A Story of Inspiration: Laura Broome's Transformation from Heart Transplant to Empowering Coach

SPEAKER_00: What's up, my friend, and welcome to Grit Grace and Inspiration.

I'm your host, Kevin Lowe.

Twenty years ago, I awoke from a life-saving surgery only to find that I was left completely blind.

And since that day, I've learned a lot about life, a lot about living, and a lot about myself.

And here on this podcast, I want to share those insights with you.

Because, friend, if you are still searching for your purpose, still trying to understand why, or still left searching for that next right path to take, well, consider this to be your stepping stone to get you from where you are to where you want to be.

What's up, my friend, and welcome to episode number 235.

Have you ever found yourself lying awake at night?

It's 3 a.m.

and you're thinking to yourself, man, there has got to be something more to life than this.

Well, maybe there is.

Maybe for you, that means that you need to figure out what the heck your life's purpose is.

What is the point to it all?

What are you meant to be doing?

And then figure out a way to make a business around it.

I invite you to sign up to do just that.

It's the unleash your purpose-driven business.

It's a free audio training that I have made specifically for you.

Head on over to gritgraceinspiration.com slash business.

That is gritgraceinspiration.com slash business to sign up today.

So, ladies and gentlemen, how are we today?

Hopefully you are feeling good, looking good, and all fired up for another amazing interview here on Grit Grace and Inspiration.

Today, I am in the studio with Laura Broom, a woman who is going to be a reminder to us all that it is never too late to reinvent yourself.

Sometimes we have to start over, even when we're not ready for it.

Because sometimes life throws us curveballs that we don't see coming.

But it's up to us to pivot.

It's up to us to figure out how to make the most out of it and to not give up on life.

And I feel like that is such an important message that I hope comes across through this podcast is the message to never give up on life.

Even when it may feel like life is giving up on you.

Our guest today, Laura Broom, you could say that she had many opportunities to say that life was giving up on her.

We're talking about breast cancer.

We're talking about the loss of a son.

We're talking about divorce.

All within a very short period of time.

And as I said, you could say that her world was falling apart.

But yet Laura figured out how to put it together, how to make something beautiful.

And that is what makes her story so remarkable.

My hope is that today's episode is the thing you need to hear if you are at a point in your life when you feel like it's all falling apart and you don't know what to do.

I hope that you listen.

I hope that you hear what Laura is able to do in her life to inspire you to do the same in your life.

My friend, this is Great Grace and Inspiration, episode number 235.

Turn up the volume, lean a little bit closer, as I introduce you to today's amazing guest.

Enjoy today's episode.

SPEAKER_01: It is really it's going through the fire and finding new purpose and meaning and just rediscovering joy again.

And I like to think of it kind of like a butterfly, you know, coming out of a dark, confined cocoon and just getting released from that cocoon and just flying over a beautiful field of colorful flowers.

In fact, that's that's the cover of my book is I just want that freedom of uh being just in just that dark confined space.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, I love that.

I love that so much.

So, Laura, I I want to unpack your your story for for my listeners today.

And I know there was a was a time period in your life when when so many things started happening, negative things that started started occurring, but take me back to kind of life before that.

What was life like for you?

What was going on in your life prior to to that five-year span?

What were your hopes, your dreams, ideas for the future?

What give me a give me an idea of life for you at that point?

SPEAKER_01: Prior to my five-year period of a bunch of stuff going on, I was busy running my husband's business, and we were a couple of years into the business, and uh we had two locations, and I was also homeschooling our two sons.

It was a busy time for me.

I was just kind of go, go, go doing my duty, just going through life, I guess, kind of existing in a way.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

Now, so where where were you living?

Where have you grown up at?

SPEAKER_01: Growing up, uh, it was I'm a native Houstonian, and I lived in uh Houston for most of my life.

Uh, the last 16, 17 years, I've been in San Antonio.

Growing up, I I had just a wonderful childhood, very close family.

We have a wonderful sense of humor, and life was pretty good, and got married in my right around 30, kind of 10 years after all my friends did.

Started our family at age 35.

