Suddenly Different

Stories and strategies for life when it doesn’t go to plan.What happens when the life you thought you’d live disappears in a moment? Hosted by resilience speaker and advocate Leigh-Anne Sharland, Suddenly Different shares raw, real conversations with remarkable guests — leaders, change-makers, and everyday heroes — who’ve faced their own “suddenly different” moment. From grief to grit, invisible illness to visible wisdom, these stories inspire and equip you with the clarity, compassion, and courage to face life’s curveballs — and rise.

Suddenly Different is a education podcast hosted by Leigh-Anne Sharland, with 58 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Leigh-Anne Sharland hosts Suddenly Different, a education show with 58 episodes published.

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  Episode #57

  From Baptist Pastor to FBI Agent: What Criminals Taught Me About People | Eric Robinson

  Sep 14, 202655 minS1

  A Baptist pastor leaves the pulpit because the stress is making him physically ill. So he looks for a less stressful job. He joins the FBI. Yes, really. But that extraordinary career change is only the beginning of this conversation with Eric Robinson. Over 24 years with the FBI, Eric worked with gang members, drug dealers, victims of human trafficking, sex offenders and people whose lives had taken them into places very different from his own. He also spent years on SWAT, walking into situations where the possibility of serious harm was very real. And somehow, the man who had been physically overwhelmed by carrying the problems of his congregation discovered something unexpected inside the FBI. Boundaries. Teamwork. Competence. Flow. And the ability to care deeply about another human being without believing he had to carry their life home with him. There is one story in this conversation that has stayed with me. Eric was trying to locate a 15-year-old girl who was being trafficked. During the investigation, he sat on the bumper of his vehicle eating a sandwich with a 20-year-old woman they had arrested. Then she told him her father had sexually abused her since she was two years old and asked: “Do you think that's why I do what I do?” It would have been very easy to see only the crime. Eric saw the person. That doesn't mean excusing harmful behaviour. In fact, Eric spent much of his career holding people accountable for it. It means remaining curious enough to ask what happened before deciding we understand who somebody is. We also talk about dark humour and how FBI agents process experiences most of us will never encounter, the extraordinary trust within a SWAT team, why genuine danger sometimes felt less stressful to Eric than ministry, what happens when competence turns fear into flow, and the strange identity shift that comes when, after 24 years, being an FBI agent is suddenly no longer your job. And then Eric says something beautifully simple: He can't remember a single time he regretted being curious about another person. I think there's something in that for all of us. Because you don't need to be interviewing a criminal to practise curiosity. Sometimes the person we need to understand is our partner. Our child. Our colleague. The stranger we've already judged. Or perhaps even ourselves. From Baptist Pastor to FBI Agent: What Criminals Taught Me About People | Eric Robinson In this episode we explore: • Why Eric's body ultimately forced him to reconsider ministry • The surprising reason the FBI felt less stressful • Caring for people without carrying their lives • What working with victims and offenders taught him about judgement • Life inside FBI SWAT and performing under genuine pressure • The relationship between competence, fear and flow • Why owning mistakes was considered a strength within his team • Dark humour, camaraderie and processing difficult experiences • Losing the identity of “FBI agent” after 24 years • Why curiosity may be one of our most powerful ways of connecting with another human being Eric's upcoming book, Irreverend: From Saving Souls to Chasing Sinners in the FBI , shares more of the stories behind his extraordinary journey. #SuddenlyDifferent #EricRobinson #FBI #HumanBehaviour #Curiosity #Compassion #HumanConnection #SWAT #LifeTransitions #Podcast

