Done Pretending

Done Pretending is a sanctuary for the soul where healing meets authentic living. Host Susan Houston shares powerful stories of courage, freedom, and truth that inspire you to drop the mask, embrace who you really are, and live the life you were created for.

Done Pretending is a education podcast hosted by Susan Houston, with 35 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Susan Houston hosts Done Pretending, a education show with 35 episodes published.

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  Done Pretending

  EPISODE 33 | Why Your Money Problems Aren't About Money — Healing the Childhood Wounds Driving Your Finances

  Aug 6, 202648 min

  Your money problems are not about money. They never were.In this powerful episode of Done Pretending, financial wellness expert Jennifer Edwards joins Susan Houston to reveal what's actually driving your financial habits — and it's not your spreadsheet. Jennifer is the creator of the 7 Layer Financial Wellness Framework and has helped over 600 individuals and couples transform their relationship with money from the inside out. And that work starts exactly where most financial advice refuses to go: your childhood. In this episode, you'll discover: *Why your money problems are rooted in trauma, not discipline *How your fight, flight, freeze, or fawn response shows up directly in your finances *The generational money patterns silently running your decisions right now *How scarcity mentality (think: parents who lived through rationing, gambling, or financial chaos) gets passed down like an inheritance *Why dopamine-seeking and impulse spending are nervous system responses — not moral failures *The difference between a money mindset shift and a money identity shift (and why it matters) *How to finally break the cycle — for yourself and the next generation Susan opens up about growing up with a compulsive gambler father, the hidden shame around money secrecy, and the moment she realized her past was quietly steering her financial present.This is the conversation your financial advisor never had with you. Connect with Jennifer Edwards: info@btfinancialwellness.com Book Jennifer's free 20-minute call on her website: WEBSITE: http://breakthroughfinancialwellness.com/ INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/btfinancialwellness/@BTFinancialWellness YOUTUBE:https://www.youtube.com/@BTFinancialWellness@BTFinancialWellness FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2618823628473510Group: BTFinancialWellness TWITTER: https://x.com/BT_FWellness@BT_FWellness LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-edwards-cfp/ TIKTOK:https://www.tiktok.com/@btfinancialwellness@BTFinancialWellness

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  Episode #32

  Episode 32 | Stop Pretending the Kids Are Fine: The Real Impacts of Divorce with Shannon Darrow

  Jul 12, 202648 minS1

  What if the moments you thought were small — a stepsibling sitting on dad's lap, a senior night photo, an offhand comment about child support — were the ones your child carried for the rest of their life? This episode stopped me in my tracks. And I think it will stop you too. I sat down with Shannon Darrow, a certified divorce coach and mediator who spent two decades in the golf industry after law school, navigated her own divorce with a three-month-old baby, and then did something most people in her field don't do: she went directly to the source. Shannon started interviewing adults who were children of divorce — not to relitigate the past, but to hand parents a mirror before it's too late. What she found wasn't what any of us expected. What We Talk About in This Episode Shannon and I go deep — and we go personal. This isn't a clinical conversation about divorce statistics. It's a human one. About the things kids see that we don't realize we're showing them. About the weight children carry silently so they don't make things worse. About senior nights where parents can't stand in the same photo. About a little girl watching her stepsister sit on her dad's lap and deciding in that single moment that she had been replaced. We talk about: The one thing kids hear over and over — and what it actually costs them. The "no disparaging comments" clause sits in nearly every divorce agreement. And nearly every parent ignores it. Shannon shares why this is the through line in almost every story she collects — and why the damage goes so much deeper than anyone realizes. Why "kids are resilient" is one of the most dangerous things we tell ourselves. The adults Shannon interviews are not fine. They're people pleasers. They're caretakers. They're in first marriages that mirror what they grew up in. They're working hard in therapy to undo what was done — not out of malice, but out of unconsciousness. The instability that rivals grief. Shannon explains why divorce and death rank nearly the same on the Adverse Childhood Experiences scale — and what parents can actually do to protect their children from the worst of it, even when everything else is falling apart. What a "good divorce" actually looks like. It exists. Shannon has seen it. It requires eating crow when you don't want to. It requires crying on the floor privately and showing up gracefully in public. It requires a daily decision to choose your child over your anger. Shannon shares a story from an upcoming episode that brought tears to my eyes — a woman who made that decision and never looked back. The Line That Will Stay With Me When I asked Shannon what one thing a child of divorce most needs to hear, she didn't hesitate: "None of this is your fault." She went on to explain that kids quietly convince themselves that if they just didn't need so much — didn't have soccer practice, didn't cost money, didn't exist — maybe their parents wouldn't fight. They shrink themselves. They become caretakers. They disappear into good behavior hoping that if they stop taking up space, the conflict will stop too. They need to know it was never theirs to carry. Connect With Shannon Darrow 🎙️ Podcast: In Between Them — [ / @inbetweenthempod ]🌐 Website: [ https://onward-mc.com/ ]📩 Reach out to Shannon directly: [shannon@onward-mc.com] If This Episode Hit Home Please share it. Send it to the parent who needs it. Send it to the adult child who's never been able to explain what they're carrying. Send it to the family that's about to go through something hard and still has time to do it differently. And if something in this conversation stirred something in you — I'd love to hear about it. DM me on Instagram or LinkedIn. This is the work. This is why we're here. — Susan

