Resonance – Episode 64
Verbatim Transcript
Speaker: Viktoria Levenberg
Guest Speaker: Meytal Blanaru
Viktoria Levenberg: We take ourselves way too seriously.
Meytal Blanaru: Before I got diagnosed, I was very much busy living in the future. I was
busy trying to do everything perfect. Artists are born to just kind of barely get by, and I knew
that I'm not being the kind of mom that I want to be, or that I can be. After I went through the
journey I did, I'm more connected to the essence of life and why I'm really here.
You can do this, obviously. Of course. If you got this, if you did that, what is there that you
couldn't do, really?
I don't know.
Viktoria Levenberg: Exactly.
Viktoria Levenberg: In today's episode, you are gonna hear from Meytal Blanaru about how
she regained more, more mobility after injuring her back in a car accident, and how her
recent breast cancer journey reshaped her approach to work and life so that you can stop
waiting for tomorrow and choose to live your best life starting today. Let's dive in.
Viktoria Levenberg: Welcome to Resonance, the podcast for high performers and
entrepreneurs who want to do life, work, and success differently. I am your host, Viktoria
Levenberg, and I'm obsessed with efficiency, productivity, and planning in a way that
harnesses your energy and your natural rhythms while keeping you in alignment and
integrity. Because I have figured out that lasting success is not about the hustle. It is about
being in resonance. Let's begin.
Viktoria Levenberg: Oh my gosh, I cannot wait for you to hear the story, so I'm gonna keep
this short and sweet because Meytal is a friend and inspiration. She reached out to me, and
she is just the most amazing human. Was like, I knew it from the moment I met her. She
was so lit up and passionate and in alignment with exactly what we're talking about here on
Resonance. And as I continue to have the privilege of being in her life and witnessed her
navigate her breast cancer journey in real time, I knew that we had to bring her to you as
soon as possible, as soon as she was in recovery and had the energy to do so.
And so this is what you get to witness today. You're gonna hear from an amazing woman
who is a professional contemporary dancer, a choreographer. She runs a membership
helping people heal from chronic pain, mobility issues. You know, people from having had
major accidents and strokes and being paralysed on half of their body, to fibromyalgia and
being in pain for 12 years, being able to all of a sudden finally move freely again. I mean,
she is a miracle worker, both with her clients but also in her own life.
She just recently went through a breast cancer journey, and my goodness, just hearing her
story gives me goosebumps every time I think of her because the perspective that Meytal
has to share with you about her journey and life, I genuinely believe, has the power to shift a
lot for you.
So really, by the end of this episode, you will see the power of ease in bringing physical,
mental, emotional, spiritual ease into your healing rather than trying to push through, so
that you can stop trying to grind and sprint on that treadmill to achieve your results,
whatever it is that you say that you want, but actually consciously choose to live the life
that you are dreaming of right now. Because chances are, nine times out of 10, the things
that you think you will be only able to have when, if, and, and whatever, it's available to you
now.
So my goodness, enjoy this episode. This must be like one of the most impactful episodes
that I have published to date, so I don't say this lightly. Let's begin.
Viktoria Levenberg: Welcome to Resonance, Meytal. I am so grateful that you said yes,
and oh my gosh, I cannot wait for our listeners to hear your story. So before we dive into the
detail, would you be able to share a little bit about who you are, what you do, and what
brought you here today?
Meytal Blanaru: Thank you so much for having me. Also, uh, it's always wonderful to have
a sit down and chat with you. Um, my name is Meytal. I'm a mother of two. I live in Portugal,
and I'm a professional dancer.
And in 2002, I had a car accident and injured my back. The car just went off a highway
straight into a pole, and um, as my back was injured, before that injury, I was all about
strength and moving through life and solving any kind of challenge that came my way with
more strength.
Viktoria Levenberg: Uh-huh.
Meytal Blanaru: And all of a sudden, the, the only tool that I knew how to use was not
really helping me at all. Uh, was actually perhaps standing in my way. And I started to
search for a way of healing, and I tried what felt like everything.
My back got injured in the accident, and I wasn't sure I'll be able to dance again. And I really
remember also getting to a point where, you know, you... This is, this was for me, moving,
not even just dancing, just moving is like speaking. And if I can't move, I feel like I'm, I'm
muted.
Somehow that feeling of feeling frozen inside my body because of the pain and the, the
tension that got accumulated due to the injury, the guarding, the bracing, and all of that,
got me to a point where I was really hesitant whether I'll be able to dance again
professionally or not.
And I, I felt very blessed and lucky that, uh, at some point I came across the Feldenkrais
Method. The Feldenkrais Method is a method that helps people to really, uh, rewire their
movement patterns. So while many of the methods we meet out there only address
surface-level solutions, Feldenkrais addresses the core problem in a really deep way.
And indeed, after, already after the first session, I started to feel different, which got my
curiosity sparked. So I continued to practice, and the more I practised, the better I felt, until
we got to a point that the pain was just gone. And moreover, I actually gained more mobility
in that area than before the injury itself.
Viktoria Levenberg: Wow.
Meytal Blanaru: So then I, I was, I was a believer. I was convinced. And I, I, I just wanted to
understand this better. So I started to learn the method, and it started with two years that I
did a deep dive on my own. Then I went ahead and took the proper route to become a
certified practitioner, which I finished already, I think, 15 years ago.
And since then, I've been, alongside my career as a professional contemporary dancer, I'm
a choreographer, and I, I do, um, dance pieces that are revolving around themes that...
work is usually quite personal, autobiographical, and tries to be a little bit more vulnerable
to create a different dialogue between people, between the audience and the spectators.
So then, you know, I obviously went back dancing, and actually I never even created before
coming across a feathering class.
Viktoria Levenberg: Uh-huh.
Meytal Blanaru: But when all the noise quietens down and you can hear your voice in
movement, you start to understand that you do have something you wanna say. So I started
to create and, and tour my pieces.
But alongside all of that, my deeper sense of passion, where I feel that it really touches
deeply with why I'm here in this world, is to help people overcome chronic pain, physical
limitations, stiffness, tension. That's my specialty. That's really my, my, the hard and the
core of what I do.
And I'm just, it's, it's a bit exciting, so I'm gonna share a little bit if I can, but um, sometimes
you work for years and you don't really notice. You know, there's different stories that come,
but you don't really pause to perceive all of it.
And now we're, me and my team, I have a, I have a membership where I help people do all
of this, and so I have a team that helps me with everything tech because I'm a tech and
granny. Like, I, I basically know how to open a computer and to close it, and that's kind of it.
But almost. But like, every time I need to unmute people or mute them on Zoom, I'm like,
where should I go now? Really something embarrassing.
Viktoria Levenberg: Yeah, Zoom, isn't it? It gets confusing sometimes. I agree.
