She never noticed the weight coming on. 

Not really - her clothes grew with her, her confidence never dipped, and by her own account she wore it well. Then a routine pre-surgery exam found something she hadn't seen coming either. 

She talks with Lloyd about the difference between confidence and awareness, the day everything she'd been avoiding finally had a name, and the ordinary chair in an ice cream parlor that told her more about how far she'd come than any scale ever did.

After listening: read the companion reflection inspired by this episode at, theebigswing.com/reflections or hear the companion song 'I Made Up My Mind' at theebigswing.com/sessions

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THEE BIG SWING with Lloyd Hassell

There's a version of you that existed before something shifted - before a conversation, a decision, a thing you almost didn't say. You don't always recognize the moment it happened. You just notice, later, that you're not who you were.

This is a reflective podcast about those moments: the emotional reckonings and subtle internal recalibrations that change our trajectory over time - and the possibilities still available in life.

Each episode explores what happens when curiosity, courage, accountability, or reflection opens a new way of seeing ourselves and the world.

Through personal reflections and conversations, Lloyd explores changing identities, relationships, self-trust, and the quiet decisions that alter how we see ourselves over time.

This is for people who are quietly realizing they are not the same person anymore - and that there are still choices left.

The biggest swing isn't always dramatic.

Often, it's the shift inside that changes everything.

If something here stayed with you, you can reach me at [email protected]

For much of my life, I chased security, money, responsibility, and what I thought I was supposed to want.

But while I was out walking, a thought came to me that I could not shake:

What if I have been chasing the wrong things?

At sixty-two, time feels different. The future no longer feels endless, and the possibility of reaching the end of my life with important parts of myself still unexplored has become harder to ignore.

In this episode, I confront the fear of wasted time, the dreams I kept postponing, and the life I built around safety rather than aliveness.

I do not want my unfinished desires waiting for me at the end, asking why I never gave them a chance.

So I am asking myself a different question now:

What would it take to make the rest of my life interesting, engaging, and truly my own?

This is a reflection on regret, responsibility, courage, and the decision to stop playing safe while there is still time to live differently.

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THEE BIG SWING with Lloyd Hassell

There's a version of you that existed before something shifted - before a conversation, a decision, a thing you almost didn't say. You don't always recognize the moment it happened. You just notice, later, that you're not who you were.

This is a reflective podcast about those moments: the emotional reckonings and subtle internal recalibrations that change our trajectory over time - and the possibilities still available in life.

Each episode explores what happens when curiosity, courage, accountability, or reflection opens a new way of seeing ourselves and the world.

Through personal reflections and conversations, Lloyd explores changing identities, relationships, self-trust, and the quiet decisions that alter how we see ourselves over time.

This is for people who are quietly realizing they are not the same person anymore - and that there are still choices left.

The biggest swing isn't always dramatic.

Often, it's the shift inside that changes everything.

If something here stayed with you, you can reach me at [email protected]

Today started as the first time I sat down to record and did not know exactly what I wanted to say.

But maybe that was the point.

In this episode of THEE BIG SWING, I reflect on two very different encounters: one conversation that felt more like being questioned than being known, and another with an 80-year-old woman who slowly let her guard down and reminded me how rich human connection can be.

Everybody starts as a stranger. The question is whether we are willing to move past the surface long enough to discover who is really in front of us.

This episode is about guardedness, vulnerability, time, aging, curiosity, and the quiet beauty of letting people in.

Note: This episode is part of a new creative direction for THEE BIG SWING, where select episodes are paired with an original companion song The Strangers We Let In, performed by Tadeo Vilar from THEE BIG SWING STUDIOS.

After listening: read the companion reflection at, theebigswing.com/reflections and hear the original song inspired by this episode at, theebigswing.com/sessions

The episode tells the story. The song carries the feeling.

Send us Fan Mail

[Send us Fan Mail](https://www.buzzsprout.com/2569456/fan_mail/new)

THEE BIG SWING with Lloyd Hassell

There's a version of you that existed before something shifted - before a conversation, a decision, a thing you almost didn't say. You don't always recognize the moment it happened. You just notice, later, that you're not who you were.

This is a reflective podcast about those moments: the emotional reckonings and subtle internal recalibrations that change our trajectory over time - and the possibilities still available in life.

Each episode explores what happens when curiosity, courage, accountability, or reflection opens a new way of seeing ourselves and the world.

Through personal reflections and conversations, Lloyd explores changing identities, relationships, self-trust, and the quiet decisions that alter how we see ourselves over time.

This is for people who are quietly realizing they are not the same person anymore - and that there are still choices left.

The biggest swing isn't always dramatic.

Often, it's the shift inside that changes everything.

If something here stayed with you, you can reach me at [email protected]

Have you ever known exactly how you felt about someone — but when the moment came to say it out loud, the words disappeared?

