Big Stuff With Danielle Colley

Danielle Colley

You know who's going through BIG STUFF? Literally everyone. But it's how you handle it that makes the difference.  Award-winning author and life coach Danielle Colley gets real about the relentless expectations we put on ourselves, the comparison trap, and the gap between how life looks and how it actually feels. For ambitious women who may be crushing their goals but are feeling crushed by them. Conversations that matter. A little advice, a little inspiration, and a lot of humanness. No toxic positivity - just raw honesty about what it really takes to thrive. If you're burnt out from achieving everything or tired of pretending it's all fine, this is for you. Because life should feel GOOD to live. New episodes weekly Follow @daniellecolley

  1. Chezzi Denyer Sees Dead People; Mediumship, Intuition, and Learning To Trust Yourself

    2 days ago

    Chezzi Denyer Sees Dead People; Mediumship, Intuition, and Learning To Trust Yourself

    Enjoyed this and want to let us know? Drop us a text She was four years old when she told her mum that the man up the road had died in the night — She was right. Chezzi Denyer spent the next four decades becoming the most logical, credible, provable version of herself she could manage. She built a career in television. She worked at Sunrise. She was a journalist. And she pushed that other part of herself so far down that she almost forgot it existed. Then her best friend Amy died. And Amy, being Amy, refused to stay quiet about it. Chezzi is one of Australia's most recognisable television producers, a certified psychic medium, a mental health advocate, and the author of the memoir The Weird Little Girl Who Talks to Ghosts. This is a conversation about grief, intuition, the gift that kept getting punished, and what it costs a woman to spend her life hiding the truest thing about herself. If you've ever had a knowing you talked yourself out of — this one is for you. CHAPTERS0:00 — Introduction 3:00 — Coming out  8:00 — Self-protection vs living a lie 11:00 — Chezzi's first memory of the gift 17:00 — Catholic school, the cane, and praying not to go to hell 22:00 — ADHD at 40 26:00 — Holding it all together  30:00 — Suppressing spirit  35:00 — Intuition as a muscle 40:00 — Signs and the language you build with the universe 44:00 — Danielle's mum 48:00 — Losing Amy 58:00 — Medium school  64:00 — Grant's accident 68:00 — The vision quest that wasn't 76:00 — The messages from spirit 80:00 — Unconditional love and losing the fear of dying 83:00 — For the woo curious KEY TAKEAWAYS Self-protection and living a lie can look the same from the outside — but only one of them is something you chose in order to survive. Intuition is subtle. But it's almost always the very first thing you feel — before the second-guessing starts.You can choose your own language with the universe and ask for what you need. Chezzi asked for a crow mid-recording. Three came. The people we've lost aren't missing us the way we miss them — because they're still with us. They just want us to live.The truest thing about you is not a problem to be managed. It may have been treated that way. That's not the same thing.FAQS What is Chezzi Denyer's book about? The Weird Little Girl Who Talks to Ghosts is Chezzi's debut memoir. It tells the story of a life spent hiding a gift she was born with — and the grief, courage, and surrender it took to finally own it. The last section of the book contains messages received from spirit, written in Chezzi's own hand. How did Chezzi Denyer become a psychic medium?  After the death of her close friend Amy in 2022, Chezzi began experiencing what she believed were signs from Amy — birds flying into windows, songs playing on radios that weren't on, her young daughter pointing to empty corners of the room. She enrolled in The Medium School in Canada, studied under renowned psychic Tony Stockwell at Arthur Findlay College in the UK, and became a certified medium in 2024. What is claircognizance? Claircognizance is a form of psychic knowing — where you simply know something without being able to explain how. Chezzi describes not being able to leave the house the day of Grant's accident, and the same feeling the morning of September 11. It's different from intuition in that it arrives as a certainty rather than a nudge. RESOURCES AND LINKS Chezzi Denyer —⁠ Instagram⁠⁠The Weird Little Girl Who Talks to Ghosts⁠ — available now wherever books are sold⁠The Weird Little Girl Facebook Circle ⁠— Facebook group for woo curious community Danielle Colley — ⁠daniellecolley.com.au⁠ Big Stuff — ⁠bigstuffpod@gmail.com⁠ If this episode reached into your chest and squeezed something — share it with one person who needs to hear it. You never know whose permission slip this might be.  Subscribe so you never miss an episode, and come find us at ⁠bigstuffpod@gmail.com⁠.

