Episode 14

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Published on:

17th Aug 2025

Motherless, Not Loveless

What happens when the absence of a mother shapes your entire identity? In this deeply personal and powerfully reflective episode, Luisa shares her journey of growing up with an emotional void, enduring layers of abuse, and creating a life based solely on not wanting her kids to feel what she felt.

Together, we dive into:

  • 💔 What a mother wound actually is—and how it controls more than we think
  • 🚫 The trap of hyper-mothering and emotional overcompensation
  • 👀 Why survival mode can feel like love when you’ve never felt safe
  • 🔥 The reprogramming required to become someone new
  • 🧠 How autopilot motherhood robs women of their identity
  • 🧘🏽‍♀️ And the quiet power of three minutes of stillness to start your reinvention

This episode is a reclamation. Raw. Brave. Necessary.


🎙️ What We Talk About:

  • Surviving emotional neglect and abuse in the name of “looking good”
  • How trauma rewires us for over-functioning and emotional avoidance
  • The identity crisis of women who only know themselves as mothers
  • The “sacrificial lamb” story and the cost of self-abandonment
  • Rewriting your life post-divorce and post-trauma
  • The danger of romanticizing pain when it’s all you’ve ever known
  • Why meditation and inner stillness are powerful disruptors of survival mode


🔑 Key Takeaways:

“It looked good on the outside, but on the inside, it wasn’t worth the paper it was printed on.”
“I didn’t prioritize myself—I prioritized preventing my children from feeling what I felt.”
“You’re not your trauma. You’re what you choose to become after it.”
“The world changed the moment I took radical ownership of my story.”


🙌 Why This Episode Matters:

So many women live their entire lives on autopilot—nurturing others, hiding pain, calling it “normal.” But unaddressed mother wounds don’t just disappear. They replicate. This episode is a call to awareness, a reflection for every woman who’s ever sacrificed herself to feel worthy. Luisa’s story is your permission slip: to stop performing. To stop surviving. To start becoming.


💬 Connect with Luisa:

🌐 Website: www.flyingupstream.com

🎙️ Podcast: Flying Upstream


🔗 Resources & Links:


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Show artwork for Survival Mode Disrupted with Leticia R Francis

About the Podcast

Survival Mode Disrupted with Leticia R Francis
Disruptive Unapologetic Conversations about Survival Mode
Survival Mode Disrupted is not just a podcast. It's a rebellion.

A raw, unfiltered space where we finally stop pretending we're fine and start telling the truth—the truth about the trauma we've carried, the identities they had to wear to survive, and the radical decisions we made to break free.

Because here's the deal: survival mode isn’t just a season. It’s a damn identity. One that so many were forced to adopt just to get through life, to stay safe, to stay needed, to stay sane. But eventually, it starts costing you more than it protects. Your peace. Your purpose. Your power.

This podcast is for the disruptors—the people who were told to stay small, stay silent, stay grateful for crumbs… and said “hell no.”

Hosted by Leticia, The Survival Mode Disruptor herself—a trauma recovery mentor, speaker, and woman who has lived through the fires of abuse, betrayal, and breakdown and still chose to rise—this show dives deep into the unapologetic exits from survival mode that no one talks about.

You’ll hear from women (and a few brave men) who walked away from toxic relationships, soul-sucking careers, generational dysfunction, religious trauma, cultural expectations, and the lies they were taught to believe about themselves. Not because it was easy—but because staying would’ve killed something sacred inside of them.

These are the stories of bold pivots, quiet courage, and messy but miraculous rebirths.

Each episode is a conversation—a disruption—meant to wake something up in you. Whether it’s a guest sharing the moment they chose themselves for the first time, or Leticia dropping a truth bomb that makes you question everything you’ve normalized, this podcast is here to shake the foundation of your survival mode identity and replace it with something truer. Something freer.

We’re not here for surface-level self-care tips or fake empowerment slogans.

We’re here to talk about what it really takes to:

Reclaim your voice after being silenced.

Reinvent yourself after being broken down.

Rewrite your story when everyone else wants you to stay the same.

Release the guilt of choosing YOU.

This is for those who are done performing. Done pleasing. Done pretending.

It’s for the ones ready to exit survival mode—not slowly, not quietly, but disruptively and unapologetically.

You won’t leave this podcast the same.
You’ll cry. You’ll rage. You’ll laugh.
You’ll see yourself in every story.
And more importantly, you’ll remember who the hell you are.

Welcome to Survival Mode Disrupted.
It’s not just a podcast.
It’s a movement.
And your exit begins here.

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About your host

Profile picture for Leticia Francis

Leticia Francis

I am not here to inspire you—I am here to activate you.

As a Survivor, Keynote Speaker, and Trauma Recovery Mentor, I know what it’s like to fight battles no one sees. I also know that breaking free is possible. My work is about disrupting survival mode, exposing trauma-driven success cycles, and giving women the blueprint to reclaim their lives.

🔹 200+ podcast features & speaking engagements
🔹 Global Women of Choice Award Winner 2022
🔹 Creator of the Survival Mode Exit Plan
🔹 Host of Survival Mode Disrupted Podcast