Episode 21

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Published on:

18th Aug 2025

When Chaos Feels Like Home

This isn’t just a story—it’s a reckoning. Daria shares her unfiltered journey from early abandonment, generational trauma, and toxic home dynamics to mental health collapse and radical healing. She pulls no punches.

  • 💣 Surviving a father’s mental illness & cultural silence
  • 🚨 Coping with alcohol, control, and chaos addiction
  • 💔 Being kicked out at 17 after speaking her truth
  • 🧠 How even a career in mental health didn’t stop the spiral
  • ⚡ The moment her body forced her to stop
  • 💥 Why somatic healing succeeded when talk therapy failed

🎙️ What We Talk About:

  • The early imprint of chaos on the nervous system
  • Cultural perfectionism and emotional abandonment
  • The addiction to stress and drama no one talks about
  • High-functioning depression behind mental health careers
  • How trauma hides in overachievement, food, and fitness
  • Somatic healing and reclaiming body safety


🔑 Key Takeaways:

“My body collapsed before I gave myself permission to rest.”
“I wasn’t addicted to alcohol. I was addicted to the silence it gave me.”
“Chaos felt like home. Peace felt dangerous.”
“I stopped waiting to be rescued and started rescuing myself.”


🙌 Why This Episode Matters:


Most people don’t recognize survival mode until it nearly kills them. Daria’s story is a mirror for every high-achieving woman who’s been rewarded for being in pain. This episode names the trauma, normalizes the crash, and models the rebuild.


💬 Connect with Daria:

🔗 Resources & Links:




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About the Podcast

Survival Mode Disrupted with Leticia R Francis
Disrupted 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.

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