At 27, Laura England walked away from everything - a long-term relationship, her business, and the life she thought she was building - and ran off for a “Mamma Mia summer” working on cruise ships in Greece.

What looked like escape became something much bigger.

In this episode, Laura shares how she rose into senior roles at sea, only to walk away again - this time signing a 12-month lease with no clients and no safety net, determined to rebuild from scratch on her own terms.

We talk about pivoting at any age, detaching self-worth from career, navigating comparison, and finding the courage to begin again - even when it feels reckless.

If you’ve ever questioned your direction or wondered whether it’s too late to change, this conversation will remind you: your life isn’t written in permanent marker.

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What if the reason you feel stuck right now… is because you’re trying to get back to who you used to be?

After speaking to Talia about her accident and the moment her life completely changed, I kept thinking about something she said: she wasn’t meant to be that person before. This is who she’s meant to be now.

And it made me reflect on my own life - and on so many of the women I work with.

We think resilience means rebuilding what we had.

We think strength means getting “back to normal.”

But what if it doesn’t?

In this coaching episode, I’m asking you to stop trying to return to an old version of yourself. Instead, I want you to consider who you could become because of what’s happened.

If you’re feeling derailed, stuck, in transition, questioning your job, your direction, your purpose - this episode is for you.

I’ll share the mindset shift I see time and time again in the women who create real change. And I’ll ask you the reflective questions that might just help you take one small, intentional step forward this week.

Because maybe this isn’t about going back.

Maybe this is your moment to reinvent.

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At just 25, Talia Lazarus faced the unthinkable - a life-altering accident that nearly took her life and left her having to learn to walk again. What followed wasn’t just recovery - it was a complete reinvention of who she thought she was and what she wanted out of life.

In this deeply personal episode of Real Women’s Stories, Talia shares the raw, unfiltered truth about pain, identity, and transformation. We go beyond the physical injury to explore the emotional wreckage that followed: the panic attacks, the grief for the person she used to be, and the moment she realised that surviving wasn’t enough.

Rather than returning to her old life, Talia chose something radically different. She burned her old world to the ground - not out of anger, but out of clarity - and started again with a mission to help others do the same.

Through her work with her I Got Back Up podcast, Talia now supports people rebuilding after trauma, teaching them what she had to learn the hard way: resilience isn’t about bouncing back - it’s about rising up with purpose.

Join us for a story of survival, reinvention, identity rediscovery, and the courage it takes to walk into a life you never thought possible.

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In the last episode, I shared what was happening to me physically - the pain, the fear, and why I felt unable to stop, even when my body was forcing me to.

In this coaching episode, I reflect on what that mindset of “just keep going” really cost me - not just in health, but in how I viewed strength, resilience, and success.

This is a conversation for anyone who feels trapped between listening to their body and fearing what will happen if they step back. If stopping feels like failure… if rest feels risky… if pushing on feels like the only option - this episode is for you.

I share what I’d do differently now, the questions I wish I’d asked sooner, and how redefining resilience changed everything.

You don’t need to change anything today.

But you might start noticing what your body has been trying to tell you.

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Chronic pain doesn’t always come with visible symptoms - and for many women, it’s hidden behind silence and shame.

In this episode, I share my personal experience of living with debilitating pain caused by a widely misunderstood and rarely discussed health condition. What followed were months of fear, isolation and being told it was “all in my head”.

Joined by specialist clinician Ellie Bradshaw from The Functional Gut Clinic, this conversation explores why women are still reluctant to talk about toilet health, how stress and pain become trapped in the body, and why speaking up can be the first step towards recovery.

If you’ve ever felt dismissed, embarrassed, or alone with your health, this episode is for you.

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You might say you’ve “done the work” - but how do you really know?

In this episode, we explore the one question that reveals whether healing has actually happened… or whether you’re still sitting in the story.

After recording the last conversation, something stood out immediately: it wasn’t what was shared, but how it was shared. No charge. No reactivity. No need to convince. Just calm, grounded self-awareness.

This episode unpacks:

• the difference between talking about your past and truly healing from it
• why some stories still feel emotional - and others feel neutral
• how deep inner work shows up in your nervous system, not just your mindset
• why real healing isn’t loud, performative, or dramatic
• and how accountability (not blame) changes everything

If you’ve ever wondered whether you’ve genuinely moved on - or whether you’ve simply learned to explain your past better - this conversation will land.

This is for anyone on a self-development journey who wants honesty over affirmations, depth over surface-level tools, and real growth over quick fixes.

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Nobody tells you that being bullied as a child doesn’t just hurt in the moment - it can quietly shape who you become as an adult.

In this episode, Jess Levy shares her raw and deeply honest experience of growing up with bullying, and how the emotional impact followed her long after school ended - affecting her confidence, relationships, self-belief and sense of belonging well into adulthood.

She opens up about how unresolved trauma can either hold you back or become the catalyst for profound personal growth, and why confronting her past was a turning point in finally reclaiming her power.

Now an entrepreneur of nine years, founder of a global wellness business, and creator of the Level Up Ladies community, Jess reflects on how those early experiences shaped her drive, her boundaries, and her determination to build spaces where women feel seen, supported and capable of more.

This is a conversation about resilience, self-awareness, and the uncomfortable truth that childhood bullying doesn’t disappear with time - but how you respond to it can ultimately make or break your adult life.

If you’ve ever felt held back by experiences you thought you’d moved on from, this episode will resonate deeply.

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“Just be strong” is the phrase we hear when we’re struggling, grieving, or facing change.

But i share why that message can feel hollow - and sometimes even damaging.

Through personal reflection and real stories from my work with women, I explore why pushing through isn’t always the answer, and how flexibility, reflection and emotional awareness often carry us further than brute resilience ever could.

This is a gentle but powerful episode for anyone who feels tired of trying to hold it all together.

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Discover mid-life coaching with Lisa

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