TW: This episode contains discussions of childhood sexual abuse and trauma. Please take care while listening. If you need support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit lifeline.org.au.

Some childhood experiences leave scars that aren't always visible, or even understood, until decades later.

For Shivani Gupta, years of unexplained fear, anxiety and difficulty trusting others eventually led her to uncover memories of sexual abuse she experienced as a young girl growing up in India. After this discovery she started her ongoing journey of healing, finding her voice and learning to feel safe again.

Now she is a successful entrepreneur who has built and sold two businesses, an eight-time author, TEDx speaker and leadership coach who has worked with more than 1,500 leaders across 21 countries, Shivani has spent much of her life helping others thrive while navigating her own deeply personal challenges.

In this episode she shares:

• Her experiences of childhood sexual abuse within her family
• How recovered memories helped her make sense of years of fear and anxiety
• The lasting impact of trauma on her relationships, career and motherhood
• How high achievement became a way of coping with unresolved trauma
• Her journey of healing and reconnecting with her inner child
• How she found the courage to break her silence and share her story
• Why protecting children means challenging the silence around sexual abuse

Key Quotes

"They robbed me of decades of peace. They robbed me of decades of trusting others. They robbed me of decades of me working on my self-esteem enough to feel like I was enough as I applied for a job or started a business."

"This is not something that happened in an alleyway. This happened with family members that were entrusted with looking after me for a day or an evening with aunties and uncles regularly."

More about Shivani

Find out more via her website, Instagram and LinkedIn.

You can get involved with the podcast online

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to contact the podcast, email us here: support@challengesthatchangeus.com

Or check out our website: www.Challengesthatchangeus.com

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Challenges That Change Us –

Trigger warning: Disordered eating behaviours and Mental health struggles.

What happens when the one thing that brings you comfort becomes the very thing that's taking over your life?

For Amber Romaniuk, food became a way to cope with painful emotions, childhood body shame and a deep sense of not being good enough. What started as a source of comfort eventually spiralled into years of binge eating, bulimia and isolation, leaving her trapped in a cycle of self-sabotage she didn't know how to escape.

Today, Amber is an emotional eating, digestive and hormone expert with 12 years of experience helping women overcome disordered eating, rebuild their body confidence and break free from destructive patterns. She's also the host of The No Sugarcoating Podcast, which has surpassed 2 million downloads across more than 90 countries.

Drawing on her own journey of recovery, Amber opens up about the emotional struggles behind her relationship with food, the moment she knew something had to change, and how confronting the beliefs she'd carried since childhood helped her finally find freedom.

In this episode she shares:

• How being called fat and ugly as a child shaped her self-worth
• The impact of growing up with a mother who had MS and how food became a source of comfort
• Her struggles with body image and fitting in throughout her school years
• The serious health issues she faced and the impact of being incorrectly diagnosed with MS
• How a breakup and extreme dieting led to a destructive cycle of binge eating and bulimia
• How binge eating took over her life and left her increasingly isolated
• The devastating low point that finally pushed her to make a change
• How she began recognising her emotional triggers and finding healthier ways to cope
• The role EFT tapping and setting boundaries played in her recovery
• Why overcoming emotional eating is about much more than willpower

Key Quotes

“I was so addicted and I didn’t even realise it”

“everything that I have to this day is thanks to me choosing to deal with it and do that hard work.”

More about Amber

Find out more about Amber via her website, Instagram, Youtube and find her podcast here.

Try the Free Emotional Eating Quiz and Free Hormone Imbalance Quiz,

You can get involved with the podcast online

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to contact the podcast, email us here: support@challengesthatchangeus.com

Or check out our website: www.Challengesthatchangeus.com

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Trigger warning: This episode contains discussions of childhood physical and sexual abuse, child sexual exploitation, complex trauma, dissociation, self-harm, suicidal ideation, family violence and grief.

What happens when your mind finds a way to protect you from trauma so severe that you can't even remember much of your own childhood?

Maggie Walters is an award-winning author and mental health advocate living with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), previously known as Multiple Personality Disorder. After experiencing severe abuse throughout her childhood, Maggie developed a system of around 40 alters who helped her survive experiences she couldn't process herself. Now, through her memoirs Split and Fractured Motherhood, Maggie is challenging the stigma surrounding DID, sharing what life is really like with the condition, and exploring how she has worked to break the cycle of intergenerational trauma while raising her three children.

In this episode she shares:

• How her childhood trauma led to her developing Dissociative Identity Disorder
• Her experience discovering she had multiple personalities and coming to terms with her diagnosis
• How her alters protect her and why she calls her childhood memories "postcard memories"
• What everyday life looks like living with around 40 alters
• Understanding dissociation, trauma triggers and the shame that can come with them
• The importance of therapy, support and learning to accept all parts of herself
• Her experience of becoming a mother and breaking the cycle of intergenerational trauma
• How she navigates forgiveness without excusing the abuse she experienced

Key Quotes

"I don't have a mental disorder. I created an amazingly- creative coping mechanism in order to survive horrific circumstances."

