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She Was Given 18 Months to Live… 15 Years Ago: Terminal Cancer Survivor & Business Coach, Di Foster

October 13, 202401:19:59
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die Foster welcome to my podcast it's
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bloody good to be here it's um I feel
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like I know you um intimately really
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yeah r r about 3 months ago um I I'm not
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saying this um yet to be an [ __ ] or
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anything I but I I had never heard of d
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foster okay and and I've got the skill
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called Bella that started working for me
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and uh doing some guest booking and she
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suggested you and G gave me a list of
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names of people and yours was one of
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them and then i' since then I've been on
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a die Foster Wormhole and uh like I
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don't know I don't know how you did not
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come onto my radar soona like I found
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like a podcast of you with Lisa T going
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back to like 2018 or something yeah yeah
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I spoke with her at an event that's how
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I met her yeah oh my goodness yeah
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that's it's an incredible story and I
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just I can't I I feel like a fool that I
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I hadn't heard of you
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soon hey Dom here again apologies for
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the interruption um I just need to let
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you know there was some technical
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difficulties during this podcast so
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right at this moment just after the
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introductions the camera equipment froze
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meaning a few minutes of the
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conversation went missing so we will
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pick the podcast back up now where D is
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31 years old and had just undergone a
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myectomy operation after a breast cancer
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diagnosis it was hard you know it was
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hard to look at myself in the mirror for
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a long time I took mirrors out of my
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house was that because you didn't like
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what you saw oh it's pretty rough you
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know being one breasted and so I
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remember one day looking down at my face
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feet and thinking there is nothing wrong
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with that big toe that is one beautiful
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big toe and then the next day I thought
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there's a toe next to it and it's
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perfect too I really like my feet you
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know and I went round and I just loved
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the [ __ ] out of my body and you know
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like my dad had always said that you
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know girls with our our tree trunk
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thighs didn't do ballet or didn't do
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this and we were always a bit chunky and
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I was like you know what they've got me
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to weever I've wanted to go so maybe
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I'll just love the [ __ ] out of my legs
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even if they're not as perfect as they
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could have been and I just literally
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fell in love with myself when I had done
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the hardest thing which was change the
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way I led and I was like above all else
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you know I get to live with myself at
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24/7 if I don't love me who is going to
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like if I'm not so comfortable in myself
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it's hard if you don't like yourself
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like you you can't escape other people
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can have a break from you you're St
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yeah wherever you go there you are I
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think that's a confuscious quite that is
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so true and I think your question was
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you know what was I like you know in my
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before I had cancer I was quite intense
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you know I used to say that I sleept for
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at least eight hours a day to get away
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from myself I was very very hard on
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myself I was really hard on myself I
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didn't particularly like myself I was in
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a relationship we um you know I'd gone
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through life thinking that if I take all
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the boxes one day I'll wake up kep happy
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and I woke up and I thought I'm more
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miserable now than I've ever been so I
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left that relationship and I left that
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almost like I left my life the way it
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was and I just started again and then as
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soon as I did that um I got alopecia and
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I ended up bolded and then I got breast
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cancer and then the universe it felt
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like was trying to teach me something
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I'm not sure I believe that now I think
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that given those things happened I
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taught myself stuff yeah [ __ ] that's a
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lot to take on yeah um yeah the next
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point on your key note um how to shift
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your perspective
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yeah I'm going to be dead one day that's
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pretty much how spoiler alert exactly
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what's the only certainty isn't it yeah
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exactly for all of us and I think that
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through my journey I've been like really
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got at one with the fact that um one day
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I'm going to be dead and it's like
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doesn't matter you know so it's like it
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puts everything to perspective so you
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know even in thinking about coming here
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today you know it's like you might have
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some apprehension but we just go through
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the thing you know will it matter in in
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5 years probably not will it matter in a
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year probably not will it matter in a
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week you know it's just just put it into
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perspective one day in something like a
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hundred years none of us are going to be
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here you know like we're all going to be
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dead so does it really
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matter yeah that is that is so true and
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everyone ends up being forgotten he like
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even say
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Taylor Swift 200 years from now no one's
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going to the relevance level is zero
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yeah so yeah you got to make the most of
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what you got um does that TI to the next
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one on your keynote live a good life in
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pursuit of a good death yeah I for me I
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realized at some stage that I was quite
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afraid to die and you know like I really
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thought about that and I talk about my
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angel of death and I realized that
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actually it's none of my business when I
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die and hopefully one day I will go with
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her with ease Grace and Flow
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but I'm obsessed with having a good life
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like my in in the pursuit of wanting to
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have a good death the only way I can
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think of doing that is by having a good
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life so instead of thinking about the
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thing that I'm not in charge of or that
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I'm not in control of the day I die I
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will double down on the thing that I
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have absolute control over which is
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today and how I do today and what I do
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in
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today and um the next point on your
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keynote goal definition entertainment is
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that just goting bit self-explanatory or
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it is and it isn't because I think that
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quite often people will say what they
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want but then their life satisfaction
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and the events that have happened in
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their Liv so their life satisfaction
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will determine how smooth their life
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goes and then the bit round the outside
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of the direction that their life goes is
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based on the events that have happened
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the stories they tell themselves about
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it their beliefs and values their
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thoughts and then ultimately their
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actions again which then produce new
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events and so if on a daily basis your
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actions are going in that direction but
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you're wanting to go over here you need
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to kind of bring them together and that
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is generally through the stories that
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we're telling ourselves and the beliefs
