Choosing alignment over fear after surviving cancer | Sarah Beaver

What happens when life forces you to stop ignoring yourself?

In this deeply honest conversation, Sarah Beaver returns to the Thrive Like a Mother podcast to share what happened after surviving stage 3 cancer, taking a year away from work, and making the life-changing decision to leave her 27-year corporate career behind.

This episode is about intuition, burnout, survival mode, nervous system healing, and learning how to trust yourself enough to choose a different life — even when the path ahead isn’t fully clear.

Sarah opens up about:

• The moment she knew she couldn’t go back to corporate
• How cancer became a wake-up call
• The cost of ignoring your intuition
• Rebuilding life as a single mom
• Why podcasts, journaling, meditation, and community changed her life
• The pressure women feel to “have the whole plan”
• Moving from survival mode into intentional living

If you’ve been feeling the quiet nudge that something in your life needs to change… this episode might be the confirmation you’ve been waiting for.

Connect with Sarah:

Instagram: @itssarahbeaver

Podcast: Creating Sunshine

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Follow and chat with me on Instagram:

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Sending you light and love always!

Transcript

When The Nudge Gets Loud

SPEAKER_01 0:00

If you don't listen, that nudge and that voice is gonna get louder and louder and louder. And sometimes something really crazy and dramatic is gonna happen because you are just really being told like you're meant for something so much more.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Hey love, I'm Ebony and welcome to Thrive Like a Mother, a podcast for women who are ready to slow down, nourish themselves, and build lives that feel anchored and intentional instead of rushed. If you're tired of surviving and ready to thrive physically, mentally, and spiritually, you're in the right place. Each week I share grounded conversations and practical rhythms to help you regulate your nervous system, strengthen your relationship with food and rest, and return to yourself. Hello, take a breath. You don't have to do this alone. Let's thrive together.

Intuition That Changes Everything

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Hey y'all, welcome back to Thrive Like a Mother. So today's episode is gonna be about something that can feel both sacred and terrifying at the same time. And that is listening to your intuition when it asks you to change absolutely everything in your life. Um, and so today, y'all, my guest is Sarah. You have met her before, so welcome back. Thank you, y'all. Sarah is a cancer survivor, mama of two beautiful girls and woman who really just recently made the courageous decision to leave her corporate life and rebuild with intention. This is gonna be just just buckle up. Buckle up for this episode. If you've been feeling like that quiet nudge to change something, this conversation might be the confirmation that you need. So I'm gonna jump right into it. Sarah I want to start literally right where you are because we we kind of dropped we dropped mom on them. This season, being a cancer survivor, leaving corporate, building your own business. These are not small shifts. What let's start with like just what the season has just felt like for you overall.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

Well, it honestly hasn't been as scary as what I had anticipated, because that's kind of the feedback that I'm getting from a lot of people is like, even my ex-husband's like, well, that's scary. I said, you know what? That's one thing that I haven't felt is fear. To me, it was scarier to go back to work and to wonder what if, and to miss out on everything that I was missing out on with my daughters because I was working so much 45 plus hours a week. Like to me, that was much scarier. So, really just leaning in and listening to myself and to what I feel like I'm meant to do here and the impact that I meant to make. I knew that if I went back to work, because I have been off almost, well, I've been off for a whole entire year since my diagnosis, and I was supposed to go back um last week, actually. And so instead I decided to turn in my letter and go all in on myself and my

Choosing Time With Your Kids

SPEAKER_01 3:12

business.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

Love this. Now I want to hear more uh just about because I know we talked, we we had been talking about it. This was like back in like October, y'all. We were talking about just this decision that you that you felt like, okay, am I gonna go back? Am I gonna postpone? Like, what am I gonna do? When was that moment where you were just like, no, I know this is no longer a fit for me?

SPEAKER_01 3:39

When I got off the stage in October when we were at She has made more, Ebony was my roommate. And I think it wasn't it, I wouldn't say it was the moment I got off stage because I felt really good about my speech and everything, but it was in the days and the weeks that followed when people were messaging me and contact me and asking me to be on their podcast and just telling me like what a difference like my speech made to them and how it like impacted people on so many different levels. Like somebody was like, Oh, no, I had a health diagnosis, or somebody was like, Oh, you made me think about my dad, or somebody was like, I went through a hard thing too. It was just so many different things that people brought up. And I was like, I really think I meant to share a bigger message. I really think that I'm to talk to people, to help people, to make an impact. And so that's when I mean, I had already been discussing it with our mentor, Crystal, starting in August. Like, what does this look like for me to not go back? But after October, I was like, I really need to figure this out. So a lot of people that knew me thought I just woke up one day and said, I'm done, I'm quitting, right? But I this took a planning, especially I'm a single mom. I live in California, like life is not cheap. So I really just like buckled down then and was like, okay, I need to find a financial advisor. Obviously, I need to find insurance because I still have all sorts of doctors' appointments. It's not like I can't be one of those people that's like, oh, I don't get sick, I'm holistic. I don't need insurance. Like I had cancer. I still have to go to the doctor all the time. Yeah. But that was when I really like knew. And I just, I mean, like I said before, I was like, I do not want to go back to work and just be wondering, like five years down the road, like, damn, what if I would have tried? What if I would have gone for it? Could it have been?

