Flourishing After Adversity
If you've experienced grief, illness, loss, or life-altering setbacks—and you're ready to reclaim your joy—this podcast is for you.
Hosted by Laura Mangum Broome, Resilience Coach and author of Flourishing After Adversity, this weekly show is your go-to resource for overcoming life’s toughest challenges with hope, courage, and clarity.
Each episode dives into real-life strategies for emotional healing, building resilience, managing mindset, navigating unexpected change, and rediscovering your strength after adversity.
Whether you're facing the aftermath of divorce, struggling to move forward after loss, or starting over later in life, you’ll find practical tools and encouragement to help you grow—not just go—through what you’ve been through.
If you're searching for inspiration, resilience coaching tips, or mental health support for difficult seasons, hit play and start flourishing after adversity. You've got this!
Flourishing After Adversity
S1:E12 How to Reinvent Yourself After a Major Setback
Reinventing Yourself After a Major Setback
In this episode of the Flourishing After Adversity podcast, host Laura Mangum Broome guides midlife women through the journey of reinvention after life's significant setbacks, such as grief, illness, and unexpected changes. Laura shares her own story of overcoming multiple life-changing events and introduces her iCope2Hope 3-Step Resilience Framework. She emphasizes the importance of small, brave steps, processing over mere positivity, and offers practical tools and support for creating a meaningful next chapter in life. Listeners are also invited to download a free guide and book a clarity call for personalized support.
00:00 Introduction to Flourishing After Adversity
00:28 Today's Topic: Reinventing Yourself After a Setback
02:34 The Reality of Reinvention
05:00 The iCope2Hope 3-Step Resilience Framework
06:11 Empowering Support for Strong Women
07:52 Recap and Next Steps
Free Resource: Reframe the Spiral: 5 Quick Coping Strategies to Shift Negative Thoughts and Reclaim Your Day https://www.icope2hope.com/reframe
Website: iCope2Hope: From Hardship to Hope https://www.icope2hope.com
Move Beyond Adversity Blog: https://www.icope2hope.com/blog
Free Newsletter: Wednesday’s Resilient Recharge https://www.icope2hope.com/newsletter
S1:E12 How to Reinvent Yourself After a Major Setback
Welcome to the Flourishing After Adversity podcast. I'm your host, Laura Mangum Broome. If you've been knocked down by life with grief, illness loss, or unexpected change, you're in the right place. This podcast is for midlife women who feel stuck, overwhelmed, or invisible, and who want to rebuild confidence, reclaim joy, and create a meaningful next chapter in life.
Today's Topic: Reinventing Yourself After a Setback
Today's episode is about how to reinvent yourself after a major setback. You are going to walk away with clarity about why it's so hard to bounce back, the small but powerful steps that actually move you forward, and a proven framework to help you begin again with confidence.
But before we dive in, are you overwhelmed with negative thoughts after a setback? Then grab my free guide: Reframe the Spiral: 5 Quick Coping Strategies to Shift Negative Thoughts and Reclaim Your Day. I created these tools when I was stuck in the spiral myself.
Click the link in the show notes to download it today or go to iCope2Hope.com/reframe.
Have you ever had your life completely upended in a moment? It's like walking through your home, flipping a switch, and realizing the power's out. Not just in one room, but everywhere. Suddenly, everything you thought you could rely on is gone.
Grief illness, a divorce you didn't see coming, a diagnosis that changes everything. Or maybe the quiet goodbye that nobody prepared you for. You're left standing there blinking in the dark, wondering, how did I get here? And what do I do now? If that's where you are, I wanna say this from my heart to yours, you are not alone, and more importantly, you are not done.
Why do most people stay stuck When life falls apart, most people do one of three things: they wait for things to go back to normal. They stay busy to avoid the pain, or they look for a quick fix, something to numb the ache or distract them from the void. But none of it works because here's what I've discovered, setbacks change us.
Trying to go back to who you were before? It's like forcing a key into a lock that no longer fits. That's why reinvention doesn't mean rewinding. It means creating something new, often from the rubble.
The Reality of Reinvention
Here's the real truth about reinvention. I'll be honest. It's not glamorous. Reinvention doesn't happen in one big, magical, "aha" moment.
