The Life Shift: Real Stories of Life-Altering Moments

What happens when you grow up interpreting the world for your parents while carrying grief of your own?

Maria Gallucci knows that experience well. As a child of deaf adults, she learned early how isolating life could feel for her parents and how small acts of inclusion could change everything. Later, she found herself in the painful role of interpreting a doctor’s words and telling her mom she had only months to live.

In this episode, Maria shares how those moments shaped her grief journey and fueled her commitment to building a more inclusive world. She talks about supporting the deaf and hard-of-hearing community, navigating loss, raising children through grief, and carrying the lessons of her best friend’s sudden death. Her story is full of honesty, compassion, and purpose.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• The moment Maria had to interpret her mother’s terminal diagnosis
• How growing up as a CODA shaped her compassion and advocacy
• Why small acts of inclusion can change lives

Listen and remember that your story matters too.

Guest Bio

Maria Gallucci is a multi-award-winning real estate agent and proud CODA (Child of Deaf Adults). Growing up as one of six hearing children raised by Deaf parents, she learned ASL before English and helped her parents buy a home at just 12 years old. This experience shaped her passion for inclusive communication and helping those who are often overlooked.

For over 30 years, Maria has supported homebuyers from all walks of life, with special focus on the Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and LGBTQ+ communities. She’s the founder of Uptown Realty Group, Gallucci Homes, ASL @ Compass Affinity Group, and ASL Realty, a national platform connecting Deaf & Hard of Hearing clients with signing agents. She ranks in the top 1% of agents in Colorado and top 1.5% nationwide.

Maria also serves on boards for Rocky Mountain Deaf School, DOVE, and Colorado Association of the Deaf. Her motto, "just try," reflects her belief that meaningful connection starts with one small step. Her debut book, Raised in Silence, is both a love letter to the Deaf & Hard of Hearing community and a guide for bridging communication gaps.

Connect with Maria:

What happens when one choice alters the course of your life?

At 20 years old, Cheryl Wilder made a decision that led to a devastating accident and decades of shame, guilt, and self-questioning. For years, she carried the weight of what she now calls moral injury, unsure if she even deserved healing.

In this candid conversation, Cheryl opens up about the accident, the long and layered path toward forgiveness, and how poetry and storytelling became her lifelines.

• How one night reshaped the way she saw herself and the world
• Why shame felt easier to carry than forgiveness
• The moments and practices that helped her reclaim her worth

This episode is about accountability, healing, and the courage it takes to finally believe you are worth good things.

Guest Bio

Cheryl Wilder is an author, coach, and motivational speaker. She helps clients connect their personal lives with their skills and knowledge to create a professional presence aligned with their values. A natural mediator and believer in the journey as a destination, Cheryl has an instinct to understand people, anticipate their needs, and listen to unvoiced questions. She’s passionate about helping clients see purpose and connections in everyday occurrences.

Have you ever felt the quiet pull to change everything you thought you were building?

For Marty Ross-Dolen, that moment came on September 11, 2001. She had devoted her entire life to psychiatry, but as she watched the towers fall with her children nearby, something in her said it was time to let go. That decision set her on a new course — one that led to motherhood, teaching, and eventually a memoir that uncovered the silence of multi-generational grief.

In this conversation, Marty shares what it means to step away from a lifelong identity and find a new one through writing and reflection.

• Why listening to the voice inside matters more than the expectations you were raised to follow
• How unspoken grief can ripple through generations and quietly shape a family’s story
• What happens when you allow yourself to change your mind, even after decades of commitment

Marty’s journey is both personal and universal, a reminder that it’s never too late to begin again.

👉 Listen to the full conversation and support more stories like this.

Guest Bio

What happens when life forces you to stop fighting and finally let go?

For years, Isabelle Daikeler lived in pain and fear, holding tightly to identities that no longer fit. It all came to a breaking point on the floor of a bedroom in Hawaii, when surrender became her only option. What unfolded was not instant healing, but the start of a transformation that continues to this day.

In this episode of The Life Shift Podcast, Isabelle shares:

• How years of pain, illness, and lost identity led her to a wall she could not push past
• The night she surrendered in prayer, her body released decades of fear and trauma
• Why befriending the unknown has allowed her to step into deeper authenticity and self-worth

This is a story of patience, surrender, and learning that strength often shows up in ways we don’t expect.

👉 Listen now and feel less alone in your own process of change.

