September 2016. I'm staring at myself in the bathroom mirror at work, and I just know something is wrong.

Not a lump. Not a symptom. Just... knowing.

Six weeks later, I'm pulling off the freeway into a Panda Express parking lot, my doctor's words ringing in my ears: "You were right. This is cancer."

Kidney cancer. At 36. A 3-inch mass that my body had been screaming at me about for months.

But this isn't a sad cancer story. This is the story of how my body gave me an ultimatum I couldn't ignore: remember why you're here, or keep creating the disease that's trying to kill you.

After years of living out of alignment with my purpose—working a $29K job, staying in a marriage that wasn't working, people-pleasing until I couldn't breathe—my body said ENOUGH.

I had the surgery. But I didn't do chemo or radiation. Because I understood: cancer wasn't the problem. Cancer was the symptom. The problem was that I wasn't living my purpose.

You'll hear about:

• How I found the cancer intuitively before any test could prove it
• Why I knew deep down that if my body created this, it would keep creating it
• The 5-year journey of removing everything that no longer belonged
• How I learned to love myself on a cellular level (not woo-woo, actual science)
• Bob Proctor's teachings on imagination, will, and perception that saved my life
• How remembering my mission turned cancer into my greatest teacher
• Why stepping into your "Original Medicine" isn't optional—it's survival
• The exact process I used to go from cancer to millions (vision + will + aligned action)

This is the pivotal episode. The moment I remembered why I'm here. The moment I chose my purpose over playing small.

And here's what I want you to know: you don't need cancer to give you permission. Your body is already trying to bring you back to your purpose. Are you listening?

Sometimes the thing that almost destroys you is actually your soul forcing you to remember why you're here.

Grab my International Best Selling Book - Awaken Your Purpose: 28 Days to Discover Your Life Purpose, Identify Your Dream Business, and Take Your First Steps to a Prosperous Life here:

ericacarrico.com/books

To learn more, visit:
http://www.ericacarrico.com/

Listen to more episodes on Mission Matters:
http://missionmatters.com/author/Erica-Carrico/

What if you traveled to 50 countries, had a massive awakening about your purpose, came back KNOWING what you were meant to do... and then completely ignored it because everyone told you it wasn't realistic?

At 29, I quit my six-figure corporate job, backpacked through India, Southeast Asia, China, and spent 6 months camping through 18 countries in Africa. On that journey, I discovered life coaching and knew – KNEW – that's what I was meant to do.

But everyone said: "That's not a real job." "You'll never make money." "Be realistic."

So I listened. I took the "safe" route. I got a $60,000 master's degree in nonprofit management. I became an Executive Director earning... $29,000 a year.

Five years. Drowning in debt. Earning poverty wages. More trapped than ever. Until cancer at 36 forced me to ask: what was actually safe about betraying myself?

You'll hear about:
- The life coaching session that changed everything (and why I ignored it)
- How 50 countries confirmed my purpose but I still didn't trust it
- Why the "safe" route almost killed me
- The real math on what betraying yourself costs
- How other people's fear becomes your prison
- Why knowing your purpose and having courage to pursue it are two different things

This episode is for anyone who knows what they're meant to do but is too scared to do it. For anyone listening to everyone else's fear instead of their own truth. For anyone who thinks the "realistic" choice is safer than betting on yourself.

Spoiler: it's not.

The safest choice is always the one where you honor yourself.

Awaken Your Purpose: 28 days to discover your life purpose, identify your dream business, and take your first steps to a prosperous life: ericacarrico.com/books

To learn more, visit:
http://www.ericacarrico.com/

Listen to more episodes on Mission Matters:
http://missionmatters.com/author/Erica-Carrico/

What happens when you take all your childhood trauma, perfectionism, and people-pleasing... and aim it at climbing the corporate ladder?

In this episode, I'm getting real about my years in corporate America, where I was praised for the exact same behaviors that were destroying me. Where "dedication" was code for ignoring my body's warning signals. Where I was building someone else's empire while slowly dying inside.

I worked 60-70 hour weeks. Got the promotions. Earned the raises. Looked successful on the outside while feeling completely empty on the inside. Because I was working from a place of unworthiness, trying to prove I was valuable instead of knowing I was valuable.

And then my body said enough.

Cancer at 35 became my wake-up call. My "change or die" moment. The point where I had to ask: if I survive this, what kind of life do I actually want to live?

