Navigating life’s biggest changes takes resilience and adaptability, especially when multiple challenges occur simultaneously.

Even highly capable individuals can struggle when faced with unexpected events, from starting a business and having a child in a foreign country to dealing with illness and death.

Jon and Lori Smith’s experience highlights the importance of acknowledging the cognitive stress that builds up in periods of upheaval, rather than maintaining a "happy-go-lucky" mindset that everything will simply work out.

This episode will help you

• Explore how to rebuild a relationship after significant personal and professional challenges
• Understand the importance of pausing and prioritising self-care in times of overwhelming stress
• Learn how curiosity and open communication can transform conflict into connection

Highlights

• [00:06:01] Startups, moves, new lives, and uncertainties
• [00:14:29] When things began to fall apart
• [00:19:45] Jon and Lori meet Sally-Anne
• [00:23:05] Things take a turn for the worse
• [00:29:34] Help arrives, with a difficult choice
• [00:34:28] Finding space to renew and repair
• [00:40:36] Looking over the parapet
• [00:48:06] The fears Jon & Lori faced
• [00:51:03] What Fearless Forward means for Jon and Lori
• [00:55:52] Takeaways from Sally-Anne

Resources

• Connect with Jon via LinkedIn
• Connect with Lori Alexa-Smith on LinkedIn
• Connect with Sally-Anne via LinkedIn

Facing our fears means understanding how they shape our actions, while creating space for self-awareness, connection, and growth in both personal and professional contexts.

Carlos Saba is the co-founder of the Happy Startup School, an alternative business school and learning platform that focuses on helping entrepreneurs and professionals align their work with their values and passions.

With a PhD in atomic physics, Carlos transitioned from a career in science and digital advertising to co-founding a digital studio and eventually dedicating himself to creating programs, events, and courses that foster connection, learning, and personal growth.

This episode will help you

• Understand how to embrace and work through fear rather than suppressing it, allowing for personal and professional growth
• Explore the importance of aligning your work with your values and creating meaningful connections with others
• Discover how self-awareness and emotional openness can enhance creativity, resilience, and authenticity

Highlights

• [00:07:28] Identifying core needs
• [00:11:56] Purpose with a big P or a small P
• [00:16:43] How Carlos is meeting his needs
• [00:21:17] How do we create resilience?
• [00:28:14] Carlos' relationship with shame
• [00:33:07] Meeting "Kung Fu Carlos"
• [00:38:05] What Fearless Forward means to Carlos
• [00:42:37] Takeaways from Sally-Anne

Resources

• Connect with Carlos via LinkedIn
• The Happy Startup School
• Connect with Sally-Anne via LinkedIn

As change makers, we an become overwhelmed and anxious about our place in the world, the impact we have, and the resources we have to create it. These feelings often stem from deeper fears, like that of losing what we cherish or even the fear of dying. This can leave us feeling stuck, disconnected, and unable to act.

For therapist Agnes Otzelberger, facing these fears head-on helped her feel more alive and capable. She believes we can find strength by connecting with others, embracing creativity, and building a better relationship with ourselves and the natural world.

When we ignore our fears, they can paralyse us. We can feel numb or powerless, unable to make decisions or take meaningful action. This
disconnection from ourselves and others only deepens the sense of hopelessness.

This conversation will help you

• Explore how fear can be acknowledged and integrated for personal growth and resilience
• Understand practical ways to reconnect with nature, creativity, and community to navigate overwhelming emotions
• Address feelings of scarcity, stress, and paralysis in the face of global challenges

Highlights

• [00:02:16] A breathless tightening
• [00:08:26] How we respond to hopelessness
• [00:14:42] The need for community
• [00:22:13] Survival mode
• [00:28:16] Managing yourself to care for others
• [00:33:21] Agnes' deepest fears
• [00:41:31] What Fearless Forward means to Agnes
• [00:43:32] Takeaways from Sally-Anne

Resources

• Connect with Agnes via LinkedIn
• Work directly with Agnes
• Connect with Sally-Anne via LinkedIn
• Waking the Tiger: Healing the Trauma: The Innate Capacity to Overcome Overwhelming Experiences, by Peter Levine
• 30 Lies about Money: liberating your life, liberating your money, by Peter Koenig
• Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in without Going Crazy, by Joanna Macy & Chris Johnstone
• The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred work of Grief, by Francis Weller
• Big Magic: How to Live a Creative Life, and Let Go of Your Fear, by Elizabeth Gilbert