Finding Purpose Through Illness, Art + Resiliency with Cheri Warcholak Lohrey (Part 2)

What if the life you planned falls apart and something brighter takes its place? We sit down with a writer and artist living with MS who turned a mother’s heartbreak and a tough airport moment into a creative movement powered by one simple rhythm: pause, breathe, pivot. From the birth of Cleo the Caterpillar to a forthcoming book titled I Am Cleo, she shows how self worth grows when you stop hiding, accept help, and choose a new path with intention.

We dive into the real mechanics of resilience—how to pause without getting stuck, breathe without drifting into endless reflection, and pivot without spinning in circles. She shares the walking aids that expanded her world, the illustrator who pushed her to own “real artist,” and the readers who echoed her mantra back. Music threads through her process, with Kelly Clarkson’s Broken and Beautiful surfacing as an anthem for steady, underestimated progress. Along the way, a son’s candid insight and a daughter’s essay on a meaningful life become mirrors for how adversity reshapes a family’s values.

Anchored by the quote “In a gentle way, you can shake the world,” we explore gentle influence, authentic voice, and the courage to keep your words intact while letting editors fix the commas. There’s a screenplay in the works, a growing platform, and a belief that timing can be trusted: I trust, I believe, I receive. If you’re navigating illness, career upheaval, or a dream that feels out of reach, this conversation offers practical steps and proof that purpose can bloom after plans shatter.

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The Quiet Gift: A Journey of Self Worth and Resilience is now available for download as an audible.  Check it out!

Transcript

Welcome And Theme Of Reigniting

SPEAKER_02 0:06

All of us reach a point in time where we are depleted and need to somehow find a way to reignite the fire within. But how do we spark that flame? Welcome to Reignite Resilience, where we will venture into the heart of the human spirit. We'll discuss the art of reigniting our passion and strategies to stoke our enthusiasm. And now here are your hosts, Natalie Davis and Pamela Kat.

MS, Mobility, And Travel Friction

I Am Cleo And Self Worth

Powered By The Pivot Framework

SPEAKER_04 0:41

It's like this is a story I'm sharing with you. Cleo the caterpillar was small and then grew. Cleo had questions, then remembered advice. Please read it once or enjoy it twice. And then it's all of the things, like all the things of moms that we want to share with our kids, and we want to reassure them. So obviously with my MS, I was not able to physically help my daughter move. So my husband and I decided I would stay home with the fur babies, and my husband and son went to move her. So I wrote a book. I mean, I was painting and sketching, but to illustrate a book, I was like, wow, that is a lot. So I did hire an illustrator for Cleo the Caterpillar, Can Pivot. But then my publishers like and the illustrator would come over and she would say, Oh, you're you're a real artist. She would look at my paintings, and I'm like, it's like having others believe in you and see something in you. And then publishers just like try it out, see if you like it. And then it was just this last summer, 2025, when I was traveling, and I was like, uh, I use a walking bike. So, Pam, you've seen my walking bike. When I go further distances, like the legs don't want to hold up. So shorter distances, I use a cane or a walker, a rollator. Farther distances, the walking bike has changed my life because I'm like, well, I can go too. So I'm on like the bike seat, and I have an experience at the airport where they're like, well, I don't know that that is gonna fit in the specific cargo area that we have designated. And I'm like, this is how I walk, this is like a wheelchair. So anyway, that whole experience, like when I got home, I'm like, oh. I'm like, I I woke up one morning, I am Cleo. I told my husband, I'm like, I am Cleo. I am Cleo. And so I am Cleo is all about the journey of illness and the spiral that mentally, physically, things that we go through, and ultimately knowing that, you know, I am enough, I'm worthy. And I love that in your book that there were a lot of the same themes that I feel like the self-worth and you are enough and believing in yourself. So I really did enjoy enjoy your book also, The Quiet Gift. It was it was delightful to read, and you know, you can really go through and imagine the red journal, and that was that was beautiful. So I enjoyed that. So thank you. That's what it is. It's all about like finding our purpose, sharing our voice.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

And so you came up with this powered by the pivot. I know it's the name of the book, but that's also kind of your mantra. Can you share a little bit about that with our listeners?

