Nasha, I literally have no words. Simply gentle tears flowing down my face. Thank you for seeing me with so much love and genuine curiosity. I think you are a bit braver than me. Sharing your process while you are in it. I'm still in a version of the process too. But now, it's just normal life. Like inhaling and exhaling. And to the people that whisper or talk loudly...may they come to a space of peace in their lives where other people's life choices or circumstances isn't the most interesting thing they can share. I was honestly shocked by how many people reached out and asked "How did you do it? I've thought about it so many times and could never make it happen." So, I just figured, people talk because it drowns out their own whispers in their own minds about their own life. The amount of love, gratitude, and respect I have for you is as deep as the ocean.
Well, clearly I am new to substack commenting, and my formatting got all wonky and I can’t see with my blue blockers how to fix/edit it🤣…but your writing is its own poetry. Thank you, dear teacher, for bravely modeling the future of sustainable, passionate, meaningful work in the world. We need the footsteps 💞
Nasha, this and your other pieces are beautiful. Painfully beautiful in parts, but also deeply alive.
When we last spoke, one thing I remember saying to you was that people don’t love you because of the books, the podcast, the intellect or the body of knowledge you hold. They love you because of who you are underneath all of that. The real soul of you has always there long before the platforms and will still be there long after the noise settles.
I think the right people have always felt that, even when you were “performing” for decades. The people who have been drawn to the real Nasha were never just drawn to the output. And I suspect those people will still be there quietly and steadily, as you continue to rebuild this next chapter on different terms.
There’s a line running through this piece that really stayed with me. The difference between offering from a full vessel and bleeding into the offering itself. I think so many people in healing professions, leadership, caregiving and service quietly live inside that line without fully seeing it until the body eventually forces the reckoning.
There’s something else here that has been missing since you started writing… a flicker of fire returning. Not performative fire. Not survival fire. REAL fire. The kind that only starts to come back when there’s finally enough space, enough truth and enough energy left in the cup for the soul to breathe again.
Even if some of that spark was ignited by less than beautiful behaviour from others, it still feels like a good sign to me.
Thank you for writing this with such honesty and depth. I suspect it will give language, relief, and permission to far more people than you realise because for many, some part of us has been standing at that same doorway ourselves.
And honestly… I’m very glad to see a bit of the fire back.
In articulating this you have described so much of why I too stepped back from twenty years of clinical practice. To read, to write, to step away from holding the trauma, give myself space to live a little. It was the right time for me to let go of the one-to-one work. To, I confess, give myself an excuse to provide a shorter and less visceral answer to the early calls and the late calls that made me relive my own shocking cancer journey, and my Dad’s and my Mum’s. Funnily enough, I’ve just recorded a talk on Life Purpose for the Yes to Life Conference this weekend. Finding mine was an important part of re-energising myself. Refining it has been even better. I think, maybe, we have to go through one or two iterations of it before we give ourselves permission to free ourselves. Or maybe we need to be at the coal face to get the perspective we need when we step away. I’m truly sorry to hear that you’ve been going through so much. The outlandish stories haven’t reached deepest darkest Kent so I don’t know any of the details but it sounds like a skin you were ready to shed. Sending love. ❤️
You made me cry when you said: “walking alongside people through the most disorienting moment of their lives, helping them rewrite endings that everyone else had already written for them” Your ability to describe “the moment” that changes everything, the moment that separates what it is and what will be from what has been is so deep, real. I felt seen and felt. Thank Dr. Nasha for your heart!! To tending the soul!! 🥂💕
You write beautifully and are a huge mentor for me. When I poured into my new job my qi I got sick with my first round of breast cancer. When I followed and believed everything my conventional doctors told me I was rewarded with MBC 6 months after being declared cancer free. I’ve stopped (mostly) pouring from an empty cup and believing my conventional doctors completely and 5.5 years later I am in remission. Our bodies don’t forget. They are like elephants with long memories that will die without our permission if left untended for too long.
