Shownotes
This episode dives into the stories of two coauthors featured in RESILIENT A.F. Skin Deep Stories, Helga and BB.
Helga Magdalen had to be resilient when both her mom and sister had terminal cancer diagnoses in the same time period. This is her story, and she is RESILIENT A.F.
BB Gabriel shares the story of the tattoo that she got to represent the relationship with her sisters, Tara and Bryanne and navigating learning that her little sister was terminally ill. This is her story, and she is RESILIENT A.F.
Buy the books: https://theglobalresilienceproject.com/books/
Griefy Gals on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@griefygals
About the Guests:
Helga Magdalen is a mother of two amazing kids, an RN, an intuitive healer and a hypnotherapy intern. She loves to travel, write, spend time in nature, and go on adventures.
Links:
https://www.facebook.com/helgamagdalen
linkedin.com/in/helga-schoening-a6343885
BB Gabriel is a proud Canadian, a master’s level registered social worker, and an award-winning author with a deep commitment to healing through storytelling. Drawing from her own lived experiences, BB writes powerful narratives that chart the journey from trauma to triumph, exploring the complexities of adversity, grief, and personal transformation. Her work centres on stories of survival and resilience; offering raw, honest reflections on overcoming life’s most difficult challenges.
BB believes that storytelling is not only a tool for personal healing, but also a source of strength and solace for readers who find themselves reflected in the pages. By fostering emotional resilience and encouraging others to process, heal, and evolve, BB creates space for connection, growth, and hope. She aims to inspire, empower, and uplift those who are navigating trauma, grief, and profound change with messages of perseverance and possibility.
Through her writing and professional work, BB is dedicated to giving back by supporting others on their healing journeys and reminding us that we are never truly alone. Her stories illuminate the path from surviving to thriving, offering readers the courage to keep going and the belief that transformation is always possible.
Links:
https://www.instagram.com/no.ordinary.love_bb.gabriel
⚠️ Content Note: Some episodes may contain themes that could be distressing. Please take care of yourself while listening, and don’t hesitate to seek support from a mental health professional if needed.
About the Hosts:
Blair Kaplan Venables is a British Columbia-based grief and resilience expert and coach, motivational speaker and the Founder of The Global Resilience Project. Her expertise has been featured on media platforms like Forbes, TEDx, CBC Radio, Entrepreneur, and Thrive Global. She is named the Top Grief and Resilience Expert of the Year 2024 by IAOTP. USA Today listed Blair as one of the top 10 conscious female leaders to watch and she empowers others to be resilient from stages around the world. 'MyStory,’ which is a television show available on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+ and Google Play, showcases Blair's life story. She is the host of the Radical Resilience podcast and specializes in helping people strengthen their resilience muscle using scientifically proven methods and guides grieving high performers with her Navigating Grief Framework. The Global Resilience Project’s award-winning book series are international bestsellers, and her fourth book, RESILIENT A.F.: Stories of Resilience Vol 2, will be published in January 2025. In her free time, you can find Blair writing, in nature, travelling the world and helping people to strengthen their resilience muscles.
Links:
https://theglobalresilienceproject.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/blairdkaplan
https://www.facebook.com/blair.kaplan
https://www.facebook.com/BlairKaplanCommunications
https://www.instagram.com/globalresiliencecommunity
https://www.instagram.com/blairfromblairland/
https://www.facebook.com/globalresiliencecommunity
https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-global-resilience-project
Alana Kaplan is a compassionate mental health professional based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. She works in the mental health field, and is a co-host of the Resilient A.F. podcast. Fueled by advocacy, Alana is known for standing up and speaking out for others. Passionate about de-stigmatizing and normalizing mental health, Alana brings her experience to The Global Resilience Project’s team, navigating the role one’s mental health plays in telling their story.
Engaging in self-care and growth keeps her going, and her love for reading, travel, and personal relationships helps foster that. When she’s not working, Alana can often be found on walks, working on a crossword puzzle, or playing with any animal she sees.
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Transcripts
Bryanne was very adamant from day one that she wanted help as
Speaker:needed to understand what she was going through and to make informed
Speaker:choices. But she never wanted what she called a death
Speaker:date. She did not want to be given a timeline.
Speaker:And so, literally, until the night before, the
Speaker:afternoon before Bryanne died, she had no. She truly had no idea
Speaker:that she was going to die. Like, she truly, with everything in her
Speaker:thought that she would beat it. But because of my
Speaker:husband and the knowledge that the rest of us had, we knew she wasn't.
Speaker:We didn't know how long she would have, but we
Speaker:knew that this was terminal and she eventually would
Speaker:pass. And so Bryanne agreed to the tattoo still, because
Speaker:it still was a symbol of the fight, like the health fight and the
Speaker:hospital fight. But, yeah, none of us
Speaker:knew that it would be that quick. Not even my husband, actually.
Speaker:Welcome back to another episode of Resilient AF with Blair and
Speaker:Alana. But hold the Alana and bring in Helga.
Speaker:I am so excited for this conversation. Helga Schoning is a
Speaker:mother of two amazing kids, an rn, an intuitive healer, and a
Speaker:hypnotherapy intern. She loves to travel, write,
Speaker:spend time in nature, and go on adventures. And I met her
Speaker:while doing some of those things, traveling and going on
Speaker:adventures. We met in January
Speaker:20245 in Costa Rica.
Speaker:My. It was at the time my new friend and I,
Speaker:we were getting a ride up to, like, a festival conference
Speaker:retreat where I was a speaker. And the car we were in,
Speaker:and it was a very bumpy Costa Rican back road tire,
Speaker:their tire blew out. And so me and my friend
Speaker:Suska were standing on the side of the road, and here comes this girl on
Speaker:her quad. She stops. She's like, do you want to ride?
Speaker:And so Helga saved me and
Speaker:Suska, and all three of us rode up to this event on top of
Speaker:a mountain on a quad. So Helga basically is a Shiro.
Speaker:And throughout those few days, we had many times connecting in
Speaker:the pool, into the sunset and dancing, and we just learned we
Speaker:had so much in common, and we developed a really beautiful friendship. And when she
Speaker:learned what we were doing with the Global Resilience Project, she
Speaker:felt like she wanted to be involved, and we knew she'd be a good
Speaker:fit. So. Welcome to the podcast, Helga. Thank you.