In this episode of THEE BIG SWING, I sit down with a listener for a deeply honest conversation about love, timing, regret, and the emotional cost of silence.

She reflects on a moment when someone she cared about expressed how they felt — and although she felt the same way, she could not say it back. Not because the feelings weren’t there, but because fear, outside advice, past hurt, and the desire not to look foolish got in the way.

What follows is a conversation about the space between what we feel and what we are able to express. It is also a reflection on how other people’s opinions can shape our choices, especially when we are inexperienced, wounded, or afraid to repeat old mistakes.

But this is not only a story about regret. It is also a story about care, friendship, emotional maturity, and the strange ways people can remain important in our lives even after romance changes form.

Inside this conversation:

• Why saying what we feel can be harder than feeling it
• How fear of looking foolish can silence honest emotion
• The danger of letting outside voices make intimate decisions for us
• Why timing matters in love
• How some relationships survive by becoming something different
• What it means to look back and finally say the words that were once withheld

Sometimes the biggest swing is not chasing love.

Sometimes it is having the courage to say what was true when the moment was still in front of you.

After you listen:
A written reflection for this episode is available at theebigswing.com/reflections.
You can also listen to the companion song from Thee Big Swing Sessions, created from the emotional center of this episode.

Listen here: The Words I Couldn't Say, performed by Ophelia Ellis.

The episode tells the story. The song carries the feeling.

Send us Fan Mail

[Send us Fan Mail](https://www.buzzsprout.com/2569456/fan_mail/new)

THEE BIG SWING with Lloyd Hassell

There's a version of you that existed before something shifted - before a conversation, a decision, a thing you almost didn't say. You don't always recognize the moment it happened. You just notice, later, that you're not who you were.

This is a reflective podcast about those moments: the emotional reckonings and subtle internal recalibrations that change our trajectory over time - and the possibilities still available in life.

Each episode explores what happens when curiosity, courage, accountability, or reflection opens a new way of seeing ourselves and the world.

Through personal reflections and conversations, Lloyd explores changing identities, relationships, self-trust, and the quiet decisions that alter how we see ourselves over time.

This is for people who are quietly realizing they are not the same person anymore - and that there are still choices left.

The biggest swing isn't always dramatic.

Often, it's the shift inside that changes everything.

If something here stayed with you, you can reach me at [email protected]

One of the strangest feelings in life is realizing someone has mistaken you for smaller than you are.

In this episode of THEE BIG SWING, I share a recent experience that caught me completely off guard. What started as a friendly conversation over lunch turned into a moment where I felt questioned, underestimated, and profiled. My first instinct was to defend myself by listing my accomplishments, credentials, and success.

But afterward, I realized the conversation wasn't really about the other person.

It was about me.

Why did I feel the need to prove my worth to someone I had just met? Why did their opinion carry so much weight? And why, after doing so much work on myself, did I slip back into old patterns of defensiveness?

This episode isn't about winning an argument. It's about recognizing the subtle ways our ego can pull us away from the peace we've worked so hard to build. I reflect on profiling, identity, self-worth, and the challenge of staying grounded when someone doesn't see us for who we are.

Sometimes the greatest victory isn't convincing someone else of your value. It's knowing your value well enough that you don't have to.

Because sometimes the biggest swing isn't changing someone else's perception of you. It's resisting the urge to abandon yourself while trying to do it.

After you listen:

You can also hear the original companion song, “I Thought I Had Outgrown That,” from Thee Big Swing Sessions, performed by Marcus Reede. It is available on YouTube, Apple Music, Spotify, and most major streaming platforms.

Send us Fan Mail

[Send us Fan Mail](https://www.buzzsprout.com/2569456/fan_mail/new)

THEE BIG SWING with Lloyd Hassell

There's a version of you that existed before something shifted - before a conversation, a decision, a thing you almost didn't say. You don't always recognize the moment it happened. You just notice, later, that you're not who you were.

This is a reflective podcast about those moments: the emotional reckonings and subtle internal recalibrations that change our trajectory over time - and the possibilities still available in life.

Each episode explores what happens when curiosity, courage, accountability, or reflection opens a new way of seeing ourselves and the world.

Through personal reflections and conversations, Lloyd explores changing identities, relationships, self-trust, and the quiet decisions that alter how we see ourselves over time.

This is for people who are quietly realizing they are not the same person anymore - and that there are still choices left.

The biggest swing isn't always dramatic.

Often, it's the shift inside that changes everything.

If something here stayed with you, you can reach me at [email protected]

We often say love should be unconditional. But over time, she started to understand that love without boundaries, honesty, or self-respect can become something else entirely.

Some moments stay with you because they reveal something bigger underneath them.

A mother finds herself wrestling with something many people quietly feel — the lack of courtesy, gratitude, and emotional awareness that can exist even within families.

