Doing Life Different with Lesa Koski

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Mindset, movement, and faith after 40—because midlife isn’t a crisis, it’s your comeback. Welcome to Doing Life Different with Lesa Koski, the podcast for women over 40 who are ready to rewrite the rules, reclaim their joy, and rediscover their purpose. Whether you're navigating divorce, rediscovering your health, deepening your faith, or learning how to have fun again—you’re in the right place. Host Lesa Koski—wife, mom, coach, and seasoned mediator—brings real talk, relatable wisdom, and expert interviews to guide you through midlife reinvention with grace and grit. In each episode, you’ll get practical tools and empowering conversations on: Mindset & personal growth Faith & spiritual connection Fitness, movement & health Divorce, marriage & relationships Fun, purpose & starting fresh in the second half of life This isn’t just self-help. It’s soul-level transformation. Get ready to do life different—because your next chapter starts now. Lesa also explores the emotional and physical changes that often accompany midlife and major life shifts. From navigating the impact of menopause on your health, marriage, and mood, to dealing with the loneliness that can come after divorce or empty nesting, you’ll find honest conversations that don’t shy away from real-life challenges. And for those of you in your 40s, 50s, or beyond, you’ll discover what it means to truly build a better life after 40. Health and wellness are deeply integrated into this journey. Lesa shares insights on the benefits of rest, joy, nutrition, fasting, protein, and bone health, along with the power of movement, community, and exercise to support mental clarity and physical strength. You’ll learn how to take care of yourself with intention—because healing isn’t just emotional, it’s also biological. Mindset work and self-coaching are recurring tools offered in episodes to help you reframe your story and shift from fear to freedom. And through it all, the show honors the role of faith, spiritual surrender, and letting God lead you through every season. Whether you're leaning into your relationship with God for the first time or deepening a lifelong practice, you’ll hear how surrender can bring peace even in the hardest moments. You’ll hear real stories from people who have done divorce differently, saved their marriages, or found new love and purpose on the other side. Lesa also brings in conversations about marriages that have stood the test of time, co-parenting through complex seasons, and the realities of parenting after separation while maintaining stability for your kids. This is a podcast about thriving through Cancer, taking back your life, rewriting your future, and trusting that you’re not starting over, you’re starting better. If you’re craving practical advice, soul-level encouragement, and real conversations about creating a healthy, joyful, purpose-driven life, you’ve found your community. Subscribe now and join Lesa Koski for weekly episodes that will help you grow stronger in your relationships, your health, and your faith, no matter where you’re starting from. About the Host: I’ve spent over 25 years helping families navigate amicable divorce as a lawyer and mediator, always focused on protecting what matters most—your kids and your peace of mind. But my mission has expanded. Today, I support women over 40 not just through endings, but in building stronger relationships—and sometimes even saving their marriages. I’m a breast cancer survivor, a cowgirl at heart, a wellness advocate, and a follower of Jesus. My life and faith fuel my passion for helping women thrive.

Episode List

Healing Starts at Home | Key Takeaways with Nurse Lisa Sander

Sep 25th, 2025 8:00 AM

📝 Episode DescriptionHealing starts at home—with faith, kindness, and humility. In this Saddle Up Segment of Doing Life Different, host Lesa Koski reflects on her conversation with Nurse Lisa Sander, pulling out the most powerful takeaways to help you heal, grow, and lead with kindness in your daily life.Even if you’ve never faced divorce or frontline nursing, Lisa’s wisdom touches us all. From humility in relationships to finding your voice in midlife, these lessons are practical, faith-filled, and life-changing.Listen in to discover how healing yourself transforms your family—and how healing families can transform our communities and country.⏱ Timestamps(00:00) Welcome to the Saddle Up Segment(01:15) Healing helps us serve others(02:30) Why kindness must begin at home(03:40) Humility vs. defensiveness in relationships(05:05) Healing our families to heal our country(06:25) Finding your voice in midlife(07:30) Daily kindness as leadership✨ Key TakeawaysHealing frees us to turn outward and serve othersTrue kindness begins inside our homesHumility repairs faster than defensivenessFamilies are the first place healing must happenYour voice matters at every age and stageEveryday acts of kindness are leadership in action👩‍⚕️ Guest BioLisa Sander is a Med-Surg charge nurse, coach, and co-host of Our Healer, Our Protector. After walking through divorce, frontline nursing during COVID, and rediscovering her calling, she now helps individuals and couples reconnect with themselves, each other, and God through retreats, coaching, and storytelling.