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  Done Pretending

  Episode 32 | You've been asking the Wrong Question - the Law of Attraction

  Jul 7, 202626 min

  What if you've been using the Law of Attraction wrong this whole time — not because you weren't believing hard enough, but because you were focused on the wrong question? In this solo episode, Susan brings in fascinating new research from Harvard psychiatrist Dr. Srini Pillay and the Gan & Chen (2017) authenticity study to reframe everything you thought you knew about manifesting, identity, and what it actually means to step into your next chapter. If you're a high-achieving woman, 50+, planning your reinvention, this one is for you. Plus — details on the Reinvention Roadmap live workshop happening THIS Thursday, July 9th, 4 PM PST. Register Here: https://form.jotform.com/Susan_susan969/Roadmap TEDx Talk: https://youtu.be/sX3iqKmxarQ?si=nhQXrAMlwmbWyFm3 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/susanhouston.kienitz/ Linked In https://www.linkedin.com/in/thesusanhouston Facebook https://www.facebook.com/susanhouston.kienitz/ Website: https://www.thesusanhouston.com

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  Episode #30

  Episode 31 | Real Self-Care for Women Who Are Done Being Last on Their Own List

  Jul 2, 202627 minS1

  If you've ever felt guilty for taking a walk while someone you love needed you — this episode is for you. This week on Done Pretending , I'm joined by Lani Almanza, wellness coach, author, and founder of Alakai Associates in Hawaii. Lani has spent decades helping caregivers, women, and midlife professionals rediscover themselves through simple, grounded self-care — not the bubble bath kind, but the kind that actually holds you together when life gets heavy. We talk about losing yourself inside the roles you show up for every day — the wife, the mom, the professional, the caregiver — and what it really takes to find your way back. Lani shares the tools that pulled her through caring for her late son Jacob, and then again through caring for her parents. And spoiler: none of them require a full afternoon or a spa appointment. This conversation hit close to home. I'm in the thick of caregiving for my mom right now, and this one gave me language for things I've been feeling but couldn't name — including that very specific guilt that shows up the moment you try to do something for yourself. Social Media links: Website: www.alakaiassociates.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lani.almanza https://www.facebook.com/alakaiassociates LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lani_almanza Instagram: @honumom1_

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  Done Pretending

  The Reinvention Roadmap ~ Done Pretending Podcast

  Jun 25, 202624 min

  You did the math. You can afford to leave. So why does walking away from your career feel so terrifying? Because it was never really about the money. In this solo episode, Susan opens with the Tuesday she cried in her car — the day she got everything she'd asked for and realized she had no idea who she was. From there she names the four fears every high-achieving woman over 50 faces when she finally leaves a long career: the loss of identity when the title comes off, the free-fall of a blank calendar, the inherited voice whispering it's too late, and the loneliness of navigating the hardest terrain of her life with no map and no company. More than 20 million American women will leave the workforce in the next five years — and almost none of them are being prepared for what's on the other side. If you're within five or ten years of your own exit, or you've already been laid off and you're standing in the rubble of it, this episode will make you feel seen — and show you that what you're feeling isn't weakness. It's a map. 🌲 Ready for the full map? Susan teaches her free Reinvention Roadmap workshop live next Tuesday at 11am Pacific — the actual roadmap for navigating this transition, plus live Q&A. Seats are limited.👉 Save your seat: https://form.jotform.com/Susan_susan_susan346/Register-for-ReinventionRoadmap

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