The Breakout – Unleashing Personal Growth

  “I was beginning to lose my ability to feel. I would go to movies just to be able to cry, because otherwise I didn't feel anything”. If you’ve ever felt dead inside and  that your job was killing you, you’re going to want to hear Robert Markowitz’s reinvention story. Years ago, Robert was a very successful, and incredibly miserable, criminal lawyer. And then something broke and he traded in his...

“The beauty of adversity is it creates these amazing conditions for growth”. Jolie Wills is a cognitive scientist and a specialist in disaster relief who wants us to rethink how we deal with disasters. In 2011, Jolie lived through New Zealand's worst earthquake on record. As she helped her community through the aftermath that included 5 years of devastating aftershocks, she saw how disasters can m...

“We have so much more in our own control than we acknowledge”. Erica Rooney knows there are big glass ceilings that are tough to bust through, but she also believes that sometimes we also hold ourselves back. Erica is a C-suite executive, speaker and podcaster who’s on a mission to help women break free of what she calls “sticky floors”. Those are the limiting beliefs and toxic behaviours that kee...

“I like to say that I help people break out of the sucking vortex of ‘pissed off’ ”. That’s how Carol Bowser describes her role as a conflict management expert. Carol is a former employment lawyer but after years of practicing law, she found herself much more drawn to mediation. She realized that conflict, and breaking it down, was her real passion.  Carol now works to train others in mediation an...

Are people born gritty and resilient, or can anyone learn to be that way? Dr. Brian Davidson says that the tools for success can be developed by anyone, we just need to know what needs improvement.  We met Brian in our last episode, when he told Keri and Kelly about MindVue, the assessment tool and learning platform that he built which uses positive psychology principles to first measure your mind...

Brian Davidson is a psychologist and leadership expert who has always been fascinated by what drives successful people, and whether these same qualities can be taught to everyone. After years of research, he developed MindVue, an assessment tool and learning platform that first measures your mindset and then helps you improve it. But when he began to assess a range of individuals, from high-rankin...

“ When we start our corporate careers, no one gives us any tools on how to enter the working world as a female. And I'm coming back in my mid-forties to say, here's some of the resources I wish I would've had”.  Jennifer Pestikas is a senior VP in financial services, but after battling burnout she realized how many other women also struggle with balance, and being able to thrive in their careers....

Rob Cross’s latest book was supposed to be about how relationships have a positive effect on people’s well-being. But during one interview, he ended up discovering something else. When Rob asked his subject what had stopped her from doing what she wanted in life, she’d answered “just life, I guess”. And Rob realized it wasn't the big stressors, like a health scare or a nasty boss that derails peop...

“It's so beautiful to meet other people and work with them, because then we can see our own society with so much more clarity and perspective”. Janet Livingstone has a unique perspective on the bubbles we all inhabit. After decades living and working throughout Europe and Africa, she’s learned a thing or two about how our cultural expectations get in the way of understanding each other, and oursel...

“I looked at the way Gabriel lived and, and he just didn't allow fear to get in the way of anything he wanted to do”. Clint Hatton’s son Gabriel was a bold kid who embraced life completely. So when he died in a plane crash at only 17 years old, Clint made a choice to honor his son by living fearlessly, and helping others do the same.  On this episode, Clint tells about his devastating loss and how...

A hurricane, premature twins, gallstones, a husband deployed to Iraq, a toxic workplace, and terrible grief; these are just some of the incredible stressors that Danielle Cobo has tackled in the past few years. But as difficult as all this was, it led to Danielle leaving her sales job, and following her passion. Today, Danielle is a change management, leadership development, and burnout prevention...

In 2009, Kim Sorrelle was diagnosed with breast cancer. If that wasn’t devastating enough, four months later, her husband was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and passed away six weeks later.  In that extraordinarily difficult time, Kim did something surprising: she decided she needed to embrace her own life even more, and went looking for the meaning of love. On this episode, we dig into Kim's y...

Liz Alterman was at a comfortable place in life. She and her husband were enjoying solid jobs in their respective careers, supporting their three children, and paying their mortgage. And then just before the holidays, her husband was laid off from a job he’d had for 18 years. Six weeks later, so was Liz. That’s when she was forced to face a crossroads of her life and future. On this episode, Liz s...

