The Life Shift | Conversations About Life Before and After

Grief: Learning to Carry Joy and Loss Together

If you have ever looked at your life and thought, this is not what I imagined, this conversation is for you.If you have carried love and grief in the same breath, you will recognize yourself here.Sharon’s story moves through absence, devotion, and the quiet reshaping that happens when life asks more of you than you feel ready to give. From early experiences of not knowing where she belonged, to the long years of loving and caring for her son Michael, she shares what it means to live inside uncertainty without closing your heart. This is not a story about fixing what cannot be fixed. It is about learning how to stay present when the future feels fragile.This episode holds space for the kind of grief that does not follow a timeline. The kind that lives alongside laughter. The kind that changes your identity and slowly teaches you how to carry love forward. There is no rush here. Just permission to feel what you feel, and to trust that it all belongs.What You’ll HearWhat it feels like when the life you expected quietly disappearsThe difference between surviving grief and living alongside itHow love deepens when certainty is no longer availableNavigating identity after loss without forcing closureHolding joy and sorrow in the same momentLearning to feel seen after years of feeling unseenGuest BioDr. Sharon Spano works with high-impact leaders who appear successful on the outside but feel something is quietly missing inside. With a PhD in Human and Organizational Systems, she helps CEOs, consultants, and entrepreneurs understand what is actually holding them back, not just in their work, but in their relationships and sense of self.Much of Sharon’s work centers on what she calls the emptiness of success. The feeling that can linger even after you have done all the right things. Through a blend of science, developmental psychology, and deep personal insight, she guides leaders to uncover hidden barriers, including generational patterns and unresolved grief, so they can lead with more clarity, integrity, and wholeness.Sharon is the host of The Other Side of Potential, a podcast exploring leadership, growth, and what it means to live beyond pressure-driven success. She is also the author of The Pursuit of Time & Money. At the heart of her work is a simple belief. True success is not about doing more. It is about becoming more fully yourself.Website: https://sharonspano.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharonspano/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sharon.spano.902Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drsharonspano/Blog: https://sharonspano.comPodcast: The Other Side of Potential: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-other-side-of-potential/id1397898049Listen and follow: www.thelifeshiftpodcast.com/followSupport the show for ad-free and early release episodes: www.patreon.com/thelifeshiftpodcastSubscribe to the newsletter: https://thelifeshiftpodcast.beehiiv.com/

The Moment You Finally Say the Truth Out Loud | Bonus

This episode is part of The Things We Carry, a solo series shaped by the themes that stay with me after the conversations on The Life Shift. Today I am talking about the moment you finally say the thing you have been holding in. It is rarely dramatic. It is rarely loud. Most of the time it is a quiet shift in the air. A small release. A truth that has been waiting for you to stop hiding.In this reflection, I talk about the fear that comes before speaking the truth, the relief that follows, and the slow, steady undoing of shame that happens when you let yourself be seen. Many of us carry invisible weight. We carry the stories we were told to keep quiet. We carry the parts of ourselves we were sure would make people run. But the moment you let someone see the real you, everything changes. Even if it is small. Even if it is messy. Even if your voice shakes.If you feel yourself inching toward your own line in the sand, I hope this episode helps you feel less alone. You do not have to shout your truth. You do not have to reveal everything at once. You can take one small step. You can whisper the part of your story that wants to be heard. And when you do, you become a little more you.

