Healthy Living by Willow Creek Springs
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Healthy Living by Willow Creek Springs
Choose Being Over Doing: Finding Serenity When Life Sends You To Kathmandu with Bron Watson
What happens when life swaps your sun-soaked vacation for a one-way flight to Kathmandu? That’s how Bron Watson describes the jolt from “I’m cured” to a fresh diagnosis of multiple myeloma—right as her family and business finally felt steady. A nurse-educator turned entrepreneur and two-time cancer survivor, Bron sits down with us to share how she traded toxic hustle for a calmer, wiser resilience built from gratitude, pausing, and the courage to focus on what matters now.
We walk through the first mirror moment—bald after chemo, going live to clients—and the hard decision to cut her business in half. Then we tackle the second diagnosis and the shift to marathon thinking. Bron explains how the serenity prayer became a practical framework anyone can adapt: accept the unchangeable, change what you can, and seek the wisdom to tell the difference. She details how she reframed chemo and a stem cell transplant by thanking the scientists and clinicians buying her more time with her kids. That mindset didn’t erase fear, but it softened it and made space for better choices.
From those lessons, the Serenity Project emerged: a growing global community and research effort that blends science and soul to help people create “serenity moments.” We explore why being beats relentless doing, how short pauses unlock clarity, and why journaling and gratitude are not fluffy extras but survival tools. If you’ve felt crushed by pace, illness, or the pressure to always push, Bron’s story offers a realistic way forward—resilience that bends without breaking, one grounded step at a time.
Subscribe for more conversations that challenge hustle culture and elevate whole-person health, share this episode with a friend who needs it, and leave a review to tell us your favorite serenity practice.
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Well, hello, and welcome to the Healthy Living Podcast. I'm your host, Joe Grumbine, and today we have a very special guest. Her name is Braun Watson, and she's a two-time cancer survivor, an international speaker and founder of the Serenity Project. After navigating two cancer diagnoses while keeping her business alive, now she helps women build resilience that bends without breaking, challenging toxic hustle culture with evidence-based compassion-led strategy. Now there's a lot going on in those couples. It's a lot. And uh I'm also a cancer survivor. So uh about a year ago or so I was diagnosed, and I'm uh just coming out the other side of it. So I admire your uh your resilience and welcome to the show.
SPEAKER_01:Thanks for having me, Joe. It's great to be here.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I uh would love to just let you jump on into it. Why don't you uh rewind a little bit and tell us a little bit about your experience that kind of gave you this resilience that uh you now help other people get?
SPEAKER_01:Well, great question. So basically, um I've had a dual career for over 30 years. So I'm a nurse and nurse educator in my previous life, taught at university and all sorts of different other places. And um back into 12, I started my own business. So I've had a dual career in marketing as well. So it was sort of this random thing, and I never really knew why I was doing all these things. And in 2017, that's when I had my first diagnosis, Joe, of breast cancer. And I was running an online business and had a lot of clients and was very busy. And we, you know, for me, I can only talk for me when I'm talking cancer or when I'm talking any resilience, I talk for me. And then um, what I love is to create the awareness for someone to go, hey, maybe I could think about that too. So I'm not here to tell people what to do. I'm just gonna share a bit, a little bit about that. So hit we're back in 217. I've got five kids running this business, and I'd had my second round of chemo. I was bald as bald, and I was standing there four hours after that chemo on a live to my clients.
SPEAKER_00:All right, because I had had this what you're talking about, you know, and I'm going, it's just like, what the heck am I doing?
SPEAKER_01:And I had this epiphany basically, which is I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. And because I was walking around and I caught a glimpse and I looked at myself and I went, Do you want to die? And because if you don't stop what you're doing, you're going to die, Brian. I was 48 years old, my youngest was, I don't know, seven or eight.
SPEAKER_00:Wow.
