Unspoken Emotions with Rachel Elimelech

In this powerful episode. Rachel sits down with Annie Emprima, a US Army veteran, PTSD survivor, and author of Trauma Whispers Before It Roars. Annie shares her profound journey from adopting a rescuer persona in her childhood to facing immense toxicity and betrayal during her military deployment in Iraq. Candidly unpacking the terrifying reality of being shot at while aboard a C-130 cargo plane, Annie reveals that the enemy fire was ironically the least of her worries compared to the lack of support and entitlement she witnessed from her own leadership.  KEY TAKEAWAYS Childhood conditioning shapes our adult coping mechanisms: Annie explains how her early experiences of taking responsibility for others led her to adopt a "rescuer" persona, a role she carried straight into her military career and marriage. The greatest threats aren't always the most obvious ones: For Annie, the literal danger of being shot at during a deployment to Iraq was far less traumatic than the lack of support, toxicity, and betrayal she experienced from her own leadership and peers. Unprocessed trauma is stored physically in the body: Suppressing emotions and ignoring the "whispers" of a dysregulated nervous system eventually led to Annie's physical collapse, leaving her with severe joint injuries and completely drained of energy. The fantasy of a "haven" can sometimes mask reality: Annie pushed through the darkest days of her deployment by clinging to the fantasy of returning to a supportive home environment. Healing requires letting go of the invisible backpack: A crucial step in recovery is recognizing how much emotional weight you are carrying for yourself and others. We often don't realize how heavy our burdens are until we actively start taking them off and holding space for genuine healing.  BEST MOMENTS "My discomfort of doing nothing was greater than doing something... I wanted to do something." "I was less worried about what the ground fire was doing and more worried about what this dude was going to do while he was on my itinerary." "When I get back to my bed, my soft bed, when I get back to the quiet house, when I get back to this husband that's just going to hold me and let me collapse... I had pushed through on this fantasy." "If I had a cell phone battery in me, the battery was at zero. The phone was shutting down. I just could not move." "We don't understand how much we're really carrying until we start to let go of it and we start to feel lighter. We don't really understand how heavy it is." TO CONNECT WITH ANNIE Website: https://oneemprima.com/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/One.Emprima https://www.tiktok.com/@one.emprima https://www.instagram.com/one.emprima/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/annieemprima/ To connect with your host, follow Me HERE:  Insta:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://www.instagram.com/rachel_unspokenemotions/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  TikTok:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠www.tiktok.com/@rachel.unspoken.em⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Email: ⁠⁠⁠rachel@unspokenemotions.co.uk⁠⁠⁠ Facebook: ⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/rachel.elimelech⁠⁠   To Buy Rachel a Coffee: ⁠⁠https://buymeacoffee.com/unspokenemotions⁠⁠  LinkedIn: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-elimelech-a07a1a46/⁠⁠  HOST BIO   Rachel Elimelech is the warm, courageous voice behind Unspoken Emotions - a podcast that gives voice to the feelings we so often keep buried. A qualified Solicitor and Higher Court Advocate, Rachel combines professional insight with deeply personal lived experience - from surviving sexual abuse, loss, and single parenthood to rebuilding her life with quiet strength and unwavering resilience. Her journey from teenage single mum to respected legal professional has shaped her gift for deep connection. With empathy and authenticity, Rachel creates a safe, judgment-free space where guests are invited to speak the unspoken - grief, guilt, shame, anger, fear - and begin to let go of what no longer serves them. Through honest, unfiltered conversations, Unspoken Emotions explores how real people have turned pain into purpose and silence into healing. Rachel believes that healing begins the moment we speak the truth of our experiences - and that none of us should carry our emotions alone. 