Joy In New Creative Purpose

SPEAKER_04 5:04

To me, um, to be powered by the pivot is to find another way to do life. It's like when life is up-ended, and we all have challenges that we face in life, and we choose maybe to hide it or to share it, but um my journey was hiding it. So powered by the pivot also sparked pause, breathe, and pivot, and you know, pause, take a moment to reflect on your journey and your situation, and then breathing, let others in, let others help you and feel the support and pivot, like go ahead and you know, do what you can do in your own way. So this is not how I thought I was gonna show up in the world. My thoughts were very physical, that you know, my daughter is a former college athlete, and she's still very physical. My son works a very physical job, and my husband and I thought we were always gonna be very active. And it's really having to pivot and find that okay. Just because it's not the life that I expected, it's okay. Like I'm finding so much joy from writing and from painting and from drawing, and what touches my heart the most is like getting on and reading reviews that people write, and like these are people that I don't know, and the effects that my story has impacted their lives. I will have other authors that I know go. I just told myself, pause, breathe, and pivot. So it's so delightful that it's catching on, or friends will send me pictures of their great nephew at holding on. He has to have Cleo bread every night. So it that's just delightful to me. That's that's I'm finding my purpose.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

I love it. Well, and you said something before we started recording. I trust, I believe, I receive. I think that's just such a powerful, just those three lines.

Trust Believe Receive And Timing

SPEAKER_04 8:06

Such a powerful and such inspirational way to live your life. And and what I have learned to do is to surrender. And like things are happening in perfect timing. The so the full quote is like everything happens in perfect timing. I trust, I believe, I receive. And even though there have been struggles along the way, you know, I wouldn't have necessarily chosen to be run over by a car or to end up with MS or have my career end early. But wow, things happen for a reason because how cool is this? My third book is coming out, and I've even written a screenplay, and I've been working with a producer, he wants to do a full feature film based on my story. So it's like, oh, how fun is this? Like, I wouldn't have imagined that. And now also I'm here with you on recording podcasts. This is amazing.

SPEAKER_01 9:25

Absolutely. Exactly. I love it and I know. Yeah, sometimes it's so hard when you're in it, like when you're in the muck of it to think that there's any purpose or good that's gonna come out of it. But sometimes, like you said, you just have to pause and breathe and just know that this is exactly where I'm supposed to be in this moment. And eventually you're gonna look back on that moment and see all the wonderful things that came from it.

Lessons Reflected By Her Children

SPEAKER_04 9:53

And the most amazing conversation. So there are two ways that my kids have parroted back to also let me know. My daughter wrote her college essay and it she titled it A Meaningful Life, and it was really a reflection for me of like, oh my gosh, even though I didn't feel like I was keeping up, wow, the lessons that she learned by observing how I lived. And then it was last summer 2025, where my son said, you know, mom, I I don't think you would go back to life before MS. Like, so for him observing the woman that I have become and that I have like owned this, and I'm like living life. I'm figuring out how to live. And I'm saying, I don't think you would go back to before without MS. And I'm like, wow, that was that was a powerful statement. So, you know, my husband always I'll just say, you know, I'm not really that happy with my body these days and how moving, but my brain is lots of fun. And he'll just say, well, it's supposed to be fun. You're supposed to be having fun.

Pause Breathe Pivot In Practice

SPEAKER_00 11:40

So what a powerful observation by your son. I think that's huge. Just to see, not only like embracing it and and going back to what you shared earlier, like your goal is not just to survive, it's to thrive. And so he's seen you actually exemplify that, right? And so, in that, you can't go back to to life before because you're exemplifying I'm thriving and I'm having an amazing time while doing it.

SPEAKER_04 12:08

And it's fun. Yeah, it's like, oh, I wrote that. Yeah, and I drew that. Yes. So it's like, wow, so fun.

