The Impossible Turned Possible by Carolyn Hardy

Author:Carolyn Hardy [Carolyn Hardy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Morgan James Publishing
Published: 2021-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 5

JOURNEY INTERRUPTED BY HEALTH CRISIS

Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company, said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t—you’re right.” This quote emphasizes how much attitude determines your success or failure. This is true whether your attitude is about career, business, or health.

“Your outlook—having a sense of optimism and purpose—seems to be predictive of health outcomes,” says Dr. Laura Kubzansky, professor of social and behavioral sciences at Harvard. She said that the vitality of a life is characterized by enthusiasm, hopefulness, engagement, and the ability to face life’s stresses with emotional balance. She found that emotional vitality is associated with a substantially reduced risk of both heart attack and stroke.

Examples of your outlook include your basic attitude about life. Do you look forward to the next week? Do you feel younger than your age? Do you have a sense of purpose? If so, you may already have reduced your risk of degenerative diseases and may even add years to your life.

I was at the hairdresser when I received a call from my doctor after 5 p.m., which was unusual. She said, “Carolyn, I have bad news. Your mammogram came back showing a lump.” The joy and freedom from buying the brewery was short-lived. This call from my doctor caught me off guard.

I didn’t react because I was in shock. My mind was reeling. I had invested 50 percent of my family’s wealth in this company. I had two children in high school planning to attend college. My family could not operate this business without me. It was my vision, experience, and business plan we were executing. My mind was screaming, “What have I gotten my family into? If I do not recover, they will suffer because of my ambition.”

The only thing I knew to do was prepare for recovery and live.

My doctor said there was no way to know the severity of the lump. But she also said, “Carolyn, I need to you to take this seriously and make this procedure a priority.”

Even though there was no way of knowing the outcome, the doctor didn’t want to wait to make a diagnosis because an early diagnosis correlates with a better prognosis. She explained, “I know you are under a lot of pressure with your new company, but this is more than a distraction.”

We scheduled a biopsy, and my results would be available in three weeks.

The first week, I was in survival mode. My goal was simple: Survive the health crisis while not going bankrupt during recovery. My original business plan required building a team that could operate the business in my absence. I had assembled a management team of people I had worked with in the past. But the team was starting three months later. I asked them to start immediately. These managers were my trusted allies and confidantes; they had my back. When I confidentially shared my diagnosis with them, they gave their two-week notices that same day and came on board.

Three weeks later, I received results no one wants to hear.

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