And so I was really independent when I got married, and that probably helped when I started going through some challenges along the way during the marriage.

And there was a TV show called Happy Days.

And um, I used to just say I I had a happy days kind of life.

Everything was good and happy, and really not any challenges along the way.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I love that.

I love that.

Now you talked about the the business that that you guys had, you and your your husband.

What kind of business was that?

SPEAKER_01: A business that he wanted to get into, he he was in the uh Army National Guard.

So at the time, he decided he wanted to go into drag and alcohol testing for employers and uh family law attorneys.

And so we started that business.

I learned that from scratch.

I I did not have any background in that area, but my background is in accounting and um running an office.

So I came at it from that perspective and learned the business from scratch, and we had two locations, and I ran the office and uh trained our employees, and uh it was a busy time.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I love it.

And in and basically, um, you know, as you kind of alluded to, is this life was going really good.

SPEAKER_01: Yes, it was.

It it was busy, but it was good.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah.

So what was what was the moment when things started to change?

SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's just, you know, it's always when you least expect it when things happen.

About uh three years into the business, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

So that was not good timing.

And and I remember sitting in my oncologist's office and she's explaining the type of breast cancer I had.

And it was just, I was hearing, but I wasn't listening until she got to the point where she said, Laura, your cancer, your breast cancer is curable.

And I just perked up real quick and I said, It is.

And I was like, Great, just tell me what I need to do and I'll do it.

I'll be your best patient.

So the the best thing that came out of that was being able to receive half chemo treatments instead of the full chemo treatments over three months.

I was able to get half treatments over six months, and that allowed me to keep working in the business and start training my employees to take over some of my duties.

And so I just plugged away at that.

It was it was rough in the beginning, being nauseous, and then the nausea, the nausea medicine made me nauseous.

So but there was a sign in the chemo room that said, stay positive, things could be worse.

And and and that it was just it was so true.

It that kept me going, just seeing that sign every time I went into the chemo room.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.

During that time, I mean, what kind of support did you have to get through that friends, family, support groups?

Did you did was there anybody in particular that you really leaned on?

SPEAKER_01: My sister.

I have a twin sister, and she was living with us at the time.

We've always been close.

We, you know, call ourselves the Giggle twins.

And um and she did.

She helped me find the humor and uh losing my hair.

You know, you know you're going to lose your hair, but when it actually happens, it's like, oh my goodness, you know, and you know, I'm looking at my hair on my pillowcase, and it's like, oh my gosh, it's happening.

I really do have cancer.

We came up with a lot of fun stories about the wig, because when I had uh cancer, it was in the summertime, and you know, you being in Florida, and it Florida and South Texas are very similar weather, and it would just be so hot outside, and I would think, My goodness, I hope my wig does not catch fire because I'm just burning up.

So we had a lot of fun with you know, coming up with uh scenarios, you know, throw using my wig like a baseball cap if I got mad, you know, throwing it down on my feet and say, now listen here.

And so, you know, it you just had to find the humor in difficult situations to make it more manageable.

SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.

I I love that so much because that is so true in my own life is that you have got to find stuff to laugh at to keep from crying, you know?

It's like just start laughing and that will stop you from crying.

So it is.

SPEAKER_01: And it's really hard to do.

I mean, when when I like when I lost my hair, I I started crying because it's like it was really a rude awakening.

But then I thought about that time, I think G.I.

Jane had come out with Demi Moore, and there's a scene where she's shaving her head.

You know, I never saw the movie, but I just saw the trailer.

And I thought, you know what?

If she can do it, so can I.

And I got the clippers out and I just shaved my head.

It's like just get it over with.

And um and I cried, you know, but then I thought, it's gonna grow back, Laura.

You know, it's gonna grow back.

Just, you know, just get on with it.

And I just started to focus on what I could do.

So I got my wig, and I it took me two wigs to find one that I liked, but then we had fun joking around about that, you know.

How many wigs can I get?

What colors do I want?

And you know, it it makes it more tolerable, you know, knowing that this too shall pass.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely.

Now, at the end of the six months of treatment, was the cancer gone?