SPEAKER_00 12:21

I love that. And I'm sure that there are so many other lessons that your kids picked up because you did have this shift in life when they were at an impressionable age, right? They were young when when all of this when you figuring out what the diagnosis was and then thriving through the diagnosis and it becoming part of your lives. That's uh I'm sure that the the lessons are many from the kids as well.

SPEAKER_04 12:44

That's what's makes it worthwhile. I feel lucky. Um, you know, I'm I'm blessed to have lived this and to be able to see that my kids are learning lessons from hardship. And and I think that's huge is that you know, we all take a moment instead of like, oh, you know, this is so terrible. Well, what can I learn from this? You know, if I have a hard situation, okay, what can I take away from it? And then pause, breathe, and pivot. That's really, you know, a reflection of how we can go about living life and choosing to find our own way. And it doesn't have to look like everybody else. It's just as beautiful.

Music, Poetry, And Sharing Wider

SPEAKER_00 13:47

I love the simplicity and the impactfulness of the pause, breathe and pivot, because you must have all three, right? Oftentimes when we face adversity, we can pause and pause and pause and forget to breathe and pivot, right? So we're just pausing, or we can pause and breathe where we just get into this long extended version of, well, I've got to figure out the meaning of it all. I can't do anything until I know what it all means. So that's where you're stuck in that breathing. And if you just get stuck in that cycle of pivot, pivot, just keep pivoting. You're okay. Yeah. So just having all three together, right? Taking that time to pause, truly taking the moment to breathe and reflect and take it in. What can you learn? What can, what's the lesson? Um, what's the impact that you can have from it? And then pivot. Where do you want to go? And it's it really puts that intentionality into the direction that you're pivoting versus being a spinning top, right? Like just continuing to turn, trying to find find a way.

SPEAKER_04 14:48

And then, you know, finding what is the next open door. So the painting behind me, I don't know if you can see, is like the open doors. And that is based on one of the images I started drawing that will be in I Am Pleo. And it's just like walk through the door. When one door closes, another door opens, and and if you keep that in your mind, then everything's okay.

Gentle Ways To Shake The World

SPEAKER_01 15:24

It'll be okay, you know. And I know when you and I talked, you have this goal of being on Kelly Clarkson, Drew Barry Moore's shows. And so we're just putting that out there into the universe that that's gonna happen.

Projects, Website, And Final Advice

Closing Thanks And Listener CTA

SPEAKER_04 16:36

So, Kelly, I was near the end of titling. So throughout my book, I am very much inspired by song. So at the end of different parts of my book, um, I will put a song. I'll put a song title and the artist in there. So it might be inspired by just the title or the lyrics or the rhythm. And when I got to the end of my book, and I'm really at the prologue, I heard Kelly Clarkson's song on the radio, and I busted out sobbing. And I listened to it over and over, and I sobbed. It was broken and beautiful. You know, she starts off. I don't need anyone to lower the bar for me. Like, I got it. You know what? I'm maybe like the turtle coming along, but don't underestimate me. I'm still coming. So I feel like her song Broken and Beautiful, and it really also came in I Am Cleo. When I ended up writing a poem when we got back from our conference at Casa Sagrada. Just another poem, like downloaded, and my publisher heard it, and she said that it has to be in the book. So I feel connected to this story, my story, the Cleo stories, they need shared with the world that other people can benefit from having the mindset of being powered by your pivot and taking time to pause the pivot.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

Trust, believe, and receive.

SPEAKER_03 18:58

Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 19:00

So trusting the process and you are exactly where you're supposed to be right now.

SPEAKER_00 19:07

That's right. That's right. It's very screenplay coming. You're going to soon be on the couches of many daytime television hosts. What else do you have in store? Or what do you see right now in terms of the direction you're going and the impact that you want to have?

