Claim OwnershipFragmented to Whole: Life Lessons from 12 Step Recovery
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Tired of feeling fragmented and overwhelmed? Fragmented to Whole: Life Lessons from 12-Step Recovery is your guide to creating a life of wholeness, authenticity, and healthy boundaries. Join Barb Nangle, a boundaries coach and speaker, as she shares raw and honest insights from her own journey and the principles of 12-step recovery. Discover how to set boundaries without guilt or shame, overcome people-pleasing tendencies, manage your emotions effectively, cultivate a stronger sense of self, and build healthier relationships. Barb's approach is raw, honest, and sometimes a little bit (okay, a lot) sweary.
Barb doesn't speak for or endorse any particular 12 step program of recovery. Though she's a huge fan of 12 step recovery, and a member of two 12 step fellowships, she cannot speak for them. If you're ready for real talk and practical tools for transformation, tune in! To learn more about Barb, go to https://higherpowercc.com/
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Send a text In this week’s episode of the Fragmented to Whole Podcast, I’m exploring what it really means to be whole and how emotional boundaries are what make that wholeness possible. Inspired by the image of a plant that is always changing yet never fragmented, we look at the difference between being unfinished and being fractured. Wholeness is not about being calm all the time or having everything figured out. It’s about integration. It’s about not abandoning yourself as you evolve. Some ...
Send us a text In this week’s episode of the Fragmented to Whole Podcast, I’m unpacking a topic that sits at the core of emotional healing and change: discomfort. Not all discomfort is the same, and confusing them is one of the main reasons people stay stuck far longer than they need to. One form of discomfort is the kind that keeps us trapped, the other is the kind that helps us grow. This episode is about learning how to tell the difference between chronic, soul-draining discomfort and the ...
Send us a text In this week’s episode of the Fragmented to Whole Podcast, I’m exploring what actually shifts when emotional safety stops coming from outside of you and starts being built internally. We talk about how our relationship with emotions changes when we stop using them as evidence about other people and start listening to them as information about ourselves. Some of the talking points I go over in this episode include: Why emotions are not verdicts about other people, but internal s...
Send us a text In this week’s episode of the Fragmented to Whole Podcast, I’m sharing a deeply personal realization about how long I treated myself like a project instead of a person, and how learning to tolerate ease required far more courage than pushing ever did. This episode isn’t about productivity, optimization, or mindset. It’s about what happens when compassion reaches places that pressure never could, and how shame begins to release when the nervous system finally feels contextualize...
Send us a text In this week’s episode of the Fragmented to Whole Podcast, I’m talking about why so many couples get stuck having the same arguments over and over, and how real listening isn’t about communication techniques, but about the assumptions we bring into the conversation before we ever open our mouths. This episode explores how internal safety, meaning-making, and unmanaged expectations quietly fuel chronic conflict loops in long-term relationships. Some of the talking points I go ov...
Send us a text In this week’s episode of the Fragmented to Whole Podcast, I’m sharing a powerful realization from my own recovery journey: the pattern of emotionally unavailable partners wasn’t just about who I was choosing, it was about my own emotional availability. For years, I believed I was unlucky in love. Through ACA recovery and a deep relationship inventory, I discovered how my nervous system, conditioning, and avoidance of emotions were shaping my relationships far more than I reali...
Send us a text In this week’s episode of the Fragmented to Whole Podcast, I’m exploring attachment from a different angle and sharing how boundaries and recovery can actually create secure attachment, even if you didn’t grow up with it. Instead of focusing on attachment labels, we look at how internal safety, self-trust, and boundaries change the way we show up in romantic relationships. Some of the talking points I go over in this episode include: The difference between anxious, avoidant, di...
Send us a text In this week’s episode 332 of the Fragmented to Whole Podcast, I’m discussing something I often observe, especially during family gatherings: knowing your boundaries, understanding your patterns, and gaining valuable insight, yet still getting triggered. In this episode, I explain why that happens, why it’s not a failure, and what actually helps when your body reacts faster than your thinking brain. Some of the talking points I go over in this episode include: Why your nervous ...
Send us a text In this week's episode 331 of the Fragmented to Whole Podcast, I’m talking about the invisible, unspoken rules you absorbed growing up — the ones you never agreed to, yet have been shaping your entire emotional life. I break down how these hidden rules get installed in childhood, how they operate in adulthood, and how recovery gives you the clarity and safety to finally rewrite them. Some of the talking points I go over in this episode include: The unspoken “family rules” you l...
