Against All Odds Podcast, The Less than 1% Chance with Maria Aponte

Maria Aponte

Maria highlights stories of people that have been the "less than 1% chance" and have come out of their situations thriving and seeing life as happening FOR them and not TO them! Inspiring and empowering stories that will show you that against all odds you can make it through anything!

  1. 4 hr ago ·  Video

    I Thought I Was Bulletproof, Until 3 Restaurants Proved Me Wrong with Nathan Baws

    Send us Fan Mail One bad expansion can humble even the most confident entrepreneur. After a seven-figure exit in the health industry, Nathan Baws felt bulletproof. So he opened a restaurant, and then two more. The first one took off. The second went into the busiest shopping center in Western Australia, with the wrong demographics, an expensive fit-out and a seven-year lease he negotiated himself. His fix was to open a third. For a couple of years the daily sales texts came in right at family dinner, and every night they were a gut punch. Nathan is a naturopath, author, keynote speaker and co-author of a best-selling book with Tony Robbins and Brian Tracy. We talk about the warning signs he missed, why ego makes smart people rush, and how the fear of being seen as a “failure” is usually much louder in our heads than in real life. He also explains how he works now: test ideas before betting on them, ask better questions to get better answers, and stop trying to do it all alone. In this episode: Why one successful exit made him think he couldn’t loseThe one comment he got when his restaurant closed, and why it changed how he sees failureHow to structure a win-win-win joint venture, tap into a partner’s trust and customer base, and grow without relying on paid adsHis five biggest lessons, starting with asking better questionsLearning from mentors and getting paid while you learnHis daily habits for energy and focus: freezing cold ocean swims, ketosis and dopamine-focused routinesConnect with Nathan Baws:  🌐 Website: https://nathanbaws.com/ 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathan-baws/ ▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Nathan-Baws 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nathan.baws/ 📖 NEW BOOK: Against All Odds: The Less Than 1% Chance  I wasn’t supposed to survive. As the surviving twin with less than a 1% chance at life, I’ve spent my whole existence beating odds nobody expected me to beat. In this memoir and anthology, I share my story alongside eight other unbelievable accounts of people who refused to let impossible circumstances write their ending, from cancer and addiction to childhood trauma and grief. Eleven stories. One roadmap for anyone who’s ever been told “you can’t.”  Get your copy here: https://books.by/love-your-life Support the show Love Your Life Follow Maria on Facebook HERE Follow Maria on Instagram HERE Follow Maria on YouTube HERE

    I Thought I Was Bulletproof, Until 3 Restaurants Proved Me Wrong with Nathan Baws

  2. 23 Oct ·  Video

    Birds, Unplugged Toasters, and a Whole Lot of Grief: Lisa Archer on Losing 12 Loved Ones in 22 Months

    Send us Fan Mail Grief doesn’t politely wait its turn. Sometimes it hits in rapid succession, and you’re left asking the question nobody can answer for you: how am I supposed to live like this and keep showing up for everyone who needs me? Maria Aponte sits down with Lisa Archer, an internationally certified life coach, grief educator, and breast cancer survivor, to talk through what happens when loss becomes relentless and deeply personal. Lisa opens up about losing 12 loved ones in 22 months, including her niece, both parents, and her 24-year-old son-in-law, and what compound grief taught her about survival, support, and the long road back to herself. Lisa and Maria get honest about the “blueprint” we all carry, the future we think we’re building, and the shock when death, divorce, or sudden change destroys it. https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisamariearcher/They unpack how grief is bigger than death alone: it can be identity loss, health loss, job loss, relationship loss, and the quiet kind of ambiguous grief that doesn’t come with casseroles or condolences. If you’ve ever felt guilty for hurting over something others don’t label as grief, this conversation puts language to what you’re carrying. Then they move into what actually helps. Lisa shares clear do’s and don’ts for supporting a grieving loved one, from skipping empty comfort phrases to offering specific practical help (and why a text that starts with “you do not need to respond” can lift an enormous weight). They talk legacy, the comfort some people find in signs and meaningful moments, and daily grounding practices like guided meditation and using the five senses to return to the present. Connect with Lisa Archer:  🌐 Website: https://holisticlifecoaching.org.uk/ 📸 Instagram: @holistic_coach_lisa  https://www.instagram.com/holistic_coach_lisa/ 📘 Facebook: Coach Lisa Archer https://www.facebook.com/coachlisaarcher  📘 Facebook Page: Holistic Life Coaching with Lisa Marie https://www.facebook.com/holisticlifecoachingwithlisamarie/ 💼 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lisamariearcher https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisamariearcher/ 📖 NEW BOOK: Against All Odds: The Less Than 1% Chance  I wasn’t supposed to survive. As the surviving twin with less than a 1% chance at life, I’ve spent my whole existence beating odds nobody expected me to beat. In this memoir and anthology, I share my story alongside eight other unbelievable accounts of people who refused to let impossible circumstances write their ending, from cancer and addiction to childhood trauma and grief. Eleven stories. One roadmap for anyone who’s ever been told “you can’t.”  Get your copy here: https://books.by/love-your-life Support the show Love Your Life Follow Maria on Facebook HERE Follow Maria on Instagram HERE Follow Maria on YouTube HERE

