Shows
The Free AdvantageThe Illusion of Being Stuck: What’s Really Happening in Your GrowthHave you ever felt like you’re doing everything right… showing up, doing the work, trying to grow… and yet nothing seems to be changing? In this episode, I unpack what I call the illusion of being stuck and invite you to look a little deeper at what may actually be happening beneath the surface. Because the truth is, not all movement is visible, and some of the most important shifts in your life are happening internally before they ever show up externally. Through a personal story and a powerful moment of reflection, I share what it looks l...
2026-05-0620 min
The Free AdvantageThe Quiet Grief of Growth: Why You Outgrow People in RecoveryWhat happens when your life starts changing… and the people in it don’t? In this episode, I explore the quiet grief that often comes with growth, especially in recovery. Inspired by my conversation with Lillian Blake, we dive into why relationships shift, why some people can’t come with us, and how healing can feel both freeing and incredibly lonely at the same time.This conversation is about understanding the deeper truth behind outgrowing people, recognizing the difference between connection and convenience, and learning how to move forward without losing yourself in the process. If you’ve ever...
2026-04-2918 min
The Free AdvantageYou’re Not Broken: Understanding Emotions After AddictionWhat happens after the chaos quiets down? After the addiction stops… but the feelings don’t?In this episode, I reflect on my conversation with Lillian Blake and unpack the part of recovery we don’t talk about enough: the emotional aftermath. I share what it really means to feel again after numbing, why we aren’t broken but unequipped, and how our emotions are not the problem but the pathway back to ourselves. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by what’s inside you, this episode will help you understand it and begin to move through it with inte...
2026-04-2229 min
Reignite ResilienceShower Cries, Survival Plans + Resiliency with Heather Washburn (Part 2)Send us Fan MailA single season can change everything: career, identity, relationships, and what you thought you could handle. We sit down with Heather for a raw, steady conversation about what it takes to rebuild when life turns unsafe and your mind starts believing there is no way out. Her story moves from ambition and growth into domestic violence, stalking, and the brutal reality of disentangling a shared home, all while trying to keep showing up like everything is fine.We talk openly about depression, PTSD, and suicidal thoughts, then get specific about what...
2026-04-1636 min
The Free AdvantageLily's Story | Navigating the Rollercoaster of SobrietyWhat does it look like to choose sobriety before life forces your hand? In this deeply honest conversation, Heather sits down with 20-year-old Lillian Blake, who shares her powerful journey through addiction, early marriage, and the moment that changed everything. What began as “just having fun” slowly became something she couldn’t escape until a wake-up call brought her face-to-face with the life she was losing. Together, they explore the hidden realities of addiction at a young age, the pressure of relationships built around drinking, and the quiet courage it takes to walk away from what everyone else is...
2026-04-1545 minReignite ResilienceChildhood Trauma, Real Estate Leadership + Resiliency with Heather Washburn (Part 1)Send us Fan MailWhen you’re running on empty, the hardest part is admitting it and the bravest part is asking for support. We open by leaning into community and sending love and prayers to Dr John Molador, reminding ourselves that resilience is not a solo sport and caregivers carry weight too.Then we sit down with Heather Washburn, managing broker at ReMax Alliance in Windsor, Colorado, to trace a story of grit that starts long before business success. Heather shares what it was like surviving six years of childhood abuse by a trusted ba...
2026-04-1327 min
The Free AdvantageMy Story: The FinaleTRIGGER WARNING: We share the raw truth that can show up in our lives and how suicidal ideations can so easily become overwhelming in the latter part of this story.The scariest problems are often the quiet ones, the ones that look like a normal life from the outside and feel like you are drowning on the inside. Heather and Sean close out the final chapter of their story with the kind of honesty that makes you sit up straight: anger at God, family stress, a house with no furniture, COVID hitting at the worst...
2026-04-081h 32
The Free AdvantageMy Story: Part 8 with Sean DavisThis episode is the moment where everything shifts. For the first time, Sean joins me to help tell the next part of our story, because this chapter could not be told without him. What begins as a celebration of love, family, and finally building something that was truly ours quickly turns into one of the most unexpected and life-altering turns we have ever faced.In this conversation, we share the beauty of choosing to adopt Ana as an adult and what it meant to create a family not just by circumstance, but by intention. We reflect on t...
