Sakura, Sikhi & Strength
Welcome to Sakura, Sikhi & Strength - a podcast about finding strength in the space between cultures and thriving through life's constant changes. I'm Asees Sethi Anand, your host, and as someone born in Japan, raised in Los Angeles, educated globally and now living in New York City, I understand what it means to navigate life between worlds. This podcast is for anyone building careers, starting families, caring for loved ones, and writing their own definition of success - all while honoring the beautiful complexity of multicultural identity. Whether you're a third-culture kid, second-generation immigrant, or simply someone who feels caught between cultures, this show is your space to feel seen, understood, and empowered. Join me for honest conversations about resilience, growth, and finding your strength in the spaces that make you uniquely you.
New episodes coming weekly. Subscribe now so you don't miss a single story.
Connect with me:
Instagram: @sakurasikhistrength
Email: hello@sakurasikhistrength.com
Sakura, Sikhi & Strength
Episode 12: Beyond the Diagnosis - Playing the Long Game with MS
After 15 years of privacy, I'm sharing something deeply personal - my journey with multiple sclerosis. At 26, five months into marriage everything changed with a diagnosis that would reshape how I understood strength, planning, and what it means to build a life when the rules suddenly shift.
Joined by Dr. Stephen Krieger, neurologist at Mount Sinai at the Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for MS who has walked this entire journey with me, we explore what it means to build a meaningful life rather than allowing a diagnosis to rewrite your definition of what's possible. The conversation covers mindset shifts that transform how you approach uncertainty, the strategic decisions behind disclosure timing, and why sometimes the greatest courage comes from asking "why not me?" instead of "why me?"
Key themes explored:
- The transformative mindset shift from "why me?" to "why not me?"
- How family foundations prepare us for challenges we never expected
- The strategic importance of choosing when and how to share health information
- Why asking the right questions in crisis moments provides clarity and direction
- Modern MS treatment evolution and genuine hope for newly diagnosed patients
- Building sustainable success that accommodates health realities without compromising ambition
- The art of playing the long game when chronic illness changes your rules but not your dreams
Essential insight: Strength isn't about never falling down - it's about getting back up again and again, choosing to keep playing the long game even when you don't know all the rules.
This episode is especially relevant for anyone navigating health challenges, chronic illness, or profound uncertainty about the future. It demonstrates that you can achieve everything you set out to do professionally and personally - not in spite of chronic illness, but alongside it.
The bottom line: Sometimes the greatest strength comes from protecting others even in our own difficult moments, choosing perspective over self-pity, and building meaningful lives with both realism and hope.
Connect with Sakura, Sikhi & Strength 🌸☬️💪:
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Instagram: @sakurasikhistrength
Tiktok: @sakurasikhistrength
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@sakurasikhistrength
Send your thoughts: hello@sakurasikhistrength.com
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