Guest Bio:

What happens when you realize you don’t actually believe you can heal?

Heidi Blackie spent a decade battling chronic illness, grief, and perfectionism until one raw moment in her kitchen changed everything. She asked herself a simple but life-altering question: What am I believing about my ability to heal?

In this conversation, Heidi shares how that vow to believe in herself shifted her relationship with her body, her perfectionism, and her sense of self. Her story will resonate with anyone who has felt trapped by patterns, weighed down by loss, or unsure how to move forward.

You’ll hear about:

• The moment Heidi realized disbelief was keeping her stuck in illness
• How grief, trauma, and perfectionism built the conditions for collapse
• The practices and reframes that helped her connect to her “unshakable me”

Healing isn’t quick or easy, but it starts with belief.

Guest Bio:

Heidi Blackie is a speaker, consultant, and creator of UnshakableMe®, a science-meets-soul program helping women dismantle limiting beliefs and reclaim their inner power. After chronic illness brought her to rock bottom, she made a radical choice to believe in her body’s ability to heal — a turning point that reshaped her life from the inside out.

With 25 years as an Occupational Therapist and hard-won lived experience, she now guides others to meet adversity with clarity, connection, and self-trust. Her story is an invitation to anyone facing personal challenges, offering grounded hope, actionable tools, and a powerful reminder that we are far more capable than we think.

Connect with Heidi:

What does it mean to live a life that is never dull?

For Chris Jordan, the answer has been unfolding since he was twelve years old, standing in front of his grandfather’s headstone. Etched into the stone were six words his grandmother chose: It was never dull. What started as a simple phrase became a mantra that shaped every risk, every leap, and every choice Chris has made since.

• How a childhood visit to a cemetery planted a lifelong guidepost
• Why dropping out of college and leaving comfort behind felt more true than staying safe
• The ways creativity, storytelling, and encouragement became his life’s real work

Chris shows us how even small words can carry us through fear and uncertainty, helping us choose the path that feels alive. His story is a reminder that our lives don’t have to be perfect to be meaningful.

Listen now and consider what phrase you’d want etched on your own life.

Guest Bio:

What happens when the life you built suddenly unravels?

Dan Boettcher had the degrees, the career path, and the promise of a future in diplomacy. On paper, it looked perfect. But inside, he was falling apart – and one surreal moment in an airport lounge sent his world in an entirely different direction.

In this conversation, Dan shares what it means to start over when the future you planned is no longer possible. His story is not just about survival but about transformation, and how meaning can show up in unexpected places.

• How a mental health crisis forced him to step away from the identity he built
• The moment he found meaning in unexpected grace and healing
• Why jewelry, storytelling, and transformation became his new way forward

This is a conversation about breaking open, rediscovering purpose, and finding beauty in places you never thought to look.

Guest Bio

Daniel Boettcher is the founder of The Intrepid Wendell and a Graduate Gemologist (GIA) with academic degrees from Yale, Georgetown, and American Universities. He began his career in law while preparing for a future in diplomacy, but a serious mental health crisis ultimately altered that path. Unable to pursue government work due to clearance restrictions, Daniel set out on a journey to rediscover meaning and passion – leading him back to a childhood love of gems and minerals. Today, he travels the globe sourcing rare gemstones and precious metals to craft custom jewelry that reflects the personal stories of his clients. A digital nomad, seasoned world traveler, and polyglot, he has visited over 100 countries and finds inspiration in every culture he encounters.

What happens when your world is shattered in an instant?

When Sally McQuillen lost her 21-year-old son Christopher in a tragic accident, her life split in two. In this conversation, she shares what it means to keep living with love and purpose while carrying unimaginable loss. Her story reminds us that grief and gratitude can sit side by side, and that choosing to keep your heart open is an act of profound courage.

Three things you’ll hear in this episode:

• Why sobriety at 25 gave Sally the tools to face later grief with intention
• How she has carried Christopher’s light forward while honoring her own healing
• The ways grief reshaped her understanding of strength, vulnerability, and connection

Listen to this episode to hear Sally’s raw and beautiful reflections on love, loss, and the choice to keep going.

Guest Bio:

Sally McQuillen, LCSW, CADC, is a psychotherapist in private practice specializing in addiction recovery, grief, and trauma healing. An avid reader with a background in writing and dance criticism, she began her career in public relations and marketing before pursuing her master’s degree in social work. Sally is the author of Reaching for Beautiful, a memoir about love, loss, and carrying her son Christopher’s spirit forward. She and her husband live on the north shore of Chicago, where they raised their three children.

