Welcome back!

In this episode of Mental Mom3nts, we’re talking about how to build healthy adult friendships and why the foundation of meaningful friendships begins with becoming your own best friend first.

Making friends as a kid often feels simple. It’s about who is kind, who is fun to be around, and who wants to play outside. But as we grow older and begin navigating identity, responsibilities, personal growth, and life transitions, friendships can start to feel more complicated.

Adult friendships require intentional effort, communication, and emotional maturity.

In this conversation, we explore what it really takes to create friendships that are supportive, genuine, and healthy. Many friendships are formed through trauma bonding, people pleasing, or shared habits that don’t always support our growth. Healthy friendships, however, are built on mutual care, communication, and respect.

When you focus on being a good friend to yourself first, you bring healthier energy, clearer expectations, and stronger boundaries into your relationships.

Adult friendships don’t have to be complicated. When you lead with self awareness, communication, and grace, the right friendships naturally find their place in your life.

Your friendships should feel like support, not survival.

In This Episode, We Explore

✨ Why becoming your own best friend improves your relationships
✨ The difference between trauma bonds and healthy friendships
✨ How communication strengthens adult friendships
✨ Why honest but considerate conversations matter
✨ How allowing people to support you in their own way builds stronger connections

Key Takeaway

“Healthy friendships begin when you learn how to be a good friend to yourself first.”

This Week’s Mental Mom3nt

Take a moment to reflect on your friendships.

Ask yourself:

Am I showing up as the type of friend I would want to have?

Consider how you communicate, check in, and support the people around you. Healthy friendships grow through consistent care, honest conversations, and mutual respect.

Why This Episode Matters

Many adults struggle to form or maintain friendships as life becomes busier and priorities shift. But strong friendships are one of the most powerful support systems we can build.

When friendships are rooted in communication, grace, and genuine care, they become spaces where both people can grow and feel supported.

You deserve friendships where the love is mutual and the connection is real.

Join the Community

📲 Follow Mental Mom3nts on Instagram: @mentalmom3nts
✨ Connect with your host: @healinghotti3
💌 Questions or topic ideas? Email: healinghotti3@gmail.com

Share this episode with a friend who has supported you along your journey.

Let’s Keep the Conversation Going

What quality do you value most in your friendships?

What’s one way you can strengthen a friendship this week?

Drop a comment or send a DM. I pray what took me 12 steps, takes you 3.

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Welcome back!

In this episode of Mental Mom3nts, we’re talking about the power of stepping outside your comfort zone and why exploration is necessary if you want to grow, build confidence, and create a life you’re truly proud of.

Comfort zones feel safe because they’re built on knowledge and experiences we already understand. They give us stability and predictability for a season. But life is constantly shifting. Opportunities change, people evolve, and growth requires new experiences.

The truth is that comfort zones are helpful for a time, but they are not meant to hold you forever.

In this conversation, I share my personal experience navigating the tension between comfort and growth while trying to build businesses and pursue entrepreneurship. I wanted the freedom and impact of working for myself, but I also wanted to remain in the background and avoid constantly connecting with new people.

What I quickly realized was that growth required something different from me. It required learning how to build genuine connections, showing up in new environments, and practicing courage even when it felt uncomfortable.

Stepping outside your comfort zone doesn’t always require a huge leap. Sometimes it simply looks like small moments of exploration. Attending a networking event where you only know one person. Trying a new coffee shop to work from. Introducing yourself to someone new.

Those small moments become practice, and practice eventually builds confidence.

Over time, those experiences helped shape the foundation for the Healing Hotti3 brand and the work I do today.

You don’t have to abandon your comfort zone. You just have to step outside of it often enough to keep growing.

In This Episode, We Explore

✨ What comfort zones really are and why they only work for a season
✨ Why staying too comfortable can limit personal growth and new opportunities
✨ My personal experience building businesses while battling fear and hesitation
✨ Why doing things scared is still progress
✨ How small steps outside your comfort zone can build long term confidence

Key Takeaway

“Comfort zones are good for a time, but they are not meant to hold you forever.”

This Week’s Mental Mom3nt

Take a moment to reflect on one area of your life where things feel a little too comfortable.

Ask yourself:

What is one small step I can take this week that pushes me slightly outside of my comfort zone?

It could be introducing yourself to someone new, attending an event, sharing your ideas more openly, or trying something you’ve been avoiding.

Growth doesn’t require perfection. It simply requires the courage to explore.