SPEAKER_04 19:29

I do see myself sharing with a larger audience that, you know, the world needs to hear the message. So a quick little story in 2018, I was working in the schools and we were told to pick a quote. And, you know, how are we going to impact our 20 square feet? And that was really like I was perplexed. Like, what is my quote? Like, my picture's gonna be by this. What am I gonna? And so I went to my counterpart counseling partner, and I'm like, Kathy, what am I going to? What's my quote? I don't know what my quote is. She's like, take the book off the shelf of the quotes, and the page that you open up to is your quote. So my quote, Gandhi, in a gentle way, you can shake the world. And I'm like, okay, 2018, I'm hiding MS. I'm working with maybe 800 middle schoolers, but how am I gonna shake the world? So I literally told the students, like I really don't know how I will shake the world. Maybe something that, because I did career lessons and helping them think about their future. And I'm like, how are you? Maybe you're gonna shake the world. And then now the beautiful reflection is I think it was for me. I think it is my quote. I think it's really my purpose. That I in my own gentle way will shake the world. And it's really lovely when I get feedback from not only in the United States, but in other countries. People are reading my story. So it's beautiful. And then getting the feedback that oh my goodness, like your writer, you know? And I'm told the publisher, only grammar, please. Like, don't edit my content. Just the grammar. Because it needs to be my words, my voice. And then seeing it unfold, it's like, wow, that's pretty cool. Very cool.

SPEAKER_00 22:16

I love that. Oh my gosh. Thank you, Sherry, for sharing your story with us. That was amazing. And the work that you're continuing to do. That's fabulous.

SPEAKER_04 22:25

Thank you. And then I have goals to finish a journal. I did start a journal, like writing, and and I had a friend who said, What happened to the journal? And I was like, Oh, I've got to pull that project back in.

SPEAKER_03 22:44

I just had a couple jump in front. Exactly. A few other books that took precedent. That's okay, yes.

SPEAKER_04 22:53

Yes. So I'm just working on my website a little bit and you know, learning all the the ins and outs, and just what am I supposed to be doing? I'm at powered by the pivot.com. And finally, I have author signed copies available under the news tab. I'm just I'm learning to be more techie. It's a work in progress, lady.

SPEAKER_00 23:23

I love it. I love that. Well, powered by the pivot, Sherry. If is there one piece of advice that you would take from the book that you would leave our listeners with today?

SPEAKER_04 23:33

Just finding another way and being okay with, okay, you might feel like as you planned was shattered, but just maybe it will turn out even better than you could have imagined and you could have planned yourself. Breathe and pivot and know that it's happening for a reason.

SPEAKER_00 23:59

I think that is a beautiful place for us to land. Powerofthepivot.com. We will make sure that we drop it in the show notes so that our listeners can find you. Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing your story, for sharing your work and your gifts with us, with the world. This is amazing. Congratulations, and and thank you for sharing all of that, Jerry. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_04 24:22

And thank you to Pam for us connecting.

SPEAKER_01 24:28

I was so grateful.

SPEAKER_04 24:29

I mean, within five minutes of me being in the in the room, we were face to face and we were like, oh, we need to chat. We need more of this.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

We need more of this. And we got it. And we got it. And we made it here. And I love it.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

I love that. Oh my goodness. Well, thank you for taking the time out. And I'm so grateful that you and Pam connected and that we were able to get time to share your story and your message with our listeners. Uh, we will make sure that we put your contact information in our show notes. For our listeners, you all know the deal. If you want to know more about what's happening in the world of Reignite Resilience, you head on over to ReigniteResilience.com or find us on Facebook and Instagram. Until next time, we'll see y'all soon.

SPEAKER_03 25:15

Everyone.

SPEAKER_00 25:16

You guys are amazing. Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 25:20

Thank you for joining us today on the Reignite Resilience podcast. We hope you had some aha moments and learned a few new real life ideas to fuel the flames of passion. Please subscribe on your favorite streaming platform, like or download your favorite episodes, and of course, share with your friends and family. We look forward to seeing you again next time on Reignite Resilience.