What a Cancer Scare Taught Me About Life, Health, and Entrepreneurship
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[00:00:00]
What would you change if you found out your time might be limited?
Steve Jobs famously used to ask himself this question every morning. If today were my last day on Earth, would I want to spend it doing what I'm about to do? ~I've also heard that ~Les Brown used to ask people, if you only had six months to live, what would you do differently? ~And ~then he would hit them with, well, you don't even know if you have six months.
So what are you gonna do differently? I think these are questions that we ponder philosophically sometimes and wonder about, ~and ~we think, well, I would change this or I change that. ~Or ~maybe we get ~a little bit of a, ~a nudge at a personal development seminar. We hear one of these stories and ~we ~think, yes, I'm gonna live my life differently.
And then you go on living your life exactly the way you were before. What if you actually had that [00:01:00] moment when you were faced with the uncertainty of your life, what if you had to come face to face with your mortality? Would you change then?
I recently had such a shift in perspective, ~if you will, ~in my life. I had a scare. I had a really big cancer scare, and it's so weird for me to even talk about it because still feels surreal to me how close I got. To potentially facing the end of my life or a very different looking life. So spoiler alert, this is not your typical success in mind episode.
We're going a little bit heavy today, but ~that's, ~that's where we are. And we're gonna talk about some tough topics today.
Welcome to [00:02:00] Success in Mind, the podcast for driven entrepreneurs ready to rewire their thinking, to create success on their terms. I'm Teri Holland and I will help you to do just that through high performance coaching and hypnotherapy. I'm here to help you overcome fear, ditch the self-doubt, and tap into unstoppable clarity.
If you're ready to align your mindset with your goals, you are in the right place. Let's get your success locked in.
~So last August. I~
~last August,~
last August, I started waking up in the middle of the night with this panicked feeling and a loud voice in my head saying, Teri, go get a mammogram. ~Go get a mammogram. And ~this was happening night after night, ~this loud, booming voice saying, Teri, go get a mammogram. And ~I would be up in an absolute panic, my heart racing, ~thinking about it.~
~So ~after several nights of this, I told my husband and he said, Teri, go book your mammogram. So I did and I was [00:03:00] so scared. And the funny thing is, is that I wasn't scared that I could have breast cancer. I wasn't afraid of getting results back. I was afraid of the test itself. I was worried it would hurt.
Now for any of you ladies listening, if you have that same fear and you've avoided getting one because you're afraid of the test because you've heard other women say that it's painful, or you've heard the jokes and the memes about the squishier boob and it hurts, ~or it's, it's, ~it's fine. It's really not that bad.
So if that's the thing that's stopping you from getting tested, listen to me, it is not that bad. It's very fast. It's uncomfortable for me. Not painful. Not painful at all. And I have heard that it makes a difference of what part of your cycle you're on. So don't get it close to your period, then it might be more [00:04:00] painful.
~Um, ~I have scheduled mine, ~thankfully, to be ~in the first half of my cycle and did not find it painful, a little ~uncomfortable, and when I stay ~uncomfortable, I'm not one of those people who's saying it was uncomfortable, but it was actually excruciating. No, it was, ~it was literally ~just uncomfortable, and that was it.
So don't let that stop you from getting one. ~So ~I booked my mammogram and ~I ~went in September. ~That was ~the first appointment I could get. ~Oh, and I got that. ~I got that letter in the mail after. ~Now here ~there's a flaw. ~There's, well, there are ~several flaws in our medical system in Canada, and this was one of them.
I got a letter in the mail saying We need you to come back. We need to do a follow-up mammogram and take an ultrasound. No explanation, no call from my doctor, just a letter ~in the mail ~saying you need to come back in. ~And so I was pretty freaked out and ~I called my doctor and she was like, it's routine.
It's completely routine [00:05:00] because it's your first time. They don't have any previous records to compare to. Plus, I have a strong family history of breast cancer. My mom has had it three times and survived it three times. ~So. ~Because of those two things she said, ~they just, ~they just want you to come back to take a closer look.
