Ep 40 - Sam: A Collection of Experiences

What happens when life forces you to slow down—and in that stillness, you rediscover your purpose?

In this episode, Sam shares her powerful journey from running a thriving massage therapy business to surviving a life-altering triple aneurysm at just 37 years old. Through the long road of rehabilitation, she uncovered a new way of seeing life and her work—transforming massage therapy into a vessel for healing, restoration, and connection. Her story is a reminder that life is a collection of experiences, each one shaping our perspective and teaching us to honor the one body we’ve been given.

How does a near-death experience reshape what truly matters?

Join us for this inspiring episode of Monomyth Diaries—a story of determination, healing, and purpose.

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✅ What experiences have shaped your perspective? Share your story with us at MonomythDiaries.com.

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🔗 Links & Resources

Sam Golubic is an entrepreneur and a seasoned massage therapist with over 34 years of experience helping others heal through mind, body, and spirit. She is also  professional travel planner and passionate travel enthusiast who helps her partners and travel insiders fulfill their travel dreams— all while staying within budget.

📲 The Traveling Squirrel Girl (281) 772-3971

📧 samhands@sbcglobal.net 

🌐 Travorium - Helping Hands

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Transcript

Hi everyone and welcome to the Monomyth Diaries, a podcast where ordinary people get to share their hero's journey. 


I'm Mandi and I'll be your host. We'll discover powerful insights, critical moments of growth, and much more. Thanks for joining us. We all have a Monomyth to share and someone out there needs to hear it. 


Welcome to the Monomyth Diaries, a take what you like and leave the rest podcast. This is a space where we explore transformation, through the stories that change us. 


In today's episode, Sam returns to share how she faced a life-threatening health crisis, a brain aneurysm that would forever change her perspective on life, healing, and purpose. 


Let's welcome Sam back to the show. Welcome back to the Monomyth Diaries. Thank you. Glad to be back. I'm so glad to have you back as well. For people just tuning into this particular episode, Sam joined us earlier on in the season where she talked about her early years and her growth mindset and all the wonderful things that came out of a challenging home life. 


You had just moved to Texas and you were waiting tables. So in this episode, we're going to pick up the next chapter of her life into her 30s where she has an unexpected health crisis. 


But before we launch into that, we're going to do a few more Monomyth story starters for the audience to get to know you a little bit. 


If you could master one musical instrument, what would it be? Piano. Any reason for piano? I need coordination, something to challenge me. If you could instantly learn any language, which one would you learn? 


I would learn Spanish just because it's universal. Well, and you travel all the time as part of your business. Yes. So that would be very helpful to know the two languages that are probably spoken more in other places than any. 


If you could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be? Napoleon Hill. He has a book called Think and Grow Rich. What's your favorite hobby? Working out. Really? Yeah. All right. 


I did not know that about you. Working out and ziplining, being fit and being adventurous. We're going to go swim with the sharks in November. Wow. I do love that you take care of yourself so well so that you can do all this travel. 


You only get one body. Yes, that's it. Are you married? Yes, for 32 years. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Wow, that's a long time. Well, Sam, in this particular chapter, you have... 


been waiting tables and made a decision that you didn't want to do that anymore, despite the fact that you're making a lot of money, you knew there was something else you wanted to do, and you get into massage therapy. 


Let's talk about that. Yeah, I got into massage therapy because I wanted to be a physical therapist. I used to go and watch people walk and talk because I would see that they were in pain, but they said I didn't qualify. 


I would have to go to school a lot longer, and I happened to be in a logic class for to be a physical therapist. 


She had to take logic. And lady looked at me and said, I think you would make a great massage therapist. And I said, really? She goes, yes. So I started taking massage classes. 


So I became a massage therapist, but I picked a school where I can get them back on their feet. So I started doing people that were burn victims, amputees. 


More therapeutic kinds. All therapeutic. I traveled all over the place to go to symposiums. Everything was more on a holistic avenue because you only have one body. 


And if you treat it like a temple, it will last you a lifetime, you know? So you become a massage therapist. I did. Your career has taken off. You're in your 30s. All is well. And then you have a major health crisis. 


Can you walk us through that? Yeah. So I was actually running on a treadmill. I hadn't been feeling good. And I heard a pop. And I hadn't been feeling that well that day. 