SPEAKER_01: It was.

I mean, I was so blessed.

God really was with me during that time.

And I, in fact, I I finished my last treatment on December 31st.

And so that was a wonderful way to bring in the new year.

SPEAKER_00: Yes.

SPEAKER_01: But a couple of months later, my oldest son, whom we had adopted, died by suicide.

And um, that was very difficult.

I was in the hospital getting ready to have my double mastectomy.

So that was that was really a tough time for me.

SPEAKER_00: Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow.

So, okay, we we've just entered the second massive blow in this time span.

We've we've talked about breast cancer.

Now, literally that happened while you were having that procedure done.

Is when he killed us.

SPEAKER_01: Unbeknownst to me at the time, uh, when the chemo stopped, it turned on a marker that I had for congestive heart failure.

And so I was retaining a lot of uh fluid and my breathing had gotten a little cumbersome.

And I just was in the hospital to try to get rid of some fluid before my surgery.

And when that happened, I just was kind of in shock.

And then when my husband came up, I my husband had brought me, brought my uh our son up for me to talk to him.

He he just recently was going through his behavior had changed, and um things were going on with him that we just couldn't find out.

He I knew he was hanging around some different people because his best friend had told our son, I I can't hang around with you if you can hang around these people.

But I didn't quite know that at the time, but I knew something was going on in between the the business and my breast cancer, and just I couldn't keep up with everything.

And and so my husband had taken our son home.

Fortunately, the hospital was just a few minutes from the house.

And um, then my husband came back a couple hours later to tell me that our son had died by suicide, and uh the nurses were like, Do you want to postpone the surgery?

And you know, we were ready with the sedative.

And I just was in shock, but it's like, no, I I was dreading the surgery anyway.

It's like, let's just get the surgery over with.

And our pastor from our church, he and his wife came up to visit us.

They had gone through very similar situations a couple of years prior, and it was so comforting to hear them, you know, give us uh support and encouragement.

And being a Christian, I had to trust in God's promises.

And I I knew I would see our son again.

And I I can't bring him back, but I can have the hope of seeing him again, and I can honor his memory.

He was a good kid.

Something happened the last couple of months prior to all this happening, and I I I won't really truly know, but you know, I can't do anything about that.

And I choose to focus on the good.

And he he he did a lot of good things prior to that time period, and both our boys were Eagle Scouts, and my son who died also helped um other kids move towards getting their Eagle Scouts.

And so, you know, he he was a good kid.

It just something was going on at the time.

That was a difficult time period, but uh but the the good that came from that is I became a mentor with uh foster youth who age out of the foster care system and go into adulthood living on their own.

So I I'm able to mentor them and teach them some life skills and resilience.

So that that's how I choose to honor my son's memory is to to help foster youth.

SPEAKER_00: Wow.

Well, I mean, I applaud you so much for for really using what your son went through, what happened to now be a benefit to to others in in the way that that you're able to to be a mother, to keep being a mom.

But I mean, can I just say that I mean the fact that you you were told this right before surgery.

unknown: Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: I can't imagine what it was like for you coming out of surgery.

I mean, that is just I can't even imagine.

SPEAKER_01: Well, it's just the process with the double mastectomy was involved too.

And I've just come to realize when you're facing some just difficult decisions and difficult situations, it's just best to keep moving forward.

Adversity makes you bitter or better.

And I just started coming to the conclusion, God's gonna get me through this.

So I need to try to make the best out of a bad situation.

And and God has been there.

He was with me through the breast cancer, he was with me through that difficult period, and and you really have to hunt the good stuff.

That's part of my mantra that I came up with going through this five-year period of major life events is you know, I would just tell myself, hunt the good stuff, find the humor, stay positive, and focus on your blessings.

I honestly say I had just wonderful doctors.

I the nursing team and the medical team took care of me.

Other than the big stuff, I really can't complain.

You know, I was like, I'm not a sickly person.

I just go big or go home.

But I I have a lot of inspiring stories of of other people who have gone through hardship that I would focus on and and I would tell myself, if they can go through that, I can get through this.