Meytal Blanaru: It isn't necessarily inherent. No, but um, we're putting together a webpage
with all the testimonials that have accumulated throughout the years, and to pause and to
look at all these stories of people, like someone, um, a young man, like in his 30s, that had
a stroke and became paralysed and lost the ability to move all of his left side, and learned
to walk again and to move through this and through one of the lessons, and that he did on
repeat a couple of times.
A woman with fibromyalgia that was in chronic pain for 12 years, and just like the first
lesson, she couldn't stop crying all the evening after because it was the first time in 12
years that she wasn't in pain, and that was the first night that she went to sleep without
painkillers. People with back pain, with knee pain, with the, the, the, the, the, the, all of
them, like so many people healing, and all of it happening through more kindness to the
body, not through pushing.
So none, yeah. Not that the way we would think healing could arise.
Uh, so like, yeah. Anyway, but all of this to say that this work, Feldenkrais, is very, is very
powerful, and I feel very blessed that I get to do this.
Viktoria Levenberg: Yeah, I mean, just hearing some of those specific examples that you
gave, you know, of people who have been in pain for 12 years or were paralysed—weren't
able to move half of their body. It's, it is mind-boggling because, as we've kind of spoken
about in our little private chats, um, my partner struggles with a lot of chronic pain. And,
um, you know, he's—everyone's on their own journey. We, we all do our own thing.
But I think that hearing these stories that you've just shared, both your own and that of your
clients, gives me hope for the people who feel like there is no hope left, you know? And so
this is really what Resonance is about as well, is sort of showing people these different
ways where you feel like you're just at the end of the straw, you—there's nothing else to do,
and instead of you've already tried it all, it's like, hang on a second. This might be your
solution.
And it sounds like, for people struggling with pain and mobility, like Failed in Christ and, and
a lot of what you teach is, is that. Is that right?
Meytal Blanaru: Hmm, absolutely. We usually get people that indeed arrived to their wit's
end. Like they've tried everything, or they, they tried multiple things before that failed them.
And, and there is something very meditative and very soft in the work.
So I think it really, it really baffles people at first because we have the, we have the feeling
that we need to work hard for everything in life. And, and actually, every time we push
harder, the body contracts further because we're in constant dialogue with the body when
we're moving about in our day.
And every time that we push our body beyond its limits, we're not teaching it, or, or, or all
we're doing is giving it more evidence that this conversation is one way, a one-way street.
And what happens—think of yourself, if you were to be in a conversation with someone that
keep on, keeps on—sorry for the analogy—but kind of shouts at you or talks harsh to you,
you would close up.
Viktoria Levenberg: Yeah.
Meytal Blanaru: So that actually perpetuates the cycle of pain and the cycle of tension.
And, and I, it's almost funny and quirky that we think that it's odd that to go, to go kinder
with our body would bear little results, whereas it makes all the sense in the world that it
would be the opposite.
But I think what it indicates deeper is the kind of culture that were grown, you know, the
kind of message that were required to perceive of everything that's good in life comes
through hard work. And if you did not sweat your way through it, or got into pain, or needed
to push yourself into your absolute limit, then none of it would make sense and you
wouldn't really get ahead.
And, and I'm still, you know, I, I think I personally incorporated it deeply into movement,
and I'm, I'm—that's my life. And also, as I was—I guess we'll talk about it soon—but I was
moving through breast cancer really in the last six months, and two months ago, um, and
no, actually one month ago, one and a half month ago, but, um, but in those areas it was
very inherent for me to step into that kind of deeper, kinder sense with myself.
And still, when it comes to work, for example, or to the membership that I'm building, or to
those kind of things, those are places that I'm really learning this now, you know, and
moving between the old habit and the new one that is gradually and slowly forming.
So yeah, it's, it's, it's interesting how much small places in life, even if we think we know
that lesson, how many small places in life might still linger there where we haven't really
soaked that in, really.
Viktoria Levenberg: Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, I think there's a beautiful kind of
bigger piece to this around how we do anything is how we do everything.
And you're actually so incredibly lucky that you have this proof point of being able to go
easier on your body and seeing greater results. Like, you already have evidence in your life
of the fact that more does not equal better.
And so yes, while it comes with its own journey and adaptations to do it in another area of
life, like work, for example, it's still the, the belief, you know, and the self-efficacy is sort of
there.
And I love that you said this because it is so on point with a lot of kind of what I speak about
here and what I teach, so we'll definitely get into that. Um, but you hit the nail on the head
when you spoke to the conditioning. You know, we are literally, whether it's through hustle
culture, through the patriarchy, whatever you wanna call it, we are made to believe that you
gotta work hard to be successful.
And yet, as you say, that is so contrary to how we are humanly wired. And it doesn't take a
genius to look around us out in nature. How do the animals behave? How do the plants
behave? How do the elements behave? You can see they're in utter harmony.
And the trees aren't there in the middle of winter being like, "I need to grow a leaf. There's
no sun, but I need to grow a leaf."
Haha.
And so I just love that you're also sharing this from a slightly different angle because it is so
damn important in so many areas of our life.
Meytal Blanaru: Absolutely.
Viktoria Levenberg: Um, wow. And before we kind of dive in, 'cause I've got so many
questions for you, I can't wait to, like, nerd out on some of the Felt in Christ and, and get
more info on, on that, and also obviously the depths of your recent journey.
Before we dive into all these, I would love to ask you a question that I bring to every expert
that welcomes us here on Resonance, and that is, like, what is one thing about you that
doesn't show up on your official bio, so people wouldn't necessarily know this about you
unless they listen to this podcast episode?
Meytal Blanaru: I love doing a funny, a characters for my kids. No one, hahaha. There's a—
only, there's only the robot, eh, which, which I kind of move like a—because I'm a dancer, I
can do these kind of things.
Viktoria Levenberg: So I can—you, like—so we do post this podcast on YouTube as well.
Can we see a bit of it?
Meytal Blanaru: Ha ha ha ha ha, yeah. It's like, it's everything is becoming like a—if, if I
wanna get my hand there, so I need to... like that to get to somewhere. So yeah.
Viktoria Levenberg: That is so good. Do you, do you have any other favourite characters
that you tend to make up for your kids?
Meytal Blanaru: I do. Well, actually, I have to say that this was more prevalent when I had
one child and my son. Easier to do stuff now. Then life overwhelmed us with two kids, eh.
But I think that—and I got overwhelmed also with work—but now that I'm, after I went
through the journey I did, I'm more connected to the essence of life and why I'm really here.
So I do things very differently, and I all of a sudden remember these characters. And
actually just yesterday, I shared my daughter—she's four, she hasn't seen them yet—so she
stood there with bright, bright eyes looking at them.
