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:E33 A Fresh Start Begins with Clarity
Embracing Growth: Becoming Instead of Achieving
In this episode of the Flourishing After Adversity podcast, host Laura Mangum Broome guides listeners through a simple approach to starting fresh, emphasizing the importance of intentional and small daily actions over grand goals. She introduces the Becoming Journal One-Pager, a tool designed to foster identity-based growth rather than outcome pressure.
Key takeaways include the significance of being present, the power of small steps in building resilience, and the reminder that personal growth doesn't follow a strict timeline. Laura also offers a free guide, 'Reframe the Spiral,' with strategies to manage negative thoughts. Tune in to learn how to shift your focus from achieving to becoming, one step at a time.
00:00 Introduction: A Fresh Start Without Big Goals
00:25 Welcome to the Flourishing After Adversity Podcast
00:59 Today's Focus: Becoming, Not Achieving
01:32 Overcoming Overwhelm: Free Guide
02:00 The Quiet Pressure to Arrive
02:47 Introducing the Becoming Journal
03:02 Daily Prompts for Intentional Growth
06:02 Weekly Reflection Questions
06:32 Final Thoughts and Encouragement
06:54 Episode Recap and Resources
07:46 Closing Remarks: Choose Better
Free Becoming Journal One-Pager: https://www.icope2hope.com/becoming-journal-one-pager
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
Free Newsletter: Wednesday’s Resilient Recharge https://www.icope2hope.com/newsletter
Schedule a free 15-minute Clarity Call with Laura: https://bit.ly/15mincallLMB
Introduction
If you're craving a fresh start, but you don't have the energy for big goals or bold declarations, this episode's for you, you don't need a perfect plan. You don't need to reinvent yourself and you're not behind. Today we're going to slow things down and talk about a simple way to begin again with clarity, compassion, and one small step at a time.
Welcome to the Flourishing After Adversity Podcast
Welcome to the Flourishing After Adversity podcast. I'm your host, Laura Mangum Broome. If you've been knocked down by life, grief, illness loss, or unexpected change, you're in the right place. This podcast is for anyone who feels like they should be further along by now. For anyone who looks around and wonders, why does everyone else seem to have it figured out?
But me? Here we talk about turning setbacks into stepping stones because healing, growth and joy are just the beginning.
Today's Focus: Becoming, Not Achieving
In today's episode, we're talking about something simple but powerful. Not what you're achieving, but who you are becoming.
By the end of this episode, you'll walk away knowing why growth doesn't happen in giant leaps, but in quiet daily moments. How to shift from outcome pressure to identity based intention, and how one gentle daily reflection can help you feel grounded, aligned, and hopeful. Again.
But before we jump in, let me ask you something.
Overcoming Overwhelm: Free Guide
Are you feeling overwhelmed by your thoughts right now? Caught in self-doubt. Feeling behind, stuck or uncertain? If so, I want you to grab my free guide, reframe the Spiral, five quick coping strategies to shift negative Thoughts and reclaim your day. These are the same tools I use when my own thoughts start spiraling. You can find the link in the show notes.
Okay, let's begin.
The Quiet Pressure to Arrive
The quiet pressure to arrive somewhere along the way, many of us picked up a belief we didn't consciously choose that life is about arriving. Arriving at clarity, arriving at confidence, arriving at peace. And if we're not there yet, we must be doing something wrong. But here's what I've learned both personally and through coaching others.
Life isn't about arriving. It's about becoming, becoming happens slowly, often, quietly, usually without applause. And yet we rush ourselves. We judge seasons that were meant to shape us. We measure progress only by outcomes. We miss the growth happening underneath the surface.
Introducing the Becoming Journal
That's why I created a simple tool called the Becoming Journal. Not to track accomplishments, but to honor who you're becoming one small step at a time. You can find the link in the show notes.
Daily Prompts for Intentional Growth
The first prompt in the becoming journal one pager is this. Today I want to become someone who fill in the blank.
Notice what's missing. It doesn't ask, what do you wanna finish? What do you wanna fix? What do you wanna prove? It asks about identity. Who do you want to be today? Someone who's patient, someone who's grounded, someone who speaks kindly to herself, someone who keeps going even when it's hard. , this question shifts you out of pressure and into intention because when life feels uncertain, becoming gives you something solid to stand on.
You may not control what happens today, but you can choose how you show up inside it.
The next prompt asks, what is one small action I can take today to embody this intention? Not 10 actions, not a complete life overhaul. Just one. This matters more than we realize.
After major setbacks, our nervous system is already overloaded. Big goals can feel paralyzing. Small actions feel possible, and possibility builds momentum. A small action might look like taking a mindful walk, pausing before reacting, offering yourself patience, saying no without overexplaining. These moments don't look impressive on paper, but they quietly rewire how you relate to yourself.
This is resilience in real life.
Another prompt ask, how did I show up as this person today? This isn't about grading yourself. It's about noticing. You might realize you paused instead of snapping, you rested without guilt. You asked for help. You kept a promise to yourself. Awareness builds confidence. Not because you were perfect, but because you were present.
This next prompt invites honesty. What challenged me? Growth isn't about pretending things were easy. It's about naming what was hard without judgment. Maybe old habits showed up. Fear got loud. Grief surprised you. Fatigue took over. None of this means you failed.
It means you're human. And awareness without shame is where real growth happens.
The final daily prompt ask, what can I try to tomorrow to move closer to who I wanna become? Not what you must do. Not what you should do, but what can you try This language matters. Trying keeps the door open. Trying invites curiosity instead of pressure. Tomorrow doesn't need perfection. . It just needs willingness.
Weekly Reflection Questions
The Becoming Journal One-Pager also includes weekly reflection questions. Questions like, what patterns am I noticing? When did I feel most aligned this week? What am I proud of? These questions help you zoom out. They help you see progress you might otherwise miss. , because when you're inside the work of becoming, it can feel invisible. Weekly reflection reminds you, you are changing. Even when it's subtle.
Final Thoughts and Encouragement
I want to say this clearly, especially if you need to hear it today. You are not behind. You are becoming. Becoming, doesn't follow a timeline. It doesn't move in straight lines and it doesn't require comparison. Every season you've lived has shaped you, even the ones you wish you could skip, especially those.
Episode Recap and Resources
Let's recap what we covered today. Growth is about who you're becoming, not just what you achieve. Small intentional actions build resilience over time. Awareness not perfection is where change begins. Reflection helps you notice progress you'd otherwise overlook, and most importantly, you are not behind. You are becoming.
If this episode resonated with you, I invite you to try the Becoming Journal One-Pager as a daily or weekly practice. And if negative thoughts have been weighing you down, don't forget to download my free guide. Reframe the spiral, five quick coping strategies to shift negative thoughts and reclaim your day. The link for both resources are in the show notes.
Closing Remarks: Choose Better
That's it for today's episode. If this conversation encouraged you, please take a moment to subscribe, rate, or review the podcast. It helps more people find support when they need it most. 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!