SPEAKER_01:It was eight. He was eight. So I've got you know, five kids, five boys actually. And and I'm looking there and I went, right, that's it. So I cut my business in half, I cut all the mentoring out, and I just stuck to my basics, which was um marketing. Okay, social media marketing agency. Anyway, doing all the work, doing the things. Here I am thinking, I've changed the way I lived, I changed the way I feel about myself, my body. And then on the 23rd of February 2023, I get a second diagnosis. This one, not so good because it's an incurable blood cancer this time. And literally, as I'm going through the five year in Australia, at the five-year mark for a curable cancer, you go through all the rounds of seeing the various doctors and things like that. And they go, Great, you're cured.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_01:So at my cured stage of breast cancer, I get slapped with this multiple myeloma, which is a blood cancer. All right. And I'm just, that's brought me to my knees because here I am again. I'm at a really good space in life with my family, my children. The business is doing really, really well. I'm feeling I'm going like 2023 was going to be a great year. Well, that's what I thought. And it was a great year because it taught me so many other things, Joe. All right. Just so you know, it was it was so can I swear? It was shit, Joe. So I called it the shit show 2.0. You're on mute.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, sorry, my dog you started yapping. Yeah. Oh, that's all right. You can say as you need to this appropriate.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I called it the shit show 2.0. So here I am. I'm now in the shit show 2.0, and I'm facing a marathon. The oncologist said, Brian, you're in a marathon this time. And I went, and I'm couldn't, you know, being that I'm remember, I'm I'm an Earth's educator, I know how this stuff works. I know how the system is meant to work. And I'm sitting here again going, how is this even possible? So rather than look at what has gone wrong, what has um, you know, what can what what's why, why me? I went down a path of looking uh for serenity. Now I use the very old-fashioned serenity prayer, which has been around nearly a hundred years for AA, NA, you name it. God, God grant me. So the God insert your God, insert whoever you believe in, universe, spirit, Dennis, whoever. That's what I always say. You know, Dennis, get grant me serenity to accept what I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference. And I have been working on this for myself for nearly three years because we're coming up three years in February. I actually wrote, interestingly enough, a chapter of the book back in 216, but I didn't know what I was writing it for. And it's like, hello, here we are. So where this has all ended up is I'm I'm demonstrating. I demonstrate, and as I said, I create awareness if someone wants to, if it resonates with someone, great. If it doesn't, well, that's okay too. Around working on your own serenity. I call them serenity moments because we can't just sit here and and meditate all day. And I believe in all the things like you talk about gratitude, Joe, 100% gratitude, gratitude no matter what.
SPEAKER_00:Right. And you know, that's the thing that like when you understand gratitude, it it's a choice, and you decide where you want to spend your attention and when you're focused. There's always good and bad around everything, and and even in a cancer diagnosis, well, you're still alive to fight the battle. Um, you you live in a place where they have treatment, you you're so many things you could focus on that are good, uh, or you could go the other direction, but it's always your choice. That's where that serenity prayer is so powerful because always in every situation you have these choices, and you know, you can you get faced with a difficulty, and you can, you know, go crazy, you can you can start doing things, or you can sit back and say, Wow, I need I need some advice here, you know, I I need and that's where that serenity moment um really kicks in, because at that if you can put yourself in a place where you're calm and you're able to listen and you're able to experience maybe some insight or whatever you're into.
SPEAKER_01:And when you and when you pause in those moments, Joe, when you pause, what that does is allows your own ability, your own strength, your own intuition, believe in what you will. If it's God, you believe that God will talk to you. If you believe in the universe, the universe, the higher purpose, when you pause enough, because that's where that resilience, not relentless and hustle. And I mean, I did all of that stuff and it darn near nearly killed me. So, you know, so it's it's I'm not saying we don't have space for that. What I'm saying is that when we slow down enough, and when I say slow down, it could be physically, it could be mentally, spiritually, when you sit there long enough, and it can might only be a me a pause, and that pause allows you to find that serenity moment because the moments are what makes the memories. And it's you know, I'd have, you know, I had this bloody can the clinical nurse consultant in Australia, and she go to me, Brian, you've got to make memories. And I feel like saying, Yeah, you've got to make memories too, Colleen. You know, we've got to, everyone's got to make memories, but it's the memories where we go make every day count. And it's okay, I'll keep chatting while you talk about it.
