After more than a year away from the mic, I’m finally back.
Last September, shortly after returning from a trip to Turkey with my dad and stepmom, I received news that changed everything: my cancer had returned — and this time, it had spread to my brain.
And then… I went into shame.
I’ve always promised to show up authentically here. But when I was barely figuring out how to breathe through the news myself, I didn’t know how to coach, inspire, or even speak into the mic. So I hit pause.
This episode is not a recap of the past 200+ episodes.
Over the past year — while I wasn’t recording — I was learning. Living. Stripping things down to what actually matters.
In this comeback episode, I’m sharing the five biggest lessons the past 12 months taught me across all six pillars of F It:
Faith
Family
Food
Fitness
Forgiveness
FormulaThese aren’t lessons I researched.
1. Faith Isn’t About Certainty — It’s About Anchoring in the Storm
When my cancer returned, certainty disappeared.
And for a season, I didn’t use my faith as an anchor. I was angry. Confused. Upset. My world felt like it was falling apart — and by many accounts, it was.
What I had to relearn is this:
Faith isn’t believing everything will turn out exactly how you want.
Faith is having something steady to hold onto when nothing makes sense.
Storms are guaranteed.
Being swept away isn’t.And I’m still working in this area. 2025 was a year of survive instead of thrive. But I’m already feeling an awakening — and it’s rooted in faith.
2. Family Is the Real Scoreboard
When everything else slowed down — the podcast, the business, the content — one thing didn’t stop.
The people closest to me.
I used to measure progress by output:
Episodes recorded
Clients served
Content createdBut when your health pulls the rug out from under you, you realize something fast:
The real scoreboard isn’t downloads or dollars.
It’s whether the people who know you best actually feel your presence.
If life pulled you out of the game tomorrow, would the people closest to you know they were your priority?If that question makes you squirm a little, that’s not guilt.
3. Food and Fitness Are Medicine
This year cemented something I’ve taught for years:
Food and fitness are not about shrinking yourself.
During treatment, a calorie deficit wasn’t even a thought. What my body needed was nourishment:
Enough protein to repair
Enough fuel to support my immune system
Enough energy to keep moving forwardThe strength I built before treatment became my reserve. It carried me when my body was fighting. It gave me resilience when so much felt out of my control.
If you’re constantly cycling through restriction, overtraining, or under-eating, you’re robbing yourself of the very medicine your body needs.
Stop training to punish your body.
Start fueling it to survive and thrive.
One day, you’ll need that resilience.
4. Forgiveness Starts With Yourself
The hardest forgiveness this year wasn’t toward anyone else.
When I stepped away from the podcast, I felt guilt.
Like I was letting people down.
Like I wasn’t showing up.
The internal voice was brutal.
Forgiveness isn’t excusing everything.
It’s choosing not to carry shame forward.“Yes, this season looked different.”
“Yes, I couldn’t do it all.”
If you’re carrying guilt for quitting a diet, missing workouts, or not being as consistent as you wanted…
Forgiveness isn’t a free pass.
And you cannot move forward while dragging shame behind you.
5. Formula Isn’t About Control — It’s About Flexibility
If you’ve been around me, you know “Formula” is one of my six F’s.
But here’s what this year taught me:
Formula isn’t rigid control.
It’s flexible structure.
Discipline and willpower will fail you in a storm.For me, that looked like:
Daily Agreement Cards
Journaling
A simple training structure
Core meals I could rotateIf you have no system, stress forces you to make a thousand decisions in real time.
If you have a formula, you adjust — but you don’t quit.
Build systems that work on your best days and your worst days.
Perfection isn’t the goal.
This is a new season of F It.
More real conversations.
More depth.
More integration of faith, family, food, fitness, forgiveness, and formula — not as theory, but as lived experience.Thank you for being here — whether this is your first episode or you’ve been with me since Episode 1.
We’re not chasing perfect.
We’re choosing anchored.
If this episode resonated with you:
- Share it with someone who needs it.
- Leave a review.
- DM me on IG and tell me which lesson hit home.
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- 5 Common Mistakes Women Over 40 Make That Lead to Belly Fat https://youtu.be/oOA9YkE6A60
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- The Training Audit For Women Over 40 https://youtu.be/Y3VfEEV4C3M
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