Is there a face behind what you are building? Not a goal. Not a vision. A face. Someone from your past who said something. Who decided something about you. Who wrote you off or doubted you or made you feel like you had something to prove. And you have been quietly, relentlessly - proving them wrong ever since.  In this solo episode Rachel shares something she has never spoken about on this podcast before. The particular exhaustion of driving yourself for years - through study, through qualification, through achievement after achievement - only to lift your head one day and realise that the audience you have been performing for left the building a long time ago.  Rachel became a single mother at 18. She was written off by the people around her - told she was just another statistic, that this was the end of her road. What followed was years of relentless building. College. University. A law degree. Qualification as a solicitor. Higher Rights of Advocacy in both criminal and civil law within her first year of qualifying. Representing clients from the police station to the Crown Court. All of it happening while she was also carrying things most people will never know about. A second child. Her son's abuse. A court case. Years of private devastation running underneath the public achievement. And then - the realisation. That the people whose words had fuelled all of it weren't watching. Had never really been watching. Had said what they said and moved on years ago. KEY TAKEAWAYS Invisible Pressure of Proving Yourself: Many people carry the burden of needing to prove themselves to others, often to voices from their past that have long since moved on. The Impact of Early Labels: Being labeled or judged early in life, such as being a young single mother, can create a strong motivation to defy expectations. However, this can also lead to a relentless pursuit of validation and achievement, often at the expense of self-acceptance and rest. BEST MOMENTS "I want to talk about the exhausting, relentless, completely invisible pressure of feeling like you have something to prove." "I made the decision that I was never going to be that statistic... I decided to go in an entirely different direction." To connect with your host, follow Me HERE:  Insta:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://www.instagram.com/rachel_unspokenemotions/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  TikTok:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠www.tiktok.com/@rachel.unspoken.em⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Email: ⁠⁠⁠rachel@unspokenemotions.co.uk⁠⁠⁠ Facebook:⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/rachel.elimelech⁠⁠⁠   To Buy Rachel a Coffee:⁠ ⁠⁠https://buymeacoffee.com/unspokenemotions⁠⁠⁠  LinkedIn:⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-elimelech-a07a1a46/⁠⁠⁠  HOST BIO   Rachel Elimelech is the warm, courageous voice behind Unspoken Emotions - a podcast that gives voice to the feelings we so often keep buried. A qualified Solicitor and Higher Court Advocate, Rachel combines professional insight with deeply personal lived experience - from surviving sexual abuse, loss, and single parenthood to rebuilding her life with quiet strength and unwavering resilience. Her journey from teenage single mum to respected legal professional has shaped her gift for deep connection. With empathy and authenticity, Rachel creates a safe, judgment-free space where guests are invited to speak the unspoken - grief, guilt, shame, anger, fear - and begin to let go of what no longer serves them. Through honest, unfiltered conversations, Unspoken Emotions explores how real people have turned pain into purpose and silence into healing. Rachel believes that healing begins the moment we speak the truth of our experiences - and that none of us should carry our emotions alone.

In this deeply moving episode, Rachel sits down with Christine a Fortune 500 director, single mother, and author of the memoir The Truth She Showed Me. Christine bravely unpacks her 17-year marriage, a relationship defined not by physical violence, but by the insidious, invisible wounds of coercive control. KEY TAKEAWAYS  Abuse Isn't Always Physical: Coercive control operates through the slow, subtle erosion of a person's identity and autonomy. It is often maintained through micro-moments and subtle manipulations rather than explosive, visible events. The Body Keeps the Score: Psychological and emotional abuse can manifest in severe physical symptoms. Christine experienced autoimmune issues, high blood pressure, racing heart rates, sweating, and chronic insomnia as a direct result of her environment. The Power of a "Tone": For victims of coercive control, a simple shift in their abuser's tone of voice can trigger a full-body trauma response. The body shuts down into a state of "fight, flight, or freeze," even if outsiders cannot perceive the threat. Strategic Exits are Crucial: Leaving a controlling relationship safely often requires careful, covert planning. Christine executed a three-year exit strategy to secure her finances, arrange housing, and ensure her children reached an age where custody dynamics would be safer. Trust Your Body's Signals: When your mind tries to gaslight you into believing "it's not that bad," your body will tell you the truth. Healing begins the moment you stop ignoring your own physical and emotional distress signals and seek confidential support. BEST MOMENTS "I didn't realize how much I had not even changed, I just was a shell of the person that I was 17 years, 18 years prior." "My brain was protecting me by not allowing me to remember all of those things... your body is protecting you. It’s allowing you to survive in the situation you’re in." "You hear a tone and you immediately shut down. Like your body doesn't know what to do. Your brain shuts off, your heart is racing... you don't know if you should stand still and not move, not breathe, or if you should run." "If any one of these physical symptoms hits you when he does something or he says something or uses a certain tone... your body is responding. It is that bad." "The time that I would have invested in him... I reinvested that time in myself and I was like, 'I'm going to be real selfish about this.'" HOW TO CONNECT WITH CHRISINE The Truth She Showed Me (memoir): [https://amzn.to/4t1LoR5]  Instagram: [https://www.instagram.com/thetruthsheshowedme?igsh=Z3IxcWJlcmIyYm5t]  TikTok: [https://www.tiktok.com/@thetruthsheshowedme?