Laura Smyth
The Mid•Point with Gabby Logan
Spiritland Creative
4.5 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 16 April 2024
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We are starting a new era of the podcast as we mean to go on, with a brilliant guest who epitomises all the things we celebrate on this show.
Laura Smyth decided to radically change her life at the midpoint, leaving her dependable job as a teacher for the uncertain world of stand up comedy. But just as she was getting into her stride, Laura was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. She talks to Gabby about all she has learned from that experience, including how she dragged herself out of a pit of despair and resentment by learning to love herself fully and throwing herself unabashedly down what she describes as a wellness rabbithole. Laura also speaks about learning that stress is a sign to rest, and why she doesn’t feel bad about saying no to things anymore.
Laura’s story proves that it’s never too late to build the life you want, but also that things don’t always go to plan, so don’t wait until you’re facing death to really start living.
You can catch her on tour in 2024 - grab your tickets here.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | As you're listening to me, Daisy, Apple's iPhone disassembly robot, is dismantling an iPhone |
| 0:06.4 | into lots of recyclable parts. That's how Apple recovers more materials than conventional recycling methods. |
| 0:13.7 | Thanks Daisy, there's more to iPhone. Hello and welcome to the midpoint. Today's episode is quite special because it marks |
| 0:30.0 | the start of a new era for the podcast. I'm giving it a little makeover if you will |
| 0:34.5 | freshening things up with a slightly new format for months now I've been |
| 0:38.1 | interviewing our brilliant experts and wishing they had more than the 10 minutes |
| 0:41.8 | they get to share all their knowledge with us. |
| 0:44.2 | And since I've been getting a great reception to our expert-only episodes where you get to put the |
| 0:48.6 | questions directly to them, I thought maybe we stick to one guest per episode, usually celebrities at the midpoint in life with lots of stories to share, |
| 0:56.0 | but we're going to make sure we have our in-depth expert chats more often. |
| 1:00.0 | Call it a midpoint pivot. |
| 1:02.0 | And speaking of midpoint pivots, |
| 1:04.0 | my celebrity guest today has been through one of the most extraordinary midlife |
| 1:08.0 | transformations I've ever heard of. |
| 1:10.0 | Comedian Laura Smith was standing at the front of a classroom teaching English five years ago, but today she's |
| 1:15.0 | touring the country as a stand-up comedian. Her 2024 show is called Living My Best Life and |
| 1:20.9 | it's selling out first. And that title is certainly multi-layered. Just a year |
| 1:25.4 | after she'd made this bold career change, she was given a stage 3 cancer |
| 1:29.7 | diagnosis. Laura was terrified she'd missed her chance to live her dream, but her illness gave |
| 1:34.8 | her a new perspective and freed her from a lot of the self-doubt and fear that can hold us all |
| 1:39.0 | back. And in 2022, just two weeks after finishing her cancer treatment, |
| 1:43.6 | she fulfilled her dream of walking out on stage at Live at the Apollo. |
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