I woke up one morning and couldn't remember if I had bathed my kids the night before.

That was the lowest moment of my motherhood. And the moment everything changed.

Drinking had always been part of my life. Sorority in college. Living abroad and trying local wines. Corporate recruitment culture with boozy lunches and happy hours. Marriage, where a cheese platter and a bottle of wine became our only reprieve.

It never felt like a problem. Until it did.

In March 2020, I won International Coach of the Year in Australia. On that same trip, I finally decided to leave my marriage after 7 years of trying to find the courage. I flew home, told my husband I wanted a divorce... and then the entire world shut down.

Nine months trapped in a house with someone I'd just asked to divorce.

Homeschooling two kids. No gym. No mountains. No escape.

The couple-times-a-week glass became nightly. The nightly glass became two. Then a bottle. The 5pm start became 3pm. And all day, I thought about when I could have my first drink.

My best friend said I was just coping. But if you feel like you have a problem, you DO.

In this episode:
💜 How "normal" drinking became a problem
💜 What alcohol actually does to your body and mind
💜 The morning that broke me open
💜 Why I needed to go through my transformation sober
💜 The book that changed everything

I haven't had a drink since. Not because I'm "fixed," but because I finally understand what alcohol was taking from me.

If something in this episode makes you uncomfortable - pay attention to that.

Get Awaken Your Purpose at ericacarrico.com/books 💜

To learn more, visit:
http://www.ericacarrico.com/

Listen to more episodes on Mission Matters:
http://missionmatters.com/author/Erica-Carrico/

"When Staying Is the Wrong Kind of Brave" - A Follow-Up to The Marriage That Was Killing Me

After Episode 6 aired, my inbox exploded. Hundreds of messages from women saying, "It's like you were describing my life."

So this episode is for you. The one who's dying inside while everyone thinks you're fine. The one who stopped caring because caring hurts too much. The one who's staying out of fear, not love.

In this episode, I answer the questions you've been afraid to ask:

💜 How do you know if it's really over or just a rough patch?
💜 What about the kids? Won't divorce traumatize them?
💜 Why does he say he's "blindsided" when I've been unhappy for years?
💜 How did I find the courage to actually leave?
💜 What questions helped me get clarity?

I share the moment my son asked why married people sleep in the same bed—because we'd been in separate rooms so long he thought it was normal.

The relationship coach who told me I was "like Schwarzenegger with tits." The vision that kept me going when everything fell apart.

This isn't me telling you to leave. Only you know what's true for you.

But if you've stopped caring... if staying feels like dying... if you can't remember who you were before this relationship...

You already know. Deep down, you already know.

My book Awaken Your Purpose is the 28-day framework that helped me rebuild after leaving. Get your copy: https://ericacarrico.com/books

You deserve to be fully alive. 💜

To learn more, visit:
http://www.ericacarrico.com/

Listen to more episodes on Mission Matters:
http://missionmatters.com/author/Erica-Carrico/

I used to make $29,000 a year.

Twenty-nine thousand dollars as a nonprofit director with a master's degree, barely able to keep the lights on.

But the real problem wasn't the salary. It was my money story.

I believed men create wealth. Women support. So I stayed small, underpaid, and dependent—waiting for someone else to save me financially.

Then cancer woke me up.

Lying in that hospital bed, I realized: I'm the only one who can secure my children's future. Not my husband. Not anyone else. Me.

That's when everything shifted. I decided to become a single mom who uplevels instead of downgrades.

In this episode, I share:
💜 The money story that kept me stuck at $29K
💜 Why I was pushing my husband to provide instead of creating wealth myself
💜 The wake-up call that changed everything
💜 The golden ticket formula: natural gifts + passion + value creation = wealth
💜 How I went from $29K to building a multimillion-dollar business as a single mom
💜 The 3 questions that will shift your entire relationship with money
💜 Why aligning with your purpose is the key to financial freedom
Whether you want to build a million-dollar business or finally stop living paycheck to paycheck—this episode is for you.

You don't need anyone to save you. You can save yourself.

My book, Awaken Your Purpose, is the 28-day framework that took me from $29K to millions. It shows you how to get crystal clear on your purpose and build wealth doing what you love.

