In this Healing Heroines episode, Chandler sits down with award-winning health journalist and author Meghan Rabbitt to explore what it means to truly listen to your body in her new book, The New Rules of Women's Health: Your Guide to Thriving at Every Age.

Meghan shares her experience navigating severe fibroids, anemia, and ultimately a hysterectomy. She reflects on the physical, emotional, and identity shifts that followed. Drawing from Meghan’s reporting and lived experience, this conversation offers a clear-eyed look at healing that integrates medicine, self-trust, and the courage to slow down.

What You Will Learn

[00:07:30] How years of “powering through” symptoms can delay necessary medical intervention

[00:10:00] What led Meghan to pursue multiple medical opinions before choosing surgery

[00:12:30] Why hysterectomy decisions are highly individualized and not one-size-fits-all

[00:16:30] How preparing emotionally and physically before surgery supported recovery

[00:19:00] The role of community and shared experience in normalizing women’s health challenges

[00:26:00] Why deep rest and slowing down were critical parts of post-surgical healing

[00:28:30] How somatic and energetic work helped process emotional healing after surgery

[00:46:00] Why trusting intuition is essential when navigating women’s health concerns

Resources Mentioned

• The New Rules of Women’s Health by Meghan Rabbitt
• The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
• Tyrer-Cuzick Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool

Let’s Connect!

Meghan Rabbitt

Website | Instagram | LinkedIn

Chandler Stroud

Website: https://healingheroespodcast.com/

Mixing, editing, and show notes provided by Next Day Podcast.

For our first Healing Heroines conversation of 2026, Kassy shares her painful experience of pregnancy loss and her own medical trauma in a state with some of the most restrictive pregnancy laws in the U.S.

Kassy recounts navigating the aftermath of this tragedy and how finding Hero and Rev. Lizzie, along with Jubilee church during the pandemic, helped reconnect her to a faith spacious enough to hold anger, silence, and unanswered questions.

What You Will Learn

• [00:07:52] The legal and medical context that shaped Kassy’s hospital experience and limited clinical intervention during her pregnancy
• [00:22:49] What it felt like when physical pain signaled her body shutting down rather than going into labor
• [00:36:58] How pregnancy loss disrupted Kassy’s relationship with her body and sense of bodily ownership
• [00:38:11] The tension of loving a body while simultaneously feeling betrayed by it
• [00:43:40] How choosing faith as an adult differed from using religion as a last resort during crisis
• [00:44:31] What it meant for faith to feel reciprocal—something that reached back instead of remaining one-sided
• [00:50:35] How Rev. Lizzie supported Kassy by walking alongside her without explaining or fixing the trauma
• [01:05:01] Why anger, grief, and yelling at God can be part of an honest spiritual life after trauma

Resources Mentioned

• God Didn’t Make Us to Hate Us by Rev. Lizzie McManus-Dail

Let’s Connect!

Rev. Lizzie MacManus-Dail

Website | Instagram | TikTok | YouTube

Chandler Stroud

Website: https://healingheroespodcast.com/

Mixing, editing, and show notes provided by Next Day Podcast.

This special Healing Heroines compilation brings together real women speaking honestly about grief, chronic illness, anxiety, faith, motherhood, and the slow rebuilding of self-trust — not from a place of having it all figured out, but while they’re still living it.

We created the Healing Heroines series to make healing feel more human, more possible, and less lonely. These clips capture some of the most tender and illuminating moments so far — reminders that there is no single path forward, and that change often begins quietly: with small shifts, supportive relationships, and compassion replacing self-judgment.

What You Will Learn

• [00:03:23] Why community plays a critical role in grief, and how shared experiences can normalize emotions that feel isolating or confusing
• [00:05:34] How giving yourself permission to grieve without a timeline can reduce internal pressure and self-judgment
• [00:10:06] What it looks like to trust your body’s capacity to heal when conventional medical answers fall short
• [00:12:58] How feeling empowered—rather than “fixed”—can change the relationship you have with chronic symptoms
• [00:13:31] Why consistent, small acts of care often create more stability than waiting for big emotional breakthroughs
• [00:15:58] How reframing personal traits as strengths can support self-acceptance and emotional clarity
• [00:18:45] What compassionate accountability can look like during periods of physical pain, stress, and major life transitions
• [00:27:25] How specific spiritual experiences can open curiosity about life, death, and connection beyond the physical world

Resources Mentioned

• Hiring Heaven by Jean Slatter

Let’s Connect!
Follow The Healing Heroes on Instagram & LinkedIn.

Chandler Stroud

Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

Mixing and editing provided by Next Day Podcast.