SPEAKER_00:No, you're doing fine. We got it under control.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, but it's about the moments, and this is where, if there's one thing I'd love people to think about, and this is where we find the resilience because it's learnt, guys. We can learn this stuff, doesn't matter where you want to go to learn it, but when we learn and we listen to your podcast, Joe, when we're looking and hearing some people that you've had on, when you bring those in, those moments, and you start joining moments together. Like I am now in a place and I go to the doctor every month, I get blood tests done every month. And remembering with blood cancer, you know, they're looking for nasties, and I'm in remission, but it took a while to get in remission. If I listen to the experts, oh Bron, it's only a matter of time. We've got to make the memories now because you won't be doing these things very soon. It's like, well, thank you so much. Technology is changing too, and you haven't taken me into consideration. Am I talking about living to 80? No. What I'm talking about is enjoying every moment that I have while I have it and having the gratitude around being able to make a choice that is right for me. That's where resilience comes in when you start doing that. Even when, like, even though it doesn't mean I don't have times of tension and scared and tears, and you know, put me in, you know, while I wait in that waiting room every month. Oh my lord, it's a mind game, and I'm getting better at it. But it doesn't mean, and and and this is a thing, you can put this in business, you can put it in life, it can put it in whatever adversity, because everyone's gonna have an adversity of some choice of of not a choice, of some thing.
SPEAKER_00:Right, right. We're always gonna find a challenge, no matter what. Yeah, always it's the human experience, though. That's I I I believe that's you know, we got put on this planet, this place, this existence, and then we get challenges. That's how we learn and and grow. And without we would just sit there and I don't know, probably be the same.
SPEAKER_01:Well, that's the thing, that's exactly the point, Joe, is that you would be the same. And so it's you know, it's not necessarily. I remember someone text me after the breast cancer who I hadn't heard from, and she sent me this message to say, you know, Brian, if you don't change the way you live, you know it's gonna come back, don't you?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. No, I I I agree a hundred percent.
SPEAKER_01:Agreed, right? Agreed, and I and I thought I had done that because the thing is, it's a never-ending journey. That's what I've learned, is that it you don't like I I talk about healing. I'd love to lose the word cure. I'd love to say we're all healing. If everyone healing, because we're then everybody has that opportunity to be in that space that is right for them. So that's where this whole Serenity project came about, because it was like, hang on a minute, we can we can change the way we can we we treat our patients and we we can have remembering I'm from inside the system and I'm educated in this space. And it's like, well, maybe we could change the way we we're teaching or have the way and the way we're supporting our patients, and some places are way better than others. Oh, yeah. But from my experience, I would love to see more of the inclusivity of all the things that are not medically related coming together. But that's a whole nother conversation.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, absolutely. I I'm curious. Um, there's a there's a place in your story where you were working in the medical field for many years and teaching nurses as well. And then there's a place where that fell off. What happened there?
SPEAKER_01:Look, I'm still I'm still registered and I'm still actually part of a local university since 2023. I haven't done any of that simply because um, you know, running my own business and having a family and financially needing, you know, to live as such. Um, I haven't done a lot in the nursing space, but where this is going with the Serenity Project is actually some research in how there will be a research project in in this space. So um it's gonna be fun. It's it's just I'm not actively, I'm still registered, but I'm I'm not physically in the field. But after 30 years, I think I've done my penance. I think I know how it works.
SPEAKER_00:I would say you put your time in, you got your stripes, right?