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  Episode #56

  We Always Got Our Old Life Back… Until This Time | Dr Jeffrey Bone

  Sep 2, 20261h 3mS1

  There was something Jeffrey said during this conversation that stopped me. When we've been sick before, we've always expected to get better. A cold. An infection. An operation. Something happens, we recover, and eventually we get our old life back. Until one day... we don't. I knew exactly what he meant. Dr Jeffrey Bone knows what it is to have a body suddenly change the rules. After becoming incredibly unwell, Jeffrey eventually discovered that exposure to black mould in his workplace had triggered Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome and uncovered an underlying immune disorder, Common Variable Immune Deficiency. But this conversation became about so much more than what happened to Jeffrey medically. We talked about what happens to you when your body changes. The grief of trying desperately to get back to the person you were. The loneliness of experiencing something nobody else can actually feel. The frustration of not being believed. The strange things people say because they don't know what else to say. And that uncomfortable question many of us eventually have to face: If I can't do everything I used to do... am I still as valuable? Jeffrey and I have very different stories, but there were moments throughout this conversation when I found myself thinking, yes... you understand. And somewhere amongst all of the hard stuff, we found ourselves talking about curiosity. Not enormous life-changing things. Sometimes it's a fountain. A barbecue. A bathtub that needs fixing. Or, in my case after talking to Jeffrey, looking at the inside of my oven and wondering whether perhaps that could become my next little project! Because when there are enormous things happening inside our bodies that we cannot control, perhaps there is something incredibly powerful about finding one small thing that we can. One problem. One action. One little piece of life that still belongs to us. We also talk about medical systems, chronic illness, identity, relationships, existential psychology, hope, joy, being present with someone who is suffering and why people with chronic illness don't necessarily need you to fix anything. Sometimes we just need you to sit beside us. Listen. Care. And remember that underneath everything our bodies are doing... we are still here. Jeffrey finishes this conversation with a beautiful thought from Ram Dass: We're all just walking each other home. Perhaps that's enough. • Jeffrey's experience of black mould exposure and Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome • Common Variable Immune Deficiency and finally getting answers • What happens when your old life isn't coming back • The loneliness of invisible and chronic illness • Medical dismissal and the exhaustion of trying to be believed • Grieving the person you used to be • Separating our worth from productivity • Why acceptance isn't the same as giving up • Curiosity as a way of finding your way forward • Finding small things we can control when our bodies feel uncontrollable • What people with chronic illness actually need from the people around them • Why action can help restore a sense of agency • Hope, meaning and finding life amongst limitation • Helping each other walk home About Dr Jeffrey Bone Dr Jeffrey Bone is a psychologist, chronic illness coach, author and host of To The Bone: Conversations on Pain, Illness, and Meaning . Drawing on both professional knowledge and lived experience, Jeffrey supports people navigating chronic illness, pain, uncertainty and the enormous identity changes that can come with them. Find Jeffrey at drbone.live Keywords: chronic illness, Dr Jeffrey Bone, chronic illness podcast, invisible illness, Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome, CIRS, black mould,mould exposure, Common Variable Immune Deficiency, chronic pain, brain fog, chronic fatigue, medical dismissal, medical gaslighting, chronic illness identity, grief, acceptance, self worth, living with chronic illness, Suddenly Different podcast

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  Episode #55

  She Thought COVID Was Over. Four Months Later, She Woke Up Unable to Walk | Ruthann Harner