That's all. And when I went back in, the technician was really great and she explained that to me ~too ~and said, it's just because it's your first time. I really wish that on those letters they would say, if it's your first time. We just wanna be thorough or that even at your first mammogram, if they told you, because you have a strong family history and ~because you, ~we have no records to compare to.
It's your first time. We are likely gonna call you back for a second look. That would be reassuring. But they didn't do that. So I was a little bit panicked and I went in for the second one ~and. ~My doctor called [00:06:00] me after and said, there's an area of concern. They don't think it's cancer, ~but there are. ~But
there are some tissues that look different that they want to keep an eye on, so they'd like to see you back in six months for a follow up. So I went back again in April, expecting it to be totally routine. I went back, did another mammogram, did another ultrasound, and they said ~if, ~if there's anything of concern, your doctor will know by tomorrow.
Well, the next day my doctor called and told me there was a mass. ~That ~it looked concerning, it looked abnormal. They were concerned about the size and shape, and I had to go for a biopsy. ~So ~here is where that perspective shift began. [00:07:00] Suddenly it went from being this just routine thing. They're just being cautious.
They're being careful to now there's something there and that word mass. Echoed in my head ~that there was a mass, and then ~I had to wait several weeks to get a biopsy.
~Oh, ~even just sharing this with you now, even though I know that I'm okay, I can feel that tension and anxiety rising back up in my body.
It was hard. Just this whole uncertainty of not knowing. So then I finally got the biopsy appointment and I went in. I was really scared that it would hurt, but ~I had, ~I have to say, I had the kindest nurse and the kindest radiologist. Who were just so gracious and so supportive. I told them that I was afraid that it was gonna hurt.
They gave me so much reassurance. The nurse stood beside [00:08:00] me the whole time. Actually, I'm not entirely sure if she was a nurse. She might've been an ultrasound technician either way. ~Who? ~Whoever she was, she was wonderful, and she kept a hand on me the whole time for reassurance. The radiologist, he explained everything he was doing, and then
~really wonderful. ~He said, Teri, do you know why they wanna take a biopsy? And I said, well, because there's a mass. And he said, well, yes there is. But it's because the ultrasound isn't showing us a clear enough image of what that ~mask ~could be. And then he said something that no one had said to me yet, and this was the thing I needed to hear.
He said, Teri, you had a breast reduction in the past ~TMI. ~Yes, I had a breast reduction when I was 19 years old. ~No, it didn't last. ~For anyone who knows me and you're thinking, Hmm, you had a breast reduction. Yeah, no, ~I did. ~I did. They came back. But anyway, that little bit of info aside, ~um. ~He said because of that surgery, [00:09:00] sometimes there's misplaced tissues that move that are in an area they shouldn't be in.
Sometimes there's scar tissue and we can't tell what it is that we're looking at. ~There's a high,~
it is highly likely that this is scar tissue from that surgery, but we can't get a good enough picture to tell. Immediately when he said that, my whole nervous system calmed down. This is what I needed to hear the whole time.
If someone had just said to me, Hey, we just can't really see what these tissues are doing and they're abnormal, so we need to biopsy it, it's probably scar tissue from your previous surgery. That would've changed so much for me. So he did the biopsy. It was not painful.
The most painful part was the needle for the freezing, and that was not painful either. It was like a quick little pinch and then numb, [00:10:00] and then I felt nothing from that point. I was a little bit sore later that day, and the next day I felt sore, like tender, but after the second day, I was able to go about my normal life.
~I think honestly, ~if I worked a regular job, I would've been able to return to work the next day, no problem, because I'm self-employed and I have the luxury to manage my own schedule and my time. I did take that day off. And I'm glad I took it off, but it was more mentally that I needed it from all the anticipation and the stress, the worry, the adrenaline.
I just needed a day to relax on my couch and watch Netflix with my dogs. So that's what I did. But physically ~I was, ~I was fine. ~So then I had to wait more waiting. I. ~I had to wait several weeks to get the results.
