The Cancer Journey Podcast

The 2am Spiral | The Cancer Journey Podcast | Episode 119Nobody tells you that the hardest part of a cancer diagnosis isn't the diagnosis itself. It's the noise that comes after. The urgent need to understand everything, decide everything, control something. Anything. The internet spiral at 2am. The feeling that if you just push hard enough, you'll get ahead of it. In this episode, Sha...

Facing the Chapter That Feels Like an Ending | The Cancer Journey Podcast | Episode 118Life is fragile. We say that a lot in this work. This week, we recorded from inside it. Someone in our community got news that the medical system has done all it can. We felt that with them. This episode came the next day. In this conversation, we talk about what it actually means to face mortality on a cancer j...

Confusion Is a Signal, Not a Flaw | Cancer Journey Podcast | Episode 117 Confusion on a cancer journey isn't a sign that something is wrong with you. It's a signal, and learning to read it instead of fighting your way out of it can change the whole experience of being in it. In Episode 117, Shariann and Alicia explore what confusion and lack of clarity actually feel like on a cancer journe...

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...

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 i...

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...

How We Die with CJC Barbara Haedtke | The Cancer Journey Podcast | Episode 113How do we die? It's a question most of us spend our lives avoiding — and one that becomes impossible to ignore when you're on a cancer journey, especially a terminal one. In Episode 113, Shariann and Alicia are joined by Barbara, a certified Cancer Journey Coach who is also living with a terminal cancer diagnosis...

Where Does Joy Even Fit? | The Cancer Journey Podcast | Episode 112 How do you possibly find joy when you're on a cancer journey? When treatment is exhausting, energy is limited, and just getting through the day takes everything you have — where does joy even fit? In Episode 112, Shariann and Alicia get practical and personal about what it actually looks like to find moments of nourishment and...

What the System Wasn't Designed to Hold | The Cancer Journey Podcast | Episode 111 The cancer care system is extraordinarily skilled at treating the physical body. But a cancer journey is so much more than what shows up on a scan — and for most people moving through it, the emotional, mental, and spiritual dimensions of the experience are largely unaddressed. This is a conversation about the l...

The Conversation Nobody's Having About Chemo Brain | The Cancer Journey Podcast | Episode 110 Brain fog, chemo brain, and the days when you just can't access yourself the way you normally can — this is one of the most common and least talked about experiences on a cancer journey. In Episode 110, Shariann and Alicia get candid about what it actually feels like to not feel brilliant, and wha...

Feeling Stuck on Your Cancer Journey? You're Not Alone | The Cancer Journey Podcast | Episode 109 Feeling stuck is one of the most universal experiences on a cancer journey — and one of the least talked about. In this episode, Shariann and Alicia explore what stuckness really is, why it's so hard to move through, and what it actually looks like to begin letting go. The conversation covers...

When a Loved One Passes from Cancer | The Cancer Journey Podcast | Episode 108 When a loved one passes from cancer, the journey doesn't end — it just changes. In this episode, Christine Anastos of Connect and Thrive (CAT) shares what it really means to be a cancer caregiver, the weight of showing up through the impossible, and what it's like to navigate your own cancer diagnosis while stil...

How Are You, Really | The Cancer Journey Podcast | Episode 107What does trust actually mean when you're on a cancer journey - and why do so many people feel unseen even when they're surrounded by people trying to help them? In Episode 107 of the Cancer Journey Podcast, Shariann and Alicia explore two of the most powerful tools in Cancer Journey Coaching: trust and powerful listening. They...

Underneath the Overwhelm: The Emotions, the Clarity, and Who You Get to Become | The Cancer Journey Podcast | Episode 106We've been taught that stress is a sign we're doing something important — that carrying it means we're busy, and busy means we matter. But on a cancer journey, when the body is already working so hard, stress isn't something to push through. It's a signal wor...

Still Becoming - Life & Cancer | The Cancer Journey Podcast | Episode 105In this episode, we're joined by Judy ViaCava, a certified Cancer Journey Coach and breast cancer survivor, for an honest conversation about identity after cancer. What does it mean to stop trying to go back to who you were? How do you find yourself in what comes next? And what gets in the way of that emergence — the...

Setting Emotional Boundaries When You Have Cancer | The Cancer Journey Podcast | Episode 104 When you're navigating a cancer diagnosis, you're already carrying more than most people will ever understand. And then everyone who loves you shows up — with their own fear, their own grief, their own need to feel like things are okay. In Episode 104, Shariann and Alicia dig into what happens when...

Being Brave When Cancer Is in the Room | The Cancer Journey Podcast | Episode 103Lauren Huffmaster has been living with metastatic breast cancer since 2015. In the ten years since her diagnosis, she founded Adventure Therapy Foundation, became a speaker and author, and has spent her life building something that gives other people a better experience than she had. In this episode of the Cancer Jour...

Is Your Body Trying To Tell You Something? | Cancer Journey Podcast | Episode 102 Your body is constantly sending you messages. Exhaustion. Pain. That lump in your throat. Brain fog. Weakness. But we're so ruled by what we should be doing that we don't slow down to listen. In this episode of The Cancer Journey Podcast, we're talking about the constant battle between what you should do...

Mourning the You Before Cancer | Cancer Journey Podcast | Episode 101Cancer changes you. And one of the hardest parts? Mourning who you were before. When your body felt like yours. When you had clarity and energy. When breathing wasn't something you had to think about. In this episode of The Cancer Journey Podcast, we're talking about the grief that shows up when you're in the Pit of y...

Celebrating Cancer Journey Milestones | Cancer Journey Podcast (Episode 100!)We made it to 100 episodes! And we're celebrating by talking about something we don't do enough: celebrating milestones on a cancer journey. Not just the big ones like finishing treatment. The small ones too. Like waking up and feeling pretty good. Or making it through another day. In this special episode of The C...

People Pleasing on Your Cancer Journey | Cancer Journey Podcast | Episode 99Stop people pleasing. When you're navigating cancer, it's easy to put on a brave face and try not to bring everyone down. You don't want to be seen as weak or incapable. You want to take care of everyone else first. But here's what happens: you end up completely depleted. And the people you're trying to...

When a Loved One is Diagnosed with Cancer | The Cancer Journey Podcast | Episode 98GET YOUR FREE MEDITATION: www.thecancerjourney.com/cancer-journey-podcast/episode-98 When someone you love gets diagnosed with cancer, the instinct is to help. But knowing how to actually show up in a way that supports rather than burdens can be complicated. Leslie Purchase, one of our certified Cancer Journey Coach...

I Have Cancer and I'm Tired and Angry | The Cancer Journey PodcastThis episode didn't go where we expected. We started talking about exhaustion and anger on a cancer journey, and ended up processing something vulnerable in real time. When you have cancer, "tired" doesn't describe the bone-deep exhaustion that makes it hard to lift your arm. When you're that depleted, your nerves are on the surface...

Grief on a Cancer Journey | The Cancer Journey PodcastGrief lands heavy, and on a cancer journey, it shows up in ways you don't always expect. This episode explores the many forms of grief that appear along the cancer journey and why making space for it matters more than trying to avoid it. Grief isn't just about death. It's mourning the person you were before diagnosis. It's the a...

Reactivating Your 5 Senses | The Cancer Journey Podcast When was the last time you truly noticed what you were experiencing through your 5 senses? On a cancer journey—and honestly, in life—we can become so disconnected from our bodies that we forget to simply be present. In this episode, Shariann and Alicia explore how your 5 senses (taste, touch, smell, sound, sight) can ground you when you'r...