256. What Most People Don't Know About Me

There’s something about Julie that most people don’t know: she wears hearing aids.

In this deeply personal episode, Julie shares the story of her hearing loss, how it began suddenly in her 30s, and how she spent years adapting to it without fully realizing how much it was affecting her everyday life. Missing parts of conversations, constantly asking people to repeat themselves, strategically choosing where to sit, and carrying the mental strain of trying to hear became normal. Until one conversation changed everything.

After a walk with a longtime friend who also wears hearing aids, Julie began researching the effects of hearing loss. She discovered something surprising: hearing loss impacts far more than our ears. It can affect mental energy, connection with others, isolation, anxiety, and even cognitive health.

What followed was a journey that transformed her life. For the first time in years, she could hear sounds she had forgotten existed. Conversations became easier. Relationships felt more connected. The constant effort of compensating disappeared.

But this episode is about much more than hearing aids.

It’s about the things we quietly adapt to without realizing how much they’re affecting us. Whether it’s exhaustion, anxiety, rushing, negative self-talk, emotional numbness, or simply settling for less than God’s best, we often learn to live with things that were never meant to.

Julie also shares how she prayed for years for God to heal her hearing. She has realized that perhaps God’s answer came differently than she expected. Instead of a miraculous restoration, God provided a tool that brought healing, freedom, and renewed connection.

If you’ve ever wondered whether you’ve adapted to something that God wants to bring freedom from, this episode will encourage you to pause, pay attention, and invite Him to reveal what may be hiding beneath the surface. Awareness is often the first step toward change.