Sonali Bendre celebrates International Women's Day, says, 'Therapy taught me...'

Bollywood actress and author Sonali Bendre has said that every time you are uncomfortable you learn and it has always paid back more Its what the business tells you The higher the risk more the profit and thats what it is in life She made the statement at the Amazon ElevateHER 2025 event organised by Amazon India to celebrate the occasion of International Womens Day IWD 2025 an initiative designed to empower women through mentorship and career development opportunitiesAligned with this years global IWD theme Accelerate Action the event was held in Bengaluru on FridayTherapy taught me about selflove As women we are used to put everyone else ahead of us We can say that this should not be done But it is in our subconscious I see my husband my boy father their mindset is different They need not worry about doing things as they do itAs a woman when you say that I need to do it but that but had been a big issue in my life and it took me a lot of work to get over If you are suffering you need therapy you should ask for help This is part of life It gives you tools she suggestedSonali also said What you put out in the universe what you thinking what I have learnt through my illness is your self is listening to you all the time The body is listening to you What you say and what you think is so importantTalking about life altering moment the actress said The life altering moment was when my son was born Every women when you have been through pregnancy and give birth it is life altering The way of thinking changes Thats the nature Then of course my illness These are the pivotal moments which helped me growWhen asked about her graceful journey through cancer Sonali said I didnt mean to be so open about it I was doing a reality show and I was on screen every week If I disappeared from it which I needed to when I realised that this was not something that I could do while shooting I needed to get away Because at one point I did think that okay it is cancer we will get it out and I will be back May be I will take a gap of two weeks and I will come backThen you realise that it was not an early stage and much later stage that realisation when I saw you could it see it on doctors face Then my husband was like nothing doing I am taking you I dont trust anybody here The reason for my cancer to have reached fourth stage was I should have been detected earlier and I had been telling that I am facing issues she said while recalling the horrorShe added But its human I understand something it didnt get detected was not diagnosed as that Eventually the point when it got diagnosed my husband was in a zone of I dont trust this anymore I just need to take this call I will regret it all my life and I cant do thatI was against going away because it was so sudden and literally three days after the diagnosis we were out We live in a world of internet where everything is everybodys news and everything all over the place I didnt want gossip about it my son would be seeing it who was 12 at that point Sonali saidI thought it would be easier if I put it out Thats a good part about social media I can put out what I want to talk to people in my language and in my words which was not luxury that we as actor had It was always journalists view point of you It was always coloured how good or bad you were with them she addedThe idea was to say that this has happened and hence I am going into treatment The kind of response we got on FB Insta and everybody it was crazy I put that out and I went to sleep By the time I got up there were just thousands of messages and everything was blown up she saidPeople were writing from all parts of the country and all parts of the world There were people from all strata of society all genders all age groups how they have been through it It was so common Why did not know it I felt like a fool she underlinedI understood no one spoke about it and why is anyone speaking about it Then you realise unsaid taboo about cancer Probably because its just not external aggressor its genetic and its been there since when humans are here I realised this was not a conversation that was happening she saidI dont want to go into the why me mode I wanted to make it a talking point As a person in public view what I can give to this is talking about it Let it be a conversation starter I didnt want to put gory details but I did not want to lie about anything At one point people said its publicity she addedAt one point I did go low when people when they said it was not necessary to put it out My sons school started He sent me article on how scanning or testing rate has shot up Let people say what they have to say but this is what you have done Its an achievement she said with joyTill today when I am at the airports I go anywhere I meet so many women who will say you started talking about it I got it at first stage and second stage Cancer when you catch it early it is so curable It neednt have lot of side effects it has Sonali addedThe earlier you catch it the less side effects you have to face Its about early detection she emphasisedEvery time when I meet people and they say they caught it early I feel its an achievement I promise you nothing else in my life I have achieved except for this portion This conversation has saved so many lives I dont think I can achieve anything more than this for the rest of life she underlinedIts been six years and now it is normal to talk about it and thats amazing One day at a time is mantra to me she saidDeepti Varma VicePresident of HRPeople eXperience and Technology Amazon India Japan and Emerging Markets said ElevateHER 2025 aims to equip women from diverse backgrounds with skills and the network they need to achieve their career goals and we are excited with the opportunity the speed mentoring sessions offered to these aspiring professionalsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability 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