Something Shifted with Sean Loots

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. Youtube · Instagram · Website · 3-2-1 Shift Newsletter

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. Youtube · Instagram · Website · 3-2-1 Shift Newsletter

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.'

GET 50% OFF YOUR FIRST UCOOK ORDER:

Use the code #SHIFT50 at check out.

👉🏼 https://ucook.co.za/

WEBSITE:

👉🏼 https://somethingshifted.co.za

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/ Youtube · Instagram · Website · 3-2-1 Shift Newsletter

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."

GET 50% OFF YOUR FIRST UCOOK ORDER:

Use the code #SHIFT50 at check out.

👉🏼 https://ucook.co.za/

WEBSITE:

👉🏼 https://somethingshifted.co.za

👉🏼 https://chaelicampaign.org/

INSTAGRAM:

👉🏼 https://www.instagram.com/seanloots

👉🏼 https://www.instagram.com/chaelicampaign/ Youtube · Instagram · Website · 3-2-1 Shift Newsletter

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."

JOIN THE 3-2-1SHIFT NEWSLETTER

and stand a chance to win this month's giveaway.

GET 50% OFF YOUR FIRST UCOOK ORDER:

Use the code #SHIFT50 at check out.

👉🏼 https://ucook.co.za/

WEBSITE:

👉🏼 https://somethingshifted.co.za

👉🏼 https://verityprice.com

SONG: "Forever In Me"

👉🏼 https://open.spotify.com/track/2fWW1fHiJSkoyIcfF21hxB?si=0cb2a306e91d4104

INSTAGRAM:

👉🏼 https://www.instagram.com/seanloots

👉🏼 https://www.instagram.com/veritypricespeaks

RECORDED AT LATITUDE PODCAST STUDIO:

👉🏼 https://www.staylatitude.co.za/latitude-podcast-studio/ Youtube · Instagram · Website · 3-2-1 Shift Newsletter