Many people would say that the most precious gift anyone can give is their time. My guest on this week’s episode, Bill Valentine, knows this better than most because he’s in the midst of stage four terminal pancreatic cancer.
Bill is the only podcast guest that I didn’t do extensive research on prior to his interview. I didn’t fill up my head with all the things he’s done up to this point, or all of the awards and accolades he’s achieved along the way. Not because they aren’t plentiful, but because I didn’t want to be in my head during this interview. I wanted to simply meet him heart to heart.
As it turns out, Bill felt that my lack of research was very apropos because one of the things he’s realized is that who he really is actually has nothing to do with what he had accomplished up to the point that he was diagnosed with cancer. He no longer wants to talk about his past professions and accomplishments. It doesn’t matter to him anymore because as it turns out, it’s not WHO he is at all.
So who is Bill Valentine? He is a father and a husband. And his entire focus is now on the most important relationships in his life, and everything he does is filtered through that identity and priority.
Bill shares with us what his days are like, what he’s been learning throughout his experience with cancer, and what he’s been teaching his four boys as he tries to pass on everything he wants them to learn from him in a much shorter timeframe than he had hoped he would have.
He was deeply honest with us about his experience of participating in his own living funeral over the last few years, as so many people have come forward to tell him what he has meant to them in their life, and how much they love him. He has felt deeply loved and grateful to have these meaningful connections with people from all aspects of his life. Through this beautiful process, he has learned to receive love and that he is, and always has been, enough.
Bill shares with us how psilocybin treatment not only helped him come to terms with his diagnosis but also helped him learn that the whole meaning of life is to give and receive love.
This is the legacy he hopes to leave behind.
“It shouldn’t take a terminal disease for you to wake up to your obligation to live a full life, and at the center of that are other people.” ~ Bill Valentine
I am deeply honored that he gave us this gift of his precious time. I think Bill will be one of our greatest teachers on this podcast and it was a blessing to be with him.
Bill is a precious gift to us all.
Learn more about Bill Valentine here.
Learn more about Molly Carroll here.
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This is Oli. Thanks Molly and Mr. Valentine for sharing such an intimate story.
Molly, I have continued to study and meditate on my life. I recently ran across some Stoic information. I have been deeply impacted by the teaching. One aspect of Stoic teaching is about the temporariness of life and the need to prepare for death. I think this has really helped me to confront my own life and what it has meant. I am still working on these issues. This Podcast is very meaningful to me.
I have heard Mr. Valentine a few times in the past on the radio.