    Birds, Unplugged Toasters, and a Whole Lot of Grief: Lisa Archer on Losing 12 Loved Ones in 22 Months

  3. 16 Oct ·  Video

    Chemo Is a Potion If You Let It Be: Ann Wax on 50 Years of Nursing, Legacy, and Being Your Own Lifeguard

    Send us Fan Mail Cancer forces questions most of us try to postpone: What matters now? Who shows up? What does dignity look like when your body and your plans change? Maria sits down with Ann Wax, an Oncology Doula™, speaker, author, and oncology nurse with more than 50 years of experience walking alongside patients and families through chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, and the emotional shock that comes with a diagnosis — and who has lived it personally too, as a sister who cared for her own sister through ovarian cancer and a wife who supported her husband through kidney cancer. Ann and Maria talk about legacy and purpose in a grounded way, including what a "good passing" can actually feel like in the room, and why love, peace, and presence matter at the end of life. Ann explains what an Oncology Doula™ does (and doesn't do) through what she calls "The Care Between the Care™" — why family dynamics can be as hard as treatment itself, and how survivorship can reopen old wounds like shame, guilt, and childhood trauma. If you've ever struggled to say "I love you" to yourself in the mirror, the exercise they discuss will hit home. They also get real about patient advocacy and mindset without pretending reality isn't real. Chemotherapy isn't what it was 30 years ago, and fear often comes from outdated stories and rushed conversations. Ann shares how language and openness can completely change a patient's experience, and they explore what healing looks like even when outcomes are uncertain — grief that doesn't follow a straight line, and caregiving that demands real boundaries. Connect with Ann Wax:  💼 LinkedIn: Ann Wax https://www.linkedin.com/in/annwax/ Book: BE your own Lifegaurd: Lessons in Resilience, Healing, and Hope https://a.co/d/0f0LVdMz 📖 NEW BOOK: Against All Odds: The Less Than 1% Chance  I wasn't supposed to survive. As the surviving twin with less than a 1% chance at life, I've spent my whole existence beating odds nobody expected me to beat. In this memoir and anthology, I share my story alongside eight other unbelievable accounts of people who refused to let impossible circumstances write their ending, from cancer and addiction to childhood trauma and grief. Eleven stories. One roadmap for anyone who's ever been told "you can't."  Get your copy here: https://books.by/love-your-life Support the show Love Your Life Follow Maria on Facebook HERE Follow Maria on Instagram HERE Follow Maria on YouTube HERE

    Chemo Is a Potion If You Let It Be: Ann Wax on 50 Years of Nursing, Legacy, and Being Your Own Lifeguard

  4. 9 Oct ·  Video

    How A 5:30 A.M. Therapist And A Bonfire Changed Everything: Kimberly Souba's Journey From Surviving to Thriving

