Why it’s important to know your “WHY”

It’s safe to say that I was a pretty lost soul after getting out of the hematology floor at Presbyterian St. Luke’s in Denver. Of course, I was excited about the fact that I was alive and able to share my story.

The reality was a very scary proposition. I essentially came out of the hospital as a clean slate. A blank canvas.

And that was a scary thought. There was a lot of fear at the time, mostly because the unknown was laid out in front of me.

I was dealing with recurrence fears, I knew that I was having memory issues. and just the overall feeling that my health was going to be a challenge for the rest of my life.

But there was an underlying excitement. The opportunity had given me a chance to rebuild my life. The unknown gave me a chance to refresh my body and my soul.

All I knew was what I wanted and what I didn’t. The old normal was a thing of the past.

That’s when I started prioritizing the things that were most important to me. And since I used all of my financial resources to battle my lymphoma, I knew this was going to be a tough road.

Fortunately, I had a couple people mentor me after my cancer experience. This started me down the path to figuring out the next steps within this blank canvas.

A pattern emerged. All of them asked me one important question…

What is your “Why”? Why this question is so important

We got really deep into my psyche and battled my ego.

Why do you work? Why do you want to help people? Why do you want to start a business? Why do you want to live?

This is a pretty scary question. This question gets to the heart of a lot of what it means to be you! And when you think about it, understanding this word really becomes an all-encompassing question at a very deep level.

Before lymphoma, this question and many others we’re never asked. They were never discussed. And there’s a good chance I wasn’t ready to answer those questions.

I was a pretty lost soul after all my snowboarding endeavors fizzled out. Broken some may say.

I truly believe that lymphoma saved my life. it helped me understand my purpose. It helped me define who I am.

By asking yourself “WHY” is the start of digging deep into the motives and decisions that make up everything you are and want to be. It makes you question your own psychology. All your theories in life.

Really, everything! 

For most people after dealing with a life-changing event or situation, it’s only natural to start asking deep-rooted questions about themselves.

The curiosity of life’s purpose!

The best way for me to describe it is there was a burning in need within myself to start understanding what my purpose in life was. I knew I wanted to help people and I knew that survivors and caregivers needed help once they got out of the hospital after their last treatment.

So for the last eight years, I’ve been slowly creating a survivorship care plan to help guide survivors through the twists and turns that they will experience in their “New Normal”.

I go deeper into this question and the psychology in my book Internal Architect. In the chapter, The 4-W’s, I hit onto a more encompassing strategy of why you need to question yourself after cancer.

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