_r=1&_t=ZN-95xD2O4csXm]  To connect with your host, follow Me HERE:  Insta:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://www.instagram.com/rachel_unspokenemotions/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  TikTok:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠www.tiktok.com/@rachel.unspoken.em⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Email: ⁠⁠⁠rachel@unspokenemotions.co.uk⁠⁠⁠ Facebook: ⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/rachel.elimelech⁠⁠   To Buy Rachel a Coffee: ⁠⁠https://buymeacoffee.com/unspokenemotions⁠⁠  LinkedIn: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-elimelech-a07a1a46/⁠⁠  HOST BIO   Rachel Elimelech is the warm, courageous voice behind Unspoken Emotions - a podcast that gives voice to the feelings we so often keep buried. A qualified Solicitor and Higher Court Advocate, Rachel combines professional insight with deeply personal lived experience - from surviving sexual abuse, loss, and single parenthood to rebuilding her life with quiet strength and unwavering resilience. Her journey from teenage single mum to respected legal professional has shaped her gift for deep connection. With empathy and authenticity, Rachel creates a safe, judgment-free space where guests are invited to speak the unspoken - grief, guilt, shame, anger, fear - and begin to let go of what no longer serves them. Through honest, unfiltered conversations, Unspoken Emotions explores how real people have turned pain into purpose and silence into healing. Rachel believes that healing begins the moment we speak the truth of our experiences - and that none of us should carry our emotions alone.

We have been told a story about forgiveness. That is the only path to healing. That until you forgive, you are stuck. Holding on to the hurt is only hurting you. The most powerful thing you can do is let it go. But what if that story isn't true for every wound? What if, for some hurts caused by some people, repeated over the years, never acknowledged, forgiveness is not what is needed? What if there is another way through? In this episode, Rachel shares something personal and honest about a relationship in her own life that has caused deep, repeated pain, and the place she eventually found that is not forgiveness but is still, genuinely, free. She calls it making peace. And she is here to tell you that it is not the consolation prize for people who couldn't manage real forgiveness. KEY TAKEAWAYS Healing does not mandate forgiveness: The narrative that you must forgive in order to heal is flawed and can sometimes cause more pain by forcing you to betray your own genuine emotions. Forgiveness and making peace are entirely different: Forgiveness is a specific destination that often involves goodwill toward the offender, whereas making peace is simply the internal choice to no longer carry the emotional weight of the betrayal. The pressure to forgive often serves others: The push for reconciliation often comes from those who benefit from it—whether that's the person who caused the harm or uncomfortable bystanders—rather than what is actually best for your healing. Distance is wisdom, not bitterness: Choosing to step back from a relationship with someone who deeply hurt you is a sign of self-preservation and self-knowledge, not evidence of being "stuck" or unhealed. Your emotional timeline is yours alone: No one else gets to dictate when or how you heal. Making peace is an independent, internal decision that prioritizes your peace of mind over extending unearned grace. BEST MOMENTS "We’ve been sold a story about forgiveness that is causing a lot of women a lot of unnecessary pain." "Forgiveness and making peace are not the same thing. And not even close." "Sometimes, forgiveness is asked for by the people who benefit from it. Sometimes, you are pressured to forgive... because it will make someone else feel more comfortable." "Making peace is the decision to stop letting what happened live rent-free in your body and in your mind. Not because you’ve released the person, but because you are choosing to release yourself." "Sometimes, distance is the clearest evidence that you have finally valued yourself enough to stop going back to the thing that keeps hurting you." To connect with your host, follow Me HERE:  Insta:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://www.instagram.com/rachel_unspokenemotions/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  TikTok:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠www.tiktok.com/@rachel.unspoken.em⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Email: ⁠⁠⁠rachel@unspokenemotions.co.uk⁠⁠⁠ Facebook: ⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/rachel.elimelech⁠⁠   To Buy Rachel a Coffee: ⁠⁠https://buymeacoffee.com/unspokenemotions⁠⁠  LinkedIn: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-elimelech-a07a1a46/⁠⁠  HOST BIO   Rachel Elimelech is the warm, courageous voice behind Unspoken Emotions - a podcast that gives voice to the feelings we so often keep buried. A qualified Solicitor and Higher Court Advocate, Rachel combines professional insight with deeply personal lived experience - from surviving sexual abuse, loss, and single parenthood to rebuilding her life with quiet strength and unwavering resilience. Her journey from teenage single mum to respected legal professional has shaped her gift for deep connection. With empathy and authenticity, Rachel creates a safe, judgment-free space where guests are invited to speak the unspoken - grief, guilt, shame, anger, fear - and begin to let go of what no longer serves them. Through honest, unfiltered conversations, Unspoken Emotions explores how real people have turned pain into purpose and silence into healing. Rachel believes that healing begins the moment we speak the truth of our experiences - and that none of us should carry our emotions alone.

