Living Beyond Limits: How to Transform Hardship into Purpose

Can you ever imagine living beyond limits? When you transform hardship into purpose, it's possible, as Deb Krier discovered. Find out how she turned a devastating cancer diagnosis into a powerful platform of hope and encouragement. Show Notes | Transcript "We absolutely have to be grateful, even for the most horrible, awful... There's got to be something in it. For one thing, we're still alive and kicking." - Deb Krier Deb shares her remarkable journey from working at the American Cancer Society to facing her own battle with stage four triple-positive metastatic breast cancer. We explore how she transformed her struggle into "Trying Not to Die dot Live," a platform that provides support, resources, and community to those dealing with cancer. Discover how Deb: Embraced gratitude even in the darkest moments of her health journey Created a unique support system through her "Bear Hug" care packages Developed the L.I.V.E. acronym to empower others facing similar challenges Key insights include: The importance of honest communication during difficult times How to build and nurture your support tribe, both in business and in your personal life Why being in charge of your own health journey is crucial Deb also shares valuable advice on asking for help, a skill many women entrepreneurs struggle with. She emphasizes the power of vulnerability and how it can lead to stronger connections and support systems. Whether you're facing a health challenge, building a business, or simply looking to live life more fully, this conversation offers practical wisdom and heartfelt inspiration. Get ready to learn how to lead your tribe, invigorate your soul, voice your feelings, and elevate your mindset – no matter what life throws your way! Resources: Join the Soulful Women's Network Connect with Deb Krier: Website: tryingnottodie.LIVE Connect with Live Love Engage: Send Gloria Grace a message ☕ Support the podcast ❤ Love this episode? Leave us a review and rating LinkedIn: Gloria Grace Rand Facebook: Gloria Grace Rand YouTube: Gloria Grace Rand TRANSCRIPT Gloria Grace Rand Namaste. Imagine spending years working for the American Cancer Society, only later to have your doctor diagnose you with the disease. Well, that irony was not lost on today’s guest. But as you'll learn from her shortly, she transformed her struggle into a powerful platform of hope and empowerment for others. But first, I want to welcome you to live, love, engage, especially if you are new to the podcast. I am Gloria Grace, and I help female entrepreneurs attract clients by going beyond traditional search engine optimization to embrace my definition of SEO, spiritually engaging others. And joining us today is Deb Krier. She is a seasoned entrepreneur, podcaster, a cancer advocate, and founder of trying not to die dot live, a platform that provides support, resources, and community to those dealing with cancer. And without further ado, I'm going to bring her up here and welcome you officially to live, love, engage. Deb Krier Hello. Hello. Oh, my gosh. We're going to have so much fun catching up because we have known each other for quite a while, and you know, worlds kind of went different directions, and so this is going to be fantastic. Gloria Grace Rand I know. Absolutely. Yes, yes. I was very privileged to be a guest on Deb's podcast many, Deb Krier Twice! Gloria Grace Rand That's right, that's right. Yes, yes. Many years ago. And finally, I get the chance to have you on the show and be able to showcase your brilliance to my audience. So I would love to start off by having you kind of dive in and tell us a little bit more about, you know, the trying not to die dot live platform. I love that you have that URL, and we'll get more into that, especially later. But why did you? And obviously, it has to do with your own journey as well. But tell us a little bit about the focus of the organization and why you started it. Deb Krier Well, I am so honored to be a guest on your podcast. We're going to have such a great discussion. As you mentioned, it is based on my own journey. Many years ago, I worked for an oncologist, and then I worked for the American Cancer Society. So I tell people I know just enough to be dangerous, right? And back in 2015, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Initially they said stage zero. Let's not worry too much about this. Then through the course of several different tests and all sorts of things, they changed their mind and it went to a much more serious diagnosis. My technical diagnosis is stage four triple positive metastatic breast cancer, which is a big mouthful to say. Bleh, right? Not a lot of fun. And it was, stage four cancers, in many cases, are considered not curable. They can go away and hide, can hide for many, many years. I'm at year nine. This has actually been good. I have had two other cancer diagnoses. I had a basal cell carcinoma on my