And I told myself every time I'll say goodbye to her in the mornings in kindergarten, I'll do a
little the robot performance on the way out.
Viktoria Levenberg: Oh my God.
Meytal Blanaru: Because there is this window where we say goodbye, and we do a little
hearts and stuff, and yeah. Anyway, but there is also Melanie the stewardess. Just a little bit
of a joke about kind of the patriarchy.
Every time I give my, I, I give food to my son, I was like, "Oh, would you like some, you know,
some yup honey with that oat milk and some—I don't know." I just, I do these kind of very
female, uh—
Viktoria Levenberg: Uh-huh. Classic. And I love that so much.
Meytal Blanaru: Not to, not to, like, the—not that this is any kind of criticism on, on
stutterers. They're, they're actually incredible.
Viktoria Levenberg: It's an archetype, you know. It's a character. Like, there's nothing,
there's nothing wrong with that. And, and if anything, it is—I think humour is so important
because we take ourselves way too seriously.
And so, like, the fact that sometimes humour is the only way to, to deal with kind of the
gravity of some of those things. And I think it's hilarious. I love that so much.
So Ali the robot and Melanie the stewardess. Is that right?
Meytal Blanaru: And Ali the robot.
Viktoria Levenberg: Ali the robot. Okay.
Meytal Blanaru: Yeah, Arnie with an R.
Viktoria Levenberg: Oh, Arnie. Okay. Oh my gosh, that is so funny. That's even better. That
makes me think of Arnold Schwarzenegger for some reason, but anyway.
Ha ha ha. He could do a good robot with his biceps.
Ha ha ha.
Meytal Blanaru: That is for sure true.
Viktoria Levenberg: See, I love asking this question because you just never know where it's
gonna take you.
And what came up for me as soon as you said that was that I actually never spoke about
this on, on the podcast before. And, you know, like, as entrepreneurs, as creators that like
creating content so much, we're like, wait, what did I not tell people already about my life?
Um, but one of the funny things that we do with, um, my dog Piper is we actually call her a
million different names but Piper. Haha. So, and we make up songs as well. So because
she's a dog and she loves chicken. When she has this song that she gets when we bring
chicken into the kitchen, which is like, “And she loves chicken and chicken-related things.”
That's so— that's just made me think of that as well, 'cause, you know, as a dog mom,
that's sort of how I project those, those moments. I think we all have those quirky little
things that we do.
Meytal Blanaru: Oh yeah. It's not— it's, yeah. I just— it's, it's so lovely to find moments that
you, or, or to connect to moments in a different way. I feel that it's just a— it, it puts you in a
much more playful, uh, manner. I don't know how to call it.
Viktoria Levenberg: Yeah. It's just like living. I think you said it so beautifully just then. You
said you've, you know, ever since the journey that you've been through recently, you've
really been playing with the essence of life itself, and, and trying to embody that in different
ways and, and be there and be present for it.
And, you know, that's sort of what sparked this conversation here as well. You know, I,
again, I'm so grateful to know you and, and to have you in my world, and having heard some
of your story and sort of how you were working and living, you know, in, in the recent few
years, and then what you went through, and sort of the perspective shift on the other side, I
was like, oh my gosh, our listeners need to hear this story.
Because as we kind of spoke about in our conversation earlier this week, I genuinely
believe that in, in hustle culture, and when especially women are just so head down, “I
need to get this done. I've got work to do. I've got a business to run. I've got kids to feed. I've
got lunches to pack.” It's hard to see the damage that's being created beneath the surface.
And out of all people, I think you have a really powerful story to share of what the end result
of that damage can look like. And so with that, if you're open to it, I would love to hear sort
of your story and your recent learnings, um, about your journey of breast cancer and sort of
your perspective shift on life today.
Meytal Blanaru: Hmm, absolutely. So before I got diagnosed, I was very much, um, busy
living in the future. I, I, I was, um, you know, to be, to be also completely transparent, um,
me and my family, like my husband and our two kids, we all... when after moving here, life
actually got very expensive, and just the, the wish to for my kids to, to go... without screen,
like all these kind of things, um, eating, eating good food, healthy food, all of that just kind
of became a little bit overwhelming.
And my husband is also an artist, a musician, and although he teaches language lessons,
uh, like, you know, as two artists, I think we've lived most of our lives in a mentality of
constant lack. Like we're, like, artists are born to just kind of barely get by. And, and, and
moving here and wanting to offer my kids and myself and my husband and all of our little
unit of a family a kind of life where we can just travel to places and, and, and have our own
home, actually just have our own home, you know.
Viktoria Levenberg: Hmm.
Meytal Blanaru: That we could leave behind for our kids, and all these kind of things that
really started to matter to me on a deep level, and... this helping people more, all of that.
Like I, I, I started to get in the last couple of years really, um, laser-focused, but in a non-
flexible way and non, um, without breathing, almost, getting my membership as far as I
can.
Um, it also really feeds me because there's people, you know, daily that leave comment.
Like I could just go about my day and I open and I see where people are, and I'm getting this
message: “All the tension is gone. I was crying. Finally the pain is gone.” All these kind of
things just through your day. I'm like, this is— I get to, I get to do something that matters to
me.
So putting all of that together into this mishmash created, uh, a reality for me that I created
for myself where I constantly felt stressed out, overwhelmed, uh, the— everything felt
heavy, uh, doing— except for working with people, actually, like teaching. But everything
around it and leading a team, speaking about it to people that might be interested in
joining, like all these kind of things started to feel very heavy for me and very taxing.
On a personal level, I think something was out of alignment. And I knew that I'm— I knew
everything. Like, I knew that I'm not being the kind of mom that I want to be, or that I can be.
I knew that I'm not being present inside my day, and that I'm waiting to live for later.
And then, um, I did this huge, eh, live free event, eh, with, I think we had like 7,000 people
that have inscribed to it, and, uh, and welcomed hundreds of people into the membership.
And four days later I found out that I'm— that I have breast cancer, uh, just after, eh, closing
the doors to, to my membership.
And that was— I, I really, I really remember the beginning, uh. I remember a lot of, a lot of
fear, a lot of, um, I, I— I more than anything I remember the— because I'm a carrier of the B
R C A 1 gene, which comes with very high risk for breast cancer, so it might shouldn't have
come as a surprise, but of course it does.
And... um, scan just to— because it's important just to check these kind of things. Then
they found something, and she told me already on the spot, the technician that ran the
test, that she thinks that it's probably cancer, uh, or that she can't— she was careful. She
said she doesn't know, but it looks very suspicious.
And I was pushing her a little bit to ask, to get more clarity, and she said that yes, it—
there's, there is a high chance of cancer. And I remember going out of that room and, like,
I— it's hard to describe it for someone, you know, for people that haven't gone through that
physical experience, but you, you just feel like something inside you is starting to sink
deeper and deeper, but, but for the first time in life, I had that feeling that I don't know if it
ever stops sinking.
