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My Favorite Murder: An Exploration Of Overcoming Obstacles, Therapy, And True Crime
Georgia Hardstark and Karen Kilgariff are the women behind America’s hottest true crime podcast, My Favorite Murder.
They found each other at a Halloween party in 2015 and discovered they shared a love of real-world evil.
From this connection, their podcast was born.
Since then, it has become an international sensation with millions of listeners tuning in to hear Georgia and Karen’s insights on crime and life in general.
In these sections, you’ll take away advice from Georgia and Karen about starting therapy later in life, learning how to cope with mental health issues, facing obstacles together, dealing with sexism and misogyny …
even learning how to stay safe in potentially dangerous situations.
In short: Georgia and Karen know how to help manage many of life’s struggles while also keeping alive the spirit of their show – never get too serious; always stay sexy & don’t get murdered!
Learning The Balance Between Being Courageous And Staying Safe: Georgia Hardstark’S Story
When it comes to protecting your well-being, sometimes politeness needs to be thrown out the window.
This was certainly the case for Georgia Hardstark when she discovered the underground feminist punk movement known as Riot Grrrl.
She learned to say “fuck politeness” and take a stand against those who tried to take advantage of her, like refusing an alcoholic shot from a bar customer.
However, even with Georgia’s newfound sense of strength and assertiveness, there were still moments where she wasn’t able to act on her intuition.
After graduating from high school in 1998, she moved from Orange County to Los Angeles and worked as a waitress.
One night, one of her regulars asked if he could take her picture.
Despite having an uneasy feeling about him, she agreed and got into the car with him.
During the drive, her fears deepened but she played along anyway until they reached their destination in the Santa Monica Mountains.
Fortunately, Lawrence didn’t physically harm Georgia – but he did do something that left her overcome with shame and embarrassment – he asked (and took) shots of her without her shirt on.
It’s important to remember that even though advocating for yourself is essential – it takes practice too!
If you find yourself unable to take action when faced with someone or something that makes you uncomfortable – don’t blame yourself!
It’s not easy speaking up for ourselves in threatening situations; many people have found themselves in similar circumstances just like Georgia, so don’t hide what happened or deny your feelings – accept them and work towards being more comfortable with putting yourself first!
Learning To Prioritize Close Friendships And Therapy In The Pursuit Of Self-Care
Karen Kilgariff’s idea of self-care is to take personal responsibility for her problems and find support from beloved friends and therapy.
She realized the importance of relationships when on a lunch outing with her close friend Laura, who was fed up with Karen’s obsession over an unrequited romantic interest.
Laura took a drastic action of slamming on the brakes during the drive and forced Karen to see the issue, even though it was hard to hear.
This allowed Karen to understand that her trustworthy friends would too care enough to give sincere advice like this whenever she needs it.
Not only is being surrounded by good friends important in self-care, but sometimes one may require more than just positivity in order to be healthy – they may need therapy too.
Karen learnt that while close friendship can get you out of a negative spiral, professional help can offer valuable perspectives in turning things around when still stuck in unhealthy habits.
So it’s important to remember that sometimes physical or mental health issues are best addressed by professional treatment before anything else.
How Georgia’s Shoplifting Mistake Led To An Unexpected Lesson In Family Loyalty
When Georgia was a teenage shoplifter, she learned the importance of having friends and family by her side.
She had been taken out for a shoplifting trip to the mall with her friend Meg when something suspicious about a woman in the nearby aisle caught her eye.
Knowing they needed to leave quickly, Georgia whispered to Meg that they should run but it was too late; the undercover security guard grabbed her by the arm.
Though terrified of getting caught, calling her parents made Georgia even more anxious as she dreaded how disappointed and embarrassed her mother would be.
But instead of facing punishment from her mom, Georgia called on her father who was more understanding.
When he arrived at the store, both he and his daughter cried as they realized that mistakes can have heavier consequences than just prison time.
This incident taught Georgia a valuable lesson: no matter what kind of trouble she got into – boys or drugs – she could always rely on supportive friends and family members who will take care of her and help guide her in the right direction.
Through this experience, she grew stronger and eventually outgrew any rebellious nature she had when she became an adult.
How Georgia And Karen Connected With Other Murderinos Through My Favorite Murder Podcast
Georgia has been a lifelong fan of true crime stories ever since she was introduced to the Stephen King novels in her youth.
After reading The Stranger Beside Me, a biography about the serial killer written by Ann Rule, Georgia developed an addiction to real life crime stories that would stay with her for decades.
Over the years, she became extremely knowledgeable about the crime field and was able to spot other Murderinos (true-crime fanatics) easily.
That passion eventually led Georgia to meet Karen at a Halloween party in 2015.
