68 - Wrapping Up & Moving Forward

[00:00:01] Hi everyone, welcome to The Cult I Left Behind podcast. I'm your host, Amanda Briggs, and I'm here to tell you my stories of growing up in the IBLP cult, which you might know from the Duggar family.

[00:00:15] And I'm your other host, Kyle Briggs. I'm Amanda's husband, and I have not heard most of these stories before, so stay tuned and we'll all get traumatized together.

[00:00:25] Hey, welcome back to the last episode of the year. It's been a very exciting year for us at The Cult I Left Behind. We've had some exciting guests on the show.

[00:00:43] We've had a lot of comments and questions from the listeners out there that are always exciting, and some of my favorite episodes, and lots of questions that we get to answer and hear Amanda's experience and take on

[00:00:59] listener questions.

[00:01:00] I didn't know those were your favorite episodes.

[00:01:02] It is, because it's just, I feel like there's a lot of pressure on me to like answer all these questions or like come up with questions for you. And there's a lot of things I'm like, oh, I never thought about that.

[00:01:13] So it's always cool for me to like get those questions. I'm like, oh man, I didn't think about asking that question.

[00:01:21] So I don't know. I think it adds a lot of depth to the podcast to like have all of these questions coming in from like different advantage or vantage points and, you know, coming from different backgrounds.

[00:01:35] Because, you know, obviously people that aren't involved in religion are going to have different questions than people who were involved in religion or who were Christian or are not Christian or they're, you know.

[00:01:47] From other religions.

[00:01:49] Other religions or, so yeah, it just adds a lot of depth to the content. So I like that.

[00:01:57] And I think I really appreciated all of the messages and just support and love from people. And there have been several episodes this year where I've put some vulnerable stuff out there.

[00:02:11] They're like, you know, I still heard about this or struggle with this. And like just the influx of messages like Amanda, you're not alone. I go through that too. And, and it's like, we started the podcast as a hobby and then it turned into like, wow, I think this might actually be helping people, but you guys help to like, you help us back with the validation and the love and support you send in.

[00:02:34] And so we're very appreciative of that. It's not lost on us. So thank you to everyone who's taken the time to send us a message or a voicemail through the website or leave a comment on Spotify. Like we, we love that. Thank you.

[00:02:50] Yeah, we do go through them all.

[00:02:52] We do.

[00:02:53] I not respond to them all immediately, but we do. At least Amanda definitely goes through and reads every, everything.

[00:03:00] Yeah.

[00:03:01] I check up on them every now and then, but you're, you're very consistent at keeping up with things. So thank you for doing that.

[00:03:08] I'm still, yeah. The response rate, I apologize is slow, but it is all read and appreciated.

[00:03:17] So with that being said, we do have some exciting news for next year, 2025.

[00:03:25] Yes. Can I? Okay. All right. So we're going to start.

[00:03:34] We're going to start.

[00:04:00] We're going to start.

[00:04:12] We're going to start.

[00:04:15] Yeah.

[00:04:17] We're going to start.

[00:04:32] her story. She was raised like the absolute opposite of me around purity culture and healthy

[00:04:40] sexuality and pleasure in sex. Every time she talks, it blows my mind. I learned something

[00:04:49] incredible. She has such a healthy and positive view about sex and sexuality. And I just cannot

[00:04:58] wait. We're sitting down with her in the next couple of weeks to record that session. I can't

[00:05:05] wait to have the conversation with her. I can't wait to share that conversation with you guys. I

[00:05:09] think it's going to be so interesting, especially for those of us who grew up in really restrictive,

[00:05:15] oppressive environments around sex and human sexuality. Every time she talks, I swear something

[00:05:22] inside me heals. So I can't wait to share her with you guys and you guys with her. It's just going

[00:05:28] to be so fun. So we're, we're really excited about those episodes and more episodes that we have

[00:05:35] planned. And we can't wait to share those with you in 2025. So if you guys have stories to share,

[00:05:41] or if you've been in a cult or cult like environment and want to share your story,

[00:05:48] please reach out to us. You can get on cultileftbehind.com. There's a contact page on

[00:05:52] there that will just send an email to us and we're able to respond to you.