I wanted to share the new trailer for Grief and Light, hosted by my friend and former Life Shift guest, Nina Rodriguez.

Nina created this show after the sudden loss of her only sibling, and it has become a beautiful space for honest reflections and conversations about life after loss. She explores grief as a lifelong companion, something that shapes us, teaches us, and walks beside us, rather than something to move on from.

Grief and Light is about living in the "and," where sorrow and joy, darkness and light, loss and love all belong. If you have found comfort in the stories shared here on The Life Shift, I think you will connect deeply with Nina's approach and the community she is building.

At 28, Dan MacQueen was thriving in London with career momentum, global travel, and Friday night pints. Then one morning on the tube, his vision went black. Days later, he was in emergency brain surgery. That should have been the turning point. But it was only the beginning. A massive brain hemorrhage, four weeks in a coma, and months of painful rehab left him having to relearn how to walk, talk, and even smile.

But Dan didn’t just come back. He chose to build a life richer than the one he had before.

What we talk about in this episode:

• Why surviving isn’t the end of the story, it’s the start of the climb
• How mindset and micro-choices shape every step of healing
• What it means to be better than yesterday, even on the worst days

Dan’s story isn’t sugarcoated. It’s real, raw, and full of fight. And it’s a reminder that no matter the setback, the next right step still counts.

Start with the next step. Listen now and hear how Dan redefined progress, purpose, and possibility.

Dan MacQueen is a brain hemorrhage survivor, speaker, and resilience advocate. At 28, his world stopped after an emergency surgery left him in a coma. With no roadmap for recovery, Dan rebuilt his life from the ground up by learning to walk, talk, and function again. Today, he helps others navigate change, build grit, and shift their perspective with practical life tools. He has shared his story with organizations like Hootsuite, Spendesk, and Headway West London, leaving audiences empowered to become better than yesterday.

This episode originally aired in 2024 and is replayed for aHUS Awareness Day to raise awareness of atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome.

What happens when survival meets the unexpected reality of a rare disease?

In September 2024, Taylor Coffman first shared her powerful story on The Life Shift. After giving birth to her daughter, she experienced a life-threatening emergency that revealed a rare disease called atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS). Her survival came against all odds, and her journey from patient to advocate continues to inspire.

To honor aHUS Awareness Day, this replay brings Taylor’s story back to the forefront:

• How a childbirth emergency uncovered a rare and life-altering diagnosis
• Why patient empowerment and self-advocacy can make all the difference
• What resilience, gratitude, and motherhood taught Taylor about living with purpose

Replay this conversation and share it to help raise awareness for aHUS and rare diseases that often go unseen.

Guest Bio

What happens when everything you’ve built feels like it’s built on the wrong foundation?

Alan Lazaros was chasing all the right things on paper. The degrees. The job. The money. But a head-on car accident at 26, eerily similar to the one that killed his father when Alan was just 2, brought it all to a crashing halt. In that moment, he came face to face with who he really was, not just who he wanted the world to see.

We talk about:

• How high achievement can mask low self-worth
• Why post-traumatic growth is just as real as post-traumatic stress
• Rebuilding identity on purpose, not performance

This episode is a reminder that your potential isn’t about proving anything. It’s about honoring what’s already inside.

At age 2, Alan Lazaros lost his father in a car accident. At 26, after surviving a nearly fatal crash of his own, Alan questioned everything. His career. His relationships. His identity. That wake-up call led him to walk away from Corporate America and start over with intention. Now the CEO and co-host of Next Level University, a global top 100 podcast with over 2,000 episodes across 170 countries, Alan helps others transform their lives in the areas of health, wealth, love, and personal growth. His work is grounded in discipline, data, and deep belief in human potential.

🔗 Connect with Alan:

What happens when loss cracks you wide open and shows you who you’ve been all along?

Britt Michaelian had built a beautiful, full life. She was raising her daughters, creating art, and moving forward. But when her mother passed away suddenly, Britt paused everything. Then, just as life began to settle, her sister was diagnosed with cancer. That second heartbreak brought a deeper reckoning.

In this conversation, Britt shares how she found clarity and purpose through pain, and how her grief helped her return to herself through healing, intuition, and a new form of creative expression.

