Listen to “The Write Mindset, Ep. 25: Writing Life Lessons from Breast Cancer” or read the transcript below! You can also find this episode wherever you prefer to listen to podcasts! Our favorite place is via Apple Podcasts!
You’re listening to The Write Mindset Podcast with Racquel Henry, this is episode 25! This podcast is sponsored by and associated with my writing studio, Writer’s Atelier. I’m an author, editor, writing coach, and former part-time professor who believes that mindset work is the cornerstone of writing success.
Hi, all! Welcome back to another episode! I know the question that’s probably been circling your head has been: is this podcast dead? Let me just say, nope. No it is not. I had an extreme circumstance come up that had to do with my health and decided that some things had to be dropped temporarily to focus on health. As much as this podcast means to me, I had to let it go for a bit. I’m going to speak openly about what happened, and while I always try to spin the positive from not-so-great situations, if you’re triggered by illnesses such as cancer, this is where you might want to skip to a new episode—or listen to an old one.
Last fall, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. To be honest, it shook me all the way up at first. I remember getting the news and so many different things running through my mind. Mainly, was I going to live? One of the scariest things in the world is being diagnosed with an illness and not knowing anything at all about how much it has progressed. I won’t get into every single detail, but I feel lucky to say that I was diagnosed at stage one. Essentially, I had caught it at just the right time. I know this platform has nothing to do with breast cancer or any other illnesses. But let me just take a minute to say to everyone: make sure you get your regular checks and that you’re paying close attention to your body and what it’s telling you. I found my lump on accident. I don’t even want to think about what that might have meant for my health if I had found it any later.
As unlucky as cancer is, I was lucky to have found it early. Likely, finding it early, saved my life.
Obviously, I’ve been away. I’ve been through six rounds of chemo, surgery, and I just wrapped three weeks of radiation. Additionally, I’ll be in treatment through next April. The good news is that I just got word that I’m officially cancer free. I still have all these things I need to do, but there’s no cancer inside of me. I cannot even begin to tell you all how relieved I am.
As I mentioned, I don’t want to take too much time going through every gory detail. But I did learn some things from this cancer fight. It’s taught me a lot about life and writing and I thought it would be the perfect share for my comeback episode.
So here are all the things that breast cancer taught me that will be relevant to my writing life and career.
Number one, take care of yourself. You’ve likely heard the phrase “You can’t pour from an empty cup so much that it’s become a cliché. But it’s true. I worked. And worked. And worked. And then worked some more. I kept working until I landed myself in a place where I couldn’t work at that pace. I’m not the kind of person who can just sit still. My friends know this is true about me. But suddenly I was in a place where I couldn’t work freely. I had no choice but to slow down and take it easy. To be honest, I’m still in the place, though it’s less frequent. I was at the point where if I didn’t feel well, then, it could cost me my life. It was frustrating, but it was humbling too. One of the things that went through my mind when I got the diagnosis was, that I have so many things I still want to write, what if I don’t make it? If I want to write all the things, then I had to take the necessary time to heal, i.e. recharge. So, if you’ve been chasing that writing dream and running yourself ragged, this is your wake-up call to slow it down and make sure you take care of yourself. I promise, everything will still be there after you take whatever time necessary to care for yourself.
Number two, was to not give a you-know-what because I didn’t have time to waste. Take the risk. Life is indeed short. I spent a lot of time letting people roll over me. It’s kind of embarrassing to admit—who wants to admit they let people take advantage of them? But being sick has somehow given me this newfound courage. I guess maybe because I realized I could have come really close to dying? Not to get all morbid on all of you. But life is so, so fragile. And when I was early in the diagnosis and didn’t know the stage, etc. all I could keep thinking was that I didn’t get to do everything I wanted. I still had so many things on my list! And I also thought about all the time I had wasted. Writing means more to me than anything else. And although I had really taken my work seriously, and gotten even more serious over the last couple years, there were still many times when I didn’t put it first. I’m still in the process of figuring everything out, and picking up pieces while the dust settled, and that includes changes that I need to make, but it’s given me a lot of perspective. I don’t want to waste any more time giving a you-know-what. I want to take risks and I want to do the things I want to do because quite simply, tomorrow isn’t guaranteed.
