What happens when the life you built looks whole from the outside, but inside, you’re quietly falling apart?

For Rish, the unraveling began with grief. The sudden death of one of his closest friends reopened wounds he didn’t yet understand, including the loss of his father and childhood trauma he had buried for decades. Then came fatherhood, a source of enormous love, but also an unexpected trigger for pain he couldn't name.

He began drinking. His marriage deteriorated. And surrounded by a culture that told him to “man up,” keep moving and push his emotions aside, Rish found himself sinking deeper into isolation, shame and hopelessness.

Until he made a plan to end his life.

He wrote letters for his young son to open on future birthdays. He prepared his goodbyes. He chose the day.

And then, in a series of seemingly ordinary moments, including a closed gym, a brutal workout and a room full of strangers cheering him on, something shifted.

Rish survived that day. But survival was only the beginning.

In this deeply vulnerable episode of The Fire Inside, Rish takes us inside the years that followed: therapy that uncovered childhood sexual abuse he had never fully confronted, learning to understand the trauma behind his behavior, rebuilding his relationship with himself, redefining masculinity, and creating the support system he once desperately needed.

Today, the man who once believed his son might be better off without him is determined to help create a world where boys and men know that vulnerability and strength can exist in the same body, and where asking for help is never something to be ashamed of.

Through his book, Break Up With Yourself, his advocacy, fatherhood and even the miles he now runs in honor of survivors, Rish has transformed some of the darkest chapters of his life into purpose.

This conversation is raw. It is tender. And above all, it is a reminder that the version of you who is hurting today does not get to decide how the rest of your story ends.

Your life can change. Your pain can become purpose. And sometimes, the smallest moment is the one that keeps you here long enough to find out what comes next.

Content note: This episode contains candid conversations about suicide, alcohol misuse, childhood sexual abuse, trauma and mental health.

Jack Fronczak was raised as Paul Fronczak — a kidnapped baby supposedly reunited with his grieving Chicago family in the 1960s. But something never felt right. He never connected with his family. He didn't look like them. His name didn't feel like his.

At 10 years old, Jack crawled into his family's crawl space looking for Christmas presents and found newspaper headlines instead: Hunt for Missing Kidnapped Child. His mom's response when he ran upstairs? "You were kidnapped. We found you. We love you. We'll never speak of this again."

It took decades and a $25 DNA kit from a CVS pharmacy to get the real answer.

In this episode, host Sarada sits down with Jack for an unscripted, deeply personal conversation about:

→ Growing up as someone else and never feeling like you belonged→ The DNA test that confirmed he was NOT Paul Fronczak→ His selfless first mission: to find the real kidnapped Paul and give his parents closure→ The moment he learned his true name — Jack Thomas Rosenthal — and that he has a missing twin sister named Jill→ Digging graves, chasing tips, and navigating a decade of dead ends→ How his podcast, The Fronczak Files, now helps others find their true identities — free of charge→ What he'd say to anyone living a life that doesn't feel like their own

Jack's story is featured in the CNN documentary The Lost Sons and told in depth in his books The Foundling and True Identity. His journey is still ongoing — he still hasn't found Jill.

This is a story about identity, perseverance, truth, and what it means to finally become yourself.

Jojo Dries grew up in a house where the people who were supposed to protect her were the ones doing the harm.

The abuse started when she was 9. She was homeschooled, isolated, with no one outside the family to turn to. She didn't even have the language for what was happening. Only the feeling that something was wrong, and that fighting back made things worse. When she did fight back, her siblings blamed her. Her mother stayed silent. Her father continued.

She carried that alone for nearly two decades.

When she finally left in her late 20s, she cut off her entire family and started over from nothing. Most people would have taken that hard-won peace and held onto it quietly. Jojo didn't.

She founded On the Wings of Angels, a nonprofit built to give survivors what she never had: a community that shows up, listens, and refuses to let them feel alone. Hundreds of people have come through its doors. The number keeps growing.

In this conversation, Jojo talks about all of it — the abuse, the silence, the dissociation, the leaving, the building. She also talks about where her fire comes from, what she would say to her 9-year-old self, and what she wants anyone who feels stuck to hear right now.