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and the thoughts and that type of work
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and then um point five on your Keynotes
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um live
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authentically yeah I kind of love and
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hate that word but you
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know it is a 2024 buzz word isn't it
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everyone else is
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taken there is only one person that I
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can possibly be and that's myself and I
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think that you
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know you know it's been a long time for
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me to absolutely love my life and love
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myself and I think that the more I turn
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up as myself you know the more the more
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both I'm appreciate and there's people
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that double down on thinking she is not
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the vibe for me but you can have both I
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think that you know I'm I'm I'm happy
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with it do they who who would who would
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think you're not the vibe for them
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oh really really I'm a lot you know I'm
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a lot in the best possible way though
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right but you know you're a lot you are
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not everyone's Vibe I I don't know if
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you got the memo but you would not be
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everyone's Vibe cuz you're a lot no I
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know I know that but you you bring
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nothing but good to the world so no we
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are equally balanced in
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yeah I bring Challenge and support and
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not everyone wants to be challenged you
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know you think about it if you've lost
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somebody to cancer and then old bubbly D
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turns up and she was diagnosed with
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terminal cancer and now she's here and
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she's happy and she's skipping through
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life some people I imagine will want to
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punch my lights out because that is just
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challenging in itself that seems really
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unfair to them and I get it well as an
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as an oh good for you you beat it you
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this is your experience but this isn't
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my experience exactly you know even to
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the extent that every now and then
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someone will talk about fighting you
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know like the battle and I'll be like
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you know have you thought about this and
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honestly they just they they don't want
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a bar of it because that's their story
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that they're telling themselves that's
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their experience and you know I'm over
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here on my experience and the story that
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I'm telling myself
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yeah okay well let's get into the cancer
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stuff so um so you you so you grow up
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with um health some blood blood issue
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and yeah I've got an IGA I've got no IG
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right and I've got too much IG yeah and
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then and then um at 31 you you get
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diagnosed with breast cancer which
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you've touched upon and you have a
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myectomy y and then um and by all all
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accounts that's brutal like the
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treatment's brutal and you you promise
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yourself that if you get cancer again
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you're not going to have chemo now just
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I just want to if you have that thought
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then go back and stop being attached to
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the fact that you might get cancer again
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if I could have my time again I would
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have stopped and said die why would you
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ever think you were going to get cancer
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again and what can you do to prevent
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that happening because lo and behold
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seven years later I end up with cancer
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again well oh do do you sort of think
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you sort of like manifested it in a way
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or well I think you know someone I've
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done a bit of NLP and someone said to me
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once you men neural linguistic
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programming so the basis of Tony Robin
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stuff and so the point is is that he
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said to me you know You' manifested did
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everything and I thought well maybe
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that's true but it's not flopping
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helpful so I don't know do we manifest
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everything I'm not sure I don't think
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that things happen for a reason I think
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we can find reason and things that
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happen otherwise it just when the big
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stuff happens it's too much or it's just
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too weird you know if you lose somebody
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or you know it's just it's too confusing
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so I have a tendency to just think you
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know get on with it and you know and
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then so 38 um it comes back in the worst
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way imaginable are are you feeling sick
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or what yeah yeah so I had just met um
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the love of my life Steve and i' just
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moved to Christ church and we'd gone up
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to stay at his dad's place and I said
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I'll stay there as long as I don't have
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any cats inside and they had a cat and
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we stayed there and I ended up getting a
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hell of a chest infection and I then had
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just moved to Christ Church to be with
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him and I just for that Year got
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repetitive chest infections and couldn't
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get on top of them and the problem with
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the medical system is that because I
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didn't have my people there because I
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just moved up from denan I sort of said
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to them look don't worry about how to
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get rid of the chest infection we need
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to have a look at why I keep getting
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them because that's not usual I I'd been
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really good at monitoring my own health
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and so they just couldn't get their head
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around it so I went away for the
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Christmas holidays came back and thought
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right I'm going to get really healthy
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this year my second year in Christ
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church I'm going to get really healthy
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and I went to karate and I got a really
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rough punch to the chest and I just
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remember thinking what w that is there's
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something not right and within about six
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weeks I had a fully collapsed lung and I
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remember ringing um our head instructor
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saying I've got a problem and and I
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don't know what's wrong and I can't get
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anyone to listen to me and luckily he
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put me on to um a quite a famous sports
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doctor and um he got me the diagnosis
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which was fantastic cuz that's what I
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needed I needed someone to take me
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seriously and go and get the test done
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and unfortunately I was diagnosed with
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terminal cancer so breast cancer
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metastasized in my lungs and I had a
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fully collapsed lung I had a very large
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mass on the top of my lung and I had
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activity in about 75% of my lungs and so
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um my prognosis was that there was a Zer
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perent chance of lasting sort of longer
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than 12 months and absolutely no chance
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you know if I did get just on that it
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would be no chance I'd be there in 18
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months yeah it's quite fible I mean it's
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crazy that you're here and it's
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perspective do you know what I mean but
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I mean um I so is that is that was that
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in person that you got that news or was
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that on the inter I read someone was on
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the inter island of Fury no uh the first
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time I was diagnosed with breast cancer
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I was on the fury and the doctor rang me
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cuz I was moving from napia back to
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denen so that one was on the FY but this
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one was in person so we'd been to
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respiratory with my sister I'd been to
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respiratory and they said look we can't
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do anything for you you've got cancer
