The Mountain

09.23.2025

The Mountain

Today is a big day. It’s my last day (LAST DAY!!) of the chemo regimen I’ve been on the past four months. I still have more steps ahead in this healing journey, but today marks a huge climb, one that I never expected I would have to take, and I’m pausing here to celebrate that. I get to ring that bell.

When I read this quote about the mountain, it felt like it was written for this moment. Chemo has been my mountain. It’s asked a lot of me…. my body, my energy, my emotions, my time, my family and loved ones - but it’s never asked for more than what I could give.

Like the quote says, the purpose isn’t to crush us, but to carve us. I can feel how this journey has shaped me already. It’s pulled pieces of strength I didn’t even know I had. It’s shifted me in ways I couldn’t have planned for.

And that’s the thing, as much as I wish I could plan everything out, healing isn’t like that. It’s just one foot in front of the other. Step by step, until one day you realize you’ve made it higher up the mountain than you thought you could.

I’m proud of where I am today. I’m grateful for the progress, for the people who’ve walked alongside me, and for the direction forward. I know there are more mountains ahead, but today I get to pause, look back at the climb so far, and take in the view. And how lovely it is.

Sometimes you move the mountain, and sometimes it moves you. Today feels like both.

— Kendra