So let me pause [00:11:00] here for a moment, because this is where everything shifted. I'd gone from thinking I just needed to go for a checkup to hearing the word mass, from trying to stay calm, to waiting, wandering, and facing the possibility that everything in my life might be about to change. And I want to be real with you here.
When you're sitting in that space between not knowing and fearing the worst, everything in your life comes into focus. What matters and what doesn't? The emails I hadn't responded to, or two deadlines, I was stressing over projects that felt urgent, but maybe weren't aligned. None of that mattered in the moment.
What did matter was [00:12:00] time presence, my health, my relationships, my peace of mind. And maybe you've never had a cancer scare, but I'll bet you've had a moment or maybe you are in one right now where something inside of you is whispering. Or screaming that something needs to change. So before we go any further, let me ask you this.
If everything was stripped away, your routines, your revenue, your to-do list, what would still matter? Hold that thought because we're gonna come back to it later.
When I got the results back, my doctor said to me, it's scar tissue. There's nothing to worry about.
There's no more concern with this area. This [00:13:00] tissue will not become cancer. It can't become cancer. It's just scarring from the previous surgery, and you can just go back to regular annual screenings. From this point on, there's no need for concern. What a rush. If I could bottle that feeling that I had in that moment, realizing that my life wasn't going to flip upside down, ~I, ~it was amazing.
That moment changed everything for me. But here's the thing, you don't have to wait for a biopsy or a scare to have a wake up call. As I reflected on what this experience has taught me, three truths became crystal clear. I want to share them with you now because they apply to all of us. First, your health is non-negotiable.
Without it, nothing else works. [00:14:00] Not your business, not your relationships, not your dreams. If you're sacrificing your wellbeing to hit a goal or please others, it is time to recalibrate. Second. You can say no, you don't need permission. You don't need a diagnosis to start setting boundaries or letting go of what's draining you.
That clarity that you're waiting for, it comes when you stop tolerating what no longer fits. And third, you don't need a crisis to change. You don't need to hit rock bottom or get a scary call from your doctor. You can choose to change now because now is always the best time. And I'll walk you through how these realizations shifted everything in my life from the food that I ate, to the clients I work with, to how I've structured my business.
When I was going through this, all the waiting and ~the ~uncertainty ~and the unknowing, ~I started to reevaluate [00:15:00] everything in my life. Business relationships, commitments, my health, everything. Priorities shifted very quickly.
Suddenly it became so easy to say no to, things that didn't align with my vision, my plans, what I want in my life. It just became so easy to say no, no to obligations, no to habits, no to people who were no longer aligned with me. It was very easy. To see what was a priority and what wasn't, and I became ruthless
I said no easily, clearly to people, to projects, to habits that didn't align anymore. One of the first changes I made was going back to a carnivore based diet, not because it's trendy, but because in a time of [00:16:00] uncertainty it was something I could control. I couldn't control what was happening inside my body.
I couldn't speed up appointments or skip the waiting, but I could choose how I showed up for my health and for me, that meant cutting out all the noise, simplifying my choices, and fueling my body in a way that made me feel strong and stable. It wasn't about perfection, it was about power. Reclaiming whatever influence I did have when everything else felt like it was up in the air.
So that's what I did and it gave me a sense of control.
~So ~it was ~really ~interesting ~to me though, ~to experience. That kind of perspective shift. ~Now, ~how did this impact my business? ~Well, ~it became ~so ~clear to me that if I'm not enjoying working with a client, they're not a client for me. Full stop. ~So ~for any of my clients who are listening, if you're still with me, know that I enjoy working [00:17:00] with you.
~Um, ~I just had no problem letting go of clients, letting go of obligations that no longer aligned. I left my Toastmaster club because ~I thought, this isn't, ~this is not feeding me anymore. This is not important enough to me. I dropped so many ~I ~things that I thought I was obligated to fulfill and realized ~I, ~they're not that important.