Speaker:Yes. It's such an honor to be here. Yeah, I mean, your
Speaker:story, like, you have a lot going on in your life, and especially
Speaker:because you. You have kids and you're an intuitive healer and. And you're learning
Speaker:Hypnotherapy and you're an rn, Your schedule's packed.
Speaker:And we bonded
Speaker:over, like, the terminal diagnosis
Speaker:of our parents and family members. And you shared
Speaker:that both your mom and sister had a terminal cancer diagnosis in the same period.
Speaker:So would you be open to sharing your story?
Speaker:Yes, absolutely. So
Speaker:my sister was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was only
Speaker:47 years old, and it was stage four at the
Speaker:time. And so, you know,
Speaker:she started treatment right away, and it's a
Speaker:progressive disease. So they started her on oral chemo,
Speaker:and she was managing, she was functioning, she was
Speaker:working. She was, you know, living her best life, trying to, you
Speaker:know, be as normal as she could. And somewhere in
Speaker:there, I would say, probably a
Speaker:year and a half into her diagnosis, suddenly my mother started
Speaker:having some GI issues and didn't think much of it,
Speaker:and then started rapidly losing weight.
Speaker:So, you know, in the course of the time, it was like, October,
Speaker:she started doing some tests, and come
Speaker:December, early January, she was diagnosed with
Speaker:pancreatic cancer. And it was metastasized.
Speaker:It was everywhere. And, you know, we were told she only had a few months
Speaker:to live. Well, she. She tried chemo as well, and
Speaker:she didn't respond. Initially, she responded to it, but she got very
Speaker:sick from it. So she ended up passing away in April
Speaker:in just four months from her diagnosis. It was just
Speaker:a very rough and
Speaker:traumatic time because it was the year before
Speaker:the pandemic, and so my sister was already
Speaker:facing her diagnosis, and my mother, you
Speaker:know, coming ill out of nowhere. It was a lot on my
Speaker:sister. Yeah. And all of us, really.
Speaker:So my sister ended up. Her disease started progressing
Speaker:towards the end of 2020,
Speaker:and it metastasized in her brain and spine,
Speaker:and I lost her probably about a little over a year and a
Speaker:half after my mom. So it was a lot
Speaker:in a short period of time, but they were both fighters.
Speaker:That is a lot. Yeah. I'm so
Speaker:sorry, Helga. What's your sister's name? Jan.
Speaker:And what's your mom's name? Blanca. Well, may their memory
Speaker:be a blessing. Thank you. I can't. Yeah.
Speaker:I can't imagine what it's like to have your sister having this terminal
Speaker:diagnosis, and then it's like, you know, your mom
Speaker:comes in, gets sick, and then dies before your sister.
Speaker:It's like this compound trauma and heartbreak and
Speaker:pancreatic cancer. I mean, I didn't know much about it, but
Speaker:that's what we think. Took my mother, too,
Speaker:you know, learning she had it, potentially like learning she had cancer. And
Speaker:they didn't get an official diagnosis because she died three weeks later.
Speaker:And, like, the biopsy, like, they came to give her a biopsy to, like, give
Speaker:her an official diagnosis, but, like, she died that night, so.
Speaker:Oh, my goodness. And I just, like, pancreatic
Speaker:cancer. Like, I don't know. I didn't know much about it. And,
Speaker:like, my first experience with a parent, a family member dying of cancer
Speaker:was. My aunt died when I was 20, and she was
Speaker:52 or 54, and she died pretty fast from
Speaker:ovarian cancer. So I started learning lots about ovarian cancer.
Speaker:Obviously, I'm not, like, in my free time researching cancer, but after my
Speaker:mom died, I started to study ovarian pancreatic cancer a bit.
Speaker:And really, like, most people don't catch it until it's too late.
Speaker:No. Because there's no. It's a kind of a silent killer.
Speaker:There's little to no symptoms until it's already
Speaker:metastasized pretty extensively. Yeah. So I
Speaker:remember getting the diagnosis and talking to the radiologist,
Speaker:and as he was, like, telling me all the.
Speaker:He was just kind of reading from the CT scan, and I was writing
Speaker:down everything that I could, and I. I remember exactly where I was,
Speaker:and I just put my pen down and stopped writing because I knew that
Speaker:it was. There was nothing you could do. Being a nurse in
Speaker:radiology, I had access to everything. I,
Speaker:you know, saw their. I was actually tracking. Tracking their
Speaker:prognosis or their diagnoses. So I was
Speaker:pretty much equipped to, I guess, be prepared and
Speaker:also, you know, help them, encourage them along the way. So,
Speaker:wait, so you had access to their scans and reports? Like, you can actually see
Speaker:it? Like, see the cancer? Yeah.
Speaker:So, strangely enough, I feel like
Speaker:it's. It's very strange where you end up in life, but I was in
Speaker:interventional radiology for several years, and we actually
Speaker:did a lot of procedures where biopsies were part
Speaker:of it. And so I work for radiologists that,
Speaker:you know, my. My mom and sister gave me permission to see their scans.
Speaker:So I was very, very involved from, like, behind the
Speaker:scenes as well, and talking to their oncologists and
Speaker:everything. So, yeah, it was. It was a
Speaker:wild ride. I mean, thank you for sharing all that. And, like, it's so
Speaker:heartbreaking. And this is such a unique situation where
Speaker:you're not just, like, the primary caregiver and the advocate as the daughter and
Speaker:sister, but you're also, like, you have your hand on the other side where
Speaker:you have these connections and abilities to understand
Speaker:what's Actually happening. Like, that must have been
Speaker:like, is that better? Is that, like. I mean, I don't. I don't know.
Speaker:Like. Like, how did you. Like, how do you
Speaker:go about, like, looking at a scan and seeing what's happening in the disease and
Speaker:knowing because of your medical background what's coming, like, how do
Speaker:you prepare yourself? And how do you step out of the medical,
Speaker:like, the medical hat into the, like, sister,
Speaker:daughter had. Yeah, that. That was the.
Speaker:The trying thing about it was because I. I was both.
Speaker:And I feel like at some points I
Speaker:was mostly the medical advocator.
