On the tip of my tongue Series 2 Episode 10 - Resilience and Recovery: Talia Lazarus' Inspiring Journey

In this episode of 'On the Tip of My Tongue,' hosts Rob Edwards and Jonathan Hirons welcome Talia Lazarus, a presenter, broadcaster, and host of the mental health podcast, 'I Got Back Up.' Talia shares her harrowing story of a devastating electric scooter accident in 2021, which resulted in serious leg injuries and an 18-month rehabilitation journey. She discusses her physical and mental recovery, overcoming multiple surgeries, and even achieving the incredible feat of running a half marathon only 10 months post-surgery. The conversation delves into the power of mindset, the significance of embracing fears, and the transformative journey that led Talia to a successful career in sports broadcasting and mental health advocacy. With heartfelt anecdotes and insightful advice, this episode underscores the importance of resilience, community, and self-belief.

00:00 Introduction to Talia Lazarus' Journey
00:48 Understanding Aphasia
01:49 The Accident and Immediate Aftermath
03:59 The Road to Recovery
05:58 Running a Half Marathon
09:29 Starting the Podcast
13:56 Career as a Presenter and Broadcaster
21:44 Embracing Positivity and Overcoming Challenges
31:43 Reflections and Future Plans
36:56 Closing Remarks and Farewell

Transcript

On the tip of my tongue S2 E10 - Resilience and Recovery: Talia Lazarus' Inspiring Journey

[00:00:00] When you take action and you decide you want to do something your mind is a lot more powerful than you realize and you can Do a lot more than you will ever ever believe and you will ever ever think 

In 2021, Talia Lazarus was involved in a serious accident with a bus while riding an electric scooter, leading to 18 months of rehabilitation. In this episode, we dive into her journey of recovery and discuss how she's transitioned into a new career as a presenter, broadcaster, and the host of the mental health podcast, I Got Back Up. 

@Rob: Hi and welcome everybody and we hope you enjoy this podcast called on the tip of my tongue Now, I'm Rob Edwards, and I'm Jonathan Hirons. This podcast is a follow up to a film Which Jonathan made about aphasia So what is aphasia? Well, it's a condition caused by some kind of injury to [00:01:00] the brain Which is often could be a stroke or could be just falling off a bike and it affects your ability to think The ability to use language in all its forms.

Speaking, writing, reading, sending texts, whatever. 350, 000 people in the UK suffer from a debilitating condition called aphasia. Fewer than half this number suffer from Parkinson's. And yet, most people have heard of Parkinson's whilst almost nobody has heard of aphasia. 

Talia: Hi everyone, I'm Talia Lazarus. I'm a presenter, broadcaster and host of Mental Health Podcast, I Got Back Up. It's great to be with you, Jonathan.

Jon: Thank you. And it's love to see you as well. And thank you for coming on the podcast. I think first of all, everybody should know why you're where you are at the moment. So you had an accident. 

Talia: So, let's go back to August 2021, which was when I had my accident. I lost control on an electric scooter and [00:02:00] I I veered into the curb, which bounced me off into the road, and after bouncing off the curb, I then hit a bus. You know, if you're gonna do it, do it in style. I whacked the bus on my left hand side, and I still remember the thud in my ears.

And I was coming down a hill, so I was picking up speed. I don't really know what happened. I, I couldn't control the scooter. I, I couldn't slow it down. And the next thing that happened after hitting the bus was I put my left leg down. And I suppose when you are on something moving, when you are suddenly going stationary, everything just collides.

And after putting my left leg down, I just flew in the road with the scooter. And the next thing I remember was landing on my left knee and spinning around in the middle of the road with the scooter. I can't, to this day, tell you how many seconds I was doing that. What I interestingly do remember is [00:03:00] keeping my head to me.

I remember protecting my head. It was almost like my brain knew what to do. And I remember protecting my head. Look, I didn't have a helmet on, which is really daft. I'm very aware. But I do remember protecting my head. And the next thing I remember is two strangers picking me off the side of the road with my left leg out in the middle of the road.