    1hr 23min
  2. The 3 Relationship Patterns That Keep Repeating (And How to Stop Them) - Sarah McGahon

    17 June

    The 3 Relationship Patterns That Keep Repeating (And How to Stop Them) - Sarah McGahon

    Enjoyed this and want to let us know? Drop us a text What if the fight you keep having with your partner was never actually about the washing (or whatever your recurring thing is?) Channel and energy healer, Sarah McGahan, has worked with over 700 women in private healing sessions all over the world, and across all of those sessions, the same three relationship patterns kept showing up, again and again.  Not just in romantic relationships — with mothers, with children, with friends, with colleagues, and with themselves.  Danielle has done her own healing work with Sarah personally, and in this conversation they go deep into what those three patterns are, where they actually come from, and why doing "all the work" doesn't always make them disappear. The three most common relationship patterns Sarah sees in her private practice and how they are showing up in reality.These patterns usually aren't random. They're typically formed in early childhood, before age seven, through what Sarah calls environmental conditioning.The clearest sign of your own dominant pattern isn't the big dramatic moments — it's something far simpler.Healing a pattern doesn't mean it never gets triggered again but what actually happens when you finally do the work. As Sarah puts it: it's not your fault, but it is your responsibility. The pattern wasn't your doing, but breaking it now is yours to carry. What are the three relationship patterns Sarah McGahan talks about? Fear of abandonment (and its variations, fear of loss and fear of betrayal), the need for control, and an unconscious addiction to pain and suffering or drama. Why do I keep repeating the same relationship pattern even after years of therapy? According to Sarah, these patterns are often formed very early in childhood, often even before age seven, and can run so deep that they're often not fully resolved through talk therapy alone.  How do I figure out which pattern is mine? One simple question shared by Sarah helps you to understand why even in different relationships, different jobs, different friendships, but the same dynamic keeps showing up.  Find Sarah McGahan, Channel and Intuitive Healer Sarah's website - ⁠sarahmcgahan.com⁠ Sarah's Instagram- ⁠@channelwithsarah⁠ Or find more Danielle -  Website - ⁠daniellecolley.com.au⁠ Contact Danielle - danielle@daniellecolley.com.au  Podcast contact: ⁠bigstuffpod@gmail.com⁠

    1hr 7min
  3. She Lost Her Voice for a Year. Here's What She Found - Sophie Bretag

    10 June

    She Lost Her Voice for a Year. Here's What She Found - Sophie Bretag

    Enjoyed this and want to let us know? Drop us a text Sophie Bretag came on this show to talk about kindness. But what she really gave us was something far more important — a front-row seat to what happens when everything you've built your identity around is taken from you, and what you discover in the silence that follows.  Two years ago, Sophie had surgery for tongue cancer — a rare diagnosis for a woman her age — and spent almost twelve months unable to speak clearly. For someone whose entire career is built on her voice, that enforced silence became the most profound teacher of her life. This is a conversation about what it actually means to choose yourself — not as a concept, but when the stakes are real, when your husband is hospitalised the same week you are, when your kids need you, when going back to work two weeks post-surgery feels like the only option.  Sophie is warm, funny, and extraordinarily open, and I found myself receiving things in this conversation that I didn't even know I needed. I think you will too. CHAPTERS 0:00 — Introduction  3:00 — The lump on Sophie's tongue  10:00 — The diagnosis: "baby cancer"  17:00 — The operation  22:00 — Speaking for the last time before surgery  27:00 — The biggest fears going under the knife  33:00 — When your other senses take over 38:00 — The outpouring of love   44:00 — Setting the hardest boundaries of her life  49:00 — "I chose to choose me"  54:00 — What kindness actually looks like day to day  56:00 — What she would tell herself two years ago RESOURCES & LINKS Sophie Bretag — mettaleaders.com The Kind Way — available for pre-order now, in store 30 June 2025 Sophie on LinkedIn Sophie on Instagram — @sophiebretag Danielle Colley — daniellecolley.com.au Instagram - @iamdaniellecolley Contact Big Stuff — bigstuffpod@gmail.com THINKING POINTS When someone you love is struggling, do you offer an open door — "let me know if you need anything" — or do you give them options?  Think about one person in your life right now who might need A, B, C, or D instead. Where are you still waiting for permission to stop going back to the way things were? You already have it.