But before they even knew eachother, her decades-long obsession with true crime stories preceded it, and was one of the main ingredients of their eventual union and developing friendship.
Thanks to this, they were able to start My Favorite Murder.
It connected them not just as friends but also linked them to millions of people who shared their love for true crime stories all over the world.
Finding The Right Professional Counselor Is Key To Making The Most Of Therapy
Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, the authors of the book “Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered,” know from both personal experience and therapeutic sessions that a diagnosis is not meant to be feared.
In fact, it can be seen as an opportunity to work towards improving your mental health.
Karen started going to therapy as an adult while Georgia has had a lifetime of therapy since she was six years old, shortly after her parents divorced.
Throughout this period of time, Georgia found out that having a psychological condition isn’t necessarily doom and gloom.
Instead, it can be helpful in terms of understanding why she experiences certain symptoms or behaviours.
It can also provide her with information on how she can address them and move forward.
On top of that, diagnoses often serve as the key to unlocking treatment options through insurance coverage in more severe cases.
Of course, many don’t even have such extreme disorders but instead still struggle with people-pleasing tendencies or guilt when facing everyday tasks like taking care of themselves or managing workloads.
A life coach helped her identify this issue within session – to simply show up no matter what and realize that any effort put forth would help alleviate these guilty feelings in the long run.
Georgia emphasizes the importance of finding a therapist that understands your unique situation too – one who you feel comfortable about opening up to without judgement or criticism.
That connection between patient and therapist is paramount; if it does not exist then starting a new search for one should definitely occur until something solid is secured so that you receive the help you deserve!
Karen Learns Self-Sufficiency Through Poignant Experiences Working Low-Wage Jobs
Karen Kilgariff knows all too well the struggle of working odd jobs to make ends meet before finally making her dream of becoming a professional comedian come true.
Before she made it big in the comedy world, she worked various part-time jobs in order to pay the bills and feed herself.
Karen once worked as a clerk at a frozen yogurt shop during her high school days.
But she didn’t realize that it wouldn’t be the best fit for her due to her eating disorder – all the other cool kids had jobs there and Karen wanted to fit in, so without second thought she joined them.
One day, while Karen was on shift, her boss Thelma visited the store and caught Karen binge eating strawberry yogurt and reading a book instead of attending customers – an offenses for which she was later fired.
That experience taught Karen that no matter how tempting free food might seem, what’s more important is showing up ready to do your job!
From then on forward, Karen took advantage of any job opportunity thrown at her way – including one at Gap where unfortunately she could barely afford buying their own products with just minimum wage and part-time contracts.
This knowledge pushed Karen pursue stand up comedy gigs with even more dedication so as never experiencing again this kind of situation.
Thanks to all the risks taken and hard work he put into it in those early stages of her life and career, now we can all enjoy her funniest jokes about special subjects like ‘how not to get murdered’.
The Story Of Paul’S Mother: An Important Reminder To Stop Victim Blaming
The book Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered by Georgia and Karen offers an important lesson to its readers: we must shift the conversation away from victim blaming and towards creative ways to stop killers before they can hurt anyone.
This wisdom comes after their experience on the hit podcast, My Favorite Murder.
When first launched, the podcast gave listeners advice on how to protect themselves from predators.
While that may have been good advice, it had a tendency to become victim-blaming since it saw women’s actions as being responsible for a bad outcome should something happen.
To truly understand why things went beyond safety tips into victim blaming, they used one story in particular – the Scarborough Rapist case of 1987 – as a way to illustrate what goes wrong when we make these sorts of assumptions about people who are hurt or in harm’s way.
Karen’s friend Paul had a mother living in Scarborough during this time who one day found herself confronted with the man who would eventually be identified as The Scarlett Rapist while swimming alone atop her apartment building pool.
It wasn’t because she had done anything foolish; she was simply living her life at the same time as many women were taking buses at night and ending up targeted by him.
This story allowed Karen to realize that the best way to actually stop violent criminals is not by giving advice implying any sort of faultiness by their victims; instead, it is much more helpful if we find creative ways to identify perpetrators early rather than making someone feel guilty for getting hurt or put into harms way.
Wrap Up
In Karen and Georgia’s book, Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered, the key message is twofold.
Firstly, it emphasizes the importance of learning from mistakes – both before and after creating My Favorite Murder – and responsibility for victim blaming.
Secondly, they both highlight the immense value of therapy, family support and strong friendships in helping them to grow as individuals.
Karen and Georgia remind us that in all cases of violence, the victim should never be blamed.
Ultimately; Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered provides a powerful reminder that you can learn from your past.
By relying on supportive relationships and making conscious efforts towards personal growth; you will have conquered all challenges life throws at you!