And, you know, I can't imagine going through anything without my faith, for sure, you know, and and the good Lord has really blessed me through all this hardship.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love it so much.

Well, well, while we're we're on this this train ride of these five years, you mentioned that they had found out that you had congestive heart failure.

Talk to me about what that led to.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

So after after my breast cancer journey, I was struggling with trying to breathe.

And uh my heart, I thought it was the chemo had, you know, because you hear all these horror stories what chemo can do to your body.

And I just figured the chemo had given me congestive heart failure.

But my sister also had it.

And so fortunately, I was able to get into her cardiologist, you know, to see him.

And so he came to the conclusion that we needed to go see a heart specialist because he thought it might be the fact that we're twins and we both had congestive heart failure.

He thought it might be genetic, which it was.

And so it took a while to get the diagnosis, but in January of 2020, I was told by the the heart clinic that I was going to need a heart transplant.

And that kind of caught me off guard.

And it's like, wow, I really go big or go home.

And so I thought at this point, it's like anything would be better than what I was going through because I honestly I didn't realize at the time my heart was giving out.

And uh it was getting so hard to breathe.

And the fluid would build up around my heart, which was causing the breathing problems.

So I was at the point where it's like it was a bittersweet to hear.

And it's like I'm not looking for, I don't I know I don't know anybody who's ever had a heart transplant, but I know I can't continue trying to, it was even so difficult to try to take a deep breath.

I mean, things that we take, like to yawn, you know, you do that and you don't even think about it.

But for me, I would have to concentrate on just relaxing all of my muscles, closing my eyes, and just concentrate on taking a deep breath.

And if I didn't get it the first try, I would have to just tell myself, don't panic, just try again.

And it's it's really difficult being a shallow breather and trying to take a deep breath.

Um, you know, and and so so yes, so in January I had a heart transplant.

I mean, in January I was diagnosed with heart transplant, and they moved me up the list pretty quickly.

And so April, I went into the hospital at the end of April.

And a week later, I received my new heart.

And this was when COVID had shut everything down.

So, you know, I was prepared not to find a heart that quickly.

But it was so the doctor ran into my room and he said, I think we found a heart.

I'm off to the airport to go make sure everything is good.

And if so, then you're going to get a new heart tonight.

And I was just shocked, but I was so happy because there were there was another patient waiting to receive a heart that was already in the hospital.

And after about four weeks, they they sent him home.

And this was like his second attempt at trying to find a good match.

So again, the Lord just blessed me with a wonderful medical team and a strong new heart.

And I was in the hospital for just two weeks after the surgery.

And everybody was just amazed at my progress.

And I didn't even have to take any pain meds.

Can you believe that?

I mean, after a major heart transplant, I didn't feel any pain.

And I do not have a high tolerance for pain.

I'm a weenie when it comes to pain.

And I just felt like the Lord was just really, really, really looking out for me.

And so I went home Mother's Day weekend, had a wonderful time.

I was so excited to be with my family and with the new heart.

And the doctors told me I was going to have to quarantine at home for a year to make sure I did not have any infections with my new heart.

And a month later, I found out that I was going through a divorce.

My husband had been in another relationship for over a year.

And uh so we had been married 27 years.

And that was harder than my heart transplant, taking that.

I mean, I was devastated.

I felt betrayed.

I felt abandoned.

That was probably the lowest I had ever been.

I I mean, COVID shut everything down.

I was to be quarantined for a year with my heart.

And now I'm looking at a divorce.

And it's like, who's gonna take care of me?

You know, they told me I needed 24-hour care for the first couple of months.

And uh so I moved in with my twin sister, and she was working remotely during COVID.

And surprisingly, once again, the good Lord was really looking after me because I was not as convalescent as I thought I was going to be, which was a good thing because it's like, what am I gonna do with my life?

I'm 58 years old.

I'm I'm not gonna be another statistic of a middle-aged divorcee, you know.

I thought I I still I feel like I'm I'm younger and I feel like I've got a lot left.

I've got a new strong heart.

What am I gonna do with my life?