Get your copy at ericacarrico.com/books

Your purpose is your paycheck, love. It's time to claim it. 💜

To learn more, visit:
http://www.ericacarrico.com/

Listen to more episodes on Mission Matters:
http://missionmatters.com/author/Erica-Carrico/

Sometimes the most loving thing you can do is let go.

For years, I tried to make it work with someone on a completely different path. I craved depth and soul-level connection. He wanted surface and safety. Two unhealed hearts drinking away the disconnection, traveling to avoid the truth.

The breaking point: my son said he was shocked that married people sleep in the same bed. We'd been in separate rooms so long he thought that was normal.

So I chose me.

In this episode, I share what blossomed after I honored my truth:

💜 Finding myself again after years of being lost
💜 Releasing alcohol and discovering clarity
💜 Opening to unexpected love (including falling for a woman)
💜 Creating a sanctuary home that truly holds me
💜 Building thriving abundance on my own terms
💜 Learning I am completely whole on my own

My children are flourishing because they have a mama who's fully alive.

If you're shrinking, if you're dying inside, if your soul is whispering that something needs to change—this episode is for you.

This is about what grows when you stop abandoning yourself and finally come home to your own soul.

My book, Awaken Your Purpose, is the 28-day framework that has helped thousands of people discover their life purpose and live an aligned life.

Get your copy at https://ericacarrico.com/books

Your purpose is waiting. 💜

To learn more, visit:
http://www.ericacarrico.com/

Listen to more episodes on Mission Matters:
http://missionmatters.com/author/Erica-Carrico/

You know you're in trouble when you stop caring. When you shut down emotionally just to survive.

I stopped singing. Stopped dancing. Stopped laughing. Started drinking just to tolerate being in the same room with my spouse.

From the outside, my marriage looked perfect. Inside, I was dying.

In the first few years, I tried. I begged for couples therapy for years. Got silence. We slept in separate rooms. No intimacy. Just surface conversations about logistics.

I knew it was over. But I couldn't grieve losing daily time with my kids. That kept me stuck.

Then cancer at 36. I thought: if I'm dying, I want to see my kids every day. So I stayed.

Until the staying itself felt like it was part of my dying.

Took me 4 more years to finally leave. When I did, I lost everything. His family blocked me. His brother posted vile comments on my social media. Friends chose sides. 50/50 custody.

My only regret? Not leaving sooner.

You'll hear: when stopping caring means real danger • marrying wrong for potential • the "blindsiding" pattern • losing everything • how purpose became my foundation • building millions while rebuilding life.

For every woman dying in a marriage but staying for the kids, money, or fear. Your kids need to see you fully alive, not every day as a shell.

My purpose saved me when everything fell apart. I teach this in Awaken Your Purpose - how to discover what you're meant to do and rebuild your life around it.

Get the book: https://ericacarrico.com/books

Your only regret will be not leaving sooner.

To learn more, visit:
http://www.ericacarrico.com/

Listen to more episodes on Mission Matters:
http://missionmatters.com/author/Erica-Carrico/

September 2016. I'm staring at myself in the bathroom mirror at work, and I just know something is wrong.

Not a lump. Not a symptom. Just... knowing.

Six weeks later, I'm pulling off the freeway into a Panda Express parking lot, my doctor's words ringing in my ears: "You were right. This is cancer."

Kidney cancer. At 36. A 3-inch mass that my body had been screaming at me about for months.

But this isn't a sad cancer story. This is the story of how my body gave me an ultimatum I couldn't ignore: remember why you're here, or keep creating the disease that's trying to kill you.

After years of living out of alignment with my purpose—working a $29K job, staying in a marriage that wasn't working, people-pleasing until I couldn't breathe—my body said ENOUGH.

I had the surgery. But I didn't do chemo or radiation. Because I understood: cancer wasn't the problem. Cancer was the symptom. The problem was that I wasn't living my purpose.

