Wake Up Call - Episode Description
Join us for an incredibly heartwarming episode as we express our gratitude for the overwhelming support during our fundraising season. We engage in some lighthearted banter over controversial food choices, and Brian shares an unforgettable encounter with a Michael Myers character. We also touch on a powerful social media incident involving an Instagram influencer who faced unkind questioning for not expressing his views on every global event.
This episode takes a deeper, more personal turn as we navigate the turbulent journey of a breast cancer scare. Our co-host Kayla bravely opens up about her diagnosis, the emotional turmoil that came with it, and the immense relief of finding out it was benign. She shares her experiences of fear, anxiety, anger, and the profound way it altered her perspective on life.
As we steer towards the importance of self-care, Kayla’s experience serves as a stark reminder of the need to take care of our bodies. We stress the significance of routine screenings and facing challenging situations as a united front. We also shed light on the importance of allowing others to shine, reminding ourselves that it’s not always about us. As we wrap up, we underline that “no” is a complete sentence, encouraging everyone to check their egos. We end on a high note, promoting the Peas and Carrots podcast and emphasizing the importance of friendship and self-care. Listen in and be inspired, challenged, and entertained.
Wake Up Call - Transcript
Intro:
We go together like Peas & Carrots! The Peas & Carrots Podcast, sharing life from our piece of the vegetable patch Brian and Kayla Sanders.
00:11 – Brian (Host)
Welcome to the peas and carrots podcast. Hello. I’m Brian and I’m Kayla.
00:16 – Brian (Host)
Good to have you along this week for ye olde Mary Jerry time.
00:21 – Kayla (Host)
Okay, I. Just say if it’s not obvious, we’re at the tail end of fundraising season, so as we record, this is Dayfinal.
00:32 – Brian (Host)
this is it, and the Lord has provided I’m in a where we are Thank you.
00:38 – Kayla (Host)
Yeah, you’re a little delirious, but yes, for those who listen and there are many of you that give to our ministry and have prayed for our stations we just want to say thank you. There have been a lot of you. We have seen your names, we have read your stories. You have changed us Through what you have shared, and our teams are very, very thankful.
01:05
Yeah and we sit at like 99.7% with today to go so to say that we feel very humbled by what God has done through you. We just want to say thank you.
01:19 – Brian (Host)
You’re about to cry already Go to. I just want to say thank you as well. I mean, this has been a very tough, hard fundraising season. Three or four weeks ago I never would have thought we’d be at this point.
01:35 – Kayla (Host)
No, the economy is Iraq. People’s lives are upside down. Yeah and yeah.
01:42 – Brian (Host)
Here we are but the stories have just slayed me this particular season. So many stories of grief, and so thank you for giving and Thank you for standing with this ministry. It is so much appreciated. Yes, so I did something very controversial.
01:59 – Kayla (Host)
Oh my gosh, disgusting, not controversial. Well, okay, we’re starting that.
02:03 – Brian (Host)
I’m a little spicy about this, so I mean coming in hot this morning.
02:08 – Kayla (Host)
what with cottage cheese?
02:09 – Brian (Host)
This is what I do for breakfast. You buy me these little break stone cottage cheese things individual servings. Okay, and I take mustard and salt and I put it in the cottage cheese. What’s wrong with that?
02:22 – Kayla (Host)
Well, you decided to take this to social media and they roasted you.
02:27 – Announcer (Announcement)
Yes.
02:28 – Kayla (Host)
I had so much fun reading your comments Well.
02:30 – Brian (Host)
I mean, people don’t know what they’re missing out on? Oh, but they do. So it’s. It’s healthy and Cottage. I like cottage cheese, even like the flavor of it, but I wanted to and I’m trying to cut back on sugar, so I don’t put a lot of fruit in it. Well, no, I get that so I put in a little mustard and We’ll come back tell me how you really feel about so, if you’re listening, hey, why don’t you try A little cottage cheese?
02:54 – Kayla (Host)
Why don’t you not?
02:55 – Brian (Host)
So cottage cheese, mustard and salt, I vote a little fruit and let me know, oh.
03:02 – Kayla (Host)
You’re got a real strong opinion. So what else is up in the world of peas and carrots, you have the most epic story to share.
