Big Stuff With Danielle Colley

She Lost Her Voice for a Year. Here's What She Found - Sophie Bretag

Danielle Colley Season 2 Episode 43

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0:00 | 57:38

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Sophie Bretag came on this show to talk about kindness. But what she really gave us was something far more important — a front-row seat to what happens when everything you've built your identity around is taken from you, and what you discover in the silence that follows. 

Two years ago, Sophie had surgery for tongue cancer — a rare diagnosis for a woman her age — and spent almost twelve months unable to speak clearly. For someone whose entire career is built on her voice, that enforced silence became the most profound teacher of her life.

This is a conversation about what it actually means to choose yourself — not as a concept, but when the stakes are real, when your husband is hospitalised the same week you are, when your kids need you, when going back to work two weeks post-surgery feels like the only option. 

Sophie is warm, funny, and extraordinarily open, and I found myself receiving things in this conversation that I didn't even know I needed. I think you will too.

CHAPTERS

0:00 — Introduction 
3:00 — The lump on Sophie's tongue 
10:00 — The diagnosis: "baby cancer" 
17:00 — The operation 
22:00 — Speaking for the last time before surgery 
27:00 — The biggest fears going under the knife 
33:00 — When your other senses take over
38:00 — The outpouring of love  
44:00 — Setting the hardest boundaries of her life 
49:00 — "I chose to choose me" 
54:00 — What kindness actually looks like day to day 
56:00 — What she would tell herself two years ago

RESOURCES & LINKS

Sophie Bretag — mettaleaders.com
The Kind Way — available for pre-order now, in store 30 June 2025
Sophie on LinkedIn
Sophie on Instagram — @sophiebretag

Danielle Colley — daniellecolley.com.au
Instagram - @iamdaniellecolley
Contact Big Stuff — bigstuffpod@gmail.com

THINKING POINTS

When someone you love is struggling, do you offer an open door — "let me know if you need anything" — or do you give them options? 
Think about one person in your life right now who might need A, B, C, or D instead.

Where are you still waiting for permission to stop going back to the way things were? You already have it.