What If Healing Requires Celebration

Chemo ending is supposed to feel like a clean finish line, but what happens when your body is still nauseous, your energy is gone, and your mind keeps whispering “what if it comes back?” I’m sharing a milestone I didn’t know how I’d reach: I’m finished with chemotherapy, and I’m telling the truth about what comes after the last infusion. Not just the physical side effects like fatigue, pain, night sweats, and not recognizing yourself in the mirror, but the emotional aftermath that can hit even harder once survival mode finally shuts off. 

We talk about the fear of recurrence and the anxiety that steals sleep, the kind of stress that makes your imagination feel like reality. I also share what helped me stay grounded: naming this season for what it is, letting my spirit catch up with my body, and choosing a slower kind of strength built on resilience, surrender, and nervous system regulation. If you’re in breast cancer recovery or supporting someone who is, you’ll hear language for the feelings that rarely get airtime. 

Another thread running through everything is learning to receive. I’ve spent years being the one who holds it all together, and chemo forced a different lesson: community care is not a luxury, it’s part of healing. We also dig into why celebration matters, especially for people who power through hard things and move on too fast. I’ll walk you through a simple self-celebration practice you can try today, then I’ll invite you to share your story because it might be someone else’s survival guide. 

If this resonated, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs it, and leave a review so more people can find it when they’re in their own hard season.

