The world shut down. We were sheltering in place, and my body was telling a story that my mind did not yet understand.

It had been twelve years since that night in the emergency department, when a physician finally gave my pain a name: PTSD.

Like so many others, I tuned in every day as experts tried to guide us through the first global pandemic in more than 100 years. As the uncertainty grew, I began to recognize something profound. My body was responding to global insecurity the same way it had responded as a young child living through neglect, abandonment, and abuse. There were moments when my nervous system struggled to tell the difference between 1980 and 2020.

Still seeking to understand trauma and PTSD, I went looking for someone who could connect what was happening in the world with what was happening inside of me. Once again, I struggled to find anyone talking about trauma in ways that made sense to me—ways that were compassionate, practical, and grounded in hope rather than confusion.

Then one afternoon, while lying in my hammock during what we all thought would be "14 days to flatten the curve," I remembered a friend encouraging me to start a podcast. I sincerely wanted to be a resource for people that were looking for practical trauma information that could promote healing and giving hope people like me. And a podcast seemed like a good place to start.

So, I ordered a microphone from Amazon, cleaned out a closet, and recorded the first episode of Wednesdays with Watson.

I had no idea that a simple podcast would become the beginning of something much bigger.

Since 2020, Wednesdays with Watson has become a place where I strive to educate, encourage, and empower people by making stress, trauma, and burnout understandable. My hope has always been to provide compassionate education, practical tools, and the reassurance that healing is possible.

The podcast was only the beginning. It gave me the final push to return to school, earn my doctorate, and continue becoming the person I once needed.