Celebrating 1 Year of The Healing Heroes: Lessons, Milestones, & What’s Next

Happy 1st Birthday to The Healing Heroes Podcast!!

In this heartfelt solo episode, Host Chandler Stroud reflects on the show's first anniversary by sharing the top five lessons she’s learned from a year of Hero conversations and personal breakthroughs. She recounts the transformative moments that shaped her journey (from leaving a corporate career to navigating profound inner change), and gives a sneak peek of what's to come (more lessons, new voices, and powerful stories). 

Whether you’re new to the podcast or you've been embarking on your own healing journey alongside Chandler from the start, this one-year celebration is a reminder that growth isn’t always linear, but it’s always worth it. 

 What You Will Learn

• [00:07:04] Why self-worth is the foundation of all healing
  [00:08:30] How the body stores unprocessed emotions — and what it’s trying to tell you
  [00:10:00] What it means to surrender
  [00:10:30] Why healing doesn’t happen in isolation, and the power of shared transformation
  [00:11:00] How joy is connected to meaning — and what that has to do with healing messages

Resources Mentioned

• The Awakened Brain by Dr. Lisa Miller (Book) 

Let’s Connect!
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Chandler Stroud

Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

Mixing and editing provided by Next Day Podcast.

Transcript

[00:00:00] Chandler Stroud: Hey guys, it's Chandler and welcome to The Healing Heroes. I promise you.

I'm Chandler Stroud, an executive wife and busy mom of two who after years of living with anxiety. Health struggles and an unshakeable feeling like I should be happier, made a profound discovery that changed everything. Join me on a journey where unexpected paths lead to [00:00:30] healing and more happiness. On this show, we will explore unconventional ways to unlock more joy in your own life with the help of my very own healers.

And trusted advisors, the Healing Heroes.

Hey friends. Welcome back to the show. I am your host Chandler, and today is a big one. This solo episode celebrates a full year since the [00:01:00] Healing Heroes Podcast launched in July of 2024. And I wanna begin by saying this. Thank you. Thank you to all of you for listening, for sharing, for growing alongside me on this journey and to my heroes.

I wouldn't be here without you, certainly not in this place of peace and self understanding. For me, personal perspective, but also. With respect to what we've been able to [00:01:30] accomplish with this show, with your help, I've discovered the kind of fulfillment I thought was out of reach, and I'm so grateful to continue learning alongside each and every one of you, and for the friendships that we've built along the way and to our listeners.

You've helped make this space sacred and real, a space where women can unearth joy, healing, and learn to take back the power they may have forgotten they had, [00:02:00] but has always been there. Waiting to be rediscovered. A year ago, this podcast came to me not as a plan, but as a download, a divine interruption in the early hours of mourning that didn't nudge, but insisted, share the healing, shine a light on the incredible healers and approaches that helped you come back to life.

Now over 60 episodes later and listened to in [00:02:30] 68 countries. Here we are today. I wanna share what I've learned from a year of listening, listening to my heroes, to myself, to all of you. This is a celebration, but it's also a reflection, a collection of wisdom. I hope you'll help me carry forward. I. Lesson number one, self-worth is the [00:03:00] foundation of all healing.

I think the most profound takeaway from my own healing journey and connecting the dots across my heroes is this, your self-worth sets the energy. Tone and ceiling for your life. Whether the conversation was grounded in mind, body, or a spirit focused approach, every single interview returned to the idea that you cannot out achieve out [00:03:30] diet or outrun low self-worth.

It shows up in our relationships, our health, our careers, and our ability to access joy. And I think. The most challenging thing I learned is that those negative and limiting self beliefs live in our subconscious mind where we don't even realize they're at the helm of how we show up in our present day lives.

In fact, some of my [00:04:00] most. Powerful personal breakthroughs. This year came when I discovered how my own feelings of unworthiness were driving my anxiety and my physical symptoms. Healing began the moment I became aware of them, began changing the script, and then chose something better. Lesson number two, your body is always eavesdropping on your mind.

The body holds [00:04:30] what the mind forgets. I heard this message echoed across my conversations on acupuncture, EMDR, sound healing, MFR and breath work to name a few, and frankly is the profound realization that began my entire healing journey. Our bodies remember what we have tried to ignore or push aside without us even realizing the lessons that were cemented in our understanding of the world.

Whether you [00:05:00] experience backaches, migraines, shoulder tension, jaw clenching, digestive discomfort, or even a chronic illness, it all tells a story. And if we learn to pay attention. The body can become a doorway for profound release. Through this podcast, I've come to understand that the nervous system isn't just a physical or biological system.

It [00:05:30] serves as a spiritual and emotional guide for us every single day. And we begin healing not just through the mind and telling ourselves to feel better, but when we speak to our bodies in a language, our physical form understands. Communicating that it's safe to let down our armor. Lesson number three, intuition, spirituality and the unseen are real tools for [00:06:00] growth.