And and so it was uh, it was a really rude awakening of what are you gonna do now, Laura?

How are you going to move forward?

And I was when I realized, you know, radical acceptance is when you have to accept things out of your control.

And you don't have to like it, you don't have to, you know, you don't, you don't have to agree with it, but you have to accept it.

You have to acknowledge it.

It is what it is and move on.

And once I went through the grief stages and I got to the anger stage, I got really angry.

And I really got angry with myself because I realized God gave me a new heart, a new strong heart is the words the doctors used.

Why am I, you know, why am I feeling sorry for myself and being bitter over a choice my husband made?

What am I gonna do to move forward with my life now?

And that's when I came to the acceptance stage.

And I'm like, I'm I'm gonna do something with my life.

I've got a lot of years to live, and I'm gonna do what I put off doing all these years.

And so that's when I started looking at what do I have to offer?

What are my, what's my experience?

What are my strengths?

Um, what are my passions?

Because I have what I guess at the time it was like uh eight months that I still had to quarantine at home.

So it's like, okay, I know how to run a business.

I've got experience being an entrepreneur.

I will start an online business.

Well, what am I gonna do?

And I realized, well, everybody tells me, gosh, you're so you're so resilient.

You have such a good attitude when you go through difficult things.

So I thought, that's what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna teach other people how to do this.

So all that happened three years ago.

And and so I established my three-step resilience framework.

And this framework, it can be applied to any type of circumstance, didn't have to be major life events like I went through, but it can be just uh simple things.

It's it's a what I find is it's a wonderful way to learn how to make decisions and to accept change and to practice gratitude and think outside the box to find opportunities.

And there's no reason that, in my opinion, that anybody needs to feel stuck or feeling like their life is out of control or that they have no options.

We always have choices.

It's it's how we choose to look at things and developing a growth mindset is a wonderful way to start.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah.

Okay, you have unpacked a lot.

And I have to just go back and just recognize again how incredible you are.

Because I mean, you I mean, you have have unpacked so much on us of just one domino falling after another, all the way up until then you get out of surgery, you you've got this new heart, you've got a new chance at life, and then all of a sudden another domino drops by your husband leaving.

You said at that point you were 58 years old.

SPEAKER_01: Yes.

SPEAKER_00: So you're 58 years old, and you're faced all of a sudden with a kind of a reinvention, a choice of what do I do now?

The fact that you continued to press forward, the fact that you continued to to see the positives, continued to see the blessings that God was giving you, instead of just looking and falling into just deep dark depression and anguish over all the negative, you focus on the positive.

And then you figure out, okay, if what worked for me, maybe it worked can work for other people.

First and foremost, you are amazing.

SPEAKER_01: So are you with your story?

Like I said, you know, when adversity hits, you have to decide if you're going to if it's going to make you bitter or better.

And and I I've I felt like I was still too, even though I'm 58, I'm still just too young to to give up hope.

And and I, you know, we we have another son.

Our sons were three months apart.

And I was like, I've got I've got to live for him too, and and my family.

And I mean, life goes on, and that's that's a hard thing to accept when you go through adversity, especially when you lose somebody, but you you gotta make the the best and the most of the life we have here on earth.

And like I said, I I I'm thankful for my faith because I couldn't have gone through all this without knowing that that God He sees everything and He knows everything, and He has a purpose for me because otherwise I would have died on that table.

And uh so it's like I have to, I have to, I have to live my purpose.

SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.

I oh my gosh.

You are amazing.

You're amazing.

Now you you said that you moved, you moved in with your with with your twin sister.

Yes.

So so the twins are back together at this point in the story.

SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, the twins are back.

We we went full circle.

We went from being married to living our own lives to having kids to getting divorces and moving back in together.

SPEAKER_00: You know what, you know what that says to me is it goes back to something in my own life is family.

SPEAKER_01: Yes.

SPEAKER_00: Family is everything.

Yes.

And and what I love about you, what I love about your story is it mirrors mine of the two pillars of faith and family.

Yes.

Yes.

So you were walking us through everything you're going through.

You've you've started this kind of coaching, you've started a coaching business.

