Radical Transformation in the Face of Adversary - A Replay with Shannon Donohoe-Simpson

Season 2 finale we kick off with a replay, a visit back to my first guest interview, the inaugral episode featuring Shannon Donahoe-Simpson.

Shannon is a cancer survivor and lifelong people pleaser who embarked on a transformative journey of radical self-acceptance, self-love, and self-responsibility.  Her story highlights how she connected the dots between her trauma, health, and lifelong habits to find healing. Over time, she evolved out of her past projects geared around nutrition and youth empowerment into becoming a highly-sought after TEDx speaker and heart-centered facilitator.

Her transformation led to profound personal changes, including the end of her marriage, and a deepened commitment to helping others through her ongoing social media series Toolbox Tuesday and hosting women's circles, retreats, and empowerment gatherings. 

Emphasizing the importance of speaking one's truth, Shannon encourages listeners to live authentically and prioritize self-care. This episode embodies the themes of rebirth, transformation, and infinite potential, symbolically released as episode 88 in in 2025, a nine year - the number that symbolizes master transformation.  
Connect:

• Shannon's journey and offerings online at shannondonohoesimpson.com, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn

References:

• Toolbox Tuesdays
• Watch her inspirational TEDx talk
• Read her story in The Collective Magazine
• Book mentioned: When the Body Says No by ⁠Dr. Gabor Maté (not an affiliate link)

I would love it if you could support the show. Go into the show notes and click on the button where you read "support the show." You have the option to donate monthly, $3, 5, 8, 10. Be a loyal supporter for as long as you want with recurring fee as little of three as $3 a month, and opt out at any time. Each investment goes directly back into producing episodes with even better content, improved audio quality, and we'll go a long way in bringing great guests onto the show.

Chapters

• 0:00 Shannon Donohoe-Simpson
• 0:13 Revisiting Shannon's Journey
• 0:57 Shannon's Transformation and New Opportunities
• 1:51 Significance of Episode 88
• 3:40 Conversation with Shannon Begins
• 43:45 Closing Remarks and Season Three Teaser

Transcript

 Welcome back to the Menopause Disruptor Podcast, and today I'm bringing you something extra special to close out season two. 

We are circling back to my very first episode from October, 2023 with the incredible Shannon Donahoe-Simpson, a woman whose story continues to unfold with courage, vulnerability, and deep transformation.

 When we first released this episode, Shannon shared her journey as a cancer survivor and lifelong people pleaser, who spent years putting everyone else first. It wasn't until she began connecting the dots between her childhood, her trauma, and her health, that she realized how much she had been carrying and how much it was costing her.

That awakening set her on a path to healing. Even when it meant letting go of people she loved most. 

Since then, Shannon's transformation has only deepened the project she was working on at the time, have shifted into even greater opportunities, proof that when we're brave enough to share our stories, life meets us with doors wide open.

Her soul journey has led to profound personal changes including the end of her marriage. And yet through the loss, Shannon has discovered even more joy and freedom in her calling, helping and healing others. Today, Shannon stands as a heart center facilitator, a TEDx speaker, a storyteller, and a self-described joy bringer.

She creates spaces for connection and courage where people can move from their heads into their hearts And through her long running series Toolbox Tuesday, women's circles, retreats and empowerment gatherings, she continues to inspire people to keep their hearts wide open, even in the face of challenge.

I chose to re-release this episode, episode 88, a number that holds deep significance. Eight is the master mother number. And two eight side by side are twin infinity symbols,

And the infinity symbol represents eternity continuity and boundless possibilities. It's a closed loop with no beginning or end reminding us of cycles, life, death, marriage, divorce, rebirth, endings and beginnings. And spiritually, it reflects oneness and interconnectedness. Everything is part of the same flow.

Interestingly with twin infinity symbols, two infinity symbols side by side. Together, they symbolize balance and harmony and duality the inner and the outer, the feminine, the masculine, the physical, the spiritual, the human, the divine. And it carries a sense of mirroring your inner world reflected in your outer world.

