06/08/2026
What is the difference between living and thriving?
A question I reflected on this morning, as I realised it has been two years since my surgery to remove the cancerous tumor that had likely been growing in my colon for 4 years.
I was given another chance at life, the gift of time.
A gift so rare and beautiful it’s almost impossible to describe .
I remember the fear and pain, but also the elation.
I’m not special, I’m not the first, or the last to be given this chance but I am more and more grateful with each passing day, and like many survivors my journey is ongoing.
Every three-month check-up, a quiet reminder of how precious this time I’v been given is.
When I think of my daughters and what I want to teach them about life I realize this might be it:
Living isn’t the same as thriving.
Being busy and stressed isn’t a life being fully lived.
Thriving is something different.
It is choosing grace over fear, gratitude over resentment, loving deeply and doing what sets your soul alight.
So I am choosing to see this second chance not just as permission to live but as an invitation to truely thrive.
Chica-Loca! was my first child, born of the need to channel all of my creative energy into something meaningful.
It became my signature, my adventure, my art.
One of my favorite quotes from
Paulo Coelho’s novel The Alchemist:
“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
Today I’m opening myself up to whatever this new chapter holds.
I am no longer just living.
I am ready to thrive !
Watch this space.
