This Feels Familiar with Minaa B.

Epizode

• 
  82: Signs You Struggle With Emotional Intimacy (And How to Change That) 11.08.2026 39min

  In this episode, Minaa B. explores emotional intimacy—what it is, why it's essential in all relationships, and the signs you're struggling with it. Sources cited in this episode: Gottman & Silver (2015) - Research on open and honest communication in couples and relationship satisfaction Laurenceau et al. - Research on couples with high emotional closeness and relationship satisfaction Karremans et al. (2017) - Research on mindfulness and presence in relationships and emotional connection Recent Study (2024) from MDPI - Childhood emotional abuse and its impact on attachment and fear of intimacy Resources Website: minaab.com Newsletter:  ⁠⁠⁠Subscribe here Order my book: Owning Our Struggles⁠⁠⁠ Stay Connected! ⁠Instagram LinkedIn⁠  Facebook⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
• 
  81: How to Stop Catastrophic Thinking: It's Hurting You and Your Relationships 04.08.2026 30min

  In this episode, Minaa B. explores catastrophic thinking—the anxious brain's tendency to jump from small triggers straight to worst-case outcomes—and how this pattern sabotages both mental health and relationships. Resources Website: minaab.com Newsletter:  ⁠⁠⁠Subscribe here Order my book: Owning Our Struggles⁠⁠⁠ Stay Connected! ⁠Instagram LinkedIn⁠  Facebook⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
• 
  80: How to Make and Sustain Friendships as an Adult 28.07.2026 31min

  In this episode, Minaa B. addresses one of the hardest things about adulthood: making and sustaining friendships. She shares research on adult loneliness and how friendships naturally decline without proximity and intentional effort. Minaa explores the barriers to friendship, then breaks down concrete steps for making friends. SOURCES CITED IN THIS EPISODE American Perspectives Survey (2021) - Data on friendship decline from 1990 to 2021 American Psychological Association Stress in America Survey (2024-2025) - Data on loneliness, isolation, and lack of companionship Jeffrey Hall, University of Kansas - "How Many Hours Does It Take to Make a Friend?" published in Journal of Social and Personal Relationships (2018) - Research on contact hours needed for different stages of friendships. Resources Website: minaab.com Newsletter:  ⁠⁠⁠Subscribe here Order my book: Owning Our Struggles⁠⁠⁠ Stay Connected! ⁠Instagram LinkedIn⁠  Facebook⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
• 
  79: How to Set Firm Boundaries: The Difference Between Kindness & Niceness 21.07.2026 31min

  In this episode, Minaa B. explores the crucial difference between being nice and being kind—and why this distinction is transforming how people show up in their relationships. She breaks down how niceness prioritizes others' comfort over your own well-being, while kindness involves telling the truth and setting boundaries. Resources Website: minaab.com Newsletter:  ⁠⁠⁠Subscribe here Order my book: Owning Our Struggles⁠⁠⁠ Stay Connected! ⁠Instagram LinkedIn⁠  Facebook⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
• 
  78: The Longevity Hack No One Is Talking About: Healthy Relationships 23.06.2026 30min

  In this episode, Minaa B. examines what unhealthy relationships actually look like—and why people normalize them. She breaks down six key signs of unhealthy relationships and explores why people don't recognize these patterns. The episode covers romantic relationships, friendships, family dynamics, and sibling relationships—recognizing that relationship quality is one of the biggest predictors of longevity and health, yet most people ignore it while optimizing everything else. Website: minaab.com Newsletter:  ⁠⁠⁠Subscribe here Order my book: Owning Our Struggles⁠⁠⁠ Stay Connected! ⁠Instagram LinkedIn⁠  Facebook⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
• 
  77: Healing Childhood Wounds in Dating 09.06.2026 24min

  In this episode, Minaa B. explores how childhood wounds—specifically emotional neglect and abandonment—show up in your dating patterns and sabotage your relationships. She also examines the often-overlooked role of sibling dynamics in shaping these wounds, including golden child/scapegoat patterns that compound feelings of unworthiness. Minaa breaks down how these wounds manifest in dating and offers concrete healing practices. The core message: your childhood shaped you, but it doesn't have to define your adult relationships. Resources Work with me: Book a 1:1 therapy consultation. Website: minaab.com Newsletter:  ⁠⁠⁠Subscribe here Order my book: Owning Our Struggles⁠⁠⁠ Stay Connected! ⁠Instagram LinkedIn⁠  Facebook⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
• 
  76: When They Won't Change: Grieving the Relationship That Won't Heal 02.06.2026 34min

