How many times have you called it loyalty when you were really abandoning yourself?

In Episode 6 of The Empath Wound, Deborah Moffatt challenges the belief that being loyal means staying, sacrificing, forgiving endlessly, and tolerating relationships that no longer serve your emotional well-being.

From one-sided friendships and unhealthy family dynamics to the guilt that comes with setting boundaries, we're unpacking the difference between genuine loyalty and self-abandonment.

Through honest reflection, personal experiences, and the story of Renee and Carla, we'll explore why choosing yourself doesn't make you selfish, why forgiveness doesn't require unlimited access, and why history alone isn't enough to sustain a healthy relationship.

Healing Tribe, here's the question I want you to sit with: If you gave yourself the same loyalty you've given everybody else, what would you have to change?

Remember, choosing yourself doesn't always mean rejecting somebody else. Sometimes it simply means refusing to reject yourself.

💜 Join the Healing Tribe: https://thehealingversion.com

🎁 Healing Tribe Giveaway: Enter by October 29, 2026. Three winners will be announced November 1!

Listen, reflect, share this episode with someone who needs it, and remember that your healing matters.

#TheHealingVersion #TheEmpathWound #SelfAbandonment #HealthyBoundaries #SelfWorth #HealingJourney #EmotionalHealing #ChooseYourself

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BetterHelp Therapy:

If you're struggling, consider therapy with our sponsor. Visit https://betterhelp.com/thehealingversion for a discount on your first month of therapy. If you have questions about the brand relating to how the therapists are credentialed, their privacy policy, or therapist compensation, here is an overview written by the YouTube creators behind the channel Cinema Therapy that goes into these topics: https://www.reddit.com/r/cinema_therapy/comments/1dpriql/addressing_the_betterh elp_concerns_headon_d

💜 THE EMPATH WOUND — EPISODE 5

Why Do I Keep Falling in Love With People Who Need Saving?

Are you looking for a partner, or have you unknowingly signed up for a project?

Welcome back, Healing Tribe! 💜

Have you ever fallen in love with someone's potential instead of who they actually are? Have you found yourself constantly encouraging, motivating, fixing, and carrying someone who isn't putting in the same effort?

In this episode of The Empath Wound, Deborah gets real about the difference between loving someone and taking responsibility for their healing.

Through the story of Tracy and Marcus, we explore how easily empathy can turn into emotional caretaking, why being needed can feel like being loved, and how our own abandonment wounds can keep us attached to relationships that drain us.

Because here's the truth: You can see someone's potential without making it your responsibility to develop it.

🪞 THIS WEEK'S MIRROR MOMENT

Ask yourself:

If this person never changed, would I still choose them exactly as they are today?

💜 THIS WEEK'S AFFIRMATION

"I don't have to be needed to be loved. I deserve relationships built on reciprocation, not rescue."

📝 YOUR HEALING HOMEWORK

This week, resist the urge to immediately fix someone else's problems. Before offering solutions, ask yourself:

Am I supporting this person, or am I taking responsibility for something that isn't mine to carry?

🎁 THE HEALING TRIBE GIVEAWAY!

Our giveaway is happening now! Leave an honest podcast review and receive 5 bonus entries during our October 11–18 bonus-entry period.

Final entry deadline: October 29, 2026.

Three winners announced November 1, 2026!

💜 CONNECT WITH THE HEALING VERSION

🌐 Website: https://thehealingversion.com

✍🏾 Substack: https://thehealingversion.substack.com

🎧 Listen, subscribe, share, and leave an honest review on your favorite podcast platform.

Remember, Healing Tribe: You can love someone without losing yourself trying to save them.

Until next time, keep healing, keep growing, and keep becoming the healing version of YOU. 💜

#TheEmpathWound #TheHealingVersion #HealingTribe #RelationshipHealing #EmpathHealing #SelfLove #HealthyBoundaries #EmotionalHealing #AbandonmentWound #GenerationalHealing

What happens when being needed becomes the way you measure your worth?