What begins as a conversation about a difficult weekend gradually turns into something deeper: expectations between people, feeling unappreciated after extending yourself, boundaries with family, and the complicated truth behind the phrase unconditional love.

One of the most honest moments comes when she admits that what she wanted was not perfection — but some sign that the care, effort, and sacrifice were seen.

A deeply honest conversation about family dynamics, emotional reciprocity, parenthood, and recalibrating how we show up for the people we love most.

A written reflection for this episode is available at theebigswing.com/reflections.

This episode is also connected to Thee Big Swing Sessions, where select conversations are extended through original companion songs inspired by the emotional center of the episode.

The episode tells the story.
The reflection goes deeper.
The song carries the feeling.

Send us Fan Mail

[Send us Fan Mail](https://www.buzzsprout.com/2569456/fan_mail/new)

THEE BIG SWING with Lloyd Hassell

There's a version of you that existed before something shifted - before a conversation, a decision, a thing you almost didn't say. You don't always recognize the moment it happened. You just notice, later, that you're not who you were.

This is a reflective podcast about those moments: the emotional reckonings and subtle internal recalibrations that change our trajectory over time - and the possibilities still available in life.

Each episode explores what happens when curiosity, courage, accountability, or reflection opens a new way of seeing ourselves and the world.

Through personal reflections and conversations, Lloyd explores changing identities, relationships, self-trust, and the quiet decisions that alter how we see ourselves over time.

This is for people who are quietly realizing they are not the same person anymore - and that there are still choices left.

The biggest swing isn't always dramatic.

Often, it's the shift inside that changes everything.

If something here stayed with you, you can reach me at [email protected]

Two years ago, my son was sleeping in his car in Los Angeles — working 80 hours a week, barely showering, and just trying to survive.

Today, he is in a different place.

Not perfect. Not finished. But clearer.

In this episode of THEE BIG SWING, we sit down as father and son and talk honestly about what changed — and what did not.

This is not really about trading.

It is about discipline, frustration, identity, accountability, and the moment you are forced to look at yourself and decide who you are going to become.

We talk about survival, hard choices, emotional pressure, and the quiet work of rebuilding your life from a place that once felt impossible.

Because sometimes the shift does not happen all at once.

It happens quietly.

And then everything feels different.

For more episodes and reflections from THEE BIG SWING, visit theebigswing.com.

Send us Fan Mail

[Send us Fan Mail](https://www.buzzsprout.com/2569456/fan_mail/new)

THEE BIG SWING with Lloyd Hassell

There's a version of you that existed before something shifted - before a conversation, a decision, a thing you almost didn't say. You don't always recognize the moment it happened. You just notice, later, that you're not who you were.

This is a reflective podcast about those moments: the emotional reckonings and subtle internal recalibrations that change our trajectory over time - and the possibilities still available in life.

Each episode explores what happens when curiosity, courage, accountability, or reflection opens a new way of seeing ourselves and the world.

Through personal reflections and conversations, Lloyd explores changing identities, relationships, self-trust, and the quiet decisions that alter how we see ourselves over time.

This is for people who are quietly realizing they are not the same person anymore - and that there are still choices left.

The biggest swing isn't always dramatic.

Often, it's the shift inside that changes everything.

If something here stayed with you, you can reach me at [email protected]

In this episode of THEE BIG SWING, I share something I have been noticing in the lives of four women who mean a great deal to me.

They are all different — different ages, different personalities, different life experiences. But they had one thing in common: they were skeptical of AI and fiercely independent. At first, they wanted little to do with it.

Then, one by one, something changed.

As they began using AI to solve problems, make decisions, plan for the future, and better understand themselves, I realized the real transformation was not only about technology.

It was about confidence.

It was about curiosity.

It was about letting go of the belief that they had to figure everything out on their own.

Watching my sister, a close friend, a thoughtful young woman, and eventually my own daughter begin to trust themselves in new ways has been one of the most rewarding things I have witnessed.

Maybe this episode is not really about AI at all.

Maybe it is about the moment we realize that accepting help does not make us weaker. It can give us the freedom to grow into who we are becoming.

I hope this conversation encourages you to think about where you might be carrying more than you need to, and what could become possible if you finally let your guard down.

A written reflection for this episode is available at theebigswing.com/reflections.

This episode is also paired with the original companion song “When Women Let Their Guard Down,” performed by Beckett Calloway, from Thee Big Swing Sessions.

The episode tells the story.
The reflection goes deeper.
The song carries the feeling.

Send us Fan Mail

[Send us Fan Mail](https://www.buzzsprout.com/2569456/fan_mail/new)

THEE BIG SWING with Lloyd Hassell

There's a version of you that existed before something shifted - before a conversation, a decision, a thing you almost didn't say. You don't always recognize the moment it happened. You just notice, later, that you're not who you were.

