Thrive Like a Mother Podcast
I'm Ebony and I'm a mama to 3 beautiful souls. I'm learning how navigate my trauma healing while building the life I never dreamed was possible. I'm a survivor of childhood abuse and for the longest time, I believed that if anyone knew my story, I wouldn't be worthy of love. Many years later and now I know that it far from the truth.
On the Thrive Like a Mother podcast, I'll share the resources and tools I use on the daily to cultivate a healthy mindset break the wheel of survival. Here we're about honesty and transparency. Because at the root of it all, my purpose in creating this podcast is so that you know you are never alone in your journey.
There may be laughter, there may be tears and we'll do it all by linking arms and learning to thrive together.
Thrive Like a Mother Podcast
Finding sunshine in the storm with Sarah Arvizu
Sarah Arvizu's world changed forever when she received a diagnosis of stage three triple negative breast cancer at the beginning of the year. As a single mother of two daughters aged 11 and 7, she faced an unimaginable challenge. Yet during our conversation, her approach to this monumental life hurdle revealed something extraordinary about human resilience.
"This was the one thing that I wasn't gonna hide," Sarah shared, explaining how previous life struggles had taught her the cost of shouldering burdens alone. The decision to be transparent about her cancer journey created an unexpected ripple effect as others began sharing their own hidden struggles. "When you start sharing, it's amazing because so many other people start sharing with you either things that they'd been through or that their family members had been through."
Sarah's "sunshine moments" philosophy predated her diagnosis, a practice she developed through her podcast "Creating Sunshine." Each month, she documents experiences worth celebrating and posts them on her refrigerator as visual reminders of joy. This intentional practice of documenting gratitude evolved into actively creating experiences she wanted to remember – like taking her daughters to watch the sunset at the beach.
What struck me most was how Sarah emphasized the importance of developing wellbeing practices before crisis strikes. The journaling, meditation, and breathwork she already practiced became essential tools during treatment. "These tools are maintenance for you and your life," she advised, "and that way, when the hard shit does happen, you're going to be okay because you already have them." For those already in challenging seasons without such practices, she recommends starting small – even ten deep breaths each morning can transform your day.
Cancer has clarified priorities, teaching Sarah to be intentional with her time and relationships. She's learned to say "yes" more readily to what matters, follow through on promises, and reach out proactively rather than waiting for support. Despite everything, her relationship with her daughters has strengthened as they focus on what truly matters rather than "all the stuff that doesn't matter anymore."
Ready to find more sunshine in your own life? Follow Sarah on Instagram @Sarah_Arvizu, listen to the Creating Sunshine podcast, and download her free Sunshine Moments guide through her email list.
Thank you so much for listening in! If anything in this episode resonated with you, it would mean the world to me if you left a review or shared it with a friend or on social media.
And don't forget to tag me so I can personally thank you for helping me get the word out.
Follow and chat with me on Instagram:
Podcast account - @thrivelikeamother.podcast
Personal account - @thrive.empowered
Sending you light and love always!
Hey, love, I'm Ebony and welcome to Thrive Like a Mother On this podcast. We're scared for our truth, but that fear is what fuels us to truly live in it. You're in the right place if you feel like you're stuck in survivor mode and you're ready to step into who you were truly meant to be. I'll share resources and tools I use daily to help you in your journey towards a healthier mindset and to break the wheel of survival. The journey may not be easy, but you won't have to face it alone. I'm a mama of three, healing day by day from past trauma, and I'm on a mission to build a life I've always dreamed of but never thought was possible. So, love, if you're ready to believe in what's possible, let's link arms and thrive together. Hey, loves, I hope you're ready to tune into another episode of the Thrive Like a Mother podcast.
Speaker 1:We have a very special guest on with us for today's episode. Her name is Sarah Arvizu, and Sarah is a dynamic speaker. She's a podcast host. She's a mentor who helps women navigate life challenges with resilience and purpose. Sarah is a single mother and also a breast cancer warrior. In this episode, she's going to openly share her journey, as she does through all of her platforms, really just turning adversity into a source of connection and inspiration, and through Sarah's podcast, creating Sunshine, she provides encouragement and actionable insights for any overwhelmed mothers, showing them exactly how to find the joy, build resilience and redefine success, no matter their circumstances. So I'm really excited for y'all to listen in and just absorb all that Sarah has to give. She is just a phenomenal woman and I can't wait for y'all to listen in.
