So You’re Not Dead Yet: Lessons From Chemotherapy | Tara Howley with Guest Michael Nagle

The Art of Accomplishment

Brett Kistler

Management, Mental Health, Personal Development, Education, Self-improvement, Business, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 269 Ratings

🗓️ 28 February 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There is a moment when the body becomes foreign, when the timeline of your life no longer extends indefinitely but narrows into an unpredictable horizon. In this episode, Tara sits down with Michael Nagel, a beloved member of the AOA community, to speak candidly about what it means to love and be loved in the face of his cancer diagnosis. They discuss: - The “psychedelic of mortality”—how the nearness of death transforms personal and social dynamics - Embracing the support of a community while wrestling with the vulnerability of needing help - The stark cost-benefit analysis of chemotherapy - The dual forces of grief and gratitude, and learning to hold both at once - Denial’s strange and necessary role in maintaining the will to live. - The radical act of saying yes to struggle, and what it means to want life even in its hardest moments Join us for a conversation that explores what it means to live when death is an ever-present companion.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I've been really, really interested in, I call it the psychedelic of mortality.
0:08.6	What it does to people to be near me, like the contact eye, what it does to me, what it does to my relationships.
0:17.5	Both people around me are hornier, but also with me me it's almost this image of like the why not now
0:25.6	just kind of infects people something about hanging out in the space of like what if there's not a
0:31.8	later cascades to a you know oh my goodness there's a thing I need or my partner needs.
0:38.3	That's amazing. I mean, that's a gift. And the like threat of love in it is like very clear to me.
0:48.5	Hi, everybody. I'm Tara Howley. I'm here today with Michael Nagel. Hi. And this is the art of accomplishment, where we
0:57.1	explore living the life we want with enjoyment and ease. Michael, he's an incredible member of the
1:03.2	AOA community, and he's currently undergoing treatment for metastatic colon cancer. And B, for that,
1:10.6	he worked in alternative education, designing an elementary school-aged
1:15.1	learning environment in Boston.
1:17.2	Hi, Michael.
1:18.9	Thanks so much for being here today with us.
1:21.9	Yeah, very happy.
1:22.7	I'm so excited to see you.
1:24.0	Yeah, that's very nice.
1:25.6	So I'm going to start with the question.
1:29.3	So you're not dead yet.
1:35.5	You're not dead yet, though you might be soon. Yes. Yep.
1:40.0	Like what's it like to want to live? Because you really want to live.
1:48.0	I do. I've had a cancer diagnosis now 14 months.
1:51.1	So since October 2023,
	...

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