"I'm standing here because of who I am. Not in spite of who I am."

"I just want people to know that when you've had trauma, it's not your fault."

More about Maggie

Follow Maggie via her website, Instagram and LinkedIn.

You can get involved with the podcast online

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to contact the podcast, email us here: support@challengesthatchangeus.com

Or check out our website: www.Challengesthatchangeus.com

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the first time in 4 years we are pausing the podcast for a couple of weeks. I love doing it, but sometimes life has other plans. There is a lot going on behind the scenes, and while I am ok, I need to free up space for family and medical appointments.

I’m not fully disappearing and will be recording in advance. While I’m away we are releasing some of our most listened to episodes.

For this episode I am so excited to introduce you to a guest who is extremely special to me. I want to introduce you to my beautiful Aunty Di.

This is a story that when you see it on paper you think, there is no way that so much could happen to one family at one time.

In the space of forty days, my Uncle Barry, Aunty Di and cousin Laura were all diagnosed with cancer and this was all during the peak of the covid pandemic in the UK.

Their resilience and zest for life is extraordinary and for anyone going through or is going through the cancer world you know how challenging it can be and I am still blown away by how these guys tackled this head on.

In this episode Di shares:

• The journey her family took to relocate to the UK as her sister died from cancer
• Living through the covid pandemic with an immune compromised husband
• What it felt like to suffer from long covid
• Discovering her husband had cancer, then shingles
• How she felt discovering she had breast cancer shortly after her husband started cancer treatment
• The devastating moment they discovered her daughter also had breast cancer
• What happened when her husband did get struck by covid

Key Quotes

“We went 6 weeks from being a perfectly normal family to 3/4 of it having a cancer diagnosis to deal with.”

“We thought cancer was bad, we knew nothing about covid.”

You can get involved with the podcast online

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

For her other business you can find it through the websites:

www.altitudefitnessarmidale.com.au

Or you can follow them on Instagram:

@Altitudefitnessarmidale

@trialtitudeperformance

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the first time in 4 years we are pausing the podcast for a couple of weeks. I love doing it, but sometimes life has other plans. There is a lot going on behind the scenes, and while I am ok, I need to free up space for family and medical appointments.

I’m not fully disappearing and will be recording in advance. While I’m away we are releasing some of our most listened to episodes.

This episode’s guest is Martin Broad, an accountant Broad who fell victim to Guillain-Barre

syndrome, a rare disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks your nerves. It can eventually spread, eventually paralysing the whole body, which happened to Martin to the point he could only communicate with his eyes.

In this episode Martin shares:

• What the first moments felt like as Guillain-Barre syndrome started to take effect
• Just how bad things got for him while in hospital
• What it felt like being trapped in his own body
• The impact this challenge had on his family and life
• His long road to recovery and how he kept the mindset he needed to recover

Key Quotes

“So all I had was the function in my eyes, so the rest of my body completely shut down.”

“You've still got to be entertaining hope of some sort.”

“You’ve got to make those steps knowing full well that you could fall left or right.”

“You’ve gotta know when the good times are on.”

More About Martin Broad

If you need help with accounting you can find Martin’s business here: https://www.broadaccounting.com.au/about-us/

You can get involved with the podcast online

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

For her other business you can find it through the websites:

www.altitudefitnessarmidale.com.au

Or you can follow them on Instagram:

@Altitudefitnessarmidale

@trialtitudeperformance

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the first time in 4 years we are pausing the podcast for a couple of weeks. I love doing it, but sometimes life has other plans. There is a lot going on behind the scenes, and while I am ok, I need to free up space for family and medical appointments.

I’m not fully disappearing and will be recording in advance. While I’m away we are releasing some of our most listened to episodes.

When someone has a life altering medical challenge it can often be incredibly hard to come ot grips with.

It can be even harder when the this medically challenging event contrasts your life with the physical, active one you had before hand.

Bethany Wormald is a fun runner with a long list of achievements across the 5 to 42km spectrum. She also has POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome) and long covid, which saw her barely able to walk for a year and from which she is not yet recovered. In 2019 she set the Guiness World Record for the fastest marathon dressed as a cartoon character, running as Betty Rubble from the Flintstones. This was her fourth Guiness World Record, the others being the fastest half marathon dressed as a nurse; dressed as a superhero; and by a married couple (with her husband Matt). Prior to long covid, Bethany was on the organising committee for a cancer fundraising run associated with Tour de Cure. She has just returned to volunteering with Surf Life Saving Australia, where she tries to provide first aid without ever getting in the water.

In this episode Bethany shares:

· How she became a world record holder for running after finding her love for park run.