SPEAKER_01:I got my stripes. I I you know, I'm the patient now, and that's the great thing, is that I'm a patient now, and I know what it's like to be on the other side of the bed, and it horrifies me.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, it's it's it's it's unbelievable, you know, the the the standard of care and how they go about treating people. You know, I talk all the time about, you know, the patient advocate. You have to learn, you have to learn to care about yourself enough to do what you need, whatever that is, and find those answers. And I think that um, you know, these moments of serenity, it's interesting. Um, you know, I have a particular faith that you may or may not know about, but um it it was taught to me that God comes to you as a still small voice. Yes, the only way you're gonna heal her hear a still small voice is if you shut the heck up and sit still for a minute, right? Yes, and that's that's your serenity.
SPEAKER_01:That's my serenity moment, that's the cool one.
SPEAKER_00:Because, you know, I think that's a big part of it when you go through these things. And you know, if you've been through chemo, you sit in a chair for a long time and you have these bags of poison dripping into you, and um you get plenty of time to sit there and be quiet. Yes, you do, and and you may or may not feel very well about it, but it it gives you a place to there's nothing else you can do, there's nothing else you need to do, there's nobody gonna bother you. You're you're you're in a place where you can really reflect and and and maybe have that serenity. I know I found that, yeah, I did fall asleep off and on, but but through it, um I found that to be a place of of of contemplation, a place of of just, you know, and and the reality of it's all sitting right in front of you.
SPEAKER_01:It is. And and I I initially, so I I would fight myself with the chemo. That was my remembering, I'm only talking for me people. I would fight it because I knew what it was gonna do, and I knew what side effects were gonna come, and I knew that I'd be on medication for the side effects, to be on medication for the side effects, to be on the medication, which was the chemo. I knew that it was just this mess. And I now see these things. I had a stem cell transplant, so I've had a you know, a stem cell transplant, and so there was chemo involved with that as well. I would insist on talking to my shitty committee in my head, going, you know what, guys, we're gonna be grateful here. We've got to be grateful for science because if I'm not grateful for science, it's gonna make it a lot harder for me. Remembering I'm being a visual and being a learner, an educator for myself. I'm thinking to myself when I'm going, you know what, shitty committee, shut the hell up because you've got it wrong. We know it's toxic, but I'm gonna use the word thank you, thank you, thank you to the scientists. Thank you to those who dedicate their lives to helping people like me to have more time with my family.
SPEAKER_00:Sure.
SPEAKER_01:And that's where I had to flip the, I had to flip the and and sort of reframe it. I call it reframing these thoughts because I uh uh like I actually call them those Serenity Now moments. I want to flip and reframe the word, but it's a conscious thing. Like you were said right at the beginning, it's a decision. And I made that decision to go, Bron, thank you, but you've actually got it wrong right now, and um and really allow that side of the decision that I made to go down that treatment plan because of course I get a lot of questions. Oh, you did that, did you? It's like, well, that was my choice. Thank you for asking. And now I have this amazing kit of things that I can do that one of them is gratitude, one of them is journaling, as you talk about. Those things they are absolutely essential to getting this stuff out so that there's space for the really good stuff to come in, which is what you're talking about with your faith.
SPEAKER_00:I love it. Well, why don't you tell us about the Serenity Project? How did that how did you come to the place where you say, hey, I've got a I've got a plan to move forward here and it involves this?
SPEAKER_01:Good. That's a really interesting question. It seemed it really evolved because I when, as you say, when you're in those moments and I was in hospital for a month with stem cell transplant, and I in my world being being that I run a business and I am in marketing, I went, right, we're gonna put a name to this and we're gonna call it the Serenity Project, which is I'm the project, I'm the project, by the way.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, no, I get it. I love it.
