THEE BIG SWING with Lloyd Hassell
There's a moment before everything changes — a conversation, a decision, a thing you almost didn't say — that you don't recognize until you're looking back at it.
This is a reflective podcast about those moments: the emotional reckonings and quiet internal recalibrations that change our trajectory over time, and the possibilities still available in life.
Each episode explores what happens when curiosity, courage, accountability, or reflection opens a new way of seeing ourselves and the world.
Through personal reflections and thoughtful conversations, Lloyd and occasional guests explore changing identities, relationships, and the quiet decisions that alter how we see ourselves and our lives over time.
The biggest swing isn't always dramatic.
Often, it's the shift inside that changes everything.
Episodes
21 episodes
I Didn't Know How To Be Loved
I didn't even know how to like myself.For years, I thought saying the words - telling someone I loved them - was the same as knowing how to let them love me back. It wasn't. I kept everyone at arm's length: my children, my wife, the peop...
My Son Asked Me One Question
My youngest son asked me a question on the phone recently that I haven't been able to shake: how does it feel that none of your children speak with you?That question is true, and it's the reason this episode isn't comfortable - but comf...
I Can't Tell You Everything
I wish it would end.I'm in the middle of something I can't fully talk about yet. Legal matters. Financial matters. A body that's 62 years old and doesn't move like it used to. And underneath all of it,...
I Escaped To A Cemetery
A cemetery gave me hope at times. Not a metaphor - a real place I used to drive to during the darkest stretch of my life.I talk about what four years of depression taught me, why I kept telling one ...
She Knew Before I Told Her
Two weeks ago, a friend told her story - 361 pounds to 172, GLP, surgeries, a fight she never let show on her face. What I didn't tell you then was what I actually thought when I met her. This week, I go back to that beg...
The Weight She Didn't See
She never noticed the weight coming on. Not really - her clothes grew with her, her confidence never dipped, and by her own account she wore it well. Then a routine pre-surgery exam found something she hadn't seen coming either.&nbs...
I've Chased The Wrong Things
For much of my life, I chased security, money, responsibility, and what I thought I was supposed to want.But while I was out walking, a thought came to me that I could not shake:What if I have been chasing the wrong things?...
The Strangers We Let In
Today started as the first time I sat down to record and did not know exactly what I wanted to say.But maybe that was the point.In this episode of THEE BIG SWING, I reflect on two very different encounters: one conversation that f...
The Words I Couldn’t Say
Have you ever known exactly how you felt about someone — but when the moment came to say it out loud, the words disappeared?In this episode of THEE BIG SWING, I sit down with a listener for a deeply honest conversation about love, timing...
I Thought I Had Outgrown That
One of the strangest feelings in life is realizing someone has mistaken you for smaller than you are.In this episode of THEE BIG SWING, I share a recent experience that caught me completely off guard. What started as a friendly conversat...
Love Is Not Unconditional.
We often say love should be unconditional. But over time, she started to understand that love without boundaries, honesty, or self-respect can become something else entirely.Some moments stay with you because they reveal something bigger...
He Was Sleeping In His Car
Two years ago, my son was sleeping in his car in Los Angeles — working 80 hours a week, barely showering, and just trying to survive.Today, he is in a different place.Not perfect. Not finished. But clearer.In this episode o...
When Women Let Their Guard Down
In this episode of THEE BIG SWING, I share something I have been noticing in the lives of four women who mean a great deal to me.They are all different — different ages, different personalities, different life experiences. But they had o...
I Was Here, But I Wasn't Alive
Some of us are not alive while we are here.This episode came from a moment I had recently — one I did not plan, but could not ignore.Sitting in a movie theater, I found myself thinking about something I have thought about many tim...
She Bet On Herself, Just Not All The Way
When I sat down with my sister, I thought we were going to talk about one big decision that changed her life.Instead, I discovered something even more powerful.Her story was not about one giant leap. It was about making the next r...
I Was Profiled By ChatGPT
The moment caught me off guard.In this episode, I reflect on a personal experience with ChatGPT - a moment when the system made an assumption about my identity based on patterns, context, and things I shared.That moment opened up ...
The DNA Test Showed Me More Than I Expected
In 2017, I took an ancestry DNA test expecting no surprises.I was wrong.What began as simple curiosity became a journey of discovery — one that led me to a tiny island in the Dutch Caribbean where my grandfather was born, to relat...
I Use ChatGPT For The Unexpected
What if one unexpected conversation could change the way you learn, think, and approach the rest of your life?In this episode of THE BIG SWING, I reflect on a summer evening in Washington Square Park, where a spontaneous conversation wit...
He Was Never Given A Reason
In this episode of THEE BIG SWING, I sit down with a longtime friend for one of the most honest conversations we have ever had.After a 20-year marriage ended in a way he never expected, he found himself questioning everything.The ...