03:11 – Brian (Host)
So I’ve been kind of storyless lately. So the other day at the gym I have to do something that’s called a farmer’s walk. You put a weight in each hand and you walk 400 meters outside the gym. Right behind our gym is a funeral home, mm-hmm. So I get my weights and I’m walking down the street. As soon as I get past the gym, I look to the right. Coming at me from the right, in the parking lot of this, of the of this funeral home, there’s a person in a vest and jeans Mm-hmm. And they’re wearing a michael meyers mask From the halloween movies now I am minding my own business in the gym.
03:47 – Kayla (Host)
Yes it’s rowing day for me. So, I’m just steadily rowing.
03:51 – Brian (Host)
You come back in with this, look on your face and tell your trainer what well, just 10 minutes before all this, jesse, our trainer, had been talking to me about spooky movies. And did we watch like halloween? And Michael my said, no, I can’t handle it. I go outside walking. Here comes my comeyers walking up on me from the funeral home.
04:12 – Kayla (Host)
You think you’ve been set up.
04:14 – Brian (Host)
Yeah, and so we actually meet. And the person said uh man, you are really committed, I’m proud of you and I don’t know how to take this. So I’m gripping that weight a little bit harder, in case I got to knock a serial killer out. And I said well, thank you. And the person says I’m just headed over to the hotel to get a cup of coffee. I just thought I’d give people a laugh today. And so the person of my comeyers mask just walks off. Well, I get back in the gym and I tell y’all what happened, and you too. Just how Y’all laugh at me.
04:48 – Kayla (Host)
Well, your face.
04:50 – Brian (Host)
Well, it’s not every day you run into a serial killer. The next day we’re at the gym and I’m on the exercise bike and the and one whole wall of the gym is nothing but windows. And where you are at the exercise bikes you’re looking out the window and it faces kroger in the road. Well, I’m sitting there and all of a sudden, here comes this woman. I’m like, well, that vest looks familiar and she’s across the road. I’m like, oh my goodness, and this woman is a person. That was the person in the Michael Myers mask.
05:22 – Kayla (Host)
I could tell now by the vest and she turned and did what and she stopped and she turned right at me and she waved and smiled.
05:30 – Brian (Host)
I was so wigged out. I was so.
05:35 – Announcer (Announcement)
So stay tuned.
05:36 – Kayla (Host)
We’ll let you know if we see her again.
05:39 – Brian (Host)
I’m gonna start carrying the baseball bat. I am not putting up. Stop what Okay, people stalking me.
05:45 – Kayla (Host)
So, on a serious note, if you’ve recovered from that, I follow a page and he is an amazing human, and this Instagram influencer shared how he had been approached by someone rather unkindly because he had not shared his thoughts on everything that’s happening in Israel and various other things. Well, a little backstory. This particular person has just moved his parents from Atlanta to Nashville to live across the street from him, and his dad is battling dementia, and you and I both follow this person. He’s a great follow.
06:30 – Brian (Host)
Carlos Whitaker.
06:31 – Kayla (Host)
Carlos Whitaker. Well, somebody went at him like full on you and I both saw the comment because he had not spoken up and I just want to give all of us this reminder there’s a time to listen and there’s a time to speak. The world is very loud and these are my words, not his, but the sentiment is the same. Just because we BNK may not share our thoughts on everything that’s happening in the world, please don’t assume that we’re unchanged by it and please don’t land on the fact that we don’t care or that our hearts are not breaking because they are.
07:14
But wisdom tells us that sometimes you have to be a listener and a learner and there are seasons where we will share and there are seasons where we will listen to what others have to share. So reality is nobody owes me their thoughts on every issue. So, with that, just know that there’s a lot that we’re praying about, that we’re wrestling through. That’s hard stuff. I mean there’s a lot going on in our world right now, but we may not bring it here. It may surface later, it may not. If God tells us to talk about it, then we will.
07:57 – Brian (Host)
Here’s what I’m gonna say. There are certain pains that we will bring to the microphone, sure, and there are certain pain that we will not bring to the microphone, and as God leads us, as we feel nudged, we will speak of those things. But that’s a lot of good wisdom, miss Kayla. So this next topic is very heavy for me, very emotional, and it’s your story with your breast cancer scare. So, miss Kayla, you have the floor.