Speaker 1:All right, y'all welcome to another episode of the Thrive Like a Mother podcast, and I am so dang honored to have our guest on with us today. Today's episode is really one that's going to invite you and us really into that deep courage, that raw honesty, but really just a story. Her story is one of resilience, hope and all the sunshine moments. So I'm honored to welcome a dear friend, sarah Arvizu, to the podcast and, sarah, I really want to. I want to just jump right in immediately because I feel like people just they need to hear your story and just everything that you've overcome, especially within this past year. So can you take us back to the beginning of this year and what's just been going on in your world?
Speaker 2:sure, sure. Well, first of all, thank you so much for having me. You're like about to make me cry out the gate with your sweet introduction. But yeah, my name is Sarah. I am the host of the Creating Sunshine podcast. I am a single mom to two little girls. They are 11 and 7. And they are like my world, my life, they are everything.
Speaker 2:And at the beginning of this year I was diagnosed with stage three triple negative breast cancer, which obviously cancer is never in anyone's plan, right, it's never like the terrible things that happen in your life, like we never, ever planned for them. But I really I had already before that been doing so much like personal development, so much inner work, so many things. So when it happened, I don't know, I just adopted this like I mean, first of all, I'm a very like let's come up with a plan type person to handle the problem and to just move forward. That's just always been me, so that was in me innately to be like okay, so what's the plan? What are we gonna do? What's the next step?
Speaker 2:Because it's really weird when you first get diagnosed with cancer, because they tell you that you have it but you don't know anything about it. Because actually I found out in the beginning of December that I had it, but I didn't know the stage, I didn't know the treatment, I didn't know what kind like I knew nothing. So you're just in this weird limbo for like a month and a half knowing you have cancer, but you're like okay. So my in my head the whole time I'm kind of like maybe it's not that bad, maybe they'll just do a surgery and they'll just remove the tumor and then I'll just move on.
Speaker 2:But it was definitely not the case. I just finished my last chemo treatment last week, so I had six rounds of chemo, and now I'm moving on to. I have my first surgery scheduled at the end of May and then my second surgery is scheduled 11th.
Speaker 1:Yes, wow, so much has happened just in in that time frame and just I want people, I think, to hear what helped you through that time, going through those rounds of chemo and getting like to this stage where you're at now.
Speaker 2:Okay, a lot helped me, but I will say that this was the. I decided early on that this was the one thing that I wasn't gonna hide, that I wasn't gonna keep to myself, because there had been so many other things that happened in my life that I didn't share with people, like when my husband and I separated, when I went through my divorce. It's like I went through that pretty much all by myself and for no reason just because I I mean, I was embarrassed. Honestly, I was embarrassed, I was ashamed. I was like, oh my God, how did this one thing that I thought I was going to be really freaking good at not work out in my life, you know? And like what are people going to think?
Speaker 2:So, after having gone through something like that by myself and knowing how difficult it was, I knew that when this happened, I was like I can't do this by myself, like I'm going to need to share this, I'm going to need to let people in, I'm going to need to let people support me because, like, this is going to be the craziest, most difficult thing I've ever been through. So I think that was huge, because it really like was a sense of relief, like once I started telling people and when it was like the whole weight that I used to feel was like lifted off my shoulders, like I didn't feel that tension, I didn't feel that stress, I didn't feel that lump in my throat, because I always felt like I was going to it was just like I was just free to talk about it and to just share about it.
Speaker 2:And in doing that, it was so amazing because so many other people started sharing with me either things that they'd been through, that their family members had been through, like even things that they had never told anybody. And some of these people I knew well and it was crazy because I didn't know, I had no idea or some people I didn't know at all and they were connected to me through somebody else and so they just started sharing because it was a safe space for them to do so. So I would definitely say opening up and sharing and realizing that, although you feel like you're the only one that's going through it, like I'm not the first person to have breast cancer, you know I'm not the first person to go through this and you don't have to like bear that burden of feeling like you are. You can let other people in, like it's okay and you know, letting other people support me in really speaking up and asking for what I need, because in the beginning you know everybody's like oh, just tell me what you need or let me know if you need anything. I'm here for you, and it's like you kind of don't know what to say and you don't know what to do. And then finally it's like hey, do you, are you busy? Do you want to go for a walk? Do you want to go for lunch? Like.