Why This Episode Matters

Many people want growth, success, and fulfillment, but they also want to stay in the spaces that feel familiar and predictable. Real transformation happens when you allow yourself to explore beyond what you already know.

Stepping outside your comfort zone helps you build confidence, gain new experiences, and discover opportunities that may not have existed inside the boundaries you created.

Your comfort zone should be a place you return to, not the only place you live.

Join the Community

📲 Follow Mental Mom3nts on Instagram: @mentalmom3nts
✨ Connect with your host: @healinghotti3
💌 Questions or topic ideas? Email: healinghotti3@gmail.com

Share this episode with someone who might need encouragement to try something new this week.

Let’s Keep the Conversation Going

What is one thing that currently feels outside of your comfort zone?

What small step could you take this week to explore it?

Drop a comment or send a DM. I pray what took me 12 steps, takes you 3.

Listen, Watch & Subscribe 🎧

New Mental Mom3nts every week.

✔ Apple Podcasts
✔ Spotify
✔ YouTube
✔ Your favorite podcast platform

Welcome back! In this episode of Mental Mom3nts, we’re talking about the importance of knowing and nurturing your needs so you can build a life that feels balanced, supported, and truly fulfilling.So often we move through life reacting to responsibilities, expectations, and the pace of the world around us without taking time to understand what we actually need to function well. But the truth is, if you want to flourish, you have to first learn how to nourish yourself physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally.In this conversation, I share how something as simple as returning to the gym made me realize how much my body, mind, and spirit require intentional care. Once you understand your needs and the reasons behind them, nurturing them becomes less of a burden and more of an act of self love.Your needs are not inconveniences. They are the support system that allows you to build and maintain a fulfilled life.In This Episode, We Explore:✨ Why understanding your needs is the first step to nurturing them✨ The four key areas to assess your needs: physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional✨ Why your needs will evolve as you grow✨ How understanding the why behind your needs helps you honor them consistently✨ Why nurturing your needs is your responsibility, even when life gets busyKey Takeaways“You cannot flourish if you are constantly neglecting what nourishes you.”This Week’s Mental Mom3ntTake a few quiet minutes and reflect on your needs in four areas:Physical – What helps your body feel supported and energized?Mental – What practices help you think clearly and stay grounded?Spiritual – What keeps you connected to your faith, purpose, or higher guidance?Emotional – What outlets allow you to process your thoughts and feelings in a healthy way?Then ask yourself why each of those needs matters to you. Understanding the reason behind them will make it easier to protect and prioritize them.Why This Episode MattersMany people wait until burnout, frustration, or exhaustion forces them to slow down and reconsider their needs. This episode is about staying proactive. When you regularly check in with yourself and nurture what you need, you create a rhythm of life that supports growth, peace, and fulfillment.You deserve a life that feels whole, not just busy.Join the Community📲 Follow Mental Mom3nts on Instagram: @mentalmom3nts✨ Connect with your host: @healinghotti3💌 Questions or topic ideas? Email: healinghotti3@gmail.comShare this episode with someone who needs a reminder that their needs matter too.Let’s Keep the Conversation GoingWhat is one need you’ve realized you’ve been neglecting lately?What’s one small way you can nurture it this week?Drop a comment or send a DM. I pray what took me 12 steps, takes you 3.Listen, Watch & Subscribe 🎧New Mental Mom3nts every week.✔ Apple Podcasts✔ Spotify✔ YouTube✔ Your favorite podcast platform

Welcome back to Mental Mom3nts

In this episode, we’re getting honest about people pleasing: what it really is, where it comes from, and how to break the habit without losing your heart.

What I once labeled as “love” was actually overextension. I thought constantly accommodating others meant I was caring well. In reality, it was entanglement rooted in fear, control, and unhealed places.

If you struggle with:
• Saying no
• Over-giving
• Feeling resentful after doing “the right thing”
• Managing everyone else’s emotions
• Exhaustion from trying to keep the peace

This conversation is for you.

We unpack how people pleasing can be a trauma response, why controlling outcomes keeps you drained, and how to remain generous without abandoning yourself in the process.

You do not have to drain yourself to prove your love.

In This Episode, We Explore:

• How people pleasing can be rooted in past pain not pure love
• The difference between protection and control
• Why you are not responsible for managing everyone’s outcomes
• How to give freely without running at a deficit
• The power of loving from a distance when necessary

Explorer’s Takeaway:
“You can be a giving person without giving yourself away.”