In Episode 4 of The Empath Wound, Deborah explores the uncomfortable connection between being useful and feeling loved—and how overgiving, fixing, rescuing, and always being "the strong one" can sometimes be rooted in something much deeper.

For many empaths, being the person everyone calls feels natural. You give the advice. You solve the problem. You show up. You carry the weight. You become everybody's unofficial therapist. But what happens when nobody needs anything from you?

This episode explores why receiving can feel more uncomfortable than giving, how usefulness can become a form of emotional currency, and why some of us learned to believe that if we were valuable enough, helpful enough, or available enough, people would have a reason to stay.

Deborah also shares a hard truth: Some people don't miss you. They miss what you did for them.

When you stop overgiving, rescuing, fixing, paying, and always reaching out first, you begin to see which relationships were built around who you are—and which were built around what you provided.

Sometimes people leaving isn't rejection. Sometimes it's revelation.

🎧 Press play and ask yourself: If I stopped doing everything for everybody, who would still choose me?

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BetterHelp Therapy:

If you're struggling, consider therapy with our sponsor.

Visit https://betterhelp.com/thehealingversion for a discount on your first month of therapy. If you have questions about the brand relating to how the therapists are credentialed, their privacy policy, or therapist compensation, here is an overview written by the YouTube creators behind the channel Cinema Therapy that goes into these topics: https://www.reddit.com/r/cinema_therapy/comments/1dpriql/addressing_the_betterh elp_concerns_headon_d

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💬 Let's Stay Connected:

👉🏾 Follow and explore our new website: TheHealingVersion.com — your new home for healing, updates, merch, + more! 💫 You can even stream episodes right from the site! 🎧✨ Your support helps us continue sharing meaningful conversations 🎙️, uplifting stories 📖, and promoting real healing in our community 🌿.

🎧 Tune In Every Saturday & Sunday
📻 On the Radio: WDJY 99.1 FM — Straight Talk Radio Atlanta
🕓 5 PM EST / 4 PM CST
🔗 Stream Live: WDJYFM.com
🌐 Stream from our website: TheHealingVersion.com

And don't forget to subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and iHeartRadio 🔊Thank you for being part of the Healing Tribe! 🙌🏽💛

#TheHealingVersion #SubscribeNow #HealingJourney #SupportBlackPodcasts #MentalHealthMatters #HealingTribe 🧘🏾‍♀️🫂💫

Have you ever said yes when everything inside of you wanted to say no?

Maybe you called yourself nice, patient, understanding, flexible, or just someone who doesn't like conflict. But what if some of those yeses weren't coming from kindness? What if they were coming from fear?

In Episode 3 of The Empath Wound, Deborah gets personal about realizing that her people-pleasing wasn't simply part of her personality—it was connected to a deeper fear of rejection, abandonment, disappointing people, and being seen as the "bad guy."

This episode explores what happens when saying no feels dangerous, why we overexplain our boundaries, and how resentment can sometimes reveal the boundaries we were afraid to communicate.

Ask yourself:

What am I afraid will happen if I say no?

Who am I afraid to disappoint?

Where am I saying yes while secretly feeling resentful?

How often do I explain my boundaries because I'm hoping someone will approve them?

Whose opinion of me still determines whether I feel like a good person?

And most importantly:

If I knew this person wouldn't leave me, become angry, or think differently about me—would my answer still be yes?

Before automatically saying yes to someone, pause.

Try saying: "Let me check and get back to you."

Then check in with yourself before checking your calendar.

Do I actually want to do this?

Do I have the capacity?

Am I afraid to say no?

Would saying yes require me to abandon something I need?

Give yourself permission to answer honestly.

Maybe you weren't born a people-pleaser.

💜 If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who needs permission to finally say no. And don't forget to follow, rate, and review The Healing Version Podcast.

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If you're struggling, consider therapy with our sponsor.

