My Star Trek Moment: How AI Is Supporting Me in Breast Cancer Survivorship
Do you ever feel like you’re juggling too many things in your head at once? That has been my story, especially after navigating some challenging seasons the past few years. I’ve been bouncing between different roles in my life like an unorganized pile of popcorn in the popper. I’m never entirely sure which part of me will be needed next.
Will I need to be the business owner, mom, wife, patient advocate, caregiver, beagle owner, writer, consultant, or survivor?
Or all of them… all at once?
It has been a lot.
And in those moments of mental chaos, I sometimes thought back to my childhood self watching Star Trek: The Next Generation — imagining what it would be like to have a computer I could simply talk to, one that was ready and able to help me sort things out.
For a long time, though, I just watched the AI craze from a distance. I felt hesitant and, honestly, a little unsure of how it might impact my writing or my work. But then I attended a business training inside The Société, and something clicked. I saw how AI was helping their team stay organized and clear, and I decided to give it a try.
By that point, I was scattered in my social media, my writing, and the overall structure of my days. I was willing to try anything that might help me feel less overwhelmed.
So I decided to go all in on one tool and see what would happen. I upgraded to ChatGPT Plus and began using AI.
I had no idea how helpful it would be. After exploring and experimenting for several months, I decided it was time to share with you how AI is helping me navigate my cognitive load as a breast cancer survivor.
The Mental Fog that Comes During and After Breast Cancer Treatment
I was unprepared for the mental fog of breast cancer. I remember sitting in my French class shortly after starting tamoxifen. Suddenly, I realized I was struggling to find the words. I felt mentally foggy — partly from the medication, partly from the stress I’d been under throughout treatment.
It’s well known that cancer treatments can lead to short-term and long-term changes in how clearly we think. Chemo brain comes up frequently in survivor groups, and it’s not limited to women who have had chemotherapy. Many of us also notice thinking and memory challenges while taking long-term medications like tamoxifen or AIs.
When it hit me, I was shocked — and also determined to figure out how to navigate my new mental landscape.
I started writing everything down. I made sure my family knew to text me or leave notes if something was important. And I relied heavily on Siri for reminders. (At this very moment, I have a reminder in my phone to enjoy the rest of my peppermint milkshake in the freezer, because for me, “out of sight” truly means “out of mind.”)
Over the years, I’ve created a variety of systems to help me keep track of things: a blend of calendaring, bullet journaling, notes, alarms, and plenty of sticky notes.
AI has become another tool in my toolbox — and a surprisingly powerful one. It has helped me navigate the many roles I’m dancing between these days, and I’d love to share how it’s making my mental load feel a little lighter.
Where AI Fits Into My Life
One of the biggest mental hurdles I had to overcome was figuring out how to use AI in my day-to-day work as a writer and content creator. Was it going to take over my job? Would it dilute my voice? Where would my role as a creator and thought leader go if I started leaning on AI?
And as a breast cancer survivor, I wondered how a tool like this would actually support me in my real, everyday life… or whether it might somehow make things more complicated.
Wrestling with those questions kept me on the sidelines for a while. But the work wasn’t going away. I had a library of posts on my blog, a growing audience of newly diagnosed women who needed encouragement, and a vision for turning my book into an online course. On top of that, I had started working with several consulting clients, which meant more of my time was being spent supporting them.
My own writing took a backseat. I relied heavily on recycled content, but the algorithms strongly favor new. I wasn’t reaching the very people I wanted to help, and I was exhausted.
There was so much meaningful work I wanted to do, but I only had a limited amount of creative energy each day. I needed something to help me keep all the pieces together.
I tried many project management tools, but most of them felt too rigid. I was spending precious energy trying to learn their system and fit my mind, my workflow, and my limited energy into the categories their app designers decided I needed. It was backwards.
I needed something flexible. Something personal. Something that allowed me to think my way, rather than twisting myself into someone else’s structure.
AI became that supportive tool — and in ways I never expected.
AI is Like My Star Trek Computer
When I was growing up, I spent hours watching Star Trek: The Next Generation. Later, I showed every episode to my boys. Yes — I’m absolutely a Trekkie (and so is Dave).
One of my favorite parts of the show was how helpful the computer always was. I was fascinated by Data and the interplay between his artificial intelligence and his growing humanity. To the crew of the Enterprise, the computer was a steady presence — always available, always helpful, always ready with an answer or a pathway forward. In my 90s teenage brain, that kind of support felt almost magical.
As I started using AI, I realized this was the closest I had ever come to having that Star Trek computer in the palm of my hand. Instead of being limited to a single search query, I could pour in multiple thoughts, half-formed ideas, or complicated questions — and it responded with clarity rather than clickbait.
And then I discovered voice mode. Suddenly, I was having actual “conversations” with my computer, much like the characters on Star Trek. I could talk through a jumble of ideas, and it would help me expand, organize, and clarify them in real time.
How I’m Actually Using AI
Once I purchased a subscription to ChatGPT (my tool of choice), the first thing I did was go into the privacy settings and turn off the “training” mode so that my information stayed a little more private.
AI isn’t your therapist, lawyer, financial advisor, or medical team, so it’s essential to be mindful of what you’re sharing. And if you work in a regulated field or have corporate confidentiality concerns, make sure the tool you’re using is allowed. Some companies provide their own internal AI platforms, while others prohibit them entirely. Because I own my business, I didn’t need corporate approval — I just had to get over my own mental hesitations.