This Week’s Mental Mom3nt:

Make three small shifts:

1. Pour the same intentional time into yourself that you pour into others.

2. Ask the people closest to you if the way you show up is actually helpful or just habitual.

3. Notice where your giving leaves you empty and explore new ways to love that don’t cost your peace.

Why This Episode Matters

People pleasing is often praised as kindness. But unchecked, it leads to burnout, resentment, anxiety, and identity loss. This episode bridges mental health and self-awareness to help you build healthier relationships rooted in choice not fear.

You deserve relationships where love flows both ways.

Connect With Us

Follow Mental Mom3nts on Instagram: @mentalmom3nts
Connect with your host: @healinghotti3
Email: healinghotti3@gmail.com

Share this episode with someone who needs permission to stop overextending and start healing.

New episodes of Mental Mom3nts every week on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and your favorite podcast platform.

In this episode of Mental Mom3nts, I’m inviting you into an honest conversation about self love, healing, and the daily practices that shape how we care for ourselves. From breaking free of people pleasing to redefining what love actually looks like in action, this episode explores how loving yourself is a continual process and not a one time decision.

We talk about how love is learned, practiced, and sustained through knowledge, routine, and non negotiable boundaries. If you’ve ever struggled to prioritize yourself, felt disconnected from your needs, or wondered what loving yourself really looks like in real life, this episode is for you.

Self love is not selfish. It is foundational.

✨ Why love is an act of knowledge and not just a feeling
✨ How misunderstanding love can lead to people pleasing
✨ What loving yourself looks like in everyday routines
✨ How boundaries, affirmations, and honesty deepen self trust
✨ Why making self love non negotiable supports healing and faith

Love makes the world go round, but your world has to begin with you.

Take inventory of what actually makes you feel loved.
Ask yourself what routines support your peace, where you need clearer boundaries, and what love looks like for you in this season.

Commit to one loving action you can repeat daily.

Self love is often discussed in theory but rarely broken down into practical and sustainable habits. This episode bridges mental health, healing, and faith by showing how loving yourself is not about perfection but about presence, honesty, and consistency.

When you learn how to love yourself well, you unlock deeper peace, healthier relationships, and the freedom to live aligned.

📲 Follow Mental Mom3nts on Instagram @mentalmom3nts
✨ Connect with your host @healinghotti3
💌 Questions or topic ideas Email healinghotti3@gmail.com

Share this episode with someone who is learning how to choose themselves without guilt.

What does loving yourself look like right now
Leave a comment, send a DM, or tag us with your favorite takeaway. Healing is better when we walk it together.

New Mental Mom3nts every week.
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and your favorite podcast platform.

In this episode of Mental Mom3nts, I’m opening up a real, reflective conversation about trust — specifically how to trust when you don’t know what the next step is, when it’s coming, or how everything is going to work out.This conversation is about learning how to move forward when clarity hasn’t arrived yet. From entering a new year with strong but intentionally slow steps, to navigating anger, fatigue, tenderness, and new relationships, we’re unpacking what it means to trust God, trust yourself, and cautiously learn how to trust others again after life has taken you through it.I reflect on the audacious prayer that shaped my transition into this season, the emotional weight I carried through 2024, and how healing isn’t linear. If you’ve ever felt frustrated with yourself for moving slowly, overwhelmed by “what ifs,” or torn between wanting to protect your heart and wanting to move forward in faith, this episode is for you.Trust doesn’t require certainty. It requires willingness.In This Episode, We Explore:✨ What it looks like to trust when the next step isn’t clear✨ Moving with strong but slow steps in a new season✨ Holding joy, anger, and grief at the same time✨ Navigating new relationships while still tender✨ The difference between preparing in fear vs. testing things in faith✨ Why communication is essential when trust is still forming✨ How accountability begins within and extends outward✨ Letting go of control and embracing the blessing of not knowing everythingExplorer’s Takeaway 🧭Trust is not a destination — it’s a walk, a run, a fall, and an adjustment.You don’t need to have every answer to move forward. You just need to believe that what carried you this far can carry you further.This Week’s Mental Mom3nt:Pay attention to your pace.Where are you moving slowly out of wisdom, not fear?What tender places need clearer communication instead of silence?Trust doesn’t mean rushing.It means choosing to walk anyway.Why This Episode MattersWe talk a lot about trust, but rarely about how fragile it can feel after disappointment, loss, or exhaustion. This episode connects faith, emotional awareness, and self-accountability to show that trust isn’t built by control or certainty — it’s built by honesty, communication, and the courage to try again.If you’re healing, rebuilding, or learning how to move forward without all the details, this episode offers reassurance that your pace is valid and your faith is enough.Join the Community📲 Follow Mental Mom3nts on Instagram: @mentalmom3nts✨ Connect with your host: @healinghotti3💌 Questions or topic ideas? Email: healinghotti3@gmail.comShare this episode with someone who’s learning how to trust again, take their time, or walk by faith instead of fear.Let’s Keep the Conversation GoingWhat does trust look like for you in this season?Are you moving slowly, cautiously, or boldly — and why?Leave a comment, send a DM, or tag us in your favorite takeaway from this episode. You’re not walking this journey alone.Listen, Watch & Subscribe 🎧Stay connected. New Mental Mom3nts every week.Subscribe on:✔ Apple Podcasts✔ Spotify✔ YouTube✔ Your favorite podcast platform