· How she is now suffering from long Covid and Pots

· The way taking small steps and recognising accomplishments helped her grow.

· How her tribe and village have played a role in her recovery

· How finding a purpose in life helps progress and recovery

· And how it’s OK to grieve but being sick is not who you are. She is not sick, she is recovering.

Key Quotes

“The hardest part with Long Covid is most days you feel terrible at some point.

And that continues.”

“Finding something that is your thing. It’s such a gift in life to have found one particular activity that is your thing.”

“At my lowest, my limit was seven metres. So I could walk from my bedroom to the next room.”

More about POTS

You can find oput more about POTS via the POTS Foudnation website: https://potsfoundation.org.au

You can get involved with the podcast online

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to contact the podcast, email us here: support@challengesthatchangeus.com

Or check out our website: www.Challengesthatchangeus.com

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

For her other business you can find it through the websites:

www.altitudefitnessarmidale.com.au

@trialtitudeperformance

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the first time in 4 years we are pausing the podcast for a couple of weeks. I love doing it, but sometimes life has other plans. There is a lot going on behind the scenes, and while I am ok, I need to free up space for family and medical appointments.

I’m not fully disappearing and will be recording in advance. While I’m away we are releasing some of our most listened to episodes.

Trigger warning: this episode discusses excessive alcohol use.

In society we are well aware of the term ‘alcoholic’, but have you heard of Grey Area Drinking?

This episode’s guest is Grey Area Drinking Coach, Motivational Speaker, Workshop Facilitator and host of a community of over 20,000 women, Sarah Rusbatch

After years of dysfunctional drinking, falling hard for ‘Mummy Wine Culture’ and using alcohol as a crutch to manage stress, overwhelm and anxiety, Sarah finally made the decision to remove alcohol from her life in April 2019.

In this episode Sarah shares:

- Her long history with alcohol and how it shaped her life growing up

- The moment she realised her relationship with alcohol was not benefiting her

- The stop and start process she went through trying to stop drinking for short periods of time

- The difference between alcoholism and grey area drinking

- How the subtle messaging of alcohol and mum culture is dangerous

- Her advice on the work you have to do to improve remove alcohol from your life

Key Quotes

“It turns out that your boozy friends don’t like it when you don’t drink anymore.”

“I would just drink and smoke until I didn’t feel anymore.”

“In the end I realised it's easier to say none than it is to say 1.”

Find out more about Sarah

If you want to know about her grey drinking coaching you can find out more here: https://sarahrusbatch.com/

You can also follow her on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarahrusbatchcoach

And on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahrusbatch/

You can get involved with the podcast online

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

For her other business you can find it through the websites:

www.altitudefitnessarmidale.com.au

Or you can follow them on Instagram:

@Altitudefitnessarmidale

@trialtitudeperformance

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the first time in 4 years we are pausing the podcast for a couple of weeks. I love doing it, but sometimes life has other plans. There is a lot going on behind the scenes, and while I am ok, I need to free up space for family and medical appointments.

I’m not fully disappearing and will be recording in advance. While I’m away we are releasing some of our most listened to episodes.

Trigger warning; domestic violence

It’s so often the case that one trauma can result in an entirely different one down the track.

That is the case for Marleen Mour, a 38yr old single mum who ran away from Egypt and an unwanted engagement at age 19 to build her life in Australia.

She battled obesity, binge eating and self-loathing for decades before she finally discovered the power of self love for Permanent weight loss and lost 49kg/ 108lbs which she’s kept off for 13 years now, even after becoming a mum.

Today she’s helped over 1,000 women of all ages to Permanently lose weight by healing their relationship with food, their bodies and themselves.

In this episode she shares:

- Why her mum took her children and escaped to Australia for 4 years

- How her difficult home life created emotional eating for her

- The huge opportunity that helped her finance her escape

- How her family repeatedly attempted to prevent her escape

- How she managed to make it to Australia with $100 cash

- Why her eating problems continued and grew after she moved to Australia

- The climactic moment that she realised how badly she was treating herself

- The journey she went on to process her emotions rather than eat them,

- How her journey has evolved to a point where she helps others with their emotional eating

- The tools and strategies she point in place to manage her emotional eating

Key Quotes

“I thought I'd left the abuse behind but here I was abusing myself”

“The night of my flight my mum deadbolted the doors and took the keys until my flight took off without me.”

“We think we're unhappy because we're overweight but really we’re overweight because we're unhappy.”

More about Marleen

Website: http://www.marleenmourcoaching.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marleen.nour

You can get involved with the podcast online

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

If you want to contact the podcast, email us here: support@challengesthatchangeus.com

Or check out our website: www.Challengesthatchangeus.com

If you want to find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

For her other business you can find it through the websites:

www.altitudefitnessarmidale.com.au

@trialtitudeperformance

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.