Speaker:So when it, you know, was time that, you know, it
Speaker:was towards the end, it was very difficult
Speaker:to watch because being in my
Speaker:profession, we're always finding ways to save lives,
Speaker:and hospice is not something that I
Speaker:was prepared for. Was your mom and sister in hospice
Speaker:at the same time? No, no, my mother passed
Speaker:close to two years before my sister. Yeah, well, that's a
Speaker:long battle with cancer for your sister. It was three
Speaker:and a half years. And we. And I think
Speaker:that one of the beneficial things to being a nurse, I guess, during
Speaker:that course of their
Speaker:treatments was that I was able to
Speaker:understand everything that was happening. And also
Speaker:I know that everything was done that was possible. She, you
Speaker:know, was an applicant to
Speaker:clinical trials and tried multiple. Multiple
Speaker:avenues, and she really did fight all the
Speaker:way until. Until the end. She was young, so she was
Speaker:a, you know, a candidate,
Speaker:a better candidate to do so. That's so hard. Tell us about your sister.
Speaker:Was she your older sister? Younger sister. What was she like? She was my
Speaker:older sister by close to
Speaker:about three years. Three years and a few months.
Speaker:She was my best friend, or she is my best friend. And so,
Speaker:you know, we. We laughed a lot together. We had a lot in common.
Speaker:Our childhood was. Was pretty fun. My parents were
Speaker:immigrants from Czech. Czechoslovakia, Czech Republic.
Speaker:So we had. We had a lot of comedy in our life. You know, we.
Speaker:Yeah, it's. It's really tough not having her around because.
Speaker:Yeah, we laughed a lot. Did she have any
Speaker:children? No, she didn't have any children. She had dog
Speaker:children. Oh, yeah. Oh, I
Speaker:can't even imagine. I mean, it's interesting. Do you have other siblings?
Speaker:No. So it was just. It was just four
Speaker:of us. All my other relatives are scattered
Speaker:throughout Czech Republic and
Speaker:some in Croatia. So really, I kind of
Speaker:felt orphaned after. After all that.
Speaker:It's such a. Like. It's like the ultimate
Speaker:feeling of abandonment when
Speaker:someone that you love so deeply dies.
Speaker:And, you know, it's not like, oh, they're choosing to leave you, but it's this
Speaker:feeling of, like, being an untethered balloon floating in
Speaker:the wind. And do you think because
Speaker:you were so intertwined, like, because, you know, medical stuff, and you went through those
Speaker:two losses, like, how has that impacted your
Speaker:career in the medical space? Because I know, like, you know, obviously reading
Speaker:your bio, you've. You're doing some things that seem a little different than
Speaker:interventional radiology. Whatever.
Speaker:Whatever. Is that what it was you said, intervention? Yes. Yes.
Speaker:So not very long after Jan
Speaker:died, I started applying to as
Speaker:many jobs as possible as I could, and I
Speaker:was still looking to be in nursing, but I
Speaker:needed to get out of the hospital at that point because
Speaker:it was a little traumatizing and just a little.
Speaker:Just a little. Just a little. So, you know,
Speaker:continuing to, you know, see
Speaker:scans and deliver. Not. We don't deliver the news, but we
Speaker:see it, and we have to walk into the room with that knowing
Speaker:and have a face, you know, And
Speaker:I, I. It was tough. I couldn't. I didn't want to
Speaker:be around cancer anymore. So
Speaker:I'm still in a radiology field, but now
Speaker:I'm in an outpatient center, so I'm out of the hospital. I used
Speaker:to be on call, too, so throughout this
Speaker:chaos, I was taking call to about 15 days a month.
Speaker:I was on call around the clock for emergencies. So
Speaker:I immediately wanted to get out of that. So now I'm in an
Speaker:outpatient center, and I help patients with
Speaker:kidney disease. And it's a little. It's a little better.
Speaker:Yeah. Well, what a time, right? It's like you move from cancer to
Speaker:kidney disease, and it's like, the scale of, like, severity. Yeah. I mean, also,
Speaker:like, for you, that's. All true, though, right? And. And you
Speaker:said they both died before the pandemic. My sister,
Speaker:actually. So
Speaker:2020, that's. That was like, my last.
Speaker:My sister's last full year with us. Right. So. And
Speaker:the pandemic started, who knows, Like, March. Yeah. And. And so you're
Speaker:a caregiver in the pandemic and a medical.
Speaker:Medical health professional in the pandemic.
Speaker:And this all happens. Like, how. How did you
Speaker:navigate the aftermath of being so
Speaker:woven into, like, oh, my God, it's a pandemic, and you were working
Speaker:in, you know, medical. And you just had two huge losses.
Speaker:Like, how was your. How did you, like,
Speaker:protect your mental health? Or what did you do for your. Your mental health?
Speaker:Or did you do anything for your mental health? I didn't. I
Speaker:I was in a state of
Speaker:constant fight or flight for.
Speaker:For a couple of years. And
Speaker:I think I just struggled to keep my head
Speaker:above water. I was just going, going. If
Speaker:somebody needed me here, I went there. If needed to go to work, I went
Speaker:to work. Of course I tried to take care of myself in
Speaker:between when I could. You know, trying church,
Speaker:trying counseling, trying different things,
Speaker:but always just kind of like I didn't even have time to take care of
Speaker:myself until things slowed down a
Speaker:little bit after I lost Jan. That's when I really started doing
Speaker:work. Yeah. What do you think worked the best for you?
Speaker:For me, the best was
Speaker:taking myself out of my normal day to day and
Speaker:starting to go on adventures,
Speaker:Right? Yeah. Is there a specific
Speaker:adventure that comes to mind that you went on that you felt like it was
Speaker:kind of a shift in your healing? So I talk about
Speaker:it in my story and it was.
Speaker:I went on my first solo trip to Costa Rica
Speaker:and it changed my life, honestly. So, yeah, just
Speaker:going out into beautiful nature
Speaker:and taking a long trip. I took as many PTO days
Speaker:as I could. Yeah. And I went on an extended trip and
Speaker:when I got there, I just found a community where
Speaker:the people there were really into taking care of themselves as a lifestyle.
Speaker:So normal lifestyle. And it was very
Speaker:community based. And it
Speaker:was just,
Speaker:it was different. It was definitely different from,
Speaker:from the way we live in the US And I tried different
Speaker:healing modalities. I was introduced to breath work
Speaker:and you know, we did yoga, contrast therapy,
Speaker:know, cold plunges, all of these things that regulate your
Speaker:nervous system and just make you feel better.
Speaker:And it was, breath work was lifechanging
Speaker:for me. Actually. That's amazing because
Speaker:I feel like I had a realization
Speaker:or kind of like an awakening, if you could say that when you're
Speaker:in fight orf flight, you forget to breathe.
