Life's Valleys and Mountaintops

Life's Valleys and Mountaintops

By Gina JohnsonSociety & CulturePersonal Journals
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Life's Valleys and Mountaintops episodes

  • 30. Claire Yeung on Career Burnout

    Claire Yeung contracted a mysterious virus that took her out of life for over 6 months. Looking back she tells us she believes it was caused by career burnout. She quit her job as a lawyer with no plan, thankfully with the support of her partner. Today she is certified as a Whole person coach, speaker, and teacher at the Justice Institute in Canada.


    Hear the story of how she made it through the tough time and healed, turned her life around and now, is using her experience to help others as the author of, The Eighty-Year Rule.

    Show notes at: https://ginajohnson.ca/30-2/

    36 min
  • 29. David Rachford on Recovering from a Naval Fire Fighting Training Accident

    David Rachford wanted to get off the farm and joined the military. He had a dream of going to explosive ordnance disposal school. First, he had to do some time as a Naval Fire Fighter, stationed on the USS Abraham Lincoln, which was an aircraft carrier, on the Persian Golf.


    An unfortunate accident happened while training and took away his chances leaving him crippled and devastated at only 23 years old. David slipped into depression and ended up facing a narcotic addiction.
    Today he is a successful web developer, host of two podcasts and a blog. He has succeeded in healing and has come today to share the story of his difficult journey. He tells us how he overcomes his injury and addiction, weight loss of over 70 lbs, and how he created a healthy lifestyle.

    There seems to be a definite link to mental and physical health. By listening to others, my hope is that you may be able to avoid going down some of these dark allies by finding positive people to surround yourselves with and finding ways to keep your head up while you follow your own healing journey.

    Listening to Davids story is sure to help you get a good leg up on your own journey!

    Show notes at: https://ginajohnson.ca/29naval/

    36 min
  • 28. Part II - John John Genovese on Healing after a Miscarriage

    This Family Shares Their Pain And Miracles So You Never Have To Feel Alone John John Genovese shared his story of how he healed from Degenerative Disc Disease and Gastric Bypass in the last episode. After months of hard work he lost a lot of weight and was able to strengthen his back and live a healthy life.


    John John and his wife decided it was time to fulfill their dream to start a family. They went on a trip to Europe as they knew it would be a long time before they would get away alone again. Once they arrived his wife became very ill.

    Their first baby girl was conceived but before she was born, they found out she had suffered two massive strokes in utero. She lost 70% or the right half or her brain and 90% of the left half of her brain. That was devastating news and the family they had imagined would never happen the way they imagined it. They were told that she would be deaf and blind and would only live to be 5 months old.

    After she was born they miscarried twice before having a healthy and beautiful baby girl. Once she was a year old they became pregnant with another baby girl and were told she has Down Syndrome.

    Through all of the difficult challenges that they have lived through, John John shares a story full of hope and optimism with the message, "No matter what you are going through, there is someone else that is going through something similar that shares your pain. The worst thing is to be alone".

    Show notes and links: https://ginajohnson.ca/28healingaftermiscarriage/

    25 min
  • 28. John John Genovese on Degenerative Disc Disease And Gastric Bypass

    John John Genovese dreamed of living the good life of being a newlywed and starting a family. Having an early start to his working career, his life should have taken off and he should have excelled!


    However, at only 27 years young, John John was walking on crutches and canes and using a wheelchair to get to the store due to Degenerate Discs Disease.

    He was told back surgery was his only solution to be able to walk again. Since he was only a year into his marriage it left him struggling with wanting to provide for his wife and navigating months of medical decisions and healing.

    Over time, he watched his weight creep up higher and higher making the pursuit of health even more difficult. He decided to have gastric bypass surgery and with time, dedication and hard work, overcame his disc pain to enjoy his marriage and start a family.


    Show notes and links: : https://ginajohnson.ca/28bypass/

    23 min
  • Gina’s Journey And Vasospastic Angina
    This is for the listeners of A Second Chance podcast or anyone that is healing from a difficult medical condition. As your host, I am sharing my personal journey to finding out I have Vasospastic Angina. The biggest struggles were being told that nothing was wrong with me while experiencing daily chest pains.
    If you would like support please join us here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everydayisasecondchance/
    0 min
  • 27. Stacy Curtis on Healing After Divorce

    Could you imagine finding out that the charming man you married was really a sociopath that was cheating on you? Now imagine that the difficult part was only beginning and divorcing a sociopath was really the hard part.


    Our guest today has lived through all of this and she shares the true, raw story with us here. She found writing and was able to share her story while healing herself.

    Please welcome the brave and beautiful Stacy Curtis!

