I spent a day with EX-HOSTAGES

come back next week for I spent a day with MALADAPTIVE DAYDREAMERS UNCENSORED ON SPOTIFY ▸ open.spotify.com/show/5aOLuPenneHbhLh05fmkeu UNCENSORED ON APPLE ▸ podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i-spent-a-day-with/i…

Gotta say Michaels mother lowballing some pirates holding your son hostage is really the art of the deal, mad respect for her

Linda: I'm not a spy! Linda's captors: That's exactly what a spy would say.

i can’t imagine how horrifying any of that was. despite this, it’s beautiful that they’re able to share their stories with the world.

Mad respect for these people sharing their experiences, I can't imagine the amount of stress someone goes through in these situations.

I find it the hardest to put myself into the shoes of the guy that was kidnapped by the pirates. When he was finally free, the world he came back to was different. Just the changes that must've stuck out to him. Knowing you were stuck in a place for a long time also meaning you missed everything else outside that place. Just a total disconnect to the world. Finally entering the place you call home and making yourself a nice breakfast in the morning the next day when you wake up. It must've feel so surreal.

i cant imagine being held hostage for 3 years, thats terrifying

My sister & her (now ex-) wife were suppose to go & meet up with friends at Pulse that night. I feel horrible saying this sometimes, but I’m so happy that they were tired that night. There were some frantic, panicking late night phone calls & immediate relief. That relief turned into horror & compassion, equally, as they found out that five of their friends didn’t make it out. My sister & her wife both worked at Universal Studios at the time, her wife specifically worked in Harry Potter World & friends with Luis Vielma, who also worked at HP World. To this day, neither one of them can or have gone to the Pulse memorial. It’s too hard. Just knowing I could’ve lost my sister than night, I can’t even start to fathom how any of the victims’ families, friends & loved ones felt/are feeling. I try not to feel guilty for those emotions but it’s difficult at times. How can someone who wasn’t even a victim of this heinous hate crime have ‘survivor’s guilt’ because my sister didn’t go & therefore lived? Friggin ridiculous. The Pulse shooting still feels raw for many in Florida, especially Central Floridians.

i really appreciate Anthony including Patience not wanting to recount the Pulse story. So respectful.

The Pulse Nightclub massacre is something that hits so close to home. It validates that fear you feel when you’re openly gay in public. Absolutely horrifying

I really appreciated what Linda said about some of the captors being trapped in their own regime. As an Iranian-Canadian, this is definitely the struggle I see. Most Iranians are not in support of the regime but you don't really have a choice when you live there. The disgusting acts of the government put a bad name on the people that live there, even though they're seeking freedom themselves. It was very empathetic of her to consider that. Unfortunately I'm not surprised by the Iranian government and what they put her through.

You know, Michael's story is so inspirational, last December I had this massive school project that's really important, me and my friends topic that we chose, was about Somalian pirates, and somehow Michael agreed to do an interview with us on Zoom about his experience held captive. And thanks to him we'd succeeded pretty well and got the highest grade possible, Thank you, Michael, you're the definition of a legend!

As a person who lived trough a severe trauma i hate the idea of “forgiveness” and the idea that I HAVE TO FORGIVE THEM. No I don’t, not one us needs to forgive, EVER. And it annoys me to no end when people tell me i “need” to forgive them. I don’t. I’ve moved on, i’ve stopped thinking about them. They don’t matter to me anymore, but i did not forgive them. And i never will, but i have healed. So this idea that the ONLY way to heal is to forgive is completely untrue and to me it was very harmful and forced me deeper into a corner. So yeah just here to say that forgiveness isn’t mandatory for healing, and if you try to force it, it will do more harm.

im so happy about how he handles all topics with such care, i feel truly comfortable with him, thank you so much anthony <333

I feel like Patience is still very much on her journey, she said a number of self-help talking points that are encouraging and nice to hear but don't go too far beyond that, though if it's helping her now then that's awesome. But also, what the fvck would I know.

Anyone else think he should do spending a day with suicide survivors? I've survived twice and would love to see other perspectives

"Let me dream again" was such a powerful quote. You don't realize how much you lose from trauma until you realize you don't have dreams anymore. Until you realize that everything has lost its spark and nothing means as much as it did before. Working through and confronting your trauma is one of the hardest things a person can do.

I realky like how he treats the survivors, he seems so kind and understanding!

3 years!?!? I can’t even fathom being held captive that long, it sounds truly horrific. Michael you are a strong man!

Michael's story is one that I've taken many a deep dive into, he seems like such a lovely guy and clearly has an incredibly strength of spirit. He's done podcasts and stuff talking about his experiences if anyone wants to find out more, just search his name.