Visit https://betterhelp.com/thehealingversion for a discount on your first month of therapy. If you have questions about the brand relating to how the therapists are credentialed, their privacy policy, or therapist compensation, here is an overview written by the YouTube creators behind the channel Cinema Therapy that goes into these topics: https://www.reddit.com/r/cinema_therapy/comments/1dpriql/addressing_the_betterh elp_concerns_headon_d

-----------------------------------------------

💬 Let's Stay Connected:

👉🏾 Follow and explore our new website: TheHealingVersion.com — your new home for healing, updates, merch, + more! 💫 You can even stream episodes right from the site! 🎧✨

Your support helps us continue sharing meaningful conversations 🎙️, uplifting stories 📖, and promoting real healing in our community 🌿.

🎧 Tune In Every Saturday & Sunday
📻 On the Radio: WDJY 99.1 FM — Straight Talk Radio Atlanta
🕓 5 PM EST / 4 PM CST
🔗 Stream Live: WDJYFM.com
🌐 Stream from our website: TheHealingVersion.com

And don't forget to subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and iHeartRadio 🔊

Thank you for being part of the Healing Tribe! 🙌🏽💛

#TheHealingVersion #SubscribeNow #HealingJourney #SupportBlackPodcasts #MentalHealthMatters #HealingTribe 🧘🏾‍♀️🫂💫

The tone changed. The text got shorter. Their facial expression shifted. The energy felt different—and before anybody said a word, you noticed.

For years, I called that being an empath. And maybe it is. But healing forced me to ask a harder question:

How much of my ability to read people came from empathy—and how much came from learning that I needed to read people in order to feel safe?

In Episode 2 of The Empath Wound, we're getting into the connection between empathy, intuition, hypervigilance, and survival.

I talk about what happens when a child learns to read the room before they ever learn how to read themselves—and how that same survival skill can follow us into adulthood. Suddenly, someone's mood changes and we're wondering: Was it me? Did I do something? Are they mad? Should I fix it?

We're also talking about:

• The difference between intuition and hypervigilance

• Why someone else's mood can immediately feel like your responsibility

• How childhood instability can turn into adult overthinking

• Why understanding someone's trauma doesn't mean you have to become collateral damage

• Learning to stop managing everybody else's emotions

• Why peace can feel uncomfortable when you're accustomed to chaos

• What it means to have empathy with boundaries

• Learning to ask "What do I actually know?" instead of allowing fear to fill in the blanks

One of the biggest realizations in this episode is simple:

Being able to read everybody in the room doesn't mean you know how to read yourself.

Healing isn't about becoming less empathetic. It's about realizing that you can feel someone without carrying them. You can recognize their discomfort without fixing it. You can understand their emotions without making them yours.

Maybe you really are an empath.

But maybe some of what you called a "gift" was also a younger version of you learning how to survive.

And baby… it's time to come home to yourself. 💜

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💬 Let's Stay Connected:

👉🏾 Follow and explore our new website: TheHealingVersion.com — your new home for healing, updates, merch, + more! 💫 You can even stream episodes right from the site! 🎧✨

Your support helps us continue sharing meaningful conversations 🎙️, uplifting stories 📖, and promoting real healing in our community 🌿.

🎧 Tune In Every Saturday & Sunday
📻 On the Radio: WDJY 99.1 FM — Straight Talk Radio Atlanta
🕓 5 PM EST / 4 PM CST
🔗 Stream Live: WDJYFM.com
🌐 Stream from our website: TheHealingVersion.com

And don't forget to subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and iHeartRadio 🔊

Thank you for being part of the Healing Tribe! 🙌🏽💛

#TheHealingVersion #SubscribeNow #HealingJourney #SupportBlackPodcasts #MentalHealthMatters #HealingTribe 🧘🏾‍♀️🫂💫

What if the part of you that you've always called "empathetic" was also shaped by survival?

