Letting Go Without Buying In

In this episode, AC and Jason sit down to challenge the idea that family estrangement deserves the kind of obsessive attention it often gets.

They explore why treating family relationships as fundamentally different from other platonic relationships can do more harm than good, especially when it comes to boundaries and healing. Together, they question the romanticism of blood ties and push back against the popular narrative that estrangement is something we should always try to “fix.”

AC shares why he no longer finds estrangement stories compelling—especially when they become identity traps—and calls out the unhealthy, unregulated industry of self-proclaimed estrangement “experts” who exploit vulnerable people in pain.

This conversation isn’t about denying the hurt—but about moving forward without making the wound your home.