SPEAKER_00 5:28

Yes. That that what if? Oof. Goodness.

Cancer As A Wake Up Call

SPEAKER_00 5:32

And then let's talk about the intuition, right? Because I know for a lot of people, even hearing it, not even necessarily listening and taking action, just hearing your intuition speak to you and tell you something, uh, for a lot of people is scary. I know you said for you in this instance, like fear didn't come up. How I guess, goodness, what made you fully trust that voice? Yeah, I know this this part is gonna be powerful, but just how did you get to the point where you could trust that voice without dismissing it, without fearing it? How did you get there?

SPEAKER_01 6:13

Well, here's what I'm gonna tell you guys because I feel like there's always little nudges from the universe that are kind of telling you maybe what you love or what you're meant to do or what you're really good at, because you know, people might always be asking you the same stuff. Like I'm sure even when you started, it's like people were always like, Oh, can you share that recipe with me? Oh, can you show me how to prep for your family? You know, and it's like I felt like I had these nudges before. I started my podcast in 2023. I did some one-on-one coaching in 2024. You know, I had the things that people would always ask me, like, how do you do this? How do you show up? I mean, I was and I was scrappy with it. I was recording podcasts in my lunch break, like I was just trying to do whatever it was to make it work. But I really feel like I got cancer because I wasn't listening. Like I wasn't listening to my intuition, I wasn't listening to what God was trying to tell me that I was meant to do. You know, and I, if you don't listen, that nudge and that voice is gonna get louder and louder and louder. And sometimes something really crazy and dramatic is gonna happen because you are just really being told like you're meant for something so much more. And yes, there is probably stress that contributed to my diagnosis. I'm not saying it's 100% like God was just like, you're not listening to me, so I'm gonna give you cancer. But when I say I wasn't somebody that was predispositioned to get cancer. No one in my family had breast cancer. I tested negative for the genetic marker. I felt overall that I was pretty healthy. I was exercising, you know, I was trying to eat right. I was, I was already doing the tools, you know, and meditating and doing my breath work and doing my journaling and all the things that I was supposed to do. So it really makes me think that there is a bigger reason why this happened. So if you're sitting there and you're afraid to trust your gut and trust your intuition, let's think about what the alternative could be if you don't.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Yeah. Yeah. Gosh. Yeah, because that not listening to it. Yeah. Even as you speak about like staying at corporate, like let's say you you went back and you're like, all right, I'll just do this for a few more years. Yep. Think about the impact of what those years could cost you. Someone asked me something a few weeks ago, specifically with me, because you know, I I still work in corporate, but I'm also building a business alongside of it. And his question to me was like, you know, what would it cost you to keep like dipping your toes in? Right. And not going all in. You think about the years. Two, three years may not seem like a lot to us because, you know, we're adults, but when you think of two, three years with your kids, in two, three years, like Olivia's gonna be a teenager. What impact would it have had of me deciding to really put more of myself into this business and building it? What impact would have would it have had if I just said, I'll just wait a few years when they're older, when I can be doing this now and preparing myself basically to get more time with them, like right now, not like in two to three years.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

Also, if you've built all of this now while you're in corporate, imagine what you could build if you had more time.

SPEAKER_00 9:39

Yeah. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

Imagine where you could be in two to three years from now if you were able to go all in and not have to sit in the pockets of your day.

SPEAKER_00 9:48

Exactly. Exactly. Oof, goodness, goodness. All right, so I think a lot of women, you bring up a good, a good point because a lot of women ignore their intuition, me included, sometimes. Work in progress because it disrupts that stability. That, oh my gosh, like I have this income that I know it's VN.

SPEAKER_01 10:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

And I feel like it's a safety net. It's like, this is what I know. This is all I grew up knowing, right? This is what I watched my mom do. We go, we work, and then we retire when we're, you know, in our 60s or whatever. But I feel like a lot of us, especially in this age range, we're hearing something different from our intuition and say, there's some, there's a different path for you, or there's really that. I don't want to say better, but just there's a different path for you. Like you said, we were in the mastermind. We are for more uh than what previous generations than what they and what they had the tools to to do with, right?

