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Chief Change Officer
#375 Athena Brownson: Lyme Disease, Real Estate, and Radical Resilience — Part One
00:28:33
Athena Brownson was thriving in real estate—until Lyme disease brought everything to a halt. In Part One, she opens up about living with chronic pain, losing her old identity, and why resilience isn’t a buzzword—it’s survival.
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- [00:12]
Vince Chen
Hi, everyone. Welcome to our show. Chief Change Officer, I'm Vince Chen, your ambitious human host. Our show is a modernist humility for change, Progressives in organizational and human transformation from around the world. Today I'm talking to Athena Bronson, a real estate agent from Denver, Colorado. Nope, we are not talking about real estate. Instead, we dive into her extraordinary journey of resilience at the peak of her real estate career. Feeling invincible and unstoppable, Athena's life took unexpected turn. Strange health issues appeared, and she was eventually diagnosed with Lyme disease, a condition that would change everything. For the past seven years, Athena has lived in chronic pain, relying on plasma transfusions 4 days each month just to keep going. Her life has revolved around battling this disease, something she never imagined facing. As she says, if life didn't give us adversity and challenges. This story is too powerful and real for just one episode. Today, in part one, Athena shares her experience with Lyme disease, a condition that remains poorly understood but has profoundly impacted her health. She'll talk about how she cornered what she's endured and the fight to survive. Tomorrow in part two, Athena will share how she not only survived, but found ways to thrive, rebuild her support system, and grow her career once again.
- [03:05]
Athena Bronson
Foreign.
- [03:14]
Vince Chen
Athena, welcome to our show. Welcome to Chief Change Officer. I know you're in Denver. Good afternoon to you.
- [03:23]
Athena Bronson
Good afternoon or good morning to you. I should say thank you so much for having me. It is a cold, snowy night.
- [03:31]
Vince Chen
So, Athena, let's start with your story.
- [03:36]
Athena Bronson
As you mentioned, I am in Denver, Colorado. I was born and raised here in Colorado. I was actually raised in a small mountain town called Breckenridge. For those of you who are skiers or snowboarders, you've probably heard of Breckenridge at some point. But knowing this piece of information, it will set you up for how really my life unfolded because I learned could walk. So I believe I was 2 years old. My dad was a professional skier, and I like to say I didn't even have a chance. He had me on skis from the time I could walk. And at age 15, I ended up going professional at skiing. So at a very young age, I was basically traveling the world skiing, geeing about 300 days a year with some of the top coaches in the entire world. And I always say that skiing is the best business school that I ever could have asked for or could have gone to because geeing truly set the stage for my success in business, which I'll get into a little bit later. And after becoming a professional skier. After, I think nine knee surgeries, I decided it was time for me to hang up the skis and go into another field. And I ended up going into the field that I never in a million years thought I would end up in. And that is real estate. Now I say I never thought I would end up in real estate because a I don't think anyone grows up saying, oh, I'm going to be a real estate agent when I grow up. That's just not something you hear very often. But more in the small town that I was raised in, Breckenridge, there were more real estate offices than T shirt shops. I grew up thinking real estate was. I had the preconceived notion that it was a little bit corny and there were the kind of used car salesman mentality. Even though my dad is a homebuilder. So I grew up on job sites, I followed him. I have very fond but funny memories of going to job sites with him in the freezing cold, watching his projects unfold and develop and watching the impact that he had on this town. And it was pretty incredible. But it was something that my dad did. Because of that, as a young person, I wanted to make my own path. I went into interior design after graduating from college and I was working in the interior design industry both in Denver and Breckenridge, designing hotels, high end residences. But I didn't feel that I was being fulfilled. To me, it was a 9 to 5 job that I was counting down the hours to get through. I had a dear girlfriend at the time, still one of my best friends and she is one of the most successful real estate agents in the country. She is top 1%. Thank you Charlotte. And I was having dinner with her one evening and she said, Athena, you love people, you love homes, you love design. Why are you not a real estate agent? And I scratched my head and to be honest, I had never even thought about it. This was 10 years ago that this conversation happened and she said just meet with the owner of my company. I really think that you two would hit it off. You have very similar like how you do business and how you view people and you're very relational. I really think that you two would hit it off. So I met with the owner of her company actually the two days later and this was a small real estate brokerage in Denver. And I was so impressed by with his approach to business being relationship based business and not transactional. I was so blown away with this. He's like sunshine in human form. Still a dear mentor, friend of mine that I quit my job the next day, signed up for real estate school and got my real estate license about two months later. And that was 10 years ago. And here we are. The path since I got my real estate license has been one that I never in a million years could have predicted. I say that as you will learn more of my story throughout this episode. I think we go into life in all things with an idea of what life is going to look like for us and for me. The beginning of my real estate career, I was studying under one of the most amazing agents. He was my mentor. I had an amazing coach, I had really incredible people around me, and I was succeeding pretty early on. And in real estate, you generally say it takes a year to really get going and three years to really start being successful. After a year, I found myself having great success, really building amazing relationships. By year three, I like to say I thought I was at the top of the world. I had grand visions of what my real estate future was going to look like. Life never goes to plan. And I learned that the hard way. And I think we all learned that the hard way. I was diagnosed with with Lyme disease, which I will also explain more of about seven and a half years ago. So in my three and a half years into real estate, I was like, at the top of my game, Thought I was invincible. All of a sudden, I started getting very strange illnesses for a young, healthy person. And I was diagnosed with Lyme disease. And Lyme disease, unfortunately for me, took out my immune system and caused multiple autoimmune diseases. So the last seven years of my life have been, first of all, I don't even remember what it's like to feel okay. I live in constant chronic pain. I get plasma transfusions for days every month. My world pretty much revolves around trying to stay alive and trying to fight this really horrific disease that never in a million years I thought I would get. And I like to say that if life did not give us adversity and challenges, we would never have the opportunity for growth. But, man, I would not wish this way of growing on anyone. But that's where I am. I run a successful team at Compass here in Denver. I still love real estate as much as I did on day one, if not more. Love the people I work with. And through this journey, I have learned so many incredible things that I'm excited to share with you. But it has come through adversity and through fighting every single day to keep going, going. Because there are most days I don't want to and to be able to have a career. For me, real estate, that is something I'm so passionate about and is my why. I work with people that I love, that I build lifelong relationships with, and helping them to really buy and sell a home is the biggest transaction you do in your life. And to be a part of people's lives in that way and a part of each chapter through home, that's my why. And it keeps me getting out of bed even when I don't want to. So it's really been an evolution of understanding what my why is and get building my toolkit for continuing forward even when I don't want.