88 is often seen as a gateway number or a portal stepping into higher consciousness, deeper transformation, and infinite potential. You'll see why this episode is so apropos for episode 88. 

and in 2025 a year transformation, a nine year. We've just passed through the 9 9 9 portal, a portal of endings and new beginnings, and Shannon embodies this energy.

She reminds us that as projects fall away and as relationships fall apart And as the flames continue to test our resilience, what emerges is often something more powerful, more aligned, and more true to our soul. So let's return to where this podcast began with a story of courage, healing, and joy.

Here is an abridged Version of the original conversation with Shannon. 

Shannon, Shannon. It's such a delight. Okay, I'll tell you something. When I was going through. the amazing people that have crossed my path through different avenues, whether it's in the online, the virtual space, meeting people in different face groups, Facebook groups, or digital courses online.

I just kept thinking about some interesting people and I've been spending a lot more time than I would've expected ever on Facebook. It's something I didn't like to do. Talking about self-esteem issues, right? And then I saw a post of yours and I felt inclined, like there was this pull on my heart. 

You need to talk to Shannon. You, you have to reach out to Shannon. Now, there was a time in my life that I would discard those little inklings and think, Ugh, it means nothing. But now I am at a place in my life where I don't discard those things. Those are little signs I swear from the universe reaching out, saying, and there's something here for you. So act on it. And now here you are. I love that we're reconnecting. For our listeners, Shannon and I live in the same region of the Comox Valley and our paths crossed With the school district.

 it was the salad bar, lunch program, and all the things that you have done, the amazing work that you've done, educating children on smart food choices in nutrition. And how engaged and excited they get when, 'cause I was there one day taking pictures and watching this all unfold, and the excitement on their faces when you would lead that group.

You are a person who's really true to your word. When you say self care is the best care and your journey, you're so raw, you're so real. This is exactly what I want the listeners and I wanna connect with to hear is that there's so much vulnerability in putting yourself out there.

And yet the courage that we get to stand in our truth. And to speak our truth. Shannon, you are doing it in spades. So I listened to your last toolbox Tuesday. And the last one was quite profound and it was really heartfelt. I'm sure most of them are.

But this one, when you talked about you just have this deep need to connect, we all can relate to that. one of this, the victims of menopause transition is self-esteem can go, even if strong women who had it before no longer see themselves in that role as being strong because they're faced with this person who's different.

But when I heard you say that it was so important for you to create deep, intimate connections and conversations, what struck me was. Like thread. Thread is just thread, but we need the thread to sew together the holes in our fabric. 

 We need the thread to piece together all the little boxes to unveil the tapestry of a masterpiece project.

 we see ourselves as just. something, just nothing really significant, but it's so necessary to stitch us all together. And I see you. I see your role as that vital thread. women can benefit so much for what you have to save to offer.

Yeah. Gotta tell us. Yeah. My journey has been, ongoing for a while now What I've learned is that I just wanna speak my truth. I think many of us want to speak our truth, and many of us are afraid to speak our truth.

 Afraid to ask for what we need. And yet it's exactly what we need to do. And I think it's incredibly, important for me coming through a lot of trauma in my childhood and that leading to an experience, a diagnosis of cancer which I truly believe was connected to me not speaking my truth.

 I didn't know growing up that. To speak my truth, it was more like you're to be seen and not heard and do as you're told. And I'm sure just a different way. again we do better when we know better. And here we are speaking that out loud so we can know better.

So we can do better. And so I. now having twins that are 15 years old and, it is my hope for them to not have to go through what I went through. And so my hope is to speak my truth and continue to speak my truth so that they, and the people around me that I spend time with can also have the courage to do that.

 it's been a journey moving through cancer and, healing myself using different modalities, whether it was natural medicine or food, like you said. But you know this is the journey and, I can't be well just by what I eat, being well is about who you surround yourself with.

