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In Part Two of this deeply personal conversation, Michael and Shannon pick up exactly where they left off: Can we put something painful away and simply leave it there forever?

Michael shares another piece of his own story—the father who left when he was two years old and waited until the end of his life to try to reconnect. Shannon reflects on his work with Vietnam veterans who carried experiences for decades that they simply refused to revisit. Together, they explore what can happen when pain is buried, avoided, or locked away.

The conversation then turns toward another possibility: facing what we carry.

Drawing from his Buddhist practice and nearly twelve years of personal work, Michael discusses the idea of "feeding your demons"—turning toward difficult emotions rather than continually running from them—and what it means to sit with grief, pain, and discomfort without expecting healing to happen overnight.

Michael and Shannon also pull back the curtain on therapy itself: finding the right counselor, what happens when the fit isn't right, why asking for help can be intimidating, and why the journey doesn't have to stop when one approach no longer works.

Therapy. Meditation. Journaling. Discipline. Movement. Spiritual practice.

The tools may change.

The people walking beside us may change.

But ultimately, the journey belongs to us.

Keep moving forward.