And I knew this was bad. The paramedics came to the scene, and they bent my leg so it looked like nothing was broken. And then they asked me if I could walk to the ambulance. And I remember I looked at them and I said, I don't know, can I walk to the ambulance? I asked them. And they said to me, well, Yeah, we think you can.

I took one step on my left leg and my ankle went one direction and my knee went the other direction and then my leg came back together and watching your own limb do that literally like cooked spaghetti is something completely harrowing and still stays with me and was a huge part of my recovery. You know, [00:04:00] I'm not just very lucky to be able to walk again, but I'm also very lucky to be alive, mostly because I wasn't wearing a helmet you know, had I fallen any other direction, things could have, oh look, it was terrible what happened, but things could have been a lot worse so what I did was I, I had ruptured my ACL fully, I did a grade 3 tear to my MCL, and I did a bucket handle tear to my cartilage.

 Internal bleeding, bruising, bone bleeding, bone bruising, I don't know, terms that I'd never heard of in my entire life. And that was it, I was 25 years old, and I just remember my entire life came crashing down. And It was the beginning, in my opinion, what I say, it was the beginning of the rest of my life, but I, you know, wasn't entirely sure of that at the time.

I hit rock bottom, 500 million feet below. I've had two knee surgeries, so one in September that year to fix my cartilage. I relearned how to walk a couple of months later, and then in February 2022, so six months [00:05:00] later, I had a ACL reconstruction. But the hardest part of that wasn't actually the surgery.

I'd gone through so much leading up to that, that actually, an ACL reconstruction was quite an easy surgery for me. The hardest part was the fact that they had to go into my uninjured leg to do the graft, because my left leg was in such a bad place, they didn't want to take anything out, and You know, alter it anymore.

And I begged my surgeons not to, I didn't want them to tamp with both my legs, but he explained to me, you know, those reasons is that they couldn't take it from my left leg. And I said no to having, you know, someone else's body part or an artificial limb. So I had to do it and waking up from surgery, even though I knew it, but with both my legs operated on was.

Extremely difficult. The thing is, is I learned at the time this wasn't just a physical recovery, you know, you throw yourself into physio, the gym, whatever it might be, which is so important, by the way, people don't realize they underestimate that, but it was a mental recovery. But it was the beginning of the rest of my life.

Jon: That's an incredible story I [00:06:00] have to say, and, obviously you learn to walk and you, and you're, you're, and I think I've seen somewhere that you've did some marathons or half marathons or whatever.

Talia: That's, that's crazy, isn't it? I, it was, so it's 10 months after my ATL surgery. Bearing in mind, I just need to make a point, I'm not a runner. I, I am physically active and I have been since I was a teenager. So I, I have always enjoyed sports, but I was never a runner. I hated running and I'm sure there were people listening that agree.

So you either like running or you don't. Yeah, it's like Marmite. You like it or you don't.

I think the furthest I'd ever run before was a 10 kilometer run in Disneyland Paris. I was dressed up as Cinderella, so it was a very different run. But it was put to me to run a half marathon, and this was December of the same year of my second knee surgery.

And I thought to myself, you know what, I think I want to do it. The half marathon was the London Landmarks half [00:07:00] marathon four months later. I thought, you know what, I want to do it. I want to prove to myself that I can do it. You know, break my legs to say, but I can still run a half marathon. I can go through what I went through, but my mind, my body and my soul are strong enough to do something like 21 kilometers.

So all I did was I texted my physio, I said, can I run a half marathon in four months? He, he was the deciding decision, to which he said, yes. And that was it. I got a place with breast cancer now, I think the next day. And training began, and I learned so much about myself. Bear in mind, by the time I signed up for that, I was only doing interval sprints for like 30 seconds in the gym.

I learned so much about myself during training, because believe me, there were days that I did not want to wake up and run. But seeing as I'd only ever run 10 kilometers before, every milestone after that, my first 10. 5, my first 11, my first 12, was the most amazing feeling that I was able to [00:08:00] put my body, my mind and my soul through this.