Speaker:So I feel like I was, excuse me, holding my breath
Speaker:for, for years. And thank
Speaker:you for saying that because that's something that's so common like when you're. Sometimes you
Speaker:don't even know you're in fight or flight. Like you're just trying to survive and
Speaker:you're not fully breathing. But breath is life. Yeah,
Speaker:breath is life. And it's a total grounding technique too, when you do big, long,
Speaker:full breaths. And the fact that you were able to go on this
Speaker:magical trip and discover this community and tap into breath work
Speaker:is such a beautiful gift. To.
Speaker:Find your breath again. And what helped
Speaker:me calm myself to actually go on this
Speaker:retreat, I need a backpedal or Backtrack a little
Speaker:bit. Hypnotherapy, because
Speaker:hypnotherapy helped me. Because in your subconscious mind, you're
Speaker:just programmed to go on autopilot all the time.
Speaker:And your subconscious mind is like
Speaker:almost 90% of how you're thinking.
Speaker:You have a critical mind that's only 12, and that's. That's your conscious mind.
Speaker:That's. That's the mind that.
Speaker:The part of your mind that when you're in therapy, you know what you
Speaker:need to do. You. You know what your issues are, and you
Speaker:talk about it and you have to do certain exercises or whatnot.
Speaker:But then when you leave therapy, you automatically go
Speaker:into your habits and
Speaker:kind of what you've programmed yourself to do, how you
Speaker:responded to things. And a lot of times when
Speaker:you're going through a crisis, it's not always positive.
Speaker:The things that you turn to, you know, you turn to
Speaker:things to numb yourself. You know, whether it be alcohol
Speaker:or I started smoking cigarettes like
Speaker:I was. Anything that I can grab a hold of to
Speaker:not think about what was actually happening,
Speaker:I turned to, and it was survival,
Speaker:and. But in turn, I ended up making myself sick.
Speaker:So the journey to
Speaker:finding this, like, magical place
Speaker:where literally people from all over the world go to
Speaker:heal and want to live in a
Speaker:space where that's how way of life is,
Speaker:was just the biggest blessing that ever happened.
Speaker:And through hypnotherapy, I was able to
Speaker:release a lot of those negative things that were holding me back.
Speaker:You know, all those things, like the negative self talk, like, I
Speaker:can't do this. I can't. You know, like, it just kind of, like,
Speaker:takes away that. Right, negative. That's
Speaker:beautiful. That's beautiful. You know, a lot of people walk through life with the glass
Speaker:half full, empty, and that negative attitude. And it's
Speaker:like the media, it's just, like, in our face about being negative, and it's like,
Speaker:what if we can show up differently, reframe
Speaker:how we do things, change the way we think, rewire our neural pathways?
Speaker:That's what, like, this whole community is all about. And hypnotherapy, I've actually never tried
Speaker:it, but I've heard amazing things. So maybe we should do some
Speaker:of that together, you know, before we wrap up our interview,
Speaker:you're going to be featured in Resilient AF Skin Deep Stories,
Speaker:and tell us a little bit about your tattoo.
Speaker:So my tattoo is.
Speaker:I got it the same time that I.
Speaker:After I was at the Breathwork retreat.
Speaker:Normally I have a few tattoos and I
Speaker:almost always put a lot of thought into my tattoos. Like,
Speaker:my daughter and I have the same one, and we planned it for, like, two
Speaker:years. But after this retreat,
Speaker:I felt so alive and
Speaker:awakened and. And good that
Speaker:I needed to do it. Like, I just needed to
Speaker:put the words on. On myself to. To remind
Speaker:myself, just breathe. So the
Speaker:placement is kind of inconspicuous, but inside of my arm.
Speaker:But I can always kind of, like, look down at it and,
Speaker:like, reference and remember
Speaker:that time, because it was a very key
Speaker:moment of transformation, and
Speaker:it was very. The most spontaneous tattoo I've ever
Speaker:gotten, and I have no regrets. It's spontaneous,
Speaker:but super meaningful. Yes. And I think it's
Speaker:so beautiful and. Such an important reminder. Yeah. And,
Speaker:yeah, Costa Rica is very special.
Speaker:I see why you keep going back. Yes. And yes.
Speaker:Yeah. That was an amazing encounter. I'll never
Speaker:forget that, too. Damsels in distress,
Speaker:two cases on a mountain. I'm just like, oh, God, you guys. We'Re,
Speaker:like, hiking up this mountain. Yeah, it's. It's wild. Okay, so as we
Speaker:wrap up, what is one piece of advice do you have for someone who's going
Speaker:through something similar, like losing two very important people at the same time
Speaker:or navigating, like, the compound, you know,
Speaker:trauma that you did? Like, what. What guidance or what
Speaker:advice do you wish someone told you or that you want to share with others?
Speaker:I would say that in
Speaker:hindsight, I wish I would have accepted help
Speaker:more instead of kind of
Speaker:isolating, like, possibly, you know,
Speaker:forcing yourself to, you know, allow people in your life
Speaker:to be there for you when they ask.
Speaker:And also, you know,
Speaker:try and take yourself out of your normal day to day,
Speaker:because your normal day to day included talking to those loved ones
Speaker:on a regular basis. And that's not going to
Speaker:happen. So if you have the means to travel
Speaker:or pick up new hobbies, just try
Speaker:doing different things, changing up your routine, and
Speaker:definitely try, you know, multiple different healing
Speaker:therapies that help regulate your nervous system. Because
Speaker:talk therapy is great. It's been there forever, but
Speaker:you have to do other things. Yeah. Well, you need a lot of tools to
Speaker:build a house. So. Yes. Yes. It's definitely not a
Speaker:single, single one thing, but if I could
Speaker:go back in time, I probably would have
Speaker:not isolated myself and try to.
Speaker:I. I was in survivor's guilt for quite some time, and I didn't let
Speaker:anybody in. I felt like, because for the longest time, I was handling it
Speaker:so, so much on. On my own that I continued to
Speaker:do that. Like, I'm Good. I'm, I'm done. I'm
Speaker:on it. I'm working. I'm, I'm doing this, I'm doing that. So I'm.
Speaker:Yeah, it's a good reminder, like, you are not alone. And I, I
Speaker:love this. Like, accept help, use the tools
Speaker:you, you know, that are out there or, you know, learn about new tools.