08:28 – Kayla (Host)
So in the spring of 2019, I went for a routine checkup. It was my annual exam and during the exam my doctor felt something abnormal and so he scheduled a mammogram immediately and I kind of was just not really thinking anything about it. I didn’t really think it was that big a deal. But I went for the mammogram and then the radiologist looks at me and says we’re gonna take you to imaging. And I said what does that mean? She said well, we just need to. We need to look a little closer at some things.
09:05
And of course they’re keeping things very tight-lipped because that’s the way they do when they don’t wanna freak you out in the moment. But I go for imaging, and the backstory on this is you had gone with me because you and I are close.
09:22 – Brian (Host)
And I had gone with Kay and I’m sitting in-.
09:25 – Kayla (Host)
The waiting room.
09:26 – Brian (Host)
In the waiting room and I’ve got her purse and all these ladies keep coming in and they’re like oh, we love your purse. And so I’ve got conversations going with these five, you know, with five or six older ladies, and about that time this nurse walks out from the door and Kay is behind her and I remember that you had these robes on.
09:46 – Kayla (Host)
Yeah.
09:47 – Brian (Host)
And you looked at me and I could tell that you’d had a tear in your eye and I said what’s going on? And you said we’re going to imaging. And I said is everything okay? And you couldn’t answer me and that’s when I felt the world fall out from underneath me. So I’m trying to follow y’all carrying this purse across the hospital, but I can’t go where you’re going. So now I’m out in this public area with this purse. Now more people are talking to me. I’m trying, and so I sit down and I start listening to one of our stations and the music.
10:23 – Kayla (Host)
Hmm, so Long story short, I go To have several different pictures taken. Three different doctors come in and out and they’re examining the images and taking more Impressions and I just lay there thinking, okay, something’s not normal here, because usually Bippity, boppity, boo, I’m done, I’m in, I’m out, everything’s fine.
10:48 – Brian (Host)
How’s that go? Bippity, boppity, boo.
10:51 – Kayla (Host)
Well, finally, a fourth doctor comes in and he informs me that, well, I guess sorry, I guess the first three might have been technicians and then the actual doctor comes in and he informs me that they are not liking what they’re seeing, and I try to kind of blow it off and he looks me in the eye and says this is serious and we’re going to need to do a biopsy. He said there are two places that I have a genuine concern over, because my nature is well, it can’t be that big a deal and I’m just gonna push it off. I’m busy, I have too much going on in my life. Again, this is this is like March 2019. I’m getting ready for fundraising season. I don’t have time for this. Well, he tells me I’m going to make time, so I do that.
11:42
April, I have a biopsy. The scariest part of that was just the unknown of what they were going to do. And a couple of days later Well, no, it was more like a week later I finally get word that everything is benign, but there are some areas that they want to continue to watch to make sure they haven’t changed. But there were several things that I carried away from that experience. First of all, the weight is awful and if any of you have done that, my heart is with you, because your brain goes to a million places every worst scenario.
12:23
I waited five days Between the time I had my biopsy and getting the results and I remember every time my phone rang, my heart would beat a little bit faster.
12:36 – Brian (Host)
I remember when you got the news I came to your office. We just hugged and cried, yeah.
12:42 – Kayla (Host)
These are the things that I carry from that experience. It’s amazing how insignificant so much of life feels in moments like this. It’s as if my whole world shifted just slightly. When he said we want to check to make sure it’s not cancer and just hearing that word kind of shook me I felt cheated. I I genuinely was angry because I wanted more time with UB and so I was really angry.
13:15
I’m like, no God, you haven’t given me enough time. I Felt betrayed by my own body because I mean, this just shouldn’t happen. There’ve been enough things that I don’t fit the statistics. I’m not one of those that Falls within the like. These are the people that get breast cancer, and I felt this surge within me. This was the thing that I remembered so profoundly. Was this fight? If it is cancer, I’m going to fight it and this will not have the last word. I remember thinking that so Deep in my core of okay, bring it on, if this is what this is, and I’m gonna do everything they tell me, but I will not let this have the last word and whenever I tell this story, I always say that y’all, kayla is the strongest woman ever met in my life.
14:07 – Brian (Host)
And I mean that. I mean she’s tough, she carries a lot. And I use the analogy that if there was a hurricane headed to United States, you would be standing on the beach staring it down saying, come on at me, bro. I do. I mean you’re that tough. And it’s just like, really, this is gonna happen to my wife. I Just couldn’t. I just remember the world falling out from underneath me.
