In this conversation, Laura and Bridget pull back the curtain on how work shapes us, scars us, and sometimes traumatizes us. From knocking on strangers’ doors as brand-new therapists under impossible timelines, to sitting on paint buckets in homes no one prepared them for, to carrying a level of responsibility that was never actually theirs to hold, they explore how certain work environments train our nervous systems into constant urgency, hyper-vigilance, and self-blame.
This episode moves through vicarious trauma, unethical systems, productivity culture, difficult supervisors, and the way toxic jobs can start to feel normal (even when they’re slowly dismantling your sense of self). Along the way, they unpack how these wounds linger years later, showing up as anxiety, over-responsibility, and the feeling that you’re never doing enough, even when you are.