Speaker:Don't forget to breathe. Yes, the breathing,
Speaker:definitely. I think I, I always remember, too, to
Speaker:start out my day with some deep
Speaker:breathing. And even, like a single
Speaker:long breath hold makes a big difference. You just feel
Speaker:an instant calm. So it's something that's out there quite a bit
Speaker:too. Breath work and breath work retreats. So,
Speaker:yeah, I think, yeah, I, I, I like breath work. I like,
Speaker:I mean, just come back to your breath. We have it right, we have it
Speaker:within. And there's lots of free guided breath work on YouTube and Spotify,
Speaker:I think. Spotify. That's amazing. Well, thank you so much
Speaker:for joining us today on this podcast,
Speaker:and I really enjoyed this conversation. And I can't wait for people to read your
Speaker:story in the book Skin deep stories. Resilient af. Skin deep
Speaker:stories. It comes out December 5th, and
Speaker:you can read all about Helga and her story there. So thank you so
Speaker:much. Awesome. Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Speaker:And thank you for tuning in to another episode of Resilient af.
Speaker:Remember, it is okay to not be okay. You don't have to go through
Speaker:life alone. We are here to hold your hand. Be that lighthouse in that
Speaker:storm. Be the light at the end of that tunnel. And just remember,
Speaker:friends, you are Resilient af.
Speaker:Welcome back to another episode of Resilient AF with
Speaker:Blair and Alana. But hold the Alana. And
Speaker:let's bring in Bebe. So before I read
Speaker:her bio, I'm going to read only some of it. I need to tell you,
Speaker:like, how small of a world it is. We have a lot in common. Yes,
Speaker:we're both very proud to be Canadian. We live in different
Speaker:parts of Canada. But actually, how did you hear
Speaker:about me? Well, you actually followed
Speaker:my little old tiny Instagram account when I very first started it, and I was
Speaker:like, who is this? And I saw you. And then I was like, oh, follow
Speaker:back. And then I happened to be scrolling through my
Speaker:feed when you posted about looking for authors for your next book.
Speaker:Book. And I signed up immediately. I was probably the first one. I just need.
Speaker:I love that. Right. Okay, so first of all, marketing lesson,
Speaker:social media works. But. So we met. But
Speaker:she says to me on a call Baby goes, we know some of the same
Speaker:people or we have a mutual connection. And lo and behold.
Speaker:So I'm from Winnipeg, I was raised in the Jewish community and
Speaker:I went to Hebrew school and, and in elementary school, in junior
Speaker:high and one of my most favorite teachers,
Speaker:most favorite teachers who I think just
Speaker:recently retired, but eventually she like, you know, like moved
Speaker:into like leadership role in the Jewish education
Speaker:system out of Winnipeg to Alberta. And
Speaker:she was, I believe my kindergarten teacher. And she's
Speaker:one of the two people that when I see her she goes, baila Dina.
Speaker:Like that's my Hebrew name, Bayla Dina. And anyways, long
Speaker:story short, Bibi, you worked at the same, you know, school as her
Speaker:and it was just such a small world coincidence because like
Speaker:her presence and support and love
Speaker:for her job has always stuck with me because kindergarten was a long time
Speaker:ago and like her daughter and my sister are friends and like
Speaker:there's lots of cross connections. So I think, I think it's
Speaker:just like so amazing that that happened because of me following you on
Speaker:Instagram, you following me back, you arranging a call, you bringing up this.
Speaker:So really excited to introduce Bibi
Speaker:Gabriel. She's a proud Canadian, a master's level registered social
Speaker:worker, and an award winning author with a deep commitment to healing through
Speaker:storytelling. Drawing from her own lived experiences, Bibi
Speaker:writes powerful narratives that chart the journey from trauma to
Speaker:triumph, exploring the complexities of adversity, grief and personal
Speaker:transformation. Her work centers on stories of survival
Speaker:and resilience, offering raw, honest reflections on overcoming
Speaker:life's most difficult challenges. She is so
Speaker:inspirational. She has a published book and
Speaker:she is being featured in Resilient AF Skin Deep Stories.
Speaker:And her tattoo is the center of her one
Speaker:of her many stories. So welcome to the
Speaker:podcast. Thank you. Happy to be here.
Speaker:Well, tell me, what's the name of your book? My book is
Speaker:called no Ordinary Love by Bibi Gabriel. That's
Speaker:important because there is another no Ordinary Love that was published like
Speaker:a month after mine and that person is like a famous author.
Speaker:So I don't like, not to take people away from them, but like
Speaker:I need it more. I love that. We'll make sure the link is in the
Speaker:show notes along with, you know, your Instagram handle and the rest of your
Speaker:bio. So let's talk about your tattoo. Tell us about
Speaker:your tattoo. When did you get it? Where did you get it? What does it
Speaker:mean? Okay, so I got it
Speaker:June of 2022. So
Speaker:just over three years ago. It's my third
Speaker:tattoo that is meant to be A sister's tattoo.
Speaker:So I have two younger sisters. I'm the eldest. And our middle
Speaker:sister, Tara, was trying to convince myself
Speaker:and our little sister Bryanne to get sister tattoos. And
Speaker:Bryanne didn't have a tattoo on her body. I think I had one at the
Speaker:time. I don't remember. And Tara was just itching to get something that was
Speaker:meaningful to celebrate our lives as sisters. And
Speaker:Bryanne turned down the first two ideas. She really wanted something,
Speaker:like, super detailed, but, like this big.
Speaker:And we're like that. That's not how tattoos work. So Tara and I went
Speaker:ahead without her, and we got our first two sister tattoos. And then the third
Speaker:one, I was writing my book, no Ordinary
Speaker:Love, and it came to me, this idea to get.
Speaker:I'll just show. Show it to you. So it's like,
Speaker:supposed to be a heartbeat, which I'll explain. Three sisters mountains,
Speaker:which lives here in Alberta, and then another heartbeat.
Speaker:And the reason was that my. Our little sister
Speaker:Bryanne was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer.
Speaker:And from the time of her first symptom and going to the
Speaker:hospital, she only lasted 15 months.
Speaker:And so that's a super short amount of time period.
Speaker:But she never, ever believed that she was not going to make it.