And I remember there would be times when I would be 5k into like a 12k run on the treadmill. And They were some of the hardest ones, because my mind, my body would be like, Mm, we're done. But you have, the mind is a fantastic place, because you can make yourself. When you take action, and you decide you want to do something, your mind is a lot more powerful than you realize, and you can do a lot more than you will ever, ever believe, and you will ever, ever think.

And one thing to note in the half marathon, Was I never stopped once during the whole run so I did it in two hours and four minutes I never stopped once the reason why I didn't stop believe me I wanted to the reason I didn't was because I knew I know myself and I know if I would have stopped once Every time I needed to stop after, I would have stopped.

And again, I pushed through, I powered through, and I was like, Just keep going. And I think, again, it's learning how powerful your mind actually [00:09:00] is. And how much, when your body says no, your mind can keep it going. So yeah, it was a, we laugh about it. I remember even in training, I actually injured myself.

Three or four weeks before the half, and I couldn't train for three weeks leading up to the half marathon. And I remember a friend of mine turned to me in the gym, and he was like, Talia, he was like, you're still in rehab. Most people don't start training for a half marathon when they're in rehab. And I was like, yeah, I know.

So I get these crazy ideas sometimes, and I just gotta do them.

Jon: So how, how did you start the podcast? 'cause let's talk about the podcast 'cause we're on a podcast. You've got you, you, when did you start that and, and why?

Talia: So just want to note, you've been on my podcast. You were on

Jon: I have. 

Yeah, I 

Talia: year. Yeah, yeah. So I started the podcast because So how the whole reason happened was, so I used to work in events and exhibitions, I used to have an office job at 9 to 5 and When I had my first surgery, I had two weeks off work, heavily medicated, two weeks off [00:10:00] work.

And while I was off work, I just started writing about the things that I couldn't do. So I used to be a climbing instructor. I started writing about climbing. I started writing about traveling. I started writing about things I loved. And I called up my manager on the Sunday night, and I just quit my job. I was meant to go back into work the next, the next day and I just quit my job.

I'd never quit my job before without another job lined up. So I think it was a whole mixture of different things. But I had this feeling inside that I just, I needed to quit it. So I quit my job with the intention of being a travel journalist. How different my life is! So I started writing about traveling at the time.

This is all while I was, you know, relearning how to walk, or I couldn't even walk at the time. And then towards the end of 2021, I interviewed a few of my own friends who'd been through their own journeys. And I started writing it up on a blog, hence the writing, and I called the blog, I Got Back Up. And a few months later again, this is all in the mix of my second knee surgery, so I'm up, down, up, down.

And then [00:11:00] a few months later, every time I would do the blog, I would always record the person I was talking to, so I could transcribe it. And a couple of months later, I was listening to the transcription, and I had so much emotion listening to the transcription. I just thought to myself, these stories need to be heard.

Not just read, they need to be heard. And the reason I continued doing it, actually, just to note, was that I was and I'm sure you've had this as well, is the people that were reading the stories at the time were saying to me, Wow, if this person can go through X, Y, Z, it makes me wanna You know, and they can do this after.

It makes me want to do the things that I'm scared of, the things I want to do. And the people that I was talking to were so grateful I was giving them a platform to share their voice. And I, you know, that, that was what I wanted. You know, everyone's voice is valid. Everyone's story is valid. And a few months later, I turned the blog into a podcast.

And it was, I never went out to have a podcast. It just I guess it just happened, and I'm [00:12:00] still doing it, it's been over two years now, I've spoken to, like, like yourself, some of the most amazing people from all over the world and all walks of life, and, you know, it's interesting as well, because when I look back, I think a major part of my recovery, physical and mental, was my podcast, because talking to so many people that have been through their own journeys was, I don't think I even realised, was helping me through mine.

Jon: I can completely agree with you on this because I was saying the other day to someone, you know, the amazing, the number of people I've spoken to in the last year, because I started the actual podcast started about a year ago. And it's kind snowballed.

