Under Construction: Home Renovation, Heartbreak, Career Chaos

After an unexpected eight-month hiatus, Leslie is back—and a lot happened while she was gone.

In this comeback episode of Busy Gallivanting, Leslie and her best friend Christina unpack a season of home renovation, career instability, burnout, heartbreak, and major life changes. While Leslie was literally building a house from the ground up, she was also rebuilding other parts of her life—and learning that sometimes everything can feel under construction at the same time.

Leslie gets candid about what it was like to build a home from scratch while working full-time, managing family expectations, navigating contractors, and making hundreds of decisions about everything from floor plans to bathroom tile. The renovation became a full-time job of its own and taught her some hard lessons about advocating for herself and trusting her instincts.

Then came the career uncertainty: layoffs, changing managers, workplace instability, and the kind of decision fatigue that made even her favorite hobbies feel exhausting. Leslie shares why she ultimately stepped away from the podcast instead of forcing herself to create through burnout.

And then there was heartbreak. Leslie opens up about falling hard for a long-distance relationship, grieving the loss of someone who made her feel truly seen, returning to therapy, leaning on her friendships, and slowly figuring out what healing and dating look like on the other side of a breakup.

Along the way, she rediscovered the joy of analog hobbies and creative projects—including leatherworking, painting, scrapbooking, ceramics, markets, and junk journaling—as a way to spend less time on screens and reconnect with herself in an increasingly digital and AI-driven world.

This is a conversation about rebuilding your life, starting over, navigating burnout and heartbreak, and becoming someone new without having all the answers. No perfect transformation story—just an honest look at what happens when your home, career, relationships, routines, and sense of self are all under construction at once.

If you're going through a major life transition, career change, breakup, burnout, or simply trying to figure out what comes next, this one's for you.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• ⁠The Hub Studios⁠
• ⁠Houss Freya⁠
• ⁠Akashic Allures (Ari)⁠

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📍 WHERE TO FIND LESLIE:

📸 Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠@busygallivantingpodcast⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠@lesliemaclang⁠⁠⁠

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📺 YouTube: Busy Gallivanting Podcast

📩 Email: ⁠⁠⁠busygallivantingpodcast@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠

🌍 Website: ⁠⁠⁠busygallivantingpodcast.com