Dear Nasha, I'm grateful to have had the chance to learn from you. Thank you for giving me the seeds. I'm still figuring out how to plant the garden while tending to my terrain but I feel that I will eventually get there. I wish you all the best with your 'new life'. Even though, as you said, the door was kicked in on you, I know you'll continue to do good work, because that's what you will always do. May our paths cross again (not just on substack since I read all your posts:) take care, Sharon
Your beautiful words help to keep me grounded as I have been wondering about the Why for myself recently. I absolutely love helping those who find me, but as I contemplate building something more, I’ve been curious as to why. But then kind of putting that aside and ignoring it because I don’t truly have an answer. It’s just there. These goals. This need to keep striving. And recently wondering why. Where that comes from. And after reading your reflections, I’m inspired to pause and reflect and allow those answers to come. Thank you.
Also, side note - I must not run in ‘those’ circles, because I have not heard anything about your situation - other than what you have shared. 🥰
Nasha this cuts deep for me. I’ve given up my advocate work as it became too difficult, too many losses, too much pain and now I’m beginning to realise why.
Sitting in stillness, thanking you and Dr Heather ❤️❤️
This topic resonates with many people on this path Nasha and im really excited to see how Life Lives Through You as you re-emerge from this difficult awakening back to you big hearted sweet Self.
Nasha, I literally have no words. Simply gentle tears flowing down my face. Thank you for seeing me with so much love and genuine curiosity. I think you are a bit braver than me. Sharing your process while you are in it. I'm still in a version of the process too. But now, it's just normal life. Like inhaling and exhaling. And to the people that whisper or talk loudly...may they come to a space of peace in their lives where other people's life choices or circumstances isn't the most interesting thing they can share. I was honestly shocked by how many people reached out and asked "How did you do it? I've thought about it so many times and could never make it happen." So, I just figured, people talk because it drowns out their own whispers in their own minds about their own life. The amount of love, gratitude, and respect I have for you is as deep as the ocean.
Honored
to walk this path with you!!!!
Well, clearly I am new to substack commenting, and my formatting got all wonky and I can’t see with my blue blockers how to fix/edit it🤣…but your writing is its own poetry. Thank you, dear teacher, for bravely modeling the future of sustainable, passionate, meaningful work in the world. We need the footsteps 💞
A Psalm Of Life
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Tell me not, in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers, And things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or ways
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.
Art is long, and Time is fleeting, And our hearts, though stout and brave, Still, like muffled drums, are beating Funeral marches to the grave.
In the world's broad field of battle, In the bivouac of Life, Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!
Trust no Future, howe er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,-act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o crhead!
Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime, And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another, Sailing o'er life's solemn main, A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, Seeing, shall take heart again.
Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait.
Nasha, this and your other pieces are beautiful. Painfully beautiful in parts, but also deeply alive.
When we last spoke, one thing I remember saying to you was that people don’t love you because of the books, the podcast, the intellect or the body of knowledge you hold. They love you because of who you are underneath all of that. The real soul of you has always there long before the platforms and will still be there long after the noise settles.
I think the right people have always felt that, even when you were “performing” for decades. The people who have been drawn to the real Nasha were never just drawn to the output. And I suspect those people will still be there quietly and steadily, as you continue to rebuild this next chapter on different terms.
There’s a line running through this piece that really stayed with me. The difference between offering from a full vessel and bleeding into the offering itself. I think so many people in healing professions, leadership, caregiving and service quietly live inside that line without fully seeing it until the body eventually forces the reckoning.
There’s something else here that has been missing since you started writing… a flicker of fire returning. Not performative fire. Not survival fire. REAL fire. The kind that only starts to come back when there’s finally enough space, enough truth and enough energy left in the cup for the soul to breathe again.
Even if some of that spark was ignited by less than beautiful behaviour from others, it still feels like a good sign to me.
Thank you for writing this with such honesty and depth. I suspect it will give language, relief, and permission to far more people than you realise because for many, some part of us has been standing at that same doorway ourselves.
And honestly… I’m very glad to see a bit of the fire back.