 One of the reasons why, it has some funding is because they realize that I'm talking to people who've actually lived the experience. I'm not talking to to doctors or, or psychiatrists or whatever, you know, we're talking to people who've actually been there and done it 

 For me, that's been an incredible. That I've had to do myself, you know, exactly [00:13:00] like you, I find it interesting to talk to other people because people, everybody you speak to has got a different story, haven't they? Some things are pretty awful, yours is, is one of them but people sort of get through it.

And it's, it's quite incredible. I was listening to Jamie Oliver this morning on the radio, and he said, you know, if you put your mind to it, you can do anything. He was talking about something completely different, but he's, he's right, and he's a guy who can't, hardly read or write, and has, has written thirty books or something because of his dyslexia.

So he's got a, you know, he's got a problem, but, but he's overcome it. in his way. And that's what you've done. And the people we both speak to have done it in their, have done the same thing in their own way. So the next question I suppose is, what are you doing now?

Talia: Like I said at the beginning, my accident was [00:14:00] the beginning of the rest of my life and my entire life and my entire world has changed since my accident. And it's interesting because I wouldn't go back and change anything, not any part of it. And what I'm doing now is I am a presenter and a broadcaster. I've worked so far with whoever's a football fan. I've worked with Arsenal. I've worked with Arsenal fan TV, ESPN. I've worked with Talk Sport, the NFL I've worked with Formula One, it's been, it's just been unbelievable and I genuinely say it's all because of my accident. It, it's one of those things like when I woke up and decided I wanted to be a travel journalist and that unfolded into the podcast which unfolded into wanting to be a presenter.

And the reason why I ended up getting into sports presenting was a year into the podcast. So this is the summer of 2023. I was loving interviewing and presenting and hosting and talking to people. I love the connections as well when you talk to people. And I love [00:15:00] sport, so I thought, well, how, you know, how, how can I get into this?

And I, so back to the football fans, I stood outside the Emirates Stadium, so if you don't know that's the Arsenal Stadium for anyone listening, I stood outside the Emirates Stadium, I'm an Arsenal fan, for the first four home games of the season with my Bluetooth mics my Bluetooth mic. Phone. My dad and my brother were my cameraman.

I love it so much when I look back because I was mortified. I was terrified. I had such imposter syndrome. I was terrified. But I knew, I knew I had to do something to get myself out there. And that's, again, something about the mindset and something about fear. You have to embrace your fears in life because Amazing things and miracles really do happen on the other side of fear, our comfort zone, as much as we love it and it's really safe.

Is actually, I think, almost more terrifying, because when you realize, once you start doing the things that scare you, and you learn to walk into your fears, and embrace your fears, so much [00:16:00] of your life can change. But yeah, so there I am, outside the Emirates Stadium, in my Arsenal shirt, just interviewing fans.

I did that for the first four home games. Put it up on social media, just to start doing something. And four games in, I reached out to Arsenal Fan TV, and again, with the idea that With the idea that, you know, they probably get hundreds and thousands of emails, they're not going to get back to me. But again, that's a mindset thing of, you know, if you want to reach out to someone, don't be scared of who they are or their job title, or just send the email, send the text, because you never know who's going to respond.

And if they do respond, they'll go, yeah, let's have a call. And that's exactly what happened. I got on a call the next day, and two days, three days later, I was working with Arsenal Fan TV. And it again was a cycle of that. I was with those guys for about six months and within six months I was talking to Arsenal and then over the summer talk sport and.

That's just, it just, one thing unfolded onto the next thing, [00:17:00] and there was a lot of hard work in between, there were, and I've sent, I've sent five, six hundred LinkedIn messages to people, most of them haven't responded, but it's, it's, it's the hard work as well, and the graft that you have to put into your dreams, and what you want to do, and for every, You know, you hear a lot of people, especially when they're applying for jobs, they don't want to because they say for every 20, 30 people you respond to, you may get two responses and only one of them might go, let's have a call.

But do it. Do it. Because I'm a big believer of You know, if you can just walk away with one good connection, then that's all that matters. But that's actually what the podcast, and I'm sure, you know, you find as well, is you don't have to change hundreds and thousands of lives. Or you sometimes, you just need to change one.

