Lora Cheadle is a former insurance defense attorney who traded burnout for a career built on wellness, boundaries, and helping high achievers navigate betrayal in both personal and professional life. In this episode, she explains why many lawyers mislabel their exhaustion as burnout when it is actually the rupture of unmet expectations, unmanaged stress, and years of self-neglect. Lora shares how fitness, neuroplasticity, and coaching transformed her life and fuel the work she does today.
Attorney turned wellness coach Lora Cheadle explains why many lawyers experience betrayal instead of burnout and how to rebuild confidence, clarity, and boundaries.
Lora Cheadle grew up in Colorado in a family filled with lawyers and judges, although no one ever pushed her toward the profession. Instead, she independently felt a strong pull toward justice and wanted the ability to advocate for what was right. She earned her law degree and began her career at a boutique insurance defense firm in California before moving back to Colorado to work in-house. She enjoyed the intellectual challenge of law but quickly discovered that the pressure, pace, and expectations of practice could overwhelm even the most driven lawyers.
“I have a passion for justice. I wanted to make things right. I felt like the best way to do that was to go to law school," shares Lora Cheadle on You Are A Lawyer.
As her career progressed, Lora faced a convergence of stressors. She had two children less than two years apart, her husband worked out of state half of each month, and several grandparents entered hospice at the same time. She pushed through it for years until she realized she was drowning in responsibility and no longer able to serve clients or her family. That breaking point set the stage for a profound personal and professional transformation.
While many around her questioned her interest in law, Lora remained committed to the idea that becoming a lawyer would give her the tools to make meaningful change. She did not come from a traditional pipeline of legal encouragement. In fact, she often heard doubt instead of reassurance. Her desire to pursue justice and help people navigate difficult situations ultimately outweighed the hesitation she heard from others.
“A lot of people said, are you sure? And it was like, yes. I want to advocate for justice and I want to help people make things right," explains Lora Cheadle on Episode 224 of You Are a Lawyer.
She began her career in litigation before moving into an in-house role that offered slightly more stability. Even then, she found the work heavy, intense, and challenging to manage as her personal responsibilities grew. Those experiences eventually informed her belief that lawyers must learn to identify their needs and protect their boundaries long before they reach a breaking point.
Lora’s career is a compelling example of how legal training can expand far beyond traditional practice. After leaving full-time law, she blended her background with wellness, somatic stress relief, and neuroplasticity to build a consulting business supporting high achievers. Her work draws on the exact skills she developed as a lawyer. She advocates for clients navigating infidelity, helps them understand legal processes, and translates emotionally charged experiences into manageable steps.
“There is not one career out there that will not be benefited by your legal knowledge," shares Lora Cheadle on Episode 224 of You Are a Lawyer.
She works with physicians, accountants, lawyers, and other intense professionals who struggle with overachievement and under-boundary-setting. Whether she is helping clients review marital agreements or preparing them for legal realities without representing them directly, her legal training remains essential to her coaching and consulting work.
Long before she transitioned out of traditional practice, Lora taught step aerobics as a creative outlet and source of joy. That passion evolved into a broader commitment to wellness, somatic health, and stress reduction. As she explored posture, breathing, and body-based healing, she recognised how deeply physical habits affect emotional and cognitive performance. This curiosity led her to study nutrition and later become a clinical hypnotherapist so she could support the neuroplasticity work her clients needed.
“Fitness was my respite. People need to somatically process stress. Good posture makes a difference in the way we can breathe and in our brain functioning,” Lora Cheadle expresses in Episode 224 of You Are a Lawyer.
She eventually built Life Choreography Coaching and Advocacy, a business inspired by the idea that life, like dance, requires both choreography and improvisation. Lora also wrote It’s Not Burnout, It’s Betrayal, a book explaining how professionals can use her Fuel Up framework to identify ruptured expectations, process emotional overwhelm, and rebuild their sense of identity after chronic stress.
Lora is licensed to practice in the states of California & Colorado.
This episode is produced by Skip The Boring Stuff, a podcast strategy company for business owners and creatives.