It's about being able to say the things that are on your heart out loud. It's being able to have these beautiful, deep conversations with people around us, whether it's with friends or with our husband or our partners. Because if that. Trauma or that story or that hurt gets stuck inside then it be, can be manifest into something physical, which I know in my heart that was part of my cancer journey.

my toolbox Tuesday was. I just remember going online and just saying, I, does anybody wanna listen to me? And what I gotta say? And a few people chimed in and we're like, sure. We'll listen. And I remember my, and like this, I'm, this week will be number 67 of toolbox Tuesday, 67 weeks straight.

 Good for you. Good for you. 67. Times that I show up and I swear every time I show up, I still am just as nervous as the very first time that I did it. But it's so important to me to speak my truth. And I never know what I'm gonna say. It's always the morning of I just come into my office and.

 last week was probably one of the toughest ones that I did, 

And it just felt like it was too big to say out loud, but yet I knew that it needed to be spoken, you know? And like I said, in the situation of the night before, you know, I just found myself.

Really not fitting in really outside my comfort zone of this small talk of a kind of humor that I don't understand. And I definitely don't want to understand. It just doesn't, didn't feel good to me, and the old me would've just sat there and been part of it and. So to speak, sucked it up. And I just was like, no, I'm, I don't feel good about this and I'm ready to go.

 And I think my story was is that makes me wrong or that makes me boring, or that makes me not fun. And the thing is, I am fun. And I'm not a boring person and that doesn't make me wrong to want deep, intimate conversations because I think, like you said, these di deep intimate conversations are what create community, are what?

Create safety of what create. Permission for other people to continue to show up even when they don't think they have the courage. I think it is so important because I wanna see, like I said, my kids speak their truth. I wanna see my kids. Be them, their authentic selves, not what the crowd needs them to be, not what everybody else needs them to be, not do what everybody else needs them to do.

I want them to be who they are. That means making other people uncomfortable. Then so be it. Because we are not here on this planet to make everybody like us. We are here on this planet to be ourselves, to love one another, have beautiful conversations, help each other. That's the world I wanna create, and it doesn't come without uncomfortable moments.

I love that you say that. It doesn't come without uncomfortable moments. It's in the challenge that we have to rise, I truly believe to our greatest masterpiece. 

And you certainly are rising from a place where you started in your, as a child. We don't have to get into that relationship piece, but let's turn it around and look at the wonderful relationship you are.

Building for your twins now? 15. A son and a daughter. Are you seeing now that the role that you play, that mentorship role is spilling off until how they show up in the world and conduct themselves? 

 I, yes. Yes. A hundred percent. So I've spent my whole life living with anxiety and I don't pretend that it is all gone. And I would say that projection is been part of my story and when I speak to projection, not owning my anxiety and projecting it onto my kids, onto my family and not actually know even knowing what it was. And so this was a big, humbling pill to swallow for me. One day when I actually realized that my kids were just reflecting back to me, the anxiety that was actually mine.

And it didn't come without doing some work around resentment. 

Okay. 

And I think this is a big piece for me because I, you know I was brought up with a belief that moms and women. Are to please and make everybody happy. And do everything for everybody else, and really put ourselves last.

 And that has not served me, that just made me resentful, angry, frustrated, and not a very nice human being. And when I realized that I was projecting a lot of the anxiety that was mine onto everybody around me, and it was only them reflecting it back to me and. I actually stepped into that and owned it.

Wow. Something amazing transformed. I have to say, that was probably the hardest thing I've ever done. Oh my goodness. I wasn't taking care of myself. I was taking care of everyone else. I wasn't happy. I wasn't doing anything for myself. I wasn't, had all these things I wanted to do.

I wanted to play piano. I wanted to sing. I wanted to play guitar. I wanted to do things for me, but instead I was doing things for everybody else, and then I was grumpy about it. And so it wasn't actually their fault. It was because I was just living the role that I was taught to live, and I'm here to say that no, it doesn't need to be done that way.

And I think my message, no matter who I talk to is self love and self care is key. Because when we love ourselves and when we look after ourselves, then we have the energy and the capacity to love others. And honestly, seeing what has transpired with my kids, like even in the last year of me owning.