Healing Starts at Home: Faith and Healing with Nurse Lisa Sander | Ending the Cycle & Finding Your Voice

Sep 23rd, 2025 7:00 AM

Episode Description:Faith and healing, divorce recovery, and real-life resilience—this candid conversation with nurse Lisa Sander explores how to reconnect with God, yourself, and others. We unpack frontline lessons from COVID, practical tools for divorce recovery, and why kindness, listening, and humility transform families and communities. Centered on faith and healing, we discuss ending perfectionism, finding your voice after 40, and choosing love over fear. If you’re ready to pursue faith and healing in everyday life, this episode offers grounded stories, hope, and next steps. You’ll hear how faith and healing can guide hard conversations, co-parenting, and calling.Timestamps (in parentheses):(00:00) Introduction to authentic, unscripted conversation and today’s themes(02:38) Guest shares insights on nursing: calling, compassion, and reconnecting with God & others(06:05) Divorce recovery and healing: finding courage, setting needs, choosing respect(10:12) COVID frontline lessons: leadership, humility, and doing the next right thing(14:27) National grief & unity: listening across differences, choosing kindness over fear(18:40) Judgment vs. discernment: how to truly hear someone’s story(22:58) Failure as formation: “third time’s the light” and growing through setbacks(26:30) Parenting & teens through change: stability, honesty, and co-parenting well(30:02) Retreats & service: Christian couples retreat and a Minnesota nonprofit vision(33:15) Takeaways & encouragement: ending cycles, finding your voice after 40+Key Takeaways:Faith and healing begin with listening—at home, in marriage, and in community.Courageous honesty and humble apologies soften defensiveness and rebuild trust.Divorce recovery is possible with respect, clarity on needs, and child-first co-parenting.Failure can form you: resilience grows when you keep showing up with God.Kindness is leadership—choose it in conversations, online, and at the checkout line.Guest Bio:Lisa Sander is a Med-Surg charge nurse, podcast co-host of Our Healer, Our Protector, and a Christian coach who helps women and couples reconnect with themselves, each other, and God. Drawing from 24+ years in nursing and her own life transitions, Lisa supports divorce recovery, relational healing, and purpose after 40.Resource Links:Watch Our Healer, Our Protector on YouTube — https://youtube.com/@ourhealerourprotector?feature=sharedConnect with Lisa Sander — [insert website or social link]Lesa Koski — https://lesakoski.comCouples Retreat (Arizona) — [insert linTags/Keywords:faith and healing, divorce recovery, women over 40 podcast, Christian women, kindness and unity, judgment vs discernment, co-parenting, resilience, nurse story, COVID frontline lessons, finding your voice, ending perfectionism, Christian couples retreat, Minnesota nonprofit, Our Healer Our Protector, Lisa Sander

Saddle Up Segment: Ending the Cycle of Perfectionism & Judgment | Healing with Andi Bull

Sep 18th, 2025 7:00 AM

Episode Description:Break the cycle of perfectionism, judgment, and people-pleasing. In this Saddle Up Segment, Lesa Koski shares 5 key takeaways from part two of her powerful conversation with author Andi Bull (When Your Protectors Didn’t Protect).Learn how humility breaks defensiveness, how to move from victim to overcomer, and why God’s unconditional love—not performance—defines your worth. This episode offers faith-filled, practical tools for healing after abuse and releasing perfectionism for good.Timestamps:(00:00) Welcome back to the Saddle Up Segment(01:10) Humility heals faster than defensiveness(03:00) The barbed-wire tree: growing around suffering(05:15) Moving from judgment to discernment with God’s eyes(07:40) From victim to survivor to overcomer(10:05) God’s unconditional love—identity before performance(12:30) Key reminders to end the cycleKey Takeaways:Humility opens hearts where defensiveness closes them.Pain doesn’t disappear—we grow stronger around it.Judgment becomes discernment when we ask for God’s eyes.You can move from victim → survivor → overcomer.God’s love is unconditional—your worth isn’t earned.Guest Bio (context):For over twenty-five years, Andi has dedicated herself to the study of God’s word, graduating from the King’s University with her Master’s in 2003.As she read the Bible through the eyes of a survivor of traumatic childhood abuse, she saw how God passionately seeks the lost, gently restores the broken, and tenderly heals broken hearts. Andi became inspired to advocate for emotional well-being, not only for herself but also for the women she is privileged to mentor one-on-one and those she speaks to at conferences. The lessons and insights she gained are in her book, When Your Protectors Didn’t: Healing from a Past of Broken Pieces. Raised in South Africa as a child, she now resides in sunny Southern California with her husband, daughter, and pups. She loves her family, friends, pups, and coffee—lots and lots of coffee! Resource Links:Listen to the full episode here! https://player.captivate.fm/episode/27abd1b8-860b-4770-8508-3021b19c465f/Get Andi Bull’s book: When Your Protectors Didn’t Protect https://a.co/d/5naO43ILearn more at lesakoski.comTags/Keywords:healing after abuse, faith and healing, perfectionism, people pleasing, Saddle Up Segment, women over 40 podcast, Christian women, ending the cycle, judgment to discernment, overcoming trauma, identity in Christ, Andi Bull, When Your Protectors Didn’t

End the Cycle: Healing After Abuse, Judgment & Perfectionism with Andi Bull | Faith and Healing