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and then um Steve and I went to oncology
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and that's when they gave me the
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diagnosis and the
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prognosis what happens at that moment is
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it like the room starts spinning like
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you like or are you you quite post about
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it or do your ears start ringing what
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happens you I already knew that I had
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secondary cancer like a hunch well no
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cuz I'd been to respiratory and they'd
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done all these lung tests and they said
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you've got cancer and they'd done a
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biopsy so you know you've got cancer
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you're going to oncology for the how bad
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version and I was probably a bit woo woo
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you know like I'd been you know like I
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um I had known that there were other
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ways of doing things and and so I
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believed that you know words have energy
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and energy has power so I could tell
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when they were about to get to the
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prognosis part and I asked my partner to
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leave the room because I didn't want him
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to hear it I didn't want him to know
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that I only had a year to leave live I
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wanted him not to feel sorry for me I
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wanted him to just I wanted him to take
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every day as it came with me so I asked
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him to leave the room and before the
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prognosis was mentioned what just like a
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hunt
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oh you can tell it's coming they say
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this is what we found and this is what's
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happening and then there's sort of a bit
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of a space and I knew that I wanted to
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say just give me an idea of how long and
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I just quietly said to my partner can
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you just leave the room for two seconds
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and he goes yeah sure and he left the
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room and I just said to them how long oh
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I want you to and they said well there
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there is no way you'll be here in 18
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months more likely 12 it's not leaving
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any hope is there no there was there was
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zero chance there was no you know and
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they offered me pallative care chemo but
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because I'd already done surgery chemo
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and radiotherapy I was just like Pala of
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care does not give you any longevity
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they were hoping to reduce my symptoms
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and if there was ever an a moment that I
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was arrogant it was in that moment where
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I thought H I'm pretty sure that I can
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reduce my symptoms through a whole lot
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of natural therapies and do that rather
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than literally feeling sick for the next
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year where did that Cockiness come from
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like they literally gave you no no
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chance zero chance well you know if I'm
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if the big guy upstairs wants me to
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listen then sending the message in a
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funny little long colleges that has
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1970s Roman sandals forn walking socks
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beige shorts and a matching big
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polyester top is not going to be the bit
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that gets my
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attention and so I think what I reckon I
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can get 5 years on my terms I just had
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this I was like I don't know I'm a bit
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competitive like a challenge yeah 100%
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he said 12 months I'm going for 5 years
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that's and I did I left going I'm going
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to live my way for 5 years and I think
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that's where the if not now then when
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comes from because in that moment I
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thought I have not been living exactly
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the way I want to I'm not waiting any
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longer now's my
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time yeah
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it's like the um there's a line from um
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do you know sha Shank Redemption yes
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like get busy living or get busy dying
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yeah um yeah sounds a bit like that but
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you um you you um you you did do some
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sort of bucket list stuff like uh
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Jessica Benjamin and sha your yeah your
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niece and nephews you you made a point
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of like connecting with them and taking
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each of them on a trip which to me feels
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like okay even though you thought or
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hoped you'd live longer than the
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diagnosis um you were obviously like
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that was when I first got breast cancer
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oh the first time around okay so the
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first time I got breast cancer I thought
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I really want to get my black belt and I
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want to see those kids in their 20s I
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want to know who they are and that was
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my reason for living that was back when
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I was 30 and then this time it was it
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was just around living each day the best
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I could so got really granular like the
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one thing that's really hard to
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understand about this is you asked what
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happens you know I was
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feeling the the world didn't spin
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nothing happened except that the world
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got really really
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bright like the green got Greener you
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know the ear got crisper I could just
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feel everything on a really micro
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granular level and it was just like
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everything slowed
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down and I just thought if I can live
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each day more present then I will live
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an entire lifetime in this one
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year
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yeah and does the calendar take on more
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significance like the days and the
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months no no the opposite so what I went
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home with is I woke up the next day and
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I didn't say I've got 364 days I thought
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I've got one more year so six months
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down the track I have one more year it
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never changed I always think I've got
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one more year I [ __ ] like more than that
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but yeah yeah yeah you're not going
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anywhere um read um you thought you
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thought 5 years after the diagnosis and
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then um 96 uh 96 years old that was uh
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like the plan Plan B I guess um yeah
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when you get to 95 you are you going to
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reevaluate or you think you'll be ready
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ready to go by
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96 I reckon I'll still be one more day
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I'll still be living day by day and oh
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so um yes so you get that news as the um
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is the is the delivery
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it was quite was it quite gentle or
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quite
00:18:32
cold look I think the really interesting
00:18:35
thing is we get really obsessed with how
00:18:37
it was delivered and what what they said
00:18:41
I'm not in control of that so I don't
00:18:43
know and I don't care all I know that
00:18:46
I'm in control of is how I receive it so
00:18:49
if it was cold then I warmed it up if it
00:18:52
was warm then I called it down you know
00:18:54
like it's my responsibility what I do
00:18:56
with that information you know they're
00:18:58
just doctors and when did you tell Steve
00:19:01
so you kicked Steve out of the room so
00:19:02
he knew that I wasn't well you know he
00:19:04
knew that things he knew that it was
00:19:06
terminal he didn't know how long that
00:19:10
that bit was so he comes back in the
00:19:12
room and credit to the man you know like
00:19:14
full credit to the man never once did he
00:19:17
ask what was said when he wasn't in the
00:19:18
room wow he trusts he is so comfortable
00:19:23
in his own skin and he's so comfortable
00:19:26
with how he does things and he just
00:19:28
trusts me like this is my life and he
00:19:31
trusts me to live
00:19:33
it it's interesting because I'm try just
00:19:37
trying to probably projecting here and
00:19:38
imagining if I was in his shows and I
00:19:40
think the the the responsible thing for
00:19:43
me to do would be like to try and get it
00:19:44
out of you what the what the news was
00:19:46
but then I suppose he knows you well
00:19:48
enough to respect your your wishes you
00:19:49
didn't want him in the room so you know
00:19:52
it's up to you what information you
00:19:53
share with them it's incredibly
00:19:55
respectful I think it is and but that is
00:19:57
what you are not you and I would not do
00:19:59
that we would be like we want you got to
00:20:02
tell me I need to know like so I can
00:20:03
help you yeah but he and that level of
00:20:07
trust was like gold you know like I
00:20:10
remember saying to him once I said do
00:20:12
you realize that I'm the love of your
00:20:14
life and he said yeah I do and I said
00:20:16
well you know like when I'm gone there's
00:20:18
no point you dating anybody I been a bit
00:20:21
naughty you
00:20:23
know I ha you and he said to me um if
00:20:27
you want to say and who I you have to be
00:20:30
here in other words you just worry about
00:20:33
living and you be here and I'll be here
