A Widow's Tale of Hope and Resilience

When dreams are deferred, what does it take to revive them amidst life's harshest trials?

Embark on a journey with me in the latest episode as I share the twists and turns of my life!

From sidelining dreams as a wife to discovering my own strength as a widow, and now navigating a Stage IV cancer diagnosis. All the while trying to make a difference in the world of grief, one widow at a time!

My story isn't just about survival—it's a masterclass in crafting a legacy that dances with hope, touching lives, creating a narrative of courage and resilience.

Join me as I pivot, fueled by the desire to create a legacy through my podcast, coaching, and speaking, all with the unwavering belief that love is not dead, just my husband.

As always, Widow Your Way! ❤️

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Website: www.widowyourway.com

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Episode Transcript

Rebecca (00:00):
As a wife, I put my dreams aside.
As a widow, I discovered thatmy dreams could come true.
As a cancer patient, my dreamsare on hold.
I knew I wanted somethingdifferent when I was part of
this company event that had ateam building facilitator
leading activities.

(00:21):
It was bringing employeestogether in ways that I've just
never seen before Workingtogether, solving puzzles,
expressing their creativity, butmost of all, they were having
fun.
It was almost like I waswatching myself.
That is the role that I wasmeant for, but not knowing what

(00:43):
it was called, I went back toschool for human resources and
the first place that I wanted tomake a difference was within my
own company, and I soon learnedthat human resources was a lot
of work.
But it did give me theadvantage of seeing things from
two different perspectives as anemployee and as an employer.

(01:05):
Just as I was finishing school,my passion shifted.
That's when I started thispodcast.
Love is Not Dead Just myHusband.
I wanted to support widows stuckin the pain of loss and who
wanted to actually move forwardand live happily even after.
Podcasting has been the mostamazing thing that I've ever

(01:29):
done, but I wanted to do more.
But how?
I wanted to do coaching andwork with widows one-on-one, but
there just seemed to besomething I was missing.
Like, you can find widowssupport anywhere with anyone, so

(01:50):
why would someone want to workwith me?
I took a life certificationcourse to start the process and,
of course, I second guessedmyself the entire time, so much
so that I never did anythingwith it.
But still I questioned how canI make a difference?

(02:13):
How can I make things easierfor widows?
Where do we struggle the mostafter a loss?
Then I thought going back towork.
But the problem doesn't justlie with us.
It also lies with our employers.

(02:34):
And this is where I thoughtthat I would make the difference
.
This is what I knew.
I would put the human back inhuman resources.
I wanted to help employersunderstand how to better support
grief in the workplace.

(02:54):
So the research began.
I talked to other widowsbusiness owners just looking to
see if there was a need for itand no surprise, there was.
Next, I needed help withstarting a business.
Now I had been following InaKovni at Get Clients First for

(03:19):
the podcast and my potentialcoaching business.
I loved her energy and heroptimism.
Ina was magnetic and I knewfrom the first moment that I
heard her speak, that I wantedto work with her, so I asked Ina
if she would help me pivot withthis new idea and she was

(03:43):
totally on board.
I mean, we got to workimmediately and the one-on-one
sessions with Ina was soempowering we got right to it.
Each session, not a minutewasted.
But the in-person full-dayexperience with Ina in Boston

(04:06):
was the icing on the cake.
By the time I left Boston, Iwas 90% done with all the
business aspects.
The last step was actuallygetting clients, but if you know
me, there's always a but.

(04:26):
Shortly after returning home, Ihad my routine six month scan
for ocular melanoma, which I wasdiagnosed for in 2018, just six
weeks after my husband, tom,had died.
This was my official five yearscan and I was super excited to
get an all clear to only haveannual scans from that point

(04:47):
going forward.
But that's not what happened.
The scans showed that thecancer had metastasized to my
liver and everything changed.
My entire life was put back onhold again due to cancer.
No work, no podcasting, nobusiness, just cancer.

(05:11):
I did take a week to wallow inself pity, and then I started to
repeat a mantra that a fellowocular melanoma friend had said
to me I am here today, I will behere tomorrow, and there are a
lot of tomorrows.
Then my friend Nicole said tome forget cancer, forget work,

(05:35):
forget everything.
What do you want to do with theremainder of your life?
What's going to bring you themost joy, without missing a beat
?
Podcasting I want to help asmany people as I can before I
die.
I want to leave somethingbehind to be remembered, for my

(05:58):
son to be proud of.
I want this podcast to be mylegacy.
So another pivot, but that'sokay.
That's what life is aboutpivoting.
So, even though it was a lot ofwork, ina helped me switch
everything over from my newbusiness of grief in the

(06:21):
workplace to focus more on mypodcast, working with widows one
on one and speaking.
Ina helped make my ideas ofways to work with widows come
alive on my website.
I don't think I could have doneall that without her.
Not only has Ina been aterrific business coach, I've

(06:43):
gained a true friend in theprocess and my very first
business bestie.
I have decided that I'm notgoing to let cancer put a kibosh
on my career.
I'm still going to offersupport for grief in the
workplace, but on a smallerscale.
I'm going to use the remainingtime that I have to help support

(07:07):
as many widows as possible.
I want to help you embrace lifeand loss.
At the same time, I want toinspire you to embark on your
own meaningful path.
I want you to regain a sense ofpurpose and rewrite your own

(07:27):
story.
I'm not sure how all of this isgoing to pan out.
I may even fail, but I'm goingto make the most of it and I'm
sure as hell going to have fundoing it, because, after all,
love is not dead.
That's my husband.