Episode 19

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Published on:

4th Nov 2025

Reinvention Is a Calling — with Hilary Momberger-Powers

This episode includes brief references to recovery, fear, and emotional healing, as well as candid discussion of spirituality. Please listen with care if you’re in a tender place or navigating addiction recovery.

In this conversation, Hilary Momberger-Powers — the original voice of Sally Brown from Peanuts — joins Sacha to talk about what it means to reinvent yourself without apology.

Hilary shares how a spontaneous solo trip to Australia and New Zealand helped her break free from fear and scarcity thinking, how she learned to replace “I have to” with “I get to,” and why service is the real antidote to ego.

Together, she and Sacha unpack how community, gratitude, and doing it scared can open doors you didn’t even know were there.

In this episode:

  • The trip that changed everything
  • “I get to” vs. “I have to”
  • Why service is stronger than ego
  • Finding your people through curiosity
  • Reinvention at any age

Key Takeaways

  • Reinvention starts with one scared decision.
  • Gratitude turns obligation into ownership.
  • Community builds courage.
  • The ego never feels “enough,” but service fills the gap.
  • You’re not too late—if you’re breathing, you’re right on time.

Pull Quotes

  • “If you’re still breathing, it’s not too late.”
  • “The magic’s in me.”
  • “You get what you think about—so think on purpose.”
  • “Get in the middle of your excitement.”

⚠️ Content Note

This episode includes discussion of childhood trauma, sexual abuse, addiction, and recovery in the context of healing and resilience. Listener discretion is advised. If these topics are tender for you, please take care of yourself as you listen, pause when needed, and reach out for support if anything resonates too closely.

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Keywords

Hilary Momberger-Powers, Sally Brown, Peanuts, reinvention, recovery, self-belief, gratitude, mindset, service, community, transformation, resilience, healing

🎧 Next time, Hilary and I talk about re-parenting and self-soothing—how to comfort your younger self, speak kindly when old wounds flare, and practice compassion that actually heals.

👉 Make sure you’re subscribed to The High-Functioning Disaster so you don’t miss this next chapter.

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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.