Wakeful Night (A Structured Reflection On Loss and Illumination)

Nicole Skibola was 32 and a lawyer working in the New York start-up world when she received a diagnosis for a rare endometrial cancer. That surreal moment marked the beginning of a race to save eggs, to operate, and to mourn the loss of her reproductive organs. Echoing the urgency of diagnosis and treatment were the messages from everyone to move on, be grateful, resettle into the person she was “before.”

Loss begat losses: her boyfriend left her, her start-up failed, and Nicole found herself in her childhood home, alone, and for the first time was allowed to explore her grief. She joined a group of writers and artists, many of whom were making art that dealt explicitly with grief and loss. It was a revelation. After documenting her own story—and with some inspiration from The Artist’s Way—Nicole developed a framework that supports people, especially those with cancer, to face, feel, and express their own reality by connecting to their inner artist.