I feel sometimes like this blog is focused on the same topics over and over again—not in a bad way just in a way that I do think at times I can be repetitive. The topics I share on are so important and in a way helping other women who are also the 1 in 8 so I am committed to continue sharing.

I am someone who is tenacious and I do not give up easily if at all. I have fought for many things in my life before I was told “you have cancer” so it was not really that big of a deal to focus and get things done in a way that was like “befitting” my fuck it all attitude.

You see, I am irreverent and funny and sometimes just weird but one thing I am not is overly emotional. I am kind of an ice princess and keep my feelings locked away deep down. Why do I do this? I do not know. It is just the way I am.

Maybe because I have seen some shit. Nothing as bad as maybe others have seen but still, I was an adult way before I was 18. I was, I think, born an adult. So I just forced my way through cancer the way I forced myself through some other life experiences. With my eyes open and cringing all the way while keeping it all close to my chest.

Then, I started sharing my story and a lot of things changed for me. I became more open to my emotions, more involved with my story and my authentic self. I am someone who always has tried to help others in ways big and small and now I find myself wanting to help people in even bigger ways.

One of my biggest flaws (and trust, I have a bunch) is that I want to do EVERYTHING at once. I want to rock out my ideas into full-blown execution mode right away and as someone who spent 10+ years as a project manager planning and executing on multimillion-dollar projects and who is licensed in project management (seriously, there is such a thing—it is called the PMP—Project Management Professional and I have been one since 2004!) would know better that things like this, initiatives, launch and promotion, etc., does not happen overnight. So why then am I all over myself to get these ideas and stuff out there like yesterday?

I know I can help people and I know how to do it and why I am doing it but I need to lay off myself on the insane timeline I have in my head. My focus is on rolling out content specifically for our cancer survivor (and thriver) community for building their careers after cancer. This is my big pitch to fulfilling a need that I do not think is quite met yet even with the various resources already in existence.

Here is why:

1. My experience is more specific in that I have been a career expert, having written books on being entrepreneurial in your job search, career readiness and having provided training, seminars and helping individual clients that the next step in their careers. I have another blog all about careers. Oh and it is more specific also because I have been trying to get back into a career post-cancer and it is all so recent.

2. I have the platform and technical know-how to share my message beyond the written word—I mean, the books I have are all helpful but not really specific around our issues of having new bodies, new hair, new perspectives and needs post cancer. I know how to present and how to teach having been an educator since 2003—I can break down lessons into easy pieces and launch training via the web using video that feels like one on one help.

3. I can also provide one on one help to really work through the issues of confidence, preparedness and career planning that are so unique to our needs.

That #3 is so important—those topics of confidence, preparedness and career planning are the subtopics of my first webinar—I have created the slides already! Now, I need to record a test run to see if I really know what I want to say. DO not laugh but I had to re-read the books I wrote because I feel like I am so far removed from what I wrote (even though it was just early 2016 that I wrote and published the books- a lot has happened since then—mainly chemo).

So I am just plugging along and thinking and trying to be kind to myself and my new priorities—I want to be able to still have my “me” time—exercising, resting and recovering while also finding work and building out this outreach capability utilizing my skills and talents to help us all get our career after cancer game on point.

What do you think? For more info, check out my page on this initiative, Work Readiness for Cancer Survivors.