Transcript

Breath And Big News

Dora 0:05

Hey hey Mijita, take a deep breath with me real quick. Because this episode, this one is different. This isn't just another conversation. This is a moment. A moment I didn't know how I would get to. Because today I can finally say this out loud. I am finished with chemo. And I don't even know if uh if finished is the right word. Because if you've ever gone through something hard, something that stretches you, breaks you, humbles you, you know. You don't just finish it, you become someone else through it. So grab your cafecito, tecito, beverage of choice, and join me for today's episode on this journey and this monumental milestone that I've reached, which is finishing the chemo. Alright, so let me take you back because chemo wasn't just about appointments, it wasn't just about sitting in that chair. Although my medical facility, cancer center, opened up a whole new wing, um, the last two infusions, and I got to enjoy massage chairs and the snacks and the beverages and stuff, and that's where I got introduced to Chai Lattes. Um, and it wasn't just the IVs and the medication and the side effects, it was the fatigue that just hit out of nowhere. And as I'm sitting here recording this, I am still having nausea. Like I had a chemo on Friday, May 1st of 2026. And I am sitting here recording this in Mexico, Los Cabos, and I'm in a spiritual retreat. So I am feeling nausea, and there's moments where my body doesn't feel like my own. And I'm celebrating this with you because I've been working so hard in the mirror. I'm not recognizing the woman looking back at me. Like this is such a various different experience. There's so many things physically that are happening to me. Like my hands are getting darker, my hair is nowhere to be found. There's very little hair on my head, my eyebrows, no joke. I have no eyelashes. Um and I'm still showing up. I'm still showing up. And I've really pushed myself to go to the gym, to do all the things, but physically, that's where I'm here. But mentally, emotionally, and let's just say spiritually, I'm in a whole nother place. Because I can finally breathe. I can finally say I'm done with this phase of my life, the chemo, the pruning, the process, that physical part of it. But what people don't always see is the emotional chemo. The anxiety I've had for the past three weeks, ever since the oncologist told me that the recurrence of the breast cancer coming back happens within the first five years. That had me, that kind of destroyed me, not gonna joke. Um, I ended up getting super anxious, I wouldn't sleep, the nausea because of the anxiety, the fear, the breaking down, the emotional roller coaster, the what if it does come back conversations with my husband, and sobbing in his arms, the nights where your mind won't let you rest, and like insomnia kind of creeps in. And yet there was also something else growing in me. Something quiet, something powerful, which has been resilience, the faith, and the surrender, the surrendering to this process, the surrendering to what does life have to unfold for me? And that's where I'm at a place where I'm so open to receiving. And when I had the opportunity to book this trip right after my chemo, I'm like, I'm doing it. Fuck it, I'm doing it. And feeling was a little not on board like everybody else in my van because, of course, I'm going through side effects and symptoms and all that. But I'm so happy I gave myself this gift of being able to be with myself, to celebrate, to be going through the motions and overcoming such a huge, huge finish line. And again, this is only one piece of the puzzle because I still have more treatment to do, but at least the chemo part, we got that down. Here's the part no one really prepares you for. When you're in survival mode, you don't have time to feel everything. You just go, like it's go, go, go. You're so entrenched with like life in general, of balancing your career, your family, everybody's needs, appointment after appointment, day after day, that you become strong because you have to. Now that this chemo is over, now that I'm here, there's this moment of like, what the fuck just happened? Because it's almost like your body is trying to catch up, and my body has been going through it, like I the fatigue, meaning like bone pain, muscle pain, all the pain. And then the heart is trying to catch up. And my spirit is finally like, can we process this now? Like, it's been quite the roller coaster ride, especially with all the emotions, and it can feel like the shock of this is another effect that's happening, or like emotion out of nowhere, like a bull kind of hitting me from the side, like sideswiping. The relief that I feel that I'm finally done. The gratitude that I have for all those people that have been praying and asking, um, following up with me, texting me, and that sadness also that comes in with like, damn, that was hard. That was difficult. And it was also difficult for my family to see me in a position, like feeling the feelings, my body, especially with my mom. And when I remember when the oncologist told me about that whole five-year thing, like I just broke down with my mom one day. She came over, and and that's where having that sadness, but then also having that ability for my mom to soothe me, and all these emotions happening at the same time. And if you're listening to this and you've gone through something hard, and of course, maybe not chemo, but it's your own version of a desert, and so symbolic because here in Cabo, it's a desert, but it's beautiful. There's the ocean, there's the freedom, the spirit. And in this desert, it's like hot, but it can be cold at night, right? It's like it changes so drastically. I feel like that's how my body is going because I have like night sweats and stuff. But it's like you don't know how to prepare. You might know exactly what I'm talking about. This desert that you're going through, where you're just trying to navigate all the emotions, all the things that are coming at you, and you're just walking through it. And you might see stuff that you might not really see. You get what I mean? Like your reality is your reality, your perspective is your perspective. There is no right or wrong. Because the mind doesn't know what to differentiate between reality and imagination. And so we create our life, we create what we want to see, the mirages, right, in the desert. Because this was such a desert season for me, and I I know some of you are going through it, let's dig a little deeper into it. And I know some of you right now, this is your own desert. So let's ask ourselves where things feel dry, where you're tired, where you've been questioning everything. And really ponder about those things. Because it's sandy, it's messy, you know, like the sand kind of gets everywhere. But let me tell you something. The desert doesn't come to break you, it just comes to strip you of the expectations, of the control, stripping you of that identity you thought you had to be. So then you can meet yourself. And that's what this journey did for me. This slowed me down so much that I needed to embody everything that I've been learning through so many years of practicing, like various modalities, like knowing getting to know myself, regulating my nervous system, all the conditioning and the limiting beliefs, the fear that I had to be myself, the self-sacrificing because I had to like cater to others, the people pleasing because I always thought that everybody came first. So besides it slowing me down, it humbled me to receive the love and the support, to receive the celebration in and of itself right now. It reminded me that I don't have to do everything alone, that I have people in my corner, and they're very curated, curated people