What happens when you stop trying to fit in and start embracing the way your mind naturally works?

This week, Ruth sits down with filmmaker, artist, historian, and fellow neurodivergent Daniel MacNeil to explore creativity, ADHD, dyslexia, burnout, history, spirituality, and the unexpected ways curiosity can shape a life.

From spending over 500 hours reconstructing the original Fortress of Louisbourg in 3D to discovering why his best ideas arrive during long drives through nature, Daniel shares how learning to trust his unique way of thinking transformed his relationship with himself.

Together, they discuss healing after difficult seasons, reconnecting with creativity, journaling, flow state, ancestry, and why sometimes the path to finding yourself begins by embracing what once made you feel different.

A thoughtful conversation about identity, imagination, and the courage to create a life that feels authentic.

🎧 New episodes every week.

Host: Ruth AKA Yuya

Instagram: ⁨@daretobeus⁩ podcast

Tiktok: ⁨@daretobeus⁩

website/submit your story: daretobeus.com

Listen to the podcast on your favourite platform!

Guest: Daniel C MacNeil

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm17669627/

https://screennovascotia.com/production-guide/members/daniel-macneil/

https://www.tiktok.com/@avalonfilmcompany?_r=1&_t=ZS-97EddEB1ccJ

#adhd #neurodivergent #mentalhealth #fortress #amnewbutnottheleast #podcast #Spirituality #history #capebreton #Podcast #DareToBeUs

What happens when trauma becomes identity?

In this deeply vulnerable episode of Dare to Be Us, Ruth and Joe sit down with Dr. Stephen Paul for a raw conversation about healing, masculinity, authenticity, relationships, survival personas, and the stories we build around ourselves.

Before the interview, Ruth investigated Dr. Stephen Paul’s public image, business claims, and online persona not to expose him, but to understand the tension between performance and truth in modern self-help culture.

Together, they explore:

• trauma and childhood conditioning
• the identities people create to survive
• vulnerability and masculine culture
• monogamy vs polyamory
• emotional safety and intimacy
• spirituality and reinvention
• authenticity in the age of social media
• healing versus branding healing

Joe and Ruth also openly share their opposing perspectives on polyamory, creating a powerful and emotionally honest dialogue around modern relationships and what people truly seek underneath love, sex, success, and connection.

This episode isn’t about who is right.

It’s about what becomes possible when people are willing to tell the truth.

🎧 Listen now and join the conversation.

🎙️ FOLLOW & SUPPORT

🌐 Dare to Be Us Dare to Be Us YouTube @daretobeus

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🏠 Rowan House

Website: https://rowan-house.com/

Insta: rowan.house

📖 Follow Dr. Stephen Paul Dr. Stephen Paul Instagram

Landing Page:

• https://bit.ly/4sIEsbp

Coaching unique link:

• https://vft23.com/coaching-and-counselling/?utm_source=Ruth+Rementeria+Mendez&utm_medium=Dare+to+be+us%21+Podcast&utm_campaign=Podcast+Interview+-+Ruth+Rementeria+Mendez

Discount Code: VFT23!

In this powerful and deeply vulnerable episode of Dare to Be Us, we sit down with Keonte, singer, speaker, author, and community leader, to explore what it truly means to turn pain into purpose.

Growing up in North Preston, Keonte shares how music, community, and lived experience shaped his identity… but also opens up about one of the darkest moments of his life when, at just 12 years old, he began planning to take his life.

What followed was a life changing realization: nobody was coming to save him.

From that moment, Keonte began a journey of self-discovery, learning how to pour into himself, redefine self-love, and eventually transform his story into a mission to help others, especially children.

Through children’s books, speaking, and powerful community work, he now gives young people the words he once needed to hear.

This episode dives into:

• Healing your inner child
• Redefining failure and growth
• Letting go of old versions of yourself
• Building purpose through pain
• The truth about self-love and showing up for yourself

This conversation is raw, emotional, and deeply human.

If you’ve ever felt alone… this episode is for you.

Host: Ruth

Insta: @daretobeus

Tiktok: @daretobeus

Co-Host: Yoseph

Insta: @rowan.house

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Rowan.Housementalhealth

Website:

www.rowan-house.com

Guest: Kionte Beals

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Key.Beals

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/keontebeals?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==

Website:

https://keontebeals.com/?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMjU2MjgxMDQwNTU4AAGnF_S9jDG9TK4hI-uXnLkiM8U9R0uzbArfnX6bXKe2pUROad7zM41cLBww7xc_aem_JwHVdn6ScEYY9qtmuSzDBQ

Halifax Chamber of Commerce:

https://halifaxchamber.com/business-voice/telling-my-true-story/?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMjU2MjgxMDQwNTU4AAGnUUNhXaMOdNvXbrxaRi1ySHB3ubpVplKu3IE9RBh7O8QUn1cVRXJpzMnqih4_aem_irNgaT8uk0UotjESW6nbRA

Books:

https://keontebeals.com/contact-book-keonte-beals-to-speak

In this episode of Dare To Be Us, we welcome Shawn Leonard for an open and thoughtful conversation on spirituality, lived experience, and the mysteries many people carry privately.