2026-04-0153 min
The Free AdvantageMy Story: Part 7This episode brings both the sweetness of connection and the weight of life’s unexpected turns as I step into Part 7 of my story and begin to close this chapter of the journey. What started as a season of freedom, travel, and finally having space to just be with Sean quickly became a deeper invitation inward. For the first time, I had the room to focus on myself, to begin intentional healing, and to uncover the parts of me that had been quietly waiting for attention.In this episode, I share the beauty of our time in Flo...
2026-03-251h 04
The Free AdvantageMy Story: Part 6This episode holds both the weight of survival and the beauty of breakthrough as I step into Part 6 of my story and share the health battle that quietly ran beneath so many years of my life. What looked like anxiety and scattered symptoms was actually something much deeper, and it led me through years of fear, doctor visits, painful treatments, and moments where I truly did not know what would happen next.In this episode, I walk through my long journey with chronic iron deficiency, the terrifying reactions to treatments that were meant to help me, and...
2026-03-1854 min
The Free AdvantageMy Story: Part 5This week’s episode is one of the most personal chapters of my story that I have ever shared. It is the part of my life where everything truly began to change. After years of chaos, broken relationships, trauma, and survival, I met the man who would become my husband. What followed was not some perfect fairy tale. It was something deeper, more complicated, and far more meaningful. It was the beginning of a real love story that would be shaped through faith, struggle, healing, and the slow work of transformation.In this episode, I share the be...
2026-03-1144 min
The Free AdvantageMy Story: Part 4Some chapters don’t slowly unravel; they combust. In this continuation of her story, Heather walks us into the rooms where survival dictated every decision: a courtroom where she is named the non-custodial parent, a relationship built on alcohol and chaos, and a Valentine’s Day confrontation that ends with the words, “You have no monetary value,” and a line she will never uncross. The details are unfiltered. Drunken rages, punched walls, holidays hijacked by betrayal, and the quiet humiliation of trying to hold a family together while losing pieces of herself. What follows is not a dramatic rescue. It’s a w...
2026-03-042h 00
The Free AdvantageMy Story: Part 3The story opens on a razor’s edge. Some losses don’t happen once. They happen twice. And the second time, it can feel like it breaks something deeper.In this chapter of my story, I share what happened after choosing open adoption. Courtrooms, custody battles, another goodbye, and the unraveling that followed. This is about grief in the body, postpartum fear, unstable ground, and the slow work of rebuilding when everything keeps collapsing through every pivot. Heather protects the truth, even under pressure to distort it. She names what many never say out loud: syste...
2026-02-251h 29
Speculative Fiction Writing Made Simple: How to Write, Edit, and Publish Your Debut Fantasy, Science Fiction, or Dystopian NovelWriting Strong Pitches for Querying Success (with Julie Artz) | Episode 48Feeling overwhelmed by querying—or stuck in the rejection cycle with no clue what’s “wrong”? You’re not alone. In this episode, I sit down with Julie Artz (author, editor, book coach, and dragon 🐉) to demystify what agents actually want—and how to build a pitch package that makes them want to read more.We break down what’s inside today’s modern pitch package (including the two pieces Query Manager made way more common), why your synopsis must spoil the ending, and how to avoid the biggest query traps—especially for speculative fiction w...
2026-02-1858 min
The Free AdvantageMy Story | Part 2The story starts with a breath you can hear, then a truth that’s hard to hold. Heather invites us into the second chapter of her journey. There are chapters in our lives that don’t unfold quietly. They crack open. The years where survival became my language. Where motherhood, marriage, betrayal, fear, and impossible decisions all collided at once. This is a story about leaving when staying would have cost everything. About naming violence without letting it define her.Heather’s voice doesn’t ask for pity; it asks for company on a road whe...
2026-02-181h 01
The Free AdvantageMy Story | Part 1TRIGGER WARNING! PLEASE NOTE THAT CERTAIN TOPICS DISCUSSED MAY BE SENSITIVE TO THE LISTENER/VIEWER. Pull up a seat. Heather opens a new season by stepping into the hardest rooms of her past. Thirty-three homes, twelve schools, a preacher’s kid childhood wrapped in Sunday routines and constant moves, and the night a quiet family image was shattered. What follows is not a highlight reel, but a field guide to surviving rupture: the ache for stability in Tulsa’s band halls, the jolt of a living room divorce announcement, and the way neglected teens look for l...
