For a woman who has always considered herself healthy, strong, and fit, navigating cancer for the second time in three years has been a real punch to the gut.
Since July 2025, my life has been a blur of doctor visits, blood draws, pre-op, post-op, radiation treatment… and the quiet courage required to keep showing up for it all.
Friends and doctors call me a rock-star recuperator and a healing machine. And while I appreciate their confidence, the truth is simple:
This has been confronting in ways I never expected.
A total hysterectomy is no small thing. There’s the physical healing, of course—but also the emotional echoes that move through your body, your identity, your memories, and your sense of the future, all at once.
One of my unexpected comforts has been binge-watching Call the Midwife.
Something about witnessing the lives of women in 1960s East London—their resilience, their complicated choices, their courage in the face of limited support—reminds me that women have always done impossible things. Often quietly. Often with grace they didn’t know they had.
Between Call the Midwife and listening to Helen Reddy belt out “I Am Woman,” I’ve done a lot of reflecting on what this chapter has brought forward for me.
And because the Universe apparently wanted to add a touch of cosmic humor, our new puppy had her own medical milestone this August. She was spayed… and rebounded so quickly she could have earned her own pair of ruby slippers.
For a few days, we joked that our home had officially become The House of Recovery, complete with two patients comparing notes on naps, meds, and who was getting more sympathy treats.
(She won. Paw-down.)
And yet—even in this unexpected chapter—silver linings have made themselves known.
I am deeply grateful to have a business that allows me to serve clients who genuinely value my contributions to their success. Without that meaningful work, it would have been easy to slip into “oh woe is me” mode during this time.
Instead, something surprising happened.
I’ve done some of the best work of my life during this season. I’ve received feedback from clients and workshop participants that fills me with pride and quiet confidence.
Even more unexpected?
Somewhere along the way, a whole new gear of creativity revealed itself—the kind that arrives only when life shakes you awake and whispers, “Make this next chapter count.”
This chapter has demanded ruthless clarity.
I’ve said no to misaligned opportunities.
I’ve stopped chasing more for the sake of more.
I’ve reclaimed white space on my calendar for the things that make life feel like life—piano, walks, laughter, connection, recovery, and genuine joy.
I’m clearer than ever that more is not better.
Better is better.
Truer is better.
Aligned is better.
After surviving cancer twice, I don’t have time for anything that isn’t true.
I’ve stopped chasing milestones and started chasing meaning.
So here I am—healing, creating, refining, releasing, and allowing this chapter to shape me… but not define me.
Strength doesn’t mean invulnerability.
It means honesty.
Support.
Discernment.
And the willingness to choose what matters most.
And what matters most now is joy, creativity, sisterhood, and living my legacy in real time—not someday.
These are the regrets that will not be part of my legacy:
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Wishing I had worked less and lived more
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Regretting that I didn’t live a life true to myself
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Not having the courage to express my feelings
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Losing touch with people I loved
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Forgetting to allow myself to be happier
My doctors tell me my recurrence risk is about 2%.
My intention is to make every moment count as I navigate my own next magnificent chapter.
If that intention resonates with you, I have two gifts to share:
Your Next Magnificent Chapter™ Journal – no opt in required
Ruby Slipper Next-Chapter Navigator™ Custom GPT
Use these two resources together for best results. They’re designed to help you begin a conversation with yourself—one that can genuinely change the trajectory of your life and work for the better.
If you explore them, I’d love to hear what emerges for you as you shape your next magnificent chapter.
And if curiosity about the Ruby Slipper Collective is stirring, let’s talk.
My aim is to begin this intimate cohort of accomplished, awake, and amazing women—each in some stage of life or business reinvention—in late January 2026.
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