Why accepting my limitations finally let me start living.

This week’s episode of Still Standing is intentionally shorter — because sometimes respecting your capacity means doing less, even when you’re capable of pushing yourself to do more.

And that’s exactly what this episode is about.

After multiple major spine surgeries, Brett spent a long time waiting to become her old self again. She struggled to accept her new normal, remained convinced she was somehow still invincible, and treated her changed capacity like something she could overcome if she simply pushed hard enough.

Going on permanent disability eventually forced her to confront a difficult truth: the person holding her to impossible expectations wasn’t everyone else.

It was her.

In this episode, Brett talks about the uncomfortable reality of accepting accommodations, needing more rest, asking her partner for help, using mobility equipment despite feeling embarrassed, and the persistent fear that having less capacity means holding everyone else back.

She also shares how disability changed the way she approaches travel — not by giving up experiences, but by learning to experience the world in a way her body can actually tolerate.

At the heart of the episode is a bigger question:

How much of your life are you postponing while waiting for a future version of yourself to arrive?

Acceptance doesn’t mean liking every limitation. It means acknowledging the reality you have and deciding what kind of life you can build within it.

Because if Brett had kept waiting until she was “better,” she would have missed something much bigger:

Actually living a happy life.

In this episode:

Different doesn’t mean lesser. Adapted doesn’t mean failed.

Still healing. Still hurting. Still learning. Still standing.

What living with mental health diagnoses actually looks like.

Brett has been talking publicly about mental health for years. She’s written about it, spoken about it on stages, discussed it in media interviews, and built an entire message around two words: Not Broken.

But “not broken” has never meant “not struggling.”

In this deeply personal episode of Still Standing, Brett goes back to where her mental health story began: symptoms starting at five years old, being diagnosed with ADHD and Tourette Syndrome at six, being labelled “troubled,” badly bullied, and growing up frustrated and embarrassed by things she couldn’t control.

She also opens up about one diagnosis that was much harder to accept: bipolar disorder. Following major postpartum depression and a diagnosis in adulthood, Brett had to confront the stigma she had spent years telling other people not to internalize.

She talks candidly about what her mental health looks like today — massive social anxiety, mood swings, irritability, anxiety spirals, needing days to recover socially, and a brain she describes as a “deep archive” with a million interconnected thoughts running at once.

But she also explores the other side: the unusual strengths her brain gives her, the tools that actually help, therapy, medication, a small support system, humour, emotional-support animals, red-capacity days — and why stereotypical advice like “just stop feeling that way” misses the point entirely.

Because a diagnosis can explain something about you without defining you.

In this episode:

Still healing. Still hurting. Still learning. Still standing.

Who are you when the career, productivity, and accomplishments you once used to measure your success are no longer there?

In Episode 7 of Still Standing, Brett gets raw about something she’s still learning to accept: after four major spine surgeries and years of trying to recover enough to return to work, permanent disability may not be the outcome she feared—it may actually be what’s best for her life.

For years, recovery meant getting back. Back to work. Back to productivity. Back to the person she was before.

But what if going back isn’t the goal anymore?

Brett opens up about the reality people don’t always see behind the happy, bubbly version of her—the down days, limited capacity, pain and fatigue—and the difficult realization that being capable of doing something occasionally is very different from being able to sustain it every day.

She explores the grief of losing the future you expected, motherhood, ambition, identity beyond a job title, and a completely different definition of success:

Maybe success isn’t getting back to who you were. Maybe it’s building a life that actually works for who you are now.

Imagine every title you use to explain your value disappeared—your career, income, accomplishments and productivity.

Then finish this sentence five times:

“I am someone who…”

Not what you do.

Who you are.

Because your capacity can change. Your circumstances can change. Your productivity can change.

Your value doesn’t have to.

Still healing. Still learning. Still becoming. Still standing.

🎙️ Still Standing with Brett Francis

What happens when the person tearing you down the most is… you?

In Episode 6 of Still Standing, Brett Francis gets personal about the relentless inner critic that says, “I’m failing. I’m lazy. I’m not getting enough done. I’m not good enough.”

After four major spine surgeries, chronic pain changed Brett’s capacity—but her expectations of herself didn’t change with it. Bad pain days, poor sleep, stress and anxiety can make that critical voice even louder, turning necessary rest into “laziness” and a difficult day into evidence of failure.

Brett explores where those beliefs come from, why words like “you’re dramatic” can follow us for years, and how therapy helped her learn something important: healing doesn’t mean negative thoughts magically disappear. Sometimes progress simply means learning to question them before believing them.

She also confronts a powerful contradiction: Why do we speak to ourselves in ways we would never speak to someone we love?

Because surviving four spine surgeries isn't failure.

Continuing to show up isn't laziness.

And struggling doesn't mean you're not enough.

The Still Standing Challenge:

Who taught me this?

Your inner critic may have a voice.

It doesn't get the final vote.

🎙️ Still Standing with Brett Francis

Loyalty is one of the most admired qualities we can have—but what happens when staying loyal to everyone else means abandoning yourself?

In this deeply personal episode of Still Standing, Brett Francis reflects on the lessons learned after four major spine surgeries, grieving the loss of an old life, and discovering that protecting your future isn't selfish—it's necessary. Through stories of chronic pain, cancelled plans, unhealthy relationships, and becoming a parent, Brett explores how true loyalty means staying faithful to yourself as well as others.

If you've ever struggled to let go of who you used to be or felt guilty for choosing your own well-being, this episode is for you.

Still Standing Challenge: Ask yourself, "If nobody expected this from me, would I still choose it?"

In this episode, Brett Francis explores the invisible reality of chronic pain—the emotional weight, hidden calculations, grief, identity, and self-criticism that often come with looking 'fine' while carrying pain every day. This episode is about redefining strength, giving yourself permission to stop performing wellness, and learning that your worth is not measured by how well you hide your pain.

This week's episode is a little different.

Instead of our usual conversation, I wanted to take a moment to share something I think we all need to hear: resilience isn't always about pushing harder. Sometimes it's about recognizing your limits, protecting your energy, and giving yourself permission to pause.

Life has been full lately, and rather than force an episode that isn't my best, I'm choosing to practice the very message this podcast is built on.

Thank you for your patience, your encouragement, and for walking this journey with me. I'll be back in two weeks with a brand-new episode.

Until then, be kind to yourself. Sometimes the strongest thing you can do is simply keep standing.

When your body, energy, confidence, and capacity change, life rarely adjusts with you. In Episode 2, Brett Francis explores the reality of living with chronic pain, disability, exhaustion, parenting responsibilities, education goals, and ambition while the world continues expecting the same version of you that existed before. Brett also introduces the Still Standing Companion App, created to help people track wins, reflect on resilience, and keep moving forward one step at a time.

In the first episode of Still Standing, Brett Francis introduces the heart of the podcast: rebuilding a life when your body, energy, confidence, and capacity have changed, but the demands have not. This episode is for anyone living with chronic pain, disability, trauma recovery, exhaustion, parenting pressure, self-criticism, complicated processes, and the quiet grief of trying to keep going when life feels heavy.

This is not a perfect recovery story. It is a real-time rebuilding story.

Still healing. Still hurting. Still learning. Still standing.

Welcome to Still Standing, a podcast for anyone tired, overwhelmed, in pain, and still trying. Hosted by Brett Francis, this show explores disability, chronic pain, trauma recovery, parenting, education, work, relationships, self-criticism, and rebuilding life when your capacity has changed but the demands have not. Still healing. Still hurting. Still learning. Still standing.