Speaker 2:Because I think people have this big misconception, like I even went to the old location that I worked at and they have this big misconception that, like that they can't touch you. You know, like people don't know Like they're like can I hug you? Can I touch you? I don't want to get you sick, like and. And I didn't really know either, you know, but there's so many new things with treatment and the immunotherapy and stuff that I'm on that it does enable me to have some days where I do feel really good and I go out. You know, when I spend time with people because that's been huge is I can't just sit in my house, yeah, and just do this, like I need to go out, I need to see people, I need to see my friends, I need sunshine in my life, like and and the other things that I was already doing that have been huge, that I've just started practicing a lot more are probably the biggest things are like journaling, meditation and breath work have been so huge for me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love. But I love love especially that you focused on the power of having other people, the power of having a circle and having that support, like we can't do anything in this world alone and, honestly, you truly never know what anyone's going through, right?
Speaker 2:I mean, like even even in our group, you know, like Ebony and I are in the mastermind together and to me it's not just about business, like I'll come in there and I'll, I'll post or I'll vent or I'll, you know, say all the things that are going on and even just having those ladies that I've only known for a short amount of time, you know, but opening up and the same thing, like and just letting them support me and letting them be there for me.
Speaker 1:Exactly yes, we me and letting them be there for me Exactly yes, we have to let people. We have to let people in, we have to. Let's talk about I. I love your first of all y'all. Sarah has a podcast, if you didn't know. It's called creating sunshine and I love that you share so much about your sunshine moments because I feel like for me especially within, I think, maybe the past few years I really started for me, I focus on them as my glimmers. But can you talk about your sunshine moments, how the creation of it came about, and really just share how people can start creating those moments or looking for those moments in their own lives?
Speaker 2:I love this because the sunshine moments are like one of my favorite thing moments in their own lives. I love this because the sunshine moments are like one of my favorite thing. So I've had my podcast since the end of 2023. And the name of podcast is creating sunshine and it's kind of always just been. It's actually started because the you are my sunshine lullaby has always like been in our life and it wasn't like I was saying to me. When I was a kid, I sang it to my oldest daughter. Her whole entire room was you are my sunshine. When she was born, like her whole baby shot, like everything. It's always meant so much to us and and actually and I don't even know if you know this, but in 2020, I started another business and I was making glitter tumblers and I was like.
Speaker 1:I just learned that they are gorgeous, thank you, and I was making glitter tumblers and I was like I just learned this they are gorgeous.
Speaker 2:Y'all thank you. And I was like I was a COVID crafter. I was working, you know, I don't even want to tell you how many hours and it was. I mean, I was working at Costco during COVID as a manager, so it's like it was wild and when I came and we couldn't really go anywhere, we couldn't really do anything, and so for me and my daughters, like it was, crafting was kind of a way for us to, you know, bond and to pass the time and not lose our minds, right.
Speaker 2:And so when I started that business, it became create sunshine shop and that's you know, and then the podcast led to creating sunshine and it was just kind of all these things because that's kind of I've always been like a happy, positive person, but before I started doing all this work and started doing all that, I will be honest that a lot of it was like on the outside and not on the inside, like people would be like oh my gosh, you're so positive, you're so happy, but inside, like my inside wasn't matching my outside, and that's like a couple years back when I really decided like I don't feel like you should go through life feeling this way. I feel like you, should be able to be genuinely happy and you know. So what can I, what can I do to change that? So, really, the sunshine moment started because I wanted to start to look at the things that I was grateful for and the things that I was thankful for, yes, and look for reasons to celebrate. And it was at the end of last year, which is, ironically enough, like before. It was pretty close to like when I was diagnosed I started doing these things.
Speaker 2:So I don't know if maybe it was like God or the universe or somebody was setting me up to already, like you know, be super focused on this, and so we would like we spent one December, my daughters and I and we, literally every single night, wrote down like what we, what our wins were for the day, because December, like December typically, had been super stressful for me, with Christmas, with working, with everything else, and I just felt like I wasn't enjoying the season, you know, and my kids were little and I'm like they only get to be little one time. So when we did that for that December, that was 2023. When we did that, actually, and when we did that that December, it was like, oh my God, it totally like shifted my perspective and shifted my mindset. And that's when I started like, okay, what can I do? So after that, at the end of every month, I would start writing down what I was, what I was celebrating from the month, and I would go through my calendar and I would go through my pictures.
