survival mode disguised as success and accolades

⏳ Living a dual life and never saying your real name

⚖️ Exoneration after a decade on the run

🧬 The body shutting down once safety arrives

💔 Chronic illness, loss, and forced stillness

✨ Faith, purpose, and choosing not to dim your light

1. Survival mode as “doing what’s necessary” to avoid poverty and danger
2. Being on the run for over 10 years while building a business
3. Identity loss, dual lives, and never feeling safe to be fully known
4. Exoneration, freedom, and why the body often collapses afterward
5. Chronic illness as the body releasing survival
6. Emotional suppression, anger, and survival masculinity
7. Therapy, softness, and learning to respond instead of react
8. Black women, strength conditioning, and resistance to softness
9. Faith, surrender, and refusing to play small after surviving
10. Turning pain into purpose and service for others

Because so many high-achieving women don’t realize they’re still surviving — they’re just surviving successfully.

This episode exposes the hidden cost of long-term survival mode: identity loss, emotional shutdown, and physical collapse once safety arrives.

Kristell’s story reminds us that healing doesn’t begin with freedom — it begins with permission to rest, feel, and be seen.

If you’ve been wondering why slowing down feels terrifying, this conversation will give you language — and relief.

Website: kgoodykollection.com

Instagram & Facebook: @KGoody.Collection

TikTok: @KGoodyDesigns

Resources: Make It Plain Workbook | Blueprint to Retail