~There is nothing that important.~
~Now, ~the day ~that ~I found out that it was a clear biopsy, that there was nothing there but scar tissue, ~but there was ~no cancer. I ordered a pizza. ~I'm not gonna lie, ~I celebrated that night with a pizza and I loved every bit of it, but the problem was that once my motivation to change my diet and change my behavior.
Was gone. It was really hard to stick to carnivore after that. So I had this massive priority shift for those about two [00:18:00] months where I focused a hundred percent on my health, what I was eating, what I was doing, what I was thinking a hundred percent. And when that motivation was gone, the driver behind it, when I knew that I was okay.
It was like an elastic band snapping back to what I was doing before.
~So ~this is important because ~I want you to get this and this, and I'm saying this for myself just as much as I'm saying it to you right now. Know this. ~We often wait until things get bad before we change them. That's human nature. So many people talk about, ~you know, ~they quit smoking when they got their health scare, or they cleaned up their diet after that first heart attack because they didn't know if they would survive a second one.
~We often wait until things get bad or until we have a scare before we change. ~But when that scare is no longer a scare. What happens? ~Well, ~you default back to the behavior you had before because the motivation to change is no longer there.
So I had the wake up call and then it's like I went back to sleep except I've ~woke, ~woken up again. [00:19:00] I was thinking about this over the last several days of why can't I get back onto carnivore? Why can't I get back to what I was doing? And it's because the motivation isn't there anymore. ~And ~I realized I had this talk with myself and I said, Teri, you had the scare.
Don't wait until, it's not just a scare to change because ~this is the opportunity ~right now is the opportunity to change it. You don't need a scare in order to change. But those scares are highly motivating. So how do we change our thinking, change our habits, change our behavior? How do we start living better without that fear chasing us down?
How do we do it?
~And I think it comes down and ~it comes down to good old discipline. You do it because you have to. Not because you want to, [00:20:00] not because it feels better, because you decide you have to. And yes, I am saying have to. There are so many people in the personal development space who like to say, ~Ooh, ~don't say, you have to say, ~I get to, ~I get to change.
I get to eat better. Have to is a lot more motivating than get to. I could say, Ooh, I get to eat steak every day. And yes, that is true on a carnivore diet. I will eat steak two to three times a day. I get to eat steak every day. But you know why? Because I have to. Because I have decided that my health is still a number one priority, not just when it gets bad, but because I want it to get good.
I want it to get better. . I want to live as long as I ~fucking well ~can and be as active and present. I don't wanna slow down. I don't wanna be crippled by pain as I age. I don't wanna wait until. I can't even [00:21:00] walk a block before I do something about it. ~No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. ~I have to do it now.
~Right now. ~Because these wake up calls that we get, they might feel fleeting in the moment. We might say, whew, that was a close call. But that wake up call is God saying, this is your opportunity to do something about it. Now. You don't like something in your life. Change it now. You don't like who you're hanging out with and spending time with.
Change it now. You don't like how you spend your day. Change it ~now ~today. So if you were Steve Jobs and you looked at yourself in the mirror and you ask yourself that question, if today or my last day on Earth, would I want to spend it doing what I'm about to do? ~If it is a no, it is a no. ~If it is not a yes, it is a no.
Now, I'm not saying that every day of your life is going to be perfect and great and wonderful. I'm not saying that you'll never have days as a business owner where you ~have to ~do things ~you don't wanna do and ~you don't love ~it. Like ~I don't love bookkeeping. ~I don't, ~but I do it because it's important.
~So please don't come at me for this.~
~So ~
[00:22:00] So just to bring it home, your health is non-negotiable. Your time is precious, and you don't need a scare to start making the changes. You know you need to make. Let this be your moment to shift. What would you change today if you weren't waiting for something bad to happen? DM me on Instagram. Tell me one thing that you're committing to change and if this hits home for you, share it with someone else who might need the wake up call.
Thanks for being here today, my friends. I will be back with you again next week. Bye for now.