Stepping into me, and all the amazing things that are unfolding in our lives because I am loving me. I'm taking care of me. My kids are showing up more. They're helping around the house. we're all working together instead of mom doing it all and being grumpy and resentful.

It wasn't working at all. So did you find there was A piece of you, and you expressed it, that spilled over from your childhood and your youth, where you felt that you couldn't speak your truth or use your voice. The fear of the reprisal, whatever it may have been.

 That kind of attitude set your parameters for how you were going to raise your children before you made this radical transformation. I loved how you put it before when we spoke radical self responsibility. 

 But when it, when that's. Old Shannon will say the one that was resentful when she would interact with her family.

Did you find that the boundaries just disappeared? The ones that you put up had just organically disappeared the moment you had? This presence, this self-loving presence about you? Or did you have to sit with your family and say, okay, I'm going through a significant transformation of self-awareness, of self-love.

I wanna take you on that journey with me? Or did? Or did it just happen with the process automatically? 

 It really just happened. there were some conversations, I would say, some hard conversations where we sat down and had a few family meetings. But I think for the most part, I think kids do as they see.

And when they see mom and dad thriving and mom and dad taking care of themselves and mom and dad doing what they love and mom and dad having joy in their lives, it just organically flows. Like COVID was a hard time for many people. Let's be real. Yes. And I. I think it also was a blessing because it was an opportunity for people to slow down and look within.

Yes. Because we all had to be with ourselves. I can't speak for everyone, but I can speak for myself, I used to keep very busy to avoid me. 

Okay, say that again. I want the listeners to hang onto this. This is powerful. 

I would keep very busy to avoid me. And it's the truth. I think often we're not in touch with ourselves and our emotions and when COVID happened and this opportunity to go inward and be quiet with ourselves, I think it was an opportunity to do some reflection about who we are. And I think there was also an opportunity for people to really.

Do a deep dive about what it is that they wanna do on this planet and really question whether what was going on in their life was working or if it wasn't working. Because I think we're also busy just doing what we always do. We don't wanna actually stop and slow down to question the norm or question what we've always done.

To maybe think that it could be done different. I've been stuck in my old story for a long time, repeating my past traumas over and over,

but they needed to go. And I needed to know that I could create something new. And I realized that me focusing on the past all the time and the old traumas and the old stories was just keeping me stuck in the past. And the trauma and the old stories. Yeah. And we can't create something new if we're always focusing on what isn't working, what, yeah.

What isn't working. COVID sucked. Yeah. And it was a beautiful, all at the same time, a beautiful, 

a beau beautiful silver lining. Yeah. Right, right. And so this is the thing, and you talked about that at the beginning, this piece around the downloads, and I know that the downloads don't come unless we actually slow down and listen.

So if we are being so busy, you can't hear the downloads, you can't hear, you can't hear the intuitive nudges, and this was the old me. I was so busy being busy and doing everything for my kids, and I was so out of touch with who I was so out of touch. Now that I actually create space for myself and space for me, it, I'm actually blown away with how much I can do still when I create space for myself, I'm actually doing more because the old me.

In this anxiety ridden person that I was, I would literally, the best way to describe me was if you put me in a room, I would just bounce off the walls and I would spin trying to make myself look busy to feel valued on this planet because that was my worth what I could do. But what if my worth was just to be 

And in doing so, creating space for yourself, you have now carved out this beautiful, magical space for others, youth in particular. 

Yeah, 

tell us about that masterpiece that you've created out of your journey. 

Yeah, so. About 2021, I took an online program called Masterpiece Tribes with the facilitator Alexander out of Switzerland.

And I met this beautiful woman Amor in the program and she's in Botswana. And when the program was over, we came together and we took this adult program and we converted it into a program for teens. And as you know, my background is nutrition right with kids, and that is also part of the program.