At some point, you decide to write a book.

I don't even understand.

Like this woman is like, you know what, let's just keep charging forward.

So talk to me more about the book, your your framework for just everything you do.

I'm just, I'm still just kind of blown away.

I kind of glossed over a lot that you said earlier because I was still stuck on the part of like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, can we like just back up?

And like, what about the dude who left her after heart surgery?

Like, can somebody just put a pause and like like represent it?

Like, what the heck just happened?

You know?

SPEAKER_01: It's a lot of shock and uh uh, right?

I mean, uh I left because it's like, you know, tell me your story, and it's like, well, you want the brief version or the it's uh yeah, it's it's a it's a lot to unpack.

But um, but yeah, the well, the reason why I I wasn't planning on writing a book, honestly, but there was so much that I wanted when I was going through my stuff three years ago, it was really tough because COVID had shut so many resources down.

And and so I had to find a way to keep moving forward.

So I I thought, you know, I bet there's other people out there, like you just wish you had a manual.

You know, how do how do I get through, how do I get through this?

Because like I said, I oh I love stories of other people who have been through hardship and how did they get there?

And, you know, and and so I thought that's what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna write kind of a manual, so to speak.

So my my book, like you said, is called Flourishing After Adversity.

And it's a it's a three-step manual, a three-step action plan, actually, on how to transform pain into purpose so you can rediscover joy.

And and and it's exactly kind of what I went through.

And so the first step is conquering the fear of change.

And I think that's the hardest thing is that developing a growth mindset and uh radically accepting your circumstances and just making a commitment that to focus on what you can do.

And I think that's so important because when we go through difficult times, we tend to focus on what we can't do.

You know, we look at the roadblocks and we start to feel helpless and hopeless.

And if you can accept the things that are out of your control and focus on what's in your control to move forward, it starts to give you a little more empowerment.

And one of the phrases I love to say, and and I said this during my recovering from the divorce, is I can't do that, but I can do this.

And I'd look for something to do.

And it maybe it was a phone call or it was research or just sometimes it was just I made myself get out of bed every morning and make my bed.

And uh so I wouldn't stay in bed all day.

And you start focusing on baby steps of what you can do to keep moving forward.

And then the second step of my framework is discovering your superpowers to overcome challenges.

And this is such a powerful tool because you kind of take stock of what are your personal assets, what are your skills, your talents, your character strengths, and then like available resources.

Who are people that support you, or who are people that can maybe know somebody or you can network or ask questions about maybe they're doing something you'd like to get into and just use your support network, use the internet for research.

My son laughs at me now because I used to ask him questions, you know, starting a business and learn.

And I I know some technology, but you know, some of this computer stuff, I I'll ask him.

He's my IT guy.

And um, now I find stuff on YouTube and he laughs at me because, wow, mom, you know how to do a set up a QR code.

I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm kind of hip.

I'm you know, I'm learning.

I said, Thank goodness for YouTube.

But uh, you know, it's it's utilizing your resources that are available to you, even resources in the community, you know, and your superpowers can really help you to move forward in in situations.

And it was very helpful for me.

And so when you when you take stock of what all is available to you, you start kind of realizing, you know, I I can do this, I'm gonna get through this.

And then the the third step is uncovering opportunities.

So when you can think outside the box and use your your superpowers and your resources in different ways and new ways, and and just just look at all the possibilities, you realize you have a lot of choices.

You might not like some of them, you know.

In my case, uh, I was very limited options, and I didn't really like a lot of them, but I had to choose something to keep moving forward.

Because one thing we can count on in life is, you know, not only death and taxes, but we can count on change.

Change is inevitable.

And if you it's like the weather, if you don't like it, wait a little bit, it'll change.

Well, so can our circumstances.

So we might have to make a decision we don't really like, but something better will come along, but at least we're moving forward.

And that's scary because getting out of our comfort zone, you know, that's why it's called a comfort zone.

It's comfortable.

But stepping out of your comfort zone, just managing a little bit of risk can really open up doors and opportunities, and it's just like an endless world of possibilities.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah.