❤️🔥
🙏🙏🙏♥️♥️♥️
@Jennifer Davis. Beautiful. ♥️
In articulating this you have described so much of why I too stepped back from twenty years of clinical practice. To read, to write, to step away from holding the trauma, give myself space to live a little. It was the right time for me to let go of the one-to-one work. To, I confess, give myself an excuse to provide a shorter and less visceral answer to the early calls and the late calls that made me relive my own shocking cancer journey, and my Dad’s and my Mum’s. Funnily enough, I’ve just recorded a talk on Life Purpose for the Yes to Life Conference this weekend. Finding mine was an important part of re-energising myself. Refining it has been even better. I think, maybe, we have to go through one or two iterations of it before we give ourselves permission to free ourselves. Or maybe we need to be at the coal face to get the perspective we need when we step away. I’m truly sorry to hear that you’ve been going through so much. The outlandish stories haven’t reached deepest darkest Kent so I don’t know any of the details but it sounds like a skin you were ready to shed. Sending love. ❤️
I love this Dawn! We share a very similar path.
You made me cry when you said: “walking alongside people through the most disorienting moment of their lives, helping them rewrite endings that everyone else had already written for them” Your ability to describe “the moment” that changes everything, the moment that separates what it is and what will be from what has been is so deep, real. I felt seen and felt. Thank Dr. Nasha for your heart!! To tending the soul!! 🥂💕
❤️❤️❤️
I felt every word land. Thank you for going loud where others had to go quiet. I'll be in the field with you.
Truly excited for you in this hard, but beautiful season. Thanks for sharing your heart and insights through this experience Nasha❤️
You are an inspiration. Thank you.
Nasha, your sharing of your feelings and life along with Heather's journey are so inspiring - and I feel the wound spot on.
I allowed my healing cup run dry - and learning along side of you and receiving the permission to really heal the wound....
You are an amazing physician and offer life-giving information.
I hope to have you been my ally and walk alongside me in my healing - true healing - of GIST cancer in my body.
May your blessings abound and your cup be filled with love.
Marci
You write beautifully and are a huge mentor for me. When I poured into my new job my qi I got sick with my first round of breast cancer. When I followed and believed everything my conventional doctors told me I was rewarded with MBC 6 months after being declared cancer free. I’ve stopped (mostly) pouring from an empty cup and believing my conventional doctors completely and 5.5 years later I am in remission. Our bodies don’t forget. They are like elephants with long memories that will die without our permission if left untended for too long.
Dear Nasha, I'm grateful to have had the chance to learn from you. Thank you for giving me the seeds. I'm still figuring out how to plant the garden while tending to my terrain but I feel that I will eventually get there. I wish you all the best with your 'new life'. Even though, as you said, the door was kicked in on you, I know you'll continue to do good work, because that's what you will always do. May our paths cross again (not just on substack since I read all your posts:) take care, Sharon
Your writing resonates.
Your beautiful words help to keep me grounded as I have been wondering about the Why for myself recently. I absolutely love helping those who find me, but as I contemplate building something more, I’ve been curious as to why. But then kind of putting that aside and ignoring it because I don’t truly have an answer. It’s just there. These goals. This need to keep striving. And recently wondering why. Where that comes from. And after reading your reflections, I’m inspired to pause and reflect and allow those answers to come. Thank you.
Also, side note - I must not run in ‘those’ circles, because I have not heard anything about your situation - other than what you have shared. 🥰
Thank you so much for so eloquently describing this. x
Thank you. Love the name of your Substack: "Soil Sister"--following you just for that reason and look forward to reading more:)
Thank you. I’ve just followed you back. Feel like we’re looking at similar things 💚
Nasha this cuts deep for me. I’ve given up my advocate work as it became too difficult, too many losses, too much pain and now I’m beginning to realise why.
Sitting in stillness, thanking you and Dr Heather ❤️❤️
This topic resonates with many people on this path Nasha and im really excited to see how Life Lives Through You as you re-emerge from this difficult awakening back to you big hearted sweet Self.