Send us a text In this week’s episode of the Fragmented to Whole Podcast, I’m talking with my long-time recovery friend, Renee N., and her story is absolutely incredible. She grew up in chaos — emotional abuse, addiction, violence, and zero safety — and spent decades dissociated and trying to survive. Recovery changed everything. Renee shares how reading the 14 Traits of an adult child made her feel seen for the first time, how meetings and therapy helped her start telling the truth, and how ...
Send us a text Old family dynamics can feel impossible to change, especially when you’ve spent a lifetime carrying wounds that never had the chance to heal. For years, my relationship with someone I love was distant, tense, and full of unspoken history. I never imagined that could shift… until it did. This week on the Fragmented to Whole Podcast, I’m sharing how boundaries, emotional safety, and recovery helped me reconnect with my brother in a way I genuinely didn’t think was possible. I tal...
Send us a text Manipulation is often sneaky, sometimes unintentional, and rooted in fear (of abandonment, disapproval, rejection). For those in recovery, recognizing past manipulative habits—learned as dysfunctional ways to get needs met—is key. In this episode of the Fragmented to Whole Podcast, we break down how manipulation is activated during the holidays, why people-pleasing IS a form of manipulation, and how to choose authentic connection over control. Key Topics Discussed: Why people-p...
Send us a text The constant focus on things and people outside of your control is draining. I spent too many years of my life in this vicious cycle of external focus and validation, leaving me feeling like a fragmented, boundaryless version of myself. But all that changed with recovery. This week on the Fragmented to Whole Podcast, I am sharing the recording of a guest appearance I did with the international recovery community, Friendly Circle Berlin. I share my story of codependency, h...
Send a text Self-care is the very first personal boundary. It's the essential line between you and burnout, between you and your old perfectionism, and between you and the belief that your self-worth depends on what you produce. Many of us intellectually understand the need for self-care, but when we see it as a non-negotiable boundary, the entire game changes. In this week's episode 326 of the Fragmented to Whole Podcast, I'm sharing jaw-dropping transformation stories from clients and revea...
Send us a text The bulldozer cycle, in relation to people pleasing, is the concept of feeling perpetually flattened by the demands and needs of others, trapped in a hidden cycle that leads to burnout and frustration. I’ll be the first to admit that setting healthy boundaries that lead to healing is hard but choosing to stay stuck in the never-ending cycle is harder. You’ve got to pick your poison. In this week’s episode 325 of the Fragmented to Whole Podcast, I’m teaching you how to go from f...
Send us a text Too many of us get caught up in perfectionism, thinking that we have to meet every requirement before we're worthy and not to put ourselves out there until we're certain we won't fail. In my case, I was caught up in believing I was “too much” until one day, I came to the realization that the very things I thought were “too much” about me were the things that made me successful. So if you’ve ever hesitated to apply for something because you didn’t tick every single box, or if yo...
Send us a text Victim mentality shows up in all areas of our lives, but when it pops up in the workplace, it can derail an entire team of people and quietly take control over the workplace. Today, I want to peel back the curtain on how the victim role can take charge, shifting the focus from what really matters and what you can do to keep your team focused and empowered. This week’s episode 323 of the Fragmented to Whole Podcast is about how the victim role hijacks workplace meetings (and wha...
Send us a text The beginning of the school year is a difficult time for teachers and parents alike. Volunteer and extra curricular requests come in, calendars fill up, and before you know it, you’ve reached your capacity and your calendar is in chaos. Today, I want to give you a head start to set yourself up for a peaceful school year, protecting your time, energy, and sanity. This week’s episode 322 of the Fragmented to Whole Podcast is about back to school, not back to chaos: 5 scripts for ...
Send us a text The reason we have rules of the road is because they're social boundaries. They exist to prevent harm, to reduce accidents and to create flow. When everyone keeps the focus on themselves, staying in their lane, following the rules, respecting others, boundaries, things run much more smoothly. These rules translate very well to social and emotional boundaries. Today, I'm going to walk you through some of the most common rules of the road and how they map onto the concept o...
Send us a text Kelly Walker's story today is a powerful reminder that "the planets align" when we commit to our healing journey, even when it's terrifying.This week’s episode 320of the Fragmented to Whole Podcast is about when the planets align! In this episode of the Fragmented to Whole Podcast, Kelly Walker shares her experience with a profound spiritual awakening after years of sobriety and emphasizes that sobriety alone isn't enough; spiritual living and untangling past issues are cruci...
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I love this podcast it's so helpful