    58 min
  4. HAYR? What Grief Made

    3 June

    HAYR? What Grief Made

    Enjoyed this and want to let us know? Drop us a text Six months ago, Danielle stepped back from the daily grind of running a business and gave herself something she'd never given herself before: time.  Not because she didn't know what was coming — she did — but because she decided to meet it with open hands instead of a full calendar. What followed was two books, a body of paintings, and her very first art show. This episode is about what happens when grief asks you to stop explaining yourself and just make something true instead. It's also about the five things Danielle learned from announcing something terrifying before she was ready — and why that's exactly the point. CHAPTERS 0:00 — Introduction  2:30 — The in-between  6:00 — What grief actually asks of you  9:00 — Why she made space before the hardest thing arrived  12:30 — The art, the books, and what it all is really  16:00 — Five things learned from hosting a first art show  16:30 — 1. Do it scared  18:30 — 2. Audacity is excellent  19:30 — 3. The devil is in the details  21:30 — 4. Release the outcome  23:00 — 5. Deadlines are king  24:30 — You don't need permission to begin The As She Is collection — available to view and purchase via Danielle's Instagram @daniellecolley.art If this episode landed somewhere real for you, send Danielle a message — she genuinely wants to know.  You can reach her at ⁠bigstuffpod@gmail.com⁠ or find her at daniellecolley.com.au.  And if you know someone who's been sitting on something — a creative project, a scary goal, a version of themselves they haven't shown anyone yet — share this one with them.  That's exactly who it was made for.

    25 min
  5. You Think You're Honest. You're Not.

    27 May

    You Think You're Honest. You're Not.

    Enjoyed this and want to let us know? Drop us a text I’ve always thought of myself as someone who cannot lie. I’m a compulsive truth teller — ask anyone who knows me. But today’s guest made me realise something uncomfortable: that’s also a lie. Everyone lies. The question is whether you know when you’re doing it. And why. Dominic Thurbon is a behavioural change expert, co-founder of Alchemy Labs, former world top-10 debater, Earnst & Young partner, founder of two businesses he built and sold, and author of books published in fifteen countries.  His new book To Be Honest is one of the most rigorously researched and genuinely funny books I’ve read on why we lie, how misinformation spreads, and what it actually takes to make truth happen in a world designed to make that very difficult. In this conversation we go into the Bollywood film Dominic lied his way into at 21 (yes, really), why even the most ethical people lie daily without realising it, the crucial difference between a liar and a bullshitter, and what it means to make truth a verb rather than a value.  This one didn’t let any of us off the hook. I don’t think it’ll let you off it either.   CHAPTERS00:00  Introduction 03:30  The biggest lie Dominic ever told 13:00  Why we double down on lies 18:30  Them truth, we truth, me truth 24:00  Everyone lies: the main reasons why 31:00  The gender difference in how we lie 34:30  Does my bum look big?  40:00  Making truth happen 46:30  The misinformation economy and why social media is designed to work against us 53:30  Liars vs bullshitters  59:30  The debating paradox 64:00  What it would take to change your mind     RESOURCES & LINKS Find Dominic Thurbon on his website      To Be Honest — available at major bookstores and online via Major Street PublishingAlchemy Labs (Dominic’s behaviour change firm) Find Dominic on LinkedIn  Mentioned in this episode •       On B******t by Harry Frankfurt (Princeton University Press) — the source of the liar vs bullshitter distinction •       Lying by Sam Harris — the case that there is never a situation where lying is justified •       Stolen Focus by Johann Hari — on reclaiming attention in a distracted world •       Brené Brown on “being clear is kind” — from Dare to Lead •       World Economic Forum Global Risk Report — misinformation ranked the #1 short-term global risk   Find more of Danielle Colley •       Instagram: @daniellecolley •       Email: bigstuffpod@gmail.com If this episode got you thinking, share it with one person who needs to hear it. And if you haven’t already, take the burnout quiz at daniellecolley.com.au — it’s free, it’s quick, and it might just tell you something true about yourself that you’ve been

