Something Shifted with Sean Loots

Sean Loots
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There’s a moment where your life splits in two. Before, and after. Before the diagnosis. Before the loss. Before everything changed. And the life that came after, whether you were ready or not. But who are you when the life you planned no longer fits? Something Shifted is a podcast about lifequakes, identity after interruption, and the stories we tell ourselves after everything changes. Hosted by South African broadcaster Sean Loots, the podcast shares raw, deeply human stories that don’t make the highlights reel. In an almost documentary-style narrative, Something Shifted explores identity cracks, recalibration, and small but profound shifts that shape a new life. Alongside these conversations, Sean reflects on his own journey raising a child with special needs. These aren’t stories about bouncing back. They’re about growth in the middle of chaos and meeting the person you became when life changed the plan. Something Shifted brings human back and helps you feel a little less lonely along the way. Award-winning episodes that create genuine connection and remind you: you are not alone.

  1. "I will not become what I witnessed."

    23H AGO

    "I will not become what I witnessed."

    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 grew up in a world where some stories were never meant to leave the house. Violence, addiction, and instability lived quietly behind closed doors, and like many children raised in chaotic environments, she learned early how to survive by staying small, solving problems, and never becoming another burden. Years later, Nicole would build a career telling some of South Africa’s darkest stories. Listeners often ask how she can immerse herself in crime and tragedy every day and still sleep at night. For most of her life, Nicole believed the answer was simple: resilience. But the truth was more complicated. Nicole traces the hidden survival strategy that shaped her identity. From midnight moves and silent family secrets to raising a child while still in high school and forging her own path at seventeen, she learned to keep moving forward. Then, decades later, a small moment - a passing explanation on a psychology podcast - sparked a powerful lifequake. Suddenly, the resilience she had worn as a badge of honour looked very different. What followed was the slow, brave work of unpacking the boxes she had built to survive: understanding trauma, rewriting old narratives, and discovering that healing does not mean erasing the past; it means integrating it. Nicole’s story is about more than survival. It is about the stories we tell ourselves, and how sometimes those are the hardest stories to share with others. www.somethingshifted.co.za Recorded at Latitude Podcast Studio. Listen to Something Shifted: The Soundtrack on Spotify

    34 min
  2. "Harder to kill."

    FEB 24

    "Harder to kill."

    Conn Bertish, a high-performing creative director, faced a rare brain cancer diagnosis at 36. Emergency surgery revealed a medulloblastoma, usually only found in children under five. In a matter of hours, Conn’s life fractured, forcing him to confront who he was; and who he would become. In this episode of Something Shifted, Sean Loots explores how lifequakes - those seismic shifts that upend everything we know - can fracture identity and force us to rewrite the stories we tell ourselves. Conn’s story begins with subtle slurred speech and six-second headaches that escalated into emergency brain surgery and a rare brain cancer diagnosis. For him, this was the ultimate identity interruption. A before-and-after moment that challenged everything he believed about resilience, purpose, and survival. Through courage, self-reflection, and the hidden strategies that make some people harder to kill, physically, mentally, and emotionally, Conn rebuilt his life. This episode dives into the science of resilience, identity after trauma, and the powerful internal narratives we create to navigate life’s most intense disruptions. Listeners will discover: - How a lifequake can fracture identity and change the stories we tell ourselves - The hidden survival strategies that allow people to endure extreme trauma - Lessons on resilience, purpose, and transformation after life-changing events Conn’s journey is more than survival; it’s a testament to the human capacity to integrate life’s upheavals into a stronger, more purposeful self. www.somethingshifted.co.za Recorded at Latitude Podcast Studio Listen to Something Shifted: The Soundtrack on Spotify

    33 min
  3. If Chickens Can Do It

    JAN 6

    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. Listen to Something Shifted: The Soundtrack on Spotify

    21 min
  4. "Peel the f*cking onion."

    03/31/2025

    "Peel the f*cking onion."

    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 relapse. Through it all Sara-Jayne Makwala-King emphasizes that the opposite of addiction is not soberity, but rather connection. SJ is a journalist and author and has written two books about her life story. 'Killing Karoline' and 'Mad, Bad Love'. Both are available online and in all good bookstores. QUOTES: 'My biggest fear had just happened, and yet I was the one that had told him to go. I’d facilitated that. So that was the quake—the worst thing in the world that could happen to me as I exist is happening, which is that I am a single parent, and it’s all on me.' 'You feel as if it must be personal, and it isn't. If somebody's not ready to get well from addiction, there's nothing you can do. I am powerless over another person in their addiction.' INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/seanloots https://www.instagram.com/thisissjking BOOKS: Killing Karoline: https://exclusivebooks.co.za/products/9781920601959 Mad, Bad Love: https://exclusivebooks.co.za/products/9781990973567 RECORDED AT LATITUDE PODCAST STUDIO: https://www.staylatitude.co.za/latitude-podcast-studio/ Listen to Something Shifted: The Soundtrack on Spotify

    31 min
  5. I phoned The Chaeli Campaign for Podcasthon 2025

    03/24/2025 · BONUS

    I phoned The Chaeli Campaign for Podcasthon 2025

    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 athletes to their rulebook because of the advocacy work done by The Chaeli Campaign. This episode forms part of Podcasthon 2025, using podcasting for good and raising awareness for charitable causes. QUOTE: "Inclusion can't be learned; it has to be lived. That is central to all the work that we do, seeing challenges as opportunities and inviting others along for the journey." WEBSITE: https://chaelicampaign.org/ INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/seanloots https://www.instagram.com/chaelicampaign/ Listen to Something Shifted: The Soundtrack on Spotify

    26 min
  6. "Pick up your pen and write a different story."

