Why the End of Treatment Feels So Complicated | The Cancer Journey Podcast | Episode 116The end of cancer treatment should feel like everything you've been waiting for. And sometimes it does. But a lot of the time, it feels anticlimactic, disorienting, or even empty , and almost nobody talks about that.In Episode 116, Shariann and Alicia dig into the experience of endings: what the drop after treatment feels like, why the wide open space of "what's next" can be so overwhelming, and how to move through this transition with more gentleness and intention.This conversation draws on the Cancer Journey Roadmap and the real, lived experience of what it means to finish something enormous and not know who you are on the other side.Topics covered in this episode:• Why ringing the bell can feel anticlimactic• The drop after endings and why it happens• Losing the structure, rhythm, and care team all at once• There is no going back to normal, only a new reality• The lull after treatment and what it's asking of you• The retirement analogy: why freedom can feel untethered• What happens to all the emotions suppressed during treatment• Why play and small joys matter especially in this transition• The Cancer Journey Roadmap and the pit after endings• What do you want? The biggest question after treatment ends• How a Cancer Journey coach helps you find yourself again#CancerJourney #CancerJourneyPodcast #CancerSupportChapters: 0:00 Welcome and PESH check-in 1:30 Endings at CJI: certification and fundamentals groups 3:00 The bittersweet feeling of endings on a cancer journey 5:30 Ringing the bell and why it can feel anticlimactic 8:30 Losing the structure and care team after treatment 11:30 There is no normal anymore — only the new reality 14:30 The retirement analogy: freedom that feels untethered 17:30 Play and small joys as anchors in the transition 20:30 The anger and grief that comes out after treatment ends 23:00 What do you want? The excavation that comes next 26:00 How a Cancer Journey coach holds this turning point 28:00 Closing takeaways and PESH check-out

When Forgiveness Feels Like Giving Something Up | The Cancer Journey Podcast | Episode 115

Forgiveness is one of those words we think we understand until we actually try to practice it. On a cancer journey, it takes on a whole new dimension: forgiving your body, forgiving yourself for how you've responded under enormous pressure, and forgiving others when your capacity to hold anything extra is already gone.

In Episode 115, Shariann and Alicia go deep on what forgiveness actually feels like, why self-forgiveness is the hardest kind, and what it looks like to make it a real practice rather than just an intention.

This is a thoughtful, honest conversation that moves through the complexity of forgiveness without trying to wrap it up too neatly.

Topics covered in this episode:

• What forgiveness actually feels like in the body
• Why forgiveness can feel like giving up your protection or your power
• The difference between forgiving someone and really meaning it
• Why self-forgiveness is harder than forgiving others
• How cancer can bring up feelings of blame and punishment toward yourself
• The responsibility formula and luminous intent
• Forgiveness as self-care, not just a spiritual concept
• The end-of-day forgiveness practice: what do you need to forgive yourself for today?
• What you can give yourself if you hug yourself as warmly as you'd hug someone else
• If you don't forgive, you build a wall instead of a bridge
• The conversations we want others to have with us that we can have with ourselves

#CancerJourney #Forgiveness #CancerJourneyPodcast

Chapters: 0:00 Welcome and PESH check-in1:45 What forgiveness actually feels like5:00 Why forgiveness can feel like giving something up8:30 The responsibility formula and forgiving yourself12:00 How cancer brings up self-blame and punishment16:00 Why self-forgiveness is the hardest kind20:00 The conversations we want others to have with us23:30 Forgiveness as self-care: the end-of-day practice27:00 Building a bridge instead of a wall30:00 Closing takeaways and PESH check-out

Play feels like the last thing on the list when you're on a cancer journey. But what if waiting until everything is handled before you let yourself feel good is the very thing making the journey harder?

In Episode 114, Shariann and Alicia have a deeply honest conversation about what gets in the way of play, joy, and lightness on a cancer journey, and what it actually looks like to start making space for those things now rather than later.

This episode starts in a real, unfiltered place and moves somewhere genuinely tender. It's one of those conversations that models exactly what it's talking about.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Why play feels inaccessible when you're deep in a cancer journey
• The have-tos versus the get-tos: how a cancer journey can feel like pure obligation
• Freedom as the thing underneath the craving for play
• The someday trap and why deferring joy doesn't work
• Should versus want: the difference in how they feel in your body
• The steps to getting there are the qualities of being there
• How negative ego gets loudest when you most need lightness
• Small, concrete ways to infuse play into everyday moments
• Why you need someone to say your hard things to without it affecting your relationships
• Cancer sucks: giving yourself full permission to say so

#CancerJourney #CancerJourneyPodcast #CancerSupport

Chapters:

0:00 Welcome and PESH check-in

1:30 Play on a cancer journey: why it feels so out of reach

4:30 Freedom as the real craving underneath it all

8:00 The someday trap: deferring joy until everything is handled

11:30 Letting someone else do your laundry: vulnerability and receiving help

14:30 Getting familiar with what frustration feels like in your body

18:00 Should versus want: a really important distinction

22:00 The steps to getting there are the qualities of being there

25:30 Small ways to infuse play into the hard moments

28:30 Closing takeaway and PESH check-out