00:20:36
with you and I remember I laughed and
00:20:38
laughed and thought you [ __ ] [ __ ] I
00:20:41
love that answer like the man is
00:20:44
interesting you know when we first
00:20:46
started dating he said you know checked
00:20:48
in it a couple of months and said are we
00:20:50
are we happy you know are you good and I
00:20:52
said I haven't figured out if you're
00:20:53
cool enough for me and I was dead pen
00:20:56
serious like you know I'm not cool but
00:20:58
I'm way cooler than my husband like I
00:21:00
mean you know like you know there's no
00:21:03
doubt about it you know and he quietly
00:21:05
said I guess you'll figure it out and
00:21:07
what I did figure out is that he is one
00:21:10
of the coolest people I know because he
00:21:12
is so comfortable in his own skin so the
00:21:15
thing that you and I have probably
00:21:16
struggled with in our life and being
00:21:18
comfortable in ourself my husband is
00:21:21
just and now my son you know I live with
00:21:23
two men that are so incredibly
00:21:25
comfortable with themselves
00:21:29
well you you attract those people into
00:21:30
your life though don't you yeah yeah and
00:21:34
like I'm I'm just one I'm a little bit
00:21:36
more you know like I'm always trying to
00:21:38
improve myself and do this and do that
00:21:41
and you know but it is a little bit
00:21:42
contagious the fact that they're just so
00:21:45
incredibly comfortable in their own skin
00:21:48
and they're very obliging with me like
00:21:49
they'll go along with what I say for 99%
00:21:52
of the time but man on that
00:21:55
1% you can't budge them there's no
00:21:58
movement yeah so so you've talked about
00:22:00
this um the story and this um 0% chance
00:22:03
of surviving prognosis and podcasts and
00:22:05
on keynote speeches and stuff so Steve
00:22:07
must have heard about it by
00:22:08
now first time he he heard it four years
00:22:12
four years and after right yeah four
00:22:14
years after I went and said to um well
00:22:17
Le's run back a bit so I've gone off and
00:22:20
I've doing natural therapies I didn't
00:22:23
turn my life into a wellness taskas I
00:22:26
created this huge amount of space and I
00:22:28
withdrew myself from the medical system
00:22:31
because I felt that I didn't want my
00:22:34
life to be taken over with appointments
00:22:36
so I said look thanks for your help I'm
00:22:38
looking for fruit and veg and you're
00:22:39
offering me candy I'm in the wrong store
00:22:42
so I just wanted to take some control
00:22:44
back in my life and I wanted to study
00:22:46
Wellness so I studied people that either
00:22:49
had had miraculous healings or that were
00:22:51
just beautifully naturally well people
00:22:54
so instead of studying cancer and
00:22:56
disease which is what the doctors do I
00:22:58
studied how to be well and how to make
00:23:01
the most out of each and every day that
00:23:02
I did have and so that's what I did I
00:23:05
just really focused on that and about 14
00:23:07
months after I was diagnosed uh the
00:23:10
lovely Steve said to me um you are
00:23:13
seriously a pain in the ass again he
00:23:16
said I think you're well and I said yeah
00:23:18
I think I am too he said cuz God you're
00:23:21
you're seriously a pain in the ass and I
00:23:23
said I think I am too and he said what
00:23:24
do you want to do with the rest of your
00:23:25
life you know with the rest of our lives
00:23:27
and I said
00:23:29
well I've done the
00:23:30
math I want I'm not having children
00:23:32
after I'm 40 just no chance I'm just
00:23:35
once I'm 40 that's it I'm not trying and
00:23:38
he said you know we've been through 5
00:23:40
and a half thousand earthquakes we've
00:23:42
relocated two of our businesses we will
00:23:45
relocate one of them again we're living
00:23:47
at your sisters we don't know if their
00:23:48
house is still standing do you think
00:23:50
it's a good idea to have a child the
00:23:53
timing's not quite right yeah the timing
00:23:54
is not right and I said well I've worked
00:23:56
it out and you've got six weeks and then
00:23:58
you know our first wedding anniversary
00:24:00
will come up and if I'm not pregnant by
00:24:02
then I can't have a child by the time
00:24:04
I'm 40 you know at 39 and he said well
00:24:06
there's no action happening at your
00:24:08
sister's house what what are we going to
00:24:09
do and I said well I've booked a weekend
00:24:11
away at araroa you've now got three
00:24:13
nights do your
00:24:15
thing let's just say that Port dark
00:24:18
chocolate and taking care of business
00:24:20
was the only thing that happened that
00:24:21
weekend and then
00:24:23
order do matter my business not of my
00:24:26
business if it works it doesn't matter
00:24:28
how I mean this seriously this is a man
00:24:29
that you check for a pulse you
00:24:31
know happy face sad face there is no
00:24:35
different poker face poker face yeah and
00:24:38
um you know but I learned something
00:24:40
about him that weekend you know he does
00:24:43
perform exceptionally well under
00:24:44
pressure give him a task time frame
00:24:47
three weeks before my 40th birthday I
00:24:49
gave birth to our one and only child
00:24:51
Jackson James Foster yeah who's 13 now
00:24:54
14 13 in December yeah so so cool 14 and
00:24:57
a half years ago was when I was
00:24:59
diagnosed yeah um yeah it's so
00:25:03
incredible the story it's remarkable the
00:25:07
um yeah that that year was when you get
00:25:09
told that diagnosis even though you're
00:25:11
confident you're going to flip the
00:25:12
middle finger to the oncologist um why
00:25:15
why don't you do some bucketless stuff
00:25:17
like just in case you know what I mean
00:25:19
yeah I do things that you always wanted
00:25:20
to do why why didn't
00:25:25
you your world gets real small
00:25:29
you know like I can't I couldn't have
00:25:31
walked up those
00:25:32
stairs you would have had to have held
00:25:34
my hand and I'd take three steps and i'
00:25:37
need a break like I sounded like Darth
00:25:40
Vader like I was real sick
00:25:43
on like your world just shrinks down to
00:25:46
you know it's a good day if I can get
00:25:48
dressed feed myself and go to work for
00:25:51
two hours and
00:25:54
so the most impactful things on
00:25:56
ourselves are usually the the little
00:25:58
list of things you know I said to you
00:26:00
before you said what changed what
00:26:02
changed was the grass underneath my feet
00:26:05
felt like the biggest privilege in the
00:26:07
world each day just felt like a
00:26:09
privilege I didn't need to go and prove
00:26:11
anything to anyone else I was just
00:26:14
trying to get up and just make the best
00:26:16
of every day I had and so instead of
00:26:18
trying to push myself to do things that
00:26:22
I physically did not feel capable
00:26:24
of I just wanted to appreciate and be
00:26:27
present in every day I had because you
00:26:30
know like what there is nothing better
00:26:33
than the gift that I have given
00:26:35
myself and yet quite often we are
00:26:38
consistently going out there to get
00:26:42
external validation and you know think
00:26:45
that doing something big and audacious
00:26:47
that that everyone else can see is more
00:26:49
important than the fact that I'd sit and
00:26:52
have a green tea and feel like I was the
00:26:54
luckiest girl in the
00:26:56
world a thank you so much much for that
00:26:59
explanation it makes so much sense I
00:27:01
suppose I'm thinking of like yeah the
00:27:03
movies where someone gets a diagnosis
00:27:05
and suddenly they're going to have all
00:27:06
this energy and cram as much as what
00:27:08
they can but yeah Instagram versus
00:27:10
reality right yeah and like the the the
00:27:13
best thing well the best thing I could
00:27:15
give myself is like just time with
00:27:18
myself like that is ultimately what I
00:27:20
wanted was just to you
00:27:22
know the you know having a great life is
00:27:25
the antidote to to death you know but
00:27:28
it's also just being present in in
00:27:31
yourself and in your life but you know
00:27:34
like my 20s I just rushed it I was
00:27:37
always trying to be further ahead than
00:27:39
what I was you know and I wasn't
00:27:41
particularly happy and when my life got
00:27:44
so incredibly small and I figured out I
00:27:47
liked my big toe and then I fell in love
00:27:49
with myself it's like what what other
00:27:52
what bucket list item could be better
00:27:56
than
00:27:56
that m
00:27:58
yeah the thing about your 20ns is that
00:28:00
saying youth has wasted on the young
00:28:01
totally so true so true yeah so true so
00:28:06
when um yeah I know you you you weren't
00:28:09
focusing on the calendar or the days but
00:28:11
when it must have been in the back of
00:28:13
your mind like when D-Day came around
00:28:15
like the 18 month Mark or whatever um
00:28:18
yeah do you remember that or no got no
00:28:20
significance it's got no significance I
00:28:22
knew that it was around the beginning of
00:28:24
the year but I had to go back 5 years
00:28:27
later and find my notes to find out what
00:28:29
day I was diagnosed unreal I do not hold
00:28:32
on to anything that I don't need to and
00:28:34
you don't need to hold on well I didn't
00:28:36
need to hold on to that it was
00:28:37
irrelevant because I was so happy loving
00:28:39
in each day it's like why why would I
00:28:42
hold on to We Hold On To The Past like
00:28:44
it means something and if I held on to
00:28:47
that date then I'd be holding on to what
00:28:48
he said as if it was going to be true I
00:28:51
didn't I let that [ __ ] go yeah and I let
00:28:53
the diagnosis go with them well that
00:28:56
probably answers the next thing I was
00:28:57
going to um touch upon like have you
00:29:00
gone back and spoken to the like
00:29:02
oncology team or the person that
00:29:03
delivered that news and asked them how
00:29:05
they could get it so [ __ ]
00:29:06
wrong like that's um they basically gave
00:29:10
you an incorrect death sentence no they
00:29:12
didn't they did they did
00:29:15
not I gave myself my
00:29:18
life they gave me their best educated
00:29:20
guess and that's all they can ever do
00:29:23
but my life was not his to give me it's
00:29:26
mine
00:29:28
so he never took anything away from me
00:29:31
he just said given what we can see this
00:29:34
is what we would predict and I turned
00:29:37
that round as a little bit of a
00:29:39
challenge he didn't get it wrong he just
00:29:42
said in his educated opinion what he
00:29:45
thought was right and I decided that my
00:29:48
gut feeling was worth way more than that
00:29:51
why are you defending him I'm on your
00:29:52
team
00:29:53
here no no you've got a great way of
00:29:56
framing it like exactly it's uh and it
00:29:59
is I know and I know that's the point
00:30:01
you want people to take from this it's
00:30:02
all about the framing of it it is
00:30:04
because I see people so angry with the
00:30:06
medical profession I'm like take some
00:30:08
[ __ ] responsibility for yourself I
00:30:11
think that everything is my fault it's
00:30:14
my fault I got cancer it's my
00:30:16
body you know I take High how how do
00:30:19
sorry how do you mean it's your fault
00:30:21
well my body created
00:30:23
it it's not not your fault though well
00:30:27
it is my resp responsibility though okay
00:30:30
I don't you know but but if I think it's
00:30:32
my fault then I take greater
00:30:34
responsibility for it I don't actually
00:30:36
think it's my fault but then maybe maybe
00:30:39
I do think it is a little bit my fault I
00:30:41
knew that I had low I knew that I didn't
00:30:43
have IGA I knew that I'd had too many
00:30:46
antibiotics as a kid I knew that I had
00:30:48
alopecia and my immune system wasn't
00:30:50
great but I was still driven to you know
00:30:53
like in my 20s I was very driven in my
00:30:55
career you know so I still drove over
00:30:57
things I never quite looked after myself
00:30:59
the way I probably should have that's my
00:31:02
responsibility yeah okay the fact that
00:31:05
everyone else beside me can get away
00:31:06
with it is not the point the point this
00:31:10
is my body my responsibility yeah um
00:31:15
I've heard you say in interview can
00:31:16
cancer is the least interesting thing
00:31:18
about me it is so the least interesting
00:31:20
thing yeah what does that
00:31:21
mean look it's the reason I'm sitting
00:31:24
here with you and if the only thing you
00:31:26
took away from our conversation is that
00:31:29
this chick beat cancer which I would
00:31:31
never say I would say I journeyed with
00:31:34
it um that is you know you would you
00:31:37
would be missing a great opportunity to
00:31:40
see how somebody
00:31:43
can can reframe the [ __ ] out of
00:31:45
everything in their life to be sitting
00:31:48
here I mean you said to me when we first
00:31:49
arrived how are you is life good and I'm
00:31:52
like hell yes you know and you see what
00:31:54
does that mean means that I get up every
00:31:56
day and I'm so grateful to be alive it
00:31:59
means that I get up every day and I get
00:32:01
to do work that I'm really really good
00:32:04
at and that did not happen by accident I
00:32:08
have been working away in the background
00:32:09
trying to figure out the [ __ ] for a long
00:32:13
time and just the fact that you know you
00:32:16
like what feels like the rest of New
00:32:18
Zealand has only just heard about me now
00:32:20
doesn't mean that I haven't been like
00:32:23
I've known This Moment's coming I just
00:32:25
didn't know what it was going to look
00:32:27
like or how I was going to get here but
00:32:28
I knew it was
00:32:30
coming it's a story that deserves to be
00:32:32
told and you you said just before um
00:32:34
you're only here because of the cancer I
00:32:37
I don't know if that yeah there probably
00:32:39
is an element of Truth to that but I
00:32:41
think like you're from the research I've
00:32:43
done you're like you're a remarkable
00:32:44
woman and you do some incredible stuff
00:32:45
but I think the the the cancer and the
00:32:47
diagnosis that you were given and the
00:32:49
fact that you're still here and you're
00:32:50
thriving um it just gives you like an
00:32:52
extra level of credibility in a way I
00:32:54
think yeah I mean I just think you can
00:32:55
walk the walk and talk the talk 100% see
00:32:58
cuz here's the thing I got asked
00:32:59
recently is if there was a button here
00:33:02
that would take both of my diagnosises
00:33:04
away you know and I would never have had
00:33:06
cancer would I push
00:33:08
it and straight away I said absolutely
00:33:11
not I would never push that button cuz I