Tools That Rebuild Your Nervous System

SPEAKER_00 10:51

So let's talk about some of those tools, right? You described yourself as really someone who gives the tools, you had the tools for getting through like one of the hardest seasons in your life without letting it define like who you are. Can you share like what some of those tools are with our listeners?

SPEAKER_01 11:10

Yeah. Um, and it's funny because I'm actually in another group that I just joined, and we are working on our speaking. It's called Stage Leaders. It's Jen Gottlieb's group, and she was helping us with this. And the crazy thing is that I wasn't giving enough credit to my story before I started using the tools. And what even made me want to dive into this in the first place, and that's really what she was showing us and what she was teaching us. And I think the better thing is to tell people before I started using the tools. It was about 2019. My husband and I had separated. And by separated, I mean he left. Like it wasn't it wasn't a mutual decision. And I really felt very like stressed out, burnt out, overwhelmed. But it was like for it was in every fiber of my being. It was physically, emotionally, mentally, financially, like I was a wreck. But also being that single mom now, like putting on a mask, right? That everything was okay. So a lot of people didn't even really know how much I was struggling inside. And I really had to make the decision like, I don't want to feel like this. This is not okay. Like, this is not serving me. So that was when I started diving into personal development. And the main thing that changed my life more than anything is podcasts, like listening to podcasts, which is why I started my own podcast because I knew what it had done for me in my life. But listening to podcasts and really just getting that positivity in my ears all the time. I mean, and when I go in, like I'm all, I'm all in. And it was like on the way to work, on the way home from work. When I was doing the dishes, like I'd be obsessed. It was like music, music, who? Like, I don't listen to music. Listen to podcasts, which then led me to start learning other tools, like, okay, what could work for me? Well, I mean, and journaling has probably been the second thing because even if I wasn't having a conversation with somebody else or getting things out that I needed to get out, it was freeing me because it was getting everything out that I had been holding in.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

And which then led me to go to events because the podcast host was hosting an event. And it was like, well, I mean, really at that point, what do I have to lose? Right? Like nothing. Couple hundred bucks in a weekend. Like, but my thought is always like, what do I have to gain? So going there and meeting women and like, oh my gosh. And everybody was being so open and so vulnerable about their life and their story. And I was like, oh, like, you don't have to keep it all in. And that was like the beginning to me. And that was when I tried breath work for the first time. I didn't even know what breath work was. And I was like, okay, I'll give it a try. And I just the way that I felt after when I started doing these things is when I was like, okay, this can really make a difference. So then I just started dabbling to see what I liked and what worked for me. But my consistent main things that I do would be podcasts, journaling, and I do a meditation app every single night before I go to bed. Because I also did last year when I started doing that, I started doing that last year because I needed to quiet my mind. Like I was just diagnosed with age three cancer and I was like going a million miles a minute and I was like, I'm never gonna sleep. I'm never gonna sleep again. What am I gonna do? Yeah, how can you? I had to find something that was gonna help me. And once I did that, like and started doing those tools on a regular basis, I started feeling like I was getting control of my life back. I started feeling like my nervous system was regulated. Like, like I was being able to be like proactive in my life rather than reactive, because reactive is all I was in the beginning. And I just felt like I was putting out fires every day, like just putting out the fires, guys. Just you know, and it was this this is normal of life that I was like, this can't be it. This can't be all I'm here for. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

Goodness. I love that. Thank you for thank you for sharing those. I know a lot of people like you just gotta do it. Even when you try it and you're like, this feels a little silly. Like keep keep doing it. Cause yeah, I I remember even my first event, I was like, these people are like really sharing their life, like those. I don't know you, but okay. They're hugging the transfer that everybody's doing. Okay, everyone's crying, everyone's sharing. I'm like, what is what is this? But I feel like for me, um events like opened up the door for me to communities. And for me, I was like, okay, I want to build a community. I I think that you know, I have something valuable that people like people need to be in community about. And so yeah, that was

Finding Joy On The Hard Days

SPEAKER_00 15:50

it for me. What does joy look like for you on those hardest days where it's just like you know, things just coming at you a malamine when, you know, using the tools feels like like I like you're laying there maybe or standing there, and you're just like, I don't want to do anything right now. What did where do you find the joy?