14:35 – Kayla (Host)
I Remember wanting to hide my feelings from you for a while. Just, I have to be strong for him, I have to be strong for them, I have to. And that was the weirdest feeling of I’m not allowed to fall apart, and it wasn’t because none of you would let me. But in that interim, those five days, I thought so many different things, but I kept going back to you have to be strong and you have to fight. You have to be ready to fight. I Will say this on on the good side. It was the catalyst for a lot of key changes in how I take care of myself. Cancer loves sugar is one of the things I learned. So I I Drastically reduced and I will always be a sugar addict.
15:21 – Brian (Host)
A true like I love sugar be can tell you loves a good muffin, good piece of carrot cake.
15:29 – Kayla (Host)
But I realized you can make some changes so that your body is healthier now. That doesn’t guarantee I will never have a terminal illness, but it just means I’m willing to do things to take care of myself. I had a piece I. This was the moment for me. I had a piece about Whose I was, even walking out of the hospital that day, even though, yeah, we cried and I was scared, but I know where I’m going after this life. This is the contradiction. I wasn’t ready. I had this whole bucket list of things that I wanted to do, but if God said this is how it ends, then I trusted what the outcome was going to be. So it was just this whole weird, and some of you are walking through this now. Some of you are actually getting a diagnosis that shakes you to your very core, and so I hope that you can sit with that piece that, no matter what, no matter what tomorrow looks like, no matter what’s next, you know who’s you are and where you’re going and finally Get your screenings, all of you.
16:52
Don’t neglect self-care in this way. Don’t say I’m too busy, I don’t have time for this. Oh, it’s no big deal. The doctor really impressed upon me that sooner rather than later. Ladies get your mammograms. Guys schedule your screenings for other things. Take care of yourself, because your value and Something found now Could possibly be treated a whole lot better than something that’s found much later down the road.
17:27 – Brian (Host)
Let me just say this as a couple, we face that together. We did we are stronger. I prayed over her and I just want to say this okay, I’m thankful the Lord allowed you to Still be here with me and not to have to go through all that mess.
17:45 – Kayla (Host)
Yeah.
17:46 – Brian (Host)
Love you, darling. I thank you for sharing your heart. You’re again. You’re still the toughest woman and Any hurricane comes our way, you’re out on the front porch title oh yeah, when things get real emotional. I got up, I got insert some humor, cuz I’m trying to picture myself fighting a hurricane now. Two truths and a lie.
18:13 – Kayla (Host)
Yes. I have to pick which ones which well, now we can start with the two truths.
18:18 – Brian (Host)
Okay, all right, no is a complete sentence. Oh, and when you say that you don’t have, sometimes you don’t have to offer an explanation, mm-hmm, you can just say no. Now I do think that, like in a work scenario, you need to explain the why, but in your personal life, you can just say no, because there are things you might need to say no to in your life, for example, impulse buys. Hmm, I can be horrible for that. Okay, but a book is not an impulse buy. Let’s just take that?
18:52 – Kayla (Host)
Oh, okay, we’re clarify. Okay, okay, especially if it’s Lincoln, right.
18:56 – Brian (Host)
And neither are sweaters Other people now you’re meddling why, you gonna go after my Lincoln books. Other people’s expectations, oh, you can say no to mm. I don’t have to live up to your expectation.
19:12 – Kayla (Host)
Now again, this may not be your boss. We’re talking about but, because you know your job may come with certain expectations.
19:18 – Brian (Host)
You need to live up to those actually exceed them, your inner critic.
19:23
All of us having have a tape that runs in our head and it has voices that come along with it. You’re good enough for you. You’re not good or you can’t do this, you can do this, or you’re stupid, or whatever. You can say no to all that. Now, that’ll probably be an ongoing battle, sure, but you can still say you know to that, and you can say no To good rather than great. So, and I believe in pursuing greatness and doing things that are great, and that may mean saying no to what’s just some things aren’t meant for us.
19:55 – Kayla (Host)
Yeah yeah, let someone else pick that up.
19:58 – Brian (Host)
Yeah, so yeah, remember, no is a complete sentence.
