Becoming With Precious: The Journey of Personal Growth And Reinvention

What happens when you realize the bulletproof Superman cape you wear to close global deals and finish Ironman triathlons is actually suffocating you in a private battle with addiction?For twenty-seven years, Kenny Stoddart lived a dual life. On the surface, he was a globe-trotting cybersecurity executive and an elite Ironman triathlete, projecting an image of unbreakable strength. Behind closed doors, the relentless grind of corporate burnout drove him into a severe, hidden battle with alcoholism. Realizing his identity was slipping away, Kenny made the audacious decision to strip off his Superman cape, surrender to his reality, and walk away from his lucrative career to become an addiction counselor. He founded IronMind Advisors to help other high-achievers navigate their darkest transitions, using the exact mental resilience he built racing triathlons to conquer his recovery.

Just as Kenny stepped into this profound new chapter, life threw another brutal curveball with a diagnosis of Stage 2B prostate cancer. Instead of retreating into silence, he used his diagnosis as a megaphone to shatter the stigma around men's health, proving that asking for help is not a weakness, but the ultimate display of grit. In this conversation, Kenny unpacks the raw reality of high-functioning addiction, how to reframe discipline as a reward rather than a punishment, and why giving yourself grace is the mandatory first step to stepping out of the shadows.

In this episode of Becoming With Precious, you will discover:

• Surrender is not weakness. Stripping away the illusion of perfection and asking for help is the most audacious move a high-achiever can make to reclaim their identity.

• Discipline is a reward, not a punishment. Real freedom in recovery requires the same grueling mental resilience and dedication needed to finish an Ironman race.

• Vulnerability saves lives. Hiding behind past success or ignoring warning signs out of pride is a lethal trap. Being transparent about your struggles fosters profound personal growth.

• Start with grace. When you feel completely paralyzed by shame or regret, the first step out of the dark is to stop punishing yourself and start acknowledging your inherent value.

Connect with Kenny Stoddart

Website:⁠http://www.ironmindadvisors.com/

LinkedIn:⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenstoddart/

TikTok:https://www.tiktok.com/@ironmindkenny

If this episode resonates with you; like, subscribe and share with someone. You can also leave a review and comment on the show.

Want to be a guest on Becoming With Precious?

Send a guest pitch to Precious on PodMatch

How do you build a 15-year career traveling the globe when the entire travel and networking industry is heavily fueled by the exact substance that once nearly destroyed your life?

Teresa Bergen got sucked into the relentless 24-hour party culture of New Orleans at a young age. Trapped in a cycle of constantly seeking the next drink, she watched her childhood dreams shrink into a narrow, alcohol-dependent existence. Realizing that the wild life she initially chased was completely robbing her of genuine connection and ambition, she made the audacious choice to get sober. This massive pivot did not mean shrinking her world; instead, it laid the foundation for a 15-year career as a global travel writer, proving that stepping away from addiction is the ultimate passport to true expansion.

In this episode, Teresa unpacks the intense psychological triggers of travel, from the dangerous illusion of anonymity in a new city to the relentless pressure of hotel bar networking. She shares raw, tested strategies for navigating high-stress family gatherings, setting unapologetic boundaries, and replacing the superficial ritual of drinking with gritty, life-affirming adventures like scuba diving and open-water kayaking. Teresa proves that ditching the mini-bar does not equal a boring trip, but rather an invitation to finally experience the world with absolute clarity and grit.

In this episode of Becoming With Precious, you will discover:

• The danger of geographical cures: Simply changing your location can trigger a relapse because the anonymity of a new place creates the false illusion that you are suddenly a different person with no accountability.

• Protect your peace over pleasing the room: When navigating alcohol-heavy networking events, hold a prop drink to deflect questions, but always give yourself unapologetic permission to leave early if the environment threatens your sobriety.

• Action replaces the ritual: You cannot just remove alcohol; you must replace the time spent drinking with high-engagement, physical activities like scuba diving or hiking that physically demand your presence and clarity.

• Their discomfort is not your problem: When people repeatedly pressure you to drink, they are often projecting their own deep-seated insecurities about alcohol. A firm, gracious decline is all you owe them.

If this episode resonates with you; like, subscribe and share with someone. You can also leave a review and comment on the show.

