The Road to Courageous Living

Learning Audacious Self-Love and the Skills to Harness Personal Success

On the day I was diagnosed with Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia, nearly five years ago, my world as I knew it came crashing down. Everything I believed to be true, nearly everything I believed to be a priority, nearly everything I believed I needed to strive for to be successful came into question.

In the weeks leading up to my diagnosis, I had been invalidated, my concerns minimized, dismissed and questioned, only to find myself sitting in a cancer center hours after hearing the dreaded words, You have cancer, receiving my first dose of chemotherapy drugs. If that wasn’t bad enough, I had also come to learn that my condition had deteriorated so quickly and severely that had I not insisted on medical attention when I did, I likely would have died of a brain bleed the next day. Quite frankly, just because I made it to treatment still didn’t guarantee I would make it to my next birthday. This was made clear by my new doctor friend who ended a sentence with, “…but first, you need to make it through the first ten days of treatment.”

Sitting in that hospital bed, being checked over and over again for signs of bleeding in my brain, I thought about how unhappy I was. I had spent my life believing that achieving success meant following a specific formula. It was something like, work as hard as you can to make lots of money so you can have lots of expensive things and then you’ll be happy. At times, the knowing that it was wrong bubbled up but I pushed it back down because I had worked too damn hard to become that version of myself – the version I thought I was supposed to be. Yet, at that moment, when the likelihood of my continued existence was bleak, I could no longer deny what I had always known. That everything I believed would make me feel happy and fulfilled was total bullshit.

As the nurse who had been assigned to me on that very traumatic day stood beside me busting chemotherapy pills out of their individually wrapped packages with safety gloves on to protect her skin, I proclaimed, “You know what, I’ve lived my entire life doing the things I believed I needed to do to be successful and I realize now it was all a lie. When we’re done here, I’m going to write a book and tell the whole world. They need to know that they don’t have to live by anyone’s standards but their own.” To which the nurse replied, “That sounds great, but maybe let’s just get through today first.” I thought that was a totally fair response so I mentally wrote a note and stuck it in the back pocket of my mind and promised myself, that’s exactly what I would do when I kicked cancers ass.

December 8th, 2022 is the five year anniversary of that inauspicious day. Each year, as the days lead up to my cancerversary, memories flood in and I painfully relive my worst actualized nightmare; facing death. But this year is different – this year we will celebrate because this year, I plan to hear the best words anyone can hear after hearing the worst possible news ever. This year, we celebrate my upcoming discharge from treatment and the words, You’re cured.

But this is not the only celebration of the season! I simply could not wait to share! I am in the final stages of preparing to launch the book I promised myself five years ago that I would write. I’m proud to introduce, The Road to Courageous Living: Learning Audacious Self-Love and the Skill to Harness Personal Success.

Having spent years doubting my value and purpose, feeling like I never quite “fit the mould”, I decided that if the universe granted me the opportunity for a second chance, I would live it on my own terms, and I have held true to my word.

The Road to Courageous Living shares my journey of breaking down harmful thought patterns and beliefs and how I built new ones that have led to the development of audacious self-love and courageous decision-making. In the book, I also share the personal strategy I developed to help me create a future I never could have imagined possible.

The book officially launches on October 25th on Amazon and Kindle. Look out for the pre-order coming on October 18th for the eBook only. You’ll have to wait until the official launch to order a paperback copy. I know, the torture!!! I can’t wait to share the finished product with you!!!

Until next time, take good care. We’ve got this.