because they're so significant in my life. They each one of these people play a role that they're able to mirror or show me what it is that I'm here to do, and to pep me up when I'm down, when I'm having a bad day. And those are the people that over time you get to know, or you get to have a season with them in your life. But for me, this was a big sense of community, of building a community, of knowing that I am a person that's building a community and a safe space to talk about all these things that have been on my mind for so many years. Well, definitely the biggest curve, learning curve, has been learning to receive that part. That part has been hard because I've always been that strong one, the one that people go to that can figure it out that oh, there's a problem and problema, let's just call Dora, or let's just, you know, she can figure it out. And I do have that trust and faith in myself, and so many others do too. And like being that caretaker, the one that's holding everything together, not only at home, but like everywhere I go in communities and things, like there's so much space that I can hold. But with this chemo, oof, chemo just said, no, not this time. With chemo, it was the like it's just something just flipped where I needed this time was going to be to receive. And there's so many ways that I've received. Again, abundance comes in so many ways, and sometimes I would cut myself off because I would often like think manifestation, abundance, all those things, or were money, but no, like it doesn't come like that necessarily. It came with the meals, it came with messages, with prayers, and so much love, so much love being transmitted at a whole nother level from my family. Um, I talk about my mom, about my husband, and all the shifts that he's making in his life for himself, but then also for like the betterment of our family, my kiddos. Like, again, when I lost my hair and my 15-year-old held me and embraced me in his arms and just told me, mommy, that's gonna be okay. Like, you're gonna be fine, and just like held me. That, oh my gosh, just melted my heart. And let me just tell you, that kind of receiving it changes you to the bone, literally, because you realize that you were never meant to carry it all alone, and that's where having all these people around me, these are all the seeds that I've planted for years and years of all the various things that you know, that unconditional love. And that's where having the love and compassion for others, like having that reciprocated and being able to receive, is such a gift, such a gift that I, for so many years, had shut myself out. Like I was not ready to receive. I had the capacity to hold others, but for some reason I was cutting myself off from that from that own supply of that love and unconditional support. And this is where I want to pause. Because this is the part we skip. We go through something so fucking hard. We go through twists and turns and the whole shebang. We survive it. And then what do we do? We move on, like nothing happened. Like, okay, what's next? And that's the energy I've always been in is just keep going. Like, okay, we're done. Okay, what's next? Like, no break, no nothing, no pause, no acknowledgement, and especially no celebration. And being Mexican, like I love parties, we've loved parties growing up and all, but for some reason, like we don't celebrate ourselves. But I'm here to tell you celebration is part of healing, not just big celebrations, but the quiet ones too. Sitting with yourself and saying, I did that, I made it through. I didn't give up. And even when it was hard, even when you didn't know how you were gonna get there and in what conditions you were gonna get there, like that's huge. And today, that's what I'm doing. I'm allowing myself to celebrate not just the outcome, but the woman I became, the woman that was like learning throughout this process of how to receive, of how to love myself even more, of being able to like push myself to work out and go through all the motions and work on all the things I needed to work on, such as like my offerings and my business, but then also working and being a mommy and being a daughter and a wifey and a friend and a caretaker and all the things. But it was all because I wanted to be that version of myself and show up every single day. Because I wear so many hats, and we do wear so many hats throughout the day, and gifting myself like an experience of looking forward to this trip to Kao as I'm speaking to you right now and recording this, it's like having that, like tasting the victory of like, yeah, we got this. We shut this chemo thing down, we made it through, um, bald and everything, no hair. Um, but it's like such a celebratory thing to look at myself in the mirror and know that I am not the same version that I started off in this journey. So if you're still with me listening to this, I want to invite you into something. Ask yourself, what have I made it through? Like recently, a challenge, something huge, or it could be small. I mean, there's no right or wrong here, and I don't want you to minimize it. Don't brush it past it, don't say uh it wasn't a big thing, it wasn't a big deal. Because if it changed you, it mattered. Now, here's how you can celebrate yourself. I want you to sit with it that oh that thing you overcame, the challenge, and let it land. Let yourself feel it. Speak it out loud. I'm proud of myself. Next, I want you to honor your body. Your body carried you through more than you realize. Your body is such a sacred space that it knows exactly what it needs to do to bounce back. It's such a smart, it's like the smartest thing ever. Super intelligent. And sometimes we underestimate it. So nerd like hug yourself, embrace yourself because it has done so much for you to carry you through that finish line. Next, do something intentional. You can have something like light a candle, or you can treat yourself to dinner, take yourself somewhere meaningful, or it could be taking that stroll, somewhere a special place. And I want to challenge you to share your story because your story is someone else's survival guide. It is so important, all the various things that we share, because we never know who we're gonna serve with our story. Someone might be going through a similar situation, or I often love to learn from experiences of others and not necessarily go through them myself. And most importantly, don't rush into the next thing. You don't have to jump into what's next right away. You're allowed to be here in the present moment and be all of you in this space, in this time. And I go ahead and celebrate you for showing up for yourself and honoring where you're at at this given point in time, and all those things that you have accomplished. Because I know you you've been accomplishing so much and kicking ass in this life. And you learn, you learn, and you brush yourself off and get up and do it again and ready for more. For everything you've been through, for everything you've carried, for everything you're still showing up for. And if you're in the desert right now, keep going. Because there will come a day where you sit exactly where I'm sitting today, and you say, I made it through. And when that day comes, don't skip the celebration. Because you deserve to feel it, embrace it. And own it, all of it. If this episode spoke to you, share with someone you who needs it. And if you're ready to go deeper, I invite you to come join me inside the Ai Mijita Collective, where we don't just survive, we heal, we grow, and we come back home to ourselves. Embrace your raises, reclaim your essential. I love you so much, and thank you for celebrating this all with me. Just a big sigh. And sending you a big, big hug and a kiss. Until next time. Talk next week.