Or you can, or just help one person, and it unfolds.

Jon: That's very true somebody said, and I think I get this right the harder I work, the luckier I get, which I think is, is actually what [00:18:00] you've just said, really, isn't it? That you've, it's hard work and banging on doors and so on and so forth, and eventually something happens, one door opens.

Talia: One door opens, and from that, another one opens, and another one opens. But also, it's a big understanding of, of, you know, again, in all walks of life, I find it's Because what I find is, even with my job and everything I've been through, it translates to so many different things. And like you said even earlier, everyone's stories are so different, but you can take so many different things.

And another thing is rejection. Again, anything in life. You have to, even now I'm like, it's so difficult, but you have to be able to embrace, I know it's crazy, but you have to be able to embrace rejection and mistakes in life, because you will never, in my opinion, improve, you will never find the right things that are meant for you in life, unless you make mistakes, or unless you get rejected, because it's, it's, I mean, it really is true.

Every rejection is just a redirection. Every closed door opens up another door. [00:19:00] Everything we say goodbye to or we let go of in life only gives us more space for more amazing things to happen. And I know there's probably some people being like, no, that's really daft, but it's not because I've seen it happen to me and I've seen it happen to other people and as much as it pains us when we're in darkness and rejection or, you know, those kind of emotions and you have to feel them, you have to feel those things and you have to be okay to sit with them for a while, you have to also know that it tends to mean something better is on its way, but as long as you, again, keep waking up, keep putting in the graft, keep doing the things that, That will help you achieve whatever it is that you want in life.

Jon: I completely agree with you. Unfortunately, not everybody does because they, it's a mindset thing, isn't it? If your mind isn't in the right place you can, you can run into all sorts of trouble. One of the things I want to talk to other people about as well is that if you've had something like a [00:20:00] stroke or a head injury either get one of those two will end up, can end up with aphasia.

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Jon: A lot of people I've spoken to are your age and. And they've had a problem with their brains, and I was thinking, well, they've got another, 40 years, whatever it is, of working time, what, what will they do? So one of the things I'm trying to get people to understand is that, that somebody who's got aphasia isn't finished.

They've got, they've got to do something differently because, because of their problem. But there's always a way around it. And listening to you, your [00:21:00] positivity, that's what people need to have. They need to think, oh, okay, so I can't speak, or I can't write, read, or write, whatever it happens to be. I can't do that, but I can do it in a different way.

I don't write very well these days but now I use technology to do a lot of the heavy lifting, you've worked in companies, so you know what, how it works.

 Would you say to someone who's thinking, well, look, okay, I've had this problem, whatever it might be, a head injury or, it could be a stroke and I've got this problem with my communication. What would you say to them if they were thinking about looking for a, either another job or, or getting back into some sort of work?

Talia: I would start definitely by saying just because of what you've been through or what you're currently going through or your situation, don't be afraid and don't be even ashamed because I know [00:22:00] for different things in life we can feel really ashamed with what might be going on and To, to not feel that way because it's you and it's your story and it, it, it's your journey and I think actually you hit the nail on the head with is finding different ways and different routes.

And different avenues and, for every a hundred goes that might not be working for you. Never, I know it's so cliche, but never give up because that hundred and one go could be the thing that works. That hundred and two go could be the thing that works. So it's a case of, I guess it goes back to the trialing and the failing and, and, and learning from mistakes because you have to keep going and you, you condition yourself into a way that suits you.

And I think that's what the important thing as well to know is you won't really ever be the same person before what happened to you. And it's learning to be okay with that and [00:23:00] learning to be able to accept that and actually letting that part of you go. Obviously you're physically, you know, you are the same human, let's say.

But a part of you In my opinion, a part of you dies that day. You know, not, you know, you're still obviously living and breathing, but a part of you, or your soul, dies that day in whatever happens. And it's being able to, to actually say, Okay, I'm, I'm, I'm being reborn, and there will be some things I can do from the past, but there are some things I can't do.