 Amor's background is in photography and so many amazing things. And Alexander is an amazing human that does painting and many other things. But this program is all the things. That I wish that I had known when I was a teen. Oh, wow. It's all the things that, you know, again, you can see here my vision board and, this is one of the many things that we do in the Masterpiece Magic Program with the teens and.

 this program is really about finding out who you are and what makes you come alive, and some of the things that we just spoke about, which, while we talk about speaking our truth, we talk about the importance of knowing that when we don't speak our truth that can physically become a thing in our body if we don't.

Speak our truth and keep secrets that are not meant to be secrets or, these are important things and I don't, again, I just want kids to know that it's not always about looking outside ourselves. If we can know that everything that we need is actually right here. And it's not about looking outside ourselves and that self-love and taking care of ourselves is key.

And it really starts there. But it's not something that we were taught. We were taught that you take care of everybody else. Put everybody else first. At least that's what I was raised. 

 So I wanna create something different. And it's not about being selfish, it's about taking care of ourselves, you know?

And that's one of the things that I teach the teens in the Masterpiece program as well. It's like we are our own doctors. We really are. Yes. No one knows your body better than you. No one. 

It's an Ayurvedic principle right there. 

Right. Your own doctors our health. Yeah. And you know, of course if you are in a motor vehicle accident, you need to go to the hospital and see somebody.

But really What we put into our body, who we surround ourselves with, the friends, the people Do you go out and exercise? Do you meditate? All those things. Maybe meditation isn't your thing. Maybe a walk in the forest, whatever it is that you do to slow down and connect reading whatever it is that you need to do for your self care.

And whatever it is that you need to do that makes you come alive. 

 I remember going to Inspire Health Integrated Cancer Care, which was in Vancouver, and I went to see my doctor and went into her office and I was really struggling at the time, and her prescription for me was to go home and dance. Awesome. I love that kind 

of a doctor.

She was amazing. there's a woman that is a DJ here in the Comax Valley River, I love her and she often speaks about dancing. About, she calls it shaking out the nails and the nails being all the yucky things that people say to us or do to us or hurt us or whatever. And when we dance and when we move our bodies, it literally is shaking out the nails.

 Amazing. And so I love this idea that, dancing and singing and music and doing the things that we love. And it, again, it's so important as moms and as women, that we have beautiful friendships. We have these deep conversations. We have the things that we love to do, whatever that is.

And yeah. Beautiful. That we want to support our children, of course, but again, our kids do as they see. Yeah. And they need to see you, us women loving ourselves, taking care of ourselves, our, so they too can learn that they can love themselves and take care of themselves. 

It's  beautiful. It so much similarities.

I draw parallelism with what you're doing with the youth. And we arrive at into adulthood for women get moving into the perimenopause and then the menopausal transition. And often we don't even know that we're in it and suddenly we're just behaving badly or physical and cognitive effects start kicking in.

And we do, we avoid it. And as women who are high achievers and maybe jobs as a CEO or leading others, whatever that might be, they live in this image of, I've got to keep performing, I gotta keep. Top peak, top levels, because I don't want anybody to see that I can be limited by these psychological and physical changes or impacts that are happening.

And again, we often don't know what it is, but we do, we place a limiting belief on ourselves, much like what you experienced. And there's the pa there, there's that old narrative. You're just aging or we don't talk about menopause. We don't understand what's happening, and as women, we're not coming together and creating those opportunities to get deeply connected and say, you know what you're going through, you're not a bitch.

You're going through life, but we're here together to help. We're teaching their youth. You're teaching the youth. Now you're leading. By setting that example now, like I, I just keep thinking about your daughter when you're talking about this. She's now seeing you as this incredible role model and understanding the principles of self care early and even when you, with your son, because when he grows up and has a partner in life, he will be able to apply those principles too.

we walk that fine line between selfish and self care.

 but our generation, gen Xers and the early millennials arriving at this phase in our lives where we didn't have those tools in the toolbox and we're navigating it. And we have a healthcare system that is it's not emphasized this kind of healing. There's been a lot of, and Right.

So very important. There been a lot of attention drawn to our mental wellness. 

 But I really feel strongly that there's a component of the menopausal wellness. It's going unchecked. 

