Hope is a powerful force that keeps us moving forward even in the face of life’s greatest challenges. In this episode, I am honored to welcome Patricia Pinchinat, a woman whose journey of resilience, transformation, and self-discovery is nothing short of inspiring. From overcoming life-altering health battles to redefining self-care and boundaries, Patricia shares her raw and deeply personal experiences with honesty and strength. We explore the lessons she’s learned, the power of saying no, and the importance of truly living life. This soul-stirring conversation will leave you igniting a fire within to live a life that’s truly, vibrantly yours. I am sharing my experience of loving the same man for 32 years, a mother to two adult children, a retired military officer, a breast cancer survivor, and my connections with others. Anyone experiencing suicidal thoughts should reach out to a suicide hotline or local emergency number in their country: Psychology Today Suicide Hotlines and Prevention Resources Around the World\ — Watch the episode here   Listen to the podcast here   Unbreakable Hope: A Journey Of Resilience And Inspiration With Patricia Pinchinat Trish is our guest. She’s not a widow, but she has been through some things. What you’re going to learn is about the power of no, the power of setting boundaries, the real concept of self-care, and a lot more. Let’s get into this conversation.     Trish, welcome to the widowhood. Thank you so much for having me. It is such an honor to have this invitation and to open up my voice to your audience. I don’t take lightly that you asked me to share your platform with you. I am honored and I am blessed. Thank you so much. In widowhood, we often talk about grief is not limited to the passing of our spouse. My guest, who is about to be your new BFF, is going to share her lived experience. The reason why invited Trish here, she’s somebody else I found on TikTok, and watching her share her journey, doing a TikTok live with her, her passion to empower people, especially women, just drew her to this space. We need spaces that are not actually embedded in our community because that voice can resonate. I know the things that Trish is going to share about her personal journey, her resilience, and the things that she’s overcome. You’re going to be able to take a piece of that and incorporate it into your life. Her voice, my desire, will ring in your ear when you think like maybe, “I don’t know if I can do this,” and go, “Trish was able to push through.” That’s why I wanted her to be in this space, to be able to share. Trish, what is your favorite color? My favorite color is purple, but my favorite color to wear is actually black. I always say, “Black is easy and it makes me look thinner.” I found out from my daughter that when you wear a lot of black clothing, you’re actually hiding behind something. I wear 90% of my wardrobe is black, but purple is my all-time favorite color. I did not know about the concept. When you heard that, what was your immediate thought? It immediately resonated with me because since going through my process of all the illnesses and everything, I have joined therapy and she has also joined therapy. She found this out from her therapist, but it immediately resonated with me that it is actually a cover. I say that it’s easy and it makes me look thinner, but I’m actually trying to cover up and hide my body or it’s something. Immediately, it made sense. Will I start to wear more colors? I don’t know. You saw me leaning into that next question. Thank you for helping me out with that. I don’t know. Overcoming Health Battles And Finding Strength You said all of your illnesses. What does that look like for you? In November of 2022, I woke up at 4:00 AM. I was transported to the hospital and ended up having a massive heart attack in the hospital that day, followed by four days later, open heart surgery. I had a quadruple bypass where 90% of the four major arteries in my heart were blocked. I could have passed away any moment had I not gotten to the hospital. That’s how serious it was. While I was there to make sure that your body is prepared for surgery, they do a plethora of tests and they scan your whole body and they do all those things. That’s when they found a nodule on my thyroid and they found a cyst on my liver. They allowed me to heal from the heart attack and the open heart surgery. They did liver biopsies and all that stuff. Everything with my liver came back okay. I went and my thyroid, they were like, “We’re just going to watch it.” I had a biopsy and there were some abnormal cells, but they said it was nothing to worry about and we just watched it. I went back to the endocrinologist and she said, “This is really pressing on your voice box and your esophagus. We need to get this out.” When they went in to take out the right side and they biopsied that when it went to pathology, it came back with two forms of cancer. One is aggressive, which is called hurthle cell carcinoma. It typically starts in the thyroid, but once they remove the thyroid, it can reoccur in your esophagus, your lungs, or your stomach. I’ll be getting scans for the next 2 years every 3 months. After 2 years, it goes to 6 months. After year five, it’ll be once a year. First of all, I know you rattled all of that off like somebody reading a resume. That’s my new resume. That’s my new elevator speech. The Power Of Having A Voice There’s a lot