Speaker:And so I came up with this idea
Speaker:because the first part of the
Speaker:heartbeat was when Bryanne was first born. She was born
Speaker:extremely premature, like 26 weeks, I believe. And
Speaker:so, so she was in the hospital for the start of her life. And Tara
Speaker:and I were there standing beside her, loving her, supporting her. And
Speaker:then the three sisters mountains are. Because they're here in our beautiful
Speaker:country of Canada, and they just kind of embody. They're the
Speaker:physical, physical embodiment of us and our life together
Speaker:as sisters. The highs and the lows, the peaks and the valleys. And then the
Speaker:last heartbeat was to represent Tara and I
Speaker:with Bryanne again while she was fighting for her life. And
Speaker:unfortunately, Bryanne wasn't able. She didn't survive long enough to get
Speaker:the tattoo. And so Tara.
Speaker:Sorry, I'm from Ontario. So Tara flew out here with
Speaker:Bryanne's husband, and we all went to the mountains. And while
Speaker:Tara Lee and I got this tattoo, then my husband and
Speaker:Bryanne's husband went to the base of the mountains and scattered some of her
Speaker:ashes. Sorry. You don't ever have to
Speaker:apologize. And may her memory be a blessing.
Speaker:It's a beautiful way to honor her. And the. The idea
Speaker:came before she passed. Yeah,
Speaker:yeah. Just because it came before she passed,
Speaker:but while she was fighting. So it was like that lifeline again, right? Like
Speaker:cervical mode, like hospital treatments.
Speaker:And so, I mean, what.
Speaker:Bryanne was very adamant from
Speaker:day one. My husband is a physician, and so we have a lot
Speaker:of access to some big brains and networking.
Speaker:And Bryanne was very adamant from day one that she wanted help
Speaker:as needed to understand what she was going through and to make informed
Speaker:choices. But she never wanted what she called a
Speaker:death date. She did not want to be given a timeline.
Speaker:And so, literally, until the night before, the
Speaker:afternoon before Bryanne died, she had no. She truly had no idea
Speaker:that she was going to die. Like, she truly, with everything in her
Speaker:thought that she would beat it. And so.
Speaker:But because of my husband and the knowledge that the rest of
Speaker:us had, we knew she wasn't. We didn't know how long she would
Speaker:have, but we knew that this was terminal and she
Speaker:eventually would pass. And so
Speaker:Bryanne agreed to the tattoo still, because it still was a symbol
Speaker:of the fight, like the health fight and the hospital fight.
Speaker:But, yeah, none of us knew that it would be that
Speaker:quick. Not even my husband, actually. So.
Speaker:Wow. I mean, first of all, like, I love the symbolism of the
Speaker:heartbeat at the beginning and then the three sister mountains for the peaks and the
Speaker:valleys and that there are three sisters. And then, you know how you and
Speaker:your older sister. Older sister. Are you the middle? I'm. I'm
Speaker:Alice Terrorism. You and the middle sister. Tara.
Speaker:Tara were together with her, you know, till the end.
Speaker:And, you know, I. I think that's the
Speaker:symbolism. The fact that you were working on a book, you're in a creative flow
Speaker:space with your book, and that idea dropped in is
Speaker:just so beautiful. And it was maybe, like, not foreshadowing, but,
Speaker:you know, the idea. The fact that, like, it came
Speaker:to you and that Bryanne agreed. Yeah, yeah, she
Speaker:agreed. Right. It. It came because
Speaker:I knew the title of my book from when I first started
Speaker:writing it, and. And it's the original reason for it
Speaker:transformed and grew over time. So the original reason was because it was
Speaker:the song of my. Of my ex and mine, my abusive ex and mine. It's
Speaker:about intimate partner violence. And so
Speaker:what it started being. And as I wrote, I
Speaker:came to be like, no, I'm taking ownership back of this
Speaker:song. And not the song, but, like, the title, I should say. And
Speaker:it really became about the no ordinary love of my family
Speaker:through that experience for me. But also the reason why
Speaker:I got down to business and sat my butt in a chair and finished writing
Speaker:my book when I did was because I Knew my sister was dying. And
Speaker:I desperately, desperately wanted to have her read it
Speaker:because I wrote it for my family as an explanation and as an
Speaker:apology and all the things. And so as I
Speaker:wrote this book, I was like, no, the title is not for our song. I
Speaker:mean, technically it is, but the title is about the no ordinary love of my
Speaker:family. And then, I mean, it's even changed from that
Speaker:to also be the no ordinary love I have for myself throughout
Speaker:all of this. And so it
Speaker:was kind of reframing and reclaiming that title that
Speaker:gave me the idea about like, no, my family is amazing. We've been through the
Speaker:highs, we've been through the lows. We were there at the beginning. Tara and I
Speaker:were literally with Brienne as she passed, the only
Speaker:ones with her while she passed. And. And yeah,
Speaker:so, yeah, I think that's beautiful.
Speaker:And you know, the fact that. Did. Did you get. Did Ran get to read
Speaker:the book? No,
Speaker:but I wanted her to read parts of it because
Speaker:it was really important to me. And she, as I told you, didn't
Speaker:believed that she was going to die. And she said, no, I want to read
Speaker:it all, all at the same time. And when she was hospitalized, it
Speaker:was not even 36 hours from the time she went into the hospital until she
Speaker:died. And I mean, that was a blessing in itself that she didn't suffer
Speaker:longer. But even that night, I was
Speaker:typing away and I said, I just want to read you like a couple little
Speaker:parts. And she said, just get it done. It'll never be too late.
Speaker:And I took that now anyway to mean that
Speaker:I think she has absorbed it. I believe she's with me all
Speaker:the time and she has absorbed it and she knows and she's proud and all
Speaker:the things, but she didn't, in her physical,
Speaker:earthly, human body, get to read it.
Speaker:She is proud of you. She's proud of you.
Speaker:Like your tattoo. Yeah, like my tattoo.
Speaker:Tell me more. Tell us more about Bryanne. What was she like?
Speaker:Oh, she was little, spitting vinegar.
Speaker:She. None of us look anything like the others, actually.
Speaker:We're all very, very different looking. But she was blonde hair, blue eyes. She came
Speaker:out a fighter, quite literally fighting for her life. And
Speaker:she just, like, she just
Speaker:marched to the beat of her own drum. She had big dreams and like,
Speaker:nobody ever doubted her, you know, and she had, she had lots of things stacked
Speaker:against her because of how she started her life and some challenges like,
Speaker:you know, through school and whatever else. And she never let anything
Speaker:hold her back. Like she had dreams and she Achieved them, and she went for
Speaker:it. She was a teacher. She was adamant that she was going to be a
Speaker:kindergarten teacher. Not just any grade, not like lower years, like
Speaker:kindergarten. That or nothing. Yeah. And. And
Speaker:so it's like, well, Bryanne, like, maybe you should start somewhere else. Maybe you can.
