Living to Thrive
a holistic guide to living with cancer
by
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Chapter 10 Believe in Yourself It was early 2018, three years after my original cancer diagnosis, and I had just had my third cancer related surgery. I was back home trying to put my life back together again. My days were empty because I had quit my job and I felt like I was lost and just existing even though I was living a happy life. I was living in survivor mode. I knew I couldn’t keep feeling this way, but I also didn’t know what I was feeling. It was like there was a grey filter over my life, like the kind you add to a picture only not the bright cheery type. It dimmed everything leaving me feeling empty, and like something was missing. I knew there had to be more to life after cancer than this. I wanted to feel whole again and stop feeling stuck. My niece came over for tea one day and as we sat in the living room talking, she asked me how I was doing. I told her I felt like something was missing, that my soul felt empty. She suggested that I take yoga teacher training. I told her I wasn’t interested in becoming a yoga teacher, but she insisted that this may be just the way to help me reconnect with myself. Having nothing to lose, I signed up. It was the best and most timely decision I could have made. Just a few months into training they found a metastasis in my right lung. The weekend before graduation from my training program I had my fourth cancer related surgery. This time was different from previous surgeries. This time I had tools to help me manage – a stronger body, strong self-belief, a community to lift me up, and the power of my breath. I went into this surgery strong, confident, and calmer than ever before. This was the start of my realisation that the tools that I had learned in yoga would forever be part of my healing process. That was when I knew that I needed to explore other holistic modalities and gather more tools that would create healing in my body, mind, and spirit, which, I believe is what we are all looking for. Yoga taught me to breathe when I was overwhelmed, to love myself for who I am, to love my body for what it has experienced, and to find peace through mindfulness practices and to be grateful every single day. From Surviving to Thriving with Cancer When I look back to where I was before I gathered all these tools, I really was in survivor mode. I didn’t know who I was or where I wanted to go. My soul was empty. Now I could see that I was capable of moving from just surviving, into thriving in my life. No longer were external circumstances controlling my life where it felt like things were happening to me. This was the beginning of the internal growth that led me to want to not just support myself, but support other people living with cancer. This was the first step into becoming a Holistic Cancer Coach and into a life of wholly and completely thriving.
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About the Book
Living to Thrive: a holistic guide to living with cancer is a guide for those who have been given a cancer diagnosis and are looking for a different way to support their healing. Written from the perspective of a cancer thriver, author Kathryn White was 43 years old when she was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. Feeling lost and overwhelmed, she started to explore how to holistically support her own healing process. Here she tells the parts of her story of how she rebuilt her life and moved beyond just being a cancer survivor to become a cancer thriver. She shares what she has learned along the way to reclaim her life and transform her health so that you can do the same. Living to Thrive is a collection of real life anecdotes combined with tools and strategies that address the body, mind, and spirit to help the reader discover how to create a life with cancer. It will resonate not just with those facing a cancer diagnosis, but with anyone who is a caregiver or supporter of a loved one with cancer. From the first chapter where Kathryn receives her diagnosis, to the final chapter where she is given an inspirational message by her doctor that changed her life, readers will find themselves inspired to learn how to thrive with cancer.
About the Author
Kathryn White, CD, BA, BEd, E-RYT200, HCC is an author, presenter, podcaster, and holistic cancer coach. Kathryn was an elementary school teacher for almost twenty years until 2015, when she was diagnosed with Stage 4 Colon Cancer. This led to her leave teaching permanently to regain her health. After recovering from treatment, Kathryn was determined to rediscover herself and what she wanted from her new lease on life. She set out to learn more about how to prevent colon cancer and how to live healthy. Never far from her original calling as a teacher, Kathryn successfully completed a certification as a Culinary Nutrition Expert, which led her to launch her own business running workshops and providing personalised nutrition planning for people wanting to change their own lives and prevent disease. The next step in her personal road to health and healing was to become an E-RYT 200 hour registered yoga teacher with a focus on trauma informed yoga, yin and restorative yoga, meditation, and mindfulness. As a continuation of her desire to educate others about healthy lifestyles and cancer prevention, Kathryn earned her certification as a Holistic Cancer Coach in 2021. Since then she has gone on to support numerous other women through personalised cancer coaching and group programs. She supports women living with a cancer diagnosis to reclaim their life, transform their health, and move beyond just surviving to start thriving in their life. To share her message of self-belief and possibility, Kathryn created and hosts the “Living to Thrive with Cancer” Podcast. She has participated as a panelist at the Colorectal Cancer Canada Annual Virtual Conference, been a guest speaker at the Colorectal Cancer Canada Women’s All About You Event, the Toronto Yoga Show, and the She is Me Virtual Conference. Kathryn has been featured on numerous podcasts and online talks. She is a strong advocate for cancer prevention and integrating holistic modalities into cancer healing. Kathryn has authored numerous articles, and hosts a blog for people wanting support and strategies for living with cancer. She maintains a private virtual coaching practice, where her clients benefit from her personal lived experience with cancer as they navigate their own walk with cancer. She is the proud owner of Kathryn White Wellness. In her off time, Kathryn enjoys reading, hiking, camping, travelling, and spending time with her husband Jonathan and her two adult sons, Jackson and Joshua.