And not looking back on your past self and getting angry and upset that you can't do the same things, and actually going, Okay. This is this new me, this is this new person, this new human, this new soul that I'm going through. How can I change? And how can I adapt? And how can I find different things that now are part of this new person I am and make me who I am now?

You can find, you know, I know it's really, really difficult [00:24:00] to, to, to, to grasp, especially if you are in the depths of the darkness. Believe me, I get it. You know, I've, I burn every, I burn every aspect of my life to the ground, and I know what it's like to be sitting in the fire. Watching everyone, you know, get on with their lives and just sitting there like, I mean, I couldn't, I, I couldn't move, you know, I couldn't walk, I couldn't even get a glass of water on my own, it was, and I, so I know what it's like to just sit there and watch everyone else just get on with life and just be like, when do I get better and the hardest step is the first one to be like, I want to change my life.

But you can, you know, talking to people, finding different communities, whether it's strangers, whether it's therapists, whether it's friends, whether it's online communities, listening to podcasts. But you can start to change the person you were into someone brand new. And again, I don't think you should ever be afraid.

Of starting to be like, okay, I want to, I want to achieve my dreams and I want to change and I want to do things [00:25:00] and I think that's the important thing to know is, is, is the belief in yourself, whatever you're going through, the, the strength that you do have. We don't realize our own strength until strength is one of the only things we have.

You know, a lot of people have said to me, wow, I could never go through what you went through, Talia. And I think to myself, but you, you could. I wouldn't want you to, believe me. But you could, because we don't realize sometimes when, we don't realize the strength we have when it might be the only thing we're holding on to.

So I just think, yeah, like I said at the beginning, never be ashamed of yourself, never be afraid and You know, you've got to embrace who you are, and the acceptance is a huge thing, accepting, acceptance is a huge thing, but go after what you want in life, no matter what, and, and you are capable of doing anything when you can put your mind to what you want to do.

Jon: What do your friends think about you?

Talia: Oh no, you're making me blush. I'm like, [00:26:00] suddenly I got all nervous. What, because of everything I've been through?

Jon: Well, yeah, I mean, if you've got, if you've got the friends that you had before, or have you got new friends or. You know, what, what's, what happened there because you went off the, off the radar for a while, obviously, didn't you?

Talia: Yeah, I went off grid. I, I literally disappeared off the face of the earth for about eight, nine months. I deleted my old Instagram social media account. I really, yeah, I really disappeared. To be completely honest, you learn a lot about your friends when it's not just the dark times, it's also the good times.

You learn who's there for you through the dark times, but also who's there through the good times and when you start to exceed and you start to succeed and, and, and do really well. And in the three and a half years since my accident and what I consider my new life, 'cause I do, I, I, I feel like I'm brand new into the world.

You know, I'm only three and a half years old. , I'm not you know, late twenties, but I feel like I'm three and a half years old into this new life. And [00:27:00] I've met, like including yourself. We're sitting here, I've met think in the last three and a half years. More people and more amazing like minded people than I'd met leading up to my accident.

And I think that's actually a really, like you mentioned to me just before about an email that you got that changed everything for your podcast. And it's that as well. It's, I know a lot of the time we can sit there and we think this is our new normal and there's no way out. I'm never gonna meet someone or get a job or whatever it might be, but.

You know, if I look back on the last three and a half years, and I think about all the different people I've met as well, I'm just like, wow! You know, you, I'm a big believer of, you can literally get on the train, and you can meet someone that can change any aspect of your life. Any aspect. You know, anywhere you go, the coffee shop, the gym, the email, LinkedIn, like, anything.

And I've met people, you know, I've, [00:28:00] I've got, you know, I've got amazing friends, even from before my accident, I still have amazing friends. And I've met new people as well that I guess are so like minded to who I am now as well. And you, you start to find your tribe. That's it. I like that. You know, you find who your tribe is and you find who the right people are for you in life and who aren't, and you just, you just, yeah, you learn so much.

It's crazy, but you learn so much.

Jon: It's true. I mean, you tend to you tend to gravitate towards people, like minded people. I mean, you, one's friends are one's friends because, because of that your family is a different story. You know,

Talia: Yeah.

