389. How to experience healthy love after toxic love

The podcast explores the impact of toxic love on one's ability to experience healthy relationships, particularly in one's 20s. It examines how toxic relationships can alter one's nervous system, self-esteem, attachment patterns, and biological wiring, leading to a normalization of dysfunction. The host describes toxic love as a relationship dynamic marked by chronic invalidation, emotional inconsistency, and betrayal, distinguishing it from abuse, which is rooted in power and control. The discussion highlights how these experiences can lead individuals to distrust their judgment and misinterpret safety cues in future relationships. The host suggests strategies for relearning how to feel safe and excited about the potential of healthy love, including slowing down the pace of new relationships, being direct about one's needs, and questioning the impulse to self-sabotage.