Jace Downey, Recovery Empowerment Specialist, shares her powerful story of struggling with sex addiction. After repressing her early experience of sexual abuse, she assumed she was just born broken and spent much of her early life looking for ways to ease her pain and regain her power. She hid her fear and self loathing so well, that no one knew she was suffering. Instead she led a secret life using sex as a way to numb herself and gain a sense of control. In her incredible journey towards healing, Jace shares deep insight and practical advice to inspire others on their quest for wholeness.

Find out more about Jace @: www.jacedowney.com

Melissa, Morgan, and Sara talk about the upcoming holidays and the many failures that often come along for the ride. Whether it be unmet expectations for perfection, family dynamics and tension, or a sense of loneliness and sadness that often come as a surprise, there is plenty of failure to explore. The Other F Word team thought it would be helpful to anticipate these possible failures in an attempt to feel less blindsided when they come and try new ways to cope during a time when there’s so much pressure for that perfect holiday celebration.

A.J. Jacobs is a New York Times best selling author, most recently of the book “Thanks a Thousand” a chronicled journey thanking everyone who was involved in the making of his morning cup of coffee. A.J. joins us to talks about his varied lifestyle experiments that have taken him outside of his comfort zone. Whether it be “living biblically” for one year, strictly following the rules of the Bible, or adopting the challenge of Radical Honesty for one month, where he told the truth or said whatever was on his mind, no matter the cost, AJ Jacobs is committed to illuminating experiences that involve a lot of failure. His honest, self deprecating style makes his storytelling engaging, while his often outrageous methods make his “humble quest” for learning outside his comfort zone quite inspirational.

Find out more about AJ @: www.ajjacobs.com

Author A.N. Turner talks to us about internet addiction and specifically, internet porn addiction. Turner who is still a young man in his early 20’s, describes how he became addicted to online porn and how it took over his life, interfering with his work and his relationships. And how he managed to turn his life around by cutting out pornography all together and cutting back massively on his use of the internet. He openly shares his struggle and the shame that he continues to feel, while offering helpful tips to listeners to avoid what he sees as the epidemic of our society.

Find out more about A.N. on his website here

You can follow A.N. @: www.twitter.com/A_NTurner

And you can find his book here

Drea Guertiz, journalist and author of “Eyes Without a Face” speaks about her journey from depression to hope and wholeness. Born in Columbia, she shares her family history of suicide and her own experience of struggling with deep depression. Hitting a rock bottom moment, she made a plan to end her life that felt like the best solution to her unending sense of hopelessness, despite having a loving husband and child. A series of powerful dreams, premonitions and symbolic signs spoke to her in such a compelling way that she decided not to take her life, instead using these forceful messages to open her eyes to the life she wanted to live and the gifts right in front of her. Her story is layered with clear illustrations about the failure to see or understand depression and the hope that comes when opportunity for connection and possibility presents itself in some powerful and mysterious ways.

You can follow Drea on Instagram: @dreaguertiz

Find out more about Drea’s book on Amazon here

Angela King is the program director of Life After Hate, a non-profit organization that helps people extricate themselves from hate groups and turn their lives around. Angela shares her deeply personal experience of being raised by extremely strict and racist parents, being bullied in junior high and eventually bullying others in an effort to survive. Angela found herself desperate to connect and belong, struggling with confusing feelings about sexuality and identity, but her deep fear and anger led her to act out and join hate groups as a white supremacist. Her hate and violence eventually hit a rock bottom which landed her in prison, where she was forced to face her past and deepest failures. In her remarkable story, she shares how her time in prison and the incredible connection to her fellow inmates, led her to shatter her way of thinking and ultimately find love with a black woman. Angela’s story is one of true inspiration where she was able to confront her racism and embrace the profound ability to change.

Find out more about Angela and Life After Hate @: www.lifeafterhate.org

Twitter: @HumRights4Peace

Facebook: @lifeafterhate

Instagram: @lifeafterhate

Alexia Vernon, leadership and women’s speaking coach and author of “Step Into Your Moxie” shares her journey of finding her voice and self confidence after experiencing harrowing moments in her past. In an articulate and vulnerable voice, Alexia shares her experience of postpartum depression and child sexual abuse and how these darker moments brought her to truth and clarity. In her work as a leadership coach, she weaves in these personal narratives to inspire strength and develop the resiliency necessary to navigate the many experiences of failure.

Find out more about Alexia @: www.alexiavernon.com

And you can connect with Alexia @: http://www.facebook.com/AlexiaVernonEmpowerment

http://www.twitter.com/alexiavernon

http://instagram.com/alexiavernon/

Alethea Black, author of “You’ve Been So Lucky Already” shares her story of navigating through chronic illness that had no cure for years. This experience of failure on a bodily level led to crushing fatigue, profound loss of joy and a deep worry that she was dying.

Trusting her own inner voice instead of listening to external sources, her survival instinct kicked in and she was able to find her way to health. Her take on failure as funny, once you get past the pain of it, and as the engine of life are just some of her fascinating ways of seeing the world.

Find out more about Alethea @: www.welcometoheaven.com

And you can follow her @: www.facebook.com/alethea.black

Born with spina bifida, a chronic spinal disability that she tried to hide for most of her life, Dr. Church went on to become a pediatric specialist who treats kids with the same condition. Growing up without much language on how to talk about and process her condition, she spent much of her life grappling with wanting to tell her story in a way that shares the issues associated with it while maintaining dignity and privacy for herself and her patients. She has become an important advocate for kids in medical settings where she has challenged her colleagues to treat patients with more sensitivity and understanding and less scientific objectivity. She has also been vocal in her efforts to reframe our society’s views of disabilities as a weakness and instead view all people as living on a spectrum of varying abilities.

You can follow Dr. Church @: https://twitter.com/paigetchurch1?lang=en

Preston Pollard is a skateboarder, life coach and motivational speaker who shares his journey of growing up in Alaska and struggling to find his identity. As a black child, he was pressured to play basketball and football but Preston was drawn to skateboarding. Driven by untreated ADHD and teased by people who told him black kids don’t skateboard, he persisted against the naysayers. His story is filled with hope and possibility that anyone can persevere through failure and reach their dreams.

Find out more about Preston @: https://www.prestonpollard.com

Follow Preston @: https://www.instagram.com/prestonpollard1