https://www.bornoffirepublishing.com/new-blog daily 0.75 2026-09-22 https://www.bornoffirepublishing.com/new-blog/i-thought-surviving-was-the-finish-line-twenty-one-years-later-i-know-better monthly 0.5 2026-09-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a1751f62868f96ac88a44cc/5864cf8c-1e37-4342-8372-79a4a194d638/IMG_7996.jpeg Still Becoming Journal - I Thought Surviving Was the Finish Line. Twenty-One Years Later, I Know Better. - Twenty-one years ago, at my first oncology appointment, a stranger offered me a piece of advice that would become one of the guiding principles of my life: “My darling, 99% of this will be your mental fight.” I carried those words into surgery, through radiation and chemotherapy, and into every uncertain season that followed. They stayed with me through other illnesses, through losing more than 170 pounds, and through the slow, complicated work of reclaiming pieces of myself I once believed were gone forever. At twenty-seven years old, standing on the precipice of my first partial mastectomy, my focus was singular: I wanted to live. I wanted the precious gift of a future. What I did not understand then was that survival would not seamlessly return me to the life I had known. I emerged from surgery alive, but transformed. My body had changed. My sense of safety had changed. The way I saw myself—and the way the world saw me—had changed. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a1751f62868f96ac88a44cc/410dfd80-1b05-4540-b486-dfcd3a5a47be/4C484AB5-F047-4E6E-AD68-77904C07E295.png Still Becoming Journal - I Thought Surviving Was the Finish Line. Twenty-One Years Later, I Know Better. - Twenty-one years ago, I was fighting simply to have a future. Today, part of that future looks like five children’s books sitting in front of me—five little pieces of imagination, courage, and joy that would not exist if that twenty-seven-year-old woman had stopped believing there could be something waiting for her beyond survival. https://www.bornoffirepublishing.com/new-blog/the-footprints-we-leave-behind monthly 0.5 2026-09-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a1751f62868f96ac88a44cc/e1e6f0b0-9d4b-450a-9e36-e5f92edd91b8/DSC_4107.jpeg Still Becoming Journal - The Footprints We Leave Behind - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a1751f62868f96ac88a44cc/1789485693716-3L1F77IDH3AGJMBA9FK1/DSC_4101.jpeg Still Becoming Journal - The Footprints We Leave Behind https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a1751f62868f96ac88a44cc/1789485686336-DZ0UPUZ7YQCBP5NED4BR/DSC_4116.jpeg Still Becoming Journal - The Footprints We Leave Behind https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a1751f62868f96ac88a44cc/1789485688352-URNOY6ZTQH85ESE74IV1/DSC_4113.jpeg Still Becoming Journal - The Footprints We Leave Behind https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a1751f62868f96ac88a44cc/1789485688924-L56QPSYXKVNK4YPV02XI/DSC_4123.jpeg Still Becoming Journal - The Footprints We Leave Behind https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a1751f62868f96ac88a44cc/1789485686396-9ULTP1NE9SPQVZVU4077/C5C01B4D-450A-48B2-AAA8-3F23060D3175.png Still Becoming Journal - The Footprints We Leave Behind https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a1751f62868f96ac88a44cc/1789485691665-9PUBF67R0VZ2UCF4T05X/DSC_4113.jpeg Still Becoming Journal - The Footprints We Leave Behind https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a1751f62868f96ac88a44cc/1789485693200-7VTX2V4VWF32SWZCYSDE/DSC_4105.jpeg Still Becoming Journal - The Footprints We Leave Behind https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a1751f62868f96ac88a44cc/1789485852426-FNADKNJZSL2QDA84LFXY/DSC_4099.jpeg Still Becoming Journal - The Footprints We Leave Behind https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a1751f62868f96ac88a44cc/1789485905170-5SLOK4BJ9LAU2YDXCLY7/DSC_4090.jpeg Still Becoming Journal - The Footprints We Leave Behind https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a1751f62868f96ac88a44cc/1789485905118-HDMY55MSNJ3NW6QEYQDD/DSC_4093.jpeg Still Becoming Journal - The Footprints We Leave Behind https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a1751f62868f96ac88a44cc/1789485906625-ASGKDNH508O67DMJ4IB8/IMG_7755.jpeg Still Becoming Journal - The Footprints We Leave Behind https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a1751f62868f96ac88a44cc/1789485906626-GQNGBANK44I8R0A5BYX3/IMG_7757.jpeg Still Becoming Journal - The Footprints We Leave Behind https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a1751f62868f96ac88a44cc/9650c915-9ada-4b5b-b58c-3aebc65db3c1/DSC_4107.jpeg Still Becoming Journal - The Footprints We Leave Behind - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.bornoffirepublishing.com/new-blog/i-stayed monthly 0.5 2026-09-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a1751f62868f96ac88a44cc/c6125984-2e5d-490d-af5a-cf2d7bb8c515/85810156-8838-4D4C-8925-CBBE53423CED.png Still Becoming Journal - I stayed What surviving suicidal thoughts taught me about trauma, healing, and choosing to keep going. Content note: This article discusses suicidal thoughts, trauma, and mental health. Please take care while reading. If you are struggling, help is available. In the U.S., call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. https://www.bornoffirepublishing.com/new-blog/my-spirit-was-shaped-by-fire monthly 0.5 2026-08-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a1751f62868f96ac88a44cc/f7562dd5-3f3e-4766-9730-67e63b110bc4/IMG_7131.jpeg Still Becoming Journal - My Spirit Was Shaped by Fire - Pilates. Meditation. Grounding. These have become three pillars beneath me—not because they make life perfect, but because they bring me back to myself. Pilates taught me that strength doesn’t always have to be loud. Sometimes strength is a tiny movement, a shaking muscle, one more breath when your body is begging you to stop. It has taught me to listen to my body instead of constantly trying to control it. Meditation taught me that silence isn’t something to fear. For so long, quiet left too much room for thoughts I didn’t want to hear. Now, I am learning that quiet can also be where I meet myself. And grounding reminds me that when my mind wants to wander into yesterday or race toward tomorrow, my body is still here. 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