Episode 24

bonus
Published on:

6th Nov 2025

Disaster Diaries: Caregiver Tears, Broken Screens & Hard Truths

Welcome back to Disaster Diaries from The High-Functioning Disaster.

Today’s entry is raw and real — equal parts exhaustion, reflection, and hard-earned self-accountability. After starting with an all-in-one Miracle Morning on procrastination, Sacha faced a tough day with her mother — appointments missed, emotions high, and tears shed on the office floor. Caregiving isn’t easy, and today it took everything she had to keep her cool and stay grounded.

Still, the day rolled on: rescheduling a podcast interview with Carolyn Sangle (Your Next Success), editing for Life in the Bari Lane, replacing prescriptions, returning a phone she didn’t need (turns out it was the screen protector, not the screen 😅), and witnessing a moment at the post office that stirred deep thoughts on human dignity and belonging.

She also talks travel dreams (hello, Oregon 🌲), quiet car-wash therapy with “Boyd” the 20-year-old Nissan, and pushing herself to keep her November yoga/Pilates challenge going — even when motivation was nowhere to be found.

It’s honest, heavy, and a reminder that honoring your integrity sometimes means showing up through the mess.

Mentioned in this episode:

  • The Miracle Morning – “Procrastination” module
  • Your Next Success podcast with Carolyn Sangal
  • Caregiving and emotional fatigue
  • Life in the Bari Lane update & guest call
  • The Total Money Makeover reflections
  • Screen protector mishap (Asurion, we’re good 😂)
  • Post office perspective: dignity & respect
  • Oregon travel dreams and diversity reflections
  • FitOn app Pilates/Yoga challenge progress
  • “Boyd,” her 20-year-old Nissan
  • Core values: integrity, authenticity, relationships

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🧭 Key Takeaways

  • Caregiver stress is real — and it’s okay to not be okay.
  • “Integrity” includes the promises you make to yourself.
  • Mistakes happen — sometimes it’s just a busted screen protector.
  • Observation without judgment deepens empathy.
  • Even on heavy days, movement matters — do it because it’s hard.
  • Grief, fatigue, and gratitude can coexist.

⚠️ Content Note:

Mentions caregiver stress, emotional exhaustion, and frustration in family dynamics. Includes mild profanity and personal reflection on political and cultural topics.

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Keywords

Disaster Diaries, The High-Functioning Disaster, Sacha Holder, daily audio journal, caregiving stress, Miracle Morning, procrastination, Your Next Success, Carolyn Sangle, Life in the Bari Lane, bariatric podcast guests, emotional exhaustion, integrity, authenticity, relationships, empathy, Oregon travel, diversity, Pilates yoga challenge, FitOn, screen protector mishap, Asurion, mindfulness, resilience, raw storytelling

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About the Podcast

The High-Functioning Disaster
High-functioning on the outside. Hot mess on the inside.
You’ve got the color-coded calendar, the competent job persona, the “I’m fine!” mask down to an art—and a mental load heavy enough to throw out your back. Meanwhile, life? That's a hot mess express—total chaos with zero chill and a full tank of emotional baggage. And what makes it even worse? Nearly no one’s talking about it.

Welcome to The High-Functioning Disaster, a podcast for people who are doing their best to hold it together while navigating burnout, grief, trauma, anxiety, caretaking duties, family drama, body image issues, and a to-do list that never quits.

Host Sacha Holder isn’t the disaster (neither are you!)—life is. And this show is about making space for that truth and giving ourselves permission to say it out loud. Every week, Sacha explores what it means to be deeply human in a world that keeps demanding more. Sometimes she’s flying solo, sometimes she brings along guests and friends—but the vibe is always real, raw, unfiltered, and grounded in radical self-acceptance and permission to be human.

We talk boundaries. Body image. Mental health. Emotional labor. The moments where everything feels like too much—and the ones where we catch our breath and keep going.

This isn’t a self-help podcast. It’s a self-permission podcast.
Permission to be exhausted.
To not have it together.
To be honest about what’s hard—without needing to package it as a “lesson.”

Because you don’t need fixing.
You need space to fall apart—and still be seen.
Because some of us are just trying to make it through the day.
And here? That’s more than enough.
New episodes every Monday. Come as you are. Seriously.
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About your host

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Sacha Holder

Sacha Holder is a project manager, podcast host, and bariatric patient who’s not here to pretend it’s all perfect. With over a decade of professional experience and a whole lot of lived experience, she creates podcasts that tell the truth about what it means to live, heal, and grow — through chaos, and curveballs, while keeping it together (mostly).

She’s the voice behind Life in the Bari Lane, a bite-sized bariatric podcast for real people navigating post-op life, and The High-Functioning Disaster, a show about showing up even when everything feels like too much. Through humor, honesty, and zero judgment, Sacha builds community through conversation — because no one should have to figure it out alone.