2026-02-1150 min
The Free AdvantageLife Update! When Uncertainty Becomes Your TeacherYou can rebuild a life from the ground up and still find more of yourself on the way. Heather opens a new season with a vulnerable life update that starts with a lost job and a cross-country move and unfolds into a fuller story of recovery, faith, family, and calling. The year brought hard resets. Downsizing, living with relatives in Texas, and supporting loved ones in sober living—yet those constraints uncovered agency, compassion, and a sharper purpose.We explore what recovery really means beyond addiction: recovering dignity after loss, recovering trust when plans fail, and recovering th...
2026-02-0426 minSpeculative Fiction Writing Made Simple: How to Write, Edit, and Publish Your Debut Fantasy, Science Fiction, or Dystopian NovelThe Secret to Powerful Writing: Three-Act Structure Demystified with Gabriela Pereira | Episode 46Struggling to make sense of story structure—or wondering if you’re doing it “wrong”? You’re not alone. In this episode, I sit down with Gabriela Pereira, founder of DIY MFA, to talk about story structure in a way that feels empowering instead of intimidating. We zoom in on the classic three-act structure (and why it’s classic, not universal), break down the role of pivot points, and explore how structure works best as a crosscheck rather than a paint-by-numbers formula.You’ll learn:✨ Why the three-act structure works—and why it isn’t unive...
2026-02-041h 00
The Free AdvantageLet's Chat: Real Questions, Honest Answers | Grief, Responsibility, & HealingLet’s talk about the messy middle of change. The part where you know what to do but still can’t make yourself do it. We open a new season with a candid Q&A on why “feeling stuck” doesn’t mean you’re broken, how to stop giving your power to other people, and what it really takes to set boundaries that last. From late-night spirals to skipped workouts, we pull resistance out into the light and turn discomfort into data you can use.We get honest about the belief that loved ones keep us trapped and replace...
2026-01-2820 min
The Free AdvantageSelf-Worth and Willingness: Why Knowing Isn’t EnoughFreedom rarely slips away in one dramatic moment; it leaks through a thousand small choices we justify as normal. This week, we get honest about why so many of us circle back to the very patterns that drain us, even when we know better. Through Ana’s story and the familiar ache of leaving and returning, we unpack the quiet force steering those choices: self-worth.Heather shares why we return to what hurts, how conditional worth keeps us stuck, and why insight alone doesn’t change behavior. We name willingness as the true turning point and share a pr...
2026-01-2114 min
The Free AdvantageWhy We Go Back: Learning to Feel Safe AgainWhy do we keep going back to what we worked so hard to leave?In this reflective episode of The Free Advantage, Heather Davis unpacks one of the most common and misunderstood parts of healing: returning to old patterns, even after growth.Building on last week’s powerful conversation with Anna, Heather explores why peace can feel uncomfortable, why safety can feel unfamiliar, and why relapse happens even when life appears to be going well. Through honest insight and lived experience, she reframes relapse not as failure, but as part of the healing process.✨ Why...
2026-01-1414 min
The Free AdvantageAna’s Story: A Daughter's Journey to FreedomWhat happens when love meets readiness, and freedom finally finds its moment?In this powerful first episode of a new season, Heather Davis opens a new chapter of The Free Advantage with real stories, shared in real time.This episode introduces the new video format and the beginning of the Journey to Freedom conversations. Heather sits down with her daughter, Ana (Ana Davis-Futch), to share their deeply personal story of struggle, resilience, recovery, and the long road toward healing. Together, they explore what it means to choose willingness, reclaim worth, and step into freedom w...
2026-01-071h 28
The Free AdvantageFragmented to Free: Your Quiet AuthorityAs the year comes to a close and the Christmas season invites us to slow down, this episode offers a gentle but powerful reminder: you are allowed to grow, and you are worth that decision.In this final reflection of the Fragmented to Free recap series, Heather weaves together two deeply connected pillars, Permission and Worth, exploring how freedom begins when we stop waiting for approval and start listening to the quiet authority within us. Through the lens of the season, this episode reflects on remembering who we are beneath striving, performance, and proving, and how giving...
