Episodes

Celest Anthony had been doing the maths since she was twelve years old.Only child. Two parents. At some point, she was going to lose them both. And if both her parents died, no matter how old she was, she would be an orphan. She had lived with that knowledge quietly for most of her life in the way that only children sometimes do. Counting what they have. Knowing it won't last forever.What she couldn't have counted on was the four years that preceded her father's death. Or what those years would take from her, and what they would ultimately give.

Kojo Baffoe had a dream. He wanted to qualify for and compete at the 1996 Olympic Games as a track athlete. But life had other plans.

Marilize De Clercq had prepared for a life she was about to meet. A nursery ready, a name chosen, a future fully imagined. At 39 weeks, everything changed. This story follows the stillbirth of her daughter and the emotional reality of what came after - the empty drive home, the months inside the house, and the slow, uncertain process of finding a way forward when grief has no clear shape or timeline.

Jess Hinds had spent her whole life finding ways to cope. She built quiet accommodations into her days without ever knowing that's what they were. Then she became a mother, and everything she had managed to hold together came apart.

The story about twelve boys and their football coach who were trapped inside the Tham Luang cave system in northern Thailand gripped the world. Richard Harry Harris, an Australian anesthesiologist and cave diver, was the man called in to answer the question no one wanted to ask. His assessment was that most of them would likely die if they tried. He told the team to proceed.

Kamini Pather had built a career that looked, from the outside, like everything she had worked for.She won MasterChef South Africa. She hosted her own show, broadcast on Netflix North America. She was everywhere. And then her nervous system gave out. This story follows the years that no one saw.

Josh Prinsloo was twelve years old when the phone rang on a quiet Sunday morning. He was home alone.The voice on the other end told him his mother had died. And then life kept going. A brother's wedding, a new school, a new city. So Josh kept going too. For fifteen years, he filled his days with friends, music, and stories. The grief never really landed. Not then.

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 childhood, she was diagnosed with bronchiolitis obliterans, a progressive narrowing of the airways that no medication could reverse. By 2017, Tanya's lung capacity had fallen to just 14%, less than one litre of air. That year, she became the first patient to receive a bilateral d...

Nicole Engelbrecht never had to be told to keep a secret. She just knew. From an early age, she understood that what happened inside the house stayed inside the house, because children who grow up in chaotic environments learn the rules of survival before they learn anything else.

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 changed. Hosted by award-winning broadcaster Sean Loots, Something Shifted explores identity, resilience, reinvention, and personal growth in the aftermath of disruption. Because we all face moments that fracture who we thought we were. On this podcast, we lean in when things...

Conn Bertish was 36 years old when he noticed something strange. He was writing down a phone number and kept writing a nine when he meant to write an eight. He tried again. Still a nine. He reached for a clean piece of paper, wrote slowly, carefully, and it was still a nine. What followed was an MRI, a neurosurgeon, emergency brain surgery, and a diagnosis of medulloblastoma - a fast-growing malignant brain tumour that originates in the cerebellum. A tumour almost exclusively found in children under five. Not in 36-year-old men.

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 optimism. Drawing on stories from Ernest Shackleton's 1915 Arctic expedition, to Sean's "Joy Jar", and the research behind optimistic chickens, Sumit shares how he became an optimist after experiencing great loss.

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 you alive. It's about a mother's love, facing your greatest fear, and learning to love yourself through it all. Sara-Jayne shares her complex family background, the trauma of being abandoned and adopted at 7 weeks, and her struggles with addiction alongside her partner's rel...

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 people with disabilities. Highlighting the crucial role of advocacy in changing how society views and supports those with disabiliities, we speak about initiatives such as inclusive education and adaptive sports. Listen to how Athletics South Africa came to include wheelchair ath...

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 deep self-reflection, Verity learned that we always have the power to author a new chapter, no matter how messy the last one was. Sean guides this conversation on transformation, resilience, and the small but powerful shifts that can lead to a completely new sense of self. I...

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 probably wondered about your own life quake. For Lesego, there are two distinct moments when the ground beneath his feet gave way. When he was fifteen, his dad passed away. And again, when he was 32, he thought he was having a stroke. Eventually, it was confirmed that Lesego Majat...

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 - but we meet them on stable ground. Not everyone is on the other side of an event that has changed the way they see how they fit into the world… sometimes we meet someone that is mid-quake. Chaeli has cerebral palsy and is a full-time wheelchair user. A big part of her journey ...

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 your body. Host Sean Loots explores the emotional, physical, and spiritual journey that follows major medical change; the fear, the gratitude, and the quiet shift that happens when you realise you’ve been rebuilt from the inside out. In this episode: - Jasper’s raw reflections...

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 a domino effect, but where will the yes ultimately lead? These are the seismic shifts we create for ourselves. In 2021, Liesl packed up her home in Cape Town and moved to Sweden with her husband and young son. Leaving behind a house she adored, a successful career, her fami...

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 how to balance our own dreams with the responsibilities of raising our children? In 2022, Vicky became a mom for the first time. Two weeks later, her dream to compete at the 2024 Olympic Games was born. With a newborn in her arms and just 2 years to prepare for the 2024 Olympi...

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 sent us on a detour. This episode is a compilation of 12 short stories, from 12 different people, who each experienced a tremor before Christmas. Plus, since so many have asked, I have an update on Zoe too. GUESTS: Ruenda Loots Kamini Pather - All Dahl’d Up [pre-order] https:/...

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. Considering the diagnosis and years of health challenges, she got on with living her life. By 2017, Tanya had just 14% lung capacity, and became the first patient to receive a bi-lateral lung transplant in a state hospital in Africa. For the first time in her life, Tanya’s lung ca...

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 abandonment and a tendency towards hyper-independence. Zuraida discusses how her grief impacted her career and influenced her parenting style. She speaks freely about the importance of open communication and emotional expression with her children, contrasting it with her own upbringin...

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 emotional turmoil of hospital visits, and the lessons learned about resilience, empathy, and the importance of community support. The conversation emphasizes the profound shifts in perspective that can arise from unexpected life events and the ongoing journey of personal gro...