Gratitude Is What Brought Me Back to Life

The day I got the call, I was still healing from my second breast-cancer surgery. Two weeks post-op, wrapped in bandages, I learned I was being let go.

In that instant, everything I’d built: my career, my stability, my sense of self was gone. I sat there, still, staring at my Zoom screen, as if moving might make it more real.

I didn’t know it yet, but that moment became a doorway to the work I was meant to do.

At first it felt like my life had collapsed. I had spent years leading teams, building businesses, and mentoring others, yet suddenly I was the one who felt lost. Every part of my world seemed to be falling apart. When everything familiar disappeared, I had one thing left to rebuild from, my mindset.

Each morning, I journaled. Not with elaborate plans, but with one question: What can I still be grateful for today? Some days the list came easily. Other days, it was hard to find even one thing that didn’t hurt. So I set a challenge: find ten small moments that proved life was still good, even when I was full of doubt.

The smell of coffee.
A bird at the window.
A friend’s kindness.
Sunlight on the floor.
Breath.

Alongside those ten, I repeated a mantra until I believed it again:
“Life is getting better and better, every day, in every way.”

It wasn’t just a phrase; it was the rope that pulled me out of fear. Gratitude became my lifeline. It didn’t erase the pain, but it gave me hope. It reminded me that even as everything was stripped away, something new was taking shape.

As I rebuilt, I realized this wasn’t just my story. It was countless women’s: after pouring into family, career, and community, t. Here ey look up and wonder, What now?

That question became the heartbeat of Elevate 50+. A space for entrepreneurs and business owners who serve women in this chapter. Because what I learned through that season is this: gratitude isn’t wishful thinking, it’s a power move. It turns the hardest seasons into the foundation for what’s next.

When I chose gratitude intentionally, my mind cleared. I could see patterns: what was working, what wasn’t, what needed to change. I stopped chasing the old version of success and started designing something new: aligned, collaborative, deeply human.

Now, inside Elevate 50+, we help women turn clarity into action. It’s about building businesses that align with who they’ve become: grounded in purpose, collaboration, and systems that make growth sustainable. Gratitude may have started my reinvention, but it’s the power of women rising together that’s turning momentum into a movement.

Here’s what I know for sure: gratitude doesn’t ignore the hard parts. It transforms them. It’s not about pretending everything’s fine; it’s about reclaiming your power to interpret what’s happening. Gratitude turns uncertainty into momentum and endings into invitations.

It’s the difference between saying, “Why me?” and asking, “What blessing can I find in this?”

I often think back to that season—the pain, the fear, the silence—and realize it was never the end. It was a recalibration. Gratitude rebuilt not just my mindset, but my mission. It gave me back the courage to lead on my own terms.

To every woman at a crossroads: start with gratitude.
Small reminders that life is still moving through you.
That’s how reinvention begins: one grateful breath, one grounded decision, one day at a time.

Life really is getting better and better, every day, in every way.