Oh my goodness.

I love this so much.

Where is your book available at?

SPEAKER_01: It's going to be available in November.

And the best place to keep up with what is going to be going on around my book, because I've got some special packages and special opportunities to get the book for free, is to go to my website and it's icope to hope.com and it's I C O P E, the number two, H O P E dot com.

SPEAKER_00: Okay.

Okay.

I will be sure that that website is inside of today's show notes for easy access for anybody interested.

I think your book, it's an incredible, as you said, not just a book, but a resource.

SPEAKER_01: Yes.

SPEAKER_00: And that is just incredible.

SPEAKER_01: I did not want to write a memoir because there's so many memoirs out there.

And I'm I'm kind of like, that's kind of boring, even though I've got a shock and awe story.

But I I wanted um so my book is designed, I designed the chapters to where I talk about some of the uh some of my hardships, the ones we've talked about here and some other ones, surprisingly, not as shock and awe, but some other situations that I've been through.

And uh just a little bit about that situation, and then I I talk about the concepts that I put into place that I didn't know at the time, but resilience concepts, and then I finish with the rest of my story.

And then at the end of each chapter is a list of is like an exercise.

It's just some self-reflecting questions so that the reader can implement the concepts in that chapter in their life right away.

Or, you know, if you're not going through anything, then it's kind of like a reference manual.

And and it's something that I'm I'm so passionate about.

It's like I I really want parents, grandparents to learn the framework and and teach their children and you know, the next generation so we can just keep it going.

You know, there there's always hope and there's always you always have choices.

And I just don't want anybody to feel that they're helpless or hopeless.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love it so much.

My last question for you today is for the for the person listening, the woman listening, who is is maybe you in that five-year period.

And right now she's struggling.

And right now with with what she's facing, she she can't help but not have hope.

What do you say to her?

SPEAKER_01: I would say as long as you're breathing and living on this earth, you have a purpose, and you're put on this earth to help others and to be a light to others.

And whatever circumstances you're going through, you can find a way to transform that pain into purpose.

And because somebody needs to hear your story.

And just like I I've heard people's stories that inspired me and kept me going through tough times.

If you're listening to this, there is hope and there is purpose, and you can get through the fire and you can learn to find the joy again.

And and practicing gratitude is just a wonderful way to get the joy back in your life because things could be worse.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I love that.

And I I feel as though gratitude, it summarizes everything you're about.

Because as we've listened to you today, Laura, I mean, you have been through so much, and yet every time you come back to gratitude.

SPEAKER_01: Yes, it it is.

I mean, to me, gratitude puts everything in perspective, you know, with your story.

You know, I mean, you just exude happiness, joy, and gratitude.

And and faith in family is important to you as well.

And you know, family doesn't have to be blood.

It can be whoever you feel close to and who you connect with.

And and it's we're we're made for connection.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely.

Laura, thank you so much for being here.

It is just an absolute joy to me to have you on my podcast to share your story with my audience.

And uh, I want to just thank you so much for being so open and honest and real and sharing the good times and the bad and the mindset.

Just thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you for allowing me to share my story of hope.

And and I just want your audience to know if I can get through this, they can too.

I'm just an ordinary person who's been through extraordinary things, but just don't ever give up hope.

Just keep pushing through.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so powerful, so powerful.

Thank you.

And for you listening today, again, I just echo exactly what Lori just said is to use her story as literally the fuel you need to inspire you to overcome your own obstacles.

Because we're all going through stuff in this life.

That is for certain.

Your challenges are no less or greater than anyone else's.

So don't ever listen to anything on this podcast and think to yourself, wow, well, they can do it, but I can't.

That's where you're wrong.

Because I'm telling you, you are capable, able, and deserving of having everything that you can imagine in this life.

Sometimes you just gotta fight for it.

You gotta have gratitude.

You gotta get your priorities in check, and you gotta know what you're chasing after.

My name is Kevin Lowe.

This is Grit Grace and Inspiration, helping you to take on the day every day, no matter what challenges or obstacles stand in the way.

I'll see you next week.