Like you don't have the feeling of a, a ground that would then catch you.
Viktoria Levenberg: Oh yeah.
Meytal Blanaru: And that, that— those moments, I think for me, were probably the, one of
the more challenging ones in this journey.
Viktoria Levenberg: Uh-huh.
Meytal Blanaru: But then, yeah, then we got the diagnosis, say I had stage 1A breast
cancer. I was very lucky that we found it early on. And here's the thing, like, everything that
you think about, if you haven't moved through cancer, everything that you think about
cancer, forget it. You know, forget it.
Because I think that people have a very specific idea, and I had too before I went through
this journey, of what it actually looks like.
Viktoria Levenberg: Mm-hmm.
Meytal Blanaru: And I have to say, and I'm not saying— I think people sometimes tell me,
“Yeah, you can say that because you are after this journey.” I was saying the same thing I'm
going to say now. I was saying all through this journey, every single moment of the way.
I never, uh— like this journey was, uh, one of the most beautiful and meaningful journeys
that I've ever went in my life. I do not regret going through it. I wouldn't take it away. I, if you
would offer me to be the same person I was before and just not have this experience, or to
do exactly every single step along the way that happened, I wouldn't even blink or hesitate,
and I would tell you to f— the other thing that I had before.
I was miserable before. I was happy, happier when I was moving even through cancer,
because when you're busy waking up to life, you're not—okay, you have cancer, you're
obviously, that's a bummer, but you're not—
Viktoria Levenberg: Sorry. Hahaha.
Meytal Blanaru: Yeah.
Viktoria Levenberg: Hahaha, that sucks. Hahaha.
Viktoria Levenberg: If you're enjoying this episode, you will love my free newsletter,
Flourish Weekly. It is an email that you actually wanna read, and you will be the first to hear
about new offerings, events, and upcoming episodes of Resonance. The link will be in the
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by heading to the link in my bio on Instagram, at Viktoria Levenberg.
Now let's get back to the episode.
Meytal Blanaru: But you're not asleep anymore. And I think one of the thing—things that
hurts me the most, or that I, I, I almost don't know yet how to negotiate because it's so fresh
still after, is the fact that I walk around and I see so many people that are asleep in life.
Viktoria Levenberg: Yeah.
Meytal Blanaru: And like that, you know, if ever you're telling yourself that you would leave
later, or you would do this or that later, this—this is what I'm talking about. Like imagine
that you... someone like that, that you, that this is the last, eh, month or the last year of
your life. What would you say goodbye to?
You know, all the kind of things we get messed up in our head about, we're not sure what's
the right thing or not. Just if this was the last year or the last month or even the last week in
your life, which kind of relationships would you just not even bother being busy with
because they do not feed you and there's no, there's no connection there?
And where, to whom would you go and say, "I love you. I—you're my, you're my soul. You're
my..." You know, who would you spend time with? And what would be the legacy that you
wanna leave behind you? And, you know, what would you give up on in your sense of
identity? That's the surface one, the surface-level one.
You know, it becomes so easy and so crystal clear to see what really matters when, when
you're in this kind of journey, and what's absolutely so negligible that it's almost not worth
the spiralling in the head about. Not almost. It's not worth the spiralling in the head about.
And, and that for me was so powerful because before this journey, I just, I didn't know how
to do that. I didn't know how to see through a situation and have perspective into it.
Everything felt like it's the end of the world, and very quickly everything felt, you know,
catastrophic or big.
Actually more in the, in the business that I'm building, not so much in life. In life I think I was
already in a different—I was much more emotionally grounded. But whenever it came to
the, the, this, this thing that I'm building here with my membership and all of everything
around it, that felt very stressful for me very quickly. And I just, I didn't know how to handle
it really when things break down or whatnot. And, and, and...
I think that I, I now, you know, every time I do something that scares me or there's a
challenge, I just tell my—remind myself, like, you've went through cancer for five months.
You, after five months of chemotherapy, when you go every single week to the hospital to
get chemo, you were dancing in the reception room before you go in and singing, and you
were just freaking, like, going dancing in the street when I—just living life without any—like
living the life that you were always born to, and being who you were always born to be,
moving through this life.
So you can do this, obviously. Of course. Got this. Like, what—if you did that, what is there
that you couldn't do, really?
Viktoria Levenberg: I don't know. Exactly.
Meytal Blanaru: And exactly. And it was, it was a... you know, there's—when, when you're a
mom and, and you're a part—and you're a partner and you go through this journey, you have
small kids, it's, it's not only you, of course, that moves through this journey.
Your kids get to see their mum, you know, and, and, and your older—my, my youngest
daughter, my younger—my daughter, she didn't understand fully. I think she, she
understand—understood everything, but I don't think she understood the implications of
what cancer means. And of course we didn't try to explain that part.
But my son was ten, totally did. And his first question when we told them was, "But people
die from cancer." You know, so obviously he, you, you know, the mortality of his mom
became all of a sudden flat out on the table for him.
And, and yeah, and for my partner that, you know, like told me months after that he... you
know, just over the end, he told me—he never said any—like, he was, it was really... when I
think about this, then I'm, I usually start to cry because I...
You know, you have a—
Viktoria Levenberg: I'm sorry.
Meytal Blanaru: It's okay. This is meaningful.
Viktoria Levenberg: Yeah.
Meytal Blanaru: You have a partner, and you know in your head that they love you, but I...
really what that means.
And he was just, um, loving me through all of it. Like through all the hair that falls off and,
you know, after the operation when all of my body is, is, you know, all... yeah, different. And,
and the way that he's been there for me, for our kids, holding everything together, like—and
just, just loving me and supporting with no, even a, a little freak, like a little article of, of...
yeah, just putting his career, everything on the side for six months to, to just be there for me
and never...
Yeah. And only months later he shared that after the diagnosis, he called his mom to ask if
I, you know, if I become a single parent, would you help me raise my kids? Because you
have to, you have to think about these kind of things.
So yeah. So all these things, it's, it's... I think you really—everything, you get to meet
everything in your life through a very different perspective, and to... yeah, and to live a very
different life.
And, and I feel, I feel that I got the biggest gift through moving through this journey, where
without it I, I wouldn't see any of it. I wouldn't see how I want to live my life. I wouldn't see
what kind of a man I'm with, really comes to, to those kind of trials, error periods.
I wouldn't see the kind of mom I wanna be. And I, I, I wouldn't stay connected to, to
something so much deeper, uh, that, that runs so deeper than the 3D reality that we see.
And, uh, yeah, I feel that that's why I, I, for, for me this whole journey has been nothing short
of the biggest gift that I could ever ask for.