SPEAKER_01 16:14

Yeah, I really had to to learn that too. That's another good thing about starting to do practices like that is you start to learn what works for you. And yeah, some days it was like, I don't want to journal. I want to burn my journal right now. I want to do a podcast because I don't want to hear your fake positivity, you know what I mean? Like you get in those moods and you get in those moments. But for me, it's like, and I talk about it all the time. Obviously, my podcast is called a creating sunshine, but the difference that you feel if you can go outside and get like some sun for five minutes, it I mean, it's proven, it's science. It's not just me saying that, like, oh, the sun, you know, like what it does to you and what it does to your body, what it does to your nervous system. And so when there's days that I literally feel like I can't do anything, like I'll go sit outside on my patio for five minutes, I'll go for a walk, you know, and just change my environment, you know. And and I do it with my daughters now too, because I mean, they're 12 and 8, and you know, they're not always happy and want to do everything. And it's like sometimes that we get home from school and they're already kind of bickering in the car, and I'm like, get your bike, get your skateboard, we're going for a walk. Yeah, and it makes it makes a huge difference, you know. And it's like there's so many things that you can do that are completely free, you know, in this world that it's like nature, sunshine, you know.

SPEAKER_00 17:34

Sunshine, it's right there.

SPEAKER_01 17:36

I don't have money to do this. It's like you don't need money to do this.

SPEAKER_00 17:39

Literally step outside. Yeah, that's it. Put your phone down. Yes, put the phone down. Don't don't go to the phone and start scrolling because that's not where the joy is. That's the worst. Definitely not in this day and age. Oh, okay.

Courage After Survival

SPEAKER_00 17:53

So leaving corporate, huge brave step all on its own. But doing it after surviving cancer adds a whole whole nother layer. That transition, what has it taught you so far just about what courage looks like or feels like?

SPEAKER_01 18:10

You know, it's funny because when I posted it, well, the day that I left, first of all, was it was the anniversary of when I started chemo. And I was like, you know what? I'm gonna reclaim this day. I'm gonna take my power back and I'm gonna go turn my letter in on the anniversary of the day that I started chemo because I don't want to remember that day like that anymore. And I thought when I left, I was like, I'm gonna be a mess, I'm gonna be crying. I like asked my friend, can you come with me and just sit in the car and tell me that's gonna be okay? I ended up going by myself because I was like, I'm a big girl, I could do this. But actually, when I left, surprisingly enough, I felt like this huge weight was lifted from my shoulders, which was even more of a confirmation that I felt like I made the right decision. I did record a reel right when I got into the car and I posted it. And like I have worked there for 27 years. I have worked with thousands and thousands of people, and the outpouring of support was so much more than like I could have thought. And then I'm getting not only messages, but like private messages or texts, like, I want to do it too. I wanted to my daughter's mom, you're starting a movement. And I was like, Yeah, I don't know. I don't know that I'm starting movement. I said, But I think what it is, is it just for me, I was really hesitant and I was really scared to do it because I had it in my head that I had to already be making the money that I wanted to be making in order to leave my job. Right. And I was like, there's no way. But then when I started to like reverse engineer and back up, it's like I thought, how am I gonna be able to do that in these pockets of my time? Like there's just literally not enough time in the day. It's impossible. So when I started talking to other women that had already made the jump and already made the leap, and this is why I feel like it's so important to find people that look like where you want to go so that you can ask them the questions. And when I started talking to them, they were like, none of us had this all figured out. None of us were making we wanted to be making in our business in order to justify leaving our corporate job. So once I heard that, I was like, hmm, okay. So what you're telling me is that you just took obviously you got some kind of little bit of safety net, right? But then you just figured it out. Yes. And so, really for me, that was the big thing is like, okay, well, I can figure it out. I mean, I could do anything, right? I know myself, I know my work ethic, I know that no one is gonna work harder for me than me, and no one cares as much about my future as I do.

SPEAKER_00 20:45

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 20:46

So let's do it.

SPEAKER_00 20:48

Yes, that is so encouraging. I know for our listeners, but definitely for me too. Just to hear your perspective on it is just like, yes, you can work your ass off and try to match your corporate income in the pockets of your day. But think about, I'm thinking about how like stressed I would be trying to hit that number to be like, okay, we're good now.

SPEAKER_01 21:10

Right. Now we're good. Now I can leave and I can put my notes. I was just like, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 21:15

Yeah, that's a lot of goodness. Okay.

Building A Business With Intention

SPEAKER_00 21:19

So now that you have left corporate now, what does building your business now, what does that, what does that look like? What does it represent for you?

