At 16, Allie Newman's life changed overnight when she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma. What followed was a grueling 12-month battle involving intensive chemotherapy, a hip replacement, total femur and knee replacement. After beating cancer once, she faced a devastating relapse requiring the removal of most of one lung. Now cancer-free for seven years, Allie has graduated college, traveled the world, and joined Teen Cancer America—an organization founded by The Who's Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend—helping to create specialized cancer programs at 97 hospitals and impacting over 18,000 families. Listen to this episode featuring her simple but powerful message: resilience isn't just surviving the mountain in front of you, it's how you choose to climb it.

Among history's greatest composers—Bach, Handel, Mozart—one name stands apart: Ludwig van Beethoven. This is the story of a musical genius who faced an unthinkable fate. Just as he reached the height of his craft, Beethoven began losing his hearing. Instead of surrendering to his imparement he vowed to "seize fate by the throat" and composed his most transcendent work—a symphony so powerful it continues to move listeners today. Listen to our latest episode of how adversity transformed someone who was great into an even greater creative force and explore the story behind one of the most beloved pieces of music ever written.

In the mid-1800s, Milton Wright was a devoted preacher traveling the Midwest while his college-educated wife Susan nurtured their children's curiosity at home. When Milton brought home a simple toy—made of bamboo, cork, paper, and a rubber band—he couldn't have imagined it would spark a revolution.

His sons, nicknamed Ulam and Bubz, became obsessed with the mechanics of flight. Despite dropping out of high school and their father's constant worry, the boys channeled their mother's gift for problem-solving into experiments that would come to change the world.

On December 17, 1903, those two boys, Orville and Wilbur Wright, achieved powered human flight at Kitty Hawk. A decade later, when Milton finally agreed to fly with Orville, he shouted three words that captured everything he'd tried to teach them: "Higher, Orville, Higher!"

Discover how a mother's dedication to teaching her kids creativity and a father's gift of a toy launched humanity into the skies.

Meet a young woman whose life changed forever at 18 when a routine medical procedure left her paralyzed from the waist down. While most teenagers were preparing for college and planning their futures, Mallory Weggemann was learning to navigate a world that had suddenly become unrecognizable. In the depths of despair she discovered an unexpected truth... that the words her father whispered to her every night as a child would become her lifeline: "You're the best. You can make a difference, and you can change the world." From a hospital bed to Paralympic gold, from anger to forgiveness, from impossibility to world records, learn how Mallory transformed a tragedy into personal triumph becoming one of the most decorated Paralympic swimmers in history.

Meet a boy who in 1906 would revolutionize how the entire world shares stories. While other teenagers were content with farm chores and simple pleasures, one extraordinary young man was dreaming up technologies that wouldn't become reality for decades. Born into a world without electricity or plumbing, Philo Farnsworth would go on to become the inventor of television. Learn how Philo took his curiosity, intellect, and a belief that anything is possible to invent something that the whole world uses each and every day.

Journey back to 1900 to meet a woman who defied every expectation of her time. While high society ladies sipped tea in elegant parlors, one extraordinary woman was braving blizzards, bandits, and wild animals in the rugged Montana wilderness.

Born into slavery and freed at age 30, Mary Fields would go on to become the first African-American woman to deliver U.S. mail—earning her legendary status as "Stagecoach Mary." Armed with grit, an unbreakable spirit, (and firearms) she carved out her own path in the American West, becoming a beloved figure.

This is a story about breaking barriers, finding your calling, and the kind of resilience that legends are made of. Listen about the extraordinary life of Mary "Stagecoach" Fields—a true pioneer whose legacy reminds us that sometimes the most unlikely heroes leave the most lasting marks on history.

What if I told you that one of history's most influential scientists was once labeled 'unteachable' and 'talentless' by his teachers?

Listen to the remarkable story of Ernst Mach—a name you might recognize from supersonic flight as in "Mach 1 speed"—whose journey from academic failure to scientific genius is truly extraordinary.

As a shy Austrian teenager in the 1850s, Ernst Mach struggled with classical languages while his teachers wrote him off as 'unteachable'. What they couldn't see was that Ernst's mind was already grasping the fundamental forces of our universe. He would go on to revolutionize physics and inspire Albert Einstein himself. Einstein called Mach the precursor to his theory of relativity.

But perhaps Mach's greatest achievement wasn't in the laboratory at all. It was in the classroom, proving that sometimes the most unconventional students become the most extraordinary teachers.

This is a story about second chances, the power of hands-on learning, and how one seemingly dismissed student changed the way we understand space, time, and reality itself.

In this second part of our two-part series with Dr. Taryn Marie Stejskal, we dive deep into the practical side of building resilience. If you missed part one, she introduced us to life's challenging "three C's" (challenge, change, and complexity) and shared her powerful insight that we all have the ability to overcome because resilience lives within each of us.

Today, we're exploring her five transformative practices of highly resilient people. From her personal journey overcoming undiagnosed dyslexia in third grade to studying the lives of remarkable leaders like Nelson Mandela, Dr. Stejskal reveals how resilience isn't about bouncing back unchanged—it's about bouncing forward, forever transformed by our experiences.

You'll discover why vulnerability tops her list of resilient practices, learn the art of productive perseverance, and understand how to cultivate the kind of connection, gratitude, and positive thinking that turns life's darkest moments into light for yourself & others.

Get ready to strengthen your own resilience toolkit as we uncover the science and art of struggling well.