Speaker 2:And I still do this. And that's the download, the sunshine moments download that I created, that it's free if anybody wants it, and I like to fill it out at the end of the month, what I'm thankful for, what I'm looking forward to. I print it out, I put it on my fridge and that way you really look for, like you see what you look for, I believe, and when you start looking for reasons to celebrate, like there's going to be more, and you might be sitting there thinking like, well, I don't have anything to celebrate. I mean you could get down to the nitty gritty, like you woke up today and you have air in your lungs.
Speaker 2:You have food in your fridge you have electricity in your house, you know like you can go so basic, and then, once you start reframing your mind, then you'll start seeing more things. And then I realized that I wanted to create things to put on that list and that's where it became like creating those sunshine moments, like I know. At the end of the month I want to write down that me and my daughters went and saw the sunset at the beach, so we better go do it.
Speaker 1:Yes, so that's the part of like you.
Speaker 2:Then you start to want to create things that you're excited about that, you want to celebrate.
Speaker 1:Yeah, wow, I love that you started doing like this inner work before you got your diagnosis, because, like now, like in the middle of the storm, right now you're here and you're like, okay, I have the tools to get through this. It's really like when things happen, like life is going to happen, things are going to happen, nobody wakes up and says you know, I want a cancer diagnosis or I think that this is going to happen to me, but it's really like how you're able to respond to that, how you're able to stay grounded throughout that storm yeah, well, that's the thing too, is that don't wait until something terrible happens in your life.
Speaker 2:Get these tools, like I consider. These tools are maintenance for you and your life, and that way, when the hard shit does happen, you're going to be okay because you already have them. If I waited until I got my cancer diagnosis to find out what journaling and breath work was, I can't imagine. No, because that's what people ask me all the time is like how do you, how are you going through this with this attitude and doing this? And I'm like, I'm telling you guys, like I was already working on this for a long time.
Speaker 1:Yes, exactly, exactly, gosh. So now let's talk about Okay. So the mom right now who's in something hard maybe they didn't do the pre-work, you know and they're going through it right now. They're going through the struggle, they're in the storm. What would you say to that mom right now who has not done that pre-work just yet?
Speaker 2:I would tell her it's okay, it's not too late. Don't feel like, since you haven't done it, it's not going to work for you, and just start with something small. Don't overwhelm yourself by trying to do all the things. Like I was interviewing somebody on my podcast just yesterday and we were talking and we were like just waking up and taking like 10 deep breaths. I mean, you don't even know what that could do for your whole entire day. Go outside for five minutes and get some sunshine, take a walk. You know, like the smallest things, that you don't think they're going to make a difference. And the funny part about it is that they might.
Speaker 2:You might not feel it in exactly like right away, right, but once you start to put these things into practice, and then maybe a week from now, you've been waking up and you've been taking 10 deep breaths every morning and now you wake up and you're like, oh my gosh, I feel so much less stress. Yeah. And the other thing for me that was huge because I used to have such a hard time going to sleep and I do a meditation app every night when I go to sleep. Yeah, and I use the Insight Timer app because it just helps me to calm down my breath, to turn off my mind. I also drink magnesium because that was huge in helping me relax. But my magnesium and my Insight Timer app because I think the sleep part is so, it's so important and you don't realize, like when I was not sleeping and I was working these early morning shifts and I didn't realize how tired I really was until I started getting asleep, and that is seriously going to transform like your whole freaking life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's true, that's me right now. That's me right now. As soon as you said insight timer, I was like I use insight timer, why am I not? I have been in the struggle bus with sleep, just having a harder time actually falling to sleep, so I'm going to put that into practice.
Speaker 2:You need to put your inside timer into practice. And the other thing that I do is I get I'm off of social media, and I've been doing this for I don't know, maybe two months now, but from 8 PM to 8 AM I'm not on social media.
