OM13: Amy Fritz |Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep Mastery Unleashed

Meet Today’s Guest: Amy Fritz
What is the journey you went on to be the expert you are now?
I am a 20-year breast cancer survivor. I didn't just get diagnosed once but I had to two separate diagnosis. I was really hit hard with cancer when I was in my early 20s. And that's a real difficult time for people in their lives. You're becoming an adult, you're finding your footing, you're trying to either finish up education as I was or getting started with a career. And so to suddenly have your life come to a complete halt and have to fight cancer. That's a real challenge. And not everyone has the opportunity and privilege to be able to survive from that. Some people do live past cancer, but it hits them hard, and it really changes their life. Knowing this, I really wanted to make sure that I really had the opportunity to build a life I love and not to be stuck in survivor mentality and feeling sorry for myself asking myself, why did this happen? I wanted to make sure that I went from a survivor to a thriver really loving life and living it to its fullest.
My story in the book is about my journey with cancer, some of the details that I went through while I was fighting cancer and the surgeries that followed. And then what I did with my life afterwards. I was an undergraduate at the University of Washington, finishing up my Bachelor of Science in atmospheric sciences. I'm a little bit of a book nerd. And I love math. If anyone wants to know math and science, I love them both. Once I was free and clear of cancer, I went on to graduate school at both Penn State University, where I earned a Master of Science in meteorology. And then I went on to NC State University, where I received a Master of Science in physical oceanography.
When I was fighting cancer, one of the things that my doctor encouraged me was to set big goals, things that would excite me, things that would motivate me. And for me, really getting the opportunity to go to graduate school was worth it. For me, when I was fighting cancer, it was putting that goal out in front of me. In fact, while I was fighting, I was filling out applications for graduate school. I took the graduate required exam even during chemo. I was just doing everything I could to keep my life moving forward, because it's so important not to get stuck in your battle. Once I was done with doctor's appointments and the follow ups and the x rays and the surgeries. I had something else in my future. So that's a little bit about my story.
Now you're probably wondering, where does laughter come into this? Why is laughter so important? Where laughter comes in is it's been shown that as we laugh, we release positive endorphins throughout our body which could actually help your immune system. It's a great way to bring your mind back to being centered and focused. Laughter is wonderful. It has so many incredible benefits I can't even begin to explain, but it's also good exercise, which is another piece of my life.
You were faced at one point with a grim diagnosis, and you were physically drained and just weak. And you decided to go somewhere. Tell us more.
As I was taking rounds of chemotherapy, there came a time when my body wasn't bouncing back, my white blood cell count wasn't recovering. I was like borderline hospitalization for weeks. At one point in time, my doctors looked at me, held my hand, and shook their heads and said, you really need to get your affairs in order. It's very difficult to listen to a doctor not really know how much time you have left. I wanted to see if I could make one last memory in my life. If I could have one last really exciting thing to do, what would that be?
I asked my doctors if I could go to Disneyland. I lived in Washington state at the time. I know this is a real huge ask because we were worried about my immune system. If I pick up anything, it could be the end of me. I didn’t know how much time I had left. I really wanted to go to Disneyland. It's notoriously