And luckily... I thought I had food poisoning because one of my clients, she was describing food poisoning. 


Well, it wasn't food poisoning. I had a severe pain in the eye and I just blew it off. Let me make sure I understand this right. So you hadn't been feeling good earlier in that week. 


Yes. And you had been experiencing some eye pain? Eye pain had just started and I thought, well, that's, you know, something may be going on. 


I'm not really quite sure. But I was waiting for his insurance to kick in. So you postponed taking care of yourself. Yes. Oh, okay. It just, it was like everything happened in that one week. 


And then you are running on a treadmill and you hear an audible pop. I heard an audible pop and I had an aneurysm, which is a weak blood vessel. 


It can be anywhere in your body, but mine happened to be in the brain. And so I didn't know that. So I still have that mentality of workaholic. Right. That strong work ethic that you learned from your parents. 


I called them up and I said... I can't come into work. I'm not feeling well. So I called my husband and I said, but I think you need to come home. 


And I hadn't been sick in 10 years because I hadn't been sick in so many years. I didn't have a doctor. And when you say sick, what does that look like? 


I was throwing up. I had head pain and the pains in the eye were breathtaking. Like I could feel them. They were breathtaking, but they weren't constant. 


And I thought, well, That's really strange. And I thought, well, maybe because I'm doing too many massages with my head down that it's not the right pressure on the brain. 


I'm not thinking aneurysm. So he took me to the hospital and went to the emergency room. And they say, hey, we're going to take you to the ICU. I says, why are you taking me to ICU when it's just food poisoning? 


I'm telling him that. And luckily, there was a neurologist and a neurosurgeon that was in the hospital at the time. 


They did a lot of tests, like three spinal taps, MRIs, and MRIs. they came in and they said, well, it's not food poisoning. And they said, it's an aneurysm. And I'm like, whoa, I'm like, oh, you know, when you know nurses are coming in and praying over you. 


And you're only 37 when this happens. So you go in just anticipating maybe the flu, maybe food poisoning, something of that nature. 


And you're being told this is a A major, major, major, major. I was in ICU for, I think, 16 days. I was in the hospital for 22, 23 days. I was in the hospital a long time. 


And the majority of it was in ICU. Goodness me. For people listening who don't know, what is an aneurysm? An aneurysm is, like I said, it is like a blood vessel or a weak bone. 


vessel or in your brain or wherever. It doesn't have to be there. And it bubbles out sort of like a huge infected hair or something, but it's actually on a vessel. 


And again, you can get it anywhere that there's a blood vessel. And somehow the pressure just gets really big. And mine just happened to be in the brain, which is not the best place because they gave me a three percent chance of living goodness yeah three percent so three percent chance of survival. 


And you survived. I survived. You're in the hospital for an extensive period of time. What does that look like? How are you affected by an aneurysm when you survive an aneurysm? 


Because most people obviously don't make it. So what does that look like? So I had to have brain surgery. So it wasn't an option. I had to have brain surgery. And I got a free forehead lift, you know. 


I look at the positive. I love that. I look at the positive. I looked at it like everything is a challenge because even when I was in the hospital ICU, they wouldn't let me walk. 


I'm like, what are you talking about? I'm a runner. So you realize how fast your health can go away. Good thing I was healthy. I was extremely healthy. So they got me stabilized. 


I had to be stabilized for 10 days. Before the surgery? Before the surgery. Okay. I had to have a not monitor on me that if anything happened, that they would rush me to the hospital. 


I wasn't allowed to really do anything. So, okay. So you're home for 10 days knowing you have had an aneurysm and you have to have this major surgery. 


What is your mindset like during those 10 days? I kept my positive attitude. I can do this. I can get healthy. I've done it before. I can do it again. And they were going to try a new procedure. 


It's pretty common now. They can go up and through your groin and do like a coil. But where the two of mine were, I had three of them. The location of the aneurysm. Yeah. Yeah. I had two aneurysms that were not candidates. 


They weren't candidates. They were in tricky places and I was stroking out. And when they pulled me out, I said, it didn't work, did it? And they said, no, it did not. Okay, so the first time they tried to do it through... 


Like a coil. It didn't work. It didn't work. Because before all that, he says, I just want to know if it doesn't work and we have to rush you to surgery. 


How do you want your hair cut? And I said, you're not cutting my hair. I had real long hair. I mean, I had really, really long hair. So you knew that going in, that if this doesn't work, you're going to actually have to have brain surgery. 


Okay. And that is what happened. That is what happened. So I had brain surgery, and I can't remember how long I was in the neuro ICU. 


I was in neuro ICU for a while, and I got sick from having back-to-back procedures on So it was a challenge. 


It was a challenge. And they did the brain surgery. They cut me from ear to ear. So from ear to ear across the top of your head, by your forehead. 


By my forehead. And they took my face plate, my forehead face plate off. So it's kind of graphic. And they pulled everything down. And it's like putting a puzzle back together. 


And I really didn't get emotional until I saw in the mirror. And I saw where they had X's marked the spots. And you kind of realize it. Oh, I did have brain surgery. You know, this is major brain surgery. 


This is something you see on TV. This is something that happens to somebody else. Yes. That's older than 37. It's not supposed to happen to me. I'm healthy. Well, for people who are listening, Sam is absolutely beautiful. 


She has great hair. Of course, this was how many years ago? This is when we're talking almost 30 years, right? Yeah. Yeah, like 27, something like that. Yeah, so I was 27. Then after the brain surgery, I had to learn how to walk and do everything. 


And they put you on anti-seizure medicine. I had only been on the anti-seizure medicine maybe two months, maybe three. I was getting sick. I took myself off for a while. 


And I said, I'm taking myself off anti-seizure medicine. I says, I just want to tell you just in case anything happens. I says, but I'm doing it right. I'm weaning myself properly. 


And he says, this is not what you should be doing. And I'm like, I'm fine. Nothing's going to happen. Trust me. I know myself. I have faith in myself. Nothing ever happened. Good. All right. 


So you've gotten out of the hospital. What does your rehab look like? I was dragging one of my legs. Okay. So there were some side effects. There were some side effects. 


And he says, I suggest maybe getting a cane and walking with the cane. I used the cane for like two weeks and I said no. And I got back on the treadmill and I started walking. 


So I inched my way back to running, but It was like really, it was gradual. You slowly did rehabilitation on your own. On my own. Having been a massage therapist is a blessing. 


You know what to do. I did. I know my body and I knew that I could heal myself. It was tough. I'm not going to lie. It was tough. I lost all my muscle. I had to rebuild muscle because I was in bed for a good couple months. 


You know, you just, you compensate. You say, that's it. Life's not going to end. But what saved me was my health. That is what saved me, being in such good health, being connected to my body. 


This is a pretty traumatic experience. And as we talked about in the last episode, you said experiences are stepping stones. 


You view life as opportunities to grow. So you're looking at this experience and you're going to get some pretty significant benefits from it. 


It's going to take your business in sort of a different direction. Tell us about that. So life. I was doing deep tissue, deep tissue, deep tissue, you know, and people love deep tissue. 


But I wasn't seeing at that time and I was taking all kinds of classes for myofascial and doing all this stuff. 


Then with the brain surgery, people weren't healing. And then I got into doing more myofascial release. So there's an infinite web because... scar tissue webs. So I was like, why am I not healing? 


And how can I help other people? We talked about that before too, that you have a servant heart. So you want to help other people. I want to help other people. And I still do. One lady just said recently, I never heard this say, she goes, you are the body whisperer. 


I've gone to other therapists. I was like, oh, I'm like, well, I don't think of myself that way. I'm just trying to help you. She goes, no, I feel amazing. So when people weren't healing from any surgery, just not mine, but from any surgery, I started taking more classes and going to more symposiums. 


And then I got into something called cranial sacral to balance the cranial and find out what's going on with people with jaw surgery, with ears being dysfunctioned and even kids with autism. 


I didn't know that that It was even a thing. I know about deep tissue massages. I know about spa relaxation sort of massages. But until I met you, I didn't realize how therapeutic massage therapy can be for healing. 


Yes, yes. So I've reached a point that I wasn't getting healthy. And again, I believe a lot. and God and the faith, and you are where you're supposed to be. 


I was taking this class called Jin Shin Jitsu. It's not a massage. You're holding two different parts of the body, and it balances you from, and it works on your organs, it works on your brain. 