  Aug 21, 20261h 23mS1

  Four months after what appeared to be a mild case of COVID, Ruthann Harner went to bed believing the virus was behind her. The next morning, she opened her eyes and the room was spinning. When she tried to stand, her legs collapsed beneath her. Her body was in extraordinary pain, holding her phone felt almost impossible, and the woman who had spent 22 years caring for others as a nurse suddenly became the patient searching desperately for answers. But some of the medical professionals she trusted to help her didn’t believe her. Ruthann was argued with, dismissed and even laughed at by practitioners who claimed they had never heard of Long COVID. Meanwhile, her symptoms continued to change: vertigo, tremors, brain fog, sensory overload, internal vibrations, temperature dysregulation, overwhelming fatigue and repeated falls that eventually led to devastating injuries and multiple surgeries. Yet perhaps the most painful part was knowing that because her illness was largely invisible, even some of the people closest to her wondered whether she had simply given up. She hadn’t. In this deeply personal conversation, Ruthann shares the story behind her memoir, Broken by the Invisible: A Journey Through Long Haul COVID and Being Unseen —a book written from her recliner, inside an illness and a life that are still changing. Together, Ruthann and Leigh-Anne speak about the grief of losing the capable and dependable women they had always known themselves to be; the heartbreak of leaving careers they loved; and the daily calculations hidden beneath a life with limited and unpredictable energy: If I do this today, what will my body ask from me tomorrow? Ruthann also shares what it is like to look well while being profoundly unwell, the moment her son finally understood what she had been unable to make visible, her ongoing search for answers and her desire to create a support group so others living with Long COVID feel believed and less alone. This is not a neat recovery story. It is an honest conversation about living in a body that changed without permission—and discovering that healing may not mean returning to the person you were. Sometimes it means building a life around what is true. Sometimes it means continuing to speak when your experience has been dismissed. And sometimes, as Ruthann writes in her powerful epilogue, being still here is enough. Sometimes it is everything. The mild COVID infection Ruthann believed she had recovered from The morning she woke with severe vertigo, pain and an inability to walk Becoming the patient after 22 years of nursing Long COVID and the experience of medical gaslighting Brain fog, tremors, fatigue, sensory overload and temperature dysregulation The emotional cost of living with an invisible illness Why looking well can make being believed even harder Losing a career, independence and trust in your own body The invisible calculations behind ordinary activities Ruthann’s repeated falls, serious injuries and surgeries How reading her book changed her son’s understanding Searching for answers while managing limited energy The story behind Broken by the Invisible Finding another way to care for and support others Why healing does not always mean returning to who you were The quiet significance of being “still here” This episode discusses chronic illness, medical dismissal, loss of mobility and suicide within chronic-illness communities. Please listen with care. If you need immediate emotional support in Australia, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14. In the United States, call or text 988. The experiences discussed in this episode are personal and are not intended as medical advice. Please speak with an appropriately qualified healthcare professional about your individual circumstances. #LongCOVID #InvisibleIllness #MedicalGaslighting #BrokenByTheInvisible #ChronicIllness #PostViralIllness #DisabilityAwareness #PatientAdvocacy #ChronicIllnessSupport #Healthcare #StillHere #SuddenlyDifferentPodcast

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  Episode #54

  I’m Still Me: Alzheimer’s, Identity and Finding the Life That Is Here | Jane Turner

  Aug 19, 202658 minS1

  “I am the same person I was before the diagnosis.” Jane Turner has spent years helping people preserve their ideas, experiences and stories on the page. As an author, publisher and book-writing coach, words and memory have always been central to her work. Then Jane began noticing changes in herself. There were falls, difficulty reading her own notes and moments when familiar things no longer felt quite as familiar. Like so many of us might, Jane explained them away as tiredness, stress, ageing or working too hard. It was an inner knowing—and an unexpected encounter with an Alzheimer’s clinical trial—that finally encouraged her to investigate. The diagnosis was devastating. It brought disbelief, denial, shame, anger and grief. But it also became a wake-up call. In this deeply honest and unexpectedly uplifting conversation, Jane speaks about remaining herself inside a diagnosis that carries enormous fear and misunderstanding. She shares why she initially worried that speaking publicly would destroy her business—and what happened when three new clients chose to work with her after seeing her story. Jane also reveals an extraordinary contradiction: while Alzheimer’s has affected her memory and balance, she says the quality of her life has never been better. After a lifetime of worry, long working hours and a mind constantly anticipating what might go wrong, Jane has discovered something she had never truly known before—presence. As she says, it took her 63 years and an Alzheimer’s diagnosis to find it. This is not a conversation that minimises the reality of a degenerative illness. It is a conversation about refusing to disappear inside a diagnosis. It is about dignity, identity, early awareness, accepting support and continuing to participate fully in the life that is here. Show notes In this episode, Jane and Leigh-Anne explore: • The early changes Jane noticed—and the signs she initially dismissed • The inner knowing that led her to an Alzheimer’s clinical trial • Why receiving a diagnosis can feel both devastating and empowering • The shame, denial, anger and grief that followed • Why Jane remains the same woman she was before Alzheimer’s • The assumptions we make about people living with cognitive change • Jane’s fear that speaking publicly might destroy her business • The surprising response she received after sharing her diagnosis • How systems, structure and trusted support help Jane continue her work • Why her editing skills have become sharper • The difference between supporting someone and taking away their agency • What genuine support feels like: listening, presence and simply “hanging out” • Why Jane is recording her life and stories for her daughter and future family • The relationship between brain health, sleep, movement, nourishment and stress • How Alzheimer’s unexpectedly quietened Jane’s lifelong worry • Finding presence in Sydney Park—and learning to look up • Why a diagnosis is part of Jane’s life, but is not her life • Jane’s beautiful reminder that it is never too late to have a happy childhood Jane’s story invites us to question what we believe about memory, capability and identity—and to remember that a person is always more than what they can immediately recall. Listen to this deeply human conversation about noticing what has changed without losing sight of everything that remains. #SuddenlyDifferentPodcast #JaneTurner #AlzheimersAwareness #LivingWithAlzheimers #DementiaAwareness #BrainHealth #EarlyOnsetAlzheimers #WomensHealth #MemoryLoss #Identity #Presence #Dignity #PatientAdvocacy #LivedExperience #BookWritingCoach