“I didn’t want to be a statistic”, says Tyler Nehila, “I just kept trying to chase that improvement and that brought me to where I am now”. Diagnosed with ADHD and bipolar disorder in his teens. Tyler struggled for years to find his way. Now with the launch of his clothing company, Self Conquered Apparel, Tyler is starting a new conversation about mental health. May is Mental Health Awareness mont...

After years of working in the financial industry, Beth Dana began to notice something interesting. Despite the fact that money touches every aspect of our lives, many people have a limited understanding of our financial systems. Not only that, but those systems are rooted in a highly masculine, acquisition-focused mindset that is unhealthy in so many ways. Beth decided to challenge that paradigm....

Fitz Koehler is a passionate fitness innovator, speaker, and author who's devoted her life to health and wellness. But when she was diagnosed with an aggressive breast cancer in 2019, her dynamic career as a motivational force was really put to the test.  On this episode, Fitz talks about the many breakouts she's had, from calling out the diet industry, to finding strength and resilience during he...

“As children, most of us are creative”, says Professor, Author and Designer, Robin Landa, “but somewhere along the line, we start to believe that we’re not”. A range of societal perspectives have led to a narrow view of what creativity really means, and who we define as creative. In her latest book, The New Art of Ideas , Robin sets the record straight.  On this episode, Robin talks about her book...

Five years ago, Lucie Quigley’s world was changing. Just as her son was leaving home to go to university, Lucie confronted an intense emotional crisis and survived what she calls her darkest day. To turn things around, Lucie had to ask some critical questions about who she really is. This is the third and final instalment of a three-episode run about different aspects of motherhood on The Breakout...

During her 40 years as a nurse, Patrice D’Amato has seen a lot of things, but it was her years spent providing abortion care that had the biggest impact on her. She’s never thought of herself as an activist, but as the polarizing debate about abortion raged on, Patrice realized that the real problem is our perception. So she decided to do something about that. This is the second installment of a t...

“This was a very big, well-constructed, covert military spy operation that we were on. I didn’t want anyone to talk about it”. That’s how Meirav Zur felt about her long, painful journey through fertility treatments. She’s an actor and writer who makes a living being open and vulnerable on stage, but for almost a decade, Meirav insisted that she and her husband keep this part of their lives top sec...

Contest Alert! Find details below after the episode summary! Will Samson is a successful C-Suite coach and social scientist but three years ago he had what he could only describe as “a life crash”. On this episode of The Breakout , Will shares what happened, the ways it reshaped his life, and how it formed his mission to disrupt the self-help industry. It’s an extraordinary Breakout story of reboo...

Join people and change experts, Dr. Keri Ohlrich and Kelly Guenther on The Breakout, as they get advice and insights from change experts, and dive into the stories of people who have busted out of life’s stifling boxes and shifted their lives into bold new territory. Because when you can’t stay in a box any longer, Kelly and Keri are here to help you breakout. Connect with Dr. Keri Ohlrich and Kel...

You may have heard that we’re changing things up. It’s true: we’re retiring ReCHARGE Your Life and dropping a brand new show very soon! In the meantime, we’re looking back on one of our favorite episodes from 2021: a beautiful and important story from our guest, Valerie Paris. Summary: Ideas. Ideas. Ideas. Valerie Paris shares with us her favorite book on ideas. How they move through the universe,...

As things wrap up for the end of 2022, Kelly and Keri share a short and sweet holiday message…and an exciting announcement. Listen to find out more, and see you back here in January! Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter at https://abbraccigroup.com/ Please subscribe, leave a review and tell your friends about our podcast. Learn more about the CHARGE® model by purchasing the book, The Way of...

"Are you ready?" This is the question that changed Michael Harris' life forever. After multiple injuries, a near-death experience, he made the decision to have one final drink after years of sobriety - which nearly cost him his life. After waking up from a coma, the first question he was asked by his friend Jim was, "Are you ready?" From that moment on, Michael committed to living a life of sobrie...