Hello, I am Veronica, aka Your Badass Belief Coach!
On September 23, 2016, I was diagnosed with an “incurable” metastatic Stage 4 Lung Cancer. I had 1.6 litres of fluid in my right lung, and tumors metastasized on my chest, pelvis, and abdomen. According to my oncologist, the next place would have been my beautiful brain.
But, believe it or not, cancer was the best thing that ever happened to me…
When I declare that cancer was the best thing that happened to me, I genuinely mean this. I believe that everything that happened in the process after my diagnosis paved the way to my new life of fulfillment. I am alive today so that I can share the grace, lessons, and blessings that cancer has taught me. I chose to live, and chose to have my pain, struggles, and sufferings empower and transform me — mentally, emotionally, and physically. This disease gave me the gift of knowing myself, loving myself, and sharing myself with others in a profound way. I didn’t just decide to live. This time, I chose a well-intentioned, conscious life. I decided to live my message, The Grace of Cancer!
“We need to stop being scared of our pain. We will never heal if we do not do this work.” — Buddha
As we all know, greatness never comes without pain. Why not learn from the pain and suffering and use it to fuel us? It’s time we change the way we see pain. Rather than being fearful of it, let’s use pain to inspire us, to seek our truth, uncover our purpose, and expand our minds.
Mark Twain said it beautifully: “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”
The journey to discovering my own greatness started with me having a strong and undeniable desire to LIVE, a strong purpose, and a tribe of like-minded people to support me. Grateful for my new life, and with the grace of cancer, I now understand that — aside from knowing my authentic self — a life of fulfillment is only possible when I accept that life isn’t just about me, but about helping and serving others. My role is to help bring out your greatness. It is time to allow our experiences to develop and transform us.
We all have the choice to truly live a meaningful life. I can say I am alive because I am finally the person I am meant to be… and that’s the best version yet.
I lost my own father in a plane crash when I was seven years old. I heard the news on the radio on the way to school in the Philippines. Even though he didn’t disappear on purpose, I felt a huge sense of abandonment. I also didn’t have a good reference point for being a good mother; my mom only said “no” to me, so I only said “yes” to my children. My only goal was to be the best mom I could be. I thought that leaving my marriage would lower my score on being the “best mom.” In the end, I loved my children so much that I wanted everything to be perfect for them. Trying to be this perfect mother while my heart was aching was one of the hardest roles I have ever played in my life. I stayed in my marriage thinking it was the best thing for my children, that I was showing them commitment and loyalty, but actually, it created more trauma. It hurt them, but it hurt me too — I made myself sick, and did the biggest damage to myself. I believe this is what triggered the cancer.
The problem was that I never fully understood what being healthy meant. My misguided ticket to never being sick was over-exercising and eating right. I ate fairly well and cooked five days a week. I did not drink or do drugs like so many other people. How could I be sick?
Clearly, I had missed the connection between the mind and body. The way you live your life and the thoughts you think have a huge impact on your internal health, which I never realized. By living in a stressful and unhappy state for so many years, I had created a disease in my body. Although, I did the right things for my physical appearance, I was damaging myself internally.
When I look back, all of my efforts for others were exhausting! We all think we’re supposed to be a certain way, because that’s how we were raised. We can hide our pain so well. Now, I want to empower women to understand the warning signs that appear in their bodies, intuition, and hearts.
Disease has no discrimination between age, culture, status, or religion. All women can go through a suppression of their bodies and feelings. It’s time for us to recognize how and why we’ve been suppressing ourselves, step out of it, and plant the seeds for our children.
I have a deep belief ingrained in my body that I want to share with the world: believe in yourself. True belief starts with you, and spreads to everyone around you. I believe that God and the Universe are constantly conspiring to make your life beautiful and alive, but it starts with belief in yourself, empowered thinking, commitment to learning, and surrounding yourself with people who support you. Everyone has the capacity to learn to grow from the pain in their lives.
As a 53-year old woman, I think it’s incredible that I get to reinvent and rebuild myself, my identity, and my body. It’s just like packing for a trip — look at your future like an empty suitcase, and ask yourself: “What do I take with me to my new life? Who comes with me? What do I bring?” Pack with intention, and don’t bring any insecurities or fears.
Everything I do goes back to the basics: eating nutrient dense food, surrounding yourself with people who lift you up, creating a toxin-free internal and external environment, and feeding and expanding your mind and soul.
Since being diagnosed with cancer in September of 2016, I have been coaching and supporting others through their healing and health journeys. Coaching fell into my lap when my doctors referred their patients to me, and when people I knew began giving out my phone number to other people.
I became obsessed with the subject of cancer, and anything to do with optimal health: from being diagnosed, to exploration, to mastery — first for myself, and now, helping other people with the information and experience I have acquired.
We need to replace impossible with possible. When someone tells you that you have a terminal disease, no matter what stage it’s at, your default thought is, “I’m going to die.” I want to be a pioneer who says cancer is curable. Join me in this cancer revolution!
I want to inspire women to be there for themselves and for other women. To listen to their own stories and speak their truth, even if it ruffles a few feathers. I feel a responsibility to tell my story - to inspire women to expose themselves, shed their layers, and be vulnerable. This act of courage is essential to healing and reinventing yourself. Let our stories be a teaching tool for others.
My core values.
Believe. Believe in yourself. Believe in a higher power: God and the Universe, and trust their help, guidance, support, and signs. Surround yourself with people who believe in you. Have faith that you will evolve, blossom, and become who you are meant and desire to be. Commit that you’ll be alert and aware, and will connect the dots when you are graced with blessings.
Love. Bring love to all that you do, and trust that it truly can heal anything. Fall in love with yourself, honour your feelings, and prioritize your needs… because the greatest act of love is self-love.
Authenticity. Choose to live in alignment with your authentic self, and take the time to discover the person you are meant to be. Seek new experiences and opportunities for growth while trusting your intuition. Embrace your vulnerability and uniqueness, even when it’s controversial.
Responsibility. True healing begins with accountability. Take responsibility for the decisions and the life that you have created. Remain truthful to yourself - listen to your body, intuition, and honor those messages. LIVE your message.
Courage. True belief, love, authenticity, and responsibility takes great courage. It’s important to be brave, to keep going even when life brings you fears and challenges. “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage.” - Anais Nin
Life can be filled with struggles, but if you see them as opportunities to grow, then you will find purpose. When I was diagnosed with cancer, I didn’t see it as God or the Universe punishing me for something terrible I did in the past. My automatic default was: Okay, there’s a reason why this happened; there is a lesson to be learned. I have an opportunity to transform this into something positive. God never gives you anything you can’t handle, and there is always beauty to be found in your pain.
I’ve found happiness through all of this, so I believe you can too. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel. My experiences have been almost unbearable at times, but they have made me stronger. Now, I do not take anything for granted. My life is full - I am here to share my message, to show that I live my message, and to inspire people to lean in and find their truth, purpose, and strengths. This is essential to true, authentic happiness.