Connect with Teresa Bergen on http://teresabergen.com/

Want to be a guest on Becoming With Precious?

Send a ⁠Message⁠

What if the biggest obstacle to your organization's growth isn't a lack of resources or talent, but a deep-seated fear of losing the "way things have always been"?

In this insightful episode of Becoming, Precious welcomes Reverend Dr. Keith Haney, a seasoned leader and strategist dedicated to the difficult work of reconciliation. With over 30 years of ministry in diverse urban centers like Detroit and St. Louis, Dr. Haney shares his journey from traditional leadership to becoming a "bridge builder." He discusses the delicate art of navigating high-resistance environments, drawing from his doctoral research and his latest book, Guided by Grace, which uses fiction to illustrate the messy, human reality of organizational change.

Dr. Haney dives deep into the complexities of the racial divide in America, reframing racism not just as a social issue, but as a form of spiritual warfare designed to distract us from our true identity. He offers a masterclass in leading with both truth and grace, explaining how curiosity and shared goals can unite even the most divided communities. Whether you are leading a corporation, a church, or a family, Dr. Haney’s audacious approach provides a roadmap for turning conflict into connection and fear into a shared vision for the future.

In this episode, you will discover:

• Curiosity as a Bridge: To build a relationship with someone you disagree with, you must move past sound bites and become deeply curious about the experiences that shaped their worldview.

• Resistance is Rooted in Fear: Most pushback against change isn't a rejection of the future, but a desperate attempt to protect the comfort of the past; leaders must address the heart, not just the strategy.

• Identity First: True reconciliation begins by recognizing that our primary identity is given by God, transcending outward markers like race or nationality, which are often used as tools for division.

• Unity vs. Uniformity: Effective organizations don't need everyone to think the same; they need diverse perspectives moving toward a uniform, audacious goal.

Connect with Reverend Dr. Keith

Website: https://www.becomingbridgebuilders.org/

Podcast: Becoming Bridge Builders

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVm86Zz-qorSD4YDx-0wnvQ

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/b-keith-haney-056b699/

X: https://www.twitter.com/revheadpin

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/keith.haneyIDW

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/keithhaney6573/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bkeithhaney/

Threads: https://www.threads.net/@bkeithhaney

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Bridge Building

01:03 The Journey of a Bridge Breeder

02:34 Understanding Bridge Building in a Divided Culture

03:59 Guided by Grace: A Narrative Approach to Leadership

05:28 Facing Resistance to Change

07:10 Resilience in Leadership

08:46 Navigating Racial Reconciliation

11:04 Identity and Racism

12:11 The Wilderness Experience of Leadership

14:06 Unity vs. Uniformity in Leadership

15:19 Taking Audacious Steps for Change

17:14 Connecting with Dr. Haney

How do you find the grit to endure unimaginable heartbreak and caregiving stress, only to pivot your entire life toward a radical phototherapy breakthrough that restores hope to those abandoned by traditional medicine?

Darlene Greene spent decades leading thousands in the military, but her ultimate test of resilience came when her husband was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's. Refusing to accept the devastating side effects of conventional medicine, she launched into a relentless search for holistic solutions. That journey led her to a massive breakthrough in light therapy and cellular regeneration, which gave her husband 18 more months of clarity and completely healed her own severe autoimmune issues.

Now a passionate health consultant, Darlene has transformed her profound grief into a fierce mission to help others take charge of their vitality. She breaks down the science of copper peptides, the hidden dangers of caregiver burnout, and how true wellness means giving your body the exact tools it needs to heal itself from the inside out.

In this episode of Becoming With Precious, you will discover:

• Caregiving is a silent crisis: The physical and emotional toll of caring for a sick loved one is devastating, proving that you must prioritize your own wellness first.

• The body is wired for its own rescue: True healing often requires stepping away from pharmaceutical fixes and giving your cells the environment they need to repair themselves.

• Pain can be repurposed: Heartbreak and grief do not have to be the end of the story; they can be the exact catalyst that fuels a new, purpose-driven chapter of saving others.

• Listen to lead: Whether in the military or in health, true turnaround happens by listening to what people need and delivering on those foundational requests to build trust.

If this episode resonates with you; like, subscribe and share with someone. You can also leave a review and comment on the show.

Connect with Darlene Greene on ⁠https://iamreverseaging.com/⁠

Want to be a guest on Becoming With Precious?