• She stepped back from a thriving career and asked what really mattered
• Her sister’s cancer journey became a spiritual turning point that awakened her intuitive gifts
• She returned to art in a new way, creating frequency paintings rooted in energy, intention, and love

Britt’s story reminds us that healing asks us to slow down, listen deeply, and honor the quiet wisdom that lives inside us.

Britt Michaelian is a visionary artist, Reiki master, and quantum healer whose work blends creativity with profound personal transformation. With a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and master’s degrees in Marriage and Family Therapy and Art Therapy, Britt brings over two decades of healing experience. She has worked as an expressive arts therapist in pediatric, oncology, and heart transplant units.

Now a healing arts pioneer, Britt creates mixed-media frequency paintings that transcend the canvas, offering emotional renewal and spiritual depth. Her work has been exhibited in museums like the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara and collected around the world. She also hosts Healing House, an annual art and wellness event featured in the LA Times, and shares monthly remote Reiki and free healing resources through her site and podcast, The Daily Healing.

What happens when success on paper leaves you feeling completely empty inside?

Kevin Palmieri had the dream life. The job. The car. The paycheck. But beneath the highlight reel, he was unraveling. In this conversation, Kevin shares the quiet spiral that nearly ended everything and the honest decision that changed his life for good. What started as a breakdown became a wake-up call. One that led him to become the kind of person he always needed.

You’ll hear:

• Why achieving six figures didn’t bring peace or purpose
• The moment Kevin realized he couldn’t stay in his job one more day
• How borrowing belief from someone else helped him build his own

Kevin’s story is a powerful reminder that worth is not earned by titles, money, or status. It’s grown through truth, trust, and the small daily steps we take to become who we’re meant to be.

What if grief could live beside joy instead of swallowing it whole?

When Marie Alessi’s husband, Rob, died suddenly from a brain aneurysm while on a work trip, her life shattered in an instant. But instead of letting grief move in permanently, Marie made a quiet, powerful promise: to create the happiest life possible for her and their two young boys. What followed wasn’t perfect, but it was deeply human. And deeply intentional.

In this episode:

• The moment Marie knew she had to parent through pain and still keep a promise
• How her husband's death sparked a shift toward healing, purpose, and spiritual connection
• Why she believes grief is a visitor, not a permanent resident

This conversation is a reminder that joy and grief can hold hands. And that love doesn’t end.

What happens when your earliest moments of intimacy are taken from you?

In this raw and powerful conversation, author Kaila Yu shares the truth about a traumatic experience in her early twenties that splintered her sense of self. Raised in a household where emotions were rarely named, Kaila spent years seeking validation outside herself. When a modeling opportunity turned into a violent betrayal, she dissociated to survive. For a long time, she told no one. But silence has a way of catching up to you. In time, Kaila found the strength to tell the truth and honor the version of herself who got through it.

Three key takeaways from Kaila’s life shift:

• Sometimes survival looks like silence, but healing begins when we tell the truth
• Dissociation is a form of protection, not weakness
• Self-worth is something we can reclaim, even after it’s been stolen

This episode holds space for the complexity of trauma, cultural expectations, and the slow, brave act of integration.

What do you do when the world falls apart and your inner voice says, “Not yet”?

Dr. Devin DeGreif shares a story so unimaginable it feels like fiction until you realize it is her truth. After the brutal loss of her mother, Devin unraveled, disassociated, and considered ending her life. But a thunderous inner "no" marked a turning point. What followed was a slow, intentional shift toward healing, spiritual alignment, and helping others reclaim joy after pain.

• Learn what it means to truly go all in on living after hitting emotional bottom
• Hear how a single voice, her own, interrupted a life-ending plan and changed everything
• Explore how Devin now helps others heal through breathwork, body-based therapy, and truth-telling

This is not just a story of survival. It is about remembering who you are underneath all the pain and building a life around that truth.

What if the bravest thing you can do is admit you’re struggling?

When Jill Schulman walked into her ROTC unit ready to quit, she expected rejection. Instead, she was met with empathy. And that changed everything. In this powerful conversation, Jill shares the quiet, steady kind of bravery that helped her stay the course and eventually shape her life’s work.

• Learn how asking for help can be the most courageous move of all
• Reframe failure as information and fuel for growth
• Discover why bravery isn’t about big gestures, but small, consistent choices

This episode is a reminder that you don’t have to do it alone. And that choosing to keep going? That’s brave.