00:33:15
love who I am I can't think of anybody
00:33:19
else I'd spend want to spend the rest of
00:33:21
my life with 24/7 than me that's how
00:33:23
much I like who I am now I am only this
00:33:27
person
00:33:29
because I've had two cancer diagnosises
00:33:32
like I'm only this person because I have
00:33:35
an incredible family like I'm only this
00:33:38
person because of my wonderful husband
00:33:41
and you know my first husband even
00:33:43
though it didn't work out I'm still only
00:33:45
here and in this space loving exactly
00:33:47
who I am because of all of those things
00:33:49
that have made up my life and have
00:33:52
turned me into this person that I am so
00:33:55
you know it's like I know that I
00:33:57
wouldn't be here without the cancer
00:33:59
story but it's also and and I think that
00:34:02
everything in life is a dichotomy yeah
00:34:04
you know it's like you know even you
00:34:06
know you said oh it's a bit embarrassing
00:34:08
it's taken me 51 years to start working
00:34:10
on myself you know it's like well yeah
00:34:13
but you know if you've had some [ __ ]
00:34:15
happen we try and avoid that [ __ ] as
00:34:17
much as we can because it [ __ ] hurts
00:34:19
you know but then on the flip side I
00:34:22
don't know that you'd be doing this if
00:34:24
you hadn't have been through some of the
00:34:25
things that you've been through I know
00:34:27
that you wouldn't be doing this if you
00:34:28
hadn't have had the life that you've had
00:34:30
yeah I'm not suggesting it's it's easy
00:34:33
but it's it's
00:34:35
simple you are the sum of these
00:34:38
things yeah that's true and
00:34:40
it yeah there's probably parallels with
00:34:43
you and me and like the same in my 20s I
00:34:45
was trying to like bang down doors now I
00:34:47
understand like the right door you you
00:34:49
know you want to work hard and keep
00:34:51
putting one step in front of the other
00:34:52
but the right door will open when it's
00:34:53
supposed to yeah we probably knocked on
00:34:56
about 10 best drive straight through
00:34:59
them you yeah and you know we just
00:35:03
needed to quietly put the right one and
00:35:05
slop thr it yeah or just except knocking
00:35:08
it's supposed to open it'll open
00:35:10
yeah notely yeah
00:35:14
yeah there's got to be a way in exactly
00:35:17
I'm the slowest learner ever you know
00:35:19
it's oh same here and I'm I'm um this is
00:35:23
a real weakness weakness of of mine I I
00:35:26
have to learn through my own mistakes
00:35:28
like you could say to me don't touch the
00:35:30
fire really I'm just can't find why
00:35:33
shouldn't I touch the fire yeah um tell
00:35:35
me I just got a question for you um you
00:35:37
said it's a real weakness of yours tell
00:35:39
me what your greatest strength
00:35:43
is I don't know if I could tell you yeah
00:35:46
but if you could what would someone else
00:35:47
say about you I
00:35:49
don't probably that I'm um P persistent
00:35:53
and stubborn maybe
00:35:55
and I think I'm maybe more more
00:35:57
resilient than what I give myself credit
00:35:59
for sometimes yeah and so what if I told
00:36:01
you our greatest strength is our
00:36:03
greatest weakness so how has your what
00:36:05
does that mean well my greatest strength
00:36:09
I can I've got so many of them what am I
00:36:13
to begin I don't know but that also
00:36:15
means You' got lots of weaknesses as
00:36:17
well yeah 100% so if I pick on I haven't
00:36:19
got that many just tasing right if I
00:36:21
pick on something like one of my
00:36:23
greatest strengths is my ability to
00:36:26
question my curiosity it is also my
00:36:29
greatest weakness cuz I'm really
00:36:30
freaking
00:36:33
annoying and if you live in the vicinity
00:36:35
of me I will not let you away with
00:36:38
anything is this is this the the work
00:36:41
you is this with your work head on or is
00:36:43
this just
00:36:44
die you know people say to me you know I
00:36:46
just the work version it's like oh no
00:36:49
sweetheart there's just one version so
00:36:51
this is this is you at home with Steve
00:36:53
and Jackson oh my God yeah so you know
00:36:56
I'm really easy to love with like really
00:36:58
easy to live with until I'm not and then
00:37:01
I'm just
00:37:03
like you know so they love me and then
00:37:06
my son will be like yeah Mom jog on you
00:37:10
know you know so so my point is is that
00:37:12
I just won't leave things alone you know
00:37:14
like I'll just be like you know a bit
00:37:16
fixated on it you know you said your
00:37:18
tenacity and you know the fact that you
00:37:20
know you'll just keep going and it's
00:37:22
like yeah it's our greater strength and
00:37:24
by God we're painful but how is that a
00:37:26
weakness
00:37:28
well how can your greatest strength be
00:37:29
your greatest weakness well it always is
00:37:31
so you know when people are really
00:37:33
really good at detail it's their greater
00:37:35
strength and they get stuck in the
00:37:38
detail and they don't pull out to look
00:37:40
at the big picture people that are
00:37:42
really really good at Big Picture stuff
00:37:44
forget all the detail and it's a
00:37:47
nightmare for them at times so it's not
00:37:49
about the fact that it's right or wrong
00:37:51
it's just self-awareness yeah you know
00:37:53
the work that we talk about doing is
00:37:55
just about knowing Who We Are
00:37:58
and not you know not having to pretend
00:38:00
that we're any different so you know I'm
00:38:02
really happy to tell you all of my
00:38:04
weaknesses cuz I'll also tell you all of
00:38:06
my strengths and I'll [ __ ] own
00:38:09
them how good that's so good we
00:38:15
yeah was was cancer sort of like the
00:38:17
reset you needed to become the person
00:38:19
you are today I reckon the reset that I
00:38:22
got was when I left my first husband
00:38:25
that was the hardest thing I've ever
00:38:26
done in my life and my only time in my
00:38:29
life where I've really regretted my
00:38:31
behavior and how I handled that
00:38:34
situation how' we how long were you
00:38:35
married for I was only married for 3
00:38:37
years but we had been together 10 years
00:38:39
okay when was this late late 20s early
00:38:41
late 20s okay 28 yeah so the the Whole
00:38:44
Health Journey started after that yeah
00:38:46
what what why how how did how would you
00:38:48
act differently what did you do wrong I
00:38:51
did not act towards my own gold standard
00:38:53
Behavior okay in order to leave I needed
00:38:56
leverage because I would have the easy
00:38:58
thing would have just been to go back
00:39:00
and in my heart I knew that I needed to
00:39:02
leave and so you know sometimes we
00:39:04
create situations where we've shifted
00:39:08
ourselves and done things that are not
00:39:10
quite right um in order to just move on
00:39:13
so we don't go back and you know I could
00:39:15
justify that I could say well you know
00:39:17
technically we were separated and you
00:39:19
know but it wasn't my gold standard
00:39:21
Behavior you know I started a
00:39:23
relationship before I had tidily
00:39:25
finished that one and that's it's not
00:39:27
okay for me that's not my own God
00:39:29
standard
00:39:32
Behavior yeah well it's good if you to
00:39:33
admit that it's a hard thing to admit I
00:39:35
mean it's very easy to in a any
00:39:37
relationship breakdown like there's um
00:39:39
yeah a therapist said to me once um with
00:39:41
any situation you should look at you
00:39:44
know what your role in the situation was
00:39:47
I feel like this is kind of what you're
00:39:49
saying with everything you do as well
00:39:50
yeah but it be very easy to pass I mean
00:39:52
obviously shame on you for the overlap
00:39:55
um but it's also very easy you could
00:39:56
easy say oh he was an [ __ ] or he
00:39:58
didn't do this or he and Shine the torch
00:40:01
on his role and the demise yeah exactly
00:40:03
and you know like we have had those
00:40:05
conversations and his part you know of
00:40:07
what what what had happened and things
00:40:09
but I think ultimately when I look at
00:40:12
that situation I in my 20s I didn't have
00:40:16
the voice that I have today I didn't
00:40:18
have my own voice I was saying I wasn't
00:40:21
happy and he just was brushing over it
00:40:25
but now I would be like yo
00:40:28
back here not happy leaving you know
00:40:31
take you know it's like there's no you
00:40:33
know there's
00:40:34
no you sometimes my boys say to me at
00:40:37
home um are you
00:40:41
sure when have I said anything you know
00:40:45
like like why would you ask me then you
00:40:49
know yeah so you know I just think now I
00:40:52
don't you know it's not that I go around
00:40:54
and I think I have to tell everyone what
00:40:56
I think but my point is is that if if
00:40:59
we're going to leave the room and I
00:41:01
think you should know how I feel then
00:41:02
you will know exactly how I feel not in
00:41:04
a horrible way just in a really you know
00:41:07
I just believe that we can do great
00:41:09
things with we can do hard things and
00:41:10
still do it with love yeah you know I
00:41:13
just I look back there you know in my
00:41:15
twin as 28 and think oh Bliss I just
00:41:17
wanted to be loved I did I just wanted
00:41:20
to be loved and I ended up with somebody
00:41:22
that you know just wanted me to be so
00:41:24
independent and to be so strong he
00:41:27
thought that not loving me exactly the
00:41:29
way I was was going to do that yeah you
00:41:32
know and that was never going to work so
00:41:34
so you look back now on reflection of
00:41:36
that first marriage um was that your
00:41:38
gold star standard at the time or is you
00:41:40
just look back now with embarrassment
00:41:42
from the perspective of the person you
00:41:44
are now oh I knew at the time yeah I did
00:41:47
I was disappointed with myself and I
00:41:49
think the hardest thing is that you know
00:41:51
for me leaving that marriage was not
00:41:54
about like I never missed the person
00:41:57
leaving my husband was not difficult
00:42:00
admitting to society that I'd failed in
00:42:02
marriage was devastating to me like I
00:42:06
really really struggled there to the
00:42:08
extent that I thought maybe I'd just
00:42:09
stay so I never had to tell tell anyone
00:42:11
that I'd failed because I had quite a
00:42:14
quite a harsh Persona in the fact that I
00:42:17
was right everything was black and white
00:42:19
and I think after that everything just
00:42:20
got this gorgeous shade of gray I was
00:42:22
just very forgiving of other people and
00:42:25
of myself you know that we always get it
00:42:28
right and in some ways that was probably
00:42:31
um even though you didn't know it at the
00:42:33
time it was probably like you know one
00:42:34
of the steps to prepare you for the
00:42:36
battle that was about to about to come
00:42:38
in the next decade of your life 100%
00:42:40
yeah yeah um I've heard you say like you
00:42:42
you talked to your cancer rationally
00:42:44
like uh you know a lot of people have
00:42:45
like a you know a [ __ ] cancer [ __ ]
00:42:47
cancer t-shirts and stuff but you were
00:42:49
like um you sort of made made friends
00:42:51
with it in a way I guess well it's my
00:42:53
body yeah you know like imagine hating
00:42:56
your body imagine been going through
00:42:57
life hating your body and I and I had
00:42:59
hated my body at times and I was just
00:43:02
like actually if we're going to live
00:43:04
together let's just have a chat and I
00:43:06
explained to my cancer that if it kept
00:43:08
growing at the rate it was it was going
00:43:10
to kill me and I'm the host and
00:43:12
therefore it was going to die so I was
00:43:14
kind of having this negotiation with you
00:43:15
could have killed both of us you could
00:43:17
have killed both of us it's like it's
00:43:18
not a good plan you know through think
00:43:21
it through exactly I was like think it
00:43:23
through because I think that there's an
00:43:25
energy to anger and to hate into Fu
00:43:28
cancer that I wasn't interested in I was
00:43:31
a little bit more of holy [ __ ] you know
00:43:34
you haven't always loved yourself so
00:43:35
let's just give yourself a bit of a hug
00:43:37
now I know this is not ideal but
00:43:39
actually let's find a way and move
00:43:41
forward with it CU I'm just don't I'm
00:43:44
I'm exhausted and I don't have the
00:43:45
energy to hate myself anymore well and
00:43:48
it worked for you um obviously like
00:43:50
genetics and DNA and stuff play a part
00:43:51
in it but um I have really high
00:43:54
inflammatory markers so I've had my DNA
00:43:58
tested and I have really really really
00:44:01
high inflammatory markers which means
00:44:03
that I'm quite sensitive to foods and
00:44:06
things like that not allergic but just
00:44:08
you know sort of high inflammatory
00:44:09
markers yeah yeah I mean anyone that's
00:44:11
got a terminal diagnosis I suppose like
00:44:14
you're doing what you know following
00:44:15
your blueprint it can't do you any harm
00:44:18
right well it absolutely there's a book
00:44:22
that's been written called radical
00:44:23
remission and it talks about the key
00:44:25
factors that are involved D in healing
00:44:28
so she studied uh Dr Kelly Turner she
00:44:31
studied a thousand people and um it just
00:44:34
so happens that I had intuitively done
00:44:36
all of them some of them weren't
00:44:38
important to me like and others I did
00:44:41
very very well like one of them that I
00:44:43
think I doubled down on was reducing all
00:44:46
negative emotions so you know I reduced
00:44:50
like I went right through my life and I
00:44:52
just went um you know do I who do I need
00:44:56
to forgive do I need I need to forgive
00:44:57
myself do I need to forgive somebody
00:44:58
else how do I look at the situation and
00:45:01
make it and and reconcile it in my own
00:45:04
head that it was okay you know that that
00:45:06
I don't need to drag all my baggage
00:45:08
through life I decided that if I was
00:45:10
going to die I wanted to die with this
00:45:12
little baggage as possible and in doing
00:45:14
that I think that I got to really really
00:45:17
focus on you know like I say the Grass
00:45:19
Grows Where you grow where you water it
00:45:21
and then so I really doubled down on all
00:45:23
the good things in my life so the
00:45:26
baggage thing you're talking about I've
00:45:27
heard you say you you want to have a
00:45:29
really good death Y is that sort of what
00:45:31
what does that tie in with that yeah
00:45:32
100% cuz I just want to be able to on
00:45:35
the day I meant to go just 96 years old
00:45:38
that's the one I think he knows more
