73. Will You Accept Pain or Choose Suffering? With Maggie Kang, MD

Parenting Post-Wilderness: Parenting a Struggling Teen Before, During and After Treatment

Are you choosing to suffer?

Pain is part of life – we can’t avoid it. Today’s guest, Maggie Kang, experienced this first-hand when her 9-year-old daughter got diagnosed with a rare disease. The pain this brought was inevitable. But there’s a difference between pain and suffering. Suffering happens when we resist the pain.

By resisting to accept what was going on and that this was their new reality, and feeling the need to blame someone (mostly herself), Maggie caused herself to suffer. Until she started to realize things needed to change.

When painful events happen, it’s important to take the time to work through them. It’s dark, and it isn’t pretty. But it doesn't last nearly as long as you think.

Have a listen to Maggie’s inspiring story and invaluable advice in today’s episode!

In this episode on accepting pain or choosing to suffer, we discuss:

• The importance of community;
• Feeling alone when your kid gets a diagnosis;
• The judgment around our children’s diagnoses;
• The story of Maggie’s child’s diagnosis;
• The difference between suffering and pain;
• Where does suffering come from?;
• And more!

If you’d like to connect, you can find me on Instagram (@bethhillmancoaching) or go to my website www.bethhillmancoaching.com. And if you’re interested in working with me, you can learn more about my private coaching here or my group coaching here.

And remember parents, the change begins with us.

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More about Maggie Kang, MD

Dr. Maggie Kang is a board-certified radiologist trained at Yale, mom of two kids. She was the radiologist who was the first to see her nine-year-old daughter’s horrifying brain MRI in the ER. Her daughter was diagnosed with a rare disease, neuromyelitis optica.

The ordeal motivated Maggie to shift her focus from radiology to mental well-being. Now a certified Life Coach, Maggie dedicates her time to supporting parents of kids in the rare and chronic disease communities. She also works with physician moms of kids with chronic needs one-on-one in her private coaching practice, MaggieKangMD LLC.

Maggie told her story on the TEDx stage, sharing her powerful message that you can choose to accept pain or create suffering.

Learn more about Maggie Kang on her website or connect with her on Instagram or Facebook.

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Ps. Are you getting great value out of this podcast? It would mean the world to me if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts. This way, you will help me reach and help more parents of struggling teens develop healthy responses and boundaries instead of acting out of fear and anxiety. You can leave a review by clicking here, scrolling to the bottom, tapping to leave a star rating and then write your review. Thanks so much!

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