Welcome to Something Shifted | Stories of Identity, Loss and Life Transitions!
Something Shifted | Stories of Identity, Loss and Life Transitions
Something Shifted | Stories of Identity, Loss and Life Tran…
There's a moment where your life splits in two. Before the diagnosis. Before the loss. Before the divorce, the burnout, the caregiving role, or the sudden change you never saw coming. And then after. Most conversations about grief, trauma, and resilience focus on how to move forward. But the deeper question so many people quietly live with after a lifequake: Who am I now? Something Shifted is a documentary-style podcast about identity after interruption. The psychological and emotional reconstruction that happens after major life changes reshape the person you thought you were. Each episode tells a deeply human story of someone navigating grief and healing, rebuilding identity after loss, recovering from trauma, finding purpose after hardship, or learning how to start over in life they never expected to be living. Because sometimes the hardest part of a sudden life change isn't the event itself. It's becoming someone new afterward. Hosted by South African broadcaster Sean Loots, Something Shifted blends immersive storytelling with reflective narration to explore what happens when identity changes through crisis, caregiving, diagnosis, parenting, survival, and loss. At the center of the show is the idea of the Lifequake: the moments that interrupt the expected path of a life and force a person into identity transformation. These are stories about emotional resilience, meaning after hardship, and finding yourself again after everything changed. If you're navigating life transitions, coping with loss, or trying to understand who you became after a major life change — this show is for you. Episode Topics Include: Identity Reconstruction, Trauma Recovery, Life Transitions, Starting Over In Life, Grief And Healing, Meaning After Loss, Losing a Dream, Emotional Resilience, Caregiving Burnout, Special Needs Parenting, Finding Yourself Again, Life After Diagnosis, Creative Burnout
Jan. 7, 2026

If Chickens Can Do It

If Chickens Can Do It
If Chickens Can Do It
Something Shifted | Stories of Identity, Loss and Life Transitions
If Chickens Can Do It

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.

About Something Shifted

Something Shifted is a documentary-style, narrative podcast about identity after interruption. It tells stories of life before and after pivotal moments of change, where familiar structures fall away and new ways of being slowly emerge. Hosted by South African broadcaster Sean Loots, the podcast explores grief, resilience, transformation, and the lived experience of becoming someone different after life changes unexpectedly.

These are stories of life after interruption, told with honesty, detail, and emotional depth.

Listen to more episodes

Explore more narrative stories of identity, resilience, and life transition wherever you listen to podcasts. Listen to Something Shifted: The Soundtrack on Spotify

00:00 - Intro

01:22 - The Joy Jar

03:30 - Sumit Paul-Choudhury

09:33 - Ernest Shackleton's Arctic Expedition

14:35 - Zoe's progress

15:25 - Optimistic Chickens

17:38 - Optimism and Humans

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