 Yeah. 

And the space that we're now creating with this opportunity to create community. We live at a time where we can do it online as well.

Opens up the, I really feel it opens up the door for a lot more women. To tell their story, their journey like you did. 

 And I'm really hoping that those who are listening to me, whether it's now or years from now, when they hear the podcast, they'll hear that and they'll go, I understand Shannon's story.

I was right there with it. Ayurveda calls the menopause phase, the time of the Great Reveal. Whatever has not been healed emotionally, physically. Mentally we'll come to surface. It'll come to bear and how are we gonna deal with it? Ayurveda also recognizes that we are, yes, like you said, our own healer, and I'm gonna be saying this over and over again all the time, but I'm leaning into a lot of those old ancient practices that have been brushed aside for this western.

Philosophy in medicine. 

 But it all is really within, it truly is. I really see this as an opportunity, and we spoke about this earlier, or even women going through that who may have lost themselves along the way and are finding themselves desperate in that moment, in the transition, and not exactly sure how to navigate through it.

Is to come back to the self. And all, and as we said, to heal the sister wounds like you had said too. 

 Yeah. Beautiful. Yeah. Thank you. Absolutely. my last kinda thought that I is coming to me is this piece around, and I spoke about in the last toolbox Tuesday is about taking the elevator down.

 And I think that is part of the pause because often. I can, again, only speak for myself when I find myself in a place of anger or frustration if I just pause and take the elevator down. Anger and frustration is just the surface emotion. And underneath. What I often find, and I often know, is that underneath the anger and frustration is just a sadness.

 Because I actually have a need that I haven't asked for, or I haven't had met. Yeah. And we can have these conversations we all can have these conversations. It just starts with the first one, one conversation at a time. And I love this analogy of, like I said, taking the elevator down because having a conversation when we're frustrated and angry doesn't serve any of us.

 and this is the piece around vulnerability, right? When we can actually sink into what it is that we need, then there can be a real beautiful conversation. and then that's where the intimacy and the connection comes, I think it's so incredibly important.

these are the great conversations that I'm having with my kids now too, because instead of me always. Being angry and resentful and anxious, I can say, you know what guys, I'm feeling really anxious right now and I need to go do this thing that's like really scaring me and I'm really afraid to do it, but I'm gonna do it anyways.

So if I show up like I'm really angry, it's 'cause I'm really anxious. So I just need some space right now and that can change everything. Instead of me just being angry and not actually asking for what I need. 

 Yeah. Which we don't do so often, like you said, whether it's with our family, with our friends in the workplace, we just keep taking more in, in absorbing, and never.

Articulating that might be drowning and it's 

A little bit tough. 

 I want to create a future where we lead with love. And that is what I wanna do. I am on a mission to.

Focus on what is working and what we can create instead of what isn't working. I really wanna focus on creating an awakening a future to people that know what it is to love themselves and take care of themselves. And honestly, I think the rest will just unfold. 

You're aligning with some powerful opportunities. In that alignment. I can feel your energy right now but I feel energetically that your journey was a necessary one to find, to understand the pain points. And really be able to piece together, to knit together all the important elements. To create a better future so that others don't have to suffer the way you had suffered.

 And all as women have that story? Well, everyone, men and women, but as women too, we all have a very similar story, but it's in confronting the demons. If you will. Yeah. what you've been able to create since you've had that, breakthrough moment and that self-actualization, self-awareness piece come from you and your family has just now exploded beyond just the confines of your household and into the community this has the potential to grow massively. Incredible.

 I always like to ask a question of my guests what literature they're reading at the moment, because there's always something that's in that literature that can be shared with others, but it's, it speaks to something that we need, I think, that we're thirsty for.

So what are you reading these days, Shannon? What's your favorite read or favorite read of all time? 

Oh my goodness. So many good books. Oh goodness. I am a big fan of Gabor Matee. I'm also a big fan of Gordon Neufeld. There's so many books that I love to read, but I would say. I'm reading G Mate's latest book right now.