After my settings were in place, I decided to teach AI about me and my business. I opened a chat and described my life, my family, my writing style, my brand tone, and the daily and weekly rhythms I prefer. I talked about my blog, my book, and the various social media accounts I manage. This gave me a starting point to work with AI in a more personal way.
Then I began chatting — and honestly, that was the powerful part. There wasn’t a big learning curve. I could talk or type whatever I was working on, and we’d go back and forth refining it. If I didn’t love a phrase or a tone, I’d tell it what I preferred, and it would remember it for next time.
The flexibility has been the best part.
- If I need a checklist, I can get a checklist.
- If I’m looking for SEO-friendly descriptions for a new blog post, it gives me several options.
- If I’m trying to clean up a complicated idea, it helps me sort it out.
But here’s where it becomes almost magical: when I have way too much on my plate — tasks scattered across every role I play, ideas in twenty directions, and zero mental energy to sort any of it — I can dump everything into a chat, and AI organizes it for me. I hand over the mess, and it gives structure back. And if the first pass isn’t quite right, I can keep shaping it until it matches what I need.
Several months ago, I created my Sunday Reset routine out of one of these messy chats. I needed a way to get my home ready for the week, but had no idea how to organize it into a system. I opened ChatGPT, spilled all my thoughts, and that messy beginning is now a simple, clean checklist I use every Sunday.
When I want to reshare a blog post, I’ll paste the link, draft a few thoughts about how I’d like to present it, and ask for optimized captions for each social platform. It knows my different tones for Instagram, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn. It’s not perfect, but it’s a great place to start.
And when I needed to sort out the timing for Thanksgiving dinner, I opened a chat and used AI to create a complete timeline. What was amazing was that it built in the timing for my turkey, side dishes, setting the table, and breaks throughout the day to rest and visit with family. I printed it out, followed it, and ended up with a peaceful holiday that even included a coffee walk with Dave and a relaxed lunch break watching the dog show.
Long-term planning and goal setting are areas I’ve struggled with my whole life. I’m great at the daily details, but the big-picture vision often feels blurry. After breast cancer and the pandemic, it became even harder. AI is giving me a way to strategize and plan in a way that works with my brain — not against it.
Why AI Helps With Overwhelm
One of the most common realities for those of us in the middle of breast cancer, or navigating survivorship, is that everything feels overwhelming. Our lives were full before cancer — and now we’re making significant decisions that impact our bodies and our health for the rest of our lives. Breast cancer is scary, and it is completely normal to feel overloaded by the appointments, decisions, treatments, biopsies, and side effects.
Doing a brain dump of everything on our minds can be incredibly helpful. I did so many of them during my DCIS treatment. I still have pages in my bullet journal with lists that included everything from “call my insurance company” to “fold the laundry.” Getting it all out of my head gave me a little breathing room.
Now, with AI, we can take that same brain dump and make it even easier. You can type it out, take a photo of your notes, or simply speak your thoughts out loud. From there, AI can help sort and organize everything that’s swirling around in your mind.
It can give structure to the chaos, group things into categories that make sense, and even create a plan that includes built-in breaks or tasks that match your current energy level.
And it does all of this without judgment — no matter how tired, worried, foggy, or forgetful we feel. AI has a kind of digital patience that outlasts most of us, and that alone can bring a surprising sense of calm.
From Overwhelmed to Creative
As I’ve been using AI over the past several months, I’ve found new freedoms to brainstorm posts, capture ideas, and organize my life and the many different roles I’m playing after breast cancer.
I’m not building a suite of AI agents or vibe-coding an app (yet), but I do open a chat window to sort out my thoughts and get things organized.
I’ve seen firsthand how AI can take me from a jumbled set of ideas and provide me with a workable strategy and plan that isn’t exhausting. It can’t fold my laundry, but it helped me develop a Sunday home reset plan so that, for the first time in my life, laundry isn’t piling up in my laundry room. That’s powerful.
And, when I’m not overwhelmed, I have the time to relax, to think, and to be creative.
Finding What Works for You
If you’re feeling overwhelmed — whether you’re newly diagnosed, deep in treatment, or settling into survivorship — I want you to know this is completely normal. There is nothing wrong with you. Breast cancer brings layers of decisions, emotions, and changes that would challenge anyone.
You don’t have to manage it all on your own. There are systems, technologies, and resources out there to help you. AI has been a helpful addition to my survivorship toolbox, and I hope that this has encouraged you to consider how it might help you.
I’d love to know whether you are using AI, and, if so, how it’s been helping you. Feel free to drop a note in the comments or send me a DM on social media.
If you’re looking for more support as you navigate life during and after breast cancer, you’re always welcome inside Encourage. It’s my breast cancer support ecosystem — a combination of a course, support calls, and a private community designed to help you feel clearer, steadier, and less alone. Feel free to take a look and see if it might be a helpful next step for you.
Discover Encourage
If you’re looking for a trusted, supportive place to navigate your breast cancer journey, I’d love to invite you to explore Encourage: Breast Cancer & Beyond. Encourage is your comprehensive support hub from diagnosis and beyond.
✨ Video lessons from my book, live support calls, and a private community.
Jennifer Douglas
Jennifer Douglas is an author, patient advocate, and DCIS breast cancer survivor. After navigating her own breast cancer journey in 2019, she began writing and encouraging others who were newly diagnosed. Her resources include her book, "A Breast Cancer Journey: Living It One Step at a Time," and her online support course, "Encourage: Breast Cancer and Beyond." Jennifer also actively supports patients through her online presence and direct involvement in communities and support groups, offering guidance and encouragement every step of the way.
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