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A breast cancer survivor, Olivia Newton-John shares tips for women battling this condition and recalls what she learned while advocating for her health.
Todd Hartley:
Joining us is actress and four-time GRAMMY award winner Olivia Newton-John. Hi Olivia!
Olivia Newton-John:
Hi, how are you doing?
Todd Hartley:
Doing great, real nice to talk with you.
Olivia Newton-John:
Thank you.
Todd Hartley:
Our audience is excited to get caught up and to know about what you are doing now. I read that when you were diagnosed, that same weekend was the weekend that your father passed away.
Olivia Newton-John:
Yes.
Todd Hartley:
And for those struggling with challenges right now, and EmpowHER deals with providing answers, can you provide some type of wisdom for a woman who might be going through life’s challenges right now?
Olivia Newton-John:
Oh goodness, I think everyone deals with it in a different way. I would suggest they find some kind of spiritual outlet in some way. Something that’s going to give them some solace, whatever that would be, whether it would be mediation, whether it would be prayer, whether it would be singing, whether it’s walking in nature – something that makes you feel good and brings you back to the moment. Release your tears and fears. Have someone to either talk to or don’t feel embarrassed about that because it’s normal and it’s great to be able to talk to someone that you feel safe with about what you are going through.
They have lots of groups now for people who are going through cancer, which is wonderful you know, with the Internet you can find groups of people, even meet them without having to actually meet them but you can talk to people. What I find is really helpful and helpful for me at the time, often when you are going through something like cancer people’s reactions freak you out. You will tell someone and instead of them going, “Oh you’ll be alright,” which is what you want to hear, they burst into tears and that frightens you, get somebody else to deal with talking to people about your journey and what you are going through so you can focus on the healing and not on the illness all the time because that’s not a positive place to be.
Think positively about the outcome because your thinking affects your outcome and your reality. Your thoughts affect your reality so try and find things that make you feel positive about life. Of course learn about dietary things that can help you, what medical channel you want to go to, focus on the positive. Laugh and laugh as much as you can because laughter is very healing and of course do all the things with the vitamins in the food and all things that are important and exercise, but that’s probably a nutshell view of the million things that you will go through.
Todd Hartley:
At EmpowHER we help women advocate for themselves. Going through your breast cancer battle, what did you learn about advocating for yourself?
Olivia Newton-John:
Gosh, I learned so much. I probably didn’t realize how much I learned until now or many years later when you look back. So at the time, I think a lot of women think, “Oh gosh, I don’t think I could do it if it happened to me,” and then it happens to you and you realize you can do it and you will do it and you’ll get through it and you’ll find strength that you never knew you had and you pull on strengths and I think very often the people that think they are the least likely they’ll be able to get through it do, but I think also the ones that are very fearful have to keep this positive attitude about, “I can get this.”
So this is one of the reasons I like to talk about it is because here I am 18 years later and I am talking about it and I was fearful of talking about it the first five years because a lot of women are until we get to that five-year marker, but all I can really say is, here I am and I am here so you can be. You know, it’s like having that positive thought and believing that you can be, of course not everybody is as fortunate and I realize that and I am very grateful that I am, but that positive attitude does really help in how you go through the journey.
Todd Hartley:
Yeah, it seems like, if I’m understanding what you’re saying, you’ve taken the mess that you were given, your breast cancer, and you’ve turned it into your message.
Olivia Newton-John:
I like that.
Todd Hartley:
It’s really beautiful. It’s been really nice experiencing your life and what you create along the way and Olivia Newton-John, thank you so much for helping us improve health and change lives.
Olivia Newton-John:
Thank you, nice to meet you.
Todd Hartley:
Thank you.
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