This is a reflective podcast about those moments: the emotional reckonings and subtle internal recalibrations that change our trajectory over time - and the possibilities still available in life.

Each episode explores what happens when curiosity, courage, accountability, or reflection opens a new way of seeing ourselves and the world.

Through personal reflections and conversations, Lloyd explores changing identities, relationships, self-trust, and the quiet decisions that alter how we see ourselves over time.

This is for people who are quietly realizing they are not the same person anymore - and that there are still choices left.

The biggest swing isn't always dramatic.

Often, it's the shift inside that changes everything.

If something here stayed with you, you can reach me at [email protected]

Some of us are not alive while we are here.

This episode came from a moment I had recently — one I did not plan, but could not ignore.

Sitting in a movie theater, I found myself thinking about something I have thought about many times before: the difference between the time I have lived and the time I likely have left.

But this time, it stayed with me.

What struck me most was not only that time is limited.

It was how different life can feel once you finally arrive at something real — and realize how long it took to get there.

For a long stretch of my life, I was not really living.

I was just getting through it.

In this episode of THEE BIG SWING, I reflect on what it feels like when something you have known for a long time becomes something you can no longer ignore — and the quiet realization that life moves faster than you think.

This is not advice.

It is just something I am seeing more clearly now.

And maybe it is worth seeing a little earlier.

This episode is also paired with the original companion song “Alive While I’m Here,” performed by Marcus Reede, from Thee Big Swing Sessions.

The episode tells the story.
The reflection goes deeper.
The song carries the feeling.

Send us Fan Mail

[Send us Fan Mail](https://www.buzzsprout.com/2569456/fan_mail/new)

THEE BIG SWING with Lloyd Hassell

There's a version of you that existed before something shifted - before a conversation, a decision, a thing you almost didn't say. You don't always recognize the moment it happened. You just notice, later, that you're not who you were.

This is a reflective podcast about those moments: the emotional reckonings and subtle internal recalibrations that change our trajectory over time - and the possibilities still available in life.

Each episode explores what happens when curiosity, courage, accountability, or reflection opens a new way of seeing ourselves and the world.

Through personal reflections and conversations, Lloyd explores changing identities, relationships, self-trust, and the quiet decisions that alter how we see ourselves over time.

This is for people who are quietly realizing they are not the same person anymore - and that there are still choices left.

The biggest swing isn't always dramatic.

Often, it's the shift inside that changes everything.

If something here stayed with you, you can reach me at [email protected]

When I sat down with my sister, I thought we were going to talk about one big decision that changed her life.

Instead, I discovered something even more powerful.

Her story was not about one giant leap. It was about making the next right choice over and over again, even when she was not convinced she was capable of more.

She grew up in poverty, became a young mother, struggled with self-doubt, worked jobs that barely paid the bills, and questioned whether she was smart enough to earn a college degree. Along the way, opportunities appeared that she could not quite bring herself to take.

She believed in herself just enough to keep moving forward — but not always enough to go all the way.

And yet, she kept going.

Over the years, she earned her degree, built a career as an occupational therapist, raised two sons, bought a home, lived in eight different states, and quietly created a life that looked nothing like the one she started with.

This conversation is not about overnight success.

It is about persistence, resilience, self-doubt, and the stories we tell ourselves that can either limit us or set us free.

If you have ever wondered whether you are enough, or whether it is too late to bet on yourself, I hope this episode reminds you that sometimes the biggest swing is not a single decision.

Sometimes it is simply refusing to stop.

This episode is also paired with the original companion song “She Bet On Herself, But Not All The Way,” performed by Grant Colter, from Thee Big Swing Sessions.

The episode tells the story.
The reflection goes deeper.
The song carries the feeling.

Listen here: She Bet On Herself, But Not All The Way, performed by Grant Colter.

The episode tells the story. The song carries the feeling.

Send us Fan Mail

[Send us Fan Mail](https://www.buzzsprout.com/2569456/fan_mail/new)

THEE BIG SWING with Lloyd Hassell

There's a version of you that existed before something shifted - before a conversation, a decision, a thing you almost didn't say. You don't always recognize the moment it happened. You just notice, later, that you're not who you were.

This is a reflective podcast about those moments: the emotional reckonings and subtle internal recalibrations that change our trajectory over time - and the possibilities still available in life.

Each episode explores what happens when curiosity, courage, accountability, or reflection opens a new way of seeing ourselves and the world.

Through personal reflections and conversations, Lloyd explores changing identities, relationships, self-trust, and the quiet decisions that alter how we see ourselves over time.

This is for people who are quietly realizing they are not the same person anymore - and that there are still choices left.

The biggest swing isn't always dramatic.

Often, it's the shift inside that changes everything.

If something here stayed with you, you can reach me at [email protected]