    Send us Fan Mail ⚠️ Content Warning: This episode includes detailed discussion of childhood sexual abuse, parental abandonment, and a teenage suicide attempt. Please take care while listening. Some people survive the kind of childhood that should have broken them, then spend years figuring out how to feel safe in their own body again. That's the heart of Maria's conversation with Kimberly Souba — a story of surviving childhood sexual abuse, parental abandonment, addiction in the home, and a suicide attempt, and then choosing a life built on healing instead of hiding. Kimberly walks through the moments that shaped her resilience, including the grandparents and neighbors who stepped in when the adults who should have protected her didn't. She and Maria also talk candidly about trauma symptoms that can linger for decades — hypervigilance, night terrors, and the constant fight-or-flight feeling that can drive anxiety and depression well into adulthood. What makes this conversation especially practical is Kimberly's "toolbox" approach to trauma recovery: a decade of 5:30am therapy sessions, prayer and spiritual direction, journaling, breathwork, affirmations, and boundaries she actually keeps. She shares how revisiting a box of old journals she'd once planned to burn led to over 150 poems and prayers — eventually becoming her first published book, From Death to New Life: The Transformation of a Soul, and a bigger mission to help others move from surviving to thriving. If you've ever wondered whether your past will always define you, this conversation will meet you right where you are. If you or someone you know is struggling: the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available 24/7 by call or text (988). You are not alone. Connect with Kimberly Souba:  🌐 Website: www.ksouba.com 📸 Instagram: @adventuresinfaithandwonder https://www.instagram.com/adventuresinfaithandwonder/ 📘 Facebook:  Page: Adventures in Faith and Wonder Books https://www.facebook.com/FaithAndWonderBooks Personal: Kimberly Souba https://www.facebook.com/kimberly.souba 📖 NEW BOOK: Against All Odds: The Less Than 1% Chance  I wasn't supposed to survive. As the surviving twin with less than a 1% chance at life, I've spent my whole existence beating odds nobody expected me to beat. In this memoir and anthology, I share my story alongside eight other unbelievable accounts of people who refused to let impossible circumstances write their ending, from cancer and addiction to childhood trauma and grief. Eleven stories. One roadmap for anyone who's ever been told "you can't."  Get your copy here: https://books.by/love-your-life Support the show Love Your Life Follow Maria on Facebook HERE Follow Maria on Instagram HERE Follow Maria on YouTube HERE

    How A 5:30 A.M. Therapist And A Bonfire Changed Everything: Kimberly Souba's Journey From Surviving to Thriving

  5. 5 Oct ·  Video

    When God Says Let Them Go: Traci Wade on Divorce, Co-Parenting, and Rebuilding Without Shame

    Send us Fan Mail Divorce can feel like the moment your whole identity gets ripped away and then judged in public. Maria Aponte sits down with speaker, author, and podcast host Traci R. Wade for an honest, faith-forward conversation about what it really takes to survive divorce, drop the stigma, and rebuild a life you actually want. Traci shares how she refused to be defined as "a divorcee," why self-discovery after divorce matters, and how cultural and religious pressure can make the decision even heavier when kids and family expectations are involved. They get practical about healing after divorce, especially the question so many people ask but rarely answer plainly: should you date with a broken heart? Traci and Maria talk grief, therapy, community, and accountability, and how doing the inner work changes your standards, helps you spot red flags, and protects you from repeating painful patterns. Maria also opens up about grieving the future she'd planned, learning to love herself again, and why personal growth isn't optional if you want healthier relationships. Then the conversation takes a turn into the realities nobody posts online: co-parenting, child support, health crises, and the hard choices that come with putting your children first. Traci explains how she ended up on the other side of the child support conversation than she expected — choosing obedience to God over her own instincts, and letting her sons go live with their father. They close out talking about overcoming rejection, embracing your voice, and the daily habits that have carried Traci through nearly two decades of rebuilding. Connect with Traci Wade:  🌐 Website: www.iamtraciwade.com 📸 Instagram: @iamtraciwade https://www.instagram.com/iamtraciwade/ 📘 Facebook: Traci R Wade https://www.facebook.com/traci.bradford.1 📚 Book: It's Just a Season...Not a Sentence!: Navigating God's Plan for You and Your Family Following Divorce — https://a.co/d/0g78GD7b 📖 NEW BOOK: Against All Odds: The Less Than 1% Chance  I wasn't supposed to survive. As the surviving twin with less than a 1% chance at life, I've spent my whole existence beating odds nobody expected me to beat. In this memoir and anthology, I share my story alongside eight other unbelievable accounts of people who refused to let impossible circumstances write their ending, from cancer and addiction to childhood trauma and grief. Eleven stories. One roadmap for anyone who's ever been told "you can't."  Get your copy here: https://books.by/love-your-life Support the show Love Your Life Follow Maria on Facebook HERE Follow Maria on Instagram HERE Follow Maria on YouTube HERE

    When God Says Let Them Go: Traci Wade on Divorce, Co-Parenting, and Rebuilding Without Shame