Number three, I’m stronger than I think. Once I had a plan in place from my doctor on how I was going to be treated, my mind went to a different question—which was: How am I going to get through this? I told this story briefly on my Instagram, but I remember one of my lowest points was after my first chemo treatment. One of the things that I struggled with was my appetite. Not only did I not feel like eating, but A LOT of things that I normally ate, repulsed me. I’d think that I could eat something, then when it was placed in front me, I either got sick or couldn’t eat it. That happened a day after my first treatment, and I sat at the dinner table and just started crying hysterically. My parents were with me, and I felt so bad that my mother had put in the effort, and there I was unable to eat it. I asked them: How was I going to get through this? It was only the first treatment. I still had five more rounds.
But you know what? I got through it. I took my doctor’s advice and I got through it one day at a time. I had some very dark moments, but my family was a great support system and I made it. Now I know I can get through anything. That rejection from the editor? Ha! That bad review? Please! If I’m stronger than I think, then I’m willing to bet that you are too. So whatever it is you’re dealing with as a writer, remember, you’re stronger than you think and you can get through anything. Nothing is permanent.
Number four, you must have a level of faith. Here’s where my mindset work was put to good use. I was telling my sister that I felt so lucky to have been studying mindset work and have certain principles of it in place when this whole thing started. Getting through this battle is not just a physical one. It’s a mental one as well. My father reminded me of something at the beginning of this journey. My uncle was a colon cancer survivor, and he had (upon diagnosis) said to my father: The way I see it, if there was even a one percent chance I could survive, then that meant it was possible, and I was going to be in that one percent. I adopted that same mentality. And I was going to do whatever it took—which meant following my medical plan and listening to doctors. That didn’t mean that my mindset didn’t waver. It still does, actually. I can try to explain how dark things get, and the depths of dark that your mind goes to, but it wouldn’t be enough. But on those days, I leaned on my support system and my mindset principles. I said affirmations, I journaled, and I did things that brought me joy. I chose to focus on the good, instead of the bad. My parallel for writing? If you don’t have faith or belief in your work, it’s going to be really hard to make it to where you want to be. You have to believe, even when it’s hard. There will be dark moments, but if you go back to mindset principles, you can restore faith in your work and yourself. And always remember the good parts about writing. When you put your energy into that, you’re going to keep getting that back.
Number five, Community is essential. I mentioned my support system throughout this episode. And what I learned was that they were a critical piece to this journey. I honestly don’t know how I would have come through it without them. And again I mentioned it on my social media, but SO MANY friends sent me things in the mail. Many friends reached out to check in regularly. I cannot tell you how incredibly loved and supported I felt the entire time. It honestly kept me going and it picked me up on those down days. It taught me that this was just as important to my writing life as well. Of course, I’d always been an advocate for community, but this solidified how important it is. You need writer friends in your corner supporting you and picking you up on those tougher days. They’ll keep you going, they’ll inspire your craft, and they’ll strengthen your mindset. Just make sure you’re selecting genuine people who truly love and support you!
Number six is more of a reminder that anything is possible. If it’s possible to heal, then what else did I have to lose regarding every other aspect of life? Think about how big that is: it’s possible to heal from cancer. Something as major as cancer. So if that’s possible, then writing that book is possible. Landing that agent is possible. Publishing the book is possible. Making it onto that list is possible. Winning that writing award is possible. Anything is possible with the right tools—like all the things I’ve talked about in this episode.
Life, including writing life, is full of many unknowns, but I must say, I’m choosing to focus on the exciting part of that, instead of the fearful part of that. I hope you do the same. I know this episode is slightly different from what I normally record, but I had to share. Maybe it might help someone else in a similar situation. Maybe it might help you finally go all the way to that big writing dream. Maybe it will simply give you perspective. At any rate, thanks for listening! I had a few episodes in backlog, so we’ve got some really cool guests coming up that I’m excited about! Can’t wait for you all to hear them! And I truly appreciate you all sticking around. Here’s to much more writing growth for all of us!
Thanks, as always, for listening you all. If you’re enjoying The Write Mindset I encourage you to subscribe, leave us a review, and please share. You can also check out Writer’s Atelier at writersatelier.com or on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube. If you’re interested in joining our membership, you can do so through our accountability and group coaching program, The Write Gym. Special thanks to our podcast editor, Alli Nesbit. Take care and Happy writing life!
