Cheers to Outwittinglife, My Breast Cancer Fight, and New Focus

My first post appeared three years ago this week! Cheers to outwittinglife, my breast cancer fight and new focus.

Creating Outwittinglife.com kick-started my healing journey. It quickly became the conduit to reinvent myself as I navigated life after breast cancer. Today, I am celebrating how far the blog and me have come in three years.

This article is my 106th blog post! Probably not a very impressive number to a twenty-something blogger that posts daily. But, slightly outstanding for a 62-year-old that had to learn social media from ground zero. The process has been amazing.

I had no idea where I was going when I first started writing, but I knew I had to do something. I needed a purpose because I felt lost. Thank you so much for being on this journey with me. Your encouragement and loyal reading of my posts gives me the confidence to continue.

Breast Cancer Fight

Here is a timeline of my breast cancer medical journey:

• Diagnosed with breast cancer in September 2016
• 1st Surgery: October 2016
• Second Surgery: November 2016
• 1st Chemo: Day after Christmas 2016 (Total of 4 infusions over 12 weeks)
• Radiation: April 2017 (38 sessions daily M-F over eight weeks)
• Sepsis: April 2017 (5 days in ICU/Stent placed in my kidney)
• The stent was replaced in May 2017
• The stent was removed in June 2017

The above procedures battered my body and left me utterly exhausted. I decided my new purpose was to help others get through cancer/tragedy by creating a new life. But, how?

The Need For Outwittinglife

My employer terminated me while I had chemotherapy treatments. Yes, it was legal.

The lack of income forced us to sell our home and downsize. I felt empty and had no idea who I was or how to start over at 59 years old. Likewise, no one was interested in hiring someone my age and certainly not at my previous level. I tried a sales rep position, and it was a nightmare both physically and mentally.

Furthermore, I was completely out of my element. I know this sounds so entitled, but I did not know how to budget or live frugally. My identity for 25+ years was my work; I was very, very, lost.

“It is your reaction to adversity, not the adversity itself, that determines how your life’s story will develop.”

Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Depression Is Real

Unfortunately, side effects from chemo and radiation became prevalent, and I struggled. I wound up going into a bad depression for a few months. My poor family, as if they hadn’t already been through enough! All I wanted to do was lay in bed with the covers over my head.

Thank goodness I had enough sense to know I could not do this alone. I got a recommendation for a psychiatrist and began seeing him right away. It was like I had an out-of-body experience. How could I have gone from a self-assured, gainfully employed, and well-compensated successful executive to someone curled up in a ball with the covers over my head? It was surreal.

Dealing with Tragedy

The unfortunate truth is that this happens to people every day. There are house fires, diseases, disabling car accidents, divorces, overdoses, cancer diagnoses, heart attacks, and unexpected deaths happening all around us. Everyone affected needs to learn how to keep living. It’s hard.

Inevitably, we will all face a tragedy in our lifetime. How we respond to it determines our path in life. I decided to better myself, and outwittinglife.com became my bridge to reinventing myself.

Outwittinglife.com Takes Shape

I researched hacking, couponing, budgeting, and DIY sites. The Internet was my source for everything. There was so much knowledge available and I couldn’t get enough of it. I found invaluable ways to outwit life, passing the knowledge on via my posts while personally using everything I learned.

YouTube blogging tutorial videos and free online marketing classes became my jam. I took every free class titled “how to use social media.” It was intense. There are thousands of articles and bloggers selling courses. One of them pointed me to https://wordpress.com/create-blog/, and that’s how I really got going.

Additionally, the mentors I uncovered were terrific! There are so many people creating content and teaching others on social media. It is incredible. This “world” got me very excited–it may have taken me a few years to realize, but blogging is officially my passion. I believe finding your passion is essential to creating a new life after tragedy hits.

Would You Please Help Me?

It’s been three years, so, now what? The logical next step for me is to turn my blog into a job. There are many ways to monetize, and I am currently taking a class (definitely not a freebie) on using social media and blogging to create a successful business. It is fascinating, and the class curriculum is challenging, but I love it.

Would you mind providing me with some feedback by answering three questions?

• What makes you read my blog?
• Is there a favorite topic I cover?
• How do you feel after reading my blog posts?

I have thick skin, so please feel free to be brutally honest. You can leave feedback in a comment below, or you can send me a message on Facebook, Instagram, or lrederscheid@gmail.com.

Time To Pivot

I can take many different tracks, and your feedback may help me decide what direction to take. Some options might be taking on advertisers, writing sponsored posts for brands or creating digital products. I can stick with breast cancer/life tragedy as my main focus or become a lifestyle blogger offering recipes, fashion, vacation recommendations, relocation or budgeting tips, etc.

Breast cancer may have taken away my career and lifestyle; however, it cannot overcome my grit and determination to reinvent myself. I have learned so much about living from almost dying. In one way, that makes me very sad, yet at the same time, it opened my eyes to focus on living. I wrote about cancer opening my eyes in 2019. https://www.outwittinglife.com/why-does-everything-look-different/

Happy Anniversary to Me

Many good things have happened these past three years. Happy Anniversary to outwittinglife.com! Thank you again for reading my posts and encouraging me each week. I am nervously excited about taking this next step. I’ve publicly announced it here to force myself into some accountability. Embracing change is good and is the backbone of outwittinglife.com. Time to practice what I preach!

Kindly remember to answer the three questions I posed above, as your input is critical to my growth.

P.S. The course I am participating in runs for 12 weeks. You will most likely not see significant changes until after I complete it. I am just setting some expectations!