Jon: you can pick your friends, but not your relatives. And I think, obviously, that shapes not only your life, but it shapes, it shapes your, your friend's lives, I suppose, in, in a kind of, you know, reverse sort of situation.

I, [00:29:00] when I did the film a couple of years ago, I was talking to one, the girl who, she had a stroke when she was 22, and I asked her pretty much the same question, I said, what about your friends, and she said, well, some of them couldn't, didn't get it. I couldn't, I couldn't connect with them after she'd had her her, her stroke and her, her speech was fairly good, but she's pretty poor.

Another way, she couldn't read or write very well and so on and so forth. So she basically, I think she just got dropped by some of her friends and she said, well, you know, it's exactly what you said. You know who your friends actually are, don't you? Yeah, when you, when you, when 

something happens to you,

Talia: You really do and I know a lot of people say you learn who your friends are in the darker times but it's really important to even know who your friends are in the happier successful times because that also reveals who real, proud, you know, [00:30:00] authentic friends are because you start to see who's still there, and who, when you might be happier and, and lighter and Who really, and who starts to wither away, and who does drop off.

And I think like you were talking about her, the girl you mentioned, and with myself as well, is we might start to look into things and be like, especially if we're going through something as well, what's wrong with me, and this is so bad that they don't want to be around me because of x, y, z. But it kind of goes back to the self acceptance and the confidence in yourself, is that a lot of the time, people aren't doing things because you've done something.

wrong or right. They're actually acting on their own insecurities or their own egos or their own reasons. But a lot of the times we have no idea, we don't realize this. And especially like growing up for me, I could never understand sometimes when friends weren't there. And a lot of the times It might not actually be us, it might be, it might be someone else doing something, or it might be someone else's [00:31:00] ego, or someone else's insecurities, and again, comes back to the light and the dark times in our life is, it's really important to sometimes even say, okay, if this friend isn't here for whatever the reason is.

Instead of being like, what did I do wrong? You know, if you did do something wrong, then fair enough. But if you can't, and you don't know why, and it's like, but what did I do wrong? And this friend isn't relating, or they're not being there for me. A lot of the time it's It's not actually you, it's a friend in their own problems, and you've gotta, it goes back to maybe meeting so many different people in the last few years and finding who real friends are, as you just learn so much more about people, and yourself as well, when you're going through something.

Yeah. So, what about the future for Talia? Yeah, 

You know, I'm just going to mention one thing, and it goes into the future, and I just thought about it. About, I don't know, this, to the, what, just, just kind of picture this scene. So this, this actually happened. So [00:32:00] I've just had my accident. I'm in the back of an ambulance in a stretcher.

Talia: We get to the hospital, and I'm being wheeled into the hospital, just out of the ambulance, on my stretcher. I don't know how long ago my accident was, 20, 30 minutes, 40, I couldn't tell you the time. And I'm on the stretcher in the reception of the hospital, and I'm with a friend of mine. And I looked up at my friend, bearing in mind I knew this wasn't going to be an easy journey, what I was about to go through, I just watched my leg buckle under my body weight.

And I looked up at my friend, and from somewhere inside my soul or my heart, I looked up at my friend and I went everything happens for a reason and they started laughing and they looked at me and they went can you tell me what this reason is and I went I don't know yet. But I'm going to figure it out.

And then the onslaught of, you know, darkness happened for months onwards. But I guess there was this part of positivity or optimism that I knew that this was happening for me. Not to me, it was happening for me. So where my future goes, yeah, I've got plans and [00:33:00] ideas. But I'm also someone that, and I think it's important to not always have such cemented plans.

Because being open to the, you know, the possibility of you never know who you're going to meet every day. Email might come through or you never know where life's gonna take you and I get excited by that. It's terrifying, especially as a freelancer sometimes. But it's exciting and I love what I'm doing with the broadcasting and the presenting.

I love sport I want to continue the podcast because I love it. I just, I love talking to people like I'm sure you do too. I love hearing stories and I love sharing the stories. And I like learning as well. I love learning from people. And there's ways of combining the presenting, the sport, the broadcasting with mental health and the podcast.