SPEAKER_01:I did it for myself and I went, right, I I'd like to, I've always wanted to write a book. And remember that chapter you wrote back in 2016. I read it again. I'm going, oh my God, how did I miss that this was so important? Because it was around um, it was, it was like this person was going to um, it was gonna go to the Himalayas and go to what's it called when you go base camp at Mount at, you know, in the Himalayas. And it was started with a story how we're all getting on the plane and we've all packed for this summer holiday in Australia. We're going to, you know, we're going to Hawaii or we're going to go to Florida, or we're going to go somewhere really lovely and warm. And we get on the plane, they're going, no, guys, we're off to Kathmandu. I went, I was, what do you mean I'm going to Kathmandu? I don't have any jackets. I've I got songs. Well, too bad, Bron. You're going to climb to base camp and you have no choice. And we're going because we're already on the way and we're going and you're going to have to make do. So I get there, and then I tell this whole chapter about how I'm going, and there's adversity, and I go on the wrong path, and then I find the right guide. So a bit like um this is my brain fog from the chemotherapy. What's the little you know Yoda, the guide, right there, right? Pitching, I got Yoda, and Yoda puts me back on the right path.
SPEAKER_00:There you go.
SPEAKER_01:And then finally at the end of the chapter, we're right, we arrive at base camp. Some people didn't make it, but everyone that's there is we're bedraggled, we're absolutely trashed, but we're there, we made it. And that was where the Serenity Project came from, because that's what happened to me on the 23rd of February 2023 when I was told I had myeloma. Here I am thinking I'm finally free of this of this world. And no, you're not, Bronn. You've got another lesson, and you're off to Kathmandu, and you're climbing to base camp.
SPEAKER_00:That's wild. You know, it's it's wild. The one of the lessons I've gotten out of this whole experience is that we have the ability to just keep going. And no matter how hard it is, you can always take another step. And I think that's a powerful lesson. You know, I call it the the the human experience of carrying on. You know, you can just you can keep going. So and you can make it to that base camp or wherever it is you're headed.
SPEAKER_01:It's it is, and and it's and it's I've I've finally made peace for myself with uh the fear of the longevity of life, which is very deep and personal, which we don't need to talk about right now. But I've made peace with that because I focus solely on today. We are human beings, we are not human doings, and the being part is we want to be able to do that.
SPEAKER_00:I love that saying. I I have I I have heard motivating motivated Chindol speakers talk about that, you know, and uh all different twists on it, but we are beings, and and that's important to remember sometimes.
SPEAKER_01:Very important because I think when you are I call it the vortex of fear, when you're caught in the vortex of fear, or you're caught which is normal, let's just clarify completely normal to be in and out of that vortex. I can hop in, I hopped in only the other day. I'm crying and carrying on Paul goes, what the hell? And he goes, Well, you know. And he goes, I said, just give me five minutes, I'll be okay, I'll get out. But right now, I know where I am and I know what I need to do. And so when we talk about that, and I've lost my train of thought. Um what was I saying?
SPEAKER_00:Well, we were talking about being that's right.
SPEAKER_01:So, what I find is that a lot of people in business, productivity, life got a lot of list of things to do. Get up at five, yoga, meditate, exercise, nutrition. There's a lot of doing, right? You can have a doing list as long as you're arm. Sure. And my my goal with Serenity Project is to create a space for someone to think about for themselves to be the human being, which is being, which is now, which is present. And that's what a serenity moment is, because your serenity is going to be different to mine, and that's great because that's what it's meant to be. It's not me telling you what to do. I'm just creating so it's really around when you're in that space, and that's where resilience comes in. That's where we let go of relentlessness, because relentlessness and hustle is all the doing shit, you know. And I can do the shit, believe me. I built a business of nothing, I can build it right now. But that's got to do the doing, right? Don't worry about that. But it's about the control because when you lose the control, and that's what being means, when you allow yourself to be, you then are quietened down, and then you are able to hear the messages that you are meant to hear, which intuitively you will. I know what you know, whether it doesn't matter what your faith is, it's it's that they will come, and that is living, my friend.
SPEAKER_00:I love it. So when somebody comes to you, so the the Serenity Project is is like a um um a training program.