Shawn shares parts of his personal journey, how spirit first began speaking in his life, and how those experiences evolved into a path of service, teaching, and responsibility. We discuss the Seven Grandfather Teachings, medicine, spirit animals, and the importance of humility and discernment.

The conversation also explores larger questions around consciousness, dreams, intuition, divinity, and how to remain grounded while navigating experiences that don’t always fit traditional frameworks.

This episode isn’t about belief systems, it’s about curiosity, reflection, and honoring personal experience with balance and respect.

Topics include spirituality, healing, consciousness, Indigenous teachings, intuition, shadow and light, aliens, and personal growth.

Have you ever felt like you’re doing everything to heal… and still feel stuck?

In this episode of Dare to Be Us, Ruth sits down with Joe for a real, honest conversation about something many people experience, but rarely talk about:

Why healing alone doesn’t fully work.

We explore the gap between awareness and transformation, the role of the nervous system, and why so many people feel like they’re “doing the work” but not seeing real change.

This episode is for you if:

• You understand your patterns but still feel stuck
• You’ve been doing self-work on your own
• You’re ready for deeper, real-life change

Because healing isn’t just about what you know… It’s about what you experience, practice, and integrate.

In this episode, we talk about:

• The self-awareness trap
• Why healing happens in relationship
• Nervous system safety and real change
• The difference between knowing and integrating
• What’s actually missing in most healing journeys

Deeper support? If this episode resonated with you, you don’t have to do this alone.

Explore the SPR Program at Rowan-House.com a space designed for real-life integration, guided support, and meaningful change:

👉 Rowan House

Instagram: @rowan.house

Facebook: Rowan-HouseMentalHealth

🎙️ Stay connected with Dare to Be Us: This podcast is a space for real conversations around healing, identity, mental health, and becoming who you truly are.

Follow, share, and be part of the community:

👉 Spotify Link 👉 Apple Podcasts Link 👉 [YouTube Link]

Instagram: @daretobeus

Tiktok: @daretobeus

In this episode, I sit down with Denika, author of Broken Secrets, a deeply personal and powerful memoir about surviving childhood sexual abuse, breaking decades of silence, and reclaiming power after trauma.

This is not an easy conversation… but it is an important one.

Denika shares her journey through grooming, manipulation, and the long lasting impact of trauma, while navigating life as a mother, building a life for her children, and silently carrying the weight of what happened behind closed doors.

We talk about:

• How trauma shapes the way we see ourselves and others
• The hidden reality of survival while “functioning” on the outside
• The courage it takes to speak up, even decades later
• And the truth that healing is not defined by systems or outcomes

This episode holds space for the messy, the painful, and the powerful parts of healing.

✨For survivors ✨ For those breaking cycles ✨ For anyone learning that their voice matters

This is a reminder: It is never too late to speak. It is never too late to heal. It is never too late to take your power back.

A grounded conversation about trauma, healing, and what it means to truly hold space.

In this episode, our guest shares her journey from skepticism to spiritual work, moving from not believing in spirit at all to experiencing moments of synchronicity that shifted everything. We talk about how life’s challenges opened the door to deeper listening, and how healing often goes beyond the mind.

She also reflects on her family story, growing up with a mother who survived residential schools and struggled with addiction, and a father who served in the RCMP, and how love, trauma, and resilience coexisted in her upbringing.

From there, we explore how her path led her to support others, beginning with mediumship and readings, and eventually into her work with Maritime Paranormal Investigations. This is a conversation about presence, compassion, and learning to be with what’s hard, without trying to fix it.

If this resonates with you, share it with someone who might need it.

#holdingspace #traumahealing #healingjourney #mentalhealthawareness #podcastclips

Host: Ruth

Instagram: @daretobeus

Submit your story! https://www.thecornerpitch.com/pages/dare-to-be-us-podcast

Guest: Vanessa Website: https://www.vanessapeckford.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/469626784080174/ MGI

Youtube: @MaritimeGhostInvestigations ​

In this episode, we sit down with Adrian former Naval Officer specializing in diving and explosives, now renovator, theology student, and devoted admirer of the cosmos.

What begins with humor and playful identity quickly deepens into a raw conversation about life inside military structure, the impact it leaves on mental health, and what happens when the uniform comes off. Together, we explore how discipline shapes the body and mind, how silence becomes survival, and how rebuilding homes, belief systems, and self-trust becomes a form of healing.

Joined by co-host Joe, a longtime friend who knows Adrian beyond titles and roles, this episode holds space for tension, laughter, reflection, and truth. Not as therapy. Not as performance. Just humans witnessing each other in real time.

This conversation is for anyone navigating identity shifts, quiet awakenings, or the long road from service to self.