Loving From a Distance

Some relationships don’t end with a slammed door.

They end with a quiet realization.

A realization that love and access are not the same thing.

In this episode of Pretty & Painful, we’re talking about the grief that comes from loving people you can no longer do life with. The heartbreak of watching resentment, hurt, pride, and pain create distance where connection once lived.

We’re talking about boundaries.

Mental health.

The exhausting cycle of trying to earn approval from people determined not to give it.

And the freedom that comes when you finally stop carrying what was never yours to carry.

This isn’t an episode about anger.

It’s about peace.

It’s about accepting that some roads were never meant to stay connected, and sometimes the most loving thing you can say is:

“I wish you well.”

Because you can love someone deeply and still choose distance.

And sometimes that’s exactly what healing looks like.

Pretty & Painful Podcast — Where grief and joy sit at the same table.

Working Through Grief: Episode 2 — Numbness

After the shock fades, something else settles in.

Numbness.

The silence after the phone call.

The blank stare across a crowded room.

The moments where you know you’re hurting, but you can’t seem to feel it.

In Episode 2 of the Working Through Grief series, B opens up about the strange season that follows loss—the part where your heart builds walls to survive. The part where you’re functioning, smiling, going to work, showing up for everyone else… while feeling completely disconnected from yourself.

This episode explores emotional shutdown, survival mode, and the guilt that often comes with not feeling “grief enough.” If you’ve ever wondered why you feel stuck, detached, or like part of you disappeared when they did, this conversation is for you.

Because numbness isn’t the absence of grief.

Sometimes it’s grief’s way of keeping you alive.

Grab your coffee, your tissues, or just a quiet place to sit for a while. You’re not walking through this alone, babes.

Pretty & Painful Podcast

Where grief and joy sit at the same table

Babes… I can’t live, laugh, love in this economy.

I can barely add to cart.

This week we’re talking dopamine dressing, oversized t-shirts, Shein carts, weight loss, anxiety, reunion nerves, and the strange experience of trying to recognize yourself while you’re still growing.

Somewhere between the beige trends, the bed rot, the life stress, and the “I have nothing to wear” spiral, I realized this episode isn’t really about clothes at all.

It’s about identity.

It’s about learning to stop waiting for the next version of yourself to arrive before allowing yourself to enjoy your life.

So grab your emotional support oversized tee, your iced coffee, and maybe that leopard print you’ve been saving for a special occasion.

We’re figuring out how to thrive in this economy, in this season, and in the beautiful mess of becoming ourselves.

Because the algorithm says beige.

But my soul says hot pink. 🩷

Sometimes grief finds us in the strangest places.

A finch on a buoy.

A quiet river.

A memory that suddenly feels alive again.

In this Table Talk episode of Pretty & Painful, we’re sharing a listener story that reminds us how deeply love lingers — even in the smallest signs. From the crystal waters of the Ichetucknee to the ache of missing someone who mattered, this episode is about connection, remembrance, and the moments that make us stop and whisper, “that had to mean something.”

If you’ve ever searched for your person in sunsets, songs, birds, or still water… this one’s for you.

Because grief is heavy.

But sometimes healing floats quietly beside it.

same table, different plates. 🩷

Shock changes people.

In Episode One of the new Working Through Grief series, we’re talking about the first stage of grief — the numb, blurry, disorienting reality that comes after loss.

The phone call.

The hospital room.

The “this can’t be real” feeling.

The exhaustion.

The replaying of final moments over and over again.

From anticipatory grief and hospice goodbyes to sudden loss and the silence that follows, this episode is for the fresh griever, the lifelong griever, and anyone learning how to survive after goodbye.

Because whether grief came instantly or slowly… it still burns like hell.

🎙️ Pretty & Painful Podcast

“Where grief and joy sit at the same table.”

Some days grief looks loud.

Some days it just looks tired.

In Episode 28 of Pretty & Painful, Bailey talks about masking, survival mode, self care, faith, flashback nights, sweet tea coping mechanisms, and learning how to carry grief without letting it harden you completely.

This episode is for the people who still show up with heavy hearts.

The ones forcing themselves to drink water, answer texts, pour the coffee, and keep moving even when their soul feels exhausted.

From sunshine & hurricanes… to sweet tea & survival… to realizing God still meets us in the mess before the healing ever fully arrives — this one is soft, honest, Southern, and deeply human.

Because grief is a lot like coffee.

Sometimes bitter.

Sometimes sweet.

Sometimes watered down.

Sometimes strong enough to wake you up all over again.

And somehow… we still keep pouring another cup. ☕🩷

Pretty & Painful Podcast

“Still Pouring the Coffee”

Episode 28

Episode 27 — “i saw you today”

Sometimes grief doesn’t crash through the front door.

Sometimes it pulls up beside you at a gas pump under a red sunset sky and steals the air right out of your lungs.

Today I saw a stranger…

but for a second, my heart swore it was you.

This episode is about the weirdness of grief — the double takes, the familiar faces, the moments that feel like warm hugs and heartbreak all at once. The kind of grief that sneaks up on you when you thought you were finally okay.

We’re talking about longing, memories, signs, God’s timing, and learning how to carry love for people who are no longer standing beside us physically… but somehow still show up everywhere.

Because sometimes healing looks like laughing one day…

and crying at strangers the next.

Pretty & Painful Podcast — where grief and joy still sit at the same table. 🩷

I found myself asking a question lately that honestly felt a little embarrassing to say out loud:

“Why are they so nice to me?”

Not fake nice.

Not performative nice.

Not nice with hidden intentions attached to it.

I mean genuine kindness.

Patience.

Gentleness.

The kind of love that doesn’t keep score.

And maybe that question says more about what I’ve survived than anything else.

In Episode 26 of Pretty & Painful, we’re talking about what happens when you’ve spent so long living around criticism, tension, conditional love, and survival mode… that healthy love almost feels uncomfortable.

Because when you’re used to walking on eggshells, kindness can feel confusing.

This episode is about healing through people who love differently.

People who choose softness.

People who reflect God without needing a stage to do it.

Maybe real faith looks less like perfection and more like how we treat hurting people.

And maybe for the first time in a long time…

I’m learning that love was never supposed to hurt this much to be real.

Episode 26 — Why Are They So Nice? 💗