- [12:02]
Vince Chen
That's so much we can dive into here. Athena, can you share with us? How old were you when you were first diagnosed?
- [12:15]
Athena Bronson
No, I was 25 years old and that's when I was diagnosed with Lyme disease. I am not actually sure when I was bit. So the way you get Lyme disease is a tick bite. I personally have never even seen a tick. We don't have a ton of ticks in Colorado, but as a professional skier, I was traveling globally and I was in heavily wooded areas. So at some point I was bit by a tick. That tick was carrying Lyme disease along with two other co infections that I am also fighting. And Lyme is interesting as it lays dormant in your system until something weakens your immune system and it can come out and take over. For me, I ended up having neck surgery. I broke my neck skiing and my immune system took a hit from having neck surgery. It was weekend and that's when all of my symptoms started to act up with Lyme disease. And I was really fortunate that a doctor knew a lot about Lyme disease. It's something that is a little bit new in the medical field. There's not a ton of doctors that are very Lyme literate, I like to say, and I was very fortunate to be diagnosed immediately. It's been seven and a half years, almost eight now, of fighting Lyme disease.
- [13:56]
Vince Chen
You mentioned that this disease is rare and you were fortunate to find a doctor who understood it well. But for most of my listeners in the US as well as internationally, this condition isn't widely known, meaning there's a lack of awareness, which could be risky. Could you enlighten us a bit more? What exactly is this disease and what should people know about it?
- [14:39]
Athena Bronson
I would love nothing more. And I was in the same boat. I had no idea what Lyme disease was before I was diagnosed with it. In fact, when my doctor Suggested that we do testing for it. I laugh because I was so unaware of Lyme disease, and I also was very naive to how significant it is. So Lyme disease is interesting because it affects everyone differently. So depending on what you're genetically predisposed to, whatever your genetic weaknesses are, Lyme attacks that. So for some people, that can be myalgia or rheumatoid arthritis, a multitude of autoimmune diseases. Like I have. I have an autoimmune disease where my body attacks my nerves. So that's why I'm in pain all the time, because my own body is attacking my nerves. It can look like psychiatric issues for some people. It can range from such a variety of symptoms. That's what makes it difficult to diagnose. However, Lyme is the fastest growing epidemic in the United States right now. So the number of people that are contracting Lyme from a tick, like. Like I said, you get it from being bit by a tick. And if you are aware that you're bit by a tick, immediately you should go to the doctor. You'll usually see a red ring around the bite if it is carrying a disease. But I would say if you get bit by a tick, just go to the doctor, because they can give you a short cycle of antibiotics and. And you'll never deal with it again. It's cases like mine where you don't know that you were bit, so it's. It lays dormant in your system. And then when you least expect it, no one ever expects all of a sudden to start having the horrific symptoms. My life has made complete 180. From being a professional athlete to trying to get myself through each day. It's a nightmare I wouldn't wish on anyone. Now, it's taught me more in life than I think anything ever could. But people should be very aware that if you're in a heavily wooded area and there are ticks present, you should be wearing, protecting yourself with long sleeves. They make tick repellent sprays. And if you do get bit to go to the doctor, because chronic Lyme disease, which is what stays for a long time, is a very difficult disease to navigate. So if you know that you got bit and you can take a couple of weeks of antibiotics, then you'll never deal with it again. But unfortunately, that's usually not the case. Most people, I believe 70% of people with Lyme disease have no idea when or where they were bitten.
- [17:56]
Vince Chen
So you were diagnosed around seven to eight years ago, and you discovered through surgery rather than injury. You also said dealing with chronic pain and a range of challenges. How has this disease affected your day to day life and work? I can only imagine how difficult it must be to the extent that you are comfortable sharing. I love to hear about how you've managed and navigated these challenges.
