This episode is the first of our series of “begin again” stories. In each of these episodes, we’ll be interviewing a guest from our community, to dive deep into their own unique story of beginning again, sharing the challenges, learnings and growth that came from either choosing to, or needing to evolve and start over in some way in their life.

For our first every begin again story, I’m excited to chat with my friend, Isabella Choate!!

Isabella (they/them) is a Lived Experience Advocate, CEO of the Youth Disability Advocacy Network, and 2023's WA Young Person of the Year - but they didn't always have their sights set on advocacy! Growing up as an elite athlete, Isabella pinned their hopes on the 2020 Olympics in their sport, Canoe Slalom.

In 2014, they were the Australian Paddler of the Year, Senior Female Whitewater Champion, and Australian Schools National Champion, after taking out gold medals in all 9 of their categories. Less than 6 months later, they were diagnosed with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) and could barely walk or feed themselves.

We chat about Isabella’s journey of beginning again, exploring:

• what purpose looks like for elite athletes, and what it was like to have something you were good/talented at become your purpose and pathway from a young age
• what happens when the thing you are passionate about is no longer accessible to you, and the impact of an invisible illness on your sense of purpose and community
• lived experience and the value of working in jobs and work environments that recognise and celebrate your lived experience
• intersectionality and recognising the way our different identities intersect and impact our outcomes, privilege and experience in the world
• how to define your purpose and self worth as an advocate for change when change happens slowly
• Isabella’s own podcast, Unapologetically Disabled!

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Just because you’re figuring out who YOU are, it does not mean you need to do it alone!!

Join the Begin Again Club by:

• connecting with our community on Instagram and TikTok, @beginagain.club, let me know what you thought of this episode and what you want me to talk about on the podcast!

• sharing this episode (and others that you love) with a friend who might need to hear it today

• rating and reviewing our podcast, we want to know what you think!

We’ll be dropping a new episode each week, so check in every Monday for your weekly dose of purpose + authentic chats about how to work out what the heck you want from your life, and the journey of beginning again in a purposeful way :)

Even though you might be feeling the need to begin again in your life, these feelings are not happening in a vacuum!! It’s important to acknowledge that the changes many of us our experiencing in the way we live, connect and work are not made up, they’re occurring against a rapidly changing social, environmental, and economic backdrop that is having a huge impact on who we are and what we want from our lives.

Each generation is shaped by unique events and experiences that influence who they are at their core, the goals that they have, the things that they value most and the legacy they want to leave on the world. Young people in 2024, spanning Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen Alpha, are experiencing monumental changes and uncertainty that is having a profound impact on our careers, our mental and physical wellbeing, and the ways that we connect with each other.

In this episode I’m joined by the amazing Grant Dusting, Director of Strategy at McCrindle, an Australian social research company who do incredible research in generational analysis. I thought Grant would be the perfect guest to help us to understand:

• What is a generation, exactly?
• What defines each generation that is alive today? What are each generation’s priorities at work, and when it comes to defining success?
• Can generational differences explain why our younger generations are feeling so disconnected?
• What can the current social trends and insights tell us about the future we are heading into?

I know I’m not alone in feeling that there have been some BIG shifts in the way we work, connect and live, tracking back to around 5 years ago, before the COVID-19 pandemic began. Many of us have experienced huge changes since then, some of which are obvious, others are harder to put your finger on. It was amazing to unpack some of these big changes with Grant in this episode, and has left me with many, many more questions to explore in further episodes!

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Join the Begin Again Club by:

• connecting with our community on Instagram and TikTok, let me know what you thought of this episode and what you want me to talk about on the podcast!
• sharing this episode (and others that you love) with a friend who might need to hear it today
• rating and reviewing our podcast, we want to know what you think!

We’ll be dropping a new episode each week, so check in every Monday for your weekly dose of purpose + authentic chats about how to work out what the heck you want from your life, and the journey of beginning again in a purposeful way :)

WELCOME TO THE FIRST EVER EPISODE OF THE BEGIN AGAIN CLUB!!

My name is Elizabeth Knight, I am the founder of Purposeful, and absolutely stoked to be bringing this podcast to life.

I’ve spent my career so far helping young people to find their place in the world and careers they are passionate about, through programs and workshops that have reached over 20,000 young Australians!

When I graduated from high school as a high achieving student, I quickly realised that the one subject school had not prepared me for was determining what I wanted to do with my life, and who I really was! In my late teens, I did a lot of self discovery work, in order to figure out what I really wanted to do in my career. Up until recently, I’ve felt a great deal of purpose from my work, and felt excited and motivated for the future.

In this episode, I am wearing my heart on my sleeve, inviting you into my own quarter life crisis that I've been navigating over the last two years, if you're brave enough to join me!

I explore the three major shifts in my own personal life across my business, romantic relationships and health that culminated in me feeling lost, and re-evaluating how I approach living a purposeful life at the age of 25.

I'm introducing you to the Begin Again Club, and why I wanted to create a space where we could make sense of the purpose/existential crisis I think many of us are going through at the moment. Why it’s so hard to find yourself and feel hopeful about your own future when it seems like the world is on fire.

I don’t have all of the answers, we chat about how this podcast will be a way for us to uncover the puzzle pieces of what living a purposeful life looks like, especially when it feels as though everything else around is falling apart.

Just because you’re figuring out who YOU are, it does not mean you need to do it alone!!

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Join the Begin Again Club by:

• connecting with our community on Instagram and TikTok, @beginagain.club, let me know what you thought of this episode and what you want me to talk about on the podcast!
• sharing this episode (and others that you love) with a friend who might need to hear it today
• rating and reviewing our podcast, we want to know what you think!

We’ll be dropping a new episode each week, so check in every Monday for your weekly dose of purpose + authentic chats about how to work out what the heck you want from your life, and the journey of beginning again in a purposeful way :)