What's this episode about?

Lee and Michelle take a look at "bouncing back" and ask whether getting back to where we were before is really the goal. Often, it isn't.

Instead, they talk about "bouncing forward": using setbacks to move on rather than slipping back into old habits and old versions of ourselves.

Key topics covered:

• Why "bouncing back" can keep us stuck in unhelpful loops
• How lessons we learned when we were younger can hold us back as adults
• Lee's experience when a house move fell through, and what she gained from it
• Michelle's story of breaking a pre-exam stress habit that was doing more harm than good
• The difference between intentional rest and unproductive downtime
• How self-awareness and evidence of our own capabilities help us move forward
• Kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken ceramics with gold, as a way of thinking about bouncing forward
• Why bouncing forward takes courage, confidence and honest self-reflection

Mentioned in this episode:

• FutureLearn (futurelearn.com), the online learning platform where Michelle first came across the "bounce forward" idea, on a professional resilience course from Deakin University
• Kintsugi / Kintsukuroi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold lacquer
• William Morris: "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful"

Quotes from the episode:

• "Bouncing back suggests that where we were before was the right place." Michelle Rogers
• "Bouncing forwards makes me feel excited. The possibilities are endless." Lee Iggulden
• "We're not ignoring our struggles. We're using them. Valuing the lessons learned from them to make something even better." Michelle Rogers
• "It's not broken. It's just been put back together, filled with gold." Lee Iggulden

Reflection question for listeners:

Think of a time you bounced back from something difficult. Does the idea of bouncing forward fill you with dread, or with excitement and optimism?

If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who needs to hear it, and leave us a comment. We'd love to hear from you.

Laura Cave:

Instagram: Just Trade and Nice Flowers London

Website: Just Trade

Click to send us a message.

Find Lee at:

• Website: https://welshotimaging.co.uk/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leeatwelshot/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lee.iggulden

Find Michelle at:

• Web: https://www.thinkingspacecoaching.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingspacecoaching/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cmichellerogers/

Courage and Confidence | Season 3 Half-Year Review: How's 2026 Going?

This episode is a little different. Rather than a general chat, Michelle puts on her coaching hat and takes Lee through a real mid-year review session, live on the podcast: no prepared answers, no safety net, just honest reflection.

The theme running through this episode is stopping rather than starting. Michelle shares that across her coaching conversations this year, a recurring focus has been on identifying what to put down, not what to pick up.

What you'll hear in this episode:

• Lee opens up about the habits and routines she wants to leave behind, including making excuses, letting uncontrollable external factors block her progress, and getting in her own way
• An honest look at how understanding her ADHD and autism diagnoses is helping Lee build genuinely useful habits rather than just workarounds
• Why Lee has been feeling behind, and how she's challenging the limiting belief that she should "know all this by now"
• A reflection on Welshot's 17-year journey and how evolving a business is itself an achievement
• Lee talks about the personal stuff that threw her off course in the first half of 2026, including a house move that didn't happen, and how all-consuming that became
• A candid conversation about health, food, tracking, and the mindset shift that's making the difference this time around
• The habit loop in action: why picking up a book used to mean reaching for a snack, and how Lee broke that link
• Why organisation and planning are Lee's secret weapons against impulsiveness, both in life and in business
• The quote that sums up Lee's first half of 2026: "The pause doesn't slow you down. It makes everything that follows more precise."

Your task from this episode:

Write down three actions, however small, that you will take during July to help you stop doing things so that the rest of 2026 is better aligned with your priorities and your values.

Share your three actions with us by email or drop them in the comments on Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn. We would love to hear them.

About the hosts: Michelle Rogers is a business coach and the founder of Thinking Space. Lee Iggulden is the founder of Welshot, a photography academy celebrating its 17th year. Together they host Courage and Confidence, a podcast about building courage and confidence in themselves and in you.

Click to send us a message.

Find Lee at:

• Website: https://welshotimaging.co.uk/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leeatwelshot/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lee.iggulden

Find Michelle at:

• Web: https://www.thinkingspacecoaching.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingspacecoaching/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cmichellerogers/

Lee and Michelle sit down with Emily Massey, a London-based professional model and disability advocate with a story that goes far deeper than the camera. What starts as a warm catch-up about shoot locations, hiking trails, and the great "where should I move?" debate quickly becomes one of the most candid conversations the podcast has hosted.

Emily is sharp, funny, and refreshingly direct. She describes herself as "homeless" in her own body, yet she's also the person who just completed a 42-kilometre hike, passing out on slopes and still finishing every kilometre.

Emily opens up about growing up in Singapore with a body that never quite behaved the way she expected. Years of unexplained symptoms, regular dislocations, migraines, and eventually seizures led her on a long medical journey that finally resulted in a diagnosis of hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS), along with a cluster of related conditions including Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), bipolar disorder, ADHD, and asthma.

Rather than stepping back from life, Emily stepped into one of the most physically demanding and visually scrutinised industries there is. She talks honestly about the year she barely left the house, how a trip to a hairdresser set her on the path to full-time modelling, and what it actually takes to walk a runway when your body might decide to do something entirely different.

The conversation covers a lot of ground:

• What it means to live with an invisible illness in a highly visible career
• How Emily manages pain and joint instability on set through constant movement, and why what looks like expressive flow posing is often just survival
• Her experience having a seizure immediately after coming offstage during a L'Oreal tour, and the unexpectedly compassionate response from the brand
• The reality of being called "the fat model" during fashion week, and the fashion industry's retreat from body diversity in the wake of weight-loss medication trends
• The pressure of having your measurements publicly listed and what that does to your relationship with your own body
• Why she chose to start sharing her health journey on social media, and what she hopes it gives to others who feel isolated or unseen
• Her plans to launch a modelling agency specifically for disabled models, and her frustration with tokenism in the current industry
• ADHD as a creative advantage, and why she and Lee both describe neurodivergence as a superpower rather than a limitation

Find Emily on social media via her Instagram channel at https://www.instagram.com/emily_masseyy/

The channel includes a beautiful poem written by Emily entitled "Not Your Inspiration, Not Your Tragedy 🩼🌈". Watch and importantly listen here https://www.instagram.com/p/DMPt2Rgsr2M/

Find Emily on social media via the links in the episode description. If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who might need to hear it, and leave a comment. We love hearing from you.

Courage and Confidence is hosted by Lee Iggulden and Michelle Rogers.

Click to send us a message.

Find Lee at:

• Website: https://welshotimaging.co.uk/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leeatwelshot/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lee.iggulden

Find Michelle at:

• Web: https://www.thinkingspacecoaching.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingspacecoaching/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cmichellerogers/