Late last year my body was diagnosed with bladder cancer. It was a total shocker as I have consistently practiced healthy eating and living. I barely got sick much of my life, and thought I would live to a ripe old age. Then as soon as I was diagnosed, I underwent a surgery to remove a tumor and then 6 weeks later another surgery to remove cancer cells. It was a roller coaster physically, mentally and emotionally and it not only affected me, but also my husband.
I am constantly thinking about if this disease will shorten my life or lessen the quality of it. I don’t know. We are all living with uncertainty about so many things, which can cause anxiety. So my answer is to design, live and experience the highest quality of life that I can as long as I am here on this physical earth. With everything I have encountered in this journey, I expect roadblocks and detours and instead of fighting what I can’t change, I allow and adapt.
There are so many things in life that can happen where we have little control such as this disease. Any of us could be walking across the street tomorrow and get hit by a bus. For me, a cancer diagnosis was a big wake up call to live life today like there is no tomorrow. I no longer want to delay what is most important to me. There is never a perfect time for most things we want to do.
My husband and I planned an anniversary trip to Greece last September that we had to cancel, because I had to undergo another surgery that took a lot of time to heal and then followed by 6 weeks of treatments. Before I knew it, winter had arrived and the pandemic was in full-force. As much as we love to travel overseas, it was put on hiatus so we decided to do something different that met our desires for traveling.
We decided to purchase an RV with the intent of traveling throughout the US and Canada, which would be fun and fit well with our work and businesses. Both of us love road trips and we did own an RV years ago, which we enjoyed. In November, we took ownership of a Zion RV and made plans to combine a work and pleasure trip from California to the East Coast in March to attend celebratory events.
Last month my doctor performed a procedure where he told me my body is cancer free now, which is great and is exactly what I have been visioning. And yet, because the cancer I was diagnosed with is high grade and invasive, there is a strong chance of recurrence so the doctor wants to be diligent by doing preventative treatments. I knew that I would need constant monitoring and periodic treatments, but he wants me to do it much more often than I imagined, which is every 3 months at least for the time being starting in March.
So our road trip to the East coast planned for March has been delayed until September. Even though I am disappointed as I was looking forward to this trip, I am accepting what is and am re-designing my life and work with this opening so I can continue to do what has the most meaning and can help others on their own path.
I have always been a designer of my life from the time I was young in determining what I wanted to do and experience from activities like horseback riding and acting in plays to different jobs like working in the retail and banking industries prior to getting my degree and then moving on to being an entrepreneur and traveling overseas. I even won awards for my businesses.
My background and what I love doing is being a career and life coach where I get the honor of coaching so many clients in planning and executing how they want to live and achieve their personal and career dreams and goals. My clients have ranged from being in school, recent college graduates, early to mid-life career professionals, and have been in almost all stages of life wanting something more or different. And some just want help with getting unstuck and gaining a new perspective.
It is so much fun to watch my clients as they allow themselves to brainstorm different life choices. Sometimes they look and act like a kid who is excited and fearless about whatever they want to do. What do you want to do and experience? Do you want to make a change in your career? Do you want to improve your health? How about relationships or fun and play? Maybe you want to buy a home, travel more, start a business or all of the above. You are born as a creative being so you can design your life as you choose? The first step is to sit back and dream.
If you have any questions or want to schedule a meeting, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at estelle@careeractioncenter.com or 831-601-6576.