    1hr 7min
  6. Anorexia, Psychosis and Schizoaffective Disorder - One Woman's Imperfect Recovery Story

    20 May

    Anorexia, Psychosis and Schizoaffective Disorder - One Woman's Imperfect Recovery Story

    Enjoyed this and want to let us know? Drop us a text Kate Purcell has spent much of her life in a battle with anorexia — hospitalised ten times, including seven months at a residential clinic in Perth. She has since navigated a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder, survived a psychotic episode, written two books, and built a life she genuinely loves. But this is not a neat before-and-after story. Kate is still managing an eating disorder diagnosis right now, alongside medication that makes that harder, not easier. In this conversation, she talks about the girl she was before the illness took hold, what it felt like from the inside, and how she has learned — slowly and imperfectly — to separate who she is from what she has been through. This one is raw, real, and deeply human. Chapters 0:00 — Introduction 3:00 — Growing up and the beginning of comparison  10:00 — The diet that became something else  18:00 — Hospital and The Beast taking hold  28:00 — What actually helped 34:00 — Life after hospital 42:00 — A year of living in hell 49:00 — Diagnosis, medication, and finding solid ground  54:00 — The recent relapse — and what it taught her  58:00 — Building self-worth from the inside out  1:02:00 — What Kate would say to her fifteen-year-old self Find more Kate -  Her books ⁠Hope Inc. — Kate's memoir ⁠ ⁠Tell Your Eating Disorder to F**k Off: Reclaim Your Power ⁠— Kate's self-help guide with reflection exercises and values work Her socials ⁠Instagram⁠ ⁠LinkedIn⁠ Support If anything in this episode stirred something up for you, please reach out to a professional who specialises in this area. In Australia: Butterfly Foundation Helpline: 1800 33 4673 (free, confidential support for eating disorders and body image concerns)  Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636  Lifeline: 13 11 14 You deserve support that's built for exactly what you're carrying. Connect with Danielle Instagram:⁠ @iamdaniellecolley ⁠ Email: ⁠bigstuffpod@gmail.com⁠

    1hr 3min
  7. Still Working From Her Hospital Bed - Fleur Marks And Breaking Up With Overachieving

    13 May

    Still Working From Her Hospital Bed - Fleur Marks And Breaking Up With Overachieving