arm, which is a real fancy name for a little skin cancer. They zapped it, no big deal. In fact, it didn't even take stitches. But obviously, now I get to go to the dermatologist and what I call fondly, the strip and spin every six months to make sure there's nothing else. And then I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer last year. Totally new, totally different cancer. So I'm on number three. But as part of all of this, I had decided to have very traditional treatment. I was going to do chemo, then I was going to do surgery, then I was going to do radiation. My first chemo was extremely aggressive, and it darn near killed me. I ended up with septic shock in the hospital. Was told that I was not going to make it. In fact, they were saying I wouldn't make it through the day. And I remember thinking, wait a minute, I get a vote in this. Obviously, I voted and said, no, no, that's not going to happen. But it was a challenge. I've had multiple, multiple surgeries since then, primarily due to the septic shock, because it just nails your body and shuts down your organs. That is what happens. And, all sorts of fun things since then. But as part of this, I just kept going. Right? You know, you do. You just keep going. And so I kept functioning in my business. I have a company called wise women communications. And as part of that, I was participating in a group, a women's success accelerator, and was doing it. And several years ago, the woman who lead that, the fabulous Kathleen Caldwell, she told me, she said, you know, this is all well and good, but you didn't go through everything you went through without using it to help others. And I said, yeah, but I don't want to be cancer girl. You know, I didn't want to put that cape on, you know, all that that stuff. But I realized she was right. You know, I had gone through so much, and, you know, if I could help others, whether they had cancer themselves or are people supporting those who have cancer, if I can do that and use what I went through to help them, then it really was something that I needed to be doing. And so that was when we thought, okay, let's do trying not to die dot live, because we do get so caught up when we're very ill, whether it's cancer or something else, in the fact that we're trying to not die, that we forget that what we really need to be doing is living our lives. Gloria Grace Rand Oh, well, I gotta tell you, I mean, number one, it's no wonder that you're already, you know, nine years past, you know. Deb Krier Tough old bird. Gloria Grace Rand Well, not only that, you've got this positive attitude. You are a ray of sunshine, and I believe that that is a big component of why you're still, you know, alive and kicking here. And you know, and that talking about that, trying not to die, I think that. Yeah, I mean, sometimes when you're, you know, given this diagnosis, you tend to give up, or at least. No, I'm not gonna make generalizations. I will just say that I know, just from experiencing it, watching my sister's journey, that I think she did kind of give up for a while until it got closer to the end, and then she realized she didn't want to give up. But unfortunately, by then, she had gone through, like, chemo, too, which really did a number on her as well. And she finally just said, I can't. I need some quality of life, because this is especially when it stopped really doing much to the tumor anymore. It's like, okay, well, why am I putting myself through it? Yeah. So tell us a little bit more about what your organization specifically does, because I was looking at it, and I love the one thing, so I'm not going to spoil it. I want you to maybe talk about how you help people. Deb Krier Right. So the trying not to die part came about because of my mother. You know, as I said, I was very, very ill on death's door, and I'm an only child, and so, of course, my husband called her, and she immediately came out and stayed for four and a half months to take care of me. That's good and bad. Right. But it was actually very much a blessing that she was able to be here. And I remember one of the times where, you know, one of my medical people came in my hospital room, and I was in the hospital for quite a long time, and they did whatever they were doing, and they left. And I got the disapproving mother face, and I went, what? And she said, you did not say thank you. And I said, oh, for God's sakes, I'm trying to not die here. But, you know, it really did much later. It was one of the things that I thought about was we absolutely have to be grateful, even for the most horrible, awful. There's got to be something in. For one thing, we're still alive and kicking. Right? I tell people how you doing today? Well, I'm not looking at 6 feet of dirt, so I'm doing pretty good. And so, yeah, it was just how are we going to live our lives? And maybe it's 5 hours, maybe it's five days, maybe it's 50 years. And you know, how can we do that?...