Speaker:Nope, that's what she was going to do. And so she struggled for
Speaker:a bit, because I don't know how it is in the rest of our country
Speaker:or the States at all, but it's really hard to. To get in
Speaker:and get permanent jobs and then on top of that, to have the exact
Speaker:grade that you want. And so she not only was
Speaker:adamant that she was going to be a kindergarten teacher, but she was adamant that
Speaker:she would not move out of the city that she lived in. And it was
Speaker:like, lots of teachers, just like social workers
Speaker:or pilots or police officers, they actually move
Speaker:into more rural or remote locations because then they can get the experience.
Speaker:Go back to where you want to work and get a job. And Bryanne was
Speaker:like, no, I'm not leaving here. I'm going to do it, and I'm going to
Speaker:do it here. And anyway, she ended up sticking it
Speaker:out. And that was the thing about her. She was like, slow and steady wins
Speaker:the race kind of a person. And just full of so much drive
Speaker:and determination and grit. And
Speaker:so she made those things come true. And.
Speaker:Yeah. Got her dream job. Amazing. And I mean,
Speaker:like, that perseverance. Right. And it's almost like she came into the world
Speaker:as a fighter. Yeah. And she fought till the end. Absolutely.
Speaker:Wow. I think. I think that's such a beautiful tattoo. Is your. Is
Speaker:Tara's tattoo in the same spot? Yeah, exactly the same spot.
Speaker:Yeah. And it sucks because for the book, and you know this because I reached
Speaker:out to you. I'm like, how many pictures are we allowed? And you're like, one.
Speaker:I'm like, oh, no, I need three. I can't. One.
Speaker:And I wanted it to be with Tara because that's kind of the whole point,
Speaker:but she lives on the other side of the country, and actually she was in
Speaker:Albania during the time period that we had to figure this out and
Speaker:get it in. And so, unfortunately, it's just going to be me. But I sent
Speaker:you some pictures the other day, so I've kind of figured out a way that,
Speaker:yeah, it's going to work. And so. And don't worry because, like, on social
Speaker:media, we can share as much as we want. And that's. That's, you
Speaker:know, we have a little bit more freedom than a printed photo or, you know,
Speaker:a photo on a billboard. And I think it's cool that you get to have
Speaker:this tattoo that honors your sisters, your two younger sisters on
Speaker:this billboard in timescale Square. And I think it's amazing. Like,
Speaker:you know, you said you have a couple tattoos. You're, you know, Tara maybe
Speaker:has a few more, and, like, Bryanne have any. What was your first
Speaker:tattoo? Oh, my first
Speaker:tattoo was of. I. I always referred to it as
Speaker:a gargoyle. I think it was supposed to be like, a
Speaker:gargoyle butterfly, but it kind of, like, it was black, so it kind of looked
Speaker:like a gargoyle moth, really. And it was, you know, in that
Speaker:famous spot from the early 2000s where the ladies used
Speaker:to get them. And. And what's interesting about that tattoo
Speaker:and actually what I was going to do for your book, I was going to
Speaker:write a story about that tattoo that I never got, because my.
Speaker:That I wrote the book about my experience. He was a tattoo
Speaker:artist, and so I never got one from him, thank goodness.
Speaker:So I was going to write a story about that and how I was resilient
Speaker:through that experience. But you convinced me that maybe the story about my
Speaker:sister and this tattoo is a better one. And so that
Speaker:was my first tattoo. I did not get it from him. I got it before
Speaker:I met him. But my husband. I've never actually asked him this. I'm gonna have
Speaker:to try to remember, but my husband actually asked me. He's like, if I.
Speaker:Before we were married, he's like, if I were to pay for you to have
Speaker:that removed, would you get it removed? And I'm like,
Speaker:okay. And so I did. And I actually think that he thought maybe
Speaker:my fat ex did it, but he didn't. But anyway, it's gone. But
Speaker:this. The. It symbolized for me
Speaker:the. The what it
Speaker:took for me to become the person that I was and kind of
Speaker:the. The changing over time and the, you know,
Speaker:the growth that it took. So, anyway, it's gone now. So my first one's gone.
Speaker:I love that. And then I've got the three sisters ones, and I've got a
Speaker:starfish one, which just has to do with my work, the whole
Speaker:starfish story and making a difference to people. Starfish story.
Speaker:Oh, really? Oh, I have no idea. Let's story time with Bibi.
Speaker:Okay. Yeah. Here's the start of your story. So it goes something.
Speaker:Something like this. It says there, an old man was walking
Speaker:down the beach, and he saw a little boy kind of running back
Speaker:and forth. And when he approached him, he said, what are you doing? And
Speaker:the little boy said, I'm saving the starfish. And he.
Speaker:And the man said, there's hundreds of miles of shore
Speaker:and there are thousands of starfish. You can't possibly make a difference.
Speaker:And the little boy picked up a starfish and he tossed it into the water,
Speaker:and he said, I made a difference to that one. And so when I
Speaker:graduated with my first. Well, I guess technically it was
Speaker:my second undergraduate degree in social work, I decided to get a starfish on
Speaker:my wrist to remind myself that, obviously, you
Speaker:want to make as big of a difference as possible, but at the end of
Speaker:the day, even if you make a difference to one person, then it counts.
Speaker:I love that story. I have never heard that.
Speaker:That's such a beautiful story. You know,
Speaker:you're on this journey of life. You've written this book, this tattoo. You've shared
Speaker:one of your stories with our community. What's
Speaker:next for you? Well, I have a book that I'm
Speaker:racing against time to have it done by the time your Skin
Speaker:Deep book. Is done, because our Skin Deep book. Our Skin
Speaker:Deep book is done. Yes. I wrote it
Speaker:a tribute to my sister, and it's essentially me putting into practice
Speaker:the advice that I give in the story I wrote for Skin Deep. But also
Speaker:just in my world, I'm a therapist, and so
Speaker:it's me putting that into practice and showing the reader, like, how I do
Speaker:it, how I show up, and how I reframe my grief
Speaker:to see it as times that I am connecting with my sister and meeting
Speaker:with her and that I'm never actually alone in it. She's there with me, and
Speaker:the more upset I get or the more tears I have or the more I'm
Speaker:feeling it, it's just the more present that she is, I just can't see her,
Speaker:but I can feel her. I love that. And that's so true. Like, I feel
Speaker:those who are no longer with us. Like, I could feel their energy. And sometimes
Speaker:I can tell if it's, you know, my mom or, you know, my dad.