And, you know, I was moving, I was exercising and moving through a good chunk of this
journey. I was dancing as much as I could. There was a moment that I couldn't anymore,
and I, I, I was—I, toward the end, I became very weak. I—it was hard to walk.
And, and, but still, you know what, I think a lot of things hold you that you don't think about
or expect when everything is just running smoothly in your life. But to go in and see the
Trivers inside the tribe inside my membership, like continuing to share thing—I could have a
day where I'm lying in bed and I could barely get out of bed in the bad days of chemo. You
know, that was the situation.
I, I could—you, you—it's like electricity shut down. The whole inner house of your body just
goes to a, to, to a shutdown mode. Not all the time, but there, there were days like that, a
few days like that every week.
And, um, and to go in and, and see my, my members still, you know, that I still did
something good out in the world while I'm here. Like this, that's... that's huge for moving
through the spirit.
Viktoria Levenberg: Yeah, and it's legacy, you know. And this journey, what you've just
described, which by the way, like, I've got goosebumps through my entire body. I am so,
like, beyond grateful for your honesty and vulnerability because I think a lot of people don't
get to share their stories.
And there can be a lot of loneliness for, whether it's breast cancer or any other type of
cancer survivors, any survivors out there, you know. And you don't really know what's
happening in, in your head or in your community unless you speak it aloud.
And just the perspective that you share of this experience almost giving you clear vision of
instant clarity on what matters, the type of woman, mother, partner who you wanna be, and
who around you deserves to witness that version of you versus what other people perhaps
need to have some boundaries put in place because it's just no, no need to waste your
energy on that.
Viktoria Levenberg: You know, you kind of spoke about that earlier, about getting just really
clear on how you use your, your energy. And what I'm so curious about, because you spoke
to this just before, around that you had to let go of some old parts of you through this
journey.
What parts of you do you feel like had to slip away for you to become this new version of
you?
Meytal Blanaru: More than anything, I think that for me there was an end. And also, to be,
to be fully transparent, this is something that once, now I'm after this journey, there is the—
that old pattern wants to take again the reins. But, but now I'm, I'm very conscious of it, and
now I'm, I'm, I'm in a period that I'm, I'm, I'm kind of untangling things and seeing how do I
do this, and I, and I stay within that space that I—that new space that I created for myself.
But there was this very strong pattern for me of constantly trying to become a better version
of myself, or constantly chasing, uh, like using growth and, and self-development as a tool
to always feel like what I am now is not enough. Like that all the time need to be, I need to
be, I need to be, I want to.
But eventually, there was a moment that I realised that that's on, on its own, it's not even
busy with the kind of person that you get to become. It's always busy with beating yourself
down for who you are not yet there, you know?
Viktoria Levenberg: Mm-hmm.
Meytal Blanaru: Yeah. And, and there was a moment, I think, that this journey with cancer
allowed me to stop doing that, because obviously all energy goes in toward healing. And I
would spend hours, like, meditating and, and going very deep to, to understand what—like,
the moment that this happened, I think the first couple of days I was like, okay, I'm, I'm, I'm
stopping everything and I'm here to listen.
Obviously life wants to teach me a lesson here, and I sure as hell wanna learn it as soon as
possible because, you know, I probably missed it a couple of miles, miles ago.
Viktoria Levenberg: And there were probably some whispers and some nudges before
that.
Meytal Blanaru: Yeah. Yeah. So in those moments, there is the gift of, of, of vision. Indeed,
as you say, you see, you see things much more clearly.
And more than that, I think that for me, um, I have this weird quirk that I, for example, I
can't—I don't know how to finish phone conversations. I don't know how to put healthy
borders for other people. It's really something that I'm learning now.
And I was so proud of myself for the first healthy border I placed to someone in my life that,
that was constantly crossing it. And, and, and I did it with simplicity and, and staying
grounded and, and trying to feel less guilty than usual about it, or, you know, like being
simple about it, all simpler.
And those kind of things, I think, uh, those are, those are the biggest things that, uh, freed
me. And also there's a moment that you realise that it really doesn't matter so much what
other people think of you, because of course we care on some surface level, but when it
comes to a heart level, we all know why we are here and if we're loyal to the, to the purpose
that, that, that of, of our life or not.
So then it really doesn't really matter what anyone else says. That sometimes we have
these instances where we're talking to someone and they say—we say, we share a
hardship, a difficulty, and they might show us, uh, all the good things or all the—but if we
cannot see it, it really doesn't matter what anyone else thinks or says, really.
Viktoria Levenberg: Mm-hmm.
Meytal Blanaru: Except for how you—not that we are the centre of the world, but our lived
experience is what forms what we get to do out in the world and how we get to move
through this life. So just from that perspective, it's really redundant.
And I know when I'm being authentic to myself, and I know when I'm not, and then that's
the end of the story, really. So it becomes very simple to go out and do stuff because they
don't need to be perfect. You just need to help as many people as you can in the time that
you have here. That's it. That's really it.
And yeah, so that, those kind of things are, are, uh, allowed—allows me now to operate still
very differently inside my life in comparison to before this, uh, this entire journey.
Viktoria Levenberg: Yeah. And, you know, you mentioned that obviously there was
probably some opportunities beforehand where life was maybe giving you a little whisper or
a little nudge. And I think many of us can kind of, you know, like, oh yeah, I remember the
time where I had some signals from life before things really blew up in my face.
What are some practical things where—that you really do differently now versus what you
did before, that perhaps you could share with our listeners as, like, a tangible thing that
they can implement in their life so they don't have to wait until life blows up in their face?
Meytal Blanaru: It's still a choice. There is a few different things, but it still comes first and
foremost down to the choice to, to exit the treadmill, essentially. That's—it still, it has to be
a choice. If there's no choice there, you will do these things, you'll try to mark V on top of
them, but nothing really would feel different.
Viktoria Levenberg: Mm-hmm.
Meytal Blanaru: For you. Like, it's not gonna—I, I don't think it's gonna have any
repercussions. And, and I think that what, what—before mentioning them, then I go back to
this question: if you had one week to live, what would you be busy with?
And obviously, okay, maybe you would be working, and I know that, you know—
Viktoria Levenberg: Yeah.
Meytal Blanaru: So it's not, it's not exactly the great equivalent, so maybe we should
choose an amount of time that you still have time to work. It's not like, okay, you're not
scraping for minutes. But you know that your time is limited.
And really, that's not imagine that. That's really the reality. Your time here is limited, and you
do not know how long you have here. And even when I say this, I feel like it cannot sink in for
people until they get that, uh, feeling, they have some kind of experience.
Viktoria Levenberg: Yeah.
Meytal Blanaru: The only real time you get in life is now. This is it. There's nothing else that
you can count on later.