It's not about waking up one day and declaring, "Today I start over!" And everything suddenly falls into place. It happens slowly in ordinary, unseen moments. When you choose to get out of bed, even when grief begs you to stay under the covers. When you make one brave phone call, that nudges your life forward. When you say yes to something new, even while fear whispers, "What if you fail?"
Reinvention is a process and every small act of bravery becomes a foundation of your new life.
What does reinvention actually look like? It's not polished. It's not Instagram worthy. It's tear stain journals and silent prayers. It's awkward action steps and hopeful second chances. It looks like saying, "I don't know where I'm going, but I know I can't stay where I am." But slowly, this is what emerges: strength you forgot or didn't know you had. Clarity about what really matters. Confidence to trust yourself again. Joy that shows up unexpectedly in a sunrise, a laugh, or from your favorite cup of coffee.
Reasons why positivity alone won't heal you. Have you ever been told to just stay positive? Think positive thoughts, let it go and move on to something better. These phrases sound nice, but they're often unhelpful. Healing isn't about pretending. Healing is about processing. It's about grieving what was, and slowly choosing what comes next.
That takes time and you don't have to do it alone.
After five life-changing setbacks in five years, including bilateral breast cancer, the loss of my teenage son by suicide, losing my dad, undergoing a heart transplant and a sudden divorce after 27 years,. I didn't bounce back. I broke, and then I rebuilt Out of that pain, I created the iCope2Hope 3-Step Resilience Framework.
The iCope2Hope 3-Step Resilience Framework
It's not a pep talk, it's not a quick fix. It's a step-by-step guide to help you move forward even when you feel lost. Let me walk you through it. Step one, accept what you can't control. You don't have to approve of what happened, but you do need to stop resisting it. Peace starts with surrender. Not giving up, but letting go of what you can't change.
Step two is shift your mindset. This is where the "I CAN" mindset comes in. It's learning to say, "I CAN take one step, I CAN make a choice. I CAN keep going even if it's shaky, even if it's slow." Because belief is where momentum begins. Step three, is take one action, step at a time. You don't need a five-year plan. You just need to focus on what's in your power to move forward. One step. One decision, one phone call, and then another.
This framework helped me rediscover joy and purpose. Now I use it to help others do the same.
Empowering Support for Strong Women
If you're thinking, but I'm strong, I should be able to figure this out myself. Let me say this, strong women need support too.
As a resilience coach, I help my clients identify barriers that keep them stuck, recognize what's still possible, create a realistic action plan, and empower them to believe in themself again. This isn't therapy and it's not advice. It's like a partnership with someone who's walked through the fire and found her way through.
So what sets my coaching apart? You don't need another motivational speech from a certified life coach. You need someone who's been through real layered adversity, offers practical proven tools, builds trust through lived experience, shows you how to move not just past a pain, but towards purpose and meaning.
With the iCope2Hope 3-Step Framework and the iCOPE 5-Step Problem Solving Method, my clients walk away with a plan that feels personal, doable, and deeply empowering. It's not too late to reinvent yourself. I started over at 58. New heart. New life. New dreams. It wasn't easy, but it was worth it.
So if you're thinking, "I'm too old. I'm too far gone. I missed my chance.", let me lovingly interrupt that story. You are not too old. You are not too broken, and you are not too late. The next chapter of your life hasn't been written yet, and it can still be beautiful.
Recap and Next Steps
Let's do a quick recap of today's episode.
Reinvention isn't going back. It's about creating something new. Often with broken pieces. Most people stay stuck by waiting, numbing, or rushing. None of it works. True reinvention is a slow process made of small, brave steps. Positivity doesn't heal you. Processing does. The iCope2Hope Framework walks you from heartbreak to hope with small, clear action steps.
You don't have to do this alone. Support makes all the difference.
If this episode spoke to you and you're ready to take a next step, just a small one, I want to invite you to schedule a free 15 minute Clarity Call with me. No pressure, just a real conversation about what's possible for your next chapter.
Click the link in the show notes to book your call today, and don't forget to download your free Reframe the Spiral Guide. It is filled with five quick, simple strategies to shift your mindset and reclaim your day. Alright, that's it for this episode of Flourishing After Adversity. Please take a second to subscribe so you'll be notified when new episodes drop.
And if this podcast encouraged you today, I would greatly appreciate you leaving a quick review. That helps more people find the support they need. Better yet, please share this episode with three friends in need of hope. Remember, adversity makes you bitter or better. Choose better. You've got this!