Insecurity: When Wounds Start Wounding

Send us Fan Mail What happens when someone else’s insecurity starts affecting the way they treat you? Maybe it’s the coworker who turns everything into a competition. The friend who has a hard time celebrating you. The family member who seems more comfortable with an older version of you. Or maybe it’s happening in your relationship, and you’ve slowly become responsible for managing someone else’s emotions, jealousy, reactions, or anger. In this episode of Well-Made Woman, we’re talking about what insecurity can actually look like, how to recognize when you’ve started carrying someone else’s, and what it looks like to respond without shrinking, retaliating, or trying to diagnose what’s happening inside of them. We’ll look at Saul, David, and Jonathan and the very different ways insecurity and security can shape the way we treat other people. And because October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we’re also having an important conversation about when insecurity crosses into control, intimidation, coercion, or abuse, and why those behaviors cannot be fixed by loving someone harder or becoming more reassuring. And we’re turning the mirror around too. Because sometimes we’re the insecure person. The goal isn’t to figure out who the villain is. It’s to get honest about what belongs to us, what doesn’t, and whether our own insecurity is affecting the people around us. You can care about someone without managing them. You can have compassion for what they’ve been through without excusing what they do with it. And you can love someone without making yourself smaller to keep them comfortable. Their insecurity isn’t yours to carry. Thank you for spending this time with me today. If this episode spoke to your heart, would you share it with another woman who needs to hear it? And if you haven’t already, leave a review—it helps this podcast reach more women who are searching for hope. You can connect with me on Instagram @itsmandypenn for encouragement, resources, and updates on new episodes. Until next time, remember: you don’t have to hold everything together to be held by God. Keep becoming the well-made woman He created you to be.