Viktoria Levenberg: Mm-hmm.
Meytal Blanaru: You, you could get the gift of later. You could not, um, and those things are
out of your hands, really.
Viktoria Levenberg: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Meytal Blanaru: And, and it's very hard for us to mitigate that, so we choose to ignore it.
But then what happens? We, we get to the end of life and, and we wake up at the end of life
realising that we haven't really lived it.
Viktoria Levenberg: Yeah. And we were—it's the top regrets of the dying, right?
Meytal Blanaru: Yes. And, and that, that's a lot to reconcile with when you're, you know,
it's—I wouldn't wish that to anyone, really.
Viktoria Levenberg: Uh-huh.
Meytal Blanaru: So I think that we first need to accept, just simply accept, the fact that our
time here is limited, and that, that we can choose differently. And, and every single time
that you are choosing to postpone living for later—and by living, I'm, I refer to finding that
peace of mind that you were aspiring to find, or having the kind of relationship that you
wanna have with whoever it—whether it's with yourself or with anyone else, or it doesn't
need to be to go on that, the location in Hawaii.
It can be in small things that allow you to feel like you're not waiting to live your best life.
This is it. This has to be it now.
Viktoria Levenberg: Yes.
Meytal Blanaru: You know, it's not—there's no other time, simply. There really—
Viktoria Levenberg: Yeah.
Meytal Blanaru: The, the practical things, eh, that I personally do now in order to really
safeguard that knowledge and to remember it is, is a few things.
First, I take the first half of the day for myself. I don't work, um, I just—
Meytal Blanaru: I, I meditate. I dance. I walk in nature. I try to find moments also that I'm
okay just lying down and looking at the sky. The sky here now is really beautiful in Portugal,
white, blue, and like, yeah, birds, and just like, just being there.
And, and whereas before I would, the kids would go to school and I would, I would right
away sit down because I would feel guilty if I would take such time for myself. Because
productivity and doing was tied on a, on a, an inseparable level to my identity and to my
feeling of justifying, um, every good thing that I get in life, really.
Viktoria Levenberg: Hmm. Like it's a reward. You have to earn your rest and you have to
work hard.
Meytal Blanaru: But that's not, that's not how it goes. If that was true, then wouldn't all the
people that work 10 hours a day be the happiest people in the world?
Viktoria Levenberg: Yeah.
Meytal Blanaru: Now, you tell me if that's the case.
Viktoria Levenberg: Mm-hmm.
Meytal Blanaru: Where, where and when is that the case? That—is that what we see more
often? Not at all. Usually, oftentimes when we work too much, we, we, we don't have
enough time for ourselves, for our loved ones, for things that fill us up. So obviously we're
not.
So the logic here is all backwards. So I take this time for myself, and I've noticed that just by
removing one thing, one habit out of my working moments, it changed everything.
Because before, I was busy trying to do everything perfect, which meant, I don't even know
who creates those standards of perfect and what does that even mean in real life, right?
Viktoria Levenberg: And wouldn't we all have a different idea of perfection as well?
Meytal Blanaru: I just never even thought about that. It's such a, it's such a hybrid also,
that the notion that something could be perfect means that we think that, you know, or that
we think that it's our job to be perfect. That's so backwards, because there is no one
system in life that is perfect.
Things can feel perfect.
Viktoria Levenberg: Uh-huh.
Meytal Blanaru: But they never feel perfect when you do a job well done, because you're
always in that circle of doing more. Things can feel actually perfect when you're lying down
looking at the sky. Because right now, even—and this was something that I learned through
cancer—right now you have no problems, even if you have cancer.
This is so interesting. Your problem would be later. Later you could die from this. But right
now, right now you're actually not, you know, you don't really have a problem here now.
Of course, that was not—when you have cancer, obviously you're on a healing journey,
you're busy with healing, you know. But nevertheless, we can live every single moment so
differently without having that huge weight on our shoulders constantly.
And I think it's easy to love life when everything goes your way. But I think that the, the
beautiful moments is when you learn to love life when everything goes to, goes, goes to—
Viktoria Levenberg: Ha ha ha.
Meytal Blanaru: Really, yeah. Spread all over. But, and, and that, that I think is, you know,
to find joy in those moments.
And to, you, you know, I, when I, when I was moving through cancer, people kept on being
surprised when they saw me, like, "Oh, you're walking around. Oh, you're—you seem okay.
Oh, and all of the family, the kids seem okay." Like, and I think that people expect you to
kind of go and lie down and be this weaker version of yourself.
Viktoria Levenberg: Yeah. That's not—you were suffering.
Suffering is a choice. Like, you were in pain and it was hard. That's not—but suffering, you
know, is, is this—It's almost what you're saying there. It's like this giving up. That's kind of
what I'm looking for.
Meytal Blanaru: Yeah. I, I was never suffering, really. I think I had maybe two moments
where I was, where I was emotionally, but I never went into that place of, "Oh, why did it
happen to me?" Or—
Viktoria Levenberg: Yeah.
Meytal Blanaru: Oh no, oh no, like—
Viktoria Levenberg: Life is so unfair."
Meytal Blanaru: Not at all. That was the thought, because it was clear to me that I'm
getting a gift here and not a—and not like, I, I actually had complete days where I wasn't
even thinking about cancer. I was too busy waking up to life, you know, and, and to really—I
wasn't busy with it.
I was doing everything that I could also. There's so many things here, really. I don't know if
it's relevant, but I think it was one of the moments, you know, initially when you're being
kinda, you know, it's like a stream that takes you over, this kind of journey with cancer.
Initially, you just follow instructions and you're like, okay, I'm gonna do everything. And it
was my choice to go with Western medicine in that case. Different people choose different
things. But I, you, you know, you go in stream and, and it's very easy to delegate your sense
of authority and agency and self-power to doctors because they know this. They know—
they have more expertise around cancer than you do.
Viktoria Levenberg: Mm-hmm.
Meytal Blanaru: But it was so powerful the moment that I understood—I think it was
around two months, two months and a half into this journey—there was a, there was a
moment that I understood that no one in the whole wide world would want me to heal as
much as I do, and, and my husband and my kids. No one.
And every single moment that I'm, I'm giving away that sense of self-power and agency to
someone else that doesn't really know me, that has a million and one patients and
cannot—
Viktoria Levenberg: Uh-huh.
Meytal Blanaru: Attach to them because it's too risky, of course, or whatnot, then I'm, I'm
stepping away from—
And in that moment, I think that was one of the scariest moments, because that's the
moment that you realise that it really is up to you to heal.
Viktoria Levenberg: Mm-hmm.
Meytal Blanaru: And that, that is—or, or I'm not saying if we don't manage to heal, it
doesn't mean that it's our fault. But I'm saying that we can engage differently—
Viktoria Levenberg: Mm-hmm.
