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:E15 How to Stay in the Present When Your Mind Chases What-Ifs
Four Resilience Tools to Stop a 'What-If' Spiral
In this episode of the Flourishing After Adversity podcast, host Laura Mangum Broome shares four resilience tools to stop a 'what-if' spiral that hijacks peace of mind. Laura introduces tools from her iCope2Hope Resilience Framework and iCOPE Problem Solving Method to help listeners shift from anxiety to present-focused action. The tools include: Catch and Challenge the Thought, Anchor in the Now with Sensory Actions, Use the Most-Likely Lens, and Take One Small Purposeful Step. She also offers a free guide, 'Reframe the Spiral,' with additional coping strategies for reclaiming peace.
00:00 Introduction to Flourishing After Adversity
00:58 Understanding the 'What-If' Spiral
03:06 Resilience Tool 1: Catch the Thought, Then Challenge It
04:12 Resilience Tool 2: Anchor Yourself in the Now
05:17 Resilience Tool 3: Use the Most-Likely Lens
06:14 Resilience Tool 4: Take One Small Purposeful Step
06:53 Bonus Tool: Replace 'What If' with 'Even If'
07:16 Conclusion and Recap
Free Resource: Reframe the Spiral: 5 Quick Coping Strategies to Shift Negative Thoughts and Reclaim Your Day https://www.icope2hope.com/reframe
iCope2Hope 3-Step Resilience Framework: https://bit.ly/FrameworkRoadmap
Website: iCope2Hope: From Hardship to Hope https://www.icope2hope.com
Move Beyond Adversity Blog: https://www.icope2hope.com/blog
Join Newsletter: Wednesday’s Resilient Recharge https://www.icope2hope.com/newsletter
S1:E15 How to Stay in the Present When Your Mind Chases What-Ifs
Welcome to the Flourishing After Adversity podcast. I'm your host, Laura Mangum Broome. If your thoughts have been hijacking your peace, I'm going to show you four resilience tools that can stop a "what-if" spiral before it takes over.
If you've been knocked down by grief, illness, loss, or unexpected change, you're in the right place. This is where we turn setbacks into stepping stones because healing, growth and joy are just the beginning.
And before we dive in, I want you to grab my free guide, Reframe the Spiral: 5 Quick Coping Strategies to Shift Negative Thoughts and Reclaim Your Day. These are the exact tools I use when my own thoughts start pulling me into fear about the future. You'll find the link in the show notes, or you can go to iCope2Hope.com/reframe.
Understanding the 'What-If' Spiral
Have you ever felt like your thoughts have a mind of their own, like your brain turns into a time traveler? One moment, you're in the middle of something ordinary, working on a project, making dinner, or taking a walk, and the next, your brain has pulled you into an imaginary future you never ask to visit. It's like walking a calm, friendly dog one moment, and then suddenly it sees a squirrel. The leash jerks. Your balance wobbles. Before you know it, you're halfway across the yard chasing something you never meant to follow. That's what "what-if" thinking feels like. What if I made the wrong choice? What if things never get better? What if I can't handle what's coming next?
When you've been through loss, betrayal, a health scare, or a major life shift, this mental pattern only grows stronger. That's because uncertainty is uncomfortable, and when the brain has experienced hardship, it's even more determined to predict and prepare for danger, even if that danger only exists in your imagination. The truth I learned the hard way is chasing "what-ifs" doesn't give you control. It robs you of peace. The only place you can actually find peace is here, now, in the present.
You've probably heard people say, "Just be mindful. Let it go. Breathe, and move on." Sounds good in theory, right? But if you've lived through real adversity, you know it's not that simple. You can't just "breathe" your way out of grief. You "can't think positive" when you're rebuilding your life from the ground up.
You need tools that are grounded in reality. Small enough to use in real moments of panic or overthinking. Proven to shift you from spiraling into what is actually happening now. That's what I'm sharing today. Four resilience tools based on my iCope2Hope 3-Step Resilience Framework and the iCOPE 5-Step Problem Solving Method.