Speaker:I feel my mom a lot more. And they send me signs. And, you
Speaker:know, when I really sit in stillness and meditate or ask
Speaker:for something or just, you know, share what's. What I'm going
Speaker:through, I feel like I could really feel them. And it's, you know, it's.
Speaker:It's a gift that you can do that, too, right? Feel them. Yeah.
Speaker:What does being resilient AF mean to you?
Speaker:Oh, it means the ability to sit with it, like,
Speaker:whatever it is. So for my story, for our book, I wrote about
Speaker:grief, but it's really for anything, and it's being able to stick with it,
Speaker:sit in it, feel it, and work through it, because
Speaker:you can't just stuff this stuff down. You can't put your head in the sand
Speaker:and plug your ears and close your eyes. Like, that's not how this
Speaker:resolves or feels better. It feels better through sitting
Speaker:in it. And, yeah, that's what I would say.
Speaker:You have to feel in order to heal. And,
Speaker:yeah, I think that's a beautiful definition.
Speaker:Do you have any more tattoos that you want to get?
Speaker:No, not off the top of my head. And I mean, part of it is
Speaker:that I'm a really symmetrical person, so I'm like, well, I have one on this
Speaker:side and one on this side. And what? Like,
Speaker:so. No, no. Not that I'm not
Speaker:opposed to it, but I would have to, like, you know, be hit with another
Speaker:good idea, which. Yeah. Always happen. Yeah. Maybe it's the Statue of
Speaker:Liberty in New York. Yeah, maybe. Well, one thing I need to figure
Speaker:out first. So I have this issue where, for whatever reason, I
Speaker:dec. I didn't love the idea of, like, black ink on me.
Speaker:And so I got all of my tattoos I've had done in brown,
Speaker:but I learned the hard way after many years that brown does
Speaker:not hold as well, and it kind of, like, comes apart. And for
Speaker:this one, for example, for the lines, like, I had to have it redone.
Speaker:It just kind of, like, it doesn't stay the way that black does.
Speaker:So unless I agreed to have all of my tattoos
Speaker:redone in black, I don't think I would get another one because I have done
Speaker:some pretty. Pretty serious damage to my body by having them redone so many
Speaker:times. Yeah. So, yeah, I think there's something
Speaker:also, like, really special about a faded tattoo. Like, I have some tattoos that are,
Speaker:like, in spots where they. They bled a little because I was young and didn't
Speaker:care. Didn't take care of them, maybe didn't heal properly, you know,
Speaker:And I think, like, there's. It's okay to have a faded
Speaker:tattoo. Like, I think there's a story behind it. So there's nothing wrong with
Speaker:it not being super crisp anymore because there is that story behind it. And.
Speaker:And I think it's cool that they're all in brown, like, minor in every color.
Speaker:I like that, too, because they kind of look like Hannah, and people aren't sure,
Speaker:like, is that real? Is it not? Is it Hannah? Is it not? And I
Speaker:like that about it. Amazing. Is there anything else you want to
Speaker:share? Oh, I don't think
Speaker:so. I mean, Gertie's here. If she would come out, you could. See her,
Speaker:but she's hiding behind one of your other naked cats. Just ran behind you. Oh,
Speaker:really? Yeah. Oh, here she comes. Oh. Oh, we love a cat
Speaker:person here we are.
Speaker:R rated. Okay, so
Speaker:you can't see, but she's got two different color eyes. She's got David Bowie eyes.
Speaker:She's got a green and a blue. Oh, I love it. That's so cool. I'm
Speaker:such a cat person. I know. I like Teddy. Oh. Oh, my
Speaker:gosh. Teddy the adventure cat. Okay, so one
Speaker:final question before we wrap up. Yep. I know you've
Speaker:gone through a lot, but let's focus on the tattoo and the symbolism of the
Speaker:three sisters and losing your sister. What advice do you have for
Speaker:someone who's going through something similar? So maybe they have a sibling who is
Speaker:ill and you're talking about doing something together. What
Speaker:advice do you have for that person? That's a really great question.
Speaker:And I could take it in so many different ways, but what. The first thing
Speaker:that came to my head was, obviously,
Speaker:be there in whatever way you can. Like, I, quite literally, and. And
Speaker:I come from a place of privilege to even have been able to do what
Speaker:I did. I understand that. But, like, my life, my world stopped.
Speaker:I didn't care about work. Like, obviously I had bills.
Speaker:I. I had to care to a degree. But, like, I spent all the time
Speaker:that I could have with my sister because I knew that I had to make
Speaker:it count. But what I wanted to mention or highlight is
Speaker:that Tara and I had very different ideas of what we wanted to do with
Speaker:Bryanne. I mean, ideally, we would like to have traveled all over with her and
Speaker:done all the things she wanted to do and, like, bucket list type things, which
Speaker:I think a lot of people think about.
Speaker:Bryanne didn't want that. I mean, in part it was because she had so many
Speaker:treatments and whatever else, but in part she just wanted to be, you
Speaker:know, she wanted to, like, watch TV with us or be in
Speaker:the same physical space as us, but not necessarily do anything.
Speaker:And that was really tricky for Tara and I to wrap our heads around because
Speaker:we wanted her to, like, soak up every last minute that she had
Speaker:on this planet by doing all the things that she wouldn't be able to do.
Speaker:And it. We really had to, like, be like, no, this is what she
Speaker:wants. We had to respect what she wanted, and we just had to show up
Speaker:and sit with her in it, as uncomfortable as that was.
Speaker:So I don't know if that really exactly answered your question. It
Speaker:was great. Okay. It was great. I really appreciate you
Speaker:taking the time to be here with us
Speaker:and for sharing your story and your beautiful tattoo.
Speaker:And to everyone tuning in for this episode, thank you
Speaker:for sharing your precious time with us.
Speaker:And, you know, you could Read more about BB and the other stories
Speaker:in Resilient AF. Skin Deep Stories comes out early December
Speaker:2025. And just remember, you don't
Speaker:have to go through the hard stuff alone. You are not alone.
Speaker:Let us, our community, be that lighthouse in the storm. Let us
Speaker:hold your hand and walk through it together. Because, friends, just
Speaker:remember, you are Resilient af. Thank you.
