We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Laura Cannon a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Laura, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

I lost my husband to cancer when I was a 27-year-old oncology pharmacist in training. Like so many of us who have experienced grief, I felt like I had just been dropped off at a destination I never intended to go to, was unprepared for, and with no idea how to navigate my way back. I had bought into the belief that there will always be time for ‘living’ later in life — and this false sense of control was dramatically pulled out from under me, leaving me wholly unequipped when life as I knew it disappeared. Fast forward a few years of working full-time as an oncology pharmacist, I decided to change course and follow my heart in pursuit of creating a place for people (and myself) to sit securely in the human experience of grief and feel understood in every stage of its unfolding — a place to be… Just Okay. I had worked so hard to create that place within my own life, and through that realized now more than ever, that space is needed for all of us.

Laura, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Having the knowledge and training as a pharmacist interested in cancer care coupled with my own experience as a cancer caregiver and young cancer widow gave me such a unique perspective of the available resources (or lack thereof) when navigating grief. It quickly became apparent that we aren’t equipped with the same fluency around grief as we are other emotions and we are expected to deal with it while continuing to live life as usual. For me, grief was so much more than just death – and while this did include death in the form of losing my husband, it also included the loss of our future and the loss of life as I once knew it. Whether you’ve lost a loved one, lost the life you had planned due to unforeseen circumstances, are navigating divorce or miscarriage, didn’t get the promotion you wanted, had a falling out with a friend, got your hopes up about a vacation that didn’t happen, or any of the other countless life things that feel like loss — big or small — I want you to know, that feeling you feel is grief, and in grief it’s okay to be just okay (or not). The concept of my company, Just Okay, emerged out of my own grief journey as a place for experiencing the human side of grief. Our goal is to provide a space to be seen, heard, and to sit in your experience, without getting stuck in the pity party. We offer a community and resources you can use to continue through life in whichever way and at whichever pace you prefer. We host a judgment-free space to be…just okay, because when we’re experiencing grief in any form, what we all need most is a space to feel welcome and validated.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

As a child you’re always asked ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’ I always knew I wanted to be a pharmacist, so to be starting Just Okay after 10 years of pursuing a pharmacy degree and residency-training feels scary and backward. I had to unlearn the idea that you work your entire life to focus on one career until you retire and be okay with taking a leap of faith, no matter the outcome. I had to embrace the skills, knowledge, and perspective I developed during those years of pharmacy training knowing they provide credibility for my passion project, Just Okay, and that everything personally and professionally led me to exactly where I am now.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

From graduating pharmacy school, to pursuing pharmacy residency, serving as a cancer caregiver for my husband, becoming a young adult cancer widow, moving solo across the country to finish my residency training, stepping into a full-time faculty and oncology clinical pharmacist career, then leaving the world of full-time pharmacy to establish Just Okay – I think every step of this journey has demonstrated resilience in some form. I am very grateful to my loved ones and community who have served as my sounding board. I am now very mindful of the fact that no matter what we have planned, so much of life is out of our control. The ups and downs of life are guaranteed to continue and I only hope I can remain as resilient moving forward no matter what gets thrown my way.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://justokay.org/
• Instagram: @helloimjustokay
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/100955762

Image Credits

The Humble Lion LLC