    Enjoyed this and want to let us know? Drop us a text She had the wardrobe, the fancy car, the career leading teams across multiple markets. From the outside, Fleur Marks had built the life. And if you'd asked her how she was doing, she would have told you she was fine. She was not fine. Fleur is a globally recognised leadership strategist, speaker, and author of the brand new book The Overachiever's Reset. She spent 20 years building a high-performance career on drive, relentless standards, and the unshakeable belief that if she just worked hard enough, everything would stay together. Until her body sent a message she could no longer ignore — a rare, incurable autoimmune disease attacking multiple organs simultaneously. Then, just as she began to stabilise, breast cancer. She lost the house, the income, the career identity, and almost her life. More than once. Here's the part that stopped me: Fleur wrote this book from a hospital bed, not knowing if she'd live to see it published. She is still in treatment now. And she showed up for this conversation anyway. This is one of the most honest, generous, and quietly life-changing conversations I've recorded. I threw out my questions within ten minutes and just followed where Fleur took us — and I'm so glad I did. We talk about what it actually costs to tether your worth to your output, what collapse can unlock that ambition never could, and why the word "fine" might be the most important red flag you're ignoring right now. Find Fleur here - https://fleurmarks.com.au Or here - Instagram Or here - LinkedIn Buy her book here - The Over Achievers Reset CHAPTERS 00:00 — Intro 03:00 — In treatment, still showing up  07:00 — The old Fleur: Wonder Woman with a badge of busy  13:00 — Where impossibly high standards come from  18:00 — The first signs   23:00 — Losing everything at once  38:00 — The blue esky on the porch   44:00 — Becoming a high-performing sick person (and seeing the pattern repeat) 49:00 — What FINE really stands for  53:00 — The moment the light went out  58:00 — Mortality, faith, and why Fleur believes she was kept here  63:00 — Ambition after the reset — sequins, not superwoman  67:00 — Close and thinking points Follow Danielle Colley and the Big Stuff Podcast on instagram. Be sure to subscribe so you never iss an episode.  Reach out to Danielle if you would like to be a guest or have a question you would like discussed on the podcast.  danielle@daniellecolley.com.au

    1hr 7min
  8. Is It Me, or Is It My Hormones? The Weird Perimenopause Symptoms Women Miss for Years

    6 May

    Is It Me, or Is It My Hormones? The Weird Perimenopause Symptoms Women Miss for Years

    Enjoyed this and want to let us know? Drop us a text Did you know there are over 48 symptoms of perimenopause — and the average woman is experiencing more than five of them at once, without realising any of them are hormonal? In this episode, Danielle gets into the weird, the unexpected, and the frankly baffling symptoms that can show up years before you'd ever think to look at your hormones. From itchy feet in bed at night to ringing ears, from rage that comes from nowhere to a quiet loss of confidence that creeps in and makes you feel like a stranger in your own head — these are the symptoms that send women to three different specialists before someone finally mentions perimenopause. Danielle shares her own story of realising she'd been in perimenopause for five or six years without knowing — including a frozen shoulder, excruciating ovulation she describes as "passing a puppy," and the slow, scary erosion of the confidence she'd spent decades building. She also gets into why this matters beyond the physical: why women at this life stage are more likely to be misdiagnosed with anxiety or depression, why doctors often dismiss symptoms in women under 50, and the research that shows this is one of the most vulnerable windows in a woman's life — and one of the most under treated. This one is for every woman who has Googled "am I allergic to myself" at 2am with itchy feet. You're not. It's your hormones. And now you know. Resources mentioned -  Big Stuff Episode 7 - ADHD and Perimenopause The Chocolate Bar Life - Danielle Colley WellFemme  - online menopause doctors    •       0:00 The stat that stopped me: 48 symptoms, 5 at once •       1:30 Danielle's story •       4:00 Symptom 1 — Brain fog and losing words •       7:30 Symptom 2 — Confidence dropping for no reason •       10:30 Symptom 3 — Frozen shoulder (and what actually fixed it) •       15:30 Symptom 4 — The angry egg •       19:00 The doctor problem •       21:00 Symptom 5 — The Rage Monster. •       25:30 Symptom 6 — Anxiety that comes out of nowhere •       29:30 Symptom 7 —  "What's the point"  •       32:00 Symptom 8 — Itchy burning skin (including your feet) •       35:00 Symptom 9 — Ear weirdness •       37:00 Why this matters •       40:00 What helps

    41 min
5
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

You know who's going through BIG STUFF? Literally everyone. But it's how you handle it that makes the difference.  Award-winning author and life coach Danielle Colley gets real about the relentless expectations we put on ourselves, the comparison trap, and the gap between how life looks and how it actually feels. For ambitious women who may be crushing their goals but are feeling crushed by them. Conversations that matter. A little advice, a little inspiration, and a lot of humanness. No toxic positivity - just raw honesty about what it really takes to thrive. If you're burnt out from achieving everything or tired of pretending it's all fine, this is for you. Because life should feel GOOD to live. New episodes weekly Follow @daniellecolley

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