  In this episode, Minaa B. addresses a question she hears constantly in therapy: "What else can I do to make this relationship work?" She explores the signs that you've already done enough, examines why we keep trying, and guides listeners through the painful shift from "How do I fix this?" to "Can I make peace with this relationship being what it is?" Resources Website: minaab.com Newsletter:  ⁠⁠⁠Subscribe here Order my book: Owning Our Struggles⁠⁠⁠ Stay Connected! ⁠Instagram LinkedIn⁠  Facebook⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
• 
  75: That Never Ending Feeling That You're Not Enough 26.05.2026 31min

  In this episode, Minaa B. addresses the persistent feeling of not being enough that many people carry from childhood emotional neglect. She explores what emotional neglect teaches about worth—that love is conditional, needs are too much, and you're fundamentally lacking—and why this wound is so hard to heal. Resources Work with me: Book a 1:1 therapy consultation. Website: minaab.com Newsletter:  ⁠⁠⁠Subscribe here Order my book: Owning Our Struggles⁠⁠⁠ Stay Connected! ⁠Instagram LinkedIn⁠  Facebook⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
• 
  74: Shame Isn't a Boundary: Stop Policing Normal Human Behavior 12.05.2026 31min

  In this episode, Minaa B. explores a pattern she's seeing: people using morally charged, shame-based language to control others' behavior instead of exercising their own agency through boundaries. She examines how terms like "invasive," "rude," and "offensive" are used to police normal communication behaviors rather than to develop assertiveness and boundaries. Minaa breaks down where your agency actually lies and offers eight strategies for exercising it rather than policing behavior. Resources Work with me: Book a 1:1 therapy consultation. Website: minaab.com Newsletter:  ⁠⁠⁠Subscribe here Order my book: Owning Our Struggles⁠⁠⁠ Stay Connected! ⁠Instagram LinkedIn⁠  Facebook⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
• 
  73: You Don't Have Imposter Syndrome, You Have a Scarcity Blueprint 05.05.2026 34min

  In this episode, Minaa B. reframes imposter syndrome as a scarcity blueprint—a relational pattern learned in childhood, not a personal failing. She explores the roots of chronic self-doubt through the first dimension of The Siblinghood Theory: Competition and Scarcity. Minaa examines how growing up competing with siblings and peers for limited love, attention, and recognition creates a blueprint of "I'm not good enough" that follows you into adulthood. She breaks down what happens when you watch others receive what you can't access, when love feels conditional on performance, when nothing you do is ever good enough, and when wanting recognition is treated as selfish. She then offers eight strategies for revising your scarcity blueprint and internalizing your worth. Resources Work with me: Book a 1:1 therapy consultation. Website: minaab.com Newsletter:  ⁠⁠⁠Subscribe here Order my book: Owning Our Struggles⁠⁠⁠ Stay Connected! ⁠Instagram LinkedIn⁠  Facebook⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
• 
  72: Sibling Codependency: When You Can't Function Apart 28.04.2026 26min

  In this episode, Minaa B. explores sibling codependency—when closeness crosses into enmeshment and siblings can't function independently. She defines what sibling codependency looks like, why it develops and gives special attention to twins who are often expected to be a single unit rather than two separate people. Minaa then breaks down the crucial distinction between codependency and healthy closeness, and offers strategies for separating while staying connected through healthy boundary differentiation, emphasizing that you can individuate and still maintain a meaningful sibling bond. Resources Work with me: ⁠Book a 1:1 therapy consultation⁠. Website: ⁠minaab.com⁠ Newsletter:  ⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe here⁠ Order my book: ⁠Owning Our Struggles⁠⁠⁠⁠ Stay Connected! ⁠⁠Instagram⁠ ⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠  ⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
• 
  71: Are You The Functional Eldest Child? How Parentification Impacted Middle & Younger Siblings 21.04.2026 35min

