In her event on Oct. 7, 2015, Toby was able to take an issue that so many students think of only as an “older woman” problem and find ways to help students relate more to breast cancer and take ownership of their health. Since breast cancer impacts all genders on such a mass scale, we wanted to find a speaker who could leave students and others in our community with a stronger sense of what breast cancer really means in their lives and how important it is for all people to take advantage of educational opportunities and find ways to live a healthy life. The audience seemed to enjoy all the activities Toby did and responded well to the program.
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I Love My Boobies is a workshop for women leaders on wellness, leadership and lifestyle transformation…what young adults need to know. My Story: Nine years ago I was diagnosed with lupus and six months later breast cancer—two diseases that affect women in alarming numbers. Lupus is a complicated diagnosis, breast cancer a devastating one. The typical response to cancer is "I'm going to fight it! I’m going to beat cancer!" I took a different approach. Cancer is a sign of dis-ease in the body--there is literally a lack of ease or in other words a lack of love in your body. Cancer is an alarm telling you that your body needs love--it needs healthy attention. And so, I didn't want to fight--there are always casualties on both sides when we fight. I wasn't willing to also lose my peaceful and loving spirit trying to "go to war" with cancer. So I decided to love my body instead. I did research on cancer and discovered many of the root causes and lifestyle habits that encourage cancer growth. I also found that many of the same lifestyle habits that promote cancer also cause lupus and a host of other diseases. I pulled together a health plan for myself--A lifelong plan. You see battles and matches have a beginning and an end, but we need to cultivate health for the long term. The workshop: This is an interactive workshop focused on the connections between health, wellness, & leadership. Too often characteristics of good leaders are viewed as skills such as communication, negotiation, persuasiveness, building vision, embracing change; but no where in the conversation about leadership and success is a dialogue about our health and caring for ourselves. I know for sure that I can not be the activist, scholar, researcher, educator, sister, mother, wife, and friend that I hope to be if I am not healthy. In this workshop, I will share my story, facilitate interactive and fun trivia games, give out samples of healthy snack items, show samples of alternative toxin free products that they can start using, and provide info packets that they can take away. This is an interactive program that involves audience participation. |