Speaker 2:Yes, so I turn my phone off and yeah and that, because that way you're not scrolling in bed Like, and I just set my meditation. So sometimes if I'm still awake, because I'll put the girls to bed, sometimes if I'm still awake, like I'll read, or something like that, which makes me like instantly tired. But yeah, those are a few things that I would tell, like just start small, just do a little bit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just one thing, and then they add up pretty quickly. You don't even know, Right.
Speaker 2:Because then you'll, because, like for me, then you'll start to learn what works for you. And now, when something's happening, I'm like, okay, I know, if I go journal right now, that this is going to make me feel better and you'll, and you know, maybe, journ, and then that way maybe you can find something that works for you and you know that's your go-to in your stressed out moments.
Speaker 1:Exactly, exactly, All right. So I wanted to close with this. What has this season that you've been in, what has it taught you about love, about presence, about motherhood? Just what are some things that it has taught you during this season?
Speaker 2:Oh my goodness, so much.
Speaker 1:So, much.
Speaker 2:I mean, obviously, when something like this happens, like it puts everything in a different perspective. But I think I was just talking to my dad about this yesterday, cause he was over here and we were just starting our garden. So he was helping me with my garden so that we could you know, I could plant my food, because he doesn't have a yard anymore. So he's like, well, I might as well come play in your yard because him and my mom are in an apartment now. Um, so we went over to Home Depot, we bought our plants, we started planting.
Speaker 2:But I think the thing of it is is I spent so much time before like saying I would get to things, or saying I would do things you know, and especially like with my daughters, and they would ask me and I would be like, oh, we'll see, or oh, maybe. And now it's like why not just say yes, why not just do what you said you were going to do? Because I used to spend so much time thinking about the things that I said I was going to do and taking up so much brainpower realizing that a lot of these things probably only took 15 to 30 minutes and I could have just like knocked them off the list and it didn't. This has only been like I would like. I said I was diagnosed in January and it took me a few months to kind of get into this rhythm. But now, like it's really flowing and I'm really checking things off my to-do list, you know, and also just realizing what do you really want to spend your time doing and who do you really want to spend your time with, because you don't have to say yes to everything, you don't have to say yes to everyone.
Speaker 2:But also, especially you know, as moms, as women, as adults, like everybody's busy and it's also like I guess I'm allowing people to support me, but it's also my responsibility to reach out and to ask people, you know, if they want to do something, if they want to get together, because they don't know what I'm doing or how I'm feeling.
Speaker 2:And you can't sit there and be like, well, they said they would support me and then now they're not here. It's like, well, did you think that the phone works both ways, that you should reach out to them and ask them, reach out to them and ask them? So I really have just been so much more intentional with, like what my daughters and I are doing with actually like upholding my word, especially with them, of what I said I was going to do and setting that example, and even though this is obviously also the craziest thing that's ever happened to them, I feel like our relationship has gotten so much stronger during these past few months because we're really you know, we're not focused on all the stuff that doesn't matter anymore.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, you really have to be intentional with your time and your peace, and then just the people that you love, like you have to.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Gosh. Well, thank you, sarah, first of all for your vulnerability. Can't even talk vulnerability strength. You're welcome. I want you to share, of course, where my listeners can listen in and follow along on your journey. Get those downloads too. I'm going to make sure I put those in the show notes.
Speaker 2:Okay, you guys can hang out mostly on Instagram. You guys can find me at Sarah underscore RVZoo and obviously you can listen to the Creating Sunshine podcast and I also have an email list that you guys are the first ones to get notified about any new things I'm doing, any new episodes, and that's where you can also get the Sunshine Moments download if you're interested, and you guys can start, you know, celebrating yourselves and creating your own Sunshine Moments.
Speaker 1:Yes, awesome. Thank you again for joining me and I want to end with a reminder to the audience of everything that Sarah has said throughout this episode. Basically, y'all hard things. They don't have to be the final say in the way you live your life, our response, our choice, and the way that we heal and our sunshine moments y'all they truly matter more than we realize they add up. So think about those. Get connected with Sarah so that you can continue to just cultivate more sunshine in your life. Thank you so much for listening. Love. If anything in today's episode resonated with you, share it with your bestie or share it on social media and tag me so we can chat about it, as always, sending you light and love, and remember you are worthy, you are enough and you deserve to thrive.
