Sometimes Life Is…
Anything But Easy
You’re not the only one who feels this way.
This is for the women still learning how to live after surviving.
Our Story
What This Space Is
Anything But Easy is a storytelling space that explores the emotional aftermath of breast cancer.
The identity shifts.
The body image changes.
The recurrance anxiety.
The loneliness that doesn’t look like loneliness.
The pressure to be grateful when you’re still grieving.
The slow rebuilding no one prepares you for.
There are no five-step frameworks here. No “fixing,” no glossing over, no pretending. I don’t offer advice. I don’t prescribe recovery timelines. I don’t tell you how to “thrive.”
Instead, I offer language. Clarity. Companionship.
This is a place for honesty. For softness. For courage. For becoming — slowly, gently, truthfully.
Through essays, letters, unpolished reflections, and raw storytelling, I try to give you language for the things you’ve been carrying alone.
My hope is simple: that you leave each piece feeling a little more seen, a little less overwhelmed, and a little more connected to yourself.
If you survived breast cancer but still feel untethered…
If you’re learning how to live in a body that feels unfamiliar…
If you’re navigating the after without a script…
You’re not alone here.
My Story
Hi, I’m Mar!
(Pronounced *mare*). I’m so glad you’ve landed here.
For nearly two decades, I built a career in finance, ending as a VP and Senior Manager at T. Rowe Price. Then cancer came for me, and with it the truth: spreadsheets and 70-hour weeks weren’t worth trading my soul for. So, I walked away — into uncertainty, into storytelling, into a new chapter.
My story isn’t polished. It’s stitched together with scars, burnout, and breakdowns alongside resilience, healing, and grit. I’m a wife, a mom, and messy human who still sometimes ugly cries on the closet floor.
What I’ve learned? Living after surviving cancer doesn’t come from pretending it’s easy. It comes from facing what feels impossible and daring to keep going. And most of all, it comes from telling the truth about pain — and using that truth as a compass toward strength and renewal.
I write Anything But Easy as the manual I couldn’t find; the one for navigating “the after” with courage, clarity, and a dash of rebellious energy. Emotional clarity for survivorship.
If you or someone you know is in the after, you are welcome here.
