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What happens when you pause long enough to look back at how far you’ve come?
In this Season 2 finale of Monomyth Diaries, Mandi and Rachel sit down for an honest, heartfelt conversation about moments that defined this season—both behind the scenes and on the mic. From unexpected personal growth to the stories that stayed with them long after recording ended, they share a glimpse into how these conversations have shaped not only listeners, but their own lives as well.
What surprised them most this season?
Which guest stories stayed with them?
And how has being part of these conversations changed them?
Together, they revisit favorite guests, meaningful takeaways, and the small but powerful shifts that have carried into their everyday lives. As they share what they’re bringing into the summer season—rest, intention, and a slower pace—they also invite you to reflect on your own journey.
As the podcast takes a short summer pause, you’ll hear some of the most loved and impactful episodes replayed—stories that resonated deeply, sparked conversation, and reminded us all of the power of shared experience.
And this isn’t the end—it’s a turning point.
Season 3 is on the horizon, bringing new voices, and conversations that will challenge, stretch, and inspire in unexpected ways… plus a few fun surprises along the way.
Content Warning: This episode contains sensitive topics and may not be suitable for minors. Listener discretion is advised.
📢 Call to Action - Before we go, we want to hear from you:
✅ What has this season stirred in you?
✅ Which story stayed with you?
✅ What conversations do you want to hear more of?
Share your reflections with us at monomythdiaries.com.
Thank you for listening to Monomyth Diaries!
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Have questions or want to share your own story? We’d love to hear from you! Reach out at monomythdiaries@gmail.com OR www.monomythdiaries.com/contact
For more inspiring content, exclusive episodes, and behind-the-scenes, visit www.monomythdiaries.com
Join us every Tuesday, and together, let’s continue the journey!
Hi everyone and welcome to the Monomyth Diaries, the podcast where ordinary people get to share their hero's journey. I'm Mandy and I'm Rachel and we'll be your host. We'll discover powerful insights, critical moments of growth, and much more. Thanks for joining us. We all have a monoth to share and someone out there needs to hear it. Welcome to the Monomoth Diaries, a take what you like and leave the rest podcast. This is a space where real people share inspiring stories of transformation. No advice, no experts, just connection, growth, and hope. In today's bonus episode, it's a little bittersweet and Mandy and I are wrapping up season two. I am so excited. We have not seen each other in quite some time. It's been a little while since we've recorded. Today, we're going to talk about season 2, what we're looking forward to next season, and we're going to talk about what the summertime looks like. All right, Rachel, how has being on the podcast changed you? Ultimately, I don't feel like it's so much changed me as it's more increased my faith. When I leave from each episode, I I I can only sit and think about how incredible that story was. If God can get this person through this thing, he can get you through anything. You know what I mean? Like we're hearing so many people's different stories of overcoming and victory and all the things. And it's like in order to move forward in our life and in order for us to enjoy our journey, we have to have faith. We have to have faith. And when you're sitting listening to other people's stories all day of how they've overcome these big challenges in life, you can't walk away from that story without increased faith. So faith in my God is so important. And man, do we need that to be able to get through the hard times in our lives, the challenges in our lives, like what's going on my son in his life. And that's my biggest thing right now is I have to have so much faith to believe that he's going to be okay every day. And so when I got up this morning, I told God, "Thank you so much, Lord. I know you've got him in the palm of your hands today." And I feel good about that. And so the podcast has increased my faith where I really need it to live through it and to be going through it with him is so can be so scary. I I last night I got up a couple times and I thought I'm going to call him. I want to see where he's at. What is he doing? Is he okay? You know, I'm so worried. I'm so worried. And then I got up this and I didn't I'm like I kept saying, "God, I need to leave it alone. I know you said I gave this to you. You said you were going to have it. I know you have in the palm of your hands. I'm not going to worry about it." This morning I wanted to get up and call, you know, is he home? Is he alive? Is he okay? You know, all the things. And I didn't. And I just told God, I know you got this, God. I know. I don't have to worry about this. I know you got my baby. And then I've been feeling good all the rest of the day. And if I weren't a part of your podcast, listening to all these stories firsthand, being in the front row seat of it, I don't know that I would be able to handle this challenging time in my life with my baby without being a part of this podcast. That's what I've learned from being a part of this with you is that it's increasing my faith in God. That's our mission. Yeah. So, Mandy, what is one thing that stood out to you this season? I would probably say meeting you. A, if that were the question, I I would definitely say meeting you. Of course, I learned so much from you in your in your journey, first of all, because I have recently been able to come out and share about the sexual abuse that I endured from the ages of 12 to 15, which I've never talked about before. I I I've said it in passing to