17 Rehabs, 2 Divorces, and the Unconventional Path to Sobriety | Cheryl McIntosh on Recovery

She Left Corporate After 15 Years and Built It Her Way | Jennifer Hardiman on Midlife

What Does It Actually Look Like to Walk Away From Corporate and Build Something New at 50? Christmas Eve. Ten o'clock at night. Wrapping presents while emails are flying because a deal needed to close before the holiday. That was the moment Jennifer Hardiman knew she was done. In this episode of The Shifted Podcast, I sit down with Jennifer Hardiman, founder and chief event officer of Fabuluxe Events, who left a 15-year corporate career in commercial real estate and built her third career on her own terms. 2026 is her seventeenth year in business. This conversation is for every woman who has been wondering if it is too late to start something new. Jennifer walked away, downsized her house and her cars, worked two jobs for a year, and built a company that now works with high-end clients while protecting her team's weekends and her own sanity. In this episode, we discuss: * The Christmas Eve moment that made her decide corporate was over and what the first year of building her own business actually looked like * How she designed a company that caps the number of events per year so her all-female team never has to choose between work and family * What turned 50 changed about how she sees ambition, boundaries, and what success actually means in the second half of life * Why the skills you built in corporate, project management, logistics, people, transfer directly into whatever you build next * Her advice for any woman thinking about leaving: start with a plan, know what you do not want to be, and celebrate one thing you did every single day About Jennifer Hardiman: Jennifer is the founder and chief event officer of Fabuluxe Events, now in its seventeenth year. After 15 years in corporate commercial real estate, she built an intentionally capped, all-female event production company. She also offers mentorship and free 30-minute consulting sessions for women considering starting their own businesses. Reflection Prompt: What is one thing you are grateful for today? Write it down in two sentences. Do it every day this week. Jennifer has done this daily and it shifted her mindset from chaos to clarity. Try it and see what changes. For deeper reflection, explore The Shifted Self: Evolution of Gratitude and Self-Reflection Journal on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Shifted-Self-Evolution-Gratitude-Self-Reflection/dp/B0F8NV1591 [https://www.amazon.com/Shifted-Self-Evolution-Gratitude-Self-Reflection/dp/B0F8NV1591] Find coaching and tools at https://www.amiraevolved.com/ [https://www.amiraevolved.com/] Follow Amira at @AmiraEvolved on Instagram and Facebook. Connect with Jennifer Hardiman: * Website: fabuluxeevents.com [http://fabuluxeevents.com] * Instagram/Threads/TikTok/Facebook: @fabuluxeevents * Email: jennifer@fabuluxeevents.com [jennifer@fabuluxeevents.com] * Free 30-minute consulting session available New episodes of The Shifted Podcast drop every Tuesday. If this episode is for someone you know who keeps saying "maybe next year," send it to her now. Midlife is not the end. It is another beginning.

