Episodes

Alice Chun shares an inspiring story of innovation and invention. Her focus on solar energy began when she was a material technology specialist and started sewing solar panels to fabric and thin plastic. After the Haiti earthquake, Alice turned her studio into an innovation studio to help Haiti. She realized that 2.6 billion people live without access to electricity and are using kerosene to light their world, spending a third of their income on it. Alice designed collapsible solar lights with Origami that are simple yet beautiful and can be fit into hundreds in a box. She has distributed these lights in war-torn areas and natural disasters, bringing hope and utility to those in need.

I wanted to share this clip from Heidi Kirby's bonus episode recording for the Patreon members. In these recordings, I reconnect with past guests to discuss their experience on The Life Shift Podcast, share their stories, and allow them to share any updates since their episode aired. In this clip, we talk about the value of sharing stories to create connections and understanding. The full bonus episode with Heidi is available on the Patreon feed.

This bonus episode recaps the final statements from episodes 61-70, where guests reflect on what they would say to themselves before their life shift moment and offer advice to those going through similar experiences. These conversations are raw, personal, and deeply inspiring. These conversations remind us that life is full of unexpected twists and turns, but with self-love, resilience, and a willingness to take risks, we can overcome our challenges and thrive. Please tune in to the Life Shift Podcast for candid conversations about the pivotal moments that shape our lives.

Sunny Chang shares his journey of finding strength, healing, and hope in mental health after coping with grief and guilt. Sunny emphasizes the importance of processing emotions and feelings and shares his strategies for dealing with loss, including practicing mindfulness, therapy, and exercise. He talks about finding hope and healing through mental health and emphasizes that seeking help is a sign of strength. “I think that's important to me now, where it sounds almost cliche, but it's okay to not be okay. It's okay to sometimes just lay in bed and cry, and you need to process those emotions and those feelings.”

In this episode of The Life Shift Podcast, guest Olivia Dreizen Howell shares her personal story of going through a divorce as a single mother with two young children. "I really knew my kids deserved a life that didn't include walking on eggshells all the time. And they deserved a mother that could show up for them. I mean, Matt, I have letters I wrote to my sons apologizing for the things I had to do to survive at that time. You know, and I was so scared that something would happen to me, and they wouldn't know that I believed in them, or that I thought that they were okay to be themselves, or that they could be whoever they wanted to be.”

Newton Cheng, Director of Health and Performance at Google, world champion competitive powerlifter, and father, shares his story of growing up in a traditional Asian American family and feeling the pressure to achieve success by checking all the boxes. He talks about how this pressure led him to pivot from a career in engineering to a career in health and wellbeing. "I'm not sure what happened, but in the moment, I started to cry, and I could feel like the tears just start welling up in my eyes, and I said, right now I'm struggling because the number of days that I'm proud of how I'm showing up as a father is going down and I don't know how to turn that around." - Newton Cheng

Patreon Bonus Episode 13 Teaser - Pamela Topjian

Jenny Dreizen shares her personal story of wanting to get married and start a family with her partner but struggling to get him to commit. She reflects on her own worthiness and the societal pressure to follow a certain path in life. In this episode of The Life Shift Podcast, Jenny talks about the intimacy of podcasting and how it allows for connections to be formed through deep conversations. She shares her experience of bonding with hosts and guests of A Fresh Story and how it feels like becoming part of a community. Listeners can relate to the feeling of forming connections with those they listen to and how these conversations can feel intimate and eye-opening. "I was starved of love and affection. And I felt like if I could just get him to admit, to propose to me, I would get the dopamine hit of, oh yes, he does love me." - Jenny Dreizen

As a special treat to The Life Shift Podcast listeners, I wanted to share the trailer of a show that I think fits in the space that we try to talk about on The Life Shift. This show is called "Drinking with Gin" and is hosted by Ginny Priem (future guest of The Life Shift). However, I do want to note some trigger warnings as this show sometimes talks about difficult topics, so it may not be suitable for all ears. As our shows have similar messages, if you like The Life Shift podcast, you might like Drinking with Gin.

Michelle Glogovac, a podcasting expert, award-winning publicist, and author of Podcast Guesting Made Simple, shares her experience of a life-changing medical emergency that occurred only a week after her 41st birthday. "Well, the ER doctor said to me she goes, "if you had waited until that Friday to see your regular doctor, you would have died."

