Mother Mayhem: For Daughters of Narcissistic or Emotionally Limited Mothers

This is your invitation  to the Mayhem Daughters Retreat, a small, in-person experience for daughters of narcissistic or emotionally limited mothers who are ready to deepen their healing in shared physical space.
This episode is not a sales pitch. It’s an invitation to listen inward and decide with clarity.
Dates: April 30 – May 3
Location: Asheville, North Carolina
Structure: Programming begins Thursday at 3:30 pm with pickup from the hotel. Full days of programming on Friday and Saturday. Sunday is reserved for travel home. Optional Wednesday arrival
Cost: $1,350 per person for retreat programming. Hotel booked separately at a group rate of $129/night. All programming and transportation to and from the retreat house are included
Lodging: Retreat house spots are full. Remaining openings are hotel-based with organized transportation provided
Availability: At the time of this recording, six spots remain. Retreat logistics and vendors will be finalized the week of February 16
This retreat is designed for daughters who have already been doing their healing work and feel ready to experience that work in a structured, facilitated, and well-held group setting.
It is not for daughters in acute crisis or those looking for a high-intensity or transformational experience.
Capacity, self-responsibility, and nervous system safety are central to this time together
Because this is a small, in-person retreat, registration is not open for direct purchase from the podcast.
If you’re interested in exploring whether this retreat is the right fit, please email Heather directly at:
[email protected]
This begins a conversation, not a commitment.
Honoring your timing and capacity matters here. Whether this invitation leads to a yes or a no, listening to yourself with care is part of the work.
A Final Note: Honoring your timing and capacity matters here. Whether this invitation leads to a yes or a no, listening to yourself with care is part of the work.

For daughters of narcissistic or emotionally limited mothers, silence often doesn’t feel neutral. It can feel dangerous, like trouble is coming, like you’ve done something wrong. So we fill it. With explanations. With apologies. With reassurance.
In this episode, we explore how overcommunicating and overfunctioning develop as trauma responses, why sitting in silence can feel unbearable, and what it means to tolerate the aftermath of a decision without rescuing yourself or managing other people’s reactions.
If you’ve ever struggled with:
overcommunicating as a trauma response

feeling anxious when people don’t respond right away

needing reassurance after setting boundaries

people-pleasing or overfunctioning

trusting yourself after narcissistic parenting

this conversation will likely resonate. We’ll reflects on what it means to “try soft and say less,” , how silence can activate old patterns from childhood, and why learning to tolerate being misunderstood is often a necessary part of healing and self-trust.
You don’t need to fix anything after listening. Just noticing the urge to fill the silence is already the work.

Some daughters grow up believing their story must be exaggerated, misunderstood, or somehow “too much” to be real.
Not because it wasn’t devastating. But because there was no safe adult to quietly confirm, This isn’t okay.
When harm is reinforced instead of interrupted, the nervous system doesn’t just adapt. It doubts itself.
This week’s episode is for the daughters who didn’t have a buffer. The ones who survived systems, not just people. The ones who learned to go it alone so early that loneliness can linger even after life becomes steadier.
If you’ve ever listened to other stories and wondered where you fit, you’re not wrong for asking. Your nervous system looking for proof.
You didn’t imagine how bad it was. And you’re not the only one.Learn More: MayhemDaughters.com

Have you ever noticed that you feel worse after seeing or talking to your mother? More anxious, irritable, shut down, flooded, or exhausted? If so, this episode is for you.
In this episode, I break down why your body and nervous system may flare up after contact with your mother, especially after you’ve done some healing work. We talk about why this reaction is not regression, not weakness, and not a sign that you’re doing anything wrong. Often, it’s a sign that your nervous system is more awake, more honest, and less willing to dissociate in order to survive.
You’ll learn how loosening a boundary with good intentions can still lead to nervous system dysregulation, why going back to old dynamics can feel harder once you see them clearly, and how your body responds when it’s holding two truths at the same time: “I used to survive this” and “I no longer should have to.”
I also walk you through how to tell whether you’re in intense dysregulation, more regulated, or living in the messy middle, and what actually helps in each state. Instead of forcing clarity or rushing into action, we focus on becoming a better friend to your nervous system and responding to what it’s truly asking for.
This episode is for daughters who feel confused by their reactions, frustrated by their bodies, or worried that healing is making things harder. There’s nothing wrong here. Your nervous system is simply doing exactly what it was designed to do.
Key takeaway: We don’t rush nervous systems into clarity. We earn their trust first.
Resources & Support: If you’re a member of the Mayhem Daughters community, you’ll find a companion post and worksheet inside The Work to help you walk through this in real time. If you’re not yet inside the community, you can learn more at MayhemDaughters.com

When healing reaches a point of no return, trauma brain often turns on you.
This week, we’re unpacking why daughters of narcissistic or emotionally limited mothers default to self-blame and guilt even when the truth is clear. You may intellectually know that your mother was incapable of showing up differently, and still find yourself wondering, What if it was me? or Why do I feel so guilty now?
This episode breaks down the nervous system logic behind self-blame and guilt, explaining why these responses are not signs that you’re wrong, weak, or confused, but signs of a system shaped by survival, loyalty, and conditioning.
We’ll walk through what “doing the work” actually looks like when guilt and self-blame are running the show. We’ll have grounded practices and journaling invitations for daughters at different stages of healing, whether you’re feeling deeply dysregulated or you’ve been around the block and still get pulled back into old patterns.
This episode is part of a larger arc inside Mayhem focused on learning how to stand with yourself, trust your wise mind, and stop turning on yourself when healing gets real.
Join Mayhem Daughters: MayhemDaughters.com/community