Burnout: Crying in a Dark Theater

Burnout does not always look dramatic. Sometimes it looks like a successful career, a stable job, and a life that makes sense on paper. And still, your body knows something is wrong. If you have ever found yourself in the middle of a midlife career shift, questioning your work, or wondering why you feel exhausted even when everything seems fine, this conversation will meet you right where you are.In this episode, I talk with Ellen Whitlock Baker about the quiet unraveling that led to her line-in-the-sand moment. Years of people-pleasing, pushing through, and trying to belong in systems that were never built for her finally caught up with her in the most unexpected place. Sitting in a theater, watching the musical Beetlejuice, Ellen broke down. Not because the show was sad, but because her body had reached its limit. What followed was a brave decision to walk away from a very stable job and begin rebuilding a life and career rooted in alignment instead of obligation.This is a story about workplace burnout and listening to yourself before everything falls apart. About honoring the signals you have learned to ignore. And about trusting that even when the next step feels risky, there is another way to live and work that does not cost you yourself.What You’ll HearWhat burnout feels like before you have language for itHow belonging, or the lack of it, quietly shapes our career choicesThe moment Ellen’s body finally said enoughWhy leaving a stable job can feel terrifying and deeply right at the same timeWhat rebuilding looks like when you choose alignment over approvalA reminder that it is not you that is broken; sometimes it is the systemGuest BioEllen Whitlock Baker is the founder and CEO of EWB Coaching, where she helps professionals learn how to prioritize themselves in a world that often tells them not to. With empathy and honesty at the center of her work, Ellen supports leaders in understanding their strengths and building careers that feel sustainable, human, and aligned.With more than 20 years of workplace experience and certification through the International Coaching Federation, Ellen works with individuals and organizations through one-on-one coaching, workshops, and courses. After navigating her own experiences with burnout and self-doubt, she is on a mission to help others never reach that breaking point. Ellen is also the host of the Hard at Work podcast, which identifies what isn't working in today’s workplaces and explores how we might change them.Connect with EllenWebsite: https://ewbcoaching.comPodcast: https://hardatworkpodcast.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellenwhitlockbaker/Instagram: @ellenwbcoaching------Listen and follow: www.thelifeshiftpodcast.com/followSupport the show for ad-free and early release episodes: www.patreon.com/thelifeshiftpodcastSubscribe to the newsletter: https://thelifeshiftpodcast.beehiiv.com/

How We Slowly Rebuild After Loss | Bonus

This episode is part of The Things We Carry, a solo series shaped by the themes that stay with me after the conversations on The Life Shift. Today I am talking about the quiet ways people rebuild after loss. Not the dramatic versions we often hear about, but the slow work that happens in ordinary moments. The rebuilding that takes shape in private. The kind no one sees.In this reflection, I talk about how grief reshapes us, how healing does not mean going back to who we were, and how rebuilding often looks like small rituals, small connections, and small choices that eventually add up to something stronger. Loss creates a landscape we have to learn how to navigate. There are days we feel lost, days we find small paths forward, and days we simply sit with the weight of it all. None of it is wrong. None of it is failure. It is all part of the rebuilding.If you are walking through loss right now, I hope this episode gives you space to notice the gentle ways you are already putting yourself back together. Maybe it is the first laugh you did not expect. Maybe it is reaching out when you would rather withdraw. Maybe it is the moment you stop judging your grief and let it be what it is. There is no timeline here. There is only your way. And that is enough.

Perfectionism: Crying in an Empty Parking Lot

Maybe you’ve had that moment too. The one where burnout shows up quietly, and you sit in your car before work holding back tears, wondering how your life became so small. For anyone experiencing career burnout or questioning their sense of self, this conversation may feel familiar.For Lin Yuan-Su, that moment was a quiet breaking point. She had the job, the title, the security. But none of it felt like her. What began as a career built to please others became a life that asked her to finally listen to herself. That morning became a line in the sand moment where she realized success alone was not enough.Her story is about what happens when you stop performing and start trusting your own truth. It’s about learning to make peace with the child who only knew how to survive, and letting her grow into the woman who can finally breathe.What You’ll Hear:The hidden pressure of living up to other people’s expectationsThe breaking point that began in a silent parking lotHow cultural and familial stories shaped her sense of worthThe moment she chose to walk away from success that no longer fitReconnecting with her inner child after years of silenceBuilding a life that feels aligned instead of approvedGuest Bio:Lin Yuan-Su is a transformational success coach who helps high-achieving professionals simplify their path to success so they can create lives they love without burnout or hustle that no longer serves them. With a background in nutrition and healthcare, Lin once looked accomplished on paper but felt deeply unfulfilled. She works with leaders and entrepreneurs who look successful on the outside but feel disconnected on the inside. A spontaneous moment of truth set her on a path toward purpose, ease, and flow. Today, she guides others to align with their truth, quiet the noise, and live in a way that feels like freedom.Discover more about Lin at: www.enlightenedsuccess.comListen and follow: www.thelifeshiftpodcast.com/followSupport the show for ad-free and early release episodes: www.patreon.com/thelifeshiftpodcastSubscribe to the newsletter: https://thelifeshiftpodcast.beehiiv.com/