The Climb Higher Podcast

Send us Fan Mail What does real strength look like when you’re hurting? Many people become experts at appearing fine. They keep working, keep functioning, and make sure no one sees how much they’re struggling. That may look like strength from the outside, but maintaining that performance can become more exhausting than the pain itself. In Episode 23 of The Climb Higher Podcast, Coach Michael explores the difference between genuine strength and emotional suppression. You’ll learn why buried em...

Send us Fan Mail Why did they do it? Did they ever really love me? What did I miss? What could I have done differently? If you’ve spent hours replaying conversations, analyzing old messages, and searching for the one answer that will finally make everything make sense, you know how exhausting overthinking can become after a breakup. In this episode of The Climb Higher Podcast, Michael Temple explains why your mind keeps returning to questions it cannot answer—and why trying harder to “figure ...

Send us Fan Mail You’ve been doing better. You’re sleeping again. You’re thinking about them less. Life is starting to feel normal. Then a song plays. A date on the calendar arrives. Someone mentions their name. Suddenly, the grief comes rushing back and you find yourself thinking: “I thought I was past this.” In this episode of The Climb Higher Podcast, Coach Michael explains why those difficult days don't necessarily mean you've lost your progress—and why healing rarely happens in a straigh...

Send us Fan Mail Being alone and being lonely are not the same thing. After a relationship ends, though, it can certainly feel that way. The house is quieter. The weekends feel different. The routines you shared are gone. Suddenly, you're spending time with a version of yourself you may not have known for years—or perhaps have never really known at all. In this episode of The Climb Higher Podcast, Michael Temple explores why learning to be alone may be one of the most important parts of rebui...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 19: Stop Waiting for Closure How long are you willing to put your healing on hold while you wait for someone else to give you closure? Maybe you're waiting for an explanation. An apology. One final conversation. Something that finally makes what happened make sense. The problem is, that conversation may never come. Even if it does, it may not give you the peace you thought it would. In this episode of The Climb Higher Podcast, Michael Temple challenges one of the most...

Send us Fan Mail What does it actually mean to “let go”? For many people, letting go feels like forgetting. Like admitting the relationship didn’t matter, excusing what someone did, or somehow erasing an important chapter of your life. That isn’t letting go. In this episode of The Climb Higher Podcast, Michael Temple explores the difference between holding a memory and being held by it—and why moving forward doesn’t require you to deny what happened or forget what you lost. You’ll learn why l...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever looked at your life and thought, "I'm starting over"? After heartbreak, loss, or unexpected change, it can feel like everything you've built has disappeared. In this episode, Coach Michael challenges one of the most discouraging beliefs people carry after a major setback and offers a perspective that can replace hopelessness with confidence. Your next chapter may be closer than you think. Support the show About Climb Higher Life doesn't always go according...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever looked at your life and thought, "I'm starting over"? After heartbreak, loss, or unexpected change, it can feel like everything you've built has disappeared. In this episode, Coach Michael challenges one of the most discouraging beliefs people carry after a major setback and offers a perspective that can replace hopelessness with confidence. Your next chapter may be closer than you think. Support the show About Climb Higher Life doesn't always go according...

