How A 5:30am Therapist & A Bonfire Changed Everything: Kimberly Souba's Journey

⚠️ Content Warning: This episode includes detailed discussion of childhood sexual abuse, parental abandonment, and a teenage suicide attempt. Please take care while listening. Some people survive the kind of childhood that should have broken them, then spend years figuring out how to feel safe in their own body again. That's the heart of Maria's conversation with Kimberly Souba — a story of surviving childhood sexual abuse, parental abandonment, addiction in the home, and a suicide attempt, and then choosing a life built on healing instead of hiding. Kimberly walks through the moments that shaped her resilience, including the grandparents and neighbors who stepped in when the adults who should have protected her didn't. She and Maria also talk candidly about trauma symptoms that can linger for decades — hypervigilance, night terrors, and the constant fight-or-flight feeling that can drive anxiety and depression well into adulthood. What makes this conversation especially practical is Kimberly's "toolbox" approach to trauma recovery: a decade of 5:30am therapy sessions, prayer and spiritual direction, journaling, breathwork, affirmations, and boundaries she actually keeps. She shares how revisiting a box of old journals she'd once planned to burn led to over 150 poems and prayers — eventually becoming her first published book, From Death to New Life: The Transformation of a Soul, and a bigger mission to help others move from surviving to thriving. If you've ever wondered whether your past will always define you, this conversation will meet you right where you are. If you or someone you know is struggling: the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available 24/7 by call or text (988). You are not alone. Connect with Kimberly Souba: 🌐 Website: www.ksouba.com 📸 Instagram: @adventuresinfaithandwonder   / adventuresinfaithandwonder   📘 Facebook: Page: Adventures in Faith and Wonder Books   / faithandwonderbooks   Personal: Kimberly Souba   / kimberly.souba   📖 NEW BOOK: Against All Odds: The Less Than 1% Chance I wasn't supposed to survive. As the surviving twin with less than a 1% chance at life, I've spent my whole existence beating odds nobody expected me to beat. In this memoir and anthology, I share my story alongside eight other unbelievable accounts of people who refused to let impossible circumstances write their ending, from cancer and addiction to childhood trauma and grief. Eleven stories. One roadmap for anyone who's ever been told "you can't." Get your copy here: https://books.by/love-your-life