Emotional intelligence gets complicated when the place that shaped you also scared you. In this episode, Nikki P sits down with longtime friend Thomas Edmonds to talk about growing up in youth group—where found family and creativity lived right alongside fear-based teachings, shame, and a deep distrust of authority.
Together, they hold the tension of what was real and what was harmful: the comfort of community, the pressure to perform faith, and the lasting imprint of purity culture messaging and power dynamics. Thomas shares what it was like to sense something was wrong, not be believed, and carry that into adulthood as both cynicism and fierce clarity. Nikki reflects on how those early messages still echo—especially around bodies, trust, and belonging.
In this conversation, you’ll hear about:
- Fear-based faith and how it shapes self-awareness
- Why “questioning authority” can be both protective and exhausting
- The difference between deconstruction and reconstruction
- Rebuilding community after spiritual pressure and shame
- How to hold gratitude and grief about where you came from
If you’re navigating an identity shift, reevaluating faith, or trying to make peace with your past without rewriting it, this episode offers language, perspective, and a way to stay grounded in the gray.
Because healing doesn’t require pretending it was all bad—or all good.
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