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  Episode #53

  What If You Could Ask Your DNA a Question? ADHD, Genetics and Personalised Health | Len May

  Aug 12, 202659 minS1

  What if your doctor could ask questions of your DNA—not simply to identify what might go wrong, but to understand what may work better for you? Len May believes the future of healthcare is personal. His company, EndoDNA, has developed technology that allows health professionals to explore a patient’s genetic information alongside biomarkers, lifestyle and other health data. The aim is to help doctors look beyond isolated symptoms and develop care that reflects the individual in front of them. But Len’s fascination with human difference began long before he understood genetics. At seven, he arrived in America from Lithuania after a six-month journey through several countries. He entered a world where he was expected to learn a new language, follow unfamiliar rules and quietly fit in. Quietly fitting in was never going to come naturally. Len was called lazy, disruptive and an underachiever. Diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, he received a message many differently wired children absorb: There is something wrong with the way you are. At seventeen, his father gave him five minutes to pack a bag and leave home. What followed was not a tidy climb from homelessness to success. Len moved through music, activism, commercial real estate, medicinal cannabis, entrepreneurship and genetics, driven by a mind that continually searches for connections between things other people keep separate. In this compelling conversation, Len explains how witnessing two people respond very differently to the same variety of cannabis sparked a much larger question: if people receive the same intervention, why don’t their bodies respond in the same way? That curiosity eventually led to EndoDNA and Len’s work in personalised health. Len and Leigh-Anne also explore ADHD, dopamine and hyperfocus; why procrastination can suddenly disappear when a deadline creates urgency; and why popular advice to “focus on one thing” may be completely wrong for some minds. This is not another conversation declaring ADHD a superpower while dismissing its difficulties. It is an honest exploration of what changes when we stop demanding that every brain—and every body—respond in the same way. Because perhaps our differences are not inconvenient deviations from the norm. Perhaps they are information. In this episode: • Len’s six-month journey from Lithuania to America • Growing up as an immigrant during the Cold War • Being labelled lazy, disruptive and an underachiever • The difference between distraction and hyperfocus • How dopamine can influence motivation, urgency and reward • Creating practical guardrails that work with an ADHD brain • Why one person’s formula for success may fail another • How cannabis activism changed the direction of Len’s life • Why the same intervention can affect two people differently • The relationship between genetics, environment and behaviour • How health professionals could “interrogate” a patient’s genome • Personalised healthcare versus symptom-based sick care • Why genetic predisposition does not necessarily mean destiny • Taking action despite fear, uncertainty and possible failure • Recognising the hidden thread within a nonlinear life Len May is the founder and CEO of EndoDNA, host of Everything Is Personal and author of Jack of All Trades, Master of Some: Rewiring the Modern Genius . This episode invites us to imagine a different approach to health and human potential—one that replaces “Why aren’t you responding like everybody else?” with the far more useful question: “What might your individual biology be trying to tell us?” Please note: This episode contains personal opinions and discussion and is intended for general information and conversation only and should not be treated as medical advice. #SuddenlyDifferentPodcast #LenMay #PersonalisedHealth #PrecisionHealth #Genetics #DNA #ADHD #AdultADHD #Neurodiversity #Dopamine #Hyperfocus #Genomics #HealthTechnology #PrecisionMedicine #EndoDNA

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