This week's guest on "Happiness through Hardship" - The Podcast is Shantana Hazel - talking about endometriosis and patient advocacy. She’s the founder of Sister Girl Foundation, the author of “28 Ways on How to Advocate for Your Health Care” and "A New Me - Mind, Body, Soul, Health & Wellness Journal" and has been recognized with numerous awards around the world for her dedication and commitment advocating for women’s healthcare. While she’s the life of the party, full of laughs and always willing to grab a karaoke mic, she has lived with life altering pain and deep anguish from endometriosis since she was a teenager. Sixteen surgeries and nearly three decades later she took the pain and turned it into purpose. Shantana is committed to ensuring that women with chronic illnesses including endometriosis and cancers aren't suffering in silence and receive proper care. Shantana’s story is full of inspiring words, lessons on resilience and how to advocate for yourself after a health diagnosis (endometriosis and more)....so please listen to this episode and if you like rate, review and subscribe. This helps with our podcast ranking and increases the chances of others finding it. Shantana and I also share the importance of journaling or documenting conversations and information after receiving any diagnosis. Shantana and I also share the importance of journaling or documenting conversations and information after receiving any diagnosis. I believe that having a medical binder or digitized folder with files, notes and thoughts can be really beneficial (listen to mini-episode 1) and she agrees. As she puts it in today's episode, we all get “brain fog” when going through stressful situations and having notes on not only what we learn about our diagnosis, but how we feel with any side effects related to them can be helpful to keep handy in a journal.As she puts it, we all get “brain fog” when going through stressful situations and having notes on not only what we learn about our diagnosis, but how we feel with any side effects related to them can be helpful to keep handy in a journal. (See link below for both Shantana and my journals.) We also talk about the importance of gratitude in our lives and have a blast playing "The Grateful Game" at the end. SHOW NOTES LINKS: Sister Girl Foundation: www.sister-girl.org Books: "A New Me - Mind, Body, Soul, Health & Wellness Journal" and "28 Ways on How to Advocate for Your Healthcare" - https://www.sister-girl.org/Books.html Endometriosis: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/endometriosis/symptoms-causes/syc-20354656 Gynecological Cancer Event - SIMS Clinic - Yale Medicine's Sexual, Intimacy and Menopause Clinic: https://www.yalemedicine.org/departments/sexual-intimacy-and-menopause-program/ Connect with Shantana and The Sister Girl Foundation - Empowering Women with Endometriosis and Cancer on social media at: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Sistergirl.2011/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sistergirlfoundation/  Be sure to check out her 7-Days of Gratitude Challenge on Instagram, too! Connect with us at: 
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