Resilience Tool 1: Catch the Thought, Then Challenge It
The first tool I'm going to talk about is Catch the Thought, Then Challenge It. Here's something I had to learn through heartbreak, health crises and starting over. Just because you think something doesn't mean it's true, your brain is constantly throwing out thoughts.
Most are harmless, some are downright helpful, and some like "what-if" fears are just noise. This is where Step 1 of my iCOPE Problem Solving Method comes in: Identify the core problem. Ask yourself, what am I really afraid of right now? Is this about something that's actually happening today or something I'm imagining for tomorrow or down the road?
Let's put it into action. Write down the "what-if" thought that's stuck on repeat. Then write underneath it. What is the actual challenge I'm facing right now? Circle that second sentence. That's where your energy belongs. Not in imaginary futures, but in what's real and solvable today.
Resilience Tool 2: Anchor Yourself in the Now
The second tool. Anchor yourself in the now with one sensory action. When your mind spins, wrestling it into silence rarely works. Instead, you give it something real to hold onto, your senses. This pairs with Step 1 of my iCope2Hope Resilience Framework. Radical acceptance.
You're not accepting the whole future or the painful past. Just this moment. Try this quick sensory reset: Wiggle your right toes, then your left. Notice three things you can see right now and name them. Name one sound, you hear. Why this works? Your nervous system needs evidence that you are safe in this moment. Sensory grounding gives it that evidence. Let's put it in action. The next time you feel yourself spiraling, stop what you're doing. Take three slow breaths. Say aloud, I am here. I am safe. This is one moment.
Resilience Tool 3: Use the Most-Likely Lens
The third tool is Use the Most-Likely Lens. When your brain is in survival mode, it jumps straight to worst case scenarios. Step 3 of my iCOPE Problem Solving Method is all about exploring the best case, worst case, and most-likely possibilities. The first two are just stories. The last one, the most likely possibility, is based on facts. Let's put it in action.
Worst case scenario, write down the absolute worst thing that could happen. Don't hold back. Best case scenario, write down the best possible outcome. The ideal outcome. Most-Likely scenario, based on what you know today, what is the most realistic outcome? That third one, that's your anchor. That's the version of the future worth focusing on.
Resilience Tool 4: Take One Small Purposeful Step
The fourth and final tool, take one small purposeful step. Staying present isn't about doing nothing. Sometimes it's about taking one small action that reminds you you're not powerless. This ties into Step 2 of the iCOPE Resilience Framework. Use your strengths in new ways. Even if you feel overwhelmed, you can still take a 10 minute walk, make a single phone call, sort one stack of papers, listen to a favorite song. Small actions create momentum and momentum keeps you grounded in the present.
Bonus Tool: Replace 'What If' with 'Even If'
Here's a bonus tool: replace "what if" with "even if." What if I can't handle it? becomes, Even if it's hard, I will find support. What if I fail? becomes, Even if I fall, I can rise again. It's a subtle shift, but it puts you back in the driver's seat.
Conclusion and Recap
Why all this matters. If your mind has been living in the land of "what-ifs," I want you to know you're not broken. You're human. Every time you catch a thought and challenge it, anchor yourself with your senses, look through the most-likely lens, or take one small purposeful step, you are retraining your brain. You're building everyday resilience, and you are reclaiming your peace one moment at a time.
Let's recap what we've learned today. Catch the thought, then challenge it with facts. Anchor yourself with sensory grounding. Use the most likely lens to focus on the outcome. Take one small action to stay grounded.
As I mentioned earlier, if you want more tools to help you stop spiraling thoughts in their tracks, grab my free guide: Reframe the Spiral, 5 Quick Coping Strategies to Shift Negative Thoughts and Reclaim Your Day. The link is in the show notes, or you can go to iCope2Hope.com/reframe.
All right. That's it for today's episode. Please take a second to subscribe so you'll be notified when future episodes come out. And if this helped you, would you please leave a review. It means the world to me and it helps others to find us too. Better yet, please share this episode with three people in need of hope.
Until next time. Remember, adversity can make you bitter or better. Choose better. You've got this!