Ep 16: Sex & Sacred Sexuality, Domestic Violence, and Healing Through Tea with Friday Elliott

Friday Elliott is a 33-year-old pansexual, Chicana/White cis-gender female (she/her).

CW: This episode discusses eating disorders, rape, domestic violence, alcohol abuse

Friday says she always felt a desperate need to please and to take care of others. This has led her to attach herself to people who feel too comfortable putting the burden of their own emotional work on others and refusing to take responsibility for themselves. She has a history of enabling that behavior and of conflating spinelessness with compassion.

This has led Friday to a series of unhealthy and often violent relationships. Almost 19 years old and pregnant, the father of her child became abusive, emotionally, and physically. She fled the relationship by dissociating when she needed to, and by seeking safety in two supportive co-workers. In the following relationships she experienced, Friday's dissociation became worse. She became the character she absorbed in literature and media for long periods, sometimes forgetting her child existed.

While working in the restaurant industry, Friday was involved in the restaurant culture of heavy drinking and drug use. This time in her life was marked by unfulfilling sexual encounters, typically leaving her feeling worse.

Since these times, Friday has been alcohol-free for a bit over a year. She attributes this growth with the help of her support systems, therapy, and tea. Friday is learning bit by bit to create boundaries with other people and learning to enjoy saying no. She's also stopped letting people tell her that she feels too strongly or has too much sexual interest.

Throughout her life experiences, Sacred Sexuality has always been key to her personal self-love and confidence. By shedding shame around being "too much," Friday has been able to prune unhealthy connections from her life. Instead, she's surrounding herself with mutually loving and respectful relationships.

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If you'd like to contact Friday, you can do so on:
Twitter: @fridayelliott
Instagram: @friday.at.home
Professional Teashop Website: www.fridaytea.com
Personal: www.fridayelliott.com (essays and original works on the topics of death and fiction)

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