[00:05:57] Um, and yeah, if you just want to share your story or if you have an interest on coming on the podcast

[00:06:03] and sharing that story, if you feel comfortable doing that, like, please reach out to us. We'd love

[00:06:07] to talk to you or at least, you know, connect with you and see if it would be a good, if we're a good

[00:06:13] fit for each other. We really do love bringing our listeners onto the show. Um, because I think

[00:06:22] y'all have just based on like the feedback we get from everyone, y'all have so many similar lived

[00:06:28] experiences. Um, and it's, there's like the tragic side of that. And then there's the powerful side of

[00:06:34] that, where I think if y'all speak to each other, um, it would be very affirming and validating and

[00:06:42] healing for each other. So we would really love to continue uplifting voices from our listener base

[00:06:51] on the podcast. If you, if you're comfortable, it's, if it's not going to be a traumatic experience

[00:06:55] for you to talk about it. Um, we just, we really like shining a light on our listener stories.

[00:07:01] Yep. And even if you haven't been in one of those environments or haven't had those experiences,

[00:07:07] and you'd still like to support the podcast, please leave us a review on whatever platform

[00:07:13] you're listening on and follow and follow. Yes. Uh, it does help the podcast get some more reach and,

[00:07:21] uh, allow us to reach out to individuals and, uh, hopefully get more guests on the show in 2025,

[00:07:28] which is kind of our, our goal right now. Um, so yeah, please, you know, like follow,

[00:07:35] follow, subscribe, whatever it is on whatever platform you're listening on.

[00:07:39] And I'll make a specific request because it's the holidays. Like if you listen, if you're,

[00:07:44] if you're a listener, you listen pretty consistently and you haven't left a review yet, like please take

[00:07:48] a second and do that. And if you haven't followed yet, but you listen all the time, please give us

[00:07:54] a follow. Like Kyle said, that does help when we're trying to like reach out and bring new guests,

[00:08:01] um, on the show to be interviewed and stuff. Um, if we can demonstrate that we have some reach that

[00:08:08] really does, that helps the conversations. And if you do want to reach out to us, please keep in

[00:08:15] mind that if you reach out to us through the website, uh, we can respond to you. And, but if you click the

[00:08:22] link in the episode descriptions to send us a text message, that is one way. So please keep that in mind.

[00:08:26] Yeah. That's, that was the distributor, right? That's a limitation that they have. So you can say

[00:08:33] hi and we'll get it and we'll read it and we'll be so glad to hear from you, but we can't text you

[00:08:38] back. We cannot, that's for your safety and privacy. Uh, but if you contact us through the website,

[00:08:44] like Kyle said, we can email you back. So important, important stuff. Cause we don't,

[00:08:50] we don't want that to get lost. Like if you have a story and you want to share it and you text us

[00:08:54] and say like, Hey, I have something I want to talk about. We'll be like, awesome. We can't find you.

[00:08:58] Yeah. That's happened at least once I know.

[00:09:01] So we really want to talk, you know, communicate back to you, but we can't. So yeah, just,

[00:09:09] just keep that in mind that idiosyncrasies of technology and online safety with internet strangers.

[00:09:16] Um, I think something else that is on my heart at this time of year is just how hard the holidays

[00:09:26] can be for folks, um, folks who have a really maybe harmful relationship with loved ones or they've

[00:09:35] had to cut loved ones out of their lives. Um, or it's maybe it's just not safe to be around people

[00:09:43] because of extreme religious views or certain phobias. And so if that's you just know, we're

[00:09:50] thinking about you or sending love, we care about you. I've definitely been there. Uh, holidays can be

[00:09:57] very, very difficult. So don't be afraid to reach out for help. There's nine, eight, eight now the,

[00:10:04] at least in the U S you can dial nine, eight, eight for the suicide hotline. Just please take very good

[00:10:12] care of yourself. Be very gentle with yourself, be in safe places, say no to unsafe people in places,

[00:10:21] prioritize your wellbeing. And also just like a shout out to everyone else who's deconstructing

[00:10:26] Christmas. Cause that's been fun. Um, for me this year in particular, so just want you to know,

[00:10:36] like you're very much not alone and we care and we're sending love. So with that being said,

[00:10:42] it's a great segue into Amanda and I are going to take a couple of weeks off from the podcast,

[00:10:48] uh, and get some rest. And so our next episode will be on January 13th. It's going to be so

[00:10:54] exciting. We're going to have a special guest. Yes. We'll be back with some special guest episodes

[00:10:59] and we hope everybody has a good holiday season and a happy new year. And we'll be back

[00:11:05] on Monday, January 13th. Send in love to you guys. Thanks for being part of our community.

[00:11:10] And remember, don't join a cult. Don't join a cult over the holidays. I know we'll be gone

[00:11:14] for two weeks, but don't do it. Don't join a cult. Thanks for listening to another episode of the

[00:11:20] Cult I Left Behind. Until next time, don't join a cult. If you enjoyed this podcast, please like,

[00:11:27] share, and subscribe, and we will catch you on the next episode.