  6. 25 Sept ·  Video

    I Was The Nicest Drug Dealer: Dene Dubois on BPD, Trauma & Finding His Voice

    Send us Fan Mail ⚠️ Content Warning: This episode includes discussion of childhood sexual abuse, suicide, and drug use. Some stories don't start with a dream. They start with survival. Dene Dubois grew up as the primary caregiver for a mother with severe bipolar disorder, with a home life shaped by addiction, instability, and the kind of public chaos a child can't hide from. That early reality didn't just steal pieces of his childhood — it built the fierce instinct Dene carries today to protect other people who feel unseen. We talk honestly about the long road from leaving school at 14 to compulsive gambling, jail, and trying to understand his own identity as a gay man. Dene shares how the search for belonging took him from Sydney's Oxford Street scene to Canada and beyond, and how trauma, hearing loss, and fractured memory can make connection feel slippery. When a discrimination case left him feeling shut out, he stopped waiting for permission to be heard and started building something better. Dene breaks down what borderline personality disorder (BPD) feels like from the inside: intense emotion, fast reactions, and the exhausting aftermath of guilt and shame. We also dig into stigma, why "accountability" can be a loaded word in mental health care, and why lived experience can be the most practical guide for families, friends, and clinicians. He shares his thoughts on emerging treatments like MDMA trials, psychedelic-assisted therapy, and TMS, plus what's helped him most. The conversation leads to BPD Raw, Dene's lived experience project inspired by The Strangers Project, where people can submit unfiltered letters — including letters of hope, despair, and even suicide — without getting attacked or told they need to be fixed. If you've ever felt "too much," misunderstood, or labeled, this one is for you. If you or someone you know is struggling: the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available 24/7 by call or text (988). You are not alone. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs it, and leave a review with the one line you wish the world understood about mental health. Connect with Dene Dubois: Website: https://bpdraw.com/ Facebook: Borderline Personality Disorder: BPD Raw Support & Discussion https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61588888665317 Instagram: @denedub https://www.instagram.com/denedub/ Books: 1st Book: The Places I Didn't Belong: A Memoir of Identity, Mental Health, and Finding Meaning Across Australia, Canada and New Zealand (The Belonging Series) https://a.co/d/05ml98Ul 2nd Book: Maybe I Did Belong: A Memoir of Learning That Every Journey Has a Reason (The Belonging Series Book 2) https://a.co/d/09Lf6tAS 📖 NEW BOOK: Against All Odds: The Less Than 1% Chance I wasn't supposed to survive. As the surviving twin with less than a 1% chance at life, I've spent my whole existence beating odds nobody expected me to beat. In this memoir and anthology, I share my story alongside eight other unbelievable accounts of people who refused to let impossible circumstances write their ending, from cancer and addiction to childhood trauma and grief. Eleven stories. One roadmap for anyone who's ever been told "you can't." Get your copy here: https://books.by/love-your-life Support the show Love Your Life Follow Maria on Facebook HERE Follow Maria on Instagram HERE Follow Maria on YouTube HERE

    I Was The Nicest Drug Dealer: Dene Dubois on BPD, Trauma & Finding His Voice

  7. 18 Sept ·  Video

    The Jaguar, The IRS, and Your Nervous System: Mindy Jackson on Healing Trauma (Part 2)

