She spent decades doing everything to be needed. The one thing she never tried was being herself.

In today's episode, Haley sits down with JaHana Holloway, author, speaker, and healing-centred creative, to talk about what people-pleasing really looks like from the inside, and what it actually costs over a lifetime.

What starts as a story about growing up as the middle child in a single-parent home becomes a conversation about narcissism, self-abandonment, divorce, and the quiet courage it takes to hold your own healing when the people you were doing it for have all left.

• Growing up people-pleasing to manage a mother who was emotionally unavailable and a father who was absent, and carrying that straight into having her first child at 19 before she even knew those patterns had a name
• Why narcissists find people-pleasers the way sharks find blood, and how JaHana has gone from a 7-year marriage to spotting the red flags and cutting it off in 30 days
• The funeral she held for her marriage: not a divorce party, but an actual goodbye to the life she thought she was going to have
• Going from 30 years of people-pleasing to choosing herself, and watching people fall away left and right because they preferred the version of her that did everything for everyone
• Still sitting in the loneliness of that, still in her hometown where people see her as who she was rather than who she is becoming, and being honest about how hard that is
• Publishing two books from inside that loneliness, including a children's book called Birds of a Different Feather: Too Bright to Fit In, which is her own story told through a bird who never quite belonged

This one isn't just about people-pleasing or recovering from a toxic marriage. It's about what it means to have always been enough and never been able to see it, and what happens when you finally stop trying to make everyone else see it first.

About JaHana:

JaHana Holloway is an author, speaker, and healing-centered creative whose work is rooted in transformation, self-reflection, and emotional healing. Her poetry collection Metamorphosis uses her lived experiences as a bridge for others to feel seen, and her children's book Birds of a Different Feather: Too Bright to Fit In is her own story in disguise. She creates spaces for honest conversations about the parts of life we usually avoid, and invites people into the process of shedding, healing, and returning to who they truly are.

Connect with JaHana:

Website: linktr.ee/jahanaholloway

Facebook: JaHana Holloway

Instagram: @vibewithjahanna

TikTok: @vibewithjahanna

Threads: @vibewithjahanna

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