At 26, Natasha Costales was leading an English department, inspiring students, and building a career that looked, from the outside, like everything she had ever wanted. Behind it, she was working 12 to 13-hour days, barely sleeping, experiencing panic attacks so severe that colleagues had to physically remove her from her car. She was binge eating to cope, battling sleep paralysis, and in the depths of a depression she hadn't seen coming. She was the strong one. The ambitious one. The one who kept going. Until one day, she couldn't. Her turning point came in 2016 when her brother, a fitness coach, suggested she come to the gym. She thought it was just a hobby. It turned out to be the beginning of the most profound identity transformation of her life.   In this conversation, Rachel and Natasha go deep on: The hidden cost of being the strong, ambitious woman who always proves herself What burnout actually felt like from the inside - and how gradually it became her normal The panic attacks, the depression, the days she couldn't get out of bed or shower The conversation with her brother that changed the direction of her life Walking into a gym for the first time and feeling completely out of place How strength training gave her back not just her body, but her voice and her boundaries The two-and-a-half-year journey to her first bodybuilding stage Leaving a 10-year teaching career eight weeks before her first show The less-talked-about aftermath of bodybuilding - binge eating disorder, body dysmorphia, and the long road to food freedom Her memoir Beyond the Barbell - and why writing it felt like a second form of healing   This episode is for you if:   Have you ever pushed yourself far past your limits because stopping felt like failing You confuse being productive with being okay You have lost yourself in a role, a relationship, or a version of your life that no longer fits You want to hear an honest account of what recovery from burnout, disordered eating, and body image struggles actually looks like You need someone to remind you that putting yourself first is not selfish - it is survival   "I felt that I was lying to myself about who I was. And I wanted more from my life." - Natasha Costales To connect with your host, follow Me HERE:  Insta:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://www.instagram.com/rachel_unspokenemotions/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  TikTok:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠www.tiktok.com/@rachel.unspoken.em⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Email: ⁠⁠⁠rachel@unspokenemotions.co.uk⁠⁠⁠ Facebook: ⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/rachel.elimelech⁠⁠   To Buy Rachel a Coffee: ⁠⁠https://buymeacoffee.com/unspokenemotions⁠⁠  LinkedIn: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-elimelech-a07a1a46/⁠⁠  HOST BIO   Rachel Elimelech is the warm, courageous voice behind Unspoken Emotions - a podcast that gives voice to the feelings we so often keep buried. A qualified Solicitor and Higher Court Advocate, Rachel combines professional insight with deeply personal lived experience - from surviving sexual abuse, loss, and single parenthood to rebuilding her life with quiet strength and unwavering resilience. Her journey from teenage single mum to respected legal professional has shaped her gift for deep connection. With empathy and authenticity, Rachel creates a safe, judgment-free space where guests are invited to speak the unspoken - grief, guilt, shame, anger, fear - and begin to let go of what no longer serves them. Through honest, unfiltered conversations, Unspoken Emotions explores how real people have turned pain into purpose and silence into healing. Rachel believes that healing begins the moment we speak the truth of our experiences - and that none of us should carry our emotions alone.