You'll hear about:

• Why corporate culture rewards the behaviors that destroy you
• How perfectionism disguises itself as "high standards"
• The difference between working hard and working at the wrong things
• Why external validation never fills the void of not knowing your purpose
• How cancer forced me to choose between transformation and death
• The questions that changed everything: "Am I building my dream or someone else's?"

If you're in corporate burnout right now, if you're climbing a ladder that's leaning against the wrong wall, if your body is screaming at you to change something... this episode is your permission slip.

You don't need cancer to give you permission to transform your life. You can choose it right now.

Your exhaustion is not a character flaw. It's information.

To learn more, visit:
http://www.ericacarrico.com/

Listen to more episodes on Mission Matters:
http://missionmatters.com/author/Erica-Carrico/

What happens when perfectionism finds a new target: your body?

In this deeply personal episode, I'm taking you back to college, where I first encountered eating disorder culture disguised as "health" and "discipline." Surrounded by sorority girls throwing up in bathrooms, taking laxatives, and dating a bodybuilder boyfriend, I learned that controlling my body felt like the one thing I could control in a chaotic world.

But here's the thing about eating disorders: they promise control while actually enslaving you.

I'm sharing how my relationship with my body completely transformed through two life-changing experiences: pregnancy and cancer. How I learned to see my body not as something to control, but as the miracle that created tiny humans, sustained their lives, and healed itself on a cellular level.

And here's the game-changer: once I found my PURPOSE, I stopped obsessing about my body. My thoughts shifted from self-criticism to creativity, from control to impact, from perfection to making a difference in the world.

You'll hear about:

• How eating disorder culture hides in plain sight on college campuses
• Why control is actually the opposite of freedom
• The shift from restriction to nourishment, from criticism to gratitude
• How pregnancy and cancer taught me to love my body in completely new ways
• Why finding your purpose is the ultimate healing tool for self-destruction

If you've ever struggled with your relationship with food, your body, or perfectionism, this episode will show you that there's another way. A way that honors your body as the miracle it is and redirects your energy toward something that actually matters.

Your body isn't the problem. Not knowing your purpose is.

Grab my book Awaken Your Purpose, and in just 28 days you’ll be 100% clear on your purpose and why you’re here, and start your path to healing!
www.amazon.com/Awaken-Your-Purpose-Discover-Prosperous-ebook/dp/B0F1C3MHMM

To learn more, visit:
http://www.ericacarrico.com/

Listen to more episodes on Mission Matters:
http://missionmatters.com/author/Erica-Carrico/

What if the beliefs running your life aren’t even yours? What if they were programmed into you before you could even name them?

In this raw and vulnerable first episode, I’m taking you back to where it all started: childhood. The little girl in New Mexico who learned that safety meant being perfect, that emotions were dangerous, and that wealth was something only men could create.

I’m sharing the patterns that shaped everything from my eating disorder to my million-dollar business collapse, and the moment I realized I could rewrite the rules I’d been living by for decades.

This isn’t about blame. This isn’t about making anyone the villain. It’s about understanding how generational trauma becomes generational wealth when you’re willing to do the work.

You’ll hear about:

• Why perfectionism and people-pleasing became my survival strategy
• The money story that kept me playing small for years
• How childhood programming shows up in adult relationships and business
• The one question that changed everything: “What if I could do this?”
• Why breaking patterns is the greatest gift you can give the next generation

Whether your childhood trauma looks like mine or completely different, this episode will help you start questioning the beliefs that have been running in the background of your life.

Because your mess? It’s not your ending. It might just be your beginning.

Grab your coffee, maybe some tissues, and let’s get real about where transformation actually starts.

To learn more, visit:
http://www.ericacarrico.com/

Listen to more episodes on Mission Matters:
http://missionmatters.com/author/Erica-Carrico/

Welcome to Mess to Millions — the podcast where we turn breakdowns into breakthroughs, trauma into triumph, and pain into serious profit.

In this short trailer episode, host Erica Carrico shares the story behind the show: how a cancer diagnosis launched her into what she calls her “life explosion era,” and how the wreckage of that season became the foundation of a multimillion-dollar, soul-led business.

This isn’t about perfection. It’s about purpose. If your life has ever looked more like a disaster than a Pinterest board — you’re in the right place.

Subscribe now and get ready for unfiltered stories, radical healing, and soul-aligned business strategy — all with a side of grit and heart.

Because sometimes… the mess is the miracle.

To learn more, visit:
http://www.ericacarrico.com/

Listen to more episodes on Mission Matters:
http://missionmatters.com/author/Erica-Carrico/