Do you remember the exact moment your life split into "before" and "after"?

On 23 February 2023, former nurse educator and mother of five, Bron Watson, received a second cancer diagnosis. The first was breast cancer. This time, it was incurable, but treatable. In this opening episode of Serenity Uprising, Bron tells the unvarnished story of what happened between that phone call, the specialist's room, and the long weeks of waiting in between.

If you have ever sat in the silence after a terrifying result… if you have struggled to explain what is happening to family and friends because you do not have the answers yet… or if you are living with the weight of a "chronic, not curable" diagnosis, this episode is for you.

Key takeaways:

• What it is really like to move from a "curable" to an "incurable but treatable" cancer diagnosis

• The cost of putting everyone else first, and the moment she realised she had ignored her own body's warning signs for a year

• Why she now separates "healing" from "curing" – and how that shift became the foundation of The Serenity Project and this podcast

• An honest invitation to step away from "fighting" language and explore serenity as an ongoing practice, even in the middle of fear and uncertainty

This is not a list of tips. It is a story. And it is a love letter to anyone who has heard the words "you have cancer," to carers who do not know what to say, and to survivors who still feel their stomach flip every time a scan is booked.

Serenity Uprising: Healing with Cancer exists to walk beside you in that space – with honesty, compassion and the reminder that healing is not a destination you reach, but a practice of returning to yourself, again.

Connect with Bron:

For more on The Serenity Project, including resources, reflections and future offerings, visit your main online home and join the mailing list for ongoing support and updates.

• Feedback and Questions https://fanlist.com/serenityproject

• Website https://serenityproject.com.au/

• Connect With Bron www.linkedin.com/in/bronwatson

What if the boldest move you can make in cancer care isn't acting fast — but slowing everything right down?

In this episode of Serenity Rising, Bron speaks with rehabilitation counsellor, business owner, and cancer survivor Jo Muirhead about the quiet but powerful skill of pausing in moments when the medical system moves faster than the human heart can follow.

Jo was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer at 47, right as the world was entering the uncertainty of a pandemic.

What unfolded was not only a clinical journey, but a profoundly human one.

Jo found herself navigating rushed decisions, complicated treatment options, medical trauma and a complete reshaping of daily life. Through it all, she learned that slowing down was not a luxury. It was a necessity.

Her ability to pause, breathe, and decide became the foundation for her own healing.

Key Take-Aways

In this conversation, Jo and Bron explore:

• What it feels like when the medical system moves at a pace that leaves no room for thought

• Why self-advocacy can begin with a single pause

• The difference between informed consent and pressured consent

• How medical trauma can shape the recovery experience

• Spoon Theory, chronic migraines, and learning to live within new energetic boundaries

• Jo's personal definition of serenity and how contentment became her anchor

• The women who inspired Jo to imagine a future beyond survival

• How to honour your body, your voice and your pace, even in moments of crisis

This episode is an invitation to reclaim your own timing. To trust that spaciousness, not urgency, creates clarity. To remember that your body belongs to you, and you are allowed to pause before making decisions that affect your future.

If you would like to ask a question for an upcoming episode or share your reflections, you can connect with Bron via the below.

Your healing matters every day.

Contact Jo

Website https://jomuirhead.com/

Instagram @jo_muirhead

Jo's Cancer Journey on YouTube - Breast Cancer and Me with Jo Muirhead

https://www.youtube.com/@breastcancerandme

Jo's Business https://www.youtube.com/@JoMuirheadTV

Connect with The Serenity Project

For more on The Serenity Project, including resources, reflections and future offerings, visit your main online home and join the mailing list for ongoing support and updates.

Feedback and Questions https://fanlist.com/serenityproject

Sign Up To OUr Podcast Newsletter https://pages.serenityproject.com.au/home--serenity-project

Website https://serenityproject.com.au/

Connect With Bron www.linkedin.com/in/bronwatson

YouTube Podcast https://www.youtube.com/@BronWatson/podcasts

In this solo episode of Serenity Rising, Bron explores a place many people living with illness know intimately, yet rarely name: the space before the answer.

It's the moment before results arrive. Before the appointment. Before the conversation. Before you know what comes next.

This episode is anchored in one of the Serenity Now cards and invites you into that in-between space where tension often lives — not as something to fix or push through, but as information from the nervous system.

Bron reframes tension as a signal rather than a flaw, and introduces ease not as the absence of difficulty, but as the capacity to soften while uncertainty remains.

Through a personal reflection, nervous system insight, and a brief, accessible practice, Bron guides listeners into the quiet power of pausing.

Not to find answers, but to remember that presence itself can be regulating, stabilising, and healing.

In this episode, Bron explores:

• Why the waiting can feel harder than the knowing
• How the body braces in moments of uncertainty
• Tension as a nervous system response, not a personal failing
• The role of micro-moments of ease in supporting healing
• The difference between forcing calm and allowing space
• Reframing the Serenity Prayer as a tool for discernment, not control

This episode is especially supportive if you are living with scanxiety, anticipatory fear, or the constant low-level vigilance that cancer can bring. It offers no instructions, no affirmations, and nothing to "get right." Only an invitation to notice, to breathe, and to rest briefly in the space before the answer.

Make every day count.

Connect with The Serenity Project

For more on The Serenity Project, including resources, reflections and future offerings, visit your main online home and join the mailing list for ongoing support and updates.

Feedback and Questions https://fanlist.com/serenityproject

Website https://serenityproject.com.au/

Connect With Bron www.linkedin.com/in/bronwatson

YouTube Podcast https://www.youtube.com/@BronWatson/podcasts

You're exhausted. Not just in your bones, but in your soul. And you're tired of being told how to think, feel, or heal. Maybe you've sat in the doctor's office holding your breath. Maybe you're doing everything right and still feeling completely out of control. You're not broken. You're human. And I'm so glad you're here. Welcome to Serenity Rising Healing with Cancer, and I'm Bron Watson.

This podcast isn't about fighting or surviving. It's about finding your North Star that helps you find calm in the chaos of cancer. Here we believe in both science and soul, evidence and perspective, where everyone can heal, even when cure is not an option. You believe healing is more than scans and treatments. You know that healing can be emotional, spiritual, and it's very, very personal.

Here's the thing. You're allowed to not have it all figured out. You're allowed to rest and you're allowed to cry and grieve and hope all in the same breath. Because your healing matters. Where moments make memories, and memories are how we make every day count.

Serenity Rising isn't just a podcast. It's a community.

Subscribe now and listen wherever you get your podcasts.