- [18:40]
Athena Bronson
Challenge is the perfect word because it is the most challenging thing that I have ever been through. And it is something that when you break a bone or have a surgery, you can talk to the doctor and they say if you do A, B, C and D, you'll get better. With chronic Lyme disease, unfortunately there's no if you do A, B, C and D, you'll get better. Different for everyone. It's something that is just starting to be really understood and study studied on a global scale. And because it's different for everyone, it there really is it. You almost feel like a lab rat with trying different therapies. But when I was diagnosed I truly was naive because like I said, I was at the top of my real estate game. I felt a little bit invincible before that, having come from a professional standard career, which I actually believe is what taught me the grit to get through each day and to get through this adversity and to keep pushing forward. Because I believe that when we're, when we're hit with life with difficulties and challenges and horrific incidents, that unfortunately all of us have different adversity that we do face in life. And it's really difficult at that time to a moment and understand that although these are the most challenging times of my life and it's been seven and a half years where I don't remember what it is like to not be in constant pain, I have waking up in the morning is. It feels like the most difficult task I've ever done. Every little thing that I do is so taxing on my body and exhausting on my body and painful. I spend a huge amount of time in hospitals. Like I said, I get all of my plasma taken out once a month, which is a huge transfusion. It's really hard not to get stuck in the mud when you're dealing with something that is so challenging and so constant and chronic pain and chronic fatigue and all of the symptoms that come with Lyme disease are enough to make anyone want to stay in bed and not do anything. And I truly, a lot of people do. And there's no right or wrong way of approaching life, its challenges and that includes disease. Everyone has their own way to get through things. But what I personally have learned and what I hope to share with others is we have to really dig deep and understand that when you look back in life, nothing. You don't learn your greatest lessons, you don't grow when everything's going to plan. We make the biggest strides, we have the biggest periods of growth, when we're going through difficulties and we figure out how we're going to get through them. And we don't allow ourselves to get stuck in the mud, so to speak. And I believe that there is a time and a place for mourning or being very. Being very upset and depressed and sad and angry that your life has really been completely changed by a disease that is, is some. It's not something that every once in a while you don't feel good. It's 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and it. You can't escape it. So within that, how do we pivot our mentality? How do we create our toolkit of things that we know are going to get us through every day, even when we don't want to? There's never a day that I, I want to get out of bed. I, I feel horrible, absolutely horrible. But I know that if I put on some of my favorite music or podcast and just blast it and grab one of my. Make myself a great cup of coffee, that those are things that are just going to get my day started. And every little I want to, I always try and find little hacks for how I can get through each part of my day. I really do believe that having something that you're passionate about that can take your mind off of what you're going through a little bit and keep your eyes motivated, looking forward, that's the key. Because it's so easy to just get stuck in the mud, give up. And I believe that when your mentality is in that place of wanting to give up and just stay in bed or maybe start. Stop looking for different solutions, different doctors, different treatments. There's such a wide variety of treatments all over the world that you have to be your own biggest advocate. I believe that a huge component of that is mental. So understanding how you can pivot your mentality from this disease is taking over, ruining my life, to how can I use this to become a better, stronger, grittier version of myself? How can I use this to be the best version of me? And how am I going to do that? And it's usually by the people that you're surrounding yourself with and the coaches that are in your life or the. Your family members or whoever it may be. But you have to find those anchors that keep you, keep you grounded to really push forward and not give up because you have to be your own biggest advocate. And I think that's the case with any adversity or challenge in life is nothing ever goes to plan. But you're your own biggest advocate. You are the one that can take the reins and say even when things are not going right, I'm going to figure out a way to make the best out of it and to be the best version of myself.
- [25:36]
Vince Chen
I really resonate with what you said about being our biggest advocate, especially in tough times. We hear a lot about IQ and eq, emotional quotient, emotional intelligence, but that's another measure, adversity quotient or aq, which seems less talked about, yet so crucial. I think we are all starting to see how important it really is. Your experience is a powerful example of this. Physical pain is intense and medications might help here and there, maybe make sleep easier, but that's only part of it. It's the mental resilience that really keeps us going. Especially in those moments when you are alone in pain, facing it all. What stands out from what you've just shared is how you found ways to mentally change your focus, even on the small things to help you stay grounded. It seems like that's been your best defense and maybe even your offense. Does that feel accurate?
- [27:11]
Athena Bronson
You couldn't say it better. I think that is a beautiful way of putting it. I completely agree. I believe that the mental aspect of it is at least 50% of the challenge.
- [27:25]
Vince Chen
Just now, Athena shared with us about how she caught Lyme disease, what she has endured in her fight to survive. Tomorrow in Part two, Athena will share more about how she not only survived, but found ways to thrive actively to rebuild her support system and grow her career. Once again, thank you so much for joining us today. If you like what you heard, don't forget, subscribe to our show. Leave us top rated reviews, check out our website and follow me on social media. I'm Vince Chen, your ambitious human host. Until next time, take care.
- [28:34]
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