And I was getting headaches again, and I'm like, I never get headaches. So I started doing that, balancing the body so it would work. Okay, so during this time period, you are learning about new massage therapy techniques because it's helping you. 


Yes. And you take that into your next chapter of your business. Yes. You also at this time are taking agency, really. I mean, and being an advocate, as you said, for your own health, you're realizing that what you were doing wasn't working. 


You are persistent that there's some sort of treatment out there to help you get better, which again, for people who are listening, you have, as far as I know, zero residual effects from having this aneurysm when you were 37. 


Is that correct? That is correct. You're pretty amazing that you... you stayed after it so that you could heal. You've learned to become a big advocate for yourself, which again is going to help you in another chapter of your life. 


How do you think this experience changed the way you viewed life? You know, it goes back to when I took the anatomy and physiology class. 


Your body's a temple. It can last you a lifetime if you treat it right. But if you don't treat it right, it's not going to. But even if you treat it right, sometimes things happen. 


I keep up on my body because there's all kinds of things that can go wrong. But being an advocate, you have to say, I got this and I can get over this. 


It can mean making adjustments in your life. You know. Lifestyle. Very much a lifestyle. I guess what I would say taking back is that just be more connected with your body. 


And if you're not happy with the doctor, find somebody who listens. Going back to the idea that you look at all situations, all experiences as stepping stones. 


What do you think were some of the benefits of of having gone through this experience? A positive attitude, grit, self-discovery on who you really are and what you're made of. 


It connects me to a bunch of people that have gone through this and aren't getting well. From my experience, I'm grateful it happened because it makes me look at life so much different. 


I used to see life in color. Well, after the aneurysm, I don't. I don't see vivid anymore. So I have to create that color in different ways. And that goes back to experience. 


So I have to have experiences that are vivid. I love that. So you are creating experiences and creating your own vividness. I can see that because you're all about experiences. 


I am. If I'm not working, I'm networking. I have fun wherever I go. If not, I create fun. I like to meet people. I'm a people person. One time you said to me, life is a collection of experiences. 


Now I understand why you say that. Yeah. Well, it sounds like your aneurysm wasn't just a brush with death, but A realization, a reminder of what truly, truly matters in life. 


Well, you've got to find your why in life. You have to find your why. Every day is a why. Well, I want to thank you again for sharing this chapter of your life. 


If somebody wants to get a hold of you or reach out to you and ask you about your experience or the massage therapy, tell us the name of your business. 


So my old business's name is Gratitude Solutions because I think there is a solution for everything. 


I love that. Gratitude Solutions. Gratitude Solutions. But you're in the process of rebranding. I am rebranding because I realized that I'm a squirrel. 


So I want to give you the vivid picture of a squirrel going down the highway in a real cute sports car with sunglasses on. 


And just letting the wind flow through the hair and dropping all kinds of nuts everywhere. I love that you talk about the squirrel because I know we've talked several times about doing this show. 


And I'm like, we're going to have to really focus on staying on topic. People say, I love the idea you gave me. And I said, I hope you wrote it down because I have a squirrel brain. 


I said, you realize I plan a lot of nuts, but you know, you have to take notes. Well, and I love that about you that you'll just go in the moment too. 


Yeah. because you've realized from some of these experiences that life is short. Let's just live in the moment. So today you're rebranding as Traveling Squirrel Girl. 


Just remember, we're traveling all over the place. I am a squirrel, and I am definitely a girl. Well, we're going to drop all of that information in the show notes. 


You've been so wonderful, having been on the show before, on the show now, and then later in the season, you're going to be on the show again. 


So in the next chapter of Sam's Life, we're going to explore later life challenges, including... your flooding of your home during Hurricane Harvey. 


We hope you join us for the next chapter of Sam's life. So thanks, Sam. Thank you. Sam's experience reminds us that even in life's most fragile moments, there's room for growth, grace, and gratitude. 


Thanks for spending some time with us today. We look forward to connecting with you next week as we continue exploring stories of transformation. 


Thanks for joining us on the Monomyth Diaries. If this episode resonates with you or someone you know, We'd love for you to share it and spread the inspiration. 


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It helps us reach more people with stories of transformation and growth. You can visit us at monomythdiaries.com or text us directly from the show notes to reach out and keep the conversations going. 


Until next time, heroes, let's journey together through our monomyths