SPEAKER_01:Um, I've built a community which is going live shortly, but it's more about being connected. So if people, if people want to hear and want to learn more, you know what, just hop on the newsletter, just hop on what we send out. And then if there's if there's a space where you go, you know what, I actually want to be an actively, I want to actively be a part. There is a community, but uh, but that's really not the focus here, Joe. It's more around learning, or not even learning, it's about connecting with people who may be in alignment with you. No, some we we we got here randomly in some ways, and then when I look at your message, I agree, right? So your message, my message is 100% in alignment. So it's about that's how we that's the community we are. I talk about, it's the bigger picture here. It's not the it's it's around making sure that the more people have this way of thinking, the more way we can create awareness for people to be aware, we can then start changing the system. Because um, this is bigger than me. It's not about Bronn. It's just that I'm the one who happened to be the first person talking about it. It's not new, but I'm pulling together the science and the soul and the evidence and the perspective, which is there's not a lot of people that have that skill set, but it's more around being a voice for someone who may not have courage or may not have the confidence yet. And that's where Serenity Project comes in, and that's where just jump on that free newsletter, and then you build your confidence and you go and do whatever you want to do. That's what it's about, you know, and and live life the best you can for you, not for what everyone tells you to do, and certainly for not what the system tells you to do. When I say system, I'm talking about the medical his medical system here.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, absolutely. I I I get it. So, how many people and from from what regions uh make this up right now?
SPEAKER_01:All over the world.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, beautiful.
SPEAKER_01:It's only well, I only launched it in 2025 because obviously I was busy getting getting myself over the stem cell transplant, but it's just evolved and it'll keep evolving, so it's relatively new. But yes, there are people, and one of the things when people do sign up, they'll find out where where are they from because I want to know where people are from, not for any other reason to go, you know what, this is the countries that we can reach and where we're making a difference, and that's pretty much where it's at. And you know, I'd like everything in life and where my health is and where it is, uh, my future is so uncertain, it's not funny.
SPEAKER_00:Of course. I'm right there with you, absolutely. And so this is uh a newsletter that people can sign up and and become a part of. Um, do you have a website connected to that?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. So it's just literally Serenityproject.com.au.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Beautiful.
SPEAKER_01:That's it. Go there and you'll find the information. Connect with me. And if anyone has a question, I've I've got a um I've got an ability on the website to if you can't top, you can talk, you can send a voice message, you can send me a text message via the website. And it's around those questions because the questions create more questions, which create the awareness.
SPEAKER_00:I love it. So listen, Braun, I this has been an amazing conversation, and I I believe that we just opened up a bunch of doors. We didn't really get to the end of anything. I would certainly love to invite you back anytime that you to continue the conversation. Do you think that uh you have one thought, if you could wrap it all up to leave our listeners with here?
SPEAKER_01:My one thing that I would suggest, guys, is be where your feet are. Just be where they are, because that means you're present.
SPEAKER_00:I like it. I like it. And so once again, um if somebody wants to get a hold of you, learn more about the Serenity Project, or or even just uh have a conversation.
SPEAKER_01:Just have a chat. I'm up, I'll talk to anybody, uh, anywhere in the world because uh we don't want to be alone in this space.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. And what once again, how how do how do they reach you?
SPEAKER_01:So if they go to serenityproject.com.au, um you'll find me on Bron Watson. You'll find me on both Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, just look for Bron Watson. Uh, and that's me. Happy to chat.
SPEAKER_00:Beautiful. Well, Bron, thank you so much for joining us today. The time goes by so fast, as always. I've really enjoyed this. And again, my invitation is open. I'd love to.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, absolutely. Well, let's see what let's see what questions come up, and then we can answer the questions because that's that's the whole point is to keep the conversation rolling.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. Well, I want to thank you for being here. And this has been another episode of the Healthy Living Podcast. I'm your host, Joe Grumbine, and I want to thank our listeners for making the show possible, and we will see you next time.