2025-12-2408 min
The Free AdvantageFragmented to Free: Alignment versus AchievementSo often, we measure our lives by what we accomplish, what we produce. What we can point to and say, “Look what I did.” But this year has taught me something quieter and far more grounding. Alignment is different than achievement. It does not announce itself. It does not rush. And it does not come with applause.In this episode of our Fragmented to Free end-of-year reflection series, I share a personal moment that stopped me in my tracks and revealed what alignment truly feels like in real life. Not arrival. Not perfection. Just truth, presence, and cong...
2025-12-1708 min
Learning for Good | L&D Solutions and Leadership Development for NonprofitsYour Brand Is Your Influence: Building Credibility Inside Your Nonprofit with Lauren DavisAre you an HR leader or L&D pro who finds themselves having to prove themselves to everyone over and over again, or being brought to the table too late?If you want that to change, you have to build your influence in the organization. You can do it by strengthening your personal brand, which will help you build credibility inside your nonprofit and be seen as a valuable strategic partner. In this episode, I'm joined by branding expert Lauren Davis. She is the founder of Lauren Davis Creative, where she helps speakers and entrepreneurs est...
2025-12-1536 min
The Free AdvantageFragmented to Free: Boundaries with Grace | When Tolerance Runs OutWhen tolerance runs out, truth begins. In this week’s pillar of our Fragmented to Free series, Heather explores how we often tolerate emotional pain the same way we tolerate physical pain: we justify it, ignore it, and push it aside until it becomes an emergency. Through a real-life story from the ER, she unpacks why boundaries are so difficult to set, how grace transforms the process, and why telling the truth is the most loving thing we can do, for ourselves and others.✨ Why tolerance is not peace✨ How boundaries emerge when we stop pr...
2025-12-1010 min
The Free AdvantageFragmented to Free: Reclaiming Your StoryYour story holds more power than you think. But looking back takes courage. Courage to face the moments that shaped you, the wounds that marked you, and the choices you made before you knew better. In this week’s episode, Heather explores how reclaiming your story becomes an act of healing, recovery, and freedom. When you remember through compassion instead of shame, you begin to see the divine fingerprints in every chapter, even the ones that felt too heavy to carry.✨ Why story work is essential to true transformation✨ How compassion changes the way you see your p...
2025-12-0307 min
The Free AdvantageFragmented to Free: Discomfort Is Growth | The Stretch That Sets You FreeDiscomfort can feel awful, confusing, frustrating, and often overwhelming, but it is almost always a sign that something new is trying to grow within you. In this honest and vulnerable episode, Heather shares how discomfort became her unexpected teacher this year, revealing the truth, surrender, and courage required for real transformation. When we stop resisting discomfort and start listening to it, we discover that growth is happening beneath the surface.✨ Why discomfort shows up right before a new season✨ How discomfort becomes the doorway to surrender✨ Why authenticity often feels uncomfortable at first✨ T...
2025-11-2607 min
The Free AdvantageFragmented to Free: Recovering Wholeness | The Practice of Living IntegratedWholeness isn’t something we arrive at; it’s something we recover. In this powerful reflection, Heather shares her personal journey through a year of lessons, healing, and surrender, discovering that wholeness is the integration of body, mind, heart, and spirit. Through truth, grace, and practical insight, she reminds us that recovery isn’t just for the broken; it’s for all of us learning to live whole again.✨ What it really means to live integrated✨ How body, mind, heart, and spirit work in relationship✨ Why recovery is a practice of connection, not perfection✨ The truth about...
2025-11-1913 min
The Free AdvantageHappy Birthday! The Free Advantage Turns OneShow Notes: Happy Birthday! The Free Advantage Turns OneWhat a year it has been. Fifty-two weeks, fifty-two episodes, and countless lessons in freedom and faith. In this milestone episode of The Free Advantage, Heather celebrates one year of showing up, growing, and learning what it truly means to live free. Through stories of surrender, courage, and grace, she shares how authenticity isn’t a destination but a daily practice. It's the power of becoming who you were always created to be.We’ll Explore:✨ Why auth...
2025-11-1209 min
The Free AdvantageFragmented to Free: The Sacred Art of Letting GoShow Notes: Fragmented to Free: The Sacred Art of Letting GoThis year has been a masterclass in surrender. In this second episode of From Fragmented to Free, Heather opens up about what it really means to let go of control, comfort, and everything that no longer fits. Through the lens of faith and refinement, she shares how surrender isn’t giving up, but giving it over, learning to trust what you can’t yet see and finding peace in the process.We Explore:✨ Why letting go feels so hard...
2025-11-0509 min