When a hard drive crashes, people will spend thousands—or even hundreds of thousands—of dollars to recover what they thought was lost. In this episode, I explore what data recovery can teach us about resilience, meaning, and suicide prevention.

In this episode, I discuss:

• Why we often don’t realize the value of something until it’s gone
• How our bodies, relationships, and memories are more fragile than we think
• The surprising parallels between data recovery specialists and suicide hotline counselors
• How a single grain of dust—or a single thought—can cause outsized damage
• Why emotional crises are often about imbalance rather than total failure
• The idea that the story we create from loss may be more valuable than what we lost

Article referenced: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/04/27/when-your-digital-life-vanishes

Thrive With Leo Coaching:

If you want to reduce your psychological pain, regain your purpose and forge your own path, go to www.thrivewithleo.com to begin your journey.

If you or anyone you know is considering suicide or self-harm, or is anxious, depressed, upset, or needs to talk, there are people who want to help:

In the US:

Crisis Text Line: Text CRISIS to 741741 for free, confidential crisis counseling.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 or 988

The Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386

Outside the US:

International Association for Suicide Prevention lists a number of suicide hotlines by country. Click here to find them.