Jill Schulman is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, corporate leader, and expert in the science of bravery. With a Master’s in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, she blends research with lived experience to help people take bold action, build resilience, and live with intention. Her new book, The Bravery Effect, offers practical tools to grow courage in everyday life, one brave moment at a time.

Listen + Connect:

What happens when your life splits in two more than once?

Ash Perrow was a schoolteacher with a plan and a future he could see clearly. Then he held his stillborn daughter in his arms. That moment shattered everything. Years of survival, anxiety, and silence followed. Then a near-death experience cracked him open in a way nothing else ever had. And in that space beyond his body, he made a choice that changed his life.

• The ripple effect of grief, perfectionism, and a body stuck in survival
• What somatic therapy, plant medicine, and radical self-love can unlock
• How a near-death experience revealed a calling to live from the heart

Ash's story is a raw and beautiful reminder that healing is not linear, and it is never too late to wake up.

Guest Bio

Ash Perrow is a coach, speaker, and storyteller who helps heart-centered professionals reconnect with their deeper wisdom and live from the truth of who they are. After the stillbirth of his daughter and a near-death experience following back surgery, Ash returned to life with a clear contract: to stay for the work he does and walk the planet from his heart. That moment became a second beginning, one that unraveled everything he thought he knew about purpose, identity, and healing.

Through somatic therapy, spiritual exploration, and his own relentless curiosity, Ash rebuilt his life from the inside out. Now, he guides others through that same kind of transformation with grounded compassion and deep respect for their inner knowing. His work takes shape through coaching, workshops, group programs, and powerful storytelling that reminds us we are never alone in our becoming.

What if the perfect time never comes?

Katie Svoboda-Rini spent years waiting for things to settle before she could finally chase her dream. But life had other plans, including the loss of both parents, a lifetime of body shame, and a wildfire that didn’t burn her house down but still took almost everything. In the rubble of grief, burnout, and survival mode, Katie found something deeper than resilience. She found softness. And she gave herself permission to start anyway.

In this episode, Katie shares:

• Why grief sometimes takes decades to process, and why that’s okay
• How caregiving at sixteen shaped her sense of responsibility and shame
• What it meant to finally start her baking business after losing almost everything

If you’ve ever felt stuck waiting for the “right time,” this one might meet you where you are.

What happens when five grief-focused podcast hosts come together to speak grief out loud?

Real people. Honest moments. Life, unfiltered.

The Life Shift Podcast is a collection of candid conversations with people who’ve experienced the moment when everything changed – and chose to keep going.

If you’ve ever felt stuck, cracked open, or quietly transformed, there’s probably an episode for you.

Share this clip with your friends if you're a fan of The Life Shift – you never know who might need to hear the stories on this show.

This is a personal invitation to something meaningful.

What if the memory that saved your life came from a letter you almost forgot?

Michael Allison’s life has been anything but easy. From childhood abuse to combat in Iraq, the grief of loss to the silence of survival, Michael carried the weight of a thousand lifetimes before reaching a breaking point. Standing on a Florida bridge, he made a decision that would change everything.

In this powerful conversation, Michael shares how he:

• Faced the grief, guilt, and trauma he spent years avoiding
• Reclaimed his voice after decades of silence and survival
• Chose to stay – and turned that moment into purpose, service, and leadership

Michael’s story is a reminder that even in our darkest hour, something beautiful can still begin.

Your next chapter might be one decision away.

Michael W. Allison is a U.S. Marine Combat Veteran, Purple Heart recipient, TEDx speaker, best-selling author, and resilience coach who has transformed adversity into impact. After surviving a devastating VBIED car bomb attack in Iraq and navigating the aftermath of PTSD, TBI, and deep personal hardship, Michael reached a breaking point – but chose to stay. That decision became the foundation for his healing.

Now, as the Founder and CEO of The Adversity Academy, Michael empowers individuals and organizations to embrace resilience, rewire their mindset, and lead with purpose. His UN-Leadership and Break The Bottle – 3-D methodologies challenge conventional leadership paradigms and inspire growth through accountability, transformation, and mental strength. Michael has been featured by Microsoft, NBC, TEDx, ESPN, and VFW Magazine and speaks globally on personal reinvention, resilience, and overcoming limiting beliefs.

Listen to Michael’s story and rediscover what it means to stay, heal, and lead with heart.