What do you do when "You've got this!" makes you feel more alone? When fear keeps you awake at 3 am? When rest feels like failure?

In this Q&A episode of Serenity Rising, Bron responds to three powerful questions from real people navigating cancer — the kind of questions that get asked in support groups at 2 am but rarely answered with the depth they deserve.

This episode tackles what happens when well-meaning clichésmiss the mark, when fear of mortality becomes a constant companion, and when the guilt of resting feels heavier than the exhaustion itself.

Drawing on insights from thought leaders like Brené Brown, Jay Shetty, and Mel Robbins, alongside peer-reviewed research on self-compassion, death anxiety, and social support, Bron offers honest, grounded responses that validate what you're feeling and give you something practical to hold onto.

In this episode, Bron explores:

• Why platitudes often hurt more than they help and what "toxic positivity" really costs us
• The difference between loneliness and solitude and why you can feel alone in a crowded room
• Why fear and excitement are the same physical sensation and how to work with that
• How to find meaning alongside fear, not instead of it
• Why guilt about rest is often grief in disguise
• The research on self-compassion and why it's not self-indulgence
• Brené Brown's insight that exhaustion has become a "status symbol" and the cost of tying self-worth to productivity
• Practical tools including the One Safe Person Text, the Three Good Things Practice, the Five Senses Anchor, and the Rest Prescription

This is not an episode about positive thinking.

It's about honest thinking. It's permission to feel what you're actually feeling and evidence that you're not alone in it.

Enjoy and make everyday count!

Bron xx

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Healing Together: A Listener Q&A is a fireside-style episode of Serenity Rising, created in direct response to the questions and reflections shared by the community.

Bron answers three deeply human questions that often go unspoken during cancer and survivorship.

The first explores loneliness — particularly the pain of feeling unseen or misunderstood when people say things like "you look great," while missing the invisible realities of fatigue, fear, and scanxiety. Bron explains why mismatched support can increase distress, and how small, ordinary moments of connection can be powerfully regulating for the nervous system.

The second question turns toward caregivers — the partners, family members, and friends often described as the "invisible patients." Bron reflects on the emotional load caregivers carry, the sudden role changes that occur, and why listening without fixing, offering choices, and showing up consistently matter more than saying the perfect thing.

The final question explores uncertainty — the ongoing challenge of living without guarantees. Bron unpacks why uncertainty feels so destabilising, how the nervous system responds to not knowing, and how acceptance, meaning-making, and psychological flexibility can soften fear without denying reality.

Throughout the episode, Bron shares zero-cost, low-effort practices to support both patients and caregivers, including simple language for asking for help, grounding techniques, and the Serenity Prayer as a lived framework for daily life.

This episode is not about toxic positivity or getting it right. It's about presence, compassion, and remembering that healing happens together.

Your healing matters every day.

Show Links

Website https://serenityproject.com.au/

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Have a question or feedback? Leave your message here: https://fanlist.com/serenityproject

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