Sep 16th, 2025 7:00 AM

Healing after abuse, faith and healing, and ending generational cycles—this powerful conversation with author Andi Bull offers tools to stop perfectionism, release judgment, and embrace humble apologies that heal relationships. In this memoir-style episode, we explore how to end the cycle, why God’s love—not performance—defines identity, and practical ways to move from victim to survivor to overcomer. Throughout, we return to healing after abuse as a core theme, connecting it to anxiety, people-pleasing, and family patterns. If you’re ready for healing after abuse (or any hidden wound), this episode gives you language, lenses, and next steps. You’ll hear stories on motherhood, marriage, apology, and discernment that make healing after abuse actionable in daily life.Timestamps:(00:00) Introduction to ending the cycle: perfectionism, people-pleasing, and identity(04:12) Guest shares insights on motherhood, adoption, and unconditional love in practice(08:45) Humble apologies in marriage: how humility breaks defensiveness(12:30) Performance vs. beloved identity: stopping the “earn love” lie(16:05) Morning anxiety, gratitude, and inviting Jesus into honest emotions(19:42) Seeing as God sees: non-judgment, modeling, and discerning “not from you”(24:18) Suffering and growth: the barbed-wire tree and integrating grief(28:10) From victim → survivor → overcomer: refusing to let pain define you(31:40) Tools to end gossip and judgment while keeping relationships(35:05) Parenting & grandparenting stories: unconditional love in the checkout line(38:20) Practical takeaways and next steps to end generational patternsKey Takeaways:Identity first: You are loved before you perform; humility dismantles defensiveness.End the cycle: Awareness + new responses (apology, curiosity, modeling) rewrite family patterns.Judgment → discernment: Ask for God’s eyes and heart; sometimes the word is “not from you.”Suffering integrates: We don’t “shrink” pain; we grow around it and become stronger.Move stages: Acknowledge victimhood, heal as a survivor, live as an overcomer who helps others.Guest Bio:Guest Bio:For over twenty-five years, Andi has dedicated herself to the study of God’s word, graduating from the King’s University with her Master’s in 2003.As she read the Bible through the eyes of a survivor of traumatic childhood abuse, she saw how God passionately seeks the lost, gently restores the broken, and tenderly heals broken hearts. Andi became inspired to advocate for emotional well-being, not only for herself but also for the women she is privileged to mentor one-on-one and those she speaks to at conferences. The lessons and insights she gained are in her book, When Your Protectors Didn’t: Healing from a Past of Broken Pieces. Raised in South Africa as a child, she now resides in sunny Southern California with her husband, daughter, and pups. She loves her family, friends, pups, and coffee—lots and lots of coffee! Resource Links:Get Andi Bull’s book: When Your Protectors Didn’t Protect https://a.co/d/5naO43ILearn more at lesakoski.comListen to Part 1 of the conversation — https://player.captivate.fm/episode/e87157ca-599f-4155-9b7e-3d577d1ee81d/Tags/Keywords:healing after abuse, faith and healing, end the cycle, perfectionism, people pleasing, humble apology, nonjudgment, Christian women, women over 40 podcast, survivor to overcomer, generational healing, identity in God, memoir podcast, Andy Bull, When Your Protectors Didn’t Protect

Saddle Up Segment: Healing, Faith & Overcoming Imposter Syndrome | Lessons from Andi Bull

Sep 11th, 2025 7:00 AM

Healing, faith, and resilience are for everyone. In this Saddle Up Segment, Lesa Koski unpacks 5 key lessons from her powerful conversation with author Andi Bull (When Your Protectors Didn’t). Whether you’ve experienced abuse, battled perfectionism, or struggled with imposter syndrome, these takeaways will inspire you to embrace healing, see Scripture in a new way, and share your story with courage.This episode is designed to help women over 40—and anyone navigating life’s challenges—apply these insights in everyday life and move forward with hope.Timestamps:(00:00) Welcome to the Saddle Up Segment(01:10) Healing is for all of us—not just survivors of abuse(03:00) Seeing Scripture differently through the lens of healing(05:15) Realizing dysfunction isn’t normal—and finding freedom(07:20) Facing imposter syndrome and remembering identity in God(09:10) Why sharing your story can change someone else’s life(11:05) Final encouragement and key remindersKey Takeaways:Healing applies to perfectionism, people-pleasing, and anxiety—not just abuse.God’s Word offers fresh meaning when seen through the lens of healing.Dysfunction and unhealthy patterns are not “normal.”Imposter syndrome shows up for everyone, but identity is rooted in God.Your story matters and can bring hope and healing to others.Guest Bio (context):Andy Bull is the author of When Your Protectors Didn’t Protect, a powerful memoir about surviving childhood abuse and finding healing through faith. She speaks and writes to help women recognize their worth, embrace God’s love, and heal from the past.Resource Links:Listen to the full interview with Andi Bull: https://player.captivate.fm/episode/e87157ca-599f-4155-9b7e-3d577d1ee81d/Get Andy’s book When Your Protectors Didn’t Protect: https://a.co/d/2TAlowgConnect with Lesa Koski: lesakoski.comTags/Keywords:healing after abuse, faith and healing, Saddle Up Segment, women over 40 podcast, perfectionism, people pleasing, imposter syndrome, Christian women podcast, memoir podcast, Andy Bull, When Your Protectors Didn’t Protect, resilience, storytelling and healing

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