SPEAKER_01 21:30

For me, um I feel like just starting to embody everything that I have been talking about and showing people that I want to teach them. I want to help them. I don't want anybody feeling like 2019 me, you know, when you're feeling overwhelmed and burnt out and stressed out. And like you said, community was super important. So, you know, I do this, like I have my I'm jumping back into one on one coaching, which is what I really, really. Loved, but I didn't have the time or the space or the capacity to take on the clients because I was always working. So in talking to my mentor, you know, I'm like, I feel like I'm feeling the pull to be called back to that because working and talking with somebody one-on-one and being able to dive in and really being able to see the transformation like over three months is so rewarding. And, you know, so there's that. And then obviously I have my podcast, I have my community, the sunshine era, which is just it's such a great thing when you get to be surrounded by other women who are focusing on themselves the same way that you are. And you guys get to learn and you get to develop the tools. And all of the things that I've taken five, six years to learn, it's like I want to share them. I want to give them to people. I'm not here to just like hoard them, you know, and date. Like I've listened to the podcast, I've read the books, I've done the work, I've attended the events. And if I don't know it, I guarantee you now with this huge network of women that I've met, I know someone else that can help you.

SPEAKER_00 23:03

Oh, a hundred percent. A hundred percent. Oh, goodness. Okay. So as we're winding down, there's a woman listening right now. Of course, we said in the beginning, maybe all of our listeners right now, they're feeling that nudge that they want to change something in their life, but they have the fear, right? What what is something that you would say to her right now?

SPEAKER_01 23:28

I would ask you to pick up a journal and someone just asked me to do this the other day, and close your eyes and visualize yourself three years from now. And what do you want your life to look like? And whatever you want your life to look like three years from now, we're gonna reverse engineer and figure out how do you get there. And if it looks exactly like it looks right now, then that's great. And I'm happy for you, and I love that for you. But if it doesn't, then what steps do we need to start doing to make it to make a change? So woman that you see in your head three years from now, not only like you become her, you wanna let you know, I want you to surpass her. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:06

Oh, I love that. I need to do that today. There's a lot. Me and me and Sarah were talking, y'all. There's a lot happening behind the scenes that I did not see coming for 2026.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

And but that's the thing too, is because you've opened yourself up to accepting and to receiving, and the universe is gonna start to give you what you need and what you're meant to do. Because you've actually put yourself out there and done the scary thing, it's like the rest is just gonna try to take care of itself, right?

SPEAKER_00 24:36

The path will create itself, literally, exactly, literally.

The Journal Prompt To Start

SPEAKER_00 24:41

Goodness. Okay, so before we close, I want to give our listeners a place to land. This is something I've been new doing new on the Thrive Like the Mother podcast this year. So if anything in today's conversation with a Sarah stirred something up in you, maybe it's like that quiet voice that you know is there that is telling you this is the step you need to take, and you've been ignoring it. I want you to just sit with this gently. Um, and there's gonna be a prompt coming, but we want to take one slow breath. Inhale and exhale. And today I want you to ask yourself, what is my intuition trying to protect? Or what is it trying to lead me towards? And just think about that. Like Sarah said, pick up your journal, have that be your look into the future of where you want to be, answer that question, right? What is your intuition trying to tell you? Here's the thing like the bit, the most powerful thing is just getting it out, getting it out of your head. Because if it's stuck up there, you know, we can't really do much with it. But if you get it out, you say it out loud, you do a voice memo to yourself, you write it pen and paper, whatever feels good to you, just get it out. And you don't have to actually do anything with it today. You have to have the full plan. Like Sarah said, trying to match your income, what you're making in corporate right now. Herself and so many other women are saying, like, no, like we figure it out. You don't need the full plan, you don't need the full path. Sometimes thriving literally just starts with acknowledging the voice, the whisper. And so, Sarah, thank you for reminding us that even after survival, there is still a becoming and that the hard things that we go through, they don't define us, define us, but how we respond to them, what we choose to do with those things is what actually shapes us. So I want you to let the people know where to find you, and I'll put it in the show notes too.

SPEAKER_01 26:49

You guys can find, excuse me, you guys can find me mostly on Instagram, and then I have my own podcast, creating sunshine, but Instagram has all my links, all the places, all the things that I'm doing, where I'm gonna be speaking, where I'm gonna be attending.

SPEAKER_00 27:03

Yes, awesome. I love it. Thank you again for coming on the pod. Again, I feel like I feel like we just need to just every season, you just always bring just another level of wisdom every single time. Right? Just like, hey, where are we? Where are we this court? How are we doing? But just thank you. And until next time, listeners, keep trusting yourself and keep thriving like a mother. 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.