Natalie Tallakson: Leaving Abuse, Rebuilding Life, and Trusting Your Intuition.
On the Irene Podcast, Natalie Tallakson shares how she left a 19-year abusive relationship in 2018 after realizing the harm was affecting her children, then packed a small U-Haul and drove from southwest Georgia to her family in Southern Utah, where she was met with support. She discusses how fear, shame, trauma bonding, and hoping things would improve kept her stuck, especially within a military family nearing retirement and after repeated deployments. Natalie describes rebuilding through boundaries, self-healing, journaling “evidence” to strengthen intuition, and later meeting her current husband via online dating, emphasizing mutual respect, apologies, and freedom from control. The conversation highlights mindset, trusting gut instincts, finding support systems (including podcasts), and her advice to take the first “leap of faith” step, after which the next steps appear.
00:00 Natalie’s Escape Story
02:43 Why Leaving Is Hard
04:09 Rebuilding After Abuse
05:44 Kids Spark the Wake Up
06:42 Military Life and False Hope
10:05 Dating Yourself Then Dating Apps
11:49 Co Parenting and Boundaries
15:17 Fear Shame and Self Love
16:50 Trust Your Body and Intuition
20:12 No Is a Full Sentence
22:15 Mother’s Intuition Connection
24:27 Living by Intuition
24:43 Book of Evidence Journal
26:50 Grace and Shared Struggles
28:08 Support Systems to Escape
30:16 Breadcrumbs and Trauma Bonds
32:41 Healing Takes Time
33:33 Self Love and Green Flags
35:36 Healthy Marriage Repair
38:20 Empathy and Safe Spaces
41:25 Reinventing After Survival
43:31 Presence Over Anxiety
45:30 Leap of Faith Advice
46:55 Closing Thanks
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