    Favorite Scripture:

    Romans 12:12 New International Version (NIV)

    12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

    Show notes: https://ginajohnson.ca/27divorce/

    25 min
  • 26. Lori Jean Finnila on Healing From Physical Abuse

    Healing From Physical Abuse by Creating Music

    with Lori Finnila

    Imagine having seizures as a child from abuse at a young age, then being abused by the father of your child and suffering very physical injuries. The wonderful women we interview today opens up and shares the hard truth of the abuse in her life.

    Passionately driven by an intense love for her child, she turns to other women's horrifying stories of survival that end with great strength and inspiration! She finds music and falls in love with creating it and singing, bringing herself closer to healing.

    This interview is an incredible story of healing, single parenting and the courageous decision to go back to school. She learns screen write, becomes a singer and songwriter and all while healing her brain injury and the scars of abuse that can only fade over time, becoming a memory far less than the joy that now fills its place.
    Links:
    Lori's facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Lori-Jean-aka-Finnila-1409627002672898/?fref=ts
    website http://lorijean.org/
    website, with free excerpt, from her book: https://lorifinnilawrites.wordpress.com/

    Show notes: https://ginajohnson.ca/26healing/


    37 min
  • 25: Eugene Brown from The Big House to The Chess House

    He was raised in two parent home with good morals and values yet slipped into the street culture and made some poor choices in his early years. Eugene ended up in prison and found his passion, chess.


    The "Chess Man", in prison told him he would always be a loser if he didn't accept responsibility for his own actions. He told him, "you are the king, you're responsible for every rule that is made on your side of the board, stop blaming people. Until you accept your kingship you are always going to be in and out of prison."

    These were the seeds that were planted and a paradigm shift happened. Today Eugene is the father of an inner-city chess club that helps children stay off the streets and make wise decisions.

    His story was made into a movie, Life of a King, starring Cuba Gooding Jr. Hear the story and all the details here!
    http://www.everydayisasecondchance.com/the-big-house-to-the-chess-house/

    Links

    Eugine's website http://www.bigchairchessclub.org/index.htm
    Phone: 202.396.1780
    Speaking: http://www.chessmaneugenebrown.com/

    Show notes: https://ginajohnson.ca/25chess/

    25 min
  • 24. Michele Rosenthal on Healing from PTSD

    Imagine taking medicine that your doctor prescribed and then suddenly finding yourself in the hospital suffering an adverse reaction, that burns two layers of your skin from your body.


    Then surviving to end up having sleepless nights full of nightmares, a fear of taking medication or worse a fear dying from a reaction to anything you put in your body.

    Michele had only a 30% chance of survival and after surviving she lived with PTSD for decades. She went on a healing rampage and was able to completely heal her PTSD, being symptom-free for over 10 years.

    If you are living with PTSD or supporting someone who is, it may be hard to believe this is possible. Michele dedicated years of her life learning about PTSD and now helps others overcome it. By listening to this interview, or reading this blog post, my hope is it brings you a light of hope in the darkness you may be living in now.

    Show notes and links at: https://ginajohnson.ca/24ptsd/ ‎

    49 min
  • 23. Holly Boyce on Cancer, Kids and Victorious Healing
    Holly was living the life she had dreamed of. She was living in her happy home, in a nice neighborhood with her happy family and then while preparing for Thanksgiving dinner, she discovered a lump the size of a ping-pong ball in her breast.
    She was 30 years old and had really thought she was quite invincible in a way that most young people do. The doctor confirmed she had something in there, and in a week she had a mammogram and ultrasound.
    They determined it was a mass, not a cyst, and she met with a surgeon to have it removed. They decided to biopsy it and take it out at the same time. It was Dec 23 2009 when she went in for surgery and everybody had predicted it was not cancer.
    She went in with humor and asked to wake up with a DD Breast and size 0 waist!! She didn't wake up with any of these things, but she was given a cancer diagnosis.
    Hear Holly's inspiring story here, about how she overcame cancer while raising two young children.

    How To Survive Cancer With Children

    Holly told me that attitude it the most important. She did feel she was in control of her attitude, and since children pick up on it so well, she changed the way she was looking at life.

    Take the Help!! She didn't want any help and thought she could do it on her own. She was forced into it a few times and ended up liking it. She realized that it gives the people who love you a way to have some control as well as they want to help you, so take it for their benefit and remember, you aren't meant to do it all on your own!

    Healing As A Community!! Holly said, "we can do everything better together."

    Links

    Holly's website http://www.familyfitnessgal.com/
    facebook https://www.facebook.com/hollyboyce411?_rdr=p
    twitter https://twitter.com/HollyBFit
    A Second Chance facebook page https://www.facebook.com/everydayisasecondchancepodcast
    Lewis Howes website http://lewishowes.com/
    The School of Greatness Book http://goo.gl/7LEQeX
    46 min

About Life's Valleys and Mountaintops

From the publisher's feed

Welcome to the Life's Valleys and Mountaintops podcast – where we explore powerful stories of resilience and triumph despite trauma, accidents, and illness. Our mission is to equip you with actionable…