    Send us Fan Mail Your intuition might not be "broken" at all. It might be doing exactly what trauma trained it to do: scan for danger, brace for impact, and stay ready for the next hit. In Part 2, Maria Aponte and Mindy Jackson dig into what it really looks like to heal trauma from the inside out — not as a glow-up slogan, but as a return to balance, wholeness, and nervous system safety you can actually feel in your body. They talk through why trauma can amplify intuitive sensitivity, how fear can hijack that signal, and what helps you transmute stuck energy so your inner guidance shifts from threat detection to connection and clarity. Along the way, they get practical about mindfulness, somatic healing, shame, and self-love, including why letting something go can leave a "void" that people often try to fill with shopping, substances, or any quick escape. One of the most useful tools they share is DBT-style "both/and" thinking: you can be grieving and hopeful at the same time, mad and curious, tired and still moving forward — Maria brings this to life with a conversation she'd just had with her own daughter about an upcoming move, hours before this recording, and Mindy reflects it right back with the tools from her own healing journey. From there, the conversation opens into generational trauma, mental health stigma, and why talking openly now changes what our kids inherit. They explore intuitive gifts, the reclamation of the divine feminine, balancing masculine and feminine energy in relationships and creativity, and the roadblock of scarcity mindset that shows up as "I'm not enough." Mindy closes by sharing her daily rituals for healing and grounding, including reciting the Lord's Prayer in ancient Aramaic — a practice she says brings prayer into the body through vibration and transmutes dense, heavy energy. If you haven't listened to Part 1 yet, start there for her stroke recovery story, her near-death experience, and how generational trauma shaped her earliest years. If this resonates, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs a lighthouse right now, and leave a review so more people can find these healing conversations. What part of your healing are you choosing to reclaim next? Connect with Mindy Jackson: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacksonmindy Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mindy.jackson.351 Website: https://www.psychologytoday.com/profile/1298495 📖 NEW BOOK: Against All Odds: The Less Than 1% Chance  I wasn't supposed to survive. As the surviving twin with less than a 1% chance at life, I've spent my whole existence beating odds nobody expected me to beat. In this memoir and anthology, I share my story alongside eight other unbelievable accounts of people who refused to let impossible circumstances write their ending, from cancer and addiction to childhood trauma and grief. Eleven stories. One roadmap for anyone who's ever been told "you can't."  Get your copy here: https://books.by/love-your-life Support the show Love Your Life Follow Maria on Facebook HERE Follow Maria on Instagram HERE Follow Maria on YouTube HERE

    The Jaguar, The IRS, and Your Nervous System: Mindy Jackson on Healing Trauma (Part 2)

  8. 11 Sept ·  Video

    Rebuilding SightWhy Everyone Looked Like Voldemort After a Stroke: Mindy Jackson on Trauma & the Body (Part 1)

    Send us Fan Mail A stroke that changes how you see faces, a hospital stay filled with art supplies, and a decision to not accept "this is as good as it gets." Maria Aponte sits down with Mindy Jackson, LPC, Reiki master, and spiritual coach, to unpack a recovery story that blends real-world rehabilitation with energy healing, intuition, and a fierce kind of hope. After heart surgery in 2023, Mindy experiences a postoperative stroke in the occipital lobe and loses central vision — leaving her, in her own words, seeing everyone's face like Voldemort's. What follows is a deeply human look at neuroplasticity, PTSD-informed healing, and the moment you choose to fight for your life even when the odds feel brutal. From there, Mindy shares how painting became a tool for healing, including an intense four-month creative arc where she painted the 22 Major Arcana of the tarot and felt herself "live" each card's meaning, naming the finished collection "Return of the Divine Feminine." We talk symbolism, the divine feminine, and what it means to restore balance inside yourself so your relationships and community can change too. If you've ever wondered whether creativity can be medicine, this conversation gives you a grounded and surprising perspective. We also go back to the beginning: childhood sensitivity, a near-death drowning experience at age five, out-of-body memories, and the way imagination may be less "make-believe" and more a language your nervous system understands. Then we move into generational and ancestral trauma — how a closet-hiding memory with her mother shaped a lifelong freeze response, how her great-grandfather's railroad accident planted a scarcity mindset that passed down for generations, and how a single energy-healing session finally released trauma she'd carried in her body since being sexually assaulted at 16. This is part one of a longer conversation, with part two coming next week. If this resonates, follow the show so you don't miss the next chapter, share it with someone who's healing, and leave a review to help more people find these stories. What's one belief about healing you're ready to question? Connect with Mindy Jackson:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacksonmindy Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mindy.jackson.351 Website: https://www.psychologytoday.com/profile/1298495 📖 NEW BOOK: Against All Odds: The Less Than 1% Chance  I wasn't supposed to survive. As the surviving twin with less than a 1% chance at life, I've spent my whole existence beating odds nobody expected me to beat. In this memoir and anthology, I share my story alongside eight other unbelievable accounts of people who refused to let impossible circumstances write their ending, from cancer and addiction to childhood trauma and grief. Eleven stories. One roadmap for anyone who's ever been told "you can't."  Get your copy here: https://books.by/love-your-life Support the show Love Your Life Follow Maria on Facebook HERE Follow Maria on Instagram HERE Follow Maria on YouTube HERE

    Rebuilding SightWhy Everyone Looked Like Voldemort After a Stroke: Mindy Jackson on Trauma & the Body (Part 1)
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Maria highlights stories of people that have been the "less than 1% chance" and have come out of their situations thriving and seeing life as happening FOR them and not TO them! Inspiring and empowering stories that will show you that against all odds you can make it through anything!

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