Suzanne Anderson shares her journey of self-discovery and the traumatic event that changed the trajectory of her life. She discusses finding true love with her husband, David, and the magical life they built together. However, everything changed when David died by suicide just two days before his niece's wedding and five days before Suzanne was set to launch her new program. “I had a friend who does the shamanic rattles if you've ever heard of these intense rattling. And she rattled, rattled. And when it hit the peak moment, I took this vessel and just smashed it on the stone hearth. And it went into just a bajillion pieces. And the whole room went, kuch! And my body did. It was like the message to my body, and I think others felt this too, that there would be no putting back together this thing.”

Patreon Bonus Episode 12 Teaser - Diane Diaz

This bonus episode recaps the final statements from episodes 33-60, where guests reflect on what they would say to themselves before their life shift moment and offer advice to those going through similar experiences. These conversations are raw, personal, and deeply inspiring.

Robert Peterpaul, host of the "The Art of Kindness" podcast, shares his inspiring story of resilience and the power of kindness. “I remember the moment that really started to shift things was waking up that morning to go to school. When my brother said, my stomach hurts, I don't feel well, I don't feel well. I immediately thought he was faking it. I thought he was just trying to get out of class because, listen, I've hid in the basement, I've hid in closets, I've hid under the tables to not go to school. That was us. And then he kept up with it. And I still was kind of like, huh. I think my parents, too, at first maybe thought that. And then... they finally relented and said, okay, we'll take you to the doctor. And he was just in so much pain. And so I went off to school, kind of probably forgot about it. I was like, maybe jealous he was staying home, to be honest. And then when I came out of school, my parents weren't there to pick me up.”

Heather Taylor, writer, and director of TV and films, opens up about her personal experiences with ADHD in the corporate world. She shares how she struggled to fit in and perform while masking her symptoms, leading to exhaustion and burnout. "I felt like no one listened to what I was actually saying. And in some cases, kind of reminiscent of the story of like having an indoor picnic and thinking everyone did. I also just thought the experiences in my head and the way that I viewed the world were exactly the same as everybody else. And the problem was, is that I lived and worked in a corporate environment. And so just people didn't get my creative brain and just trying to make it through the day." - Heather Taylor

In this episode of The Life Shift Podcast, John D'Agostini shares his journey of overcoming shame, toxic masculinity, and finding purpose. He discusses his experiences coping with family addiction and abuse, societal pressure on gender roles, and struggling with isolation and sleeping in his car. He also talks about overcoming shame and toxic masculinity, seeking help, and providing safety and direction for the lost through a book and mentoring program. "I wouldn't even admit those things to myself back then. The lack of self-awareness was alarming because I had this blind spot that I know was full of a bunch of junk, and I just absolutely refused to deal with it because that's just not what men do. Or at least that's what I thought at the time.”

In this episode of "The Life Shift Podcast," Kristy Olinger discusses the importance of reflecting on our habits and questioning whether they are serving us well. "It's this idea that when you don't have control over your waking hours, and if any listeners have young kids, you know that you don't have control over your waking hours when they're awake, you try to take some of that control back by staying up late and, and being able to spend time the way you want to.”

Patreon Bonus Episode 11 Teaser - Rebecca Lerch

This week on The Life Shift Podcast, MC McDonald shares her journey of overcoming trauma, navigating grief and family relationships, and finding success. "I think if we can think about trauma and, and that point of healing as possible, then we can, we can enter into the healing process with a lot more hope than with this understanding that if you have trauma, that means you are somehow like marred or broken or, you know." - MC McDonald.

Elizabeth Rosenberg shares her personal journey from burnout to spiritual awakening. “And I learned through therapy that I would also give myself migraines not only to give myself a time out but to punish myself for not being successful at what I had set out to do, which is just like mind-blowing to me because you're like, oh my God, like you did this to yourself.”

BONUS - You Might Like: "Multispective" Podcast Trailer

In this episode, Lori Keesey shares her journey of growth and healing after the tragic loss of her son. “But you're thinking, my goodness, if you only knew right now, it's just not that 33-year-old man that was, he was a really, he was a real human being. He had a life, he had a way about him, he had friends, he made a difference, and everything is just sort of condensed down into one little phrase in black and white.” - Lori Keesey

Patreon Bonus Episode 10 Teaser - Marisa Eikenberry

In this episode, Laura Harless shares her journey of transforming her relationship with food and body to achieve a whole-body transformation. She discusses the importance of self-awareness and internal stabilization to avoid extremes in diet culture. Laura also shares her successful weight loss journey without medication or surgery and the importance of changing one's relationship with food.