Send a ⁠Message⁠

What do you do when blowing the whistle on a toxic, abusive boss costs you a twenty-five year career and strips away the only professional identity you have ever known?Blair Abee moved across the country for a massive promotion, only to discover his new boss was a psychopath running the department into the ground. Choosing integrity over safety, he made the audacious move to blow the whistle on the abuse and financial mismanagement. While the company fired the toxic leader, they also fired Blair, labeling him a troublemaker and instantly wiping out his twenty-five year career trajectory. Suddenly jobless and stripped of his corporate identity, Blair was thrust into a dark period of profound upheaval that forced him to confront the grueling reality of starting over from nothing.

Instead of letting the corporate betrayal destroy him, Blair pivoted inward, pouring his raw emotions into a journal that eventually became the blueprint for five award-winning books. In the messy aftermath of his career collapse, he experienced a profound spiritual awakening, transitioning from a fired executive into an ordinary mystic and creator of Higher Consciousness Meditation. In this episode, Blair breaks down the gritty truth about escaping the hypnotic suffering of three-dimensional life, teaching us how to rebuild our reality by deeply connecting with the untamed power of our higher selves.

In this episode of Becoming With Precious, you will discover:

• Doing the right thing can cost you everything. Integrity is rarely rewarded in a toxic corporate environment, but surviving the fallout is exactly what forces you to discover your untamed potential.

• Stop trying to tame the mind. Traditional meditation often fails because it tries to force a wild mind into submission. Real transformation happens when you focus on illumination and connecting with your higher consciousness instead of just forcing quiet.

• You are a five-dimensional being in a three-dimensional struggle. Society brainwashes us to believe life is only about suffering, competing, and scraping by. Awakening requires the audacity to reject this hypnotism and invite a spiritual dimension into your daily routine.

• Gratitude is a practical frequency hack. Beyond just a wellness trend, cultivating raw gratitude physically shifts your vibratory state, making it a gritty, strategic tool to attract the aligned opportunities you actually want.

Connect with Blair Abee

Website:⁠https://www.blairabee.com/

Facebook:⁠https://www.facebook.com/authormeditation

If this episode resonates with you; like, subscribe and share with someone. You can also leave a review and comment on the show.

Want to be a guest on Becoming With Precious?

Send a guest pitch to Precious on PodMatch

How do you go from facing the grueling physical devastation of chemotherapy in your thirties to staring down an unexpected corporate layoff, only to use those exact survival instincts to build your own thriving marketing agency from scratch?

Sheila Butlers career has never been a straight line; it is a masterclass in relentless grit and seizing the unexpected. Starting out as a classically trained singer, a random act of kindness in a doctors office thrust her into a grueling grind with Disney, driving hours every night to work for free just to get her foot in the door. She climbed the ranks to the C-suite of Fortune 100 giants like Choice Hotels and JPMorgan Chase, but when a sudden corporate restructuring gutted her role, she did not panic. Instead, she took the ultimate audacious leap, diving into the deep end of the entrepreneurial pool to launch Butler Marketing Group out of sheer survival.

But Sheilas true resilience was forged long before she became an accidental entrepreneur. As a twenty-year cancer survivor who battled through severe chemotherapy in her thirties, she carries a profound perspective: the hardest days of her life are already behind her. In this episode, Sheila breaks down the raw realities of rewriting your own narrative, sharing her brilliant three feet for three minutes networking rule, and unpacking the gritty truth about building authentic brand loyalty. She proves that when you have already faced down mortality, the roller coaster of founding a business is just another ride you are more than equipped to conquer.

In this episode of Becoming With Precious, you will discover:

• You can rewrite your story at any second: You are not bound by the narrative you or others have created for your life; you have the absolute power to change your trajectory today.

• Hardship builds unshakeable perspective: When you survive the physical and emotional toll of a life-threatening illness, the unpredictable chaos of entrepreneurship loses its power to paralyze you.

• Audacious leaps often begin as survival tactics: Becoming a founder does not always start with a grand vision; sometimes it is born from a sudden layoff and the raw refusal to stay down.

• The power of micro-connections: Committing to engaging with anyone within a three-foot radius for just three minutes can unlock life-changing conversations and unexpected opportunities.

