You Can Listen to What You Don’t See

Last year, a friend sent me a podcast and said, “I thought of you—it’s for the fiercely hopeful.”

I pressed play, curious. And I stayed.

What’s What with Heather Harris is a show that explores what’s happening in the world—and more importantly, what’s possible within it. "It’s about uncertainty, yes, but also about the quiet, persistent hope that carries us forward".

So when I was invited to be a guest, it felt both surreal and deeply fitting.

We spoke about living with invisible illness—what it means to carry something real that others can’t see.

At one point, Heather asked why I chose Why Not Me as the title of my book.

The truth is, the question “Why me?” has never resonated with me. It feels rooted in resistance. And for me, resistance makes it harder to live inside the life I actually have.

Acceptance, on the other hand, creates space.

Space for gratitude. Space for community. Space to still believe in a version of a full life—even if it looks different than the one I once imagined.

But the conversation wasn’t all light.

We also talked about grief—the kind that doesn’t always have a clear beginning or end. The quiet mourning of the life you thought you would live. The plans that shifted. The identity you had to renegotiate.

And yet, sitting in that conversation, something else became clear to me.

Hope wasn’t the only theme.

Humanity was.

Because the truth is, so many of us are carrying something unseen. Illness, loss, fear, uncertainty. We move through the world side by side, often unaware of the weight someone else is holding.

Maybe that’s where this conversation matters most.

Not just in being heard—but in remembering to listen differently. With more empathy. More compassion. More curiosity about what we can’t immediately see.

If this conversation does anything, I hope it reminds us of that.

You can listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.