people like, you know, I was raped when I was little, but I just gloss over it. It's this piece that I wanted to just sweep under a rug and never talk about, never deal with. And I think having interviewed you really started to stir that up. And then I told you that I read that book, The Tell, and it stirred it up even more. So I think I'm I'm finally ready to deal with with that. I don't know that I ever told you that that I guess he's a man now cuz he's four years older than me, is in prison. He within the last 2 years was arrested and is in prison for the next 28 years. this man uh started dating a friend of mine from back home. So, they all still live in Ohio and he was dating a friend of mine. Now, remember this is a long time ago that they started dating. I can't tell you. I don't know. 7 8 9 10 years ago. I don't I don't remember the exact timeline. And I and I remember telling her, you know, I I just need to share something with you about him that happened to me when I was younger and I don't really talk about it. And so I kind of shared it with her and she got angry. She very very angry with me. And fast forward to about 6 months ago, my sister called me and said, "Hey, I had a conversation with this particular friend of ours." This is my sister knows her as well. And she said she found out that he had been recording. I don't know what all he did to her daughters. They found video cameras in her daughter's bathrooms. So it's been going on a long time. I was probably his first victim. So I was 13 and he'd have been 17. But he started grooming me at the age of 12. And he would say things to me I'll never forget. No one else will love you, Mandy, because you know, you've got all these scars and no one else will love you because of X, Y, and Z. And I'm the only one who's ever going to love you. I mean, he's he started young like learning how to groom people. I mean, I was 12. So, I'm just starting to talk about it. So, yeah, I would say that definitely meeting you. That is an honor. Like that's I mean that is I don't even know what to say. That is the whole point of putting yourself out there and telling your story is in hopes that you even reach one person that's able to be brave enough to get out there and tell their story or to deal with their their pain. I'm loving so much right now that you know you're hoping you're reaching someone. But to actually be face to face with somebody right now that is telling you, hey, your story really did touch me and it opened up the vulnerability of you being able to say yourself what happened to you and you can deal with those things. Like that's really awesome. So, thank you so much for blessing me with that today and I'm sorry that you went through that. Now I'm going to cry. Um, and it's all coming out like things that I'd not talked about. Like my mom walked in on him doing it to me once and she just walked out of the room and didn't do anything. She let this happen to me. I mean, I was a little kid. I was telling my Alanon group yesterday about this that I had the opportunity to meet someone who was so open about her story and then to read this book and then to be able to say it to a hundred people in my Alanon group that I was a victim of sexual abuse as a kid. I've never been able to say that before and the number of women who came up to me afterwards and said, "Can I call you?" Oh my gosh. Afterwards and and I thought this is why we do the Monomoth Diaries. you were vulnerable, which made me vulnerable, which is now opening a door to other women. There was a woman that followed me to the parking lot and said, "Thank you for sharing that. I needed to hear it. I was a victim also." She said, "I'd love to call you sometime." And the question of what have you enjoyed most about this show or being on the podcast, I would have to say now it's this moment right now. being able to know that you
I've been on the podcast for this last 3 months and nobody so far has come up and said, "Oh my god, I listened to your podcast and oh your your your episode and this is what it did for me." You know what I mean? I know they're listening to it and I'm sure they're silently feeling their feelings about it and they're feeling touched and blessed and all that. And you have to know that that's what you're doing for people. Not everyone's going to come to you and say, "Hey, I listened to your podcast and oh my god, it really touched me." But to sit with you right now and hear you say your favorite thing is me and hearing my story. I'm going to spend the rest of this day just thanking God and thinking, "Okay, God, this is it." Sometimes you need to hear that. You need to hear somebody out there is is hearing your mono myth or your story and it's impacting their lives is a really big deal. So this that has to probably be what I've most enjoyed now about this podcast is knowing that your story is really touching somebody. It matters. Your story matters. Really bringing somebody out of their out of their shell. That's a big deal, Mandy, to That's a big secret to harbor up. It's a big thing to keep to yourself for so long. I cannot imagine how that might have held me back in my life. You don't even know the freedom you're going to have letting that go now, where that's going to take you. Now, there's this quote that I made up. Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the chains that set you free. I have to forgive him. You do. I can tell you that I'm working on it. I know I've needed to talk about it for a long time. I It's always sitting in the back of my mind and I've just tried to tried to put it in a corner of my mind so I don't, you know, just over there. Just sit over there. I don't I don't I don't really want to deal with you. So Mandy, what was an aha moment or something that you were thinking about, you know, that really stood out to you this season? I was thinking about there have been a handful of guests on this season that have mentioned purpose. You hear that buzzword a lot, what's your purpose? Like everybody's talking about what's your purpose? And there was a moment in Tara's episode that really stood out to me. She said, "You know, Mandy, I've always wondered what my purpose was, but I think my purpose was to support my husband in his endeavors, to be a supportive wife to my husband, to help him start his business and be successful." And I was so impressed with her bravery that she was able to say that especially in today's society where secular views think women should be not only raising their kids and being a wife but also successful in their careers as well. Women get shamed for that. Not that Tara's not successful in her career because she definitely is successful in her career. But when she thinks about her purpose, it's my purpose was to support my husband. And I Me too. I I I got I got to verbalize and say that out loud because of her that I Yeah, me too. Me too. I love that. And I am so grateful that I was given the opportunity to raise Weston, be Web's wife in an environment where we weren't stressed by me working as well. There was time for family. there was time to spend vacationing, reading together. And I was just I was impressed with her bravery for being able to say that out loud that maybe my purpose was just to support my husband. And and it gave me the freedom to be able to say, "Yeah, I'm okay with that. Our husband's helpmate." That's the original design for us to be the helpmate to our husband. There's nothing wrong with that at all. If I think back to when I was in my 20s, I remember going to a wedding and he had been Jewish and he converted to Christianity and the pastor saying, "Brian, you were put on this earth to serve Jesus." And so and so, I don't remember his wife's name, you were put on this earth to serve your husband. And I thought, "Ew, ew." And of course, I couldn't understand it back then, right? I wasn't ready to understand it. And today I can tell you that I understand that I'm not subservient. I am a helpmate as you said to my husband and he is a servant leader. Yes, he's a leader of my house, but he's a servant leader. He says I'm a leader like Jesus was a leader and Jesus was a servant. It wasn't for me to go around telling my wife what to do. I'm supposed to love her like Christ loves the church. I understand that today. And our marriage works so much better now that I can see that. I mean, we're happier than we've ever been. and and working problems out so much easier than we ever have. So, I think that that's what really stood out to me this season and how much that really changed my perspective. All right, so we're coming to the end of, you know, season 2. We're heading into the summer of 2026. Rachel, do you have any summer plans? We're going on a cruise on the MSSE cruise. We've never been on an MSE cruise. We've always gone on Carnival. It's a 7-day cruise with some really good, great friends. It's our first time ever on a cruise with friends. You guys made friends on the cruise, but we've never gone on a cruise with some friends. So, I'm excited about that. And then we'll have our grandchildren for the for the majority of the summer. Um, other than that, it's going to be work time with the kids, time with each other, our podcasting. What about you? This summer, my husband and I are taking a really long road trip. We are going into South Dakota. Oh, no. And we're driving and we're taking our bicycles to do a big bike ride through the Black Hills. Yeah. So, I'm looking forward to that. We're doing a lot of training right now for it. You know, ride our bikes a lot. Last summer, we went and rode across Missouri. That was our big trip last year. We try to take one every year. That's awesome. This one will be South Dakota. I'm very excited about it. That is so cool. Well, that's going to be fun. It's going to be fun. It's going to be fun. Speaking of the summer, we should probably tell our listeners that this summer we're taking a break. We're going to push the pause button and we're going to re-release some old episodes, which we're going to call the archives. And Rachel, myself, and Angie have picked some of our favorite episodes. And we have gone back and pulled out some of your favorites as well. We've gone back and looked at some of the statistics on our episodes, and we're going to replay some of our our favorite episodes. So, you're going to hear those in the month of May, June, and July. But we are coming back in the beginning of August for some brand new guests, some brand new bonus episodes, and we will probably be introducing a new line of short episodes that we're sort of working on the name, but the whole idea is we're going to do some individual episodes just talking about some of our own truths, things that are true to ourselves. Also, next season, every single month, we're going to be doing a giveaway. So, be sure to follow us on YouTube to find out how to qualify for a listener giveaway. All right, Rachel, we should probably wrap up today's episode. To our listeners, what topics would you like to hear more about next season? If you have a particular topic that you want us to talk about, head on over to our YouTube page and let us know. Until next season, heroes, let's journey together through our monoth. Thanks for joining us on the Monmoth Diaries. If this episode resonates with you or someone you know, we'd love for you to share it and spread the inspiration. Don't forget to follow us wherever you get your podcast or on YouTube to stay connected. We'd appreciate if you could take a moment and rate and review the podcast. It helps us reach more people with stories of transformation and growth. You can visit us at monommydiaries.com or text us directly from the show notes to reach out and keep the conversations going. Until next time, heroes, let's journey together through our monomyths.