00:45:40
about me than I know about
00:45:42
myself yeah um what advice would you
00:45:44
have for anyone listening that's got a
00:45:45
terminal illness or that knows someone
00:45:48
that that has and they might pass this
00:45:50
you know link on to
00:45:51
them I think it's the same advice that I
00:45:54
would give anybody I wouldn't you know
00:45:57
the same advice or the advice that I'd
00:45:59
give anybody is you
00:46:02
know you know what's right for you you
00:46:05
know that if it's your time to do your
00:46:07
work you know if you know you're living
00:46:09
your best life and now it's time to
00:46:11
double down you know the areas of your
00:46:14
life that you've been avoiding and
00:46:16
you've been trying not to think about
00:46:17
and for anybody that's supporting
00:46:19
somebody else um the greatest gift my
00:46:22
sister gave me Joe was um when I had my
00:46:26
first diagnos and I was just about to go
00:46:28
and get my right breast lobbed off um
00:46:31
and I S I sat down with her at lunch and
00:46:33
I said this is
00:46:34
rough and she said yes it is and I said
00:46:39
this is really unfair she said yeah it
00:46:41
is I was 30 years old I hadn't had
00:46:44
children and I was lo you know and I
00:46:46
just sat there for 20 minutes and I
00:46:48
complained about everything and she said
00:46:50
yep and never once did she say come on
00:46:53
die you know she just pull your pull
00:46:56
your socks up y she just let me wallow
00:46:58
in my own self-pity and then by the 20
00:47:00
minutes I was so bored with myself I
00:47:02
said okay let's go she goes good girl
00:47:04
off for you oh so you just needed to
00:47:06
vent was it quite cathartic oh somebody
00:47:09
that can hold space for you and let you
00:47:12
when you've actually got a serious
00:47:14
situation where you just want to tell
00:47:16
them everything that you feel and
00:47:18
complain about your life and just go
00:47:21
this is [ __ ] you know this is unfair why
00:47:24
is this happening to me you know blah
00:47:26
blah blah and they just hold the space
00:47:28
for you to just let that all out it was
00:47:31
like this enormous weight had been
00:47:33
lifted off me and that is that is a very
00:47:37
difficult thing to do for somebody and
00:47:38
I'm forever grateful that she allows me
00:47:41
to do that and allows that space for me
00:47:44
to do
00:47:45
that yeah just all this I know the
00:47:48
cancer is the least interesting thing
00:47:50
about you and we've been talking talking
00:47:51
about it for half an hour but it's um
00:47:54
move on there there's just so many good
00:47:56
um like takeway way and and insights and
00:47:58
I I genuinely believe you when you know
00:48:00
you when you wake up every day and you
00:48:02
appreciate it I I believe it but it' be
00:48:04
very easy to you know to survive that
00:48:08
grazing you grazing bullet or whatever
00:48:09
you want to call it and and then yeah 5
00:48:11
years down the track go go back into how
00:48:13
you were before and take life for
00:48:15
granted and and I have in some respects
00:48:17
I think there's two things that come out
00:48:19
of that you know I went on and head
00:48:21
Jackson and man your life gets real
00:48:24
small in another way and you know and
00:48:27
then I found myself you know being a mom
00:48:30
and trying to work and doing all this
00:48:32
and then going through Pur menopause and
00:48:34
for a while that was quite hard you know
00:48:37
like I thought cancer was hard and I
00:48:39
thought leaving my first husband was
00:48:40
hard but holy [ __ ] men P menopause and
00:48:43
menopause is like next level freaking
00:48:45
bat [ __ ] crazy hard um
00:48:48
warning um so I did find myself in that
00:48:51
place you know where I was just like
00:48:53
there's a lot to I I needed to find my
00:48:57
balance again and that was hard but the
00:49:00
one thing that I'd say just when you say
00:49:02
you know like I you know like you know
00:49:05
wake up every day and I'm happy and
00:49:07
everything's great if you're listening
00:49:09
to this and thinking how does she do
00:49:12
that Dom's right I do wake up every day
00:49:15
and I'm grateful but that doesn't mean
00:49:17
that it's quite as rosy as I make out it
00:49:20
to
00:49:21
be but what I do do is I go back and I
00:49:25
retell myself a story
00:49:27
because if I told you the really really
00:49:29
hard bits of what I went through if I
00:49:31
told you the bits of you know like when
00:49:33
I had chemo and a mate came over and was
00:49:36
weeding the garden and he was telling me
00:49:39
about all the wonderful things that were
00:49:40
happening in his life and when he took
00:49:43
two steps out I was in the toilet and
00:49:45
the entire neighborhood would have heard
00:49:47
me like from the depths of my soul
00:49:50
vomiting out everything in my body and
00:49:52
then of course he took off and never
00:49:54
came back and weeded the garden [ __ ]
00:49:56
hell Terry what were you thinking you
00:49:59
know like but that is such a great
00:50:01
example of that was a really really
00:50:04
rough time but then I'll tell you
00:50:06
[ __ ] hell Terry what were you
00:50:08
thinking because I just retell my story
00:50:11
to myself so that it's palatable for me
00:50:14
to live with you know it was not easy it
00:50:18
was it was really tough at
00:50:21
times but again instead of focusing on
00:50:24
that so if I had a day and there were
00:50:26
five things that happened and four of
00:50:28
them were tough I would only tell you
00:50:29
about the one thing that was
00:50:31
amazing cuz that's in my control even
00:50:34
the retelling of my story is in my
00:50:40
control [ __ ] you've done the work hey
00:50:42
I've done the work
00:50:44
sunshine sunshine I have done the work
00:50:48
you you've earned the right to call a
00:50:50
51y old man sunshine I you have you call
00:50:52
me whatever the [ __ ] you want I will
00:50:54
call you whatever the [ __ ] I want so so
00:50:57
let's Okay um we'll talk about Young D
00:50:59
for a bit so yeah it seems like you got
00:51:01
an incredible relationship with your dad
00:51:03
is both your parents still alive yeah
00:51:05
yeah yeah that's still together or yeah
00:51:06
yeah yeah yeah definitely yeah so what
00:51:08
what are you like are you would you say
00:51:10
you're 50% your dad 50% your mom or is
00:51:12
there more in terms of character
00:51:15
traits
00:51:16
uh when I'm authentically myself I'm 75%
00:51:21
dead and CAU a mom when I'm playing when
00:51:26
I when I was living to society's
00:51:28
expectations I was 50/50 cuz I was
00:51:30
trying to be a 1950s housewife and then
00:51:34
bloody work and bloody build assets and
00:51:36
do all that [ __ ] at the same time now
00:51:38
I'm just like and actually the more I
00:51:40
lean into the life that I've got now
00:51:43
then I'm probably 95% my dad because um
00:51:47
you know like recently when I was in
00:51:49
Europe with my family um yeah we were we
00:51:53
were in Paris at the same time this is
00:51:55
April we were seen each other it was
00:51:57
very funny um when I was in Europe I
00:52:00
said to the boys I said um I said
00:52:03
Jackson have I been a good mom you know
00:52:06
like do you know who I am and you know
00:52:08
like you know who I am and you know who
00:52:10
you are have I been a good mom and he's
00:52:11
just like Mom you're like the best and I
00:52:14
said cool and I milked it for a bit I
00:52:17
said Steve you know have I been a good
00:52:19
partner and he goes oh my God you're
00:52:21
amazing I was like milky keep going guys
00:52:24
yeah keep going come on just look at for
00:52:26
the love here and um then I said you
00:52:29
know I said I'm so pleased cuz you know
00:52:31
like you know I've put my career on hold
00:52:34
and I've done these things and I've
00:52:35
purposely not really ranked things up
00:52:37
and and that and I said look I'm so
00:52:39
pleased that you know that that you feel
00:52:42
this way because in two weeks when we
00:52:44
get home that [ __ ] [ __ ] is over I am
00:52:48
done I am done putting my life on hold
00:52:52
because I'm petrified that my little
00:52:53
child's not going to know who I am and
00:52:56
at the same time he was asking me about
00:52:57
achieving a goal he had and he was like
00:52:59
how do I do this and how do I do that
00:53:01
and my son's a little bit resistant at
00:53:03
times but then he does listen and I said
00:53:05
to him sweetheart I could tell you all
00:53:07
of this information till I'm blowing in
00:53:08
the face I'm just going to show you so
00:53:11
when I stepped off that plane from
00:53:13
Europe I was like I'm going now let
00:53:16
Jackson let me tell you what my goals
00:53:18
are and I'm going to show you how I'm
00:53:19
going to achieve them and you can ask me
00:53:21
any question on the way and I'm just
00:53:23
going to show you I'm going to explain
00:53:25
to you what I'm doing where I'm doing it
00:53:27
and why I'm doing it but I'm going to
00:53:29
show you how to How I Live this next
00:53:31
phase of my
00:53:33
life what were those goals what are they
00:53:36
I would like I am going to be I am going
00:53:39
to be an international speaker I'm going
00:53:42
to share my story but also share my life
00:53:45
philosophies on International stages and
00:53:48
I am going to be an author and I will
00:53:51
continue coaching
00:53:53
because cuz I'm really good at it and
00:53:56
cuz I love it yeah actually you've got
00:53:59
the the same sort of
00:54:01
um same sort of tone of voice on your
00:54:03
website it's like um you know hi I'm D
00:54:05
and I'm really good at what I do sort of
00:54:07
thing which is um it's so un unwi um but
00:54:12
it's I think it's something that as new
00:54:13
zealanders it's not a not a good thing
00:54:15
that it's un kiwi you know what I mean I
00:54:17
think um I think it's a powerful thing
00:54:19
and it's one thing you know like I could
00:54:21
probably speak in New Zealand for the
00:54:23
rest of my life but I think that um
00:54:26
markets abroad will be far more
00:54:28
receptive to to the way that I think
00:54:31
yeah if kiwi are listening to this which
00:54:34
I imagine there might be a couple um you
00:54:36
know and they think oh good lord she's
00:54:38
so up herself it's like you are
00:54:41
absolutely right and by God I've done
00:54:44
the work to get here cuz I did not
00:54:46
always love myself you know I've been
00:54:48
really hard on myself so yeah also
00:54:51
anyone that says that that like that's
00:54:53
kind of that's kind of it's that tall
00:54:55
poppy thing like crabs a bucket whatever
00:54:57
you want to call it it's yeah it's like
00:54:59
that's cool yeah yeah yeah if that's
00:55:01
going to make your day better by
00:55:02
bringing someone else down go ahead cuz
00:55:05
you know me loving myself just makes my
00:55:08
life easier it actually doesn't affect
00:55:10
you you know like seriously like the
00:55:14
fact that I'm really comfortable living
00:55:16
my life and living in my own body it's
00:55:19
like what business is it of anybody
00:55:21
else's you know like literally what
00:55:24
business is it of anybody else's whether
00:55:26
you know it's just weird but I reckon
00:55:29
there's that um I don't know I'm making
00:55:32
up this percentage but say there's 25%
00:55:33
of people at at that want to bring you
00:55:35
down and think oh this this this checks
00:55:37
up herself but then there's the top end
00:55:39
that'll go yeah [ __ ] yeah good for you
00:55:41
yeah I'm rooting for your die do you
00:55:43
know Lisa O'Neal she's a good speaker
00:55:46
around New Zealand she's bloody funny
00:55:48
she's um she said and she wrote a book
00:55:51
about it and it's called lickable third
00:55:54
and she says that if you walk into any
00:55:56
room and there's like 90 people there 30
00:55:59
of them are going to love you like love
00:56:03
you you know a third of them are going
00:56:06
to just it will not matter what you do
00:56:08
you are not their people and a third of
00:56:10
them are going to take or Leave You Now
00:56:14
interestingly I reckon that my husband
00:56:16
is like 10% of people love him 10% of
00:56:18
people hate him cuz he's not polarizing
00:56:21
I reckon you and I are probably way
00:56:25
closer just splitting the room I quite
00:56:28
yeah I quite like it though and yeah a
00:56:30
Slither of um indifferent people in the
00:56:32
middle yeah that are just oh know I can
00:56:35
see that with me because I've I've been
00:56:36
on Commercial radio for many years but
00:56:38
you who would yeah I don't know I can't
00:56:41
imagine anyone would would feel that
00:56:43
negative towards you when you only bring
00:56:46
good into the world really do you want
00:56:47
me to give you their
00:56:49
names there's quite a few yeah it is
00:56:53
what it is you know and what I've
00:56:54
noticed especially in the last last year
00:56:57
is that um me just living my best life
00:57:01
is annoying the B Jesus out of a few
00:57:03
people I'm not I'm not you know like
00:57:06
literally um me just living my best life
00:57:09
is annoying the [ __ ] out of people
00:57:11
because they've known me for a long time
00:57:13
and they have their own opinions about
00:57:15
me and you know like people prob
00:57:18
possibly think they know me if they've
00:57:19
known me for 30 years well I would say
00:57:21
that the last you know 12 years have
00:57:25
been a mom I'm quite a different person
00:57:27
than I was when I was 14 you know like
00:57:29
14 years ago yes mainly because I've I
00:57:33
wouldn't say I'm Different I'd say I'm
00:57:35
unapologetically myself
00:57:38
now oh good for you just sort of
00:57:40
Reaching Your
00:57:41
Potential and and you know that just I
00:57:44
the we bit of sick just came up in my
00:57:46
mouth when you said that it's like you
00:57:48
know I don't know what the [ __ ] is
00:57:50
potential it's like you know just living
00:57:53
a good life no just just being you being
00:57:55
everything that you know you can be yeah
00:57:57
and I just think I'm I would I would
00:57:59
phrase it as I'm just leaning into it
00:58:02
I'm just leaning into the opportunities
00:58:04
that I have and I'm just loving it yeah
00:58:08
and as I said to you before I have
00:58:10
always known that I would end up in this
00:58:11
position yeah you know like if I look at
00:58:14
my some DMS this week I'm just like I I
00:58:17
tell my sisters I'm like gu who DM me
00:58:20
the we it's like you know cuz we all
00:58:22
think I'm hilarious like you know if you
00:58:24
want to be grounded here two sister like
00:58:26
mine um you know and it's do you know
00:58:28
what I mean it's just like and they they
00:58:30
just absolutely cheer me cheerlead me
00:58:33
and also tell me you know when if I sort
00:58:35
of pull a Swifty on Mom and try and get
00:58:38
some sympathy for something they'll be
00:58:39
like yeah that cancer card's done die
00:58:42
your history you know you just it's old
00:58:44
news that was like day two you know it's
00:58:47
like yeah no you can't do that [ __ ] so
00:58:49
you know it's just I don't know I could
00:58:50
you so yeah your go before International
00:58:52
speaker and you said you want to um be
00:58:55
an author um you're you're in the middle
00:58:57
of writing a book at the moment I've got
00:58:58
it sitting on my desk really yeah what's
00:59:01
what's it called or what's the theme of
00:59:02
it one more year it's just my life it's
00:59:05
it's what we've talked about and
00:59:07
interesting one of the things we've
00:59:08
talked about today around my ending of
00:59:11
my first marriage is actually in there
00:59:13
and it's the first time I've talked
00:59:14
about it today I've never talked about
00:59:16
it before Oh thanks for talking about
00:59:18
that yeah it's it's um it's funny every
00:59:21
single person has flaws and
00:59:23
vulnerabilities and we don't we don't
00:59:24
like to talk about them you know but
00:59:26
it's um yeah it's just human and I'd
00:59:29
love to think that uh you know for me
00:59:32
the only mistake I'd make is not
00:59:33
learning from them and not taking those
00:59:36
not knowing myself would be my you know
00:59:38
would be a real sad thing for me as if I
00:59:41
didn't take the opportunities to lean
00:59:42
and to get to know myself and you know
00:59:44
double down on that yeah absolutely and
00:59:47
um oh a big part of the work you do on
00:59:50
your website you you work with um I
00:59:52
found this line really strange
00:59:54
accidental business owners yeah what
00:59:56
what what does that mean exactly well
00:59:58
what's an accidental business owner do
00:59:59
you own your own
01:00:02
business well I suppose kind of yeah
01:00:04
yeah and did you wake up at 15 and go
01:00:08
I'm going to own businesses or did you
01:00:10
hone your craft and then find yourself
01:00:13
in a position where you're like oh I
01:00:15
have to do these busy things now yeah
01:00:18
the the letter yeah that's an accidental
01:00:20
business owner so people that are so
01:00:22
good at their craft quite often they do
01:00:23
it as a side hassle but sometimes it's
01:00:26
just I would say accidental Business
01:00:28
Leaders which is you know people that
01:00:30
work for somebody else but people that
01:00:31
work for themselves they've they've
01:00:33
honed their craft that much and they've
01:00:36
accidentally fallen into business so you
01:00:38
know at the age of 12 I was talking
01:00:40
about business with my dad so the
01:00:43
language of business everything around
01:00:45
business we were talking about right
01:00:46
through my teenage years so I always
01:00:48
knew that I was going to be in business
01:00:51
you you must a weird K where did that
01:00:53
come from weird I mean in the best
01:00:56
possible way so the Tony Robbins thing
01:00:58
reading awaken the giant within as a
01:01:00
teenage girl when do you know why though
01:01:02
I read that because my dad had aspects
01:01:06
of his upbringing that were particularly
01:01:08
difficult yeah I heard about this so um
01:01:11
you you never got to meet your nana on
01:01:13
your dead side she she took her own life
01:01:15
this this was a generation a long time
01:01:18
before mental health was even a knowing
01:01:20
yeah sort of thing yeah so you know that
01:01:23
and there's a lot around that in terms
01:01:25
of the way she did it and the fact that
01:01:27
my dad actually found her and so you
01:01:31
know there is the that was really
01:01:34
difficult for him and that was holding
01:01:36
him back and dad and I had started this
01:01:39
conversation about how do you move past
01:01:40
something like that and I was a weird
01:01:43
kid in the fact that when I get a gut
01:01:46
feeling that's when the the bum
01:01:50
glue do you know what I mean and I'm
01:01:52
like that's going to happen and so you
01:01:54
know Dad and I would talk about it and
01:01:56
I'd go I'm going to find an answer to
01:01:59
that yeah but as a teenage girl where
01:02:02
did that sort of emotional intelligence
01:02:04
come from well I've always
01:02:08
been no but you know what I mean that's
01:02:10
a lot all your friends at the time would
01:02:11
have been reading [ __ ] I don't know Enid
01:02:13
bighton or the babysitter's club or
01:02:15
whatever and you're reading Tony Robbins
01:02:17
yeah and weirdly I'm dyslexic and that's
01:02:19
probably the second book I read and it's
01:02:22
like this thick yeah it's massive it's
01:02:24
massive but give me something I'm
01:02:26
interested in and I'll read it you know
01:02:29
um look I don't know I don't know I just
01:02:32
was who I was awkwardly so but you know
01:02:36
I had a desperate desire to be loved as
01:02:39
a teenage girl you know like I really
01:02:41
struggled with it I think that
01:02:45
um I I I did struggle with it and I
01:02:49
think that's probably why you know I got
01:02:51
married and you know thought that I'd
01:02:53
just be happy and then it was like I
01:02:55
think when I I left my first husband I
01:02:56
was like oh [ __ ] I took the problem with
01:03:00
me the problem is me yeah I need to love
01:03:03
myself and I think that's where that
01:03:05
whole journey came from yeah God I think
01:03:07
I still have elements of that now that
01:03:08
desperate need to be loved yeah you know
01:03:10
that people pleasing tendency but if but
01:03:13
if you can be aware of it I figure
01:03:14
that's uh one step closer to and and I
01:03:17
with clients and stuff I've always
01:03:18
talked about this it's like that thing
01:03:20
that you want and expect you know how we
01:03:22
talked before about high standards low
01:03:24
expectations I don't expect anything
01:03:26
from other people I I would say that I
01:03:29
have one of the best marriages cuz my
01:03:30
there was no expectations on my husband
01:03:33
high standards highest of Standards but
01:03:36
low expectations I don't expect him to
01:03:38
make me happy I don't expect him to ever
01:03:40
notice I've had a haircut cuz in 16
01:03:43
years he never has yet um I came home
01:03:47
with a pink once and he still didn't
01:03:48
notice you know but it's like you know
01:03:50
people go well I got married and I
01:03:52
expect that they'll do this and I expect
01:03:53
that they'll be this way anything that I
01:03:55
want life I expect of it of myself I
01:03:59
will go and get it myself now not always
01:04:02
that way but it's like you know I fill
01:04:05
my own cup you know I make sure that I
01:04:08
love the [ __ ] out of myself it's like am
01:04:10
I happy with my life and my situation
01:04:13
and where I'm at before I'm looking at
01:04:15
anyone else to
01:04:17
say you know I didn't expect that from
01:04:19
you you should have done it differently
01:04:21
[ __ ] that's such a high level of
01:04:23
accountability it's really powerful yep
01:04:26
it is that's what I mean imagine loving
01:04:28
with
01:04:30
that that's what I mean no it's good but
01:04:32
it's good like I suppose um you know
01:04:35
there's that saying that all boats go up
01:04:37
in a rising title you like it's you're
01:04:39
not you're not yeah you're putting the
01:04:41
pressure on yourself and I suppose by
01:04:43
that like Steve and Jackson their
01:04:45
standards immediately raised to try and
01:04:48
you know not not compete yeah keep up
01:04:50
keep up yeah yeah yeah yeah you know but
01:04:53
again if that's one of my greater
01:04:55
strengths one of the downsides to that
01:04:57
rather than calling it a weakness but
01:04:59
one of the downsides to that is purely
01:05:02
um it's exhausting no it's not
01:05:04
exhausting um but you know like I do
01:05:07
lose friendships you know like you know
01:05:09
because I'm moving in a certain
01:05:11
direction so if you're not moving with
01:05:13
me then you know you'll go and do your
01:05:16
own thing so I don't have you know like
01:05:19
if I look back over time I've kept a
01:05:22
number of friends like I but I I'm quite
01:05:25
select in who is around me I'm very very
01:05:28
select in who who's allowed to get in my
01:05:32
ears and speak to me and have an
01:05:33
influence on my life yeah but as you get
01:05:35
older you understand the sort of cycle
01:05:37
of friendship so there's that saying
01:05:38
about yeah people coming to your life
01:05:39
for a reason a season or a lifetime and
01:05:41
it's it's very true like so true some
01:05:43
people are there for a just just a
01:05:45
reason and you get what you need from
01:05:46
each other and then you part your
01:05:47
separate ways y 100% yeah like if I look
01:05:50
at um your photos from you know when I
01:05:52
got married to my wife um my ex-wife 20
01:05:55
years ago it's like there's so many
01:05:57
people there that I'm I'd still call
01:05:59
them friends but I haven't seen them in
01:06:00
years and you just sort of drift apart
01:06:01
cuz you're not working together anymore
01:06:03
or you move cities it just happens and I
01:06:05
also think that because I do enjoy my
01:06:08
own company a lot more you know if I'm
01:06:11
not working and if I'm not with my
01:06:12
family then I'm very happy to be on my
01:06:14
own you know and I I was not like that
01:06:16
in my
01:06:18
20s yeah that's awesome and so the um
01:06:21
you the business coaching you do what
01:06:23
are some of the biggest um success
01:06:24
stories is there anything that anything
01:06:27
that stands
01:06:32
out I
01:06:34
think there's there's a whole range of
01:06:36
things that I'm incredibly proud of and
01:06:38
I think some of them are the smallest of
01:06:40
things you know some of them are just
01:06:42
about people that generally my clients
01:06:45
will come to me and the first thing they
01:06:46
say is I don't really have a problem um
01:06:50
I'm not really sure why I'm here um I
01:06:53
just know that I don't want to be in
01:06:54
this situation in a Year's time and and
01:06:56
it's not necessarily that they're doing
01:06:57
badly or anything like that it's just
01:06:59
that they they they've become aware that
01:07:02
life is short and they just want to go
01:07:05
to the next level so it's everything
01:07:07
some of the ones that I'm really proud
01:07:09
of is just reframing their life so that
01:07:12
they can step forward and then of course
01:07:14
there's more public people that I coach
01:07:16
that have been very vocal about that and
01:07:18
you know Dave wood would come to mind
01:07:20
you know he is over in pea and he is oh
01:07:23
um yeah has team three sh me I'm doing a
01:07:26
podcast with him in I think next month
01:07:28
oh classic yeah so Dave um you know
01:07:31
stress medication or stress breath work
01:07:34
coach with um Israel aandra you know
01:07:37
like real interesting guy and you know
01:07:40
our relationship is quite unique and
01:07:42
quite special you know and I'm super
01:07:44
proud of the work that I've done with
01:07:45
them you know and that's probably been a
01:07:47
little bit more from a real business
01:07:49
point of view but also um I guess the
01:07:53
thing that I'm proudest is I don't
01:07:55
separate the business and the people you
01:07:57
know people come to me and it's like you
01:08:00
know if we talk about the business well
01:08:02
the problem with the business is
01:08:03
generally the person like they're
01:08:05
generally always the problem so to
01:08:06
separate them you know there are
01:08:08
business coaches that really do the nuts
01:08:10
and bolts of business and that's awesome
01:08:12
that's just not what I do because I just
01:08:14
can't leave the person behind I just
01:08:16
want to you know I love people and I
01:08:18
just
01:08:19
want I'm just one of those people that I
01:08:22
get more joy out of somebody else doing
01:08:24
exceptionally well than being driven to
01:08:27
you know you know I like a mom on the
01:08:30
sidelines 100% which is so weird because
01:08:32
do you want to know who my like my
01:08:34
clients are generally between 35 and 45
01:08:39
males it is so weird to me when I first
01:08:42
started coaching I was like surely
01:08:43
there'll be women of my age and I do
01:08:45
have about 25% of you know wom but 75%
01:08:51
honestly staggers me and I think it's
01:08:53
like it's like the Auntie you know it's
01:08:55
like oh she's she's done quite a bit on
01:08:57
life she you know oh you we've got to
01:09:00
zoom with d we better do the homework us
01:09:02
that's exactly what happens be like I
01:09:05
did that this morning oh god um and have
01:09:07
you um this might be an outright no but
01:09:10
like if you were to like fire or part
01:09:13
ways with any of your clients like this
01:09:14
just oh really yeah like this just isn't
01:09:17
working um oh look I don't believe that
01:09:20
I have to be that blunt I you know I am
01:09:23
blunt but I just I don't know you can
01:09:25
just naturally let things shift you know
01:09:29
yeah I wouldn't even say You're Fired No
01:09:31
actually that's not true actually Dave
01:09:33
Wood I said to him if you don't do that
01:09:35
by Monday I'm not coaching you anymore
01:09:37
you can go jog on and he was like oh
01:09:40
Jesus she was serious was very funny it
01:09:42
was you know we have an amazing
01:09:44
relationship what was it what was the
01:09:45
thing I have no
01:09:46
idea I don't hold on to anything I don't
01:09:49
need well
01:09:50
um what would be three words to describe
01:09:53
you or say your funeral the rip old age
01:09:56
of
01:09:57
97 one year more than what three words
01:10:00
would you like um like people in the
01:10:02
room to like commonly agree are three
01:10:04
words to describe you I would love it if
01:10:07
they said that I was as challenging as
01:10:08
[ __ ] I challenging as [ __ ] yeah that's a
01:10:11
good bumper sticker as well challenging
01:10:13
yeah yeah yeah 100% because I think I
01:10:16
believe in equally challenging somebody
01:10:19
in supporting them so nobody is going to
01:10:22
come to me for coaching if they don't
01:10:23
want to be challenged they would would
01:10:25
not walk nobody would even pick up write
01:10:27
an email to me unless they wanted some
01:10:30
sort of reflection back at them yeah you
01:10:33
know like I yeah and so I would love
01:10:36
them to say that I was
01:10:37
challenging um I would love them to
