Who We Become - Life Beyond Change

About Who We Become - Life Beyond Change

Who We Become — Life Beyond Change is a podcast about identity, reinvention, resilience, and the moments that force us to become someone new. Hosted by Amanda Lentz, the show explores what happens when life breaks, shifts, or unravels — and how people rebuild themselves from the inside out. Each episode features deeply human conversations with guests who have navigated grief, addiction, chronic illness, caregiving, trauma, leadership pressure, military transition, and the quiet identity shifts that happen in the background of everyday life. Visit www.amandalentz.com

Publisher

Amanda Lentz

Category

education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

16 Dec 2025

Latest episode

2 Nov 2026

Latest episodes

57 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   2 Nov 2026

   One Dive Changed Everything

   Will Matay wants you to know something before we begin: his story didn't start with his accident. In this episode, Will Matay — Navy veteran, commercial diver, and author of *Roller Coaster Ride of My Life* — joins Amanda for a conversation about everything that came before and after a diving accident left him paraplegic. Will survived childhood and family trauma, got himself into the Navy at 17, and built a hard-won career as a commercial diver before the dive that changed his life. He talks about the coin toss before that dive, the collapse on the way up, and becoming a paraplegic that day; about being talked through instead of to, and refusing it; and about a years-long fight to be heard — twelve days' notice for major spinal surgery, a record marked "refused" when he asked for time to prepare, and the second opinion he had to fight Congress and the VA to get, which changed everything. Now 80% pain-free, a grandfather, and still in the fight, Will wrote his book so that anyone who lost the life they planned feels less alone. His message: get through it, never give up, fight. This episode discusses trauma, disability, PTSD, and suicide. If you're struggling, you're not alone. Veterans and their loved ones can reach the Veterans Crisis Line by dialing 988 then pressing 1, or texting 838255; anyone in the US can call or text 988. Take care of yourself, take care of each other, and keep becoming who you're meant to be.

2. 

   2 Nov 2026

   On Their 25th Anniversary, She Became a Widow.

   On Their 25th Anniversary, She Became a Widow. On the morning she and her husband John were meant to leave on their 25th-anniversary cruise, Julie Spokus became a widow. What followed was grief — but not only the missing of him. It was the paperwork, the bureaucracy, the loneliness after everyone else's lives resumed, and the surreal moments of laughing through tears. In this episode, Julie joins Amanda Lentz for an honest, warm, and often funny conversation about the part of grief nobody talks about — and what loss revealed. She shares how she and John met (a newspaper ad and a wedding a year to the date), the morning everything changed, the friend who simply showed up when it mattered most, and how three losses in a handful of years reshaped her relationship with time. A longtime IT project manager who always thought there'd be time "later" for the creative life calling her, Julie stopped asking someday and started asking if not now, when? — leaving her career to study theater and building a life that's finally her own. If you've ever carried a loss the world didn't quite know how to talk about, or you've been saving something for "someday," this conversation is for you. This episode explores grief and the loss of a spouse. However you're grieving is okay — and if you need support, the Crisis Text Line offers free, confidential help 24/7: text HOME to 741741 in the US. 🎧 Who We Become — Life Beyond Change. Keep becoming who you're meant to be.

3. 

   26 Oct 2026

   They Were Being Managed, Not Met. So She Told a Better Story.

   They Were Being Managed, Not Met. So She Told a Better Story. Marysue Moses grew up in a Scrabble family, loved words, and spent her youth as a devoted theater kid — playing Gertrude and Hamlet, learning to inhabit other people's stories. She had no idea she was building a kind of creative empathy she'd need in a completely different context. Then her mom was diagnosed with dementia. In this episode, Marysue joins Amanda Lentz on the day of her book launch for a conversation about how a daughter's love became a life's calling. She shares what troubled her in those early caregiving rooms — the tragedy narrative, the empty calendars, the sense that people were being managed rather than met — and how a trunk full of props and Shakespeare launched two decades of dementia care. Along the way: why a diagnosis is not the end of the story, the three words a resident named Mona taught her, and her steady conviction that the person is always still there. As she puts it, it's not the brain we need to be fully human — it's our heart, our spirit, and the energy we share. Whether you're a caregiver, a care partner, or simply someone who loves an aging parent, this conversation offers something rare: hope. Marysue's book, Looking Past Dementia, is available now — find it at lookpastdementia.com or wherever you buy books. Connect with her on LinkedIn and Facebook (Marysue Moses). 🎧 Who We Become — Life Beyond Change. Keep becoming who you're meant to be.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

13 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

11 ratings

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.