Another clear through line this year. The power of intuition, whether we called it God source, the universe, inner knowing, or a gut feeling, we kept returning to the idea that we all have access to this divine knowing. There is a science to spirituality, as is explained by Dr. Lisa Miller in her book, the Awakened Brain.

That concept was reinforced throughout my conversations with multiple [00:06:30] heroes this year. Every human on earth was born with the capacity to experience, deep connection and awe, to feel a sense of oneness with something bigger than themselves, and to experience meaningful coincidences. It is a biological imperative.

My heroes taught me that intuition isn't magic, it's memory. It's the wisdom we carry from lifetimes, [00:07:00] ancestors and experiences and returning to who we truly are, deep inside our highest selves. And the more we slow down and embrace the power of pause, the more guidance we receive. This podcast, this show, it came from a divine download, and that is not a coincidence that my friends is called Alignment.

Lesson number four, healing requires the trust to let [00:07:30] go. One of the hardest things that I've had to learn this past year is how to stop gripping so tightly. Most of us realized early in life that control equals safety, that if we plan enough, achieve enough. Perfect enough will finally feel okay. But the truth is healing begins when you can learn how to let go of outcomes and trust that you are being held, loved [00:08:00] and guided in ways that you often cannot see.

My mindset coach, my therapist, my spiritual mentors, and even body work practitioners, they all help me see the power. Surrender in letting go of outcomes in learning to trust my body, my timing, and my path. Lesson number five, you are never alone in your healing. [00:08:30] Perhaps the most beautiful lesson I've learned is that healing does not happen in isolation, whether it's the accountability of a coach.

The presence of a therapist, the comfort of a community, or the nearness of a departed loved one. Healing happens in relationship. We are not meant to do this work alone. Through this podcast, I've been reminded over and. Again, we are all connected. [00:09:00] Your healing is my healing. My healing makes space for yours.

And even when it feels like you're at the end of your rope or lost in some vast wilderness, I promise you this. You are never alone. All these lessons and more I now carry with me thanks to my heroes, and they have been invaluable during my own times of difficulty this past year. Healing is not linear.

Life [00:09:30] will still throw you curve balls. It's about how you respond to and navigate those challenges that reflects how far you've come in your journey toward peace. I've had to learn this lesson the hard way this past year. 2024 into 2025 represents an immense year of change growth. Grief and leaps of faith, whether leaving a successful 15 plus year [00:10:00] career in corporate marketing to launch a podcast, uprooting my family to move three times, one of which on Christmas Eve, crippling insomnia that lasted months.

A serious injury that required bedrest and the loss of my original hero, my father, this past fall to cancer in many ways. This past year felt like some sort of twisted final exam, like God or the universe was saying, [00:10:30] Chandler, you've done so much work, but now I need to know if you're ready for what comes next.

And I say that not because I'm scared of the future, but incredibly optimistic actually. And. I not only want my nervous system to be able to handle it, but I also wanna look back knowing I was fully present for every single minute of it. I recently learned that ancient Greeks defined [00:11:00] happiness as the joy we feel striving for our potential.

Joy is inextricably linked to meaning. And that my friends, I have found in spades this past year doing the work with my heroes and alongside all of you. So what's next for the Healing Heroes Podcast? More voices, more tools, more stories that remind you of your worth and your [00:11:30] wholeness. Season two launches later this summer with your favorite heroes returning, but this time with fresh insights.

New voices and maybe even some new healing tools to explore. You'll not only hear from the experts you love, but also from the women. They've helped women who are now ready to share their own stories of healing and triumph so that anyone listening who may be struggling [00:12:00] knows. You are not alone, and I wanna hear from you.

What's helped you the most? What do you want more of? What story do you have that you're ready to share? Reach out to me by visiting healing heroes podcast.com for more information because this space. It's for all of us. I'll also be announcing the official launch of the Healing Heroes Happiness Academy this fall [00:12:30] for anyone wanting to find community and healing a step-by-step roadmap for real.

Lasting transformation and a chance to work with me and my heroes one-on-one. Just follow us on Instagram at Healing Heroes Podcast to stay in the know or visit our website to subscribe to our monthly newsletter where you'll be the first to know when the academy launches. To my heroes. Thank you for your [00:13:00] generosity, your brilliance, your authenticity, and your friendship.

To my small but mighty team of boss Babes who support the show behind the scenes, Amber, Brittany. Brianna, thank you for your contributions for making this show the best it can be and for believing in our mission from the start. To my listeners, thank you for walking this road with me, for [00:13:30] staying open-minded and for sharing these conversations with women in your life who may find them helpful.

I. Here's to another year of healing, remembering, and rising. Thanks for listening, everyone, and as always, I will leave you with these parting words. Be curious, be courageous, and be kind to yourself. You've got [00:14:00] this.