17 Rehabs, 2 Divorces, and the Unconventional Path to Sobriety | Cheryl McIntosh on Recovery

What Do You Do When Every Conventional Path to Healing Has Failed You? Seventeen rehabs. Two divorces. Childhood trauma. Suicide attempts. A branding agency that looked polished on the outside while everything was falling apart underneath. And a woman who kept going back because she had not yet found the formula that worked for her body, her brain, and her history. In this episode of The Shifted Podcast, I sit down with Cheryl McIntosh, photographer, writer, artist, and founder of Quanta Collective, who is now over two years sober and turning her story into a memoir called Resilient. This conversation is about what recovery actually looks like when the standard playbook does not work. Cheryl's formula was not rehab. It was psilocybin, AA, art, and community. An unconventional combination that finally did what seventeen attempts at the conventional path could not. In this episode, we discuss: * Why treatment fails and what people fundamentally misunderstand about chronic relapse, including the underlying diagnoses that make recovery harder * How psilocybin rewired Cheryl's brain and removed the cravings that decades of traditional treatment never touched * What it means to write your story as a sober adult and see your childhood, your parents, and your relationships with completely different eyes * Why high-functioning women feel like they have not earned the right to fall apart, and why that belief keeps them stuck * The vision that turned eight relationships into eight spiritual pillars and became the framework for her memoir About Cheryl McIntosh: Cheryl is a photographer, writer, and artist based in Bend, Oregon, and the founder of Quanta Collective. After leaving home at 13, surviving domestic violence, and navigating seventeen rehabs, she is now over two years sober. Her debut memoir Resilient tells her recovery story through the lens of eight relationships that both destroyed and saved her. The book is expected in 2027. Reflection Prompt: Where in your life are you holding up a version of yourself that is costing you? And what part of your healing have you been waiting for permission to do differently? For deeper reflection, explore The Shifted Self: Evolution of Gratitude and Self-Reflection Journal on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Shifted-Self-Evolution-Gratitude-Self-Reflection/dp/B0F8NV1591 [https://www.amazon.com/Shifted-Self-Evolution-Gratitude-Self-Reflection/dp/B0F8NV1591] Find coaching and tools at https://www.amiraevolved.com/ [https://www.amiraevolved.com/] Follow Amira at @AmiraEvolved on Instagram and Facebook. Connect with Cheryl McIntosh: * Instagram: @greatthingsaredone * Blog: quantacollectiv.com [http://quantacollectiv.com] * Book updates: greatthingsaredone.com [http://greatthingsaredone.com] New episodes of The Shifted Podcast drop every Tuesday. If you know a woman who is quietly carrying something heavy and wondering if it is too late to put it down, send her this episode.

Surviving a Narcissistic Divorce: Legal Strategy and Self-Trust | Wendy Cooper

Five years of divorce litigation. Police investigations. Child services complaints. A smear campaign. And all of it orchestrated by the man she had built a life with. Wendy Cooper is an attorney, writer, and self-described unintentional narc expert who earned that title through a five-year legal battle against a partner with pathological personality traits. After discovering a double life that included two simultaneous affairs and a calculated financial strategy, Wendy found herself fighting for her assets, her son, and her sanity in a legal system that was not designed to handle the person she was up against. In this episode of The Shifted Podcast, Wendy gives women the language, the legal perspective, and the practical guidance for navigating psychological abuse and narcissistic divorce that most therapists and attorneys do not provide. In this episode, we discuss: * How gaslighting and psychological abuse erode your reality slowly enough that you do not recognize it until you are out * Why love bombing is one of the earliest and most overlooked red flags in relationships * What most divorce attorneys get wrong about narcissistic personalities and why mediation gives manipulators more power * How Wendy rebuilt her self-trust after years of having her perceptions systematically undermined * The role of EMDR therapy in processing complex trauma and why she had to feel the pain she had spent a lifetime running from About Wendy Cooper: Wendy is an attorney, writer, and narcissistic abuse consultant living in the south of France. After navigating a five-year divorce involving psychological abuse, police investigations, and child services complaints, she now offers consultation for women navigating the legal and psychological dynamics of narcissistic relationships. Her memoir, Rebelle, is being prepared for publication. Reflection Prompt: What situations or relationships in your life have you questioning your own perceptions right now? Where do you need to trust your instincts more, even when nobody around you is validating what you sense? Write the first thing that comes up. For deeper reflection, explore The Shifted Self: Evolution of Gratitude and Self-Reflection Journal on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Shifted-Self-Evolution-Gratitude-Self-Reflection/dp/B0F8NV1591 [https://www.amazon.com/Shifted-Self-Evolution-Gratitude-Self-Reflection/dp/B0F8NV1591] Find coaching and tools at https://www.amiraevolved.com/ [https://www.amiraevolved.com/] Follow Amira at @AmiraEvolved on Instagram and Facebook. Connect with Wendy Cooper: * Instagram: @rebelle_2929 New episodes of The Shifted Podcast drop every other Tuesday. If this episode gave you language for something you have been living but could not name, share it with someone who needs it. That is how the show grows and how women find each other.