And, you know, I'm starting to do more things, and I want to do more things in regards to speaking and talking and mental health. So, I'm excited for the future. Yeah, it's scary, but I'm excited because, the world really is full of endless possibilities [00:34:00] once you start to, again, it's a mindset thing, but once you start to kind of see it, so.

You

Jon: You're a very positive person. Presumably you've always been like this, though. Is that, that, that, is that true? Or have you, you brought this on too?

Talia: you know, I don't think I have always been like this. I look back and I really don't think I have. That, you know, to be completely honest with you, my accident, there was a time, and I never forget this, so no, I haven't always been, but there was a time in my life where, and I never forget this moment, 

I was sitting on the train in London, and I felt completely invisible. I felt, this was before my accident I felt completely invisible, and I wanted to be anyone in the world except myself. I remember it very well. I wanted to be anyone in the world except myself. So, I can't always say I have been an extremely positive, no, because I've understood a lot of darkness.

You know, I've seen the darkest corners of, you know, every aspect of my [00:35:00] mind. Even before my accident. You know, mental health. I know some people do, like, kind of things. Mental health people do and don't get it. Some people have no idea and they don't get it. And the people that do get it, they understand it.

And it's something that I've, definitely been battling for a really long time. But then having my accident, hitting rock bottom and five billion feet below, burning every aspect of my life to the ground gave me the, gave me the chance to go, right, I want to rebuild my body and I want to rebuild my mind.

I want to rebuild my life. And that's what I did and continue to do. It's never, I don't think it's ever There's never an end point. There's never a finish line. You are constantly evolving, constantly learning, constantly changing. But I guess there's probably always been that positivity and optimism inside, even if it was like really, really, really deep because of what I mentioned about the hospital.

I would just have my accident and I even came out with, everything happens for [00:36:00] a reason. So,

Jon: shit happens.

Talia: yeah, literally, literally, I was like, it's happening, but I'm gonna be okay.

Jon: Yeah, yeah.

Talia: But yeah, I've definitely become a lot more optimistic and positive since everything. It's a mind, it's, it's a mind, life is a mindset thing.

And I'm not saying I'm positive every day, believe me, believe me. I cry a lot, I love to cry. But, and I'll be open in saying that, you know, and I feel all my dark and light emotions but look, life, in life, it's yin and yang. You don't get light without darkness and you don't get darkness without light and I've accepted that now.

Jon: That's fantastic. It's been great talking to you. It really has. And you're a very, passionate person about what you do, which is, which is, rubs off. I'll go and Make a few films now, shall I? Ha ha ha.

Talia: Ah, if you want. Oh no,

Jon: That'sgot me going. So, one, one last big question, I suppose, [00:37:00] is Are you going to beat Liverpool before they get the title?

Talia: Oh no, how could you do that to me? Well, look, I have to be honest. And I know this is going to rub salt into wounds and I obviously, depending on when this goes out, but we are the day after the Champions League. Liverpool left the Champions League last night. I'm not gonna, , jinx anything, but I, you know, we'll see what happens.

Do I think we'll catch them in the Premier League? Mathematically we can, but I just don't, look, there's hope and optimism, we might, you never know, we might, 

Jon: Just incidentally, my first flat I had was on Highbury Hill.

Talia: Really? I

Jon: And it was opposite what is now the entrance, the Emirates was at the bottom of the road I could see it from my flat. Yeah. And I'm a spur supporter as well.

No,

Talia: Oh no, that's not, that's never a good idea.

Jon: We talk about, we talk about pain.

Talia: Spurs fans, I think they understand pain[00:38:00] 

Jon: They do, they live with it every season. Anyway, we'll stop that, I think. Thank you, Talia, for doing this. It's, it's, it's really good. 

Talia: Thank you, Jonathan. I really appreciate it. And you too. Keep me updated with everything, like, you're doing. . Thank you. It's been amazing to speak to you. Thank you

Jon: Thank you very much. Thank you. Goodbye Bye now.

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