 But one of my favorite books of his was When the Body Says No. Yes. And that is such a beautiful read. Really speaks to this idea of. trauma that we hold onto. And this brings us actually full circle back to the beginning conversation about speaking our truth and how when we don't speak our truth and, let go of the traumas or the old stories, they can make our body physically sick, which was my experience.

So again, one of my absolute favorite books. 

That release of trauma that was so vital and it's amazing how simple just. Releasing through our words. Through our expression with our voice. Yeah. Yeah. And I also liked what you said earlier about releasing through dance, and I heard it recently, so I can't claim that this is something that I know of it.

 I'm quoting somebody, paraphrasing in somebody that I've heard probably on a podcast myself that I've been listening to. But dance, and not just any dancing, but partner dancing is supposed to be the number one. Activity to reduce your risk of dementia. Oh, wow. Interesting. Amazing. Isn't that something?

And that just goes to show you that bodies are designed to move, they are designed to move to express because it's in that movement, that expression that we release. And it's not just our trauma, but the, there's a full-hearted belief in many circles now that it's ancestral. Trauma that's been passed down and passed down.

Oh, I believe that. And I, oh, yes. I'm so delighted to see you break that karmic pattern, that trauma, and you're doing good work. And for your family, for the community, and now with the virtual world Worldwide. Yeah. This can grow. 

Yeah, I'm very excited about what's to come.I'm very excited. Yeah.   You're 

a beautiful person inside and out. Shannon. I got that energy from you right away when we encountered each other for the first time. I love your energy. Thank you. 

So thank you for being with me. thanks so much for this opportunity to be here and I look forward to more hearing more from you and all the amazing things that you're doing for women.

And this is so important because again, this is the key. if we know that we're not alone and we have these conversations, it changes everything. It really does, and it doesn't have to be the old ways we can create new ways. Like you said, your experience going through menopause wasn't necessarily the best, and you've had to learn some things on your own and then share it with everybody else so they don't have to find out the hard way either, right?

 So it's so true. I created this mostly like you created your masterpiece because I crave having a community of friends girlfriends. I felt that was something that was always lacking for me, moving around a lot. And definitely having that experience with a military background.

And when you serve in the military, you up and move quite frequently. People in your community, they've been bonding for years and years, and you're just this outsider, like you related to earlier. I relate to that story how do I fit in?

well, I can't fit inI'll just create something where everybody can fit in and we all fit in. 'cause this is our story. This is our journey. it's personal, but deeply universal.

It's amazing. 

Yay. So awesome. Thank you so much, Mary. 

What a powerful way to close out season two. Shannon's story is such a reminder that healing is not a straight line. It's a spiral. It calls us back to our truth again and again, and again. Even if it means to walk through fire to find the light on the other side. Shannon is living proof that when we release what no longer serves us, whether it's old patterns, relationships, and even identities, we create space for transformation for joy and alignment to flow in.

Her courage continues to ripple outward, inspiring so many to live more openly, more bravely, and more heart forward. If you'd like to connect with Shannon and follow her journey, you can find her at shannondonahoesimpson.com and this month, her breast cancer survivor story will be featured in the CV Collective Magazine coming out September 24th.

So keep an eye open for that powerful piece. All of these links will be in the show notes and as we close season two on episode 88, the twin infinity signs and the mother number. And the marker of transformation. I can't help but feel the alignment. We've just stepped through the 9 9 9 portal, a time of endings and a time of beginnings, and Shannon's journey fully embodies this energy.

So I wanna thank you for walking alongside me through these seasons, your presence, your stories, and your willingness to disrupt the narrative around menopause and midlife continue to fuel my work. Season three will kick off in November after I enter into my next pause. A travel pause. I'll be traveling throughout Europe and reconnecting with my soul on my journey.

So stay tuned for more tales as we kick off November with season three. I can't wait to share what's next as we keep weaving science and soul and storytelling into the space. And until then, take Shannon's reminder with you. It's never too late to step into your heart to release what no longer serves.

And to claim the joy waiting for you on the other side.