The Reason You Can't Set Boundaries (And It's Not What You Think) | Jane Bellis

You have done the therapy. Read the books. Built the vision board. But the same patterns keep running your life. Jane Bellis is a sacred nervous system and shadow integration coach who works with high-performing women stuck in survival mode. After burning out multiple times in the fashion and beauty industry, she retrained in psychotherapy and neuroscience and discovered that the reason most self-development work doesn't stick is that nobody addresses the nervous system first. In this episode of The Shifted Podcast, we go deep on why women over 40 are trapped in fight-or-flight without knowing it, what shadow work actually is and why it is not as scary as it sounds, and why you cannot set real boundaries until you know who you are. In this episode, we discuss: Why your nervous system is keeping you stuck in people-pleasing, overgiving, and burnout, and how to interrupt the cycle What shadow work is in practice and why midlife women are turning to it for healing that talk therapy alone cannot reach The medicine wheel framework: meeting your mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health in balance Why the fawn response (people-pleasing as a trauma response) is the hidden driver behind most high-achieving women's exhaustion The difference between power and force and why Gen X women are being called to lead differently About Jane Bellis: Jane is a nervous system and shadow integration coach, shamanic practitioner, and founder of Mojo School. After multiple burnouts and deep retraining in psychotherapy and neuroscience, she now helps women integrate all parts of themselves through a framework that bridges clinical science and ancient wisdom. Based in Wales, she works with women globally. Reflection Prompt: Where do you find yourself saying "why does this always happen to me"? That repeating pattern is an unhealed wound at the root. And where are you keeping yourself small to keep yourself safe? Both answers are clues to the shadow work waiting for you. For deeper reflection, explore The Shifted Self: Evolution of Gratitude and Self-Reflection Journal on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Shifted-Self-Evolution-Gratitude-Self-Reflection/dp/B0F8NV1591 [https://www.amazon.com/Shifted-Self-Evolution-Gratitude-Self-Reflection/dp/B0F8NV1591] Find coaching and tools at https://www.amiraevolved.com/ [https://www.amiraevolved.com/] Follow Amira at @AmiraEvolved on Instagram and Facebook. Connect with Jane Bellis: Website: mymojoschool.com [http://mymojoschool.com] Instagram: @mrsmojomindset Facebook: @mrsmojomindset New episodes of The Shifted Podcast drop every Tuesday. If this episode stirred something, share it with a woman who has been collecting insights for years but hasn't been able to make them stick. This might be the missing piece.

Rebuilding Confidence After a Brain Tumor at 41 | Beth Hammond on Resetting

What does it actually look like to reset your life in midlife after everything falls apart? Beth Hammond was diagnosed with a brain tumor at 41. The diagnosis forced her to stop and look at everything she had been tolerating, her marriage, her friendships, her entire way of operating, and decide what was actually worth keeping. After 22 years as a confidence coach for women, Beth rebuilt her own life from the ground up and created a reset framework for women in midlife who know something needs to change but keep waiting for the right moment to start. In this episode of The Shifted Podcast, we talk about what rebuilding confidence and self-trust looks like when life has fundamentally disrupted who you thought you were. In this episode, we discuss: * How a brain tumor diagnosis at 41 became the catalyst for resetting her marriage, friendships, and career * Why self-trust, not performative confidence, is the foundation everything else is built on * How her 12-week reset framework helps midlife women reconnect with who they actually are now * Why waiting for certainty keeps women stuck and what to do instead * How to release relationships that no longer fit without guilt, even the ones with history About Beth Hammond: Beth has coached women on confidence and self-trust for 22 years. After her own brain tumor diagnosis, divorce, and life reset, she now runs a reset framework, group programs, and one-on-one coaching for women in midlife navigating major transitions. She is based in the UK. Reflection Prompt: What part of your life no longer fits who you are becoming? What feels heavy? What feels performative? Write the first answer that comes up. For deeper reflection, explore The Shifted Self: Evolution of Gratitude and Self-Reflection Journal on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Shifted-Self-Evolution-Gratitude-Self-Reflection/dp/B0F8NV1591 [https://www.amazon.com/Shifted-Self-Evolution-Gratitude-Self-Reflection/dp/B0F8NV1591] Find coaching and tools at https://www.amiraevolved.com/ [https://www.amiraevolved.com/] Follow Amira at @AmiraEvolved on Instagram and Facebook. Connect with Beth Hammond: * Website: resetwithbeth.co.uk [http://resetwithbeth.co.uk] * Instagram: @reset_with_beth * YouTube: RESET with Beth New episodes of The Shifted Podcast drop every other Tuesday. Subscribe so you don't miss the next conversation. And if this episode landed with you, send it to the woman in your life who keeps saying "I'll deal with it later." She needs to hear this.