  In this episode, Minaa B. challenges the narrative that only eldest daughters are parentified by giving voice to middle and younger children who were forced to become the "functional eldest" in their families. She explores five key reasons why middle and younger children end up carrying adult responsibilities and how parentification fundamentally distorts sibling relationships by creating resentment. She offers concrete strategies for navigating these damaged relationships and retiring from the parentified role as an adult. Resources Work with me: Book a 1:1 therapy consultation. Website: minaab.com Newsletter:  ⁠⁠⁠Subscribe here Order my book: Owning Our Struggles⁠⁠⁠ Stay Connected! ⁠Instagram LinkedIn⁠  Facebook⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
• 
  70: How Parental Favoritism Impacted Your Sibling Relationships 14.04.2026 33min

  In this episode, Minaa B. explores how parental favoritism fundamentally damages sibling relationships through the lens of The Siblinghood Theory. She breaks down what favoritism actually looks like and examines the specific burdens carried by favored and unfavored children. She then explores how favoritism destroys the sibling bond and offers concrete strategies for working through favoritism with your sibling—from naming the dynamic to deciding when repair is possible versus when distance is healthier. Resources Work with me: Book a 1:1 therapy consultation. Website: minaab.com Newsletter:  ⁠⁠⁠Subscribe here Order my book: Owning Our Struggles⁠⁠⁠ Stay Connected! ⁠Instagram LinkedIn⁠  Facebook⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
• 
  69: Why Siblings Drift Apart in Adulthood 07.04.2026 28min

  In this episode, Minaa B. explores why siblings drift apart in adulthood—a question she's asked constantly as a therapist specializing in sibling relationships. Drawing from research on sibling dynamics, she breaks down the complex factors that create distance: childhood closeness that was really just proximity, personality and temperament differences, the impact of mental illness and addiction, poor family cohesion, unresolved childhood conflict, and how life transitions pull siblings in different directions. She also addresses the painful reality that some sibling alienation starts in childhood—long before adulthood makes it obvious. With compassion and clarity, Minaa offers practical strategies for navigating sibling distance, whether you want to rebuild connection or make peace with letting go. Resources Work with me: Book a 1:1 therapy consultation. Website: minaab.com Newsletter:  ⁠⁠⁠Subscribe here Order my book: Owning Our Struggles⁠⁠⁠ Stay Connected! ⁠Instagram LinkedIn⁠  Facebook⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
• 
  68: Stop Bringing Old Wounds Into New Relationships 31.03.2026 23min

  In this episode, Minaa B. explores why it’s so easy to carry old relational wounds into new relationships—and how those unresolved patterns can quietly shape the way you connect, communicate, and respond to conflict. If you’ve ever felt like your reactions in relationships are bigger than the moment, struggled to trust even when someone shows up consistently, or noticed yourself repeating the same patterns with different people, this episode is for you. Using The Siblinghood Theory as a framework, Minaa breaks down how your earliest relational experiences influence your expectations of belonging, and how those patterns can show up in ways that sabotage connection. This episode will help you: Understand why past relationship experiences still affect you Identify signs that old wounds are showing up in your current relationships Recognize how these patterns impact trust, communication, and emotional safety Learn practical ways to respond differently and build healthier connections Because the goal isn’t to erase your past—it’s to understand when it’s shaping your present, so you can choose something different. Resources Work with me: Book a 1:1 therapy consultation. Website: minaab.com Newsletter:  ⁠⁠⁠Subscribe here Order my book: Owning Our Struggles⁠⁠⁠ Stay Connected! ⁠Instagram LinkedIn⁠  Facebook⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
• 
  67:Dealing With Rejection While Dating 24.03.2026 29min

