Episodes

Josh was 12 years old when the phone rang on a quiet Sunday morning. He was home alone, mid-game of WWE SmackDown, when a voice on the other end broke the news. In this episode, Josh talks honestly about delayed grief, the wa...

Josh was 12 years old when the phone rang on a quiet Sunday morning. He was home alone, mid-game of WWE SmackDown, when a voice on the other end broke the news. In this episode, Josh talks honestly about delayed grief, the wa...

What does it feel like to breathe freely for the first time at 40 years old? Tanya Bothma has struggled with every breath since birth. After a meconium aspiration as a newborn and repeated severe viral infections during child...

In this episode of Something Shifted, True Crime South Africa host Nicole Engelbrecht reflects on how childhood trauma shaped both her identity and her work, telling some of the country’s darkest stories. Nicole Engelbrecht g...

Something Shifted is a South African podcast about identity after interruption, those unpredictable lifequakes that divide our lives into before and after. Before the diagnosis. Before the loss. Before the moment everything c...

Identity After Trauma, Brain Cancer, and the Science of Resilience. What happens when a brain tumor fractures the identity you’ve built your life around? In this episode of Something Shifted, Sean Loots explores identity afte...

A case for optimism. In the prelude to the new season of Something Shifted, Sean Loots speaks to astrophysicist-turned-journalist and author of "The Bright Side" Sumit Paul-Choudhury, about the science and psychology of optim...

Healing is like peeling an onion. The final episode of this season is a story about love, although it's not a traditional love story. It's about love addiction, the fear of not being loved, and the kind of love that can keep ...

My plan was to visit The Chaeli Campaign HQ. But life happened. So instead, I picked up the phone and spoke to the CEO, Zelda Mycroft. Zelda shares The Chaeli Campaign's mission to drive social justice and inclusion for peopl...

What if your life suddenly changed course, not by choice, but by force? In this episode, host Sean Loots introduces Verity, a woman who decided to rewrite her life after a personal lifequake. Through courage, creativity, and ...

In this episode, we explore how Lesego’s life changed when he developed Bell’s Palsy, and what it took for him to reframe identity, hope, and resilience If you've been listening to something shifted for a while, you've probab...

Today’s story is a little different to some of our previous episodes. We generally meet guests post-life quake, who have the benefit of hindsight, and we learn how "That Big Thing" has changed the direction of their life - bu...

When Jasper underwent a liver transplant in 2015, he didn’t just survive; he transformed. In this deeply human story, Jasper calls himself a “living upcycled human,” and shares what it means to carry a second chance inside yo...

In the adventures we seek out for ourselves, or the chances that we say yes to, deep down we know that things will change. But we can never fully grasp how much they will change. An enthusiastic yes today will obviously start...

For most, becoming a parent is a seismic shift, a lifequake that transforms everything we thought we knew about ourselves. It's a journey that challenges us to re-evaluate our priorities and make some tough decisions. Like ho...

Year-end brings with it feelings of nostalgia and reflection. And while lifequakes are big events that permanently alter the course of a life, we want to recognise the smaller shifts and shakes - tremors, if you will, that se...

Tanya has struggled to breathe since the day she was born. From viral infections to lung disease, Tanya was diagnosed with bronchiolitis obliterans. The narrowing of Tanya's airways could not be reversed by medication. Consid...

Zuraida was the last person to see her dad alive. The last person to speak to him. She was also the last person to comfort him. She was 13 years old. This traumatic event affected her deeply, leading to feelings of abandonmen...

Sean shares his personal journey through a lifequake, detailing the challenges and transformations that come with raising a child with profound disabilities. He reflects on a critical incident involving his daughter Zoe, the ...

Join me for the new season of Something Shifted, the podcast that asks some of South Africa’s most interesting people to share how significant life shifts, perceived as devastating, can lead to profound personal transformatio...

Zola Nene shares her journey of leaving law to pursue a career in the culinary arts, overcoming imposter syndrome, and finding joy in her work. She discusses the impact of her parents on her mindset and the inspirations that ...

Do you think your co-workers have high or low emotional intelligence? What can we learn about EQ from someone that grew up in a communal home? Theran Knighton-Fitt grew up in a home filled with love, support and more people t...

Bonus Episode: In this episode of "Something Shifted," Sean talks with Noa Belling, a psychotherapist and author of "Stress Less: Managing Anxiety in a Modern World." Noa shares her expertise on stress management, particularl...

Bonus Episode: In this episode of "Something Shifted," Sean welcomes Noa Belling, a psychotherapist and author of "Stress Less: Managing Anxiety in a Modern World." Noa discusses the brain's negativity bias and offers strateg...