Meytal Blanaru: —the process itself.
Viktoria Levenberg: Yeah. And, and I think that metaphor carries across to so many other
areas of life as well. Like, life is choice. It is up to you whether you follow in those old
patterns. It is up to you whether you wake up and choose to seize the day and be now and
present, and the mother that you wanna be today, not three years from now when you
achieve the thing that you think is gonna help you be a better parent.
You know, it's, it is all comes back to choice and agency, as you're saying.
Meytal Blanaru: Yeah.
Viktoria Levenberg: Yeah. And so on that note, if there was just one thing that the listeners,
or someone listening to your story today here, could walk away with that stayed with them
for a long time after this episode ends, what do you wish that one thing would be?
Meytal Blanaru: Just don't. Don't wait. Don't wait. Don't wait. There is—we, we spend our
lives sitting in a waiting room for, for the 3D circumstances to be different. And we keep on
telling ourselves that when we'll get to X, Y, Z, then we'll change this, then we'll do this or
that.
Life happens when you were—when, if that's what you're doing, life happens when you
were busy sitting in the waiting room. You didn't really, you didn't really go away and leave
them.
And, and again, and I think that people get surprised when life finishes and, and they're all
of a sudden being caught still in the waiting room, reading a paper, forgetting that they were
actually going to do something.
I'm, I'm not saying that we're—it, it sounds a bit negative the way that I'm putting it. I really
don't mean to be harsh or anything. And it's not being said as a criticism. But I think I, I just,
you know, I, I see so many people that are asleep and, and they nod when I say this. You
know, they, they say, "Yeah, yeah, of course." And they say, everyone says all the time, "Life
is short," but no one really means it.
Viktoria Levenberg: I think, you know, this came to my mind earlier when you were talking
about this, and, um, I just, I didn't want to interrupt you. But when you said, you know, that
our time here is finite, there's a lot of people who are scared to accept that.
I think a lot of people have a fear of death. A lot of people have a fear of acknowledging the
finite, the fact that we're all walking around with an expiration date that we don't know
when it is. And I think it's exactly those people who then also have the hardest time doing
what you just said because it's sort of, it's easier to block it out.
Meytal Blanaru: Yeah, but, but they should be more scared than never facing it and, and,
you know, never accepting it and choosing them to not live their best life as a result.
Because it's, it's still—and, and I was, I'm there. I was there. If, if whoever is there now, I
was there.
Viktoria Levenberg: Uh-huh. And me too.
Meytal Blanaru: Okay. And you need—you didn't need to go through cancer to—
Viktoria Levenberg: No. And I still get pulled into that drift, you know. Like, life happens.
We get busy and sucked into, like you just said yourself, even now after going through
cancer, you still have to—I, I don't—battle is a strong word to use—
But it's, you still have to navigate the old ingrained patterns because—
Meytal Blanaru: Yeah. There's a current. There's a current that wants to take you, sweep
you back in, and it's, it's—
Yeah.
Yeah, you're right. You're right. But I think that it's still different to try to wake up or to...
yeah.
Oh, I'm probably in, in a phase that I'm, I'm like—it, it feels so acute to me, and I, I just, I
really want people to, to get it. But I, I, I think I, I need to accept the fact that everyone has
their, their journey, and I cannot, you know, no one can know something before they were
meant to know it.
I needed to go through this journey so that I could get to where I really—that my soul
needed to go and rest in, you know. My soul needed to rest really on a soul level, and I was
not able to take that resting and that respite until I had to.
Yeah.
I don't have, I don't have the best words to, except for how I feel.
Viktoria Levenberg: Yeah. And, and maybe, maybe another way to put it is, if you could
tune in—and you're welcome to close your eyes if that helps—but if you could tune into the
version of you who was working the way that you were working before she knew she was
diagnosed, if there was just, like, one sentence you could share with her, what would that
be?
Meytal Blanaru: Just love yourself more so that you're worthy to actually live your life now.
You don't need to—
That, I think that at the bottom of it, for me, that was, that was at the heart of it, you know.
Because if you really love yourself, you'd wanna do good for this body. You wanna give your
soul what it needs. You—and I know it sounds so cliché.
Viktoria Levenberg: It's cliché for a reason.
Meytal Blanaru: Okay. But then, you know what? But then I think that there's something
that I work with my students that I can share here, just as a final note maybe, that helps to
find that, is even—I think that sometimes it's hard for us to—what does it mean, love
ourselves? Also, it's something very ungraspable and very non-tangible.
Viktoria Levenberg: Mm-hmm.
Meytal Blanaru: That makes it difficult for us to see what—okay, what do I do with this?
Even if I, if I wanted to take this away into something practical.
So one thing that I work with my students on is almost moving like you're singing a lullaby to
your body. Not all the time of your day, obviously. You cannot, you cannot do that. But even
the notion of it already puts you in this kind of sense of inner relief.
And we think sometimes that life happens in the big steps, in the big choices, in the big
journeys. But they start with a new pattern that's being formed in the smallest moments, in
the moments that are the most mundane, where we usually make the choice to push
physically through, or to take our body yet again to another position that would hurt it, or to,
to go against our body because we wanted to do X, Y, Z, but it's asking us to do now A, B, C.
Viktoria Levenberg: Mm-hmm. And mm-hmm.
Meytal Blanaru: Very practically, uh, this is something I share with my audience and with
my students. There's really practical tools that, that we work with to, to just get into the
habit of that, of, of finding more kindness toward your body.
And, and I remember a lot of periods when I was moving through cancer, I was doing this
naturally. Just, it could be a small moment. I was sitting in the car to go yet again to the
hospital for another round, and I would, I would just be moving, moving, just getting into the
car, closing the door, and, and just, um, just moving like I'm singing a lullaby to my body, or
literally just hugging my body.
Viktoria Levenberg: Yeah.
Meytal Blanaru: And just telling it how proud I am of it for, for—I was, I was in constant—
like, I was the best cheerleader for my body through this period. I still am. I'm like, "You
freaking rock. You, you're, you're a rock star, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna be your most loving,
uh, nurturing mom for the, for…"
Viktoria Levenberg: For the rest of your lifetime. And, and I think that is a really beautiful
practical takeaway for our listener here because I think all of our healings, journeys start
with our body. It is the most tangible. It is the most, you know, movement, sleep, recovery,
food, hydration, beauty, like, it is the most accessible. Look at all the industries.
So thank you for sharing that because I think there's a beautiful way for, like, people to just
give yourself a little butterfly hug and, and know that everything's gonna be okay.
Um, and on that note, like, speaking of body and movement, um, if people are interested in
working with you and they wanna connect with you more, where can they find you? How
can they reach you? Tell us a little bit more about that.