  In this episode, Minaa B. breaks down why rejection while dating can feel so much deeper than it “should”—and why it often has less to do with the moment and more to do with your relational history. If you’ve ever found yourself overanalyzing what went wrong, questioning your worth, or feeling like rejection hits harder than expected, this conversation will help you understand why. Through the lens of belonging, conflict, and relational patterns, Minaa explores how rejection activates old wounds, what it reveals about your need for connection, and how your past experiences may be shaping your present reactions. This episode will help you: Understand why rejection feels so intense Recognize the patterns it triggers Stop internalizing rejection as a reflection of your worth Navigate dating with more clarity and emotional grounding Because rejection isn’t just about someone else’s decision—it’s about what that experience taps into within you. Work with me: Book a 1:1 therapy consultation. Website: minaab.com Newsletter:  ⁠⁠⁠Subscribe here Order my book: Owning Our Struggles⁠⁠⁠ Stay Connected! ⁠Instagram LinkedIn⁠  Facebook⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
• 
  66: Why Situationships Are So Hard to Leave 17.03.2026 23min

  In this episode, Minaa B. explores the situationship you know you're in—not the confusing kind, but the one where you're fully aware it's not going anywhere, and you're stuck anyway. With warmth and zero judgment, she breaks down why you stay even when you know better: the need for connection over loneliness, the fear of conflict and rupture, scarcity thinking around relationships, and the real emotional safety some situationships provide. Minaa offers compassionate strategies for moving forward when you're ready—not shame tactics, but real understanding of what's keeping you there. If you're in a situationship and can't seem to leave, this episode is for you. Work with me: Book a 1:1 therapy consultation. Website: minaab.com Newsletter:  ⁠⁠⁠Subscribe here Order my book: Owning Our Struggles⁠⁠⁠ Stay Connected! ⁠Instagram LinkedIn⁠  Facebook⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
• 
  65: Loving Yourself Doesn't Stop You from Choosing the Wrong Person 10.03.2026 19min

  In this episode, Minaa B. challenges the idea that self-love is enough to stop you from choosing the wrong person. She breaks down why relationship choices are driven by unconscious patterns, not just self-worth—exploring how your brain seeks familiarity over health, how early sibling and peer dynamics create blueprints for attraction, and how external pressure (the financial and social cost of being single) pushes people toward relationships that aren't right for them. Minaa offers practical strategies for recognizing when you're repeating old patterns and for making different choices. If you've ever wondered why you keep choosing emotionally unavailable people despite doing all the work on yourself, this episode is for you. Resources Work with me:  Book a 1:1 therapy consultation. Website: minaab.com Newsletter:  ⁠⁠⁠Subscribe here Order my book: Owning Our Struggles⁠⁠⁠ Stay Connected! ⁠Instagram LinkedIn⁠  Facebook⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
• 
  64: Why You Can't Celebrate Your Friend's Success 03.03.2026 31min

  In this episode, Minaa B. speaks directly to the friend who struggles with envy—the one whose chest tightens when someone shares good news, who can't quite bring themselves to celebrate a peer's success. She explores how sibling dynamics and peer relationships taught us that success is limited, and why your friend's win can feel like your failure. Minaa breaks down where envy comes from, why adult experiences reinforce scarcity thinking, and offers practical strategies for processing the feeling without letting shame ruin your friendships. If you've ever been the jealous friend and felt too ashamed to admit it, this episode is for you. Resources Work with me: Book a 1:1 therapy consultation. Website: minaab.com Newsletter:  ⁠⁠⁠Subscribe here Order my book: Owning Our Struggles⁠⁠⁠ Stay Connected! ⁠Instagram LinkedIn⁠  Facebook⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
• 
  63: Family Estrangement Isn't a Trend—It's Survival 24.02.2026 25min

  In this episode, Minaa B. tackles the polarizing discourse around family estrangement—is it a trend or survival? She breaks down what estrangement really is, why people choose it, and what's missing from the social media conversation: the grief, the ambivalence, the cost, and the complexity that a 60-second video can't capture. Drawing on concepts like little t traumas and "death by a thousand paper cuts," Minaa explains how estrangement is rarely about one incident but rather years of unmet needs and unrepaired harm. If the online discourse has left you confused about whether cutting off family is brave or giving up, this episode brings the nuance that's been missing. Work with me Book a 1:1 therapy consultation. Resources Website: minaab.com Newsletter:  ⁠⁠⁠Subscribe here Order my book: Owning Our Struggles⁠⁠⁠ Stay Connected! ⁠Instagram LinkedIn⁠  Facebook⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices