As many of you know, I have shared much of my story, here on Lacuna Loft.  I’ve talked about my fertility story and fears, about my caregiving journey, my exploration with sewing, how coloring was a wonderful activity for me during chemo, how I try and remember that I am tough as nails, how so much of my story belongs to my mother, how I helped pack up my childhood home, how I now eat donuts, and a lot more.  One thing I had never done until last week though?  Share my story verbally, in front of a group of people.

I was nervous as I walked in the room for the Relay Speaker Series talk that I gave last week in Tuscola, IL.  Thoughts of Why would anyone want to hear my story? circled through my head as I put my notes on the podium and anxiously waited for everyone to get seated.  And then…I told my story, and it went really well!  I was asked to speak for 30-45 minutes.  Well that seemed like a whole lot of my story all at once but we all made it through 🙂

Thanks to some much needed validation gained from my trip to CancerCon, I was able to speak clearly and without hesitation about the hurdles that I’ve overcome in the last couple of years.  I was able to talk with gusto about how my cancer survivorship is still an ongoing process and about how my changed identity can be related to by people from all walks of life, with or without their own cancer diagnosis.

For some reason though, talking with people face to face still makes me quite nervous…waaayyy more nervous than putting my story here on Lacuna Loft!  Look forward to seeing a video of the talk up here soon.

Have you publicly talked about your cancer journey or caregiver journey?  Did it make you nervous?

P.S. If you want to write here, on Lacuna Loft, email info@lacunaloft.com for more information!