Mary McCorvey welcomes Marion Hoffman Koenig, author of Don’t Say Crazy to Me, for a conversation that is equal parts brave, funny, and deeply human.

Marion shares how early experiences with loss shaped her empathy, her creativity, and her life’s work as a Mental Health advocate. We talk about what it means to be an empath, how empathy can be both a gift and a risk, and why the word “crazy” is often used when people do not understand someone else’s reality. Marion also offers a simple grounding practice, square breathing, for the moments when your nervous system needs a handrail.

In this episode
Why empathy has a positive side and a shadow side
How to support someone in pain without losing yourself
Grounding tools, including square breathing
Humor, resilience, and making meaning from Grief

Buy the books

Don’t Say Crazy to Me (Marion Hoffman Koenig)
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Say-Crazy-Me-Sinatra-ebook/dp/B0FVGF7Z75

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dont-say-crazy-to-me-marion-hoffman-koenig/1148689899

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/242577401-don-t-say-crazy-to-me

Experience Over Expectation (Mary McCorvey)
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FPJ9NK4H?ref_=pe_93986420_775043100

Connect with Marion

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marion-koenig/

Subscribe for more conversations about letting go of the grand plan and living on your terms.

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Mary McCorvey Mary McCorvey

Mary McCorvey is a veteran of the Gulf War, founder of 7 companies, TV producer, author, radio host, and playwright whose life reads like a memoir—because it is one. From being implicated in a murder at 17 to surviving sarin gas exposure in Kuwait, Mary’s story is defined by resilience, reinvention, and one core question: What do you do… when life keeps rewriting the script?

After being diagnosed with terminal pulmonary fibrosis and told she had two years to live, Mary defied the odds. She rebuilt her life after betrayal, launched a mission to send students’ work to the Moon, and most recently, opened a locked box she’d carried for 35 years—unleashing a memoir-in-motion about love, memory, and healing.

Now the host of the podcast and author of the book, Experience Over Expectation, Mary brings wit, warmth, and depth to conversations about identity, aging, forgiveness, and second chances. She’s equally at home discussing trauma and tenacity as she is laughing through the absurdities of life.

Mary lives—and thrives—in Pennsylvania, with a story to tell and a mic in hand.