In this episode of Mental Mom3nts, I’m opening up a real, heartfelt conversation about something we all need but don’t always know how to build, a healthy, nourishing support system.

This conversation is about what it truly means to be supported, to support others well, and to understand that not everyone has the same capacity to show up in the same ways. From family and friendships to romantic relationships and faith, we’re unpacking how reciprocity, communication, and acting in knowledge create the foundation for relationships that actually hold you.

I reflect on personal moments of grief, healing, and growth, including losing my grandmother, and how understanding people’s strengths, limitations, and intentions changed the way I value support. If you’ve ever felt disappointed by how someone showed up for you, unsure who your real support system is, or afraid to lean on others during heavy seasons, this episode is for you.

You don’t have to do life alone. You just have to find your good ones and love on them well.

In This Episode, We Explore:

✨ What a healthy support system really looks like and what it doesn’t
✨ Why reciprocity matters even when support doesn’t look the same both ways
✨ The importance of acting in knowledge when loving and supporting others
✨ How communication creates emotional safety and deeper understanding
✨ Why you may not always receive support from where you expect it
✨ How faith shapes the foundation of true support and healing
✨ What grief taught me about valuing people’s different capacities

Explorer’s Takeaway 🧭

Not everyone is equipped to support you in everything and that doesn’t make them less valuable. It just means you have to love people in ways that honor who they actually are.

This Week’s Mental Mom3nt:

Take inventory of your support system. Who shows up for you emotionally? Practically? Spiritually?
Thank the people who love you in their own way and be honest about where you need to communicate more clearly.

Reciprocity isn’t about sameness. It’s about mutual care.

Why This Episode Matters

We talk about support systems all the time, but rarely break down what makes them healthy. This episode connects mental health, emotional maturity, communication, and faith, showing how strong support systems aren’t built on perfection, but on understanding, honesty, and love.

If you’re healing, grieving, growing, or simply trying to do life better with others, this episode gives you language and perspective for building relationships that truly hold you.

Join the Community

📲 Follow Mental Mom3nts on Instagram: @mentalmom3nts
✨ Connect with your host: @healinghotti3
💌 Questions or topic ideas? Email: healinghotti3@gmail.com

Share this episode with someone who’s navigating loneliness, healing, or learning how to lean on others.

Let’s Keep the Conversation Going

What does a healthy support system look like for you right now?
Leave a comment, send a DM, or tag us in your favorite takeaway from this episode. You’re not walking this journey alone.

Listen, Watch & Subscribe 🎧

Stay connected. New Mental Mom3nts every week.
Subscribe on:
✔ Apple Podcasts
✔ Spotify
✔ YouTube
✔ Your favorite podcast platform

In this episode of Mental Mom3nts, I’m sharing how I began to recognize the things I needed to heal from and how recurring patterns in my life kept leading me back to the same emotional and relational spaces.

This conversation is about what happens when you stop ignoring the cycles in your life and start paying attention to what they’re trying to teach you.

I reflect on growing up in a divided household, learning how to mask dysfunction, and becoming overly self-sacrificial in relationships. I unpack how unhealed wounds quietly shaped my choices, why I kept trying to be “the solution” for everyone else, and how I searched for safety and validation outside of myself.

I also share a pivotal moment with my brother that forced me to stop looking for answers outside of myself and finally confront the healing work within.

We talk about how childhood environments shape adult relationship patterns, why recurring cycles are clues and not coincidences, and what it really means to become a stable and loving environment for yourself.

If you’ve ever felt stuck repeating the same emotional cycles, struggling with self-abandonment, or searching for healing in relationships, environments, or validation outside of yourself, this episode will meet you right where you are.

You don’t have to finish where you started.
You just have to start paying attention to the patterns.

This is a conversation and I pray what took me 12 steps only takes you three.