You'll hear about:

• How I found the cancer intuitively before any test could prove it
• Why I knew deep down that if my body created this, it would keep creating it
• The 5-year journey of removing everything that no longer belonged
• How I learned to love myself on a cellular level (not woo-woo, actual science)
• Bob Proctor's teachings on imagination, will, and perception that saved my life
• How remembering my mission turned cancer into my greatest teacher
• Why stepping into your "Original Medicine" isn't optional—it's survival
• The exact process I used to go from cancer to millions (vision + will + aligned action)

This is the pivotal episode. The moment I remembered why I'm here. The moment I chose my purpose over playing small.

And here's what I want you to know: you don't need cancer to give you permission. Your body is already trying to bring you back to your purpose. Are you listening?

Sometimes the thing that almost destroys you is actually your soul forcing you to remember why you're here.

Grab my International Best Selling Book - Awaken Your Purpose: 28 Days to Discover Your Life Purpose, Identify Your Dream Business, and Take Your First Steps to a Prosperous Life here:

ericacarrico.com/books

To learn more, visit:
http://www.ericacarrico.com/

Listen to more episodes on Mission Matters:
http://missionmatters.com/author/Erica-Carrico/

What if you traveled to 50 countries, had a massive awakening about your purpose, came back KNOWING what you were meant to do... and then completely ignored it because everyone told you it wasn't realistic?

At 29, I quit my six-figure corporate job, backpacked through India, Southeast Asia, China, and spent 6 months camping through 18 countries in Africa. On that journey, I discovered life coaching and knew – KNEW – that's what I was meant to do.

But everyone said: "That's not a real job." "You'll never make money." "Be realistic."

So I listened. I took the "safe" route. I got a $60,000 master's degree in nonprofit management. I became an Executive Director earning... $29,000 a year.

Five years. Drowning in debt. Earning poverty wages. More trapped than ever. Until cancer at 36 forced me to ask: what was actually safe about betraying myself?

You'll hear about:
- The life coaching session that changed everything (and why I ignored it)
- How 50 countries confirmed my purpose but I still didn't trust it
- Why the "safe" route almost killed me
- The real math on what betraying yourself costs
- How other people's fear becomes your prison
- Why knowing your purpose and having courage to pursue it are two different things

This episode is for anyone who knows what they're meant to do but is too scared to do it. For anyone listening to everyone else's fear instead of their own truth. For anyone who thinks the "realistic" choice is safer than betting on yourself.

Spoiler: it's not.

The safest choice is always the one where you honor yourself.

Awaken Your Purpose: 28 days to discover your life purpose, identify your dream business, and take your first steps to a prosperous life: ericacarrico.com/books

To learn more, visit:
http://www.ericacarrico.com/

Listen to more episodes on Mission Matters:
http://missionmatters.com/author/Erica-Carrico/

What happens when you take all your childhood trauma, perfectionism, and people-pleasing... and aim it at climbing the corporate ladder?

In this episode, I'm getting real about my years in corporate America, where I was praised for the exact same behaviors that were destroying me. Where "dedication" was code for ignoring my body's warning signals. Where I was building someone else's empire while slowly dying inside.

I worked 60-70 hour weeks. Got the promotions. Earned the raises. Looked successful on the outside while feeling completely empty on the inside. Because I was working from a place of unworthiness, trying to prove I was valuable instead of knowing I was valuable.

And then my body said enough.

Cancer at 35 became my wake-up call. My "change or die" moment. The point where I had to ask: if I survive this, what kind of life do I actually want to live?

You'll hear about:

• Why corporate culture rewards the behaviors that destroy you
• How perfectionism disguises itself as "high standards"
• The difference between working hard and working at the wrong things
• Why external validation never fills the void of not knowing your purpose
• How cancer forced me to choose between transformation and death
• The questions that changed everything: "Am I building my dream or someone else's?"

If you're in corporate burnout right now, if you're climbing a ladder that's leaning against the wrong wall, if your body is screaming at you to change something... this episode is your permission slip.

You don't need cancer to give you permission to transform your life. You can choose it right now.

Your exhaustion is not a character flaw. It's information.

To learn more, visit:
http://www.ericacarrico.com/

Listen to more episodes on Mission Matters:
http://missionmatters.com/author/Erica-Carrico/