Episode Title: Iron Bladder: I Could Hold It All Day Until I Couldn’t Anymore
Episode Description: For her whole adult life, Laura Davis took quiet pride in her “iron bladder.” Then the damp underpants started. Then the dash from her backyard office that she didn’t win. In this candid, often funny episode of The Writer’s Journey, Laura reads her essay about the problem she wasn’t talking about: urinary urgency and leakage, one of the most common and least discussed health issues facing women as they age.
Laura moves between a reluctant walk down the incontinence aisle at CVS, a long-buried memory from sixth grade involving a public library and a piano lesson, and the moment she finally said the words out loud to her doctor. What she learns next surprises her. Along the way, she models what it means to write honestly about the body, embarrassment, and aging, and why breaking the silence matters.
What Laura Covers in This Episode:
The slow, unsettling progression from a one-time “fluke” to a pattern she could no longer ignore
How a lifelong point of pride became a source of secrecy and shame
A role reversal in the drugstore aisle she once walked for her mother
A sixth-grade memory that resurfaced with startling clarity
What happened when she told her doctor what was going on “down there”
Her first visit to a pelvic floor physiotherapist, and the questions that reframed everything
Why so many women avoid seeking help, and what that silence costs
Practical bladder-training insights she brought home from her first session
Writing with candor and humor about subjects most people won’t say out loud
Episode Highlights:
The opening confession: Laura begins with an image few writers would dare to lead with, and it pulls listeners straight in.
The lid that slowed everything down: A household annoyance becomes a race against time.
The CVS aisle: Laura revisits a familiar store with a very different shopping list.
Between the stacks: A shy sixth grader, thick white tights, a library, and a secret kept from her mother.
Mr. Moltzer’s piano bench: An unforgettable hour in a room with four pianos and a teacher with an extraordinary past.
“Down there”: The moment Laura breaks her silence, and her doctor’s surprising response.
The private room: Laura’s first pelvic floor physiotherapy session, complete with an anatomy chart, a joke about speculums, and an assessment she didn’t expect.
“She’s going to misbehave”: Why her physiotherapist talks about the bladder as if it has a mind of its own, and how that changes the way Laura thinks about control.
About Host Laura Davis:
Laura Davis is an acclaimed author and writing teacher with more than 35 years of experience helping people tell their stories with courage, craft, and honesty. She is the author of seven books, including the groundbreaking classic The Courage to Heal and her award-winning memoir The Burning Light of Two Stars, winner of the 2021 BookLife Prize. Her books have been published in 11 languages and have sold more than 1.8 million copies.
Through The Writer’s Journey, Laura teaches all forms of writing in online classes, workshops, and international writing retreats. Her students come from around the world to develop their voices, deepen their craft, and write the stories that matter most to them. Laura lives in Santa Cruz, California, where she hosts The Writer’s Journey with Laura Davis podcast and Substack.
Resources Laura Mentions:
Johns Hopkins Medicine: Pelvic Floor Therapy: An overview of pelvic floor physical therapy, what it treats, and how it works.Johns Hopkins Pelvic Floor Therapyhttps://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/physical_medicine_rehabilitation/services/rehab-therapy/physical/pelvic-floor-rehab.html
Explore the Flavors of Your Life: A Free Food Writing Workshop: A free two-hour Zoom workshop Laura co-leads with Myra Goodman on Saturday, November 14, 2026, 10 a.m.–12 p.m. Pacific. It will be recorded for those who can’t attend live.Register for Explore the Flavors of Your Lifehttps://questforeternalsunshine.com/exploring-the-flavors-of-your-life
The Burning Light of Two Stars: A Mother-Daughter Story: Laura’s award-winning memoir, winner of the 2021 BookLife Prize.The Burning Light of Two Starshttps://lauradavis.net/the-burning-light-of-two-stars/
The Courage to Heal: The million-copy bestseller Laura co-authored with poet Ellen Bass.The Courage to Heal at Bookshop Santa Cruzhttps://www.bookshopsantacruz.com/book/9780061284335
All Books by Laura Davis:https://lauradavis.net/books/
The Writer’s Journey with Laura Davis (Substack):The Writer’s Journey on Substackhttps://laurasaridavis.substack.com/
Laura Davis’s Writing Classes, Workshops, and Retreats:lauradavis.nethttps://lauradavis.net/
Key Takeaways from This Episode
Name what you’re hiding. The problems people don’t talk about are often the ones most worth addressing, on the page and in life. Laura shows how naming an embarrassing truth can be the first step toward changing it.
Tell your doctor sooner, not later. Urinary urgency and leakage are common and often treatable. Bringing them up early can keep a small problem from becoming a bigger one.
Know that a specialty exists for this. Pelvic floor physiotherapists treat a wide range of bladder, bowel, and pelvic issues. Wait lists can be long, so it’s worth getting on one early.
Don’t assume tightening is the answer. Kegels aren’t right for everyone. Some people need to learn to relax the pelvic floor instead, which is one reason individualized assessment matters.
Write the body with honesty and humor. Laura’s essay is a model for writers tackling aging, illness, or shame. Concrete sensory detail, a well-placed memory, and a light touch can turn an awkward subject into a story readers recognize and remember.
Episode Call-to-Action:
Consider a subject you’ve avoided writing about because it feels too embarrassing. Spend ten minutes writing the first line you’d never say out loud.
If anything in this episode resonated with your own experience, talk to your doctor.
Sign up for Laura’s free food writing workshop, Explore the Flavors of Your Life, on November 14, 2026: https://questforeternalsunshine.com/exploring-the-flavors-of-your-life
Share this episode with a friend who might need permission to talk about an embarrassing body issue.
Connect with Laura Davis:
Substack: The Writer’s Journey with Laura Davis, https://laurasaridavis.substack.com/
Website: lauradavis.net, https://lauradavis.net/
Books: lauradavis.net/books, https://lauradavis.net/books/
Instagram: @laurasaridavis, https://www.instagram.com/laurasaridavis/
Facebook: The Writer’s Journey, https://www.facebook.com/thewritersjourney
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The Writer’s Journey with Laura Davis is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support her work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. You’ll receive regular posts like these, as well as beautifully curated poems and nature photos, essays on life and the craft of writing, and more.
You can subscribe here: https://laurasaridavis.substack.com/ Learn about Laura’s writing classes, books, workshops, and international retreats at: https://lauradavis.net/