Meytal Blanaru: So my website is, uh, FathomHigh. That's the, the movement, eh,
practice, movement technique that I, that I developed. It's called FathomHigh. Maybe you
could share it.
Viktoria Levenberg: I'll hyperlink it in the show notes, of course.
Meytal Blanaru: And, and that's, that's where people find me, um. Yeah, that's kind of it. I, I
had my podcast, and we'll slowly get back into it, and We Move Mountains, and that's
another option as well.
Viktoria Levenberg: Mm-hmm.
Meytal Blanaru: And yeah, and that's, I think that's kind of it.
Viktoria Levenberg: Are you on the socials?
Meytal Blanaru: Ah, yes. Eh, Instagram, Meytal Blanaru.
Viktoria Levenberg: Okay. Amazing. We'll make sure to hyperlink all of that as well so
people listening can find you.
And, you know, from the bottom of my heart, Meytal, like, thank you so much for coming on
and for sharing your story. It is such a privilege. You know, I think that even I, I have just
taken away so much from our conversation here, and I know that everyone listening is just
gonna have a little bit of an awakening.
This is probably gonna be one of those stories where you're like, "Whoo. Okay, I need to go
for a walk now and really think about my life in a good way." Um, so yeah, really, thank you,
thank you, thank you.
Thank you so much.
And I'm just so incredibly grateful for your energy and your spirit and how you take this
compost and you let it bloom into a beautiful flower for our planet to flourish. So thank you.
Meytal Blanaru: My pleasure. Thank you for having me on. It's so lovely to hear your
perspective also, and to chat like this. Thank you.
Viktoria Levenberg: Wow. I mean, I don't think much else needs to be said at the end of
this episode, does it? Meytal phrased it so, so beautifully and powerfully, and just
everything that she said resonated so deeply with me, and I hope it did so with you as well.
And, you know, with—there's just one thing that you take away from this, is that you can let
things be easy. You don't have to do everything on hard mode, whether that is work,
whether that is life, whether that is parenting, whether that is healing, whether that is your
movement.
You know, it's, it's really true that actually, even though it's so contrary to how we've been
conditioned, the easier it is, the more sustainable and the better the results.
And I mean, it feels so trivial to compare this to a lot of what you just heard, but I—it's really
hot off the press for me at the time of the recording of this episode, so I feel like I may as
well share it.
Um, you know, at the time of the recording of this episode, I am literally for less than 48
hours away from opening doors to my new membership, and it was, like, such an
impromptu launch. Like, it came through from a breakthrough with my business coach, and
I was like, "Well, may as well strike while the iron's hot. Let's just go for it, see what
happens," you know, have some fun.
And so I kind of, you know, tied all my—crossed all my T's and dotted all my I's, and there's
a few little bits and pieces to do still, um, but most of the heavy lifting is done.
And I don't even want to say heavy lifting because it felt so easy. Like, I finished work today
and I came to my partner and said, like, "This is weird. It feels so easy." I'm like, "This is, like,
what you mean? It doesn't have to be hard."
And I guarantee you the results are gonna be better than anything I've experienced before
because I'm letting this be easy, because I'm letting this be fun.
And that applies to so many other areas in life. Like, um, you may have heard me speak
about this on the podcast before, of movement and how I used to, you know, push myself
to run marathons and train every single day and run, you know, 20, 30 km on the weekend.
And it wasn't until I actually started to do yoga, which always felt so naughty because it felt
so good, it felt too easy, that I started to feel better in my body. And ever since I've been
doing yoga, ever since that's been part of my life, I, like, felt better in my body than ever
before.
And so let this episode just be a little reminder to you that, like, you don't need to earn your
rest. You don't need to prove that you are deserving to have nice things. You deserve to have
everything in life that you wish for, and then some, simply by existing, simply by being you,
and just—oh, I get so passionate about this.
Viktoria Levenberg: But I just need you to hear both Meytal and I tell you that you don't
need to wait for life to blow up in your face to finally feel good again, okay? Like, there is
another way. There, there is hope. Whatever it is that you are going through, whether it's
challenges at work or in your personal life, in your relationships, in your career, in your
business, whatever it is that you are going through, just know, please know, that there is a
way through. There is hope. You can do this. You have got this, okay?
And so, on theme with this episode, I think the, the biggest kind of action step that I would
have for you this week is, you know, if you are female, just go ahead and do a little breast
cancer check. You know, you can do these yourself online, um, just by looking it up. It's just,
it—I have to say it because, interestingly, you know, Meytal obviously just shared her breast
cancer journey, but actually around the same time that she was navigating this, I also had
someone in my life go through that as well.
You know, I can say it 'cause it's anonymous. It was my therapist, so it's luckily no one in my
family, but still, it was someone I have a really close relationship with. And, you know,
witnessing her go through chemo, and she kept working and just sort of also showed up
with this really positive, um, attitude, just, just like Meytal, through this entire journey. And
it's more common, I think, than we care to admit.
Like, so I just really encourage you, do a little breast cancer check. Um, if you are a male
listening to this podcast, just check in with a female in your life that you love and ask her,
when's the last time you did this? Because it's—life is finite. We all are walking around with
a little expiration date, and we don't need to wait until it's too late before we actually enjoy
what we came here to enjoy.
So that's it for this week. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for listening to
Meytal's story. I hope that you took away from it just as much as I have. It's almost like this
little rude awakening, um, experiencing that through her eyes. And I will see you next week.
Bye for now.
Viktoria Levenberg: If you're a high performer or entrepreneur who's got big dreams and
you've developed strategies to get you closer to those dreams, but you feel like there are
also parts of you self-sabotaging your success, I built something just for you.
It is my signature Achievement Archetypes Quiz that is absolutely free, takes less than two
minutes, and it will give you instant feedback as to where your Achilles' heel is. That is your
natural self-sabotaging behaviour when it comes to productivity, planning, efficiency, and
organisation. And it gives you your next right step and the solution you didn't know you
needed.
You'll find the link in the show notes just below. Make sure you find your achievement
archetype and let me know what it is. As a fellow achiever, I will be the first to put my hand
up that I have now mastered my Achilles' heel, and I can't wait for you to do the same.
Viktoria Levenberg: The views and opinions expressed by guests on Resonance are their
own and do not necessarily reflect the views of me, Viktoria Levenberg, LVNHealth, or
anyone working within the LVNHealth brand. This space welcomes a diversity of ideas,
experiences, and stories, and part of Resonance is learning to take what aligns and gently
leaving the rest.
Also, while I am a National Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach and deeply
passionate about well-being, this podcast is intended for educational and inspirational
purposes only. Resonance does not substitute personalised medical, psychological, or
therapeutic advice. Always seek guidance from qualified professionals for any physical,
emotional, or mental health concerns.