    03/10/2025

    "Pick up your pen and write a different story."

    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. In this episode, Verity Price tells a story filled with twists and turns. From losing her dad at 24, to walking the Camino de Santiago in his honor, writing a letter to the future, and even following a man to America. Verity went on to sell 2,000 copies of an album before it was even recorded, and in 2021, she beat 35,000 people to become the World Champion of Public Speaking. QUOTES: "I was shaken to my core. We had a week with him, and it was really rough because he was paralyzed. So this very verbal father that I'd had could just look at me with his eyes, and he was totally paralyzed from the stroke." “The biggest lesson I learned from that was that your ego often has one idea of what your life should look like and your soul has another.” "I cried so much while rehearsing them and hoping they could hear how much I love them, and my speech that I won with was literally saying, "Your life is a book. If you're not enjoying the read, pick up your pen and write a different story." WEBSITE: https://verityprice.com SONG: "Forever In Me" https://open.spotify.com/track/2fWW1fHiJSkoyIcfF21hxB?si=0cb2a306e91d4104 INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/veritypricespeaks RECORDED AT LATITUDE PODCAST STUDIO: https://www.staylatitude.co.za/latitude-podcast-studio/ Listen to Something Shifted: The Soundtrack on Spotify

    29 min
  7. "Half my face had collapsed."

    02/24/2025

    "Half my face had collapsed."

    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 Majatladi had Bell's Palsy. Bells Palsy is a strange condition which doctors can only diagnose once every other possibility has been ruled out. An unexplained paralysis of facial muscles often associated with the latent effects of stress, Bell’s palsy begins suddenly and can get progressively worse. In Lesego’s case, contracting Bell’s palsy was an acknowledgement that the life he had wasn’t what he wanted for himself, and things needed to change. QUOTES: 'I stopped interacting with the world more than anything because it became an irritation. You walk into a room and people literally gasp, and then you must explain what's going on.' 'Experiencing Bell's palsy at 32 was terrifying, but it forced me to reevaluate my life and priorities.' 'The gift of Bell's palsy is an appreciation of mortality. You suddenly realize that life is not guaranteed, and if you want to do things, you better do them.' INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/seanloots RECORDED AT LATITUDE PODCAST STUDIO: https://www.staylatitude.co.za/latitude-podcast-studio/ Listen to Something Shifted: The Soundtrack on Spotify

    26 min
  8. "Whose afraid of little old me?"

    02/10/2025

    "Whose afraid of little old me?"

    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 is being able to say "I am disabled and" not "I am disabled but." While Chaeli is not always okay with being a disabled person, she lives openly, sharing her perspectives along the way. Chaeli Mycroft started the Chaeli Campaign at the age of nine to raise funds for her own motorised wheelchair. Chaeli won an International Children’s Peace Prize in 2011 and she was awarded the Social Activism medal by the Nobel Peace Laurates in 2012. Today, the Chaeli Campaign is a social justice organisation that serves more than 7000 beneficiaries every year. Chaeli is disabled, and she completed a masters in human rights law. She's been to the top of Kilimanjaro. Chaeli has completed the comrades, published a book and is an adaptive athlete. Chaeli is also the only person I know that has seen the Taylor Swift Eras Tour, live, twice. QUOTES: "It took us a long time to reach a point where I could say, like, just say the sentence, I'm not always okay with being a disabled person. Right? Because you put out this persona of like, I'm the positive, solution-finding disabled person who's trying to not be an issue to somebody." "My whole life I have very supportive people. I have a phenomenal support network. I do everything that I need to, I want to do. Never in my entire life had anyone said to me that supporting my 18,000 needs in a day is a privilege to them." WEBSITE: https://chaeli.co.za/ INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/chaelimycroft RECORDED AT LATITUDE PODCAST STUDIO: https://www.staylatitude.co.za/latitude-podcast-studio/ Listen to Something Shifted: The Soundtrack on Spotify

    29 min
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About

There’s a moment where your life splits in two. Before, and after. Before the diagnosis. Before the loss. Before everything changed. And the life that came after, whether you were ready or not. But who are you when the life you planned no longer fits? Something Shifted is a podcast about lifequakes, identity after interruption, and the stories we tell ourselves after everything changes. Hosted by South African broadcaster Sean Loots, the podcast shares raw, deeply human stories that don’t make the highlights reel. In an almost documentary-style narrative, Something Shifted explores identity cracks, recalibration, and small but profound shifts that shape a new life. Alongside these conversations, Sean reflects on his own journey raising a child with special needs. These aren’t stories about bouncing back. They’re about growth in the middle of chaos and meeting the person you became when life changed the plan. Something Shifted brings human back and helps you feel a little less lonely along the way. Award-winning episodes that create genuine connection and remind you: you are not alone.

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