In the first episode of The Empath Wound, Deborah gets raw and personal about the connection between childhood abandonment, people-pleasing, overgiving, and the constant need to be seen as "good." She reflects on how being the understanding one, the fixer, the forgiving one, and the person who could always read the room became more than personality—it became protection.
This episode explores the child who learned to put everyone else's needs first—and the adult who eventually realizes that keeping everyone else happy can come at the cost of abandoning herself.

From relationships and family to friendships, work, and authority figures, Deborah challenges the belief that being a good person means tolerating disrespect, explaining every boundary, giving unlimited chances, or sacrificing your peace to maintain a connection.

Because healing sometimes means learning a new kind of selfishness: choosing yourself without guilt.

This episode will leave you with one powerful question:

How many times have you abandoned yourself so somebody else wouldn't abandon you?

Welcome to The Empath Wound—an 8-part journey of uncovering what you thought was "just who you are" and asking: Is this really who I am, or is this who I had to become to survive?

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BetterHelp Therapy:

If you're struggling, consider therapy with our sponsor. Visit

https://betterhelp.com/thehealingversion for a discount on your first month of therapy..

If you have questions about the brand relating to how the therapists are credentialed, their privacy policy, or therapist compensation, here is an overview written by the YouTube creators behind the channel Cinema Therapy that goes into these topics: https://www.reddit.com/r/cinema_therapy/comments/1dpriql/addressing_the_betterh elp_concerns_headon_d

-------------------------------------------------------------------

💬 Let's Stay Connected:

👉🏾 Follow and explore our new website: TheHealingVersion.com — your new home for healing, updates, merch, + more! 💫 You can even stream episodes right from the site! 🎧✨

Your support helps us continue sharing meaningful conversations 🎙️, uplifting stories 📖, and promoting real healing in our community 🌿.

🎧 Tune In Every Saturday & Sunday
📻 On the Radio: WDJY 99.1 FM — Straight Talk Radio Atlanta
🕓 5 PM EST / 4 PM CST
🔗 Stream Live: WDJYFM.com
🌐 Stream from our website: TheHealingVersion.com

And don't forget to subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and iHeartRadio 🔊

Thank you for being part of the Healing Tribe! 🙌🏽💛

#TheHealingVersion #SubscribeNow #HealingJourney #SupportBlackPodcasts #MentalHealthMatters #HealingTribe 🧘🏾‍♀️🫂💫

What if the hardest seasons of your life were actually preparing you to become the strongest version of yourself?

In this inspiring episode of The Healing Version, Deborah sits down with licensed trauma therapist Zulma Williams to discuss her remarkable journey from Argentina to the United States, overcoming breast cancer, surviving emotional abuse, battling depression, and building a life dedicated to helping others heal.

Zulma shares how changing one simple question—from "Why me?" to "Why not me?"—transformed her mindset and empowered her to fight for her life. She also offers practical tools for overcoming depression, explains why finding the right therapist matters, and reminds listeners that everyone has already proven they're stronger than they think.

If you've ever questioned your strength, felt defeated, or wondered if healing is possible, this conversation is filled with hope, encouragement, and practical wisdom.

• Moving from Argentina to the U.S. and starting over
• Going back to college in your 40s and pursuing your dreams
• Surviving breast cancer and becoming your own advocate
• Recognizing emotional and verbal abuse
• Breaking free from depression through healthy thought patterns
• Daily exercises to build confidence and self-worth
• Why therapy is for everyone—not just those in crisis
• Discovering the warrior within
• The importance of finding a therapist who is the right fit
• Practical advice for anyone struggling to keep moving forward

🌐 Website: Dragonfly Therapy Services

🎙️ Podcast: Keeping It Real with Zula the Swearing Therapist

📱 Instagram: @theswearingtherapist

Zulma provides virtual therapy services in multiple states and encourages anyone in need of support to reach out. If she's unable to help directly, she'll do her best to connect you with helpful resources.