Stories that inspire

I am so inspired! I just read the story of Edith Sundby outsmarting stage IV cancer, living five years beyond what she was told she could and not just living but thriving. Her story appears in the December 2012/January 2013 issue of AARP: The Magazine.

Sundby says that it takes several different things to survive a disease that keeps coming back in different parts of her body—and to thrive. There is no magic bullet. She credits so many things. "It's not just yoga, prayer, chemotherapy, the doctor, nor thinking positive thoughts," she says. Certainly, those are important to her healing, she will admit. But she knows it's much more, too.

This brave woman also says that she is so aware of even the smallest blessings in her life. "With cancer, life takes on new awareness. Everything becomes more precious—our time, family, friends, faith and even work. Cancer has allowed me to make peace."

Sundby says she fights to stay alive "not because I fear death but because I love life." She is thankful for every day of life and adds, "... I'm alive today, this minute. And that's pretty much what we all have—this day, this moment." Yes, oh, yes!

Can you see why I'm inspired after reading her story? The stories of others can inspire us and spur us on to our own moments of transformation. They aren't always as dramatic as Edith Sundby's. But they are still real and meaningful. Look around you today. Who inspires you? What stories make you want to keep trying and keep going? What in your own story reminds you that you've experienced transformation before and you will again? Whatever you face, you do have what it takes to walk that journey—especially if you don't try to do it all alone.

Let's share our stories. They really do make a difference. To others. And to us!