The week is going to be a big week!
First up: scans at MSK tomorrow, with results on Wednesday—and then the launch of Strive for Five on Sunday.
I’ve stopped guessing whether my scans will be clear or not—I’ve been surprised again and again. I’m not feeling any scanxiety, and I’m too relieved about that to spend much time wondering if that is a function of being healthy or happy.
That said, I sure hope they are clear, because as I’ve said no fewer than 20 times over the course of the past weekend (mostly to make Per roll his eyes), “If these scans aren’t clear, it’s really going to harsh my launch.”
We’ve spent the past few weeks getting ready, thanks to the generous advice of people who know more about content than we do. I have a calendar with ten months' with of twice-weekly posts ready for new reflections. We’ve got drafts of my first two TikTok videos edited, and are working on making them better and better. One of them will make all four of our children cringe—so it definitely feels like we’re moving in the right direction!
I’ve posted invitations to subscribe in my various cancer support groups: Colonclub.com, the Peloton Cancer Warriors Facebook group, and even two cancer subthreads on Reddit. That got us up to 200 subscribers, which felt like nice traction toward our goal of 500 by next Sunday.
We wanted to save our big guns for last: YOU!
I'm hoping that anyone who is willing to share on their social networks to do that tomorrow or in the next few days—ideally, along with a note letting people know why you decided to share it.
Specifically, we are hoping that you would be willing to post on LinkedIn as well as Facebook and/or Instagram.
LinkedIn offers almost unlimited reach potential, which makes it more likely that a post from you there would reach a cancer patient or anyone else who might benefit from the content the most. (Facebook’s algorithm seems to throttle back posts that push to outside platforms like Substack.)
I went ahead and put my own post on LinkedIn last night, the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, which I’m sure is listed somewhere toward the top of a social media “worst practice” list. But in spite of inopportune timing, so far, it has 32 shares (mostly from people I don’t even know!) and 68K+ impressions. And only one weird “miracle cure” promise note in my inbox. 😂
My Substack is up to 375 subscribers, which makes a goal of 500 feel within reach, especially if some of you opt to share.
And I hope you will, because one thing that I’ve noticed is that only those who shared the post prefaced with their own comments seem to be getting actual engagement—I guess even LinkedIn has its algorithm!
So tonight’s ask is twofold:
Stars for my scans, and shares to help me reach the right subscribers.
Thank you all so much for getting us here. Whatever comes, we are feeling ready for this next chapter!
⭐️
If you're on LinkedIn, you should be able to follow this link to my post, which is public. Click Share, then select "Share with your thoughts" to add an introduction - it doesn't have to be lengthy; anything is enough to make it more likely to be seen!
If you're not on LinkedIn, or want to put it somewhere else, the easiest thing to do is just share the link to Substack:
