You Survived Cancer But How Do You Survive Corporate?

You spent most of your young adult life working hard, paying your dues, climbing the corporate ladder and once you finally get there, you ask yourself, “Is this as good as it gets?”

You have everything you wanted… the company car, the stock options, the big house, the corner office, perks galore yet you’re still unhappy and unfulfilled. 

It feels like you are swimming in shark-infested waters. The climate is one of fear and competition rather than one of productivity and collaboration. You don’t know who can be trusted, who is out for your job, who is looking for your Achilles heal so they can shoot their arrow into your weak spot. You’ve worked hard to get to this place and failing and losing is not an option. It’s kill or be killed. You compromise your values and beliefs and suck it up to stay in an environment that is unhealthy and destructive but it pays the bills and then some. You feel imprisoned by golden handcuffs. 

And then one day, you are blindsided by a health diagnosis that has completely derailed your life.

All of a sudden, the world as you know has been turned upside down. 

How can this be, you wonder? Why me?  You go to work as if nothing has changed but that is not possible. You walk through the halls of your workplace in a fog as if you are playing a character in a movie. This couldn’t possibly be your life you are playing out. One day you’re on the top of your game and the next, the rug is being pulled out from underneath you. 

Not now!! You don’t have time to be sick. You have too much to do, too much responsibility. People are counting on you. What will people think or say? 

Right now can be very overwhelming and disempowering especially when you feel you have no control of your destiny. Navigating through your life when you have no idea of what is around the next corner is scary, especially when you think you have to do it alone. You can’t tell anyone at work because it will be looked upon as a weakness or a failure. What will the stockholders think, say or do?  Some of your peers may look at this as an opportunity to swoop in and take charge. Your staff counts on you daily, knowing this, will definitely let them down. And what about your boss? Will they be supportive and compassionate or will they look for your replacement? 

Your first reaction may be to bury your head in the sand and hope for the best. If you ignore it, it will go away. We both know that is not going to work. So what DO you do?   

Family and friends can be very supportive but unless you are going through it, it’s difficult for them to really know and understand what you’re going through. They want to help, diagnose how this happened and fix you but that’s not necessarily what you need or want. You may also be experiencing a gap between what you need support wise and what your employer and your healthcare professionals are able to provide.  One-on-one coaching and support group coaching can be extremely helpful in getting you back to living and thriving again. It can provide a safe, familiar place where you can go and share in a trusting environment. Where you can be open and honest about how you feel, what you are struggling with, your fears, and what you are going through within a nurturing, loving, compassionate environment, where you are understood and there is no threat of being judged, fear of hurting loved ones, passed over for a promotion or perceived as weak.  Who can you turn to while you are struggling with navigating the challenges of a high performance career environment and the quality of life in survivorship?

Getting back to normal can be a challenging experience especially when nothing is really “normal” anymore. With the right tools and support, it’s possible to transform the way you interact with this experience. 

So how do you survive cancer and corporate? How do you deal with this life altering disease and maintain the life that you had before the diagnosis?

The real question is, do you really want the life you had. What if this was the wake up call you were waiting for? 

You don’t have to do this alone. 

About the writer

Lynn Finley is a writer and life coach who helps her clients bring a sense of well-being, balance, and ownership to work/life challenges and transitions. Lynn has over 25 years of corporate experience, including as a Senior VP at Disney, where she led a 100-person team and is a Certified Professional Coach. Lynn is a contributing author to the personal transformation book series Pebbles in the Pond-Wave Three and the Grown and Flown website. Learn more