437 - How to Heal When Everything Falls Apart

The Marie Forleo Podcast

Marie Forleo

Education, Self-improvement

4.7 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 22 April 2025

⏱️ 85 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What do you do when life falls apart? In this powerful conversation, Suleika Jaouad shares how journaling, creativity, and community helped her survive cancer, heartbreak, and uncertainty - and build a life of purpose and beauty. You'll learn how to transform pain into power, rewrite limiting narratives, and reconnect with what makes you feel most alive.

@SuleikaJaouad is an Emmy Award-winning writer, visual artist, and author of the New York Times bestselling memoir Between Two Kingdoms is this week's guest on the show! You may know her from her viral "Life, Interrupted" column, or from the deeply moving Oscar-nominated documentary American Symphony. Suleika's new book The Book of Alchemy is available here. Follow Suleika on Instagram and subscribe to her Substack, "The Isolation Journals."

WHAT'S COVERED IN THIS EPISODE:

03:14 - The Shocking wake-up call that forced Suleika to reimagine everything

04:08 - Why "containers" like the 100-day project can be life-changing

12:38 - Stuck in a thought loop? This will set you free

16:15 - The magical key for unlocking creativity

21:20 - The behind-the-scenes chaos of launching The Isolation Journals

27:14 - Journaling vs. monetization: how Suleika made peace with both

32:05 - This journaling prompt will rewrite your future

40:08 - Why dreaming big can feel dangerous - but it's the only way forward

45:21 - The moment Suleika shrunk her truth in a room full of geniuses

54:37 - The loss that turned hallucinations into art

57:58 - Simple tools that make your journaling habit stick

1:03:21 - Rescue dogs, real estate & design on the farm

1:13:00 - Non-negotiable rituals for peace, clarity & creative downloads

1:20:45 - Stop doing this one thing if you want to live your truest life

Thanks for listening! New episodes drop every Tuesday. Make sure you hit the follow button to get notified. <3

If you prefer vide or want closed captions, you can watch all our episodes on YouTube → http://www.youtube.com/marieforleo

COME SAY 'HI!'

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MORE RESOURCES FOR YOU

FREE AUDIO TRAINING: Learn the 3 steps to get anything you want in life or business → https://www.marieforleo.com/how-to-get-anything-you-want

THE BOOK OF ALCHEMY: Grab your copy of Suleika Jaouad's new book → https://amzn.to/3EuTcrt

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review! <3 It really helps us get encouraging and actionable advice to entrepreneurs and creatives who need to hear it most!

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	At 22, she was told she had three years to live and given a 35% chance of survival.
0:06.0	But instead of giving up, Suleika Juad picked up a pen and began to write her way back to life.
0:11.8	Today, she's here to share a simple and transformative practice that can alchemize pain into power.
0:17.2	It can turn confusion into creativity and your story into something that saves you.
0:22.8	You know, if you've ever felt super stuck or lost or like you're living in the in-between,
0:28.4	this conversation could change it all.
0:32.6	So I just need to hold this up.
0:34.0	This is my advanced creator edition, but by the time you all will be seeing
0:37.8	this, it will be out and you need to get yourself a copy or five for yourself and the people
0:44.1	that you love because it is so gorgeous and so powerful. And this practice writing and journaling
0:50.2	and just, we have so much. Okay. So for those who don't know your story, let's take it back.
0:57.4	So there's the larger context of that summer when you were 22 and everything changed.
1:04.0	So if it's cool with you, I'm going to take it back just a few more beats.
1:09.2	Yes. So I was born here in New York City in the East Village to two immigrant parents.
1:16.4	And I think like a lot of first-gen kids, I had this self-imposed pressure to honor the sacrifices my parents had made for me. And my version of what that
1:32.7	looked like pre-age 22 was I was just someone who was constantly on the go. I was on a hamster
1:40.2	wheel. I defined my sense of self-worth by my productivity and I had my one-year plan
1:46.6	and my five-year plan and my 10-year plan and I was just all about my ambition. And when I graduated
1:53.8	in 2010, I had all kinds of questions about the future, as one does when you're in your early 20s,
2:04.0	and all kinds of dreams and ambitions.
2:07.2	But I think, you know, when you're that age, there's a sense of endless time, time to figure out who you are and what you want to do and to plot the distance between where you are
2:19.5	presently and where you hope to end up. And almost exactly a year after graduating from college,
	...

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