01:10:45
say I would just want there's a feeling
01:10:49
that
01:10:50
um you know when you meet people like
01:10:53
say we never ever ever saw each other
01:10:55
other again and someone said to you my
01:10:57
name and you just had this feeling like
01:11:00
of how you felt when you were here with
01:11:02
me that's what I would want people to
01:11:04
remember is I just don't believe people
01:11:07
will either remember what I say or what
01:11:09
I do but I firmly one of the most common
01:11:12
things people say to me is I remember
01:11:14
how I felt when I first met you or when
01:11:17
I've you know like they remember that
01:11:20
and I I would want them to remember that
01:11:22
and the only other thing that I would
01:11:24
want them to remember
01:11:27
as that I loved my son with all my
01:11:30
[Music]
01:11:32
heart it's so
01:11:35
cool and I you know like I that get that
01:11:38
gets me more emotional these days when
01:11:40
I've reflected on the fact that I put my
01:11:43
career on hold for 12 years not like I
01:11:46
kept it under a tight handbrake until I
01:11:50
felt that we were ready as a family for
01:11:52
things to
01:11:53
change yeah oh good on you it's
01:11:55
inspiring to watch J you're um have you
01:11:58
always been quite emotional or you find
01:12:00
you got more emotional like post cancer
01:12:02
or is it just like a middle-aged thing I
01:12:04
find I'm getting more emotional as I get
01:12:05
older I have always allowed my emotions
01:12:08
to suit this you know you asked before
01:12:10
about being emotionally intelligent I
01:12:12
would say that I you know I can remember
01:12:14
in my 20s um when there was a situation
01:12:17
that happened at work and my uncle said
01:12:18
to me you know you just you just cry at
01:12:21
the drop of a hat and then the situation
01:12:23
happened and he it was like really
01:12:26
painful for him because he couldn't get
01:12:28
the emotion out and he said to me I
01:12:30
think you were right all along he said
01:12:32
you just process it cuz I I can go from
01:12:35
feeling that to then letting it go like
01:12:38
I don't have to hold on to it you know
01:12:40
and so I I allow myself to move through
01:12:43
emotions because I don't think we're
01:12:45
meant to just be happy or all the time I
01:12:48
think we're meant to feel all the things
01:12:51
you know like I want to feel that my son
01:12:53
means a lot to me and it brings tears to
01:12:55
my eyes and I just you know like I just
01:12:57
want to love the [ __ ] out of life I
01:12:59
think that would be the thing is you
01:13:01
know I want to be remembered for
01:13:04
living just simply
01:13:09
loving I think it's a good place to end
01:13:12
it I can't think of like anything more
01:13:14
powerful than that [ __ ] yeah um as I
01:13:17
said before like yeah you know you walk
01:13:19
the walk and you talk the talk and um
01:13:21
you've got the scars to [ __ ] back it
01:13:23
up as well yeah I have do I fost we've
01:13:26
been going backwards and forwards for
01:13:27
yeah a long time now and it's it's
01:13:30
wonderful that this finally um has
01:13:32
happened I'm yeah I'm humbled it's been
01:13:35
great to be in your presence it's been a
01:13:37
pleasure to meet you I was apprehensive
01:13:39
about today really why so
01:13:42
um because I'm a lot and when I see when
01:13:46
I see things in people sometimes I I
01:13:49
find it hard not to say something and so
01:13:52
I have a couple of questions for you oh
01:13:54
God Jackson stop recording no no no yeah
01:13:58
yeah go ahead you can
01:14:02
C I have only watched one of your
01:14:05
interviews and it was Israel Sandra's
01:14:08
therapist oh Janet Redmond yeah thank
01:14:10
you did you do her course oh no no I
01:14:14
haven't done it why
01:14:17
not I
01:14:19
um I so she came to Oakland it was going
01:14:22
it was a group course um and I had like
01:14:26
sort of like a bit of anxiety about it I
01:14:29
I feel I feel bad about this but I'm
01:14:30
going to be completely honest with you I
01:14:32
I I sent her a text saying um I was down
01:14:34
with the flu I wasn't feeling 100% but I
01:14:36
was definitely well enough to go so it
01:14:37
was a [ __ ]
01:14:38
excuse um yeah you could work with her
01:14:42
privately
01:14:44
though yeah yeah I must do that I need
01:14:48
to do that but it was um it was it was a
01:14:51
great chat it was yeah it was it was
01:14:52
very um cathartic but yeah you realize
01:14:55
how how close to the surface those
01:14:57
emotions are like we're only a few
01:14:59
minutes in before I started like boiling
01:15:01
my eyes out like really ugly crying um
01:15:05
yeah she's no she was a great guest
01:15:07
sometimes I have a really strong sense
01:15:09
about things I think we've touched on
01:15:11
that today and I watched that interview
01:15:14
and I only had one question for you is
01:15:15
have you done it why not and when are
01:15:18
you going to because um that emotion
01:15:22
that's just sitting there you will not
01:15:24
know your once you move through that and
01:15:27
it is going to stay there until you
01:15:31
address it yeah and I want to meet that
01:15:34
Dom so I'm only asking you to do it for
01:15:37
me but I want to meet him [ __ ] you're
01:15:40
not even my business coach and you're
01:15:41
giving me
01:15:42
tasks yeah no I will I found you know so
01:15:47
I sent you this text saying I'm under
01:15:49
the weather I'm not going to be to make
01:15:50
it and then she replied something like
01:15:51
oh oh okay blast maybe next time I felt
01:15:54
like piece of [ __ ] cuz I I knew I was
01:15:57
you know kind of lying to her and kind
01:15:59
of lying to myself don't worry about
01:16:01
lying to her yeah it's only lying to
01:16:03
yourself that's a problem cuz you have
01:16:05
to go to bed at night and sleep with
01:16:08
yourself that sounds weird but you know
01:16:10
what I mean yeah yeah yeah I love myself
01:16:13
so that's no no actually I don't I don't
01:16:15
love myself but I'm working on getting
01:16:17
there I know yeah and and that's what I
01:16:19
mean like I just think I think it's
01:16:21
closer than you realize and I think your
01:16:24
resistance and doing the work is what
01:16:27
what there's a a a saying that's the
01:16:29
magic you were looking for is in the
01:16:31
work that you're
01:16:32
avoiding I like that and I knew with
01:16:35
100% that you hadn't gone and done
01:16:39
that I did think for a split second
01:16:41
about lying to you no and I would have
01:16:44
gone
01:16:45
[ __ ] there's no [ __ ] way that
01:16:48
you've done that I knew when you said it
01:16:50
I thought oh yeah he's he knows he needs
01:16:52
to go but he hasn't gone yet yeah yeah
01:16:55
it's it's it's ter like it's the worst
01:16:57
sort of procrastination like doing work
01:16:59
on yourself isn't
01:17:01
it should be yeah but we do it cuz it's
01:17:05
hard and do you know how many people
01:17:07
never do the work you know like let's
01:17:10
not be too I'm not trying to be hard on
01:17:12
you I'm just trying to invite you into a
01:17:14
space that I think that you're going to
01:17:17
love yeah I I know and I'm aware there's
01:17:20
a lot of people that never do the work
01:17:21
like I'm thinking like you my parents
01:17:23
generation and beyond that that it was
01:17:25
just even even a thing but we know that
01:17:28
um there's resources and tools now and
01:17:31
it's up to us to use them if you want to
01:17:33
be the best version of yourself that you
01:17:34
can be
01:17:36
yeah anyway get your own [ __ ]
01:17:39
podcast you you're a guest on mine well
01:17:41
it just so happens that I
01:17:44
have actually we released it yesterday
01:17:47
uh on Wednesday business in between oh
01:17:50
oh with between two beers yes Stephen
01:17:52
chers yeah you've been on their podcast
01:17:54
you do a bit of work with them yes so I
01:17:56
have but lovely guys they are they do a
01:17:58
great job but we've actually um got a a
01:18:01
new channel called business in between
01:18:03
and that is some serious live coaching
01:18:07
stuff going on so they are very generous
01:18:10
in the fact that they open up and we
01:18:12
have some pretty interesting chats and
01:18:14
you know if you want a better
01:18:15
explanation of what accidental business
01:18:17
owners are we talk about there's a whole
01:18:19
series that we're doing on accidental
01:18:21
business owners you know because it's
01:18:23
just it is such a big thing and you
01:18:25
because we are really good at doing side
01:18:26
hustles and all of that sort of stuff
01:18:28
and people quite often um just literally
01:18:32
find themselves in that situation so
01:18:34
yeah I did I went and got myself a
01:18:36
podcast fantastic good for you good for
01:18:38
you what's it called business in between
01:18:40
business in between between okay all
01:18:42
right I'll be sure to check it out yeah
01:18:43
those those guys are great I've um we've
01:18:45
connected a few times yeah that's one
01:18:47
thing um if being from a radio
01:18:49
background radio's got a real um
01:18:50
scarcity mentality I don't know if it's
01:18:52
if it's changed now but for my 30 years
01:18:54
and radio it was it was like that it was
01:18:56
like if someone's listening to a station
01:18:58
that you're not working on then they
01:18:59
they're the enemy basically but the
01:19:01
found the the whole podcasting sphere
01:19:03
very very very open and accepting and
01:19:06
welcoming community in terms of
01:19:07
exchanging ideas and things yeah cuz you
01:19:09
you had Luke on the other day didn't you
01:19:11
yes yeah came from keep the change yeah
01:19:13
yeah yeah yeah so we were having a we
01:19:15
chat and he said something oh he must
01:19:17
have said something about um time and I
01:19:20
said what's the time debate you know and
01:19:21
he was like like I was like 2 hours yeah
01:19:24
I was like damn
01:19:26
it I'm just far more efficient with my
01:19:29
words L that's why also also the quality
01:19:32
over quantity yeah exactly loving that
01:19:35
Dom all right hey d foster so wonderful
01:19:37
to connect pleas um it's been the first
01:19:39
time it definitely won't be the last I
01:19:41
look forward to it cheers

Podspun Insights

In this episode, the conversation takes a deep dive into the life of D Foster, a woman who has faced the harrowing challenges of breast cancer and emerged with a fresh perspective on life. The episode kicks off with a light-hearted introduction, but quickly transitions into a raw exploration of D's journey through her diagnosis, treatment, and the emotional rollercoaster that followed. D shares her experience of undergoing a myectomy operation and the profound impact it had on her self-image, revealing how she learned to love herself in the face of adversity.

As the discussion unfolds, D reflects on the concept of mortality, emphasizing the importance of living authentically and fully in the present moment. She candidly discusses her struggles with self-acceptance and how her experiences have shaped her understanding of life and death. With humor and insight, D challenges conventional notions of what it means to fight cancer, advocating instead for a mindset of acceptance and self-love.

The episode is peppered with poignant anecdotes, including D's relationship with her husband Steve and the trust they share, which adds a heartwarming layer to the conversation. D's resilience shines through as she discusses her determination to redefine her life after cancer, focusing on the joy of living rather than the fear of dying.

Listeners are treated to a blend of inspiration and introspection as D encourages them to embrace their own stories and find strength in vulnerability. This episode is not just about cancer; it's about the universal journey of self-discovery and the power of love and connection.

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 95
    Most inspiring
  • 95
    Best overall
  • 95
    Best concept / idea
  • 95
    Most timeless

Episode Highlights

  • Facing Mortality
    D reflects on the certainty of death and how it shapes her perspective on life.
    “One day, I’m going to be dead.”
    @ 03m 38s
    October 13, 2024
  • Living on Her Terms
    After a terminal diagnosis, D resolves to live life on her own terms for five years.
    “I’m going to live my way for 5 years.”
    @ 15m 43s
    October 13, 2024
  • The Gift of Presence
    Finding joy in everyday moments becomes a priority after a life-changing diagnosis.
    “Each day just felt like a privilege.”
    @ 26m 07s
    October 13, 2024
  • Framing the Diagnosis
    Reframing the narrative around cancer leads to personal empowerment and growth.
    “Cancer is the least interesting thing about me.”
    @ 31m 18s
    October 13, 2024
  • The Power of Self-Acceptance
    Embracing who you are is the ultimate goal, especially after adversity.
    “I love who I am now.”
    @ 33m 11s
    October 13, 2024
  • Finding Your Voice
    Reflecting on past relationships, the speaker emphasizes the importance of having one's own voice.
    “I didn’t have my own voice... but now I would be like yo, back here not happy.”
    @ 40m 16s
    October 13, 2024
  • Negotiating with Cancer
    The speaker shares a unique perspective on dealing with cancer, treating it as a negotiation.
    “I was kind of having this negotiation with you.”
    @ 43m 15s
    October 13, 2024
  • Embracing Opportunities
    "I'm just leaning into the opportunities that I have and I'm just loving it."
    “I'm just leaning into the opportunities”
    @ 58m 02s
    October 13, 2024
  • Living Authentically
    The speaker discusses the journey of self-acceptance and living unapologetically.
    “I’m just leaning into the opportunities that I have and I’m just loving it.”
    @ 58m 04s
    October 13, 2024
  • Writing a Book
    The speaker discusses their book titled 'One More Year' which reflects on their life experiences.
    “It's just my life”
    @ 59m 02s
    October 13, 2024
  • Emotional Intelligence
    The speaker reflects on their emotional intelligence and the importance of processing emotions.
    “I want to feel that my son means a lot to me”
    @ 01h 12m 53s
    October 13, 2024
  • Starting a Podcast
    Excited about launching a new podcast called 'Business in Between.'
    “I went and got myself a podcast!”
    @ 01h 18m 34s
    October 13, 2024

Episode Quotes

Key Moments

  • Love and Trust20:07
  • Life Lessons29:20
  • Self-Reflection40:16
  • Cancer Negotiation43:15
  • Writing Journey59:02
  • Emotional Reflection1:12:59
  • Podcast Launch1:18:34
  • Community Spirit1:19:03

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown