The voice in your head has a history. Let’s find out where it came from.
Not Good Enough Stuff explores the childhood messages, relationships, expectations, and experiences that shaped your inner critic—so you can stop treating learned beliefs like facts and begin reconnecting with your real voice.
and dig deep
Understanding the Inner Critic
Why does the critical voice in your head sound so convincing? Begin exploring where it came from, how it shaped the way you see yourself, and why it may not actually be your own voice.
The things underneath the things.
Not another list of ways to “think more positively.” These conversations go deeper into why your patterns formed, what they protected you from, and how they continue shaping adult life.
Why the harshest voice in your mind often sounds like truth—even when it was built from other people’s messages.
The good kid, the fixer, the peacekeeper, the achiever, and the other identities you may have adopted to feel safe.
How staying useful, agreeable, quiet, or low-maintenance became a strategy instead of simply a personality trait.
Why having needs can feel selfish, asking can feel dangerous, and boundaries can trigger guilt long after they are set.
The ways old emotional patterns influence connection, conflict, attachment, trust, and what you tolerate.
Separating who you are from who you learned you had to be in order to earn love, safety, approval, or belonging.
You look capable. You still do not feel secure.
This podcast is for emotionally aware people who understand a lot about themselves but are still trying to understand why the same feelings keep showing up.
Clinical insight without clinical language.
Mary Beth Fox is a Licensed Professional Counselor, motivational speaker, mental health blogger, and the voice behind The Inner Child Therapist.
Her work helps adults understand how childhood experiences continue shaping self-worth, relationships, emotional needs, boundaries, and identity—often without the person realizing how much of their adult life is still organized around old emotional rules.
Expect honest insight, deeply human language, compassionate validation, and the occasional well-deserved callout of the beliefs that kept you disconnected from yourself.
The Episode Library
Listen at your own pace
Why Does Rejection Hurt So Much? Why You Need People to Like You (Episode 7)
Why Does Rejection Hurt So Much? Why does it hurt so much when someone doesn’t like you, rejects you, or even seems a little different toward you? You might replay the interaction, wonder what you did wrong, question whether they’re upset with you, or feel an overwhelming need to fix it. In this episode of…
Why Do I Cry When I’m Angry? The Childhood Connection (Podcast Episode 6)
Why Do I Cry When I’m Angry? The Childhood Connection Have you ever been so angry that you started crying? Or found yourself exploding over something small, only to wonder afterward why your reaction felt so big? In this episode of Not Good Enough Stuff, licensed professional counselor Mary Beth Fox explores why anger and…
Why You Believe the Stories You Tell Yourself & Listen to Your Inner Critic (Podcast Episode 5)
Why You Believe the Stories You Tell Yourself & Listen to Your Inner Critic Why do we keep listening to an inner critic that tells us all the ways we’re not good enough? In this episode of Not Good Enough Stuff, licensed professional counselor Mary Beth Fox explores where the inner critic actually comes from…
Why You Don’t Know Who You Are | Stop Letting Your Past Define You (Podcast Episode 4)
Understanding the Inner CriticWhy You Don’t Know Who You Are | Stop Letting Your Past Define You Many people unknowingly build their identity around childhood trauma, chronic illness, painful experiences, relationships, careers, or accomplishments. Over time, those experiences begin to define who they believe they are. In this episode of Not Good Enough Stuff, I…
Why You Don’t Know What You Need (And Where That Started) (Podcast Episode 3)
Why You Don’t Know What You Need If identifying your needs feels impossible, the problem isn’t that you’re broken. It may be that you learned your needs didn’t matter long before you were old enough to question that belief. In this episode of Not Good Enough Stuff, licensed professional counselor Mary Beth Fox explores how…
How Childhood Messages Shape Your Identity & Inner Critic (Podcast Episode 2)
How Childhood Messages Shape You Why do so many of us grow up believing we’re not good enough? In this episode of Not Good Enough Stuff, I explore how the messages we receive from our families, both spoken and unspoken, shape our beliefs about ourselves. Even well-meaning caregivers can unintentionally send messages that become part…
Understanding the Inner Critic: Why The Voice in Your Head Isn’t Yours (Podcast Episode 1)
Understanding the Inner Critic In this first episode of Not Good Enough Stuff, licensed professional counselor Mary Beth Fox explains how your inner critic develops, why the voice in your head wasn’t born with you, & how childhood, family, culture, & life experiences shape your sense of self. Learn how messages from childhood, family, culture,…