20:02 – Kayla (Host)
Here’s a second truth, and this one may sound harsh, but hang with us, you are not that important.
20:11 – Brian (Host)
All right, I’m backing away from microphone for this one.
20:14 – Kayla (Host)
What that means is check your ego, because not everything is about you or for you.
20:21 – Brian (Host)
But I’m supposed to be the center of everybody’s world.
20:23 – Kayla (Host)
You’re the center of my world, but not everybody’s. The harsh truth there. Okay, take the time off, because when you do, you let others step up as you step away, and that communicates trust to those that you work with. That communicates trust to those that you do life with. Also, be okay with what you don’t know. You’re not so important that you know everything and.
20:53
We’ve all met those people that they have the perfect opinion, they have the perfect amount of knowledge, they could win every trivia contest, but they have no common sense. So there’s that. Sorry, did I say that I think my filter just broke and then I’m a B? You would agree with this. I am a huge fan of letting others shine. Yes, you do not like the spotlight Light nothing but let other people have a moment, let them be seen, because it’s not always about you.
21:31 – Brian (Host)
Now you are important, but you’re not that important. Okay, that the world, yeah, should revolve. And let me say this we’re all gonna struggle with this. Oh sure because we all want to be the center of the world. Here’s the lie, Okay ooh. You are enough.
21:49 – Kayla (Host)
How many times do we hear that just as a tagline, and what’s the problem with it?
21:55 – Brian (Host)
for me it’s a theological problem. Because you’re not enough to get to God on your own, you cannot get to him. Jesus came because you’re not enough. That’s a theological, that’s a huge theological issue for me. Scripture says this is that we are dead in our sins, and Christ came Not to take care of sick people but to raise the dead, and so whenever he saves us, he’s raising the dead. Dead people can’t do anything. So therefore, we are not enough now. Our worth then comes through Christ. Yeah, because he is enough, and you need to know this is that we’re all a work in progress. I understand that men and women both struggle with like Significance and we struggle with like body image, and when people say you are enough, okay, in that certain context I get it. Yeah, but I fear that phrase because it lends to self-sufficiency.
23:00
Yes and that is a huge problem, and we’re seeing it happen all across the world. So Be careful with that phrase, because you need Jesus like I need Jesus. You need other people in your life, just like I need other people in my life. Yeah, so you are not enough, and I want to tag on to this you are not to be somebody else’s enough either.
23:24 – Announcer (Announcement)
Mmm.
23:25 – Brian (Host)
I want to say that, okay, you are not meant to 100% complete somebody.
23:31 – Announcer (Announcement)
No.
23:32 – Brian (Host)
So there is nobody out there who is 100% supposed to complete, you know, our, our struggles, our things that we wrestle with. Those are to remind us how deeply we need Jesus. That’s right. So don’t ever forget that. All right, that’s enough serious stuff for me today and I’ve preached enough and I don’t want to get a hate email. So, hey, we’d like to give you a peas and carrots coffee mug, could, because coffee tastes better out of it and some really cute stickers.
24:05 – Kayla (Host)
Yeah, I’m so excited about the stickers, but they will look awesome on your water bottle or your notebook or your laptop cover are they cute? They’re cute. Okay, we may have to do a video with them, so yeah. But if you would like to win a coffee mug, go to our website, which? Is peas and carrots podcast Dot com look for the trivia button, click that button and answer this question.
24:36 – Brian (Host)
What do I eat with cottage cheese? And it’s nasty is not. Anyway, so go to our website, click the trivia button, answer that question the website is peas and carrots podcast, and here’s the question what do I eat with my cottage cheese, which is absolutely Amazing. So, hey, thanks for listening this week. You can search the peas and pod peas and podcast carrots search. Search the peas and carrots podcast wherever you get your podcast, or visit our website peas and carrots podcast calm when you don’t forget. Please subscribe to the podcast and.
25:16 – Kayla (Host)
You can follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Just search for the peas and carrots podcast. Go cottage cheese. Say no to mustard.
25:24 – Announcer (Announcement)
For more about the peas and carrots podcast and to reach out to Brian and Kayla, visit peas and carrots podcast. Calm. Life’s not perfect. That’s why God gave us friends like melody and candy. Check out quirks, bumps and bruises. Calm, or search quirks, bumps and bruises wherever you listen to podcasts.