If this episode resonates with you; like, subscribe and share with someone. You can also leave a review and comment on the show.

Connect with Sheila Butler on https://www.butlermg.com/

Want to be a guest on Becoming With Precious?

Send a guest pitch to Precious on PodMatch

What happens when a veteran weapon systems officer from NORAD applies military-grade discipline to the boundless realm of spiritual imagination?

In this episode of Becoming, Precious sits down with Terrence Rotering, a man whose life journey reads like a transition from high-stakes reality to high-concept epic. After a distinguished career in the Air Force and at the North American Aerospace Defense Command, Terrence embarked on an audacious creative mission: writing a 10-book, 5,000-page multiverse series in just two years. Known as The Chronicles of Trinian, his work merges science fiction, fantasy, and spiritual warfare into a narrative scope that rivals the masters of the genre.

Terrence reveals the "Godwinks" that guided his pen—mysterious coincidences in his research that confirmed he was on the right path—and explains his unique "Maze Method" for plotting complex stories. More than just fiction, Terrence discusses the concept of "unfencing the fiction," a process of bringing the spiritual tools used by his characters into the real-world battles of the reader. This conversation explores how discipline, faith, and the willingness to start a "creative magnum opus" at age sixty can redefine what it means to serve and inspire.

In this episode, you will discover:

• The Maze Strategy for Success: By working backward from the desired ending, you can navigate life's roadblocks with less anxiety and more clarity on the ultimate goal.

• Unfencing the Fiction: Unlike stories that leave you with a temporary high, audacious fiction should equip you with real-world spiritual tools that don't wear off when you close the book.

• The Puzzle Piece Purpose: You are a unique piece of a grander design; trying to mimic someone else's journey only leaves a hole in the masterpiece you were meant to complete.

• Iterative Becoming: Terrence’s series grew from a simple book for his children into a 5,000-page epic, proving that starting small is the only way to eventually build something massive.

Connect with Terrence RoteringWebsite: https://www.chroniclesoftrinian.com

X: https://twitter.com/terencerotering

Chapters

00:00 The Journey of Becoming: Discipline Meets Creativity

02:46 From Structure to Story: The Writing Process

05:10 Navigating Life's Maze: Lessons from Writing

08:11 Unfencing the Friction: Making Fiction Real

10:32 Equipping Readers for Real-World Battles

13:07 Godwinks and Inspiration: Signs Along the Journey

15:57 Transformative Power of Storytelling

18:26 Honoring Influences: Balancing Legacy and Originality

20:53 The Impact of the Chronicles: A Message of Hope

What happens when a high-stakes Miami trial lawyer defending the mob hits rock bottom, only to find his comeback in the ancient wisdom of a Taoist master?In this episode, we sit down with Bob Martin, a former trial lawyer who spent his early career navigating the dangerous, high-pressure world of 1970s Miami. Engulfed in the fast-paced life of criminal defense, Bob quickly found himself burnt out, physically exhausted, and watching his personal life unravel. Instead of crumbling under the pressure, an unexpected encounter with a therapist practicing the I Ching sparked a radical pivot. Bob didn't run away from his intense reality; he learned to face it head-on by studying under a Taoist master for eight years, eventually bringing the quiet power of meditation directly into the cutthroat environment of the courtroom.

Bob dismantles the fluffy myths surrounding mindfulness, explaining that true meditation is not about escaping reality or emptying your brain, but about building mental muscle. He shares deeply human stories about the difference between knowledge and wisdom, the raw reality of navigating failure, and how changing your perspective from having to do something to getting to do it can completely transform your career. From his grueling days in law to his current challenge of publishing a deeply personal novel about his father, Bob proves that resilience is a lifelong practice of showing up, failing, and remaining aggressively curious.

In this episode of Becoming With Precious, you will discover:

• Meditation is mental weightlifting: It is not about zoning out in peace, but about building the psychological grit to handle lifes inevitable chaos without breaking.

• Curiosity is the ultimate antidote to judgment: Embracing failure without beating yourself up allows you to replace self-criticism with the curiosity needed to grow.

• The power of shifting your perspective: Changing your internal dialogue from having to do a task to getting to do it can instantly cure burnout and restore purpose in your daily work.