Send us Fan Mail We often tell ourselves we know what's holding us back. What if we're wrong? In this episode, Coach Michael uncovers one of the most overlooked fears that follows heartbreak and explains why recognizing it may be the first real step toward moving forward. Support the show About Climb Higher Life doesn't always go according to plan—but your story isn't over. Climb Higher is a weekly podcast hosted by Michael Temple, where relationships, resilience, personal growth, a...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 14: The Difference Between Existing and Living After heartbreak, loss, trauma, or disappointment, many people continue going through the motions of life. They go to work. They pay the bills. They keep showing up. But deep down, they no longer feel fully alive. They're existing—but they're not really living. In this episode of The Climb Higher Podcast, Coach Michael explores the subtle but powerful difference between surviving and truly engaging with life again. Drawin...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 13: You Are More Than What Happened To You At some point in every healing journey, the focus has to shift. The question can no longer be, "What happened to me?"The question becomes, "Who am I becoming because of it?" In this episode of The Climb Higher Podcast, Coach Michael explores how painful experiences—breakups, divorce, betrayal, loss, failure, and even life-threatening events—can quietly become part of our identity if we're not careful. Drawing from his own jou...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 12: The Day You Stop Waiting There comes a moment in every healing journey when you face a choice: continue waiting for someone else to decide your future—or start living your life again. In this episode of The Climb Higher Podcast, Coach Michael explores one of the most important turning points after heartbreak: the day you stop putting your life on hold. Not because you've stopped caring. Not because you've become bitter. But because you've decided your future deser...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 11: The Emotional Addiction Nobody Talks About Why is it so hard to stop thinking about someone who rarely reaches out? Why do some people find themselves checking their phone, analyzing messages, and hoping for signs long after a relationship has ended? In this episode of The Climb Higher Podcast, Coach Michael explores a powerful psychological phenomenon that keeps many people stuck after a breakup: emotional addiction. Not an addiction to the person—but an addictio...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 10: Why Self-Respect Hurts Before It Heals Everyone talks about self-respect after a breakup. People tell you to set boundaries, stop accepting breadcrumbs, and choose yourself. But what they don't tell you is that self-respect often feels painful before it feels empowering. In this episode of The Climb Higher Podcast, Coach Michael explores why some of the healthiest decisions you'll ever make can also be some of the most uncomfortable. If you've ever struggled to st...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 9: The Difference Between Hope and Delusion After a breakup, many people tell themselves they're holding onto hope. But what if what feels like hope is actually keeping you stuck? In this episode of The Climb Higher Podcast, Coach Michael explores the critical difference between healthy hope and emotional captivity. You'll learn why some people spend months—or even years—analyzing texts, social media posts, and mixed signals while unknowingly putting their lives on ho...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 8: The Need to Be Needed What if one of the biggest obstacles to your growth is something everyone praises you for? You're the dependable one. The fixer. The rescuer. The person everyone calls when life falls apart. And on the surface, that sounds admirable. But what happens when your value becomes tied to how much other people need you? In this episode of Climb Higher, Michael Temple explores a hidden struggle that affects far more people than most realize: the need ...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 7: Why You Keep Replaying the Relationship in Your Head You tell yourself you're done thinking about it. And then, somehow, you're right back there again. Replaying the conversations. Analyzing the arguments. Second-guessing your decisions. Searching for the moment everything went wrong. If you've ever felt trapped in an endless mental loop after a breakup, you're not alone. In this episode of Climb Higher, Michael Temple explores why the mind becomes obsessed with re...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 6: The Identity Collapse Nobody Talks About Most people think heartbreak is about losing someone else. But what if one of the hardest parts of a breakup is losing yourself? After a relationship ends, many people find themselves asking questions they never expected to face: Who am I now? What do I want? What am I building? What does my future even look like anymore? In this episode of Climb Higher, Michael Temple explores a powerful but often overlooked aspect of heali...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 5: Why Your Ex Can Walk Away So Easily One of the most painful questions people ask after a breakup is this: "How can they walk away so easily?" While you're struggling to sleep, replaying memories, and trying to make sense of what happened, they seem to be smiling, going out with friends, posting on social media, and moving forward as though the relationship never mattered. It's heartbreaking. It's confusing. And for many people, it's the question that keeps them stu...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 4: The Difference Between Missing Someone and Needing Someone Just because you miss someone doesn't mean they're supposed to be in your life. That's a difficult truth for many people to accept after a breakup. One moment you're doing well—sleeping better, thinking more clearly, rebuilding your routines—and then a photo, a memory, or a random reminder hits you out of nowhere. Suddenly, the longing returns, and you begin wondering if you've made a mistake. But what if m...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 3: Why No Contact Feels Like Withdrawal You know the relationship is over. You know reaching out isn't helping. You know checking their social media only makes things worse. So why does it still feel so hard to let go? In this episode of Climb Higher, Michael Temple explores one of the most misunderstood parts of heartbreak: why no contact can feel less like a choice and more like withdrawal. If you've ever found yourself reaching for your phone, replaying conversatio...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 2: The Dangerous Fantasy of Loving Someone Into Change What if the person you're trying so hard to love already knows exactly how you feel? One of the most painful beliefs people carry after a breakup is the idea that if their ex could just understand how deeply they were loved, everything would change. The relationship would be saved. The toxic patterns would stop. The distance would disappear. But what if the problem was never a lack of love? In this episode of Clim...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 1: Why Closure Is Overrated Most people think they're stuck because they don't have answers. They believe that if they could just have one more conversation...one more explanation...one more honest moment with the person who hurt them, they'd finally be able to move on. But what if that's not true? In this first episode of Climb Higher, Michael Temple explores one of the biggest misconceptions surrounding breakups, divorce, rejection, and loss: the belief that healing...