• Wisdom is forged in the fire of experience: Knowledge is having the facts, but wisdom is knowing how to apply them, learned only through a willingness to make mistakes and remain unattached to the final score.

If this episode resonates with you; like, subscribe and share with someone. You can also leave a review and comment on the show.

Connect with Bob Martin on https://theflowmedia.com/

Want to be a guest on Becoming With Precious?

Send a guest pitch to Precious on PodMatch

How do you find the grit to strip away a twenty-three-year military identity, survive the crushing weight of addiction and divorce, and rebuild a life driven by true purpose instead of a paycheck?

After serving twenty-three years in the US Army and enduring forty-two months in combat, Lieutenant Colonel Ryan T. Reichert seemingly had it all when he transitioned into a high-paying corporate career. But beneath the impressive titles and the massive paychecks, Ryan was fighting a brutal internal war. Struggling with severe alcohol and prescription drug addiction, and navigating a painful divorce, he realized that chasing status and money had left him completely empty. He had flown too close to the sun, and the fall forced him to confront the raw reality of his brokenness.

Instead of letting rock bottom destroy him, Ryan made the audacious choice to view his breaking point as a necessary refinement. He stripped away his ego, asked for help, and developed a gritty ninety-day blueprint to completely rebuild his life from the inside out. In this conversation, Ryan breaks down his powerful FOCUS framework, the necessity of emotional intelligence for true leadership, and why shedding your most prized identity is sometimes the only way to discover who you were actually built to be.

In this episode of Becoming With Precious, you will discover:

• Protection is about perspective. The setbacks you believe will break you, like a divorce or losing a career, are often refining you for a stronger future.

• Chasing a title or a massive paycheck will never quench an internal thirst for purpose. True fulfillment requires the humility to strip away your ego and serve others.

• You do not have to spend years in recovery to see a change. By winning your physical, mental, and spiritual battles daily, you can radically accelerate your comeback.

• Emotional intelligence is a teachable survival skill. Listening more than you speak and building a supportive community are essential for navigating the hardest seasons of life.

Connect with Ryan T. Reichert

Website:https://ourprotectordevelopment.com/

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanreichert78/

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/armyrt1978/

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/ryan.t.reichert

TikTok:https://www.tiktok.com/armyrt1978

X:https://x.com/ryantreichert

If this episode resonates with you; like, subscribe and share with someone. You can also leave a review and comment on the show.

Want to be a guest on Becoming With Precious?

Send a guest pitch to Precious via PodMatch: https://www.podmatch.com/member/becomingprecious

What happens when you have a doctorate in psychology and forty years of sobriety, only to realize you are still completely sacrificing your own sanity to save someone else?

For Dr. Sarah MiChaud, the path to becoming a leading clinical psychologist did not begin in a prestigious academic hall, but in the trenches of severe drug and alcohol addiction. By the age of twenty-four, she had experienced what she calls incomprehensible demoralization, navigating the dark reality of the legal system and survival behaviors she never imagined herself doing. Her audacious pivot began when she got sober, relentlessly pursued her education, and eventually started her professional career at the exact same hospital where she had been a psychiatric patient just ten years prior.

But her hardest battle was not just overcoming chemical dependency. Years later, despite her vast professional expertise and decades of sobriety, Dr. Sarah found her life blowing apart when her husband relapsed. This catastrophic moment forced her to confront her own severe codependency, realizing that trying to fix someone else was costing her ultimate freedom. In this episode, she breaks down the gritty reality of chronic over-functioning, why women often mask their anger as anxiety, and the raw courage required to face the truth about who you really are.

In this episode of Becoming With Precious, you will discover:

• The disease of denial: Addiction is one of the only illnesses that actively convinces you that you are perfectly fine, making radical honesty the only real path to survival.

• Codependency is a childhood survival skill gone wrong: Hyper-focusing on the emotions and actions of others stems from trying to feel safe as a kid, but carrying it into adulthood leads to severe exhaustion and deep resentment.

• Start speaking your truth in low-stakes environments: If you are paralyzed by the fear of upsetting your partner, practice voicing your basic needs with strangers or friends to build the muscle of self-advocacy.

• Freedom demands uncomfortable truths: The bravest thing you can do is face the reality of what you actually need and want, even if it completely disrupts your current life and relationships.

Connect with Dr. Sarah MiChaud on http://drsarahmichaud.com/